PaperBullets

Nah, s'okay. I'm enjoying my last carrot sticks for the forseeable future! Have you tried the Isopure powders from Nature's Best? You can get them online cheaper but you can find it at GNC. It's surprisingly not that bad! At least, I can drink the vanilla flavored one if I mix it with almond milk. lol I don't notice an aftertaste but it's...bland. Good luck with the shakes! I'm going to pick up some of the one you use after work today and try that as well.

Is it bad that I'm kinda envious that you have a pre-op diet? My doctor doesn't really do them "unless needed" so at most I assume that I'll be on liquids the day before. I don't even have my pre-op until the 12th. How can I stress out if I have to wait that long? lol I kinda started today on my own modified one called "try desparately to see what kind of Protein shake I can stomach!" And speaking of, are you able to get them down? I'm holding hope that the taste buds change after the surgery like so many say they do.

Has anyone had any experience with Dr. Yoo out of Duke Bariatric? They're a "center of excellence" and are (obviously) closely tied with Duke Health. My surgery's the 18th but so far has had an awesome experience with them. I'm just starting to get a bit nervous about the actual surgical part! lol

A little late to the party, but I wanted to chime in that I also have pcos. The chance of losing weight and gaining fertility is the sole reason why I'm getting this surgery. I can't even imagine having a cycle that happens naturally much less like clockwork! Rofl, the things that gets us excited, right?

For me, I'm not ashamed of the wls journey I'm on. But at the same time, I didn't/don't want to shout it from the rooftops. Which is silly, since I've never been one of those that was super secretive. I've only told my partner (of course), best friend and my immediate family but only because all of the women in my family have ended up having one sort of wls or another (I'll be the only sleever) and so would understand. A coworker knows but only because she's also looking into it. I don't want to tell anyone else at work. And I honestly don't really understand why. At first, I was almost afraid that they'd deny me the time off even though I have buckets of sick leave but I don't really think that's the case. I'd told them I'll need to be out for a "procedure" but they got so worried I ended up alluding to my PCOS (they knew about my failed IVF tries). And now I feel like such a liar. I'm fine with explaining the weight loss as I'm a slow loser but it's killing me that it turns out my much older coworkers (they're all my mother/grandmother's ages) are super worried about my health and are imagining such awful things. I wish I could go back in time and just not said anything at all. But since I can't, anyone have any ideas on minimizing their fears without going full-on "I'm going to be a sleever!" I just can't reconcile that being their business because I know they wouldn't understand.

Well, I'm in the Raleigh area but I'm a March 18th sleever too! Considering how awesomely global this forum is, we're practically neighbors!

All of your moments make me cry because I've had those too! For me though, my moment was when my doctor told me I was "one snickers bar away" from full blown diabetes and the only way the symptoms of PCOS would go away would be if I were to lose a significant amount of weight and if I didn't lose it then I would never have the chance to have biological children. I'm already 32 and my time is running out and it scares me as I always said I would grow up to be a mummy one day. It does crack me up a little that I'm going for this. Both for admitting that I need help and the fact that I was the one that told my mother (when she got banded 5 years ago) that all we needed to do was to go to WW together and we could lose the weight for real.

While I hate that all of you guys have faced varying levels of non-support, I'm glad I'm not alone in this. I'm 32, 5'4 and have a lower BMI. In order for my insurance to even consider me, I had to gain 20 pounds and cross my fingers for a co-morbidity in order to meet their minimum guidelines as there was no way I could afford this as a self-pay. In my case, I'm apparently "solid" as I'm repeatedly told that I'm not "that bad" and that I should just try weight watchers, etc. But it's not them living in my skin, you know? I'm the one that has to deal with the medical issues related to being so overweight for my frame and I'm the one that has to look in the mirror (or hide from it!) every morning and pray that when people see me dress primarily in black they marvel at how much thinner I look instead of wondering why there's a fat goth chick in their midst. Those of us getting the sleeve, even those that don't have super high BMIs, aren't doing this because we're too lazy to give up bread or sugar or dairy or work out 2 hours a day or only eat spinach and grapefruit! We're doing this because we need a tool to help us get to the point to where we're as healthy as we can ever be and happy enough in our own skin to allow us to look in the mirror when no one else is watching and not feel wretched.

Noooo! Braving GNC is bad enough now as it is! But to do it again?! ~dies~ lol I'm seriously hoping that my taste buds don't change or, if they do, they allow me to choke down some of the protein that's cheaper!

It cracks me up how all our taste buds are different! I'm pre-op but am "under orders" to try to find at least a couple of different Protein options and Isopure is the only thing I can really handle. Not as fond of the powders as a person can only have so many shakes! I really, really liked the Blue Raspberry one.It reminded me of kool-aid I used to have when I was younger. I didn't notice an aftertaste per-say but I did notice that my mouth felt a bit dry after every sip of it. Which I found do-able as it made me drink more of it and water! lol I've seen a lot of mixed reviews on the different flavors so don't know if I picked up one of the "good" ones. You may want to try their powders. I haven't noticed that gross smell with it and it really did mix up freakishly well. Still not as tasty as a milk shake from Cookout but I was able to drink it and I"m apparently really picky when it comes to Protein shakes.

I think I'm doing the same thing too! It's so weird, but it's like I'm saying my "last goodbyes" to all the bad things I normally love. And your last supper sounds awesome! Like fruit Snacks. Really? I haven't had those in years and all of a sudden I was convinced I would die if I didn't pick up that little bag of temptation hanging at the Target checkout. lol I do wonder if our last suppers will help with the whole head hunger thing people say is super common after the surgery.

Oh I'm totally in! I used to think that I drank a lot of water to begin with but the idea of the protein shakes/poweders PLUS the water? I have no idea how on earth to get it in without feeling like a hummingbird. But awesome idea to start now! ~eyes the neglected bottle of water on my desk~ Well, maybe in a minute. lol

Good luck to all those lucky folks who have surgery today! You are all in my thoughts and please let us know how you're doing when you're able.

I'm March 18th! Good luck to everyone out there - clearly March is our month!

I've tried both the chocolate and strawberry and while it's surprisingly not as icky tasting as others out there, I can't get it to blend to save my life! I mix it in soy milk and have used everything from the shaker bottle to those magic bullet blender thingys but still get clumps of the powder. But if you can get it to all mix in, that's a good deal on them!

Thanks! I have BCBSNC of all things. One thing I can say about them is that they have a pretty clear list of what you need to meet in order to qualify for the surgery and it's all available as a pdf. So for me, since I research EVERYTHING excessively, I already knew what sort of tests, etc I needed so scheduled two full days off from work to get it done and taken care of.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!! My insurance already sent their approval after less than 2 full days and my surgery has been scheduled! For March 18th! I'm still in complete shock. I mentioned in my intro post that this whole journey has been very fast once I made the decision to actually call my insurance company to get info on the surgery and I'm still stunned. Going to be forced to just sit quietly for a moment. lol I want to shout and dance around but that'd be frowned upon in an office that doesn't know I'm even looking into this! Just....woah. A healthier me is so much closer on the horizon.

Hello everyone! My name is McKenzie and I'm from the Raleigh, NC area (specifically Clayton but no one knows where that is). I turn 33 in August and after battling PCOS and my weight since I was 18 I was finally fed up enough to just call my insurance and see if the surgery was even covered. And it was!! I'm married to my most wonderful partner for a year come May and dream of being able to have children once I have the surgery and am properly healed and such. I have already gone through the ton of medical tests required for the pre-approval since my BMI isn't high enough for them (seriously?! I'm too SMALL for something?!) but it turns out I have metabolic syndrome on top of the PCOS so I have my co-morbidity the insurance needs and the official paperwork was sent to them by my doctor yesterday so now I'm playing the waiting game. It's blowing my mind how fast everything is going! So far, from the moment I made the decision to do something about myself to now has been just at a month. The moving from believing I will always be short and fat to knowing that I will (relatively) soon be short and much thinner boggles me. It's tentative, but I'm actually starting to imagine what it'd be like to go shopping for clothes at "regular" stores and actually find things that fit! And to be able to go up stairs without feeling like I ran a marathon! I'm so very excited that I found this forum a couple of weeks ago and now that I'm in the waiting game, I couldn't wait to actually register and lose the weird "lurker" feeling! I can't wait to get to know everyone as we all go on this awesome journey!