gamergirl

Thank you so much for this idea! We just made it with a little leftover green tea and cucumber essential oil and it is soooo good! I tried the plain coconut oil the other day. Best. Moisturizer. EVER!! But the little lumps in it make it hard to spread. Once I was sure I'd like the way it felt, I harassed my husband until he made it (I'm not allowed to use the kitchen aid. Apparently I might break it)

What did you buy?

Good luck! I hope all of it goes very well and that you have a smooth recovery. And as you know, all of us always want to see pictures because we're ghoulish like that and also because they are so encouraging.

So depleting glycogen stores in your liver rarely happens in two days. The general consensus is 7-10 days.

YES! Even by sleeve standards that's insane. What does your partner think about all of it? Is he being nice?

And when do we see pics of the man that lost 70 lbs in like, five minutes??

The first 3-4 days are hell. And then you feel SO dang good and have so much energy, you won't believe it. You'll wonder what all the fuss was about. If you cheat, you're back to needing to detox again and that's the hellacious part. But the pride and confidence that comes from doing it right? Priceless. Don't cheat yourself out of that win.

Just so you know, my husband is 6'0 and weighed 270 or thereabouts. Both of us were at 37 BMI and we were told to do 1 and 2 week pre-ops. I had no weight-related comorbidities. Either trust your doctor or don't. But don't look for excuses to disobey him/her. And if you don't trust your doc? Don't let her get near you with a scalpel!

Susie, how do you make it?

I would also suggest asking your doctor for a prescription for Protein shakes and bariatric Vitamins. Once you add all those in, your chances of meeting the deductible required for tax purposes (x% of gross Income) is much better. As kindle said, I too am not an accountant so.... )

Noor that was Pakistani beef curry I basically took a Nihari recipe and made it with ground beef instead. We don't eat rice and naan. Instead, I sometimes make zucchini "noodles" and put the curry on that. I have cut down on the dal quite a bit though and sometimes I miss my dal-chawal

My husband and I got sleeved by the same doctor same day. Same BMI. Different pre-ops. His was 2 weeks mine was 1. I did the two with him but we asked why the difference. The doctor said that even though we had the same BMI, that he weighed more than I did. Also when men weigh as much as he did, they tend to carry the weight on their stomachs (this was true of him). That means my husband was much more likely than me to have fatty liver and thus needed a longer pre-op. As Laura says, we may all be fat but even in that we differ. So second guessing ones doctor is roulette.

I've had to do the other way around--tell people not to think they should be eating like me. I'm mean, I have a tiny tummy. If my coworkers ate like I did, they'd be miserable. And I know how hard it is to eat normally when someone around you is "on a diet" or "being good". Maybe this is a bigger issue for women, but I don't want them to think they can't eat carbs or have desert because I choose not to. I urge them to ignore me and eat whatever they choose. The only time it gets to me? Is all those crap recipes my friends post on Facebook. I really want to tell them that is not real food when you start with two boxes and add three cans to it, even if you did bake it. I see those horrible, horrible, sugar and fat and chemical laden deserts being posted and just want to explain about REAL food. Thankfully I don't. But I sure am tempted! And was before the sleeve too actually so that still hasn't changed

Actually I'm curious. What exactly is a bariatric pudding?

Be a grown up they said. See the world, they said. Do whatever you want! Have no responsibilities! They told us. Liars.

Lol!! Oh I don't know, there are parts of me that are still very round

You raise some interesting points. I have a friend who struggles with weight as I do. She knows I've had VSG. I've never recommended it to her because I feel that people have to come to the realization themselves and be prepared to make the huge changes that will be required. She asked me for help to lose weight, I said start by eating Protein first, then veggies and then carbs if you're still hungry (she lives on carbs). She hasn't been able to make that change. I'm not judging, I'm just saying she wasn't ready to make a simple change like that. My younger son did it and lost a little baby fat super quick. She can't. If she can't do that, I wonder if she could handle what the surgery brings? People will come to it--or not--on their own. I am happy to share my story and my challenges and my knowledge. But I wouldn't "recommend" or even gently push anyone toward it.

Are you allowed raw vegetables by now? If so I don't see a problem with it.

Actually I don't think everyone cheats on their pre-op. Many of us didn't.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! So what are to doing for yourself today?

Where's your lunch? Or dinner I suppose. UK, right?

It happens sometimes. Ten days is enough time to get yourself back on track. Come up with a plan for what you will do the next time you are tempted. I know a lot of people stayed extra busy so they could be distracted. That worked well for me as well. Take a walk, call a friend, clean your closet, come up with a list of activities to distract yourself. You'll be so proud of yourself in ten days!

I met my goal to reduce flare ups by not overdoing it. Unfortunately that meant--you guessed it, not overdoing it So I didn't make my goal of 60 miles, I did make 48. I did plank, made it to 100s. And I stayed moving whenever I could. I went from 4 bad flare ups the previous month to 1 bad and 1 moderate one so I'm happy. And I'm looking forward to being a part of the December thread!

For me, I worry not about what my sleeve will tolerate because it hasn't had issues with anything except bread and dry chicken. It's more of an issue about what my brain will crave that may be bad for me. We're all different so this may not be an issue for others, but for me, I worry that if I eat sweets, I will want more sweets. I worry about my brain a lot more than I worry about my sleeve, that's for sure! The sleeve I trust. The brain, not so much. My brain is why I have a sleeve in the first place.

Oh that looks amazing! Do you boil the wheat berries? Or just soak them?