livvsmum

I always know when it's time for my B12 because my energy just completely leaves and I end up crashing at the end of a day.....hard. Also, if I don't get a Protein shake in first thing in the morning I can feel a little sluggish.

This is craziness! I keep waiting for my head to catch up with my body. My eyes are still WAY too big for my mini tummy. I got a scoop of chicken salad for lunch and surrounded it with some goodies from the salad bar (spinach, beets, cucumbers), and I was stuffed after 4 bites of the chicken salad. Didn't get to the rest of the pretties. It's so weird. My mind is still in the eat, eat, eat setting, but my sleeve is doing its job. Another weird thing is that I've now lost 54 pounds, and when I look in them mirror I still see myself exactly the same as I was before. My mind is messed up! LOL

livvsmum

I live in NE PA, near Scranton. My surgeon is Dr. Gary Neale out of Wilkes Barre. Any other NE PA peeps here?

103 pounds! that is awesome!! Congrats!

My insurance didn't require a weight loss necessarily, just that you participate in a 6-month diet and exercise plan facilitated/monitored by your doctor. I didn't lose any weight. In fact, because my BMI was borderline for insurance to cover it, I had to maintain my weight to remain eligible.

Most of the questions in my psych eval were related to my eating, exercise, and health habits in efforts to evaluate whether I was ready to make the necessarily life changes. There were also questions about mental health, depression, substance dependency, support system, etc. There were a ton of questions, but just try to be as honest as possible. Worst case scenario is they will say work on these couple of things and come back in a month......

Yes, it does make for a very long process!! But I can say that in the end, I was happy I had that because I learned so much and I felt I was as prepared as possible when it came time for surgery. You can read more about my 6-month (which actually was a 9 month process) on my blog in my signature if you like. It was full of ups and downs, but it was worth the wait. And like I said, I had the opportunity to read a lot and do a lot of research and get very prepared. My surgeons office was great with making sure I had all my appointments and tests checked off so that insurance approval was very simple. They put it in and I believe I got the approval 2 days later. Easy as can be. I was on edge though waiting for that approval. Hang in there! It will be worth it in the end. And since you have to do it anyway, try to make the most of it and take something way from all the classes, appointments, readings, etc.

I agree the first couple of days were the worst. After day 3 I felt a lot better and I started thinking less about food. It's tough though!!!!

I wouldn't really count myself an "after" since I'm only 8 weeks out, but mine are in my profile.

You can definitely tell a difference!! Good job!!! I also carry weight around my waist. I have a before/after pic from 2 months post op in my profile and you can see what I mean. It can be frustrating. I feel like my belly will be the last to go! :-) In any case, you are doing awesome!

I never had heartburn/reflux issues before surgery, but take my prilosec prescription daily. Like others have said, if I feel ok and skip a few days, I am miserable. I haven't had issues that I needed miralax for, but my daughter takes it time to time and it works like a charm. I should add that the big bottles of miralax can be pricey, but if your insurance covers it, you could get a prescription instead and your prescription co-pay might well be less than the OTC price.

livvsmum

At 7 weeks I lost 42 pounds. However, everyone is different both with the rate at which they lose and also their starting point. If you start higher you tend to lose a little bit more quickly at first. It tends to be a lot more helpful and less discouraging if you look at your % of excess weight lost. So at 7 weeks, I had lost 33% of my excess weight.

yep, I still do a shake in the morning for breakfast. It's ok with my nutritionist though. I guess everyone's requirements and "ok" foods are kind of all over the place. Actually, I am totally off caffeine so if I run out of Protein shakes and don't have one in the morning I feel kind of sluggish. I do the Premier Protein snack size. It's 8 oz, 100 cal., and 18g protein.

You look awesome! congrats!

I was there for 4 days.... Surgery on Thursday, home on Sunday. I was not able to get in liquids and they kept me on the IV fluids a bit longer. Also some issues with my potassium and magnesium levels. Very minor things, but they did result in a couple more days. I didn't mind it though because I have 4 kids and wanted to be as strong as possible when I went home.

awesome!! congrats!

livvsmum

I'm so very sorry for your devastating loss. You are doing an amazing job carrying on your sister's legacy and memory.

Yes! I have people at work regularly ask me what I'm doing and we engage in good conversations about healthy eating tips, etc. the people at work don't know I had surgery, but I've been able to connect with them on a health-conscious kind of level. Also I had someone at church come up to me yesterday to tell me I look great and we ended up getting into a really good conversation about her struggles with weight loss and the emotional side of things. So even though I am not sharing my surgery with everyone at this point, I've still found that I am able to help other people and encourage them along their diet journeys that may not lead to surgery.

I understand having trouble with the Protein, however, I would try as much as possible to stick to your surgeon's recommendations. I really struggled with the Protein drinks making me nauseous after surgery, but finally found a fix between protein Jello, protein pudding and the only shake I could ever stand, Premier Protein. I'm now 8 weeks out and still have a premier Protein Shake for Breakfast, even though I don't have to at this point. Hang in there, try different things (within the confines of your surgeon's recommendations) and if you really can't find anything you can tolerate, call his office and get some recommendations.

I agree completely. I don't live my life around food anymore. It doesn't control me. My relationship with food has changed 100%. The pre-op diet was very difficult for me emotionally because I was an emotional eater and I was grieving that coping mechanism. then the first 2 weeks after surgery were more difficult than I thought they would be - NOT physically....that was fine - but emotionally. I did have a lot of cravings during those first couple of weeks. BUT, with that all said, things are completely different now (8 weeks post-op). I can honestly say I have not caved in to one single craving for a sweet or junky thing since surgery. It's just SO much easier to say no and walk away now. I may have a fleeting moment of "wanting" a cookie or chips or whatever, but it totally passes in seconds and is SO much easier to dismiss now. This has been a really freeing experience, because I took the power back!

Checking in! Starting challenge weight: 239 Current weight: 227 Tgiving goal: 225 2 more pounds to go!!

Checking in! Starting challenge weight: 239 Current weight: 227 Tgiving goal: 225 2 more pounds to go!!