Miss Mac

I just weighed in for my one year at 169 pounds like you. My original goal had been 135, but my doctor said that if i lose another 14 pounds, plastics would take care of another 12-15 pounds, putting my weight at 140-145 which is good enough for my age (63). My insurance will pay for the panni, but not until two years post-op. So basically I have a year to lose another 14 pounds if that is where I want to stop.

At the end of my three month pre-op program, my team submitted the weight that I had when I first came in the door for my initial appointment even though I had lost 22 pounds during that time.

My rules included to measure everything out and never eat the last bite. However, anytime Miss Tummy disagrees with what I have eaten, she will either give it back or make me miserable for at least four hours.

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

Oops...did not mean to post yet. x. What I liked about Spam was the salt and the grease. y. What I liked about pancakes was the butter and syrup. z. What I liked about veggies was the butter and salt. So, here is my point: I think that your hubby along with most people is not worried about having to give up food. The hard part is giving up the crap that we put on food. Maybe you can help silently but doing your best to present healthy options and let nature run its course. Being dedicated to weight loss is a big decision. He has to want it, and no amount of nagging is going to help.

One of the reasons that I love my boyfriend so much is that in the eight years we have been together, he has never ever asked me to change anything about myself. Prior to my surgery, we looked like a pencil and an apple standing together. Now we are more like a pencil and a kindergarten crayon. The thing that prompted me to get sleeved was not pressure from him, but a stroke. Tell him he is a big boy in charge of his own health, but 1. You are taking out an extra insurance policy on him because you expect to be supporting yourself shortly. 2. You are going to continue to have a life outside of the house even if he doesn't want to join in.......then join a bowling league or a gym or a hiking club......anything to prove your point. 3. You are doing everything in your power to make sure that there are healthy food choices available at home. Some things that I realized about food post-op are: a. I can survive quite nicely on 1/4 of the calories I was eating before. b. I really don't like fish all that much. What I liked about Long John Silver's was the grease and the salt. c. What I liked about McDonald's and Burger King was the grease, salt, and ketchup. d. What I liked about Krispy Creme Donuts was the grease and the sugar. e. What I liked about Pepsi was the sugar, f. What I liked about Lil' Caeser's pizza was the grease and the salt. g. What I liked about bread was the butter and jam. h. What I liked about potatoes was the butter, salt, and sour cream i. What I liked about ice cream was the fat and the sugar. j. What I liked about noodles was the creamt Alfredo sauce. k. What I liked about Chinese food was the soy sauce and MSG. l. What I liked about cake was the frosting made with shortening and sugar. m. What I liked about potato chips, Cheetos, pretzles, etc. was the grease and the salt. n. What I liked about Kentucky Fried chicken was the grease and the 11 herbs and spices. 0. What I liked about Hershey Kisses wasn't the chocolate, but the fat and the sugar. p. What i liked about bacon was the grease and the salt. q. What I liked about apple pie was the sugar and the buttery crust. r. What I liked about biscuits and gravy was the fravy. s. What I liked about popcorn was the butter and salt. t. What I liked about a hot bologna and cheese sandwich was the Miracle Whip. u. What I liked about bagels was the cream cheese. v. What I liked about Trail Mix Gorp was the raisins and marshmallows. w. What I liked about Cheerios was the sugar that I put in the milk. x.

I am one of those people who weigh every day. If I don't track, I lose track. Then if I have to make an adjustment in my eating plan, it is a small adjustment.

Since matter can neither be created nor destroyed, I guess it has to go somewhere! This probably is not the best advice, but when I was a teenager with oily hair, I used Dawn dish-soap just like wildlife rescuers do with oily birds. It did lighten my hair a bit, too.

The first incident I remember was at about fifty pounds. I went to see a pain specialist that I see every three-four months. When they got me on the procedure table, they went through the "time-out" and I heard him whisper to his nurse "Do we have the right patient on the table? She doesn't look like it's the right patient. So they did the "time-out" over again. That's when I told him it was really me, only fifty pounds less of me.

Welcome to the forum. I just passed my first year on December 23, 2014. I started out at 235 pounds with an original goal weight of 135. I would say I am a slow loser since I only lost 66 pounds, but that is 66 pounds of potatoes that I am not carrying around on my bones 24/7. At my one year visit, the doctor adjusted my goal to 155 and said that once I get to that point, plastics should take care of another 15 pounds. My insurance will pay for a panniculectomy after the second year is up, so basically I have a year to lose the other 14 pounds. Since my six month visit, I have been instructed to eat 800-1200 calories, 80 grams of Protein and 64 ounces of Water. That is all manageable. My quality of began to improve about the time I passed the first thirty pounds. My arthritis pain is less, my mobility is improved, even my balance and posture are some better. My bed feels bigger, my shoes and rings are looser, and I have gone from a size 24 to 12-14. Internally my body is pleased to have outstanding nutrition. The chronic inflammation has subsided and I am no longer prediabetic. I have dropped four meds since being sleeved. My mental outlook as improved since I no longer feel doomed to an early death like most of my obese family. I have to admit that even though I had no surgical complications and the pain of recovery has been minimal, the first coupke of weeks were tough. But that was because of nausea not pain. Was I scared to have the surgery? You betcha, but I was more scared to die of an abdominal aortic aneurysm like mother did only a little older than I am now (she was 5'2" and 320 pounds) or of a heart attack like my brother did at the age of 47 (he was 6'2 and 420 pounds). Many of my 68 cousins (big big family) are dead already and we buried two more this past year. So, every day that I wake up on this side of the dirt - that's a good day. The surgeon removed 80% of my stomach - not 85% as some do. Hunger has not really been a problem. My tongue wants to taste more than my stomach wants to process. I do not miss the horrendous volume of food that I used to eat, and I nearly gag now to see my family members load their plates with enough to feed a horse, salt it up, and then go in for seconds....plus drink a quart of soda. How I lived this long, I do not know. I have already had a stroke which is what prompted getting sleeved. I think 300-400 calories is even less than my four year old granddaughter eats. I do eat in small quantities (less around 3/4 cup), but I eat three meals and two Snacks and sometimes a hot chocolate at bedtime. Eating that much protein keeps hunger at bay and 800-1200 calories is a healthy amount to sustain health and exercise.

Your sleeve is still a tube so the gum should push on through. I remember the first time I ate Peanut Butter post op. There was no way I could hold enough Fluid to wash it down. I waited a long time before I tried it again. At about six weeks I swallowed a tangrine seed and lived to tell about it. I still have not tried popcorn at a year out, and probably won't.

My boyfriend is the star chef in this house. He took whatever meat and veggies he was having and put some in the blender with a little broth for me. I had tried baby food, but without any seasonings at all, it was hard to get down. I even had Wendy's chili in the blender. I also ate a lot of applesauce during that phase.

In 2009 I went on a week-long seminar to Reno Nevada. I hadn't had surgery then, but was on a low-carb diet trying my best to lose weight. My employer provided continental breakfast and a couple of full dinners, but we were on our own for other per diem meals. My travel mates and I hopped a tour bus for downtown Reno and stopped off at a Walgreens. We bought our snacky stuff - cheeses, yogurts, nuts, coldcuts, power bars, etc and hopped back on the next tour bus that came around. We all ordered mini-fridges for our rooms. I had even orderd a couple chef salads from room service. I made it through without doing too much damage. The sad thing about continental breakfast is that it is mostly pastry and coffee, but on days fruit, yogurt, bacon or eggs were available, that is what I took.

Welcome to the forum. My reason for choosing the sleeve was because I did not want re-routed with a gastric bypass, and I did not want an abdominal port with the lap band. I am a slow loser, but 66 pounds gone is 66 pounds I never have to deal with again. For year two, I just need to lose 14 more, and the doc said that a panni will take care of the rest.

My surgeon submitted the weight that I was the day I walked through their door for the first time, even though I had lost 22 pounds during the 3 month pre-op process. My MBI went from 40.1 down to 36.6. I had several co-morbidities which would have still qualified me unless my BMI dropped below 35, but they submitted the original weight anyway.

My boyfriend is the cook in this house, so it was invaluable to have him on board. He batch cooks on one of his off days, and then we eat on that all week. He makes sure that I have multiple Protein choices and three veggies on hand to circulate all week. We neither one do Desserts, so he buys me apples and tangerines usually. He is a big help. I can cook, but he is much better and trained in the Mediterranean style since he is from Malta. He cooks, so I clean up - fair deal.

I do eat some cheese, but not as much as I used to. Most of my Protein now comes from roasted meat like beef and chicken. I don't like fish much, but I do make tuna salad and have that for my lunch most days. As much as possible, I try to avoid anything that comes through a factory....that way I have total control over ingredients. I don't salt eggs anymore - just put extra pepper on them, and I have cut wayyyyyy back on bacon, sausage, ham, and cold cuts because of the sodium.

For sure, add your OBGYN to your post-op team. I can offer this much encouragement: your nutrition for this pregnancy will be outstanding compared to the way you were probably eating the first time around. Your quantity will be less, but the quality will be stellar. Take your Vitamins.

I did not want a port in my abdomen. So glad I got sleeved a year ago.

You can say that you had a different experience than what you were expecting, but please do not call us liars, or f-ing liars. You can say that your doctor dropped the ball on pain management. Many of us seriously do not have that much of an issue with post op pain. The one thing that gets me about the pain that I hear some do complain about, is that ridiculously painful shoulder gas from trapped CO2 in the abdominal cavity. Pre-op, I asked my surgeon about pain management and specifically what he does about the shoulder gas. He said that he extracts as much as possible. Why can't everyone's surgeon do that? I had no problem whatsoever with any shoulder gas. The only real pain I had to overcome was in just being cautious with my largest incision for the first few days. I only took hydrocone for three days post-op and that was sufficient enough to be comfortable. And yes, I have had two c-sections. Compared to that and other surgeries, my sleeve was the easiest of all. I have had more aggravating pain from the dentist. I am sorry that your surgeon did you a diservice. Even though we all have different tolerance for pain, your experience definitely could have been better. But please, please do not call the good people here on the forum "liars". You asked for our opinion of our own recovery, and that is what you got. An uncomplicated bariatric surgery does not necessarily have to be miserable. To the original poster: address pain management with your surgeon before you get to the hospital. Some of what folks go through can easily be avoided.

Find some friends who go to the gym and spend your evenings with them instead of the drinkers. Then drink Water. Alcohol and socializing with people who have nothing better to do is not doing you any favors. You need better friends who care about your success, not aquaintances who bring you down. They will never come up to your level. They will always drag you down to theirs.

I had the choice to attend a seminar or sign in for their on-line seminar. I did the online one which took about 30 minutes, then they scheduled my first appointment right away.

I am sorry to hear that you had a rough time and that your surgeon's has not properly prepared you for the significant lifestyle changes that are necessary with bariatric surgery. As soon as I came home, I was allowed to go to full liquids. At two weeks I went to purees. At three weeks I started soft mushies. At 4 1/2 weeks I could start regular food as tolerated. At this stage 3/4 cup of anything is a lot. I started out with just a couple of ounces and at one month I was measuring 1/3 cup plus two tablespoons and was told to measure and never eat the last bite. It wasn't until six months that I could tolerate 3/4 cup. Now at one year, I can eat a cup of food, bu still weigh and measure so that I don't fall into the trap of over guressing by eyeballing my portions. That can get out of hand real quick. I can't see myself ever being able to handle more than a cup at a time. And please do not drink anything 1/2 hour before or after you eat. The fluids can not only stretch your new tummy, they can dilute you food and will wash it through before you can absorb any nutrition from it. Going into your third week, you should be ok with eggs if you can tolerate them, but don't go eating two or three or four just yet, Your new tummy has some healing to do. Go to Youtube and watch one of those videos that actually shows a sleeve operation. That will remind you what your stomach has been through. If you get hungry, go for liquids first. Those darn Protein shakes are a right of passage on the way to a healthier you. By the time you are a month out, you should be able to slack back and get your protein from food and milk. You can get soft protein from eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, sugar fee pudding made with lowfat milk, Soups with Protein Powder in it. Check the recipes forum for ideas and go to the blog called The World According to Eggface. I hope you get to feeling better, and please don't over do it. Don't forget, ice cream has sugar and calories. Sugar and starchs make you hungry for more sugars and starches. For a while, just decline going in those places and socializing around food until you can get the strength to say no to temptation. Friends and family can undo your noble efforts very quickly. When I had my surgery a year ago, my two week visit got post-poned because of frightful winter weather. So, at three weeks I saw my primary. If you have any further complications before you doctor returns, go to an E R . I wish you good luck and good health.

Good for you for standing your ground. Bariatric surgery will not only help you lose weight, it will also expose the dynamics of your relationships. You will find out real quick who are your friends and who are acquaintences.

Ever since I discovered this site (when I first started to research surgical options in August 2013) i have checked in a couple of times every day. Well, except for my two days in the hospital. I plan on checking in for a long time so that newbies can get a veteran's perspective. Thanks Alex for building this site.