Fluffnomore

Is it not a relationship where you can explain to him that you don't want anyone else knowing about this? And can the doctor's office write in a medical code rather than write out your diagnosis? Sorry. That is hard.

Your HR director should not be giving out information on why, or what you are having surgery for. Presumably, could they access your insurance records anyway? I don't know…I am just wondering. It's a tough call but you might want to find out just in case *someone* is going to know anyway and you would be giving up 3 weeks for no reason.

Not all surgeons have this requirement, but as always I would recommend following your individual surgeon's guidelines.

I also really liked the bariatric pudding/shakes from diet direct.com during those first few weeks, made as a pudding. I still like them as a treat. It really broke up the monotony of Protein shakes. Two months later and the powder shakes are still making me shudder. I do Premier Protein when I want to get a quick hit though.

You also need to realize that the cost may change, depending on a lot of things. At this stage, they're estimating based on their experience with the insurance company and your plan's stated rules. I think my initially quoted cost by the hospital was something like $600 (my insurance covers 90% of inpatient/surgery after meeting the deductible…this year anyway) and they discounted that to $450 if I paid them up front. But even though my surgery was 2 months ago, bills and claims are still rolling in. I got one the other day that said a claim for $800 was rejected. I don't expect this will all be cleared up for at least another month or so. I'm guessing I'll end up a little south of $1,000…but that is plenty reasonable all things considered. As for follow up/revision operations, that completely depends on your insurance plan. I think most are probably covered but I really don't know. And personally, I didn't really want to count on it.

Proudgrammy, I grew up in Syracuse. I still laugh here in Chicago when people start complaining about 2 inches of snow. Where did you have your surgery done? Please message me if you're not comfortable putting it "out there." I have been wondering about this again, as my thermostat seems to have calmed down a bit. But I am not sweating nearly as much in workouts as I used to. Part of it may be that I'm still ramping up a bit, and not up to speed quite yet. Has anyone noticed that workouts are different? Or do I just need to kick it up a notch or three?

I actually had the band recommended to me first but the more I looked into it on my own, the more sense the sleeve made for me. I'm not a fan of the port/filling cycle, and was worried about the reported complications. Honestly, I believe that any of the surgeries had the potential to be a game changer for me so I never got deeply into a debate about it. I just felt strongly after meeting with the surgeon and doing research on my own that this was the best option for me. I like the permanence!

Yup. One entree usually equals three meals for me!

My guess is you might be being fitted wrong. There is a great place here called Intimacy. Most of us are wearing way too big of a band size and too small of a cup size. I thought I was 38DD for the longest time, but since being fitted for the first time about 8 years ago and a number of times since I have ranged from a 32G to 34H and everything in between. Being fitted correctly helped my shoulders and back so much that I stopped pursuing a breast reduction.

I got some too and felt like it was just okay. I'm not a huge cheese lover anyway so I'm sure that is part of it. Most of the bag is sitting in my fridge. I may use it to make mac and cheese for the kids.

BM is bowel movement.

Couldn't log in as you, logged in as myself. For everyone else: Good morning. I am Professor Karine Clement. I'm a professor of nutrition at the Institute of Cardiometabolism and Nutrition in Paris. I'm here at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) conference to tell you about gut microbiota, metabolism, and bariatric surgery. You all know that there has been an increase in the morbid form of obesity worldwide. There is a specific tool to improve these patients' condition: bariatric surgery. Actually, there are different tools. One is purely restrictive, where you have a diminution of food intake, using either a banding ring or a sleeve gastrectomy. But one of the most popular tools in bariatric surgery uses not only a restrictive procedure but also a malabsorptive procedure; it's called gastric bypass, or Roux-en-Y, and it has been well shown to induce major and sustained weight loss. It improves a lot of cardiometabolic risks, and there is also an improvement in systemic and tissue inflammation. This procedure is not only very effective for patients by reducing their risk, but it also has helped us better understand the factors associated with the improvements from bariatric surgery -- not only metabolic factors and inflammatory factors, but other aspects as well. Indeed, obesity is a very complex condition associated with many environmental factors and with our own biology. There is basically an interaction between multiple environmental factors and individual biology and genes. In fact, we have been surprised in the past year to determine that we have another genome that is based on the genes inside the gut: the gut microbiota, or gut microbiome.[1-3] Gut microbiota change after bariatric surgery.[4,5] There is kind of a switch in the composition of bacteria as well as in bacterial genes. We followed 30 subjects before and after bariatric surgery and found that some bacterial species are associated with a change in metabolism, change in fat mass, change in leptin, and change in insulin. Often, bacterial groups are associated with inflammatory factors, but we have demonstrated that only a part of this association depends on changing food intake. There are many factors that could explain this change in gut microbiota -- of course, calorie change per se -- but also the surgical procedure. The question now, going further, is that if we have a person in a given context --with known environmental factors, his own biology and gut microbiota -- then what is the link between this clinical phenotype, tissue phenotype, and gut microbiome? There are growing data in the literature showing that, indeed, the specific gut microbiota profile could modify the host biology. But we have seen in a rodent model that, if you transfer the gut microbiota of an animal after surgery, you can actually mimic some of the effects found after bariatric surgery, such as an improvement of weight and metabolic conditions.[6] Now the challenge is to better understand this aspect, to understand how bariatric surgery works to improve metabolic condition. Is gut microbiota important in this context? We need more mechanistic studies to understand how this works. Thank you for your attention.

WHERE?!?!?!

I think it's totally possible to enjoy a treat now and then. But I do worry that it is too early in your diet for pizza. And I say that based on what my surgeon's recommendations were, no idea what yours told you. I know that for me, once I have done something and "nothing happens" it is easy to justify doing it again. So I was pretty ultra-vigilant until I got cleared to solids. But again, whether this signifies a slippery slope for you? Only you can answer that. Even though I'm 8 weeks out I still haven't had sweets. Very rare "regular" carbs. I just figure, why decide that I should do it? It'll make the next time that much easier. YMMV.

I just meant I was responding to something earlier, and didn't want you to think I didn't hear what you said.

I'm 8 weeks and hit "onederland" about a week or so ago? Can't remember. I have been bouncing from 199-201 since then. Just fluttering like a little butterfly. Here's the good news. I'm 1-2 sizes smaller than when I started. I am exercising again after that restriction being lifted two weeks ago. I have restriction in my stomach but am able to eat (I probably eat more than most; about 900 calories most days.) I am blessed that I have not had any issues with recovery and my health. When I get a little crazy in my head, and start beating myself up for eating "so much" or going over 900 calories (the arbitrary number I have set for myself that allows me to get in my Protein, etc.) then I also have to take a giant step back and really think about it. My light days before WLS were twice this many calories and a lot of unhealthy foods. I am doing amazing work here and I have to trust that my body will get with the program. I like the idea of pauses. We are taking over control of our bodies and our lives and everything is adjusting. Be strong! Have faith.

I hate to post this on top of RJ's beautiful post, so RJ please know I read it and appreciate your viewpoint as always. I was diagnosed with ADHD several years ago…maybe even as many as 5? I don't know. I saw something shiny. But seriously, I was pretty diligent about taking the medication for a while and I still do occasionally when I have a big project that requires my laser focus. But two things hold me back from taking it regularly. The first is that (for me anyway) I am prescribed by a psychiatrist who handles my husband and daughter's medication; she is not covered by our insurance, and she is expensive. And she (smartly) requires follow-ups. As much as I think it's a bit of a racket, I know that the check-ins are important and they have the greater need for them right now. The second is that I've had this all my life and being in my 40s have already come up with some pretty fantastic coping strategies. I don't think it's a coincidence that the kind of work I do is kind of ADHD in nature. I manage two different nonprofits and am constantly shifting gears and being interrupted. I might go from writing a grant to talking to a donor to settling a dispute to making up name cards in a two hour period. So my tendency to get distracted is not usually a problem; if I were the type of person who had to do everything in a specific order or be upset, I would not be as successful at what I do. The odd thing that I have noticed about being sleeved is that when "what/when am I going to eat" is taken off the table, the effect on my work is strangely similar to taking my adderall. Because I also like to cook. So I guess knowing that I will go to the fridge and cut up some chicken breast for myself at 11:30, means that I don't drop everything and run to the store to get stuff to make that new recipe I want to try. I just keep working at what I'm doing. I am still cooking a lot for my family, but for example last night I had planned to make them an Italian Pasta dish out of some leftovers from earlier in the week, and I knew it wasn't going to work for me. So I made it, went to work out, came back and made myself some steak. In the past I would have started it around 4:30, poured a glass of wine, skipped the workout, and said, "Oh, eff it" and eaten with them. When I really stop and list the little adjustments like this it's mind-boggling. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah. I have the ADHD.

I have a friend who is coming off of benzodiazepine addiction (all prescribed through her doctors) and we just were talking about how the only constant is that most people eventually have some really difficult, insurmountable shitted to surmount. In her case, everything came kind of ridiculously easy to her until this happened. Don't know if difficulties (in the best case scenario) become meaning, or a reason to hang on. But it is interesting.

I love, love, love that book…if you mean "Man's Search For Meaning?" Viktor Frankl?

Only for some people. I'm 8 weeks out and I get hungry. However, I also get full very quickly. From what I can see I'm able to eat more than some people but that doesn't mean much.

What scares me is that I've already had the feeling of "Maybe I'm close enough" which I know to be absolute claptrap, but it rears its ugly head. I would have been reasonably happy to pull off this much weight loss from my high weight. And actually I can't talk much about this in real life, so the board is it. But I have had to do some thinking lately about the self-sabotage brain (Trippy to Arts' Skippy?) who is tripping if she thinks we're done. And yet sometimes she thinks we're done. At 8 weeks! Uh, no. It's a constant readjustment of the mind, isn't it? Trippy.

It's interesting. It's been a while since I was pregnant but the nutritional needs are only something like 300 calories more per day, later in the pregnancy. It sounds like you might be having some head hunger. Not that it isn't real…but I remember not *needing* to eat very much more but sometimes thinking I did. I am not a doctor but I would find one who has experience with pregnancy post WLS, and I would measure everything like crazy! The one question of course is, if you were only able to eat around 800 calories or so before, what would be your minimum to thrive in the pregnancy. Good luck!

Oh, sweetie. I wish I knew. Hugs.

One of the main things I have had to think about is that the times I have been thinnest in my adult life I have also been going through some kind of trauma and couldn't eat. My gut seems to be where I process my emotion at least figuratively, and if it was full of sadness or sickness, bingo. No food. Couldn't do it. So the strangest idea (for me) is that I can be happy and thin. It never failed: I got the "You look great!" compliments when I felt like I was dying on the inside. When I was seeing her regularly several years ago, I remember talking to my therapist about this but never really came up with a strategy. This article is interesting, for sure. There are many nuggets, which like dense Protein deserve to be digested slowly. Thanks for posting!

(/wailing) I can't SEE a difference. I just had my husband snap an 8 week picture. I compared it to my 1 week picture, and I just don't see it. I've attached them (sorry the lighting is terrible…) Can YOU tell which is which? I've lost 40 pounds. I'm in 1-2 sizes smaller. My clothes are telling the right story, as are my measurements. I *do* see the difference between now and a picture that was taken of me in July. But I purposely did a photo in the same place as the first one. Nothing. I've decided all I can do is file this, and save it, and take the next photo when it's time. Maybe over a long amount of time I will see the difference. Okay, you may now return to your regularly scheduled programming while I return to my regularly scheduled whining.