Inner Surfer Girl

If you live near a Sonic, get yourself a bag of sonic ice for your freezer (or at least a couple of cups of it). They have the best crushed ice and it really helped me to stay hydrated the first week after surgery.

What they said! Plus, have you tried Water walking/jogging? Or, water aerobics or swimming. Water exercise is great for the joints. Just a thought.

It depends. What is your Protein target? Are you getting in all of your protein and fluids every day? What does your NUT's program say? Are you following that program? The number of calories should follow your protein. The most important thing is to get in all of your protein and fluids. Embrace the Stall! http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

Congratulations!

Good for you! A massage is my reward of choice. I am about 4 pounds away from my next major milestone so it is getting close to time to schedule my next massage. When I win the lottery I am going to get one at least once a week.

Bless her heart.

That is crazy. You are doing great. I have a lot of weight to lose and it may take a couple of years to get to my optimal weight. It may even take longer. I think your surgeon's expectations are seriously flawed. Doesn't he have patients who start at a higher BMI or does he only perform surgery on folks with low BMIs?

As I mentioned in my post my surgery was technically outpatient but I spent the night on the hospital. The way it was explained to me that after I was out of recovery I had 24 hours as outpatient and then they either discharge you or admit you as inpatient. They would have never sent me home if I still needed hospital care. This was at an extremely teputable and successful Center of Excellemce.

How far out are you from surgery? What can you do? I would suggest making an appointment with your NUT to talk about your goals if you aren't happy with your progress. I would also suggest you go back to basics and make sure you are getting in all of your Protein and fluids. As to exercise, it is critical. Find something you like to do. I am a swimmer so getting in the pool is my preferred exercise. Try different things to see what works for you and what you enjoy. Embrace the Stall! http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

Stalls are a normal, natural, and necessary part of the weight loss process. If you plan to lose a lot of weight you will stall. No one can avoid stalling. Stalls are important to weight loss. Most of us experience our first stall about three weeks after surgery. That said, you have got to get in all of your Protein and fluids. Not getting enough of either will interfere with both healing and weight loss. You may not resume losing until you get enough protein and Water because you are starving your body of necessary nutrients. Embrace the Stall! http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

I do understand your frustration and anger. I have been there. I was 150% opposed to the idea of surgery, even though I was: a lifelong dieter and have been in a battle with my weight since adolescence; have tried everything (including successfully losing a tremendous amount of weight with a medically supervised liquid diet in my 20s); was over 500 pounds; and on disability. Being obese, dieting, food addiction, and obsession with food has had a major negative impact on my quality of life, career, and relationships as long as I can remember. I had a lot of pre-conceived ideas about weight loss surgery, most of it based on old and incomplete information. Fortunately, I was at the end of my rope and I have a very wise PCP. I had given up dieting because it has become impossible to lose even a few pounds due to my lack of mobility and healthy issues and that if I were successful, the next rebound would put me at over 600 pounds. The next diet would surely lead me to be bed bound and death. I had always been a "healthy" fat person. That is until I suddenly wasn't. My PCP suggested I just make an appointment to talk about the possibility with a bariatric program. I didn't have to decide anything, just learn about options. I was so blessed to be referred to an outstanding bariatric team with an awesome and very skilled and knowledgeable surgeon. This is a long-winded way of saying from everything I have learned, the psych counselor is absolutely right. I have learned that through my own experience and my surgeon and NUT have been instrumental in helping me understand why and how diets don't work. It is a combination of evolution and physiology. Our bodies are designed biologically to efficiently store energy and resist losing weight. We were designed for extremes of feast or famine but not times of extreme abundance. When we lose weight, our bodies remember the starvation part and are programmed to gain back that much weight plus a buffer. Hence the yo-yo dieting leading us to weigh more than when we started the diet. Our set point is raised each time we diet. Edited: because I accidentally hit save before I finished. I encourage you to keep researching and considering all of your options. You don't have to decide today. It may not be right for you today. For me, the right weight loss surgery technique, and right surgeon came along at the right time for me. Even though it would have been great to have this surgery when I was your age, the surgery that was available then was completely different and I probably wouldn't even have been eligible. I was sleeved April 20 of this year and couldn't be happier with my progress and results. I had an easy and uneventful surgery and recovery. None of my fears about pain and failure have come to pass. I am regaining my mobility and my life. Most importantly, I am recreating my life and not planning my funeral.

I loved the soft food stage and ate a lot of: Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, refried Beans, tuna, soft cooked vegetables (like green beans), meatballs, crab cakes, eggs, avocado, etc. I agree with sticking to trying foods individually to see if you can tolerate them before combining foods in recipes, although I have found a bit of melted cheese never hurt anything! If you want recipes try the world according to Eggface blog. A lot of people like her ricotta bake. I found it a bit rich at first.

Yes, I think about this. I even got a subscription to Vogue and Bazaar this year. I haven't read fashion magazines in decades and have NEVER been able to fit into the clothes they advertise before. I also subscribed to some "regular clothes" catalogs to get an idea about what is currently available. I tear out pictures of things I like with the intent of making a style board. I also have a few lite rest boards of styles I like: pretty dresses, Paris street style, etc.

I always find it helps to assume the best until you have evidence otherwise. If they do happen to require an extra visit or you have to appeal, it just may mean that you have a small delay. Stay positive, and focus on what you can do and have faith that everything will work out. I experienced some long delays due to financing issues and even had to repeat some tests because of the delay, but it all came together at the right time. Just be positive, proactive, persistent, and patient. It will be worth it.

Congratulations on taking such a big step. The best advice I can give is learn as much as you can, ask lots of questions, and write everything down. Your program may give you a notebook to keep up with all of the information you receive, but if they don't you may want to get a big three ring binder to keep up with everything. You have posted in the bypass forum so I assume you are planning to have the bypass. If you aren't familiar with the other options, I encourage you to learn about all of the available procedures and work with your surgeon to determine which one is best for you. Also, stay positive, proactive, persistent, and patient throughout the process. Best of luck.

A compatible culture and positive job environment are huge. I would take a little less pay to work with honest, genuine, caring people any day over a bit more money and working for jerks. The extra stress isn't worth it. Unfortunately, I worked for jerks whose pay was lousy for way too long in the past. Life is too short!

Great question. I was laid off of my last job and have been on disability since then. Since I have had WLS I will be returning to the wok force and one of my biggest projects will be exploring what I REALLY want my career/work life to look like. I did a little bit of this after my layoff, but was so limited due to my obesity and mobility issues, I couldn't really dream big. Once I am back on my feet (literally and figuratively) the sky is the limit. Since your job was eliminated do you have outplacement assistance available to you? If so, I HIGHLY recommend you take advantage of those services, even if you accept a job in the near term. Best of luck with your decision.

I guess it depends on how much you want. I have to be very careful with fruit because even though it has Fiber, Vitamins, and other health benefits, it is very high in sugar. Please talk to your NUT to see how much fruit would work in your plan.

Have you talked to your NUT about your goals? Are you able to eat Protein first and teach your daily protein target or are carbs crowding out your protein? I think those questions are more important than whether or not you should eat healthy carbs at lunch.

I just had a follow-up appointment with my PCP and he is beyond thrilled with my progress. It is so funny to actually look forward to doctor's appointments. (I always dread appointments before surgery because I felt so helpless. Yes, I know I need to lose weight.) I thanked him for twisting my arm and making me at least talk to the folks at the bariatric program he recommended. Who knew that he was referring me to such an awesome program and most of all a very talented surgeon? I couldn't have picked a better one myself. Looking forward to me next follow-up already!

I know how frustrating it is to be delayed once you are ready for the surgery. I had some delays due to financing issues. Guess what? In the end everything worked out for the best. It is only an extra month and your life and health are worth that much of a wait. It was such a blessing that your heart issues were identified and treated in time. Someone is watching over you. Learning to let go and allow things to unfold as they are supposed to is hard, but well worth it. As long as you are doing what you are supposed to on your end, then you have to just wait. The whole process of this weight loss journey for me has been a matter of being positive, persistent, practical, proactive, and most of all patient. It will be worth it.

Congratulations, and Happy Birthday! That is a great day to have a rebirth.

It will be hard at first, but I promise it gets easy. Who knows, you might even find out you like drinking a lot of water!

Since having the sleeve, I eat at home and prepare my own food much more often, but I haven't completely given up going through drive-thrus. I do know that the stock at most fast food restaurants and the coca-cola company must have really taken a hit when I had surgery. I regularly go through our local Sonic and order a medium cup of ice after I have been swimming and take it home to put my Mio drops in. I know they are trained to upsell, but they seem so confused that that is all I want -- every time I go, which is almost daily. At Sonic, I have been known to just order the toppings from a New York Dog with cheese (grilled onions, sauerkraut, spicy mustard) and or bacon egg and cheese without bread (Which one do I want, they always ask. Do I want the toaster or ciabatta? I usually have to tell them I want the toaster, but don't want the bread. -- Bless their hearts, I know they are victims of an industrial touch screen conspiracy.) Breadless turkey sandwiches at Arby's or just a side of meatballs with cheese at Fazoli's are also meals for me on occasion. An egg mcmuffin with an extra "round egg" and no muffin is also confusing. Apparently you have to specify "round egg" if you want the kind that comes with an egg mcmuffin and you can only get those during Breakfast hours even though they are supposed to serve breakfast all day. Sigh. I usually let them give me the muffin and either eat half or discard it lest they get completely confused. What creative ways have you found to confound and confuse drive-thru employees?