peaceout

I gained 13 pounds (!) from the fluids in the hospital and it took me 9 days to lose it. All's well now though

My NUT has told me not to worry much about carbs, so I'm sure someone who is really watching their intake will give their thoughts. But if I recall for the Quest bars, total carbs are a little high but Fiber is also high so net carbs aren't too bad. I like these Protein bars more than others I have tried. My reviews: The Cookies and cream is my favorite, mint chocolate is good, and cookie dough is ok (I found it harder to chew than the others. Not sure if I just got a bad box or what). Those are the only 3 I've tried.

I was sleeved June 26th. I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks. I'm down 17 pounds since surgery and 33.5 overall. I had a pretty easy recovery with little pain. I'm still on purees for 2 more weeks. I'm doing pretty well with my Protein and Fluid goals, except it's harder to get in my protein when it's so hot out!

Welcome! I think your concerns are something that just about everyone has at some point on this journey. As with every surgery, there certainly are risks. Only you can decide if the benefits outweigh them for you at this point in your life. And as for the "nevers," that varies from person to person as well, and your concern over diet soda is a great example. There are many people on this forum who can and do still enjoy diet soda,others whose sleeve just cannot handle the carbonation, and still others whose cravings for the stuff never came back enough to try it again. Best of luck to you on whatever you decide!

Good luck to you! I hope all went smoothly!

I'm pretty boring with my PB2, but I blend 1 tablespoon of it with my Syntrax chocolate Truffle Protein powder, 8 oz of Fairlife skim milk (13g protein in that milk!), and ice. It makes an awesome Peanut Butter chocolate shake. I have it almost every morning! *Edited because of my terrible grammar the first time around*

I was sleeved June 26, so just over 3 weeks out. I'm in the puréed foods stage now. I can certainly tell you that I haven't once been hungry, so in that respect I love it! My new sleeve tolerates most foods well. There was one day at the beginning (day 3) where I couldn't keep my shakes down and felt miserable, but since then I've had no major problems. Good luck to you on your journey and let me know if you have any more questions!

I was in a similar situation. But my surgeon's office did all the work/math for me. I basically could only lose 17 pounds during my whole 6-month diet period that my insurance required, so they created a meal plan for me based on that amount. Your surgeon's office should be well-versed with the different insurance requirements for the plans that they accept, so don't be shy about asking them to set you up for success/approval. It seems crazy to be playing games like this when we're talking about a surgery to help me get healthy and lose 100+ pounds, but there was even one month where I lost a little too much, so they told me to "take a week off" from the diet program and eat whatever I wanted. I tried not to go too crazy, but I did increase my calories by a few hundred each day to try and stay above that 40 BMI.

I had a very similar thing happen to me. My surgery got moved up by 6 weeks, and it just so happened that the week of my pre-op diet, I was on vacation with my entire extended family. I hadn't planned on telling anyone about the surgery but I got really sick of trying to explain why I was passing up all the home-cooked food for Protein shakes. So I didn't even make it an entire day before I just blurted out what I was doing. Everyone was so supportive, and the one aunt that was a bit condescending (there's always one, right?) was immediately put in her place by others. It was pretty cool, actually; I really thought I was going to be judged. So maybe the judgemental one is me! Interesting to think about.

Make sure you check with what your own surgeon/NUT requirements are. For me, any type of meat that I eat does have to go in the blender/food processor first. Everyone's stages are a little different.

I just started this phase a couple of days ago. So far, the things that have been sitting the best for me are refried beans and cottage cheese. Eggs and yogurt did not sit well. I may try introducing them again later on, but even just these 2 new items after 2 weeks of protein shakes makes me quite happy!

In recent years, The Cheesecake Factory has received bad press for it's nutrition content. But before all that, there was a chicken dish there that I would always order on my birthday. Now that the nutrition information is available, I looked it up and saw that it contains 2290 cals! Ouch! In their defense, those portions are huge and should have been enough to last a normal person 2-3 meals, but of course I would clean my plate, and then order an 1100-calorie slice of cheesecake!

My surgeon told me to take 2 weeks. I initially scheduled 2 weeks off, but I was going stir crazy after 1 week so I went back on the 10th day after my surgery. I will admit, I did have to take a nap after work the first few days because I was worn out. And now this week, since starting my puree phase, it's a little difficult to get my "meals" in while I'm trying to see patients! Like many others have mentioned, it really depends on you and your job. It's probably better to take too much time off than not enough. Good luck to you!

I think you're doing a smart thing. Like others have said, if you can start making some changes now, post-op it won't seem so difficult. I wish I would have practiced the no drinking with meals thing ahead of time. I am finding it so difficult now, because I'm used to drinking 1-2 glasses of Water with my dinner. Good luck to you!

@@lisaluvsgreys With my surgery (sleeve+hernia repair) my doc had me start drinking Water 3 hours out of recovery and Protein starting at 7 hours out. Up until day 3, everything went down well but on day 3 I threw everything up and also had the most pain. But it only lasted one day and then it was back to normal. I definitely hope it doesn't happen to you!

Congrats! I'm glad everything went well for you! Every day will get easier (except maybe day 3; that sucked for me )

I'm 4 days post-op and the fairlife skim has been a lifesaver. I've developed an aversion to the taste of most other liquids, but this stuff mixed with my chocolate protein powder is the highlight of my day! It also helps to get that extra protein.

Congrats, and good luck!

Hi there! During my 6 months of weigh-ins, one fell on January 2nd. While I did much better over the holidays than I normally would have, I still gained 2.6 pounds that month. Sometimes they make people add another month if that happens, but I was told that if I could lose those 2.6, plus a some extra at my February visit, they wouldn't dwell on it. I think every office is different, but that was my experience. In my case, I don't think the insurance looked too closely at those individual monthly results, just that the overall trend over 6 months was a loss.

@ : I have Priority Health and my doctor's office submitted everything June 5th (a Friday). I called Monday afternoon (June 8th) just to make sure they'd received everything, and the lady said: "Yes! We received it Friday afternoon and you were approved this morning!" So, I'd say one business day is pretty darn quick! I hope yours goes just as smoothly.

Do you have any of the other common comorbidities? Diabetes, HTN, hypercholesterolemia, PCOS, etc.? It seems strange that they made everything ride on whether or not you had sleep apnea. I have no experience with Aetna, but many insurance companies will cover the surgery with a BMI of 35-39 if you have another comorbidity. That may not be true for your policy, but if your surgeon's office thought that having apnea would do the trick, there are probably other comorbidities that would count, too.

I'm sure it'll be different for everyone, but I had mine yesterday and found it to be quite helpful. Mine consisted of a meeting with the dietitian to go over my pre-op prep foods/shakes, post-op product, and the rules about no straws, etc. Then a meeting with the exercise physiologist saying which activities to avoid for the first 4 weeks. Then a very detailed meeting with the PA where I had a few last tests (bloodwork, EKG, etc) and a very thorough overview of what to expect on surgery day. I think most others going through my surgeon's program have it broken up into 2 separate visits, but because I got bumped up and only have a week until surgery, they put everything on one day, and I was there for about 4 hours.

Well, friends, I originally posted here a while ago but then wound up not getting scheduled until the end of July. The office calls me today to tell me there's a cancellation on June 26th, so I snatched it up and am now officially back to being a June sleever! I have an appointment bright and early tomorrow to start right away on this pre-op diet! What a whirlwind! I hope you're all doing well in the various stages of your journey!

The two biggest factors seem to be how long your insurance approval takes, and then your surgeon's schedule. Some insurances have people reviewing submissions for authorization daily, so as soon as they get to yours they decide and let you know. Other insurances have a review panel that only meets biweekly or even monthly, so those can take longer. Check with your insurance company; mine has a policy that they must give me an answer (either yes, no, or need more info) within 15 days. After approval, it really depends on your surgeon. Some surgeons only do surgery one day a week, some more. Some have kids and use their summers to take 3-week trips across Europe so their schedule gets really backed up. Some have cancellations and people get in way earlier than expected! And then there are surgeons that give you a date before you even submit to insurance. Best of luck to you! I hope everything goes smoothly!