BLERDgirl

No motivation? Then make a deal with yourself. Promise yourself that you will not be that person you see on the news. The obese person who suddenly gets sick and they have to cut them out the house. OR Find that fun activity that makes you not mind working out. For me it was Water aerobics. There was something freeing about the way my body feels in the water. The payoff was my knees stopped hurting and as my knees stopped aching, I wanted to attend more classes. Suddenly I found out I enjoyed working out. OR Pay yourself. Create a bank account and for every 10 minutes of activity you pay the account a dollar. Maybe your goal is a new wide screen tv with all the bells and whistles. The key is you have to dig deep and find some sort of motivation or bargain you can make with yourself. We can offer suggestions, but ultimately it's on you.

Initially I followed instructions and either drank decaf or tea. I don't drink coffee everyday so I wasn't jonesing for the caffeine, but I do like an occasional cup. At 6 weeks I bought a cup and mixed about 2 ounce with my protein drink. I got that coffee taste without it interfering with my protein and liquids. I have yet to drink a full cup of coffee but I've been doing that every so often. It probably takes me 4 or 5 days to drink a medium coffee. So far I've had no issues with heartburn or reflux.

I told my immediate family which consist of my mom and sister. We all live on the same street and if I had disappeared for 2 days she would have freaked. I also thought it would be terrible if something wrong occurred during surgery and she had no idea. I had an incident where I went to the hospital for an allergic reaction and instead of the usual IV benedryl treatment they put me in a medical coma. No one knew where I was and my mother was scared. I didn't want to do that to her so at the week of my surgery I told her. Honestly if I could have not told her, I wouldn't have. If you can just say you're under the weather or have no appetite that might be fine.

I had a *really* easy time in the hospital. Like @@MissMac I had no gas pain. Not one bit. I had no pain, so there was no issue with late pills. My first meal they brought me beef broth instead of vegetable broth. I told them I needed vegetable broth, he took away the beef and brought the veg right away. I think you can plan only so much. Simply take whatever you can't do without, even if it's just a teddy bear. Then just relax and trust you have chosen the right program.

Congrats!

Agreed. Using the food journal (Myfitnesspal) is not difficult for me because I was already using it. Things like staying away from white carbs and fake sugars is something I was already doing pre-op. As for the calorie restriction, my doctor has recommended 600-800 for now. That will change as I progress, and honestly it's about all I can handle right now. I have multiple allergies and a few ongoing health issues that food journaling has helped me to manage. The key for me is when I go to my doctor's appointments I can talk to the nutritionist in way that is helpful for me to me.

@@pippinleicester - the one thing I have found is that all Bariatric programs are not the same. Even in the same city, different doctors have different protocols.

I hope she continues to do well.

I only had to crush my multivitamin because it's so large. My smaller pills and capsules I was allowed to swallow. After 6 weeks I could swallow everything.

Just to piggy back off the body dsymorphia issue, someone with that particular issue often doesn't see their body as it truly is. People with anorexia often have a form of BD. They look in the mirror and see a fat person even when they are extremely thin. Conversely some formerly overweight people still see that 300lb person when they look in the mirror despite now being a normal weight.

1. I don't think they are saying you failed to keep the appts. The wording they choose is off but I think what they are saying is you failed physician-supervised exercise and nutrition program that has regular visits every 2-4 weeks. The reason they put the 2-4 weeks bit in parenthesis is because they are explaining what type of doctor supervised program it is. 2. If you are unable to work because of you illness, have you applied for SSDI? If not, you should. 3. Since the requirement is that you must not gain weight and you did. Your PC should have documented why despite your best efforts you did gain weight. Namely that you tried but the meds caused you to gain. So it seems the key item missing is that there was no justification for your weights gains noted. 4. You can go forward with the appeal, but unless you think your PC will add those justifications in there and advocate for you, it might be worth your while find a new PC. Unfortunately you may need to start this process all over again under the new PC unless you can document how you are in constant pain awaiting this surgery. Even then they may want proof that the surgery will solve the problem.

I'm vegetarian, but the only thing that worked for me was eating as clean as possible. I watch white carbs, but I use sugar, raw honey and occasionally maple syrup.

6 weeks and I hid mine in almond butter.

I'm on a fixed income. Mine was $400. Ask about installment payments. Oh wait, forgot I had to pay $200 for nutrition class not covered by insurance.

I don't understand why your primary would do that. They aren't doing the surgery. The only thing I had to do differently was some of the test had to be at a different hospital. My radiology, pulmonary function, barium swallow and sleep study were at a different hospital but that wasn't due to my primary. That was due to my insurance company's preference. They capitated me to that hospital. If I had gotten those test at my surgeon's hospital I would have had to pay the difference out of pocket. As long as they sent the result to my surgeon in a timely manner I had no issue with getting tested elsewhere.

I have Keystone 65

@@bettyann1015 - relax. Your body has undergone major surgery and now it has fewer calories than normal coming in. It's going to hold onto every calorie it can. The weight loss will come.

So far everything I've eaten has been okay. I had some stacking with macadamia nuts, but dried them again and ate slower no problem. I only threw up once in the hospital. So either I have a cast iron stomach or I'm just lucky.

I had taken every precaution possible. I was a compliant patient. I knew I had done all I could. I said a prayer and let it go.

I plan to have VSG PT put on mine.

The other thing I discovered was the less processed food I ate, the more energy I had. I have been trying to eat "clean" for the past 3 years. I probably eat clean 85 -90% of the time. (Fast food pizza fries are my weakness) . Between that and exercise, I found I could wake up most mornings without needing a caffeine pick me up.

I had my first appointment in April and was sleeved in September. I missed a month of appointments due to family obligations and I missed my first surgery date because I got sick the day I was supposed to have my sleep study. I didn't have to do a pre-op diet. So I could have been sleeved in August. I don't know exactly when my doctor submitted the request but I'm pretty sure it was after my 3 mandatory appointments with the baritric team and the psychologist.

Depends on how bad the sinuses are. The only time saline helps me is if I use my neti pot and that's just disgusting. I really, really hate using it.

I think they're hedging their bets and won't give final approval until all program requirements are met.

@@MamaTo3inNH you might want to get a few varieties and sample them in case the doc wants you off the tonic water. Not all coconut waters are created equal. Some taste better than others.