Proud2BMe

Please see your doctor if your blood pressure is not stable. For most patients, blood pressure will drop after surgery which either clears up issues or cause one to have to take less medicine. Hunger can cause headaches but high blood pressure can as well.

Try to get protein shakes in as they will give you both liquid and protein. You don't have to buy expensive ones if you don't want to. I use Body Fortress from Walmart. I do two shakes a day, breakfast and lunch, and then a normal dinner, plus the occasional snack.

Mine was just one week clear liquids, one weak full liquids, then the other stages. But you can stay longer in each phase.

If you are struggling with quitting smoking you might try e-cigs. They helped me quite. The 10th will be my 3 year anniversary of quitting smoking. As far as excess kin, it's going to happen. Almost everyone seems to think they will be forced to live with it for the rest of their lives. In reality, you can have plastic surgery to remove it. Just think of it like the weight loss surgery is only part 1 of a 2 or more part surgery you will need. You can actually go ahead and research it and save up for it since most insurance companies will not cover it.

Yes. Your stomach just went through trauma. Keep an eye on severe pain and check your temperature daily.

Not having an appetite is normal. You really should be at least doing the Protein shakes to make sure you are getting enough protein. Follow your post-of diet info.

Unless you have an underlying medical condition then you should be able to take care of yourself. You will be able to go to the bathroom and shower/bathe as normal. The surgery is a breeze. They made me take a shower on the morning of day 2 before being released. It's no biggie.

About the slimes, I'm almost one year out and I still get them, especially if I get too excited about eating or if I eat too much. About volume, if it's salad I can eat a ton of it. Like a huge bowl full. If meat or denser items then I can only eat a small amount, say maybe 2-3 ounces, before I feel my restriction kick in.

I chose 170 because it would put me under 25 BMI and I know I can reach it because I weighed 170 back in 1997. However, my doctor said that normally people of my height could get down to 140 but he doesn't recommend it for me because of my bone size. He thinks I should go no lower than 160 lbs. If I can hit 170 lbs I will be elated.

I saw the same broadcast too. It offers an alternative to people who don't want WLS to reduce the ghrelin and the associated feelings of hunger. They just shouldn't expect the same results as techniques such as gastric bypass or the sleeve unless they are fully dedicated to a lifestyle change -then again WLS is only a tool too, not a "golden ticket" either, it requires a lifestyle change too. Maybe they can use this in conjunction with the stomach stent I read about, one day as a less evasive approach. The medical field is advancing. Look at this weight loss approach many years ago: I think I'm more concerned about the 16% figure. That's not good at all. 50% is good but not 16%. Plus there is no restriction produced in this procedure.

With regards to the "pepperoni nipples" comment, so far every man I've seen whose had the surgery, regardless of the surgeon, has had bad nipples. They just look really weird. I don't know if it's because of the damage already done by decades of morbid obesity or what. It could just be the trauma of having to cut the nipples off and reattach them to new areas. I fear mine are going to look nasty or worse, my body might reject them and then I'll be left looking like I have Ken doll's chest.

I still don't see how that is even possible. When I first began eating food I used an empty pudding cup as a portion size and even at that I couldn't eat even half of it.

Very common. If you want to maintain your marriage then get into couple's counseling fast. It's very common for couples to get divorced after one person loses a great deal of weight.

Are you on medication? Just curious.

My highest was 388? So not exactly 400 or over, but close. Many doctors will not perform the surgery if you way over 400 lbs. So just look around and see if you can find one will will do it.

I think it's a female. It would make the most sense if you were going for maximum effect. Probably Sasha.

They told me mine took longer than expected, don't know how much, but honestly I didn't care since I was out of it from anesthesia. From my perspective, It felt like I literally lied down on the table and then the next thing I know I awake in a dark room.

I didn't but each person is different. Be observant of pain levels and monitor your temperature for fever, which may be an early sign of infection or leak.

Ashley's mother concerns me greatly. I sense so much resentment and negativity coming from the mother that I'm very concerned for Ashley. I don't know if she is just jealous of her daughter or what but I sort of think that Ashley may be better just cutting her out of her life or limiting contact with her. The mother's "advice" seemed so fake, as if she was just saying it because she knew that people expected her to be supportive since she was her mother.

Well, Most people do lose more than 12 lbs on the pre-op diet. So you are going to have to do a lot of cheating to avoid it.

Congrats! Yeah, I truly believe vaping is the easiest way to quit and it will save lives.

I was self-pay, in Tijuana so I didn't have the issues you faced. However, I can tell you that you will not be able to continue smoking if you want the surgery. Most docs today will have tests run to check you for nicotine to make sure you have indeed quit before surgery. They may tell you they won't do the surgery if you test positive. As a former smoker myself (April 10 will be my 3 year anniversary of quitting), I would strongly recommend e-cigs/vaping. It's what got me to quit. I would advise you go ahead and transition to e-cigs now. Then you can mange your nicotine level, stepping down each week until you get to "0mg nicotine" at which point you will have beat the addiction. Since I was self-pay I didn't have to undergo this and I vaped literally until 30 minutes before my surgery. I resumed vaping on day 3 after my surgery.

Yes, exactly! If it wasn't for the children I feel she would have left him a long time ago.

That's why you just sip, sip, sip, all day long.

For me the show is good because it reminds me that I can never let myself get to that point again. I also like to see other people who were far worse than I was overcome their own struggles. As far as bad eating habits, I developed them all on my own and without any enablers like the people on the show. I cringe at just remembering what my life was like. I routinely ordered a large pizza, salad and bread sticks and consumed them all in one meal. I would then usually also eat dessert. I would binge like crazy. I would eat entire boxes of little debbie Snacks. I would order a dozen cupcakes from the bakery and consume them all in one day. Just terrible. I don't want to ever go back to that.