blashlee

I'm on day 2 and i'd rather just be in a coma and hooked up to an IV for the next 12 days. Hang in there.

@@mstee83 Thanks for the support! Good luck, your big day is just around the corner!!

If a personal trainer judges you or frowns upon your choice to have had WLS, then they don't get to be your trainer. You do have to tell them that you've had it because they're going to make nutritional recommendations that won't line up with your doctor's advice because they don't know any better. Don't feel like they will judge you, I told my trainer about my upcoming WLS and she was nothing but excited for me and while I'm recovering will be building me a strength training program to focus on maintaining and building muscle and helping me keep things as tight as possible. That's what a good PT does. I hope you find one! I think it's super helpful; she knows about 1000 exercises, and I know maybe 20. It's completely changed the way I treat the gym. I am also on Instagram. @Blashlee

@@laurenjane You're literally a month and a day behind me haha. I'll be at support group on Wednesday, iced tea or Protein in hand Congrats on getting your surgery date!

Rices and pastas expand in liquid. Even when they're fully cooked, they can absorb liquids and swell in size and make your pouch feel fuller than you intended, and you'll probably throw it up or have a problem with it going down.

Foam roll, it's a little uncomfortable at first but it's really very very good for your mucles...and make sure you don't skip the warm ups and cool downs.

@@skc72 Thanks, that's the plan. I'm going to run errands on lunch so I don't have to see/smell foods. I cleaned out my fridge yesterday and took everything I can't have over to my parents' so it wouldn't be wasted. I'm sipping chicken broth and Water, I've already had one Protein shake and have two more for the rest of my work shift. Pffffft, mind over matter, right? LOL

I've been pretty quietly going through the motions toward getting approved for my RNY. My insurance approved, my PCP approved, and my surgeon has gone ahead and scheduled me for April 6th. So far, only my parents, boyfriend and about 4 of my friends know what I've been up to. I'm feeling a little bit apprehensive about letting too many people know what I'm doing. For one, I'm afraid of being judged. People seem to have this misconception that WLS is the "easy way" to lose weight (I used to be one of them). I'm also afraid that people will try to talk me out of it. Whenever I talk about everything with my mom she says "Well if you're still sure this is what you wanna do..." as if after all the time and money I've spent on getting approved, I'm just going to change my mind LOL. I know that it will eventually come out as the weight comes off and as my eating habits seem "weird" compared to the way I used to eat, people are going to wanna know how I did it. How open were you with your family/friends/etc about having WLS? Were they supportive, not supportive, nosy, curious etc?

Your honesty is very much appreciated. I'm sorry that you're unhappy with your new body, and I don't wanna sound like a cliche or a repeat of a previous comment by pointing out what you've "gained" by losing. One of the things my therapist pointed out that was something most people struggle with after WLS is that their new body doesn't look the way they expected it to (loose skin, lost breasts, lost hair, things sagging or out of place), and it is a fear I have as i'm 15 days out from RNY...my trainer and PCP think we'll be able to combat the issue with lots of weight training and limiting cardio so I don't burn off muscle mass, but until I get to goal I have no idea what's going to happen. I do hope I can appreciate my transformation, as I'm hoping it will remove the limitations my size has put on my life for the last 28 years :-\ Again thank you for being so candid, I know it must be difficult.

I have an uncanny ability to transform any song into a parody of whatever I feel like it. Off the top of my head. Sometimes they happen so quickly I don't recall what I said. I just know whoever was around to witness was one lucky SOB.

Ugh, I really want to but I'm torn. I'm to start liquids/protein only this Monday. I didn't lose as much weight last month as I did the month before and I'm afraid if I don't stay 150% on track my liver won't have shrunk enough to have my surgery. It's so hard to battle in my head, but I guess I should liken it to what I'm going to deal with when faced with temptation post-op.

It breaks my heart to see so many of you whose family members and spouses don't support your decision :-\ I worry about what will happen with my boyfriend (who i live with) once I have my surgery and start seeing results. He's supportive of me having surgery, and he wants to have it done as well, but he hasn't taken the steps necessary which makes me doubt his commitment. I hope I have success and that being there everyday to see it will inspire him. I worry about his health and mine, which is the reason I'm having RNY. Your husband has to understand that if diet and exercise was really the way to lose weight, you would have done it by now. He also needs to understand that you want to be around for your children and be active and play with them. If you're at a high weight, you can't do that. What you're doing isn't selfish; you're saving your life. You're adding length to the time you'll have here on this earth, and adding quality to that life. Quality of life that does directly impact your husband and your children. I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming surgery and I hope your husband comes around.

liquid diet puts your body into starvation mode. It's trying to hold onto anything it can so that you don't essentially shut down. As long as you're losing anything you should be fine.

You should definitely be celebrating! That means you lost 6.25 lbs each week. It just took me a month to lose that on my pre-op diet. You don't wanna lose too fast because you may be compromising muscle mass. I bet your doctor is happy with your progress and you should be too! Keep up the good work.

My doctor says chewables/soft chews only for the first little while. But I imagine it depends on what surgery you're having. Bypass patients have different absorption than sleeve/band patients. I'm a bypass patient.

Hi everyone. My name is Ashlee, I am 27 and I'm a pre-op candidate for gastric bypass. I live in San Diego, CA (and have all my life!) and my surgeon is Dr. Julie Ellner. I'm very new to the process and I don't personally know anybody who has had weight loss surgery so I'm looking forward to meeting others who are walking this path with me. I'm especially interested in talking to other young ladies close to my age (20s-early 30s) who have had any weight loss surgery. I recently attended a support group and found that there was nobody there close to my age and somebody 55 isn't going to have the same emotional and social struggles that someone 27 is (no offense if you're 55 but I bet your friends don't wanna go out drinking with you every Friday). Looking forward to meeting folks and gaining much needed support!

I went to a seminar that gave information on all 3 options; band, bypass, sleeve. When I met with my doctor she determined based on my weight, previous struggles, and goals/expectations, the bypass would be the best choice for me. She cited more complications and slower progress overtime with the band, but some people still want them because they're not comfortable with rerouting or removing internal organs/parts. She does not perform VSG; if a patient is adamant about VSG she refers them to a colleague of hers that does many of them. The reason she doesn't do the sleeve is because she doesn't believe there is enough long-term data to measure how successful they are. It's only been done within the last 10 years or so, vs the bypass which has been performed for over 40 years and has been considered the Gold Standard procedure throughout the industry. I know people who have the sleeve and LOVE it. So much so that it made me rethink what I wanted. But I've also met people who have the sleeve and have chronic leak, GERD, reflux etc that they did not have before the sleeve. I've met some bypass patients that are doing just beautifully...until they dump and then they're completely miserable. There are risks and complications associated with each choice, and every BODY is different. You may not have the risks and complications that the person next to you who had the same surgery has. You might be able to eat basically everything you ate pre-op with little to no problems. Or you might have a miserable first year of learning what you can and can't tolerate. You're on the right track as far as asking questions and doing research before making a decision, and I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide! Ask a billion questions! That's what you're paying your doctor so much for! <3

Thanks for sharing! I've been wanting to try the Syntrax nectar flavors. Which one(s) did you try?

@@Rebecca Jo Ragon Have you tried Isopure RTD? They come in a ton of flavors. They're more gatorade-like vs shake like, but they use whey Protein isolate. They're zero carb, zero fat, zero sugar, and 40g protein per bottle.

Mine is April 6th

I know tons of WLS patients who love Premier Protein. What was the reason you were told they weren't good for us? I drink them daily and my doctor is just fine with that.

I changed my insurance to see her as well and I'm really glad I did. My previous insurance had a lot of hoop jumping and it was about to go up on cost anyway. Things shook out really well, I'm 23 days away. A little freaked out but I mentally feel pretty ready and have a great support team in my family and friends.

Hey all, I'm about 6 weeks pre-op so my surgeon has recommended that I start sampling Vitamins and gathering up what I'll need as far as vitamins and supplements. I ordered a sample pack of vitamins from Celebrate on recommendation from my doctor and her other patients and wow, I can't believe what they sent me for $3.00. There's at least 12-15 samples here... According to Celebrate, every sample pack is different but you will get at least one item from each category (Multivitamin, Calcium, Iron, etc) They sent me: Multivitamin Chewables in Pineapple-strawberry, Mandarin Orange, Grape Calcet Creamy Bites in Lemon (amazing!!!, will definitely be ordering) Calcium Plus 500 chewables in Cherry Tart and Berries & Cream Vitamin D3 500 IU in Orange calcium citrate Chews in chocolate and Berry Multivitamin Soft Chews in Orange and Very berry Multi-Complete in Forest Berry and Orange Iron+C 60mg Berry, 18mg tangerine, 30mg grape Celebrate ENS drinkable multivitamin + calcium in Cranberry Grape and ENS Protein in Chocolate So far I've tried the Calcet Lemon Creamy Bite and the Pineapple-Strawberry multivitamin chewable and both were great. Anybody else taking sups from Celebrate? What are your favorites?

Every body is different. You might feel fine after a week. Might not for a month. If you've had surgery before, it'll give you an indication of how your healing will go.

@@laurenjane You're closer to my age than the people I met before, and actually pretty close to age range of people I normally socialize with anyway! i would love to meet you at the next support group I got my date at my 2nd appointment and it was confirmed two weeks later. I'm seeing her again on 03/18, we will have just missed each other. I really am glad I have found Dr. Ellner, she's great and so is Dawn, they always get back to me right away when I have questions and I always feel comfortable and at ease with her. My surgery is April 6th, we are getting things underway. It's exciting but also terrifying all at once.