Stephanie Stroup McIntosh

There are too many "what ifs" in life. But since you started...What if you don't have this surgery? What if you continue on your current weight gain track? Its totally normal to feel anxious, nervous, scared, excited and whatever other feeling you may have. Just ask yourself why you are having this surgery and why you decided to do it now. Whenever I doubted my decision, I reminded myself why I was doing it. You can do it. Hopefully, you have a support system at home but if not, we are all here for you. good luck

I would stress that you are doing this to be around for your daughter. Invite her to this site to explore and see how awesome it is to have this life saving surgery. She is probably just scared, but if you educate her and show her that you are really ready, she should come around.

I am 4 weeks post op and have a very similar story. I think the key is that you are noticing when you are satisfied, so you stop eating. A lot of people don't seem to notice that they have had enough until they have had too much. You are doing great! Keep it up!

Sounds like you are doing great. Keep it up.

I am hoping that all of your surgeries went/go well. Welcome to the losers bench.

Make healthy choices and you will be fine. Reduce sugar and fat and increase your exercise. You could even start with some Protein Meal Replacement shakes. I like Premier Protein and add in some coffee and its delicious.

Take whatever time you need to get comfortable with the procedure and with the changes to your lifestyle. I am 4 weeks post op. I had a late surgery, so I never got into my room until about 9 p.m. I had pain as soon as I woke up from the anesthesia, but they quickly gave me a pain pump and I felt much better. I was up and walking a few times throughout the night. I wasn't allowed to drink anything, but they did give me mouth swabs and brushing my teeth helped a lot. Day 2 was my trip to get my swallow test. Basically they gave me xrays while I drank some radioactive liquid. All was well, so I was allowed to have liquids. They brought me a tray with Water, tea, juice, broth, Jello, and a popsicle. I felt bad wasting so much, but it was just a few sips at a time. I did manage most of the popsicle and i kept the juice, jello, and tea to work on later. They brought me 3 or 4 more trays that day. They tried to transition me to oral pain pills, but I have some allergies and what they were trying wasn't working. I can't take hydrocodone, which is the med of choice. Day 3 brought the requirement to drink 1 oz ever 15 minutes. I did pretty well, but slept a lot since they also changed my meds. I asked to stay one more night in the hospital. I didn't want to have any issues with meds once I got home. I also started Protein shakes, but they didn't taste very good. I managed to get down about 4 oz all day. Day 4 came and after I drank 40oz I was allowed to go home. I didn't have any pain at this point, but just a little soreness. It felt like I did too many sit-ups I did have what felt like muscle spasms when I tried to drink for the first week or so, but it was just with my first sip or two and then I felt fine. It was like my body just needed to wake up. I feel great at this point and have for the past week or 2. I even go to the gym on a daily basis. I am on the pureed foods stage and really haven't had any problems. I get to start soft foods next week. Good luck and let me know if there is anything else I can tell you about.

239 today!!!

So beyond bread, guess what food I miss most. You are never going to guess. Its prunes. I really want to eat a few dried prunes. I started eating them about 3 months before surgery. They kept me full (and regular) and also gave me energy. When is it ok to have prunes after sleeve surgery?

You may just be very swollen still or you could have a blocked stoma. Talk to your doctor.

It sounds like you are on the right track to me.

My understanding is that your body uses the energy stored in your muscles first and that you need more Protein to rebuild your muscles. It also helps to keep you fuller longer, so you don't want to eat as often. I a recommended to get 60-100g of protein, but for my height (5'3"), the ideal amount is 80g. To get my protein I make sure that I am choosing items that are high in protein and eating them first. I also make an iced coffee Protein Drink, which i could drink all day long. My doctor is ok with Protein drinks at all stages assuming it is high in protein and low in carbs/calories. I also mix unjury or Be Pure unflavored Protein powder into other foods. This morning i had greek yogurt and mixed in half a scoop of protein powder. That made my yogurt have 25g of protein. I will mix it in with a lot of other foods as well. I am only 4 weeks post op, so I have just recently gotten to the point that I can get enough protein and most of it is still via shakes. I do get at least 60g and usually have 80-90. I recommend switching up the flavors of products. If you can cook the products to taste differently than you won't get tired of them as easily. What stage of the diet are you? That will help us to give you some recipes.

@@AvaFern I just sent a big bag of prunes to your house. Enjoy!

Ricotta is something that I am allowed on purees. I actually made a ricotta bake tonight for dinner and didn't have any problem with it. I didn't even miss the Pasta. I did miss the garlic bread.

I am only 4 weeks out, so I know I can't have them yet. I would just like to know when I can. I think with other foods, since I know when I can eat them again, I don't really mind not having them. Prunes aren't on my list for anything so I don't have a time table. I can only have pureed fruit for another week and then get to start on soft foods. They are really healthy so its even more sad. LOL. While a serving is 100 calories and they are high in sugar, its low on the glycemic index.

Good luck. It usually doesn't take quite that long if you have everything done.

My surgeon wouldn't do the surgery if you had any illness within 2 weeks.

I have a similar story to you,PCOS and all. I had my consultation exactly 6 months prior to my surgery. At my 6th weigh in, my doctor submitted my info and I was approved by the end of the week. It was 3 weeks later when my surgeon had an opening. Make sure you have all required testing done at the beginning of the process. You have to have the chest xray and ekg within 6 months of the surgery, so you could wait a little while for those. Do the psych eval. as soon as possible. My surgeon's office said that that is the item most likely to cause someone a denial. Your surgeon's office should also have an idea what the insurance requirements are for surgery.

The reason for the wait period is to make sure you are ready and committed to losing the weight, before you have the surgery. Use this time to ween down on foods. Start by reducing your fat and sugar intake and increasing your activity level. You don't want to go into surgery addicted to sugar and caffeine and fat.

No one can ensure that this surgery will work for you. YOU have to do the work. If you follow your surgeon's instructions, get your Protein and Water, and plenty of exercise, your odds are great to lose weight. If you live life in the way you have in the past with poor food choices and a likely lack of exercise, your odds are not good at all. You can do it and be successful. Don't let the fear stop you.

I like premier protein shakes. Be Pure unflavored is good to mix into foods.

Great post. I have only asked a few questions myself and will search out questions that were already answered, but when the answers are years old, its nice to be able to ask again. Its nice to hear from people that are still involved in the process.

It seems like most people I talk to have either had surgery or know someone who did. It has made my experience so much better. I really have quite a large group of people that I can talk to about it. I find that I talk to a lot of people who know of people that had the surgery, but weren't brave enough to ask them about it so now I am educating so many people on the process and the surgery. I love it.

Most companies do require some proof. I spoke with a plastic surgeon last week and he said that most companies want you to be at a stable weight for at least 4 months and have "several months" of documented issues related to the excess skin. If that is the case for your insurance, you may just have to wait a few months. I would take pictures of your rashes and bring it up at every doctor's appointment. They want to make sure that you have tried other methods to heal the skin before removing it. Good luck.

I guess it depends on the nutrition you are getting. My Protein shakes were 30g of protein and considered full Meal Replacements. I was allowed 4, but usually only had 3. I just wasn't hungry for the 4th which was to be my snack. I wasn't allowed to have the other protein/veggies that you are allowed. I was told to aim for 60-100g of protein and about 500 calories for my pre-op diet. I would find a shake you like that is high and protein, because that's all the nutrition you will get for a while.