theother_onefoot

I couldn't find a thread anywhere that related to this topic specifically, so I have resorted to my own. I know everyone is different and heals differently, but how long has everyone willing to reply had to wait after surgery before they were going up and down stairs again? And not just four steps, I'm talking at least twenty. Thanks!

I got moved from having to be there at 5a to being there at 9a, but I still can't sleep anyway! "The time has come!" the walrus said.

@@MzB - unfortunately I learned my lesson with the shaker too late! I don't know why I didn't realize that would happen.. But I, too, was cleaning up a mess all over the kitchen, haha

@@brenda1949 - Non-Scale Victory, I believe. I had to do some thread searching before I found it typed out when I first came around, too! It is any kind of weight loss victory someone experiences that has nothing to do with the scale or what weight you may currently be at

Are you getting all of your required/recommended amounts of Protein and Water during the day? Have you tried sipping water when those feelings occur? 10 weeks out, what all have you reintroduced yourself to food-wise? Are you able to tell if any of these things are high in carbs? I've found I only crave carbs when I eat carbs, it's a vicious cycle.

@@Dawn306 - yes, the office told me I should limit sodium, though I didn't have any weight loss requirements during this liquid diet. And they still allowed a sour pickle or half of one a day, so maybe they just didn't want excessive sodium besides what they allow because of water retention?

Surgery on the 17th for me as well, and I'm with Tinana on the Chinese food but but I take solace in the hopes of still enjoying egg drop Soup once I get to that phase. I've done pretty well with the liquids, losing 6.5-ish pounds, but I'd say I still have a concern that I'll get in there for surgery and the surgeon will say my liver is too fatty and close me up again. I've worked so hard, I would hate to be turned away at that moment.

From reading through various threads, I had come to think that having insurance cover WLS meant that they would almost for certain require a 3-6 month mandated nutrition monitoring program. Is thinking this incorrect? I am currently in the process of switching over to BCBS of Texas, and while I was planning on being self-pay with the hopes BCBS would cover part of the cost on the finding of a hiatal hernia.... Is it possible that they could cover the entire surgery without requiring a 6 month stall? I've planned the surgery with a timeline in place between school semesters and my final Pre-Op appointment is supposed to be on July 31st where I make my full payment... There have been unforseen holdups with getting the insurance switched over but they for sure have all of my paperwork now and I'm just waiting on receiving my member information so I can give it to the surgeon's office.. I'm concerned that there is just not much time left now -less than a month until the surgery date- but is there at least a chance it could be not only approved in time but not require the extra stuff? The cash price is not cheap, but as far as my health and getting my life back on track, even if insurance could cover the procedure I can't afford to wait another six months beyond what I already have. This isn't about impatience any longer. My mental and physical preparations have been made and I think I'd completely break down beyond a therapist's help if this was put off. Any hope?

August 17th here

@@Bufflehead , as in use an emulsion blender perhaps?

@@swoman2 @@rwoods200 @@LoreLu @@TXTinana Well ladies, we've got less than a month left now. Hope y'all are as excited as I am!

Hey all. I figured this would be the best place to post this and I hope it is, but I have a situation that I'm not sure how to handle. I wouldn't necessarily like any relationship advice, but rather...advice on how I should respond to or support my boyfriend. I am hoping to get the Gastric Sleeve surgery. I have talked to the various people in my life that I would tell about the surgery and sought their support; these include my parents, a very select few close friends, and my boyfriend. They are all willing to be supportive and I am grateful, but I seem to be encountering an issue with my boyfriend that I'm not sure how to handle. A brief history: he and I were high school sweethearts, together about 3.5 years before we broke up in college, then we didn't talk for 5 years, we reconnected about 2 years ago and were off and on due to a lot of history to get over, but we've been ON for over a year now. In the time that we weren't together or speaking, he had gotten the LAPBAND procedure, so when we renewed our friendship and relationship, I was really impressed with the weight that he had been able to get off. Back in high school he had gotten up to over 300 pounds and since I've been with him he's been in and out of the ~280 range. So. He's had his lap band for at least a few years. And he hates it. HATES IT. He longs to be able to eat a hamburger with a bun, or any meat at all! He wants to get the band completely removed. Not unfilled, not replaced with a different WLS, just removed. And since I've talked to him about wanting to get WLS myself, it makes me worry even more about him. The thing is, he got the band because weight wasn't coming off no matter what he ate, didn't eat, drank, didn't drink, or how much he exercised. But from how he's explained it, his doctor TOLD him he HAD to get the surgery. It wasn't his original thought and choice. So I've told him that I'm worried about him getting his band removed and it has caused quite the fight between us! He is upset with me for not having faith in him to be able to lose weight and keep it off without the band. A couple of our friends get mad at me too and hit me with the, "you wouldn't still love him if he got fat?" accusation. It's really upsetting. Of course I would love him if he were fatter, I have before! But even back in high school I had talks with him about his weight because I wanted to have a future and a family with him and I wanted him to be around for that and his health was a concern for me! If he gets his band out, that concern becomes alarmingly large in my mind. I've heard what he wants to eat when he gets his band out. And he might say he wouldn't eat a burger every day, but even once a week is too much when he doesn't put in the exercise to burn all of those calories even from one bad day a week. If the pounds weren't coming off before, I don't know what makes him think this time will be any different. Again, he's upset I don't have faith in him. But the thing is, I WANT to have faith in him, but I seriously CAN'T when I have nothing to base this on that he has been able to do it on his own before. His eating habits have always been terrible -- his family rarely ever cooks, then or now, and usually eats out for almost every meal, so he developed those habits. Even now, he'll get that large order of chili cheese tater tots with extra chili and extra cheese from Sonic and eat the whole thing. But now it takes him longer and some bites he has to re-chew and re-swallow two or three times or he'll throw the bite up completely and try again with a new bite. He uses the excuse that "bad food just goes down easier" and he can't eat most meats or even salads (something I've read as being an issue for many band patients), but if he "had the band out, he could actually be able to eat healthier, as in Proteins and salads as a meal". I asked him how I could really have faith in him to do it on his own when I have NEVER seen him do so and he said, "Just because I never choose to show people that I can do it, doesn't mean I can't." At this point in one of our fights, I told him he sounded like a total food addict. "I CAN STOP ANYTIME I WANT TO." But I'm worried that he can't. He's still paying off the band and wants it out. I've tried to talk to him about a revision instead, but he doesn't want to hear it. Since HE didn't choose the surgery, it feels pretty clear he didn't change him mental game and is still a "fat guy" in the brain. He wants the food he can't eat. He still cheats his band and eats bad food. It isn't that I wouldn't love him if he gained weight again, but now that I'm trying to turn my weight and my life around, I still want him to be in it with me. But I don't want him to learn the hard lesson... I don't want to see him fail with weight loss and get miserable if he gets super overweight again and struggle to pay for a third surgery to get a WLS that he should have just done during the second surgery as a revision. So what do I do? What can I say to him when he doesn't want to hear my suggestions? How can I have faith with him when I have such a high percentage in mind that he will fail...even when I wish that he could do it solo? Sorry this turned out so long, so thank you to anyone who actually reads it and replies... But with a big problem comes a big post!

@@Lapbandster , you say that, but I'm afraid I don't agree with all of it. I'm not his mother and I'm not his doctor, but I am just shy of being his wife which I still feel holds a lot of stock. I can't support him getting his lap band out if he is completely unwilling to change his eating and exercising behaviors. I have loved him no matter what weight he's been since we were both 16, and he was heavier then than he is now. Yet I was having conversations with him then about my concern with his weight and if he removed all restrictions for eating what he wants, then I know we'd be taking steps backwards and having those conversations again. I want him to finally be my husband and I want us to have a life and family together. Therefore, I cannot find it in myself to support him removing the lap band to eat like he used to before when it will increase his health risks all over again. I don't want to be widowed by his health. I wouldn't want our children to lose their father to his health. When he could go for any numerous reasons out of our control, his health -which can be taken into moderate control- shouldn't be one of those reasons. I want him to be around for a long time. Similarly, my Aunt is struggling with being an alcoholic. Should I support her alcohol addiction with the same tolerance you're saying I should have for my boyfriend's food addiction? They're both real, out of control problems, and because I love these people I can't support what they're doing to their bodies...

As though my body and mind are preparing for their very big changes and rollercoaster of emotions, I have found myself in the eye of the storm, so to speak. When I first decided on WLS I went through my phase of sleepless nights and constant researching and reading. I scheduled my consultation with a surgeon. And now I am in a period of calm that is only frustrating when it isn't otherwise uneventful. I had my consult, scheduled my date. I have my NUT appointment on the 18th, which I am sure will rejuvenate the excitement, but... I just really dislike this in-between time. I was supposed to be switching insurance by July 1 and from there would be able to set up the EGD and blood work, but here it is a week and whatever unforseen holdups later, and the switch hasn't gone through yet. And while I still have a month, I have this nagging worry that it won't change soon enough and the additional expenses (EGD, blood work, possible hiatal hernia) will be lumped on top of the cash price I am already paying. Then my surgeon also told me to try and lose some weight between our meeting and surgery, even before the two week liquid diet. Of course I told him I would try, and I've been eating better though I already ate fairly well before and I've even been replacing a meal or two or even a snack with a Protein shake and still the scale sits at the exact same number as if mocking me. Which doubles my frustration, leading to thoughts towards my surgeon's request like, "If it were that easy for the weight to come off, I wouldn't be seeing you" or "Great, what if not being able to lose enough weight pre-surgery really messes things up and my liver is too big and he doesn't even perform the operation?" Perhaps I am just keeping myself busy enough not to feel the excitement right now, and the quiet of the storm's eye will pass and then I'll be thrown about with energy and anxiety and anticipation, and then I'll finally be on the other side...! But right now? This in-between time sucks..

If only.

Hey all. This post is being made made me in the search for information by my boyfriend and myself. I'm just the more tech savvy of us, haha He has had his band for about five years now and since we have been back together the last two, he seems to be exhibiting all of the symptoms of having his band too tight. He wants to get the band removed, but he's still paying it off. So he says money is too huge of a factor there. I have asked him about getting an unfill and he says that costs money he doesn't have right now either. However, he says he HAS tried calling his surgeon's office to talk to them and they seem to constantly give him the run-around (i.e. calling with no one answering during business hours multiple times a day any day of the week he's tried -- I honestly don't know what their answering machine situation is, but if he's left messages, they still haven't called back). So he's wondering what it takes to switch doctors. Will other Lap Band doctors take over another patient fills/unfills and all?

I saw this and I couldn't stop laughing. Though, my thyroid has issues with not producing ENOUGH, so maybe there was a coup d'etat my body failed to let me in on. ETA: Oh wait, I found the one about Hypo! -- It cracks me up just as much.

@@pantherbyhabit , what doctor are you using/where are you located??

August 17th for me! Had to schedule between summer school and the fall semester.. Sheesh!

@@702layla Thanks for that input!

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone has an opinion and, in turn, can give me some advice about these shakes. My sister's friend sells Plexus and she and her mom did the whole deal and then my sister recommended her/it to my mom -- who is an avid Advocare Vitamin user anyway -- and of course my mom wanted me to try it with her since the friend's mom supposedly had success with the Plexus and was able to stop taking her thyroid medicine (mentionable because I have hypothyroidism). I was skeptical. Naturally. I have my own list of attempted and failed diets and I really didn't want to add another to my list, but mom seemed really hopeful and it was coming from a source that seemed very unlikely to lie to us. Well, of course it didn't work for me and I wasn't willing to put up with the, "sometimes it just takes a few months to see the changes" crap that I was getting, so I told my mom I was done. She, however, besides her Advocare Vitamins, still likes to have the pink drink and some other boosters and now the Protein shakes. I was talking to her about how I wanted to get some small packets of the protein powders I'm considering using to actually see if I like them before I commit to a bigger tub of the stuff. And after I said that, she told me she had these Plexus shakes that I could share with her... Looking at the nutrition facts, which I am attaching a photo of, it doesn't seem outright horrible but it does seem like it has too many calories and other things compared to the amount of protein it offers when I'm considering the Isopure Zero Carb powder because carbs are my nemesis. However, for the sake of research and having more information to back up my decision, I've brought my question to the forums. Thanks for any assistance with this! (: P.S. I have no idea why it keeps attaching the picture sideways.. -- never mind! Seems to right itself after posting!

Surely I'm not alone on this one! I love my nieces and nephews to bits, but sometimes the no-filter mouths of children can swing the biggest hammers to my self-esteem.. My brother-in-law lost a lot of weight a few years ago and he got into this really terrible habit of looking at all of his old photographs and saying something to the effect of, "God, look how fat I was!" So of course the kiddos were bound to pick up on that like the sponge-parrot-hybrids they are, and I can remember being over there one day and I said I couldn't do something, possibly some activity where you need to NOT have a torn ACL like I did at the time, but my then 6-year-old nephew pipes up without missing a beat and the biggest smile on his face asking, "Is it because you're fat?" I just stared at him. I wanted to cry or disappear. But my brother was in the room with us and quickly corrected him with a, "Don't say that, that's rude!" And after that, my brother told me how he'd gotten into a phase of saying things like that and he had even asked out loud in public about some woman sitting in a chair and being "too big" for it because her butt and thighs were hanging off either side of the seat. Gee, I wonder where he could have gotten such a complex from... :\ And just a month ago, my sweetheart of a niece who is now 4, in the happiest know-not-what-she-says way, greeted me and pointed at my stomach saying, "Is there a baby in there?" And finally, tonight, I was babysitting my cousin's kids and her little girl, I believe she's 5, was talking up a storm and somewhere in there told me I "was squishy like a ball, like mommy and daddy, but balls don't have arms." At least I've gotten to a place where I can laugh, hahaha. I can't wait to not have a tummy for them to talk about! So has anyone else gotten accidental insults from a child?

Funny as it might be, it's pretty tasty when it's done the right way! May I ask what kinds of foods you were pureeing that you had a texture problem with? I, myself, have a pretty picky palette that way.

Do you like egg drop soup at all? Sorry to hear about the struggle so soon!

@@ShrinkingPeach What is the difference between the Whey Isolate and the Whey Concentrate that makes one better than the other?