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I have huge respect for you and your mom. Way to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am proud of you. You took control over your life. You will have a unique perspective on life after seeing the road you were one vs the healthy path you have now chosen. It will make a huge impact for the rest of your long life. Well done, young lady. Very well done. There are so many life lessons that you have already learned that puts you way ahead of your peers in terms of wisdom and character. Live healthy and make the very best of your God-given gift. Amazing story. Thank you for sharing this here. You made my day for sure.

Well said. Give it a shot, OP. You'll fit on the gear and you'll find that everyone is there to do their own thing. The serious gym dwellers aren't there for conversation and chatting. Stick and move. Make sure you wipe down the equipment after using it. Do not camp out on equipment between sets while resting. This will draw the wrath more than anything else you could do. It is maddening to need some gear and someone is camping out on it. You show up and work hard and you'll held in high regard, I assure you. The people at the gym have a common bond between all active members vs those that don't go. You will be respected. They also are likely to have much nicer gear than we would have at home. You can't beat the bargain. Once you get rolling along you'll be so glad that you did and feel silly for delaying for any reason. With the low carb-low calorie diet that most of us stick to.....combined with some treadmill walking or elliptical machine time 3-5 times a week and you'll see weight fall off. The machines are all you really want to use for weights.....and no more than 3 times a week. The range of motion is built into the weight machines and will offer a degree of safety vs jumping in with free weights.

I guess the OP never updated the thread with how things resolved. That is tough when your own family doesn't support your efforts to get healthy. Powerful progress !!!!!

Honestly, you are doing more than I would. I'm not deviating from list of things I can have for any reason. I'd stay home and play sick. I know that's a bad answer but I'm being honest.

Forgive my ignorance, but is this from your surgery ? I see below your username that your surgery date isn't clear. I feel for you with the pain and meds making you feel cruddy. I can only say that it does improve.....and fairly swiftly, too. I didn't have bypass but sleeve, not sure if it's different between the two procedures, pain-wise. I can only assure you that it does improve. I commend you for the walking. It seems like the last thing you want to do when they mention it......but it truly does help in many ways. Every step you take brings you closer to recovery. Hang in there and don't give up. Ask and see if they can switch your meds to something you tolerate better. You are giving it your best shot.....make dang sure your medical staff is doing the same for you. Demand they accommodate you. Everyone is different. This isn't a cookie cutter ordeal. Best wishes

Dangitman!!!!! Very glad things turned out in your favor, sir. Thank you for you service. Thanks for the advice. I was wondering about how to best approach the skin.

Prior to my sleeve surgery I was having gurgling like crazy. I had an umbilical hernia protruding way outside the tear. All day, night, it would make loud gurgling & squishing noises. Since the surgery on Tuesday there has been zero gurgling. Maybe it'll continue like this once I get on increasingly more solid foods.

Well i'm only on my 3rd day since surgery. The things that have surprised me: *how easy it would be to have only thin Protein shakes and Water. It is very easy for me to follow the program when I consider for a moment that most of my stomach is gone.....and there is a large sutured perimeter. Only an idiot would do something to jeopardize their safety. Strict adherence to my surgeon's specific instructions is very, very easy. *Very minimal pain-discomfort from the sleeve itself. The lack of pain there is much appreciated. The only pain I'm really having is from the abdominal hernia he repaired at the same time. That is with 9 new holes in my abdomen. Amazing. *How sore my whole body feels. I don't equate this with pain......just general body soreness in legs, hips, arms and etc. I'm having no problem getting 120+ oz of water down every day to combat against dehydration. *That I'd be grateful for no BM. Seriously grateful. I do not want anything that causes internal pressure against the muscle stitches on the hernia repair. I was advised to take Milk of Magnesia after a couple days if constipation persisted. No worries. *I thought I'd be craving all sorts of stuff after doing the pre-op liquid diet. I couldn't care less about all the HD TV commercials for restaurants......my family eating some of my favorites around me......etc No bother. Live and let live. Zero cravings. I simply want to stay strict on the program. *How comfortable I'd be in the recliner. It's been extremely comfortable and supportive. Very tall arms and seat that make it easier to stand up from. Best money I've ever spent on furniture. *How intuitive my dogs have been. They know something isn't right about my abdomen and are giving it a wide berth. *How powerful a tool unjury chicken Soup flavored Protein powder would be during the pre-op diet. It was a nice hot break from the shakes. I highly recommend it. I"m hoping that my surgeon will approve my using it after Monday's visit. *The fact that I weighed in this morning, 3 days after surgery......and weighted 6 pounds more was funny. I'd been warned, but it still make me laugh. Reason I find it funny is that I've been in ketosis and under seriously daily calorie deficit for 16 days. It's going to be cool how much it will actually read once things stabilize. *How easy it is to just chew my meds. None of them taste great, but seriously....just chew them and swallow down with a sip of water. It's over in a couple seconds. Not something to whine about....just get it done an move on. *How amazingly wonderful my shower was going to feel this morning. I tried not to hit the jets directly on my 9 holes......but I let them pulverize my back, shoulders and other parts as hot as I could stand it for as long as I could stand it. It was a outstanding. *How much better the ride home from the hospital was in an SUV vs my wife's Maxima. Not having to bend way down was very nice. *The lack of any complication has been very much appreciated.

@tootie09 You just described exactly how I feel, too. I'm on Day 3. I haven't really had that "full" feeling either. Then again, I just felt hunger for the first time this morning. It had been 12 hrs or so since I'd had any Protein shake.

Would the Quest chips work with your salsa ?

Good luck. You've got my respect......doing this while seeing to the needs of 3 kids. That is powerfully tough. I had it easy.....I just turned over all the family meals to my wife....I only have to worry about drinking my shakes. Cooking for others right now would be super tough. Caffeine is a powerful stimulant. I abused the heck out of it during my pre-op diet and am paying for it now. I really, really want to try some Lipton Diet Peach Tea right now but I'm not going to mess up a good thing. My mini-stomach is healing and I don't want to screw up the process.

It may not be easy.......but it's effective. I wound up dropping 17 lbs in 13 days. I Imagine how well things would go were I able to muster the discipline to stick with it for several months.

Water off a duck's back..... Onward & Downward !!!! You will feel great about earning the milestone gifts very soon.

Absolutely. You are going to do great. It truly is no big deal. Your surgery will go smoothly and you'll be kicking back, relaxing and healing in no time at all. I'm excited for you.

I can see where this would have freaked you out. If I'd not been warned ahead of time (on here) I would have been standing there scratching my head and reaching for my phone to call the surgeon and make some noise. Much respect for you traveling so soon after surgery. That couldn't have been much fun. I'm prepared for the 3-week stall. Ready indeed.

Thank you. I'm guessing that I'm truly burning fat, being in ketosis for the last two+ weeks and at a calorie deficit. I'm looking forward to the day the fluid works it's way out and the scale reads what is really occurring.

Does not sound like an ethical program. I wouldn't want a shady surgeon doing work inside my body.

I was advised to use a heating pad if it helped. I've basically been using a body pillow over my abdomen that provides heat and slight pressure. Really seems to help.

Congrats on losing the first 50. That is awesome !!!!! I, too, thought I wanted the bypass so that I would gain the best results. I told the surgeon that's what I wanted. He countered with some issues that made the decision to go with a sleeve much more logical. He said at my BMI and my height....it would be challenging to reroute things safely without tension. I also had a large umbilical hernia that he planned on repairing. He said that these type repairs fail with some frequency. Mine had significant amounts of bowel involved. Were it to fail post-op....it could put pressure on the rerouted piping and strain those sutures. This could be very dangerous. For safety reasons that were unique to me, he felt the sleeve was what I needed. He also knew of the bone-on-bone situation I have with my knees and the great relief that get from the use of drugs like Advil, Motrin, Aleve and etc. I also did not have diabetes. There were a couple other reasonings that went into the decision. All of this above is simply what was on the table for me. You may very well have different options and different circumstances that weigh into which is best for you. You'll hear all sorts of reasonings and it can be very confusing. I bought the "Big Book on Gastric Bypass" and the same book on the sleeve and was able to gain some great insight from them. I recommend the reading.

@@sweets27 you just described what it was like for me as well. Started off well and then reached a point one day where I thought I was going bonkers. Someone on here suggested I try unjury chicken Soup flavored Protein powder. Turns out that it was a great move getting some of that. The flavor was great. Having some soup to eat was a huge plus. I did put some Mrs Dash in it along with fresh ground pepper and felt like I was having a gourmet meal. No kidding. Retained my sanity.

The support gained here has been valuable beyond description. Seeing what folks have achieved with body changes is inspiring. There is so much that can be done if we stay on track. Product recommendations have been great. The laughs. There have been tons of humorous stuff posted at a time when being able to laugh was golden for me. We all have some grim stuff to endure and work through......the sense of humor must be maintained. There are some real characters here that make this a very fun place to hang out. There is a feeling of inclusion.......being part of a team.......facing a common struggle. Nobody is alone in their battles. Last but not least, being able to learn more about the surgeries, the feeling afterwards, the expectations of how the surgeries will go have been great to know ahead of time. It surely gets you ready for working your way through the steps leading up to surgery.

@@Tssiemer1 it's going to be awesome in all the future Halloweens. @@Elode nailed it. Think about how fun the costumes for next year's Halloween are going to be. Make the best of it this year, but keep in mind where you will be this time next year. Let it cheer you up. You are going to be able to do any type of costume you can think off......or more importantly, you'll be able to do costumes that you haven't even allowed yourself to see wearing. It's going to be amazing. Hang in there and know there's going to be all types of fun times ahead.

Please have faith. I know that's easy to say but hard to do. Don't give up. The weight is going to come off. Basic math says that it will. Burning more calories than you consume has to result in weight loss. This is one rule of nature than can't be avoided. The human body is a very adaptable system and it may be doing some super-overdrive work to go into self preservation mode during the beginning stages, but eventually it will become aligned with the new diet. It thinks you are being starved, therefore it takes countermeasures. Keep the Protein and healthy fats going in while keeping the calories low.....keep following your surgeon's plan. Try to raise your base metabolic rate through frequent exercise. Walking is great. Walking on a nice treadmill is even safer....the surface doesn't pound your joints like the pavement can plus the hand rails are always bonuses. It's going to swing in your favor at some point. I'm expecting to encounter some of the same challenges at some point throughout my weight loss attempts. I plan on staying in touch with my nutritionist and having her keep advising me. I was assured that the one-time fee I paid her is good for life. That may be the greatest bargain I've ever made in any type of dealings......the advice and guidance of a health care professional trained in the calorie war......to advise me for the rest of my life. Hang in there. You've come too far to give up now.......it's going to swing in your favor. Don't give up.

Well said, @SleevenChicha You are well on the way towards a successful outcome. You are addressing things head on and in a logical way.

It's a little early into the game for me to know for certain, but I suspect my feet will be saying thank you !!!!!!!! "You was killing us, Haus".