Pabst

I used to be a "set the AC to 63" and a pretty reliable bed warmer. Post surgery I'm always complaining the heat isn't high enough and I tend to melt my wife out of the passengers side in car rides (I'll have he heat up and she will crack a window). Cold never seemed to bother me before and now in far more sensitive to it. Hands and feet are quick to become ice sickles.

Blue Bell, PA

I find Premier Protein to be the best tasting and Slim Fast Mocha to be the worst. If you have a costco membership you can get an 18 pack for $20 (limit 2). This is around 1/3 of what you'd pay buying them most other places.

I can only speak for myself, but hopefully this is helpful. If you have struggled with losing weight and particularly keeping it off, this can be the tool you need to not only achieve success but to maintain it. Complications can happen, but a lot of times they don't. Also... You CAN mess this up. Don't think it's impossible to sabotage your post op. You can still eat ice cream and drink milk shakes and all manner of high calorie foods in post op and even though you have a smaller stomach you can still gain weight and stretch out your stomach. It's a tool you have to learn to work with and in the beginning phases it is no doubt tough... But you will find that if you work with the tool, it's a lot harder to fail. The weight loss also isn't easier... In a lot of ways it's harder. I like this analogy. Traditional Weight loss is preparing yourself for boot camp and when you finally walk in the door you have the option to leave whenever you want and quit. Bariatric Sleeve surgery is going directly to boot camp and you aren't aloud to leave. Either way, boot camp is hard and it will kick your butt... But the end goal is to get fit and make you healthier. People like you and I will fail if we are given an option to... That's why Bariatric becomes an attractive option. You won't regret not being hungry all the time. You won't regret not being winded and stiff and sore all the time. You won't regret buying clothing at normal stores. You won't regret fitting in places better... Cars, airplanes and showers. You might miss drinking soda or beer... But it will pass because all the new things you can now do will distract you. Hopefully this is helpful.

So now that I'm beyond my 1 month check point... The Doc says to focus more on heart rate and less on endurance cardio (more short jogs and less hour strolls). That being said I have been looking to get a decent wrist HR monitor (watch band wearable). I'd love to hear your recommendations if you have some first hand experiences. I've looked into these already, so if you have any personal testimony of these are good buys let me know: Garmin Vivosmart HR Fitbit Charge HR Fitbit Surge Fitbit Blaze (2016 release) -I am an iPhone user. -App works well with iPhone -App had good data and features -Doesn't have syncing issues -I don't want anything that doesn't have a HR monitor built into the watch (not interested in linkable chest straps and want not) -I'm open to any reputable manufacture I didn't look into yet (Samsung, Polar... Exc.) -Not interested in any bargain clone types that often get sold on Groupon or late night shopping networks. -GPS is a plus -Something less than $350 US Thanks in advance for your input!

I'm really liking what I'm seeing with the Fitbit Blaze. $199, has a heart rate monitor, uses your phones GPS (saving you money as getting a watch with its own gps adds like $50+ to the price tag). It looks nice to boot. Comes out in March. Might wait for it... Debating.

Apple Watch I'm afraid is out of my price range. If I was willing to spend that kind of money I might be looking at a Garmin Fenix 3.

Maybe I missed that sale. $399 retail for the basic watch unless I go refurbished and those are $319.

I had the exact opposite effect. I couldn't pass anything without extreme pain and tearing without taking 6 Colace and Fiber gummies twice a day.

Had 1 month check up (sleeved 12/18). Down 28lbs Finally out of the weight restriction period and I can eat far more normal foods. Doc said to focus more on keeping heart rate at 120 for 20 mins as the 30-60 min normal walks are becoming less and less "Cardio" work outs and more just normal thins skinny people so without thinking. I'm in the market for a HR monitor. Also this opens up to do some weight training and I'm excited to start out small and work my way up. I have some 15 and 20lb dumbbells I can dig up out of the closet.

I was 425 when I attended my first seminar. I was 375 the day of my surgery. I'm 347 today 1 month after surgery.

I have Aetna and they require 90 days of a nutritionist guided dietary advise. It was 3 nutritionist visits. They didn't require (for me) any particular weight loss goal, but they wouldn't tolerate any weight loss gain during the 90 days. So if you say weighed 300lbs at the beginning, anything more than 300 meant you failed. What I can say is... If you don't think you can lose any weight under the guidance of a nutritionist over a 90 day period of time... Surgery and the changes that come after it might overwhelm you. The 90 days with the nutritionist is a walk in the park compared to the first month after surgery. Something to think about.

Post op they recommend no alcohol for a year and a lot of doctors won't even operate on you unless you quit smoking because it can complicate and slow down the healing process. If you are pre-op, I would strongly consider this as an opportunity to quit the use marijuana since you can't use it for a while and find something else to fill that gap for a while. You might find a much healthier option (and depending on where you live... More legal option). Remember, the whole reason people get weight loss surgery is to aid them in making drastic lifestyle changes to better their health. In the grand scheme of things, the recreational use of marijuana and an alcoholic beverage is peanuts compared to the changes in food consumption you will be undergoing. I know it's just advice and ultimately it's your decision to make... But there are lots of ways to relieve stress after a long hard week. Maybe go for a spa visit or something along those lines. Who couldn't go for a good face massage!

So after my Surgery I lost the desire to bite my fingernails (after doing it for close to 30 years). Anyone else experience this phenomenon?

If you are following the program and finding the time to exercise... You might just need to go to the bathroom. Same thing happened to me early on and I had realized I hadn't gone in 3 or more days. Being on a Protein heavy diet every day can really back you up. Might be worth getting Fiber gummies and a regular dosage of Colace to your diet and you mint find your not so bad off. The weight loss defiantly starts to slow down... But a consistent 2-4lbs a week is significant when you put it into the perspective of months.

The pre op liquid diets goal is to shrink your liver so the surgeon can see what he or she is doing in there. Not sticking to the liquid diet can have two potential negative effects. 1. You might be switched from laparoscopic surgery to open surgery which means more scars and longer recovery time. 2. Your surgery might get delayed which is both costly and inconvenient. It's a rough 2 weeks, but what is about to happen to you is pretty significant... I wouldn't pick now to bend any rules or make any calls you aren't sure about. Complications are expensive and often times painful and might also mean more missed time from work or delay your full mobility. I'd stick to the shakes and the calorie free, caffeine free drinks. You only get one body. Do your best to start this journey on the right foot. It doesn't get easier for a while. So the sooner you can start the hard stuff, the sooner you'll finish it. Best of luck to you!

Today is surgery day and I'm on the way to the hospital. I'm very optimistic and excited to begin this leg of the journey! HW: 425 SW: 372 CW: 372 Wish me luck! Surgery is in 4 1/2 hours.

I made it through Christmas dinner only eating about an ice cream scoop of mashed, 2 small bites of turkey, some rice pudding and a sliver of pumpkin pie (only ate the filling). Oh... And of course a Protein shake and lots of water. Not bad.

I remember being real disappointed with the psych evaluation. I felt like I could have just as easily logged into the hospital website and filled out a questionnaire and I would have saved myself from having to take the day off from work and the gas to drive to the hospital. Very basic questions. Like a simple personality questionnaire. No real advice other than them saying "stop being fat" in a more PC kinda way.

What I can say is, after a week after my surgery. I almost forget what hungry is. My bigger compulsion is to complain about getting tired of what I can eat (broths and shakes). The sleeve is a tool to control your hunger. It works... And if you embrace it, it will help you into a healthier lifestyle by slapping you on the head and making you toss your Cookies when you make a bad food decision. That only works to a point... You can eventually throw up and eat bad till a point where you've stretched out your once 15% size of a stomach close to what it was before surgery but that's after some colossal and persistent mess ups... So as I mentioned before... Embrace the tool you get from the surgery and it will serve you well and you won't be starved all the time... (An added bonus is... You tend to smell things more sharply and things taste better... So perhaps you will enjoy a little less MORE!). If you've been down the weight loss gambit a dozen or so times and you feel you just can't get there... WLS might be the help you need. Best of luck with whichever decision you make and I hope your hubby supports you.

iPad/internet capable phone or device Change of clothes Chapstick Chargers Someone to support you or keep you company

Yeah, I binged too. Now that in officially post-op I don't know what hungry is anymore. After nearly 3 weeks of nothing but liquids.. I don't look at food the same way. Things even taste better now, but I'm not compelled to binge... Not even a little. Worst binge for me? Large stuffed meat lovers pizza a slice of carrot cake and some cordon blu bites with half a gallon of diet tea... Or 2 boxes of cheeseburger helper with 3 lbs of ground beef & a half dozen cronuts. Now my binge is like a cup of broth and a Protein shake with a few sips of Water.

I had my surgery on the 16th, they sent me home just after noon on the 17th. No outpatient here.

Abington, PA is where I had my surgery

I think it's like anything... ...politics, views on social issues, finances, religion. Once you have a formed opinion or stance... You tend to only indoctrinate yourself with data that supports your claim (because we are so darned smarter than everyone in the room) and you become an apologist for whatever that stance is. If you said "hey, I was thinking about getting LASIK surgery" to a guy who doesn't wear glasses and had a close friend who had a bad experience... From that moment... all that person would see LASIK is as a sight ending bullet to the head and not what it is 99.9% of the time... A simple (yet expensive) life changing procedure that lets you see. I think Bariatric surgery is the same. If you ask a thin athletic person who never stifled with being overweight and is regularly surrounded with thin likeminded people about Bariatric they will probably have prairie dog ears for all the bad and negative stories and completely ignore the success stories. Talk to an overweight person who struggles with weight loss that either is too scared of getting the procedure... Doesn't want to get it because the future limitations scare them or someone who wants it and can't afford it or can't fit it into their daily schedule... Yeah, they are going to balk at it. Talk to anyone who has had it... Even the ones that slipped up or had complications and almost almost them would say that if they could go back in time and not do it, in spite of their failures and complications they wouldn't have changed their mind. People tend to apply bias heavily based off of emotion and less on facts or compelling data. Just keep that in perspective.