Xena7158

Do you know for sure that she's upset about gaining weight back? I only ask because if that is for sure the case, then maybe she'd be into 'starting fresh' with you once you have your surgery - like the two of you can go through the pre-op/post-op diet steps together - you for the first time, and her as a 'reset'. Might be a good way to address a few of the issues your friend is going through I've read of a number of folks doing just that after gaining some weight back a year or two out - sort of a reset - to get back on track. It might be great for the both of you to have such a support! Just an idea.

Essentially, I eat 2-4 ounces of food at a time, 5 or 6 times a day. Depending on your definition, I guess those could be considered meals or snacks! I measure and track everything right now, while I'm learning what nutrient values and portions look like. This is the only way I can get in enough Protein, Water and nutrients (and calories) in each day. It is pretty scheduled, else I forget to eat or drink water and I don't get everything in! For example, I do much better during the week since my days are scheduled due to work anyway - whereas on the weekends I sometimes fall short of my daily goals in terms of protein and/or water.

As you can see from everyone's responses, everyone has different experiences - so there is no way for anyone to know when you will stop burping, lol. Here's my experience to add to the pile... Right after surgery, for about 3-4 weeks, I had many little burps after every single sip - but I was glad for them, getting gas out etc. That was when I was on clear, and then full liquids only. Since I started adding purees about a week ago, it's much less burping with each sip of liquid, but still some, maybe one or two - but I'm trying to get those burps! I do get small burps every other bite of puree'd food or so now too, but they are much less pronounced, or smaller maybe than with liquids. I'm only 25 days out or so now, so I guess we'll see what happens!

I'm 20 days post surgery today - just started puree'd foods stage 3 days ago ... my typical day looks like this right now: Breakfast - breakfast shake (1/2 cup premier Protein shake, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, 1/2 cup 2% milk, 1/2 cup frozen strawberries (from my garden last summer), 1/2 cup Water - vitamix'd! lunch - experimenting with 'puree' recipes from www.worldaccordingtoeggface.com (ricotta bake, egg salads) dinner - split pea Soup + spinach + coconut milk + greek yogurt + 1/2 scoop unjury Protein powder + bits of ham or chicken - vitamix'd! Snacks - finishing off the remaining premier Protein Shake, protein popsicles (made with Syntrax nectar) Breakfast hasn't changed much since day 4 post surgery (other than not thinning it out as much, and adding fruit now), and neither has dinner really (other than changing up the kind of soup, and the thickness of it)

I'm only about 12 days out - and I get hiccups each time I eat / drink too - and sometimes for no reason! But a lot more than before surgery, in any event. Right now they are painful, which I attribute to the fact that it jerks my freshly serrated tummy around - but you are 9 mos out; I am disheartened to hear that! I'll be following this thread to see if anyone has any thoughts, or if you get it figured out!

Well, i`m not sure if this is the same thing or not ... but the last time I was on a weight loss journey (and ended up losing over 100 lbs), I remember feeling like that. But I know what it was from ... I started to see people (friends and relationships) for what they were, and it made me more cynical and angry. Men I had been friends with or known for years, now that I was thinner, were suddenly interested in more ... this annoyed me. Women I was friends with, trying to sabotage my weight loss successes - here, I made you some Cookies, you`re too thin, you should stop losing weight, oh you`re unhealthy, etc (when I still had 50 lbs to go ...) - this annoyed me. Then I noticed how much nicer people were, or how much more attentive people were to my new thinner self - this annoyed me. Basically, I attributed it to no longer being blind to the reality that "looks do matter" to some people - and it forced me to re-evaluate all my relationships and my own vanity issues. It doesn't help that while we lose, there's raging hormones being let loose, and head hunger, and other addictions vying for our attention in our brains!

That's awesome news - it's always nice when you can get some acknowledgement of your efforts! If people are noticing already, just wait till a month from now, and a month after that!

black and white! the color definition in it really accents your slim shape!

Goes to show just how ignorant people can be about the facts about WLS (any and all kinds!) and how it 'works' - even those in a medical profession! Like most of the other non-weight-challenged world, he just doesn't get that it's you doing the work, and of course no inkling about how weight loss occurs or how it's not a systemic mechanical loss week per week. Try not to hold it against him - he's just a person - making dumb comments without thinking or knowing anything about it, like everyone else I'm sure he meant well, just thinking maybe your surgeon could help or something. You're doing great, and doing everything right - and you'll get past this stall - and your rheumatologist can go pound salt!

These all sound like really tasty ideas! I wish cauliflower didn't cost $7 a head right now, or I'd totally be trying all of those! So good for you, and lots of Protein too!

Well the answer to that question, which is also the truth, is portion control and more exercise!

That's a really interesting question - and as I'm thinking about it, I find myself drawing a blank! I know from prior weight losses (and subsequent gains ... but I digress), when people notice and try to say nice things - I always just sort of brush it off, down play it, and sometimes might manage to say a perfunctory "thanks" before walking away all embarrassed. Or being my cynical self, assume they are really just making fun of me in some subtle way, and I get annoyed. I'm not sure if I actually do like to be complimented, or at least I don't really know how to accept one graciously! I am really interested in how this topic evolves!

I'm on day 2 also, and am having the opposite experience - i'm sorry yours is going so rough! I am doing a lot of walking around - it really helps a lot with the gas pains (helps to get rid of the gas, I think?!). Others have suggested using Gas-X strips (might also make you gag) which helps with the gas. I found that burping after each sip seemed to help. I asked about why I was having no issues compared to others, the doctor said it's just that for some people, the swelling from the surgery just goes down faster, which makes it easier to swallow. As far as the gross tasting meds etc - all I can suggest is suck it up and do the best you can for now - it will get better, and your meds can only help you get there faster! the mantra I keep hearing: is sip sip sip walk walk walk it works!

In Canada, your primary care provider must refer you to the WLS program in your respective province. About a year ago, I asked mine for a referral, which he happily gave. Fast forward 11 months, and i'm still on the waiting list to 'start' the program! In Dec 2015 mentioned to him that I was looking at other options for the WLS, since I was getting nowhere with the referral. I told him I was looking at the Mexico route, but I was worried because I had heard of some docs refusing to keep them as patients after if they went out of country for the surgery. He said this would not be the case if I went to Mexico, and he said that there were more skilled surgeons available there than in my home town - as evidenced by the long waiting times, but said to make sure I did my homework/research in picking one. 3 weeks later, I went back and said i'd booked my surgery in MX for Jan 20, and he said okay, see you in 3 months for blood work, and bring him the surgery report and notes.

I told my mom (my companion for the surgery itself), my brother (emergency contact), and one supervisor at work because I wanted to claim/use sick leave instead of vacation leave for the time away and he had to sign off. My mom is not telling anyone in our family because they are typically quite judgmental, and really, why do they need to know. I told my supervisor that I was not telling anyone at all, and as far as everyone else was concerned, I'm on vacation!

Well this sounds amazing! It will come in handy for chilly winter nights slightly North of Idaho (about 900 miles north!) as well! Thanks for the recipe!

@@Amberbo - If you look on the OCC site, there is a page where they talk about financing options through the OCC Also, there is a third party company called MediCard - which deals exclusively with Loans to Canadians for Medical Costs. When I was doing my research talking to all the surgeons and companies etc, most of them told me about this one. I believe the interest is not that favourable (but probably not worse than a credit card?)

I'm in Alberta as well - and I did quite a bit of research on this! I found many sleevers who went to Mexico to get the surgery (as recently as last year - 2015) and were able to apply to Alberta Health Care for a refund (partial), and then claim the rest on that year's taxes as medical expense (line 330, I believe) and got back a bit of money that way as a result as well. For the Alberta Health Care - if you go to their website, there is a link to download the form for Out-of-Country Medical Claim Form (http://www.health.alberta.ca/AHCIP/submitting-claims.html). However, the link for that form (and that form only!) is broken ... but the error message says, if you want one of these, you can email and ask them for one and they will send it to you in the post (but not by email). I did this, and I got one! It took about 2 weeks from the time I asked for one and when I got it. The folks who did this with AHC said they paid between $5000 and $8000 CAD for their surgeries, and the amounts they got back was between $1300 and $1735. The one guy said he got about $1400 back from AHC, and then when he put the rest on his taxes, he ended up getting another $2000 back from his taxes. **Keep in mind that the this is a credit, not a tax deduction - and there are minimums to claim before they will apply it - I only mention this because who knows what else that guy claimed as medical expenses that year along with his surgery - the more he claimed, the more he would get back - and only if you paid enough taxes in the year in order to reduce them by your % of medical claims from** so, it is hard to estimate what kind of return you'd get without knowing more income details, etc. I talked to my GP about this - and he said he didn't know about claiming on AHC - but he had patients who had claimed out of country stuff on their taxes - and then got 'questioned' by the CRA about the expenses. They were asked to prove that the expense was medically required. My doc said he would write a letter stating my medical requirement and long wait times etc - he's done it for other patients, and they got their refund after they provided it to CRA. Oh, and another note about claiming on AHC - when you get the form to request the refund, they list a few things they want you to provide: (1) surgical/operative report, Bills showing: (2) itemized statements of practitioner's services, and (3) itemized hospital charges on official statement/letterhead - all of which must be in English, AND a (4) receipt of payment. When I looked into these itemized statements required - I did find a few folks in various forums - who said they had trouble getting itemized bills from their surgeons in Mexico (I'm not going to name them), ie still waiting for a response, given 6-8 week waiting times, only got partial statements, only got statements in Spanish (and had to subsequently pay more to get them translated), and one in particular who flat out refused to send them the itemized bills and would only provide the amount paid and receipt. That person said they were declined the refund by AHC. So if you are hedging your bets on getting a subsidy afterwards, I'd probably make that one of the questions you ask your prospective surgeons - if they will provide the items you need to at least apply for the refund! Edit - forgot to mention that the folks who posted, said that the refund from AHC took about 3 months to get

YAY! someone else from Canada!!From Canada here too Edmonton, AB I'm from Edmonton, too!!! I'm Edmonton, AB also!

Hey! I'm having my sleeve done on Jan 20th, also at the OCC! I'm also doing the 2 week liquid diet thing, and it super sucks for me I haven't lost an ounce since I started liquids last Wednesday (lost 14 lbs right before that though on the atkins-esque pre-pre op diet), and I'm starving all the time. I think I'm winning the head hunger games though since i'm not cracking! KEEP THE EYE ON THE PRIZE. See you in 8 days!