HoosierJoe

Hi all-- I was looking at the calendar today and realized that today was the six month anniversary of beginning my pre-op diet. I had GSV on March 14, 2016 and, like many of you, can't think of a single regret, other than "I should have done it earlier." If you're on the fence or considering...just do it. Six months ago today, I was 304 pounds -- a little bit over 40.0 BMI -- and was wearing size 42 pants and right at the bad-edge of XXL shirts. A trip to buy clothes was about as depressing as anything could be. By the time by surgery took place two weeks later, I had dropped 20 lbs. to get to 284. Today, I'm at 201 pounds, actually pretty much right at where my doctor told me I'd get to in a year. I've wanted to be under 200 for about 25 years, so that's going to happen next week. My goal weight was (and maybe is) 180, but I'll probably settle in around 190 once I get a little more muscle built back up. I'm wearing 34 pants and size large shirts. Anyway, in every single way you can think of, this surgery has changed my life. I can't recommend anything more strongly. Onward!

Here's my headless horseman photo

Hi gentlemen-- I've been lurking here for five months or so, but wanted to say a note of thanks to everyone who posts regularly. It really helps the process. This morning, I made the leap and had the VSG done. Because I'm a self-employed consultant with insurance from the ACA exchange, self-pay was my only option. After quite a bit of investigation and discussion, went to Dr. Curry in Cincinnati (at JourneyLite). I live in Indianapolis, so it's only about 2 hours from home. Dr. Curry does the sleeve via outpatient -- although he makes you stay in a hotel overnight. Quick stats: about 6-1, 302 on first day of two-week pre-op diet, and 283 today for surgery. (Although I'm guessing I gained 5 pounds of Water weight from the IV fluids today.) My surgeon's target is 200 lbs, but I'm targeting 180 for my goal. So far so good. I didn't have the gas pains. I didn't have to have a hernia repair. I've taken a few Vicodin, but nothing too bad. The only real discomfort is when I drink water/Powerade Zero/diluted fruit drink (per doctor orders) and get the muscle spasm. It goes away quickly but it happens every single time. The anti-spasm medicine helps a little, and I'm hoping it will help more in the next few days. Anyway, thanks again. The conversations here are great and very helpful.

Hi. Yeah. So it's been 50 days since surgery. The first few days after surgery were not that great but only threw up once or twice. I lost weight really quickly the first two weeks and didn't really have any hunger at all. My surgeon and dietician said not to worry too much about Protein the first two weeks and just to focus on fluids. Started out at 302, was 283 on day of surgery and this morning was 242. I only weigh myself on Mondays (after a few weeks of weighing too often). I've had two mini-stalls but found that I could break them by just going on a clear, liquid, zero calorie diet for a day and my body reset. I'm on soft foods now but have been stretching that a little bit. Haven't found anything that makes me sick, other than just getting right to the edge of being full. I'm still amazed how little it is. Made burgers on the grill last night for family and made one for myself minus all the toppings and bun. Got about half of it down before my stomach told me "that's enough, dummy." At the beginning of the process, I went through YouTube and all kinds of places online and tracked out how much various people in my size range had lost weight on a week-by-week basis. I put it all in Excel, normalized it, and came up with a weekly goal plan. Hopefully the image works. All in all...best decision I've ever made about my health. Only regret is that it's been too long coming.

Background: Started pre-op diet at 299 pounds. Was 284 on day of surgery (3/14/16). At one week check-up was 268. Anyway, when talking to the nutritionist at the one week appointment she said not to spend all my time worrying about getting 60-80g of Protein a day during the pureed phase (which they recommend for 3 weeks total). She said that protein can help with the healing but that I'm basically burning fat to live, and that's a good thing. This is different than what I've been reading, and wanted to know if anyone else had a similar comment? I'm eating protein first, doing Premier Protein shakes, not eating any appreciable real carbs, etc. but the portion size is still small and I'm not trying to force protein g into the day. And I'm at 259, down 25 pounds in the two weeks since surgery so it's not like it's killing me yet.