SilentBotts

I would recommend being very strict during the period immediately post op while your in the weight loss phase. If nothing else it'll get you used to building good habits and you'll loose as efficiently as possible while the surgery is most effective. This is definitely the time to learn to separate food and emotion, and get into the food = fuel mindset. The point isn't to never indulge but to be very thoughtful about it. I would strongly, strongly recommend avoiding sugar as much as possible for now. I did a lot of sugar free and low sugar stuff as snacks during that period, Jello and Ice pops work great. Also high protein snacks like nuts and beef jerky are amazing.

At 3 months out I was drinking regular coffee with no issues. Everyone's stomach is going to be a little different. I haven't heard of anything worse than some irritation.

Large Dunkin with Milk and Splenda every morning, no issues here.

I treat carbs like an indulgence, I try to keep my intake as low as possible, but will some times include them for variety. At about a year out I'm mostly concerned with maintaining Protein intake and making sure that I'm getting enough calories in a day to keep my metabolism happy while continuing to loose weight. I would say it makes more sense to avoid them while you are trying to loose. Once you hit your goal weight and have begun to maintain that weight I think it's acceptable to start including them more as long as it doesn't impact other goals or cause regain.

Almost my exact experience. They big incision was the only one that gave me trouble, for the first two days I had muscle spams there that were the most pain of the whole experience but those went away quickly. I only ended up with four incisions, my pre-op diet was two weeks and my liver shrank so much it was not necessary for my surgeon to move it during surgery.

I'm on an HSA with Anthem, I hit my 2000$ deductible before I was done with the pro-op requirements. Most of that came from an endoscopy which was about 1500$ itself. Once I hit that everything was 100% covered including the surgery. When I had the surgery last year Anthem did cover it. For insurance approval I had to meet these requirements. BMI of 40 or higher, 35 if I had other weight related issues. I had to do six months in an approved non surgical weight loss program. I did this through my doctors office with their on staff dietician. Had to go through a bunch of pre-op check ups to get cleared as healthy enough for surgery, and needed final approval from the surgeon. I worked with the Hartford Hospital Surgical Weight Loss program. https://thocc.org/services/surgical-weight-loss The basically took care of everything, I had a "Navigator" who handled all the paper work, and helping keep track of my pre-op appointments and making sure I was doing all the things I needed to be doing. My surgeon was Dr. Hannoush and I would definitely recommend him.

Doing great!! I'm down a little over 140 since surgery. The weight loss has definitely slowed down. I set my goal at 220 and I'm about 35lbs away from that. I feel like this is good progress for 9 months out. I allowed my self to have some foods that aren't on my plan during the holidays. I was very happy with my level of self control. Keeping my regular meals on plan, and maintaining exercise it had no effect on my weight loss, I came through the holidays maintaining the same level of weight loss I had been seeing. Being able to do that is important for me, one of my objectives for the surgery was to have a normal food relationship. I want to be able to have small indulgences from time to time while being able to exercise self control and not binge like I used to pre-op. I feel like that's a very achievable goal at this point. I've also started running, which is amazing. I ran a mile for the first time in my life back in September. Clothing is down from 3xl to XL and 54 inch waist down to 42.

I was exhausted for about the first month and a half post-op. I don't remember super well at what point my energy level started to go up, but it's definitely a thing. Seven months out I'm sleeping better, exercising regularly, getting way more done every day, waking up earlier.

My two week was liquids only. On day three I got home from work and was just ravenous, I had prepped for surgery so there was basically nothing in the house except for half a box of girl scout Cookies in the freezer. The day before surgery I ate about 4oz of boneless unbreaded chicken. Lost 20lbs over those two weeks overall so I think it went well. Surgeon did not need to move my liver so one less incision. I think most people go off plan once or twice during the pre-op.

Don't forget that while you where in the hospital they would have had you on the IV pumping you full of fluids to keep you hydrated. I was only in the hospital for two days and I gained 8lbs. The first month will be weird depending on how your body reacts to the trauma of the surgery you might not see much loss, regular stalls are also normal. You'll have periods where your measurements will be getting smaller but wont see any weight loss.

Had my first drink at about 7 months out, just a small glass of scotch. It hit me quick, one drink pre-op would not have made me close to this buzzed and sleepy. As with any off plan food like certain Snacks or carbs, I would stay away if you think it's going to be habit forming. We don't want to deprive ourselves, but the point of the surgery is to be a tool to help us build good behaviors and a better relationship with food.

I don't feel 100% excess is unrealistic, though it's certainly going to be a challenge. My goal 220 and my surgeon actually thinks I can probably push it a little. 50-70% excess weight is pretty much what you are going to loose during the first six months to a year after surgery without doing much else. Building better habits and relationships with food and exercise get you the rest of the way. Just go into it with the understand that as that initial honeymoon perioid weight loss starts to slow down it will become more challenging to loose and you wont loose as quickly, but as long as you maintain good behaviors as far as food and exercise you should have a good shot of getting well past that 50-70%. Stalls are also normal, and you may have change things up from time to time, the important thing is to not get frustrated and slip back into old bad habits.

I'm about six months out to give you an idea of what to expect. Average dinner for me is 3-4oz of chicken, with 1-2oz of broccoli. I only within the last week started adding vegies back into my diet. Some things I an eat more of, Soup goes down easy, any of the solid meat like chicken or beef is more filling. I'm generally limiting myself to Protein rich foods while I'm in the loosing weight period, so I haven't tried any fruit since surgery. I'm planning on expanding my food choices once I hit goal and start maintaining.

While in your loosing period bread is mostly extra calories and it reallllllllllly fills you up so interferes with getting Protein in. I try to limit it to just bread crumbs when I make pan fried chicken/fish filets. Once you've hit your goal and are maintaining I think it's probably correct to work in small amounts of bread other starches to keep things balanced. That will depend also on if you can tolerate it. I've tried some since surgery and find I can't finish a slice of bread before becoming very full.

My surgeon won't clear anyone for surgery unless they stop smoking. It can cause issues with healing, and increases risk for ulcers post op.