recreatingcate

I am a fiercely positive person, and always try to be that way. And, you would think that, as someone who has had multiple major surges before would be prepared. But the closer we get to my date (2/22), I become more and more scared of a major complication, or not waking up after surgery. I'm also a perfectionist by nature and my weight is the thing that I have failed at, and I'm terrified of doing it again. Working so hard to keep myself as healthy as possible so these aren't things I need to worry too much more about.

I love premier Protein, which is ready to drink! It doesn't have that overwhelming, chalky taste. If I were you, I would pick a few brands and try some. Keep a variety on hand because your tastes can change after surgery and it will be good to have a bunch just in case! Good luck! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I will probably create a myfitnesspal account soon, but I'm the worst with food logging. I have been trying to get myself with it and I'm good for a week and then I falter. I've been semi-journaling on Instagram, as much as you can on there haha. But I think I will blog post-op. That's always been my go to, and I feel like sometimes I can't find what I'm looking for on the internet, story wise, so hopefully if I blog, I can help someone else out.

How are you feeling? I plan on going back to work 5 days post-op, so just looking for some insight!

Westchester, NY!

The funny thing to me is that every surgeon does it differently. The basics are usually the same, but I think it's funny how some practices want some things that maybe another doesn't. What got me more than the appointments leading up to surgery is the "pre-op" appointments. I start a new job on Monday, and surgery is scheduled for 2/22, and I have three appointments, all on different days, for pre-op. So, blood work, a chest x-ray, paperwork. I had to go to HR at my new agency and tell them I needed to come in late to trainings three days and then need another three days for surgery (they already knew surgery was happening, but not this quick. Neither did I LOL). It's crazy. I understand it's to make sure everyone is safe and protected, but come on. How many times do you have to look at my TSH and CBC?!

It is definitely a lot. I'm a list person - if it needs to be done, it gets written on a list. I'm hoping to conquer everything that needs to be remembered by writing it down! Fingers crossed haha.

GUYS GUYS GUYS! I'm officially part of the February sleevers club because I got my date today!! February 22nd, I'm coming for you!! This is a big month, as I'm also starting my new job on Monday. 2017 is my year, and I'm so, so excited! If you'd like to follow me on Instagram or have a Fitbit, you can find me at recreatingcate on Insta, and the same username @gmail.com on Fitbit. Who's excited to sit on the loser's bench?!

You can use my email!! It's recreatingcate@gmail.com Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Yay! Good luck! Sip when you can and walk when you can!! Will be praying for you. On a separate note, what is the name of the app that you're using posted here? I've seen it around but don't know what it is! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I have alopecia and last year, I lost all my hair. Totally bald! It had just grown in to be just above my shoulders, and I'm slated for a February/March surgery so I'm terrified of post-op hair loss! I'm continuing to take my Biotin and my multivitamin, and I used Nioxin, a shampoo for hair loss/creating thicker looking hair. We can definitely try to prevent as much hair loss as possible! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Forget the shrinking of the liver and the emptying of the stomach and the loss of the last few pounds before surgery (not that those things are all not important, because they definitely are!) The pre-op liquid diet is the beginning of how things are going to be as soon as you wake up from surgery. You will wake up and will not be able to have anything other then some Water, maybe some broth, depending on what your surgeon's post-op plan is. When you wake up, there's no room for not doing the liquid diet, because it IS the diet. Make sure you're in the best mindset possible for surgery! It is so important! You can do this - take a deep breath, be honest with your surgeon, and start over tomorrow. You've got this.

You look wonderful! Your face is really showing the difference! Keep up the great work!

Here's the way I see it: as someone pre-op, I'm working so hard to mentally prepare for surgery. I'm working with my NUT, and the psychologist, to change the way I look at and think of food. I am trying to look at food as something that is supposed to nourish me, and not something that I need in excess to get through the day/week/month. I imagine, when I'm post-op, I will be using the same mentality as I work through the phases of learning to re-eat and re-learn my eating habits. It is going to be HARD, from what I understand. The very last thing I want to do, when I'm fighting my way through emotions, cravings, and healing, is reading about someone's plans to eat the very things that did them in in the first place! I just feel that it's careless; you're planning on when you can eat the very unhealthy things that negatively effected you to begin with. Maybe it's just me. I just think that, if you want some fries and a burger, that it's something to look at and consider when you are farrrrrrrrr post-op, when your mind and body have healed, and you can go back to handling those foods at healthier, smaller portions.

I'm relatively new here, as you can see. I'm in the pre-op stages, but will probably have surgery by March. I lurked for months, and then joined here, and post sporadically. I post especially when I'm in need of advice, and I've always gotten feedback that I NEEDED. Sometimes, it might not have been what I WANTED to hear, but the lesson was learned and I moved on and forward. I would rather have someone tell it to me like it is so I can get on with my life and, like I said, learn the lesson that needs to be learned, then have someone be afraid to tell me that I'm making a huge mistake and not assist when needed or necessary. This is the Internet, I am not having a face to face, verbal conversation from you, therefore the tone of my post cannot be understood sometimes the way I am trying to say it. Guess what? I've spent my entire life being bullied, and that's never once happened to me here. I spent my entire life being fat, so I've built a pretty thick skin, and the words or someone on the other side of the screen will not hurt me. Maybe I just don't understand the concept of banning individuals who you, as the person who runs this board, views to be rude and "terrorizing" others wants to get in here and be all passive aggressive in your replies to your members. We're a board full of adults - if there's a reason for a discussion, it should take place, simple as that. There's no need to get offended if someone says something you don't like - just ignore it! All of this happened for zero reason. This board is now full of (1) people seeking information, (2) people giving moderately decent info because they're not far enough into the game (3) people getting offended when the damn wind blows too hard. The fourth group we're missing is the vets, who were here to give their knowledge and experiences, but have been shoved away with the very same rudeness and disrespect they were accused of. Not only is it hypocritical, it's unfair to all.

You can go to the Syntrax website and call their 800 number. They will send you fifteen packets, one of each flavor. I just ordered mine last week! I recommend this over Alex's suggestion - BP's price is basically double Syntrax's if you buy directly from them, unless I read it wrong.

I've tried both of these, and they are on the suggested Protein list that my surgeon gave me. I liked the one on the right a little more then the other. I also had the premixed drinks verses the powder, so that will probably impact the taste.

I started everything in October 2016 and am probably looking at a March 2017 surgery. I have had multiple tests and clearances that have had to happen. I am wrapping them up now, and will have to meet with the surgeon one more time and he will schedule me for surgery at that appointment.

I just threw out my favorite pair of jeans that had worn at the things from the chub rub! For three months though, I wore black leggings under them (they were very dark blue) so that I didn't have to throw them away. I was in a restraint at work though, and they split while I was trying to get this teenager on the ground. Couldn't have split when I was still at home, noooo, why would it happen like that?!

I am quite skilled in that area too It's all fun and games until they turn the tables on you and wear one of those clasp-in-the-front bras!

Uh, for the record, I read the end of your topic title as "girl FLU" and, in conjunction with "color analysis," I was intrigued! LOL. Anyway.. I'm young, 24, and most of my girlfriends are all about the makeup. Not me. I work a job in which I chase children and do physical restraints and get beat up, so makeup isn't a part of my day to day. However, when I DO get fancy, I keep it simple. I use a quality moisturizer on my face (more on this later), a drugstore foundation (Covergirl in the glass bottle with the pump that always breaks), a setting spray (Urban Decay, you can find at Sephora, definitely worth it), a couple swipes of mascara (also Covergirl, in the green tube), and a touch of nude lipstick. I will follow up with you what color it is - it's also Covergirl, but it's the first one that doesn't turn my lips orange, like you, and it's my favorite!! I also found that I just couldn't get eyeshadow right on my face, and have since just stopped trying to use it. I love the smoky eye, but it's just not worth having to take off and redo over and over if I can't get it right! My friend got married in October, and I HATED the way that the lady did my makeup! I'll see if I can find a photo and post it later. It was so terrible, and I had to pay for it! I was so uncomfortable, my lipstick was too dark, she contoured my face and didn't blend all the way, and she colored my eyebrows! I'm blonde, and my eyebrows are invisible, and you can never see them so I felt very weird. It photographed really well, so I guess that's the point, but some people do that every day. Like, how? Tell me your secrets. Tell me how you have no acne if you do that every day. My face broke out for a week after that wedding, and I try so, so hard to take care of my skin.. and on that note. I swear by Ole Henriksen products, conveniently from Sephora. The African Red Tea Cleanser is my favorite cleanser, and I love two of their moisturizer - the one in the blue jar called Sheer Transformation and the one in the green jar called Vitamin Plus. All of his products that I have tried have not made my skin more oily, and have kept my acne away! Which is wonderful - I have had such a hard time finding a moisturizer that didn't make me break out! As far as clothes go, I think you should stick with what makes you comfortable, and what makes you feel confident and beautiful! These are the most important things, and if you have this accomplished, then you're won half the battle. One thing I can say - I live in NY, and I went to college in western PA. I wore dark blue jeans with brown boots and a black tshirt to class one day and my friend, a native western PA girl, was like, "you can't wear all those colors together!" I was so confused, and I asked her to elaborate, and she told me that I couldn't, under any circumstances, that I cannot wear navy blue, black, and brown together. I had never heard this, and thought I looked great. She couldn't back this up with any other logic other then "it's what I've always heard," so I have continued to wear these colors together. I'm not sure if I helped, or if I just rambled on and on but I will get you the name of that lipstick! And find a photo of myself from that wedding when that lady colored my eyebrows grey.. ugh!

In 2012, I was in a near fatal car accident when my seatbelt didn't work right and I was thrown through a windshield, until the seatbelt ran out of give, and I was thrown into the back seat. I had a hip replacement, ankle joint repair with titanium hardware, and a broken arm. I broke almost all of my ribs (which contributed to something they called flail chest), shattered my sternum, broke both sides of my collarbone, had a skull fracture and completely crushed my thoracic spine. I had 7 surgeries, but refused spinal surgery. I spent 9 months in a wheelchair, I had to learn to walk again, and I suffer from long term memory loss (and lots of security problems at the airport because I'm bionic now). I was 19, and my father was thrilled that I declined spinal surgery. He told me that having surgery would be dangerous (LOL after everything else I'd already gone through) and that fixing my spine surgically would be taking the easy way out. I was enraged. People like my dad, and people who view this surgery as "taking the easy way out" have zero clue what they're talking about. Quite frankly, I think any individual who would chose to demean your life choices instead of supporting a decision that you have made to better yourself is not your time, before or after surgery. You are doing this for yourself, and if you've thought about the decision and focused on the positives and the new life that you will have when all is said and done, you will realize that your self worth and your importance and your VALUE is more then anyone's negative words. You are important, strong and smart. You are capable of making an informed, educated decision, and no one's words should stand in your way. Man, I was fired up about that. I'm good now haha.

You look wonderful! Love those pink leggings, too! Great job, keep up the good work!!

My surgeon recommends the Vitamin Patches through PatchMD. I haven't tried them yet, but they seem pretty cost effective if that was a route you wanted to try and possibly talk to your surgeon about! I should mention that I'm not a rep for PatchMD or anything, it is just what my surgeon recommends.