Little Green

I've thought about it, but no. I need a solid date and solid plans and solid food and... solidarity and... solidness. No more waiting for phone calls. I'm going to look at the bright side. (I'm sorry my thread has been full of mood whiplash, lol.) One nice thing is spring break at school is March 5-11 so I won't be missing classes that week and may even be able to go back on the 12th depending on how I'm feeling. I'm sure there are other nice things I'll think of. I'm having WLS and changing my life. Ultimately it won't matter when it was. Just need to get my husband's work stuff sorted out and then we'll be good.

Surgery is now scheduled for the 28th. I'm....... it is what it is. I'm hoping I wake up on 3/1 and still have health insurance so I'm not on the hook for the bill from March 1 & 2. I'm free from the liquid diet for now and start again on Valentine's Day.

My only suggestion is to maybe find some lower-protein options? The Premier Protein shakes pack a darn PUNCH at 30g a piece! Several of my protein options are only 15-18g so that's how I'm able to fit in more calories at roughly the same amount of protein. But... then again, if you are happy and mostly not feeling hunger, then don't change a thing! Super proud of you!!!!!!!

Why white-knuckle your hunger when you're eating half the calories your RD recommended? *WAGS FINGER STERNLY AT FLUFFY* Eat some more if ya want. I'm so glad you're having a great time so far! I think your already restricted carbs were probably the key to a smooth transition. Unlike me who was having banana smoothies every day

DO I STILL HAVE A CHANCE, EDDIE?!?!?!?!

Idk about you but I'm milking this thing for all it's worth, @FluffyChix! My mom and my husband both. I'm not allowed to drive for 2 weeks post-op so they can chauffeur me around and wait on me. I feel much better. My meal was delicious, the massage was great, and I saw The Greatest Showman which was really wonderful! Then I had some retail therapy at Target... whoops but it was fun! Of course I never did get a call from the scheduler today. This office, I tell you... The reason I chose this hospital was because my husband was treated there after his accident and it was a stellar experience from start to finish. I guess there's a big difference in emergent injuries vs. elective surgery! Or maybe just a big difference between the actual medical professionals and the admins who run their offices *prays no one from my surgeon's office reads these posts* Sorry, just tired of the snafus. I'll give them until around 11am tomorrow to call me, and after that I plan to call and not hang up until I get my new date.

Baths are the primary joy of my existence. I desperately hope I don't have this issue!!!! *frantically researches waterproof cushions to sit on*

Thank you Apple & Fluffy... hugs gratefully received, and I'm sending hugs back. Therapy was helpful, just the process of getting it all out and crying, etc. I also listened to some good music on the drive over. But physically I think I've hit a limit. My under eye circles are a dark charcoal purple color and I'm flushed and itchy all over. So, I decided to skip class and take care of myself for the rest of the day. Since I was technically told to stop the liquid diet, I'm going to chance it and have a meal tonight (from Zoës Kitchen, rice and beans with pita and hummus, mmmm) then get a massage and see a movie. I physically cannot handle this stress anymore, unless I add some fuel to my emotional reserves. Plus, lack of nutrients, lack of sleep, and stress all combined may cause me to get sick and postpone my surgery which would just start the cycle over. Everything will be all right. My husband has been on the phone all day trying to get things worked out for returning to work, and he's making some good progress. I don't have the capacity to hear the updates right now lol, but he seems in good spirits, so I'm taking that as a good sign. We will get through this! I WILL have surgery, there's nothing to stop that from happening. It's just a question of when. And whenever it is, that will be okay.

I'M STILL SO MAD I WAS TAKEN OFF THE SCHEDULE. IF ALL YOU NEEDED WAS A LETTER YOU COULD HAVE KEPT ME ON THE SCHEDULE AND JUST TAKEN ME OFF IF YOU HADN'T RECEIVED THE LETTER BEFORE SURGERY. THERE WAS NO NEED FOR ALL OF THIS. I AM SORRY FOR THE CAPS BUT I FEEL HELPLESS AND IMPOTENT, A SHIP TOSSED ABOUT IN THE WAVES OF BUREAUCRACY. *PUTS ON GOTH MAKEUP AND LISTENS TO EMO MUSIC*

Thank you everyone. I'm more confused today than yesterday. The sleep doctor's MA faxed the letter over this morning, yay!! But now there's a "huge case" on the 15th so it won't be on that day. They haven't worked out which day it will be. But the class is still scheduled for the 14th, so it will be the 19th at the earliest (surgeon has clinic Fridays). The scheduler is supposed to call me back today once they work it out. She told me to stop the liquid diet, but then asked what surgery I'm having as if to say something else about the diet, but we never got back to that topic and I didn't realize until after we hung up that I wasn't sure if she really wanted me to stop the diet. If so, that means surgery would be more than two weeks from now. I'm going to ask when the scheduler calls, but man this situation could not get any less clear if it were a mud pie. I'm going to compromise on the liquid diet and add smoothies & fruit back in addition to the shakes & bars. (I might knock back on the shakes, too, over 100g protein per day has been making me anxious.) So that's the silver lining - delicious banana smoothies. I have therapy in an hour and I hope to find some strategy for dealing with the head-to-toe electrical buzzing in my body. Maybe a Xanax. I try to remind myself that my worrying doesn't change the outcome. Unfortunately that never helps, lol. I'll keep y'all updated.

Aww, Eddie. You just messaged ME and said you wanted to be the special person close to MY heart! How are you gonna mack on me & Crystal at the same time??? And all the other women you've been posting about in other threads, too? Please stop. This is gross.

Beans and nuts are not the only plant-based foods that contain protein. Literally every plant-based food contains protein. Rice and broccoli have protein. Potatoes have protein. Pasta has protein. Wraps and breads have protein. How to get to 46 grams of protein on a 1200 calorie plant-based diet without using shakes? Protein is not some magical hard-to-find nutrient. It's in everything. And yes, in the beginning, the real estate in your stomach will be limited. Obviously supplementation is required then, just like it is for people eating meat. As you can eat more, you'll be able to fit plenty of plant-based protein in your stomach. This kind of fear-mongering is silly. If people after WLS can eat fast food and pizza "in moderation," you can eat sufficient plant food to meet your protein goal. And if you're worried, have a vegan protein shake or eat a vegan protein bar. And yes, you absolutely can get too much protein in your diet. High protein diets are hard on the kidneys in particular, and animal protein is linked with heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. I love how eating meat is a given and you don't have to worry or do extensive math or have some strategically planned diet to be nutritious, but eating plants - OMG, no, call a medical summit to analyze it first! Sorry... I really should not post late at night while on a liquid diet. My attitude is terrible.

Right now? 30-50g a day because I'm on the liquid diet, lol. Post-surgery, long-term, I'll probably be at 65-70% of my diet as carbs because I'm a vegan. (Those carbs will be from fruit, veggies, beans, oatmeal, potatoes, bread, rice, and other whole grains, and very few if any from sweeteners or processed food.) That's way more than most post-WLS patients, who tend to severely restrict carbs, so this might not be the answer you're looking for. I recommend reading How Not to Die by Dr. Michael Greger or watching Forks Over Knives on Netflix for some info on how plant foods like I mentioned above help you maintain a healthy weight and protect you from disease. You can also check out Dr. Matthew Weiner on YouTube, who's a bariatric surgeon who promotes plant foods ahead of the standard protein diet. Just thought I'd share my opinion in addition to the many keto and low-carb comments you'll see on this thread. *makes angel face*

Thanks, you guys To make a long story not quite as long extremely long, sorry, once I got started I couldn't stop, I did this to myself by accident. In December I asked to get a sleep study done to see if maybe the reason I can't sleep on my back is due to breathing issues, and possibly get a CPAP machine to help me get through the post-surgical period where the incisions make sleeping difficult. I didn't realize this is a months-long process, which one of the nurses in the sleep lab has been graciously expediting for me by finding cancellations every chance she has. Unfortunately, I failed my in-home study because I could not use the machine properly - it would stop reading and flash a yellow light in my face every time I rolled on my side, and, again, I can't sleep on my back. They want me to repeat the test in the lab, which I'm fine with, but I said because my surgery date was already scheduled, I would need to do that after surgery. They said fine, we hung up, everything was okay. Except not. Because. Even though I passed all the apnea questionnaires, and no medical professional ever told me I have sleep apnea and need a sleep evaluation, because I took it upon myself to ask for the referral, almost as an experiment to test my hypothesis, now they have it in their system that I have a pending sleep study. So now they need the resolution of that before we can proceed with surgery. Because liability and legal issues. Which I was made aware of last week, when the coordinator told me she would be getting in touch with the sleep lab to sort it all out. Cool. Except when I called yesterday to find out the status, she told me I had been taken off the schedule because of this issue. Um, what???? Why wouldn't you tell me that upfront??????? So, yesterday in my no-carb liquid diet stupor I was frantically trying to be the go-between with these two offices, explaining that I need some kind of document or note faxed to the bariatric office saying that the sleep doctor is okay with me waiting until after surgery to repeat my test. For some reason I can never get in touch with the bariatric coordinator until the end of the day and the offices all close at 4:30. So the best the sleep lab could do was send a note to the sleep doctor's MA. She called this morning and said she spoke with the bariatric coordinator to clarify what was needed, but that the sleep doctor was not in the office. She said she'd talk to him tomorrow. So... I'm hoping that when I call tomorrow, they will have faxed over the necessary document and the coordinator will give me some good news about the date. We will lose our health insurance on 2/28 unless we can get my husband back to work, which is a jungle of red tape and hurry-up-and-wait situations. And we have no idea what's going to happen if he doesn't go back by 2/20 which is the end of his 2-year disability period. He doesn't have to work, he's on SSDI, except that I don't work because I'm in school full-time, so that's our only route to health insurance unless we want to derail our entire life plan and have me go back to work before I finish my degree. (And he wants to work, anyway.) So to have all of that happening at the same damn time is just... overwhelmingly overwhelming. The coordinator, who really is very nice and is trying her best, answered "I can't say that," when I asked if the 15th was completely off the table. So there is a chance that that slot was not filled and she can put me back in. I also said I could do it earlier. But the thing is I have to attend a class which is ONLY ON WEDNESDAYS FOR SOME REASON before I can have my surgery. So it's either tomorrow (today) which is obviously not happening, or next Wednesday as planned, or else the earliest my surgery could be is 2/22 if I can attend the class on 2/21. You can see why all of this mess causes intense full-body shutdown. I don't know what's happening and that's the worst part. I'm just desperately hoping that everything can go ahead on the 15th. We've planned everything out, my mom has taken time off, we're moving ourselves and our cats into her house this weekend (surgery is in a different city), I've notified all my professors and my family, etc. Since I've gone this far I'll confess I cheated my liquid diet last night out of stupidity and stress. I fasted for most of the day today not to punish myself but because I felt like crap physically. I ended up having 3 protein shakes over the last 6 hours or so, so I'm at 495 calories and 90g of protein. I'm a hot frickin mess, y'all.

*waves* I'm feeling pretty rough at the moment. There have been some bureaucratic shenanigans that might move my surgery date which is extremely upsetting due to all of the issues with my husband's disability and our health insurance, and ever since I found out about it I have been a wreck. They told me to stay on my liquid diet, though, so that seems like a good sign. I should hopefully have a definitive answer tomorrow.

Sorry, I know it's the same old liquid diet post that everyone puts out there, but I just need to vent. Today is the first day of my liquid diet. I'm not necessarily feeling hungry but I am already so frustrated with the food options that I am feeling extremely depressed and reckless. I really hit a stride starting in December when I began eating a plant-based diet and it's so upsetting to go from a healthy, delicious diet I was REALLY enjoying to artificial tasting protein shakes and bars. They don't taste BAD - they're not gross. But they're not delicious. The fruits, beans, hummus, nuts, veggies I was eating were delicious. And they were healthy. I lost 15 pounds in just over 4 weeks (including Christmas!). I just wish I could keep doing that. I get the logic behind it - a controlled VLCD will help reduce the risks of surgery and is easy to regulate. 5 servings of protein shakes per day with nothing else except no-calorie liquids is easy for patients to tell if they are in compliance with. A low-calorie healthy diet is not controlled or regimented enough to achieve the same thing. So I get it. I just think it sucks. I've been all over the place today. I delayed getting out of bed because I didn't want to face the reality. When I did finally make my first shake, my husband asked me what kind of "smoothie" I made and I nearly burst into tears. Would that it were a delicious banana and berry smoothie! After that first shake was down, I felt better. I talked to some friends and made a list of things I'm looking forward to after surgery. Now 8 hours and 3 protein shakes/bars later I'm feeling depressed again. My husband went out an hour or so ago and I know he's getting fast food for supper. I don't blame him at all, and fast food isn't something I would even eat on my plant-based diet, but it set me off again. Feeling sorry for myself and craving Chick-FIl-A and feeling like I might jump out of my skin. Thanks for letting me type all this out. I'm sure if I reread this post after surgery I'll be like, "Oh you were so silly for being upset!" But it seems super intense right now! My plan for the evening is to enjoy my last protein bar and maybe some herbal tea while watching My 600-lb Life and then go to bed early.

You're so sweet and your words are always appreciated, @kakatlady612! You can be my RNY gramma any time

Sorry, I hit send too soon. I love how you felt free to dismiss the entire conversation that we had in a few sentences when you clearly have literally no idea what you're talking about. You don't know who Joe Cross is, you haven't watched his stuff, you didn't even know what plant-based meant. That would be like if I commented on a crossfit post when I know almost nothing about it. In fact, though, I feel certain I know more about crossfit than you know about plant-based diets. So pardon me if I didn't find your argument particularly persuasive.

@orionburn I'm on my pre-op liquid diet and I'm not the one. I will be as kind as possible in my response. You're in the vegan & vegetarian forum so do not come in here and laugh about eating animals. It's not funny or cute, and it's very disrespectful. I leave my veganism out of the main diet forums so you can leave your meat-eater jokes out of the vegan/vegetarian forum. Thanks! The evidence is overwhelming that a plant-based vegan diet absolutely is superior to other diets. (Evidence produced by real studies done by real researchers in real medical journals, not some fringe blogger types.) You're welcome to access the numerous resources in this forum to learn about this evidence if you're open-minded enough to do so. The fact that this way of eating is superior obviously does not mean WE are superior. Nobody in this forum claims to be better than anyone else. My beef with Joe Cross is that he is clearly riding the wave of interest in veganism/plant-based eating without making it crystal clear that he includes animal protein in his diet not just occasionally but every single day. That's deceptive. I think it's probable that a large swath of his followers and supporters are buying his books and products thinking they are supporting a vegan lifestyle - meaning they wouldn't be buying if they knew he's eating animals everyday. To me, that's just wrong. I'll weigh in with a different perspective from @fruitandveggies on the term "plant-based." While I do agree it's often being used as a softer way to say vegan without saying vegan, it also distinguishes a healthy whole foods diet from a vegan junk food diet. Soda and candy and all kinds of highly processed meat/cheese substitutes are vegan but they are excluded from a plant-based diet. The term "whole foods plant-based" is a mouthful so people just say plant-based, or sometimes they just say vegan for the sake of recognition. I started off not liking the term vegan but have come to embrace it so sometimes I say plant-based and sometimes I say vegan. It doesn't matter, they mean 85% the same thing and both completely exclude animal products.

I just cannot imagine living my life that way forever. Particularly with RNY when you aren't absorbing everything... out of 1000 calories, how much are you absorbing? And then presumably you're exercising at least a bit and trying to fuel the rest of your life... nope, can't do it. I will be upping my calories as soon as I can tolerate it, volume-wise. Eating the right calories of course 1800-2200 calories of veggies, whole grains, nuts, beans, fruit... way different from 1800-2200 calories of burgers, fried foods, pizza, etc.

I'm sure you're good for the 15th - unfortunately it seems many times these silly systems take ages to talk to one another even though they're all in the same hospital. I would be extremely upset as well so I know it's easier said than done, but sit tight and try not to stress. Tomorrow you should get some answers Hope you're still in the 2/15 club, cause it's the best place to be! (Sorry Fluffy. 2/20 can be second )

LOL Barbara, I love you Per your invitation, I checked out your Facebook page and sadly did not see any discussions of this doctor calling you a fat pig. I did see a ton of complaints about the liquid diet, which, believe me, I totally agree with you about that! I also couldn't find anything for your speech on Hillary's nomination - but I'd love a link!

There are delicious high-fiber crackers that are made with seeds and super healthy. I like the Mary's Gone Crackers brand the best and they have a few herb flavors. Found them at Target and Food Lion but I'm sure they're at other places too.

If you're asking about overall fat loss, like where does fat go when we lose weight? The super weird thing about fat loss is that you lose the majority of it through expiration - meaning you breathe it out. 84% ends up as CO2 and is exhaled. 16% is water and you sweat or pee it out. It's so bizarre because we all have this image of fat "burning" or "melting." But nope... just breathe it out!