Little Green

Just had my RNY this morning. I was definitely prepared to experience a lot of pain and discomfort. But let me tell y’all...i feel amazing!! Hardly any pain, no nausea, not much gas. So those who have surgeries coming up, DONT BE AFRAID! I am your reassurance that not every story is a horror story. Be brave and remember that it’s so worth it! So blessed!

Dr Davis talks a little about this in the book. I'm retraining my thought process on how to look at foods. I was a proteinaholic and it's not an overnight thing to let go, apparently. LOL I was eating some roasted Broad Beans and instantly I thought, "how much Protein am i getting?" Oh goodness. I want to view it as, "I'm eating broad beans", not "I'm eating protein". I don't want to pick apart my foods anymore...just enjoy them and move on. Part of an article about the diet fads:
Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin University Prevention Research Center. He told Prevention magazine the protein craze is a fad, like low-fat in the 1980s and low-carb in the early 2000s.
“All the focus on macronutrients has been a massive boondoggle—we cut fat and got fatter and sicker; we cut carbs and got fatter and sicker,” he said. “We need to stop focusing on macronutrients and instead focus on wholesome foods and healthy combinations and let the nutrients take care of themselves.”
This is my goal...my diet will take care of what my body needs and I'll be free from having to worry about having certain macronutrients.

Congratulations! The next few weeks will fly by and you will be post-op before you know it

I do believe @Newme17 has always identified all of her recipes as vegan or vegetarian depending on what it is so people will know, if it matters to them.
I'm not sure why the warning is necessary?? Just really wondering.

I called today to check on the preauth and she told me I was approved!!! Woohoo!
I had a "oh crap" moment because she said I was approved for surgery TOMORROW... um...? But it was just a dummy date they put on the request. So I called the bariatric office to confirm and they said the coordinator wasn't in the office but she'd call me tomorrow or Friday to set up the date and pre-op labs!
I'm kinda sick with anxiety, I'm thrilled but my stomach is just roiling and twisting with knots. I probably have around six weeks before my surgery now and it seems like it's next week. It's been 14 months since I decided to pursue WLS and almost 10 months since my consult! Long time coming, but it'll be worth the wait!

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery. I think the total cost for the operation and all the preparatory work was around $50K. I found that getting qualified through my health insurance company gave me the most headaches for the entire process.
I had the surgery done primarily to improve my health, weight loss was only a secondary consideration. I had high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, severe acid reflux (GERD) and a number of other issues. I was taking 4 types of prescription medicines and even those did not solve the problems. Within a few weeks after the operation I was off all my prescription meds. I am over 4 1/2 years post op. So the surgery met my expectation. It even helped solve my severe asthma problem. And I lost a lot of weight to boot. I dropped from a size 3X in shirts down to a size small and from a size 46 in pants down to a size 33. I replaced my whole wardrobe with the latest fashions. That was another win I didn't count on.
It takes about a year for the scaring to disappear. I did not find the the loose skin was that much of a problem. It probably depends on your initial weight prior to surgery.
Most of my family and friends were very supportive. But even if they were not I would still have gone this route.
I go out to eat at restaurants. I eat a little bit of the meal and then take the rest home as left overs for 2 or 3 meals. You might look at the bright side and consider that you will have more time to talk during meals, more time to socialize.

I have been on my pre-op liquid only diet for now 24 days (my surgeon is asking for 4 weeks because my BMI is over 50...). For me the first day was hard because I hated the taste but I got used to it by the second day.
I remind myself it is for a safe surgery and it is for my health. I took some broth on day 1 & 2 just so I could take all the shakes.
It's not easy, but it is also a preparation for our future life after surgery. I won't lie, I had MANY cravings but I stayed stubborn on not cheating and instead I was telling my SO my craving (that somehow triggered him more then me...). I kept a journal, that I will continue in post-op for my food in take but I write how I feel and so on and it does help.
If you have a craving try to change your mind, do something else and worst case scenario sleep it off. Better have more sleep then not following your surgeon plan.
Best of luck!

I’m very excited tonight ... it’s been a long process but today it finally paid off ... my surgery is scheduled for February 6th!!

Good luck! My surgery is at 7am. Have to be there at 5:30. My mother was supposed to come from out of town today but there's still too much snow where she is, so I had to scramble to find a babysitter (who could come to our house at 5am tomorrow) but thankfully I found one.
I'm getting more scared and second-guessing myself all over the place. I've lost 20 lbs since I first met with my surgeon on 9/22 and I keep thinking maybe I should just be more disciplined and do this on my own but then I know the sleeve will make it easier to do.
Did anyone see the Vox series this week about bariatric surgery? Very interesting (and timely) to read:
The main story is about a teenager and her mom, who both got the sleeve:
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/12/18/16707428/bariatric-surgery-teen-weight-loss-jewel
Then there were other pieces where they talked to a bunch of people who had the surgery a few years ago, to see how they've done with it:
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/12/19/16742884/weight-loss-bariatric-surgery-pros-cons-stories
And a more general overview of the surgery:
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/12/7/16587316/bariatric-surgery-weight-loss-lap-band
Good luck everyone!

@Newme17 all of your cooking from this weekend looks so delicious. I sure wish I had any one of them to eat right now. I am sitting here trying to figure out what I can throw together quick as I am too worn out from my trip to cook..lol... Thank God I am off tomorrow so I can regroup and hit the grocery store. I need to plan out some meals for next week.
My dh told me he lost another 2 pounds this week, so 6 pounds total in the past 3 weeks. He is really sold on eating this way and he told me tonight to ignore him if he asks me to cook him anything with meat. He has his weak moments, when he is craving chicken, but he wants to stick with it. I am proud of him.

The thing is everyone is worried about Protein, protein, but really as long as you are eating a WFPB diet, avoiding most processed foods (not eating junk and sugar) , your body will take care of itself.
Honestly I am getting to the point where I am ready to stop worrying about my macro balances. I know I am eating as healthy as I can and I am improving my variety of whole plant based foods every week. Yes there may be weeks where I am deficient in one mineral, Vitamin, or whatever, but over time it will all balance out.

Have you seen Dr. Matthew Weiner's videos on YouTube? He promotes a "plants first" way of eating and has a book out. He's a bariatric surgeon. Here's one for the 1st Month After Surgery.

i haven’t read the book so I can’t comment on it. I’ve been pretty much a vegan since before my GBS. I get blood work every six months and every time my test have been good. It’s been over three years since my surgery and I take no medication. I always take my Vitamins and administer a B-12 shot once a month. Best of luck in ya'll journey.

I have the Alta HR which is the slender one. I like it a lot, but I think if I could do it again I'd get the wider Charge 2. My husband and SIL have that one and I like the display better. I love having the HR feature and specialized sleep data. It's so easy to tell if you're training in the right range. The one thing I would say is make sure it's tight when you exercise, sweat interferes with the HR sensors.

I, too, went Whole Foods plant based a few weeks back, I had the sleeve. I don't worry about my Protein levels (nor anything else). I believe that my WFPB diet will take care of itself. And so far so good, my labwork came back awesome. Nothing my doc to worry about or deficiency in anything either. Still losing weight but even better...I'm getting healthier too. 😊

Congrats on switching to vegan! Such a great choice, I've never looked back when I went in 2003. I had RNY, but I've had no problem at all getting Protein, I don't even need to pay attention to it and I still get more than what's required by my doc.

Yikes!!! That is like week 2 bariatric surgery level calories lol. It may be difficult to tell if that is from the fasting or from weird hormonal things happening because of extreme restriction. I wonder what it would feel like to do the all day fast and then have an 1800 calorie (healthy obvs) dinner.

Hanging on by a thread! I had to go to a holiday party for work last night at a fancy pizza place (and watch everyone around me drink beer and eat really good pizza for 2 hours) and this afternoon we had a 2 hour Yankee Swap at work where they brought burritos in. BRUTAL. But I haven't cheated so I'm proud of myself, at least? How about you??

I didn't realize the sleeve had been around long enough to have 20 years of research on it.

As others have said, I do Wendy's Chili. I am almost 3 months post op, I can not eat an entire small (it is at least 2 meals to me). Anywhere else I will order a burger/grilled chicken sandwich without the bun (dry) and ask for mustard. If it comes with bacon I will eat the bacon. I do Buffalo Wild Wings (traditional on bone) hot/medium or lemon pepper (now that I eat so little, I have added other flavors that have some sugar in the sauce).
It is too early for me to eat salads (raw fruit or veggies), so will change over time.
I find it easier to ask for it without the bun. They usually put it in a hard plastic container and are used to people asking for it this way (for those who watch carbs or for those who order it this way for their dogs).

never. just no desire for it at all.

Rarely. All I get is a four piece nugget from Wendy's. Everything else just seems pointless or gross now.

If it has too much breading I don't even want it. If it's greasy, I don't want it. Lol

Hw-273
Sw-226
CW-147
GW-130
Size- 4 or 6, Small in sweats. Medium in shirts. depends on how it's cut or made.
Bra Size- 38D

Surgery Date- April 26th, 2017
RNY
"Only those who try will become" FFX

i know of someone, an older lady, who had gastric bypass surgery at a hospital in Georgia.
the next day, the daughter brings a box of Cinnabons to her in the hospital room. they proceed to start eating them. she tears open her new stomach and has to go into emergency surgery to save her life, cleaning cinnabons out of her abdomen.
moral of the story? there seems to be no limit to the stupidity of most people in this country. it is infinite and almost beyond the imagination. while some bariatric offices are better than others at preparation and patient education, none of that really matters when dealing with the average American.
look at our president.

I've often wondered what influence, if any, the 'when' of skipping breakfast has. What I mean is, most girls I knew started skipping breakfast sometime around junior high/middle school. What is going on developmentally, in habit formation and in physical development at that time that could be noteworthy? If I'm honest, when I look back at my relationship with food, that is about the same time in my life when things started to go haywire. Just a bit of a tangent to this conversation...

Nice. Feels good to know I'm waiting on my spa day
Also a huge +1 to everyone who has shouted out Dr. Weiner's videos. His videos are the first resource that made me feel I could actually permanently change my eating habits and actually enjoy it and gain the great health that comes with eating a diet largely based on plants. For a long time I assumed I'd have to be Keto after surgery and I have never enjoyed that type of eating. In addition to all that, he breaks everything down to the nitty gritty, science-wise, so you can really understand and soak up the information. Those videos are wonderful!