orionburn

I assume you are asking about the approval time for the surgery, not for FML, yes? Approval times are going to vary depending on your insurance company and their requirements. My insurance required a 6 month program. Once the program was completed it took about 4 weeks to actually get approved. My paperwork was sent in right before Thanksgiving so between the holidays and end of year rush a supposed to be 1-2 week process took a month. If you have a fairly common insurance company try asking your bariatric office. They should be familiar enough with the main companies to give you a decent feel for approval times.

Holy cow! And you were still hitting your protein goals for the day? I think my lowest in the early weeks was around 500-600 calories a day. I'm doing better now being around 800-1000 cals a day.

I started lifting again as well so I liked to believe that was part of not seeing the scale move. My doc really wants his patients to stick to 3 meals a day but there is no way in hell I can get enough protein in only 3 meals. I can with a protein shake but it feels better to eat 6 smaller meals rather than trying to push things with 3 larger ones. I'm curious to see if the trend continues through the week. It didn't take a ton of additional calories. I only added in about 200-250 per day. It really is trial & error at times.

I hit a stall about 6-7 weeks after surgery. Only lost a pound in a 2 1/2 week spell. I started to up my calories a bit more and focused on getting my protein from food rather than having to rely on a protein shake, so that did mean eating more smaller meals through the day. Knocking on wood but since doing that over the past week the scale has started to move again. Keep in mind that what works for one may not work for another. Sometimes it just requires patience. If you aren't doing a food journal then start one. It helps to know for sure where you are at with your diet rather than guessing.

It happens. If you aren't doing a food journal then start one. I've been stuck for the past 2-3 weeks but since upping my calories a bit the scale has started moving again.

Adding supplements in isn't a bad thing, but those are going to help in building muscle mass, not curbing your appetite. It gets to be a science of managing a diet with lifting. You have to know your own body, but you may want to just bump up your calories on the days you lift.

That's weird. I can't see why they wouldn't recommend it unless they think it's too high in calories but you'd be hard pressed to hit around 30g of protein @ only 180 calories. My doc's office recommended it for both bypass & sleeve patients. I'd really be curious to hear why they wouldn't recommend it for pre-op.

I hope I didn't sound like I was trying to discourage you or anything. I think it's awesome that you're going that route. My only concern is that t does get to the point where you pretty much have no choice but to up your calorie count to gain mass. I have so much catching up to do that I can probably go pretty far before I hit any sort of wall. For the most part I feel the same way. I actually don't want to get under 200 lbs. I'd be a twig and wouldn't like it at all.

Yeah...with fruits your carb count will probably be through the roof. Is there any particular reason why you want to do it?

Unjury was what I used for my pre/post phase for my sleeve. A little pricey but excellent quality. It honestly was one of the best chocolate protein powders that I've had. I believe you can order single/sample packets from their website. I think mixed with skim milk it was about 30g of protein per serving. I use Body Fortress now. Price is good for what you get and the taste isn't so bad. Plus it's 30g of protein without having to add milk to it. Definitely not as good as the Unjury, but for the price it isn't bad. Although I haven't used it in a few years Optimum Nutrition makes a really good powder as well.

It can be a bit intimidating if you've never been under before. It really is like falling asleep and waking up in the morning. You don't really recall that moment you went out. I actually lost the first few minutes before going under. I remember heading back to surgery and that's it. Next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. I've been under like 4 times now I think for various things. You'll do just fine

Are you keeping an accurate track of how much fluid you're getting in?

It's a side effect from being on a low carb diet. It's a chemical released from ketosis and, unfortunately, decides to exit the body through our breath. The good news is that it isn't related to not brushing your teeth well enough, but the down side is that extra brushing won't be of much help. I'm sure your dentist would appreciate it though! Really the best thing to do is use mouthwash, get yourself some Listerine strips, etc. It really will only help mask it and won't do anything to make it go away completely, but it helps. The first few weeks after surgery were the worst for me. It's gotten much better since then. Some mornings are rough but it passes as the day goes on.

It's just basic math. If you look at some of the articles it shows how it's just not possible to have that much in a tablespoon serving size (that and the grams/calories don't add up correctly). Nobody is saying people can't use it or it's dangerous. To me it's like buying a car and being told it's going to get 35 mpg and turns out it's only getting 20 mpg. I'd be kinda pissed about that. Doesn't mean the car itself is bad, it just doesn't deliver as promised.

This. If you want help then offer up more information. Do you keep a food journal? When was your surgery (considering under your photo it says pre-op)? Nearly everyone hits a stall a some point. If you don't want to take the time to share more info then just search for stall in the forum and you'll get half a billion threads asking the same thing.

Crystal Light (or the Great Value brands from Walmart) are my go-to drinks. The nice thing about them is you can mix up the flavors and come up with some unique combos. We use a 2 quart pitcher at home and I'll do something like combine a grape with a berry pomegranate, or apple with another flavor. Another thing I like to do is mix in a bit of the diet cranberry juices from Ocean Spray. They have couple different ones besides regular cranberry, like cran-grape. They're only 5 calories and carbs are really low per serving. I don't typically drink it straight but would mix in 1/4 of a glass with the cranberry juice and the rest with Crystal Light. Prior to surgery I'd do that combo with a shot of vodka if I wanted a drink outside of beer. The Propel waters are pretty good as well.

Food is an addiction just as bad as anything else. Years ago (prior to quiting) whenever I used to give thought to giving up smoking I started to smoke more than normal. It's that idea of giving something up and taking in as much as you can while you can. This is a big moment of reflection that you need to do with yourself and really evaluate your relationship with food. So often I see topics asking about doing a final binge before the pre-op diet starts. Not that there's anything terrible about that as long as kept in control, but the way I looked at it is that whatever last food "fix" I got it wouldn't be enough. I might take care of one craving, but another would take its place. That was a wake up call on how much control food had on my life. You have to decide if you're going to continue to let it have control over you or if you're going to take control of it. Emotional eating is commonplace, but it's that addiction that has to stop. The surgery is going to be a tool but your mind has to change as much as your body. You can still eat emotionally after surgery, and while you may not be able to eat as much of an unhealthy food you can still graze and bring all habits back. I say this a lot, but for myself I feel like my food issues are no different than somebody that's recovering from an alcohol problem. Each day I have to make the right decisions, and at this point (about 9 weeks out from surgery) I still battle with avoiding old/bad habits. In time it will get easier just like it was when I quit smoking, but I also know this is a life long fight that I'll have.

I'd like to see where that bit of info comes from. You're going to injure yourself from trying to lift too much or having bad form. Not because you didn't eat the right carbs pre/post workout. That just seems like a weird statement. When I lifted years ago on a regular basis I found carb cycling always worked best for me. I didn't go crazy but I definitely ate more carbs on lifting days versus non-workout or cardio days. It's a trial and error thing. You're going to have to pick a starting point and keep close track of your progress and find out what works best for you. Stick to "natural" carbs (whole grains, veggies, etc) and avoid the processed stuff. If you aren't already then definitely do a food journal on something like Myfitnesspal. While I'm not trying to discourage you try to look at the big picture as well. It isn't to say you can't make strength gains and still lose weight, but it will get to a point where you're trying to achieve two things at the same time and they won't work well together. Back in the day I was a big fan of Ronnie Coleman (professional bodybuilder). Dude was just a beast. But what always killed me was when he posted pictures of his building phase. The guy actually looked fat, but once he was finished with that and went into his cutting phase he came out looking amazing. If you look at their diets it was just insane at the amount of calories they took in a day. It was all healthy foods but eating was nearly a full time job for them. In the end it's up to you and what you want to achieve quicker - overall weight loss and getting closer to your goal weight, or major gains in strength/muscle. Again, not trying to discourage you, but realistically things will get to a point where you'll have to decide which one takes precedent over the other. I do commend you on your decision to power lift, though! That's awesome to see. I'm recovering from years off of the gym due to previous health/arthritis issues and hoping to get into power lifting myself one day.

That's the way I look at it. Plus I don't mind spending a bit more knowing how much money I'm saving at the grocery store these days...lol.

The Celebrate brand is good. After surgery (mind you I had a sleeve) the multi didn't sit so well with me, but the calcium ones never bothered me. I found I had to take it close to a meal to help mask the vitamin burps...lol. They do come in multiple flavors and are made specifically for WLS patients.

What do you feel is high sugar/fat in your food list? Unless the soup is full fat & cream based I can't imagine the nutritional info being that terrible. Yes, you do need to be careful with soups as they can hide a lot of "bad" in them, but if you stick with light versions and avoid the heavy cream stuff they'll be fine in a diet. Greek yogurt is much better nutritionally than regular yogurts. I second the recommendation for the Oikos triple zero. They have some awesome flavors. I believe Yoplait makes a 100 calorie Greek yogurt that is really good as well. You're right in your thinking of getting into the habit of avoiding food with high sugar/carb content, but at this point your #1 goal is to focus on protein (60g minimum) and water intake (64 oz min). Protein shakes can get boring as hell in that phase but you're better off having that over a soup that is high carb/fat and little protein. If you feel your current protein power/drink is too high in sugar than look to other brands. These days most stores like Wal-Mart even have a decent selection of protein powders, or get something from Amazon if you don't have many options nearby. Just search the board for "protein powder recommendations" and you'll get a ton of results. Just skim through some threads and you'll see what the popular brands are.

Although I'm only about 9 weeks out I think the dedication to sticking to the change in my diet has been having an effect on my wife. We went through a bit of friction about 6 weeks in due to the length of time it was taking for me to eat my 1/2 cup of food. We had a talk and told her that was always part of my problem was plowing through a plate of food quicker than it was now taking me to eat 1/2 a cup. The past few years have been back and forth with unsuccessful diets and this time I've been doing really well at making this work. I'm starting to see changer in her as well - taking more time to eat, avoiding some foods, etc. Naturally I miss some of the old junk foods, but I've been happy doing what I'm doing without them in my life. On the surface it doesn't seem like a big deal to me but I do think it's having an impact on my wife seeing that I'm getting by just fine without those things in my diet any longer.

I'd really like to see some proof of "95% regain all the weight back and more." That's a ballsy statement to make with no research/links to back that claim up.