Sosewsue61

Try refried beans w some cheese. Soft baked fish, white beans, soft cooked vegetables, try some chili mushed up. Some chicken veg soup, tender minced roast pork w some broth, peas, a little baked sweet potato

Hey check out @JerseyJules success w vsg. Also you are not anywhere near 300 so you should have success with VSG putting type II in control or complete reversal. There is little difference in overall weight loss between the two. Some prefer RnY if there is evidence of acid reflux. I picked VSG, because I do not want the malabsorption risk, nor the risk of an ulcer in the left-in unused stomach portion. I have only experienced minor heartburn resolved with one pepcid dose, but only 3 times in 9 months. Good luck on making a decision, it is one that only you can make. And welcome.

There is still swelling, and healing taking place and everyone is different in each stage, so take it easy, take tiny tiny bite and wait. Try just a little sip of warm liquid before the first bite. Everything felt like swallowing aquarium gravel for about a month, but then it quickly improved. Hang in there.

Hey - welcome and good for you for deciding to join the journey. Use the search bar at the top to find topics in the forums - it will answer a lot of questions already covered on here. Also take time to look up @JerseyJules and @BigViffer and some other veterans. Jules has youtube videos documenting his journey. Good luck.

@PENGU1N, you are a very kind, reasonable person from what i can discern in your writing and this will serve you well on your journey. Some people just see surgery as resorting to having no willpower, and maybe the seminar or surgeon nutritionist can be convincing otherwise but then maybe not. You will do fine either way because it is what you need and want. Good luck.

Yeah that monkey is always there chattering in your ear....we all love ice cream, chips, n pizza. And at some point you can have some. But have it not as an emotional response which is likely what you are experiencing, plan it as a guilt-free part of your day and insist on only the best version - genuine full flavor hard ice cream made with real sugar - not high fructose corn syrup. Only the BEST pizza ever made...etc. It has to wait though until you learn all the rules, until the rules become your life, until you figure out what works for your body and this takes time, you have time to do this - after you get that all worked out. Sometimes this takes therapy, journaling, learning to control anxiety that makes you want food to fix it....and sometimes that fails and we eat anyway but still learn. We get better at it. Be kind.

Hey @Richard Hayes, great going dude welcome to the 'other side' Wahoo!

Hair loss from surgery is usually everyone's issue, and it sucks. Rogaine will not prevent that. Rogaine may speed up the phases from resting to growing that happens every 3 months but not prevent the initial loss. Shorter cuts or layers might visually hide the loss and growing out phases, but everyone has to decide what they can tolerate. I have very fine hair already, and aging made that the reality <sigh>, but I don't like short hair on myself so I have medium w some layers. I see baby hairs growing in. Getting protein goals up as fast as you can helps you lose less hair, as you need protein to heal from the surgery. I have always taken prenatal dose of folic acid, it helps my hair grow quicker, I started biotin 6 months before surgery and maybe it helped, maybe it didn't but it can't hurt at least.

Don't overstock on protein drinks, your taste buds are greatly altered and food aversions early on are pretty usual.

So @skinnylife, did I ask for your opinion on my opinion! LOL Does the OP need protection from opinions?

Some issues I see now that I didn't when I was in WW - you don't need and should not rely on making yourself accountable to an entity. I erroneously thought that that accountability factor would make me successful at keeping weight off in WW. I also thought I needed them to tell me what to eat, it made THEM in charge and not me. Also I thought I needed their praise and rewards. Do you see where this is going? WW needs YOU. I picked surgery to assist me. What you need is YOU. And you can do this.

Sounds like a revamp of the old 'Core and Flex' program as a marketing ploy to me.

We have all used inferior coping methods, for whatever reason - forgive yourself - I'm serious here. You have to look in the mirror and forgive yourself and then start to heal and to love yourself, allow yourself to believe that you have value. It's so hard sometimes to not think we deserve to be our best, we hide behind the fat, the issues we imagine to be too huge, the feeling of being an imposter and soon everyone will know. You are important. You can do this with therapy and maybe the 'correct medication'. I find that I cannot keep those racing incorrect thoughts if I am deeply involved in something - usually something physical, if I can just stand up and open one closet door and start staightening, I can chase that irrational thought away. Or I go to a square dance, I go to the garden and dig, I put on an exercise dvd, I sew. If I can't manage that - I might really just need a nap, a shower, a massage, to be kind to myself. Your body has seen you through it ALL, and been right there. Mine gave me my children, makes beautiful love to my husband, hugs my grandkids, lovingly sews smocked dresses, reads endless books, has installed thousands of computers and made them work together. I am sure yours has done some pretty amazing things. You can do this, you have done it before and can do it again.

Start a healthier trend, bring veggies, fruit, reasonable protein in crockpot. Donuts are lazy, they say I wanted to bring something that I gave no thought to, ran in the gas station omw to work and that's how much I really care!!! P3 protein snacks, Quest chips if you have to have something chip-like, yogurts, string cheese, almonds, delieat, cottage cheese, cantaloupe

So explaining the definition of a bezoar would have been helpful. It can be a stone or undigested food lodged in the pouch.

Internal stitches pulling from healing, nerves reknitting together. I would only worry if incisions are inflammed, errupting or if pain arises particularly after eating only. Twisting and bending can irritate incisions.

Is it warm, swollen? It could be a strain causing bursa inflammation or a baker's cyst, or other things - did you fall, bang it into a desk, step down hard from a high step? (I have bursa inflammation from stepping down wrong from a high curb - had 2 shots and it is much better). Does it hurt more when sitting for long periods, or swell more when standing? When you press hard on an area does it send a huge pain - that is likely the bursa. If not it could be arthritis from a past injury just wearing down joints now. Anyway get it checked out, it doesn't usually preclude surgery, unless it needs surgery first, but doubtful that is the case. Get checked.

I took mine to the bariatric surgery support group meeting a d gave them away. (Along with too big clothes for the clothing closet.)

In the hospital ask for 1000mg of tylenol in IV form, it works great. They sent me home with liquid hydrocodone and I never used it. I only used luquid tylenol and only for a couple days. The worst pain was the site that they pulled the stomach out from - because of the nerves there and the 'tugging' to extract, but it recovers pretty quickly.

The surgery actually does a number on hormones for some ladies, as it disrupts them during the healing. Some get crazy periods, heavier, more frequent, etc - just beware of that. Fat mimics estrogen and as we lose weight it can change the course, that is why some ladies with PCOS that can't conceive get the surgery to correct it.

I used a straw, no issues. Just sip slowly and try not to gulp air with it. Try sf popsicles for fluids.

They used propofol and it wears off pretty quickly, ask what they are using to knock you out. It was a piece of cake for me, I did not drive home and I think you could easily make the appointment if someone else drives you.

When you say dye - meaning what? Darker, highlights, blonder, what? Darker hair will make your scalp show more if you have a fair complexion? Highlights - 2 colors might hide scalp peek-through better. While dye won't necessarily ruin your stressed locks, don't do drastic changes more than 2 shades difference - more than that takes stronger peroxide that will dry it out and make it prone to breakage. I would cut it shorter, not a pixie or anything, just shorter, maybe layers to plump up volume. I did a body wave, and highlights - not at the same time - it helps hide peek-through. It is growing in, fine baby hairs at hairline now at 10 months out the loss has stopped.

The paperwork does not have to reveal the nature of the surgery does it? It should only state that you need approximately X time off for surgery and recovery, expected date of return, restrictions, etc. It really is no one's business. You will be speculated about at any rate, depending on work culture it could still end up as unwanted gossip. You could always say a hernia repair, if you have to and that you have to watch your diet while it heals, only if you feel you must. Start distancing yourself from work peers now, not to be antisocial but walk away if convos get into ANY gossip, be more conservative about sharing personal details now, just say 'Have to run, I have a deadline, or paperwork, mtg, phone call to make, use the restroom, nice seeing you, etc'. It is not lying as some might suggest, but private medical health info. Do people announce they are in psych therapy, or getting hemorrhoid surgery, or genital warts removed, or going bankrupt? I mean we have all gotten conditioned by the 'Jerry Springer' syndrome of oversharing these days - all to our detriment I think. Good luck.

Our body shape is determined by genetics - short, high waist, big shoulders, slim hips, big boobs, flat arss, wide feet, etc. We can alter some of this with plastics, but not all. You will have to sort that part out along with the 'natural' aging process as a factor with the ability to maintain a desirable weight realistically at our age. Take a good hard look at peers our age that were not obese - I see plenty of lumpy saddlebags, turkey necks, fallen bums etc. We cannot turn the clock back, but accept a middle ground on liking what we have after doing our very best at this journey. I think my plans are to build muscle at this stage while I go for the last 30 pounds to come off. I would like to think this would make plastics turn out a little better, at the least aid the recovery process. As soon as the grandkids get back in school I can make the gym a bigger priority - plus I had to take a huge rest - my square dancing was straining my knee and I needed two shots in it this past month, it didn't help that i underestimated stepping from a high curb to the street in dance shoes in June at National. Ouch! The second shot made a huge difference though. I don't know where you plan to get plastics, but I really like the technique on the hips that Dr Peter Fisher from San Antonio does, plus he uses your fat to give you buns.