Hop_Scotch

If you are in a position to, don't have them in the home. If they are there for other people, ask them to put them somewhere relevant to them and out of your sight. If at work, again make sure they are out of your sight. In general though, don't buy them and if given them as a gift, regift them as soon as possible!

Sounds like a cramp. Chat to your dietician see if you need to delay purees for a day or two and slowly introduce.

Woohoo LynnV, not far off goal for you! Awesome effort

This will give you an idea what is covered by medicare if you meet the criteria (which I think is a BMI 40 and greater or BMI 35 or greater with comorbities, like diabetes two etc. https://sios.elevate.com.au/costs-finance-options/ Medicare pays 75% of the scheduled fees if there is an item number for that service, and PHI (if your particularly PHI covers WLS) pays 25% of the scheduled fees plus private hospital fees (excluding any co-payments/excesses). There will be gap payments for any fees which are greater than the scheduled fees set by medicare. Bit of a minefield really.

Me to, I am a member of this site and some FB groups, and other than that only one friend knows, and if I didn't have to have someone with me for a couple of days after the procedure (my doctor insisted, though with the benefit of hindsight he wouldn't have known either way), no one would have known. I am fairly independent and private with family and friends when it comes to medical issues and health, if I am sick, I prefer to be left alone, don't bother me type of thing, I am not dying, I will be fine tomorrow.

The clear or the flavoured? I do have a satchet of the clear powder but didn't try it after trying a bottle of one of flavoured ones I had bought.

I think if someone is going to be doing illegal drugs they need to be mindful of how significant weight loss may impact their tolerance to the drugs they using (which would be the same for legal drugs too of course). In Australia there have been some deaths due to water intoxification while taking ecstacy, if I understand correctly, Bit much to ask people not to make judgements when asking about illegal substances or activities, we all make judgements everyday, intended and unintended. Me, I am not sure why someone would undertake significant lifesaving surgery but then risk their life by taking illegal drugs. If that's judgement so be it.

I have always carried water bottles with me (I have an auto-immune issue that causes dry mouth) even into bars, restaurants etc, never had an issue. I have only tried one brand of protein water, can't say I liked it, I couldn't get over the taste. What brand do you buy?

So soon after surgery I would be excusing myself from dinner out,

Not a lot of low calorie options in a bar if you are not doing alcohol or carbonated drinks. I haven't tried them yet, but a friend of mine is quickly becoming addicted to the cold water herbal tea infusions. Perhaps you could take something like that with you. If it were me it I would be asking for a water with a wedge of lime or lemon.

That's great, you are doing wonderful

Do you feel you haven't lost enough weight on the pre-op or liver shrinking diet? If that's the case reach out to your doctor or dietician see if they have any suggestions that may help you. If you don't feel mentally or emotionally ready perhaps reach out to a counsellor.

It's amazing how soon everything feels so much better isn't it!

Hi Mikeyy and welcome to BP I am in Tassie, but not a RNYer. Take some time to read through the bypass subforum here and you will probably find the answers to questions and even unasked as yet questions. There a few Australians about here but if you are on FB, I could send you a link to an Australian based bariatric group which is fairly active. If you are concerned about FB privacy and friends, you could set up an alias profile. Let me know if you would like the like.

It wouldn't hurt to start, if you don't ask now you may get caught out on the day of surgery

You've had a sleeve, you are unlikely to feel hungry for a quite a while as the part of the stomach that was removed produces the hunger hormone, grehlin, has been removed. Please check with your doctor and/or dietician that you understood the instructions correctly. Sounds like you need to be eating more if you are feeling weak its obvious your body needs more nutrition even if you aren't feeling hungry and do make sure you are getting plenty of fluids.

Best wishes for you!

Well done fellow ESGer!

Very few people know about my WLS and perhaps it because of the nature of my procedure but I am not too bothered by food smells or those who are eating things that I can't. Obviously I can't expect people to change their eating behaviour but if they did know about my procedure I wouldn't expect them to change what and how they eat. I had the procedure not them. My friend who kept me company for two days after my procedure kept apologising every time she cooked or ate. I asked her not to apologise as it wasn't bothering me, and that was the truth. At work this week we had an afternoon tea for the Melbourne Cup (the horse race that stops a nation lol) on Tuesday, Wednesday was a morning tea for customer service awards, Thursday was pizza lunch to celebrate a milestone in our office renovations. Met with friends for drinks Thursday evening ( water for me) and met a friend for dinner (again I drank water and had nothing to eat). I was in the free liquid stage in the week just gone (today I start pureed foods yeah) and while I didn't partake in any of the foods or alcohol, I was able to celebrate the intentions behind the events. I can only hope my mindset stays the same while I work on changing my attitudes, behaviours and habits that contributed to me being obese.

Do you have a lot of excess skin? If you do, you probably are on the lower side more than you think. if you want to increase increase calories focus on good fats, steadily increase portion sizes of healthy foods, handful of nuts here and there, do not eat fruit by itself include some cottage cheese or yoghurt, etc. Generally though, what do you think? What does your doctor think about your weight? If both you and your doctor are happy, does it really matter what others think?

What a wise nutritionist. Something for us all to consider, and I know I will be giving it some deep thought.

Case in point, first time poster named Erin (typically a female name) but 'he' posted his first post, link to that website, and always the dramatic message with the link. Other click bait posts have included my mother, father or sister got colon cancer and or/died after taking this bariatric drug etc etc

I am in a a few facebook WLS groups, interestingly that website is one of the most spammed/clickbait posts in some of the groups I belong. iIs usually three or four of the same articles by a first time poster to the group, presumably some facebook users are being cloned by bots or their fb page has been hijacked by a bot to post the spam. I saw some of those articles that are being clickbaited/spammed in the groups when I went to the link.

From what I have read on these boards, time off for recovery varies greatly, some people needed six weeks others only needed one, there is no right or wrong, it is what works for you. Some people may not have needed the full time to physically recover but from reading what they have written, the time off was great for emotional and mental recovery.

Hopefully its all good news from hereon in. Nerves are a natural part of the process as is fear of failure. Just know there will be ups and downs, stalls and times you will want to give your sleeve back. On the positive side, you will lose weight, you will regain your health, you will regain your shape. In conjuction with your doctor set reasonable and achievable goals, follow instructions for your pre op and post op diets they are there for a reason. Good luck