Losebig

There's some scary statistics that at least in my group they didn't really highlight. One is the alcoholism or other addiction rates (they mentioned it, but never shared rates). The other is an 85% divorce rate according to one study. Kind of crazy... hoping to not do either of those things myself...

Stay healthy it's no fun to get sick right after. There was a good post on here a while back about norovirus 2 weeks out. Luckily there shouldn't be long term effects, just have to stay hydrated and get through it.

My program says 4 months, but I think it has to do more with risk of substituting addictions than anything else. I don't drink much, so will only miss it in social situations.

Some good advice here. Only thing I can add is be careful of drinking your calories. You have 2 drinks in there that are pretty high calorie. Drinks go right through so you don't have any benefit of the restriction the sleeve provides. Log everything for a week, measure carefully and be honest and see if you can meet with a nutritionist from your program or if not have your PCP recommend one. I'm guessing there's way too many calories in a day, but hard to saw without knowing portion sizes.

They said you swallow air with a straw, so it fills you up.

It wasn't mentioned one way or another in my program, but they want us low carb for 6 - 12 months so it's out for a while. I like it as a snack with some salt (no butter), but it does have all the shells that stick in everything, so I imagine you want to be fully healed.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm an engineer by training, so that probably explains it Haha! Glad that you might be seeing some changes on the scale! It'll come, hang in there. Being precise is just a habit from a million diets I've been on for years, it's also something my NUT has really pushed on us. We're supposed to be measuring everything and logging it (just the amount, food and protein). A food scale helps a lot. I'm also using it as a way to make sure I don't over eat, 4 oz is ok, 5 is serious pain, so I measure carefully! One thing I noticed in the foods you listed is they all have quite a bit of salt. You very well may be retaining some water, so as you switch things up you may see a big drop quick! BTW - the rash may be a Keto rash if you're having very few carbs, got it all down my side - annoying but went away.

I decided to mix it up for lunch today and went to a restaurant (first time since surgery). After looking at the menu I played it safe and since they had breakfast all day, I got 2 scrambled eggs and 3 sausage links (smallest order they had). I ate 1.5 scrambled eggs and .5 sausage links. I rounded it out with a snack 4 hours later of .5 eggs and .5 sausage links. Sausage has been a great treat, lots of flavor without any carbs and decent protein. Normally lunch has been 4 ounces of chicken salad or shredded chicken mixed with a little bit of BBQ sauce. I'm not too adventurous...

There's a long list, your surgeon probably has one they'll make you sign before surgery. Here's a decent online list from another practice. https://www.ALM.com/weight-loss-surgery-options/vertical-sleeve-gastrectomy/#thesideeffects . Personally the largest side effect I've noticed is lack of appetite, weight loss, some mild mood swings and fatigue :-) You probably want to ask about complications and complication rates at your specific practice as well, those should be enlightening and you can talk about your personal risk factors for them with the team since they know the situation and should have lots of experience.

Definitely varies by state, I had BCBS MA and they didn't have any requirements. I'd call them and ask specifically what documentation is acceptable. For example a letter from your PCP stating that you've been working to lose weight for the last 12 months without success may be sufficient. Once you know what they're looking for you can either provide it or try to appeal and see if their 'team' will accept giving a pass based on your PCP and Surgeons medical opinions. I've had ok luck appealing stuff with them in the past, but you need a PCP who is willing to push for you.

For folks who had gallbladder issues what were your initial symptoms?

How long did folks have a lifting restriction? Mine was 10 lbs max for 6 weeks, which seems like a long time. I'm sure I've done more than that, but have been pretty careful. Today's the first day of "normal" food for me! Haven't tried anything unusual yet, but may try something more creative for dinner. I did go to a restaurant today, but decided not to push it and just ordered 2 scrambled eggs, which I couldn't finish.

Sent you a PM with lots of details. For folks who also share the date I'm down about 25 lbs from surgery and close to 35 since the pre-op diet started and eating 600 - 1100 calories a day (usually around 800).

My program has us just try and hit the protein and fluid goals, so you can eat whatever. If you are worried you can track calories. Purée goes right through you so you may not feel the restriction as much. Good you can chug, I can't do that at all. The slow eating is to prevent pain and give you time to feel full, if you eat too fast you may overeat.

Yes, it's only a few weeks, but in my program you start it 2 weeks out and take it for a year. No side effects so far. It's too early to say it's working, but based on the data my program has it does work

That's crazy! Nice to get a visual like that. I made something today and in the past would have eater it all in a sitting and then had something else, but now ate 10% of it and was painfully full. I also noticed that my 17 lb dog can eat more than me!

If you had a hernia repaired it's very common for pain from that to refer to the shoulder (that was by far my worst pain, super sharp). Gas pain also settles in the shoulders too, though I couldn't tell which was which. Keep up on the pain meds and if you have lots of painful spasms let the DR know (I did and ended up rehospitalized). There are some meds that can help with constant spasms / dry heaves

The gas pain lasted about 2 weeks for me and I walked a ton (miles a day even in the hospital). The problem with it is that it's in your abdomen and chest, not in your digestive system so GasX won't help with that type of gas. I used a heating pad as well and that did help a little. Luckily the worst is over in a couple days and then the rest will slowly dissipate and you'll feel better and less swollen. Glad everyone seems to be doing well. The first couple of weeks are tough, but it does get better and starting to see some weight loss helps with that (due to surgery fluids, swelling, etc you may not notice much of a change on the scale at first).

I'm just finishing my soft foods phase. My program doesn't want you to have many carbs, so I haven't tried things like potatos. Here's what I ate: Yogurt (this was the easiest one so do a greek yogurt daily - it can't have fruit etc in it). Egg - usually a fried egg, sometimes with a little FF shredded cheese on it Chicken Salad (made with FF mayo dressing). For a shortcut I would use canned chicken, which is softer Tuna Salad (this didn't go down as well for whatever reason) "Pulled chicken" - really just canned chicken with a small bit of mild BBQ sauce mashed Soups without pasta or rice (lentil, split pea, vegetable lentil is good) you can eat what feels like a lot Ground meat, lean turkey or hamburger, added mild taco seasoning (has to be a good day and you have to chew REALLY well) Turkey Sausage (I mince it and then chew it very well, its very flavorful) String cheese (eaten in very small pieces, chewed well). Soft vegetables and fruits were allowed, but I never had time to really try them because I had to eat so much protein to hit my goals. People also say Rocotta bake is good, I haven't tried that. Hope that helps. At first I started with the more liquid stuff like soups and then progressed to the more challenging things like soft ground meat.

If sipping doesn't work tell your surgeon. You may be developing a stricture or similar issue. If that's the case it can often be resolved with an endoscopy. Assuming you're not drinking within 30 minutes or more of eating?

They're measuring their risks VS a randomized sample of people from DMV records (i.e. a control group that should mirror their demographics). Those folks are definitely going to be less active due to their elevated BMI, so am sure that's part of it. The accident category includes a lot of things that aren't activity related (suicide, car accidents, etc). They made a note of suicide risk due to underlying psychological disorders being a potential problem. (I imagine that's why most programs include a psych portion). Here's a link to the study, which is definitely worth a read: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa066603#t=article

I was so busy I missed my opportunity. My last good meal was thanksgiving - though that was a few weeks prior to the pre-op diet. The night before the pre-op diet I had a work dinner at a super high end french restaurant and some good wine. The portions weren't large, but were good. I thought during the pre-op diet I should have gone to a huge buffet or something, but now that I'm past the surgery I'm glad I didn't and have no regrets about missing out on a proper "last meal". I'll be able to eat normal foods (minus carbs) later this week, so am looking forward to my "first meal!".

That pain is probably too much too fast (stuff getting stuck). if you had a hernia repair it'll be even worse because there are two very swollen areas to get any liquid through. Take it easy and know you won't hit your fluid goals until maybe a week out. Warm fluids can help and of course walking. Hang in there and keep any pain under control so you can heal. Gas pain will often be in the shoulders and chest area and is worse if there was a hernia repair as well. It lasts a while unfortunately.

I had a similar concern with the staples given the sleeve is a newer procedure. It turns out they use the same staples in the bypass as well, which is a much older procedure. As for other complications you can talk to your surgeon about them, most centers will keep their own stats on complication rates. In my case the surgeon has been doing bariatric procedures for 17 years and his own info was extremely helpful. I asked how many people he had die and why (turned out it as only a few in that entire time). I also talked about life expectancy after the procedure and we talked about a couple studies that were done (weirdly your risk of accidental death is higher after surgery according to one study for some unknown reason - but generally it's far less than doing nothing). Staples and other things from surgery are used in other procedures as well, so you may be able to do some research on that avenue if you want. The one thing that was totally clear to me was that the risk of staying as I was, was far greater than any risk imposed by the surgery long or short term. The risks of obesity are well researched and proven, so that part of the analysis is unfortunately very easy.

It could be, most of the issues come from the rapid weight loss. A lot of programs use Ursidol to help prevent gal stones. It can help with small ones if they formed too. They should be able to see if anything is going on fairly easily. You're definitely going to be at a higher risk of it given the large weight loss you're going through.