Shells83

@Frustr8 I only had to do a pre-op diet of 1200 calories per day for two weeks, then two days of the liquid diet. I am really picky, so I was glad I didn't have to do the liquid diet longer than that, but as long as you like more than the protein shakes, broth, and SF Popsicles like me, it shouldn't be too bad. I did end up finding one kind and flavor of yogurt I can choke down, so that helped for the post-op liquid diet. @nourishing heather Hi! Thank you so much! I find Journaling about my experience has been therapeutic and am glad you and hopefully others and enjoying and benefitting from it. I know I loved to read about others' experiences before my surgery. Congrats and best wishes for your upcoming surgery! 😀

Today my last day on liquids!!! I went to the grocery store today and let me tell you, it was very exciting buying real food for myself. I'm excited, yet nervous at the same time. I'm really hoping everything goes smoothly. I bought eggs, cottage cheese, a whole chicken to cook in my Insta pot, a piece of tilapia, cauliflower, and stuff to make the Ricotta Bake recipe. Oh, and an avocado. I have missed avocado so much! Weight loss is still going strong at about a pound a day. I fully expect that it may stop or go up, and then fluctuate, once I start eating real foods. And that's okay. I should probably stop weighing myself daily but we'll see. 😉

My first post-op appointment went well! My next appointment is in five weeks. He even released me to the pureed stage a couple days early, so I can start that on Saturday. Even though I'm not hungry, I'm excited to start eating real food again because I need more energy. And need to get "things" aka 💩 moving again. I was up half the night last night with bloating and constipation. The milk of magnesia didn't work so well this time around. My surgeon recommended I take some probiotics daily until I can get enough fiber from food to keep things moving. So I picked some up on the way home. I also picked up my new toy, the Instant Pot mini. Even though they're all the rage I hadn't bought one yet, but since they get meat so much more moist than other cooking methods, I decided I needed one. Plus I got a pretty good deal, about $67 with tax. I think Saturday I will roast a whole chicken and make some mashed cauliflower in my Instant Pot. And I'm planning on having a scrambled egg with cheese for breakfast at my first meal. I hope I can tolerate this stage as easily as I've tolerated everything else so far, like my water and yogurt. I really, really, really hate vomiting. It's not like anyone likes it, lol, but I really hate it. One disappointing thing my surg told me is to reduce my walking to only 30 minutes per day. I had been walking quite a bit the last few days, more like 2 hours per day (broken down into six or so walks). While it does make me more tired, since I'm just sitting at home I really wanted to walk a lot to jump start my results and build up my endurance for when I'm released to full exercise. I really do follow my surg's instructions to a t, but might not on this aspect. He did have a good point about the heat here right now, so I'll do the treadmill instead. And maybe scale it back a little. Because otherwise my butt is sitting in my recliner or on my deck not moving at all!

YAY @Frustr8 I am so excited for you! It's so nice when the uncertainty and waiting is over! Do you know what kind of pre-op diet your surgeon requires?

Whew! I think I overdid it a little yesterday. I forgot and lifted something that probably weighed over ten pounds. 😣 But I don't think any harm was done, my incisions look fine but are a little sore. Also, I walked about 8 miles total and over 18,000 steps according to my fitbit. Now I have a couple blisters on the bottom of my toes and my half hour walk this morning was painful. Not to mention it's really hot here today and I got a little sunburned on my chest and shoulders yesterday. So I'm scaling back on the walking a little today but am going to walk another half hour later on my treadmill. It feels good to be able to get out and about again since I can drive now that I'm off the pain meds. Yesterday I had to take my bulldog Ozzy to the vet for an ear infection. Luckily my sister in law was able to go with me to help lift him in and out of my SUV. Since he weighs 71 pounds! OMG his weight is out of control and it's my fault. But I went to the store today to get baby carrots to replace his dog treats and veggies to start mixing in with his food since the vet wants me to reduce the amount of food I feed him by half. I told my husband our dog needs to get the sleeve too! 😜😂 Today I ran some errands. I took a couple things back to Walmart so I picked up a new flavor of premier protein shakes - the cookies and cream. I'll report back on those next post. I also got more Vitamin Water Zero Squeezed Lemonade, which I'm having about once a day when water gets too boring. I also bought a packet of the unflavored Unjury to try. Let's see.... I also took back a couple shirts I'd bought before I knew I was having WLS and I was sooooo tempted looking at some of the cute clothes I might be able to wear soon when I'm smaller! It was hard not to buy something but I'm really going to try and make do with what I have as long as I can without buying new too often. But it made me feel excited for the future smaller me! Instead, I went to a shoe store and bought a pair of Sketchers GoWalk shoes since I felt like my other shoes were pinching my toes too much. They are ugly AF but sooooo comfy. The slip on will be nice to have when I return to work so I can take little walk breaks. Plus they were $30 in the clearance section. Score! 😀 Tomorrow I have an appointment with my psychiatrist for my med refills and then my follow up with my surgeon! I'm excited to officially weigh in on their scale. I am supposed to be on liquids another week until next Monday but part of me wishes they will release me to the pureed stage early. Idk if that's even an option, but I'm getting my protein and fluids in with no problem. I'm not hungry still but sometimes my stomach will get that "empty" feeling pain that's been bothering me, especially late at night. I try to just drink more fluids but a couple times I've opened a protein shake and taken a few sips to get my stomach to stop protesting this liquid diet! Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow to post an update on how my appointment with the surgeon went and my "official" weight loss!

Well, days 5 and 6 were pretty uneventful. I'm getting all my protein and fluids in. I'm actually way over on fluids. One of the things I feared most about this surgery was developing a dislike for my beloved water. I'm so happy that I still love my water. I can't chug it like I used to, but I can sip as much as I want with no problems. I did find a new love: Vitamin Water Zero Lemonade. It's nice when I just feel like something other than water. Before surgery I typically drank a couple Sprite Zero sodas per day on top of my water intake. My birthday came and went yesterday. I thought I might feel a little down about being on a liquid diet and no wine or adult drinks, but I was actually really content. My husband and I just chilled at home and rented the movie Blockers. OMG, it was the funniest movie I've seen in a long time! I had to hold a pillow on my tummy because it hurt my incisions a little to laugh that hard! 😂🤣😂 Oh, and TMI alert- I finally pooped on my birthday, five days post-op. 💩 I ended up drinking a little milk of magnesia because I could feel some pains and knew I needed to go. Other than all that, I've been getting tons of walking in and feel really good. I have been weighing myself and am down to 227 from my HW/SW of 242, which was two weeks before my surgery. They didn't weigh me pre-op at the hospital, but I think I weighed 238 at home the Sunday at home day before surgery. So down 15 total since starting the two week pre-op diet. I'll take it! 😁 I actually think my face looks thinner today but feel like I'm crazy because it's too soon to see results. 😊

@Frustr8 You're getting so close! Hold off on that DIY just a few days longer! 😃

Well, I'm officially sleeved! I wasn't as nervous as I thought morning of (the 2nd) and walked to the surgery room at 7:30am. Last thing I remember is them putting oxygen on me and the anesthesiologist joking that it was his second day. I don't remember the post-op recovery room at all, but do remember them moving me back to my room. After that, the nurses were in an out and so was I! All I wanted to do was sleep, I didn't care about anything else and never even called my husband until 5pm! The surgeon had called him afterwards of course. Day two was up and down. I kept having nausea and didn't feel like the gas was moving. But every time I was uncomfortable, the nurses gave me what I needed, so my husband came and picked me up. Day 3 (4th of July) I was finding I'm getting my liquids in very well, above what they expected of me. I still like the protein shakes and flavors I liked before surgery and I still love water! YEEESSSSSS! I was so afraid that I wouldn't like water anymore after the surgery, which seems to happen to a lot of water lovers. But I wasn't able to get very good rest due to my neighbors setting off fireworks all afternoon/evening. Oh well. Day 4. So far today I've had almost 40 oz of water, a premier protein shake, 4 oz chicken broth, one 2 oz SF popsicle, and my new coffee substitute, which is 8 oz of skim milk, ground decaf instant coffee, a dash of unsweetened cacao powder, and a scoop of vanilla protein. I'm trying to decide if I want to try to get down another premier protein shake today or just more water. I'm getting more walking in today but it's been pretty hot here so sometimes I just walk circles inside my house. I'm still having some spasms but no nausea or vomiting at all. I'm very happy I went through with this and am looking forward to seeing my heath improve. My goal is to post here most days (at least through the food progression stages) so I can remember my journey and hopefully help others. Then probably weekly or biweekly thereafter, just depending on whether I have anything interesting to share.

@Frustr8Thank you so much! Haha, your description of my journey is spot-on and made me giggle. There will definitely be no sweet corn in my diet this summer, but that's okay! I'll settle for fresh out of the garden tomatoes to mix into my cottage cheese in August. 😋

Eeeek! Surgery day is almost here. Yesterday was my last day of work and I did find out the company who bought us out is keeping me, so that's a load of stress off my shoulders. Now I can focus on myself. There will still be a lot of changes when I get back to work, but I'm not even going to think about it until I have to go back. I'm definitely taking two weeks, maybe even three depending on how I feel and whether I think I'll be able to get my food/water in while there. I'm starting to get more anxious and scared. I'll probably be a huge wreck the morning of, but I just have to get myself into the surgery room and trust my surgeon and the process. I'm still very excited! But those little doubts are creeping in here and there. Today and tomorrow I'm working on getting things done around the house and Sunday I'll just relax and spend time with my husband and dogs. Also, tomorrow I'll start my two day pre-op liquid diet.

Well, a week from today my husband will be taking me to the hospital, which is an hour and a half away. I'm staying at the hospital the night before surgery so my husband won't have take me in the morning before he goes to work his 11 hour day. He works in car sales, so we had to get a little creative in planning this. I think he feels really bad that he's not going to be there the day of surgery, but it doesn't bother me at all. I do appreciate that he cares so much though. He is planning on taking July 4th off (he usually has to work) to be with me on my first day home from the hospital. Anyway, I'm getting very excited but having some nervous moments. Yesterday I went through all my too-small clothing in storage and organized it by size so I can easily find new things to wear as I lose weight. I can't believe I have so many clothes! I have spent a fortune in clothing because my weight is forever fluctuating. I can't wait to reach my forever weight and just focus on maintaining it. I don't know what that's even like! Lol I need these nervous feelings to go away. I've never stayed in a hospital before or really had anything major done medically. But getting this surgery will be so worth it in the end!

I met with the surgeon yesterday and just have to get my physical done with my PCP on Tuesday. And I'm on my pre-op diet of 1200 calories a day. I only have to go on a full liquid diet the two days before surgery. I've been busy these past couple days making lists! Lists of what to pack, what to buy, groceries, things to do around the house. And I'm fully stocked on protein shakes, protein water, and G2. There's so much to do but it will keep my mind occupied these next ten days! Also, I used my cpap machine for the first time last night. It wasn't bad at all. It was a little uncomfortable and hard to get settled at first, but once I was asleep it never bothered me once. What's really neat is I have an app so I can read the data on the machine. My AHI (which is the number of instances per night) has already decreased dramatically, which is great news!

July 2nd in Iowa! I'm excited but nervous, this is my first surgery. Ready to celebrate July 4th and my birthday July 7th with protein shakes, water, and Popsicles! Lol

July 2nd for me as well @ClarksvilleSleever

Great news! I was approved by insurance yesterday, the same day as it was submitted. I'm ecstatic. I've chosen July 2nd as my surgery date. I also found out some not-so-good news yesterday. The company I work for is being bought out, which is the main reason I chose July 2nd. I believe I'll be employed with my current company through July 7th when the sale is finalized. They're telling us most, if not all, employees should be retained, but nothing is for sure. If I'm on FMLA during this time, i believe my job will be protected. I'm trying to not stress too much over this yet, I just want to make sure I have the same insurance in July, which sounds like it should be the case. So my birthday is July 7th and I'm not even sad about the fact I'll be recovering from surgery on my birthday. In fact, getting sleeve is the best present I could have gotten! Thanks @Frustr8 I will definitely check into those threads you've suggested!

I am in process of completing the steps towards scheduling my gastric sleeve surgery. Insurance is approved, and in the next two weeks I have appointments scheduled for my last nutrition counseling, psych eval, and meeting with the surgeon. So if all goes well, I'll have a surgery date scheduled within 2-3 weeks. Just wanted to say hi! I'm 33, my BMI is 38, and I struggle with depression. After trying to lose weight my entire life and yoyo-ing up and down, I'm finally ready to begin this lifestyle change. I can't wait!