Ed_NW

I think most people would be inclined to leave this community and join the ranks of the healthy and physically fit at your stage in the game. Kudos to you for sticking around 3 1/2 years out and helping put things into perspective for the beginners like myself.

I agree. Our military uses the metric system. If everyone started using it exclusively, we would catch on.

One thing that makes me laugh now is how hard the teachers pushed writing in cursive when I was in school. My kids generation can't even read it... let alone, write in cursive. It seems like all writing is done with a keyboard or a thumb nowadays. LOL

I was listening to a comedian that was from the 80 something graduating class talk about typing class. He thought he would never in a million years need to learn typing but look at us now! LOL... We never factored in the whole possibility of computer keyboards playing such a huge roll in our lives. To most people in the U.S., the metric system is a foreign language. HAHAHA!

I think she's referring to the same option that is available on Facebook.

I was in grammar school during the period of the failed U.S. conversion to the metric system that was supposed to take place from 1975 until 1985. We are more confused now than we've ever been. LOL

I think you are too indecisive. I have a son your age and I won't push him even though he is super morbidly obese. I think everyone goes through what is described as buyer remorse for a little bit after their first WLS and if you are questioning your motives as much as you are now and in past posts, you should wait a few years. You will (most likely) sabotage your own progress after the surgery and I'm basing that on my experience as a father. I tell my son, "You will know when you're ready to loose weight and get healthy because you will have an overwhelming sense of conviction". The old saying "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make em drink" comes to mind. Go out and try to get healthy on your own one more time and if that doesn't work, (which it didn't for most of us on here) come on back. This community will still be here. As a parent, I wish my kids could learn from my mistakes but that's just not reality. All I can do is try to lead by example and that's the reason I'm going down this path now. Good luck with your decision.

I've made small changes here and there leading up to my WLS. Two cool things about dropping the diet cokes was, WOW there's a lot of salt in those things!. Once I switched to water, I could all of the sudden start tasting salt in other things. I was desensitized to salt and didn't even realize it. The other thing was, I was dehydrated and feeling like crap because of the salt and caffeine I was consuming. It's kind of a challenge now to see if I can drink enough water to make clear urine . Once you switch over to water, you will regain a natural thirst for it and you will be wanting it all the time. That's the way I am now. I worry that I wont be able to enjoy the quantity of water that I currently do after the surgery. My mother is in her mid 70's and never really drank anything other than water and because it's her way of life, she never has a problem with dehydration.

Congrats! I'm looking forward to being where you're at now.

Congratulations! You'll do well.

Sounds great! I'm only required to do a one day liquid diet as well. Good luck moving forward!

I used to follow him on YouTube but he started moving away from bariatric related videos and started pushing what seems to be pyramid scams. He was a funny guy but he's changed directions lately with his product sales.

I like opening up on forums like this but don't like sharing personal details about my life to people outside of the WLS community. I have always been really sensitive to other people's judgement of me and my reaction is to get angry and defensive. I don't feel like I have to explain my reasons for going this route to people that don't share the same struggle. I was skeptical before I researched WLS. My sister-in-law had RNY over 10 years ago and my first thought was, she cheated. I know now that I was ignorant and she did what she needed to do to save and improve the quality of her life. If it hadn't got out that she had the surgery, I would've just thought she got serious about her health and did something about it, and I wouldn't have had those negative thoughts. I think somethings are better left unsaid. I hope that is a better response considering the fact that we can't delete posts on here (hehe).

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as snarky. I just looked at your profile and didn't see any info and assumed you were a private kind of person. My bad.

Dehydration causes low blood pressure leading to dizziness. I'm on blood pressure meds and anytime I start to loose weight, my blood pressure fluctuates and my doctor will adjust my dosage. The first indications I get are usually dizziness.

Judging by the length of time that you've been a member on this forum and have zero stats to share with people going through the same experience, I would say you are better off not opening yourself up like that. Some people are strong when it comes to the judgement of their peers and to some it causes great anxiety.

I think I will try this. Any thoughts?

I had the same thought before I started researching WLS. I started noticing full isles of protein powders and shakes and thought Costco must really be wanting to "PUMP YOU UP!" LOL

My first reaction when my son told me that he was thinking about having the WLS done in Mexico was that of total horror. Once I started educating myself on the subject, I not only thought it was safe, I kick my self for not going that route myself. It just sounds way easier and probably cheaper when it's all said and done. The craziest thing I learned while watching YouTube videos ad nauseam was, the gastric bypass was first done in the 1960s for the treatment of ulcers. It's been around for a long time and is way safer and routine now than it was 50+ years ago. Do like I did to the loved ones that I wanted to educate on the matter. Every time you come across a good video or series of videos, forward them a link. If they genuinely care about what you are about to do, they will educate themselves.

Check out the Baritastic app as well. It's free and does the same things as myfitnesspal. It works with your fitbit, etc.

You're a good guy James. 5 years out and you are still on here helping people out. Well done!

Don't ever feel obligated to tell anyone you don't want to. This is a medical procedure designed to help save your life with an added bonus of making you look better. The sleeve is the less invasive of the two (RNY/VSG) procedures and should go pretty smooth. VSG was originally performed on the super morbidly obese so they could drop some weight making the RNY surgery safer to perform down the road. When they are in there rooting around, they will check out your gallbladder and possibly remove it if you have stones and see if you need a couple stitches in your diaphragm (hiatal hernia) so either one of those are stand alone surgeries and can be the reason (you tell people) you are going in for surgery. Keep reading other people's experiences on here. That will put your mind at ease and it will seem like a walk in the park come time for surgery. You got this thing. Good luck!

Make sure you don't go more than a couple hours without eating something. Drink a protein shake within a couple hours of waking then every 2 hours eat a dill pickle or something low or no carbs. Lunch have a protein shake. A couple hours, another low/no carb snack. Dinner healthy choice or lean cuisine etc. Stop eating 2 hrs before bed. Drink tons of water to flush salt and toxins from kidneys and liver. This will keep you under 1300 cal per day and your body wont go into starvation mode and hold on to fat like a dog with a new bone.

This lady plays pretty good and she had the sleeve done not too long ago. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbwqfjHwr-FP5NE3veGMUpg/videos

I agree 100%. Another thing that will be nice is not having the doctor blame every ailment on my weight.