Suzi_the_Q

So, your fat stores estrogen and when you lose massive amounts of fat in a short period of time your body dumps a massive amount of estrogen into your system. This often causes depression or mood swings. This is a known side-effect of WLS. You may be experiencing something related to this. Talk to your doctor about it. You may need medication to help, temporarily. Good luck.

Hola Mary, Lo estoy haciendo bien, creo que estoy lista, pero estoy un poco nerviosa porque es mi primera cirugía. También estoy nervioso por Covid y por quedarme en el hospital. Ya alcancé el peso objetivo de mi médico y tengo mi último pesaje en 2 semanas para que puedan enviarlo al seguro. Espero que me aprueben la primera vez. Mi cirugía es el 29 de diciembre, así que técnicamente estaré tomando líquidos durante las vacaciones, pero le preguntaré a mi nutricionista si puedo comer con mi familia cuando celebremos. Todavía no he recibido la dieta líquida de ella. Tengo todas mis vebidas y algunas de mis vitaminas. Tengo algunos de ellos en Amazon, pero escuché que tienen problemas con los productos counterfit, así que compro mis suplementos en Vitamin Shoppe. Todavía no he pensado en qué artículos personales necesitaré en el hospital, solo trato de concentrarme en mi dieta y ejercicio. ¿Como estas? ¿Estás emocionado, nervioso ?, ¿Te sientes listo?

¡Hola, bienvenida a los foros! Mi español no es muy bueno, pero me someteré a un bypass gástrico a finales de diciembre y ¡estoy feliz de poder ayudarte!

Welcome and congrats on taking the first step! The people here are amazingly helpful and nice. Personally, I read through just about every day to learn as much as possible and help keep myself focused. And I swear I learn something new almost every day!

Lately, I remind myself that my food and my health are the only things I have control over. I hope to be able to get back to intense cardio so I can pretend I'm running away from my problems (while listening to music) once I lose a bit more weight. I watch fantasy shows that have little to do with reality or I read books. I need to get back into crafting and art too.

Unless you're 6'8" or something, 300 lbs. IS morbidly obese, generally. It's at least 100 lbs. above healthy BMI. Tell them the truth: diet and exercise alone have an average long term success rate of 5%, WLS is a tool that accompanies diet and exercise that increases that long term success rate to 65%. Tell them you just want to live long enough to hold your grandchildren, or see them graduate college or w/e. Obesity related illnesses can kill you as early as your 50s, sooner for some. Obesity is also a pre-existing condition re: Covid that puts you in the high risk category. Tell them that this is your best chance for long-term success and that you'd really appreciate their support. They're old enough to understand this if put in these terms. Good luck.

I finally got my date set for 12/29- I'm really excited, but also starting to get a little nervous. Not so much about the surgery, but other things: I'm getting my cpap switched to a bipap and still need to get the right configuration and approval to my surgeon, which will take some time to figure out; then there's the fact that Covid is resurging (though still low in my state) and concerns about hospital stay during peak flu season and need to quarantine from my parents after. Then there's care for my special needs 6 year old- my parents are going to take him while I'm in hospital and for a few days after so I can rest initially, but I have further quarantine concerns regarding him too! (Me not being able to fully quarantine from him rather.) Then there's the fact that my nutritionist commented that since I've been losing about 7lbs. a month on my own, that I might lose too much to get approved by my insurance since my only comorbidity is sleep apnea- THAT really derailed my weight loss for the month, only 1lb. thus far and I weigh in on Tuesday. My BMI is still over 40, so I don't think I have to worry about that, but UGH! I've been talking to my therapist about my subconscious fear of success too. I'm just trying hard not to freak out and hope everything will work out ok.

If you only took a couple of weeks to recover from pneumonia then your body recuperates really well! It took me MONTHS to fully get over it each time I've had it. You can do this!

Click on the tab next to your icon, with your user name on it, then My Surgery, add you surgery info there, then on the left click on Progress to add/ adjust your weight etc. You can create tickers at the bottom of your posts by clicking on your user name tab again and going to My Tickers. Enjoy!

One more for the Bariatric Advantage chewy bites. I like the strawberry ones and the pineapple-mango ones.

That sucks. Definitely call the lab.

Parkour, Cross-fit, chemo, bulimia, HIV, stomach cancer/ ulcers. The worse thing you tell them, the quicker they'll shut up about it.

I gave Sci-tec a try. It's the #1 brand in Europe and when I showed it to my nutritionist she was impressed and said it has some high-end ingredients. The chocolate tastes like diet chocolate milk. It's pretty good! It's hard to find in smaller amounts to try it, but I found it here. https://www.iafstore.com/usa/scitec-nutrition/100-whey-protein-professional-codp40749

I found this, may be useful. https://www.obesityaction.org/community/article-library/weight-loss-surgery-nutrition-and-hair-loss/ https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/metabolic-and-bariatric-surgery-blog/2013/march/tips-for-minimizing-hair-loss-after-weight-loss-surgery

I just hit my doctor's pre-op weight loss goal! (3 months early!!!) I have a nutritionist appt./ weigh-in in an hour and I'm so excited- they should be giving me a tentative surgery date soon! Of course I still have to wait the 3 more months for them to put it through to my insurance, so hopefully surgery in December or January, but still! It'll be nice to have an actual target date. Happy happy day!

Pretty good! Saw my nutritionist, who's a real hoot! had a couple of walks around the block (which is all I can do yet.) Otherwise hiding in the AC as usual. Social distancing like a mofo! =D

Thank you- I sure hope so!

I won’t miss going to the beach with my family and having to stay back about 300m from the Ocean while they play in the surf because I can’t walk that far. (Like today.) 😢

I watch "My 600lb Life" and that does it for me.

If you put some chia seeds in the water, the water becomes more filling, plus you get a little protein and omega-3s out of it. 😃

I haven't had my surgery yet, but from the few people I have told that I'm in the process of it, I can tell you what I have learned: people who do or have struggled with their weight are generally "safe" and supportive; people who have not, generally are not (save for my husband, thankfully!) Going forward, I'm only going to share this info with those whom I know will at least somewhat "get it." I don't need the negativity when this is already challenging enough. Once the weight is all gone, I'll be more open about it because nothing shuts naysayers up like results! It's nobody's business but your own. I'd just say that I've been working on it.

I just discovered Dr. Duc Vuong's youtube channel and now i'm OBSESSED! It felt really affirming having someone point out that most doctors have you shoot for the "average" weight loss, 60-65% of EBW e.g. how my nutritionist suggested my goal should be 170lbs- like wtf? Dr. V pushes his patients to get to around 20 BMI and I'm here for THAT! I think I've watched 6 or 8 of his videos since discovering him yesterday. So good! And no BS! Plus I kinda love that he swears too, feels more genuine. Here's one of his vids, check him out!

Hey there, what state are you in? I just panic-called my surgeon's office asking about this (I'm on Medicaid too) and they said all I needed to do was have 6 appointments with the nutritionist- I know requirements may vary state by state though. Have you called your surgeon's office to discuss your concerns yet?

Just got off the phone with an old friend whom I haven't seen in years (since I was normal weight), and he was telling me about his current life plans/ projects (quitting drinking and smoking). I should have listened to myself and not mentioned my surgical plans, but I did. Silly me. He had a lot of opinions about it and how I should just do the diet and exercise thing again (knowing I have debilitating back issues that preclude me from doing a lot of exercises, though I do try.) I didn't tell him just how much I have to lose because I'm rather sensitive about it in my in person life. (I live away from my "home" area now and don't have too many in person friends anymore, so I just haven't posted any pics of myself publicly in a while.) He was well-meaning, but he claimed that regular slow diet and exercise means you won't have loose skin.... he has NO IDEA wtf he's talking about. He has a super fast metabolism and has NEVER been a BMI over 24.9 in his entire life. He recently lost 30lbs going from 24.9 to like a 22 and thinks that the reason he doesn't have loose skin is because he did it by being active... I tried explaining that 30lbs doesn't really cause loose skin, but he was insistent. I even explained that I was already saving $ for my PS surgery after but he was insistent that if I did it HIS way I wouldn't need it- even after I reminded him about when I lost 95lbs THAT way (working out about 2 hours per day) and still had loose skin anyway! Thankfully, he picked up on my frustration and changed the subject, but UGH!!! THIS is why I don't tell people- SO. DAMN. FRUSTRATING. Also, mansplaining, wtf?

Thank you, I really appreciate all of you folks. I feel very connected and supported on this journey thanks to the great people on this forum. ❤️