lizonaplane

I have lost 27lbs in the 3 months since I started preparing for surgery. If you start making the changes to your diet you need to make for surgery and don't have "food funerals" that may be sufficient, even before the liquid diet (my plan doesn't have a liquid diet). I don't know how you've been eating, but I was eating a lot of carbs and sweets, and when I decided to have surgery I cut out almost all sweets and cut back on carbs significantly (I still eat fruit and some amount of carbs, just a lot less). I find it's made a huge difference in how much I eat overall because I'm less hungry; doing this has let me go from about 2000 calories a day to 1400 and I'm actually more satisfied. My surgery program has a nutritionist and I met with her and told her what I was doing and she thought it was a good idea. Of course, for me it has always been relatively easy to lose weight... I've just never been good at keeping it off.... I hope WLS will make that easier. Good luck!!

Have you talked to your surgery center? I haven't had surgery yet, but from what I've seen here, at four weeks out it seems like you should be able to get some food/liquids down.

I agree. Call/email/message your doctor. She/he will likely want you to get lab work done before anything else. Have you had your vitamin k and iron/ferritin/hemoglobin levels checked recently?

Sautee 1 cup chopped onion in 1-2 T oil. Let them soften. Add finely diced carrots and celery if you like (I don't) and cook until softened. Sometimes I'll add sliced mushrooms here. Add 3 or more minced cloves garlic and cook 30 second to one minute Add 1lb ground turkey (or chicken or beef), stirring until no longer pink Add 2-3 T chili seasoning (I like Penzey's Chili 9000) and 1tsp or more cumin, plus 1-2 T unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1 tsp cinnamon and stir to coat. 1 T of brown sugar is a nice addition but not necessary Add 1 28 oz can of crushed or diced tomatoes Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of broth Add 1 15 oz can of beans, rinsed (kidney or black beans are both great) I like to add about a cup of frozen corn and a bag of cauliflower rice right from the freezer at this stage, but you can add a lot of different frozen veggies. I love the sweetness of the corn, and the texture. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, adjusting seasonings and cook for at least 30 minutes, but it gets better after an hour or so. Serve with plain Greek yogurt and shredded cheese (and onions if you like).

I have tried that. I went to a special website and wrote in all my issues, and I still hated the bras that were recommended. I think I just hate wearing bras but it's uncomfortable not to.

I have already gone into my smaller bra (I only have one that fits now, so I also wear the two that are too big), and I'm only down 27lbs. I gave up on underwires years ago. The wires kept breaking and stabbing me. Does that get better when you are thinner?

Well, these are not perishables, but they are already old and it was a ridiculous amount. Like 20 bags of various types of flour. So, I kept a bag of flour, but gave away the rest. And I gave away away things like merengue powder that I'd bought a year ago and never opened, a container of cocoa powder that someone gave me but I already had three others...

I haven't, but they haven't told me anything about what I can and cannot do around surgery. I haven't had sex in several years, so not an issue for me.

I think I'm only wondering if I'll miss having baking as a way to cope with sadness and anxiety. I baked a lot after my grandmother died and also during the first six months of the pandemic. I may be able to bake again someday, but for now I just don't feel able to bake and not eat too much of what I bake (during the pandemic I gave away a ton of what I made to my neighbors, but I still ate too much). So, giving away lots of baking supplies is a little sad.

If you didn't like the side effects from the lexapro, that's okay, there are lots of other medications for depression and anxiety out there you can try. Talk to a psychiatrist or psychopharmacologist rather than just your primary care doctor, if you haven't already. They specialize in this and can assist with finding the right medication - and it can take a bit of trial an error to find the right one. If you don't want to use medication, try talk therapy. There are a lot of services like BetterHelp that do therapy using things like zoom. Exercise and sunlight help many people. Some people find journaling helpful, but I haven't seen much research on it. Also, your body has gone through a trauma, don't minimize the fact that this will have an effect on your mental and emotional health. Your surgery program should have a bariatric psychologist, and if not, try to find someone who has experience in this area for at least one session to talk through your feelings that you're discussing here.

In the past when I've lost weight I've been determined not to grow back into my old clothes so I've gotten rid of them... then it's been too depressing to keep the smaller clothes when I gained the weight back, so I got rid of those, too. Also, since I have so little storage space, keeping all those sizes would have been impossible. I have had to resize rings, which I feel are worth keeping since they cost money and don't take up much space.

I've bought a lot of foods too, like bone broth, and those "vitamin water" type beverages for after surgery, but my surgery is still months away so I haven't bought too much. And most of the food I'm buying now is refrigerated. I have canned beans and tomatoes and coconut milk in my pantry, things like that. Also tons of spices. I have gone through the fridge and freezer many times because I have a small (by American standards) fridge and freezer, since I live in a small apartment so I can't keep things in there too long. At least I live alone so I don't have to worry about having "junk food" around for family/friends.

I am not a big fan of meat, although I love veggies, fruits, cheese, dairy, etc. I also loved bread and sweets, which is how I got so overweight. I haven't had surgery yet but I have switched to low carb and have been adding more protein via greek yogurt, protein drinks, and more fish and meat (small servings) and I have lost 27 lbs in 3 months! I couldn't believe it. The best part is, I'm not as hungry as I used to be when I ate more carbs. I also find that I crave sweets less now that I eat fewer sweet things (I still eat a fair amount of fruit). I am now a little concerned about what @Ellen_Marie is saying because some days I'm well over 100 g of protein now. I'll have to ask my surgery center.

I've only lost 30 lbs and I haven't had surgery yet, but I just noticed this yesterday. My shoelaces came untied and I didn't have to sit down to tie them; I just bent over and I didn't want to vomit!

Did you ask your nutritionist how many calories to eat? I haven't had surgery yet, so I don't know. I think a lot of them go by volume, not calories (like only eating 2 oz or 1/2 cup of food,) and I don't know how far out that lasts. good luck! If you have any questions about your progress, I would call your nutritionist.

I was in a support group meeting last night and one of the people was saying her vision has changed too. I haven't had surgery yet and I haven't really had my eyes checked in decades, so I can't say.

I agree, except that you don't have to go to a gym and strain and groan under barbells or even do traditional "lifting" to gain/retain muscle mass. Isometric exercises or other exercises that use your own bodyweight can help with this. You can use videos on YouTube or ask your treatment team for muscle building exercises or even look into things like leg lifts, wall push ups, planks, yoga, etc. All of these will help prevent you from losing too much muscle mass as you lose weight. I should take my own advice. I hate doing these type of activity. They are so hard and I find them boring.

I have four months of nutrition classes pre-op, and they are online due to COVID. They ask us to send in our weights prior to each class. I sent in 262.6, my true weight, for the first class a month ago. My weight this morning is 253.2. I'm thinking about saying 256.6, my weight from last night. It's sort of dumb but I'm worried I will gain weight next month because I have vacation next month with my parents and it's harder to eat well with them while traveling and also, it's just getting hard to maintain this pace. I'm worried because the surgery center said that insurance companies often want to see that patients lose a few pounds during the four months of classes. My insurance company says I don't have to lose weight over the period of the classes, but I think the person I spoke to was mistaken, even though I read the policy and it doesn't say anything about losing weight. I trust insurance companies bout as far as I can throw them. Should I lie about my weight so it doesn't look like I am gaining weight after losing so much the first month??

No, the pre-op diet is after the nutrition classes. I ended up making my weight loss only 5 lbs instead of the 9 I really lost. Now they're saying they only "encourage" weight loss, not require it. I wish I could get a real answer...

It doesn't seem like there is one universal way of doing anything with WLS! My surgery site didn't give me a goal weight or tell me what I should weigh or anything. The surgeon just said I might lose 70lbs. Which would still put me at a BMI 37!!! Which would not make me happy. I'm hoping I'll lose more, especially since I've already lost 27lbs since I started the pre-op hoop-jumping.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I just found out my surgery center requires a 5-10% weight loss during the period of the nutrition classes, so it almost doesn't matter. I don't know how I'm going to lose 5-10% unless they count the time since I first called them. I've lost 8% of my body weight in the three months since I called them.

When I was about 34-35 I lost about 100lbs and I didn't have any excess skin that I noticed. Of course, I still had more fat to go when I started gaining the weight back, so who knows?

I think a lot of it is totally variable, independent of age. Some people's skin will snap back into place and some people's won't. I've heard that it can depend on how long you've been obese. If it really bothers you, once you're totally sure your weight is stable you can have plastic surgery, but that is much harder surgery than the WLS in terms of pain during recovery. Sometimes insurance will pay for the abdominal or br***t surgery if you have infections from the rubbing, but you will need a lot of documentation and photos to get that, and it will depend on insurance, of course.

This sounds great! I just emailed it to myself so I'll have it on file for when I have surgery