vikingbeast

You are 100 percent worth it! Just make sure you have all the support you need—medical, nutritional, psychological, and if needed, addiction treatment. You absolutely can do this.

And that is one reason why I did get vaccinated—because I can, and the sooner we reach "herd immunity", the sooner it's safer for the immunocompromised like you and a very, very close friend to go back out into society. Did I have misgivings? Oh, yeah... but as an obese person, that thing has got its sights set on me and I decided the benefits far outweighed the risks. (Not here to preach! If you have questions or concerns, talk to a doctor you trust.)

I would check a different source, if for no other reason than 4000cc is, by definition, exactly 4 litres. Fat weighs 0.9094g per cc, so 4000 cc of fat weighs 3637.6g, or 8.0194 lbs. It might be right, but the weird conversion mistakes make me doubt it.

If you get your period, it could be pre-menstrual hormonal changes, too. (The other biological sex has hormonal fluctuations, too, but not as much.)

How does the team determine what your goal weight is? I get confused silence when I ask. I ask because my surgeon, who had the most supportive conversation about BMI I've ever had with me, says I should be aiming for 250-275 lbs. I am six feet tall and currently weigh 370. But it was a Zoom call and he never even saw me other than from the chest up. I know everyone says they're big-framed, but in my case it does seem to be true. I have had DXA scans done and, depending where I am in a training cycle (I was a strongman and now am trying to do more functional stuff), I may have anywhere from 205 to 218 lbs. of lean body mass. So 275 lbs. would be somewhere between 20-25% body fat, which seems a little bit high for a goal weight. 250 lbs. would be 13-18%, which seems about right. I know I will lose some muscle while I can't train, and hopefully will be able to get it back. Or do they just use the bl00dy BMI chart? Just wondering, because to be "successful", you're supposed to lose 60-70% of your "excess weight".

VSG scheduled for 14th September in Fountain Valley, Orange County, California. Still waiting to hear about what I need beforehand (EKG, bloodwork, etc.) Oddly, there's no required pre-op diet other than liquids only the day before and NPO the day of. They did suggest trying to replace one meal with a protein shake two weeks before, and if possible, two meals with protein shakes the week before.

Commenting to follow, this is a great question.

This is one of my fears... I am super active and live in a hot climate. I am ALWAYS drinking water. I can easily polish off a 3L cranberry juice bottle (full of water!) in a couple of hours of bucking hay or running fence. I'm gonna buy myself a Camelbak after the initial healing phase is over and I can go back to heavy-duty work. I know we're not supposed to use straws, but I can't carry a thing of water with me everywhere, and I can't not drink.

I'm never going to be in the correct BMI band and, to borrow from my other mother tongue, j'm'en câlisse. I just want to be healthy. I just didn't know if there was some number the doctor or insurance chose out of thin air. If I had to pick my number, I'd say 240-250, though that could change if I lose a bunch of muscle mass during the dreaded six weeks I'm disallowed from touching a barbell (argh!). That would give me a BMI of 32.5, so still obese by that useless measuring stick. I'll be the obese guy with abs (obscured by loose skin, LOL). I got my date today—September 14—and got a heaping helping of my anxious questions answered by my super-awesome scheduler. I'll meet with the surgeon F2F once, and have a few things to do (blood work, etc.) before the date. I'll have to have a Covid test even though I'm fully vaccinated, due to the spread of the Delta variant.

Congratulations!!

My preop diet is only one day of liquids before surgery and NPO the day of. I'm changing my diet now so that it's not such a shock afterwards (more protein, weaning off of caffeine and sugar, etc.).

I don't know what happens in Australia, but here in the US most private insurance requires a series of prerequisites. I had a very low number of these, and it was still a round half-dozen steps before they could even request that insurance pre-approve it. Some insurance requires a 3- or 6-month medically supervised diet. But then after the insurance bit, there's a bunch of other things that need to happen, like medical clearances (cardiovascular, pulmonary, scans, etc.) and the pre-surgical diet. My center also has a timeline for when certain medications and supplements need to be started or stopped, so I'll be on bariatric vitamins for three weeks before surgery and have to leave off caffeine two weeks before surgery, etc. It's definitely not a fast process. I will say this, though, I'll be crossing the holidays soon after surgery and I'm taking this as an opportunity to learn to celebrate without a giant plateful (or multiple!) of food. It's likely that I'll only be able to take a few bites of food at Thanksgiving (late November here). This is going to be a lifelong thing, re-learning to eat correctly, so I'm not trying to schedule around it (no "food funerals").

You might want to look into nasal pillows (the thing that goes up your nose, instead of covering your nose like a nasal mask). That's the only kind of mask I can use. Get a chin strap to keep your mouth closed. And... this is the most important thing... look up how to turn off the "ramp" on your CPAP/BiPAP/APAP. The ramp is the thing that starts the flow slowly and builds it up over 5, 10, 15, or even 30 minutes. It is awful. I feel like I'm suffocating the entire time. When you turn off the ramp, it takes five seconds or so for the machine to rev up, and then I snap the nasal cannula into place and can breathe normally.

Are you close enough to your in-laws or his friends to be able to try and get them on your side? I know that when a friend's wife had surgery and he was against, we all kind of ganged up on him a little bit, intervention-style. ("It doesn't matter what you think about the surgery, she's your wife and you're being kind of a 🍆, bro.")

I've been reading so many stories on here about people having to go fight for their insurance to cover things. I even started taking notes about things people said to their insurance so that I could just be ready for what I thought was inevitable. I even got a letter from them saying they needed all these pieces of paper that I know were submitted (turned out to be a kink in their process). But CIGNA approved my pre-certification in THREE BUSINESS DAYS. I just got the notification! Now we just schedule a date, do all the pre-surgical testing, whatever they require for a pre-op diet (it looks like just one day of liquids, which is weird) and pray it doesn't get cancelled due to the Covid surge. My insurance coordinator at the bariatric clinic was 100 percent on top of things and had all my ducks in a row before I was even aware I needed ducks. 🤣 This isn't a flex... I really, truly, was expecting to have to fight, and I'm so relieved I don't, that I feel like I lost thirty pounds already!

I'm "takes a photo of the label with his phone and pinches waaaaaaay out" years old... join the club 🤣

I'm trying really hard to keep my opinions of your husband's total lack of support out of here, but I'm struggling... UGH. I think maybe you need to confide in a friend and have them do it. You're going to need someone to talk to ("why am I in a stall?" "omg if I look at another protein drink I'm going to scream!"). And—tell your husband this isn't cheating. It's basically a stricter diet and exercise program than he's ever been on, and a physical restriction that FORCES you to behave and re-learn how to eat.

I don't know what the Canadian healthcare end points are, but do you have an urgent care near you? Down here in the US, urgent cares are where I would go for stitch removal. What about asking your primary care doctor?

No judgment here! But do make sure you are tracking everything you eat, including oil or butter you use to cook (it sneaks up!), salad dressings, sauces, etc. What about strength training—is there a gym near you that you could join? You can find strength training programs online. The more muscle you have, the more (and more quickly) you burn fat.

I have had to go off caffeine several times for other reasons... one thing that works for me is eating a chile (like a serrano, or a jalapeño with the little striations that means it's hot). On a liquid diet maybe you could strain some salsa?

Be careful. Most balsamic vinegar sold in North America is just red wine vinegar with caramel coloring and some kind of sugar (sometimes even HFCS). The real stuff (which is still grape juice) costs so much you would never think to do anything except drip it on fruit with a glass eyedropper. If you buy your balsamic at Safeway, Kroger, or Trader Joe's, it's mostly sugar.

No experience with the procedure in Mexico, but I lived in Tijuana for a short time and after that would stay at the Hotel Ticuán, which has rented an entire floor to one of the bariatric clinics (maybe Hospital Jerusalén? not sure) as a recovery floor. If anyone has questions about the city itself (safety, transportation, where your spouse/partner/SO should eat, etc.), please don't hesitate to reach out. Tijuas is one of the most misjudged cities on Earth.

I have an entire list. - Go off all my meds (BP meds, hormone meds, etc.) - Maybe lose my CPAP. - Fit in a kayak. - Run a sub-10 mile. - Do a pull-up. - Go back to being able to ride horses. - No more seatbelt extenders on airplanes. - No more sitting down gingerly to see if the chair will hold me. - Increased mobility (palms on floor) - No more "we'd like a table, not a booth, please" There's more but that's the big stuff.

When I went in to have an abscess drained, I gained eight pounds from their saline solution, and had a ridiculous moon face that looked like I was a lifelong prednisone patient, and it took about two weeks to dry out. Don't fret.

That's a really good question—ask your surgery centre, because they'll know for sure, and if you DO need a PCP I'm sure they can rustle one up for you. For CIGNA they just need two recommendations, one from the surgeon and one from another licensed medical doctor or PA, but not sure about BCBS.