SleeveToBypass2023

Everyone seems to agree with them lol I remember why I started straightening it, tho. It's a pain to maintain. But I'll do it until I want to chop it all off lol Then I'll see how it goes. I'm not one to mess with my hair much, and I don't do much in the way of make up. Haven't since high school. So having to put the leave in conditioner in my hair and the curl cream is super annoying. If I don't, it's all kinds of floofy and frizzy. So it keeps my hair nice and tame. So we'll see how long it lasts. For now, I really like it. And thank you for the compliment Very sweet of you.

Have you ever mentioned to your doctor, in the past, the things you did to try and lose weight? I have BCBS and they had the same requirement. But I had mentioned to my pcp that I did keto, weight watchers, calorie restriction, and the mediterranean diet. When I mentioned this, she put it in the notes that went to the insurance company and they accepted it and that took 6 months off the process. My pcp was very supportive and was happy for me to do the surgery. I gave her all the requirements from my insurance company (I needed to pass a ekg, her form stating what I've tried to lose weight, my comorbidities, etc...) he jumped right on that and got it done asap. By the time I went to my 1st appt w/ my surgeon, she had already sent all of this to their office. So I was 3/4 of the way finished on day 1 of seeing my surgeon. All I had left to do was the psych eval, blood work the surgeon needed, and then waiting for it all to be submitted and approved by insurance. My first appt with the surgeon was Feb 28th, 2022. My psych eval was March 7th. Everything was submitted to my insurance on March 10th and I got my approval on March 14th 2022. The longest part of this was honestly actually getting to the surgery date because I couldn't have it until May 3rd due to the surgeon's schedule. So honestly, the better prepared you are, the more you do behind the scenes, the faster the whole process will go.

It says you had the lapband. Did you already have a revision from lapband to bypass? If so, I'm not sure you can do another one. The only revision I know you can get after you've had a bypass is the SADI, but it's still really new, so not a lot of insurance companies will cover it yet.

I eat strawberries, blueberries, avocado, sometimes a pear, and every once in a while, an apple. I stay away from grapes (little sugar bombs), bananas, oranges (mostly because of the acid), pineapple (hard to digest still), and peaches (just don't like them). Absolutely LOVE watermelon. I don't eat cantaloupe or honeydew melon because I just don't like them. Blackberries and raspberries are excellent for bypass patients, but I don't like them so I don't eat them.

Our stash is actually running quite low lol Normally those shelves are full. You should see our pantry and the 3 freezers we have. Mama don't play when it comes to being prepared. That's how we made it through every time I missed work because of a surgery.

It's the only one to have lol

This was me after getting to work, clocking in, and being paid to "turn it on" and smile lol And yes, that's one of my 2 fur babies. This particular one is Asher lol Btw...I know you guys have seen pics of my straight hair in the past. The curls in my hair are actually natural. I have straightened my hair for the better part of 20 years, to the point that even when I didn't straighten it, there was almost no curl or wave left in it. After my hysterectomy, I got my hair cut and ALL the curl came roaring back lol I have no idea why. But my kids have decided I'm not allowed to straighten it anymore, so I won't.

You look amazing!!! Congratulations!!! I'm coming to terms with my body wanting to be lower than my goal lol It may happen, and as long as it's within reason, we have to just learn to be ok with it. We'll have fluctuations, so I think going 10 or so pounds below goal is ok. You definitely don't look too small. You look fabulous!!!

I have to believe that, while losing the weight won't reverse the arthritis, it HAS to help it not be quite as bad given there won't be as much weight to carry around. Any weight loss should improve that, I would think. Yes, there will still be pain, but not the added pain from the weight on the arthritic knees. So I have to believe the weight loss will be at least a little bit of help in the pain department there. I'm glad you got the answers you were looking for and have a plan moving forward!!!

My main concern is, with you being active and on liquids only for 3 months, at some point your body may think it's starving and hold on to everything. If you're active, you actually need more calories to lose weight. Make sure you're having things like protein shakes, bone broth, etc so at least your body is getting some of what it needs. Protein is REALLY important, so prioritize that. I absolutely wish you well!!

Honestly, in pounds, you weigh 272, and you need to lose 27. That's absolutely doable. I agree that 12 weeks is a LOOOONG liquid diet. Are you able to have even 1 meal per day at any point? I understand they want you to lose 27 pounds before your surgery, but 3 months on only liquids seems really, really harsh. Either way. congratulations on getting your surgery day!!! You'll love your life after, I can tell you that.

You have to start walking right away, before you even leave the hospital. For the first 3 weeks, the walking is plenty. It's about increasing the amount you can walk. Around week 4, I started doing the treadmill on a lower incline (not completely flat but a lower incline) and a normal walking speed. I also started doing arm workouts (without weights). I started doing mild step ups, and increased walking even more. At 6 weeks, I started increasing the incline on the treadmill, added low weights to my arm work outs, and added the exercise bike. At week 10, I increased the weights and started doing more strenuous workouts and small hikes. At 12 weeks, I started core work and increased the workouts more. i also do beginner pilates, but I only just started that.

I'm so sorry you had such a rough week!!! I hope the pain is getting better now. Just think positive that this will be a better week for you Fantastic job keeping your eyes on the NSV when the scale isn't doing what you want. That's exactly the right thing to do. Feel better!!!

I fully agree, I chose the sleeve initially because of what I read from YEARS and YEARS ago, with the complications and all that with the bypass. Had I just listened to everyone who tried to talk to me about the bypass TODAY and the bypass of 15, 20, 25 years ago, I could have saved myself a lot of complications and problems and additional surgeries. The bypass today is nothing like it used to be. In the end, you have to do what you feel is best for you, but please do your own research, have an open mind, and have an open and honest conversation with your primary care doctor and your bariatric surgeon about how you feel and why. Revisions are tough, and I can tell you from experience, the regret of not listening to anyone else because I let my fear take over, my lack of actual research on the bypass because I had made my mind up about the sleeve, and the subsequent complications, work and time lost, additional surgeries, and ending up with a bypass in the end anyway made it all not worth it. Just try to keep an open mind and do research and talk openly and honestly with your team about everything before you make a hard and final decision.

Now that I'm 2 years out from my sleeve and 1 year out from my revision to bypass, I can tell you that I eat around 1200 calories per day when I'm not working out and 1400 - 1500 per day when I'm working out (depending on the type of work out I'm doing). I'm on my feet all day at work, so I increased my daily calories from what they were before. Same with my work outs. I can't work out as often now, so I go harder than I used to on the days I can actually work out (now that I have full medical clearance with no restrictions). I noticed pretty early on that if I didn't eat enough calories during the day, but was still working out, my body thought it was starving and it would hold on to every single thing. As hard as it was to wrap my brain around, I took the advice I saw on here and increased my calories on work out days by a couple of hundred each day and I actually started losing again!!! I was floored!!! So as I increased intensity of my work outs, or increased the weight I was lifting, I increased my calories a bit. I didn't go crazy, but enough to let my body know it's still healthy and not starving. BUT....I had to initially give myself grace and time to be able to increase calories. Work outs or not, I had to do it on my body's timeline, not a doctor or nutritionist's. No way could I have been at 900 or 1000 calories at 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 months. There just was no way. And honestly, mine didn't expect that. They didn't want to see us above 700 calories before 5 months post op. I had JUST hit 900 calories at 7 months post op. I'm actually thinking about increasing my calories a little again, because I'm still losing, and I'm nearly 10 pounds under my goal weight, and I really would like to start maintaining lol If I drop to 179, I will definitely increase my calories by 100 everyday and see what happens.

Honestly, that's why it's not good to weigh yourself every day. Things like how much you ate and drank, how much salt you had, if you pooped or not can all affect your weight. As hard as it is, weighing yourself once (or if you must, twice) per week, in the morning after you go to the bathroom, before you eat or drink is the best way to see what you true weight is. Weight also fluctuates by a couple of pounds naturally, so if you weigh yourself daily, you'll get discouraged and frustrated and start to think, 5 weeks out, that you've plateaued. Be mindful of slider foods. That's stuff that you can eat more of because it goes down super easy and takes longer to make you feel full. Potatoes are known for this. As I said before, the first 6 months is when you lose the most the fastest. Eating things that slow down that process during that time is counter-productive. This is where you really want to stick to the diet as closely as possible to get the most out of the weight loss. Also move your body. Add in working out, walking, swimming, anything that increases movement over and above what you normally do. Not only does that help, but when you drop weight fast, you can lose muscle. So you want to start working on that.

Absolutely no way. Not at 2 months. I was at 400 - 500 calories. I didn't make it to 900 calories per day until I was around 7 months out or so.

stalls will happen no matter what. You can't avoid or prevent them. Now if you start to gain weight back, then re-evaluate what you're eating, how much, and how often. personally, I stay away from potatoes (especially in the beginning), grits, pasta, rice, breads, etc... The first 6 months is when you lose the most the fastest. Eating things that slow down that process during that time is counter-productive. At least to me. I would wait until you're MUCH further out before you start eating those kinds of foods.

No. I didn't have gerd at all until I got the sleeve. It was the sleeve that caused my gerd and all the complications.

I never had reflux or gerd so I was a fantastic candidate for the sleeve. And after the sleeve, the gerd was so bad I was on 80mg of Nexium TWICE per day PLUS pepcid for break through and TUMS if really needed (and I was always doing all of it, sometimes still with no real relief). I developed so many polyps from the incredibly high amounts of PPI over a long period of time that I needed 4 endoscopies to remove them. I also developed gastritis and esophagitis. I was told I had no choice but to have the revision to bypass. So 13 months after my sleeve, I was back in the hospital having the bypass. The recovery was SO much faster and easier, the gerd was cured almost immediately, getting my fluids down was so much easier, my only real regret is that I had the sleeve at all. I just wish I had gone straight to the bypass to begin with. If you already have gerd, I STRONGLY advise at least thinking about the bypass instead of the sleeve. The bariatric surgeon may not even give you the sleeve as an option, so maybe start considering the bypass as a viable choice.

Don't overthink it. We tend to want to over-prepare, pack too much, stock up way too much, read every single thing we see online and then obsess about any negative thing we see. You're ready. You've finished all the hurdles, you've been approved, you have the date. There's not a lot you can do 2 months before your surgery. Maybe start looking at different food tracking apps to see which feels the most user friendly to you. Look through youtube to find some good GENTLE workouts for the first 6 weeks post op and save them to a private playlist for yourself. Make sure you have some loose clothing for after surgery. I bought one of those big, cure jugs that is 64fl oz so it would be easy to measure how much water and fluids I was taking in (admittedly, at first I was barely getting in 3-4oz at a time, but I quickly worked my way up and was glad I had that because it was cute and convenient). Make sure you have plenty of Miralax on hand and possibly, if things are really plugged up, a laxative/stool softener combo. And I made sure when I was drinking broth, it was bone broth because it has more protein. That's really it.

Also, check to make sure that if you have any complications later on that a local surgeon will take you on. Here in the USA, it's almost impossible to find a surgeon that will accept you as a patient if you had a procedure in another country. Hell, sometimes they won't even take you if you had it with another US surgeon in a different state. So make sure it's not that way where you live before you commit to going abroad to having your surgery.

You hit a stall. There's a lot of posts on here about it. They happen a lot, and it's completely normal. Some of us would gain 3-5 pounds when a stall would hit and then drop like 6-7 pounds as soon as it broke. Others would just stay at the same weight until it broke. Just ride it out, it's normal. It'll happen several more times.

The one I mentioned has progesterone and estrogen, but I hope you can find what you need!!! I'm sorry you're dealing with supply issues. That makes me sad As for that idiot saying he could cure fibroids with acupuncture....see? This is why I can't go to male practitioners lol Apparently I was born without that filter between my brain and my mouth, so if I think it I just say it. And if I heard some stupid ish like that, I would be saying ALL the things lol OMG....

I got pregnant with pcos, but that was way WAY before I ever thought about weight loss surgery, so I can't help you with any of your questions, really. I had so many losses that I had to do treatments to get pregnant with my daughter (got pregnant with my son naturally). Never was able to get pregnant again after my daughter, and I just recently had a total hysterectomy (including ovaries) now that I've lost all the weight I want to lose after my surgery, so I won't be having more babies. I second what @ShoppGirl said...posting on 1 or 2 existing pregnancy and pcos threads is definitely the way to go to hopefully get some answers.