Alisa_S
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@NickelChip Thank you so much! I am THRILLED to find out the is a chicken soup flavor!! LOL
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This is what I have for my pre-op diet. It does give some guidelines for what they want the shakes to have. I'm just trying to find out which ones people prefer as far as taste before I buy some. pre-op diet.pdf
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I have a tentative surgery date of June 17th so I'll be starting my 2 week liver shrink / pre-op diet the first week of June. My nutritionist said I will have to drink meal replacement shakes for breakfast, lunch, & supper. I have Premier Protein powder at home, but he said that is not a meal REPLACEMENT, it's just a high protein shake. What meal replacement shakes do you recommend? Which ones tastes the best? I don't think I can drink the ones that have a heavy vitamin taste.
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buildabetteranna reacted to a status update:
Bought a treadmill and some 5 lb weights. Time to get off my butt and get moving!
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DaisyChainOz reacted to a reply to a status update:
Surgery done! Really looking forward to the next chapter 🥳 😁
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All great advice and much appreciated! Thank you all. @SpartanMaker thanks for the number crunching! I am definitely trying to cut portion size. We got rid of all the sugary stuff in the house and things like my tortillas. I've started walking (I have been completely sedentary for years- I work a very stressful, 40 hour week desk job from home.) I can't walk for 30 minutes straight. My low back and knees are trash. I carry most of my weight in my belly. I joke to my husband that I need a rolling cart to set my belly on so my back won't hurt so much. I walk as long as I can & fast enough to get my heart rate up and be breathless to the point that I cannot carry on a conversation. I'm looking for a treadmill so I can walk inside. I tend to turn my ankle & fall if I'm not super careful while walking on the gravel road. Thinking about pulling up some of those old Sweating to the Oldies videos by Richard Simmons LOL That might be a good way to do some cardio. I've failed at losing weight for so long. Today I'm feeling kind of emotional just thinking about what I'm facing. I said in an earlier post that keto & low carb didn't work for me.... fact is, they do work... as long as I stick to them. The minute I stop, I regain the weight I lost. sigh. Seems like I gain weight if I breathe in the aroma of baked goods.
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Squeezed into the chair at the Dr office. -
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I appreciate your input I have to loose the 34 lbs prior to surgery due to my fatty liver. I feel very confident that I can lose the 34 lbs. I just thought is was crappy that the first person to comment was someone trying to rain on my parade. As for a tracker, I am using Baritastic app. The weight loss clinic gave me a code to put in that pulls up their program and their staff can check on my stats right on the app and recommend changes, etc. thru it also. Plus I can log all my food & water, activity, & vitamins. I am definitely starting an exercise regimen now. Walking and some light weights. Also trying to train myself to drink water... I've never been one to drink much, so this part is tough LOL
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Alisa_S reacted to a post in a topic:
I had surgery on Dec. 2 and doing ok! Just saying hi and thanks for all the inspiration!!
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Had my consult at Banner University Medical center in Tucson. The team seems really nice and eager for you to succeed. My first appt with the dietician is Jan 29th and is supposed to be about 90 minutes. Lots of tests I need to have completed asap; sleep study, cardiology clearance, endoscopy, barium swallow, psych eval, chest X-ray, and a ton of labs. Gotta complete the 6 month supervised diet and lose 10% of my weight throughout the 6 months. They want to see a little each month and not a lot at real quick. I weighed 344 yesterday and they want me at 310 before surgery. I shared this in a Facebook forum and the 1st comment was, "Really, how do they figure you can lose that much in 6 mos? Wow. Good luck with that!" (Nothing like a little encouragement right off the bat! 😬 ) I replied that it's only 34 lbs & I need to lose 6 lbs a month. She said if she could lose 6 lbs a month she wouldn't need surgical help! I looked at her profile & it turns out she's a failed ESG from September because 'she likes food too much'. BUT now it's in my head that maybe I can't lose the 34 lbs in time. I'm definitely ready to get this going! I have studied this for so many years! I'm super excited to have finally taken this step & have saved money for the last several months to cover my deductible & most of my Out of Pocket max. The fat girl in me decided I needed a food funeral, so I had my last ever buffet yesterday. I hope this 6 months goes by quickly! I'm ready to feel better & move better. My knees & back need a break LOL! If y'all have any tips for losing the 34 lbs in 6 months, please share them. I know low carb/sugar free & keto..... but I've obviously never been successful with them or I wouldn't be this big.
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Just been waiting until time for my consult with my bariatric surgeon. It's scheduled for Jan 9th. Turns out I won't actually be seeing him. Apparently it'll be with his P.A. Not sure what to expect. I thought this is where the surgeon would discuss the best surgery option for me. For years I had my heart set on the sleeve, but I've read so many people have issues with reflux - even if they've never had it before - that they've had to be revised to the bypass. I already deal with GERD & take 40 mg of Omeprazole daily, so I started studying about bypass and honestly, it seems like it might be the better choice for me. How can we discuss surgery options if the surgeon is not there?
What happened at your first consult? Trying to get an idea of what to expect, or maybe I should say, what NOT to expect.
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Long whine alert -I'm really disappointed! I saw my primary Dr last month and told her I wanted WLS and she was all for it. Said that I had to do the 6 month supervised diet for my insurance and a boatload of other tests. Ok. I understand.She started my 6 month diet last month and sent a referral to the bariatric surgeon.MY plan was to do the supervised diet, then at the end of the 6 months in January, do all the other tests...sleep study, endoscopy, ekg, psych, nutritionist, etc. because all of that would get my insurance deductible met, then have surgery in February or March. Since my deductible would be met, I'd only be paying my 20% coinsurance by then.Got the call from the bariatric surgeon's office on Friday and was told that THEY are the ones that will do my 6 month supervised diet. I explained that my primary Dr already had me on it for a month but they said everything will go thru them. Ok. I understand.So I explain about wanting to complete the diet first, then do all the other testing (because I don't want to have to pay my deductible twice by paying for all that stuff now, & then it starts over in January) but she tells me that they do the testing while I'm doing the diet. That means that I cannot even start their bariatric program until January!
They made my first appt for Jan 9th & that's when the 6 month diet will start with them & they'll submit to insurance for approval in June & I would have surgery in July. Man!!! That's almost a year from now! 
All because I don't want to pay $4500 now, than have to pay it again in January.
I don't understand why they won't let me diet now & do the other tests at the end.
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Before you assume that the testing will take your full deductible, I would make some calls to your insurance. I have a 3k deductible and my portion of the bloodwork was nowhere close to that even though I assumed it would be. I think my copays ended up being around $1k or less for all the preliminary tests. And remember, you will have extensive bloodwork multiple times after surgery, so there may be no way to get it all into one calendar year. Also, you might look into financing options through your hospital. Mine allowed me to put the $3k I owed after the surgery (because yeah, that did max out my deductible for this year) on a 24-month no-interest payment plan. Depending on your options, it may be affordable enough that you can book your appointment sooner and get this whole thing going instead of having to wait almost a full year to have your surgery.
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I'm not talking just bloodwork tho, Sleep study, EKG, Endoscopy, Nutritionist classes. psych eval, etc. Plus the surgeon consult, monthly weigh in visits for 6 months (he's already mad that we have to drive 2 hours one way for those), & surgery.
My DED is $4500 & my OOP $9000. Hubby will flip out if I have to cover the DED twice.
I'm seriously considering going across the border into Mexico and doing it without insurance. Cash price will probably be less than my $4500 deductible, and I live right on the border in southern Arizona. There's a place in Nogales, Sonora Mexico https://bariatricmednog.com/ just 2 hours down the road.
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Saw my PCP & officially started my 6 month supervised diet 07/26/24. She just told me to eat less carbs & sugar, use the air fryer and not fry my foods in grease, and to try to walk 30 minutes 3 days a week & if I can't do that (and I cannot), to walk 10 minutes daily. Told me to walk fast enough that my heart rate is raised. She didn't give me a number as far as calories though. A year or so ago I was doing low carb/sugar free and keeping my calories at 1800 or below. She said I should up my cals to 2000 at that time, so that's what I'm shooting for now.
Hubby walked with me today. He's in pretty bad shape so I was surprised he wanted to. We walked down the gravel road at a pretty good pace (for us LOL). 10 minutes walking and my heart rate was 115bps according to my Fitbit and 125bps according to his pulsometer. Either way, it was elevated and I was breathing hard. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a start. We'll do it again tomorrow. 😁
I should be hearing from the surgeon soon. She said if I didn't, to call him next week. Since I HAVE to do the 6 month diet & that's going to put me into January by the time it's done, I'm hoping the surgeon will let me do all my testing in January. I don't want to do it all now and have my deductible get met, only to have to pay the deductible again in January or February for my surgery. Praying that things go the way I hope. 🙏
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What conversation to have with PCP?
Alisa_S replied to Alisa_S's topic in PRE-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A
Oh thank you! I didn't think of that and you're really talking me off of a ledge right now! That's what I'll do, knock out the 6 month diet, then have the tests done in January and hopefully surgery soon after!
