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Hello all, long time reader, first time poster. This has been a long road for me as it has been for most of us I am sure with the attempts to loose the same pounds many times over the years. I don't know how many times I have told myself that "I can do anything I put my mind to" and to some extend I have, since I have probably lost approximately 60-70lbs during a relatively short time period several times over the years. The problem is that my life would get busy, and the extreme measures that I was doing would fall by the wayside and my old habits would come back. I simply wasn't able to sustain the weight loss long enough for me to turn it into a sustainable habit. Finally I found myself last November at 5'9" and 381bs, the heaviest I have ever been, I finally decided to make a decision to pursue the investigation to determine if weight loss surgery was right for me. For my insurance, it required a 6 month time period where you needed to meet with a series of nutritionists to help learn about the surgery and to go through a series of trainings and a psychological exam, decided I needed to loose more weight around March to help make the surgery more safe. My original BMI was around 57, today's weight I am down to 316 so around the 46-47 range. Part of me says, hey, you have already 65 pounds, you can loose the additional 100 that you want to, but part of me understands that is unlikely and has matured and knows his limitations and what I am great at and what I need help at and this is one area that I am not ashamed that I think that I need help at to make sure that it sticks this time around. Especially since my wife and I had another addition to our family the prior year that had started me thinking about making a long term set of changes around my weight. Making the decision to choose weight loss surgery was not an easy one but I think that the reply to my mother when she asked the question if I thought I could lose the weight without surgery has summed up my reasoning . My reply was "I can do anything I put my mind to, but unfortunately after a time my mind wanders.". My hope is that this surgery will help me have the tools to keep the weight off during the times that my mind wanders or at least allow me to get to the point where the weight loss is significant amount that the new lifestyle becomes the new habits as I want to enjoy the rest of my children's childhoods as an physically active participant instead of only intellictually participant one. Sincerely, Arcyne

I have surgery on Monday, Oct 1st and I'm down 14 lbs in 10 days on the liquid diet. My weight loss stalled on days 6&7 and I'm not sure why. I stuck to the routine, except I ate a diet yogart with 50 cals. both nights, which is limited to shakes, broth, Water, sf Jello & sf popsicles. I try to walk 2-3 miles every other day and I did this on the 5th day. Is this unusual or do most people stall on their liquid diet? Also, I have a desk job and I took the week off from work, will this be enouugh time? Thanks!

I had followed a low carb diet focused on fruits and veggies with lean meats, and lost some weight, but then gained and lost the same 2-4 lbs for months. Once I was approved, I was given a diet to follow that pretty much allowed all of those things, but no grains (not even oatmeal). Grains cause inflammation in the body. Then there was the two week liquid diet, that had 3-4 Protein shakes, one small green salad and one yogurt a day. I only lost 7 lbs on that one. My body, even after surgery, loses slowly. I can tell you that removing grains from your diet (and sugar) will have an effect on your weight loss. You could focus on the types of foods you will eat post-op - high protein, lean meats, veggies and fruits... which would prepare you for the lifestyle change AND help you with your weight loss goal - pre-op. Having surgery does require some discipline, and only you can decide if you are ready to take this step. But if you choose a plan and get started, you may just find it to be tolerable and well worth it. Good luck!

I can tollerate most foods. I have to limit pasta as it is so dense I feel really full from it. Now that I'm healed, nothing "gets stuck" anymore. I feel great which is wonderful. Had an infection in my incision initially so I didn't feel great for serveral weeks. The weight loss seems to come in waves - wish is was more consistent but beggers cannot be choosers. I"m down 47 pounds since I started the liquid diet 2 weeks before my surgery!

That problem with stock phrases and one liners is a global one, i remember being told by my Doctor many years ago when i went there for a chest infection that it didnt help that i was overweight, my response to her was it doesnt help being told that by a doctor who could lose a few lbs themselves. If it was that easy to lose wieght how come they havent grats on the weight loss and fingers crossed for a positive outcome for you ..

Date of Surgery: October 26, 2009 (my "re-birth day") Pre-op weight: 288 Current weight: 208 weight goal: 150 Pre-op health issues: sleep apnea asthma high cholesterol joint pain difficulty walking, needed cane often shortness of breath had surgery on both knees due to torn cartilages from excessive weight back surgery was recommended I could not walk more than 1 1/2 blocks before I was out of breath, and experienced severe lower back pain that made me cry and stop in my tracks. My doctor was adamant that I had to have back surgery, saying it was not related to my weight. I needed numerous cortisone shots to relieve the pain. The back doctor told me I had to have back surgery if I wanted to be able to walk without pain - "I SAID NO". I wanted to see if the pain would subside if I lost some weight, AND IT DID! I no longer walk with a cane. I can walk many blocks without shortness of breath and WITHOUT PAIN. Dr. George Fielding of the NYU Program for Surgical Weight Loss and his staff saved my life. There are two other wonderful doctors at NYU, Christine J. Ren Fielding (his wife) and Marina Kurian. Although I was confident that any of these three doctors would do a good job, I chose Dr. Fielding for several reasons. First, he had the LAP-BAND® surgery himself, and I felt he would really know what I was going through, and that he would really understand my feelings. Second, he is an Aussie, and I love his accent (LOL) - I love to hear him talk, so I ask him a lot of silly questions just to hear him talk in that Australian accent. I have had five fills so far - I skipped one month because my band was still very tight, and I knew they would tell me I did not need a fill - and I would still have to pay the co-pay. I saved myself a $40.00 co-pay (lol). I am going in for my 6th filling today, May 13, 2010. The only thing I hate about their office is that their scale always shows me three pounds heavier than my home scale! So I always ask if I can bring in my scale with me but after laughing at me, they tell me I can't do it (Grrrrr). I was told by Gaspar, one of the Nurse-Practitioners, that I should write an article for their newsletter about the type of exercising I do to help with the weight loss. I do lots of home exercising by using things commonly found at home, such as lifting weights (liquid laundry detergent), etc! I am thinking about doing that, but I also thought about starting this blog to have a shared support system. In this blog, hopefully you will find many helpful tools, such as: 1. healthy recipes, called recipe of the day 2. types of exercises 3. activities 4. ability to share your thoughts and feelings http://life-after-lap-band®.blogspot.com/ :thumbup::thumbup:

Loss rates will be all over the map since there are so many variables involved, not least of which is amount of weight that needs to be lost (bigger, heavier people at the start will tend to lose more pounds per month even if the percent of excess weight lost is lower.) I lost about 60lb of the 100-ish that I had to lose in the first three months; others will lose slower and some will lose faster. YMMV. I have guy metabolism on my side (guys tend to lose more quickly than women) as well as established patterns of fairly high activity levels. I did a 5k walk at about 3 1/2 months (running is a no-go on my knees), but I had been doing them periodically for several years pre-op. What is probably more important for you is your condition at three months rather than any particular weight loss - any loss will be a big help, but you will be feeling so much better by that time that it won't matter that much if you are down 60lb or 30. It was around the three month mark that I noticed that fast walking was no longer providing me with the exercise intensity that it once did - a fast walk pace, about as quick as I could walk without breaking into a jog, somewhere a little above a 3mph pace, would previously get me into that peak cardio target zone of 80% max heart rate (130-140bpm for me) but after about 3 months I could barely break 100bpm at that pace. I really needed to get into the hills and do some climbing to get my heartrate up to that previous level. These days, at 17 months out, it takes some serious work in the pool to get it over 120. For the record, I lost about 30lb the first month, 15lb each of the next two months and 10 lb per month thereafter; your numbers will likely be different, but the profile of loss will should be similar, with your biggest loss in the first month tapering off after that. In the meantime, do your walk, walk, walking preop and postop as your doc instructs, and ramp it up as you feel up to it.

I'm having a hard time finding information about setting weight loss goals after my surgery. It's important to have specific, measurable goals but I don't know how much I should be losing, say, per week or month, after my sleeve surgery. Is there a formula or percentage I should be looking at? How did you all set weight loss goals after surgery? Thanks in advance!! Sent from my SM-T713 using BariatricPal mobile app

You may find this web site useful: https://mbsc.arbormetrix.com/Registry/public/calculator/uiCalculator/7?menuId=1013 This site has a database of WLS patients and a detailed calculator where you can enter your info and see the average weight loss at 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years for patients like you. Once you enter your info, click the submit icon (it looks like a disk/save icon) on the top right of the screen to get your results. This calculator shows averages, so some people will lose more and other will lose less, but it can be a good start for a ballpark goal. Like catwoman7, I was asked my goal at my psychological evaluation, and I said 180 pounds, which was based on what the above web site said given my weight at the time. Well, I'm there now and still losing, so I know I can do better than that. I'm still in the obesity range for BMI, and I definitely want to get out of that. I discussed it with my surgeon at my 6-month follow-up visit and he thinks I can get to 150 pounds. But really, I am not that focused on the number on the scale. What I really cared about was getting my health under control, and I have had a 180-degree turnaround from where I was a year ago. My blood pressure went from hypertension range to low side of normal. My A1C went from 8.1 to 4.5. My cholesterol and triglycerides are good. I am exercising every day and I can walk a mile or climb a few flights of stairs without getting out of breath or sweaty. My quality of life has improved so much now that I'm not carrying around a whole extra person's worth of weight. I went from size 26/28 to 14/16. I no longer have to worry about whether I will fit in a chair or exceed the weight limit on a ladder. All of these things matter SO MUCH MORE than the number on the scale. I'm all for having specific, measurable goals, but I would recommend you set some non-scale goals. I would also recommend that you not get caught up in the rate of weight loss or let anyone tell you how quickly you should be losing weight. Everyone is different, and if you compare yourself to someone else, or even how quickly you think you should be losing, you'll set yourself up for disappointment. For at least the first 6 months, all you need to do is stick to your guidelines and you WILL lose weight. Focus on setting good habits that you will be able to keep once your restriction is no longer as strong. As long as you are losing weight, you're doing fine. That's not to say you should panic over a 1-pound gain (your weight can fluctuate by a couple of pounds even in the same day), but if your weight is decreasing from one week to the next, you're on track. I know that's probably not the answer you're looking for. I'm an engineer, and very numbers-oriented, myself, so I know how it is to like data and graphs and want to track expected vs. actual progress, but WLS has too many variables to be able to do it that way.

Did you surgeon give you an idea how much you may be expected to lose over the weeks/months? My surgeon didn't have any expectations (or if he didn't he didn't share them with me). I didn't set myself an amount to lose each week or month, I just kept to my post op guidelines. If I didn't lose one week I knew the scale weight would catch up. Weight loss after surgery is a bit fraught with danger, some people expect to lose a lot of weight quickly, but the reality is a lot different. There is the post op weight gain from iv fluids and inflammation, there are stalls along the way that could last from a week to many weeks, sometimes there will be temporay gains due to various reasons. Some experience a stall within weeks of the surgery....the infamous three week post op stall...it doesn't always occur at three weeks out some experience it a little quicker for others it may be delayed. Some people are fortunate enough not to experience stalls in the first few months. Generally each of the surgeries has an average weight loss after year 1, year 2 etc, but some people will have lost less than that, others will have lost more than the average.

A lot of insurance companies will pay, it was my employer that has an exclusionary clause against any weight loss surgery. My surgeon also had a lot more experience than any of the surgeons in this area. I got a lot more personalized treatment there as well.

I have a pre-op appointment in about a month and surgery scheduled in about a month and a half. Having this glimmer of hope that something might finally work I've been eating better and doing more walking. I have been so excited about the prospect of finally losing the weight effectively that I've lost almost 10 lbs in the last six weeks. Will losing too much weight pre-op jeopardize my insurance approval (BCBS)? I don't want to gain weight just for the sake of gaining weight, but I know I won't be able to keep it off without the procedure.

Hey guys thanks so much. I just want to say I'm home. I came out the hospital the next day and I feel about 80% well and to add to that I loss 10 lbs yayyyy me

I'm from Canada and there is mo way I will have insurance cover anything. I'm going toTJ Mexico for a sleeve Sept 4th. I have carried this weight give or take for 35 years. As I get older it's harder to lose and harder to live with the extra 50-60 lbs. so, as of Sept 4th I will be sleeved and hopefully on a losing streak for good! My surgery is $4400.00 plus flights. I'm using travel points so in the end with my husband traveling with me should be around $5000.00. Not bad since I've paid that plus more in weight loss programs over the past 20 years.

Hi Firefly! My son is due to have surgery soon and it's good to see another guy on the forum. I never did use slim-fast because it has a high carb/lowprotien ratio. That may be why your weight loss is not as big as you may want. Did you mean diet Jello or Jelly? If it's Jelly, take a look at the carbs on what you are eating. A better Protein shake would be something like Muscle Milk light or Premiere protein ready made shakes. They have a very low carb/high protein (premiere has 30 grams of protein per shake) ratio. If you try to stay below 6 grams of carbs per meal you should be dropping weight super fast. If you get bored with the flavors of the shakes nectar makes some really awesome flavors of shakes, but you have to mix them yourself with either Water, non-fat milk, or almond milk. Hope I helped a little. Good luck on your surgery!

Hi Everyone thanks for your words of encouragement. Its actually Optislim I am using, not SlimFast, I got them mixed up. Weight loss has picked up. I am one week out from surgery and have lost about 17lb. However I am constantly starving and wanting to go grab a burger or something which I will not be able to eat after the surgery (will only ever be able to eat part of a burger). What is the impact if I snap one week out? Can you still recover on liquids or does it put your liver back to square one? Thanks, Firefly

Well, the doc and I finally decided on the bypass over the sleeve. My surgery date is this coming Thursday. It’s unbelievable to me that less than 45 days ago I had my first consultation about weight loss surgery and now BAM!! Here we go…. I start the bowel prep tomorrow, and man…I so am not looking forward to it. I don’t have the luxury of taking the day off from work (as I’m taking almost all my vacation time for the recovery), so I’ve got to suck it up and down that stuff between 10am – Noon. An entire gallon of it!! And of course making sure I have a beeline to the crapper. That and the fact I’m done eating solid food for...well, I guess 3 week after the surgery. It’s funny the relationship I have with food. I’m having real remorse about not eating. Not that I’m hungry, just, not being able to eat with my family. I can deal with not eating, but I think I’ll have a tuff time watching my family eat “real food” while I have my bowl of Jell-O…sigh Anyway, it’s what we have to go thru though. It’s what’s required…damnit I hope I can get through tomorrow without any bathroom accidents….YIKES. -Jason

I didn't have to have anymore tests, thank God!!! But I do have an appointment with the nutritionist May 19...after that, all my information and test results will be submitted to insurance. But the appointment started out by me getting a "before picture", then getting my blood pressure, weight, and height, with no shoes (which made me shorter by 1/2 inch and made my Bmi go up lol), then I stood on a scale looking thing and held a pole type thing in each hand and it printed off all kinds of wild information like, how any calories I burn on a typical day without exercise, just at rest...it even told how much my right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, and trunk weighed. I was told by the nutritionist who came in my room for a few minutes that 100 to 105 lb weight loss would be right for me. Then the Dr. came in and said that the sleeve is the surgery he would also recommend for my size...he listened to my heart, my pulse in both sides of my neck, he examined my stomach for hernias and where the incision sites would be, and he checked my ankles. I will have a two day liquid diet before surgery. I will have a drainage tube. He didn't foresee me having problems. I'm hoping my insurance is approved by mid June and surgery is scheuled no later than August 1 because I want to be feeling better by the time my daughter goes back to school August 20! I will update...everyone take care and God Bless!!!

I had to wait 10 months because there were so many obstacles to overcome. I just had surgery 9 days ago and the long wait actually made me prepared, confident, and successful. However, there were times when it felt like I was waiting forever and that the surgery may not actually happen. Learn as much as you can about bariatric surgery and diet through research or from forums like this one. Losing weight and exercising before surgery will help you in the long run and help you reach your weight loss goal quicker after surgery. Good luck!

Because it's an initial consultation, there isn't much that actually "happens". In fact, my initial consult didn't even involve my surgeons. I spent most of the time with the office staff, then with the nutritionist. My visit involved going over fees, insurance procedures, medical clearances, a discussion of why I was interested in bariatric surgery, and finally an overview of the lifelong dietary changes that I'd be signing up for. At an initial consult, I'd try not to worry too much about being "rejected" if you've done your homework first about a couple of things. Meaning... 1. Insurance coverage. Insurance policies vary widely, but from what I've learned, it seems as though most of them have a minimum BMI to cover a bariatric procedure- usually 40 with no comorbidities, or 35 with the presence of one or more comorbid conditions like Type II Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, etc. As well, it seems many insurance policies (in addition to a doctor-supervised weight loss program prior to considering WLS) require a sort of "laundry list" of other weight loss interventions (Weight Watchers, Herbalife, etc...), complete with approximate dates, and amount of weight lost. 2. Expectations for the procedure. Though you may go through a formal psychological exam as part of your preoperative clearances, both the surgical office manager and the nutritionist had a dialogue with me about what brought me to the office in the first place. How you'll fare with WLS surgery depends on a lot of factors, one of which is how realistic your expectations are for results. **How far from consult to surgery? Honestly, that's a question with no definitive answer. For me it was almost exactly 3 months. But.....it depends on (among other things) your clearance tests, how quickly your insurance company approves your procedure (if you're going that route) and what the availability is for your surgeon/hospital to schedule your procedure. One of the best things about my consult visit was my "Bible Binder". My surgeon's office had a fantastic binder assembled that outlined the whole WLS surgery process. Every. Single. Step. That consult appointment is an information overload, and to have everything written out for me was wonderful. I remember how excited I was at that initial appointment- it was all starting to become "real" finally! I wish you the best of luck- keep us posted on your progress

Thank you for the help. I will be doing a list as we'll to get me started, I am excited to have a new tool to help me loss the weight. Yes please keep in touch with me and I will do the same, good look guys!

I know every weight loss journey is different but I am curious what other people in my bmi range experienced for weight loss after RNY.

Have any of you gotten breast lifts after all this weight loss and was it covered by insurance?

Just ordered the book by Alex Brecher. Yesterday I picked up a book called "Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies". And am currently reading a book on Lap Band surgery from True Results. Does True Results just do the Lap Band? Has anyone had weight loss surgery thru True Results? What was your experience? Guess I'm a little concerned as I understand that you lose 40-50% of extra weight w/surgery. I'm 4'11" and weigh 170-172 lbs. I need to weigh around 100 to 105 lbs. So if I am only able to lose 35 to maybe 40 lbs in 12-24 months, I'm still very over weight. And I'm wondering about the expense and effects of surgery on body for just 35 lbs. I'm probably being concerned about nothing. Any weight loss is healthy for me. Any advice appreciated? Thanks!

My #1 question for my surgeon was how long was the surgery going to take? I had already researched him online and knew quite a bit, but I'd want to know how many years/surgeries he'd done for the Sleeve. How much pain to expect and when to expect to be released from the hospital. Ask him for a realistic expectation for weight loss too. Also, I'd get to his office early and see if I could get into a conversation with some of his patients coming in for follow up appointments. They were the best source of info for me. They were happy to share their stories. When I went in for my 1st appointment. It was a mixture of 1st visits and post-op patients. We were all up tight cause we all knew why we were there, we were nervous, and didn't know how to talk about it. But we wanted to. Luckily I was able to make a joke about all the pages and pages of paperwork. That got the ball rolling and soon we were all talking.