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Surgery is 3 days and a wakeup away! I am staring to think more and more about it of course. On my liquids I have lost 13.5 pounds. I have "cheated" though and the guilt is killing me. I am not hungry, stomach wise, but my mental hunger is still there. Please tell me someone understands that. I am used to eating even when I am not hungry. This battle is going to be mostly mental for me anyway. I am spending time this week making homemade Soups and pureeing them, then freezing them. I hate how much sodium store bought soups have. I am going to be making homemade popsicles today and homemade chicken broth so I should be set. I haven't had the surgery yet, obviously, but I scared to death of my first fill. My doc does mainly bypasses and sleeves but since he is an insurance provider that is where I needed to go. He does first fills at 2 weeks post op and I am worried about it. We live 3 hours one way away from the doc so I can't just come back in a few days or so if he tries and it doesn't work...especially not with gas prices :-)! The bad thing is walking around WalMart last night is I saw a lot of people just like me, morbidly obese. It is so sad to me that this surgery isn't easier for people to get if they need it. Seeing those folks renewed my wanting to do this. I want to be healthier and I want to look better :tongue2:. My hubby was helping me take off my bra last night cause it was hurting so bad on my shoulders, he saw the bruises the straps had caused and he just said, you need this surgery, you are going to feel so much better very soon. He is a sweetie, said what I needed to hear! Laura

Its so hard when this happens, I've been in a funk like this for quite some time. Got too tight, had some fill out and was too loose and have been just eating round my band ever since. For me, it was important to change things up. I needed to see some weight lost, that always motivates me and it hadnt happened in months and months. I also realise that even though I am a staunch defender of cardio, running for an hour five days a week for three years has just about acheived all it can for my body, I've become super efficient at it, its definitely not burning the calories and challenging me like it once was and its not keeping the weight away and helping me to lose it like it did. So I've completely switched it about. I am allowing myself one long slow run a week (because I love doing it) and the rest of the time I am focussing on a really HARD circuit workout I've developed on my treadmill that focusses on some heavy weights with a high heartrate the whole time and I've thrown in a few interval training workouts too (cardio coach is great for this). I committed to five days of perfect eating and I did it, hard though it was. Result? 2 of the pesky 4lb gone and I feel renewed and havent slipped back into that headhunger cookie munching all day long mode for about three weeks. For me, I just need to see a result to get me motivated again. Maintaining is boring. Same weight all the time, day in day out, I think I broke out of my good habits just to see something change!:whatchutalkingabout To give myself the challenge of having to lose a bit again, lol. Perhaps a little blitz would help you too? A completely different eating and exercise regime for a week?

My boss has put a new ID photo on the work wall ... now six months and 34kg (77 pounds) (5.5 stones) lighter. My five year D/L renews in 2020 ... so RMS will tale a new photo then. Passport due for upgrade in 2027 ... maybe a new photo then. I was a Y wedding ring and now it slips off or falls off. I don't wear it to the pool for my exercise any more. I told my wife I'd get it adjusted before our next anniversary. (Dec 2018).

I really think the media has way over hyped up the problems in Mexico. I've also read that there has been a huge improvement in Tijiuana and that Mexicali is very safe. Don't believe the hype. You could get killed going into the wrong neighborhood near your home. Second, WLS is very safe. There are risks with any surgery, but I wouldn't worry. I was told by my doctor that there is zero mortality rate through my hospital since they opened their bariatric department in 2002 and all they do is sleeve and RNY. If I were you, just don't talk to your mom about it until after you get back. Everything is going to be ok!

No, I haven’t lost my mind. I still think the band is grand and I still wish I still had mine, but because I want everybody to succeed at weight loss, I feel duty-bound to tell you some reasons not to have adjustable gastric band surgery. So here goes, in no particular order. Don’t have band surgery if… You’re phobic about needles. Right now, a needle is the only way to get fluid into the band. The fill needle is not a big, scary one, and you don’t have to look at it at all if you prefer, but it’s still a needle. You believe that band surgery cures obesity. Obesity is an incurable, chronic disease with the very real potential for recurrence. Weight regain can happen to anyone. You think that once you get to your goal weight, your weight loss journey stops. Nope. It’s only just begun. Next you’ll have to maintain that weight loss for the rest of your life, and that takes vigilance and hard work. You’re a self-pay planning on having surgery in Mexico or elsewhere out of country. What are you going to do if you have a problem or complication or just need another fill or unfill? Travel back to the Mexican clinic? Try to get help locally? Finding a US-based bariatric clinic that will accept patients who had surgery overseas is not easy, and once you do find one, you’re probably going to have to pay a non-refundable program fee, from $200 to $2000. You can’t afford the time and expense for frequent follow up visits for fills, unfills, and other medical care. Even if your insurance covers those visits, you’ll have to take time off work, arrange for child care or pet care, fill your car’s gas tank, and shell out a co-pay. You're a self-pay and don't have money or plans for dealing with fills, unfills, and possible complications. See above. You hope to lose weight without getting any fills. Sorry, but it probably won’t work that way. See above. You expect to lose a pound+ a day. Average weight loss with the band is 1-2 pounds/week. That average includes people who lost weight faster as well as people who lost no weight at all. Rapid initial weight loss is usually related to fluid retention, not fat loss. You believe that slow weight loss with the band will prevent sagging skin. According to several plastic surgeons I’ve asked about this, your age and genetics have the most influence on how your skin will respond to massive weight loss. The rate of weight loss has little or anything to do with it. You expect to experience restriction and lose weight steadily from the moment you wake up after surgery. Most band patients need several fills to achieve optimal restriction, plus more fills and unfills (or adjustments) to maintain that restriction, and virtually no one loses weight at a steady rate. My weight loss was extremely uneven – down 1#, down .5#, up .75#, down 1.75#, down 0/up 0, down .25#, and so on. You believe in the sweet spot or perfect restriction. Restriction is constantly changing, just like our bodies, because of dozens of quite ordinary factors (food choices, eating and drinking habits, weight loss, time of day or month, illness, medications, stress, etc.). If you think you’ll lose weight only at the mythical sweet spot, you’re going to spend energy on frustration that could be better applied to changing your eating behavior. You’re not willing to follow pre- and post-op liquid and puree diets. No, liquid and puree diets are not fun, but they’re short-term. When I was banded, I had 36 years ahead of me, assuming that I live as long as my mother did. That’s 12,672 days. My pre- and post-op liquid diets used up a whopping 17 days. Do the math. Even if you add in post-fill liquids and purees, those liquid and puree days represent a teeny, tiny fraction of my life. You believe you’ll never be hungry again. Maybe, maybe not. The fact that you feel hungry 5 hours after a meal doesn’t mean your band isn’t working. It just means that your body needs fuel. And part of your ongoing work as a bandster is going to be figuring out whether you’re feeling physical hunger or “head” hunger. You think the band is going to do all the work for you. The band has no magic ingredient that triggers weight loss once it’s wrapped around your stomach. All it does is affect your hunger and appetite. The band is not going to make good food choices, practice portion control or banish the demons who make you eat when you’re stressed or bored. Nor is it going to exercise for you. Success with the band is the result of a joint effort between you, your band, your surgeon and dietitian. Have a don't-have-band-surgery reason to add to this list? Post it in the comment section!

Dr. Aceves is fantastic. He was just featured in Newsweek Magazine as one of the nations leaders in bariatric surgery and he was chosen by Johnston & Johnston to be a proctor teaching the VSG surgery. He is a little more expensive and I was a cash paying patient so I know the importance of saving as much as possible but I also wanted to make sure I was in good hands and chose the doctor who I felt had the most experience. He has performed over 5,000 procedures. I hope you ladies can both have your surgeries soon and best of luck to you both. It's life changing and well worth every penny

My surgery is in just under three weeks, so today was devoted to SPENDING MONEY on all the stuff I will need/want. And here is where I am going to tell you all about it in excruciating detail. http://www.onestopplus.com/ - front-closing leisure bra, empire waist dress, shorty pajamas http://www.amazon.com - 2 x 100 1 oz. medicine cups (to measure/control fluid intake), mini-muffin pan and liners (for the "bites" recipes from Eggface), mini ice cube trays (for making smoothies and shakes), gas-x strips, anti-skid fuzzy socks, Celebrate multi-complete bariatric vitamins with iron, extra large heating pad, blender bottle, Syntrax Nectar medical unflavored protein powder, digital thermometer, small blender. http://www.bjsbariatrics.com/ - Syntrax Nectar sample pack http://www.unjury.com/store/protein/ - Unjury starter kit with 2 packets of five flavors of protein powder, shaker bottle, and food thermometer. http://chikenutrition.com - Chike variety pack w/ 6 flavors Chike protein http://www.mybariatricpantry.com/ - 2 bottles Isopure Plus, Syntrax Matrix sample pack with all 8 flavors (including the famed mint cookie flavor!), Metabolic Nutrition Protizyme sample pack with 5 flavors including my favorite Peanut Butter Cookie, fruit drinks variety pack, pudding/shake variety pack, cappuccino protein drink, and Bariatric Advantage chewable probiotics http://www.vitalady.com - Dymatize Nutrition Elite Whey sample packs in butter cream toffee, mocha, chocolate mint, and gourmet vanilla; BSN Lean Dessert protein powder samples in banana cream pudding, vanilla whipped cream, and fresh cinnamon roll. I also bought a new comforter from Kohl's because mine has gotten kind of ratty and dirty and I figure I can get myself something new, beautiful, and, well, comforting that I'm going to be using during my recovery. This process is expensive even before figuring in direct medical costs! I'm really excited, even if I'm not excited about looking at my bank account balance right now.

I belonged to the CPC (Clean Plate Club) for over 50 years, so I consider myself something of an expert on it (and I am, after all, The World’s Greatest Living Expert on Everything). I thought it was a lifetime membership, but my bariatric surgeon rescued me from the CPC Cult – oh, excuse me, Club - and deprogrammed me so that I’m able to function more or less like a normal person now. Here’s my story. I was inducted to the CPC as a child, when I was too young to realize that the promise of going to heaven if I always cleaned my plate was a bit more complicated than it sounded at the time. All I wanted to do at the time was to please the cult leaders: my mother and my grandmother. I have reason to believe that my grandmother, whom I called Dranny, was the original founder of the CPC. Orphaned as a small child, she was passed around the family like a piece of unwanted furniture, and she raised her own children during the Great Depression. Through the combination of those circumstances and her own peculiar (and wonderful) character, Dranny was a pack rat. She didn’t live in filth and disorder (just the opposite, actually), but she couldn’t bear to throw anything away, especially not food. If three green peas were leftover from a meal and she hadn’t been able to persuade someone to eat them, she would lovingly place them in a custard cup covered with a shower-cap style cover (this was in the days before Glad Wrap), and store them in the fridge, where they would remain until someone ate them (or my mother threw them out while Dranny was in another room). I’m a lot like my grandmother in various ways, and also something of a pack rat. So after eating my way through hundreds of childhood meals with Dranny and my mom (who was not a pack rat, but who was offended by the idea of wasting food that she’d worked so hard to procure and prepare), I emerged into adolescence with warring impulses – part of me still wanted to clean my plate, and part of me wanted to starve so that I could lose weight and be as skinny as the British supermodel, Twiggy. 101 WAYS TO CLEAN YOUR PLATE One of my problems with meal planning and storage is that it's hard for me to predict how much food I'll be able to eat at a future meal. Often I don't know that until I've eaten several bites. My basic strategy for dealing with this unpredictability is to keep my plate clean from the very start so that the food I leave behind doesn't overwhelm me or provoke an attack of guilt that could bring down Dranny's loving wrath upon me. A simple way to keep your plate clean is to prepare smaller batches of food so you won't be tempted by serving dishes overflowing with food or burdened with an excess of leftovers. I can't speak to recipes for baked goods (not my department), but most other recipes can be easily cut in half, thirds, or even quarters through the use of simple arithmetic. Sometimes I prepare the whole recipe, subdivide into 2 or 3 batches, serve one batch immediately and freeze the other 2 for future use. When we lived in the northeast, the elderly widow who lived next door was delighted when we shared excess food with her. Sharing food with family, friends, and coworkers can yield multiple benefits. When I'm craving a food or recipe whose leftovers would be a problem for me to store (or resist), I prepare a big batch of it for whatever social event is on the horizon and keep only one or two portions of it at home so that we get to enjoy it without having to worry about to do with all that food. I use cheap, recycled, throw-away packaging so that no one can insist that I take my corning ware, Pyrex or Tupperware container of leftovers home with me. You can also keep your plate clean by using the portioning technique I recommend for bandsters who are still learning their band eating skills, food portion sizes, and stop signals. Here's how it works for me. When planning my day's food (which I commit to my food log and my accountability partner every morning), I might decide that I'll eat 4 ounces (by weight) of chicken thigh and 1/2 cup of barley and veggy salad for dinner. Come dinner time, I grab my small plate (a salad plate) and put half of my planned meal on it: 2 ounces of chicken and ¼ cup of the salad. If I'm able to finish that, great. If I'm still physically hungry when I'm done with it, I go back to the kitchen and dish up the remaining 2 ounces of chicken and ¼ cup of salad. At the end of the meal, I'll probably have only 1 or 2 tablespoons worth of food to save or throw out instead of a plateful of food, therefore much less guilt to deal with. When I do have a plateful of food leftover, I usually scrape it into a small plastic container that I can quickly grab and stick in my lunch bag when I go to work the next day. Fortunately, we actually like leftovers at our house, and arguments occasionally break out over unauthorized consumption of leftover food ("Who ate the rest of the eggplant Parmesan?!?"). The same approach works with restaurant meals. We're happy to take leftovers home in what used to be called a doggy bag (as if I'd share my Maryland crab cakes with a dog!). My sister-in-law used to scrape leftover food into a bucket to add to her garden compost pile. I have no idea if that's a good practice. We'd have to have a 40' high electrified fence dug 20' into the ground and topped with razor wire in order to keep dogs, cats, deer, rats, raccoons, and other critters out of that kind of compost pile. I've also known people (including my mother) who fed leftover food to their 4-footed garbage disposals (dogs & cats), another practice that we avoid because why would you want to cultivate a fussy eater? Our pets have survived eating (stolen) candies (complete with foil wrappers), latex paint, and kip tails (fishing flies), and at our house, a fussy eater will end up starving because someone else is always willing to clean your plate for you, sometimes long before you've decided you're finished with it. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STARVING CHILDREN? After over 6 years of post-WLS life, I'm now better able to detach myself from my emotional attachment to the food on my plate enough to throw out what's left. If it didn't taste right because my tummy was in an odd mood, if it caused me eating problems, if it wouldn't reheat or store well, I let it go. I haven't been struck by lightning for doing that, nor has God punished me with plagues, floods, or infestations (apart from the dog infestation, that is). Like many, I was raised to eat every meal while listening to a chorus singing the Children Are Starving in (fill in the blank) hymn. I agree that in world where so many children (and adults, and animals) go hungry, it is just plain wrong for an overfed middle-class person like me to waste or throw out food. But the fact is that me eating more food than my body needs (rather than throwing out) is not the solution to the problem of world hunger. The solution to world hunger, and to diminishing global food resources, is far, far more complicated than that. Working in your community (be it a village, a city, a country, or a planet) to solve that problem is a worthwhile effort, but you taking personal responsibility for causing the death of a starving, unknown child in India or Appalachia because you threw out a chicken wing and 5 green beans last night is (in my opinion) a misguided and foolish use of your energy. And you eating that extra bite of food just because you can't bear the thought of throwing it away is also foolish from a medical standpoint. If that extra bite causes you to PB, get stuck, or over-pack your pouch, it could lead to messy and expensive medical complications like esophageal or pouch dilation and/or band slips, especially if you eat that way on a regular basis. Finally, as long as overeating endangers your health through co-morbidities and through disrespecting your band, you may never be able to help deal with the hunger problem, whether on an individual, local, or global basis. So, first things first: make a top priority of eating sensibly for your own sake before you tackle the rest of the world.

WANT VERSUS WILL You know me: I’m the girl who spent hours reading the dictionary for fun when I was a child. I’m fascinated by words, their meanings, and how their meanings change depending on the context in which they’re used. Take the word “surrender”, for example. An army surrendering to the enemy is (to many) a shameful act. But when the enemy surrenders to our own army, that surrender is (to many) a triumph. A small change – the order of words in a sentence – can make a huge difference in the meaning of one word. The words I want to talk about today are WILLPOWER and WANTPOWER. Wantpower is a word coined by my friend Valerie. She was banded with plication on June 6, 2012 and has lost 73 pounds. She has a lot more to lose, but she’s off to a great start by following the “rules” to the very best of her ability. Valerie says that’s not because she has any willpower. It’s because she has wantpower. I hear people bemoan their lack of willpower all the time. Even control freaks like me can regret their weak or absent willpower, especially when they’re trying to sustain weight loss momentum over months and years, and after that a lifetime of weight maintenance. It’s such a common lament that I sometimes wonder if willpower truly exists in humankind. That lacking may hold a spiritual message for us, about surrendering (there’s that word again!) to the will of God or to our Higher Power. Spiritual messages can take a lot of time to process, so what are we to do in the meantime? First, let’s make sure we’re clear on the meaning of the word willpower. Webster’s defines willpower as strength of will, mind, or determination. When we use willpower, we choose our own actions rather than submit to someone else’s will (including God’s). These actions are conscious choices. We’ve thought about them, considered the costs and consequences, decide to act on them. In the world of weight loss, that might represent a decision to follow the Atkins diet and to act upon that by eating mostly protein, a fair amount of fat, and very few carbohydrates. In that scenario, we must use plenty of willpower to resist temptations like cookies and garlic bread. So far so good, right? This is a good thing that’s going to move us closer to our weight goal. Every day we ignore the candy in the vending machine at work is a triumph of willpower. But did you know that the word “will” also has a negative connotation? Willfulness means doing as we please, out of sheer stubbornness or defiance, whether our actions are good for us or not. It’s hard to say where willpower leaves off and willfulness begins, but there’s a value judgment somewhere in there. To follow your diet-du-jour to perfection represents willpower, but to eat a giant piece of birthday cake despite your doctor’s admonitions about your sugar intake represents willfulness. One is considered good, the other is bad. In the bariatric world, willpower has another meaning, and believing in that meaning can actually take you further from rather than closer to your weight goal. As Presbyterian minister and author John Ortberg says, "Willpower is trying very hard not to do something you want to do very much." Read that sentence again. Can you detect the pitfall? Let’s look at it again. "Willpower is trying very hard not to do something you want to do very much." It’s no wonder that so many of us struggle with insufficient willpower when it involves avoiding something you want badly. It’s a battlefield generously mined with bombs, because every second of every waking hour of every day of our entire lives involves making choices that go against our own desires. Those desires, wishes, needs and cravings appear to be dangerous, and we fear that giving in to them will send us to hell. But the wantpower they represent can be put to good use, and may be easier to come by than the willpower we think we need but lack. In my own case, my will makes my executive decisions and my want gives me the fuel to carry them out. WHAT SHOULD I DO? Even if you’re blessed with (or have cultivated) a great deal of willpower, that alone isn’t always enough to power you to your goals. First you need to identify your goal (in very specific terms), and then you need to really, truly want it. Not just because it’s a good idea, or because your doctor or friend or partner wants you to have it, or because you think it will solve all your problems. Using your wantpower means reconnecting with that feeling of wanting on a frequent basis. It means keeping your goal always in sight, like the proverbial carrot on a stick (see, even donkeys are motivated by food). It also means disconnecting from the doubts and fears and negative thoughts that can pop up to ask you if that goal is even achievable, desirable, or otherwise deserving of your effort. A few weeks ago I wrote a Bandwagon on the Road newsletter article about knowing your limits, and I’ll be the first to point out that the ambition of a 59-year-old woman like me to lose (for example) 200 pounds, become America’s next top model, marry Tom Cruise, give birth to octuplets and become a reality TV star is probably not achievable. I hope that when identifying life goals, you subject your dreams to a reality check and/or carefully consider all it’s going to take to make them come true. There’s nothing wrong with the top model goal above as long as you realize that achieving it will require climbing a mountain instead of strolling across a meadow. When packing your luggage for that trip, don’t forget to pack your wantpower. It will take you a lot further than a long list of “shoulds.” And doing something because you WANT to is a heck of a lot more satisfying than doing something because you (or someone else) think you should. WANT is the fire that cooks your life’s meal, seasons it to taste wonderful, and provides the fuel to keep you moving forward. So the next time you’re tempted by a donut, ask yourself this: Is this little thing I want going to make me happy for more than 2-3 minutes? Is it going to get me closer to the big thing I really, really want (weight loss)?

Haha, my appointment didn't go as well. My doctor said that I don't qualify for the referral at all. She said even if I did Kaiser requires like 50 weeks of a weight management class (only offered in Panorama City or South Bay) and if you miss one then you are out of the program. It is pretty apparent to me that I need to switch insurances or pay for this out of pocket. I ONLY weighed in at 252lbs and that wasn't FAT ENOUGH...are you kidding me? It made me sick... I really hope your appointment with the bariatric dept goes well and I hope we can keep in touch and track each others progress. Gabi

Hi Liz, I would call, you have nothing to lose. Mind you, his secretary is not the best one to ask. I remember when I call she told me things that weren't true. I would call the bariatric clinic instead. The no. is: 544-3710 Let me know if they give you any date. I have one of my friend who went in December too and she's wondering like you when they are going to call her. clempier

Being that I work on a bariatric surgery unit I have watched the surgeries for both banding and RNY but never had a clue what was entailed for a fill. I mean I knew what they did but really thought it was a little more involved. Was way too cool to watch. Dr C. Thanks for the educational experience. Just cant wait to be banded and layin there having my own fill.

Hi is it possible that you can make an appointment with your primary doctor and get a referral for a bariatric doctor? Are you willing to sleeve if you can be converted over to the sleeve or bypass?Sending you prayers and please look into this with your doctor and good luck my friend.

Keep on plugging you will get there! I eat: Breakfast - either - one package of oatmeal mixed with fat free yogurt or egg beater omelet( 2 or 3 servings of beaters) with one slice fat free cheese and some veggies or a few fake bacon bits in it. Lunch- usually a protein shake with strawberries skim milk and Bariatric (sp?) Advantage or Unjury. - Sometimes no berries but ice cubes, instant coffee and sweet & low. Dinner - lean protein and veggies Snack- one bag of 100 calorie popcorn, Two 60 calorie string cheese and two 25 calorie diet hot chocolate. Also vitamins, water & ice tea. I eat about 1000-1200 calories per day and about 80 grams of protein. This keeps me full all day. Hope this helps

I called this morning and I have my first fill on the 18th with esophagram! The Long Island Bariatric Center will accept patients from Mexico. Their website is www.doryferraro.com.

Centrum Complete Chewables are a good option is you don't want to go with a specific bariatric Vitamin, I personally use Celebrate Multi with Iron and their Calcium Citrate. I also take them after eating to ensure that I'm not dumping a vitamin on an empty stomach. You can order samples from Celebrate, just tell them you had VSG and would like a sample pack of their multi and calcium. https://www.celebratevitamins.com/shop/multivitamin/multi-complete.html

Almost any multivitamin would be fine pre-op but post-op you need specific vitamins, so I would look up bariatric multivitamins to make sure that your are getting the nutrients your post-op body will need.

Hi, I used Dr David Kim in Colleyville, TX. He also has a office in Frisco. Not sure where you are located. He did my inverted sleeve 3 years ago and he is a great doctor. His staff has been extremely helpful to me as well. I haven't had any complications at all other than having to have my gallbladder out. The after surgery support has been incredible. Kim Bariatrics has monthly support groups, fitness events, yearly patient Christmas party, 5k/10ks, along with many other get togethers. If it wasn't for the after surgery support I would have not been successful. If you have insurance with a bariatric exclusion there is a Making Bariatrics Affordable discount program for $4900 if you have a hiatal hernia. Do you have insurance? He also works with travelers as well. You may give them a call to get more details.

The reason why I would never consider it, you have no legal recourse if things go bad. However, many do based on price. Dr Alveraz seems to have a huge following and many You Tube success stories. I also feel sucess is increased with a great post op support group. I'm not talking about an on line group. I am still pre-op but attend the monthly support group where my proceedure will be done. I have learned so much and have had all my questions answered face to face with those that have been there and done that. At yesterdays support group we had a very good trainer that works with bariatric patients come in and talk about exercise for one hour. Than a group session for 1 hour. Great information. This support is available for life and its convient for me.

Hi LuAnn! I'm in NJ also. I had gastric bypass in 2015, but I can give you a little advice. If you're going to be in the hospital more than one night, bring dry shampoo. I had to stay three nights and couldn't shower, so I wish I had mine! Bring Gas-x strips with you. I never had a problem drinking water before surgery but it was harder after, so I drank vitamin zero. Water just didn't appeal to me. And I haven't tried that brand of vitamins. Over the last year and a half I've tried a variety of multis, all chewable, bariatric geared, in the beginning. Now I'm able to take pills. I prefer the chewy kind. RNY 6/8/15 SW 248 LW 175 CW 197 GW 180 "Eat to be the person you want to be."

I'm a DS patient and I take two 500 mg of chewable calcium, two chewable multivitamins of ADEK (Bariatric Advantage), and one sublingual B12 (3000 mcg). That's it per my doctor's orders. Not too bad at all.

Do you have a e-reader like Kindle? There are TONS of free or low cost books that will help with your meal planning and the different stages of eating. As far as pain, I think you will be surprised at what a small amount you have. The hospital should stay on top of your pain relief the first day or two so the worst pain you will have will most likely be the gas pains from the surgery. My doc doesn't even send anyone home with pain meds because it's usually minimal! If you feel like you aren't getting guidance from your bariatric team you might have to get sorta pushy about it. Make a list of questions that you have and when you go in for a visit be sure to bring your list and get them all answered. Be proactive about your care and you'll get a far better outcome!

I browse Pinterest for healthy recipes! I also lurk on bariatric pal and reply to every post I can. Trying to support others. Also I will eat a sf popsicle of in really needing to munch. We keep at least 2 boxes on hand- that way I get liquids and my sweet fix . So far I haven't had more than 3 in one day. Usually 1. Mich W Hw 223, SW 217 CW 200 GW 135

I actually put off surgery at first because I was so afraid of complications. I ended up going ahead this time because I was insured for bariatric coverage and I knew at least that protected me financially. I remember looking at myself in the mirror after I had my surgery date scheduled and being like “what the heck are you doing”. But I went forward and I’m glad every day I did. For me it was reminding myself that risks aren’t only present with action, but also inaction. Sometimes we assume that we are safe if we stick with the status quo but there are medical risks with staying overweight as well. They may not be as obvious as surgical risks but they exist nonetheless.

The BariatricPal Store carries a HUGE selection of Bariatric-friendly Calcium at https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/calcium. Check out the newly released BariatricPal Sugar-Free Calcium Citrate Soft Chews 500mg with Probiotics at https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/calcium/brand_bariatricpal+vitamin-form_soft-chews . They come in 4 AMAZING flavors: French Vanilla Caramel, Belgian Chocolate Caramel, Strawberry Watermelon Twist, and Wild Grape. We also carry other brands of Soft Chews at https://store.bariatricpal.com/collections/calcium/vitamin-form_soft-chews