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Sophie That is a tremendous victory. [emoji322] You must feel so much healthier and less tired than before.... not to mention how our society treats larger people ....that makes it even harder for big people to do more things.... in my view . I'm 10 years post band and a size 24 to 12. I like size 12!!! My body does too. So I basically eat protein and work out and try my best to stay that size. Best to you and congrats on hard work

I was sleeved 10 weeks ago and I'm down 70 lbs. my dr. Took me off my BP, cholesterol and asthma meds. So far, I'm fine and feel good. I'm bipolar and my psych meds have been decreased by 1/2 and so far my mood has been stable.

I am soooo excited!!! I lost another 10 pounds!! I was going to go and get another fill, but Ruben told me the thought I should try to take the QuickSlim30 again since I was pbing and was tight at leat 1 week or more out of the month. So I did and lost 10 pounds!!! I am at 153 now, only 7 pounds from my all time goal!!!

I live in riverside and im a Kaiser pt I’m having surgery with Dr Suh on 1/19/18

Definitely worth it. I eat all kinds of good food now. There is so little room I do not waste my time on junk. I'm a bit of a Protein junky now. Even the crackers and bread I eat have at least 10 grams a serving or I don't even go there. The liquid phase will soon be over and a bit of refrieds or mashed potato will be like Nirvana. 4-wheeling huh? We have two 4WD and motorcycles. Fun!

Hey Stuntmonkey, it's me (gonnabehotagain), I forgot all my account credentials so I can't sign in as me. I work for a gov't agency downtown but I am not bcbs fep. I have bcbs ppo and I am blessed to have fantastic coverage. the ppo does not pre-approve outpatient procedures so no preapproval of lapband. I'm a little nervous that bcbs will end up denying my claim but the ins coordinator at bluepoint seems to think I'm in good shape. Went to Dr. Robert Pinnar's seminar, seemed really nice but I didn't like the huge program fee. My total out of pocket has been 385 dollars, incl 2 $10 copays. The nutritionist doesn't participate with any insurance so will try for reimbursement. My surgery is scheduled for July 5. I got fast tracked! On way to gonnabehotagain. Well, I will settle for healthy. Hot would be awesome!

Ladies, after 10 minutes back at work you'll welcome the broedom of home. LOL. Have a great first day back at work and remember, take it easy and no heavy lifting.

I'm 10 weeks out and tried a couple veggies for the first time this weekend. Salad from Olive Garden went down great! Tried broccoli the next day, maybe 1/8 of a cup....three hours of belching, crying, puking pain. I loved broccoli before.....I will never try it again.

I had surgery on Dec. 18,2012 home on 12/20 and had to do shots for 10 days, needle is small kind of painless better safe than sorry. Good Luck!!!

Greetings everyone. I have had a long journey, I've been overweight and obese most of my life. I was 6ft1 and over 300lbs in my late teens and successfully dropped down into the 190's. Eventually I got older, got married and started working night shifts...here I am again! No health issues, but I want it to stay that way, the funny thing is, I look down and move around and still feel that I'm thin, opposite of most, pictures tell another story, haha! I joined a paid, doctor lead weight loss program in 2019 that went alright, I didn't lose much though and easily gained it back. One of the recommendations coming out of that was surgery. Where I live there is a long process for that (but it is funded). Most people only are covered for bypass though, including me. Long story short I decided to go with the Sleeve out of my own pocket. I can afford it and the bypass seemed a little too extreme to me, for my personal situation. My family had been aware of my journey and supportive until my surgery was actually booked recently after doing orientation, reading (and sharing) materials, etc. Now I have literally all my immediate family telling not to do it. My wife is upset as we have two young children and I'll be out of commission for a bit and she's extremely anxious after reading something saying 80% of people end up divorced after this, she feels she doesn't know enough too and that ones understandable. One family member told me I'm being selfish, I still don't understand that one. Another said I don't understand what I'm getting and I should get more info and see a therapist. I get that therapy brings value, but I'm always legitimately happy and in both my weight loss program and the intake for surgery the doctors said I didn't need to see a therapist (and they had them on staff). It was a little disorienting as I first stated I was looking into this a year ago and decided to go ahead with it in October to universal support. I told one colleague only and they said they didn't see why I would need that. I'm really, really, really glad I'm not on the fence about this, otherwise I might be deterred, but is it common? Have others dealt with the people around them getting the cold feet? It's funny, because I'm getting surgery, but now I find myself wondering how I can support everyone else about it April 19 is my surgery day and that's not going to change unless I'm told so by the medical practice.

I can hardly believe it! 20 mths ago, I weighed 248 lbs. Today I weigh 151 lbs with about 16 more till goal. The first 5 mths were rough, no restriction at all until my 3rd fill. Then I started losing about 10 lbs a month. I love eating whatever I want to eat (this included Pasta, rice and bread) just really small quantities. In Dec of this last yr, I couldn't keep even Soup down after I started taking antibiotics for a bladder infection and started throwing up. Irritated my band allowing me to not keep anything down. Had to get 2cc taken out. Leaving me with 7.5cc in a 14cc band. I've lost about 5 lbs since Dec. Until 2 weeks ago when I had another fill (after over a yr, my 4th fill lasted a whole yr). I've lost an additional 4 lbs this past 2 weeks! I'm pretty tight, I eat VERY small amts, but I'm happy with it. He put 1cc in. Hopefully this fill will last another yr. The dr told me to call him in Oct and if I wasn't losing, he'd give me another fill. My fiance and I went to Macy's the other day and I casually decided to try on a pair of size 8 Levi's, wondering how much more I'd have to lose to fit into them. They fit! I can't believe that I fit into a single digit size! Just 2 yrs ago, I was wearing a size 20. I'm so happy with my band. My fiance, who has lost over 80 lbs the past 2 yrs on a lo carb diet is jealous that I can eat anything I want and still lose. If I buy a box of Cookies, I can eat one - while he has to eat the whole box. So anyone pondering getting the band - do it! It'll be the best thing you've ever done. But don't expect a miracle in the very beginning. For most people it takes several months to get to that "sweet spot" and start losing. I know I won't gain back my weight like every other diet I've been on in the past. I'm looking forward to getting married in Dec weighing 135! It'll be the first time in my entire adult life (and I'm 44) that I've weighed 135. In fact, I weigh less now than I did at my first wedding 23 yrs ago. I'm very happy with my band! Good luck to everyone! Marci

Hi, I'm knew here but could relate to your post. I have not had surgery yet, still waiting for a date here in UK. But totally terrified of hospitals and surgery! My son had a horrific accident many years ago when he was 10 years old (he is now 31) and I spent months in hospital with him as he underwent one procedure after another, it took its toll on both of us but thankfully he survived. I have chosen bypass because I'm diabetic and have fibromyalgia. It will help diabetes get under better control but won't cure the fibro in fact I've been told that it will probably make that worse to begin with so except a lot of pain after surgery due to the fibro, this hasn't helped my nerves! I'm going to see a hypnotherapist at end of September to get some help with this fear. The dying part is a normal fear after all we are choosing this surgery to better our lives not end it! But it depends on any other health issues you have and your surgeon, have you asked him/her what percentage of patients have had complications or death with them? All surgery comes with a risk and many surgeries have a much higher risk than the bypass. No surgeon wants to have patient death rates, it doesn't bode well for their career, so if you were a big risk they wouldn't be doing it until you had lost some weight first, maybe inserting a ballon to help you. It's the complications that concern me, I'm already anaemic and they can't fund out why, this will get worse after surgery. The diabetes is known as the "silent killer" but the fibromyalgia affects my quality of life much more and I live with daily pain, to add to that with further complications would finish me off anyway - It's important to focus on why you are doing or wanting this and try to stay positive, I know that's hard but if you can be positive about it, you almost always get a positive outcome. Take care x

Hi all, I'm eight days out of my VSG surgery with Dr. Aceves in Mexicali and wanted to share my experience with anyone still trying to make the decision. I had questioned on these boards if he was really worth the extra money and let me say, without reservation, that he and his staff is worth every penny! I'm sorry this is so long - I tried to keep it brief but failed miserably. Day 1-2 pre-surgery: Of course the day before my flight out I had to work til 9pm, because I had to be up by 4am the next day to get to the airport. Nothing like starting out a long trip tired! Total travel time from my residence to San Diego was 24 hours, since I got delayed in LA. Ernesto was waiting to pick me up, along with my mom who met me in SD and another patient and her friend. They were gracious about having to wait the extra hour for me. I'd only slept about 20-30 minutes total on all those flights so I was super tired and wired. Drive to Mexicali took about 2.5 hours. We were met by Karla, an assistant, who walked us through our pre-op tests before meeting Dr. Aceves, Dr. Campos, and the anesthesiologist (by this time I'd been over 30 hours with no sleep so I can't remember his name but he was super nice.) First impressions of the hospital and especially the doctors was extremely good. Even so, due to lack of sleep and an 18 hour time change, I started doubting if I wanted to go through with it. Dr. Aceves and Campos spoke to us in length, answering every question we had. Dr. Aceves has THE BEST bedside manner and comes across as one of the most sincere, genuine, and compassionate people I've met. I immediately felt comfortable with him. Finally we were taken to our hotel about 15 minutes away, which is lovely. Mom and I set out to find carne asada tacos that I remembered from my time on the border and found a local hole in the wall joint that served amazing food!!! I savored every bite of my dinner. I didn't drink, even though Dr. A okayed 2 drinks, as between the lack of sleep and jet lag I figured it might give me a migraine. Surgery Day Thanks to jet lag I slept about 4 hours the night before surgery. I didn't really feel nervous except I really wanted to poop before it was my turn to go in. TMI, I know, but it's true! I was scheduled for 9 am. The shuttle was late picking us up so we got to the hospital about 30 minutes late. Karla was frantic since we still had to do our EKG and X-rays (we were too late the day before to finish). I changed into a gown, went poop (thank god!!), had a quick chat with Dr. Aceves, Dr. Campos, the anesthesiologist, and then the internal doc. All looked good so they loaded me on a gurney, put in an IV, and took me away. I still wasn't nervous; I think the whole thing just felt too surreal to process. When we arrived in the OR, I remember scooting to a different bed, and the anesthesiologist asking me if I wanted a pillow. I told him "I don't know" and he started saying something about how if I didn't know, I probably didn't need one, ha ha. Two seconds later I was waking up and it was done! I had a hard time waking up (remember the major lack of sleep) but I remember feeling nauseous and I did throw up once, right after telling them I was going to. No mess, no big deal. The rest of the day is a blur. All I remember is that sleeping felt SO GOOD! I pretty much drifted in and out all day. I think I only got up to pee once, in the middle of the night. Dr. Aceves and Dr. Campos each checked on me twice that day/evening. Day 1 Post Surgery I felt some pain in my abdomen but not much, as I was pretty drugged up. I slept A LOT that day. Nurses were very attentive and friendly. The docs came by to visit several times each. I got up to walk a couple of times and peed maybe twice all day/night. I thought it was weird I never had to go! I had a hard time sleeping that night, partly due to some pain (that was quickly administered to) and partly from the time change. Plus my stupid machine I was attached to kept beeping and waking me up. Grrr... Oh yeah, I drank the yucky blue liquid and was cleared for no leaks. I asked for crushed ice to numb my taste buds so I could choke the stuff down. It was nasty! After that I was given juice and Gatorade. It was really tough to try to drink and I had no desire whatsoever. Sip. Sip. Sip. Had a shower and changed into a fresh gown. I wasn't ready for PJs yet. I got a second sleeping pill midway through the night to help me sleep. The pain in my stomach started to increase and I was really uncomfortable. Day 2 Post Surgery I passed the barium swallow test and saw my new stomach. Holy cow, it's small! I was unhooked from the stupid beeping machine so Mom and I got outside a few times and walked around a few blocks. I was pretty slow and really had to force myself to stand up straight. My stomach felt like I'd been run over by a car. More walking, sipping, walking, sipping. Got into my PJs after a shower. Gas pains started. Ugh. I was so tired and slept a lot. There were other patients that had the surgery a day before me and they were all perky and looked like they felt great. I asked Dr. Aceves what was wrong with me since I still had pain and didn't feel perky AT ALL. He was very clear that I shouldn't compare myself to anyone else, as we're all different. I was freaking out that I was supposed to fly home in a few days - there was NO way I'd be fit to travel so fast! What were they thinking letting people check out after 3 days!?! I tend to act tough when I'm not but the gas pains got kinda bad that day and even though I could go outside and walk around, it was pretty uncomfortable. I think I was expecting a walk in the park. I was wrong. At one point I started crying and Dr. Aceves got more meds into me fast. He and Karla admonished me to not let the pain get too bad before saying something. They assured me the pain would reside once I got the drain removed. I was SO SO SO glad to still be in the hospital. I didn't feel regret but I did feel mad at myself for being in this situation - ie, getting so fat in the first place. (A few hours later I started my period so at least then I knew why I was being such a big baby.) Young Dr. Aceves (daughter of the great Dr. Aceves) took out my drain. I took a nap and woke up feeling much better. I had to get a second sleeping pill again this night. I was so thankful for the round the clock care I was getting. Day 3 Post Surgery - Checking out I finally got the IV out of my hand which was a relief. I woke up early, showered and felt great. Then after a couple of hours I was ready for my nap. The pain in my stomach was much duller. I was able to sip the juice, Gatorade and broth with no problem, but very little amounts. I got outside and walked around a few blocks, went to the pharmacy with my mom, and sipped some more. Even though it was Sunday, Dr. Aceves and Dr. Campos were there, checking on everyone. Dr. Aceves wanted me to stay at the hospital until after lunch, as he knew how concerned I was about my long trip home in a few days. He reassured me and separately talked to my mom, telling her that I was doing great and would have nothing to worry about. At 1pm, Karla packed up some broth, juice, and Gatorade, and Ernesto whisked us away to the hotel, all of my medical records, DVDs of X-rays and my new stomach in a folder provided by Karla. I went out by the pool, poured myself into a lounge chair, and napped for about 2 hours. Glorious! Mom and I walked around a good deal that night, finding her some good food. I was able to walk comfortably, standing straight. Day 4 Post Surgery - Mexicali to San Diego Ernesto drove us to San Diego at 7am. It took about 3 hours with the border wait. Karla had reserved us a room for the next two nights. These people are so well organized and are there for us every step of the way! We took a short walk, I napped for a couple hours, then later we walked a good distance to find my mom dinner. I was starting to feel really good. I ordered broth and was able to eat a small amount with no problem. I'm a stomach sleeper and was finally able to sleep on my stomach with little discomfort. YAY! Day 5 Post Surgery Mom went home today so I was alone in SD. I woke up early to see her off then took a nap. I walked down to my former favorite Thai restaurant and scored some excellent broth. I felt really good and surprised that the pain just kept fading so fast. I took it easy that day, napping, reading, watching TV, walking a bit here and there. I felt really confident about flying home. Day 6 Post Surgery During my "2nd Day after Surgery Freakout" I upgraded my flight home to first class, thus rerouting me through my home town for 24 hours and breaking up my long trip. Score! I woke up again amazed at how much better I felt than even the day before. Fluids went down no problem. I got to see my family for a few hours that night. No one suspected I'd just had surgery. Day 7 and 8 Post Surgery I ran a few errands with my mom on the way to the airport. My mom was surprised at how perky and energetic I was. I was feeling great! I was able to sleep for a solid 2 hours on the 11 hour flight, thanks to my flat-bed seat. Got a massage at the Tokyo airport during my layover and walked around as much as possible. Slept for another 2 hours on the next flight. I arrived home at about 2:30 this morning and slept til nearly 7am. Took my doggies for a 2 mile/45 minute walk and unpacked. I'm tired and want a nap but am holding off for an early bedtime to try to re-adjust to the time change. I feel really great, no pain in my stomach, just a little mild discomfort. OK, how would I rate Dr. Aceves? 10/10. I cannot rave about this man enough. Really. Staff, including other doctors, the nurses, and patient coordinators? 10/10. Transportation and lodging? 10/10 If anyone has any questions about Dr. Aceves or my experience, please message me. Sorry for the long post!

What does he have you doing to try to lose weight right now? 10 pounds in 9 days pre-op seems pretty extreme.

Let me be the contrarian here. Looking at this from a guy's point of view, I prefer to use the word "reference" in place of the word compare. We all know comparing oneself to another isn't an optimal way or logical way of gauging our progress. I like to say we should only compare ourselves to who we were yesterday or last year to who we are now. And for most of the WLS members, we're better off now than yesteryear. I'd like to see some members post their gender. It makes a difference to me how to respond and how the surgery affects them. I'd also like to see their goal weight? I would also like to see height and weight. Let's say it's a male, and he's 246 lbs. That's a lot of weight for a guy who's 5' 6" but not so bad if he's 6' 4". You could say the same for women. 170 lbs on a 5' 10" frame isn't nearly the same as it is for someone who is 5' 2". I'm not comparing people, I'm using stats to "reference" their progress or loss? And of course, these references are mearly generalizations. When I see a profile and I only see 170 lbs, I have no reference to how far away they are from achieving their goal or reference how far they've come. jmo

Congrats on your loss. Our stats are similar. My heaviest weight was 242 Surgery weight 229 Current Weight 212 Surgery date was 6/10

I agree with the above entirely. The only thing I look at, if I feel the need to, is the surgery date and their current BMI. That gives me a good indicator of progress.. But since I passed month 5, I've even given up doing that. Horses for courses. But and for your information - I'm 5ft 10

I had an aggressive fill yesterday. I drank a hot slim fast for dinner around 7:00. I went to sleep about 10:30 and kept waking up, coughing and choking. I did not pb or slime but I ended up sleeping with lots of pillow at my back so I was somewhat sitting up. The coughing scares me. Today i had small coffee, and a cup of tea. I also have been drinking a warm slim fast over the last three hours. Since i just had the fill, I would like to tough it out and see if things loosen up. However, that coughing...I am going to have nothing to drink after 6:00 tonight in hopes I won't repeat last nights experience. My chest is pretty tight right now. Any advice?

As if I were looking in the mirror...I found someone who put what I've been feeling into words. Except for the part about pre-surgery sourness. I never had that. But other than that...I couldn't have described that better myself! Wish I had a tip for you. But I think we're both at the same impass. I really hope there is another sleever out there who knows something more about it. I had my surgery on 09/29/10. I started at 250. Day of surgery I was 236. The last couple weeks I've hovered around 195. So I too have lost 55 lbs.

Sleeved 12/6/10, lost 56 lbs from my fattest, some before pre-op diet some during and the bulk after the sleeve. Gross and vague, but here are my symptoms. This week I have noticed that I have a slight tummy ache, just a little "sick" feeling in my stomach, more or less constant. Nothing debilitating and nothing I'd really call painful just a nuisance. Something between a sour stomach and a stomach ache. It's worse at night. I wouldn't say it was heartburn either as I take a tums and it doesn't really help. Burping helps but it never really goes away. I've also been plagued by frothy spit in the back of my throat and a coated tongue. I've "overeaten" ONCE and had a lot of pain that lasted maybe 10-15 minutes, felt like I was socked in the belly afterwards. So I know my present feeling isn't like that. As I noted elsewhere in the forums I am really turned OFF by food, so I most likely UNDER eating. I am also under a hell of a lot of stress at work - always have been and used to have mild stomach issues before the sleeve, so this all might just be the same thing but amplified because of the new size of my stomach. I'm not worried sick about it but am a bit concerned that it hasn't let up at all this week. Any theories?

:sad0: Pennie; I am having a hard time too. Sometimes I am ok and other times....wow! I want to go to a cognitive behavioral therapist. Since I don't do drugs or alcohol the food was my DOC (drug of choice) and now my stomach is dictating to me what and how much I can eat. Since I have had this done (VSG 6/9/10) I feel like it is something I had to do because I was killing myself. Boy did it feel like I was dying...slowly. I feel like the Matthew 5:30; "If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell." I want to eat so much of the gooooooooooooooooooooooood food that is out there. Oh man. Now my addiction is controlling me. It won't let me eat certain things or I get a stomach ache or if I want to take more than 3 bites.....AHHHHHH!!!!:drool5: It's terrible. I know how you feel. I know it is necessary. I know I will feel better. But boy, can your mind make you crave. Now I have to do mental work on that! I know the boat you are in and you are not alone. Feel free to contact me anytime or even e-mail me if you need to talk. I need support too. This is tough. I knew it would be....but mannnnnnnnn! Tlynnles tlynnles4@yahoo.com VSG on 6/9/10 Dr. Aceves

Hi everyone! well, had my sleeve yesterday.... i told my aneshtesiologist that i tend to get nauseous after general anesthesia. she pre-medicated me for nausea before she put me out. when i woke up, i moved in the bed and got really nauseous again - my anesthesiologist was standing right there and she gave me meds again (zofran), and i never had nausea again after that. yay! i had to pee a lot when i woke up, and had a hard time using the bedpan (tried about 5 times and could only have partial success). after about 3 hours after my surgery, they let me walk to the bathroom and i was able to go well - that felt a lot better. i didnt need any pain meds in the post-anesthesia recovery area, or when i first got to my room. i went for a walk, and then i needed something. i had 15 mg of Toradol IV every 6 hours since then and that was all i needed (am trying to avoid then strong narcotics if possible). the pain is not too bad and is definitely tolerable. i alternated between sleeping in bed, sitting in chair, going to the bathroom to pee, and taking walks all afternoon and evening. after another dose of toradol at about 10 pm, was able to sleep almost five hours. this morning, i got up, washed up, walked again and then had my leg vein ultrasound (to look for blood clots) and then my swallow test. that was a little rough - the gastrograffin is gross. my surgeon told me to just take little sips, so i ended up taking in about an ounce of the stuff total. that was enough for them to see everything. thankfully, i had no issues and no leak! luckily i had no nausea aft the test, but i did have some burning and fullness. relieved with toradol and pepcid. when i came back, i passed gas and actually was able to have a small bowel movement... i think the walking really helped that move along... i am now starting my Clear liquids - if i can tolerate them ok, then i will be able to go home later tonight. keeping my fingers crossed! thanks again to all of you for the supoport and good wishes! everyone here has been so supportive! good luck to everyone having their surgeries soon - looking forward to hearing your stories too.... - Sarah

I go to doc on the 19th he said if I'm 250 he will give me my surgery date. Well as of today in 260 will I make it??? Any suggestions??? Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using the BariatricPal App

My pre op diet is a 14 day diet with liquids and authorized bowl or can of soup, only restriction stay away from creamy Soups and basil. I’m scheduled for my Gastric sleeve on 07/29/2013 I’m currently on week 2 day 10 OF 14. A few things I have noticed during my pre op diet Day 1,of my actual diet was quite easy because the day before I started, I ate several large meals that consisted of a bunch of Protein and salad type veggies, with very little carbs for example I had taco salads with no tortilla(s) or chips. So on my first day of liquids I spent a lot of time in the Restroom taking care of business because of the large meals. Day 2-4 I found myself battling with the temptation of cheating with cheat meals, only to then start battling with myself on what type of cheat meal to eat. I was goggling every web site and ad I could find on how many people cheated on their diet, what they ate, did their surgeries go ok, and etc. The majority of information I found that people were cheating and still made it successfully through their surgeries. No one that cheated badly even reported they didn’t have their surgery. Some people had binges and ate like the surgery was a funeral for food. I did cheat on my 6th day; I gave in to my mental distress of not having what I wanted. For my cheat meal I had a light chicken salad instead of dressing I had salsa to replace it. At this point I figured hey I really need this because I’m oh so hungry and I can’t go on. Well this couldn’t be farther from the truth in reality I only wanted to cheat because I’m an emotional eater. I was bored stuck at the hospital with my wife the night before and the stress of everything was piling on top of me. I also found out by goggling in different states various surgeons were requiring little to no pre op diets. So how dare they put us on this crazy diet (lol)? I wondered with me drinking a bunch of fluids and having no solid food for 2 weeks really that healthy for me, in my opinion it’s no more healthier than the taco salad I ate, and it’s no healthier than the guy or girl who has that binge meal every night because the depression of being overweight, and their dissatisfied with their quality of life, I included. So my food addiction like so many others have made us seek out a surgery that lowers the appetite, our intake of food, strict guidelines on when we can advance our diets. So why was I so shocked and paranoid about a simple diet, lord knows if someone told me that I would need to eat a medium pizza, drink several beers ,and eat various sweets like cakes or ice cream for 2 weeks straight I would be like you’re crazy. Why would I eat all that unhealthy food on purpose. So the pre op diet is not that bad in my opinion, is it hard hell yes, can someone really do it yes you can, why, because your new life depends on you, and the food choices you make. The pre op diet in my opinion is more mental than physically damaging. I believe this because my ego, my man hood was challenged because I had to be told what I could eat and drink , this just can’t be right because I’m my own boss right (lol)? Not so fast remember I’m the guy who got me into these bad eating habits and I was the one who was so quick to look for an excuse to blame my mental health, my work conditions, the bad news I got, and that failed promotion that didn’t go through. At the time these excuses seemed to make so much sense to me. But 10 days later now my Food detox is complete , my caffeine detox is complete but I’m not cured by a long shot. Since day 8 I have removed my soup and just made it with all liquids and Protein shakes. So it was and is all in my mind that I just couldn't do this 2 week liquid pre op diet. My starting weight was 316 lbs and day ten I’m down to 289 lbs, with only light walking as exercise. 4 more days to go and I’m actually looking forward to it. I have had a lot more energy than I have had in years, my head is a lot clearer, I even have more patience with people than usual. This by no means is something I (us) could do for life, but two weeks no problem. I’m excited about changing my life in a positive direction and welcome the new relationship with food. So stay busy and don’t stress about the diet just take it one minute, one hour, one day at a time. I’m doing it and you can to.

I'm doing a count down like several others - I have two goals I'm pushing toward, the first is my healthy BMI goal, and my Doctors goal for me - 155. I'm currently at 171 and 16 lbs to go for that goal. After hitting the 155, I will push for my goal of 145. It has been 20 years since I was in the 170's. Of all the diets I have been on, I never thought or never did, get this close to goal. The fact to be just 16 lbs away from being NORMAL, is just amazing to me, its almost unbelievable. I am wearing a 10/12 now. I used to wear an 18/20. I went shopping this weekend and bought a size 10 jeans - and it felt so great to walk out of the store with them - even though they were $80! I wanted to shout at everyone at the mall, "hey these are a freaken size 10 people"!!!! Anyhow, I don't want to stop now, I don't want to think this is it, I want to complete this race, I want to finish it to the end. So my countdown to goal, 16 lbs!:embaressed_smile: