Search the Community

Funny enough, I was with a different surgeon that my wife had found before they decided mid year that they were no longer accepting my insurance. So I decided to do my own research and came across Dr. Schillingford. Aside from the overwhelming responses of good experience with him, I noticed that alot of his patients were self pay. For me, my insurance company required the nutrition visits and psych evaluations, not the Dr. My initial consultation with him was a group consultation which he spelled out the details and what was expected and answered any questions. He did not require any particular weight loss, but did have a 2 week pre op diet, which is normal. I'm nearly 3 months out and have my 2nd follow up next week. Support groups are not required, but they are provided. Their support staff is really friendly if you call, although they don't always answer the phone so leave a message and they will usually get back to you pretty fast. I'm sure @Lolo 2020 can fill in the blanks where I didn't. As for my personal success, started 11/7/19 at 328 lbs, 268 this morning.

Oh wow, I was told not to lift more than 5-10 pounds after surgery. I'm so sore, can barely bend over. Kudos goodness to you for lifting a 5 month old in a car seat - you're super woman

I get this all the time, unfortunately, because I'm on diuretics right now. I know my "pee" pills are working if I'm in the bathroom every 10-20 minutes for a couple of hours. I really hope to get rid of these post-surgery!

I had my sleeve surgery done in October of 19, all was ok till now, I am having severe spasms and pain no matter what food I eat. As anyone experiencing this issue?

I’m calling the doctor at 10 when they get in to see if I can come in

Have you considered online dating? I consider myself shy, socially awkward, and a bit of an introvert. Bars and social scenes weren't for me. So, 12 years ago I tried online dating and I was lucky enough to meet a woman than I married 2 years later. I was 32 years old at that time. Next month we celebrate our 10 year anniversary. I dated a few duds before I met her, but it was worth it in the end. Good luck! Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

I went from 398 pounds in January 2019 down to 319 pounds at the end of June 2019. I was on a Saxenda prescription since February 2019 and I also attended a live-in weight loss boot camp where I finished 6 of the 10 weeks I had paid. I stopped the Saxenda injections when I started the boot camp and canceled my weight loss surgery at week 6 thinking I got this handled. On week 7 there was a death in the family and I had to stop the boot camp and return home to deal with the mess. I am a stress eater, it's been a problem the majority of my life. Old habits are hard to break so before I knew it I was putting the weight right back on. By October I had regain just about everything I lost, it simply amazes me how easily the weight comes back if you deviate from the process that helped you remove the weight.

I've been taking Collagen since early last year (long before surgery). I started when I was diagnosed with arthritis in my knees in the hopes it would help and I think it did. I also noticed it helps my skin and hair feel better in general. I'm still early out from surgery so not sure if it will help with loss or not, but if nothing else, it's an extra 10 G of protein for only 40 calories and it dissolves with no taste in protein shakes or my decaf coffee. (It can make drinks sticky if the ration of powder to liquid isn't right).

I am 6 days post op. I had surgery 2/10/20. I'm having a hard time getting in protien. All taiste horrible, and are just hard to go down. I take a sip and immediately start to feel I'll. Any help please

The key here on a surgery decision is how well can you maintain the loss that you attain? It is not unusual to lose 10-15 lb fairly quickly when one starts a serious weight loss program (the so-called "easy ten") as your body tends to use up its quick energy reserves of glycogen (basically stored carbohydrate) which burns off fairly quickly. On average, we have 2 lb of glycogen kept in solution by about 8 lb of water - the "easy 10". YMMV, but I suspect that guys tend to store a bit more as we are more muscular, and glycogen is stored in the muscle tissues. Once your body runs out of glycogen and it gets the idea that you are serious about this caloric deficit thing, it changes gears and starts to tap your stored fat to live on and to partially restore functional glycogen levels, but there may be a bit of a lag or stall before that happens (look up the three, or third, week stall) It is very common for people to go through a pre-op weight loss program of some months, either for insurance purposes or as a "one last try..." and lose a lot of weight and think they have this nailed, and decide against the surgery. And then the weight comes back on, just as usually happens after major diet efforts (which is why most are here looking for WLS.) I did the insurance diet in concert with my wife, who was #1 on the runway - much higher BMI and comorbidities - and lost about 50lb or a third of my excess in that time. Philosophically, it was less of a weight loss oriented diet as it was a weight control or maintenance diet - what habits do I need to develop for 5-10 years out to maintain health and weight, rather that maximizing short term loss. As we were still trying to get my wife on the table (the DS she needed was still considered "investigational" by many insurers at the time) so I went into sustain mode - kept up tweaking the diet to keep it sustainable but made little progress on additional loss, but also maintained the loss that I had accomplished. Even after she finally had her WLS I maintained the loss and didn't feel overly inclined to go for the WLS (the VSG was not routinely performed or approved by insurance yet at that time, and I deemed the DS and RNY to be overkill for my needs.) Once the VSG was being approved by our insurance, several years later, it was apparent that I still needed that help to get the remaining weight off, though I was still maintaining that initial loss; had I regained what I had lost as is often the case, I would have gone for the DS instead, as that has much better regain resistance than the other procedures. So, by all means, think, rethink and reconsider the process and be comfortable with it. But do take a long term look at it, not just what weight can you lost over the next 6-12 months. Good luck on it!

I dropped 15 lbs in the first three months of the medically managed weight loss program. I lost 10 lbs in the first month. In the fourth month, I had my lap band removed as the first step to revision to gastric bypass. I stalled at 15 lbs loss, then gained 2-3 lbs back. The first weeks of a diet are usually water weight loss. So, the first few weeks can be encouraging.

I was so excited to try these- I know, I know, carbs are still not good, but these are high protein and I can only have a small amount... I found it on a bariatric website, and guys, these are AMAZING. (I didn't include the berries in mine, so the carbs are closer to about 5 for what I made, and I used 1/2cup of liquid egg whites instead of 3/4cup, so it tasted closer to real pancakes rather than eggy.) https://www.froedtert.com/bariatric-surgery/recipes/peanut-butter-jelly-pancakes Peanut Butter and Jelly Pancakes Weight Management & Bariatrics SERVINGS: 4 INGREDIENTS ½ cup low-fat cottage cheese ½ cup instant oatmeal 2 tablespoons powdered peanuts 4 large egg whites 1 cup frozen mixed berry blend DIRECTIONS Put Items in a blender in this order: cottage cheese, oatmeal, powdered peanuts and egg whites. Turn on blender and blend until smooth like pancake batter. Pour into a bowl and fold in berry fruit mix. Use cooking spray in skillet. Makes 4 to 7 pancakes depending on size. NUTRITIONAL VALUES Serving size: 1 pancake Calories: 90 Fat: 1.5 grams Cholesterol: 1 milligrams Sodium: 195 milligrams Carbohydrates: 9 grams Dietary Fiber: 1.5 grams Sugar: 1 grams Protein: 10 grams

Had a mate come over for a weekend and he eats whatever he likes... He brought bread and the smell of fresh hot toast was lingering all over the room... So I took a gamble and cooked a slice of toast with a little vegemite; I just ate the middle not the crust Omggg it was amazing my first bite of toast in 5 months...(3 months post op) Didn't bother me at all.. Currently 10 days away from 6 months since starting this diet journey and I'm 140lbs down!

Amazon has 5 boxes of 10 packets (total 50 packets) of sugar-free PROPEL for $10.99. One packet added to 16 oz water makes a drink equivalent to a bottle of POWERADE ZERO or GATORADE G2. That is 22 cents per bottle, a significant savings. Also, packets are easy to take with you and to store. The PROPEL has 5 flavors and all create clear, uncolored liquid. Sent from my SM-G950U using BariatricPal mobile app

Yesterday Saturday, Feb 15 Maintenance : 5'2" / 1.25 yr PO Sleeve / 116.8 lbs ---------------------------------------- Arrrg. My 5 day run of good night's sleep came to an end yesterday. Got in maybe 2 hours at best last night, but this was probably due to the 4 hour nap I took in the afternoon... ---------------------------------------- 6:30am - black coffee w/ stevia + 2 Lindor Chocolate Hearts 11:30am - salad greens w/ vinaigrette + carrots + cucumber + 1 oz yellow bell peppers + 1 oz raspberries + 1 oz feta cheese + 1.5 oz roast beef deli meat w/ 1/2 tsp horseradish mustard + 2 oz crab meat + 3 shrimp balls + 1 tsp crunchy garlic chili oil ** ate a little more than 1/2 of this ** 6:00pm - ** the rest of the 11:30am meal ** + 3 oz roast chicken 10:00pm - ** crazy sugar craving alert ** 2 Lindor Chocolate Hearts + 1 oz dried mangoes + 3 mini ginger cookies 1:00am - 2 oz roast chicken --------------------------------------- Totals: 1580 cals - 79g Protein 145g NET carbs - 72g fat

Emotions run all over the place the week before, it’s totally normal...mine did too. I would wake up in panic attacks saying to myself what am I doing?!? My BMI wasn’t super high - I want to lose 70 pds. I am 10 days post op and feeling great...o was so scared but they take such good care of you, please don’t worry. For the trade off of feeling lighter and healthier it’s so worth it. It took about 3/4 days post op and I felt like myself again..just couldn’t eat large amounts...u will know what we all mean once it’s done. I think back to all the huge amounts of food I used to consume all day long and know I would have never stopped had I not done this. Keep that in mind...u will eat normally again, just smaller portions...and be glad for it . Trust your gut and your surgeon.

Welcome. I had VSG surgery on Jan. 27th too! I just started purees Friday and so far, so good. I've had scrambled egg, refried beans with mashed avocado, broccoli cheese soup, and pureed sweet potato with protein powder. For the last two days I've had a green smoothie with protein powder and I really think that's helped my energy. I've lost 19 pounds so far, but I know the stall is coming....I think everyone experiences it around weeks 3-5.

Today I was discharged from hospital after getting sleeved yesterday. I felt really good post-op and this morning but after being home on my own, definitely feeling more pain and discomfort. After every sip of water, my body makes the loudest noises🤭 ! Gurgling and whining and popping is the best I can describe. One side of my face is flushed and warm...not sure what that’s about, lol. Trying to walk around and get some of the gas up and its helping. I feel so thirsty though and maybe only got two sips of my clear protein down. Question: Doctor gave me 10 pain pills but said to try to just take Tylenol unless it’s really bad. I think I’d be ok with Tylenol...should i crush the pills up?

Ya man. But it's not the weight loss that will get you dates it's the confidence you'll gain that will attract the ladies. I was big all my life. My first date was when I was 24 and thats because I lost 160 lbs and put my self out there on dating sites. That was 10 years ago. Since then I've put on varying degrees on weight back on and was still able to get dates I fractured my back a few years ago and put all the weight back on so I'm getting sleeved in 2 weeks.

So I'm having a revision due to GERD what should i know its been 10 years now

Same day surgery but I had RNY! I'm on soft foods now and life is so good EXCEPT I am having a much harder time hydrating when I eat real food since we can't eat after. I was really tired and lethargic today and decided to just go full liquids to get my energy back up and it worked wonders ! I only threw up once and it was deli turkey that I ate way too fast so I feel ya there! I do have some of what I call "food sweats" if I eat too fast or too rich (had a bisque the other day woowweee) but that passes after 10-15 minutes and then I'm fine and it helps me learn a lesson. So far my best friends are: refried beans with cheese and sour cream, a small spoonful of peanut butter (great way to get calories and protein up) and banana, blended veggie soups, and my morning green smoothie. None of that has bothered me at all! Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

I started This Journey a year ago yesterday and it has been far from easy. I had all my testing done over the last year and got my weight down Which wasnt a requirement but i did it to make the surgery safer. I started at 430lbs got down to 365 im now 379 and plan on losing at least 5lbs before Surgery which is in 10 days. I started my 2 week diet and Im excited my original date was January 16th got rescheduled to January 28th and Now my new date is February 26th. Im so anxious and I Ready for this to be over with. I have spent so much money one this surgery and im just ready

My loss has been slower than expected to. At 6 weeks I was only down 19 lbs. however I was in a crazy long stall where I lost < 1 lb for 3weeks. That seems to have broken in the last few days so fingers crossed. I did have to stop weighing daily as it was too hard mentally. other than that I’m feeling great.

Holy crap, you two look wicked awesome. So, what’s your instagram fashion influencer handle? Because 10/10, would follow!

Thank you!!! I haven’t even had my surgery yet (2/25/2020) and those types of posts freak me out along with the I’m still hungry ones as well. Especially with women, I gain 10 pounds almost when I’m at my cycle and along with the hormones it can seem a nightmare when I was dieting over the years. I try to ignore those posts but they really make me nervous.