Search the Community

I have not had any problems with getting in my fluids. I get dehydrated VERY quickly so I was very focused on making the effort. Now (4 months post op) it is natural and basically back to normal. I can drink normal, large amounts, I would say I even chug. Every once in a blue moon it hits heavy if I chug too fast but the feeling goes away in a minute or 2 so still not an issue. I average 70oz of WATER a day, plus my daily shake and if I have something else like tea or something. I don't prefer fake sugar either, but luckily I like unsweet tea and use shakes to flavor decaf coffee now. I am not even much of a coffee drinker. I like the flavor of coffee, so before surgery those sugary coffee drinks, coffee flavored icecream and stuff like that. Now, I just take black coffee with caramel protein drinks and it is just as good to me. When I first came home from surgery, they gave me a bunch of 1 oz. cups and said I need to get 2/3 drinks out of each cup and work my way up. I would fill them and start a tally to keep track. Each day I made a point to beat yesterdays tally until I hit my goal. It made me focused and made it easy to hit the goal but I was definitely drinking ALL DAY LONG. Maybe try something like that to keep you moving forward, you can also buy the hydration additives I mentioned. I don't know if they have artificial sweeteners though. Also, keep in mind the additives don't allow you to drink less water, it just helps your body absorb the water better.

I hope I am replying correctly... Thank you and congratulations on your weight loss!! That is a huge accomplishment! Good luck on your skin surgery. My primary doctor referred me to positive change classes and I took the nutrition class about 3 years ago. After that and during covid I gained soooo much weight and she (primary) recommended the surgery. I took classes online and then did my blood tests and that was it. Then I had a hospital stay (unrelated to weight) March, 2021 so I had to wait on my surgery. Fast forward to April of 2022 and my doctor said I should be ok to have weight loss surgery. I contacted Positive Change and they did not require me to retake classes and reordered my blood tests, I had a psy evaluation, and did not pass the first because I had not lost any weight (I actually gained) and he didnt think I put in the work. I had another appointment with him about 6 weeks later (mid July) and had lost weight so he approved me. I just had a phone consultation with a surgeon and he approved me for the sleeve on the condition that my specialist says its OK. He said the sleeve is better for me due to the medications I have to take. Since I went through my classes a long time ago, I watched tons of videos on youtube from other surgical hospitals etc. A lot of places seem like they are really connected to their patients and give them so much support. For me, I feel like I am on an island. I haven't talked to a nutritionist, or anyone else walking me through this process. Most of my info this time around is via youtube; and I just found this place last night. What I am most worried about is drinking water. I get migraines if I get slightly dehydrated. I have been working out to lose weight and noticed how much I drink. I am trying to sip water throughout the day but I am failing at keeping myself hydrated and have had a migraine almost every day. How do you do it? Set alarms? How do you go through your day sipping so much water? How do you work like that? I also saw that you cannot eat gummy vitamins is that true? I cannot find that in the positive change book, maybe I missed it. Thank you for your support and all the help!

Those apps are the devils work. Delete the apps, unsubscribe from the emails, remove the phone numbers from your contact lists & toss the letterbox drops. Can’t stop all the bombardment but at least you can reduce it & remove some of the easy access to it all. I found ads on tv & social media the worst it because they made me feel ill to look at any sort of high fat, high sugar, fast food, etc. food. Still does. God bless steaming, recording & downloading programs so you can avoid ads. Funnily I can happily watch cooking & baking programs probably because they rarely celebrate excess. The other thing I do is to make sure I have a selection of left over meals in my freezer. So on a night I may have been tempted to get takeaway or home delivery, I choose something out of my freezer. I can have a nutritious meal in 5 or so minutes. (Love my microwave.) No delivery service can beat that.

My fiancé and I live in a small town and there are no deliveries here except Dominos Pizza. The only fast food chain restaurant in town is Subway LOL. The other ones are 15 minutes away. At first we lived off gas station food whenever we needed a quick fix.

I’m learning to identify hidden triggers pre-op… one of which is my damn phone! How many fast food pizza and restaurant/delivery apps do I have?! 27. This also applies to my email. I just got an email from Taco Bell at 7 am for something and it got me to thinking how hungry I am ( actual stomach hunger) and pondered stopping in my way to work ( something I never do!) so there it is.

Hi all, Week 7 and still making progress albeit slow. I have no issues with any food which is certainly a pro and con. Pro- I can have basically anything. Major Con- I can have basically anything. If you stick with your diet, and eat protein first, you will fill up fast. My biggest struggle is my water intake. My goal is 128 oz but even hitting 60 - 80 has been difficult these last few weeks. Overall still extremely thrilled about the results and procedure. If anyone was on the fence about ESG, I recommend you do your research. Of course, it’s still a relatively new procedure but it has a lot of positives. 1) very quick recovery time, 2) extremely quick procedure, 3) minimal nausea and pain. As for cost, well that’s may be a problem for several people. It’s not covered under insurance but it’s somewhat reasonable priced compared to some procedures. I believe my cost was $9900 plus travel. Pre Surgery Weight = 336 Surgery weight = 330 Current Weight = 301 Goal Weight = 275-280 Yes, those numbers look high but I’m a pretty big guy. I’m slightly over 6’6”. Good luck everyone

it does go by fast. Spend time online on this and other bariatric forums, reading everything you can. I did this to pass the time, and by the time my surgery rolled around, I felt I was very prepared for it...

You’ve described my behaviour around sugar and processed carbs. I’m a recovering alcoholic- 10 years this time round and 22 years before with a miserable 4 year relapse in between. my thought processes, constant internal arguments, obsessive behaviour, reaction to relapse are identical to how I was with alcohol. But sugar is harder to avoid than alcohol. So I hear you: I knew wls would not cure these issues but I hoped the break from processed food/sugar would make it easier. It didn’t. I do intermittent fasting now - as much to rest my poor pancreas as for any other reason. Fasting is easy for me. I wish I could give up food altogether and take a tablet! I’m on a wait list for help with my disorders eating- I’m hopeful! cw: 140lbs lw - 1 year post wls 120lb, goal weight 130lbs. surgery Dec 16. and all my friends say my cw is fine. It’s only me who thinks I’m fat. A friend told me that at 120lbs I looked like an hiv or cancer patient. I’m sick enough to feel secretly pleased I got that thin…

I agree. It goes by so fast! I felt like I was just leaving the dr to turn around and have another appointment and before I knew it, it was surgery day. Just focus on making positive changes and identifying triggers now and it will help later on. You can do this!

The 6 months will go by so fast! I thought the same when I heard my insurance requires 6 months of "monitored" nutrition appointments. You got this!

My surgery coincided with us moving to another state, so there was too many pieces moving, we got another pet, had to get used to new routines, different weather, meeting people. My husband is very confident which I find very sexy. I do not anticipate problems in our relationship ( but I think people who had problems in their relationships may not be expecting them so who knows) he liked me thin, then he liked me fat, and I think he likes me thin(ish) again. Food is being difficult to implement into a routine where we both feel good, I am wasting a lot of food. I have a new addiction, I am buying clothes online, and the excuse of "nothing fits anymore" has stopped working weeks ago, I know I have to stop, but there are too many new options now that were not available to me for years, he has been patient but I can see that it can get bad very fast, I find myself browsing web stores at 2:AM because I am bored, in the past, that would be the equivalent to a Doritos bag in the middle of the night. my poor credit card is scared of me.

12 lbs in three weeks at your starting weight is normal. Unless someone is the size of the people on "My 600 lb Life", they usually lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range that first month post-surgery. Yes - you'll sometimes find people who lose more or less than that range, but they're outliers. I lost 16 lbs the first month post-op (not sure where I was at the three week mark since it's been over seven years, but I was probably exactly where you are - about 12 lbs down), and I ended up losing 100% of my excess weight - over 200 lbs. if you stick to your program, you WILL lose the weight, whether fast or slow. In the end, your level of commitment to your program is what determines your success, not your rate of weight loss.

I am able to eat fast without any issue and idk if it’s a blessing or a curse. I think it’s good that your body reminds you to eat slow so you can feel your full cues. I try to eat slow but I don’t get the painful reminders that I’m sure I would be more likely to do it for.

It still happens to me at three years. Not often but sometimes there are just circumstances &/or distractions which cause you not to eat mindfully. Then your body really reminds you you’ve done the wrong thing. Groan. A couple of months back I was staying at my mother’s & we were having a ‘discussion’ and yep ate too fast & got the foamies. At least me rushing to the bathroom ended the discussion. 😉 Bet it was the plum skin that caused your experience @Tomo. Just a little too coarse & got stuck.

I was once the restaurant/fast food queen and never had anything but restaurant leftovers in the fridge but after this particular WLS, for some reason, I got into learning how to cook healthy recipes. I hated cooking before, but now I find chopping vegetables calming. I like to listen to my music, podcasts or a language lesson, while I'm preparing my daily/weekly meal prep.

I got so busy baking a pound cake for my son to take tomorrow and doing laundry that I forgot to snack. Here rolls around dinner time. I had broccoli and chicken. I ate too fast due to hunger. I got about 4 bites in and my stomach felt like it had lead in it. I then sneezed five or six times in a row and knew I ate way too fast. All I can say is oww, oww, oww. They told me to eat slowly and I have been following that rule but not today and I paid for it. It hurt. So here I am an hour later sipping on a protein shake because I didn't finish eating. Gonna make sure I follow that rule particularly. Lesson learned. When they say eat slowly they are not messing around.

Hi Nina I had a revision or reconstruction for the same reason as dream believe. I went to Mexicali MX to a hospital. Mexicali Bariatrics did the reconstruction. It's been a slow process and I am 11 weeks. I feel very satisfied with limited food. I am exercising a lot more this time. I have more energy. I had to have a barium swallow and I had xray from the first sleeve. He told me it was not my fault for the weight regain. The did a barium swallow after revision checking for leaks and to show me the difference in the restriction. I lost 60lbs really fast the first time. I gained 25lbs over 6 years. I have lost 26lbs so far. The first time I lost a lb a day the first month. If your not happy get the second opinion.

I'm pre surgery right now, and I've been trying so hard to lose weight... Well, my aunt told me to die today... She said I was so fat that I have no value as a human because of my weight. She shouted at me that fat people deserve to die. So, I'm Asian, and I weigh 220lbs 5'2", where the average weight her family is is around 80lbs, and underweight. She's very proud of it. She says she's cursing for me to die an early death. Because fat people are ugly and I'm not worth anything more than my weight, and I have no value had a human. I used to think that about myself because of how toxic she made my life, I started more self improvement and better thinking to accept myself. But I'm getting so tired of the "Why can't you just be anorexic? You should just stop eating entirely. I fasted my children for a month and look how well they turned out." ... One was hospitalized because she was 5'7" and reached 75 lbs... I'm trying so hard to not let it get to me, because her daughter look terrible off, and I feel bad for them. But the cherry on top is this: I was very sad, because they slap my mom because she's overweight too... I know part of my problem is hormonal that I got from her. It's ok to insult me, because I can get past it. But my father's side of the family physically abuses my because of her weight. It was ok when it was only me being beat, slapped, kicked, and punched, but my mother is getting along in age. And she can't get away, because it's so hard to get a divorce in China. I'm at least here in the US. I'm so heartbroken. Why are we only worth nothing more than our weight? Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Hey there!! I was also sleeved December 22, 2021. I’ve been loosing very slowly but that’s ok. I’ve lost 41 lbs. about 50 more to go. My blood pressure is a lot lower which makes me happy. My taste buds have changed a little. I didn’t eat much fast food but when I do now I am disappointed in the taste. Don’t care for potato chips anymore or French fries, I know, weird. I’m still trying to adjust my food intake and getting enough water. I drink a lot of those hydration packets. I feel so much better and the surgery was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. I wished I would have done it years ago. It was nice hearing from you.

I can't speak on revisions but when I was deciding on sleeve over bypass everything I read told me bypass was more effective and my doctor confirmed it. As far as warning signs there aren't any, you will start to feel full and a "heaviness" and very uncomfortable. If you eat too much too fast you may regurgitate/ throw up. Your pouch will only take what it can take. In the 7 weeks since my bypass surgery I've thrown up 2x and each time I wasn't paying attention and either took too big of a bite or ate too much too fast. I also went from GERD every other night pre-op to none post-op. I'm off my Diabetes meds and IBS meds. I haven't had a single regret.

Thank you! You are so correct. Most of the negativity has come from those who are uneducated concerning WLS. Rather than hear it, I only share with those who support me. I appreciate your input. Your story seems similar to the issue I had with my gastric band. With the band when I ate too much or ate too fast, I would feel nauseous. Are there any warning signs with the bypass?

I fully can relate to your story. I'm currently 7months post op. An now I have my husband an family on board. Nobody understood why I wanted the vsg surgery. An everyone thought I can get the weight off myself etc. So I mentally prepared myself to go on this journey along. The only support I had was my 3 children. So fast forward 7 months later he can't keeps his hands off me !! [emoji6] An my family can't believe the transformation. An believe it or not I was able to encourage my sister to get vsg ..who is currently 4wks post op. So I say this to say follow your heart desires an have no fear or worries about support. Because the truth of the matter is you will have friendships, and relationships that will end once you bark on this journey. Im a witness I lost a lot of ppl who I had long term friendships with. But it was for the better. So just prepare yourself.. I actually went to therapy before I had surgery and it prepared me for anything that may would have happened after surgery. Best of luck to you on your journey please come join the banana sleeve gang!!! [emoji529][emoji529] Sent from my WTCELERO5G using BariatricPal mobile app

Greetings, I am Kim.. 42 in central GA, mom of two older teen boys. Working on requirements for insurance. Hope to have sleeve surgery in October. Been working on the issues that for me to this weight (such as too much fast food, emotional eating etc) while I go through the steps for insurance approval. I want this surgery to be a success and not struggle as bad as I would without doing the work before surgery.

Mine was pretty fast, shorter than I expected for insurance - from what I am hearing from my friends who went through this already. My insurance did not have any weight loss or education requirements. I met the criteria of BMI which was enough to move forward. My first class, informational & weigh-in was May 16th 2022. I was put on a 3 month program - since I didn't have insurance requirements, that is the shortest duration the program I am in does (mainly because of medical clearance testing & scheduling). In June I had 2 virtual zoom classes (they were spaced about every two weeks) My second one I was the only person on her schedule - so I got a private class with the nutritionist. It is normally a group class it just worked out that way. If I was in a 6 month program or longer - they would have covered the same information - they just would have been more classes of a shorter duration. During June I was able to schedule my psych evaluation, PT evaluation, upper endoscopy, labs and cardiac clearance. Unfortunately there was a miscommunication about wanting an echo done along with my cardiac appointment - so I had to go back for that on July 1st. My final weigh-in and class was July 7th. Unfortunately they had not reviewed and signed off on my cardiac echo yet, so I couldn't schedule my surgical consult appointment that day, as planned. A few days later they called and were able to get me in on July 21st. The surgeons do their own scheduling - so I was able to schedule directly with her, and her first available opening was August 16th I have an 8 day liquid fast starting the 8th... and a covid test on the 13th yet. So from first appointment to surgery day will be exactly 3 months to the day. I got very lucky with scheduling to get everything in as quickly as I did. I had the flexibility of taking what ever was available (I am not working) and I asked to be put on cancelation lists for anything that scheduled out further than June 30th and was lucky to have get called for availability. I was in a little of a time crunch because I have driving restrictions, my program and hospital are about an our away and my husband was trying to be at as many appointments as he could. He is a teacher so he is off for the summer - so we were trying to get the surgery done before he starts back to school. He actually starts back in-service on the 15th but thankfully school is willing to work with him and he shouldn't miss anything more than possibly the morning of the 16th (if I am scheduled first possibly not even that).

Its perfect because its away from fast food and relaxing lol. Plus plenty of fish for food lol