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bigTom, Tthank you so much for your honesty. I was sleeved on 3/10 and had similar feelings for the first 4 weeks or so. However, now that I am fully recovered from the surgery itself, I can honestly say that I no longer wake up with a multitude of aches and pains. I have a lot more energy than before surgery and have started walking for exercise. I sincerely hope you too pass through the "mourning phase." It has been hard giving up my good friends, processed carbohydrates, but I feel I am over the hump and looking forward to a better life. Don't get me wrong, I still slip up ocassionally, and have a long way to go. I just don't think about the way I used to eat in the same light anymore. Best of luck to you on your journey!

I had to go through a full year of requirements (10% weight loss, weight management class, psychological counseling) but once I had all of the requirements that my insurance company had, my doctor submitted the paperwork. There was requirement by the surgeon that I go to a three hour class on what to expect at the hospital before and after surgery and my diet post-op. However, since this was a requirement of the surgeon and not my insurance company she went ahead and submitted my paperwork. The surgeon's office said it might take 12 - 16 weeks to get approval but I was approved in a week and a half. I think it depends on your insurance and your doctor for when things are submitted for approval. Good luck to you! Debora

I don't consider it "cheating" I consider it living. Think of what you used to eat. I could eat 2 corn dogs, probably all the fries, frozen lemonade and want desert later. You might have eaten a 1/10 if that. We have to get past feeling guilty, we can't live with that for the rest of our lives. As long as you are eating as prescribed (high protein, low carb) 98% of the time and exercising I say go for it. Have a smidge of junk. You can't stay so rigid for ever, that's what makes us snap. Remember all our other "diets". Don't know about you but mine usually failed when I had been depriving myself for so long and I just snapped. I broke my cycle and no longer think that way.

So I Went to an amusement park yesterday. I shared a frozen lemonade, a cotton candy, n about 10 French fries with my hubby. Back on track today though. Don't judge me. Lol

I'm in the same boat. I had my first fill since Nov 2011 which puts me at 6.75cc. I've been feeling the same way. I drank some tea this morning before my protein shake and that helped. I think it's due to swelling after a fill. Vomiting also causes swelling and movement of the band. If it continues I'll have it taken out just giving myself time to adjust. I just felt like I was eating a bit too much. My weight loss slowed a tad.,I've had consistant weight loss of 8-10 lbs a month since the surgery. Down from a size 24/26 to a 16/18.

I had my surgery on September 19 and have lost 25... The doc says its normal to lose a lot the first week (15 lbs) and then the next couple of weeks slow down ( 4 lbs the 2nd wk) ( 0 the 3rd wk). I was told that if u r not pooping regularly to try milk of magnesia to help as when u r not going ur body is holding on to food it shouldn't which the doc stated is normal after any weight lose surgery. He also said to make sure u r getting all ur Protein and taking all of the Vitamins as those r easy to neglect and will keep u from losing weight. Hope this helps.

Yes!!! I had my surgery done on 5/19 and I do pretty good on getting my protein in. These last few days I feel HUNGRY, What am I doing wrong?

WOW Paula, First Congratulations on your bandiversary! And thoes 10 tips are wonderful Thank You! You have done GREAT!!! I know one day I will be there too. Keep up the good work your not far from that 130!!! Great Job!!

I bought that yesterday. From HSN of all places, I had never bought anything from them before. I should get it on Monday or Tuesday. My son plays on his friends so I'm hoping he can help me understand and set it up. I got my band Nov. 10 and doing just fine. I took the large band which I didn't think I would. Had my first fill on Dec. 10th. Didn't really feel all that different. I was to go on the 23rd, but I'm going to wait till after the christmas holidays. I'm still losing about 2-3 lbs a week which is great for me. I'm down 28lbs. Did the 2-week pre diet and lost most of that. Stick to it as much as you can. I can't lie and tell you that I didn't cheat, because I did twice. My doctor said when he went in my liver looked fine. I really stuck to it the last 5 days. I'm really shocked that he brought you all in as a group. HIPPA laws are pretty strick about people knowing others business. My dr. was wonderful, very understanding. Were are you from? I live in South Louisiana. I only come on line a couple times a week, so if you don't hear from me, I'll catch up.

Italian Turkey Spinach Bake Lightly oil a 2 Qt. casserole dish. Saute 1 med. finely chopped onion in 2 t. olive oil. Add 1 16 oz. bag frozen chopped spinach. Season w/ salt & pepper. Add chopped turkey meat balls (I used 1 16 oz. bag Trader Joe's Fully Cooked Turkey Meatballs). Heat through and taste for seasoning. Spread mixture in the bottom of the casserole. In small bowl mix 1 15 oz. container part skim Riccotta cheese with 1 egg, ground black pepper, and some chopped fresh basil. Dollop Riccotta mixture over spinach mixture in casserole dish. Spread with Pasta Sauce to your liking (I use 12 oz. Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil). Sprinkle with 8 oz. shredded Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese. Bake in a 375 oven for 30 minutes or until top is brown oozy cheesy goodness. Let sit for 10 minutes or so to solidify. If you enjoy Italian food, you will love this. For friends or family members who are non-WLS people, you could add a side of pasta and a green salad and everyone would be good to go!

My liver doesn't process toxins well, so the anesthesia is still haunting me (Day 10). Just letting it ride it's course. This, too, shall pass.

Mini vent: Stupid stalls! I've lost 2 lbs in 2 weeks. Yeah, the scale's moving, but I've been used to a consistent 3 lbs a week. Like clockwork. I know this is normal. I know it's my body's natural adjustment to rapid loss. I know the scale isn't the only measure of success. In fact, I know I'm continuing to get smaller despite the scale. My personal trainer did my latest measurements, and in 2 and half weeks, I'd lost 3.25" from my hips, 2" from my waist, 3.25" from my thighs, and even 1.5" from my calves. No change to my upper arms though. I know these things, but I still can't help but get frustrated. I'm not beating myself up per se. In fact, I'm still feeling pretty dang good about myself. I bought my very first bikini the other day to celebrate hitting a BMI of 29. I just really really want to reach my goal, and this "honeymoon period" and "window of opportunity" stuff makes me nervous. I feel like I'm in a race against the clock to reach my goal in the first 8-ish months. Which means I have 3 more months to lose 48 lbs. To do that, I need to average 4 lb loss a week. So yeah, stalls are frustrating. Here are the numbers: Height: 5'6.5" Highest weight: 289 Starting weight (9/13): 268 Day of surgery (12/10/13): 254 Current weight: 188 Goal weight: 140 I go to the gym 4 times a week and work with a personal trainer once a week. I get between 400-600 cals a day. I get between 50-65 grams of protein a day. 70+ oz of fluid a day. Fellow Dec. sleevers, how long have your stalls been? Have you been able to kick out of them? I'll work on my patience..

OK?.Here we go, first I would like to thank every one of you! You may ask why? The reason is, I was a silent forum reader. Every time I had a problem or question I would run to the site for Q&A, from per diet to post op questions- 9-times out of 10 I could find the answers. I?m 29 days post op down 38lbs. I feel a lot better and now people are starting to wonder?lol J. **NOTE** If you are a silent reader I encourage you to join. Thanks to all?.. Oh btw ISOPURE cookies and cream is undrinkable.

Jpr99... I totally understand where your coming from with bring able to eat a taste of multiple things and not over eat....loving this pouch! SD: 10/10/12, Converted from Lapband to RNY, HW (before band) 263, HW (RNY) 230, Preop 219, after surgery 223, CURRENT... 191YIPPEE!!

This pouch is wonderful! It allowed me to minimize all my portions, and the thought of eating huge helpings because it was something I used to love, just made me sick. I survived Christmas Dinner this time, thank you Mr. Pouch for assisting me SD: 10/10/12, Converted from Lapband to RNY, HW (before band) 263, HW (RNY) 230, Preop 219, after surgery 223, CURRENT... 191YIPPEE!!

I am an American living in Saudi Arabia for the past 2 years. My husband found an amazing opportunity here. So here I am after 2 years of living here and I decide to get the surgery. I have been battling alot of back pain and I was clearly overweight. I lied to myself over and over about my weight because I am 5ft 10. Everyone seems to compliment me and say how pretty I am and I shouldn't worry because I'm tall. So one day my neighbor told me her and her husband got it done but to not tell a soul. SHe is an Arab professional and she recommended her doctor and had advised me to do my own research. I made an appt with the doctor for the following month which was January 13th 2016. My husband and I talked about it and he looked at me and said,"if this will make you happier healthier and take this pressure off then let's do it" we prayed about it and then did it. We paid 6000 u.s dollars from our pocket. Can you say cheap? They were very nice people. They treated me with auch kindness. recovery was a nightmare the first 5 days but it got better. I'm having other difficulties now but maybe I should put it in a different post. I weight in at surgery at 243 I am now 221. In only 14 days!! Woohoo

ive got 10 cc in a 14 cc band and theres no way i could eat alkot even if i wanted to

I think it would depend most on why his cholesterol is high. If its because of diet yes it will reduce. If its because of genetics it might not. Excersise is the only thing besides medication that will help with genetic high cholesterol according to my doctor. We had a long talk about cholesterol one day because she had to increase my lipitor from 20mg to 40 despite the fact that have been conciously on a low cholesterol diet of sorts for the last 10+ years. I started to get really upset. Cause we do eat very little fatty foods. She said mine must be more due to genetics then diet and that was why she had to increase my dose. But heck losing weight and getting more excersie will help with all of his health matters in some form, so even if it doesn't handle/reduce the cholesterol he still has other good reasons to do somekind of WLS. I can't blame him for not wanting a bypass the fact they cut up and rearrage internal organs turned me off of it too. lol plus everyone I know personally whos had the bypass have nasty side effects or are gaining their weight back!!

Being able to go on a strenuous hike with my fit brother and his girlfriend was big! I went from a 20 to a 6. My low was always a size 10/12 when I yo-yoed, which meant I had a lot of "reserve" clothes for when I lost weight. I go to the thrift store constantly now because I can't afford an entire new wardrobe of smaller clothes- the victory for me is that it is so much easier to find stylish small clothes than size 20 clothes at the thrift store, so I walk out with awesome stuff now!

I was banded Wed. and just haven't felt like coming up the stairs to our office to get online until today. The first day I thought "Oh this was a breeze compared to my C-section 7months ago," and then day 2 hit. OMG I was miserable! Oh well, then yesterday I felt 100% better and today I even walked around the block with my sister and my son in his stroller ( she has Downs and has been staying with me to help me with my baby since I can't lift him, She has been sooooo helpful, don't know what I would do without her). So here I am, a bandster and I am pretty excited about it. Of course right now the liquid phase doesn't seem so bad but I know that soon it will become difficult. Yesterday, my inlaws had a cookout and I had to watch everyone eat hamburgers and hotdogs while I tried to get down a protien shake, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, although I know this will change soon. I can't wait to get to mushies! I am counting down the days. My surgery was at 8am and I got to go home around noon. I was pretty surprised by that but at that time I was ready to go home and get a nap. It has been pretty difficult when I have to look at my sweet little boy and know hat I cannot pick him up. he weighs 19lbs and I am not supposed to lift anything over 10 doctors orders (as I am sure you all know) for two weeks. I have held him a couple of times but he is in that phase where he can't sit still so he jumps around a lot and accidentally kicked me in my tummy so I have to be careful. It just breaks his heart that I can't lift him. But like I said my sister (and hubby when he is not working) has done pretty much all of the lifting for me as far as getting my son out of his crib and putting him in his jumperoo and high chair. Anyway, my surgery went "smooth" according to my Dr.s so I hope my recovery follows just as well. I can't wait for the gas and bloating to go away tho so I can actually feel like I am losing weight, lol and not pg again. How long does the gas usually last? Well I have rambled long enough. thanks for listening.

Amber i'm sp proud for getting your band. I hope you have a speedy recovery. Like others have said give it a week and you will be so much better! Each day gets a little easier. Just remember to walk alot and sip,sip,sip, on water and other liquids so you will not get dehydrated. Please update us on how you are . You will be holding that little 19 pounds of baby boy again before you know it and just think when you lose weight you will be doing things you would only imagine being able to do.So nice to have such careing people that love you and are willing to help you through such a hard time in your life. What would we do without family and friends ?Good luck in your new journey!!!

Just got the Revision from a 2013 LSG to DS 10 days ago. I'm recovering well and seeing excellent results. Everything went better than expected. Just graduated to Puree stage today after four weeks of a liquid diet. The diet was satisfying and I never went hungry. Now I'm adding some new foods to my diet for this 2 week stage. In these COVID-19 times, the hospital does not allow visitors so no family could visit during my 5 day stay. I had four other required procedures that week for a total of 3 surgeries over 4 days. I've seen a lot of great, relevant information on this forum. I look forward to getting through the journey with all of you.

I am one of thoses people who looses 10-15 lbs a month I am 8 weeks post up and down 33 lbs It's really frustrating. I was actually going to question it here in bariatric pal, but since I saw this post Daisee68 I'm glad i'm not alone. I really wish I would loose a bit faster, but really can't do nothing about if i'm already following all instructions. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I enjoy reading other people’s journeys and stories, so I decided to create one of my own! I’m Shelly, about to turn 35 years old on July 7th, and I’m from Iowa. I’ve struggled with my weight ever since I was 10 years old and have been up and down too many times to count. My lowest adult weight was 165 (very briefly) and I’m currently at my highest adult weight, 242. At 5’6”, the top end of the healthy weight range for me is 154, so 150 is my goal. Funny thing is, the last time I got measured as an adult I was told I was 5’4” so I always thought I needed to get to 138 or less to be at a healthy weight! Currently, I am in the final stages of being approved for my VSG. The surgeon is supposed to sign off on everything today and the gal handling my insurance paperwork said she would submit to insurance today and call me. She said approval could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 7-10 business days. Fingers crossed for 15 minutes! 😉 Backing up a bit, I originally went to Iowa Weight Loss Specialties for their non-surgical weight loss program on 5/10/2018. Knowing my BMI wasn’t 40 or higher, I thought trying for the surgery would only end up in disappointment if I didn’t get approved through insurance plus I was still struggling a little mentally with the idea that I thought I should lose the weight on my own. While meeting with my nurse practitioner, I mentioned that I had considered WLS and she asked if I’d like them to at least look into it with my insurance company in the meantime and I agreed. At my next appointment two weeks later, my nurse practitioner told me that surgery would be covered, all I’d need is one more nutrition counseling appointment and a mental health assessment. I thought that meant my insurance was approved, but I had misunderstood what she said. So for the next couple weeks, I was happy as a clam thinking I was approved as long as I completed the steps, until I went to meet with the surgeon and found out I wasn’t approved yet! I was devastated and in tears, which was really embarrassing but I had my heart set on this surgery and it was extremely disappointing to hear that I may not even get approved without a comorbidity. However, they did tell me they wanted to do bloodwork and possibly a sleep study to see if I had a comorbidity, but the wait time for the home sleep study kit was two weeks. ☹ Luckily, the next day when I came in for my bloodwork they magically had a sleep machine I could take home immediately, which was great news. My bloodwork all came back normal, so I was really riding on the sleep study and praying I’d have at least moderate sleep apnea. My husband told me he thought I definitely have sleep apnea based on how loud I snore, but I was still worried. Plus I thought all this time he was exaggerating on my snoring! 😉 So I returned the sleep machine on Monday 6/11 and they said it would take 7-10 business days for the results. I was happy and surprised to hear back on Friday 6/15 that I did have sleep apnea which qualifies as a comorbidity and scheduled an appointment to come in Monday 6/18 to hear the results and do my nicotine test, which was the last step before submitting to insurance. I was completely shocked to hear that I have SEVERE sleep apnea. Which all makes sense now that I know and think about it. But I have to get a CPAP machine to wear from now on. She indicated they’d have me do another sleep study after I lose 10% of my body weight to see if I still need the CPAP machine, but that my weight might have nothing to do with it. Not getting adequate sleep may have been one of the reasons I have not been able to lose weight on my own in recent years. Although I dread the thought of wearing a CPAP machine, I’ve grown so used to being exhausted that I’m actually looking forward to seeing what getting a good night’s sleep feels like. After hearing that I have sleep apnea, I briefly wondered if I really needed the surgery after all and that maybe lack of sleep was really what had been holding me back from losing weight through diet and exercise. But then I remembered how I’ve been struggling all my life and that the hunger hormone ghrelin was going to continue to be a problem for me. I really feel like the sleeve is what I truly need to become a healthy person for the rest of my life. Finally, in addition to sleep apnea, I suffer from depression, anxiety, back pain, heartburn, and ADD. I am hoping the surgery will reduce my depression, anxiety, and back pain. That’s all for now! I’ll update again next time I have news, which will hopefully be my insurance approval!

Well as for me, starting weight 355, at least that I admit to. That was October 2017. When I first started seeking back in August 2015 I was still yo- yo-ing so couldn't give you solid for then, Switched to OHIO STATE March 2018, due to having completed another program twice, drat their fiendish souls and Nasty McFilthy MD who refused me my surgery, some things speeded up. Psych April, Met Nurse Practioners, Exercise Therapist, Dietician Late May, Presurgery consult mid July with Dr Needleman , and date then scheduled for September 5th. I had been gently losing weight until this point. Dr,Needleman, while palpating my abdomen found liver margin in the right subcostal(under rib area. Not "happy" sign, this meant NASH, given a choice of 2,3, or 4 weeks to shrink my chubby. liver down, I chose the entire month of August , and dropped 15 pounds that month alone. SW 319, surgery itself was wonderful , no real pain, no gas to expell. At a week,i had a weird purple,haze travel across my belly, Doctors theory: when doing surgery,a baby blood vessel got nicked, when I got enough Lovenox in my system it started bleeding, nowhere for the blood to go but between the fat and skin. Odd looking like,I was carrying an aliens baby in there. And I had already started dropping weight. I had another sppiintment a week later, they asked how I was doing, Doctor,had said I could move up to,level,3 , I told them I can't do,it, I think,maybe there,is a stricture in there. Oh no no they said, this can't be, you're just swollen inside, and I kept trying and Precious Pouch kept on her mission,of puking up as much as if. not more than I took in. Finally,on October 12, an endoscopy,was done, yes I have a stricture of my,stoman yes I also have 5 additional ulcers, 2 inside my pouch,& 3 more 9n the the back wall of my jejunem, the portion of my small intestinal wall. my pouch connects to. I m telling you all this because,when you use phone instead of computer, you cannot,enter things on profile. Another one on 10/26 , not successful and another coming ZN