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I didn’t have to have anything as major as a barium swallow. All I had to do was drink 1oz of water every 20 min x 5. If no nausea or pain I could advance. My stomach doesn’t hurt at all. Little pain in my shoulders from the gas but only ranks a 3 on 1-10 scale. I ordered jello but it hasn’t arrived yet.

Hey all, I was sleeved on 1/28/19, and I will begin the soft food phase next Wednesday, 2/13/19. I’m a week into the liquid phase and it is frustrating me to no end. I am getting my fluids and protein in just fine, I meet/exceed my goal every day. I still feel so WEAK! It’s not even that I’m hungry, or even actually craving any crazy binge-food, I’m just so effing tired of not eating anything. I’m tired of water and crystal light, I get nauseous when I think about my next protein shake, and I am sick of broth. I don’t even want unhealthy foods, I just want a couple bites of salmon! Or a salad! I also am not at the point where I can go back to the gym and do cardio and yoga again (pre op I was exercising to the point of sweating 6 days a week) and that is driving me crazy too. I’m getting really frustrated and borderline depressed and I just want to feel good and energized again. The things that I would normally do for timely gratification are all gone, food (obviously unhealthy), exercise, and taking a bath/soaking in the jacuzzi at the gym are all not allowed right now. I know I’m only a week+ away from the soft food diet and hopefully from being able to soak, but it feels like an eternity. I’m hoping that some of you guys can share your experiences and how you got through. Thanks!

I also have Anthem and would love to know this Edit: I just talked to my surgeon coordinator and since my last 3 dietician visits are already scheduled, last one in May 6th, she said they'd submit the stuff ASAP and "generally" expect an approval in about 10 days max. From there, they can schedule the surgery for 2 weeks from the approval date. So I think this contingent on your surgeon's office availability, not necessarily Anthem.

I found out I was pregnant at 11 months post OP from the sleeve. I ended up gaining 17lbs during the pregnancy. 28 weeks you have to be tested for gestational diabetes. I didn't want to drink the glucola drink so I opted to test my blood sugars. At 34 weeks they gave me the diagnosis of gestational diabetes, because I had slightly high fasting sugars (100, when the cut off is 94) they wanted me to get extra ultrasounds and meet with a high risk OB. Mind you I was livid at this point. There was already talk of being induced early for high blood pressure (130/80s which was norm, for me even before pregnancy) and now they wanted me to go on metformin. I had a growth ultrasound at 35 weeks, nugget was only 5lbs 2oz. I was induced at 37 weeks and 3 days, gave birth to a 5 lbs 6oz baby girl. She's 10 weeks old now, breastfeeding like a champ! I've lost 28lbs, wanting to loose another 50, but not wanting it to affect my BM supply.

Healthy_Life2 is giving some really solid advice and feedback. I appreciate her comments. I am only 2 months out so can't comment on weight regain. I can say that I have made a complete 180 in my lifestyle choices. I am extremely diligent in following my post-op dietary plan. I track daily caloric intake using the MyFitnessPal App and then go over my macros in the evening to make sure I am on target. I wouldn't even call it a diet--because that's such a temporary thing. I am looking at this as a new lifestyle. I have deviated from the standard plan provided by my doctor (I did discuss it with him and my nutritionist) and I am following a very low carb keto style plan (although too high in protein intake to be a true keto diet). This type of lifestyle provides me with very clear guidelines of what I can and cannot eat--which makes choosing foods easy, I do track calories too and set a limit to how many calories I can consume in a day, but this isn't hard since I am usually very satisfied sticking to my plan. Even if my ability to eat more increases, I feel like I can make good choices that may increase the volume of food that I eat without causing me to over-consume. When they say the sleeve is only a tool, they do mean it. Losing weight post-op is still a lot of work and requires a lot of discipline. The big difference is you are no longer fighting against your high set point, so instead of heating a plateau and suffering terrible hunger and cravings, you don't have that set point fight against you. The volume restriction is also helpful, but as Healthy_Life2 said, you can eat more frequently and undermine this process. I also now get up early in the morning to hit the gym before work and I love that "me" time. Even though this new and still "exciting" for me, it's a lifestyle that I can be happy with for the long term. I do not miss sleeping in late or eating carb heavy foods. I hope I still feel this way 2 or 5 or 10 years from now, but I am definitely happy right now. I can say that you need to be mentally prepared to make major lifestyle changes after you have the surgery (before as well!!). You need to have a healthy lifestyle plan in place and be 100% committed to following it through after surgery. I think the people that commit to following a healthy lifestyle plan will be successful long term. The people that only follow the post-op plan "most of the time" and "only cheat a little" are probably not following the plan very much at all and are cheating a lot!! I have gone to a few support group meetings and there are so many people that show up that can't understand why the weight isn't coming off them, while their friends lost so much. After talking more, it turns out that, as a result of surgery, they cut down their portions of crappy processed fast foods and other junk foods, but they continue to eat the same crap they ate before surgery (just less of it). That's not how you get down to a 25 BMI!!! You have to use this opportunity not only to cut down on your portions, but change your food and lifestyle choices. The people that make these changes and stick to it don't seem to have issues with regain (other than the normal 5-10 pound fluctuations that should be expected).

We are almost 2 months post-op and we both started with relatively low BMI's in the 34-35 range. I think it's normal for things to slow down a little when you start getting into month 3 post-op. You're still going to lose a nice chunk of weight at this point each month, but maybe not 20 pounds a month. Even if you lost 5 pounds a month on average for the rest of the year, you'd end the year at 150. Some months you may lose closer to 10 pounds, other months you may lose closer to 2 or nothing at all (it pretty normal). Still, this isn't a sprint to your weight loss goal. All the pre-op education says it's a 12 month to 18 month loss period. So, that's what we both can expect. I am not sure what your goal/target weight is, but at 5'9" and 150--that's pretty freakin' good and would beat your goal weight (which I think you're going to do). As for eating more, I told you a while ago that was I was eating well above 600 calories. Once your sleeve heals up, you should be able to eat more than 600 calories. That's not a sustainable amount of sustenance, especially if you're exercising. I wouldn't worry too much about the calories. Instead, focus on eating high quality whole foods (regardless of what type of diet your following). Nothing that's processed! Keep logging your food/caloric intake in MyFitnessPal or equivalent app so you can track your macros. Calories and caloric deficits do matter somewhat, but other factors such as insulin spikes and inflammation play a bigger part in causing obesity. I am doing well with sticking to a very low carb (less than 20net carbs a day) diet,, but that may not be for you or others. Even if you cut your net carbs to less than 100 a day (or 50 if possible), that's going to make a big difference. You probably won't get the benefits of ketosis, but it would be low enough carb intake that your body will start using glyconeogenesis to convert protein into glycogen (which is inefficient and burns 20% more calories than breaking carbs to glycogen).

Welcome to the boards. I was in your shoes last week. I was nervous scared, my anxiety was pegged at high thinking would I fail at this too. Then I had a reality check. I told meself. I want to change, I need a tool to help. I can handle this and I'm strong. I'm tired of being fat. I had my surgery on 1/31/19. The pain was not bad except when sitting and standing using your abs. I had no gas pain( thank god) and walk walk walk. It feels good to get out of bed. My surgeon was funny, he said your not a sick person, dont lay in bed and act like your dying after surgery. So I took his advice and was move active. The pain meds work well, and if you still have pain, tell your nurse, they will get ya something stronger. You got this. You will be on the losers bench soon. You will start your pre op diet soon. Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

Newbie here! Approved for VSG surgery on 2/20/2019 and feeling extremely anxious, nervous, scared. . . any words of encouragement or anybody else having surgery on the same day or near to it - I would love to keep in touch with you! 42 years old - female 5'7, 280 lbs. Indianapolis, Indiana

Look up "My level 10 life" on you tube. She went to Mexico. She's been posting for a while, but if you go back a while, you can see the one where she talks about her experience.

Apollo beach, Fl having surgery with dr Robert marema on 2/11/19 at Flagler hospital!

I've been big since I was a child. 7st 7yr old 10st 10 year old, but lived life in spite of it. Was never inactive by any stretch of imagination, but puberty coincided with starting judo (10yrs), and playing club hockey. Slimmed to 10.5st 5'2" 15yr old. Always got called or treated like I was fat sometimes. Crushed me when someone that mattered did it or was done in front of someone like that, but mainly ploughed through and became very good at jobs while still avoiding teambuilding paintball, golf or clubbing type stuff. Generally didn't do party clothes and parties. Actually had benefits. I was the curiously confident big woman who knew her technical stuff, could write incredibly well, and inflienc decision makers. I got judged, more generously (ironically), than traditionally shaped attractive women in my overwhelmingly male dominated field BECAUSE I was an anomaly. Felt attractive when confident and fat when not. Did the shocked at unmatched image in Windows thing, and inability to fit through gaps in restaurants despite head telling me I was narrow enough, but all within bounds of considering myself 'big'...because I had never been anything else. Big ramp up to morbid obesity since DD2 9yrs ago and working from home more (blessing and curse). Hit me fully and destroyed ability to put on the game face when I became constantly mortified at overlapping train and airline seats, hearing grumbles when folks had to sit next to me. I also couldn't attend or speak at industry events without getting red and flop sweating (part unfitness, part heat at all such events, part spiralling anxiety at sweating, knowing how bad a visual fat woman sweating is, then sweating more). When I became a virtual recluse and depression/anxiety threated my livelihood and arthritis started in knees cos of both weight and apparent early menopause (42), enough was enough. Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

First of all you're a beautiful girl.. And congratulations on the 150lbs and to have the strength to do a surgery at 18; I'm going for RNY this year but I'll be 35; I wish I knew about this 10 years ago! I'm at my highest weight right now of 320 back 6 years I got down to 200lbs and felt amazing everyone treated me different. Life was great but life also eventually put my back up to 300lbs and had some serious family issues lately back to 320lbs the past 12 months but stabilised that weight and finally got PHI sorted and started saving up I'm done being unhealthy and obese I've made the mental goal to get this surgery this year once my 12 months is up because I'm Australia our insurance just stipulates we have to be a member for 12 months minimum before they will help pay for surgery. I'll still end up with out of pocket maybe 5k but it's much better than 25k they quoted without insurance....

Started expanding laterally when I was around 6. Looking back through old pictures, I reckon I hit obese at about 10 years old and stayed there until I was 26 when I had the sleeve done.

I got a lap band 10 years ago and what amazed me was the delay in scheduling the surgery because of all the insurance hoops you have to jump through. Then, suddenly, the phone rings and it's the surgeon telling you your surgery is in a week! So be patient is my best advice, it WILL happen, just more slowly (and quickly) than you think!

Thanks for these replies! I have a 10 year old lap band that's giving me a world of woe. I just saw a surgeon and he will do either procedure, but since I have a history of GERD he is recommending the RNY.

Oh my God, I don't know you and I want to be your best friend. I want to drive to NY and bring you home!! I remember 10 years ago getting up the nerve to tell my husband I wanted a lap band. It was terrifying and I had none of the relationship issues y'all have. Please post often and let us know how you are doing, and if there's anything I can do to help.

My gym is really nice and I worried about people being judgmental when I first started going. All I could see were lots of fit people looking cute in spandex. But now that I go regularly, I see all the people who are larger like me. And all the older people working out with a buddy. And several people with disabilities getting it done. Every single person is either wearing headphones or talking to their workout buddy. Literally everyone is in their own little world. It's weird, but also nice. I will say I was guilty of judging someone last week while I was on the elliptical. Someone to my left had several instances of horrible gas in a 10 min period of time. I eventually had to leave the area. I'm proud of myself for not making a rude face or comment but inside my head, I had a lot to say!!!! 😂🤣😂🤣

In one of my prior weight loss adventures several years ago, I worked pretty intensely with a personal trainer twice a week for about 8 months. I learned a ton! Most important thing I learned was how to be efficient with my workouts. Basically, if you want maximum benefit from minimal time, resistance training is where it's at. For me, that is weight lifting because that's what I like the most. Second most important thing I learned was to find out what you actually like or you're not going to do it long term. I keep trying to force myself to like yoga but it just won't take; it looks so fantastic! My current workout is 10 min cardio warm up on elliptical or running on treadmill followed by 30 min of weight training. I monitor how I feel and change up the exercises periodically and increase the weight. Results: My physical therapist says I have one of the best muscle retention/weight loss ratios that he's seen for a post op bypass patient. Yay!

Hi all. First post here! Long story short--I have a 10 year old lap band that I'm having nothing but trouble with. My doc said I could revise it to either a sleeve or bypass. Right now I have Aetna, but by the time I do the 6 month diet I will be on Medicare and the doc doesn't know if they cover revisions. Anyone out here have any experience with this? Thanks!

No they required 6 monthly visits with pcp. I did one on April 30 and then the 6th one I did the first week of October to shave off a month. I was worried after the fact that they'd say that was only 5 months worth of visits but technically there were 6 actual visits each in a different month. I only needed 1 visit with the dietitian. And one psych eval. The glitch that caused it to take an extra couple of weeks was I had to prove my weight from the 2 years prior. I hadn't gone to the doctor during that time so I had to get my weight history from one of those scammy phentermine clinics I had gone to. I called them like 10 times and someone was always going to send the info and they never did. And the bariatric surgery place requested the info twice. Finally I drove to the phentermine clinic and begged the young reception guy to send the info.

Sleeve to RNY revision here on 3/18/19!!! Woot woot!!

I was approved today!!! Nervous and ready!! Two week pre op diet lors help.

I have been big ever since I was a kid. I got married I was 240. And after each pregnancy I gained more weight. I have 3 children. My HW was 350 and had lap band surgery which I lost 70 lbs. Got down to 280. But I've been slowly going back up so had my band removed in September 2018 and just had my sleeve done on January31st 2019. I'm ready to start this new journey and get down to a healthy weight. I would love to get to my wedding weight for my 25th Anniversary in December... Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

@scarlett63 I'm sure you are frustrated. Reality , Any one of us can gain. Have you contacted your surgeons office/dieticain? They may have some good advice on getting back on track and ruling out medical issues. Counseloing/therapy is an option to fight the mental side of weight loss. You already know your baraitric plan. Time to put it into acction before 210 becomes 240, 260 or 300 Get rid of temptation food and go shoping for healthy whole foods. Get healthy options for sweet and salty cravings. Being off plan your body is used to the extra calories carbs and sugars. You will feel crappy as you detox off them and get your body back in to weight loss mode. Embrace the suck! it will get better once you are consistant and back in your weight loss zone Log and weigh your food, hydrate and exercise. We also have a group weight loss challenge. Its a good way to support each other as we lose weight https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/422620-❤-february-2019-challenge-❤/?page=10&tab=comments#comment-4743640

My weight has gone up and down, but I've only been "obese" for the last 10 years. I would be "heavy" at times but not as huge as I was before surgery (100 pounds obese). I too didn't see myself as "fat" when I looked in the mirror and was shocked when I finally saw how large I had become. I'm 53 years old.