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I just had my Surgery 1/21/19. I had all the anxiety etc.... It went fine. No complications, no nausea or vomiting. I am 17 days out and down 24 pounds. I am on Cottage Cheese, Eggs, Thin Deli meat, soft cheese and am having no problems. I was 293 Lbs the night before surgery. This morning 2/7/19 I was 269. I feel great. You will do fine. Just stick with the Dr's program. Don't deviate. Good Luck!!!

I am jeff age 35. From iowa Highest lbs is 465. Down to 435 but cant get past it so i went in to a weight loss clinic and jumped the hoops and got insurance approved my surgery. I have a surgery date of May 6th 2019. What can i do to prepare? what kinda of things should i expect after surgery? I am taking the full 6 weeks off . How long did it take to feal like your self some what? Any tips are welcome thanks. Sent from my SM-J727V using BariatricPal mobile app

I know how excited you feel. I just had my surgery 1/21/19. I am 2 weeks and 3 days post op and I am down 24 Lbs. I feel great!!

I started the process the beginning of October. I had the 4th nutrition visit in January (first one was in Oct, then every 28-30 days another so the 4th appointment for weigh in was on day #91 in january). Then I saw the surgeon a week later. They submitted the paperwork and Aetna mailed me the approval letter 10 business days later. From what I understand your weight can go up and down a little due to different clothing etc. (preferable down) during the 90 day nutrition visits but they want that final 90 day weight in to be lower than the first visit. During that 90 day period I did the other tests, blood work etc. For me my surgery is scheduled about 4.5 months after that very first appointment.

Hello I’m a new to this site and have just a few questions about the process. I already had my seminar 01-22-19 and my 1st official weigh in appointment is 2-12-19. I’ve been told by my insurance advocate that will be time where I can’t gain weight. My insurance is Aetna and they require 3 month diet plan with psych evaluation and a dietician visit. So I guess my question is what has been your experience with Aetna ? What should I lookout for that my hold up my approval. Thanks

I made beef bourginion for a dinner party this weekend and was able to eat 2 bites of the steak , like 10 minutes apart . I mostly ate the veggies

I have my surgery on Monday. On day 10 of liquid diet - its hard but I am lost 16 lbs. already so that keeps me going. Those of you who had the surgery this month - Queenbee34 , Hopping To It , princess boo , Lisa12345 , sjemle , Be Blessed , Boldilocks , myriam569 , bethechange2012, Bonzers - How did it go? How are you doing now?

Do not eat a pizza. Do not chew and spit it out. If you can't buck up to follow the rules for your pre-op diet, you aren't going to be able to survive post-op. Pull on your big girl pants. Make your shakes interesting - I use Fairlife Skim Milk (13g protein in 1 cup), a scoop of protein powder and then add, as I want: Frozen fruit Sugar Free coffee house syrups PB2 Raw spinach So - my go to when I need to feel like I'm a grown ass woman is my caramel frappucino - 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 8 ounces cold coffee, a few squirts of sugar free caramel syrup, and ice. Put it in the blender and hit the button. You won't even realize it's from your kitchen. If you get in 60-90 grams of protein a day (you should be tracking all your food at this point) and drinking 64 ounces of water a day, you won't be physically hungry. You are dealing with head hunger. Each time you feel that, go on pinterest and pin a cute outfit to wear at goal weight. Make a bucket list of what you want to do when you lose weight. Go for a walk. You should be using soups (but not creamy high calorie ones), sugar free jello, sugar free pudding, sugar free popsicles. Add crystal light to your water. Drink 8 ounces of water and weight 10 minutes every time you think you are hungry. I make shakes with chocolate protein powder, milk, caramel (sugar free) and a scoop of PB2 and ice in to the blender for a snickers bar. Use Pinterest to find shakes to make. Experiment. keep yourself busy.

Before you even think about putting something to eat in your mouth, drink 8-10 ounces of water and wait 10 minutes. Make sure you are getting in 64 ounces of water a day. Track EVERYTHING. Get moving - walk around the block - do something. If you drink water, stay low carb and are honest in tracking everything you should lose. (PS - throw out all the crap that might be tempting you in your pantry - if it's not in the house, you can't eat it.)

I'll try to keep this short, but here's my story. Was told, easily more than 10 years ago, needed both knees replaced. I'm bone on bone in both knees. I did the sleeve for the same reason. You don't put any stats, but here are mine - Summer 2015 - Over 300 pounds. April 2016 - 272 and start process. Surgery August 2016. Currently about 152 (depends on day and time.) I'm 57 years old, mother of two (ages 16 and 19) and 5'3". Before my surgery, I joined our local YMCA so I could do water walking and other stuff in the pool - it was the only thing that didn't hurt me. I was so bad that when I did college tours with my daughter in 2016 prior to surgery, I'd make it half way through - find somewhere to crash and have to take a Vicodin to make it back to the hotel. Then I'd need another to sleep through the night. As the weight came off, I felt better. Do I still need to have my knees replaced? Yep. Am I going to do it right now? Nope. I'm a little busy. In the last 2 years, I've taken up fencing (as in en garde). I am currently ranked 24th among women ages 50-59 in the US and 33rd among women over 40 in my weapon (foil). Do I still get Synvisc injections and cortisone injections - yep. Do I use Vicodin to control pain - only after competing - which will generally mean fencing anywhere from 8-10 bouts over a 3-4 hour period (during which I will burn about 1400 calories). I'm not planning on having the knees done until I get good enough to qualify for a Veteran (that's what we call fencers over 40) World Cup Team and fence for my country. Then I'll have my knees done because I'll have to take most of a year off the fencing season. Did surgery help? Yep. I'm down about 150 pounds. My best advice to you is before you have your surgery find a gym and meet with a trainer. Talk to them about your goals and have them set up a plan for you for after surgery. It was the best thing I did - it made me accountable to someone - even if it's water walking or walking on a treadmill or riding a recumbent bike. I started on the recumbent bike and would ride (albeit slowly) through episodes of shows I wanted to watch on Netflix. It worked. I now work out 7 days a week - 3x week I do a crossfit type class (I deadlift 235 and back squat the same), fencing 2 days a week (for about a total of 6 hours), Pilates and work with a personal trainer. All that money I used to spend on junk food I now spend at the gym. Best of luck.

Congratulations and good luck, praying for a speedy recovery. I am now 5 days post op, had mine done 1 Feb. 2019 and to tell you honestly I am doing much better than I expected. Just follow your diet like the Dr. prescribes and you will do great. Best of luck!!!

You will be sore for a bit. O had surgery on 1/15/19 and back to my desk job on 1/21/19. Even though it's a desk job, it forced me to get up and walk around. Which I needed. I'm just starting feeling hungry. I'm averaging about 800 calories a day and about 80 grams of protein. Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

You want to make sure you don't overdo it. I felt GREAT even a week post-op and felt like I could do anything, but my surgeon had to remind me that I'd just undergone a major surgery and needed to take it easy. No lifting more than 10 pounds for 4 weeks post-op, nothing too strenuous. I think your daytime office job might be okay after 2 weeks, but you're going to be pretty tired. Even sitting at a desk is different than sitting at home because you're working and your mental energy is being used. So while I know money and income is important, I would hope you make sure you don't push it too hard and take care of yourself. Good luck!

Im having my surgery next week on febuary 12 ,2019 im going from gastric sleeve to gastric bypass Sent from my SM-J727P using BariatricPal mobile app

It will definitely get better. I was sleeved on 10/25/18 and dealt with extreme nausea and taste changes too. One thing I learned to do was drink my water regardless of how I felt. If vitamins are bothering you then you can try vitamin patches. Gas, discomfort, nausea, vomiting and irritation are part of the healing process but its worth it. It will get better just hang in there. Oh and please follow the diet take your time.

Reverse SAD: actual thing. Summer makes me depressed. Shopping: I can wear proper fitted shirts now! No gaping because of breasts, smooth line down to my hip! Look! Might actually be a size 10 pant now in some designers, and actually had an enjoyable time wandering around and trying stuff on. Did not purchase anything and feel great that I had no impulse to “buy something to make the trip worth the effort” or get the best option out of a bad set. date: perfectly nice guy, enjoyable conversation, no spark. Hmmm. May give it one more go, but a good re-entry into the pool. Vacation: will absolutely share photos. It’s going to be gorgeous.

Maybe all the second-guessing is perfectly normal because I've been doing that too!! My clinic nurse said not to stress too much about the pre-op diet & just do the best I can. We can do this!! My bff had it done 10/2017 & says she would do it again in a heartbeat!! Just have to get past the first several weeks.

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