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Hi! My name is Blair and I just turned 29 (female) Sorry it's a weird time I just couldn't sleep! I was banded yesterday! And I was like you excited but very nervous! I also had never udergone surgery! Never been put to sleep or anything! I was actually suppose to have my surgery April 27th and was sooo nervous about being put to sleep I chickened out and cancelled it! Luckily my time hadn't run out and I didn't have to start all back over when I finally decided I really wanted to do it! I don't know about your goal weight loss but mine is like 60lbs at the max...so I had a lot of people confusing me saying that I didn't need it (not bragging) cause according to the "WII" game I am in the "obese" precentile! I am 5'6 213lbs But I am one of those solid kinda people, if you see what I am saying. I was atheletic and a size 6-8 10 years ago when I graduated highschool!! So...that naturally is my goal to be back to that atheletic woman instead of this "couch potatoe!!" LOL Anyway, I just wanted to tell you my story to try and help! Oh, and like I was so stoked and ready when I went in and was fine not nervous a bit! When I woke up I sqawled!! Cried like a baby! Thanking the Lord that I was awake and alive! I was that worried! But it was weird because I was perfectly fine before the surgery, laughing and cutting up with the nurses! But anyway, if you need anyone to talk to, just send me a message! Oh and it's not as bad as you are thinking, like I said I was banded yesterday! And my Doc actually chose the "Realize" band for me once he did the surgery. I don't really think there is a a lot of difference. He just said he wanted me to be able to eat more meats and vegtables!?? But anyway, I am not really that sore just a little and not that hungry! Just take the pain meds they give you even if you don't think you need them. Just my opinion! Anyway, sorry this is so long! Just wanted to give ya a little encouragement! Let me know if you ever want to talk! Good Luck!

You don't have to exercise like crazy to lose weight with the sleeve. But, you should exercise some, at least. Start slow and gradually work up to a routine that you can live with for life. You'll find that you have better muscle tone, that your skin recovers better and that you feel better in general. I started out with just walking inside my apartment and doing 10 reps with 2 pound weights of biceps curls, triceps extensions and front arm raises. I'm now up to walking daily, using the exercise bike at least 4 days a week, and I carry that 2 pound weight in my car so I can get in arm work while I'm driving. I do a LOT of driving. I also have 5 pound weights at home and I do quite a few arm exercises at home, plus ab exercises and I just added squats and lunges. I'm seriously working to add in a little at a time and keep my workout routine under an hour a day...and not all at once. I keep the home weights on top of the entertainment center. If I walk by there, I'll grab the weights and do a few reps for my arms. If I'm sitting to watch tv, I'll do a few ab crunches. It takes under 10 minutes to do 30 crunches, even when doing them slowly to make sure you maintain proper form. You don't have to spend hours a day in the gym to work out. But, if you're going to be addicted to something, why not exercise?

i dont think i actually really felt like doing anything requiring energy for about 10 days. i started my soft proteins on the 4th day from surgery. i am about 3 weeks post op and pretty much feel normal. hang in there, it will get better!!!

So true, Sleepy! Of course, I have to be the oddball. Since my "technical' post-op weight loss period, if I don't include the liquid diet phase, then I think I technically lost more weight more quickly in my 2nd year, but that was because I was better restricted. The first 9 months, I wasn't well restricted at all. In the next 6 months, things started chugging right along. Now I'm down to maybe 5-10# of my doc's (too conservative) goal, so things are going a bit slower. I would prefer to lose at least another 10# more (a bit more might even be OK, but we'll see). The weight loss is a wee bit slower because my body is finally realizing it's losing it's beloved "buffer weight." But this excess flab is being evicted - so it better pack up and get ready to get out! :clap2:

I have been out almost 2 YEARS and have lost only 25 lbs total (was 35 but have gained back 10) dont feel like i need a fill. I still vomit everyonce in a while & now my insurance doesnt cover fills, so i am lost as to what to do,.....so i wish you luck and hope all works out for you!

Hello all, OK so I am so ashamed of myself. I have been on this pre-op diet which is full liquids for 10 days. I am on day seven and I cheated! I was feeling so sick tonight that I ate a sandwich and a piece of chocolate. So far I have lost 12 pds on this diet, which is so hard to do. I have been eating nothing but soups, crytal light, diet shakes, protien shakes. After I ate something, I didn't feel sick to my stomach anymore, but now I feel like what the hell did I just do? I guess this is what I was thinking, I have surgery on Monday the 31st. Which I wont do anymore food I will stick to the liquids until the surgery, then after the surgery my doctor puts me on a clear liquid for 4 days, then this full liquid for 10 more days, then blenderized food for 2 weeks, then soft food for another 2 weeks, then I can start eating small amounts of healthy food. When I thought about it, I was like wow I'm not going to be able to eat REAL food for over 5 weeks. That scared me I guess, so I did it, I ate something other then full liquid and now I am scared its going to screw things up for the surgery!! Has anyone else done this? Please be honest, I am so scared right now!! Please help!:smile:

I start my pre-op diet in a 2 weeks. My diet is 1,000 calories a day for 10 days (for my BMI). However, I do it, just 1,000 calories. He suggests a protien drink for breakfast and lunch and lite dinner. Low carb/low fat/high protein. ronnie

I don't want to sound mean or cold hearted... but I see people on here saying they can't be around people eating food , well this is life it is going to be here and you need to just get used to it. Just tell yourself NO !! I know it is very hard but you can do it , you did it at first and now you can keep doing it. Just belive in yourself . I have a long way to go myself, but I would never stop cooking for my husband or have him to eat in another room. That would be like putting on blinders for the rest of your life. That's life and we just have to adjust to it. We may lose 10 lbs and then gain 1 or 2 lbs back but just look ahead and Never look back. I am so sorry if I sound cold hearted. I am very proud of every one on here .

At 10 days out, you are probably stil pretty swollen from surgery. As the swelling goes down, the amount you eat will increase somewhat. I know that my doctor pushes for about 1/2 cup of food with decent restriction so you won't be eating that much more. Remember, part of this surgery is to help make food no longer the focal point in your life. I know it won't seem like it is worth eating, but that is the point (in my own opinion). This way you can spend more time talking with your family or friends instead of eating into oblivion. Good luck to you.

I should of gotten on this sooner. I actually called my insurance again today. To avoid being a hassle to my surgeons assistant. Once again insurance said they hadn't received anything. I called the assistant and left her a voicemAil voicing my concerns. If she doesn't call back tomorrow morning I'll be calling again. I'm definitely worried now more than ever. Surgery is exactly 2 weeks away HW: 251 -1/25/17 CW: 238 -6/27/2017 GW: 140 Tentative surgery date: 7/19/17

After about 10 days the pain in my stomach stopped. It took a while longer for the horrible gas pain in my shoulder to stop. Then I felt very drained and tired for about a month. By 6 weeks out I felt like my old self.

I've lost 26 pounds, and I do see it in the mirror. I'm certainly not where I'm going to be, but I see a deflated, me. I was also able to wear a pair of pants yesterday, that I hadn't worn in over two years. Another confirmation! Koolkel - do you have pictures from before surgery? I think it's a good idea to repeat pictures at different weight loss intervals, and compare them side by side to the starting pictures. Our eyes can play tricks on us when looking in a mirror, but the pictures don't lie. Many years ago, when I was getting ready to start (yet another) diet, I had my sister come over and take a set of pictures of me in a two piece bathing suit; front, back and side views. Every 10 pounds she took another set. This was one of the greatest tools ever! After the first 10 pounds lost, I couldn't see anything in the mirror. But looking at the pictures, I could see bulges minimize, from where the bathing suit squeezed by skin. So - even though the mirror didn't reflect my progress, the pictures told me that things were happening. Good luck!

Hello, I too am in Canada, Windsor Ontario, and am flying out of Detroit. Can you tell me how you felt on your flight home? Were you nauseous at all? I am getting sleeved on sept 10 and wondered how I will feel on the long flight back. thanks

I returned on Day 7 - full 8-10 hour days, but had to nap as soon as I got home.

I want to thank all you for the wonderful support and comments last night while I was anxiously awaiting his arrival. His name is Lucas John and was born at 10:33 this morning and is 8lbs and 21 inches long. I believe he is quite beautiful and perfect in every way! Spoken like a grandma! :) This right here is one of the reasons I wanted to get the sleeve.......To play with my grandchildren!!

@@Rena's got this I can relate to this in a BIG way. I too never looked at myself as "fat" even though I knew better. I carried my weight well and I was evenly proportioned, I always dressed appropriately and I didn't carry myself or act like what to me a "fat" person would be/act like. I used to tell my son when he was very chubby that he was a "typical" fat person. Lazy and living hand to mouth. Not thinking about what he was putting in just unconsciously consuming food. As I have gone through this journey, I am still me. I don't look at myself as fat or skinny and I don't stereo type those words anymore. What I told my son, was obvious that I was doing this as well! I might not have been sitting on my butt eating cheese doodles and watching Nickolodian but I too was unconsciously eating. I wasn't thinking about what I was eating or what that was doing to my body. Not just in making me "fat" but in the way it made me unhealthy. I drank diet soda thinking it was better then regular soda but I drank it like it was Water and that is the LAST thing it is. I could have drank gasoline for all the damage it was doing to my digestive tract. I would consume high fat high salt high sugar but low nutrition foods and thought nothing of it. We lived on fast food and soda. Today I still see me as me. I am Lisa no matter my size, the difference in me today vs. 70 pounds ago is that I no longer eat unconsciously. I think about what I am going to consume. I think about it's nutritional content, what it will do to my body. I exercise to feel better, and if I want to eat that cookie, or have that piece of birthday cake, I have it and I don't sneak it. I just enjoy it for what it is, and I let those things be what they are "treats" something that doesn't happen every day, something that is out of the ordinary and not my every day choice of meal. I'm not 10, so for me making these changes takes commitment and work to always be conscious when I put something in my mouth. I'm not perfect, and I can admit that it will often happen that I am distracted and/or stressed and I fall back into those old habits but as the years are passing, the old habits are being replaced by good habits and I find myself falling back on those and working every day to keep incorporating more and more so they become my old habits and the bad habits disappear from memory. I also find it odd that as I lose more weight the sleeves on my jackets are getting longer. I might could get away with this rain coat through this fall with the buttons done up and the belt cinched if it weren't for the sleeves. Maybe worth a quick trip the tailor to hem them before it ends up in the donation bin!!

Great topic! I love all of the responses! I will say this, I'm not one to "look" at myself as any one way. I have had the frame of reference of being super skinny and being severely obese. Through all of it I have never let my size affect what I want to do, I just do it. I do see today that my appearance has changed and in some ways dramatically with the weight loss. At work we are required to have a picture ID that the company takes when you first start. Now we operate on MS 365 and our e-mail and Lync IM show our photo's, let me tell you I hated that! I think I look terrible in my photo! It's not the first one I took while working here, my first one had me in these red glasses that were tipped on my nose I looked like the typical ditzy blond secretary. So when we had Weight Watchers at work here I joined with a friend and we said when we lost 20 pounds we would take new photo's. Well she lost 50 and I lost 19 so I took a new photo. Recently I got an e-mail from a new co-worker that asked me if that was me? I have one of those faces that just stays the same, so you can tell it's me...but is it really you? Yeah it was me in a fat suit Yes it's me! OK maybe after 70 pounds it was time for a new photo. I look younger in my photo today then I did 8 years ago and that feels pretty good!!

Yesterday was good…hopefully today will be, too! Here is my goal for today. Breakfast: Oatmeal cookies with non-fat cream cheese. The cookies have 10 grams of protein per serving. Strawberries. Lunch: Going out with work colleagues (a business lunch). I don’t know where we’re going. It might be Olive Garden (herbed salmon!). An apple for afterwards if needed. Dinner: Hopefully I can make up for whatever damage lunch will do. The plan here is chicken breast with a lemon pepper sauce/marinade, broccoli, and rice. Snacks: Probably oatmeal protein cookies. I made a batch with Protein Oatmeal Cookie Baking Mix and they are tempting! I’ll probably freeze some so they’re around for other times, too. Let us know your planned or actual Tuesday menu, and remember – if you post your menu each day this week (Monday through Sunday), you will be entered into a drawing to win a $50 gift card to The BariatricPal Store! Don’t worry, you can still be entered into the drawing if you go back and post your earlier menus if you missed them already!

Standard? Wow. I went in at 1:00 pm and was out by 10:00 am the next day.

I know this may be a dumb question, but when will swallowing normally (not tiny sips) feel normal again? Any liquids are mostly fine, but I tried some stewed green beans and there was discomfort even with over chewing them. I’m 19 days post op and I’m struggling. But this is the decision I made, so I have no choice but to live with it. I’m taking my meds/vitamins and doing my best to get my protein and water in. Will swallowing ever feel normal again? Will I ever eat normally again? I’m still on soft foods but mainly sticking to protein shakes and broth. Thanks for taking the time to read and any info is appreciated. 🙂

I have BC/BS of Alabama & was denied immediately ( after the required 6 mos nutrition visits, psych eval & so on) because bmi was not documented @ 40 for 3 yrs, & the nutrition visits not signed by PMD . BMI 37 to 38 for 10 yrs... No where in the policy did it say any of this ! Have decided to pay out of pocket using other resources. It is worth it at this point. There was no way to appeal.

I am 8 weeks post op. I had my surgery 12/10/12 nd have lost a total of 75 lbs. I was just curious to know how many calories i need to have a day. I have not been keeping count but i am starting a food journal so i need to know. Lol. Thanks in advance

Congrats!!! I am a day behind you Nov 6th. I kind of can't believe it is happening, but I am so excited. I had my first appt with the surgeon on Sept 19, approved by bcbs a week ago, and now am scheduled for surgery!

Whoah.. I just felt a vein in my arm under the skin. Weird.. Amazing what just 38 lbs can do to you... I took the shower chair out of the shower as I can stand now without my back being in excruciating pain. I was able to do dishes without having to stop because of the pain in my back. I don't have to turn sideways to get thru the bathroom door anymore. I was able to move the head of the car seat forward one notch. I have been taking the stairs without running out of breath. I have actually been getting up and walking around the office. I went shopping for 2 hours with very little back or foot pain. I don't have near as much trash these days. My wedding ring is already too big for me. I am more often cold than hot! I don't sweat much anymore! I use to laugh at the teeny portions of TV dinners like Weight Watchers and Atkins... now it takes me two meals to eat it all. Career choices that I had been thinking I could never do because of my back pain... are now a possibility. I have saved lots of money from not eating out as much. My hubby has lost 10 lbs already! And most of all... after being controlled by my addiction to food for 35 years... it no longer has that control over me. My life no longer feels dictated by food... I dictate to my food. What are yours? 11/11/16: HW 380 11/28/16: Duodenal Switch Surgery 11/28/16: SW 374 lbs 12/24/16: CW 342 lbs

I have Aetna now , I've submitted paperwork and now have hoops to jump through. I'm 5' 7", weigh 253 now (Just lost 10 lbs) and have to go through a 6 month Dr. monitored diet first. I've seen her twice, had a bunch of lab work done, including drug testing. Frustrating, as once you decide this is the best choice, you've probablyl already been through many diets as I have and gained and lost the same 35 lbs over and over again. Hopefully by Nov. I'll be qualified to have the sleeve. Wondering whether the pliation or the full sleeve is the better choice. Still have to meet with the actual Dr. This is the 2nd time I'm trying to qualify. UHC turned me down 3 years ago.