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Yea i bought the powder unflavored isopure before and it was just gross in soups and didnt really like the shakes i made out of it in the blender. So this one is pretty nice. every other clear drink i found has around 10 grams of protein. Its a nice change from the shakes.

Hey everyone having vsg September 19!! So excited!

I don't know if it is dumping, but I get sick after eating ice cream about half the time to the point where I do not want to eat it at all. About 10 minutes after eating it I get light headed, dizzy and the cold sweats. I usually end up vomiting it up

I'm new here and want to be included as a Sept surgery buddy! I'm scheduled for sleeve surgery 9/19/22. Still learning how to post all the info about me. I can't have any products with aspartame or sucralose due to they cause migraines. So far only been able to use products with stevia or monk fruit.

Hi, I'm new here. I joined this forum with the expectation that my surgery was going to be about 10 months from now. I went to the surgeon today and I'm looking at two to three months from now. Which yay?!? I don't have to think about the what if's as long, but now I'm overly anxious about "holy crap, it's so soon I don't have time to prepare". I'm having the bypass which is what I went into the appointment expecting him to say I would need. I'm just nervous and jumping in head first reading all the posts. Thanks for sharing your stories, I didn't want to read them while being a creeper and not sharing mine.

The matter that you have a guy metabolism, and have had a relatively easy pre op loss if a good indicator of fairly rapid progress post op, but no guarantees, of course. I was also 335 at the start, lost about 50 fairly easily in the six month insurance diet/exercise effort (and then took a few years off before surgery - but kept the 50 off which led me toward the sleeve rather than something stronger like the DS, but I digress....) I was at 200 at six months post op, starting to ramp up the calories to slow things down toward my moving goal of 190ish (based upon body composition - fat mass, etc. - rather than BMI or scale weight.) Wight loss is usually a stair step affair, in a decaying function (rapid at first and slowing over time). The matter that you have lost "fairly easily" to date is a good sign that your metabolism is still in decent shape - those who struggle at this point seem to be fighting a bigger metabolic problem and tend to be "slow losers" and will often struggle to get to their goal weight, if they get there at all. Slow weight loss pre op would encourage me to look at something metabolically stronger like the DS, which may be overkill for someone with a better metabolism. In addition to general declining loss trends (mostly because it doesn't take as many calories to move around 200 lb as it does 300 lb, etc.) weight loss tends to be front loaded some by virtue that most of our initial loss has a large water weight component in it, and the body initially draws from its glycogen stores - basically stored carbs kept in the liver and muscle tissues, used for quick response energy needs. That needs the water to keep it in solution, and burns more rapidly than fat. Once we get through that - maybe 10-20 lb typically - we start drawing on fat stores, which goes slower. So, don't expect as big of a drop out of surgery as someone who hasn't lost anything pre op.

I know it took me almost 10 years to save the money. 10 years I could have been slim ffs. My local doctors kept poopooing me off and wouldn't refer me, I just knew I had to pay. To me now its worth the money but I just could not have gone into debt to pay it back even a 0 percent I had to wait 8 months for my surgery last year even though I paid. I was told 6 months in the beginning but Covid caught them out and it ended being 8. I cried when I found out but my turn came quicker than I thought. You are a step further than I ever got so good luck with your appointment. Worth telling them you are available for any cancellations too.

My name is Shannon, I live in Oregon but will be having surgery in Nampa Idaho. Anyone else??? I am 56 and want to feel better for the rest of my life. I don't want BP, Cholesterol, bad knees, sleep apnea, and other issues to stop me from living a full life. At least another 15 or so years! I have been working towards this surgery a few months. I am currently at the point where they are submitting my papers to insurance this coming week. I am so excited! Stopped smoking now 48 days, has to be 60 days for surgery. I am thinking late September, but probably October for surgery after all is said and done. Who knows lol. I have a couple concerns and would interested in knowing what you do. 1. Constipation. I had in after my third C-section (many years ago) and it was horrid! I want to do everything I can NOT to have it. What do you do? 2. Any secret ideas on how to get water in, other then sipping all day? I will do that, but I have history of kidney stones and need to make sure I get plenty of liquids, 3. For those who have been doing this years, what side effects or issues have you seen, say after 10 years? My husband, while he is being supportive, is not fond of the surgery. He is worried what effects I will have later on in life. 4. Hormones..... My daughter has PCOS and wanted to me to ask the Dr about hormones and how this effects me. He told me that actually it will get better. That part of the stomach taken out has hormones in it and will reduce any issues. What have you seen or heard? Thanks!

Hey love, my surgery was on August 2nd and I was also worried about my overnight bag the night before surgery I kept asking the nurse if I could bring my things with me or should I get it dropped off. They told me I was able to bring it with me but for some reason I decided not too. I was going to let my boyfriend drop it off for me. My surgery was scheduled for 10 Am and I honestly I didn’t go into surgery until like 2 or 3pm I believe. I woke up in the recovery room around 6pm and went into the actual room I was staying at around 7pm I was in so much pain due to the gas that I forgot that I didn’t have my phone with me but my bed was next to the window and I realized it was already dark outside meaning that it was night time. So my boyfriend was not able to drop off my bag. To be honest you don’t need much I’ll recommend a change of clothes to leave the hospital and some headphones. You are provided with everything else to be honest.

Aside from the worst gas pain I have ever felt post op (upper right shoulder) that motivated me to get to walking asap, which in turn probably aided in my recovery. I have no complaints about my surgery or the road I've come down. Can't say I've really been hungry yet(10 weeks post op and down 65lbs) but if I forget to eat and I'm super active I will feel weak. I'm lucky if I get 600-800 calories, usually get between 65-80 protein and 20-40 carbs. I take colace and Benefiber because otherwise I "back up". Most days I burn what I eat in walking because of my job. But I have good energy and I'm thriving so it's all good. ☺️

24 hours after surgery I wasn't allowed anything until I had my barium xray to make sure I didn't have a leak. Then I was given clear liquids to include jello day 2 in the hospital drinking every 15 minutes 1oz, full liquids started towards the end of day two maybe dinner? Then day 3 in hospital was full liquids and drinking every 15 minutes 1oz. At home was 1 week on full liquids, 3 weeks on pureed,3 weeks on soft, and currently introducing solid at a very slow pace. Honestly I'm terrified I'll start to gain if I introduce too many new things. What I'm eating now works. Tuesday is 10 weeks post op.

I went shoe shopping for dress shoes today... first time in a LOOOOOONG time I've thought of having anything but sneakers on my feet. I got 3 pair! And not only are they nice looking I went from a size 10 wide to a size 9 1/2 regular! And did I mention they felt nice? So excited to be able to wear nice clothes to work and match with nice shoes.

So it may be time to take a little break from the ongoing saga of why it’s taken me over two and a half years to get to surgery and instead talk about how I got to the point of wanting to have bariatric surgery in the first place. My lightest weight as an adult was while I was in the Army. Just sheer physical activity and regular PT had me lean down to around 175 from maybe 185 when I graduated high school. Unfortunately I was severely injured in a training accident while in the service and left the military with a bad limp and a knee brace as a constant reminder. Weight wise, things went downhill from there. Being somewhat disabled made it hard to exercise, but meanwhile I was still eating like I did when I was in the service. (Lots of food, very quickly.) This was obviously not a good combination. Several other health scares and life events later, I shot up to around 240. I managed to stabilize things at this point and was even able to get into strength training pretty seriously for a while. Most cardio was still out, though. Life went on for several years, until I got a new job that paid me very well, but also took it’s toll on me physically and mentally. Within 3 years in the new job, I was up to 285 or so and climbing. I knew I needed help, so my wife and I tried just about every possible diet program imaginable. Interestingly, I’ve kept logs of every one of those diets. For at least the past 15 years, the typical pattern was for me to be somewhere between 285 and 300 pounds lose 30-80 pounds, then yo yo right back to my starting weight and then some. In about 2017, I finally asked my Doctor for help. We did all the things you’re supposed to do: talk to dietitians, try medications of various kinds, and even do physician monitored diets. None of that worked any better. The problem was, they just assumed like everyone does that I was weak-willed or to stupid to know how to eat properly. That’s never been my problem. I actually eat pretty well overall, with lots of fresh veggies, and plenty of lean protein. The problem is, in addition to all the good food, I’m also an emotional eater that soothes with sweets. I knew I’d reached rock-bottom when I started hiding food from my wife. As an example, I might buy a box of donuts and plow through it in a matter of minutes. Or buy the boxes of chocolate intended for Valentines day and devour them all in a morning. No box or bag of candy or pastries ever had the dust settle on it around me! About this time, I got up to 330 (my highest weight), and knew I needed to take a different road or I would never live to see my grandchildren. (I may never actually have any grandchildren, but that’s a story for a different day!) This takes us to late 2019 when I discovered, quite by accident, that my new insurance plan starting in Jan 2020 would finally cover bariatric surgery. After about a millisecond of research (okay, maybe a little longer), I decided this might be the thing for me. I think you already know what happened in my saga in 2020, so we’ll stop there for now and start back up next time in the summer of 2021, when I finally got the cardiac clearance I needed to get WLS.

I went clothes shopping with a friend today. Normally I wear a 22 or 24. Today I actually squeezed into an 18 in 2 different brands. I didn’t buy them, I think I’m 10-20 pounds away from that…but the fact that I get them on and my friend said I looked good, meant the world to me. I even got a few 2x shirts instead of the 3x I normally wear. But with that being said, I also did get a few 3x, due to the cuts being different. I’m on cloud 9!

If the GERD is the result of a hiatal hernia, not an uncommon thing and a common cause of GERD, with or without WLS, then that can be corrected, though some surgeons may not be great at doing that with a sleeve - some can, some can't and will route you direct to a bypass instead. A resleeve might be appropriate if the original sleeve was malformed - that used to be more common 8-10 years ago when most bariatric surgeons were still learning how to do the sleeve (as one prominent surgeon put it, "twenty years of doing bypasses and they think they know how to do a sleeve....") but that is less common more lately, but something still to check out. If you are consulting someone who does the DS (particularly the "traditional" BPD/DS,) that's a good thing as they typically are the most skilled at working with sleeves, and can give a good reading as to what condition yours is in. If one of them tells you that the bypass is the way to go (even though they may normally prefer the DS,) then that's usually sound advice.

I was scheduled for 8/19. Received a call Monday and they asked me If i was willing to switch to 8/16. This is my first time having surgery. The amount of anxiety i'm having I haven't slept in about 5/6 days

Same story here! VSG June 14 with Bhatti GI & North Memorial in MN. Recovery has really been a breeze. I took 1 week off from my desk job for surgery recovery. At almost 8 weeks, 32.5 lbs down. Including a recent 10-day vacation, eating normal foods at restaurants, but small amounts. On vacation we walked 3-6 miles a day. Normally I barely exercise…yeah…I know I need to do better, but I do physical farm work too. No food intolerances, nausea, pain, hair loss, or dumping. I get my 65-90g protein, hydrate, and have my vitamins & probiotic. 900-1200 calories/day. Too often my carbs are too high (>75g). It’s hard to get fiber. The “hardest” part for me and the only deviation from the plan that I have committed (besides erratic levels of exercise) was clear liquids. I was prescribed 3 days CL before surgery (lost 4lbs) plus 2 weeks CL after surgery. 2w after was way too long. I got dizzy and weak because I couldn’t get enough protein. Switching to full liquids was like paradise. Did that a week early with no issues. North Memorial’s diet plan is very conservative. I also got Covid for the first time at 4w post-op. I only had a scratchy throat for 3 days and was tired for a week, but had no problems keeping to the dietary guidelines. Almost zero movement b/c I did strict quarantine for 10d to not spread it. I am surprised I’ve done so well given how crazy it all sounds in retrospect. Major abdominal surgery, FT work, life with 3 kids, Covid, harvest season on the farm, and lengthy travel all in 8 weeks. But it’s been great! I have tons of energy! Fear of complications and lack of insurance coverage kept me from doing this for probably 8+ years. It’s nice to hear positive stories collected in one place. I feel for those of us struggling. I still fear something will crop up. We are fortunate.

My wait to surgery was almost 2 years. I was originally talking and planning about in late 2019. I was always going to be self pay b/s it is excluded from my health insurance policy, so I looked at practices and settled on one. Then, coronavirus hit. I also at that point realized the practice I was going to use was not the right one for me, and investigated a new one, doing a new consult virtually during coronavirus (Aug 20). This new practice had a lot more requirements even for self pay and while I was frustrated, in the end it was the best thing that happened. Now, what wasn't good in that time is I gained more weight (I blame it on the weight a lot of us gained during COVID but I just was in a weird place and under a lot of stress at work - quit that job!) but what was good is the program I went with was very intentional about preparing everyone - regardless of whether it was insurance covered or self pay - for what to expect after surgery. Did it suck waiting? Yes. Do I regret it? Just a little - but mostly because I wish I had found this practice back in Fall 2019! I don't think I would have been as prepared and ready for surgery if I had rushed and gone with the practice I originally was looking at (they are well-known and have a strong reputation where I live, it just wasn't the right vibe). Part of why I feel like the past year has gone so smoothly for me (my surgery was Aug 16, 2021) is the level of mental preparation I had. I also used that time to unpack lots of other issues in therapy, which was helpful. So all of this is to say... what do you think will give you the most success? Personally, I would try to do it through insurance if I had the chance. It's not just the surgery itself - but what if there are complications? It's rare, but possible, and I had so much stress and worry about how I could bankrupt us if something went wrong. I'd also use the time to try and build some good habits, which is something my program stressed during the education phase: drinking water, exercising, sleeping well, etc. If you think you have any emotional hang ups about food, it'd also be a great time to work on that, ahead of surgery.

Awesome! I had to do a 2 week liquid diet so on day 10. I honestly thought it would be so much harder than it is. How are you feeling?

Hello All. Can I introduce myself. I’m Paul and exactly 4 weeks post gastric sleeve surgery. I’ve been trying to lose weigh all my adult life with varying degrees of success. All ultimately fruitless. There’s very few I haven’t attempted and I was desperate by the time I agreed to surgery. Although a various times I’ve topped 30 stone I was always able to cope with the excess weight. Not so these last few years and severe arthritis in my worn out knees has forced the issue. To get them replaced I have to be lighter. And hopefully ALM will be in less pain and I can move about easier. I was deeply ashamed about having to go down the path of surgery. I’ve loathed my size all my life and it’s had a profoundly negative effect on both my career and personal life. I was a fairly decent footballer in my time (hence the knackered knees) but undoubtedly the excess weight I carried in my younger years, whilst nowhere near as extreme, hindered my performance and damaged my self esteem. I first joined the NHS bariatric programme in late 2015 after encouragement from my GP but I promptly lost 7 stone and decided it wasn’t for me. Life, as always, got in the way and all that weight went back on by 2018\19 after I was made redundant and lost the plot. I was fortunate to get put back on the programme in 2019 and despite the hiatus of the Pandemic got invited to meet the surgeons in January this year. Can’t say I didn’t have my doubts as the date of surgery to nearer but I knew I was probably on my last chance should I walk away. The liver shrinking diet was extremely easy I felt. I stopped any form of alcohol a month before my date of surgery and I’m feeling OK now. I’ve had a couple of incidents of the foamies and have been sick twice trying to progress to purée/soft food. I’ve put that down to eating too quickly and perhaps slightly too much despite my efforts at not doing either. I find I hard to eat the 800 calories a day target I’ve been told to meet, and sufficient protein but I’m working on it. One thing that I do seem to be unusual for reading through this thread. I haven’t weighed myself since the day of the operation. Am I wrong not to do so? I can feel previously tight clothes getting baggy. My view is this is a marathon and not a sprint now and why torture myself if I can see a plateau going on for a couple of weeks. Nice to meet you all.

I have not tried kachava, but I never was a big coffee drinker. I was a diet coke addict. 4 months ago when I started this process I was told to lay off the diet coke. I drank about 10 to 12 cans a day. It was literally the only liquid I would drink. Now I drink crystal light or herbal teas. I do allow myself one cup of regular tea in the am. I am trying to get off that too. The herbal teas are nice I think. Lemon zinger is one of my favorites. I think those are a good choice simply because of the many flavors. It is hard for me to drink straight water unless I'm super thirsty. I need flavors.

Hi all, so I’m having a bit of a dilemma and I was just curious to know what others would do in my position. My wife and I currently have Kaiser insurance here in California. Based on their program, it would be 10 classes (2.5 months) and then I would have to wait to get on the books for surgery, the person I spoke to said it could be up to a year wait. BUT, I have zero copay and the surgery would essentially be free. On the other hand, there’s the possibility of taking out a Care Credit loan at for $18.5k 0% APR and I could get the sleeve at Blossom Bariatrics by next month if I wanted to. I know it seems like a no brainer to just be patient and wait. That is the smarter financial decision. We do have to put a new roof on our house (or we could wait until next year) and we are definitely worried that if I take out an 18k loan… that our financing of our roof would come with a stupid APR and would ding our credit. We are in our 30s… no kids… live comfortably financially but not well off-which is why the 18k seems a little crazy, although the monthly payments are totally doable for me. On the other hand, I’m almost prediabetic, high cholesterol, feel like my eating habits are spiraling each day. I am genuinely upset that I feel like I’m turning to surgery as a last resort and tool. I’ve tried every diet, every app, every diet pill from my Doctor, I have spent thousands at this point for personal trainers, my mind is consumed with the state my body is in, I feel exhausted, not healthy and I also feel like it’s holding me back from progressing in my life/career. My confidence level, well, it doesn’t even exist at this point. I feel defeated and the amount of energy I use thinking about losing weight/getting healthy is maddening and exhausting. I feel as though one can’t put a price tag on health. I feel like the gross amount of money I spend on eating out nearly every day, buying food, paying for this diet or that gym equipment… would also be eliminated to an extent if I have surgery. So, I kind of feel like even spending 18k… I would SAVE in the long run. I have a ton of goals I’d love to accomplish over this next year… and I feel like the thing holding my back is my health/confidence/lack of energy. My wife is wonderful and we have long, real discussions about all of it. She’s kind of the financial whiz of our life and we are both wondering what the best option is. Spend the money… get my health on track ASAP… save money in the long run because I’m not eating out multiple times a day or buying whatever I think will help me finally get on track. (She also feels like this would help her as my eating habits are starting to wear off on her she says)…OR Wait a year stuck in this loop, possibly gaining more. But I'll pay nothing. There’s so much that can happen in a year… but I don’t want to remain stagnant, spiraling for a year… I want to jump start it and move forward and get this over with and move on. But I can’t figure out what the best choice is. Further, I'm so afraid that even using the sleeve as a helpful tool, that'll I'll just fail at that as well. Thanks for reading my vent. Would love to hear some of your thoughts.

Hi there 6 weeks actually starting next week! It’s very hard following my pre-op diet while at work and stressing about possible exposure to COVID-19. I really don’t want to take any chances of having my surgery postponed. I feel like if I get stir crazy I’ll go back to work. I hope your recovery goes well and you’re able to function at work easily. I work at a prison so there’s a lot of walking unsure if I should rush back? Which surgery are you having? I’m a revision sleeve to DS due to hypothyroidism & pcos.

I'm heading the same way @geilli1048 I've already maxed out on my usual calories today and I'm hungry again so I'm going to have to eat more. Yes I agree we need to be extra good at protein first and everything else will hopefully follow! Lots of people say losing the last 10 - 20lbs is really difficult and can take months. I think we've got this and we're gonna make it to goal!

@Rachael101 you are doing a great job! When I see stats like yours it give me hope that i am headed in the right direction! My surgery is next week, I know that everyone's path is diffrent but seeing people succeed is very motivating and gives those of us following a similar path a glimps of what could be. My highest was 382 about a year ago - but I have been over weight all of my adult life (I am 48). Occasionally I feel others judgement (oddly enough more when I meet a new doctor - more so than new people). But mostly I am self conciouse when I bump into things, squeeze into places or choose not to participate because I am worried I wont fit. So really, I am a bigger problem than others... except those darn doctors who want to blame everything that happens on my weight (well, loose some weight, if that doesn't resolve then we will see what we can do.... <sigh> as if I haven't thought of that). Thankfully I have a great regualr team who have been working with me on health issues who can see past the weight and as a result, I've managed to loose 62 pounds in the last year (10 of that on the pre-op diet, 5 more days to go). I am looking forward to not worrying about bumping into things as I walk past or fitting into places (or exceeding weight limits)... I have already seen a little progress in some of those areas with the weight I have lost so far. I am also looking forward to not being as tired, being more social and getting some relief with some of my other medical issues. Keep up the great work!