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I'm so excited! I received my approval today and completed my pre-admissions. My surgery is scheduled for April 25 at 8:00 am. I'm on day four of my liquid diet and so far, I've had no headaches, hunger pains nor have I been "hangry"!!!

I have an update. Got my letter today from JFS and I qualify for transitional Medicaid for at least 3 more months! As long as I can carry the same provider, I should be good to go! I may have been all worked up over nothing! (Hopefully).

I was sleeved on 4/10. I'm feeling pretty good i have a Minor back ache from sleeping on it. I've never been a back sleeper and a pulled muscle feeling on my lower right side because i prop myself up on my elbow on that side to get up out of bed. Sleep hasn't been the best lol. Lots of. Walking and sipping. The protien shakes are so hard to get in they make me gag so I've been adding protien powder to my broth and i have proven water. Congrats on making it to the bench!!!

I am 8 weeks out of gastric sleeve surgery and have lost a great amount of weight, I’m happy with my progress. I just can’t believe how small my portions are. I knew of course they’d be small, but I can literally manage two bites before I feel really full. How long will it be until I can actually eat a fairly normal portion size and not look rude at meals? I don’t mean to sound stupid or ungrateful for my surgery, but once I hit my goal weight, I would like to be able to enjoy eating out and family meals like a “normal” person. At the moment, eating is not a good experience and I don’t like the feeling whilst eating or immediately after. Can anyone share their story with portion size?

Do not eat anything that tastes sweet. Period. It leads to the wrong gut bugs developing population in your gut and forcing you to crave what they want, which is sugar in some form. It’s the only craving you can’t satisfy with healthy food, so don’t ever eat sugar free popsicles, jellos, or fruit. At least no fruit for 6 months. Develop a taste for roasted root veggies, even potatoes - all gut bugs need carbs but the better populations love starchy vegetables. Make your treats be things like 85% or higher dark chocolate or potatoes or roasted other root veggies. Stay away from all sweets. Each time you eat, eat protein. Use veggies and beans or seeds as your bite or two of carbs after the protein each time you eat. When I get the munchies now I eat 90% dark chocolate which you can eat in small quantities, and it is no longer a candy. It’s got very little sugar so it’s more of a vegan antioxidant with a pick me up than a sweet. I kept fruit out of my diet as my nutritionist suggested for 6 months. Now I can have one strawberry a day or a handful of blueberries. I’m only 9 lbs from goal. I am so glad that now sweet things make me feel quite ill. I used to have a sweet tooth. I eat at least 50% fat every day, so I know for a fact ain’t fat making us fat. So if I want a triple cream cheese or full fat yogurt (plain) I go for it. Or a juicy steak. I never look for low fat or lean anything. Eat fat, plenty of protein, and some veggie carbs. It will really lower your cravings I promise. Those gut bugs are too powerful when they want something.

I think it was day 8 or 9 before I could comfortably lie flat. I don't even have a recliner so I had to grin it and bear it. Just remember that this will pass. You're going through one of the toughest stages of this journey but an end is in sight.

I eat normally now, and I love it. 1200 calories a day. I'm never hungry. My energy is awesome. But you know...there's a big difference between eating "normally" and eating the way we used to. I used to think it was "normal" to drink a 2 liter of Pepsi over the course of a day, and have...ya know....5 or 6 slices of bread in a day (what's a few PB and J sandwiches?)...maybe some fried chicken...and dessert? Booyah! Bring it on...big servings and seconds, please. And pass the Doritos, dammit....TV means snacks! Yeah, no. What I used to perceive as normal...and what I now realize is normal....are two very different things. My advice...(take it or leave it)... Really figure out what normal is gonna look like for you long term. Do some research. Talk to your nutritionist. Create a new healthy normal. Be very careful of extremes and extremist thinking. Eating the crazy number of calories I used to eat...ain't normal. But eating starvation level calories long term isn't normal either. (I realize for many folks this is a necessary step in the process) Avoid extremes and work toward sane moderation. "Normal" isn't that far away:)

NO! IT'S A TRAP! Seriously though, don't think this way. There is nothing rude about stopping when you're full. Eating to make other people happy is crazy and part of what got us here today. Wash that thought right out. Coping mechanisms: get smaller dishes. Eat with chopsticks. When going out for meals with friends, angle to make it a family-style restaurant or tapas place where everyone eats from communal dishes. If you do go to a meal-per-person place, aim for the soup. Ask the server if you can have their salad mains served as a side salad instead. And if all else fails, just don't care. Eat the five bites and when your colleague looks at your plate and asks if you didn't like the food, tell them you got hiccups halfway through the meal or got so focused on talking and now you're going to bring it home because you want to finish it later. They won't care past that unless you actually look sickly. The one exception I make for this rule is if a family member or friend is cooking for you in their house. In which case I make sure to tell them up front I'm not hungry/ate a lot beforehand/don't want to eat a lot, but that I do want one bite of the dish they slaved over. And when I eat that bite I make sure they know I loved it - most people don't care whether or not you ate in quantity, but that you appreciated the quality. So the compliment matters more than leaving a clean plate. If the other person is paying for your meal, tell them up front you plan to order lightly but deliciously and again, compliment and thank. I've also had a devious amount of success tasting something, saying "oh, this is so good! try some!" and then getting other people to snag bites off my plate. Magically disappearing food!

This was at my little brother’s wedding day at the justice of the peace. So I had to take a pic

I've already posted in the before and after thread. I thought I do a separate thread. Today is my first surgiversary! I've been in a 3 month stall. With RNY, I accomplished my loss without any strenuous exercise (due to a heart condition). I'm 25lbs away from goal weight and I feel great! HW: 334 SW: 319 CW: 205 GW: 180