M2G

I think since you are only 4 weeks out it would be best to wait OR let it go flat. I used to be a diet soda junkie (well at least 1 per day, sometimes 2) and when I found out that it was a no-go for post-op (at least early out the carbonation can cause discomfort) I just gave it up a month before surgery. I never miss it, (in Sept. 2012 it will be 2 years since I had any soda diet or other) and I just sort of made up my mind that I could live without it. If you are craving it badly, maybe you should just indulge and see what happens. However, I will say the longer you can stay away from the stuff that adds no nutritional value to your diet the better!!!

Thanks for posting that website. I always joke that I like to eat my calories, not drink them. My surgeon's rules were no alcohol for 1 year post-op (he also admitted that it was the most commonly broken rule.) I did it though, and made it through the first year and no alcohol.
For everyone who is struggling, get back to basics, detox from the sugar, carbs and alcohol, and get back on track. Use your tool, don't waste this gift you've been given!

I think there are 18 in a pack and my price recollection is about $24-25ish? They are great. I use the the vanilla on busy weekdays when I rush out of the house at 5:30am and I mix the vanilla with a little Decaf coffee...YUM! I like the chocolate too but I buy the vanilla the most. The premier and the EAS carb control are my two favorite RTD shakes.< /p>

That's incredible, congratulations!! Keep up the good work!

It will take a while but that 3-6oz at a time will actually become NORMAL!!! It's wonderful really. I'm 20 months post-op and what shocks me now is what regular non-surgically-altered people eat in ONE MEAL. It is crazy portions. I know I used to do it too, but it still blows my mind when I see someone eat an entire platter of food!

From what I hear from several people who had the band and are now sleeved: the sleeve does what the band promises to do without all the side effects (like vomiting!) So you get permanent restriction for life. How great is that?
However YOU still need to be in the drivers seat. YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU PUT IN YOUR MOUTH and sometimes it's hard to keep making good choices day in and day out. But having the tool of permanent restriction is real and I would not be where I am today (weight-loss wise) without having 85% of my stomach removed.
BTW, I'm 20 months post-op and have never, never, never ONCE thrown up ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!! My hubby is 15 months post-op and he has thrown up 3 times...all due to overfilling the sleeve and all when he was still not far out from surgery and trying to reconcile what his EYES wanted him to EAT and what his SLEEVE could possibly HOLD. Newbie mistakes that he didn't make again.

I am a bit unusual because my surgeon's orders were NO DRINKING for one year post-op. And I actually followed that rule. (Broken others, but this one was not hard for me...lol.) So my sleeve was 10-22-10 and on 10-31-11 I had my first drink (at a Halloween party.) So I probably drink about once a month or less, and yes it does it hard and fast, so beware, the tiny tummy doesn't need much alcohol!!
About transfer addiction, I guess I can understand it but certainly it seems like something that if you feel predisposed towards something, then there is always help to combat that also. We all make choices, and sometimes the choice is asking for help.

Here is a portion of my other post just in case you don't see it addressing what the requirements were for ME and MY PLAN!
Also our plan stipulated that it was BMI of 35-39.9 with at least ONE co-morbidity (and it actually spelled out which ones would qualify as a co-morb) OR a BMI of 40.0+ or greater, no co-morb needed. I fell into the 40+ category and my husband did too (just barely) but he also had a covered co-morb so he would have been approved even if his BMI had slipped below 40, whereas my BMI HAD to stay above 40+ the entire duration of the 6 months of check-ins. My UHC nurse case manager made sure to spell that out for me that I could NOT slip below 40...I appreciated her honesty. It is ALSO part of the reason that I did not do any type of pre-op diet, of course I could have lost a few lbs since my BMI 4 points above the danger line, but I wasn't planning on risking denial over my BMI!!!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
BMI of 40 would qualify if medically necessary.

The last part probably all you need is a letter from your PCP stating that they THINK surgery is medically necessary...I had to get that from my PCP who was a willing partner in helping me get surgery...thank goodness!!

What a wonderful wonderful thing for her to do. Favoredone, YOU ARE AWESOME!!!
Enjoy your beautiful roses Jasleeve, I love that it turned your day right around. You have an ENTIRE message board praying for you and we will ALL be thinking of you come Mon!!!

I have not been on this thread in a while and there are some very cute girls in dresses here! Sophia, I love that color blue on you, it's amazing!!!
I finally had a chance to wear a LBD (it's actually navy blue, but it looks black in the photo.) -100lbs and rocking a new dress, what could be better?

You look terrific, congrats!

So I had my 18 month post-op checkup this week (it's a smidge late due to scheduling conflicts, and now I"m actually closer to 19 months post-op, but hey better late than never) and was very happy with everything. From my stellar labs, to being -100lbs lighter, there is nothing bad I can say about the sleeve. It has given me hope in the never-ending weight battle. Never before would I have stayed the course through so many stalls (and for me personally there have been plenty!) I'm starting to see my body change even though the pounds are NOT melting away the way they did when I was a few months post-op.
Just thought I would share some photos since that was my biggest inspiration when I was researching the sleeve. The photos just don't lie, they tell the story.

So I had my 18 month post-op checkup this week (it's a smidge late due to scheduling conflicts, and now I"m actually closer to 19 months post-op, but hey better late than never) and was very happy with everything. From my stellar labs, to being -100lbs lighter, there is nothing bad I can say about the sleeve. It has given me hope in the never-ending weight battle. Never before would I have stayed the course through so many stalls (and for me personally there have been plenty!) I'm starting to see my body change even though the pounds are NOT melting away the way they did when I was a few months post-op.
Just thought I would share some photos since that was my biggest inspiration when I was researching the sleeve. The photos just don't lie, they tell the story.

Love this!!!
I was called a "skinny b*tch" by a girlfriend (who knows I've been sleeved) and it made my day too! (Because it was all in fun, but I have NEVER been called that my whole life!)

Shrinkinmamma, I'm going to guess that you aren't doing anything wrong! I say this from experience. At my 4 months post-op I lost exactly -2lbs. Yep. 2. And nope I wasn't eating crap, sliders, grazing or eating too many carbs, etc. I did everything totally BY the BOOK and still had slow results. Just keep doing what you know is right and eventually your weight will drop. Just know that this is for life and that it will take time. We are in this for life and we didn't gain the weight overnight so we aren't going to lose it overnight. HANG IN THERE!!!

I agree this is a touchy subject. On one hand many of us have said that our only regret with this surgery is that we didn't do it sooner! We've spent countless years (and its different for everyone) living life as overweight, obese, morbidly obese or super morbidly obese. Either way, what if we didn't have to endure that?
But I also feel that living life for the last 20 years as obese and morbidly obese, prepared me for the surgery and my subsequent success. Would I have been as successful without having tried *everything* else under the sun?
There are two things that bother me about this video. The first being that this particular little girl didn't look obese to me at all. She looked slightly overweight. I think general rules/guidelines for WLS is usually that you need to be about 100lbs over ideal body weight. I know that there are many, many, many people who undergo WLS who DO NOT have 100lbs to lose, but obviously this girl did NOT have 100lbs to lose to get to an ideal body weight. The other thing that bothered me was this statement "I won the battle and my struggles were over!" I think that is misleading. Even though I've got a surgically altered stomach for the rest of my life, I am still going to always need to stay on top of this. It's too easy to gain the weight back, so I have to make this a priority, healthy eating, exercising, and yes IT IS a battle and I will continue to fight it.
Definitely a topic worthy of discussion.

DITTO!
And FYI, I think the "light" is waaaaay better than the regular, plus you save on fat and cals! Woot!

So I had my 18 month post-op checkup this week (it's a smidge late due to scheduling conflicts, and now I"m actually closer to 19 months post-op, but hey better late than never) and was very happy with everything. From my stellar labs, to being -100lbs lighter, there is nothing bad I can say about the sleeve. It has given me hope in the never-ending weight battle. Never before would I have stayed the course through so many stalls (and for me personally there have been plenty!) I'm starting to see my body change even though the pounds are NOT melting away the way they did when I was a few months post-op.
Just thought I would share some photos since that was my biggest inspiration when I was researching the sleeve. The photos just don't lie, they tell the story.

That is so funny because I had the opposite happen as well. I had lost about -80lbs and was sleeved first. Then my hubby got sleeved and he lost about -40lbs and people could NOT STOP raving about how great he looked!!
However, now that I'm at the -100 mark, the tide is shifting again and hubby stopped loosing at about -70 (he wants to lose about -15 more but has been stalled/maintaining for about 6 months now) and now I'm back to getting all the compliments, lol.
Seems like the last -10lbs has made a big difference....you know how the skinnier you are the more a weight loss shows, and the heavier you are you can lose -30lbs and no one will even notice. Crazy!
Congrats to both YOU and YOUR WIFE!!!

So I had my 18 month post-op checkup this week (it's a smidge late due to scheduling conflicts, and now I"m actually closer to 19 months post-op, but hey better late than never) and was very happy with everything. From my stellar labs, to being -100lbs lighter, there is nothing bad I can say about the sleeve. It has given me hope in the never-ending weight battle. Never before would I have stayed the course through so many stalls (and for me personally there have been plenty!) I'm starting to see my body change even though the pounds are NOT melting away the way they did when I was a few months post-op.
Just thought I would share some photos since that was my biggest inspiration when I was researching the sleeve. The photos just don't lie, they tell the story.

So I had my 18 month post-op checkup this week (it's a smidge late due to scheduling conflicts, and now I"m actually closer to 19 months post-op, but hey better late than never) and was very happy with everything. From my stellar labs, to being -100lbs lighter, there is nothing bad I can say about the sleeve. It has given me hope in the never-ending weight battle. Never before would I have stayed the course through so many stalls (and for me personally there have been plenty!) I'm starting to see my body change even though the pounds are NOT melting away the way they did when I was a few months post-op.
Just thought I would share some photos since that was my biggest inspiration when I was researching the sleeve. The photos just don't lie, they tell the story.

So I had my 18 month post-op checkup this week (it's a smidge late due to scheduling conflicts, and now I"m actually closer to 19 months post-op, but hey better late than never) and was very happy with everything. From my stellar labs, to being -100lbs lighter, there is nothing bad I can say about the sleeve. It has given me hope in the never-ending weight battle. Never before would I have stayed the course through so many stalls (and for me personally there have been plenty!) I'm starting to see my body change even though the pounds are NOT melting away the way they did when I was a few months post-op.
Just thought I would share some photos since that was my biggest inspiration when I was researching the sleeve. The photos just don't lie, they tell the story.

I've lost -80lbs before. And I gained it all back. I've lost -50lbs before, and gained it all back. -25lbs...yep you guessed it...it came back and it brought some friends. I knew I needed a permanent tool to help me fight the battle. You friend doesn't understand this and it's probably not your job to to teach him (nor will you be able to make him understand.) So be polite but firm that you know full well what you are getting into and that if he is your friend he will support your decision. Otherwise you might not have room for him on your journey. Good luck!

I've lost -80lbs before. And I gained it all back. I've lost -50lbs before, and gained it all back. -25lbs...yep you guessed it...it came back and it brought some friends. I knew I needed a permanent tool to help me fight the battle. You friend doesn't understand this and it's probably not your job to to teach him (nor will you be able to make him understand.) So be polite but firm that you know full well what you are getting into and that if he is your friend he will support your decision. Otherwise you might not have room for him on your journey. Good luck!

So I had my 18 month post-op checkup this week (it's a smidge late due to scheduling conflicts, and now I"m actually closer to 19 months post-op, but hey better late than never) and was very happy with everything. From my stellar labs, to being -100lbs lighter, there is nothing bad I can say about the sleeve. It has given me hope in the never-ending weight battle. Never before would I have stayed the course through so many stalls (and for me personally there have been plenty!) I'm starting to see my body change even though the pounds are NOT melting away the way they did when I was a few months post-op.
Just thought I would share some photos since that was my biggest inspiration when I was researching the sleeve. The photos just don't lie, they tell the story.