achopp

Hi everyone, I haven't checked out the board in a while, I've been out living the life I was too fat to live before surgery. On 8/30 I had my 5 month anniversary. I started the pre op diet on 3/26 at 295 lbs and 5 months later I'm at 200 lbs. It's actually hard to believe that I weighed 95 lbs more just 5 months ago! So until about a month ago I followed a very strict post op diet that was 600-800 calories, 60+ grams of Protein, and 30 carbs or less. I wasn't even exercising and I consistently lost around 3 to 3.5 pounds a week. Most days I only ate 650-700 calories because I just wasn't that hungry. The problem was that I started getting bored with the food choices I had available to keep under 30 carbs. So I paid a visit to my nutritionist about a month ago and she told me to forget about counting carbs altogether and just worry about getting 800 calories and 60g protein. I got really excited about the carb liberation and went out and bought a bunch of low-cal, high-carb foods. Everything went great for the first couple of days, but then I noticed that I was hungry a lot. I was eating all of my 800 calories and still feeling hungry at the end of the day. This kind of freaked me out so I attempted to revert back to my carb controlled diet, but found that I wasn't as satiating as it was before my high carb experiment. Now I don't know what to do. Even though I've lost 95 lbs I still have 65 to go, so I'm nowhere near done. The worst part is that I'm starting to get that panicky anxiety feeling like I'm out of control of my eating; something I never wanted to feel again. I'm so scared that I'm back in the world of dieting and struggling, and that my weight loss will stop at this 200 pound range, and that I'll never get to my goal weight. I just want to go back to the feeling that I had before I stopped counting carbs. I'm sorry for this rant, I'm just scared that I jumped to a maintenance type diet too soon, and now I've ruined my tool. Any advice or suggestions are very very appericated. Thank you !!!

Thanks, the weight loss thus far has been almost effortless! I had my surgery through St. John hospital. Have you checked out the St. John program yet? I highly recommend it. I went to seminars at Beaumont and Henry Ford too, but in the end I picked St. John because it seemed like they had the most experience with the sleeve, and the program was organized very nicely. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Hey there! I live in Ferndale.

I take Synthroid, and for the first month and a half I crushed and put it in apple sauce. At about 2 months post-op I started swallowing pills again. I was told before surgery that I would never be able to swallow a pill larger than an m&m again, but I've been talking pills of all sizes, even big oval fish oil capsules, with no problems.

Without insurance they totalled around $3500-$4000. The charges were from pathology and anstesia departments of the hospital, and then from the actual pathology and anstesia doctors. I submitted the charges to my insurance and they paid them, even though the code number used was the 43775 sleeve code. I don't know why they paid, my insurance denied the sleeve.... If my insurance hadn't of paid the extra charges I would have been really mad. I was never told that the $12,000 wasn't all inclusive. Dr. Meguid did a great job and I think he is a great surgen, but the insurance coordinator, nutritionist, and post-op care aren't so hot. I hate going to his office for follow up visits because everytime I end up sitting in the waiting room about one and a half hours past my appointment time.

I totally understand your frustration. My insurance denied me for the surgery and I had to pay $12,000 up front to have my surgery scheduled. I thought it was a flat fee because I was never told otherwise, but then I started getting bills from pathology and anesthesia. I actually submitted those bills to my insurance company, and they paid for them (I don't know why) so you might want to try that.

I thought the unjury chicken Soup tasted like a salty chemical brine, so you might want to buy a sample of that first. You could buy some unflavored whey Protein powder and add it to chicken or beef broth, or soup. The GNC brand is barley noticeable in soup and smoothies.

I use Silk brand unsweetened soy milk and there are only 80 calories and 4 carbs per cup as opposed to fat free milk which has like 13 carbs and 90 calories per cup. I only use it to save on carbs.

I know what you mean, I feel like I'm eating the same things over and over again too. Here are some of my usual foods: Oh Yeah! Protein Wafer Bars, string cheese, Mama Lupe's low carb tortilla with scrambled egg and tomato inside or deli meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo inside, Isopure rtd clear Protein drinks, Isopure zero carb Cookies and cream powder mixed with unsweetened Silk soy milk, low sodium v8 juice (only on occasion for it's high potassium content), Big Mac with no bun, Wendy's grilled chicken sandwich with no bun, Wendy's chili, an occasional piece of dark chocolate, Only 8 frozen yogurt, "pizza" made on a low carb tortilla with a small amount of pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, tuna salad, chicken salad, Whole Foods Mahi Mahi frozen burger patties, strawberries (occasionally), cherries (occasionally).... I also have a ton of diet foods and products from places like dietdirect.com that I'm using up. Some of these foods, like the pretzels and the milk chocolate crunchies, make good high protein, lower carb Snacks and have been lifesavers. If you don't mind spending some money you should check out their website. I haven't had any breads, cereals, grains, pastas, fruits (except the ones mentioned above), or starchy veggies in ages. I'd like to eat some for variety, but these foods have slowed my weight loss down in the past.

I have Premera BC. I was denied the VSG surgery because Premera considers it "investigational". I appealed their decision 3 times, including one appeal that was done by my surgeon. I also appealed to an Independent Review Organization (IRO). Unfortunately, all my appeals were in vain and Premera's "investigational" VSG policy held up. I ended up having to pay for the surgery myself. I was not a band to sleeve revision patient though, so maybe there is a difference. I was also told by Premera that as long as I met the BMI qualifications (which I did) and had a letter of medical necessity (which I also did) the surgery would be covered. When my surgeons office submitted the paperwork though it came back denied with the reason being the investigational bs. They totally got my hopes up and then broke my heart. Anyway, I hope you get approved but I just wanted to let you know that Premera is pretty firm with their policy regarding VSG. :thumbdown:

My only regret is not having the surgery 2 years earlier!

I had a stall that lasted 15 days. It started right after the second week post-op. I didn't lose as much as an ounce in those 15 days and I was following the rules 100%; carbs under 30, 60+ grams of Protein. I was only getting about 400-450 calories at that time and folks on this board suggested I up my calories to 600-800 and start exercising. I increased my calories and started exercising with a 15min DVD, and the next day my weight was down 2 pounds. I haven't stalled since. I didn't think my stall would ever end either. Don't worry, you'll start dropping weight again soon.

Hey all, I got on the scale tonight to find I'm down 42 pounds from the day I started my pre-op diet on 3/16! I almost can't believe it! Tomorrow will be 6 weeks post-op for me and I have not one regret on getting this surgery. Compared to all of the diets I've tried and failed on in the past, the last 6 weeks with the sleeve have been so easy! I finally feel like a normal person who doesn't think about food all of the time. I have been very diligent on tracking every calorie, carb, and gram of Protein since surgery, but I've been so-so with exercising. My goal for the next 6 weeks is to work out six days a week so I can keep this downward scale momentum going!

I count a carb as a carb. When I did Atkins a few years ago I did the whole net carb thing and it slowed my weight loss waaaay down and kicked me out of ketosis. I think that some people are sensitive to the net carbs and some aren't. Right now I'm keeping my total carb count under 30 and it's been working pretty well.

I would also be curious to know why some of us can't tolerate plain water post-op and others can. I am one of the lucky ones who hasn't had a problem, water tastes and goes down just the same as pre-op. I bought a ton of Crystal Light pre-op anticipating the water problem and I haven't used any of it. Do you guys have the same problem with ice chips?