Nancy Rivers

In general, the pre-op diet is to help shrink the liver and specifically the fat around the liver to make it easier for the surgeon to hold it out of the way while they work on our stomachs. The length of the pre-op diet does vary depending on your surgeon. Most that use it though seem to favor 2 week diets. What the pre-op diet exactly is also varies depending on your surgeon. Some it is a full liquid diet, some it's a low carb, low fat diet, some it's a combination of liquids (Protein shakes) and "real food" like lean cuisine. Your surgeon will let you know what you need to do for any pre-op diet they require.

I believe Jackie has it right. It's referring to how you think about food and the fact that you really do have to change your mindset about food and living in general. The sleeve is a tool that is to be utilized and can help us I believe in changing our mindset and how we think about food.

Thanks. I'll have to find out if any of those stores are in the area. I don't drink coffee, so I never would have thought about coffee places.

Wow, that's terrific! Way to go!

Congratulations on the loss and the new smaller you!

Congratulations! That's quite the achievement!

Hello and welcome to the site! The first step that I did was contact my insurance company to find out if they would cover it. Unfortunately they did not. However, I decided to go ahead anyway. The second step that I did was to Google search for doctors in the area that I wanted to have the surgery done. I then checked out everyone's website and any videos they might have had. I also checked to see what all the practice offered - if it was surgery only or if they also did non-surgical methods of weight loss. For me, that was important because I wanted to know that the surgeon I chose wasn't just doing surgeries. I felt personally, that if the doctor had non-surgical weight loss programs, then he/she would probably be more understanding of me and better able to help me and not just pushing doing a surgery because that's what would fill his pocketbook. At the same time, I also started researching the different types of surgeries since some of the doctors were using terms on their websites that I wasn't familiar with. I then called and made a reservation for his informational seminar. Based on that, I went ahead and scheduled an actual office appointment so that I could sit down and talk with him and his staff. At this point, I'm confident that I made the right choice for me. I hope that was helpful.

Welcome to the site and congratulations on making it through the first step. I don't have Kaiser, so I can't help with your question, but wanted to welcome you.

I hope you get feeling better and everything goes according to plan tomorrow.

Congratulations! I'm glad it's going so well for you. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for posting about your experience. I'm sorry it was so painful for you. Congrats on the success though.

Good luck tomorrow!

You will do great. Congrats on your surgery tomorrow and good luck.

Welcome and congratulations on making the decision. You'll find a lot of information through these boards and a lot of support as well.

As I understand it, nothing will prevent the hair loss, but it will grow back. 50 pounds lost is a great thing! Keep in mind that you are still losing. It's only been 3 or 4 months - and you have lost 50 pounds in that time! There will be times that the weight will come off slower, and other times that it just flies off. Also, as you approach your ideal weight, the weight loss slows. I know it is hard to get exercise in, but could you walk at your lunch time? That would get some exercise in. Also, if you have a yard - try getting a push mower and mowing the grass that way instead of using a rider. Take the steps instead of an elevator if you can. Park the car a bit further from the door when shopping, so you have to walk further. All of these things are small changes that you can make and get more exercise in. Keep your chin up and focus on the positive (I know it's hard). You've lost 50 pounds forever in a short amount of time. That is reason to celebrate!

Congratulations!!! That is fantastic!

I completely understand about the machine. When I was diagnosed with it, I got the machine and tried several different masks. However, I needed to use the full face one, because I'm a mouth breather at night. Short story, I tried it for a year and felt that it wasn't doing me any good (in fact, I felt MORE tired while using it). So, I stopped using it. Although, I know several people that it does help. I hope it does help you. And they say that the sleeve does help with sleep apnea...

Congrats on the loss! That's terrific!

Glad you are feeling better!

Do not change the dosage of metformin without the doctor telling you to do so. Cinnamon is supposed to help with blood sugars.

I have done optifast and it wasn't too bad tasting. My problem with it is that I was still hungry between shakes. But maybe you won't be. Congratulations on the date and good luck!

What kind of veggies are you eating? There are some starchy veggies that will skyrocket blood glucose readings. Potatoes and Corn both skyrocket my sugar, so I have to be careful eating those. Also try eating things that are low glycemic index values - that has always helped me when I discovered my glucose readings running high. http://www.glycemicindex.com/ Hope that helps. I've been a type 2 diabetic for 6 years using 2000mg metformin a day - that's my only medication and it has been working well until the last year (perhaps my body has gotten used to it, or more likely my diet just really went downhill as I was eating a LOT of fast food).

Congratulations on your date! If you go into the food section of the forums, there is a specific forum for Protein and there is a posting pinned there of where to get samples from. Personally, I got a ton of samples from Nashuanutrition.com. So far I have liked them all - but I think I'm probably the weird one when it comes to that. Edit - here's the link directly to the posting for samples: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/1267-places-to-get-liquid-protein-samples/

Congrats on the loss!