PdxMan

OK, I see how it is ... nice.

One large cup, here. At least 12 oz, but I didn't return to coffee until I was about a year out. As a matter of fact, I think it is ready right now.

Not sure if you are asking me, but yes, this was my surgeons pre-op diet.

What does your pre-op diet consist of? I was on a lean and green diet for 2 weeks. The first 5 or 6 days seemed impossilbly difficult, but then it gets easier as you realize you are a week away from your life-altering decision. The adrenaline gets going and things get easier. Good luck!

Oh yeah, the green bean casserole has butter in it. I, too, make everything from scratch. I also make croissant rolls, which ... yeah ... butter. I think the only thing on my table that doesn't have butter in it is the pumpkin pie and cranberrys.

Just gotta throw a funny Thanksgiving story in here. Two years ago we had some friends from the Philippines join us for their first Thanksgiving experience. When I cook Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, I do not hold back on the calories or fat. They were absolutely amazed at how much they enjoyed everything and so when they inquired about how everything was made, our conversation went like this: Them: The Turkey was so pretty, how did you do that? Me: Well, you start with some butter ... Them: How do you make the stuffing? Me: Well, you start with some butter ... Them: I loved those mashed potatoes, what do you add to them? Me: Well, you start with some butter ... Them: That gravy was excellent, how do you make it? Me: Well, you start with some butter ... Them: Is that toffee homemade? How do you make it? Me: Well, you start with some butter ... You get the picture ... Yeah, I am an enabler.

I am not going to cite any statistic or reports, as requested, as we have to remember a lot of studies are funded by entities who are looking to push something. Remember the studies stating tobacco was not addictive? Low and behold, it was discovered Phillip Morris funded them ... so ... be careful with studies you find. So, what I can do is relate my personal experience from being sleeved almost two and half years ago. I am not going to talk about my friend's sister's hairstylist who had a client who was banded and ... Anyhew, I was always ravenously hungry eating several meals a day snacking in between. I am one of those who has had the food obsession lifted. My surgeon said this was a possibility but my body would learn a new sense of being hungry. It has. I now feel what I can only describe as being nutritionally deficient. My body feels hungry, not my stomach, nor my head. Sure, I still look at a cookie and love everything about eating it. I still enjoy eating food, but I no longer plan my next meal while eating my current meal, as I used to do. I haven't thrown up once, but did get the slimes once. It was about 6 weeks post when I was on pain medication for another procedure and I ate part of a peach too quickly, too large of bites and didn't chew well enough. I just slipped right back to old habits, but as I said, I was medicated and not thinking. I had terrible reflux pre-sleeve. I had a hiatal hernia repaired during the sleeve surgery. Since then, I have taken two Tums only once. I had worked very late one night, came home ... ate something and went straight to bed. Got the burning in the throat and took two Tums to settle things. Two Tums in over two years ... I used to take two tums every two hours ... The metabolic switch is an interesting thing. Is it because of the sleeve ... hmmm ... I do believe it has happened for me, but I would tend to think it is more related to the fact that I now exercise a heck of a lot more and do more quality exercise. Pre-sleeve, I was never able to sustain my heart rate in the higher zones for a long period of time. But is that because I eat smaller meals more often, which, they say is something useful for a strong metabolism? Interesting thought, there. I don't know why, but I do know that my metabolism is through the roof compared to pre-sleeve life. Compliance to the guidelines for me early out was not a big deal as I underwent this surgery knowing this was my last chance to live a long, healthy life. My Dr was going to put my on all kinds of meds and I just knew in my heart of hearts that I just could not blow this chance. Was this a drastic step, you bet and I totally understand why someone wouldn't get sleeved because of this. But as Butter said, why would I need this portion of the stomach that was excised? I feared that if I was banded, I would find some way to sabotage myself, as I had on all of my other weight loss attempts, and either get the band removed or not get filled to the point where I was in my green zone. I have issues with food. I needed a permanent solution to protect me from myself. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to food. I did ask my Dr (PCP, not surgeon) about the risks of needing the portion which would be removed and she laughed saying I had a better chance of being in a serious car accident than needing the stomach. Even if I got cancer, why would I think that portion of the stomach wouldn't be affected anyway? Like Butter said, I knew obesity was killing me. I'm not so risk intolerant that I am ready to hole up in the house never going out. There are no foods I cannot eat now. I can enjoy everything I did before, just in smaller portions. I take take all medications and do take Vitamins ... just like a normal person! The sleeve has filled every expectation and then some. I could go on and on, but I think I have already ... Good luck to all researching WLS and I hope you make the right decision that is right for you.

I don't know if there was judging or not, but I know I'm sure confused ... I think the bottom line, though, is there has been a history of an unhealthy relationship with food. Would that be correct or oversimplifying? I think the posts asking why she needed the surgery if she doesn't eat that much were also confused by these statements I quoted. But as has been pointed out, what does eating too much really mean? As Butter and Cheri point out, and what other WLS patients with some time under their belt discover, the body truly requires far less food than I ever imagined. We are all different. We have different health issues and take different medications. All these leave can leave our metabolisms messed up and those who have limited activity have these issues compound. The guy who sits next to me eats non-stop at his desk. I'm not kidding. The dude never stops eating. He is a rail while the guy across from me rides his bike into work everyday 10 miles each way. Rides on the weekends. He has his lunch which is always healthy portions and type, yet he is morbidly obese. Now, is this a front he puts up and goes home and binges on crap all night? Perhaps, but I doubt it. How can the person next to me eat no less than 4,000 calories a day and be a rail while the guy across seems to do everything right, yet is morbidly obese? So, overeating, IMO, is consuming more than your body needs to fuel itself while maintaining a proper metabolism. Finding that balance is the key. The sleeve has helped me do that. Not eating is not part of that equation as it throws your metabolism off. I do believe my mind is a scary place to be and to trust myself, early out, would be a practice in sabotage. I could not trust myself to make the right decisions. I needed help.

I'm not sure how to do it from the mobile app, but from a browser, if you click on your name, a little box shows up. At the top, there is a text entry control where you can put in text, then hit Update. You have just updated your status and voila! You show up on the side panel. Click on any user will also show their status as you are viewing there profile. It is not something for debate ... it is what it is. You can always send them a PM if you would like to communicate with them.

See, I think BtB see eye to eye here. I believe a lot of people would think, "Woa! What a cheater!" And his line, "Jeezus I'm Telling on myself", is unnecessary, for me. I don't call this cheating, I call it living. Now, you have to keep it in context. Butter reached goal a long time ago and is in maintenance mode. If this were the post of someone 4 months post-op and is crying about not being able to lose weight, well ... my post would take a different track. Perhaps I am trying to justify my own demons, I don't know ... because I am sitting here typing this while eating a Coffee Crisp (Canadians are so lucky) whilst drinking a chocolate mocha coffee made with half and half. But, I too, am at goal and have been for over a year and a half. Do I consider this a cheat? Heck NO! (Can't find a good swear word that ends in ED here ) I am back to exercising and for the most part, I follow the guidelines pretty closely. But these Coffee Crisps were sent from mephistopheles himself. I have one of these a week. What I do consider cheating, though, is when I eat for the reasons we have been chatting about here recently. When I eat not because I am hungry, but when I am eating just for the sake of eating. When I am looking to be comforted or feel justified in making poor choices. Thank you Misty for your intimate share. Very brave. Just know that your share has helped more people than you can imagine. As the old saying goes, God can move mountains, but bring a shovel. We are all works in progress, so I wanted to congratulate you on picking up your shovel.

That is the thing that kills me in AA. The folks who have been sober for a few years all get together and talk **** about the person struggling to stay in the program. Time away from the days when they abused has given them amnesia. I say to them, "If it is so easy, why did you struggle to get sober? Why couldn't you do it on your own?" Then, trying to get at the root of the addiction takes a lot of strength, but it, too, sometimes gets forgotten over time. Forgetting where I came from is a dangerous thing for me. For food and alcohol. When I can't understand other's struggles, I forget my own and my ego gets the best of me. I don't always need to know why a person struggles (though I like to), but I just have to be present to share my experience, strength and hope. That is the tenet of the 12th step and helps keep me sober, and that is why I participate here. Sharing my story reminds me of where I came from and where I am now. Thank you, GG, and to all who stay and share their story.

Oh, I totally agree men and women get overweight differently. That is one of the reasons why I was asking. Probably my own interpretation, but the whole thought of not understanding why people can't walk away from food would seem to indicate something else going on. But perhaps you can understand this phenomenon more than you let on in your earlier post ...? Maybe? You said yourself you had difficulty passing on cake or those evil little chocolate Little Debbie type things ... right? Is it a large leap to understand that other folks may have the same demons as it relates to other foods? Again, please don't interpret this as judging. You know I'm not the best at massaging things into warm and fuzzy posts, but I am honestly curious about how this works as I also see this in my other 12 step program and am trying to understand this better.

Cowgirl, you sound a lot like me, except for the whole post menopausal thing. I think the only times I ate to the point of pain was Thanksgiving/Christmas, otherwise, I never ate to the point of pain, I just ate often and snacked in between those times. My appetite would be insatiable. After finishing lunch, my thoughts would turn to, "What's for dinner?" If I was bored, I would eat. I would eat to celebrate, I would eat when I was sad. I always had an excuse as to why I was overweight. And just like you said, CGJ, I am amazed at not only that I survive on how much I eat, but actually THRIVE! My mother just shakes her head when she eats with me. "How can you live on so little?" I just tell her, "It shows you how little your body actually needs." I think this is just so true. And this may be one of the things that differentiates "normal" BMI folks who can eat what seems like a lot of food. People may eat 2,000 calories, but does that necessarily mean my body absorbs 2,000 calories? Could it be a "normal" person with a "normal" BMI merely absorbs fewer calories passing the rest? I don't know, but what I do know is that I did not have a healthy relationship with food. There is no denying that. But now ... don't let me kid myself ... I still have issues. But the sleeve helps me mitigate those issues better than I could before.

Wow! Thank you so much for sharing. Your story is a little bit of mine, too, and I'm sure many others can relate. I, too, was (am) a carb addict. It did cause additional hunger for me and my answer was to satiate that with additional carbs. I was a snacker ... big time. Peanut butter and crackers trembled when they entered my home because they knew their time on the shelf was going to be short. And it was. But quantity was also one of my issues. I would easily be over 3,000 calories daily if I honestly added up everything I ate. (snacks don't really count towards calories, do they?) One of the most valuable things I have gained from this journey, now almost 2 and a half years out is a better understanding of how I became morbidly obese and my poor relationship with food. I believe this to be one of the blessings of this procedure which I never knew about. It is my opinion that those who struggle turn a blind eye to confronting these demons and deny their existence. It is difficult for sure, but a necessary part of my journey. Thanks again for sharing!

For me, I cannot eat to "insane" levels, as I did before. I made poor choices and was not able to get up from the table until my plate was clean. I am a person who loves the feeling of being full. This was true pre-sleeve and is still true today. This is one of the primary reasons I got sleeved, to get that feeling with so much less volume. Also, now, with such a small amount of volume, I know I have to get the best bang for my buck, so what I do choose to eat usually is of a much healthier nature. But I totally understand the person who can't walk away from the plate of Cookies or who must finish the entire plate of baked halibut with asparagus. (Healthy meals) IMO, food does something else for them besides meet nutritional needs. That was true for me and I am wanting to learn what some of the other underlying issues may be.

I have a question for GG and Cheri, and please don't interpret my question as judging or saying anything negative. I'm just curious about your background and am summarizing here. You both mentioned you don't understand why people can't walk away from food, so I am curious as to how you came to choosing a bariatric procedure. I know for me, if it were as simple as choosing not to abuse food, I would have never needed WLS ... I would have merely chose not to overeat or make poor choices. Unfortunately, I tend to believe other folks who have WLS have a similar background as myself, so I am curious as to your story. I know I am asking a very personal question here, so please do not feel compelled to answer if you don't want to. Again, I am not judging you in as much as I am judging myself for making a poor assumption.

You (and others who posted the same) are absolutely correct about the mis-information. That is why I posted the suggestion for those researching VSG to explore the threads over in the Sleeve forums. As was pointed out, I think each WLS group has their opinions of the other WLS options partially based in fear which skews the truth. But, IMO, I would caution regarding your own doctor as the best person to ask questions regarding WLS. Most doctors are going to give advice on what they know, which, sounds reasonable ... right? But, therein lies the problem. How can they give advice about something they have never researched? My PCP is the top doctor at the clinic (over 100 doctors total) and he gave me the "eat less and exercise more". Yeah, been there, done that a hundred times. So, I went to seminar on WLS. The top surgeon here in Portland, Emma Patterson. She is pushing the RnY procedure ... hard. She gave the old, "Gold Standard" in bariatric procedures and so much history to go on. Again, I was like, "Yes, there is a lot of history on RnY, but, it isn't good history ... IMO." It was a procedure she had done many times and knew it well, so she is going to push it. No, at the time of my seminar, almost 3 years ago, there wasn't nearly as much VSG history, but what was there was very good and not to be ignored. After all, rotary phones were the gold standard for a very long time, too ... then touch tone phones, then ... The bottom line is everybody has to do what they feel comfortable with for their own story. Nobody should tell anybody what to do, with the exception of telling them to do a thorough research on WLS. I have gotten more bad advice from doctors than good, so, remember, doctors are fallible people, just like the rest of us. They are not gods. Use them as 1 resource. Don't be skewed by unreasonable fear. Every procedure has risks. Walking to a restaurant has risks, too, as I point out in my post earlier on this thread. We all have to decide what is reasonable and what our tolerance for risk is. We need to right-size this risk, too. How many other things in life have a 1 in 10,000 chance of occurring and am I willing to stop doing those things, too, because I am risk-intolerant? I'm not judging, I'm just saying ...

Wow ... this is such a difficult question to answer. Surely you know there is not just one answer. I can only relate my own experience. I think the biggest thing to point out, though, is my pre-sleeve expectations and my post-sleeve reality were miles apart. I've had emotional turmoil as I have confronted my issues relating to abusing food. The denial of the circumstances which led to a life of morbid obesity. Then, as I entered into the world of "normal" BMI, dealing with the changes in how people treat you ... and then how I reacted to other morbidly obese people ... It's a crazy journey, for sure. Add to it all the hormones which are stored in your fat getting released ... losing hair ... I could go on and on ... My emotions, outlook, self-view ... everything was a wild roller coaster ride. I'm about 2 and half years out and I believe things have settled in, but the old stinkin' thinkin' can come up at a moments notice. That is when it is so nice to have the sleeve to help keep me in check. I hope my experience helps, but this is just a vast, personal question where everyone is going to have their own experience.

If you go to my gallery, you will see a picture of me in the "After" section where I have a little hip pouch which contains it. There is a tube going from it, through my shirt and into me, just below my breastbone. It drips medicine directly onto the stomach. It is (was) part of Dr. Umbach's pain management. The ball of medicine takes about 3 days to empty. He told me I could yank it out myself or he would do it when he saw me on Monday. I was a little freaked out at the thought of it being yanked out by him, let alone me doing it myself! But ... it was worry for nothing as it wasn't a big deal. I've had band-aids removed which were worse ...

Traveling was fine. Wear the TED socks and walk around on the plane every 20 minutes or so to avoid blood clots. My surgery was at 8:00 and I was discharged around noon and back at the Golden Nugget by 12:30. Took a 4 hour nap, woke up, took a shower and the wife and I went out to dinner. I told the waiter I had a late lunch and wouldn't be eating. No problem. We walked all over downtown and I even played a few hands of blackjack. The next day we went up to the strip visiting a lot of the casinos. Walked no less than 5 miles, I'm sure. Sunday, of the same. Met with Umbach Monday morning and he removed pain pump and final check. He is very close to the airport now, so it is a quick jaunt to the airplane. Good luck!

I am around 2 and a half years out, so only half way to your 5 year veteran request, but I can give you some of my experience thus far. My highest weight was just over 300 pounds with a BMI right at 40. I went into maintenance mode 8 months post at 175 pounds. I exercised and followed all guidelines pretty well during this time. At this point, I was eating about 2,000 calories a day and maintaining fine. About 8 months later, I need back surgery due to a ruptured disc on L4/5 followed by another back surgery 3 months later. This sidelined my activity and due to my inactivity and NOT changing my eating habits, I quickly gained 10 pounds. The good news for me, and I think those with the sleeve is, though, is that I saw that 10 pounds and went back to the basic guidelines of eating as I did when I first had the sleeve: eating lean Protein first, not drinking with meals and chewing well. I also dropped my calorie intake to about 1,500. I quickly dropped 5 of those pounds. I am now 1 year past my first surgery and am back to exercising. I have lost the other 5 pounds and am back to the 2,000 calorie mark. I have excellent restriction when I follow the guidelines. I have no doubt that at any time I should gain weight for whatever reason, I will be able to drop that weight with the assistance this tool (sleeve) gives me. I totally understand your hesitance as we have all lost weight only to regain it and then some. I can say, for myself, the sleeve gives me the power to not abuse food the way I used to. I know that any failure in maintaining my current weight will be attributed to what is happening between my ears and not the failure of the VSG. I think the reason why you don't see many people talking about their life 5 years post is because they have moved on. They are living their life. There are many out there as this was (is) the first step of a duodenal switch, which has been done for years. Many of those patients just never got the second half of the surgery because they had reached their goal. Of course, do your research, but I think it will show you there is a trend moving towards the sleeve. I know I love mine and how it has empowered me regarding my relationship with food. Good luck with whatever you decide.

My insurance did not offer bariatric services. None, zip, notta. I couldn't even go see the dietician post-op because I had WLS surgery ... But, I couldn't afford the $10,400 they were charging for outpatient in Las Vegas (I didn't want to go to Mexico) so I took a second on the house to pay for it. The family buckled down for the next 20 months and we were able to pay it off. Just the other night my wife told me it has been the best $10K we ever spent. Don't let getting denied stop you. Find a way to finance it. You can do it.

Ah, yes. My Grandpa had a cabin on the South shore if East Okoboji. We are going to be staying in it for a reunion at the end of July. I love that area, but it is so funny explaining to people that there is a resort area in Iowa. They just look at me like a confused dog turning their head ... Huh? Really? Iowa?

For all my liquids, the first day or so, I had to use a syringe. I had liquid lortab (apple flavored) and used the syringe they gave me for that. Each one of us are going to have their stomach's respond to the trauma differently. Some folks, like myself and I am guessing you, are swellers. Their tissue swells more than average thus the current amount of space in the stomach is minute. Tiny. Trying to force things will only make it worse. It kills me when I would read responses from people who could drink a whole glass of water on the day of or one day post surgery. They are not swellers such as us. You can't take an anti-inflammatory because one of the functions of the swelling is helping to prevent leaks. So, what can you do? Just keep taking tiny amounts. Constantly. Walk around with a syringe of water (I think I actually used Gatorade) and squirt tiny amounts in. As mentioned, the first days are tough. Everything is different now, so don't expect things to be the same.

This is funny. I just have to add don't be disappointed when you discover the love of your life doesn't put the cap back on the toothpaste, puts the toilet paper on backwards and doesn't rinse the can opener after opening a can of tuna. In other words, your expectations usually far exceed the reality. The wake up is usually harsher than expected. There will be times when you sit there and say, "Who the hell did I marry? What was I thinking!?" Then, you catch them checking you out and the honeymoon is back on again. The sleeve life is a roller coaster of emotions, just like marriage, for sure. Being a sleever, I made the commitment for life ... just like my marriage. I love my sleeve just about as much as I love my wife. Seriously BTW, she just said last night it was the best $10K we ever spent. She loves it, too!