Chimera

Best of luck to you! I think I lost about 14 lbs in the two weeks prior to my sleeve surgery - my surgeon has his patients do Atkins induction to shrink the liver and I guess it worked like a charm, they said my liver was a tiny little thing on surgery day.

Do your best with the hunger - drink oceans of liquid. Powerade zero, crystal lite, water with lemon - it is the secret - that and drastically eliminating carbs (which make you hungry). If you can cross over into ketogenic state you are no longer hungry and this is where you start changing your body chemistry to turn into a fat burning machine

I was seriously bummed when I outgrew a whole slew of clothes - and it keeps on happening but I think I like my new ones a whole lot better! The hard part is sticking to only buying jeans and tops with stretch so they last longer. My strategy has been get one that fits - and also one that is smaller - 2 to sometimes 4 sizes. this is when I bought a pair of size 12 jeans that fit well - and realized that when I put on the size 6 that was the new goal size that they fit even better...go figure. This big rump can now wear a size 2 in certain sizes, which is crazy! Congrats on approaching Onederland:)

Interesting article - I spend a lot of time with "fitspo" types of imagery on Pinterest and Tumblr and I can see how it can influence you.

I was a weepy mess when I read it as well - I am so glad you enjoyed it. It is hard work to learn to love one's body, at least I know it is for me.

Indeed life is so much richer when your health is better!

Welcome Serena

It's a long process isnt it? It was a year and a few months of prep for myself - i know how it feels. I personally think the pre-op diet is the worst - certainly if you have a doc who puts you on weeks of liquids as some do. My own Dr. is a big fan of strict Atkins induction for shrinking livers pre-op and I guess my own was a teeny tiny thing when they went in - and I lost 14 lbs in about 11 days on mine (I think I lived on chicken and cheese - much like now haha, only much smaller portions

Don't worry - do the best you can. I think the pre-op diet is much harder than post-op - when you actually dont want to eat anymore

When I started I had 188 lbs. of excess weight to lose - now I have 87 more lbs. to go to hit goal. It does slow down a bit - so it is very important to follow post-surgery nutritional and excercise directions - I am glad that I had a restricitve rather than a restrictive/malabsorptive procedure.

My surgeon was thrilled when he saw that my insurance covered vsg - even though I started with a BMI of almost 57 - it was still the choice he suggested due to the fact that complication rates are lower and the losses are statistically coming very close to the gut-rearranging procedures. Best of luck to you!

Not to worry - I gained 20 lbs in the hospital with all of the shenanigans that occurred after my surgery (internal bleeding + multiple blood transfusions) - You dont really have a choice to lose - just focus as much as you can on healing, hydration, and getting as much protein as you can in.When you look at the numbers after your first month i bet you will be surprised

I hear ya! i quit smoking about 10 months ago after a 28 year, 2 pack a day habit. Are you using any medications or nicotine replacment to help? I saw my Dr. and got a prescription for Wellbutrin (which I am still on as I guess it is a positive receptor for weight loss stuff too) and I used Nicotine patches at the same time. I have a hard time with the gums and lozenges, as they burned my mouth and tummy - plus i wanted to break the habit of anything going into my mouth

One thing that can help is when a craving hits - notice it and time how long it lasts. The intensity is usually not that long - 3-5 minutes and then it subsides. The longer out you get the farther apart they become. I really think the medication plus the weaning off of the nicitine with the patches helped - stacking multiple aids really makes a difference.

Wishing you the best - hang in there!

Feeling great now I can absolutely identify with the folks who are having a rough go of it post-op.

My weight was 318 when I started - and this morning I was 219, one more lb. and I am in the century club - then another 18 down and I will be under 200 for the first time in a looooong time. My husband was the same starting weight (we really are twins lol.) and this morning he was 207 - and is now just overweight, no longer obese. We had no idea that these great changes would happen so rapidly.

A great recipe if you feel the urge for crunchy-salty is the cheese nip recipe that has its own thread in the recipe section here. I take one Kraft Sharp single - slice it into 16 little squares, place them on a piece of parchment paper and nuke them in the microwave for 50 seconds - they are little puffy, crunchy and yummy - and the carbs are low compared to a lot of snackish things.

Sounds like detoxing - aka the carb flu, which is horrid and why it is so hard for us to stop eating them. I am not sure what kind of pre-op your surgeon has you doing (mine was Atkins induction with clears 24 hours prior to surgery) but it gets better. Just remember to drink as much non-caloric fluid as you can get in ( I highly recommend chugging, as you will not be able to have the opportunity to do this again for a long time - I can do a mini-chug now at 3 months post op.) The fluids always seemed to make me feel better.

Just remember the purpose of the pre-op diet - to shrink your liver for optimal surgery results with fewer complications - soon enough you will be on the other side!

Best of luck! Pre-op can be challenging, but is so worth it after it is behind you. And after - you wont want to eat anyway

The first week I drank Crystal Lite mixed very weak, I bought protein chicken soup broths from my Dr's office, I would strain out the noodles and little veggies and just have the broth. Two weeks after surgery I was still having this - but added protein shakes - I tried a few different ones, but found I was a bit lactose intolerant the month post vsg (this has now passed and I can drink regular milk with no distress) we get the Premier protein shakes from Costco, I tried to get as much in as possible but it took a while until I could finish one.

At 3 weeks my diet was advanced to soft foods - first thing I tried was a one egg omelette - I managed about 1/3 before I was done, now at about 2.5 months out I can eat a whole egg if I take my time - my surgeon used the larger bougies, he used a 40 on my husband and myself, we still have terrific restriction.

I would focus on hydration right now and try your best with protein, you will get more in as you heal

I gained 20 lbs - had two blood transfusions, got home and had an incision open up that decided it was old faithful (good reason to finally get rid of all those ratty old towels haha)

I think it was gone within the second week home? At a month out I was down 23, and that is not including that hospital blow up weight.

I was allowed to take a bath at 6 weeks - I still had scabs up until then.

I am not sure where you are in the northwest but if you are close to Seattle there is a great support group at Swedish hospital that I attend on the second saturday of the month - they also meet on the 4th tuesday in the evenings. I find them to be really helpful. I was looking for a link to the page with the dates - you can call them and they will add you to an email newsletter if you wish.

http://www.swedish.org/Services/Weight-Loss-Services#axzz21YFUmv9Z

hang in there - I felt like hell for about a month and a half, then things started to get better.

Thats great Lizzy You had surgery the day after me, and we have a similar amount we want to still lose - Did your co-workers notice? I don't return to my teaching job until faculty meetings begin in late august so I have feeling some folks may notice my losses. Best of luck with your continued good health!

I had filet mignon yesterday and I certainly am not 4 months out - my nutritionists says as tolerated, and I tolerated it just fine Just have to chew, chew, chew. I know you are probably sick of hearing people say it gets better, but it does - I found that weeks 3 through 4 was where things began to normalize - that was when the diet was advanced. the liquid stage is mentally exhuasting.

There are many different pre-ops diets out there - lots of surgeons like you to be on liquids, my Dr. has his patients follow Atkins induction style eating for two to three weeks prior to surgery - with clear liquids the day before. I lost 14 lbs in a little under two weeks and I guess my liver was teeny-tiny from what the PA told me.

I was really happy to still get to eat - it was good practice to cut carbs quite a while before surgery. Another route seems to be 2-3 protein shakes a day and lean protein and green veggies for dinner - no starches - I ate like this quite a bit, used Premier protein drinks and would have grilled chicken, turkey, beef for dinner - also ate a lot of eggs, and cheese as well.

274 the moring of surgery - 3 days post was 294 due to internal bleeding and the hospital staff pushing massive fluids. After the first few weeks of madness I was down about 23 lbs from my surgery day weight in 3-4 weeks. I think the first two you should not worry to much - our bodies are so wacked out by the stress of surgery, healing, and trying to get fluid/elimination/protein into a groove that I think numbers can be deceiving early on.

Best of luck with your surgery - sip,sip,sip, and walk as soon as you can and often.

A very popular shake is the Premier Protein shake you can get at Costco. For the chocolate flavor it is 160 cals, 30 g protein, 5 g. carb, and 3 fat I believe, the vanilla has 3 g. carbs. They are RTD in paper boxes and one of the more palatable protein shakes of the baskillion brands I have tried, they also give the biggest protein bang for the buck and believe me, you need it post op.

If I have a hard time with them I mix it with a lactose free milk (I am not a person who likes sweets at all, so getting protein shakes in is a chore for me) The goals my team has for their sleeve patients is 600-800 cals per day, 80-100 g of protein, and 48-64 oz or water per day. They dont mention carbs and fat too much, because the rule is always protein first, and if you follow that rule, there is no room for much in the way of carbs., I don't worry about fat. I am lucky if I can hit 60 g of protein post op - it really can be tough to do early on - I am 6 weeks out from surgery on Monday.

Best of luck on the pre-op liquid phase, it can be rough - do not be surprised if your tastebuds change dramatically after surgery, mine did and all of my tasting research was not as helpful as I had hoped because basically everything tasted bad lol. Unjury protein chicken soup became my best friend post surgery

I had surgery on the 21st as well and am still creeping along - hoping energy comes back soon. I too think I am a pretty slow healer, I go in for my 3 week check up today so it will be nice to see how how I am doing and have my diet advanced and find out when I can take a swim in the tub

I am down just shy of 20 lbs since surgery so far.

Good luck guys - from what I hear this gets easier as time passes

Every dr. is different - we did not have to do liquid before surgery except the day before (clears) - did atkins induction with 20 or less carbs a day. Fat is not the problem - carbs are. Watch the bread - the eggs are most likely a non issue.

I think you will most likely be fine - the pre-surgery liquid diet is rough, hang in there