Chimera

Hang in there you guys with the pre-op diet - it gets soo much better, and easier after your sleeve.

Hope you are feeling better soon - I know just what it feels like to be hit by that freight train sip as much as you can, take those pain meds, and walk as much as you can tolerate - very soon, the pain will be a memory.

Update: November 8th, 2012 - this morning weighed in at 204, down 17 since I posted on 9/7 - I may need to revise my goal! I absolutely need to move more - that is a big goal for 2013 for me and my famly. Keep going strong gang - even if we stall those losses pick back up again if we stay the course

There isnt really a hard time anymore - now it is a relief that I am no longer controlled by an obsession with food. Feels good to be free Before surgery I would say anytime i tried to do the all liquid thing - what a nightmare and I feel for the folks who have to do weeks of shakes for their pre-op, its torture. For my pre-op my doc has his patients do Atkins induction - hellooo chicken breasts and cheese lol - wasnt so bad.

I am currently in love with Lean Cuisine's Roasted Turkey and Vegetables - its their new culinary collection. It can be a bit hard to find meals that dont have some form of white/grain based carb - as i never met a noodle I didn't like - this one is the bomb! Its 200 cals. 16g Protein, 18g carbs, 7 g fat. http://www.leancuisine.com/Products/Details.aspx?ProductID=10382 I can finally eat a whole one - early on one meal took 2-3 days lol.

My husband and I did not have to do liquid - but rather Atkins induction (20 carbs or less) and as much Protein as you can get in. Just did Clear liquids right before surgery. Liquid or solid doesnt really matter - its dropping the carbs and upping the protein in order to shrink you liver for the surgery to come. In 12 days I think I lost 15 lbs before surgery. Best of luck!

Well done! I would be careful with the snacks and the carbs. I am not sure what your NUT has you at for protein - mine has us at 80 a day which leaves very little room for much else. I just hit 5 months out and notice i can eat more too - I certainly can eat a whole lot more non-protein food than i can of dense protein - I too point to carbs as the font of all evil - certainly processed ones, they just make me hungry and stall my WL.

I had a few complications - internal bleeding post surgery which kept me in the hospital for a week, and had an incision open up when i got home which was a bloody mess (literally - BMI was close to 57 when i started. My husband had his vsg two weeks before i did and sailed though with no problems at all. We had our surgery in the states - a good friend has a high BMI (in the 70's) and they won't operate on her in Mexico - told her she needs it to be lower for a safe surgery. Even with the complications I experienced, which are nothing compared to some - and those seem to be a fairly small percentage - it is the best thing we have ever done for ourselves and i would do it again in a heartbeat.

Best of luck you guys The pre-op diet portion of the show can be challenging - it's awesome at the same time because you drop weight like crazy and get your liver into surgery shape as well. when i started mine after a year of prep - it was like okay here we go, this is real now Best thing my husband and I have ever done for ourselves, bar none!

My advice is to look at your loses at one month out - I gained 20 lbs in the hospital with all of the shenanigans i went through with complications. don't worry - you dont have much of a choice but to lose once the post-surgery madness settles down. I am appoaching 5 months out - stalled the entire month of September and am still meeting my own personal WL goals this month. Your sleeve is a permanent tool, it doesnt go away

Sleeved May 21 - down 62 lbs since surgery, 106 total including pre-op.

The clear liquid portion of the show is to clear out your digestive system - not specifically shrink the liver. The liver shrinking comes from the reduction of carbohydrates - most bariatric patients have some extent of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/syndrome and this is what "unpuffs" it. The incision high on the tummy just under your bra-line is where that retractor is inserted - and its a skinny little instrument narrower than a pen. All surgeons vary in their advice - my doc has his patients eat solid food (Atkins induction - 20 g of carbs or less a day) with clears the day before surgery. I lost 14 lbs in about 10 days and surgical team said my liver was teeny...I ate a lot of chicken during my pre-op - and premier Protein shakes. Post surgery - I follow 600-800 cals a day, 80g protein, 40 g or less carbs...move the body and as much Fluid as you can get in, minimum 64 oz.

An interesting situation has also cropped up at home - my hubby also had a vsg two weeks before I did, and he has never stalled, in fact his loss is so dramatic that people at work no longer even recognize him. Neither of us had any idea he would be so close to goal this early (today is his 5 month surgiversary) we had the same start weight of 318 - his surgery weight was 10 lbs more than my own at 284 - and he is now 196. People are continually remarking on his transformation - while very few comment on my own ( hey 100+ lbs is no mean feat!) - maybe it is because I am a professor amongst a whole group of very polite academians who might think it rude to comment. I think he is feeling guilty because I have been a bit sad and frustrated with my stalls - so i try my best to keep up the cheerful even when I feel disapointed simply becasue i know he will take it on and feel bad Work and life has been very stressful and busy lately - and i dont see much of a let up any time soon.../sigh. pms certainly does not help matters lol.

/comfort Lisa we had our surgery on the same day - and I am at 58 down from surgery weight (the rest was pre-op MWL) so I know exactly how you feel. I stalled for a month and only a few days ago the scale started to come down again - it really is maddening, you do the same thing that has been giving your success and suddenly it stops working - upping the Water, the Protein and giving myself the peppiest pep talks i could muster has helped. we will get there!

Those lasagne cupcakes at two weeks out might hit your little sleeve like a flaming 10 ten ton brick, as they are very dense Everyone has a different experience but those would have been waaaay too much at two weeks out, the edges of the wontons get quite crispy and hard, even with a lot of chewing it was hard to get them down - Nowadays I also like them a little too much, so i will be saving them for a maintenance recipe Ricotta bake (from Eggface), chicken salads all different types, and ground meats and cheeses - ground turkey with a bit of spaghetti sauce and cheese was really satisfying. The little egg quiches from the South Beach cookbook were yummy and easy to eat for me as well.

Bel12 my husband was approved and they scheduled him as soon as the surgeon had an opening - another patient cancelled so it was 2 weeks. If you have all of your pre-op hoop jumping done they usually green light you. For myself I had to wait a bit as i am a college professor and wanted to wait until classes adjourned for the summer break.

Make sure you are getting tons of liquid in - minimum of 64 oz. - when I started to feel hunger I started trying to up my intake to half of my body weight in oz. of Water per day. I eat a little snack every two hours as well to quell the hollow feeling. These two things seem to help for me.

Here's a link that can help - http://www.livestrong.com/article/452241-how-to-calculate-the-percentage-of-excess-weight-loss/ So far I have lost 67.6% of my excess, I am approaching my 5 month out date - I did lose some on my pre-op plan but it is all part of the same package for me so i include it. To hit my surgeons marks I need to lose another 36 lbs by next May 21, 2013. He says that good marks are 50% excess down in the 6 months following surgery The next 25% during those next 6 months - so 75% of excess weight down at one year surgiversary. And final 25% during the next year - filling out the 2 year sweet spot of losing with our vsgs. I like the way he puts it - that you will lose all of it in time - as opposed to the percentage that you will lose and that is it. What is that number 60%, 70% I know they probably vary widely.

Here is the general gist of what my Doc wants - mind you all Dr.s are different. Here are my doc's recommendations on supplements: Multivitamin mineral supplement - bariatric specific or 200% dose of standard multivitamin. Should be 100% of at least 2/3 nutrients. Should contain at least 400 IU of Vitamin D, 400 mcg folic acid, 1.2 mg thiamine B-1, 15 mg zinc, and 18-27 mg. Iron. It should also contain copper and selenium. If you take 200%, it should not exceed 10,000IU Vitamin A, or 1,000 mg (1500IU) of vitamin E. Elemental Iron - ASMBS guidelines call for a minimum of 36 mg per day. For menstruating women or those at risk of anemia total intake should be 50-100 mg per day. B-50 complex daily - the B50's I take are Bariatric Advantage in capsule form and have 50 mg each of thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin and 400 mcg of folate, 250 mcg of B12, 500 mcg Biotin, and 50 mg of pantotheric acid. also contains choline 25 mg, inositol 25 mg. B-12 - 500 micrograms per day or 1,000 microgram injection monthly calcium citrate - 1,500 to 2,000 mg calcium citrate Vitamin D: Dose dependent on labs - since we are in Seattle I am still taking 10,000 IU's a day in liquid form. I am getting ready for my 6 month labs soon - I have dropped the D down to 5k, and am taking Celebrate multi-vitamin capsules instead of chewables 9they can make me want to yak if i take them all at once, so i space them out) and the Citrical petites - which are not really all that petite lol. I still take Omeprazole (prilosec) daily, it will help to keep you from forming ulcers post surgery.

My surgeons office is pretty militant on the vitamins - they dont allow things like Flintstones, many chewables, etc. - let me go see if i can find my big list in an old post.

This just might have to go in my sig

Bariatric surgery today is light years ahead of where it was even a few years ago. I too thought that mortality stats, complication stats were very high until i went to my information seminar. My chances of dropping dead were much higher doing nothing that lying on my surgeons operating table. In a very short amount of time I now have lost so much that I no longer would qualify for surgery at my Dr.s office. I wish you courage to make the changes for a healthier life - surgery or no surgery. I was scared to death, but it is bar none, the best decision i have ever made in my life. Prior to vsg - every day was fear - now those days are getting brighter

Best of luck to you!

I agree - I enjoy a healthy debate, it is good to discuss these topics because they are issues that we all deal with everyday. I know for myself that getting to my goal weight is VERY important - and when i started I had 188 excess lbs to lose, that is quite a journey so I need to be serious and I need to be brutally honest with myself in regards to my food consumtion, its nutitional value, Water, Vitamins, exercise etc. If I am not I will not get to where I want to be - i am getting too old to keep farting around with this dance with the food. I am human and am always stumbling at this but hopefully I will reach that elusive goal. I myself am addicted to substances that are crunchy and savory so I cannot keep them in the house - that is one of the things that has contributed to my success. ice cream i could care less - so, know your demons and work with them accordingly

Just wow on that one lol. Chiming in on this after just coming off of a month long stall which began the very day that we brought a big mess of the foods we used to eat into the house for our 16 yo's birthday and visiting out of town guests. We had a few slices of birthday cake, croutons, and baked potaotoes over the course of a week - I know nothing major right - let me tell you how insulin resistant my husband and I are (he also had a vsg two weeks before my own) those carbs instantly set off a cascade of old addictive responses and cravings that took two weeks to dampen down. When I eat stuff like that all I can think of is food. When I eat those foods, my losses stop - and the cycle of negativity once again rears its ugly head - that I am a failure, that I am weak. The key is balance. When I eat the way my nutritionist and surgeon advise to - I no longer feel those cravings and am fueling my body in a healthy and nutrient dense manner. I simply feel better and I am also changing my body chemistry - because we are not really designed to eat the crap that the food industry makes billions on, and destroys our health in the process. Take a look at Gary Taubes or David Kessler's work - or Paleo and primal sites.Very enlightening. Lumping the fine group of folks here into two camps is utterly ridiculous - we all come here for information, insight, and support and have a wide range of experiences. I know that I have tried to model Tiffykins - someone who eats quite normally now - but was strict during the losing phase - there is a reason that this first 6 months to a year is referred to as the honeymoon phase.