Chimera

My doc also wants us off all vitamins 3 days prior to labs so they have accurate results.

Sweet! I am so in for this challenge. This morning I am 221 - by January 1 I would like to be under 200 lbs.

Wonderful! Best of luck with a speedy recovery - I was 318 at the start - 221 this morning and had my surgery May 21, 2012.

woohoo! you are doing great I had surgery on May 21st as well and also am excited to get into the 100's in the hopefully near future.

The fabulous faux cheese Nip~ Take one Kraft single (I like sharp cheddar), slice it 3 directions one way, and 3 the other to make 16 little squares - place them on parchment paper and microwave them for 45-60 seconds in the microwave. Mine turn out perfect, puffy and crispy at 50 seconds. It makes a nice, light crispy snack that mimics a cracker Nutrition: 60 cals, 4 g Protein, 2 carb, 4.5 fat

It doesnt have to do with one's weight. The pre-op diet which is always high protein/low carbs is specifically to shrink as well as firm up the liver. When the liver is large with fatty liver syndrome - it is also spongy and weak, my surgeon told us prior to surgery that it is so soft and spongy that a retractor can rip it apart if it is lifted - which would be a complication so severe one would not even want to contemplate the consequenses. The high Protein very low carb pre-op diet works quickly - in 7-10 days remarkable changes occur. My surgeon said that if he went in laprascopically and saw a fat liver he will either convert to an open surgery (yikes) or sew us back up until we make it smaller. Scared me enough to follow that pre-op diet religiously. I am so sorry that you could not have your vsg as scheduled, but things could have gone very wrong if your liver was compromised in any way. Drop those carbs to below 20 a day - up the protein, drink oceans of hydrating non-caloric beverages and your liver will shrink to a tiny little thing very quickly - and that 20 lbs will be history. Best of luck!

Shelley the recipe goddess from The World According to Eggface will have a segment on the premiere of the new Ricki Lake Show on September 10th. http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ricki-lake-show-premiere.html

Holy Cannoli you look fantastic! Well done

Keep reading the boards, practice the techniques you will need to be doing post-sugery - Dr's vary but no straws, no gum, wait 15 mins to eat after drinking and 45 after eating, start cutting carbs, stop smoking, stop coffee (some do some don't - I myself did not want to recover with a caffiene withdrawal headache) stop all carbonated beverages. Start taking your Vitamins, and start all of the testing that needs to be done prior - which is pretty significant. I went to my first seminar in March 2011 and did not have my surgery until may 21, 2012. I worked on trying to eat better and prepare best I could - now that I am on the other side - losing the 44 lbs. prior to my vsg is one of the things i am VERY glad I did - it simply ups the chances of success. Hang in there - it can take a long time, but the time will pass anyway. use the time to educate yourself, and take great care of yourself

Like Rootman I didn't start to feel better until I was 6-8 weeks out - I felt like a wrung out rag, was nauseated, everything tasted like a** - had some serious complications right after surgery, then more at home, then screwed up my knee and couldnt even stand up three weeks out - what a mess it was, just misery. I too think I was dehydrated, had a heck of a time getting enough in. I think are bodies are pretty much WTF did you just do to me lol. I feel a whole lot better now

I did not experience the 2 week stall that many do - some weeks the weight seems to come off a bit faster than others - right after my 100 day checkup I seem to have stalled a bit - I honestly am surprised it hasnt happened sooner, our bodies are changing so rapidly that it seems that it would be normal.

I wasnt quite sure either until I was onto solid protein - I absolutely knew when enough was enough when I tried to get through 3 oz. of ground turkey. The beans for me are a bit sliderish - I tend to be able to eat more volume of them than other things, even though it still takes about 4 days to get through one can lol.

I am close to 3 months out and get a whole lot of pleasure from my Protein chicken noodle Soup - it is probably 97% liquid (in those first post surgery weeks I strained all the little noodles and veggies out) so hearing that your doc says you can stay on liquid a long time is good to hear. Now dont think I am crazy, but I am one of those that the moment it is time for me to eat - I want to drink and have to make a hard choice - so the soup is like two bangs for the buck The not drinking and eating thing is by far my hardest challenge.

I am not sure but I think it may depend on the cereal - crunchy/fibery it might be a while, like 3 months perhaps, you could ask your NUT. I stay away from cereal because i tend to like it a little too much lol - that and peanut butter

You are doing great - at the 3 month/100 day mark a lot of folks are at 50 lbs down, and you are already there. The 'magic' losing window - where it is easiest to get the weight off is 12-18 months. I would think that you will have been at goal for quite some time by then

You will lose - you dont really have a choice

I was 318 when I started - at 5'3' - surgery weight was 274 on may 21, 2012 - this morning I am 221 and continuing on my way down. Oh I think I have done every diet on earth - including Optifast, hypnosis, etc. Each time I would be very successful only to gain all of it back and more - which is statistically accurate for those who attempt to lose large numbers. When my husband and I attended our surgeon's info seminar he laid out the statistics and this is what made up our minds - I was not sure about it. He said that if you are 100 lbs or more overweight that the likelyhood of you being able to lose the excess weight and maintain that lose is less than 2%. That having a BMI of 40 or more is like having cancer - and they operate on cancer - if you had a BMI in those ranges he said that you had a higher mortality rate sitting in the chair in that conference room than we did laying on his operating table. I have to say the big difference is that for the first time in my life I am not starving all of the time - I was a compulsive binger before, and I will always work with those head issues, but the vsg as a tool is spectacularly effective. For once I feel that I will be able to reach my goal and i will be able to stay there - i was never able to say that before sugery. Myhusband had surgery as well 2 weeks beore i did and he has lost over 100 lbs - I have a bit further to go but am feeling great. I would do my research and not let friends who are not obese, morbidly obese, or super-morbidly obese (as I was) sway you too much. Best of luck

I am three months out and look and the stats in my ticker - I went through a year of appts and 6+ month of MWL prior to my surgery. The complications and risks with the sleeve are a bit lower than with a bypass, and statistically the amount of weight one can lose and keep off is neck and neck with a bypass.

I am sorry you are having the crazy urges to eat - I think most of us go through the same thing. My advice is to make your home a danger free zone - you have to be in an environment free of temptations - we have no breads, rice, flour, sugar, etc - no boxed anything. One has to go out and get it if they want something like a potato chip or a hamburger bun. The teen is adjusting - and has even lost 20 lbs herself since we have changed our eating habits (my husband also had a vsg two weeks before i did - which makes things much. much easier I know.)

I am not doing much right now honestly - after surgery I was diagnosed with severe osteo arthritis in both knees, had a flare that was so bad I could not even walk, lower myself onto the toilet, etc. It was waaay worse than recovering from surgery. I am only now just feeling that they are stable enough to move around more - I like walking and doing my Wii fit, and vigorous weeding has been having me sweating lately. My goal is to start walking 30 minutes a day which I hope to achieve this fall - as long as my joints cooperate. My advice would be to follow your Dr's recommendations as closely as you can - from your reading here I am sure that you may have surmised that immediately post op it is rough to get in all of the liquid, Protein and Vitamins they want us to - protein chicken Soup saved me here when my regular beleoved Protein shake (Premier) made me wretch it tasted so bad. Once you are eating - dense protein first - even things that have a lot of protein but are not as dense are sliders for me (like chili with no beans) - so I eat a lot of eggs, canadian bacon, ground turkey, chicken breasts - and I make different homemade salsas to jazz my Proteins up, just made a tomato, red onion, avocado, and nectarine salsa with cilantro and lime - delish Do a lot of cheese and deli turkey as well. I do not do low fat cheese except for string cheese and babybels - to me it is carbs I need to really look out for - not fats. Head hunger will rear its ugly head so be mindful - it is easy to let not so great choices slip in if you are not mindful.One of my favorite things to keep in mind is a quote from The World According to Eggface's excellent blog - There is NO finish-line. Healthy food choices, move your body, work on the head. Rinse, lather, repeat. Forever. I generally eat four times a day - 3 meals and a snack, and try to keep it to 600-800 cals a day, 80g protein, and under 40g carbs. I am a fan of the Primal eating philosophy, which is similar to Paleo but allows dairy - great website called Mark's Daily Apple with lots of great info. I also read the VSG maintenance club on the OH boards - it is important for me to know what lies ahead and read about people who are years out from surgery. My goals are to lose 10 lbs a month - and will hopefully be under 200 by the New Year - so far so good, I know it will get harder as the months go by, but I have already had so much more success and lost more than I ever have - and you feel different after surgery - it really is remarkable. I hope to hit my goal sometime in 2013 - or 2014 - its taken decades to put on, so a couple of years is no biggy Best of luck - getting the surgery is just fantastic and I know you will do great!

I gained 20 in the week after my surgery - but by 4 weeks out I dropped that and another 23 lbs - give your body some time, you have little choice but to lose weight in the coming weeks and months.

Alot of folks use MyFitnesspal - here is a thread with usernames to add friends and such. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/22264-official-my-fitness-pal-friend-add-thread/page__st__20#entry191897

I have a big time sensitivity to latex - it is noted everywhere in my chart. They use Nitrile gloves and I didnt seem to have any issues - the leftover adhesive seemed to last forever - I think it was 8 weeks until I could get it all off.

Congrats guys well done

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.