VJSlim

Wow! I would have been sooo disappointed too if I woke up and found that I *didn't* have a surgery as planned! But I'm so glad that sleeve is an option for you....

I chose sleeve for almost the same reasons that others had mentioned - GB comes with its own set of disadvantages - malnutrition, malabsorption, rerouting etc. I have met a few people who had had GB and I kinda felt that they were too gaunt looking - no disrespect to them, I just felt that way. And also, I was scared to death about dumping. That almost single handedly pushed me towards sleeve.

We are very fortunate that we have options available to choose from. Dont worry - I have a feeling you are going to do wonderfully well with the sleeve! All the best and have a safe surgery, speedy recovery and great weight loss!!!

Totally agree with Mina - the sleeve is a tool and we all need to work hard to maximize its output!

Great! All the best to you in this journey!

Welcome to the forums! Glad to see you're taking control of your life at a young age! From what I've read and heard, young people recover faster from surgery and not have a lot of skin issues. Oh how I wish I had heard of this surgery sooner. I'm almost 30 and feel that I've wasted a decade of my life trying and failing all those diets. Dont mistake me, I appreciate all those who stick to the diet and are able to maintain the weight loss long-term, but I realized I couldnt do this alone after a long struggle.

So, have you decided what surgery you are going to have? Were all options presented to you? I hope you do a thorough research and choose what you think is best for you. All the best!!!

PS: You look great in the picture!

Everyone goes through that pre-op jitters and it is very normal.

I dont regret having this surgery one bit. I just regret that I hadnt heard about this sooner. I'm almost 30 so I would have loved to have had the surgery in my early 20s so that I would have enjoyed my life to the fullest. But I plan on doing just that from now on - enjoy my life to the fullest.

You'll be fine - dont worry! I pray for you and wish you a safe surgery and speedy recovery!!

I'm so glad to hear you are doing better! I hope and pray that the leak is healed completely and you remain healthy! Leaks is my worst nightmare too. I have also read about the leaks being discovered very late post-op, but they are very rare.

Congrats on the weight loss!! I pray for your health and wellbeing!

Hi all,

Last week was a GREAT week for me! I had a huge list of NSVs that I wanted to share with you all....

1. My office has a gym/recreation center. But the space is a bit cramped. They have many indoor games - the most popular ones are carroms and chess, and I'm pretty good at carroms. I always only play carroms and have never tried any other 'physical' games. But last week, a friend offered to teach me table tennis. I never thought that the game was so physically demanding! BUT I was able to play for 45 mins straight!!!!!! I was soooo happy and was beaming (and sweating) the whole time! Now I'm addicted to the game. I'm not very good at it - my hand-eye coordination can be better - but I'm learning the game and hope to be better at it. That is a huge NSV for me!!

2. We have a annual sports meet at our office headquarters every year and the carroms competition happened yesterday (saturday). A systems technician who used to work in my branch was transferred to the head office at the end of last year and he had not seen me for more than 6 months. He was there for the competition and he did a double take when he saw me. He came to me and asked "So where is the other half, mam?" I just laughed and said I got rid of the other half coz she was high maintenance. I was so proud of myself at that point - it is insane....

3. Similar thing happened when my cousin, who is away for college, visited my house in the summer hols. He has not seen my since right after my surgery. He was amazed that I had lost so much weight. He mentioned that I looked just like when I had just graduated out of college (that was in 2004). Of course I treated him to a great lunch for saying such a sweet thing! LOL!

4. My clothes are falling off! LOL! I cant believe that I'm happy to have ill fitting clothes... I have lost a total of 24.5 inches so far. The biggest inch loss is in my chest and waist (my belly is melting off LOL). I have gone from a 47 to 43 inch in my chest, from 46.5 to 40 in my waist, 54.5 to 49 in my lower abdomen. I have had very little inch loss in my arms and calves (only 1 inch in arms and 2.5 inches in calves). But I'm quite happy with the overall results.

Sorry for a long post but I couldnt contain my excitement. Had to share it with my VST family!

Keep up the good job guys! I'm so motivated I'm going to hit that gym frequently. My trainer will not know what hit him today LOL

Welcome! Keep us posted on your progress and surgery date!

Well, I wanted to know which are my slider foods. I wanted to know if I'm consuming any type of food without realizing the quantities. So I started tracking my food to avoid my slider foods. Not sure if it makes any sense

I dont use any of the online tracking. I do it the old school way. I have a pocket notebook that I carry EVERYWHERE (except into the ladies room and my official meetings LOL). I think the problem with online tracking is that we sometimes forget what we had for Snacks or dont even realize that we had something in our mouth when composing a long email or reading our favorite book - I do it all the time. So I wanted to list down every small thing that I ate/drank - because I was obsessed and paranoid at the beginning of my journey. Now that all seems a bit extreme and I have eased up some. The problem with not tracking it with online apps was that I had to count calories manually,

And I did something that in hindsight I think is a brilliant idea. I enrolled my two best friends to be a motivational factor. They both are also my colleagues and I've told them about my surgery and diet restrictions so they dont feel bad if I dont eat much anymore. We mostly eat lunch and sometimes dinner and Snacks together. So it worked out pretty well for me.

Most of us take vit supplements - my surgeon mentioned this during my pre-op visits. He told that I may need it for quite some time. Iron supplements too. Other than that, I think I dont have many problems.

I eat only chicken, fish or prawns in the non-veg food. I dont eat red meat. So I have had no digestion problems.

But very early into my solids phase, as I did not have much Fiber in food, I had some !!TMI ALERT!! Constipation issues. But no problems now.

Thanks for sharing your story! And all the best in your journey!!

Welcome to the forums! Very excited for you!

One recommendation -- dont stock up on the Protein powder just yet. Most of us will have our tastes change a bit after the surgery. So for now, buy some samples and try them after surgery. Once you find your fav brand, you can buy those in large quantities.

I wish you a safe surgery, speedy recovery and great weight loss!!!!

LOL That must have felt so wonderful! I'm sure your hubby would have been beeming with pride! Congrats on your success!

WOW! That is awesome! Congrats and all the best to reach your goals soon!!

Welcome to the forums! Wish you a safe surgery, speedy recovery and great weight loss!!

Welcome to the forums! Very excited for you!

All the best for you and polandspring - hope everything works out well!!!!

I assume they use a blender...but I'll tell you how I do it with just a spoon...google "powdered peanut butter". Heaven.

You're right, I use a blender. I use the JIF PB and blend it with cold milk or milk+ice cubes and Protein powder. I blend it twice to get a smooth latte.

I haven't tried powdered PB. Need to check if it is available in India. Thanks for the tip!

WOW! You look amazing! Your arms and stomach look great! You've done a fabulous job! Congrats!

Welcome to the forums, Sara! Its great that you are researching the surgery and post-op aspects.

Its true - you'll have to re-learn eating habits. But it is not as hard as it sounds. I was just like you. I will drink right before, during and after the meals. Usually coke, pepsi or plain Water. But you'll learn that if you want to get in any food at all into your stomach, you need to stay away from Water during the meals. I was not very strict about the 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after meals rule. I got away with it some days, and some days regretted it too. So it all depends on your body.

The good thing is, you'll be on Clear liquids, full liquids and mushy food phase for couple of weeks and that will help ease out the eating habits. When you start solids be careful with chewing and eating slowly.

You'll do fine - dont worry!! Some learn the 'full' feeling early on - others learn it after some struggle. But once you have your own 'tell' for the fullness, you'll control your stomach and not the other way round!!

I don't consume alcohol, so cant help you there. But I've heard from people that once you are further post op you can have some wine without problems.

Again, welcome! and I hope you get approved this time! See you soon in the losers bench!

I dont know about fried food coz I havent tried deep fried food yet. But I can share my experiences with sweet. Sweet doesnt taste 'sweet' anymore - you know what I mean? chocolate is no longer my haven from stress and loneliness. I do like some milk based sweets and I taste it every other week to see if there is any marked improvement in my taste - but nothing till now, and I'm more than 5 months out. I hope I regain my taste buds atleast for my sweets. I know I have built a pretty strong tolerance and can control my cravings, but not even liking sweets anymore - the thought makes me sad

You are doing a good job! Keep it up! And you look great! Congrats on losing 100+ lbs - I cant wait to lose 100+

Best of luck to you, Karen! Make full use of the pre-op diet. My doc wanted me to be on a pre-op diet for 3 weeks only. I lost 12lbs and it did wonders to my self-confidence. I needed to believe that I AM ready to make lifestyle changes and choose food wisely to step into this journey. The pre-op diet made me believe this.

Very excited for you!! See you soon on the losers bench!!

Welcome!! Very excited for you!

I wish you a safe surgery, speedy recovery and great weight loss!!! Keep us posted

missmachine - I know you didnt mention your surgery date - but your profile mentioned Jun 11, 2012 as the surgery date - so I assume you are atleast 2 weeks out and would probably be on the pureed and mushed phase. And when we grind the nuts a bit it is perfectly mushy.

You could check with the nutritionist and see if you can include this into your diet or not. They would probably recommend that you dont eat this too often coz of the fat count. Anyway, good luck!

I was concerned about the fat. And in the past I have had gas troubles when I ate peanuts. So I kinda stay away from those. I just use reduced fat PB with my Protein Shake.< /p>