VJSlim

Thanks for all your replies....VSG sure has made my life turn a 180 degrees. I feel like a new person everyday and look forward to everyday. I think I have stopped 'existing' and begun 'living'.

Thanks for all the replies.. The main reason I chose WLS was because both my parents had a family history of diabetes and I was SOOO scared. I guess, if not for that, I would have waited some more time, probably chosing WLS in my mid 30s. I only started considering WLS this last year (2011) after a family friend had it done. Wouldn't have had the courage to go through if not for this board!!

Hi all, If you did not have any complications before surgery - like high BP, high sugar, asthma, sleeping apnea etc., would you have considered WLS (just for the sake of losing weight) at the time you did? Or would you have waited and tried other diets and work out regimen? Just curious..

I'm not sure if this would work for you, but this is what I did to avoid temptation: 1. I never go grocery shopping alone nowadays. I shop with my friends or my mom or sis. They all know about the surgery and any time I try to pick something off the rack that I shouldn't, they ring huge alarm bells at me LOL. 2. Even if I have some Cookies or chocolates at home, I usually find some excuse to visit my neighbour and give those cookies or chocos to my neighbour's 4yo kid. Or, I take them to the office and usually, when someone comes to my desk, just offer it to them. I make it a point that I never even taste it. 3. As soon as I start craving for something really 'fatty', I rush into my kitchen and start preparing veggies with lentils. I have developed an addiction to those I think 4. I also have a bowl of fruit salad at my fridge. So anytime I feel like munching, I take a small bite of an apple piece. That is enough for me

Just two things actually: 1. That it would be AGES before I feel comfortable lying on my sides without any support (pillow or otherwise ). I never sleep on my back and it is so hard to get used to sleeping on the back now. 2. That it would be SO HARD for me to swallow medicine and wash it with water -- I hate the after-taste so I usually just gulp a half glass of water as soon as I swallow the meds, usually. Now that gulping is out of question, I go into a mild panic each morning when I take the required iron meds (this is for two months only, thank god!!)

Hi dreamkin, I'm not trying to discourage or second guess what your doctor said. But in my experience before the surgery, I consulted with three doctors, and found mixed opinions on what kind of surgery to undergo. But they were all uniform in one thing - they all said that I'm suitable for either kind of surgeries, but they would NEVER recommend GB IF I have problems in committing to take the nutrition meds (Vitamin, Iron etc). I'm so not good with these meds. And they told me that missing a couple of doses is not an option because the effects would be immediate making me tired and lethargic. That was a major factor in my decision to go with VSG. HOWEVER, yours is a completely different situation. In my research before the surgery, I heard that VSG too had a history of 'curing' diabetes - but to a smaller extent than GB. It is all upto you, really. You can check with a few other doctors and then decide. And as rootman said, you can always get a GB if the VSG was not very successfull on the diabetes front. All the best with your research and surgery!

I will try buying online or have my cousin (who lives in Chicago) buy some packs when she visits India in a couple of months. I should try that - I hope any brand of unflavored protein powder works fine when mixed with Orange juice....

LOL thats true! I think I would be happy as long as my boobs looked proportionate to the rest of my body

Thanks for all your replies and I will also check out the recipes in the food section of the site. The problem is.. I'm in India and I'm not much familiar with the brands of Protein shakes. I'm using the one that my doc prescribed and I usually buy it in a pharmacy near my doc's clinic. So I dont know any other options. I'll check with my doc to see if I can buy unflavored protein powder anywhere else and start trying out the recipes.. Again, thanks for your help, you guys!

Aww honey - so sorry to hear you are feeling bad. But dont worry. It will surely get better very soon. I pray that you have a speedy recovery and start feeling good.

That's awesome! Congrats and wish you all success with your secret goal lol

I usually take the protein mix only with water/milk. Do you guys use it in any other recipes like soup or something? I dont really like the taste of the powder with milk or water and would like to try some other recipes if at all possible. Thoughts?

Wow 95 pounds in 5.5 months! You are the BIGGEST LOSER LOL.. I'm so happy for you. And wish you best of luck - both for your weight loss and academic journey.

Dont worry MsDebi! Everyone goes through the same. But you will find that this tool, unlike all the others that you may have tried for weight loss in the past, will never fail. It will push you towards your goal each day. Of course there are all sorts of degrees of success - some lose faster than the others. But your goals would NEVER be 'unattainable'. I suggest you ask all your questions to your surgeon : post surgery diet plan, medication, how long he/she thinks you may need for recovery etc. Be prepared. Follow his/her instructions strictly. All will be well.

That is great!! I hope I get to onederland soon!

Good luck with the surgery and recovery! Hope everything works out fine for you..

Cute!

Congrats!! You look amazing. If you dont mind me asking - what is that tattoo ?

AWESOME!! you look so good in the pics

Wow! Congrats on your success!! And thanks so much for posting this -- it is such an inspiration for 'beginners' like me.

Congrats on your decision. You are making the right choice to live healthy. I'm in the 6 week post-op and will try to answer your q's from my perspective. 1. The sleeve was my first surgery so I had nothing to compare it to. And my surgery was in India so the process is quite a bit different. For example, it took me one and a half days for the anesthesia to wear down. And then I was on paid meds till mid of day three so I had no pain at all. Again, this is just my perspective. You may feel a bit diff based on how you react to anesthetics. 2. I took a one month vacation. I felt so much better after the second week, but I still had to take small naps in the afternoons for atleast two hrs. So I used the whole month's vacation for recovery. I too have a desk job and its not physically demanding 3. As I said before, I'm just 6 weeks post op. But from my experience, I can say that if at all you feel any discomfort, it will get better by the day. Sticking to your diet plan may feel very hard at the beginning but PLEASE stick to it. Concentrate on getting in the required Proteins and fluids and any other meds that your doctor prescribes. This is very important. If you get in the required amounts of proteins and fluids, there should be no problems. The whole point of the low calories is that your fat will get burned and converted to calories so that your body remains energetic. If you feel very tired, you can try having a small nap in the afternoon, atleast thats what I did. If it gets too uncomfortable, consult your doctor -- they may revise your diet chart to fit you better. 4 & 5 -- can't help with these, sorry -- coz I did not have any nausea. 6 -- can't help with this either, sorry -- I'm not very familiar with the insurance system in US as I'm from India and I was a self-pay. 7. Hmm not exactly difficult - but you'll have to get used to not gulping it at one go. The first week I struggled to finish of 50ml Water in 30 minutes. But now, I can drink more than 125 ml in less than 5 minutes. It all depends on how well your sleeve reacts to the kinds of fluids you take in. 8. I thought I'll miss food the most, but surprisingly not so much. The thing that I miss the most is sleeping on my sides. I have had asthma from 15 and have never gotten used to sleeping on my back, so when I came back from the surgery and was forced to sleep on my back, I just couldnt have a peaceful sleep for more than a week. My back hurt a lot at that time. Then I got used to it, but I still miss sleeping on my sides. I posted on this forum and got a great suggestion today -- pillows under the belly when sleeping on the sides. I'm going to try it tonight :-)

I agree with Pookey - I had very little real or head hunger. I mean, I do have cravings, but I dont feel it like a hunger. Just a big sigh! :-) Probably because I know that I cant tolerate those foods that I crave for right now. So my cravings just vanish. The hardest time will be when you have meals with your family or friends. That is when the cravings become too hard to resist. I just make a really tasty Soup for those times and avoid looking at the food as much as possibe :-(

I too was on a liquid diet for one month. My doc said two Protein shakes a day is compulsory. Apart from that I used to have clear vegetable soup, skimmed yogurt, fully strained apple and orange juice (fresh). I also had some tender coconut Water daily and it is soooo tasty and cools my system. We have something called 'kanji' in India -- it is nothing but a rice broth. This is the water that is used to boil rice. To prepare this, we boil the rice in large amounts of water, then strain it to get the liquid broth and then add salt to taste. It does have carbs. But for the 2nd week post-op I became very weak and my doc wanted me to have this 'kanji' once every day (100ml). I still lost 22 pounds in the first month so I think the carb did not pose any threat for me then.

Thanks for all your replies. I'll try the pillows soon.

I'm 6 weeks post op and still not able to sleep on the sides. The largest of the four incisions on my stomach is on the left side and whenever I try to sleep on the sides, I start getting an uncomfortable feeling.. not exactly pain but I still get very uncomfortable and have to sleep on my back. I'm not used to sleeping on my back -- I've had asthma trouble from my early teens and have not been sleeping on my back for nearly 15 yrs. So I just wanted to ask you guys about when it started to feel comfortable for you to sleep on your sides..