DaniEA

Thank you mimi :-) You are right, any amount of wt is hard to lose but I can get this amount off. Im just gonna have to work hard and learn how to get healthy. Ive eaten healthy and walked a lot yesterday and this am.
Thank you all for the support... It's made me feel much better :-)

Hey guys! Well..... So much to say, My family and I got down here Sunday night. Monday I met w Effie the nutritionist. Very, very nice lady gave me some good info and I felt really confident in my post op diet. After that I went and did all my pre op admission stuff and bloodwork. I also met w the anesthesiaologist. Everyone I met was beyond nice... A clean hospital. I felt totally safe in the facility.
I went to bed very nervous and concerned, just about the surgery in general and the "what ifs". Pre op jitters :-)
This morning I finally met Dr. Washington. He is wonderful. He took myself,my husband and daughters in his office. He went over the entire procedure..... Then everything changed for me.
I am down to 211lbs and only need to lose 55-60lbs to be where I want. Dr. W said I could EASILY lose 100lbs by next yr. At 111lbs Id be UNDER WEIGHT. Also, He could see me losing my boobs and curves.
Then we talked about post op nausea. I get very nauseaous after any procedure and many medications. At that point he said he could almost guarantee Id be sicker than I've ever been post op and it COULD last weeks!
Then we went to complications.... Leaks are the most worrisome and very difficult to heal. He said leaks scare him and he's only had 1 out of 270 surgeries. I knew about leaks from this forum but I didn't realize how bad and difficult they could be to heal. Months and months in the hospital.
I left his office and had an hour to kill before my endoscopy.
I cancelled my surgery at that point. I know how low of a risk I am for complications. I probably would have done great but honestly I just don't want to chance that.... Not with 2 very young girls to take care of. Im in good health and I wanted to do this for vanity reasons. I've always used the excuse of not having any willpower but I proved myself wrong with this preop diet.
I am gonna do my very best to lose on my own and teach myself and my family better habits.
If I can't do it I will do this surgery down the road, when my girls are older.
I can't say enough good stuff about Dr w and his staff. Even after I cancelled they treated me wonderfully. I don't regret my decision, am a little sad things went this way but im so thankful Dr w was so open and honest.

Well, think of it like this, you get your points based on a formula that includes your current weight. There is a number of calories needed to maintain your current weight and the points puts you right under that so you can lose at a slow pace. As your weight goes down, your points go down because it takes less effort by your body to simply exist the lighter you are. For example, I exert x amount of calories just walking up a few stairs because I'm heavy and it makes my body do hard work. Someone half my size isn't doing as much work and therefore burning less calories.
With the sleeve, you start off eating like 500-800 calories which is a HUGE deficit. This is what causes the weight loss. As you get closer to goal (and therefore want to maintain, not necessarily lose) you begin to eat a normal healthy caloric amount 1,000 - 1,200 calories per day. That's what a normal healthy person eats. Except for the one super fit member blackberryjuice (or something like that)....she eats more calories than that because her fab muscular body burns it off! So yeah, you calories go up, but it's because your body is now in maintenance mode. Your body won't survive on 500-800 calories forever.
This isn't scientific at all...just thoughts off the top of my head. I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on television.

Good luck Jafter! Please keep us updated when you can:-) I come down next Monday and my surgery is next Wed.... Praying for you!!!

I'm an optimist by nature, although I'm not sure WHERE I got that attitude. I've been on a couple of message boards for over 20 years with the same two groups of ladies and, over time, we've probably discussed everything under the sun. One of the gals on those boards started calling me the "Queen of the Silver Lining" because, no matter how bad a situation was, I was always looking for the positive in it.
Sometimes I feel almost like Pollyanna because I just ignore a lot of bad things that happen. Maybe ignore isn't the right word, but it's like I don't even recognize how bad something is until I'm hit over the head with it. IMO, if that's what it takes for me to stay cheerful, then that's fine.
I have my days where I falter, but I keep reminding myself that I've come SO far from where I was. I'm down over 90 pounds from where I started. I can walk longer distances than I could handle before, and I feel like I've lost 20 years off my age. What's not to be thrilled about? I still have a long way to go to get to my goal, but I WILL make it there. 7 and a half months ago I could not imagine that I would willingly go to the gym every day, or be thrilled when I got off the exercise bike dripping sweat. I couldn't imagine that I'd be happy to do calisthenics or to lift weights, but THAT is where I'm at now. I ride the bike (almost) every day. I lift weights daily and even carry a small weight in the car so I can do biceps curls when I'm driving.
My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!

You can always create an "Adventure List" with your kids and together ya'll can choose 10 'adventures' to go on with you as you lose weight. Fun, silly, or creative stuff that you may not be able to do easily now. That way she'll look at it not only as fun and something to look forward to, but it can also show her that change isn't scary and that good things can come from it. Write it up, decorate it with glitter/stickers/whatever and put it on the fridge so that they can see it every day.

Thanks for starting this thread mimi :-) I start my 2 wk Liquid Protein diet TUESDAY! Im very nervous and excited (glad its finally here) 2 weeks of not eating FREAKS me out but I know I will follow the rules and do it. Im ready :-) I go to conway April 23, have my endoscopy April 24 then Wed April 25 @10:20 its game on! I will keep you all posted on how everything goes and I hope you all do the same!!

Thanks for starting this thread mimi :-) I start my 2 wk Liquid Protein diet TUESDAY! Im very nervous and excited (glad its finally here) 2 weeks of not eating FREAKS me out but I know I will follow the rules and do it. Im ready :-) I go to conway April 23, have my endoscopy April 24 then Wed April 25 @10:20 its game on! I will keep you all posted on how everything goes and I hope you all do the same!!

Oh Wheetsin, that is priceless...!! Bless her and her boogie!

Hey! i have my surgery date!!! April 25th!!! Im 25, 5'5" & 250lbs.... I can't wait to get this done and get healthy!

Thank you guys sooo much for the info! I will see if I can try some samples, didn't even think of that! Im getting pretty nervous as the days go by. I just can't imagine life without food as my "best friend".... Im ready to learn though!! God knows Im gonna be one mean girl for those 2 wks preop haha!

I want in on this too!! :-) surgery is April 25 for me and Im having it done in SC :-)

Im going to him to! April 25th!! Whoop whoop :-)

Congrats! you look so great and HAPPY!! can't wait to post pictures like this. :-)