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Jennie, I feel your pain and your anticipation of what is to come in the next several months. As a guy, I am not a big clothes hound, nothing like my wife anyway who sounds quite a bit like you with clothes. Anyway, I had surgery 4 months ago and Sunday was the first time I went through my closet to clean house....it was eye opening! As I pulled each item out, dress clothes, sweaters, sports jerseys, jeans, etc, I was shocked and appalled at how big I was just a couple months ago. What I was not expecting was to see all of my favorite "go to" clothes be stuffed in a trash bag to be sent to Goodwill. This also included my winter coats that I could wrap around my body 1 1/2 times. My first impression is "holy $#!%, I have to replace my whole entire closet for the most part, that is going to be expensive!" Then I thought how great it is to be able to shop in the normal section of the store rather than try to find those one or two things that I feel might fit and look ok on me. I completely decimated my closet and I realized just how few clothes I have left now that all of the "too big" stuff is gone! One of the greatest "victories" I have experienced because it was very visual. Jennie, you will be utterly shocked when you try on the clothes you are setting aside for the spring! Even if you feel they are too small for you now, you may be surprised and you will find them way too big when you go back to them. I had this happen with a few items that my wife bought me that were too small to wear prior to surgery. I never wore them because I missed that window of opportunity between too small to way too big. You have no idea how being AVERAGE or NORMAL can feel so good. It may seem like a weird thought right now but you will know when you hit that point and it is nothing short of amazing!

I had my surgery on the 23rd but not down much from surgery day, down 14 lbs. Im not upset by that since I'm down 70 lbs with pre-op starting last Feb. I didnt think I would be losing at a very high rate after surgery since I lost so much up front. But, I feel really good and have no pain anymore. Been back to work since day 7 after surgery and have been fortunate that getting my Protein and Water has not been an issue. Now, that doesn't mean I can get much more in but at least I'm able to take in what I need. I start pureed/blenderized food on Monday so that will be a nice change of pace! I will be on normal food by the time I go on vacation in Mid September. I will be three weeks on Monday and will be playing in a golf outing this Sunday. Already tried hitting with a full swing and have been completely pain free. Doc said to listen to my body for determining what I can do but dont over do it so thats my plan.

I am in the same place as you although I am only 2 weeks post op as of today. My 2 weeks on Optifast leading up to surgery, I lost approximately 18 lbs, then another 11 lbs in the first wek while on the liquid diet. Now that week 2 has come and gone, I have not lost a thing this past week. I know from my caloric intake and protein intake that I cant possibly go without losing weight but it may just be different than what others have experienced. I know how you feel and sometimes think the same way, but i just keep telling myself that it will come off.... Now, I am down 70 lbs since February so my weight loss may be slowed since I lost the initial weight before surgery that many may not have lost until after. Regardless, I feel that once I can start rigorious physical activity, I will lose and keep the weight off.

I am not sure, my doctor seems to be a little more strict across the board on how we recover so..... Could just he that he is overly cautious but this is standard for my Bariatric Care Center.

Well, Monday, July 23rd is quickly approacing and I go on a clear liquid diet starting sunday. So far I have actually enjoyed the Optifast diet since I chose mostly the peanutbutter/chocolate and the chocolate bars. I think they taste pretty good, maybe I am weird!? To this point since I had my first consultation at the end of Jan, I am down 52 lbs and roughly 8 BMI points as of this morning. Only about 80 lbs left to goal! I hope that continues through after the sleeve. Only really one thing bugging me about this whole process is the fact that I can't lift over 15 lbs for the next month. That means I cant pick up my 1 year old....that will be harder than passing up any food out there! Anyway, I am looking forward to the big change next week, time to take it head on!

My doctor said 4 weeks because of the risk of infection at the incision sites. Showers only for 4 weeks, no "soaking" of any kind....

I am having my surgery on the 23rd and just started my 2 week pre-op Optifast diet on Sunday (8th). So far so good but yesterday was rough, I was truely hungry and the shakes were not cutting it....think I drowned myself in Water to compensate. Anyway, I thought I did a good job losing weight on my own over the past 4 months but have dropped 9.5 lbs since starting Optifast on Sunday. I really didn't think I would lose when on optifast because I had lost weight already, boy was I wrong! Good luck to all of you, gonna be a wild ride!

Well, I finally got my date, July 23rd. Although it is only 2 months out, it feels like it is so far away still. I just want it to get here so I can get started! I have had good luck with weight loss already just from changing my diet (down to 278 from 317 lbs) but they are still going to make me do the Optifast for 2 weeks prior, which I was hoping to avoid. Oh well, comes with the territory I guess. Not really looking forward to the Optifast diet even though I have really cut back on my eating!

I am scheduled for July 23rd with Dr. Zografakis in Akron, OH. I'm excited but it still seems so far away....

I've only told my dad/step mom and my brother/sister-in-law since they are my neighbors (yes, we have the family "compound". My wife is actually a surgical RN and works with the doctor doing my surgery, might be a little tough to get that past her...haha. Like others, most will be supportive but not worth that one person who isn't.... Fortunately I have been sticking to a very strict diet over the last 2.5 months since getting in the program and I am down 35-40 lbs. My weight loss now will mask the effects of the surgery so quick weight loss post surgery will not really be noticed.

I like this topic because I think it may be one of the most surreal aspects of this whole process. I am not sure what everyone else's situations have been over the past but I was never a big guy, I'm 5' 11" and ranged between 155-185 from the time started high school up through the time I was out of the military (4 years active duty) and into college. Since then, I have ballooned to 315 at the beginning of Feb. It will be weird and I do not ever feel like I will ever think I am skinny even WHEN I reach 175-185 again. I will clean out my closet and it will be a strage sensation to shop for normal, in-style clothes again because being bigger, selections are limited, especially for guys!

I think my out of pocket is going to be around $2500.... And that is with my wife being an RN at the hospital where I will have my surgery.

It was at 10:00 am. It was such a quick procedure and I was "goofy" the rest of the day, or at least into the evening.

I just had to fast after midnight prior to the endoscopy, so not too bad.....

I had mine last week and was told no driving, operating machinery, mowing the lawn, and not to make any financial decisions or write out checks of any kind....seriously, they actually told me no finanacial decisions or paying bills! I dont remember any of mine, I was out cold but was technically put in "twilight". Mine was scheduled for 10:00am and think I was being released just after 11:00am but was in no condition to do anything. I could not talk when I initially wok up, in my head I knew what I was saying but my mouth was not connected to my brain yet so I just stayed quiet...haha. Since it had been 12 hours since I ate, we stopped at Panera Bread to eat lunch and I was able to order my own food, but my wife had to ask me a few times if I was ok while eating because I was in a daze just staring at my sandwich! We got home around noon and I went to bed and slept hard until 5:00pm and then had no issue going to bed at 9-10 that night. I just had some bloating for about 2 days following and no pain of any kind from the biopsy.

I, much like a few of the posters in here, was not always overweight until a long stretch in my late 20s and early 30's at which time I packed on a little over 100 lbs. Now, over that time frame I have lost a few times, once in the 50+ range and another in the 70+ range (when my wife and I were having a beach wedding). And, each time I lost, I gained it all back plus some. I can still to this day lose weight at will but as Disney posted, I have to work out with both weights and cardio for about 1-2 hours EVERY DAY! I begin to gain almost immediately following breaking my routine....which to this day is not a realistic workout schedule! I have a family to support and a 9 month old that I would like to spend s much time with as possible before she grows up and I missed out! This last reason is my main reason for electing to go with surgery, I need to have some semblence of a life outside of the gym if I dont want my family life to pass me by.... I have learned that whil I can do it on my own, I cant maintain w/o losing major family time (because I have to work, no choice there). All that said and done, you need to evaluate your own reasons for wanting/needing the sleeve because if you are not comfortable in your own skin, no amount of advice given here will help you!

So, I had my EGD yesterday and the doctor talked to my wife following the surgery (apparently he talked to me but I dont remember any of it, haha). He said I had a lot of scarring from Acid Reflux, which I never realized I had. I know every once in a great while if I ate something spicy I would get a touch of heart burn but nothing dabilitating, so I never thought much of it. I now have a pepsid prescription to stop something I was not aware of and am not discomforted by in the least.... Anyone else have their EGD to find out they had acid reflux, and did it impact your surgery at all?

So this may be a hard question for me to ask clearly but I was curious as to real life loose skin stories. I know lots of factors are involved in having loose skin or not but I am trying to get a good idea if I will have a lot of extra skin if I reach my goal of roughly 185, which would be about a 115 lb drop for me (just under 6 ft tall). I'm still young (at least I consider myself young at 38) with no health issues other than being 300lbs @ just under 6ft tall. Just seeing what other's experiences were with getting loose skin, I guess, and what your pre-op and post-op factors were. This may be too personal of a question so I understand if people dont want to answer. Please just yell at me and tell me it is an inappropriate question!

As I guy, I even feel your pain about the thighs in jeans. All of my life, even when I was skinny in my late teens and early 20s (military), I had a terrible time with jeans not fitting my thighs. I have always had larger thighs and very strong "frog legs" so I could never get the jeans to fit right w/o having to go up a waist size....which then presents a new set of ill-fitting problems. I have always been condemned to a larger waist that what was necessary, even as I progressed in size. I guess if that is my worst problem after I get sleeved, I will be now thankful for it!

So, since I started the pre-op program (3 months in my case), I have been trying to really limit myself on what I am eating, taking the nutritionist's advice on what to eat. Has anyone tried really limiting your caloric intake similar to what you would be limited to following surgery? I understand that you would really struggle with an all liquid diet or a diet of only 400 or so calories without the help of the surgery, but I am looking to see if anyone tried, successfully to approach it in this manner? I think it would be a great way to ease into the new diet following and not be such a shock to your system or daily routine disruption. I have been trying to stick with this philosophy and fortunately never had an eating disorder like binging or depressed eating. I am simply a case of being able to eat too much without feeling full, and eating all the wrong foods..... Initially in the beginning of this "experiment" the first week or two was tough becasue I had to fight all the cravings for sweets and carb heavy foods but now, 4 weeks or so from starting, it is MUCH easier. My cravings are gone, for the most part. The other day, I did have a craving for a PB and marshmallow fluff sandwich (sounds strange but tastes soooo good) so i made one....only to take a small bit and had it off to my wife who can afford to eat it! let me tell you how hard it was to have it in my hand and not eat it! But, I took a small bit of it and it completely satisified the craving and I no longer wanted it. At this point, I eat 1 Protein bar for Breakfast, a handfull of raw almonds for a mid morning snack, a cup of chili for lunch, another handful of almonds for an afternoon snack, and then a zero fat, high protein yogurt for dinner. I fill the rest of the time with about 80-100 oz of Water and that's it.... Anyway, let me know your experience with the calorie limited, high protein, low carb attempt prior to surgery if you have been able to follow through with it and if it helped following surgery.

I am going to shoot for a week off as well. I am an IT manager who sits at my desk on teleconference calls several hours a day and have free access and time to drink all day if I choose, as well as not having to do anything physical. I am generally pretty good with pain (back to work after 2-3 days with 3 fully broken ribs in 2008) so I am hoping I can survive this while at work. I would hate to have to be out 2-3 weeks!