MinaT

Not sure why I would want to beat this, but best of luck to you. Have you had surgery or are you pre-op?

Very very normal. Take very small bites, chew it really well and watch out how much you eat. Normally when it feels like the foot is to my throat, I quit eating, even if I only had a few bites. There have been times I ate very little and needed to walk around for a while. Usually if I eat too fast or don't chew enough it's worse. Certain foods, like roast that had gravy on it made it much worse. Though the chest pain is there, resist drinking Water for at least 1/2 hour afterwards, because to me it just makes it worse.

If your doctor didn't give you one ounce medical cups, pull out a shot glass. You can pick up Jello Shot glasses for really cheap. For the first two weeks the most important thing is to get your liquids down, like Water. You aren't going to go Protein deficient that fast. The water is important so you don't get dehydrated. Try things like Decaff Peppermint Tea with your favorite artificial sweetener. I would make a glass of it and then keep pouring it into one shot glass and I would take a bottle of water and pour it into another one. Sips, not drinks. Keep them at your bed even. It always took me three sips per one ounce cup. I did this for quite a few weeks at first. Water, especially cold water was harder to get down. I think we are always used to being able to guzzle stuff. I can take huge drinks now, but for a few months gulps were out of the question. Give yourself time to heal, this is very normal what you are going through right now.

Luckily for me, we pay a small fee $200.00 prior to surgery that gives us unlimited visits with the Nurse practitioner and nutritionist, monthly classes, free meeting with an exercise specialist for life. I go once a month for check ups, weigh ins and they even send me for blood work. It's worth having some sort of communication and check ins to keep you going in the right direction. Speak to the doctor in advance and ask them if they have any sort of program like that to help keep you going in the right direction and tell him that money is an issue. I really believe that as long as you are continuing to work towards your goal your doctor will want your continued check-ins and would like to keep tabs on you and will work with you. It is good to have a success story walking into his office to help build up the moral of those just starting the process.

Eat your meat first, vegetables second, carbs third. Chew everything up really super well. Do not drink any liquids with your food and wait 1/2 hour after you eat. These are things you suppose to be doing after surgery. Make sure you start getting used to drinking 64 ounces of Water a day. Stay positive. Go through your clothes, find smaller clothes now, clean out the closets. Prepare for smaller clothes (don't buy them). Keep your mind busy, do not carb overload the week before surgery. Stop drinking caffeine prior to surgery because you can't have it after for a bit and having withdrawals can still happen, after surgery.

Many people at 4 weeks have had that problem, including myself. Keep up with the water, do your best with the protein. At 4 weeks I couldn't drink out of a water bottle still. I hated the taste of protein shakes and gagged them down, and still resorted to drinking out of med ounce cups because drinking out of big glasses bugged me. Have you tried decaff tea yet? I liked Bigelow Peppermint Tea with Truvia. The taste of protein shakes made me gag, because my tastebuds changed at first. Most artificial sweeteners cause me headache, so I couldn't even handle sf popsicles. I bought unflavored protein and tried so many different shakes, it was costing me a pretty penny because I hated everything at first. I know what you are going through and I promise it gets better, all you can do is your best right now. Give yourself 6-8 weeks to heal completely.

171 today. I have really slowed down my weight loss. I have had a lupus flare so I am not working out as much and need to work on my water intake a little better but with the lupus flare and such high inflammation, I am retaining a lot of water. I am rejoining a gym. I can eat more now too, I could use better choices in my life. For some reason I hate tuna now. Ever since surgery Tuna is rough on me and makes me ill. I have been eating a whole lot of eggs, that's my go to food when I have to cook food I can't eat (spaghetti, pizza) for the family. I also have messed up because I found a food that is not that good for me, that I like the taste of and it's something fast and easy and I need to cut it out. I have been eating hard salami & cheese (no bread) because it's fast and easy for lunch. Sometimes if I don't chew well enough or eat just one 1/2 bite too much real dinner, I get a lot of slime still and have to walk around. I do know I have a problem with scar tissue in my esophagus from the issues with surgery. I have to work a little harder is all.

I am at 5 months and I lost 3 pounds last month and only a few pounds this month. You have lost a significant amount of weight and since you are at 165 pounds now, it is going to take a whole lot more weight training, cardio and actual work to lose now. When I weighed 300 - 250 or even 200 pounds it took less energy for me to burn calories. Now I have to work so much harder to burn calories so I have to expend a lot more time and effort into burning calories. I burned a lot more calories walking up a flight of stairs at 300 then I do now, because I'm not lugging so much weight around, it's bound to slow down which means I need to step up my game. Also, if your building lean muscle that does tend to slow down weight loss a bit, but it tends to burn fat faster. Muscle takes a lot less space than than fat so you can still be shrinking. This is at least what I keep trying to get through to myself so I stop being disappointed.

Each doctor is different. We were allowed to purchase 14 day supply from their office of different types of shake flavors. Find out what kind they recommend. I do suggest mixing it up because the same kind will get boring. I never liked strawberry shakes and those ended up being the easiest for me to get down though, which is weird. My biggest suggest to you is this. This weekend DO NOT CARB BINGE before you start. Repeating this again....do not carb overload this weekend. Stick to high Protein foods, it's for your own good truthfully. If you carb overload thinking that your protein fast starts on Monday, it will be horrendous on your system. The more carbs one eats, the more carbs they want, so come Monday, when you aren't feeding it carbs, your body will hate you. Wean from the carbs now, to make the transition easier on you. Realize that the first three days are going to be rough. You may...or may not have a headache. I did as did many other's. Drink lots of Water. Things that helped me. Lots of walks. Reading. Brushing my teeth. I know weird, brushing your teeth, but it helped....a lot. When you are on the Protein Shakes for the two weeks you go into ketosis and it does affect your breath, and also protein shakes sort of bind on your teeth and to me it became a bit like elmer's glue. I brushed my teeth and it helped immensely. Don't focus on it. Change your meals with your family. Let your family eat, while they are eating go for a walk, march in place, find a show on the Dvr. and walk in place or stand and dance while you watch a show. I did the gazelle when they ate. At work, don't eat in the break room where all the smells are of other foods. Find a place to have your shake away from other smells. Bring a package of Summer's Eve Feminine Hygiene Wipes with you to work, the one thing you need to know about day 4-10 is....NEVER trust a fart. There's so many posts regarding this for a reason. You will be standing there and realize you have to go....quickly. At night, take a bathroom towel and put it on your bed, just in case night sharts happen, be prepared. This could happen day 4-10. I was allowed sugar free Jello, sugar free popsicles, crystal light, and decaff peppermint tea (with truvia) during the 14 days. I don't handle sugar-free products well so I avoided them and stuck with the decaff peppermint tea. Attitude --- your attitude dictates how hard or how easy the next two weeks are going to be. If you go into thinking it's going to be too hard, it won't disappoint, it will be really hard. If you go into this thinking you can handle it, you are strong enough and you are worth doing this, it will go faster and be easier. It's not super duper easy, we all know this, but it's not the end of the world either, and so many have gone through it and made it through. It strengthens you. Keep in mind that the next two weeks while you are on this Protein Shake diet, you are probably going to be getting BETTER nutrition than you have in the last six months lol. You are not going to starve to death, you are not starving, there are elderly and many people that live on liquid diets and thrive because of it. As the day of surgery approaches, use the SAME attitude going into it. If you keep telling yourself you are scared or terrified or afraid, that day you will be. Keep the good attitude going into surgery. Keep telling yourself you are worth it, you can do this, this is a good thing, going into surgery with a smile on your face and positive thoughts will help you when you wake up and will help you through the 5-6 weeks of healing that you will have and carry you through. Doing a good job with the protein shake fast does help promote confidence in yourself and makes you feel like you truly are taking full control of your life, health and destiny. Best of luck to you. PS - If you drink pop or coffee and haven't stopped yet, do so before Monday too.

Do the best you can, drinking out of the small med cups and drinking as much as you can is for the best. You aren't going to become Protein deficient in a small amount of time. Every day gets better than the day before and it was 5 weeks before i was getting all my protein in. Mix it up if you can by trying some warm decaff peppermint tea with your favorite artificial sweetener (I prefer Truvia). It settled my stomach and the stomach gurglings and movements and all that was a lot of healing pains too. I seriously used med cups for almost 4 weeks straight. I thought I would never get to drink out of a normal glass again. Even after 4 weeks I had a rough time drinking out of a Water bottle because I was pulling in too much air. Do the best you can, concentrate priority on your liquid, the Isopure for your protein and I swear it gets better every day.

I worried internally a bit about the surgery myself and realized, I would rather die trying to lose than to lay down and die not trying. It got me through it. I am proud of my decision to this and I am proud of putting so much effort into getting healthy.

I was a 34B in my 30's when I lost weight and got up to a 48DD. I couldn't breath. I thought I was suffocating 1/2 the time. I am probably a 36C now and it's a little weird going back to flat and I will lose more of it and I'm happy. I had huge boobs under my arms, I had back boobs side boobs and I'm grateful it's gone. My booty, was a firm C when I was in my 30's now my husband keeps saying where the heck is your butt. I'm short but sitting down, I used to be so much taller than everyone because my butt was so huge. Now, I keep hurting my tailbone. I have been working on the step and doing lunges, squats and stairs and I can see that it's lifting a bit, thank goodness. If I had money for any work when I finally reach goal and can maintain it, I think it would be for my arms and a TT. My arms were so huge and they are getting really muscular now, but the skin really bugs me a whole lot. I wish I wasn't so vain. I can take the flat chest, but the skin droopy arms are causing me some anxiety.

Lost 30 pounds last summer...started to gain it back. Decided to see surgeon in November when I started gaining back and was 299 then. I immediately started following their plan and lost 10 pounds a month during the 6 month pre-approval monthly weigh ins, which equaled 60 pounds during the pre-approval phase. Lost 10 pounds during the 14 day pre-op shake fast (which was definitely less than others lost during this phase though I never cheated) and I have lost 50 pound since surgery on June 4th. Because of losing steadily for months, I have obviously lost less since surgery than others, but it makes sense having lost my Water weight and more weight prior to surgery, which = since going to the bariatric clinic first weigh in, my lost is 120 pounds. I have steadily been losing though I have had plateaus that last over a week, I'm very happy with my progress. If you count my highest weight from last summer it equals 150 pounds lost in a year, I lost an entire person.

Even those of us required to do 14 days with nothing but liquid have felt weak during the pre-op. I worked out daily on the 14 day liquid diet and couldn't handle the sugar-free Popsicles or pudding because I don't do sugar-free stuff well, but the first 3 days I had a headache and I also had liquid bm's that would catch me by surprise. I had diabetes so my sugars dropped a lot and I also have lupus, so it was a tough the first week but, fortunately, I made it through it just fine and hopefully it will go fast for you and you will be fine too. Sometimes the power of positive thinking works wonders and telling yourself you are proud of taking these steps and convincing yourself you are doing well and encouraging yourself works. We all felt tired during this phase, so you aren't alone and soon enough you'll be sleeved and will have to work through another host of challenges and I think the preop just prepares us for the road ahead. Be proud of the steps you have taken to change your life.

I was on full liquid for 5 weeks, so I understand what you are talking about and I'm 3 months out and sometimes three bites of my meat and I haven't even gotten a taste of my vegie yet and I'm done. I am learning not to get myself worked up though. I was never really a "foodie" or big into food, I ate fast, I didn't think about the food, I just shoveled it my mouth, went for seconds, and I'm learning to pace myself with a bite and chew and put my fork down. I try not to tempt myself with food that's not going to actually give me Protein or nutrition. I basically quit cooking carb food, potatoes, rice etc. and my family isn't missing it. I always made a meat, a starch, a vegetable, cottage cheese, apple sauce and a dessert, now I make meat, a vegetable and I still put cottage cheese on the table. I am learning to flavor my food more to get more mmm mmm deliciousness for each bite. Tonight, I made a small salad (which I didn't eat until I finished my meat). We grilled chicken and I made homemade Pesto with fresh basil. I ate 1/2 a piece of chicken breast with the presto on it and a few bites of my salad. It was not a lot of food that I ate, but each bite was delicious. Sometimes you have to take temptation out of your hands. I've tried food I really wanted and watched as others scarfed and 3 bites in, I felt like it wouldn't go past my esophagus and the pain was amazing. I am learning if you think you chewed enough, you didn't, chew it some more, if you think you are eating slow enough, you aren't. Flavor your food, take temptation out of the equation. My son and husband are both losing weight, without trying because of the way I am cooking now and the food is tasting better now. Food is now important to me, when at 330 it meant nothing to me. I scarfed, I didn't taste it and I would eat two large plates of food, without enjoying it. There is a way to enjoy it, but it starts with the way you approach it. Use prettier and smaller dishes for yourself, use fresher spices, fresh seasonings and make sure you give yourself a small enough portion that it looks larger on your plate and learn to trick yourself into realizing it's the normal amount. Spend more time socializing during dinner and focus on the taste of the food more while you are eating and it will eventually become the new normal and you won't feel so deprived. I know what you are going through but realizing that I someday WILL reach my goal and I will not yo-yo makes it all worth while in the end.

Regarding hair loss, it's still technically summer. If you are blow drying your hair, curling it, swimming and in the sun, you are bound to lose more hair. Woman also use a lot more hair gear like clips, ponytail holders, bands, etc. these can cause breakage. The summer and sun can be rough on your hair. As we move into fall, it's also a time of natural shedding, even animals get a change of their coat. The surgery will contribute to some hair loss, but remember all the other factors at work. I have fine hair to begin with, I have bleach blonde hair with the aid of color and to top it off I have Lupus. Lupus causes hair loss, medication associated with lupus can contribute to it. I was swimming daily and in the sun and before you know it, I started losing even more about a month ago. I started the Biotin before surgery. I do take steps to help though. Before getting into the pool I wet my hair first with the hose and I add a little bit of conditioner, I use L'O'real Naturals from Sally's. I rinse periodically while swimming and add a little more if I am in a long time. One time I didn't do this and I paid for it. I get my hair trimmed every 4-6 weeks now. I use a cap (or saran wrap) and once a week use Redken Extreme CAT Protein reconstructing treatment an use a blow dryer to warm up the cap. After about 1/2 hour with that, I add the L'Oreal Natural (you can use whatever you like best or Cholesterol) which is cheaper, put a bag, cap or I use saran wrap around the head, and blow dry the saran wrap (or sit under a dryer). This has made a remarkable difference. I am using the new Garnier Frutis Fall Fight shampoo, I use L'Oreal Naturals conditioner and then every day I add a dime amount of Redken CAT and I let my hair dry naturally and if I have to curl it, I wait until it's dry. At 3 months my hair is doing very well compared to what it was a few weeks ago. Remember there are always other things at work besides the surgery that adds to the hair loss or breakage and you will most likely need to take special precautions in the summer. Stop using clips, pony tail holders, be careful of the sun, chlorine and lower your blow dry usage. Once a week try a deep protein & then conditioner treatment and continue with the biotin treatment.

Saying prayers, good luck to you and I'm very happy for you too!

It's a great question to ask. I would do it again and I had a complication during surgery. My recovery was a bit slower than others. I have a question for you. What are your expectations with surgery? Do you know the ins and outs of what is expected of you before surgery and after surgery? I needed six months pre-approval monthly weigh ins and I had to turn in a food log, Water & exercise log, I had meetings I had to attend, nutritionist, we were told no more coffee, no drinking water with meals until 1/2 hour after meal). Eat meat first, vegetables second, lower carb intake 45-75, eat 80 grams of Protein a day and stay within 800-1000 calories a day. If you think you can work on some of your food issues, including "carb mourning" before surgery it will definitely help you afterwards. I worked hard before I had surgery so I had a head-start on losing and I worked out all my kinks. Learning to let go of caffeine, carbonated beverages etc. I learned to move more, so I wanted to exercise sooner after surgery. It's not a diet, it's a way of life or a lifestyle, because once you have the surgery, you can't undo it. There's no do-overs. Even someone like me, that followed the diet plan pre-surgery, still thinks, gosh I really want a big salad, and I make my little plate and I eat my meat and I get a little bummed because there is no room for a salad, I get in a cherry tomato and bite of lettuce and I'm done, there's no room for a second bite of lettuce or the small cucumber. I'm not hungry, but there is a feeling inside sometimes that ugh, I wanted just one more bite. I am pretty strict with following the rules too and even though I lost 70 pounds pre-surgery, I decided to go ahead with it. If you can realize this is a lifestyle, though some day if you want a taste of a cake, you could probably have a bite, it is restrictive by nature. I have heard people say things like "you can't stretch your sleeve". There are days I would like it stretched, just a little bit more, but I think again that has to do with a complication that I had and I'm almost 10 weeks out. Good luck with your decision, again it's worth it to me, and I know that some day I'll get that second bite of salad in

I have been looking it up too. It's not even so much low cal but low carb. I am trying to find something that is low carb and I found the skinny girl margarita's and red wine is suppose to be low carb. Unfortunately for me, I like beer and hard ciders, which are both carbonated and I will have to forego them. I also like champagne, again, carbonation. I will mostly like try a wine one of these days and maybe after I reach goal, I'll allow myself a semi-flat, hopefully not too carbonated champagne

I don't understand it myself. I'm 9 weeks and I went another week without losing, after going 1-1/2 weeks going up and down a pound, up 2, down 2 the next day. My son went through everything that I have been eating and I'm between 450-600 was my max calories a day. I'm doing the gazelle an hour a day, swimming 1-2 hours, going to for walks. I'm staying at 20-30 carbohydrates a day (sometimes less) 60-70 Protein. Yesterday was my birthday and my husband and son kept nagging me about getting ice cream or yogurt and my son said listen Mom, you are doing everything right and it's like before, when you would diet hard and we would go out to eat and you would blow your diet and end up losing weight. Eat some no sugar added frozen yogurt and you will weigh 2 pounds less tomorrow. I don't know why I said yes to them. I haven't cheated once on this diet, I don't even allow myself the sugar-free puddings anymore, I get almost all my carbs with my Protein shakes or vegetables. I said yes. I went to bed literally frustrated that I ate 1/4 cup of no sugar added FroYo (which tasted not that great) but they were happy with their chocolate and I was mad that so they could treat themselves, I had to agree to have some, otherwise I wouldn't eat it. I told them no more of this, because if they want yogurt, ice cream etc. it's up to them, but stop bringing me into it. They both felt bad, something I promised I would not do to them, because let's face facts, this is my journey and they have been supporting me but they shouldn't have to go without because I have to. Well, guess what....I weigh two pounds less today and I was still under 600 calories yesterday and only hit 30 grams of carbs. It makes zero sense. It makes no sense when it says "you are in starvation mode" on myfitnesspal.com It makes no sense that consistently, for the past 6 weeks I have had a deficit in my calories vs. exercise and yet I am not losing as fast as I want to. What I can tell you is this though, bones are appearing where there was just chub, my arms are getting tight, the middle of my back is getting a chiseled dip and I look smaller, my clothes are hanging different this week than last week. It messes with my head a bit. I give a lot of pep talks to people that post the "I am failing" especially when people tell themselves enough they are failures, they can find ways to actually fail, they give up and I won't give up and I don't want others to give up. I can't say I'm a failure at this, because I know eventually the weight will fall off and I worked too hard to fail. Our biggest issue is using the scale consistently as a judge, jury and sometimes executioner to our self-esteem. I moved the scale from the bathroom (which gets kicked and moved and the steam in there and every time I brush my teeth, go to the bathroom, before a shower before bed I wanted to hop on it. Seeing the weight gain from first thing in the am or throughout the day would cause my head to spin. I don't have the discipline to not reweigh myself when it's in my face, so I moved the scale to my spare bedroom. I weigh once a day, I get up, after my first Pee, I go in the spare room, shut the door, take off my nightgown and weight, so it's only once a day and it's upped my mood a bit. Look at the whole picture, it's so easy to judge your success to someone elses. How many people look at my "total" weight loss and think wow, look at all she lost and she had surgery in June...I lost 10 pounds a month Pre-approval. If you look at my overall weight loss, guess what....it still equates to about 10 pounds a month. I started the plan in November had surgery in June and we're in August now! I lost faster after surgery (because I had to lose all that Water weight from the IV etc.) but we all got so used to that 1 or 2 pounds a day the first week and now, our body has to readjust. I promise you, if you keep getting in your nutrtion, drink your 64 ounces of water, chart your cals. carb. protein and you do the right thing, the inches will fall off, if you add exercise into the mix, the fat will fall off and be replaced by lean muscle, and eventually the scale will reflect this. I will reread this next time I start to wig out about the stupid scale. Good luck.

For those of you that are starting today there are a few things to remember. The first few days are the hardest. When you hit day 4 you will notice a little more spring your step. Day 2 & 3 a lot of people get a little tiny headache, drink more Water and whatever you do, keep busy. If you walk around telling yourself you are starving or that this sucks, you will, of course feel hungrier and it will start sucking. Another thing that is important to know, liquid in, liquid out. As you know eventually your bodily functions will change a bit. I suggest if you do go places, take notice of bathrooms. This is usually about day 4-7. There are threads and you may have noticed comments "never trust a fart", there are reasons for this. This doesn't last all 14 days, but this is something that happens after surgery for the first few weeks. Some people have a harder time going, and for some it's the liquid in and liquid out deal. Eventually you go back to being regular. I stayed busy, I continued exercising (I did the gazelle twice a day during the 14 day pre-op) and I did a lot of walking. The biggest thing to remember is that during this 14 day time, you are probably getting better nutrition than you had before, because this has all your Vitamins and minerals and you are not literally starving to death, because you are getting the nutrition you need. Best of luck and stay positive and it will go by fast!

I take two omaprazole a day, and I have for years. I had to switch to pepcid after surgery, because the other is too big, but I just switched back to the omaprazole because it works better and I can finally take that big pill down. I actually get prescription Omaprazole because it is cheaper with my insurance than buying over the counter.

Soda & Tonic is definitely carbonated and according to my surgeon & nutritionist it can expand your "pouch" or your "sleeve" and it is not recommended and taboo from my bariatric center. There will be those that state they were told it is okay, it is something you will have to speak to with your nutritionist or surgeon or do up to your discretion. I would rather err on the side of caution, though I do miss my soda water.

Looks good but it has caffeine which is expressly forbidden to me from my doctor, unless he lifts the ban on coffee, it won't help me much. Boo... maybe they will come out with a decaff one

I suffer severe migraines and carbonation always helped me with my migraines. I used to drink Mountain Dew or Coke only when I had a migraine, I'm not a big pop drinker. I switched to Zero Flavored Seltzer Water. It worked just as well without the sugar. Having to quit that was something a bit hard on me, because along with it, I am not allowed Excedrin Migraine any longer, which is the only medication that helps me. You will read that people state they drank pop up to surgery and even diet pop right after surgery. Some will say there is no proof it stretches out your stomach. You are going to have to decide whether or not you are willing to trust your Doctor's advice, considering (s)he will be taking out 85% of your stomach. For most of us, this is not a diet, this is a way of life. I can tell you some day I would like a sip of champagne or a sip of beer. It won't be for a long long time, until I am completely to goal. I like coffee and I gave that up to, but I sure like the way this feels. I really am not willing to take a chance on stretching my sleeve at this point. I am sure some day when I'm at goal and I am really sure of myself I will allow myself a sip of champagne or something with seltzer, but I'm using this time to break anything that is a form of habit that doesn't benefit me nutritionally.