MinaT

Try upping your Protein and what helped me with energy is was sublingal Vitamin B12. Tiny small pill you put under your tongue. As tired as you are, you need to set some time during your day to walk around, even if it's 20 minutes. At first walking was rough outside (I had a drain 9 days) so I walked from living room to dining room to kitchen in a circle. I walked 20 minutes straight and I did it three times a day. In between I sipped, I pretty much camped out in my family room in a recliner and I would nap once a day (sometimes twice), but I made sure I did 20 minutes non-stop walking. After that I progressed to walking outside in my backyard, I have a huge patio. I made sure it was timed, I did 2 1/2 hours. After two weeks I quit the naps. Give yourself time to heal, but you have to make time to walk a bit, your lungs and legs need it. Best of luck, rest when you can, sip when you can and walk when you can.

When I woke up I was in a great mood. I went into surgery humming and I woke up with the thumbs up and smiling. The first day and night were fine. I know I hurt, but the pain wasn't overwhelming. I walked 3 times that night. The next morning, day two was rough. I had a little tiny bit of nausea, but I was worried about the upper gi leak test. Luckily they gave me an anti-nausea shot (plus I had a patch) and I went for the leak test, the gastrique was horrible. I had an allergic reaction to the stuff and I broke out in hives. They never saw that happen to someone before. I was extremely nauseated and sick the rest of the day and they gave me tons of different anti-nausea medications. I still walked a lot. The third day, wasn't too bad. I was in the hospital 5 days. I had a drain 9 days, so I went home with the drain. I made sure I walked....a lot. I brought decaff peppermint tea and truvia with me to the hospital. It made everything bearable. Go into the surgery with a positive attitude. I had to remain strong and positive for my husband, son and parents. They were all terrified. I refused to let them see me terrified. Sometimes all the world indeeds a stage and we are merely players....one of my mottos is fake it til you make it. I put on a brave face and I woke up with one. I had complications during my surgery, some very serious ones that had nothing to do with the sleeve, and my family seeing me wake up after spending 7 hours in surgery, and 2 hours in recovery was just what they needed. Best of luck to you. Smile, go into the hospital with a favorite song playing in your head and hum it to yourself into surgery. My father had surgery recently and before surgery I told him that I used the family theme song (Sanford & Son) as my theme song into surgery and I hummed it to the nurses and he laughed. He said, I just want to wake up after surgery, and he sung, "Wake me up, before you go go" and we laughed. It's hilarious cause he's 74. Edited to say* He actually sang it to his anesthesiologist before he went to surgery.... Good luck again.

I couldn't walk up the stairs. I have a quad-level. I needed help. I needed help getting my shoes on, getting off the couch, my feet swelled up so much that you would freak if you saw how big they were. I worked very hard during the pre-approval period and lost weight before surgery, but without the program that I was on, and how serious I took this surgery, getting 85% of my stomach removed, I dedicated myself to changing my habits before surgery. It was still hard after surgery, but oh my gosh, life does get better if you put the effort into following your doctor's plan.

Yikes, the more important reason to be careful with caffeine use is dehydration. Dehydration is something you need to be seriously concerned about after surgery. You will be on a liquid diet at first. Liquid in = liquid out. Caffeine is a diuretic. After surgery many people have issues with dehydration. Dehydration is one of the main reasons for readmittance to the hospital after surgery, it's more common than leaks. Just be careful and keep your surgeon informed. If you have no problem with dehydration and your surgeon says go for it, then you should be okay.

coffee and de-caffeinated coffee contain acids which are irritating to the stomach lining and should be avoided for the first few weeks for healing, which is stated by several doctors. All doctors and all clinics are different, but it's up to you, it's your sleeve and I felt the same way as you but I was told to wean off coffee before surgery and it's been 8 weeks since I have had surgery, and I gave it up a month before surgery, and I survived, but I would definitely inform your doctor if you do it, just in case there are complications. No two sleeves are alike, and no two people are alike, it may not cause some people problems, but if you have a problem it's only fair you let your doctor know that you are drinking coffee, so he is aware. http://www.northwestobesitysurgery.com/pdf/sleeve-gastrectomy-diet.pdf Here is only one link, you can look on google for different bariatric clinics that will state the same thing. I would love coffee myself so I understand.

I was on five weeks of full liquid, one week of purees, one week of soft then I go to regular. There are days I go back to purees because soft is a pain Maybe call them tomorrow and point out the discrepancy and hope it goes in the favor that you want !

BCBS of Illinois here. It's the Bariatric Center that you go to that will dictate what you need per your insurance. Mine states: 6 month medically supervised diet. Usually 800-1200 calories a day - 80 grams of Protein 45-75 grams of carbs. 64 ounces of Water, they will ask you try to get in 10k steps a day. I had to write my food down daily and my water and exercise and bring it with me to each appointment. I used myfitnesspal.com and I was able to print out everything. This was mandatory for my Bariatric Clinic. I lost 10 pounds a month during the 6 month pre-approval phase. I did get days that I treated myself out to dinner, including a monster margarita from Red Lobster and Japanese Steakhouse, but I put 100% effort all other times, except every few weeks to a month I treated myself. I did this 6 month through Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, St. Patricks Day, Easter and I still made it through. I lost 10 pounds during the two week pre-op shake phase. You meet once a month with the medical doctor. Don't miss any monthly appointment as it needs to be six month consecutive appointments. I had to go to one Weight Loss Surgery "Is it Right for Me" seminar. I had to go to one group meeting. I had to meet with their psychologist. Take a psychological examination. Then go over said test with the psychologist. I had to meet with their nutritionist. (I was told to quit caffeine, and no pop) no water with meals up to 1/2 hour after meal. After all this done, I met with the surgeon (I got to meet surgeon in advance because I have lupus and I had hernia, intestinal adhesions that we had to discuss, I also had a past bowel resection. I had to have an upper GI done. I had already had a sleep study in the past year, I had very current blood work, though I needed more 2 weeks before surgery. I had a colonoscopy in the past year so I didn't need that, I had an ekg and a stress test in the past year, so I didn't need that. After I met with the surgeon, everything was sent off to my insurance company. It took about a week to get the okay (they say it can take 2 weeks - 6 weeks). After the okay, I had to have two - 2 hour meetings with the nutritionist to go over each phase of the diet, given paperwork and I was to learn about the drain and how to clean and take care of the drain and they went over the surgeries (Gastric Sleeve and Gastric Bypass. They discussed the two week pre-op shake diet and they supplied me with two weeks worth of New Direction shakes. I was only allowed 3 shakes a day with sugar-free Jello or popsicles. I was sent for more blood work, along with the H-Pylori Test (blood) not breath, because it was too close to surgery to do the breath test for H-Pylori. A week before surgery I had to go in and get my blood type test done and was given a wrist band. I needed the cardiologist to sign off on my last ekg because I was hospitalized for a day during my 5th month of pre-approval for pleurisy and my ekg showed an anomoly. My surgeon signed off, my gastro signed off, my rheumotologist signed off. Two weeks before surgery I met with the nurse practitioner. We went over everything again. She gave me a sheet of what medicines I was to go off, when. She allowed me to stay on my plaquenil for Lupus up to a week before surgery. She also measured me. She gave me her personal pager number and if I needed her all I had to do was contact her, I have free nurse practitioner and nutritionist appointments for life now. I was given two bottles of Hibiclens to shower with. One was to be used the night before surgery. Wash your body (not privates or face). I was instructed to make sure I slept in freshly laundered bedding. The next morning I was to again wash with a bottle of Hibiclens. I arrived at the hospital that morning about 7:30 - got into surgery at 10:30. I was again instructed to wash my tummy with a special sponge and then put a gown on. The nurse put special ted hose on me and I had an IV put in. I was brought to the holding room. The anesthesiologist met with me, the nurses met with me, my doctor's surgical partner met with me, the surgeon came in to talk to me. Since I had a hernia he had some questions for me. I had to sign more documents stating I knew that though the surgery was to be laparascopic that they may have to convert to a full cut surgery. I was then told that since I had a hernia, what does he want me to do if the hernia is too extensive and he can't do the sleeve. Does he close up or do I give permission to convert it to Gastric Bypass. I had to think about that and I figured I went that far I would go with Gastric Bypass if I had to. Luckily I had the sleeve, but I did have some complications but that's another story. I was in the hospital 5 days, went home with a drain which was removed 9 days after surgery. This is my experience, a lot of people have different experiences. I'm grateful for the internist I worked with at the bariatric clinic, my surgeon, the nurse practitioners, the surgical assistant and the nutritionist. I may have one of the more strict doctor's, but it's worked for me.

I know a lot of people do eat it, some will say in moderation and some doctor's and nutritionists will say NO..never eat it. I am sure some day, I will have a little bit, but I don't imagine doing it for a while. I'm at 8 weeks and struggling with Protein. I just got pleurisy again (Lupus related) and it's hard to breath let alone eat or dink. I had my first real salad today, ate less than 1/2 of it (mostly picked out some of the meat). The lettuce was rough going down. I guess it depends on how far out you are. It is a slider food, you eat it and you can eat so much of it (pre-surgery for my "forespecial" day out I ate the Largest Jumbo bag of Popcorn at the movies...all by myself, yeah I put butter on it too. That equals 910-1220 calories and 71-97 grams of fat. I lucked out and didn't gain weight because I was careful for 2 weeks prior to this and was on a stall and it kicked me out of a stall. Good luck, popcorn is something I love, but I don't think it's a good idea just out from surgery because the kernels could be harmful to your stomach and there's not much of a nutritional value to them, if you are going to try some make sure you are healed.

I would add you all if I could. It does not grant me the authority to edit my original on this or the original thread. I'm sorry I have tried.

You still have two weeks to start breaking some of the habits that you need to change. If it's too hot to walk outside, try walking inside the house. Try putting on some music and walk in place. Perhaps if you start a Protein shake for Breakfast, try something light for lunch and lower your carbs. The Protein Shake pre-op is rough, especially for those that haven't weaned at all from carbs. The more carbs you eat, the more carbs you will want. If you haven't started charting your food, calories, protein, carbs, fat, sodium and potassium, try something like myfitnesspal.com It's very helpful. I did it for the entire six month pre-approval phase and still chart daily. If you do that, you will have to change the goals because it starts at 1200 calories and a very high amount of carbohydrates like 157. If you can lower your carbs to something like 75 a day (i did 45-75) it will help. Start charting your Water intake (try to get in 64 ounces and practice chewing your food carefully and not drinking with your dinner (wait 1/2 hour after eating to drink your water). It will help you get used to what you will have to do after surgery. My biggest suggestion is do not go out for your "last supper" the day before you start your pre-op shakes. Those that seem to carb overload the day before seem to have the hardest time with the pre-op shake. Do your best to work on things now and it will make things so much easier, is my best advice. *edited to say, if you are a carbonation (pop) drinker or a caffeine drinker, break it before the pre-op shake too. If you wait until that day....imagine going through caffeine withdrawals, pop withdrawals while being on a protein shake....and not having food. It's rough, you will end up with a serious headache for a few days. Also, remember when on the pre-op shake diet, liquid in - liquid out. Don't stray too far from a bathroom. About day 3, is where I learned you should never trust a fart. It's a lesson I learned the hard way.

The hunger pains could also be healing pains. You *cut your finger, it throbs, so does your stomach and it feels the same as hunger pains and also acid can contribute to it. The wanting to grab the sandwich is head hunger, it's an emotional thing. If you start looking at it analytically, it sometimes helps you to deal with it. Best of luck to you.

I can attest it works for colds, flu, sore throats, acid reflux and plantar warts. I got a blister on the side and bottom of my baby toe from a new pair of sandals and I made the mistake of taking the shoe off in public and I noticed it was bleeding. Well, the germs I got were bad. I ended up with plantar warts the bottom of my foot. After trying to get rid of it with freezing stuff, and over the counter medications I went and had surgery, they cut a whole lot of the bottom of my foot from under my baby toe to the middle of my foot and then they burned the warts too. I had what seemed like 1000's by that time. I used duct tape and every over the counter thing. They came back. I had to have them burned again and yet they came back. I was told why not take a make up cotton pad and put some apple cider vinegar on it and wear my flip flops and within two weeks, they were gone! This was 4 years ago in September. Hard to believe that I still have some severely bad scar tissue and it still feels like I'm walking on warts. Had I tried the apple cider vinegar int he beginning, I am sure it would have been cured on its own. I spent so much time in pain for nothing. My son just got plantar warts on his foot from being on a school trip and I did the apple cider vinegar in the shoes for him, and they are gone already.

I was on full liquids for 5 full weeks. After that was pureed food and I wasn't allowed tomato Soup until I started regular food and I still haven't had it, though it's my favorite, they said it was too acidic. I ate mostly pureed tuna, pureed rotisserie chicken (it's less dry than canned chicken). 1% cottage cheese, Peanut Butter was too rough on me until I hit the soft phase. Everyone is different and everyone heals differently.

I am 8 weeks and I had a little tiny bit of lettuce today. It was rough on me, other people have no problem. Best recommendation is do what your doctor says to do.

I got that and the sweats after drinking Milk of Magnesia and I got it when eating too dry turkey meatball that I made. (I do not recommend making turkey meatballs with 99/1 Turkey, it was like a one ounce brick in my tummy.

Be careful to really puree your food at first, and make sure it's moist. Tuna was rough on me when I pureed it in the magic bullet. I pulled out the food processor after that. One of the moistest things and best thing I had was rotisserie chicken. It blended better than canned chicken or home made chicken and it was a lot more moist. I know that there are others like me that had a rough time with food. Everything seemed and sometimes does seem to get stuck from the esophagus into stomach mark. I still can only get about 2 ounces of anything in at a time and I'm 8 weeks. Sometimes I still puree food because it definitely goes in easier, with less pain afterwards. Best of luck to you.

Very cute!

2nd day post-op was my worst day. I was nauseated the entire day. I slept, I sipped decaff peppermint tea, Water hurt, and I walked and sat in the bathroom and sometimes fell asleep there. I had an allergic reaction to the gastrique for the upper gi leak test. I slept whenever anyone showed up to see me and was awake and nauseated when I was by myself. I was in the hospital 5 days and when I got home I had a drain until day 9. I made sure every day I got up and walked circles in my house living room, dining room, kitchen, and I would try to get 20 minutes in. Then I would sip, sleep, sip, walk, sip. It was my way of life for the first 10 days. Try to stay positive, even though you are feeling icky and know that every single day is better than the day before. I had a lot of complications with my surgery, and I have a brain tumor and I have lupus and I'm not young, but at 8 weeks I feel better than I have in years. It does get better every day, hold on tight to that thought, and congrats on the sleeve. I hope you feel better soon.

I am so sorry you are having such a hard time. You sound like you are doing exactly what you are suppose to be doing, don't get discouraged right now about your weight though, because your weight and bmi was lower than a lot of other's before surgery, so weight loss will be slower. Also, regarding the clothes size, that's not really important right now, because though I am in a size 18 now, I still can wear some of my 3x clothes, like the stretchy pants, they are loose, but the clothing size isn't so important right now, because your body is still adjusting. Your tummy will be the last to change. My tummy was swollen pretty big for the first 5 weeks. About 7 weeks I started to see the change in my stomach. I'm only 8 weeks on Monday. I lost my entire butt, my body is changing differently than it ever has in the past. My face is smaller, my arms are growing muscles, my butt went flat, but with lunges it's starting to perk up a little bit, my tummy still look flubby to me, my legs are losing at different rates too. I think your food intake is low, the way mine is, and I struggle to and I had surgery 14 days before you did and so believe me when I say I understand your struggle with food. I hit 400-475 calories a day. I hit 500 one day and thought I over did it though my carbs were only 20 that day! My big concern is you throwing up and having problem getting your liquids in. That at this stage makes me want to say, call your doctor. Are you drinking out of a water bottle? Maybe try switching to drinking out of a glass. I couldn't drink out of a water bottle for the first 5 weeks. It hurt so much, I still have problems once in a while with it, where my esophagus gets all tight and weird on me. I am going to speak with the surgeon about that at my appointment. I would definitely speak to your doctor, it sounds like you have the same problem with your esophagus into the stomach that I am having. I did have a complication during my surgery which, my gosh, is probably very rare, but I think I have scar tissue around my esophagus took a team of gastro's and more surgeons to try to figure out how to get it the staples out and pull out the esophageal tube. It probably narrowed my esophagus a bit. Do you think you may have picked up a bug, the flu or have you had any blood tests lately. I am so sorry you are going through this. You are doing everything right and please continue with it and it will come off you eventually. I know that I am losing slower than others too but it had to do with losing so much pre-surgery. We'll reach our goals eventually. Give yourself a little more healing time and perhaps check in with the doctor about the nausea and chest pain with sips of water. Best of luck to you.

My stomach was bloated 5 weeks out. Day of surgery on a Monday I was 229. I came home on Friday, I weighed myself on Saturday morning and I weighed 235~!!! I was measured about 2 weeks before surgery. 2 weeks after surgery my stomach was 2 Inches LARGER! They cut your entire stomach from one end to the top, it gets cauterized, stapled, glued. The inside of the tummy and the outside of the stomach are swollen. The amount of pulling and tugging and the gas they put inside you is a whole lot. 8 days after surgery I was just switching from Clear liquids to full liquids and I was on Full Liquids for 5 weeks straight. All doctor's are different, but one thing does remain the same, and that's you just had major surgery. 8 - 9 days after surgery what has been reported is that people start getting depressed a bit or "moody." The reality of the surgery and the finality of the surgery sets in and almost everyone has a little tiny bit of buyer's remorse. It's usually due to the anesthesia leaving the system and the hormone changes in your body. This is completely and utterly normal. Right now, focus on healing. It took over 5 weeks for the swelling in my stomach to go down. I'm 8 weeks on Monday and last week I was pulling tree limbs from my yard, and I pulled my stomach muscles again and I swelled up a little bit, and I threw a stomach brace on. The swelling went down by the next morning. If it really bothers you, a little ice pack once in a while won't hurt you. Congrats on your weight loss. It will get better as you heal.

I take Optisource 4x's a day, which you can purchase from Walgreens. Oftentimes, I buy it there is a coupon for the next month on the back of the receipt for $4.00 off, which definitely comes in handy. http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/optisource-post-bariatric-surgery-formula-chewable-vitamin-%26-mineral-supplement-tablet/ID=prod403359-product Besides this, I take a Vitamin B12 sublingual and a Biotin. Not sure whether or not the biotin will help me, but since I have Lupus I figured it couldn't hurt.

I had the exact same problem with my pure Protein Shakes that I drank during the six month pre-approval. As I am sipping the sip before wanted to come back up. I'm sorry I'm not sure when you were sleeved, but for me I had to be on Full liquids for 5 weeks. It was rough because the taste and even smell of the chocolate from the shakes were rough. Your best bet is to try something else. I was having a problem with the smell/taste of the whey Protein itself. It went down like elmer's glue. I went to Vitamin Shoppe and bought Syntrax Nectar Fuzzy Navel, which I mixed with Water. It was $33.00 a big jug of it (compared with $59.00 through Syntrax). I didn't really love it...but it was good to switch to while I was struggling with my regular protein shakes. It did finally pass for me, I still do a Protein Shake daily for Breakfast and I alternate days with the Syntrax or days with the Pure Protein Frosty Chocolate. On days I want something lighter tasting I go with the Fuzzy Navel. Best of luck to you.

Oh I'm so sorry. Yes, it can take long for some of us. Some people have Iron stomachs and some of us, have to try one new food at a time. I was on full liquids 5 weeks and it was rough going to pureed food for me. I had a hernia repair and some complications and tuna needed to be pureed really well. Even at 7 weeks I was resorting to soft more pureed food. Best bet is to incorporate only one new food at a time and see what it is that you do better with. Tuna, is something I looked forward to but I used my magic bullet to do it with low fat mayo and onion powder and celery salt and it just went down hard and heavy. The day I did the chicken (out of a can) the same way, I got sick later and was sweating from it (only had 1 ounce!!) I stopped using the magic bullet and pulled out the regular food processor. What went down the best was real rotisserie chicken (stores like Jewels/Stracks/Sams/Meier) sell them pretty cheap from $6.00 - $9.00) a chicken. I used the real food processor and added real celery (cut the strings from the celery and used mostly the middle part) and then real onion and I blended it so it was extremely pureed then I added some light Mayo and it went down easily. Best of luck to you and give your tummy time to heal. I'm 8 weeks out and still am being very very careful with what I put in it. I still think Rotisserie Chicken goes down easier than regular chicken. I hope today is a better day for you.

Second day is the worst day. Did you have to go for upper gi test this morning? Did they make you drink the gastrique? I woke up nauseated then they sent me for the leak test. They gave me three different medications plus I had the patch behind my ear. If you have a good chair in your hospital room, try sitting in that, with a cold rag on your forehead and a cold damp rag on your neck. sleep as much as you can. If you can ask for someone to pick you up some decaff peppermint tea and whatever artificial sweetener you like, have them bring that to you, if there is a store close by. Bigelow Peppermint Tea with Truvia was my go to of choice. It calmed my belly and I was able to get some liquids in. Please know that every single day will be better than the day before. 2nd day is always the worst. By tomorrow your nausea will be a little better. Walk when you can, sip when you can, but for today rest. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

I, like you thought about this on several occasions. The first time I went to a place, they didn't quite explain the procedure to me. I was told that I would see a nutritionist, that I would see their psychologist and then they would set me up on a plan. I saw the nutritionist twice, took some psychological testing which was comprised of a bunch of silly questions, some were asked the same way two or three different ways, with no real correct answer. 1. Have you met anyone that has tried to deliberately sabotage your efforts? (I think we all have once in our lives). 2. Have you ever felt that people were jealous of you? Again, I'm sure we all have. I met with the psychologist, and she told me that I would need to meet with her to go over why I gained weight in the first place and what my issues are with food. I asked how long the process would be she told me six months. I took offense to it. I thought I was being unfairly picked on and she was rude. Had I been told up front that everyone had to do this, that everyone had to go through a six month pre-approval meeting, that would have helped me out a lot. My husband lost his job, I quit the program. I went to another place a few years later, and heavier, and I was told up front 6 months program etc. a few weeks later, I got pneumonia. I quit the program. I ended up with pneumonia a few months later after that too. A year later I went back to the previous place and I took all the information and decided to put 100% effort into the program. You are doing very well taking in all the information. I understand how much information you have been given and having to digest it. Charting food is something I did not want to do. It is something I have hated doing FOREVER... My suggestion is using something like Myfitnesspal.com Almost every food you can find in there. You have to do some set up of it, because it has a default for Calories of 1200 - and the Carb default is like 157 or something really high. If you can lower that to 45-75 it will be more beneficial. If you can up the default of protein to 80 that helps too. If you need help with this I can help you or there are others that can help you with that. Even if you aren't sure you want to do this yet...why not just go through with some of these things to carry on, you already started the process. You know you can cancel up to the day of the surgery Regarding the Sleep Apnea testing. That actually goes in favor of having the surgery. It's considered a co-morbidity. If you have sleep apnea (many overweight people do) even some people that aren't overweight have it, and there is something caused "central sleep apnea" which has to do with the brain. Being tested for it something I have had to do many times and I refuse the cpap machine. Even if your insurance company doesn't require it, it actually adds to the comorbidity. Diabetes is one, but sleep apnea would be considered a second, which only goes to help you. I had a cousin that died from sleep apnea at the age of 52. I refuse the cpap but I am also on oxygen, so that helps. I have to go for another sleep study in September/October and hopefully I'll be off oxygen now. Regarding your age, limitations and illnesses, I was 330 last spring. I used oxygen at night and sometimes during the day. I have mixed connective tissue disease, lupus, glaucoma, a brain tumor located on the root of my trigeminal nerve, degenerative disk disease in my neck. I was on daily injections for diabetes, I suffer severe migraines and I receive occipital nerve blocks, cervical spine injections, I also have asthma and a neurological condition. I was diagnosed with CRPS/RSD in 2004 from bilateral carpal tunnel surgery in 2004. I had a Reveal heart monitor implanted in my chest for over a year, which I still had when I went for my first two appointments and I finally got it out end of December 2011. (I started the program in November). During my pre-approval phase at month 5 I was admitted into the hospital for pleurisy, which is a complication due to lupus. Before I started the pre-approval phase I could barely get up the stairs or off the couch by myself. The pain in my hips and knees were so great and I was told I would probably end up needing all those. I decided to work on my food issues when I joined the program. #1 I didn't eat breakfast ever...I started doing a protein shake fo breakfast. #2 I didn't eat lunch..ever. I started doing 1% cottage cheese and a slice of turkey meat for lunch, or alternatively a protein shake. I did a sensible dinner. I started learning to chew my food. Something I never did (I ate dinner fast, swallowing everything whole) and often-times choking on my food. If we went out to dinner I always choked because I wanted nobody to see me eat so I ate fast. I always drank water with my dinner too, because I choked. I started to try not to drink water with dinner, and I found myself chewing more and choking less. I haven't choked in months! I slowed down on coffee intake and eventually gave it up before the pre-op phase. I figured if I did the pre-op shake phase and had to give up coffee, I wouldn't be having withdrawals so I got rid of it in advance. Because of my migraines I would drink things like Mountain Dew or Coke and instead I switched it Soda Water. When I found out no carbonation I was devastated. Worse, no more Excedrin Migraine. There were months I would get a headache 4-5 times a week. I switched to Botox injections in my head (above my ears in my skull and back of my head and my neck). I get a headache a week at the most now. I gave up Soda water because of the carbonation. I worked on my 64 ounces of water. I am off diabetes injections, I am pretty sure I will not need knee or hip replacement surgery. I am off water pills, I am off sleeping pills, I can walk up the stairs now. The surgery isn't what has cured me though. The fact that I took a stand and started to think I was worth taking care of is. I worked hard to make changes so the sleeve can eventually work for me. I still have lupus, I still have a brain tumor, but last summer I sat on my couch, could barely breath because I had so much weight on my chest and I knew I didn't have much longer to live. My great-grandmother died at the age of 49 due to obesity. She had diabetes and we were built exactly alike. I will be 49 in a few weeks now. I worked hard to get to where I am. I new surgery was going to be hard on me. My doctor knew it too. I had a hernia and I had scar tissue from so many previous surgeries including a c-section hysterectomy, numerous laparascopies from endometriosis, gallbladder removal, a bowel resection, I had adhesions everywhere. I am not considered the best candidate for surgery because I am sick. I lost 60 pounds during the pre-approval phase on my own. I went out to eat once in a while and had Red Lobster (yes, I had their HUGE monster size margarita) and I charted it, I went to japanese steak house, I had special meals during this time. But I still charted my food, and I still lost weight. I lost only 10 pounds during the pre-op phase. My parents, my son and husband thought I would die before 50. I knew I would die before my 49th Birthday if I didn't do something about it. I realized then, i would rather die trying to fight for my life than to sit on the couch and die not trying. While we all have different lives, it's up to you which way you want to live your life. If you chose to do this, I swear if you put the effort into it, you will start feeling better about yourself every single day. I am never going to be perfectly healthy, I still have the headaches to deal with, the tumor, I still need cervical spine surgery in my future, I still have lupus, but my gosh, walking up the stairs without hip and knee pain, being able to see that I have a lap, and laying down with my boobs suffocating me is AMAZING! I wish you the best of luck. You seem to have already started changing the way you are doing things, and you are putting so much effort into this already and that is all you can do is try each day to change what you can to make better choices, and realize you are worth taking care of now.