SMP1126

Your father is a very smart man! Sent from my iPhone using VST

I suggest you call your surgeon just for the piece of mind. Sent from my iPhone using VST

I guess then this must be the new "normal" for us? I was sleeved the same day as you were and I suppose there are a lot of changes we'll go through as a result of this procedure. Thanks a bunch for replying! Sent from my iPhone using VST

I'm nearly 6 weeks post op and I have always been a Water drinker. 6 to 8 glasses per day and it's always been water in - water out. Since surgery, I still drink 60-80oz per day but I've noticed that I don't urinate nearly as much as I used to and when I do, it's darker than you would expect from drinking so much. It used to be pretty much clear and now it's a darker yellow. Has this happened to anyone else? Sent from my iPhone using VST

I'm completely with Dooter on this one. I too, never gave RNY a thought....too many issues. I'd ask the insurance advocate at your surgeons office about coverage if you decide to go with the sleeve, and I'd be surprised if there was any problem. Good luck!

.....And yet another reason why I love these forums! LOL Sent from my iPhone using VST

Oh man, sorry to hear that. Hopefully one of your choices at open enrollment will cover bariatric surgery. One thing you could look into even with your current insurance is if they'll cover it if your doctor declares that it's medically necessary. In that case, they might have to. Many insurance companies don't cover it right off the bat because they still consider it cosmetic surgery. It might be worth it to give your insurance another call. Sent from my iPhone using VST

10 grams of Protein, but 9 grams of carbs too? That protein to carb ratio seems pretty high. Sent from my iPhone using VST

The only way around it that I know of is if you self-pay for the surgery. The 6 month diet is a requirement from your insurance company before they're willing to absorb the costs of the procedure. It varies among different insurers, mine for instance required 3 months of dieting. Consider yourself lucky in a way because some insurance companies still don't cover WLS at all! Sent from my iPhone using VST

Whatever you decide to do, I hope it works out for you. I obviously don't know you or your husband so I'm reluctant to just throw advice out to you. I have noticed that there are several posts of women leaving bad marriages and good for you gals if your lives are now better. We all deserve to find happiness, and if that means a divorce, or a breakup then so be it. But not all of us guys are as bad as some of the ones I read about on here. My wife and I celebrated our 30th anniversary last month and we have 2 beautiful children. She is my partner, lover and best friend. I had my VSG in June and she took a week off to stay home and care for me just in case I needed her around. 8 years ago, I had a stroke and I couldn't stand, walk or bathe myself. She was there, at my side the whole time, bathing me, feeding me, helping me walk....she never once complained. Thank God, I had a full recovery with no side effects. My wife never had a weight issue (she's 5 ft. 117 lbs) but she was completely supportive of me having this surgery, and I did it because I love her so much and I want to have the benefit of more years with her. I don't care if this surgery turns me into the hottest guy on earth, I will NEVER stray from her (in 30 years, I have never strayed). She is a big reason why I'm still alive and she's my reason for living, and that will never change. Sent from my iPhone using VST

I like to have a couple of Jack Daniels on the rocks with a cigar on a Friday or Saturday ***ht. I tried it last Friday (I'm 5 weeks out) and it was no different for me than pre op! In fact, I had 3 of them. Nice mellow buzz as I'd usually get but it didn't hit me any harder although I was drinking much slower and taking small sips. Sent from my iPhone using VST

Enjoy it! It will be awhile before you eat "real" food again, and I promise you there will be times when you're going to want to give in, or you may begin to doubt if this was the right decision. But I also promise you that if you tough it out, you will discover that this was one of the best choices you ever made and it will all be so worth it. Your whole life is going to change, starting tomorrow! All the best to you! Sent from my iPhone using VST

I've had those questions too. I'm a little over 5 weeks out and my standard reply is "I can pretty much have whatever I want, and I just don't feel like having (insert food here) right now. It's easier than going into a whole explanation of the sleeve, especially if I'm around people who I don't wish to know I've had WLS. Sent from my iPhone using VST

7/30 - 205 only 1 pound lost last week Perhaps I'm finally hitting a stall?

Thank you all for your responses. I did notice, as one person stated, that when I eat foods which are more dense that I can't eats at nearly as much. Yesterday I barely got through one grilled chicken leg a 3 forkfulls of spinach. I am still losing weight, but the rapid loss slowed this past week as I only lost 1 pound as opposed to the 6-9 pounds per week I had been losing. Perhaps I'm finally hitting the stall that so many others have experienced. Sent from my iPhone using VST

That is really great! Good for you and keep up the good work! Sent from my iPhone using VST

Sounds like a pretty fair idea to me. Sent from my iPhone using VST

When I'm in the shower and I look down and I can see my...... Well, you get what I mean :-) Sent from my iPhone using VST

I'm just 5 weeks out and doing great, but I've noticed I can eat and drink much more lately than I had been able to. For example, I had no problem eating 2 scrambled eggs this morning and 8 oz of Protein shake went wdown easily. For lunch I was able to eat approx 10oz of ricotta. Is this normal? Sent from my iPhone using VST

I would not give my earlier reply if the person asking is your mother!....sorry about that!

My response would be, "If I could do that, don't you think I would, genius?"

I've decided that I was going to attempt to start a blog to use as a sort of open online journal / diary of how I got here and what I'm doing or not doing to contribute to my weight loss success or lack thereof. If this helps anyone who takes the time to read it, great. Some of you might find it a good read or facinating, or humorous at times or maybe inspirational or a source of motivation, while others might find it to be a boring bunch of crap. Either way is fine with me. I guess if I'm going to do this, I might as well start at the beginning, or at least what I consider to be the beginning. I was born and raised in Connecticut in an Italian household where food was more than just sustanence, it was a means of showing love, gratitude, hospitality and probably a million other things. As soon as you walked in the door, my grandmother would see that as a signal to head for the fridge to find something, anything....even leftovers to spring on you. And God help you if you said no thank you or "I'm not hungry". To Gram (as I called her) everyone was ALWAYS hungry, or was supposed to be! If you were a friend, she'd just ignore you as she was preparing something for you to eat (I always thought she did this because if you said you didn't want anything, she figured you just didn't know what you were talking about....of course you wanted to eat!) and if you were family, you might get a slap across the back of the head, followed by a meal in front of you and a "shuddup and eat". One thing which we seemed to always have was gravy (we NEVER called it sauce) and meatballs, whether fresh made, which was every Sunday, or leftover. Sadly, Gram passed away in 1984 at 76 years old, but I swear to this day I have never tasted better meatballs by anyone, including myself, who was taught by her how to make them, or any restaurant EVER! She even taught me how to make homemade pasta, including ravioli, from scratch. I can remember clearly the day before Easter in 1983. We were in her kitchen until 2 in the morning making dough, rolling dough, making the ricotta filling and making the ravioli and cavitelli for tomorrows Easter dinner. We'd lay them out on a sheet on her bed to dry so we could cook them the next afternoon. I was the one grandson (she had 6 of us who all lived either on the same street or around the corner....a REAL Italian neighboorhood!) who took an interest in how she made stuff, and to her I was gonna be the one who took over after she couldn't do it anymore. Little did we know, she would sadly be gone the following year. Let me say here, even though I haven't yet mentioned my mother, she was no slouch when it came to cooking either....after all, she was Grams daughter and she was right in there with us most of the time, and her "gravy" was the best! My mother and father (he was Irish) were divorced when I was 8 and my sister was 2, and we were raised by my mom and Gram. I don't think there was any joint custody in those days...the kids always went with the mother and personally, I am glad it was that way. So, as I mentioned earlier, we had relatives all around us so no matter whose house you went to, there was usually something waiting for you to fill your face with. If I went around the block to my aunt's house to see if my cousins could come out and play, the usual answer was, "Sure, but get in here and eat something first". As a teenager, our Sunday routine was 9 o'clock mass, then home for some fried meatballs (they were always fried in olive oil, never baked) of which a 1/2 dozen or so were left out for us while the rest went straight from the frying pan to the now boiling pot of gravy to finish cooking. Some already browned Italian sausage (or sau-seege) as she called it was also left out. Me and usually one of my cousins would wolf those down with a couple of cups of coffee before heading out to the Italian bakery for some fresh Italian bread and grinder rolls. We loved this because the bread and grinders were always right out of the oven! We didn't even mind standing in the line that formed outside the bakery and sometimes halfway down the street because we could smell the bread and socialize with the other kids and neighbors who were in line also. (It wasn't just OUR Sunday ritual!) Then, after a stop at the Italian import store for some pepperoni, cappicola, provolone and whatever else Gram, my mother and aunt wanted we'd head back home where we would immediately start tearing off hunks of that fresh Italian bread and dipping them in the gravy until we either got yelled at for almost eating all the bread (after all, it was for Sunday dinner for the family) or chased out of the house by Gram or my mother wielding a wooden spoon at us like it was a broadsword. There was one thing about my childhood which wasn't so idyllic as far as food and eating go. There were a few things I wasn't particularly crazy for like homemade soup, canned asparagus, and over easy eggs for example. I can remember being around 10 or 11 years old, and perhaps younger when I was "forced" to eat that stuff. I'm 56 now so we're talking about the early to mid 1960's here, in a household where you ate what was put in front of you. We were by no means even middle class then so the menu wasn't very diverse and you didn't waste food because; one, we didn't have the money to cater to everyones particular tastes and two, according to them wasting food is a sin. So, not only did I have to eat this stuff (funny how in later years I grew to love homemade soup, grilled or sauteed asparagus and eggs!) but I had to finish everything in my bowl or on my plate. As if that wasn't bad enough, there was a little timer on the kitchen stove which they would set if I seemed to be stalling with my food. If that timer went off and I wasn't finished, they would REFILL MY PLATE AGAIN! Now, on this point I want to be clear. This wasn't done out of any type of abusive mean behavior, it was because they wanted to make sure I ate because believe it or not, I was a skinny kid. But this instilled 2 things in me which would become demons of mine later in life: 1. Eat everything on your plate. 2. Eat it fast. Next Week - Teens and 20's - Sports, Late Night Eating and a Wife