Bufflehead

Cigna approved me in less than 24 hours -- I think a lot depends on the skill of your insurance coordinator and the relationship they have with the insurance company.

Why cheese? If you are going to eat dairy, IMO yogurt is a healthier choice. And why fruit instead of green veggies? Green veggies are much lower carb. All that said, losing 1 kg in a week is great IMO. Does your bariatric team have a specific goal that you must meet? It sounds like it, from your post, but personally I think expecting more than 1 kg/week is a high and kind of cruel standard.

I would say, if you can, get out of the habit of snacking. It's the thing I see most commonly referred to as the downfall of people who either never reach goal or start regaining. If you must snack, stay with something low carb like turkey jerky. Personally I think protein bars are the devil -- loaded up with carbs and are basically candy bars masquerading as something healthy because they have protein powder added in.

Your body will do crazy things after surgery. Dehydration, retaining fluid, constipation, shock -- lots of things could be taking a toll on your body. Stay off the scale for a while (like 2 -3 weeks at least). Adding stress to your situation won't help and it sounds like the scale is doing nothing but causing stress. There is no way your body is gaining fat on the amount of calories you are taking in, but you can't control the rate of weight loss. Pauses here and there are perfectly normal, particularly right after surgery.

Are you getting enough liquids? Dehydration can cause weakness. In any event, you should contact your surgeon or PCP - getting weaker and weaker instead of stronger is something that should be assessed by a medical professional.

You are doing great. Restriction with things like liquids only happens because stomachs are bruised, swollen, and traumatized after surgery. You are healing well and had a surgeon who did meticulous work, leaving you not as bruised and swollen as some. This is a good thing -- don't look a gift horse in the mouth! Also, keep in mind that people tend to go online to complain about bad things happening, ask questions that are worrying, etc. Think about it -- if you spent the day walking around the city and got mugged and had your bag stolen, you would probably get on Facebook or Twitter or whatever and talk about how horrible your day was and how your bag got stolen. But if you spent the day walking around the city and that didn't happen, you probably wouldn't start tweeting, "wow, my bag wasn't stolen today! I wasn't mugged!" -- all this to say, if you are online you are likely going to hear A LOT more from people who have problems and struggles than from the great majority who are doing fine and recovering with no problems.

You can't eat what you don't have access to. Get things like chips and cookies and crackers out of the house. No one in your family needs them either, they won't starve without chips. Plan what you will eat at the beginning of the day. For your meals, focus on lean meat and green veggies. This will help you feel your restriction and stay full. If you are still hungry after your planned meals and snacks, let yourself eat as much lean meat and green veggies as you want, but no snacking on anything else. What situations are particularly tempting to you? Where do you tend to go off course? Think about it and make plans to avoid those situations or ways you can deny yourself the ability to give in. For example, I was having trouble staying away from the vending machines at work. So I stopped bringing cash of any kind to work. Then they brought in a machine that takes credit and debit cards! So I stopped bringing those, too. I can't buy it if I don't have any way to pay for it.

It varies -- there are no guarantees. Some people do continue to experience true hunger. Others have extra stomach acid after surgery that makes them feel hungry (this can usually be controlled with a PPI). Others continue to struggle with head hunger -- craving that special food, or sweets, whatever, often triggered by ads for food or seeing other people eat something you like, Others do lose all hunger, but that's usually temporary. I lost all hunger for about 6-8 months, but then it came back with a vengeance, and I've had to learn appropriate strategies ("eat something" is not a good way to deal with hunger when you are trying to lose weight) to cope with it. There is a good chance you won't be hungry for a few to several months after surgery -- but you can't count on it, and you certainly can't count on it lasting. Learning cognitive behavioral techniques for dealing with hunger in advance is a good idea IMO.

I can speak to the second part of your question. I've been eating 800-1000 calories per day for two years now -- actually more like 500-800 for the first year. I'm down over 180 lbs and am perfectly healthy. I take my Vitamins and eat a diet focused on lean meats, healthy fats, and green veggies. I also eat fruit, tree nuts, and dairy (mostly just yogurt) sparingly. I have my blood work done regularly and it always looks great. I have tons of energy, and do serious exercise (running, HIIT, etc.) for at least 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. The idea that you have to eat at least 1200 calories a day in order to be healthy is a myth. I'm almost convinced it's perpetrated by the diet/weight loss industry (Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc.) in order to keep people fat and ignorant. If we actually succeeded at weight loss, we wouldn't keep going back to them and paying them more and more money. eta: I don't want to sound like I am discouraging anyone from the sleeve surgery -- I love my sleeve! But unless there is a medical reason not to, I would encourage you to also discuss the gastric bypass with your surgeon. It is a great surgery, and I know lots of people who have had it with terrific results. Since restricted calories alone has not worked for you in the past, the extra mileage you get from malabsorption might be what you really need for the greatest success. Just something to think about!

I've lost 180+ lbs. I have done both cardio and weights throughout weight loss, including work on arms (biceps, triceps, etc.), legs, and abs. I have nice strong muscles under my loose skin. You can't tone skin, you can only tone muscle. I would say my skin situation is moderate. It doesn't bother me too much. My life is good

Definitely take this time to get prepared! Spend more of your time reading the post-op forum than the pre-op forum. That way, you won't be the one asking these same questions that get asked every single day here: HELP it's after surgery and I feel hungry, is that normal? HELP every time I eat my stomach roars and grumbles, is this normal? HELP I'm three weeks out from surgery and the scale hasn't moved in four days, what am I doing wrong? HELP I'm on full liquids and I can drink a protein shake really fast. Did they actually do my surgery? HAVE I STRETCHED MY SLEEVE? What should I eat on purees? When should I start exercising again? How long until I can lift my baby/toddler after surgery? When can I go back to work? If I lift weights, use expensive oils and body wraps, and gobble 1000000 mcgs of biotin every day, I will successfully avoid having any loose skin or suffering any hair loss, right? What should I take with me to the hospital? etc. Seriously, though, being nervous is completely normal and understandable -- but keep reminding yourself, complications and an early death are a lot more likely if you remain obese rather than undergo a surgery that is safer than a gallbladder removal. No surgery is risk free but obesity is a lot riskier than this surgery!

I'm not living on a diet of protein shakes and tears . . . I eat pretty normally, just a low carb, low calorie, mindfully chosen version of normal. I can find something sleeve-friendly at any restaurant. Post a link to a really good restaurant you ate at recently and I'll show you the menu items I consider good choices. You may be making different choices with your meals but there is no reason not to eat and enjoy good food.

My plan allowed refried beans, yogurt, cottage cheese, peanut butter, and scrambled or poached eggs to be eaten without pureeing first on the "puree" phase. Pretty much everything else had to be pureed. I didn't have any trouble with any of these foods without pureeing. I did use my little food processor for pureeing rather than the immersion blender, which I don't think would have worked well at all! And I did puree lots of foods, and they were delicious! The trick is to puree meats with a really tasty sauce -- NOT something gross like broth or water -- then heat it up in the microwave with a little cheese melted on top. It tastes and feels pretty much like any other casserole. So, for example: --roast chicken breast + low carb bbq sauce + cheddar cheese --shrimp + remoulade + peccorino cheese --shredded turkey + peanut satay sauce + jack cheese --salmon + lemon dill sauce (no cheese!) --ground beef + steak sauce + bleu cheese --mackerel filet + curry sauce + swiss cheese --roast chicken breast + garlic marinara sauce + mozzarella cheese The other part of the trick is to have a medical plan requiring four weeks of post-op full liquids -- and liquid means liquid, no yogurt or "thinned out" oatmeal or anything like that. After four weeks of liquids, pureed chicken with marinara sauce & mozzarella cheese tastes like heaven.

I just used an immersion blender and I did great. Don't go out and buy another blender when you don't even know if you'll be able to tolerate icy cold drinks after surgery -- some people can't! My surgery was in June and so my recovery was through the hottest part of the year, and I never felt I needed my drinks to be colder. Also, a possible downside to using a standard canister blender is that often the protein drink becomes extremely thick and foamy, filled with air bubbles. It can be tricky to avoid that, and the foaminess is absolutely horrible after surgery. If, after surgery, you find you are desperately craving a protein shake made with ice, then generally Amazon can have one at your doorstep the next day. So, I say wait and see if you really need it.

Sounds like possible orthostatic hypotension (Google it for more info). Try pumping your legs like you are riding a bike for at least 30 seconds before you stand up, or before you get up from lying down.

Get many kinds of different samples/individual sizes to have on hand for after surgery. If you try something before surgery and love it, that's no guarantee that you will love it, or even be able to choke it down, post surgery. I think I had about 20 different samples of stuff for after surgery, then about 5 days after I was able to sort out at least a few flavors that I liked and have larger tubs delivered via Amazon.

Get the calorie-dense foods like nuts, cheese, crackers, and popcorn out of the house. You can't eat them if they aren't there. Keep little tubs of chopped up grilled chicken breast and green veggies and allow yourself to eat as much of those as you want. You may find you aren't actually as hungry as you think you are.

Well, I don't want to sound like a drug pusher, and you may have serious, medical reasons for wanting to avoid painkillers. But on the other hand, pain isn't noble. Suffering isn't going to help you recover faster, in fact it will slow your recovery down because of all the stress it puts on your body. My team made it pretty clear to me and the other patients at our pre-surgery boot camp that if we couldn't take pain meds (recovering addicts, medical allergies, etc.) that they would work with us to find a different solution -- but if not, we should take the pain meds we were prescribed until we weren't in pain anymore.

Sounds like you are doing well with protein shakes and soup. You might try going back to purees and pureeing some tasty chicken or tuna salad. Heat them up a little bit to make them more palatable. Greek yogurt (preferably all natural). Cottage cheese. Eggface's Ricotta Bake is super-tasty. Small amounts of hummus, pureed/mashed lentils and refried beans might work, too. Good luck!

What kind of painkillers are you taking? You may need stronger painkillers. If I were in your situation I would be discussing it with my medical team.

@@TakeitorSleeveit well it's possible, we are in the same state, right? Mine is Dr. Keary Williams at NewLife Bariatric in Knoxville.

I had two weeks of a low-carb, high-Protein diet pre-op -- but NOT liquid. There isn't anything magic about liquids pre-op, at least not to my surgeon and dietician. I did great and my surgeon has an exceptionally low complication rate overall.

@@GirlOnFire yes, or for fhe first three months if you can!

@@Barbara01 http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html scroll down a little bit for the "baked ricotta" recipe. It is really good!

When to start? When your doctor clears you and feel up to it. I wasn't doing any more than leisurely strolls for several weeks after surgery. Don't try to look at what everyone else on the internet is doing and copy them -- do what your medical team advises and what feels right for you.