makemyownluck

There are so many factors to consider, it's hard to say. Your insurance may impose a diet, anywhere from 3-6 months long, but some insurance companies have dropped this requirement. Then it depends on the surgeon you go to and what they want - some want you to lose a certain percentage of body weight before scheduling a surgery date, and that will depend on how long it takes you to do it. Other surgeons don't care that you lose weight and just want you on a pre-op diet. I'm still pre-op as well, and I started the process in July. I got a referral to a surgeon in October and I've gone to the hospital's seminar, now I'm just waiting to get a call to schedule an appointment. But I have no idea what will happen from there. It's been very hard for me to stay patient, because I'm not typically a very patient person. But I've embraced that I want to make a whole lifestyle change, so I'm taking this time to start working out regularly and changing my diet by cutting a lot of carbs. Spend this time wisely to educate yourself about what post-op life is like, because that's for the rest of your life. The surgery will come when it comes, but when it does, you'll do best to be ready! Good luck to you!

THANK YOU - for all of that.

So I was carpooling with my BFF this morning. She is the only friend who I have told that I'm in the process of getting this surgery. She and my parents are the only people I've discussed this with. She's overweight as well, though not as heavy as I am, she's still quite heavy. I don't really talk to her about it much, but she asked me how my seminar went on Monday. So I tell her how it was, how I already knew the things they were discussing, that I was anxious to see the MD, etc. When I'm done, she says, "I just don't think I could do that." I ask her why not? And she responds "I just couldn't give up fooooodddd," with such passion, as if she was talking about the love of her life. Now, she's a girl who loves to eat. I get that. But hearing her say that out loud, the way she did... it felt like I had just been snapped out of a trance. That was me. That was me when I was her age (she's 7 years younger than I am), saying the exact thing. And it strengthened my resolve to say I don't want to be a person like that anymore. I've already changed so much in the past few months in preparation. Saying no to things I would have never refused before. Working out. Tuning into my actual hunger... and it just made me a little sad for my friend. To be so thrown by the idea of having to be on a liquid to solid staged diet, and I explained that part only lasts about 8-12 weeks out of your ENTIRE LIFE. It's not the end of the dang world! Part of this is due to her own naivety about surgery in general, and the differences between them. I'm sure she has no idea what kind of surgery I want (although I've told her). So, I told her in my most patient voice, "Well, hey, I know where you're coming from, and I hope that you don't get to a point where you have to do something like this. But if you get to be my age and feel like an old lady too soon, you might change your mind about how important that food is to you." Now, I worried she might take that a little harshly. But I figure it's better than me saying what I WANTED to say, which was "Well, I know where you're coming from, but when the time comes that I'm the smaller one, you might change your mind about how important that food is to you." Does anyone else worry about how their friends and family will react to the "new you"? I suppose a side effect of losing weight is how it can potentially alter your relationships. I'd love to hear some other perspectives on this...

I wish you success as well! In the past 24 hours, I've adjusted to the actual starting weight, and realistically, I was in the ballpark on what I thought I weighed anyway, so I just had to let the shock of actually KNOWING sink in. Just want to make sure I weigh less than that when I see the surgeon again. I'm in this for the long haul, too, I look forward to seeing us both progress! Good luck to you!! I'm glad you're friends aren't experiencing that side effect. But it's a pretty significant number of patients who do, and it's a chance I don't want to take. And also, the nutritional deficiencies I had mentioned. The sleeve is more of a normal life once you're in maintenance. I know the difference between the surgeries. I just don't want RNY. or the band.

I already started a savings account to get plastics! I realize that to get to goal, I'll probably require some skin removal, and I'll just deal with it when I get to that final stretch. (no pun intended) and I never, ever get tired of hearing how cute I am. Thanks!!

Great analogy, proudgrammy! And I agree. Especially since your NUT and MD are communicating with each other - your MD is deferring to the NUTs opinion on her area of expertise (which would be nutrition). I would say your MD probably should have advised you to discuss the topic with your NUT instead of giving you a misguided answer... can I guess that your MD is a MAN? lol - am I right?? Good luck getting it straightened out, though. If this particular conflict of info is really bothering you, I'd bring it up when you talk to your NUT so they can maybe elaborate on the answer your MD gave or just clearly advise that you should be doing something other than what the MD said.

I think it should be targeted to young people. I know when I was 23, I considered it but thought "I don't have any other health issues, I don't need it." and here I am, 9 years later, 150ish lbs heavier, and now have HTN as well. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and have it done when I thought about it way back then! If just one person would have suggested that being heavy was reason enough to take control and have surgery, I would have looked into it. But back then, even my overweight mom threw shade on me because she didn't think I needed to do anything that 'extreme'. Mom's on my side now, tho. Someone at my seminar said they were there because they saw a commercial for surgery on TV. I haven't seen any, but I thought that was a bit odd... I guess breaking the social stigma is a good thing, though. We shouldn't be ashamed if we're getting help for our problems!

pre-op here, but I'm pretty jealous of your most awesome surgery date ever! how are you feeling? are you back to work yet?

Went to the info seminar today. Thanks to my endless research (and all the good info on this and other sites), I learned exactly NOTHING at the seminar except, of course, how to get to the hospital. Which is a good thing to know, right?? I should get a call in a week or two to schedule an appointment with the surgeon. I'm pretty excited to see what happens next! This whole process has helped me stress less about knowing what would happen next. Whatever happens, happens. And I'm okay with that. I did also get my starting weight while I was there. It was a number I was not looking forward to seeing... but at least now I know! Today's weight: 459. Eek. And I've actually been exercising for a few months, I wonder what it was to start off with! Stepping on that scale wasn't as awful as I thought it would be, I'm really just glad to have an actual starting number. Yay! (?) My worry now is that my high weight will cause the surgeon to say I should have RNY and not the sleeve. I really don't want to do that! Can any higher BMI patients tell me what their experience was re: what surgery to have? I'm tall, so I guess that helps (not much). I'm 5'10.5", my BMI is 64.9. (Oy vey! I think it was better not knowing my weight) I would like to be around 170 just so I can be in the "normal BMI" range - but that would mean I need to lose 289lbs. There are people who weigh 289lbs that need surgery!! There's like two extra average weight people inside of me! Whaaaaaat??? Ok, mini freak out over. Bring on the motivation, if you have any to spare. I just need reassurance that this battle is winable!

I'm still preop - but I've watched some of the youtube vids of people after surgery talking about how it's very uncomfortable for things to go down, that they can feel it very distinctly going down and it's not pleasant. Then those same people a week or so later are back on talking about how that subsided and it's back to normal now. It could be hard to take because of all the internal swelling of your stomach and the healing process, so just focus on getting in what you can and take your time. (easy for a pre-op'er to say, huh?) GOOD LUCK!!!

I agree that complications are frightening - we'd be fools not to be worried about that to some extent. But I'm choosing sleeve because it has the lowest long term risk of complication. Lapband and RNY patients have a whole set of complications they could face at any point in their lives, whereas sleevers typically don't once they are healed from the initial surgery. Congrats on having a date set! It's right around the corner, lucky you!!

omelets are a good suggestion, you can put any cheese or veggies you like in them. you can change up the chicken by splitting a breast and stuffing it with ham, cheese and spinach, make stir fry with light sauce and don't eat rice with it. I also like boca burgers. and if you want sausage on the side of an omelet, I happen to love the Morningstar brand meatless sausage (and I'm not a vegetarian, these just have wayyy less fat and 10g Protein per patty and taste really good). As far as free exercising: if weather permits, take a long walk! Take the family with, or the dog, or the ipod... whatever you like. Go to a local park with a trail if you have one, or just start by walking around your block. If you're not used to exercising, start by walking to the corner. Just increase your distance slightly every day. At home, you can do squats (as far down as you can go, it will get easier with practice). You can get weights for a couple bucks a piece at walmart, get some 3lbs and start doing curls and lifting above your arms. Do any of these you can: crunches, leg lifts (lie on your side with legs straight and lift the top one as high as you can, do 3 reps of 10 then switch sides), push ups (start against the wall if you need to, or a table or chair), and jumping jacks. With anything, start small and work your way up. You can also get excellent work out plans on youtube! Good luck!

I know others have started in the 400+ range, so what do we call it when we reach the 300s?

I go to a seminar on Monday, I'm really hoping they have a scale there. I realize that I could BUY a high capacity scale, but I just don't want to! I'd really prefer not to have a scale in my house at all... too stressful! I hope I can also find out what other steps are needed and when I can schedule a surgery date!! Best of luck to you on your surgery. Your pre-op diet doesn't sound too terrible! And if you're already a few days in, hopefully the worst of it is over and you'll be smooth sailing to surgery day!! I can't wait to hear from you post-op!

Still in pre-opVILLE - I go to my seminar on Monday. I really hope to learn more about the time frame for everything soon!! I'm a list maker by nature. Since all I can think about lately is my weight loss plan, I've made a list of NSVs I hope to achieve, and made some rewards to go along with them for motivation. I also made a list of scale related victories and rewards for that. Not sure if everyone does this, or just makes one list or the other, or doesn't make a list of rewards - but I'm a lifelong spoiled only-child, and I like rewards. And I need to start thinking about rewards that have absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOD. Anyway, thought I'd share. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to steal any of these. NSV achievement/reward: see my toes - pedicure touch my toes while seated on the floor - new gym shoes lose my double chin - buy a new necklace see my collarbones - buy a new top to show them off run a mile w/o walking - new gym clothes walk up 5 flights of stairs - new shoes (of any kind) *5 flights because I park in a garage 5 flights up. I hate waiting for the dang elevator anyway!! get on an actual bike - go on a bike ride with my Daddy! sit Indian style comfortably - go to a yoga class cross my legs at the knee - buy a dress (for the first time in yearssss) Weight loss achievement/reward: *yes, I have a lot to lose! -50lbs - facial -100lbs - massage -150lbs - Road Trip! (no idea where!) -200lbs - new mattress, new couch and chairs in living room -250lbs - bathing suit and a passport! @ GOAL -------- I'M GOING TO JAMAICA!!! And it will be my first plane ride. I would love to hear any suggestions that anyone has as well! I really can't wait to start checking some of these off!

It doesn't sound nasty to me (but it wasn't directed at me). Many people don't like to hear the truth, and I think it's easy to be content by significant weight loss, regardless if you meet your goal, simply because it is already a major accomplishment to have lost so much. To me, that would be settling. Why would you have a major surgery to settle for less than you wanted? Should this person feel bad for not being at goal yet? No, but it would be wise not to ignore the reasons you haven't made it to goal - ignoring things is how I, personally, got to be so fat in the first place! I have over 200lbs to lose, so I find this post enlightening. I had already planned to take advantage of the first 6-12 mo, but this post really put a spotlight on how important it is to take advantage of the tool A S A P --- no "I had surgery a month ago, I can't work out!" excuses for me! (still pre-op for now) So while I'm sure some people are quick to say this was bad or misguided advice, I appreciate it. Personally, I plan to only eat when I'm hungry and continue to use shakes post-op. (I started using them like a month ago to get myself used to them, and I actually LIKE them!) I don't want to have this surgery for nothing - or worse, be told I need to convert it to an RNY simply because I couldn't commit to giving this my all. I'm in an extremely obese body. I need to take extreme measures to fix the problem!

I was JUST thinking the same thing today. I can't WAIT to buy a cute winter coat. Right now I have a bulky hoodie I bought from the men's big and tall section. I hate it, but it fits, it zips and it has a hood. Clothing choices stink when you're a big lady.

If you have insurance, you may be able to get a panniculectomy covered by the insurance. It's a surgery that removes excess skin from the abdominal area. It's not exactly a tummy tuck, because tummy tucks also involve tightening the muscles underneath the skin, so the results aren't AS good as a tummy tuck, but if cost is an issue, it's definitely a decent alternative to hanging skin. It's a good idea to wait until you've been a goal for a year before you consider surgery, though. Your skin needs time to adapt to the weight loss. I'm still pre-op, but I already know that this tool is what YOU make of it. If you exercise, you will see more results, which is true of any weight loss plan, surgery or not. You can't predict how your skin will react, so there really is no point in guessing and stressing over it. Focus on what you can control (your diet, your exercise regime, etc) and stick with it! Good luck to you!

ERMAHGERDDD I LOVE BEEF JERKY. I'm pre-op. and I'm so happy this is something I can still enjoy a few short months out from surgery. I love that it takes so long to chew and all that Protein fills me up NOW at pre-op, so I can only imagine how little I'll need post-op! Woo! Word of caution - too much beef jerky = constipation. I found this out in the worst possible way! AND! For those of you Jack Link's lovers - I am also a fan of their original jerky. I've tried both target pantry brand and walmart great value brand original jerky, and it's comparable. The walmart variety had some bits of fat that I didn't care for, but if you don't mind picking some parts off, then it's worth the savings. I haven't tried Trader Joe's jerky, but I'm definitely interested now! I'll have to check that out soon. Nothing beats the jerky I get from the local meat market by my grandma's house in Wisconsin, tho!! I wish they shipped!!

use the internetz! you can look up anything on youtube. You get an A+ in dedication!! Hope you and yours are safe through the storm.

Good luck on your goal! You are looking great!!!

Thank you so much for your concern! At this point, my mom is just talking about it. She has already said she wants to see how I do with everything before she even considers it. Right now, she's very pro-band because the only person she knows who has had any WLS had the band, and she's been really fortunate and had lots of success with it. But I know once my mom makes the decision to start this path, she'll inform herself as much as possible, and I've become like a freakin' encyclopedia of WLS because I've been studying it like crazy for months! I wouldn't let her have surgery without having a serious conversation about it with her first, that's for sure! I didn't think about referring her to this site, though. Maybe I can find some good posts and send them to her, re: band revisions. I haven't heard any stories about people being unsuccessful with the sleeve - they may have complications or stalls, but they do lose the weight. I can't imagine going through all this and not losing weight!