LadyIvy

You are in my thoughts and prayers. Since you are probably already done, I will pray for a good nights sleep and a speedy recovery!

Why can't you eat there? Can you maybe look at the menu before you go and decide exactly what you are going to get? The waiter will bring you out a small plate if you request one. You can put what you will eat on it and have him bring a box for the other things. Maybe you could forgo the restaurant completely and come up with a new anniversary tradition? Sounds rough, but I'm just throwing some ideas out for you Hope you have a wonderful anniversary, whatever you decide to do.

I got the word today that even though I am approved, I still have 25 people ahead of me. This means that I may not get my surgery until January. I am desperately trying to find the good in this: 1. It gives me time to adjust to my new lifestyle 2. I get a few extra months at my new job before I have to take off a couple of weeks. 3. It gives me more time to get adjusted to being a non-smoker. 4. I have lots of time to explore how I got so overweight in the first place without feeling rushed. 5. I get to enjoy the holidays without recovering from surgery. 6. I get to test out how I am going to handle the holidays on my new diet. 7. I get time to save the money necessary to make sure I have everything I need when time comes for the surgery. 8. I get time to work into my new exercise routine without being thrown off by surgery. 9. I get time to learn that I need to commit time to myself and learn to be a bit more laid back. There are quite a few cons to this wait as well, as I am sure most of you know However, I am going to try not to focus on them since there is nothing I can do about it. Who knows? Since I am dealing with military insurance, it may not take as long as the estimate says.

I understand the issues you are having. Skin is constantly regenerating itself. It may take some time, but I bet your husband loves what he sees. Its amazing how differently our significant other sees us when we just see a gross mess. Be proud of what you have accomplished. One way or another, eventually your body will even itself out again. Focus on the good things and try not to think too much about the other stuff. Life is only as good as we allow ourselves to perceive it to be.

Thanks for all the good advice. I think I am going to take the direct approach with my 7 year old. I think he will be very inquisitive about it too. I am approved now, but may have to wait until January (I'm on a long waiting list). We will see! I will let you all know how the conversation goes.

If I were you, I would call about that list again. If you don't get a satisfactory answer ask for a supervisor. It has to exist or the people on the phone wouldn't know what to tell your doctor or be able to decide who could be approved. I promise you, there is a list. Insurance companies LOVE their lists. Also, you could check out your insurance companies website as well. Be prepared to play the game for what you want. Believe me, they will make it as hard as they can. Just don't give up and be prepared to create solutions that the insurance company will not offer you. They don't want you to figure out their system or they might have to spend money. GL! Keep us informed!

Hoping to be sleeved soon. I will be moving into your area for graduate school next August! It would be nice to have a support group there

Anyone else out there that got their sleeve done at Darnall on Fort Hood? I know we have a big support group there and lots of sleevers in the group. It would be wonderful to find more of you on here too

Congratulations! This just makes me want to get to my op date so much faster. WTG! Keep it up!

I have a tattoo of a blue ring octopus on my left shoulder. I told my artist do NOT put any of the legs on top of my breast. "I don't need an age gauge tyvm!" He laughed his butt off but said I would have eventually had one long leg if he had put it where he originally was going to.

Protein is easy for me to overdo too. I like protein drinks, lean meats and cheese Thanks for letting us know!

Did your doctor not give you a list? Have they sent you to see the NUT yet?

I have been trying for years to change my lifestyle for the better. I absolutely love my family and would like to be around for them as long as possible. I have been making small changes for years (being more active, eating healthy) and trying to instill those habits on my kiddo. I decided to go ahead and get the VSG surgery and have finally been approved. How ironic would it be for me to go through a major surgery to help my health, yet continue to smoke? I quit back in June and have been on and off since. After about 6 weeks, I had put on so much weight I broke. Now that I have been approved, I can't use weight as an excuse, because the surgery will help me with this. However, I had an epiphany today. As I sit here (still wanting a cigarette) I am thinking about my future. I am thinking about graduate school next fall, the surgery, my family, even retirement plans. I realized that smoking doesn't fit into any of that anywhere. Yeah, its a great instant stress relief. I can find something else for that can't I? When I initially quit, I had the thought that I would get to go back once my surgery is healed. Why? Why would I do that? I want to live a healthier lifestyle overall. While I am not saying that I am perfect at it, why not go for it? I feel like I have done an injustice to my son. I have a ton of terrible habits and I have this picture of how I would like to be. Here I am, almost 32 and it is a daily fight to live the life I have thought about for more than a decade. Had I been raised prioritizing time for myself, maybe this wouldn't be such a struggle. I am already lucky that I quickly get addicted to exercise. Many people hate it daily, yet still do it because they want the benefits of a good workout. Had this been taught to me young, it would just be an ingrained thing that I do. Think about it, when you were learning to brush your teeth, did you want to do it? NO! Mom had to fight to make sure that not only did you do it, but you did a good job. Now as an adult, can you imagine leaving your house without brushing your teeth? Yuck right? Its the same with working out and living healthy. My son will already turn down cake for a big bowl of Lima beans. (okay, so once the beans are gone he will come back for the cake, but that's not the point). That is a big victory, made by small changes. One generation, literally holds in their hands the opportunity to shape the direction of an entire genetic lineage. If my son learns to never leave the house, exersize and becomes a smoker, he is likely to meet a girl with the same outlook on life. They live in their happy little, early death comfort zone and at some point, may even have kids. Do they then change everything they ever learned so that they can raise their kids right? Do they then have to suffer through what my husband and I are doing at the moment? They could, (after all, we are) or more likely, they stay in their comfort zone and teach the habits to my grand kids by example. They could be geniuses mentally, but maybe the grandkids get so big they can't walk a mile? What if there is a natural disaster? My entire lineage dies because they are too broken or weak to get away when a little physical activity could have saved their life. Also, lets say this unhealthy lifestyle continues. People who live unhealthy, tend to attract like minded people. This weakens our families genetics overall and my great great grand-kids start dying young of diabetes etc. Within 150 years my entire genetic lineage could no longer exist. Lets be honest, any of these things could happen even if my husband and I make huge lifestyle changes. My son could decide that he doesn't want to die young like his unhealthy parents and starts making some big changes. This is a possibility as well. Now, as crazy and paranoid as this seems, look at my logic here. The best way to describe it is by referring to a movie called idiocracy. If you haven't seen it, IMDB the summary, its an interesting premise. What I described is the potential for physiological idiocracy. At a bare minimum, I am more likely to be around longer with my family and have much more quality time. Then I have to ask myself, even if what I said is not the least bit logical, where do cigarettes fit in? What are the pros and cons? I can only think of one pro, yeah its a big one, but it doesn't outweigh all the cons. So in the end, smoking works against my families evolution. If I continue to smoke, I am actually choosing to lose the game of survival of the fittest for myself and my progeny. If I can get moving and start here, (biggest issue first) the ball will just keep rolling and I can slowly add the rest of the things that make for a healthy active adult lifestyle.

Today is day 5. Lots of people have told me just hang in there a craving only lasts 3 minutes. Well they are full of crap. A craving can last all freaking day long. Yes, I do gain weight when I don't smoke. I can't use that as an excuse anymore since I have been approved for surgery. I will just stop stepping on the scale until that time comes. I need to be careful not to switch addictions, because I have found that having a drink or two gets rid of the cravings pretty well. I did however have an epiphany today. (BTW these thoughts flip between all kinds of healthy lifestyle choices) Here I am, a grown woman who has learned a lot of instant gratification methods to de-stress that are terrible for my health. I realize that even though I was active, my parents never really encouraged me to make activity time a priority. As an adult, I am now teaching the same to my son. Since his birth, the food we keep in the house (overall) is fairly healthy. He walked right by the ice cream in the grocery store the other day and said "you would be the best mommy in the world if you would get me these!" and holds out a bag of Lima beans. I find that I commonly am too busy to take time for myself. I do NOT want my son to learn this. My husband and I quitting smoking now and adopting a healthier, more active lifestyle not only benefits our son, but our entire lineage. If he lives unhealthy, he will find a girl with similar habits and they will have children that they teach the bad habits we propagated in their father. However, if we teach it now, we could literally be the last generation of smokers in our family and save our genes Exercise and a healthy lifestyle in general is one of those things that if you have done it your whole life, you just can't imagine being without it. For example, when you were a kid did you really WANT to brush your teeth? No, but you had to, every day, twice a day. Now, as an adult, could you imagine leaving the house without brushing your teeth? Not having a healthy lifestyle is doing a HUGE injustice to my entire future lineage (like physiological idiocracy). This is the thought I am holding with me when I have an ENTIRE DAY (not 3 minutes) of wanting a cigarette!!! Sorry about the rant, usually my thought organization is better than this, but my brain has been all over since I stopped smoking

I'm sorry to hear you are suffering this. I would definitely find a doctor that knows about your surgery. Keep us informed and gl!

Fort Hood, TX here. I am on the waiting list and havent got my date yet:)

Today is day 4. I decided that NRT is not for me. It just seems like that would extend the torture. I had my last one Friday night. This means, that as of right now, my system is nicotine free. I quit for quite some time back in June before breaking and going back. I had developed the non-smoking habit for 2 months and screwed it all up. Having a pretty rough weekend so far, but I guess that is my own fault. I feel like I have to give up everything I enjoy. I guess that says something about how unhealthy my most common favorite things are. I just keep thinking how I want my son to develop the good habits as he is growing up, not the habits I currently have....

I had to quit smoking for this surgery. In June, I quit for a month and then wound up going back. I have been quitting for days here or a week there on and off since then. What I want to know, is how did you do it? I know lots of us continued to smoke to keep off weight. That is what made me break at the one month point. I have a few great non-smoking memory's that I am going to keep in my mind. I am wondering what else I can keep in mind or do that can help. I started smoking at 13 and have been smoking for 18 years. I am getting the surgery for my health. That is a ridiculous thing to say if I continue to smoke. Thanks again

This is not weird at all. I thought about this too. I try not to think about it too much.

I am glad you said this because I actually just posted about this. I am having a major problem with that too. Of all the things we need to begin to conquer before our surgeries, this is my problem? I felt silly posting, but I just knew I couldn't be alone on this.

Don't forget to set goals for yourself that are more than the numbers on the scale. This way, if you stall you are still keeping up with your healthy lifestyle and are less prone to listen to the negative thoughts that like to creep in sometimes.

Tonight I won a small victory. Over the past year, I have been slowly changing my habits. No white bread, more veggies, healthier choices, higher activity levels and lots of fluids. I probably drink around 4L of fluid daily. I drink about 100 oz of water, 3 20 oz glasses of kool aid with splenda, 16 oz of fruit juice and 2 cups of coffee (every once in a long while I will have 20 oz of tea or soda on top of that). I was always taught to drink plenty of water at dinner (this way you don't eat as much before you are full). I have been slowly making the changes necessary for post-op. This way it won't be as hard when the time for a forced change comes. However, my biggest problem has been not drinking before, during and after a meal. Got the exercise and much of the dietary stuff under control, and now I am being told less fluids around meal times. Tonight, I managed to eat dinner and wait an entire 10 minutes before drinking something. For me, this is huge. I was wondering how the rest of you managed to complete this task. This is my biggest struggle at the moment. I can drop the juices and sodas without too much problem. My overall fluid intake will probably be the same, just substituted with water or sugar free kool aid. Any thoughts you all could share would be wonderful.

It does seem that it is easier to get pregnant in a healthy weight range. If you really don't want any more kids, did you consider having your hubby get a vasectomy? It takes 30 minutes, is much less invasive and they are fully recovered in just a couple of days. Mine went back to work the next day actually. Good luck!

Oh, this is so frustrating! I have eaten fairly healthy for a long time (except for during finals weeks;P) and a little while ago started changing things to get ready for the VSG. My husband and son eat about 3 times the amount that I do. However, since I have started lowering my sodium and carbohydrate intake I have lost 3 lbs. I am very active and am always on the go. My husband is military, but doesn't have to do PT because he has knee and hip problems. Tell me how that man never works out and eats SO much more food and has lost 14 lbs? He even eats a package of chocolate peanut butter bars nightly! How is this fair? I am happy for him, I want him healthy too, but COME ON! I struggle and fight for every single pound and he gets to add water and subtract a little salt from his diet and now he needs new pants. Sorry, just had to vent the frustration without discouraging him. He bought me a bike for my birthday and now that I am riding, he is starting to ride too. Watch him lose like 40lbs over the next 3 months. (at least he will stop snoring ). Thank you for listening ladies, I know I am not the only one with this problem.

I used to own a tattoo shop, and what I noticed from one of the clients that had extreme weight loss is that the tattoos shrink with the skin. The only reason I even noticed was because I had 2 clients get tattoos with the same pattern, on the same day. They were the exact same size. Then when she lost weight, if you put them next to each other, hers was smaller. I don't know if this happens with everyone but I saw it happen with it at least this one person. It could also depend on where the tattoo is on your body, how old it is, how hydrated you are during the process etc.