juny

That's a big concern for me. I mean, I know i'm going to have a hard time just on the preop liquid diet. i really hope my body changes enough to allow me to get through 70 days of liquid. Just the sound of it makes me worry.

So did the last meetings leave you feeling prepared? I just have this feeling no matter how much prep work, i'm still not going to feel like i appreciate the scope of whats coming.

I'm going to probably try the stuff meijer has, I checked gnc and they seem to have relatively expensive protein. I think i'm going to try the designer whey next. I'm worried about trying the pure protein because it's expensive and if i dont like it there's still 2lbs left that i have to eat.... Are you drinking yours w/ water? I can tolerate the body fortress stuff from walmart just fine w/ milk but w/o it's just icky.

Yes absolutely! I did find Muscle Milk really tasty, but my nut said it's not the right blend of fat to protein. So I switched to Light Muscle Milk knowing that it still wasn't quite what the nut wanted. Then I had the added trouble of having terrible churning in my stomach whenever I had any of the light version of that protein. I'm back to square one again.

Working on a bit of it still. I've got the treadmill test and the eh GI test. Once the last visit is done in October, they're going to submit. I'm hoping a month isn't too optimistic for approval. I'm still trying to find a shake for me. I really liked muscle milk but the light version isnt' sitting well at all. Right now I"m most worried about that.

I'm currently going thru the diet requirement, my last visit will be in october, i'm hoping for surgery in november. I'm really really hoping for smooth sailing.

so back in April i got the job i currently have. i started this process in may and the requirement for the insurance is 6 months supervised diet. ok fine... that puts me at completing the diet phase next month. today i interviewed for a job that under ordinary circumstances i would be over the moon for, its actually in my field, w/ opportunities to move in the company. its everything I'd want...only....at this point in my life i can't really say i want it more than i want this surgery. they haven't called back or said they were interested or whatever....its all up in the air. but I'm left w/ possibilities forming and falling apart in my head over and over. good job = no surgery because the other insurance won't cover, plus I'll be new again and won't be able to take enough time off for another year. its so strange to hope that they don't want me even though its the job that i've worked towards getting for so long. its not like I've had a ton of interviews just a handful. I've lost 33lbs on my preop 'diet' and i was really proud of it but this whole interview thing plus going to night classes has thrown everything I've worked on into a heap. I've been god awful on my diet...I've gain like 5lbs back. i know i have to get this thing settled but I'm so freaking wobbly right now. on the bright side I've been off of pop since April and haven't gone back and I'm still working out 4 days a week. but i haven't had time to plan my way to thinking about the food I'm eating instead of just ordering and eating whatever sounds like it will fill me up. hoping by Friday to have my crap together and move on, i can't believe I'm willing to stay at a dead end job just so i can have this surgery but...at this moment in my life, it just is. ok...i think i broke the rant button.

thanks, its nice to know i'm not the only one having to make frustrating choices. i think in a year i'll be ok. but for now... i really feel compelled to do this.

We aren't supposed to drink during meals because it makes the food go through your stomach faster, making you hungry sooner. There's a really great vid on the forums floating around about a guy showing applesauce in a funnel and how quickly it goes through w/ just a little bit of water. It helped visualize for me at least, why we don't drink. i'd totally post the link if i could find it.

You know, if we didn't have a tendency to cheat, none of us would need wls. They aren't going to cancel, my dr's office just makes you drink the stuff that cleans you out... you'll be fine and i hope your surgery goes well.

I went to a seminar in april, my first appt in may. aetna requires 6 months on my insurance, so i'm looking at the surgery at some time in november.

I went for the gym, I knew I wouldn't go if I just plopped money down and the equipment i bought sat around waiting for me. I opted for the more expensive gym in my area because I needed there to be a cost to me every time I decided not to go. It needs to cost me if I don't go, a bike for me would just be a way of saying yeah the bike is there i'll get to that later. later hasn't come in 15 years....i need the cost of a gym to motivate me to go. it's worked for me. I go 3 times a week and I've lost 25lbs pre op.

I"m telling very few people as well. the one bit of advice that I got that I found helpful was simply that no one can really understand the path you're on and they can't really know what you need like you do. You have to accept that you have to do what's best for you regardless of the opinions of others. my mom respects the choice I'm making. this is not to confuse with actually supporting my decision. It's a difference that irks me but I have to accept that she can't possibly know what it's like to lug around 170 extra pounds and have the opportunity through insurance to help solve this life long problem. I have to do what's best for me, it scares the crap out of me but I'm out of options. I'm doing my diet, counting calories and working my butt off and this is just going to be another step in the getting healthier direction.

So I'm about half way through my 6 month process. I'm expecting to be sleeved around November with the intent of taking all my pto at that time, just 2 weeks then back to work. I have not ever mentioned wls at work and I'm just wondering how and when to broach the subject w/ my supervisor. She's a great mentor and everything but the environment is full of women and it's very high school. I mean she can deny my pto request I guess. I'd just like to have some sort of plan before i just go blurting it out or screwing everything up because it's a busy office and people will have to cover my job when I'm not there. I have under a year there so I don't qualify for FMLA and I'm not putting my life off anymore for this weight. when it comes to stuff like this i get all jittery.

There is a post floating around a woman who regrets the surgery because it had a long series of complications that lasts months. You're most likely not going to find a lot of people on this board who regret it though.

best of luck, i wish the best for you!

for me its a little complicated. I began working there in october as a temp. paid by a contract company, they brought me in full time in April. my company uses adp for their HR. going to have to check the employee handbook. last time i read it, it wasn't all that helpful.

I think one of the rules of FMLA is that you have to be employed there for a year at least that was my understanding

Have you considered just talking to a nutritionist or a dietician about your regimen and what they think you might need in regards to this? I mean there's a lot of great suggestions but they might be able to help you in a more specific way.

I have aetna. it's a 6 month thing as well. I see a nutritionist and a doctor on each visit. She talks to me about what she wants to see me eating and doing. it started with just logging what you eat and start any kind of activity that gets you moving. now we're moving into calorie restriction and making sure that i'm challenging myself when I work out. Oh and she's always reminding me about the rules of food now. No drinking a half hour before or hour after eating, this was hard at first but now it's not bad at all. She encouraged me to start looking for a Protein drink that I like, she's said that since the before diet is a week's worth of Protein drinks it's very important to find one that you like and not just tolerate or it's not gonna work. Good news is that I did, muscle milk powder seems to do very well for me w/ just Water. I will say the nutritionist is not covered usually by insurance and I have to pay out of pocket at the time of visit. I don't really have a problem w/ this but it's something to consider. I think they're just doing all the paper work that they can to prove that I'm doing what I'm supposed so that the sleeve works. imho the doctor visit that follows the nut. visit is a grand waste of time. But it's a hoop and if it means they'll pay for my sleeve then i'm all for it.

i looked on my chart printout they give me and the goal weight they have for me is 130...i think my left leg weighs about that much on its own. that number is just way too low for me to get my head around.

So i saw my nutritionist on monday and the more i think about what she said the more irked i get. I'm not mad at her but she's all thin and been doing the right things forever. What stands out is that she said that going from 1800 calories is more mental than actual calories isn't it? yeah no...no it isn't. She doesn't get that I'd like a hamburger and can have a hamburger on 1800 calories but a portion of a hamburger will simply not fill me up on a 1500 calorie diet. hence i really did have to make more than a mental change. I mean the whole problem I have is that i'm hungry and am never full. after the nutritionist, i saw the nurse. she proceeded to tell me that now that i've been on this diet 3 months i couldn't eat like i did before if i tried and i sat there thinking.. WANNA BET? then the doctor, not the one who's doing surgery but someone they want me to see over the 6 month program, he tells me that i need to break the relationship that my mom and i have over food. her issue w/ this weightloss surgery is only important to her in so far as it doesn't kill me. That's it. So maybe I do and I'm too blind to see it but I guess I'm just not at this point. overall i am pleased w/ my progress. 20lbs down in about 3 months of dieting. so yeah...the whole thing was weird. I binged the day after the nutritionist. I don't know if I'd call it a binge. but it was everything i would have eaten on a given day that I was not on a diet. 2 cups of pasta and a great slice of cheesecake.i was screwing around w/ a single pound for a week and i was frustrated and i really did just want to feel full and satisfied again. I miss it. Even so. I lost a pound the next day even though I was 1000 calories over my limit. Today was hard but I did keep myself on track and worked out and counted my calories and I'm on target. So onward and upward

glad you're doing well. best of luck to you !

you look phenomenal, congrats on the weightloss! nice antlers too

my only concern would be w/ the amount of salt that's in it.