Silly Phylly

I wish I could tell you to go but (and of course this is my opinion) 3 days after surgery you should be at home. You will barely be comfortable in your own bed. Some even sleep on a couch or recliner for the first week or two. I'm just worried you will be miserable and may even risk your health if you go. I do wish you the very best in your decision!!
(((Hugs)))

Well...I finally joined the forum instead of "lurking". I guess the fact that I've officially submitted to insurance is making this all real to me now...I'm ready to join the losers bench!
Cigna OA Plus says they have the info...let's hope for a speedy approval!

Thanks ladies that info really helps me out a lot. I think today specifically the head hunger is beating my A$$ so I felt that discouraged that I can't eat what I want AND I'm not losing anything!! But your words of encouragement are really helping

I'm actually jealous of you! YOU'VE DONE SOME HARD WORK! You set a goal to change your life. You had a surgery which is a tool to make you much healthier. You had no surgery complications. All of that is a blessing. Beloved, you will lose weight...I mean..they took most of your stomach out.
Sit back and don't stress..let nature heal your body and take it's course. I wanna be like you!! That should encourage you!

We are human! We want it and we want it now! Just like I have made up my mind to do this and I am going to be forced to wait on insurance approval and jump through all these hoops first. Having been a nurse, I just imagine that your metabolism is going to have to kick in first. Once you get more energy and start moving more, things should speed up. Best of luck to you!

We are human! We want it and we want it now! Just like I have made up my mind to do this and I am going to be forced to wait on insurance approval and jump through all these hoops first. Having been a nurse, I just imagine that your metabolism is going to have to kick in first. Once you get more energy and start moving more, things should speed up. Best of luck to you!

I am scheduled! I am having the sleeve surgery with Dr Garcia 8/31 in Tijuana and I have so many questions.
What tests pre op and/or post op should be preformed?
How many incisions will there be and where will they be placed?
Do they leave one of the incisions open?
Will there be a drain left in and for how many days?
I plan to ask all those questions to my coordinator as well, I just want to make sure I know what is supposed to happen.

For the first month seriously relax and don't worry about your weight. Do what you are suppose to do, follow your post-op diet, chart your calories, carbs & Protein. Drink your Water and you WILL LOSE.
Day of surgery, Monday June 4th I weighed 229. I came home from the hospital on Friday, June 8th and Saturday morning I weighed myself and I weighed 235 pounds. I was 6 pounds heavier!!!!! I didn't eat in the hospital, I had a few ounces of Protein, and I had Water and decaff tea with truvia. You are swollen, you are bloated, you are healing.
My tummy was bloated and swollen for 5 weeks straight!!!
I promise you, you follow the plan you will lose weight. Sometimes it will go slow or you may even weigh yourself on day and be up a pound, but your body is rearranging and those are the times you need to measure yourself to see loss there, figure out if your clothes are loser.
You are doing great, stay away from carbs work on your protein and water and it will be fine!

Only 8 days out? I would not worry one bit - I gained 20 lbs in the hospital with all of the medical shenanigans my body decided to go through - statistically they say anywhere from 10-25 lbs the first month is normal, again I would not worry at all. I think we are conditioned to freak a bit when the scale isnt moving as fast or at all as we think it should, but really it has no choice if you are following your Dr. and NUT's orders

If I tried to live on 800 calories a day and give up all my favorite foods AND start exercising withOUT the aid of this surgery??? I'd have killed 10 people by the end of the first day!!!! Been there done that.....but without the carnage. It didn't go well. I've gained and lost a thousand pounds only to end up at 349.
I did not read everyone's responses thoroughly, so I don't know if this was mentioned: The hunger hormone Grehlin that is produced in the stomach is mostly taken away with the large percentage of stomach that is removed. This is one of the biggest success factors of the surgery (as it was explained by my surgeon). This has given me a self control I never knew could exist.
And last year I couldn't/didn't want to....walk to the mailbox and back, because I was afraid it would be too torturous. Now I spend an hour a day on an elliptical and I look FORward to it!!! YES!!!
It's true, I DO get REEEAAALLLYYYY hungry sometimes- oh yes I do. BUT....about 4 oz into eating something (which you have to choose carefully and rationally)...I'm full! Crises over. Go on with life. I just LOVE IT!!
Ask what you need to. There's always someone with an answer or 12.

The sleeve is not a magic button for most people. Even those of us that are very well adjusted six months to a year post op didn't just magically wake up loving exercise and hating ice cream.
That said, losing your hunger (not guaranteed but likely) does make examining and changing your relationship with food much easier. It quiets the monkey on your back long enough for you to shake him off, basically.
I do not exercise. My magic "loves exercise" button never got tripped after surgery, unfortunately. I'm far more active than preop, regularly spending 8-10 hour days in my kitchen baking and cooking, or a day outdoors with my four year old twins. But I do not jump on treadmills or do push ups, even if I should. I hate it.
Nothing in life is free. Counting your dietary intake is something EVERY person with a weight concern should do. It's when we're lazy and don't do it that we discover that we somehow gained twelve pounds over the Christmas holidays. It's a good habit that surgery sort of forces us to do. Not everyone does it, but it's useful. liquid diets for a short time are part of the game - your sleeve has to heal! And I, for one, love my daily Protein Shake. It boosts my Protein intake without forcing me to eat first thing in the morning. Think of the trade off for a second. These are very small demands in exchange for a lifetime at your goal weight. I don't know about you, but I would have chopped off a leg at my largest if it guaranteed the rest of me would be skinny! Logging food and drinking shakes is an easy exchange in my book!
I tried every diet you can name between the ages of sixteen and twenty nine. I never lost more than thirty pounds, no matter how restrictive or crazy the diet was, and every time I finally gave up (because it was truly agony to adhere to those diets) I had rebound weight and was bigger than I started.
If weight loss was one size fits all, and a 1,200 calorie diet and some exercise would make us all fit and skinny, not one person would need the surgery, and the world would be empty of obese people. Because we'd all lose weight the first time we tried Weight Watchers if that were the case! I needed the surgery. I require less calories than the norm to lose, and adhering to that low calorie diet wasn't going to happen without surgery. As it was, it still took me SEVENTEEN months to achieve my goal. Could I have stuck to any diet that long if I were hanging in by willpower alone? No way in hell. I'd still be fat if I hadn't had surgery.
If you want to be lean and strong you have to change. The sleeve can make that possible, but it won't make you that person by itself. Get me? Check out BlackBerryJuice. She's AWESOME and a serious athlete these days. She changed her body and her mind and loves being physical. These boards are full of people that love to run, love to work out and totally transferred their food addiction to exercise addiction once they were sleeved. If you want to be like them, you have to work at it.
Me? I just wanted to be skinnier. I am. I'm completely happy with my lifestyle and I met all of my own personal goals. It's up to you. Our bodies don't make us fat; our brains make us fat. Overcoming the emotional aspects of our relationship to food is the hardest part, in my opinion. Looking at the sleeve as another diet is the wrong perspective. It's a lifelong tool that can help you change your body and your mind. If you don't do the head work you'll get to goal and flounder and struggle. If you do it, you can achieve anything you set your mind to.
Best of luck. You asked some really great questions.
~Cheri

Thanks, all of you, for your responses. I really am so touched by your compassion. Many of you describe that "switch" that clicks in your head with this surgery--and then it's different with food. Thanks, too, for helping me grasp the idea that somehow your body--since you cannot stuff it anymore--reprograms, reboots, restarts. I want that!!!! I cannot imagine a single day without waking up thinking about what thing I am getting at Starbucks--and it is not, like, the oatmeal and a bottle of water!!! (And that's just Breakfast....)
I have my first appointment with a possible surgeon (Dr. Paul Macik here in Atlanta) on August 14. That was his first available date. Until then, I promise to read everything I can, ask more questions, and learn everything I can from all of you on this site! Thanks again, DeterminedGirl

Last night I had errands to run after work, between that and rainstorms, I ran too late to go to the gym. By the time I got home, I was CRANKY. I grumped around the house, put on my workout clothes, decided against the Wii because I would have had to move the sofa with husband attached to it, tried the mini trampoline that made my back hurt, and finally grabbed a dog leash and dog and went for a brisk walk in the drizzle. Did about a 2.5 mile walk around the neighborhood and tried to let my mind clear a little. On the way back up the street, I had an epiphany. I just walked over two miles at a fast pace, and I was not sweating, gasping, limping or being dragged by my dog. It blew my mind a little. In mid-February I had to be wheeled through airports because of my back injury, weight and general bad condition. Oh. My. Freaking. Gosh. Needless to say, my bad mood disappeared instantly.
I love Me 2.0, and can't wait to see what the next upgrade will bring!

Surgery and your health comes first! Thankfully due to your sleeve you are going to have many opportunities to go camping and hiking etc.. in the future! That is one of the things that I am looking forward to the most. I want to be able to go on 5 mile hikes with my hubby and be able to keep up. I have not been sleeved yet, but hope to schedule during Christmas holidays as I am a teacher. By the way, is this camping trip in an RV with a comfy bed? If it is go for it! You can lay around in the RV just as well as you can at home. Good luck!

Haha, thanks guys! Just by looking around the site I'm already a lot more excited than I have been. And I'll definitely have my game face on - I'm sooo ready for cheaper clothing (I'm a poor college student - can't afford LB prices!) comfy air plane seats aaaaaand I knit, and tons of sweaters and such only come and look good in smaller sizes! So hurrah! I'm actually about to start one that's a couple sizes too small right now my mom says I'm going to be super cold this winter (which also means a new coat - maybe I can find a pea-coat that fits!!) so there's no harm in preparing!

Congrats on your pending procedure. It is a little nerve wrecking. It's nice to see younger people take advantage of this procedure. You will be fine. The best advice I can give is practice your small bites and 30 chews, along wih no drinking and eating at the same time.

Hello!
I've been lurking on this site for quite a while and I figured, now that my surgery date is so close, it's time take a more active approach.
Never in my whole life have I been at an appropriate weight - my whole family is like this. About three years ago my mother had gastric bypass (the roux-en-y surgery) and even though she complains about it a lot (she's quite prone to dramatics) I could easily see that it changed her life. It took a while for me to think about it, but I finally decided early January that this was a step that I wanted to take in creating a long, happy, healthy life. I'm 24, and starting a new school in the fall, and I'm going to have a whole new life to do it with. It's like a huuuge brand new start, a chance to change my approach/outlook on tons of things, and I could not be happier. Honestly. I'm impatient by nature and I have to resist the urge to stamp my foot every once in a while because I want to get these changes underway!
I joined the site because, although I'm entirely optimistic about surgery, I'm also extremely worried. I've seen the struggles my mother has gone through, and even though she had a different surgery entirely, I wonder how I'll be able to handle the same things. I dont have a lot of people I feel comfortable broaching the topic of weight loss surgery with and it's a wonderful thing to find an entire forum's worth of people to chat with and gain insight from. I dont have to have all the logistical conversations with myself, and that is awesome!
My surgery is currently scheduled for August 7th. I'm worried I wont have lost all the weight by then (I still have 9 pounds to go, although I hear the pre-surgery liquid diet helps a lot with that) but I've come too far to muck it up now. I just can't wait to do this! I have grand plans of being able to ride a bike again, or rollerblade, or attend zumba class! I've been spending weeks looking up home-made meals full of veggies and what not... yay!
I also get carried away a lot. Anyhow, I just wanted to drop in and say hi I'm excited to read other peoples' journeys while I'm having my own!

Thanks for all the prayers everyone! Sorry I haven't been able to post sooner. I've been super tires. Got home yesterday. I'm off the pain meds. Tummy is just a little sore. Trying to get in liquids and walk more. But I'm super tired. I keep falling asleep. Hope all the other July 17th sleeves went well! Keep you all posted~!!
Love you too cuzzo!! Xoxo

Prayers go out for everyone today especially my cousin love ya chic and remember Gods got it all in control

Same here. Calmer today than I have been in weeks. Taking it as a sign I made the right choice.
Best wishes gang!

Keep you and all your fellow sleevers in prayer. Give all fears and worries to God and leave them there, for it is well done.

Prayers going out and up for you and all the ones getting sleeved today!

Hello Everyone!
I just woke up and surprisingly I'm calmer than what I expected myself to be. Surgery was moved up to 7:30 AM. I'm overwhelmed with emotions. I keep asking myself if I'm sure that I want to do this. I've been looking forward to this day so idk why I feel like backing out at the last minute...? Anyway, I know I'm going to go through with it but I do feel kind of weird. Ok. I'm going to stop typing now Bc the tears are starting to flow. Aaaahhhhhhh!!!
Good luck to everyone scheduled for today! Say a prayer for me please. I can't wait to make it to onederland!!!
Ttyl~!

Oh baby, it gets better every single day! My drain was in for one week and it felt so uncomfortable and alien. As soon as it was out I started feeling better. I am 53 and I have to admit I was emotional (hormones!) and exhausted for a good month. On the flip side I marveled at the feeling of control. It was amazing to feel little or no hunger. Ride out the next few weeks like the little engine that could...."I think I can, I think I can..." and you will! Sleeved on 4/30; wish I had done it sooner and not one regret.

Thanks everyone. You really don't know how much the support means to me. Thank you!