SomersetCottage

1. I confess my attitude has totally changed confidence level is off the charts
2. I confess I am afraid to eat off plan in fear I will sabotage my own success
3. I confess I can't wait to loose another 50 lbs
4. I confess I will be glad when I can enjoy a glass of Moscato. It will probably be around the holidays...giving me time to drop 50 more
5. I confess having surgery was the best decision I made for my life

Sometimes our doctors don't prepare us for first few weeks after surgery. It is major surgery and you need time to recover but being sore, sick and miserable during recovery is one thing, regretting having this life changing tool is another. The week before and two weeks after were hard, but not hell. I would do it again. If you want to know hell have a hemerroidectomy- a lovely surgery that I got to experience in my 30's somewhat due to being overweight and eating awful food. Trust me you aren't going to regret this surgery when you cut up your Lane Byant card and the first time you buy size 10!! Two really good days for me! Keep your eye on the prize.

I had surgery done one year ago 2-15, 2012. The day of surgery I was 220 today I am at 148! This past year has been challenging, confusing, frustrating but also quite successful for me. It can be very tough those first 3 months, but after that everything starts coming together. A year later I can eat just about anything, but don't really have the same need or desires to do so. I go out to dinner with my husband and friends, order steak or grilled shrimp, eat about 1/4 of it, take it home and make 2 more meals from it! My point is - I have given up nothing but obesity since my sleeve. (On Valentines Day, I had a piece of chocolate! But I literally nibbled on that one piece most of day instead of eating whole box!!) I can run, chase the grandkids, ride the 4-wheeler EVERYTHING is easier! No depression about the impending dieting that starts every Monday. Life is better I promise! Also want to mention that I had NO dramatic weight loss. 50 lbs first 4 months, 25 lbs in the last 6 mos. went from sz 24 to a 7/8! Hang in there!!

JennyBeth. It sounds like a really complicated problem you have on your hands, that you have been dealing with for years. I won't try to offer a solution in a few lines in a weight loss forum.
BUT KNOW THIS - No situation was made worse by a person being fitter, stronger, healthier and feeling better about themselves.

Hi everyone out there,
Where is your head? The ONE BIG thing I learned before I had Weight Loss Surgery was that I had to be willing to do exactly what the Doctor wanted me to do if I wanted to be successful and Weight Loss Surgery. I had to have my head in the right place and be willing to choose a healthy lifestyle forever. I knew how I had been eating and that sure didn’t work for me because I was NOT eating the right things. So if you are NOT willing to give up the junk food and snacking all day long you are NOT ready to have WLS. Your head has to be in the right place. I am NOT saying that I never have a treat or eat desert. I do have that now and then, just not every day! I may only have one small cookie not the whole bag of Cookies. :wub:
I have also learned that you can eat yummy and good healthy foods. You have to be willing to look for different ways to cook your food, and be a bit creative when it comes to what you are eating and look for healthy ways to convert some of the things you eat into a healthy recipe, it can be done because I have done it. Here is just a small example. I used to eat a fresh fruit salad with whip cream on it. Now I have a fresh fruit salad with Greek Yogurt on it and I love it. I just look at food differently. I learned that snacking (or I call it grazing) is a killer and something that you shouldn’t do—sometimes people eat because of stress or being bored. However you can do this: how about having few healthy Snacks around such as fresh veggies. You can eat them raw or steam them.
WLS is not your miracle cure. It is going to be your TOOL to allow you to get the weight you want to achieve. After the surgery it is going to require work and effort on your part and some exercise is really helpful too. Take it one day at a time, don’t let it overwhelm you. Don’t look at it and think I have to lose 125 pounds. Look at it and say I am going to lose 5 pounds and then go for the next 5 pounds. You DID NOT get fat overnight!
I had a sleeve and I had this surgery over 4 years ago. I never feel hunger any more. It is a good feeling to not feel hunger, but I do know that I should eat 3 meals a day. What I did struggle with was “head hunger” that is where our good old brain tries to tell us we are hungry; the brain can play nasty tricks on you. 99% of the time you are NOT hungry. We now have a very small stomach which does NOT require large amounts of food. For your entire life you have been consuming large amounts of food. Now all of a sudden you are eating small amounts of food and you brain is saying “hey you” where is all the food we used to eat???? It really does take a little time to re-train the brain, that you NO longer need large amounts of food. When we go out and eat, we share a meal most of time, because they serve such large portions of food and NO one needs to eat all this food.
I believe having WLS has changed my entire life and all for the better. But, if I wouldn’t have had my head in the right place it would have been a huge struggle for me. I wanted to lose this weight more than I wanted anything in my life. It worked for me and I have kept it off. It can work for you too!!!! To maintain that weight loss, I eat healthy. Nothing feels better than being healthy and being thin.
It took me about 6 months to make up my mind that I wanted WLS and the sleeve was going to be what would work best for me. I also did a lot of research and I knew at the end of the 6 months that Dr. Aceves was going to be the ONLY Doctor that I would consider going to. It was my choice. His patients were all very pleased with their results and having WLS with Dr. Aceves. He has an excellent staff of Doctors and Nurses. The hospital is fully equipped. This made it the right choice for me. I was going to pay for this myself and I wanted the best I could find. I was older than a lot of you, and I wanted my recovery to be in a fully equipped hospital. I can only speak about what I experienced, and I highly recommend Dr. Aceves. I know if you are sitting out there trying to make your mind up you have 100’s of questions about all of this—I did and I had some wonderful patient people who answered ALL of my questions. I am always here to try to answer any and all of your questions about Weight Loss Surgery and Dr. Aceves. You can contact me here or send me a private E-mail. My E-mail address is Suzannesh@aol.com
Suzanne

I'm 18 months post op and I seldom get "hungry". I've developed a routine with my food. I eat a Protein Bar when I get up, another at lunch time (noonish) and a high Protein dinner around 5 pm. I do add Snacks, usually a mini babybel at 10 am and another around 3pm. If I don't follow this routine, I will forget to eat and then I bottom out and end up very shaky and nauseous.

SR910...I'm right there with you. My surgery is scheduled for March 6th and I'm super excited...and super nervous. I mean this is really IT, no turning back once I do this. I KNOW without a doubt that I want to do this, but I've been hearing that little voice in my head say "but you've lost 20 since Christmas..maybe you don't realy need it" and "what if, something goes wrong" But you know what, my husband always tells me "Fear or Faith"? Gotta choose one or the other, and I am not going to live my life in Fear! So here we go....3 weeks from today and we will both be on the other side!!! Want to get on the roller coaster with me??? I hear it's an amazing ride!!!

You will not give it up you will only have to find a way to do it differently. At first you will not be able to drink that much because of the swelling but soon after your surgery you will be able to drink your gallon. The hardest part for me was to stop drinking with my meals.

Try baking a pork tenderloin in chicken broth, I'll bake these for my kids and they cut it with a fork

i like Chobani
the most unbelievable tasting wonderful flavor
BLOOD ORANGE
if you like tart - this is for you!!!!
Its a combination orange/grapefruit
yum yum

Chobani and now I am in love with Noosa, its a Australian yogurt, I add a scoop of unflavored Protein to it as well as 1/4C of fresh fruit.....its great!

Hi All,
I've read through many of your posts and have found much inspiration from you all. I'm thrilled to be part of such a strong community! I'm new into the process, just started my pre-op (non-liquid) diet to get down to the goal weight the surgeon will give me tomorrow. I'm a little nervous to be honest. It's SUCH a big change and one I'm ready for. I think if I wasn't nervous, I am not being honest with myself - it's a BIG step - no question.
I can't help but think, "Oh Cookies, how I'll miss you"...etc but I read a great post saying you're not NEVER going to have them...just not for awhile and maybe when you can again, you won't want to....so I made a condolence card for myself. I googled a bunch of images and made a collage of them (Oreos, Doritos, French Toast, Cookies, Cake, Milkshakes, Panda Express, Mac and cheese and Pizza) and in the inside I wrote, "Sorry you're dead but better you than me!" I love it. I haven't figured out where to put it but it made me feel good to make it.
Anyway, thanks for your support and I hope to return the favor to you. Never been so happy to be a loser!

Tomorrow is my surgery date. I am ready. I've been ready almost since I've started this process. I am sick of huffing up the stairs, having trouble with socks and shoes. Had my first elevated A1C a couple of months ago but all fasting blood sugars are still ok. Had my first elevated cholesterol level several months ago. My knees have been bothering me progressively worse over the past year. I learned that my stress incontinence is as bad as it is because of my weight. My husband says I snore. Yes I am ready! I am doing this for my health, for my life. The nice side effect will be the loss of weight and nicer clothes but not my reason for doing it. Have found myself to be a little tearful the past couple of days. I'm not afraid of surgery. I think it's just the major change coming. Could be the pre-op liquid diet. LOL. 0800 tomorrow morning my life will begin to change for the better.

My surgery is tomorrow and I've been on clear liquid since yesterday and pre op diet since Feb 1. My experience has been really rough. I've been hungry a lot and irritable. Much easier when I'm at work but have been snowed in since Friday with the blizzard (live in CT). I've lost 18 lbs which is great but it's been hard for me. Here are some tips:
Remember that this is the last time you will have to exert this much control over eating. You'll have to after the surgery but it'll be easier because you'll have a smaller tummy.
Drink a lot of water!
HOT broth -the hotter the better in my opinion
Lots of sugar free Popsicles and gum helped me through this time too.
A friend told me to get my clothes/closets ready for after surgery weight loss. Organize what you already have into "fits, sort of fits, and way too small"
You can do it! We're all here for you! Coming here has also helped me a lot. :-) Good luck!!

So this morning, according to my scale I hit my "magic" number. Then I got a phone call from the PA to tell me I was approved and to call her back so she could schedule!!! Now I just have to wait for the office to open so I can call back to schedule!!! Doing a happy dance!!!!!!!

Need to be there tomorrow at 6am! Very relaxed about going through with it by now. I feel I have done enough research on this surgery to actually perform it myself (lol!!!)....
I'm just so hungry... I am looking forward to the day when I can sink my teeth into food rather then drink it. And by that point I'll hopefully look good while I'm doing it!
:-)

Mine doesn't require waiting either my dr. has a full schedule he had 4 patients ahead of me anxiously waiting

I had 2 weeks before and 3 weeks after ! Kept telling myself it is the only time I had to do this!!! Made it easier afyerwards!!

Didn't pig out at all. Did take the family to my favorite restaurant since it was the wife's birthday. Ate and drank exactly what I wanted. That was pretty much it. The day I went to the first seminar, I realized that I had to change and that if I was going to be successful post op I really had to make some changes. I didn't lose a lot of weight pre op, but instead focused on re-learning how to eat, what to eat and what I needed to do to be successful. It took a bit for me to get my head around exactly what was going to happen and how I had to make things work. There's a fair amount of head work that needs to happen to reconcile the changes that you are about to embark on. I'm a stress eater and a grazer, so I had to face that and deal. I didn't want to have any regrets, didn't want any post op depression, no food mourning. I had to get all that out of my system before hand. I doubt that I have purged all my demons, but I think I might have a good handle on them and can at least recoginze the warning signs

Good luck. I was nervous and excited as well, right up to the time they rolled me into the operating room. Although I think I was in some kind of denial right up to the point when they put me under.

Hi everyone! So, I was sleeved on Sept 28 with Dr. Cribbins in Plano TX. Just a recap, I had ZERO pain and ZERO complications and I had a hysterectomy done at the same time! I have never slimed, nor have I ever thrown up (THANK GOD!). I used pain meds while I was in the hospital but I forgot to pump midway through the second night and never needed anything, even while at home. I was at the Texas State Fair one week post op and did just fine. My highest weight ever was 235. I am 5 ft 1 so it was packed on! Pre-op diet weight 232, day of surgery 227. Current weight: 197!!!!! I am THRILLED with my weight loss. Mostly because it is steady and I am not miserable!! I eat a variety of foods and don't suffer. I still have a cookie occasionally, ice cream occasionally and candy (hello, it's thanksgiving/christmas, how can I not???). One thing that has changed is my love for soda. I admit, I have tried about 5 sips since surgery, and each time it was NASTY! This from a dr pepper addict. I am so glad I don't like it anymore! I am a bad girl because I have not started exercising. Oh well, it is still coming off at a healthy pace so I am smiling. I am one of those people who would do this again in a heartbeat. I tell people and have not had any negative reaction. People still ask me how I'm feeling regularly though which is kind of funny since surgery was 11 weeks ago and I was fine within a few days. My before/after pics are "raw". Meaning I did not plan my best outfit, or maximum shooting angle or any of that. Just raw. I am really enjoying this journey and I am very happy with my decision. Oh, I forgot. So i was an 18/20 mostly. Now in shirts i go for xl, but my bottom is still somewhat in plus size. I did squeeze on a pair of Old Navy Diva Skinny size 16's and it won't be long before those fit just right. I definetely am losing the top part of my body faster but again, I am so not complaining. I am smaller then I have been in oh, maybe 15 years??? HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!   

Well I'm 3 weeks pre op diet and 2 weeks post op out and down 50lbs. Man this is just awesome. Fitting into clothes I haven't fit into in a long time. Did some shopping the other day and picked up a 3xlt shirt instead of a 5 xlt. Hard to describe the feeling. Wish I would have done this years ago

After being told in December that my insurance would only pay for bypass they changed their polices in January and are now covering VSG! I have my first appointment the end of the month and my insurance doesn't require a waiting period. I'm nervous & excited