SlimDreams

Hello All I'm excited to say that I'm approved (just found out last Friday) and my surgery is scheduled for June 26, 2013 also!!! I'm super stoked, and yes a bit nervous.....now I just have to share the news with my immediate family (gulp!)... Definitely feel ready to go though, already down 10lbs...reading the forums has helped me understand what to realistically expect...Oh and did I mention?... I'm Approved!!! LOL

I am keeping it to a handful of people. When I first started researching it and mentioned it, I got a lot of negative responses....its a lazy persons way out etc. Now that I've decided to do it...I don't want the negativity to get me down. I feel like over the years my own negativity kept me down about myself, and sine I am looking for a new beginning....I want only positivity. Since my Dr. Recommended to stick more to an Atkins kind of diet...that's what I'll say when they ask....I'm following the Atkins plan. I know....a bit misleading...but I really can't stand the negativity.

Hello All I'm excited to say that I'm approved (just found out last Friday) and my surgery is scheduled for June 26, 2013 also!!! I'm super stoked, and yes a bit nervous.....now I just have to share the news with my immediate family (gulp!)... Definitely feel ready to go though, already down 10lbs...reading the forums has helped me understand what to realistically expect...Oh and did I mention?... I'm Approved!!! LOL

Hi guys. I see a lot of you are struggling and worried pre-op about the pre-op diet. It is a HUGE challenge, but for me, it was an important one.
Exactly 1 year ago, I was in the middle of a 2 week liquid pre-op diet because my BMI was 55+ and I was self-pay in Mexico. Traveling from Canada meant that a reschedule would be A LOT of extra expense if my surgeon had to stop due to an enlarged liver mid-surgery. I had NO CHOICE but to follow the diet.
It also meant that cheating would increase the chance of complications and a longer recovery (or worse), all because I could not follow a 2 WEEK diet. Really? Here I was, about to take a seriously radical, life-changing step and get 85% of my stomach cut out permanently. But I can't follow a 2 week diet? That's crazy.
Post-op was going to be difficult for MONTHS, not days. So if I couldn't get my head in the game for the pre-op diet, then maybe I wasn't ready for what was going to follow post-op. I was terrified!
So I started the liquid diet. And I was STARVING. I was dreaming of all the foods I thought were leaving my life forever. Suddenly I didn't care that I had spent my life morbidly obese, I wanted my comfort back. I wanted to fill myself to bursting at every meal, like it was my last meal forever.
But I didn't break my diet.
Because for once, I wasn't going to cheat myself. It was time to grow up (I'm 43....) and take responsibility for my health, my future and my choices. A lifetime of justification, gluttony and excuses brought me to that operating room. Now it was time to face the music and get on with owning my future.
The first 3 days were HELL. That is when your body is detoxing from the carbs. You are using up the glycogen in your liver (to help "shrink" it) and it's screaming for replacement carbs to fill it back up. You can get through it. After 3 days it gets MUCH better. After a week you start to feel normal and more healthy than you have felt in years. You may be hungry, but you don't have the carb cravings anymore.
Most importantly, you feel IN CONTROL; and mentally and emotionally strong for battling your demons and winning. This is the first tangible proof in an unsure future that you CAN get through the post-op recovery and that you CAN succeed in losing the weight this time, FOR LIFE.
Whatever weight you lose during your pre-op diet is really inconsequential. What is important is what you gain:
- Confidence
- Emotional and physical self-control
- The desire to succeed and overcome "impossible" obstacles
- The knowledge that you are a WINNER as long as you do your best
Please don't look at the pre-op diet as a "condition" that your surgeon imposes on you (and some surgeons don't require it!). It is an OPPORTUNITY for you to test yourself, to help build your will, character and emotional toughness BEFORE you have the surgery.
It's like training for a marathon.....you put the blood sweat and tears in before the race to help you finish the race on game day. Without training and preparation, you will likely fail and you can get hurt really badly along the way!
Use your pre-op diet to work through your demons, build up your confidence and prove to yourself you can do it. If you "fall off the wagon" one day, the next day is a fresh start.
Aim for excellence. You owe it to yourself.

Tumbelyna and cls8402
I have always been a private person regarding not only medial issues but most everything. When I was younger I used to feel obligated to answer every question put to me. As I have grown older I no longer feel that way.
I would diet every year, every year I would lose the same 30 pounds only to re gain it by years end. Even though I generally kept it quiet but sometimes people would ask how much have I lost, my reply would be "A good amount" or not as much as I had hoped." I would try to be polite with a reply and change the subject. If they persist, I would just state that is personal to me and really don't wish to discuss it.
As for your surgery, if people ask what you had done, simply tell them that you had a medical issue tended to but you are feeling much better now, thanks for your concern and change the subject. If people want to speculate, they are not someone you would want to share any personal information with anyway. Most people will respect your privacy.
I know a lot of people need or want to tell everyone everything about them. But the truth is most people don't care about what do other people do than giving them something to gossip about. If they want to share everything then they should do so and respect that.
For those who choose to keep things private, be it medical or any other aspect of our lives, that is our right and would hope that others respect that as well.
Good luck to you both, you will love your sleeve!

Two reasons:
1) Because people judge / shame. You might be tough enough to stand up against that kind of judgement but many of us aren't and it can be tiresome and humiliating to deal with that.
2) And because of internal guilt. I am not proud that I've come to this, I know full well I should have not shoveled food in my face for the past 10 years, I could have done something when I was 20 pounds overweight, and I didn't.
I, for one, have told no one but my husband, and it'll stay that way. I'm not proud of it, I guess. But I'm doing what I need to before I end up diabetic or dead of a heart attack.

When did it become a requirement to tell people all of your business? I think what we do with our own body is our own business. People have boob jobs all the time but I do not expect an explanation as to why their boobs look obviously perfect all of a sudden and I do not ask.

I told mine I was back on Weight Watchers & hitting the gym again. I told them 'female' surgery - and they let it go for the most part.
I would advise anyone to keep it private. Once you tell someone - there's no taking it back & people can be mean, intentionally and unintentionally.
Do what is best for you!

Hello All I'm excited to say that I'm approved (just found out last Friday) and my surgery is scheduled for June 26, 2013 also!!! I'm super stoked, and yes a bit nervous.....now I just have to share the news with my immediate family (gulp!)... Definitely feel ready to go though, already down 10lbs...reading the forums has helped me understand what to realistically expect...Oh and did I mention?... I'm Approved!!! LOL

Hello All I'm excited to say that I'm approved (just found out last Friday) and my surgery is scheduled for June 26, 2013 also!!! I'm super stoked, and yes a bit nervous.....now I just have to share the news with my immediate family (gulp!)... Definitely feel ready to go though, already down 10lbs...reading the forums has helped me understand what to realistically expect...Oh and did I mention?... I'm Approved!!! LOL

Hey y'all!!! I'm a June 2012 sleeved crashing your thread...good luck to you all!

Yep. It happened. By far, my best NSV so far.
I was pulled over today for failure to use my turn signal. I handed him my info and he stood there looking confused but didn't say anything. (This happens a LOT when people see my license which was at my highest weight) he walks back to his car without saying a word and a couple mins later another patrol car pulls up. They both get out, talk for a minute and walk over to my car....long story short, they thought I provided 'false identication to a police officer' I explained that I have recently lost about 80 pounds and dyed my hair. Luckily I had my passport in my glove box, and the photo was taken a out half way to goal.
I was given a 'fix it ticket' which states I have 10 days to report to my SOS (or DMV as it is in most States) for a new photo, or pay a fine. No ticket for the turn signal though

It will depend on what it is, and, of course, your bites should be a lot smaller now than they were before, so it is all relative.
You should be able to eat more than 3 bites of yogurt, now.
As far as other foods and lean Proteins, it will progress something like this:
4 bites of deli turkey meat - 5 weeks out
4 bites of tuna salad - 6 weeks out
4 bites of grilled chicken - 8 weeks out
4 bites of iceburg lettuce salad - 12 weeks out
4 bites of Romain lettuce salad - 16 weeks out
4 bites of Spinach lettuce salad - 18 weeks out
4 bites of grilled NY Strip - 6 months
Hopefully you get my point ... it is going to be different for different foods and for different people. But I'm guessing you know this deep down and you're to the point where you feel like you are never going to eat normal again. Don't worry ... you will. There are no foods I cannot eat today and enjoy them all at 20+ months out. I just enjoy far less of them now.
So will you.