kathywithakay

I have only lost 200 pounds with another 40lbs to go but I am having a panni on Wednesday... Any suggestions on how to get through this with as little drama as possible? They say to wear loose clothing and have lots of protein... How long was your recovery? I cant imagine staying out for 6 weeks I think I will be bored. Yes I say only 200 lbs because I am still over weight and I seem to be stuck. I plan to go back to basics TODAY. Also having an umbilical hernia repair as well... Anybody have any suggestions?

Your sleeve is still there! You didn't blow anything. You lost 115lbs!
What do you think you need to do?

I think you really have to ask yourself if you are in this for the long haul? If you can cheat within the first month or so is this going to end up as another failed weight loss attempt?
For me I know I have to push the boundries. I have decided that I have to listen and trust what I am told as apparently I haven't succeed do my own. I have pushed every rule that was put in front of me from every weight loss program I have ever tried. And guess what? I have never succeeded! What a surprise. I plan on following the rules, do as I'm told because I have never lost and maintained a healthy weight. I'm putting my faith in the pros now....

I'm so glad to hear from someone in the area!!! Sounds like you are doing great! Who did your surgery? Dr. Watkins is doing mine. How was the pain after? I'm excited but of course a nervous wreck too! I am a nurse with UC Health and live near West Chester. Doing my liquid diet now...day 3...and so far so good! Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! Congratulations on such a successful journey

Hello, my name is Kelly. I live just south of Dayton but had my surgery in Cincinnati. I am interested in starting a support group in either city or somewhere in between, depending on interest.
Weight loss info- I had VSG is June 2012 by Dr. Trace Curry. I have lost 100 pounds since then. I lost 65 before surgery. I have been stuck in the 250s for several months now and I am getting frustrated. I am trying to accept myself as a 16/18, which is much improved from a 28/30, but I still want to lose more weight. Most of the WLS patients in my life are not the best role models for the lifestyle and therefore not where I want to seek support (but could benefit from a group like this). The other handful I know or have met at support groups are all from the the same doctor. I am curious to meet people with different viewpoints and expectations, such as: various surgeries, level of success, length of time post-op, different doctors/dieticians.
General info about me- I recently turned 30. It was a huge milestone for me and I had hoped to be at my goal weight by then but, as I said above, I'm stuck!!! I still felt super sexy at my birthday party! I am single, although losing the weight has definitely helped my love (and sex life). I am a teacher so I have many evenings free. Summer vacation is coming up and hopefully we could have a meeting before or during that time. Being a teacher, I am very organized, detail-oriented, professional and friendly. I love planning events and meeting new people, although I do not consider myself outgoing. That is why I would like to be a CO-leader and hopefully find someone else in the area who would like to help plan these events with me.
Some thoughts about a local chapter- I imagine the first meeting being something rather informal (like a Panera) to hopefully meet people from this site (and bring friends) who would be interested in attending or planning meetings and events. We could even come up with a committee if we have enough interest. I would like to get others invited through word of mouth, Dr/dietician offices, Facebook, meetup.com, etc. A few ideas for acitivites would be meet n greets, "speed dating"- for friends or a singles event, walks at local parks, bike rentals at Riverscape/Winton Woods/etc, zumba classes or zumbathons (I have a good friend who is an instructor), recipe swaps or potlucks, professional speakers, social/family outings and more! I am open to any ideas!
I am not sure what the next step is or what Alex has in mind but feel free to respond or contact me privately if you are interested or have questions.

When/where do you have local meetings? I would love to join!

Forgot to post my 1 year pic last Tuesday. 125lbs down from surgery date and 162lbs down since left picture in 2012! I LOVE my sleeve and hope everyone is doing great!!!

Here's a few pics of my sleeve journey so far. The first collage is pre-op and 1 month post-op. The next is months 5-6-7. To date, I've lost 73 lbs, dropped from size 20-22 down to an easy size 10 . The weight loss has slowed down to about 1 lb a week, and I really need to get exercising more regularly to tone and tighten what I can. After 7 months I find that I need to keep diligent about my eating habits ; my sleeve feels good restriction but the brain wants "more". Got to work on that!

YES, just had a panni/TT on 10/17/2013.
First printed the ins. criteria from their website.
Took that to my pain management dr. who wrote a letter echoing EXACTLY what ins. wanted.
Wrote my own stuff about how my co-morbidities are resolved, importance of exercise in keeping weight off and co-morbidities gone. How excess skin impedes exercise.
Took all that to plastic surgeon, was approved in less than a week.

My name is Pamela C. I am from North Carolina. I am a Certified Personal Chef and Certified Person Pastry Chef. My journey with gastric bypass started last year in September. My husband is a photographer and had a client come in to take pictures because they had had the surgery. After speaking with them, I quickly made up my mind that this was something I needed to look into. I had looked into having gastric bypass before but always thought that I could not afford it even with having insurance because of the upfront out of pocket money that I would have to pay. I had already gone to several information sessions. After speaking with my husbands client and getting her story I contacted the same surgeon that she had used. My journey began! At my initial consultation with Dr. Enoch of Bariatric Surgeons of NC I weighed in at 412lbs. OMG I did not realize that I had let myself get that out of hand but I knew I was in the right place. The next 2 months were full of appointments to prepare me for surgery. December rolled round and I started to get nervous thinking that my insurance company was not going to approve my surgery before the end of the year as I had already met my deductible and I needed this surgery to go before the end of the year so I wouldn't have to start all over again with a new deductible. And lo and behold 2 weeks before Christmas 2012 I got the call that my surgery had been approved and I got my surgery date ... Dec. 28, 2012. This was the best decision I had made in my life. I was tired of being fat, tired of always hurting; my back hurt, my knees hurt, my ankles hurt .... seemed like everything hurt all the time and I was tired of it. My only co-morbidities were sleep apnea and high blood pressure thank the Lord! The morning of my surgery date as I was driving to Raleigh for my surgery, I got a call from my surgeons nurse stating that because I had sleep apnea and I did not have my own machine, that I would have to be in intensive care for 1 day after my surgery. I didn't care this was fine with me as long as the surgery was still going to take place. My surgery went without a hitch and my stay in intensive care was short (about 8 hours) before they transferred me to a regular room. My surgery was on Friday at 430p and I was leaving the hospital and heading home on Sunday at 11a.
I will say the following week was pretty easy, I didn't have any problems. Week 2 and Week 3 were a little more challenging with trying to get used to only having Soup broth or yogurt and not getting to really eat (drink) very much of that. Once I got past the 4th week, I felt I was used to my new lifestyle and my weight loss journey had begun. Two weeks after surgery, I was taken off my blood pressure pills and I had no signs of sleep apnea.
I will say getting used to the new eating habits can be somewhat challenging. Knowing when to stop eating or drinking is challenging at times because your brain is saying keep eating but your stomach is saying I'm way more that full. I think that has been my biggest challenge with the whole process of having the Sleeve is knowing really when to stop eating.
It has been 10 months since my surgery, and I am down 144 lbs. I feel AMAZING ...who knew that losing so much weight that everything changes in how you feel, no aches and pains, no more high blood pressure, no more sleep apnea, and a whole new outlook on life. I wish I had done this years ago. I have 83 more pounds to go to reach my goal. I turn 50 in March, it is my goal to be at my goal. I look forward to my future!!

I love pureed lo fat cottage cheese with a scoop of vanilla Protein Powder. It sort of tastes like cheese cake:) My other favorite is black Beans, 1 scoop of Unjury chicken Soup Protein powder, 1/2 cup Water and baked chicken breast pureed in the Vitamix. Then top with a bit of Greek Organic Yogurt. I have just begun the pureed stage and will be doing it for a month so I would also love to hear what others are eating through this phase.

I want my total loss to be exactly 144 lbs too!! 56 down, 88 to go. . .
Congrats on getting sleeved, you are on your way! I will promise you that it will get easier and more routine. So be patient with yourself. This process is very much about totally revamping your lifestyle, including your eating and drinking. It is completely appropriate that it is constantly on your mind! This is some serious behavior modification! Anxiety is such a yucky negative feeling. Maybe you could try to evolve "anxious" into something more productive, like "motivation" -- you are "motivated" to get your Water & Protein in Yes, you have temporarily lost some of your spontanaity, but that is true of the recovery after any kind of surgery. You will soon be in a groove, so to speak. It took me about 6 weeks I guess. Remember also that a lot of people experience this whammy with the emotions. On top of not beign able to cope with the food favorites, you've also got some serious hormonal turmoil going on in there. So try to remember that this too shall pass, and keep your eye on the prize.

Although I'm only 20 days out, I know that there is going to come those days when I'm out and about and end up at a fast food restaurant. I came across this site and thought I'd share it. 7 short pages but has some healthier alternatives, low in calories and fat and high in Protein and also list different fast food places. (Also sure that I couldn't eat one of these whole meals but better to eat the healthier foods even in smaller amounts) (sorry if this has been mentioned before). Hope it helps.
http://www.m.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/21-healthier-fast-food-meals

When I started this crazy journey I was 378 pounds. I had my surgery 11days ago at 333 pounds and as of today I'm at 318 according to my home scale.< /p>

I started the insurance process at 445lbs. On the day of surgery, 8/29, I weighed 397lbs. And today, 4 weeks out, I'm down to 352lbs.

Started at 305, surgery on 12/19/13, current weight 189.

Just thought I'd share my story with all you pre-ops.
I arrived at the hospital at 5:45am and got registered. About 6 they called me back and did all the fun pre-op things: changing onto my attractive hospital gown, drawing last minute labs, starting the IV (one stick), and a ton more things. I met with the anesthesiologist and OR nurse and just had to wait for my doctor to arrive.
8:00 I was on my way to the OR, scared but ready. I was asleep within minutes. I don't remember anything after I scooted from the stretcher to the table.
I woke up in PACU and was extremely nauseated and in a lot of discomfort. They have me Compazine for the nausea that when it kicked in it took the nausea away completely. I dozed on and off during this time. I did notice it was 11;30 when I first looked at the clock. At noon I was transferred to my room.
My husband was waiting for me and all I could say was that I was sorry and wished that I could have been happy being fat (can we say I was having a little buyers remorse and really early). I actually told him that a few times but I had really bad gas discomfort and was still exhausted from the anesthesia. The gas pain was terrible but I knew and the nurses reinforced that walking was the only thing I could do to get rid of it. My body felt heavy and I could barely lift my arms at this point so walking just seemed like a ludicrous idea. My husband left to get my son off the bus and I slept. I forced myself to wake up an hour or so later because my son was coming to see me and I wanted him to see I was okay. Once I woke up I had to pee and of course I am scared to death to get up but I have to. It is something Iust do. I called for help and up I got. Surprise it wasn't bad, my fear was for nothing. I then started doing little trips in the room going to the window or to the bathroom and guess what the has pain got better. It's still not gone and it hurts to lay down but it's tolerable. I have also been sucking on ice chips as much as I can to get my fluids in.
It is now 12 hours past my surgery and I no longer have any buyers remorse (for now) and the gas pain I have is in my shoulder and a smidgen in my belly. I did have a hernia he repaired while he was in there or so my husband told me. I just wanted to share my surgical story with everyone. Tomorrow I have a swallow study and I hope to go home. Good luck to everyone on this journey.

Yes I started my 2 week pre-op but my surgery is on the 24th, close to yours...

Sorry to hear this KCSG! I remember day 3 questioning what the heck did I do? Am I that crazy? Then I reminded myself there is no turning back and pain goes away! I'm 16 days post op and I have lost 26 lbs. It gets easier both mentally and physically as days pass. Just remember to walk walk walk. There's a reason they tell you to do this; 1). Gets things moving 2). Blood flow 3). It just makes you feel better overall.
You'll get through this! I promise!
Deb.

I have a vitamix and I make green shakes all the time. Currently I'll put 2 big cups of kale, 2 cups Water, 1/2 cup frozen mixed fruit and 2 scoops of Protein Powder. Makes a huge shake, very filling for me and about the only way I'll get in greens regularly.

I wanted to hit 100 by 6 months but I'm definately not complaining about 90 lbs! Very proud of myself

I thought about getting a little egg pan but it doesn't bother me to use the big fry pan. It would be nicer to wash though!
Anyhooo.....my Surgeons instructions suggested something I really like. When you make food that is more then one or two servings freeze the rest in an ice cube tray. So far I have done this with sauces and gravies. After they are solid, pop them out into a freezer bag, then you aren't wasting most of a jar of spaghetti sauce or whatever.

I don't like having my picture taken, so I don't have many before pics (especially at my highest weight right before surgery - 244 lbs.), but I want to share my journey so far. So here goes, a before pic and an after pic at 2 months out (at 201 lbs). It's not the best pic/lighting, so don't judge my camera skills. I haven't taken a body shot yet, but I'll post that when I do. Mainly I wanted to show how much you can see it in my face. It's surreal to see the side by side!

I live alone, and though I knew I would have help available, I made sure I put things where I needed them so I wouldn't have to reach high or bend down for anything "heavy" I had my Protein shake of choice, unjury chicken Soup, a blender, Vitamin Water zero, bottled Water, a pill crusher, heating pad, sugar free pudding/jello and very comfy clothes all ready. I had phone/iPad chargers where I could reach them at any time. Even rigged up an extension cord and ran it under my recliner so they could be right next to me and I wouldn't have to fumble.
Good luck!!

WeeWers here.
I would recommend getting "The Big Book on the Gastric Sleeve" It's a huge book that covers every single thing a pre-sleever would want to know. You can have it overnight-ed through Amazon if you wish.
God's Favor on your surgery!
warmly,
WeeWers