Daydra

Good grief! Count me in on this... I couldn't figure out why yesterday I was all of a sudden feeling like I couldn't hang on to the liquid diet. My husband came home with Safeway chinese last night because he got off work late and all I could do was stare at that stupid plastic tray and picture myself just licking a piece of General Tso chicken or something... and I don't even like it! It's greasy and disgusting! And of course I was getting pissed off (like it's his fault I was trying to have a major caloric meltdown). Couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. And then I looked at my bc pill pack and realized I'm totally in range. Thank goodness it will pass!!! Best of luck ladies!

Fire eater??? (You had to know someone would ask )

Oops, can't count... 3 pounds below surgery morning weight.

Sleeved on the 23rd. No complications... no nausea or vomiting, no constipation or diarrhea, very little pain (I would call it discomfort instead of pain and stopped my pain med on day 3), the gas wasn't even that bad (though at the first hint of discomfort, I was either having a gasx strip or chewing a mylanta gas tablet). I had mine done in an ambulatory center instead of a hospital and was there less than 24 hours before discharge. I still have until Tuesday on full liquids, and I'm so over it. Bought some different soups today to increase my variety of flavor profiles. I'm finding that the soup mixed with the powdered milk fills me up more than protein shake or kefir, I'm assuming because it makes it pretty thick, not quite a paste, still a reasonable liquid. Like others, I have had it with the oversweet protein shakes/meal replacements, though I rely on the Premier Nutrition chocolate in the morning to provide a good foundation for daily protein. I'm adding nonfat dry milk to my soups to increase to a reasonable amount of protein and drinking kefir also (I've found one that has 16g/serving). I'm getting in about 800 cal and 70g protein/day over the last 3 days. I'm not measuring my water, but since I'm still on liquids, I'm really not too worried about it at this point since if I'm not "eating", I'm either drinking or having popsicles. I'm only 2 pounds down from my surgery morning weight, but the gain from the iv fluids while in the clinic was significant and took an entire week to get off. Downhill from here.

I think your questions are best directed to your doc. I haven't personally run across any statistics that suggest that weight loss surgery reduces life expectancy. The last thing that I read was that the average life expectancy was increased by 2.6 years (if I'm remembering the abstract correctly). Not really a big number, but what about quality of life? For me, even if I were going to lose 2.6 years, I would have had the surgery anyway. I'd rather have less good years than more bad ones. Best of luck on making your decision.

You're probably just keying in on the negative stories right now due to nerves. Totally normal response, but there are lots and lots more good stories than bad. Go back to the statistics on complications if it will help remind you of the risk of complications and settle your mind. Hang in there, and good luck!

My surgeon wouldn't authorize anymore than 2 weeks, even though I have the time at work. I was hoping for 3, so I could at least get into the swing of eating soft foods. So my first day back at work will be my first day of puree/soft. Not ideal. Other than that, I feel fine. If I had a desk job I would have felt physically fine going back to work after 1 week off.

I've never been anything but morbidly obese, with the exception of some temporary losses that put me into the simply obese category, at least since kindergarten. I have a couple pictures as a toddler where I looked like I was at a healthy weight (albeit, built like an ox). So nope, never known anything else. I'm about a week out and can't wait to get to a reasonable weight and to find out what I'm actually capable of.

Yurbuds Ironman. Trust me on this. There are a few different styles, but the plain earbuds with the silicone covers without the over the ear clip kind of corkscrews into your ear and you have to pull pretty hard for them to fall out. I've never had them come out without it being intentional once they are seated correctly. When I got mine, they were about $100, but now I think average price is right around $50, less if you can find them on sale or at TJ Maxx or something. Good luck! This is the model I have.

Congratulations on all your hard work! I did my first sprint distance triathlon at about 315. You can do anything you put your mind to. As far as pants being too long, they seem to be making them longer now. I used to have to buy talls, but now talls are usually too long. At least it's quick and easy to run a hem! Best of luck!

Great work! It's a good thing that it gets better every day, otherwise recovery could be a pretty miserable experience!

Alright July peeps! Anyone on July 23? I just got moved from July 24 (surgeon scheduling error in my favor...) I'm with Dr. Chock at NWWLS. Would like to hear from anyone on the same schedule.

Thanks for the info and ideas, all!

Anybody use this stuff? It's a protein supplement that provides 18g protein in a 2 Tbsp dose. Found it on Bariatric Choice and if it's tolerable, it could be a good solution for making sure that I get enough protein. I'm only a week out, and it's taking me an hour or more to get down a single protein shake still, so I'm hoping to find some good protein bang for my volume buck at this point.

Holy cow! Congrats! It took me the first 6 days just to get off the weight that was added from all the IV fluids while I was still at the clinic. I'm less than a pound down from surgery morning and today is my day 7. Good work!

Oh wow, congratulations! It depends on what your budget is, but for me, my top 3 at different spending levels would be a spa makeover day (probably around $800), sporting equipment, or a room makeover/remodel (turn bedroom into oasis for lower cost, remodel a bathroom or kitchen if you have more $ to spend). Assuming trips are out, as you've mentioned. Although, a weekend away could be pretty reasonable. Again, congratulations!!!

I was able to sleep flat, either on my side or on my back from the very first night with no issues. I'm not a stomach sleeper, but I imagine that would have been a no-go. Otherwise, I had no discomfort in any position, once I got into position, of course.

Nervous is completely normal. While we can never compare, none of the things that I feared came to pass and I found the surgery and first week much easier than I expected. Having a plan of what you will do should something you fear happens can help alleviate some of your anxiety, though. Also, going back over stats for complications was helpful to me when I was feeling anxious. Best of luck to you. Wish you the best!

Great work! One step at a time! I'm sure this will be a start to a healthier, happier life for you!

You can take darts in the waistbands. Basically you just sew folds in the waistbands. As long as you don't cut the seams it's as easy as taking a seam ripper to remove the darts when you are ready to pass them on. No damage. The only other really easy option is to use belts, but I never felt like that was a better solution, because all that would happen to me is my waistband would be forced under the belt and have a big flapping gap... As long as you don't take the darts too tight, the extra folds of fabric won't be really noticeable. You can take the darts down into the hips to provide shape between the waistband and hips to prevent the fabric laying weird. It's obviously more difficult to do with thick fabrics like denim. Your standard home sewing machine will struggle with that thickness, but you could do it by hand if necessary. Good luck!

These stories make me really sad. So many overweight people end up with partners that really aren't the best for them, whether that is because they don't think they have any other options, or they haven't learned what they need to look out for, or whatever other reason. This looks like controlling behavior and at least some degree of emotional abuse to me (and really, controlling behavior counts). In my personal opinion, the only appropriate response of a good spouse or partner to the improvement of health, happiness, and self-esteem of their partner is pride and support. You are not getting that, and you DESERVE it. You stated that there is a lot more going on, but it boils down to you being in a relationship where you aren't getting what you need and deserve (and may be receiving harmful treatment). You are the only one that can decide whether or not you are going to fight for it, whether that means giving therapy a try (keeping in mind that he has to be as invested as you are for it to be effective) or whether you are going to cut your losses and look for someone that will appreciate you. Best of luck to you. I know that it's going to be a difficult road, however it turns out, but as long as you are looking towards taking care of yourself, you have better days ahead.

Best of luck to you both! I'm only 5 days out, and I have to tell you, it was way easier than I had imagined! None of my fears came to pass. Thinking about you both and I know it will be great!

Good work! It's all about preparation, that's for sure! My experience was that post op hunger didn't even exist. I fortunately only had a 1 week pre-op diet of 870 cal, but I found that extremely difficult, particularly for the first 3 days. After surgery, I have "wanted" to eat, but I wasn't hungry. If I can't smell food, I'm not really even thinking about it. I don't believe for a second that difficulty pre-op on a 1200 cal diet has any bearing on following the post op diet. I have to admit that the fear of doing damage to myself is a big part of sticking to the post-op diet. Not wanting to create a leak for not following doctors orders is a really strong motivator. The vets say that it gets more difficult the further from surgery you get, but we've got about 6 months to rebuild healthy eating habits to depend on the further out we get. And even if we're not perfect (because let's face it, we're not going to be), as long as we aren't eating constantly, or eating ridiculously high calorie foods, or 800 calorie drinks or smoothies every day, we would have to work hard at getting in a similar number of calories that caused us to gain weight (assuming there aren't medical issues creating the excess weight). Research tidbits I've read show that even at 6 years out, average excess weight loss is within about 5% of average weight loss after 1 year, so though I know it will take effort to be successful for life, it will likely not be the epically difficult experience we have had to date. I know that we can get it done, if we can just get out of our own way! :-) I have to admit to having some tough days before coming to the decision to have the surgery, and I have spent many a day hiding under the covers myself, but setting some forward momentum on resolving some of the issues that were bothering me and giving myself goals to work toward did wonders for picking myself back up and putting one foot in front of the other! Best of luck to you. I know there is a way for you to structure the things that you need to take care of whenever you decide to be your final schedule.