ziggypbang

Wow!!! Your thoughts & plans are beautiful and inspirational! You will succeed in this process, and inspire many others along the way, I'm certain! Blessings to you!

Giving up caffeine is hard! I was a coffee freak, but I switched to decaf slowly by blending, and only had 1 1/2 days of caffeine headaches. Now i do decaf constantly blended into my Protein shakes (i use instant coffee) and that has been delicious for me. Interestingly, I too couldn't stomach the taste or smell of coffee for several months after surgery, which was my exact experience when I was pregnant.

We did it! No regrets! It was a beautiful day and we actually got married out on the lawn of the courthouse, under a tree on July 3. We at lunch at Cheesecake Factory, then went to a local botanical gardens and wandered around a took pics. It was lovely. When we got home, we bid for a hotel room on priceline.com - got a great deal on a classy hotel and stayed there for a few nights. We had a reception in October, and the stress was considerably less that I imagine it would have been with bridesmaids, a minister, flowers, and whatnot. We even skipped the traditional wedding cake (I am not a cake person) but had a variety of cheesecakes for people to choose from at the reception. Mmmm, cheesecake...

Tootles, I hope you can come to peace with your decision, one way or another. I have been SO pleased with mine so far. I will say that I applaud your doctor for beginning this conversation with you. Some docs have been reluctant in the past, but with the publication of a new study in March about the long-term success rates in diabetes control with surgical intervention, I think more docs will begin to come around. I don't know if your doc referenced the new study, but it was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on March 31. Basically, your chance of getting an a1c at 6.0 or below increases by 750% with gastric bypass, and nearly 500% with a gastric sleeve. This means you have a dramatically improved chance of living a normal-length life and not having heart issues, diabetic complications or even cancers at a young age. In response to your specific concerns: ".I fear that I will be that person who has horrible, life-threatening complications." This is rare. I'm glad actually I didn't know about all the complications before I jumped in with both feet! But there is no guarantee, you're right. The vast, vast majority of people recover extremely well, and even those that don't are usually glad in the long-term they made the choice. "I also fear that I won't be able to conquer the emotional attachments I have to food and will feel deprived and restricted eventually after the honeymoon stage wears off. (I'm also looking into ways to recognize and break down those emotional ties and triggers now.)" I am only 5 1/2 months out, so there is still some honeymooning going on, granted, but I've had this time to acknowledge that my body can survive very well on SO much less food than I used to stuff it with! This has been a growing experience mentally, psychologically and emotionally. I feel a lot more like the person I truly am, and less of a slave to every drive-thru I pass! I did enjoy a Starbucks with hubby today (Skinny Caramel Crunch Frapuccino- I indulged in the crunch but went sugar-free/fat free with the rest!) and it was gloriously filling! This was really a treat for me and I enjoyed it so much! I watched hubby eat a cheese danish and didn't even care. Cheese danishes used to be my kryptonite! (among 8,000 other foods!) I do have food addiction issues yet. Those are not cured. But I am reading a book now called 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food. It's great for addicts like me. Not easy, but great. I am focusing on the emotional attachments and taking notes as I read! I still have head hunger, but I'm dealing. On Sunday I dealth with my head hunger with 2 bites of white chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce and salted pecans. I lived through it! One day at a time! "It even makes me a little sad to think that I won't if I wanted to be able to eat a huge meal on a holiday or a special occasion. The idea that the rest of my life will not be the same is both exhilarating AND frightening." Here's where I wouldn't worry at all! Your idea of what constitutes a 'huge' meal will change so dramatically after surgery. You will learn that if you want to eat some pumpkin pie or sweet potatoes or whatever, you have to leave room for it. You literally just need to plan ahead and not eat a bunch of turkey if you want to eat other things. It's just like packing a smaller suitcase so you can fit it in the overhead compartment of your flight. You just have to choose the stuff you REALLY want to take with you. Blessings on your decision!

Bravo!! You look really great! I am so excited to get there soon. It's just one day, one week, and one month at a time.

I was driving home from work the other day when I noticed a billboard advertising "New Non-Surgical Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis!". Great, I thought, I better look into that. About a minute later, I realized, I don't have any foot pain any longer! I don't need any special medical treatment for plantar fasciitis! And maybe I'm going to take these crazy, expensive insoles out of my shoes because I don't need them any longer. In addition to the plantar fasciitis going away, I have almost no knee or back pain any longer. I can do step routine at the gym and I can feel where the pain used to be, but it doesn't actually hurt. Also, my back is SO much better! I used to avoid carrying a purse, or even carrying my Bible to church, because everything I carried hurt my back. My home life was also really tough because my son is paraplegic, so even carrying him up to bed was awful. Now it's all a reminder of how strong I've become. I still have mild tailbone pain (coccidinea), for which I've gotten cortisone injections in the past, but it's much better than previous. I feel like I did when I was 35! I am truly blessed!

AYCE/Buffet type restaurants truly suck, don't they? Just designed for failure and over-indulgence, with everyone around you stuffing themselves. I have avoided them for the most part since surgery, but I did end up at a Chinese buffet with family a few weeks ago, and was happy just to enjoy the company and drink some protein. I don't know if I could have done that happily at only one week out, though! Maybe you can take comfort in the fact that most of the food there is tasteless, reheated crap that has probably been coughed on, sneezed in and is crawling with human hair.

WOW! I still love my husband, but you look HOT! I thought this weight loss process was supposed to make our hair look ragged. I think yours looks gorgeous!

KPay, let me start by congratulating you on your awsome weight loss so far! Wow, you really jump-started the process. Second, let me say that I totally empathize, cause pre-op is the worst when it's all liquid! SSSOOO much easier post op! Just wait until an 8 oz shake feels like a 12 pound steak in your tiny tummy! They shouldnt have brought the pies home, for sure! But they can't possibly understand what they've done to you like your B~pals here. We stand with you and applaud your strength! Best wishes. Vent anytime!

I feel your pain! I agree that we all have different food issues, and yours sounds to me like a fear issue, where food has become a security blanket of sorts. I struggle with binge eating personally, and while The monster is less monstrous than she was, I can feel her gaining strength as the post op days pass. I'm going to have to commit to speaking with my psych at next month's post op visit. I just started reading a book called Fifty ways to Soothe Yourself without Food in the meantime. I need head tools as well as my tummy tool to get 100% healthy.

Tomato soup is fine. Your digestive system might react a bit differently to the acid in the soup because you're eating fewer calories. Good luck!

You need very little. My tablet computer, some loose-fitting yoga pants to wear under your hospital gown when you're walking the halls (walking is AWESOME - DO IT A LOT), a zip-up hoodie to wear over the gown so you don't freeze to death, some face cleansing wipes, a nice minty lip gloss, toothbrush & paste, deodorant, hair brush. Some folks like to bring their own pillow. I'm not exposing my personal pillow to a hospital! Best wishes - this has been a wonderful choice for me!

I've done the lick thing with pretzels! I really craved the salt when I first got into soft foods, too!

Tall decaf Americano with half and half, 1 splenda and a dash of cinnamon. I guesstimate I add about 2 T. half n half, which makes the coffee 40 calories. I don't drink it every day, perhaps twice a week. I couldn't drink any coffee for 2-3 months post-op. I'm glad to be back at my favorite happy place!

I stalled for almost 3 weeks at 4 1/2 months. I don't have any solid advice about how to get over a stall, because I was both eating and exercising properly. My body just needed time to catch up. I know my arm, thigh and waist measurements continued to go down during the stall, but I just didn't see the changes on the scale. This is a great reason to take measurements, for encouragement during those times the scale doesn't move. I also choose to only weigh myself once a week, first thing in the morning, after I've used the bathroom. I would drive myself crazy otherwise! Don't panic - you are losing weight and doing great!!! It always seems like EVERYONE else in these forums is losing weight faster than me, but I am losing, and that means I'm winning! Blessings!

No worries! I've done way worse! I had a good day today, but I definitely want more junk-type food right before my cycle starts, and sometimes I have given in.. It's actually nice that my idea of a "binge" now is so moderate. Like your 10 Milk Duds! I can say that I prefer the way I feel, both physically & emotionally, when I don't give in. There was a lemon cheesecake eyeing me today in the worst way, and some spinach cheese pinwheels that really wanted to derail my day. I somehow let them pass me by, but earlier this week I totally collapsed in the presence of a bag of PopCorners. Man, those bad boys are delicious!

This is definitely an issue that has plagued me. I always ate Kashi Go Lean for Breakfast before my sleeve, and never had constipation. Now I can only have 1/4 serving, which doesn't provide nearly enough Fiber. I'm sorry you're dealing with it too. I tried Colace (a stool softener) for a month, and Miralax also. Neither did anything. I focused on my Water intake, vegetable intake and exercise, and all are decent now but are insufficient to correct the constipation issues. I have resorted to 2 T. of milk of magnesia every other night. The mint flavored kind tastes ok to me. I drink 16 oz (my last Protein shake of the day) with the MOM. Best wishes!

I love this discussion - just finished every post. I think I'm somewhere in the middle, but all I can really know is where I am, right? Because this truly is about knowing myself. I know where I've come from, I know how I feel when I eat certain foods, I know how I tend to eat on most days and I see the success my choices have resulted in. I know how exercise makes me feel, and how much easier it is to lift up my disabled son when I stay close to the gym. I know when I chase my head hunger with real food I can never get full. I know my partner from work and her best girlfriend eat everything they want with their sleeves but work out like crazy and are forever working not to go underweight. I know getting back on track is much harder for me than staying on track. I know all the bariatric "rules" are based on scientific studies, which publish data based on how the majority of patient behaved and responded. I know that sometimes I am in in the majority but that very few people can be in the majority 100% of the time. Yes, there are generalizations & rules that have to be made for the sake of effective communication, but I can choose to follow all, most, many or few depending on how my mind & body react. So, take the information you gain here, and from your own experiences, and learn from it. Learn about yourself, and you will succeed.

It's a small price to pay, as our friends above have said so well. Yesterday I sat on a swing next to my four year old son, and the swing didn't violently pinch my hips like I'd experienced for the past 8 years. Awesome! I fully intend to go down the curly slide with my kid by the end of the summer. I can wear many different styles of clothing I couldn't wear before, when I always tended to choose dark colors and flowing styles. Now I wear just the opposite. I used to hate to choose what to wear in the morning. Now I love to get dressed! Did I mention how strong I am? Or how much confidence I've gained Or how my back, knees and feet don't hurt? Or how I dont carry around the nearly-constant guilt of my last over- indulgence? Nope, a little flappy skin is a tiny price to pay. Any fashionista worth her salt can keep that stuff covered beautifully.

My vote is it's a stall. Mathematically, it just takes more than 1100 calories to support your current weight, even given the metabolic slowdown your weight loss has caused. I just came off a 3 week stall, so I totally feel your pain! If your body is accustomed to your cardio routine, you might consider adding wrist or ankle weights, or adding variety to your workout in some other way. But my gut says the scales going to start cooperating soon regardless! Congrats on your amazing success!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL! I'm an eye doctor and I absolutely go through the roof when my patients come back and tell me they are no longer diabetic! This is SO AWESOME for you, your health, your families, your LIVES! Not sure if anyone was watching/reading the news in the last few weeks, but a long-term study was just published showing how bariatric surgery was much more effective at controlling and/or eliminating diabetes than medications. We all figured this out already, of course, but hopefully insurance companies will take this new information and stop getting in the way of people who just want to be healthy. Blessings to all!

My NUT (nutrionist) told me every ounce counted, whether it's mixed with Protein or not. I only started getting my full 64 ounces in by 3 1/2 months. By one week I was taking in a total of maybe 32 ounces, and that was difficult! I think you are doing GREAT! Keep up the good work! I kept fretting about dehydration to my surgeon, and even he repeated that 64 oz/day is a GOAL, and not something you could remotely be expected to achieve right out of the starting gate. Oh, and let me tell you how I started getting in the last 20 ounces: Sobe LifeWater. I mix it with 50% real Water and it's still delicious. Especially the Yumberry, strawberry, Kiwi/Cherimoya & Fuji Apple/Pear. They sell cases at Sam's Club (just don't try to lift any cases by yourself for a few more weeks!) I used to love to drink water - it just settles strangely now and I hope I get back on it soon!

Thanks! Kinda made myself smile on that one, too! That made me laugh.

Hello, I didn't have outpatient surgery, but I would have been happy to go home at 36 hours, but not before. I stayed for 48. I was still asking for extra "boosts" of IV pain meds during my 2nd day inpatient. I'm just curious - are you able to stay longer if you feel the need? I definitely wasn't in constant pain or anything, but the nausea was bothersome and my back hurt from lying in that confounded hospital bed. The best thing I did in the hospital was take a 20 minute walk every 2-3 hours. It really helps to keep moving, and spy on the rest of the exciting happenings on your hospital floor!

Dear Hopeful, DON'T QUIT! DONT'T QUIT! DON'T QUIT! Oh my goodness, you are going to have SUCH A TOTALLY DIFFERENT food EXPERIENCE AFTER YOUR SURGERY - YOU ABSOLUTELY CANNOT look at how you are feeling now and come to the conclusion that you can't do post-op nutrition properly!! It's a completely new game afterwards, hon! That's why you're going to succeed! You said yourself that not all doctors require the 2 weeks post-op liquids. Mine sure didn't. I ate a normal Breakfast everyday (Kashi Go Lean with skim milk), then I ate Protein, fruits & veggies for lunch & dinner. I tried to make 1/2 of my meal protein, which is what I do now at 4 1/2 months post-op. I dropped a pound a day on this diet, and I was so psyched for surgery that I didn't even worry about eating microscopic size portions. You'll be doing that afterwards by choice, believe me! If it makes you feel better, my partner from work actually gained 10 pounds during the month before surgery, and she still lost 100 pounds in 8 months and achieved her goal. It sounds to me like you are doing GREAT! Now stop torturing yourself and enjoy the solid food while you can. You won't want anything like that after you wake up from surgery! Oh, and don't panic about protein shakes tasting like garbage! Your tastes will change so much after surgery - it's really hard to know what might appeal to you afterwards. I did enjoy a book by the Bariatric Foodie - her Guide to Perfect Protein Shakes gave me lots of clever ideas about how to make protein shakes tastes less like discount store melted ice cream stored in the trunk of my car for a week.