I am 63 years old, been married for almost 40 years with two daughters, 25 and 20 yrs old; luv my two dogs, a chocolate lab and a beagle. I am retired. I enjoy cooking cuisines of other countries, minimizing the fat and carbs. I have a lot of trouble being consistent with aerobic exercise, either because my hip joints hurt when I do it, or I feel depressed and don't feel like doing anything.
I have a BMI of 38 and was tired of trying to lose weight, losing a little, and gaining it back. I have diabetes, sleep apnea and non-alcoholic fatty liver. I recently found out that the NAFL is progressive, which will result in another loss of pancreatic islet cells, eventually leading to my needing to use an insulin pump. To reverse the NAFL, I was told I would need to lose ALL the extra weight so my body will next take the fat cells out of the liver so it can work properly again. I went to the surgeon's presentation and was happy to hear that there were less-invasive options for bariatric surgery than gastric bypass and decided to get the gastric sleeve surgery. It sounded like I would be satisfied with less food and not feel hunger. I was pretty excited and thought this was the answer.
Today was my first nutrition class. I found out that I would never be able to eat enough to nourish myself completely, and that I would have to sprinkle Protein powder over my food to amp up the protein. I believe I would lose a lot of weight, but am worried that I'd be taking away any "normal" fun I would have tasting food and trying new recipes. I could cook them, but not be able to each very much at all. Sounds like no fun. I have read posts from other people on this board being cold all the time or gaining the weight back, or they need to eat 800 calories to lose weight. I thought, "I need to eat 1000 calories/day to lose weight now, how is that different? I am seriously considering dropping out of the program and not getting the surgery. Maybe I could join a bicycle group that rides frequently. I don't know what to do.