Forsythia

My pre-op diet was not a liquid diet. I would describe it as atkins phase one only with veggies. Lots of meat. cheese. No bread or Pasta. I had no issues with it, because as an avowed carnivore and cheese-a-holic, I was content. Still, I managed to lose 18 lbs from my program start weight (I was not required to lose weight, I just could not gain). The Pre-op diet is temporary. Like being forced to listen to Justin Bieber by your little neice, this too, shall pass.

Emotionally I was crabby for the entire week I was on purees. Thank god it was such a short phase in my plan. Once I was on soft solid foods my attitude went away. I think for a lot of people the liquid and puree stage are just difficult and make you crabby.

Throw the Cookies in the trash. Or take them to work and pawn them off on your co-workers. If you do feel snacky, you will have to get in your car or get on the bus or walk to the store to buy them. That is a pain in the ass and keeps me honest. If there are no cookies around I'm not gonna walk to the Walgreen's and buy a package of them. I have better things to do with my time. Having said that, what's done is done. No use feeling guilt over it. Every day is another chance to turn things around.

Any time you up your workouts your body is going to react. Typically by holding onto the weight. At least for a little bit. You need to off set that by upping your calories/getting a bit more protein and carbs. I always try to get up above 1000 calories on my workout days (It does not always happen, but I try). That seems to work well for me because since I've done that the losses have been steady.

I'm down 66lbs since the surgery, sleeved on Cinco de Mayo! Down almost 90 from my highest weight ever (335.. ugh). I don't compare my weight loss to other people's. I try to set a goal for myself. Currently my goal is 235 by Labor Day. Not sure it's gonna happen. I'm in the 240s now though. But I'm on track in that my losses are where I personally expected them to be. My surgeon feels 100 lbs is a successful number for me, but I plan on losing an additional 50 on top of that.

I do not regret having surgery. I will say I was on the fence through the entire 6 month program. I'd lost weight before. But that was before I turned the corner to diabetes. I didn't want to be on dialysis or lose a foot. I'm in my 30's. That is a long time to manage diabetes - which I was terrible at managing. I needed the surgical assist. I will say that I have had no complications or issues though. I can pretty much eat whatever I want without pain or getting sick.

If you don't want to see the OMG YOU ARE STARVING EAT MOAR FOODZ message, you can just not complete your journal for the day. It will still log the food, but you won't have to see their gloom and doom message. You can also ignore it.

To be fair, I really hate being hot too. But my office is a meat locker. Since my sleeve my perception of the office being at morgue like temperatures has only been exacerbated. As I lose my layer of protection, this bone chilling cold is only going to get worse. Right now I am wearing jeans, a tank top, a long sleeved shirt and two fairly thin cardigan sweaters. WHO WEARS TWO CARDIGANS?! This broad. I'm pretty sure under my manicure my nail beds are turning blue. I'm just shivering and miserable. Every day. The building controls the heat/cold. So there is nothing I can do about it other than complain in my blog and suffer in abject misery. The funny thing is that summer is my least favorite season due to the heat and the humidity. This summer has been really mild with temps barely topping 75 F all summer. In theory it's been my dream summer. But I'm so cold, that I want the heat. I just want to go outside and warm up, only I can't. It's barely going to be over 70F here today in Chicago. Are skinny people always cold? Do they sit around in freezing misery? Am I doomed to wear cardigans evey day for the rest of my life?! Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic. This is a consequence I had not even thought of. There are worse problems to have. This blog post is brought to you by me being a whiner.

At a restaurant, I just eat what I can eat without feeling like I'm going to barf and get the rest boxed up. If a waiter asks if the food wasn't to my liking I always say that everything was delicious but that I had a late lunch or a snack beforehand. With friends who know about my surgery I might offer to split what I am eating with them to save us both a little money. In a buffet like setting it is easier because there is just a table of food and you can get as little as you want. So you can just say you ate beforehand and just want a little snack or a sample of something rather than having to pile your plate full of the noms.

Smokers had to quit smoking permanently before they would even let you have a sleeve//bypass with my hospital. Obviously they can't control you once you are released out into the wild, as it were..

At five weeks I was going to the gym four days a week and lifting light weights. I had been back at work for four weeks. Yes, you should be able to go to a wedding and dance the evening away. Depending on your surgeon's post op plan, you may be able to eat the food. I was on soft foods at 5 weeks, so chicken, ham, turkey, fish, those would have been fine. If there is a Soup course you will probably be able to eat that. Check in with your nutritionist to see what you can and cat eat just to be sure.

I am not partaking in the challenge. I just like to POP in to report progress and whatnot. Answer any questions if anyone posts one. So if you have questions, please ask! From protein to exercise to post-op recovery someone here knows the answer!

What you get charged depends on where you are and what hospital you go to. So a hospital in a rural area might not be as expensive as one in a metro area. A more affluent suburb might charge more than one that is more middle class. You need to contact the billing department for your surgeon's hospital. Ask them what they charge for a typical sleeve gastrectomy out of pocket before any discounts. If you have more than one competent surgeon in your area, you might be able to shop around for the best price/one to hit your wallet the least post insurance. I live in Chicago and have BCBS IL. I do all of my medical stuff at Northwestern Memorial. The hospital fees were $47,000, plus another $7,000 for the actual sleeve procedure. My total out of pocket costs ended up being around $1800. I had met my deductible and part of my out of pocket max ($3500). The resulting $1800 is what was left of my out of pocket calendar year maximum.

Because Northwestern Memorial is a teaching hospital, there was a student observer in my psych eval (with my permission of course). At times it kind of felt like a job interview with all the questions. And I was nervous and when I get nervous I get sweaty. But in the end the doc said I was well adjusted and didn't have any diagnosable issues. LOL. Got through on the first go round. Some people do need to go back for subsequent sessions before they are approved.

This gave me a good giggle. And honestly if you can't laugh at things such as this, that's doesn't bode well for your day!!

Ha hahahahaha I said popped, not POOPED. LMAO For the record, i poop every day!!

The first time I used them it was glorious. Perfect clarity. Since then, fog city. They fit great - they are sealed to my face and no Water or anything gets in.

Also, read some of my older blog entries. You aren't alone in your feelings. You just need to get over them.

You will not be the fattest fat person at the gym. You just won't be. I was well over 300 lbs and I still was not the biggest person there. And my gym is totally THAT gym with the fancy equipment, classes and pool. Trust me when I saw everyone is in their own little workout bubble listening to their music or watching reruns of keeping up with the Kardashians.

I haven't popped in in awhile. I got these swim paddles you wear on your hands, and now because of them I can swim the entire length of the pool without wanting to die (and stop half way down). It's the little things. I feel like my strength and endurance are really improving. Also, my shoulders look pretty good. I also had to suck it up and buy new jeans. No one likes jeans with a baggy ass, and mine were to the point where no disguising and artful draping was going to make them look good anymore. So off to Ross I went for some cheap smaller jeans. And I also found a bottle of sugar free vanilla syrup for $2. Hope everyone had a fab weekend!

I had the most uneventful recovery ever. I didn't really need the pain meds in the hospital. I came home and didn't have any nausea or issues with drinking anything or eating most anything Everything healed up as it should have. And knock on wood my hair has not fallen out.

Nope. No drain.

There is no way in the shining depths of hell that I am going to wake up in the morning before 5 am to get to the gym before work. I'm just crabby.. no, I'm angry. I'd probably cut my own mother. I just can't. So I go after work. And on at least two days a week I do 45 to 60 or so minutes of cardio followed by about 30 to 45 minutes of weight training. Typically of the slow/heavy variety. I don't feel that working on the treadmill impinges upon my ability to lift or squat.

No, I can't even with actual spit! The idea of it near my eyes.... Nope! I did find a product online called spit. But I wonder if I can find it in a sporting goods store.

This joke is wrong on so many levels.