JamieLogical

I started my pre-op diet yesterday and I'm not gonna lie. It sucks pretty hard core already. I have a low-grade headache going, but don't want to take anything for it on an empty stomach. And I am super sleepy. I'm way more sleepy than hungry right now. If you offered me a choice between a pizza and a nap, I'd choose the nap hands-down. I'm pretty worried about having the energy to keep up with my workouts. Hopefully my body will adjust and I can make it through these last two weeks at work.

I don't know how much it would be for a tummy tuck alone, since I had other work done at the same time. For my extended tummy tuck, breast lift and augmentation, and all over lipo, it was $8500 for the surgery, plus $2000 for a to week stay in the recovery house, plus incidentals like take-home meds, compression garments, etc.

Mine said 5% minimum, but aim for 10%.

I'm not as worried about the post-op liquid diet as I am about my two week pre-op liquid diet that starts Sunday. I still have 100% of my stomach and I have to go to work every day!

Ariel Ortiz at the Obesity Control Center.

Huh?

I'm self-pay in Mexico to and I scheduled mine for as soon as I could logistically swing it, between getting my pre and post-op supplies, arranging for time off work, and getting the money together. I booked my surgery on July 28th for Sept. 1, so just 5 weeks out. But even just waiting the 5 weeks is making me crazy!

Here were my expenses so far: Cost of Surgery, included night in clinic and two nights in hotel Two additional nights in hotels, one pre-op and one post-op... the extra night post-op is due to what time my flight leaves Round-trip Flights Take-home Meds Cash for tips and incidentals Passport Card - I have an enhanced license which gets me back into the US, but apparently Mexico recently passed a law requiring a passport or passport card to enter Mexico Other than that, most of the money I'm spending is on Vitamins and Protein shakes and whatnot, which you'd need to buy no matter where you have your surgery.

I would guess your best bet would be someplace like GNC or VitaminShoppe. Most of the stuff you can buy at places like Target and Walmart isn't unflavored and also has additives or isn't pure whey protein isolate.

You must have a million emotions right now! Try to get some sleep. Your body will need to be well rested!

You're excited about your pre-op diet? You are a better person than I! I start my pre-op on Sunday and I am DREADING it!

So awesome to hear from someone doing so well! I see so many posts about how rough people have it post-op, and it's totally valid that they would want to come here for support and to commiserate, but posts like this prove it's not all doom and gloom. Hopefully I can have half the success you have in my first couple of weeks post-op!

Aw, your story about convincing your son that you would melt if you went outside just breaks my heart. Thank goodness you are on a path to a healthier life now and you will be able to go outside and play with your new baby!

Losing weight in the weeks leading up to surgery accomplishes a couple of things, from what I understand: 1. As mentioned a bunch already, it shrinks your liver which makes surgery easier/safer. 2. It proves that you can stick to a committed plan, which you will have to do post-op. 3. Losing 5-10% of your body weight has massive immediate health benefits, which will allow your body to handle the surgery better.

I start my pre-op diet on Sunday. Saturday my husband and I are attending this all-day cookout/pot luck kind of thing that he and his old college friends get together for every year. I plan to eat what I want at the party, but just not eat a TON of it. Even though my pre-op diet doesn't start until Sunday, I am supposed to be losing weight even before that. The nutritionist wanted me to get down to 239 at a minimum and aim for 227. I'm down to 247.4, so I still have a ways to go and not much time to do it in. She said to expect to lose 3-5 pounds a week on the pre-op diet (two weeks), which means I really need to be down to 245 by Sunday to be on the safe side. Hopefully I can not go overboard at the party.

Yes, this has REALLY been bothering me lately. I can't think of anything else. I even dream about it at night. I want to live my REAL LIFE! I hate that I can't think about or talk about anything else. My work is suffering, my relationship is suffering, it is NOT healthy! I've even thought to myself several times that maybe I should just cancel it altogether, so I can get back to being functional. But, I'm hoping that a few weeks after the surgery is done (on Sept. 1), I can start thinking about other things again. Maybe?

I've only tried two brands of powder so far. I started with Body Fortress whey Isolate (vanilla) from Walmart and it sat very heavily in my stomach, even though it tasted pretty good. I felt over-full and sick for a couple of hours afterward. I recently purchased NOW Whey Protein Isolate (unflavored) from Amazon and that seems to digest a lot better for me. Since it's unflavored, I use Torani sugar-free syrups to flavor it. I bought six different flavors of the syrups and I mix-and-match them. Orange + vanilla bean tastes like a creamsicle. Irish Cream + chocolate tastes like a mudslide. Yumm! I've also tried the strawberry, which I like the taste of, but I accidentally spilled some on my counter and it actually left a stain. They went a little overboard on the food coloring there, I think. I haven't tried the Lime yet... will be trying that tomorrow! At the suggestion of my nutritionist, I mix mine with 4 oz. of unsweetened almond milk, plus some Water and ice.

Protein shakes will be much cheaper if you buy powder and mix it yourself, versus buying pre-mixed shakes. Vitamins are going to be pricey, depending on what your surgeon/nutritionist requires. My nutritionist wants me on a bariatric Multivitamin three times per day for the rest of my life. I've seen some on here saying they only take two Flintstone chewables per day. So that's quite a range in pricing. The bariatric vitamins I will be taking are about $100 for a four month supply, so $25/month. A quick search of my local grocery store's website shows Flintstones selling for $6.29 for a 60 count, so that would be a month supply if you were only taking two per day. So, that's a pretty big range in prices from $6.29 to $25 per month depending on your surgeon's recommendations. In addition to a multivitamin, you will likely also be taking Calcium citrate with D3, sublingual B12, and possibly some Probiotics. These all vary in price as well. I paid $16 for a three-month supply of calcium citrate with D3, so that's $5.30 per month. I paid $10 for a three month supply of B12, so that's $3.33 per month. And my probiotic is $22.50 for a one month supply. All told, that puts me at $56.13 per month, but I take the expensive bariatric Multivitamins and probiotics, which not all nutritionists or surgeons will require. If you were only taking Flintstones vitamins and no probiotic, you could get away with as little as about $15 per month.

That sounds pretty disgusting! I haven't tried the Premier Protein shakes, so I don't know what all is in them. I make my own shakes using pure whey protein isolate, half a cup of soy milk, Water, ice, psyllium husk powder (for fiber), and sugar-free flavored syrups. I have not experienced anything like what you did. The really weird part is that those pre-mixed shakes are stored at room temperature in the store, right? And they remain in a liquid form. I don't know why blending it with ice like you did, then leaving it to sit at room temperature would affect the consistency at all other than to maybe dilute it even more as the ice melted.

I think the lifting restriction has more to do with your incisions than the staples in your stomach. For the incisions, they have to cut through your abdominal muscle, so any lifting or straining can cause the muscle to tear or slow its healing.

Hahaha! Aw... I was so ready to read your rant. Hope you will get it posted today!

I would think thrush + antibiotics post-surgery would be a bad combo. Hopefully they can treat you and it won't delay your surgery though!

I really dreaded telling my parents, but they shocked me with their positive response. They seem genuinely happy and excited for me. I think they know I made a good decisions.

I'm pretty surprised that people's nutritionists/surgeons are okay with just 2 Flintstones vitamins a day. My nutritionist and surgeon want me on 3 bariatric multivitamins per day for life!

I bought a bunch of sugar-free Torani syrups to flavor my Protein shakes. Though they do have sucralose (Splenda), which I know some people try to avoid. Here's a link to all their sugar-free flavors (there are TONS of them): http://shop.torani.com/Sugar-Free-Syrups/c/Torani@SugarFreeSyrups