JamieLogical

The multivitamin my nutritionist suggested is a capsule, not a chewable, and I'm allowed to start taking them again one week post-op.

Out of curiosity, why gummy vitamins? Do you not like swallowing pills? I know some people can't.

You can buy NOW unflavored whey Protein on Amazon.

I'm obese (not just overweight), because I love food and hate exercise. Well, I don't HATE exercise, but I love a lot of other things WAY more than exercise, so when it comes to where I want to allocate my time, exercise is pretty far down the list. I don't have any good excuses of childhood trauma or misplaced emotions. I've had a truly, fantastically happy life. I have the best parents in the world. Really, they are the BEST! There are not words to accurately describe how amazing they are. I have a loving and supportive husband. I have a good job and make enough money to live comfortably. My weight has been the only real struggle in my life. It has been a struggle from the time I was in middle school. I've always been fat, been called fat, been self-conscious about being fat, etc. Sometimes it was enough to motivate me to try to lose weight and I'm actually really good at losing weight, because I have an obsessive personality. So when I'm obsessed with losing weight, I commit to it 100% and I lose it consistently. The problem is maintenance. As soon as I'm no longer obsessed, I go straight back to eating junk and I stop exercising. I am really really hoping that gastric sleeve will make this a lifelong commitment, and not just a temporary obsession.

Sounds like your mom and my husband have a lot in common. I've heard him say the EXACT same things. And while, like your mom, he is supportive and will support me and love me no matter what, I just can't seem to make him "get it." It IS frustrating. I suppose I should just be grateful that he is supporting me through this, but I really wish I could find some way to make him understand, so he could truly be 100% on board with it.

I haven't had my surgery yet, but I will have a drain and it is scheduled to come out 3 days post-op.

I had a great experience with Dr. Carmina Cardenas of Beauty Enhance. I lost 90 pounds back in 2010/2011 and had an extended tummy tuck, breast lift with implants, and all-over lipo with her in August 2011. Unfortunately I've regained the weight, but my tummy tuck has held up amazingly well. Despite weighing 250 pounds, my stomach is flat and tight. I'm definitely planning to go back to her if I need any revisions or additional work done once I am sleeved and get to my goal weight.

Every surgeon and every nutritionist seems to have their own guidelines. The best advice anyone can give you is o follow YOUR surgeon's recommendations for YOU. You definitely have it easier than me! I have to start my pre-op diet a week from today and it's only 500 calories of Protein shakes, sugar-free jello/popsicles, and one green salad with calorie-free dressing per day for 15 days!

Have you tried increasing your calories? I see that on here a lot as a recommendation and, though I have't had my surgery yet, I know from past weight loss experiences that sometimes increasing your intake can actually get the scale moving down again.

Anyone have any thoughts on these? Clear liquids phase. I'm traveling to Mexico for my surgery and these seem like an easy option for when I'm traveling. Just need to add them to plain Water to get a little Protein in. My main concern with them is that their #1 ingredient is polydextrose, which is a "fake fiber" I try to avoid because it can cause bloating and other issues. Seems like maybe not such a wise idea right after surgery...

The Special K K2O stuff I was referencing in the first post has zero sugar. And obviously I won't be mixing anything with Mexico tap water! I was referring to bottled Water. I'll check out the Herbalife option. I can't bring anything premixed with me, because I only plan to bring a carry-on and you can't have any liquids in bottles larger than 3 or 4 oz. if I remember correctly.

I'm having my surgery on the 1st and I went through and made a calendar of August (pre-op) through October with notes about which days I can start which supplements and foods. I carefully went through the entire post-op plan provided by my nutritionist and marked down everything on the calendars. So, hopefully I'll be able to do everything right if I just follow the calendar. I'm going to tape the pages up on the cabinets in my kitchen, so I will always be reminded every day.

You have got to put your health and well-being first. If he loves you, then he will want you to be happy and healthy. At your weight,even with a successful VSG, you aren't going to be "skinny" at the end of this. On average, people only lose 60% of their EXCESS weight with VSG. I just plugged your stats into this calculator: https://www.realize.com/do-i-qualify/potential-results/comparison And it says you have an 80% chance of getting down to 375, a 50% chance of getting down to 336, and a 20% chance of getting down to 297 at 18 months post-op. If that's the case, then even the best outcome is going to still leave you plus-sized. How big does your boyfriend need/want you to be?!?!

I've seen a lot of posts on these forums from people who say they have a hard time drinking water post-op. Not just the physical restriction, but that it doesn't taste good to them anymore. I'm starting to get really scared that could happen to me. Currently, I LOVE water. It's pretty much all I drink aside from a coffee here and there and my stupid afternoon diet mountain dew (working to kick that habit before my pre-op diet starts). I drink about 14 cups of water a day now. I LOVE refreshing ice water. It is amazing. I've felt very fortunate to love water, because I know a lot of people don't and therefor have trouble staying hydrated or losing weight. It would be pretty tragic if I came out the other side of my VSG surgery hating water. It's like the ONE healthy thing I love right now!

Glad you are doing so well and had such a positive experience! How far did you have to travel when you returned home? I'm having my surgery with Ariel Ortiz on Sept. 1, but not returning home until September 5. I'm a little concerned about traveling post op. Did you run into any issues? I'm really happy there are so many surgeons doing excellent work in Mexico. It really offers a great opportunity for those of us who have to self pay.

I was just curious because my nutritionist doesn't want me using milk for my Protein Shakes. She has me using unsweetened almond milk. I have my surgery scheduled for the 1st and I was immediately thinking "I hope this doesn't happen to me!" as soon as I read your post and then I realized that a week out from surgery, I probably wouldn't even be eating anything with lactose, so I wouldn't know yet if it had happened to me. I am allowed drinkable yogurt a few days post op though, so maybe that will tip me off.

Out of curiosity, what are you eating a week post op that even has lactose?

I see my surgeon, Dr. Carmina Cardenas is on there as a "Top Doctor" with 4.5 out of 5 starts from 75 reviewers. She really is amazing! I need to set up an account on that site so I can leave my own review of the outstanding care I received from her and the staff of the recovery house.

I paid $8500 for extended tummy tuck, breast lift with implants, all-over body sculpting with lipo, and fat grafting to my butt. I had to stay two weeks in a recovery house with 24/7 nursing support and included all my food, which was another $2000. I spent probably $250 for take home meds and compression garments. Plus the cost of my flights, obviously.

After doing some research I found that Now is probably the best option. I was originally going to go with Isopure, but I found out that their filtration process can strip some of the beneficial elements from the whey. Now uses a different process that preserves nutrients better. I also ordered a couple of packets of Unjury to try and to bring with me to Mexico (I'm being sleeved there Sept. 1).

If you are still on clears I don't think there is any way for you to possibly get all your protein. I don't think that's something you can realistically be expected to do until you are on full liquids and can get back to protein shakes and yogurt and such.

I make my own Protein shakes at home with whey Isolate powder, soy milk, and flavored syrups. I've been doing that for a while now. But when I start my pre-op diet, my nutritionist wants me using 4 oz. almond milk and 4 oz. Water instead of the soy milk and sugar-free syrups (the syrup I use now is just normal Hershey's chocolate or strawberry or both!). So I am worried about how those will end up tasting. I did order a bunch of different flavors of Torani sugar-free syrups, so we'll see how I like those. Today I went to the bookstore at the college where I work (serves as sort of a convenience store as well) and bought a vanilla Muscle Milk. OMG, it was SOOOOOOO gross. I only managed to force down about half of it and had to pour the rest out. That sucks, because I was hoping the fact they sold Muscle Milk might be a good back-up plan if I'm not able to make it home on my lunch break during my pre-op diet or if I just needed to get some extra protein in post-op. I guess I can still try the chocolate, but they do have a lot of carbs, so I am thinking I should just avoid them altogether. The protein shakes I've already been making at home are way healthier (even with their soy milk and Hershey's syrup) than those Muscle Milk ones anyway.

Let us know how it works out. Hopefully they can get everything sorted for you.

I have a two-week liquid diet starting on the 17th for my surgery on September 1 and I am definitely dreading it more than the surgery or any of the post-op discomfort. I keep referring to it as "doctor-sanctioned" anorexia to my friends and family. I'm only supposed to have 500 calories a day of Protein shakes, sugar free jello/popcicles, and green salad with zero-calorie dressing. Meanwhile I'm supposed to continue working out, which is currently burning 500+ calories 5 days a week. And all of this while I still have 100% of my stomach! Seems INSANE! Good luck to you tomorrow and for the rest of the week. Hopefully it won't be as bad as we all fear.

One of the key factors those people are missing is time. As I said in a previous post, it can take time for the skin to catch up to the weight loss. That's not to say that all of their skin would have shrunk had they given it more time, but it may have improved somewhat. I don't want to sound like a hypocrite here though. Full disclosure: I lost 90 pounds back in 2010/2011 "on my own" and had an extended tummy tuck and breast lift afterward. And that was after having maintained my weight for almost a year. So clearly my skin didn't tighten back up to the point where I was happy with it. I do wish that I knew back then what I know now about steps I could have taken to reduce the loose skin issue WHILE losing weight. Once I am sleeved on September 1, I intend to be religious about hydration, moisturization, supplementation, and resistance training. Hopefully by doing that, I can reduce the likelihood of needing to have any revision to my tummy tuck or any additional skin removal surgery down the road.