JamieLogical

I just watched the first episode on HBO the normal way. Think I'll hold out for the next three to air as well. I'm pretty anti-piracy. As a web developer, I respect intellectual property rights.

Huge congrats! Sounds like you did awesome! How did you feel at the end? In my past 5K races, nothing could beat that feeling of crossing the finish line!

@@JamieLogical I think I'd welcome this problem.. I've seen your photo updates and think your shape is cute. Very feminine. Although until you walk a mile ya know :-D Well, I've had plastics, so I've "cheated". My boobs are 100% fake.... I was flat as a board before that.

It WILL get better. You will feel better and better each day. For me I really turned a corner when I was allowed soft foods and then another when I was allowed solid foods. I really felt normal the majority of the time by 2 months and now at 7.5 months, I feel normal ALL of the time. Hang in there.

I have a different problem. I'm getting so thin in the upper half of my body that I can now see my ribs above my breasts, but my hips/legs are still HUGE. I'm *squeezing* into size 14 jeans.

The pre-op diet is for your own safety. If you watch videos of WLS, you will see hat the liver needs to be propped up out of the way during the op, because it sits on top of your stomach. If your liver is thick and fatty, it is much harder to manage and keep out of the way, increasing the risk of accidental damage to it during the surgery. Why take he unnecessary risk of cheating on the pre-op diet and not shrinking your liver as much as possible?

I had the most trouble with room-temp water. Really really cold ice water or hot beverages are much easier for me.

@@BXB26 It's so hard to believe when you are only a couple weeks out, but I really do promise you that you will feel normal again. It took me probably a solid 2-3 months to get to where I felt normal most of the time and now that I'm over seven months out, I feel normal ALL of the time. You will adjust and adapt. I go to family gatherings and meals out all of the time now. Just last week I was on vacation with my husband, parents, aunt, sister, brother-in-law, and four nieces and nephews and we prepared meals together and ate out and were out and about the whole week. The great thing is that once you are back on solids, there's always a protein option no matter where you go. When they all did make-your-own tacos for dinner, I made myself a little plate of meat, cheese, refried beans, and a little taco sauce. It was delicious! When we went out, I got some chili or pulled pork (without the bun). One day we did breakfast for dinner and I had scrambled egg and a little sausage. It really is so much easier once you are back on solid foods. Just hang in there!

I felt light-headed and headachy for the entirety of my pre-op diet. Ridiculous calorie restriction and ketosis will do that to you.

I'm coming up on seven and a half months post-op. Everything is awesome! I feel normal all of the time now and I'm still steadily losing weight (down 56 pounds since surgery) with 15-25 pounds left to lose. Hoping to get to goal right around my 1 year mark.

Have you experimented with different temperatures of Water?

Get a light greek yogurt. The kind I buy (Danon Light & Fit) is 9 carbs and 12 grams of Protein.

If it makes you feel any better, I found out the AVERAGE BMI for women in the US right now is 29. So *just* this side of obese. You're barely above average!

I really doubt you or anyone else can juice themselves to less than half their starting BMI. Honestly, the topic of this post really alarmed me. It sounded like the only two choices you are allowing yourself are some fad quick fix diet and a surgery that removes 80% of your stomach for the rest of your life. Talk about about opposite ends of the spectrum! It sounds like you've done your research and you know what you need to do. Don't let others in your life influence your decision. This is a choice you need to make for yourself and you need to be 100% confident in that choice.

Congratulations on your loss so far!

I'd say I was able to eat about 3-4 ounces. Sound perfect then!

The mental barriers are definitely just as strong as the mental barriers. When I got to the first long run (20 minutes straight) at the end of Week 5, I thought "NO WAY!" I had struggled with an eight minute run the workout before that, so 20 minutes seemed completely impossible. But then I did it!

Out of curiosity, why are you "worried" about losing weight slowly? When I first had the surgery, I too felt the urgency to lose the weight fast, but when I realized I was going to be a slow loser, I reexamined my thought process. I realized that sense of urgency came from my old diet mentality. In the past, on diets, I always wanted to lose weight quickly so I would be "done". But, I'll never be "done" with my sleeve. It's for life! So it doesn't matter how long it takes me to lose the weight as long as I am losing and not gaining. Ten years from now, when I am enjoying my happy, healthy, full life thanks to my sleeve, do you think I'm really going to care whether it took 6 months or 16 months to reach my goal weight?

Could just have been something funky about the egg salad and have nothing to do with your surgery. I mean, I'm sure there were times pre-op when you just ate something that disagreed with you, right?

Awesome news! How much would you say you were able to eat?

I think RNY is the more "standard" option for people with such a high starting BMI. RNY patients usually lose weight much more quickly and more weight overall than sleeve patients. I completely understand your concerns about the long-term consequences of having your plumbing rerouted with RNY. That was one of the main reasons I wanted sleeve as well. I guess the question to ask yourself is, are you willing to put in the extra work it's going to take to lose all the weight with the sleeve. Not saying that RNY is "easier" necessarily, but you will have to compensate for the slower loss by doing more work to exercise and stick to the nutrition plan. Another question might be whether you are concerned about losing ALL of your excess weight or would be content just losing a significant portion of it. Everyone's experience is different, but this calculator might give you a rough idea in the differences between RNY and sleeve in terms of what kind of weight loss you can expect and over what period of time: https://www.realize.com/do-i-qualify/potential-results/comparison Edit: I put in your current stats and it looks like with RNY you can expect to lose over 150 pounds in 18 months, whereas with the sleeve, you could expect just over 100 pounds. Again, though, these are just estimates.

Did you ask about using a cashier's check instead?

I got the original Popsicle brand sugar-free popsicles. They come in a yellow box. I'm not sure what your pre-op diet consists of, but I was allowed three Protein shakes and one green salad with calorie-free dressing per day, along with sugar-free popsicles and Jello for Snacks.

I was able to move onto soft foods at 18 days post-op, which was when I was scheduled to. That constriction of my esophagus eased up around the 2 week mark for me. Though, honestly, I don't think it would have been any better or worse had I moved onto soft foods earlier, every tiny little sip of anything caused that feeling, so I imagine it would have been the same had I eaten a little bite of something.

sugar-free Jello or popsicles can help kill the cravings some, but the truth is, you are going to be hungry pretty much the entire time on the pre-op diet. It's very low calorie so you will crave food for energy and you still have 100% of your stomach, so you will never feel full. Hang in there!