JamieLogical

Have you done yours? What did you use? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App My surgery was almost 20 months ago. Back when I used protein shakes I used EAS AdvantEGDE Carb Control for ready-to-drink shakes (from Walmart & Tagret) and I used Now Sports unflavored whey isolate (from Amazon) to make my own shakes with almond milk and Torani flavored sugar-free syrups.

That definitely has me scared. I have the surgery scheduled for 9 days after the full marathon I'm hoping to run in September. I figure the down-time for surgery will be a nice break after all this half marathon and marathon training. But I am a little scared of what the lack of exercise will do for my weight and my conditioning. Dra. Cardenas says I can start doing some *light* running again 6 weeks post-op, but that seems very optimistic to me. I'd be happy to just be able to start training again in January for next summer's running season.

Be sure to post from the other side and let us know how it went!

If you are doing a lot of broth, your sodium intake is probably high and causing you to retain water. Did your surgeon specify you had to be on Atkins shakes? If not you could try some other protein shake options.

I used FMLA, but not disability. My work offers a "catastrophic leave bank" that everyone pays one sick day a year into and then people can apply to draw from that bank and receive their full pay if anything happens that prevents them from working. But the time has to be FMLA eligible. So I still had to do all the FMLA paperwork. If you do go the short term disability route, you still may want to use up all of your vacation and sick time first, since that will be at full pay whereas disability is only going to be some percentage of your full pay.

@@WLSResources/ClothingExch The best diagram I have found is in this PDF: https://www.elpasoplasticsurgery.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/spiral-lift-3.pdf I'm traveling to Tijuana to have my surgery with Dra. Laura Carmena Cardenas. She's the same surgeon I had my tummy tuck and breast lift/augmentation with about 5 years ago.

You probably will regret it in the early days. Almost all of us go through a period of "buyer's remorse". It's just crappy all around. The good news is, it gets better and better with each passing day. It will feel like it's dragging on forever in the moment, but soon enough you'll be a month out, looking back, and not be able to believe how far you've come in so little time. Just have to tough out this rough period. I was crying every single day, wondering "what did I do to myself?!?!" and "will I ever feel normal again". But I survived and made it through and my "regrets" about the surgery soon slipped away and were replaced with confidence that I'd made one of the best decisions of my life!

@@ShrinkingPeach I have to pay it so early because my surgeon is WAY booked up. She's already almost full on August dates and starting to get there with September, so I want to make sure I get my deposit in to secure my date.

So, I'm paying my deposit this week for my spiral thigh lift in September and for some reason I'm really hesitating. I guess because it's so far off it feels weird to be paying the deposit this early? It just doesn't seem "real" yet. Plus even just the deposit is a fair amount of money and that has me freaking out a little, though I do get the deposit back completely if I change my mind more than 30 days before surgery. So I really don't know why I'm hesitating, but I am.... Seems weird because usually when I decide something, I've decided and I don't look back.

It's really up to you. There is nothing preventing you from losing more weight if you want to. Some people will hit a stall for a while if they are at a set point their body is comfortable with, but just like breaking any stall, increasing activity and shaking up your routine can get things moving again. It's still just mostly basic math of energy in versus energy out. Might just be a little resistance on the part of your body if it's happy where it is.

I would think the pulp and peel would be bad too early out. I was told to not eat skins of fruits or anything fibrous for 3 months post-op.

I don't think you should stress that your surgery will be canceled or delayed because of this. Most people who were dieting and exercising prior to the liquid diet don't lose as much water weight on it as people who were just eating crap and being inactive up to the start of the diet. Since you had already been dieting and exercising and lost a fair bit of weight, then you can't expect to lose as much on it. Assuming you are burning around 2000 calories a day through normal activity, at 800 calories you only have a deficit of 1200 calories a day. That totals up to an average of 2.4 pounds per week. Since you didn't have the water weight to lose, you aren't going to see a 10+ pound drop like a lot of people do. You are only going to lose real fat at a rate of about 2-3 pounds per week.

I agree with @@2goldengirl that much more info is needed before we can offer any advice.

Woohoo! Congrats to you and anyone else celebrating their surgiversary this month! Hope everyone is kicking butt!

News Flash: It takes ingesting 14000 EXTRA calories to gain 4 pounds of fat. Eating 800 calories total in a day is NOT going to cause you to gain ANY fat, much less 4 pounds. Only water retention can cause your weight to fluctuate that drastically in such a short period of time.

Protein shakes should be a staple for you in these early months. Almost no one can eat enough "normal" food to get all their protein in until a few months out. And even then, most of us continue to supplement with at least one Protein shake or bar per day, even years post-op. Look for shakes with whey isolate as the main protein source (assuming you can handle dairy and aren't vegan?) and low sugar and fat. GNC has a good selection of powders available that you can mix with Water or milk. My nutritionist recommended almond milk, but I hate it, so I use soy milk or just plain water instead. There are also TONS of options available online. BariatricPal even sells several brands/varieties. There will be some trial and error to figure out which ones you like long term.

@@choicemun Are you getting your protein, water, and vitamins in? Are you moving around some? If so, you are doing it right. The weight will come off. I "only" lost 14 pounds my first moth post-op, but I still reached my goal and I've been maintaining below goal for 8 months now. This isn't a race.

Is this a common occurrence or is it the first time you've vomited in a while? Did you do anything unusual or out of your routine, like eat too fast or eat something you haven't eaten before? Did you feel nauseous before you ate?

Welcome to the "Dreaded Week 3 Stall"!

The first couple of days post-op are going to be rough. You will have a lot of discomfort, possibly some pain, possibly som nausea, and just feel generally pretty crappy. Hang in there.

Don't plan on losing weight with the skin removal surgery. Yes, it has some weight to it, especially if you have a lot of it, but the months of swelling and the weeks of inactivity post-op will cause you to, at least temporarily, gain some weight. By the time things level out several months post-op, it will be hard to say how much the skin removal itself has affected your weight. So you definitely want to be at or near your target weight prior to the surgery.

My nutritionist has me on a bariatric multi-vitamin twice a day, liquid B12, a probiotic, and calcium citrate +D3. In addition to all of those, I take Vitamin C, Omega 3, extra D3, and under the advise of my doctor for carpel tunnel: CoQ10.

Are you happy at the weight you are now? I don't think a quick loss of 10 pounds after maintaining for a year would have a significant impact on your skin, so you should still be fine to consider TT now. Just consult your potential surgeon and definitely discuss with them if you are seriously considering losing any MORE weight.

Conventional wisdom is to wait until you've maintained your weight for about 12 months. Some people do it a little sooner.

I had problems with low blood pressure around 9 months too. My doctor told me to "liberally increase my intake of salt"... that was actually printed on my patient plan! It seems to have worked, as now I have far fewer issues. I was getting dizzy every time I stood up from sitting down or especially lying down. And I also sometimes just felt dizzy while out walking around and had to sit for a second to get my bearings. But I stopped worrying about sodium at all in anything I ate (still couldn't bring myself to ADD salt to things) and that seems to have done the trick. My BP is still lower than it was pre-WLS, but not dangerously low anymore.