FrankyG

I've never bought any bariatric foods from here or any other place. Doing just fine and my grocery bill is tiny even feeding two adults. I don't eat much any pre-packaged/prepared foods after I realized they were part of the problem (most are crammed with fat/carbs/sodium). I cook from scratch with whole food sources about 75% of the time. Things like marinara sauce or turkey pepperoni I do buy prepared, but I get the lowest carb/highest Fiber versions, and avoid high sodium, and other questionable things. I read nutrition labels of everything. It also works to help me put things back if I'm suddenly craving them and want to buy - one look at a package containing 50 grams of carbs per serving and I can't stick that sucker back on the shelf fast enough! I buy lots of chicken and fish. We eat on a chicken drumsticks or thighs at least once a week, and I usually do them in the slow cooker so I can create broth from the fat/bones and then make a lovely Soup with it later in the week. We eat lots of veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, turnip greens and spinach, okra, brussel sprouts, (not so much of the carby veggies like carrots, potatoes, peas). eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, Beans (kidney, black beans, pintos, great Northern), and brown rice. High fiber wheat bread on occasion. Pork rinds are a great snack substitute when I'm desperate for the crunch of chips (but eaten sparingly since they are so high in sodium). I have a very large variety of awesome recipes that are low carb, high Protein and moderate fat.

I've had a few drinks off and on after surgery (none before the 1 year mark tho). I was never a big drinker anyway, and mostly I don't care to waste the calories on it. Occasional glass of Maker's Mark and Cherry Coke Zero or half a glass of wine but that's every 2-3 months at the most. I do keep some wine around because I make a killer shrimp scampi and it requires some white wine.

There are many employer plans that do include it, and Medicaid also seems to cover it. I had a specific exclusion on my insurance so I paid for mine out of pocket. Saved up and cut back on frivolous things. Advantage is that there is no 6 month + waiting period or dealing with approvals. My insurance did cover part of the surgery since I had a hernia repair. But that waiting period is also a good thing, as it gives a person time to get their mind wrapped around the changes they'll be having to make to get the most out of surgery (so it's not a wasted time period). If you don't have enough to have it done in the U.S. (assuming that is where you live), then you should look into surgery in Mexico. It is significantly cheaper - I think under $6,000 or even lower - and you can do research on this forum. There should be a whole section dedicated to Mexico surgery options and recommendations, and the site has coordinators that can work with you to figure out the details.

I recently had a magical Porter cheddar (it has beer in it! and looks like a cheetah!!) that I now can't find again. Sad face. So current obsessions in no particular order: Halloween decor I need to cull down (I do a HUGE display and change it every few years but storage has finally reached the limits). Sigh. Figuring out our new ACA health care options since BCBS decided to raise our current plan costs by 43%. But the cost is finally making me stop being a sloth about doing comparison shopping and I've found a cheaper, better plan I think. Figuring out our next vacation. Too many choices causing decision paralysis. And can't stop looking for my dream house. Still haven't found anything really close, and beginning to think I might just have to buy land to build it.

Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwich and cup of tomato soup. My grilled cheese was on Aldi's Fit & Active wheat bread (11 net carbs per 2 slices due to the high fiber), 2 ounces of cheese and a pat of butter, and the soup was Progresso light tomato basil. I didn't finish my sandwich until about an hour later tho (ate half, then heated the other half up a little and ate it after getting back in from a walk). Dinner: Large chicken drumstick (baked BBQ) with almost a cup of roasted brussel sprouts dressed in olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and honey. I'm stuffed (okay, pleasantly full - stuffed isn't what I aim for now), happy and feel just fine with my portions. . I'm almost 2 years out.

Why not call back the doctor's office and ask them if quitting right now is enough time out from surgery? Save you from worrying over it the next few weeks as they'll tell you absolutely yes, or no, we need to push the date out a little.

If you had surgery to remove a large portion of your stomach to get healthy, why on earth would you go back to smoking? That is going in the wrong direction for "healthy." You're clear of the addiction and reintroducing would be just... a huge step backwards for your long term health. Seems like a really poor decision. I smoked for over 20 years. I was pissed about having to quit, but I realized that it had zero benefits, and was already causing issues with breathing, how often I got sick and how long I stayed sick. And I also decided would be really, really stupid to go back once I had been quit for months following the surgery. It wasn't easy, but I am so glad I did it. I have had a few times where the craving hit me and I thought about it (about a year out going through some really bad depression, and again recently for another bout of depression). But the thing is, I also really, really enjoy exercising now, and I don't think I would if I took up smoking again. I had reduced lung capacity and I'd end up wheezing after a mild workout while I was still smoking. It made me avoid exerting myself too hard because I hated that feeling. So that might be something to think about - if you're trying to lose weight and exercise, smoking will screw that up for you and might just sabotage your long term goals for getting fit and in shape. Oh, and probably give you COPD and cancer... and make you smell awful too.

Almost anyone can lose weight if they go on a very restrictive diet and exercise regimen. The issue is that for many of us - the clinically obese - there are factors that make it near impossible to maintain long term weight loss. No one, especially those of us that managed to put on so much weight that we're even considering surgery, would be able to keep up with that forever. The constant yo-yo dieting doesn't just cause feelings of failure - it hurts your metabolism and makes it that much harder to get any weight off the next time. And along with that, eventually many just give up and live with ever growing list of health issues, and limited life experiences, and die early deaths because they didn't think they had any other options, like surgery. Long term, the portion control still exists, but the big part is getting help from nutritionists, counselors and doctors to relearn new, better habits that will last the rest of your life. Surgery isn't a cure or a cheat. It is a tool that helps you to reach and maintain weight loss. But it requires you to do some hard work too. Good news is, you put the work in and relearn how to eat healthy and exercise, it will work for you for the rest of your life.

I realized that the only way I'm going to succeed long term is to track my food intake for the rest of my life. It means putting in all the Snacks, looking up foods and drinks, and making the choice to put something back if I'm near my calorie cutoff, because without the daily accountability, I slip into eating too much or bad stuff too often. I don't consider eating whatever I want whenever I want it a normal thing, and I know if I want to make my goal - and be healthy and feel good - I have to throw out the concept of normal. My "normal" made me fat - I ignored things for years and indulged and self medicated with food and in the process destroyed the concept of normal eating for myself forever. I will always need to be very aware and monitor my food. I don't consider it restrictive; it's just how I will deal with my food if I want to be happy and healthy for the rest of my life. Taking a little time out of my day to log in what I'm eating is a small price to pay to be a decent weight, able to walk for miles, fit into smaller clothes, avoid serious health issues... You shouldn't feel like you can never have sweets or "bad" foods again. But if you're not tracking how you eat every day and gaining weight, then the bad foods and/or amounts are becoming too common in your everyday diet, and you've lost your way. Once you start tracking, you can see where you need to adjust - more Protein, more veggies, less fat, more complex carbs... get your diet figured out so you're eating a good variety of healthy meals, and it won't feel restrictive either. Along with the tracking, be very aware of portion sizing. Start measuring again if you aren't good at eyeballing amounts, and always check the packaging for serving size along with the nutritional values. Getting the correct amount of calories for your activity level means you can eat things that might be indulgent every once in a while - in small portions, for special occasions, if you've managed your calories well, a small slice of cake or a few pieces of chocolate won't hurt at all. It is simple, but not easy, because it also requires work and awareness and yes, sometimes saying no to yourself. This is how normal non-obese healthy folks do it. The thing to ask yourself is - are you and your health and happiness worth the small amount of work needed to do this? I think so, and I would hope you also feel that way too. You can do this, and you just need to find the strength and enthusiasm again to get back on track. So don't think of it as a negative. You're not denying yourself or punishing yourself - you're refocusing on making your life better and gaining control again. And you totally can do this, and it will work and you'll be so very, very happy once you start losing weight again. And even better, you're relearning how to eat and relate to food in a healthy manner as well.

If it feels like pain or discomfort (pressure) then it is likely the gas they use to inflate the abdomen for the laproscopic surgery still needing to be absorbed. It can be pretty uncomfortable for at least a week - 10 days from my recollection. Moving more and time is the only real cure. Get up and walk around several times an hour. Nothing strenuous - just walk. It will help to get it moving and reduce it over time. If you still feel it at your next doctor visit, bring it up, but it likely isn't anything to really worry about unless you're still experiencing pain or intense discomfort at 2+ weeks out (in which case, call your doctor's office to ask if you should come in).

I've got my yearly mammogram coming up in October (breast cancer awareness month - most places give you little gifts for coming in during that time!). Thanks for posting this. I might have said something in passing, but didn't realize it is very important to tell them a significant amount was lost since the last one so the skin might be an issue.

I have been having horrible depression and anxiety, and just went for blood work to see if my thyroid was out of range. I have Hashimoto's, so I'd been on 150mcg, but let my script lapse and wasn't on anything for the last three months. Was sure I'd have to get on mega doses to stabilize my thyroid function. It was just barely out of range. The doc put me on 25mcg and we're rechecking in 6 weeks. But apparently the large amount of weight lost did change how my thyroid functions pretty significantly. So likely it's just hormones being crazy from the large amount of weight lost. We'll find out eventually. I'm over 1.5 years out from surgery and down just under 120 lbs. lost.

It is physically impossible to stretch your stomach from eating. They removed the stretchy part. Any surgeon telling you that if you do "X" you'll stretch your stomach is using scare tactics to keep you from eating poorly (basically thinks their clients are not smart enough to handle proper diet and portion control instructions - it is unfortunately very common). As your stomach heals it will relax and allow you to hold more than right now by a few ounces, but it will never, ever EVER go back to the size it was. At three weeks, I could barely handle an ounce or so of mushy food like yogurt and chicken salad (made with light mayo and sugar free pickle relish). Eating real meat that early seems very fast, and your sleeve is telling you that it isn't ready. I would suggest going back to eating high Protein mushy/soft foods like canned chicken or tuna salad, yogurt, eggs, refried Beans with sour cream or greek yogurt and cheese, baked fish. Meat like chicken, turkey or beef will be very dense and hard on a sleeve for some time. I'd wait another couple of weeks and try something like moist chicken drumsticks (I do drumsticks in the crockpot with a few spices like sage and thyme and garlic powder and they come out fall off the bone moist). But you absolutely should be tracking what you eat (and calories, fat, carbs and protein), measuring/weighing your portions so you don't overeat and cause discomfort or pain, and shoot for a minimum of 80 grams of protein (while keeping the carbs low and the fat moderate). Oh and do not drink with food at all, and wait a minimum of 30 minutes after you eat before having anything to drink. I would suggest trying 2 ounces at a time for meals for now and see how you feel. DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF TO EAT if you feel weird.

I quit smoking (and no replacements like gum or vaping) 3 months before surgery and am now just shy of 2 years as a non-smoker. I loved smoking and really hated giving it up. But I decided that since I needed to quit for surgery anyway, to realize there was zero benefit to continuing it, and the whole point of having WLS was to improve my health and get control over my body and be healthy for the rest of my life. I still miss it sometimes, but then I remember I really, really don't miss the constant need to go smoke, the little burn marks on clothes, the smell in my hair, in my clothes, in my car (thank dog I never smoked in my house!), the cough, the constant rounds of colds and viruses I would get (due to a lower immune system from smoking), doctor visits and increased need for inhalers whenever I did get sick, the expenses, the anxiety of running out or being someplace where I might not be able to smoke for hours, and of course the very high likelihood of developing COPD/emphysema, lung cancer... Can't emphasize enough how smoking will slow your body's ability to heal, will cause possible complications including bad reactions to anesthesia and increase the risk of bleeding or leaks. But the long game is seeing why you're bothering to have WLS if you're not doing it to feel better, be healthy and live longer. Smoking does not make sense at all, but definitely not when you're taking great strides in trying to improve your health and future. The advantage to quitting even right after the surgery is that you're going to be so tired anyway from the lack of real food for a few weeks, that you might just get to sleep through the detox time where you are desperately craving a smoke. Your entire routine will be upended too, so you'll be ahead of breaking all the ingrained habits of "and after I eat, I go have a smoke" or "coffee break and step out for a ciggy" type programming. Do try. Your health is so worth it. And no better time than now if you can wrap your mind around the idea of it. (try using stop smoking apps to help with support and reading Allen Carr's book about smoking cessation too)

It isn't a race. You're not going to be doing yourself any favors comparing yourself to others. Your body will lose at the pace it decides, and you're doing just fine. 8 pounds in a month is a great loss. If it takes you 16 months instead of 12 is that really that bad in the grand scheme of things? Continue to track your food, get in enough Protein, drink your Water, watch your calories and moderate activity/exercise. That's really the key to all of it. And I've read over and over again, anyone coming from a Lapband to a sleeve is going to lose slower anyway. Not sure why, but it seems to be very common. Also, slower loss means it's giving your body and your skin more time to adjust and may result in better overall results in the loose skin department.

Likely it's because you're in ketosis from the lack of carbohydrates. http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/type-1-diabetes-guide/what-is-ketosis#1

I haven't really used much prepackaged stuff as I wanted to learn how to cook healthy and tasty food. That microwave stuff sounds nasty! I've made pork rinds from scratch an they are AMAZEBALLS. Seriously awesome. I'd gotten a picnic pork roast and it comes with a large piece of skin on the bottom, and I cut it off, baked it up with seasonings (garlic, salt and pepper and some cayenne pepper cause the husband and I both like them spicy). Found the recipe here: http://paleoleap.com/homemade-pork-rinds/ We do buy them at the store, but I make a point to get the roasts with skin now cause it's such a lovely snack homemade.

I just use a coffee mug. A little olive oil spray, crack an egg in there, and scramble it with a fork and microwave it for around 1 minute. Can add cheese, veggies, whatever. And bonus is it's round so it fits on an english muffin if you're craving a breakfast sandwich type thing.

You stomach should not be sending you hunger signals right now because it's super traumatized and you shouldn't be feeling real hunger cues for some time. It could be head hunger, but it also could be acid production and you need a PPI, and it also also could be pain signals being misread by your body as hunger. Hang in there and keep sipping your fluids and Protein drinks. This is the absolute hardest part right here; the time right before surgery and right after. You can get through this, and each day will be a little bit better until this time is just a distant memory and your progress will be totally worth it! Good luck, stay strong and I hope your doc can give you some real ideas of what to do to make it through all of this.

Totally just what I do, but I didn't go to a full priced jewelry store, just like I haven't bought any transitional clothing from any place other than a thrift shop. I've found pretty and cheap stuff that I've gotten more "where did you buy that!" about than I ever did before I started thrifting. I bought a beautiful sterling silver ring from Target for $15 (they have hundreds of rings in every style you can think of online). It is prettier than my original band, and I have received so many compliments on it. I love it more knowing it was so much less and I can replace it easily if it becomes lost or damaged. I actually will keep it (or buy a smaller version) instead of going back to my old ring.

In order to get Protein from real foods, you have to be more mindful of what you are actually eating. Did your doctor give you a list of what foods are acceptable to eat at each stage? Ask for one if not, and if they are not interested in providing, you can check through the hundreds of threads on here. In the early liquid stages, you're going to have to rely on the protein drinks/shakes, but going to mushies, you have things like yogurt, cheeses (cottage cheese and soft cheeses are the most discussed), eggs, refried Beans, canned tuna or chicken salad, baked fish (I make swai fish like three times a week - it is marvelous and cheap and I have fun changing up the spices), specially filtered, protein added milk like Mootopia or Fairlife (NOT the chocolate versions - that's added sugar that you don't need)... and you can always add Protein powder to most foods if you can tolerate eating it (I personally could not eat any protein powders - they made me sick just smelling them - even the unflavored versions). There are tons of foods that are healthy and would work, and lots and lots of ways to prepare them (recipes abound on here). And you should be eating often enough to get in your daily protein, Water and calorie requirements. If that means you eat 6 meals a day or 3 meals - that's what you shoot for. It doesn't matter what others do, you do what works best for your situation and what follows most closely with your doctor instructions. As far as your progress - 20 pounds down in 5 weeks is just fine. Don't compare your progress to anyone else. Your body will lose (and stall) at its own pace. Just keep on track with your water and protein/calorie goals and you'll be great.

The reasons are many: carbonation (which can cause painful gas in a sleeved stomach), and the excessive chemicals and overly sweetened taste can become a trigger for eating/drinking full sugar food and drink. Caffeine is also dehydrating, so you can't should drink more Water or other beverages to compensate if you drink soda. Soda is a pointless, unhealthy thing all the way round to consume at all - sleeve or not. Many doctors ban it completely, but some do say it is okay after a certain time out from the sleeve, you can have them again, usually over ice to allow it to be diluted and reduce excessive carbonation. I still drink it, over ice (never from a can or bottle any more). I was one that was told if I just had to have an occasional soda, to make sure it was diet and let the carbonation dissipate a bit before drinking. I drink them fully understanding it's nothing but nasty chemicals and not good for me.

It may be that you just got sick - either a virus or food poisoning. If it's a virus, you'll just have to wait it out and see if you feel better in a few days, but you also might want to change out the food/broth/whatever you're eating for a different batch (not from whatever you are currently eating/drinking - go to a different store and buy a different brand of everything) and seeing if you still get the same symptoms. If it's not food poisoning it might be a sensitivity to a specific brand of something you're eating before you get sick. It sort of sounds like some of the symptoms of reactive hyperglycemia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_hypoglycemia I'd also caution you to not lay down within 30 minutes of eating or drinking anyway as it can cause you to get reflux in the early days. It wouldn't likely be what is making you sick tho. It honestly sounds more like you caught a flu bug or something like that more than anything related to your surgery.

I have no idea what percentage actually fail, but likely the majority of the ones that are deemed failures or have significant regain are the ones that did not use the time right after surgery to relearn how to eat properly. They expected the sleeve to do all the work and all they'd have to do is "eat less" of the same foods they've always eaten. My doc said that anyone can lose weight the first year, even if the eat crap foods all the time. But when the body's metabolism adjusts over to how you eat after surgery, it will make it possible to regain easily if you're still eating high carb, high fat/sugar/sodium low quality/nutrition junk. The weight loss is not permanent unless you throw out all your eating habits and crutches and start learning how to eat proper portions, healthy, whole foods and limit bad/crappy foods to very occasional times. Junky foods should be eliminated from your meal times for the rest of your life - bread, crackers, alcohol, fast food, fried foods, high sugar/fat/sodium prepared foods... all banished to every once in a while, and only in small portions then. You can still have them, but not in the quantity or frequency you used to have. Some things might need to be eliminated completely if you have a serious addiction and you can't control yourself, or if they are a "slider food" (where you can eat a large amount of a food/drink without it being restricted by your sleeve - like crackers or ice cream). You have about 1 year or so where the portion control from the sleeve and the lack of hunger allow you control to adjust how and what you eat. It really is all about a stripping of old habits and establishing new ones. Good Proteins - fish, chicken, turkey, dairy - should be the bulk of your meal time, followed by healthy vegetables and a small portion of complex carbs if you have room (brown rice, whole wheat Pasta, beans). There are almost always healthy recipes and workarounds for most of the foods you love, and you can be happy having small portions (like 2-3 bites) instead of eating the entire thing (if that's what you used to do), but you have to commit to changing your relationship with food to make WLS work for you. Exercise is also an important part of the process, but the food relationship is the main thing to get figured out ASAP.