Proud2BMe

I've been here since 2014 and one of the things I always find odd is how so many people chose goal weights that are still classified as overweight. It seems to be rather split among the sexes too. Not sure why people don't want to get down below a 25. Like they somehow think that they won't look good or something? I finally got to a normal BMI and even I want to go lower because I can still see things I need to improve.

Wow! I didn't think I would ever see this day! I hovered between 173-175 forever. I will admit that I could have achieved this probably about 9 months ago but I fell off the wagon a few times, well, several times. lol I have never been this skinny in my life. Feels great! Kind of scared too because I have to do plastics now and am definitely not looking forward to the recovery time.

I've messed up countless time by eating junk. The good thing about the surgery is that it pretty much prevents that massive gain that was possible before surgery. I mean, if there was no restriction on how much I cold eat I could have gained 25+ lbs in the past few weeks. Luckily, I only gained 4 lbs instead and have now lost them. I'm at 1 lb away from goal but I've been here like 5 times now. Each time I get here I let myself eat crap and will gain a few pounds and have jump back on the wagon again.

No, I had laparoscopic. From what I've read, laparoscopic is far better than single incision. I was fine two days after surgery and now I'm almost two years out of surgery and there are no scars. There was no pain at all save for the drain and even then it only hurt for a couple of seconds after they removed it.

Okay, here's the scoop on hemorrhoids. 1. Everyone has them. They are part of your body. Their purpose is to help keep the anus closed and prevent leakage. 2. When a hemorrhoid become inflamed or irritated it is called a "pile". 3. There are 4 stages or grades of piles. The first stage/grade can spontaneously heal all on its own. In the first one there is no sign of an external pile. In stage/grade 2 the pile is officially external and can be felt/seen. These piles are treated by manually pushing them back into the body. You can do this yourself, have a loved one or significant other do it for you, or have your doctor do it. In stage/grad 3 piles can not be fixed by pushing them back into the body as they simply plop back out. In stage/grade 4, piles extend far outside the anus and are extremely painful. Stage/grade 4 can only be fixed through surgery. Stage/grade 1, 2, and 3, may have sightly painful, may itch, burn, and bleed but in stage/grad 4 the piles are extremely painful and many people are not able to sit down without using a special donut-shaped pillow. 4. Surgery is normally quite effective and simple. Most piles are treated by tying off their blood supply. They then die over a few days and will fall off of the body when you use the restroom. Internal piles need to be surgically removed. 5. OTC treatments may provide relief for stage/grad 1, 2, and 3 but not for stage/grade 4. 6. Obesity, pregnancy, smoking, weight-lifting, and straining while defecating can all potentially cause piles. However, the number one is genetics. If your parents have them you will usually get them as well. 7. Do your best to keep your anus clean as infection only makes the situation worse. This can be problematic for piles that are bleeding or oozing fluid. Just do the best you can and try to cleanse your anus after every BM, despite how painful it may be.

I did not. I kind of am curious if you are one of the people who think that the single-incision is better?

1. Own your mistake. 2. Forgive yourself. 3. Get back on the wagon. If you have to, go back to your pre-op diet for 2 weeks and then work yourself through the entire process again. You have to motivate yourself and learn to depend upon yourself. People are going to let your down and people can't be there for you 24/7. As long as you become your own rock then you will naturally attract and be attracted to the right people to share this journey with.

I'm with #BirdDog. The only thing I remember was lying down on the table and be asked to scoot up a bit after I complained about my back hurting. Then the very next memory I have is waking up in a dark room. So no memories of the tube and no soreness in my throat at all.

Yes, quite normal. Here in a little bit the constipation will set back in and then you will cycle back and forth before your body comes back to normal. For me, I noticed that if I drank my protein shakes too quickly I would get horrible "mud butt". Just wait until your constipation gets bad. For a while I was having just one BM every week. My longest time period w/out a BM was 2 1/2 weeks and when it hit I felt like I was birthing a calf, breech!

My post was in no way passive aggressive. Perhaps in the future it may be better not to make assumptions and perhaps not make posts if your expectation is that everyone is going to agree with you 100%. Otherwise, you might have better satisfaction just talking to yourself in the mirror.

Have you Googled it yet? FYI: You may or may not find a surgeon who will do it for medicade. However, there usually is expenses that medicade will not cover, such as psych eval and other tests. So you will likely have to pay out of pocket for those so you will need to be able to come up with a few thousand or so to get it. I tried Googling it and nothing immediately jumped out but I did read something that FL medicade is not accepted for bariatric surgery but then found another thing that said that lapband was approved by medicade. So just keep at it.

Try it. If you keep it down you are good to go. If you throw up then stick with the liquids or whatever you are at. That's pretty much the only way to tell for sure. Just eat a tiny bit, like one teaspoonful.

Good luck! Some advice: Don't put off losing weight. Go ahead now and try to lose as much as you can before surgery. You will thank me later. So many people don't and then struggle after the surgery. If you can, go ahead and start your pre-op diet or something close to it. If you can go into surgery already being over with your carb withdrawals then you will have a great advantage over those people who did not do such.

Pumped fluid into you? What kind of surgery did you have? You talking the IV? My experience was not even close to yours. Not hungry in the slightest. Are you sure you aren't just having head hunger because the majority of your stomach was removed and with that the ghrelin which causes hunger. So I'm not following as to why you could be hungry unless it was head hunger. The day I came home (2 days after surgery) I only manged to ingest half a bottle of a small Gatorade all day and was perfectly okay with that. I didn't even crave food until almost 6 months after surgery.

A quick Google search is your friend: http://www.docspot.com/d/TX/houston/bariatric-surgery/medicaid.html FYI: Medicade usually doesn't pay for all of the surgery. There usually are other expenses that you will have to pay out of pocket for, such as psych eval and other other tests. So consider saving a few thousand or so.

You mean you are normal? LOL Sorry, I get a chuckle over people who think this is a "thing" because in reality we are all supposed to be lactose intolerant since milk is only for babies. We are the only species that consumes milk long after infancy. Just so people know, if you go without milk for a long while you automatically become lactose intolerant because your stomach stops producing the enzymes needed to digest milk. Unfortunately, if you continue to regularly drink it your body should begin producing them again. To answer your questions, if you are using the powder form you can just use water instead of milk. Or you can use another milk substitute.

Hello Rohit, At my heaviest I was 388 lbs. I finally realized that dieting and pills was not going to work for me. I grew despondent and then a friend made a comment that I should get weight loss surgery. I was offended. I kept dwelling on it it, obsessing over her words. I was formerly dead-set against it and thought it was only for losers and was the "easy way out". I finally considered that maybe I was wrong and began researching it. After about a year of research and saving money I decided to get the gastric sleeve in Tijuana. I was 350 lbs on the day of surgery. Four to five months later I had already lost over 100 lbs. Today, I'm just 8 lbs away from my goal weight. I'm both extremely excited and anxious because there is both positive and negative things that you have to work through but I can tell you that I should have had the surgery sooner. I do not regret it and highly recommend it.

Please don't think I'm trying to start something, because I'm not. I just meant to point out that if you ingested just 2 of the right protein shakes then you met your protein requirements. Technically, it could just be one if you were using powder and "doubled up". I only went 2 or so weeks after surgery before I returned to protein shakes and I kept drinking them all through the first year and most of the second year. I think that last one I had was about 4 months ago. I can tell that I'm sure I lost some strength but nothing noticeable. Sure, eating few calories can cause fatigue.

Your not going to have stamina for anything strenuous. You will likely also feel fatigue and bouts of dizziness until your body adapts. As far as sex goes, yeah, I guess you can make it happen but it's probably not going to be great sex. Just listen to your body. You body will tell you what it needs and likely it isn't going to be sex for a while. As far as work, you are good to go after a couple of days after surgery as long as you have a desk job. Anything requiring you to stand or lift and you will need more time off. Just remember that those days and weeks right after surgery will be the time that you ingest the fewest calories of probably anytime in your life. For example, the day I came home from surgery, which was day 3 after surgery, I only managed to drink half a small bottle of Gatorade. So don't know how many calories that was but I'm guessing it's way below 100. So that should give you an idea that you aren't going to feel like doing much until your body heals and adapts.

Not true. Just a couple of protein shakes a day supplies the recommended daily protein. With mine, it's roughly 30 grams a serving and I would drink 2 a day. Recommended is 60-80 grams a day.

You can try shocking your system. There are a million ways to do that. If you don't consume carbs then eat carbs for a couple of days and then go immediately off them. If you don't work out then work out. If you aren't eating enough calories then increase your calories. You can go back on your pre-op diet. Or you can just ride it out. There is no sure way of ending a stall as nobody loses weight consistently. We lose weight like someone slowly walking down stairs and pausing on steps.

Follow the recommendations of your NUT or physician. Mine specifically warned me in advance not to listen to any advice about eating every 2 hours or so. He told me your body needs to be burning fat inbetween meals and it can't do so if you are constantly consuming calories throughout your day. You will get most of your protein requirements at first from protein shakes. Just 2 good protein shakes will supply you with all of your protein needs. For example, mine was 30 grams for one serving. So I drank 2 a day and then my meal was usually a salad with lean meat.

Regular OTC laxatives work but you might have to increase the dose. Read the package and you will see the recommended dose follow by something like "don't exceed 7 doses in a 24hr period". Well, there you have it. You can actually take up to 7 at a time. However, this is just going to be a temporary thing so don't use it every day. When I was on my laxative phase I only took laxatives once or twice a week. Your body will adapt to your high protein diet and eventually you will have normal bms. Remember to drink lots of water. You should be sipping water literally all day long.

I took Centrum chewables for several months after surgery. Then I went right back to the regular vitamins. Never had a problem and most people won't have a problem taking regular vitamins after they have fully healed. It may take some months out from surgery though. Vitamins are pretty much all the same. You really don't need to purchase any special bariatric formulas. It is your money and you can spend it how you wish.

How much more weight do you have to lose? The reason why I ask is that many people have an incorrect understanding of the surgeries. It's not so much what surgery you pick but rather how motivated you are in losing the weight. So even if you did convert to another surgery you are not guaranteed results if you have not made any significant changes to your diet. I personally only view my sleeve as a tool that helps me from regaining, not actively losing weight. Speak to your doctor if you have concerns.