BHoenig

I just had a revision from the sleeve to a bypass a week ago today. I'm already 16 pounds down. I had horrible stomach acid... the thing is, lifelong taking medicines for stomach acid is bad for you. Increases cancer risks, dementia risks, and accelerates bone loss. I did not want to be taking these meds for decades to come when science has proven how dangerous that is.

I've had no vomiting or nausea while healing. This time around, the Vitamins don't even make me sick which is a huge relief. They used to.

My addiction was Diet Dr. Pepper. I gave it up cold turkey when I started pre-diet and was surprised I had no issues. I used to drink it from the time I got up to the time I went to bed. I found it easy to give up because my nutritionist laid out what it does to my body and what it could do to my sleeve after surgery. That was enough to give me the willpower to let it go. I didn't go through all the prep, surgery, and the past three months of healing and losing weight to sabotage myself for a soda. I've only craved it one time since I gave it up. A few weeks ago in Walmart I walked past a display of it and could literally taste it. I took my cart and ran from the display.

@@Onyx999 I'm going to be brutally honest here. Please don't take offense, but I don't believe in sugar coating things. First of all...plans to drink on your 21st birthday should never ever be a factor in whether you do this. Most doctors say you can have drinks in moderation in the future. I'm assuming like almost everyone else on the planet you have had drinks underage so it's not like you're missing your first drink. I was pregnant when I turned 21 so I missed that right of passage, but growing a healthy human was so much more important. So is your health!!!

Getting rid of those energy drinks is best for your health whether or not you have the surgery. They're damaging and dangerous. That addiction can be broken in prediet. I didn't have a liquid prediet but a lowfat one for two weeks. Dropped twenty pounds alone. Some have liquid diets. All depends on your doctor.

Doing this at 20 is going to be the best shot for your skin to shrink. The younger the better and at 20 you have an excellent shot at not needing skin removed. Don't delay.

And finally...yesterday #DearMe was trending on twitter. Let me be your #DearMe...don't waste one more day being unhappy in your body. Don't let food control you, you control it. There is nothing scarier than if food has that much control over you. Get healthy, try to be happy, and get over the mindset that turning 21 you need to do this or later you'll want to do that. It all comes down to how bad you want it and if you want it more than that one night on your 21st birthday when you can order a drink. Losing weight will affect the rest of your life. You're 21st birthday is one day in a long life of milestones. No reason you can't order that drink...doesn't mean you have to drink it!

@@MichiganChic How was the surgery and the recovery from the Tummy Tuck?

I originally thought I would do it, but I loath stomach pain. And I'm worried about healing from a hip to hip incision and having drains. I like to be active...even pre surgery so that recovery time is what I don't like the idea of.

My doctors, I have five, and nutritionists, I have three all recommended either skim milk, soy milk, or almond milk. They do caution on soy though because we as a society are becoming more and more sensitive to soy and many of us allergic all together. Our bodies aren't designed to break it down and it's not the best option. So yeah, almond milk might not have as many nutrients, but it doesn't cause allergies.

Some people can handle milk with no issues. It's not all sleevers are told not to have it. It all depends on what your body will tolerate. Protein is huge!!! I can't imagine why a surgeon or nutritionist would say not to worry about it. It's the quickest way to heal and it's what keeps you from losing a shit ton of hair during the 3-6 month mark!

We all need to be careful to not compare ourselves to others. Fact of the matter is, none of us is ever going to look like bikini clad women in magazines. Unfortunately, we took that option away when we let our weight get out of control. Even if we all get tummy tucks to have a flat stomach, we'll have stretch marks and such. It's okay. This is about health, not about vanity. I myself, after going through the surgery decided there is no way in hell I'm having skin removal surgery. So far it's shrinking up as I lose, but I take really good care of myself. I drink my shakes daily, take my Vitamins, and coat my skin daily in a combination of grapeseed oil and lavender oil. And my body is losing 3-4 pounds per week now. It's those big weight drops over short times that do people in every single time! There will come a point that it won't shrink down and I'm okay with that. My husband is okay with that. I've accepted that I didn't do what I needed to in order to have a bikini worthy body. I'll disguise my skin with clothes and maybe even some Spanx. After all, all the size 2's in Hollywood even wear them. I'm going to take my spanx, get a few cute golf outfits, and I'm going out on the golf course this year, thinner and fit and I'm going to kick my husbands behind all over the golf course!

The gastric sleeve does not have dumping syndrome as a side effect. Dumping syndrome is synonymous with the bypass. You might have a lactose intolerance now or you drank way to fast. Those shakes are supposed to be sipped slowly over a longer period of time. I switched to almond milk and love it. Bonus...no lactose issues

I love the strawberry mousse and the double stuff cookie. We have the fuzzy naval and caribbean cooler too, but unfortunately I don't like either. I had hopes for them, but I just didn't care for them. I'm glad you all found Protein that works for you. I haven't had the sensitivity that others have had, but I've seen a lot of people struggling and it's a helpless feeling sometimes to read of people suffering and to be unable to help.

I'm having pain on my left side in the my stomach. Can't sleep in my bed yet or on my side. Don't know if it's my muscles. If I push on my abdomen over there it hurts. I was sleeved the same day you were. Do you have that problem?

Something everyone needs to remember is everyone having this surgery has guidelines issues by their doctor and their nutritionist. Some of you may be on liquid diets for two days but that does not mean everyone is. eggs may be fine according to some doctors and nutritionists after a week even if they aren't with yours. I see a lot of questioning of what others are doing here and everyone would do good to remember that. My doctor only had me on a liquid diet for a week an cleared me for food yesterday. Things like cottage cheese, applesauce, Peanut Butter, tuna, fish, pureed meat, pureed veggies, and yes I was even cleared for scrambled eggs. So be careful when you're judging what other people are putting in. You don't know what their doctor as given a green light for and we're all trying to be careful and do the right things hear. This is where forums like this drive me nuts.

i agree with rafaelsp89 for the most part. I do believe you should get on the scale though, for the sole purpose of making sure you don't put on more than two pounds. My doctor expects us to go to the ER if we gain more than two pounds because there could be complications happening inside your body. Ignoring the scale all together seems dangerous to me.

I think part of it might be the fact that we are so limited on fluids. Think about it...it's just like with food. If you skip meals, it doesn't matter of the next meal is a healthy salad, your body will turn it into fat. Right now our bodies are trying to hold onto fluids. It could be a little wonky as we go through the various stages of the post op diet. Don't get discouraged yet...we're all in this boat with you!

Funny, I worried about the same thing. I used to drink Diet Dr. Pepper from morning until night. I gave it up cold turkey and was fine. I think my mind was just ready to do this. I'm so sick of feeling this way that I didn't care. You'll find you're stronger than you think are you are!

My surgery date is this wed the 28th and Im starting to feel a knot of worry in my stomach :/

Mine is tomorrow also in NJ. I live in PA, but there was only one surgeon covered under my insurance and so far...I love him! Good luck tomorrow! I'm scared here right along with you!!!

I don't drink those. My doctor recommended Optimum Nutrition Platinum. We love them with almond milk. My kid just chugged two cups worth. The chocolate, Cookies and cream, and strawberry are awesome! All doctor recommended. Maybe ask your doctor about them. We also use Syntrax Nectar...another recommendation from the doctor. He gave us a list of the best tasting, highest Protein, and best to break down for smoothness and these were on that list.

I have a co worker that says im going to die from the surgery. My whole family is against it. Haters

Wow, that is sincerely messed up. The best revenge is to live well. Have an excellent surgery, excellent recovery, and live well. That should shut them all up!

I was like that too in the beginning. I wasn't going to tell my mother and then just surprise her the next time we made the trip to see her. Then she broke her leg and needed surgery. I realized I better not have surgery without telling her so I did and she's been excited for me and supportive from the jump. We have a small circle of people who know, but I haven't made any grand announcements. I didn't say a word on Facebook. I just felt like this was my deal and I didn't want it to be about everyone else. I didn't need anyone commenting and cheering me on or questioning me about it. I needed to focus on doing what I needed to prepare and not on answering their questions. So I don't offer up the information, but I don't particularly hide it either. I don't have a good relationship with my dad and haven't talked to him in several years, but I know if he catches wind of this, he's going to take all the credit and come out of the woodwork. My weight has always been an issue for him and he hasn't been kind. Forget that he's the one who taught me all of my bad eating habits. Of course he's freaking skinny. Must be nice.

I keep a nice tight inner circle that I can trust to be supportive and non judgmental. The rest of them...well, they can piss off as far as I'm concerned

I'm not sure what shakes you've tried, but my nutritionist gave me a list of the ones that are considered favorites of their patients so far and we tried Syntrax Nectar and Optimum Nutrition Platinum. We love both. My kids and husband are doing the pre diet with me and they love it too. We mix it with Almond Breeze Original flavored Reduced Sugar Almond Milk. I don't know if those recommendations will help you, but I figured I would offer them up.

My surgery is Wednesday so I understand your nervousness. I guess the only thing I can say for you is you want to go ahead and go through with it because if you chicken out...you may decide to do it in the future and you'll have to start all over again. I for one, I'm done living like this. I won't waste one more day where my first thought in the morning is that I need to lose weight and my last thought when I lay my head down at night is I wish I wasn't fat. When I made this decision, my mind was finally free for so many other things. I was no longer obsessing over how or when I would lose weight. I had a concrete change coming and weight loss was a guarantee. Think about it!

You know how I knew for sure I would be successful? I took on the pre diet and never cheated once. By day three all cravings were gone and it all just clicked. I've had 37 years to eat whatever the hell I wanted. I knew I had to succeed in this pre diet because if I didn't, food had more control over me than I have over it and there is nothing scarier than that.

My friend just had her surgery two weeks ago today and she came to visit Saturday and looked and felt great. She had a few rough days, but she didn't regret it at all. I'm carrying that infectious enthusiasm with me for Wednesday morning!

@@LipstickLady How are you doing with extra skin? You and I are similar in weight and height so I was curious how that is going for you.