Mayknusmile

Hi everyone! I am from Dover, DE and having bypass surgery on Wednesday with Dr. Singh from CHRIAS. I went through the Bayhealth Bariatric program and they were wonderful! I started my journey in April with my first seminar. I am so glad to have had the time to attend nutrition meetings and support group. If anyone is interested, there is a support group mtg at Bayhealth the first Wed evening each month at 5:30pm.
Two more days!! Hopeful for a good experience. I will post later this week!!

Hi everyone! I am from Dover, DE and having bypass surgery on Wednesday with Dr. Singh from CHRIAS. I went through the Bayhealth Bariatric program and they were wonderful! I started my journey in April with my first seminar. I am so glad to have had the time to attend nutrition meetings and support group. If anyone is interested, there is a support group mtg at Bayhealth the first Wed evening each month at 5:30pm.
Two more days!! Hopeful for a good experience. I will post later this week!!

Hello! I am just starting the journey had my consultation and am going through all the testing currently! I live around Dover and work in Georgetown!

I can't say enough good stuff about Chrias and all the support. When I read some of the Gastric Bypass groups on Facebook and all of the online social groups and BBs, I feel much better informed and much better taken care of.
I started my journey with a seminar in mid-December 2013 with Dr. Irgau. I immediately set up an appt. and from then on it's been a huge curve of learning that rivals the curve of my belly's. This team requires more of the patient's involvement than some insurance providers.
3 monthly nutrician classes
3 weekly life skills class, which you must take and pass a six-page quiz at the end
Cardio, Pulm, Nutritionist, Nurse, Psychologist appt. visits
Pre-surgery, liver-shrinking, weight-losing diet of special liquids
After-surgery appts. must be made before surgery can be scheduled
AND from surgeon to counsellors, you get their email addresses and HOME phone numbers
The bottom line is two reasons. They care AND they want you to be successful in your weight-surgery adventure. Think about it, if you fail at the life skills and dietary requirements after the surgery, you won't blame yourself. . .you'll blame the surgeon.
No, I don't work for them, I just live in Bear, DE and feel really confident that this is all going to work because I have a great support team rooting for me!

Yes! I like Unjury unflavored Protein Powder mixed in my iced coffee. It dissolves well with no lumps.

I was right where you are a month ago. I would have these gigantic swings from wildly excited to scared to death and second guessing the entire thing. The very best thing that happened is the surgery date came. I was exhausted from thinking about it for so long.
IT IS SCARY. It's a life-long decision. It's FOREVER. However, it's all about YOU. It's for your health, your life, your well-being. The surgery is scary - being put under, having everything re-routed and then recovery - but what are you truly scared of?? I was scared of the unknown...how was I going to feel? How much pain would there be? How scary is that first sip of Water? It was all unknown and very very scary.
Know what? It was so much easier/better than I ever imagined it would be!!!! You will be in good hands. This is a good decision. If you can, pray for peace of mind and calm thoughts. I promise, it's going to be OK.

I'm going to play the devil's advocate and say that I agree with pretty much everything in the article, I'd just never have enough balls to blatantly write it out like that.
I went to my first support group meeting last Thursday and was alarmed to see that there were a handful of sleevers there that had re-gained quite a bit of their weight. My aunt is also currently struggling with keeping the weight off.
I think what happens is that people follow the diet for a while and then perhaps they come online and see other people talking about how they're veering off course and still losing weight and so they use that as justification to start eating the wrong foods again in smaller portions. And sometimes it does work. My cousin who had the surgery said that she lived off of McDonalds cheeseburgers for the first 6 months post-op of her surgery. Guess what, she still lost over 100 lbs. So yes, while some people do have to put in a lot of effort to make their sleeve work for them (particularly the light weighters), a lot of heavier people don't. The restriction on the stomach does it for them.
Having said all that, I think that the "The first hundred pounds is the surgery" saying really depends on where a person started. Someone larger will obviously lose weight faster and with less effort on their part than someone smaller.
Ever since gastric bypass first came out, I've always heard skinny people say that bariatric surgery is the easy way out. At first, I followed that belief too. Then I met someone who had the surgery, and I saw how little she ate, and I thought "Damn, that must be hard." Since then, I've met several other people who have had various bariatric procedures done, and they've always told me how difficult it is. That the surgery is a tool, and you have to put the work in. That the operation was painful and hard to recover from and that new eating habits were hard to adjust to.
Then I had my surgery.
And I have to say, for me, it has been the easy way out. I didn't have any pain post-op, and my recovery has been almost flawless. I'm never hungry, and eating the small portion sizes doesn't bother me at all. I've never done anything easier to lose weight before. Ever. And I've done it all.
So again, I think that particular statement is really based on each individual person's experience. Obviously, for someone who had a difficult recovery, is hungry all the time, and still plagued with cravings, it's not easy.
To each his/her own.

I don't believe the author meant that having bariatric surgery is all you have to do to lose weight. I think they were just saying that it can be very helpful. I lost 150 pounds on my own before surgery. I have lost 85 pounds since surgery. I can say with 100% confidence that it has been easier to lose weight post-op than it was before. In my mind, that makes it the easy way.

8 months ago, the biggest belt I own didn't quite fit. This week, it doesn't quite fit.

Today the UPS guy left a package at my door. As I went out to get it, I yelled a thank you to him as he walked down my driveway. He stopped and asked "Are you the lady that has lived here for years now?' Yes I am. To which he totally freaked out "WOW you look so different I didn't even recognize you I had to ask I thought I left the package at the wrong house. Whatever you did congrats"
After thanking him, I walked back in the house laughing. I'm now used to people I know commenting on my appearance, but I never expected it from the UPS guy, a relative stranger. What a surprising NSV.

Sitting in a conference today and had my notepad sitting on my lap. Hang on, I've got a lap now! Fantastic.

I'm newly sleeved as of 4/29 and my first NSV was seeing my friends for the first time prior to my liquid diet. I wore a hoodie because that's how I normally cover myself up and they were all interested in how much weight I've lost and how in up and walking 5 days post-op. One of my wife's friends actually said she was proud of me for taking this big step and not complaining about it once.

So I was in costco and a woman was looking at the creme brûlée Desserts they had in the cold/cook and serve section. We had gotten some for Christmas dinner (I ate about three bites of one) and so I said to her, they're really good. She and I chatted about them for a while, the price point and how to cook and serve them, how many were in a package... Then she says oh but look how many calories they are, for one little serving. And then she says "not that YOU have to worry about that!" I had to come clean and tell her that I am the size I am precisely BECAUSE I pay attention to that stuff!
Wow!
And the second for the week while having a plastic surgery consult the surgeon called me "tiny" and told me not to lose any more weight! Never in my life have I had a doctor tell me not to lose weight!

To All Members
Our Surgeon is Dr Jesus Martin Lopez Dominguez
The Surgeon in this case is
Clínica Santa Fe Medical Group, del médico Jesús Manuel Báez López We do not work with this Doctor or Clinica Santa Fe Medical Group
Its so sad that people don't even do their research correctly and don't stop to think that in Mexico there is more than one Dr Lopez
Easy as that just check that the names at least Match

Hi all. I am now down roughly 60 pounds and seven weeks out from when I started my liquid pre-diet. Am also having some awesome NSV moments. Some are:

No longer wearing 3x shirts. They are packed and ready to be taken to Goodwill. My size 48 (expandable) pants? Gone too. Can button my pants at my belly button. No more "slant pants." I wore a much smaller belt...and it was a new one! Went three days this past week without needing a mid day nap. Three days now without any slimes or throwing up. Joined a local health club to work out. Snoring is all but gone. No more BP meds at all (125/65 is normal now). And BMs much more normal and less stressful. Bought myself an I-touch. That was my 50 pound loss gift to myself. Any suggestions for the 100 plateau? That's a short list, but ones that come to mind.

Please, share yours!

Let's look at the fact that this journey is not just about the weight loss, but about all the wonderful things that continue to happen along the ride!