Dub

I'm just a little over a month out of surgery. My wife was a full supporter of me doing it. She's ridden the rollercoaster with me this last year as I went from one specialist to resolve one issue....then onto another for another. It was getting old and I was feeling old. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. She was getting worn out with the unpredictable nature for me to do anything....plan anything.....hurting all the time.....struggling at work and dead tired on my days off. All the specialists said the same thing, "Lose big weight young man.....or you'll not live to be an old man". Well....I'm very relieved that after 5 weeks things are going well. I can see the distant light at the end of the tunnel. My back is doing much better. Knees are coming along but protesting anyway. I'm slowly adding Advil into my diet and it's helping the knees some. Blood pressure is way down and some of the meds are now gone....remaining meds are cut in half dosages. The side effects are going away, thankfully. I've not bought any new clothes....but the stuff that I'd bought a week or two prior to surgery is no longer fitting. She's been laughing along with me at the baggy-wear. She keeps telling me to shave off the beard, which I did the night before surgery, but let it grow back. I told her the beard will be here until turkey season comes in/out in the Spring. I think she's enthused to hear me talking about hunting again. I'm eager, too. Been talking to some buddies about leasing some decent land for next year's deer season and getting in there and working on it this January & February. It feels good to be getting back to looking ahead at the old hobbies and hopefully being more active with old friends. That's just a small part of it, though......the best thing is that my relationship with her and our son is much better. I'd become an ill-tempered bastard aching and hurting all the time. Fear of whatever future curveballs were coming had my anxiety high. Not being able to do my job properly wore on me. Now.....those fears are gone. Optimism has taken their place. I'm no longer the old grumpy guy that only the dogs want to be around. Marriage is better. Fatherhood is better. Worklife is better. Jettisoning ill-fitting clothes is going to be fun. I'll have to involve her in my future clothes buying at the regular-sized men's stores. There is absolutely nothing that I regret about this surgery and the weight loss to come. Leaner life will be better. I'll save a ton of $$$$$$$$ next year since I won't be going to some new doctor every month. So very grateful.

Their pre-mixed shakes sure worked good for me during pre-op diet. 23 grams of protein and they are mixed really thick and keep you from being hungry. I did best when I drank 4 per day.....spaced out every few hours with tons of Water in between. Post op I did better with the Premier Protein pre-mixed as they were thinner and easy to get down and the 30 grams of protein was great. I typically drank 3 per day. I used Chike coffee powders, too, along with some unjury powder.....just mixed them with ice and water.

Every time you cave in for a cheat meal it makes it harder to stay on track the next week. Before long your intervals between cheat meals will become smaller. Once you kick the sugary carbs they won't kick back.

How much were you able to lose in the 6 month supervised diet ?

Well said !!!!!!!!

Well done, brother, very well done. You have your priorities in order and your head screwed on straight. You'll make some seriously good health changes and already are. Fight the good fight !!!!!

Augusta area, here.

The very best advice I can give is to begin the Atkins style diet on the day you begin your process. Transition to the liquid diet when it is time and stick to it. The goal is to lose weight.....not to hold off until you've had surgery to lose weight. Every pound you get off this week will get you closer to your goal. The liquid diet is short and you'll do a version of it post op while your stomach heals. You won't experience hunger after a sleeve surgery, most likely, either. If you do, it's mostly head-hunger that you need to fight through and it will subside and not longer bother you after a couple weeks. I did a mix of pre-made and powdered Protein drinks. The powdered ones were always mixed with ice and Water......never milk. I saw no need to use milk for anything.....too much sugar in it. Premier Protein is fairly thin but provides 30 grams of protein. All three flavors were good to me. Pure Protein is very thick and filling and provides 20+ grams. The chocolate is awesome. I relied heavily on the thicker Pure Protein prior to surgery and then more Premier Protein afterwards. Stay as active as you can before your surgery.....it will most certainly help you recover more swiftly. I wish I'd done better with this aspect.

Outstanding. You have been working hard and have made some amazing progress. Huge respect for what you've done. You just made my day !!!!!!!!

If you are getting too much Protein then that simply means you are eating too much. I've never heard that bit about not losing weight due to not eating fruit. Vitamin supplementation comes into play to take care of the lack of fruit.

Ok, so this is one of the last things to do for you, they said to schedule one right away since it might take a while to get in No....don't do it the way I did. I followed a screwball timeline leading up to my sleeve surgery. Everything changed for me once I decided to self-fund the surgery.....it sped up quickly and time crunch was worsened by my surgeon's pending vacation. He was awesome, though, realizing I was in serious daily pain with back issues and juggled things around to get my surgery in asap. He was also the one who did my endoscopy. He wants to be the one to look around and not have to trust in another doctor's report. It also cuts way down on any delays between the endoscopy and his receiving the results. My surgeon was a straight shooter throughout my entire process. He didn't candy coat anything and everything he said was going to happen worked out exactly to the letter. Your program administrator will lay out the timeline for your scheduled events. Follow their instruction and timing.....don't rely on my oddball sequence of events.

Both online and in local stores. You can go to their website and they have a search feature for local stores that stock them. Sort of new, but they are certainly going to grow tremendously. I'm very grateful they now make them in men's wide sizes. So comfortable I want to sleep in them, too. No kidding. Crazy comfortable.

Hoka One One makes the most comfortable shoe I have ever worn. Foot, knee, hip and back pain is gone.....gone......gone. No break in. Take them out of the box....lace 'em up and profit. http://www.hokaoneone.com/shop.html?source=msn_ppc Second to that I would say is Brooks and then New Balance.

Take it as a compliment and move on to another subject. Let's face it.....most people in today's society are overweight. This brings on the issues that we all know very well. Talking about it with folks is almost pointless unless it's someone truly interested in changing their lives. It's a subject I simply steer away from.....like politics and religion. Folks will make compliments on my progress and I'll thank them and say something like, "Thanks....just trying to give the old knees a break" and leave it at that. I see the same reaction from people who see a peer driving a brand new car......they'll get a case of the "wants" and then self-evaluate why they can't drive one, too. It may lead to their mismanagement of funds, low paying job, etc. Bad feelings come to the surface and it becomes easier to simply think nefarious thoughts of the peer with the new car, "he must be cheating on his taxes.......he inherited his money.........etc, etc". People can and do say the most bizarre things to each other.....things that show a lack of mental filter or perhaps they don't care how stupid or rude they sound. Let the idiots do their idiot-ting.......you just stay the course and keep getting lean, healthy and happy.

Keep on dancing !!!! You are going to grooving to the "next size down" tune quite a bit in the year ahead.

I started off thinking I was going to use my insurance.....6 month pre-op supervised diet and the works....I wound up deciding to self fund about 3 months into it and had my surgery a few weeks later. I still wound up going through all the classes....some of them twice and I'm grateful for them....the material presented was very helpful but even more were the other participants and the discussions that came about. Good stuff to galvanize me to make the effort and change the mindset.

It was a complete non-event for me. I'd schedule mine for the first available slot....6:00am. Exactly one week prior to the surgery date. Wife drove us there and I was suited up in my ridiculous looking hospital gown and grippy socks in no time.....in the hospital bed.....and being wheeled into the room in short order. IV went in easily because I'd been staying very well hydrated. Bright lights.....several medical staff members suited up.....very much reminiscent of an operating room. They turned me over on my left side and slightly elevated. Was a bit awkward due to ongoing back trouble (much better now after my sleeve surgery). A sweet little lady (looked EXACTLY like the medium from The Poltergeist )......came in real close and put a fixture in my mouth and ensure it was comfortable. She then placed a mask over my nose & mouth and ask me to take several deep breaths.....very calming. Instantly relaxed and at peace with everything. They explained that the next step was going to be a sedative administered via my IV and for me to continue breathing nice and deep and enjoy my great nap that would take place. That was it. Over. I woke up in the room I'd started off in. Head was clear. Body was relaxed. No hangover. There had never been any pain whatsoever. My surgeon (he'd done the endoscopy, too) came in and explained what he'd seen and that everything was a go for sleeve surgery in a few days. I felt great. Wife drove me home. I did sleep great for a few hours in my recliner and woke up feeling better than I have in ages. Heck.....I'd go back today and do another endoscopy if they'd let me. Best sleep ever. Enjoy yourself and relax. It'll all go well. It's a big non-event. Same thing can be said about the sleeve surgery, too. Nothing to it but to do it.

I'll simply get mine done when it's due. It'll be funny to laugh at one day. You can always go back when you are at goal and tell them you need a replacement and they'll retake your photo and give you a new one.

Good deal. It's always great to find new sources of Protein that you like. I've been very fortunate in that I've had great results with a dozen different protein powders and pre-mixed drinks that I've tried. There has only been one that I never, ever want to taste again and it is unjury strawberry flavor. Never again. Tossed a brand new can in the garbage. I really like their chocolate and their unflavored.....but never again on the strawberry.

Thank you ! You know what the best thing about it is ? My non-interest in food feels very natural. I'm not having to fight urges or force myself to do anything. It's like it's magically been removed from my thought process. I now park at the farthest parking spots at work and when out running errands. I think more about finding ways to get in more walking than I do food. I just want to evolve back into the hunter-gatherer I was genetically programed to be. A simple creature with simple functions. No more having to go see doctors.....specialists.....to correct the evils of me eating refined sugars and processed junk food. I was living in a horrible cycle of idiocy. It 100% my own fault. I was too stupid to see the direct correlation between my own eating habits and my failing health. The one thing that the good Lord ensured I had full control of, what went into my mouth, was something that I lacked any control of. I was an idiot. I am so very grateful to have woken up and experienced a better way. I knew it existed.....I'd tried to live it and failed before....for stupid reasons. Now, though, the hunger is gone thanks to the sleeve surgery.....with the lack of hunger comes and easy ability to eat nutritious offerings and completely avoid the trash foods that were most certainly killing me. Life is good. I am so grateful. The only craving I have is some help with knee arthritis so I can do more.....lose more......

I've been on some car lots recently car shopping for a new car for my teenage son. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I've got an interest in a sporty car for myself once I reach my goal weight. It'll be a good motivator to keep me pushing in the right direction.

I can tell you this from my own experience. Oct 13 sleeve surgery. Was on Protein shakes only for 3 weeks post op and sick of them by then. Allowed to eat foods again by surgeon on beginning of 4th week. Found that it was not what I thought it'd be after a few days of the small meals he suggested. The scale stopped moving and I was pissed off. Stalled for another week. I went back to starting the day with a Premier Protein shake (30 grams of protein) and then some tuna or grilled chicken later on. Scale started moving again. I have zero desire to eat all the foods I enjoyed before. There's simply no interest anymore. food is simply a staple that must be had to live, but something that i don't "enjoy" like I did before. I still have preferences for certain things and they taste good.....but I don't think about them. I don't think about food anymore. I see posts on here where people are chomping at the bit to cook this and cook that.....when can I eat these? I just don't get it. It's like they are obsessing over food. I'm grateful that I'm beyond it and food is simply an afterthought. Even the HD TV commercials for restaurants don't have any effect on me anymore. I'll be visiting with my Mom & Dad this next week and I'm sure Mom will be cooking feasts every day. I hope she's not offended too badly when still stick to my normal routine. When I was 2 weeks out.....I also wondered when I'd want pizza again (Pizza was my number one favorite food before).....now, I simply don't even think about it. Life is good. Leaner life is better.

No such thing as a last supper with a sleeve surgery. You'll be able to eat the same foods again at some point.......only you'll most likely be craving healthy foods and be able to see the sugar-poison for what it truly is. You are right on target about moving on to a healthier and happier life. Stick to the pre-op plan and profit from it. Best wishes for you.

Nearing the end of my 4th week post-op. I've had pickles the last two days and they were great. They were the dill version that doesn't have sugar.