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Jerky. Hard boiled eggs. Dill pickles. 100 calorie packs of nuts. Baggie full of fresh kale. I kid you not....stuff tastes like butter.....and it probably freaks people out at stoplights looking over at my big arse stuffing a paw full of kale into my mouth and chewing until after the light turns green.

Enough on the bags.......tell us more about the cool bariatric Water bottle in the background. I need to get one of those.

Never had much hair loss......took some hair related supplements daily from GNC the first 8 months. Seemed to work. Scars have faded and are small enough to either not be noticeable or could be the subject of some really cool stories if I wanted to make some up. All is well.

Pro-tip inbound here: Do NOT eat the wedding cake. That stuff causes sever weight gain and laziness. At least it did for me when I ate some on my wedding night.................

Damnrite !!!! That's how I roll, too.............I wear camo garb to bed and try to provide the whole Duck Dynasty experience......or is it Duck DieNasty. My beard could use a little work.....perhaps if I let it grow long enough It'd hide things well, too. Combination of camo and low lighting and is all good at gametime. At that point its all about the right theme music in the background and hoping the arthritis meds kick in at the right times. Geriatric spidermonkey. It ain't purty, but it's how I roll.

Hey.....I didn't want to come off like a jerk in my prior post. I simply want to pass along some of the same helpful instruction/advice that I was given along the way by people here that cared enough to help a brotha out. You can kick ass if you choose to.

Usually they take your weight on the first day of your first monthly appointment. That's what they use for justification for surgery. After that you are encouraged to lose, lose, lose up to the surgery date. At least that is how it was in the two practices I had experience with. I asked if it pertained to people with borderline BMI's and was told they were handled the same way. Ask around and see what they say. Good luck. The waiting part is the worst part of it.

Through a weird series of events I was given a pleasant surprise midway through my pre-op plan. I found that I could self fund through the local center of excellence for less than what I'd have paid using my insurance. It may have been a bit more than Mexico.....but I was able to sleep in my own bed the night after surgery and all my follow up appointments have been a 5 minute drive. I can reach out to them with ease if ever the need should arise. Ask around about self funding options. You may be amazed at the rates. By doing so, I actually saved money and all the red tape was dropped. I was literally sleeved 3 weeks later.

I'm very sorry. Hang in there. You WILL prevail and come out of this and one day look back and be grateful for the changes. 2017 will be a much better year. Count on it.

From a laptop, desktop or any other method of viewing the full site. The mobile app just lets you look into a smaller window of the site.

Don't be scared to redefine the term "love". food is simply fuel.....not worthy of love. People, fun acts, pets, good health......strong relationships.......these are subjects worthy of love.

No, not for a second.

Oh, I do. Quite often.

Outstanding !!!!!!!!!!!!

So.....stop. Just stop. Quit sabotaging your ability to gain results. It's not too late to get realigned with the suggested methods your bariatric group instructed you on. You use the term, "I can't ". I'm calling BS on this. You can, you simply choose not to. You've had weight loss surgery.....altered your body in order to set yourself up for losing weight. It's not to late to make the mental adjustments needed to support this. People the world over are flooding their gyms and diet centers this month in hopes of fulfilling their New Year's resolutions to lose weight. Be a joiner, lol. Follow along.....or better yet....lead the way. You've had a head start on them.....now leave them in the dust. Or don't. Your choice. Keep doing as you've always done and be content with not getting the most from your surgery. Or follow the rules and thrive with the benefits that will be forthcoming.

A man that would abandon his family days before Christmas.......is no man. That was one of the most cowardly acts imaginable. Stay strong and stay on track. I suspect in the days and months ahead you will find a sense of relief that you no longer have to carry such a loser along in your life. You will be free to redefine yourself and reach for your goals and dreams. You will find someone way more worthy of your time than the coward who snuck away. Be true to your kids and remain true to yourself. It will work out in your favor at some point in the future. You are young and taking steps to assure your health and fitness.......a lifetime of fun and happiness is ahead. I toast you now with my coffee mug....here's to good riddance and a stellar future !!!!!

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/297668-i-want-to-see-before-after-pics-contd/ There ya go ^^^^^^

I had an abdominal hernia repaired the same time my sleeve surgery was done. I was fully expecting to wake up in serious pain. It never showed up...the pain. It was a big nonevent. I woke up.....groggy......sore a bit getting out of bed the first couple of times to walk....but nowhere near the pain I'd experienced on prior hernia surgeries. Nothing to it. I went home the next day and had the liquid pain med for a day or two and then was doing fine without it. For the record....the only pain I ever felt was directly from the hernia repair....never the sleeve part of the procedure. I'd do it all over again without hesitation.

So many great points raised in this thread. Makes me wonder what type of inept instruction was given by some folk's bariatric teams. My group made if very clear that my safety was the paramount concern at the various stages. I'm grateful for it. All it took for me as to watch the surgery videos shown by the surgeon during the pre-op stages........that was enough to scare me into submission, lol.

Same here. Lots of frequent walking. Each step felt like I was moving closer to a new life.

All of the Chike flavors were to my liking.

Good stuff, indeed. I had some the week before Christmas when eating at a tasty Asian spot with my father & sister. Great flavors. Wasabi makes it. I think I had my first somewhere around week 10.

Both of the surgeons I consulted prior to having my sleeve surgery said they chose to no longer perform lap band surgery. Therefore, it wasn't much of an option for me as both of these surgeons had been highly recommended by my other physicians and I was going with one or the other. 14 months later I will say that I have been very, very pleased with my sleeve at each step of the way. I'm very confident that I chose the correct surgery for me.

Interesting. I've never seen those before. Maybe worth looking for.

14 months out.....can drink it, but choose not to. I just lost the desire for diet Dew, diet Coke and the like. Gladly, I've avoided beer, too. I can say that simply drinking Water and coffee has me feeling much better. I stay hydrated and am not consuming all the crazy ingredients found in the diet sodas I was sucking down before.