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No way I'd have done that cruise so soon after surgery. Cruises are great. Going on another in a few months....roughly 5.5 months post-op. Didn't want to book it until I knew I was on solid ground with all aspects of recovery. Glad you survived.

I bought a bunch of the Gas-X strips everyone said to bring.......it's still in the cabinet unused. Never needed it. Get your pain meds filled ahead of time. You'll want a dose for the ride home. Also take an extra pillow. Hold it against your abdomen for the ride home. Trust me on this. It'll keep things from jostling around when you go over bumpy road sections. Worked wonders after 3 hernia repairs.

It's gonna go great !!!! I'd not do the beer thing during the liquid diet, though. You are going to feel much, much better in a day or two and life gets easy.

Thank you very much. I wanted to update this thread because I wanted to emphasize how easy things get in just a short time after the surgery. I'm 2.5 months out and living with the sleeve is really easy. Even with the hernia repair I'd do the surgery again in a skinny minute. Nothing to it.

Of all the struggles that may or may not come with losing weight. Getting the recommended water is the easiest thing. Simply always have my water bottle with me when I'm walking around....or my Yeti 30oz cup loaded with ice water when I'm at my desk, car or at home. Easy to get in 2-3 times the recommended 64 oz if you try.

Honestly......my best advice is to buy Cookies, brownies and such from a bakery. Have them for the guests and then send the leftovers home with them.

At 414 pounds your starting BMI was 57 (classed as Super Morbidly Obese) After losing another 93 pounds your BMI is going to be 44. (Morbidly Obese) After losing another 93 pounds your BMI is going to be 31.(Obese) Losing more will get you into the Overweight category. I share very similar numbers and classifications. They are harsh places to find ourselves. I sometimes think the 114 lbs I've lost is not really noticeable, too. I've got that much and more left to lose. It simply is evidence of how far out of shape I was. I'd allowed myself to fall off to the point where I was in a weight classification like you were. Most all of us have dieted in the past and lost this much weight on our own, enough to get to the next lower BMI level...........and then backslid. You had the surgery.....and will do the gym work needed......and maintain the discipline to do better than this. You did it to reach and maintain a level of NORMAL BMI. 93 pounds in 4 months is a start.....that is all. It's just a point in time on the way to your real goal. Don't hang up on....keep working hard to get where you want to be. You'll get there. Your old clothes will be long gone and you'll be strutting around nekkid all the time. Keep working and you'll get there.

It's just the texture and moisture level of your food that is allowing more or less.

I was just wondering how you were doing! Glad to hear things are good! Thank you. Everything is going really, really well. Surgery has been very successful thus far. I have zero complaints and am pleased with how easy the "diet" is to follow. 2.5 months since surgery and 6 months since enrolling in a bariatric pre-op program. I haven't been taking many pics, sorry if these have been used in other threads. Before: Now: If you are on the fence about having surgery.......don't be. DO IT !!!!!!!!!!!! Get the relief you deserve and do something fun with it. Excellent advice. I really had some serious "discomfort" from that very thing. Glad it passed. I was fearful that I was going to wreck the hernia sutures.

Let your new stomach heal. Follow the plan. 20g of Protein per day is gonna be a huge problem if you continue down that road. Time to cowboy up and find acceptable protein that you can tolerate and you need to push yourself to try different flavors. Drop the "It's hard because I'm such a foodie" thought process, too. Gotta break the cycle and change that relationship with food.

Really though, you should go low carb, low flavor, low fat, low calorie......... I hear ya on the pet peeves. Weight loss is a frequent topic in my daily conversations, folks see a change occurring and most are supportive and well wishing.....but some are like freaking Rain Main and hung up on metrics. "So, man, what's the number now? What's the scale read? Whatcha weighing these days?". Makes me want to break out into a Mountain Troll skit and say loudly, "I've lost a Hobbit that was riding on my back........now I'm gonna eat your donkey.......grrrrr nom nom nom ggrrgggg." We post the numbers here, yeah, sure.......but in daily life it just gets under my skin for some reason. I appreciate their interest......but damnitman.....leave the numbers out of it. I think I'll just start making up silly numbers for them. "Yup....I've lost 7 pounds so far." "Yup......I've lost 2,200 pounds so far" Or................"about a 1/2 a medium rock". Freaking Rain Man is everywhere !!!!! Makes me want to go have a Protein shake and eat a hardboiled egg......and go fart on them afterwards.

I quit drinking all juices when I made the decision to lose weight. The closest thing to juice that I'll occasionally have is Chic-Fil-A's Diet Lemonade.

Sounds completely normal to me.....especially over that time frame. I went through that initial period where I was worried that I was taking on my Protein shakes too easily. After getting off liquids on that 4th week.....I found out there is certainly a restriction there and was surprised and pleased that only a small amount of chicken breast or tuna was a meal.

Exactly !!!!!!!!!

7-8 months with insurance 6 weeks with self pay

I enjoyed the Big Book on the sleeve. Bought it as an audiobooks on my iPhone and listened to it during my daily commute to work. Informative

Good choice on the sleeve. I've experienced zero complications so far and am very glad I went in this direction. Truth is that I discussed bands with the two top surgeons I was wanting to use. Both refused to perform band surgery and easily persuaded me to consider sleeve or bypass. As far as wanting the procedure being done elsewhere....I don't know what advice to offer. My initial thought is that if you are doing this for your health......then who cares where you have the surgery ???? You are doing this for your health. That is an easy assessment for me to make, however, because I don't work in the medical industry and furthermore I couldn't care less who knew about my choice to have surgery. If I worked in a hospital.....then would possibly go on to be treated by all my coworkers....it may give me pause to consider the awkwardness. Your health should win here......not vanity. Do it at the most qualified facility available to you staffed with the very best professionals you can find.

You look like you are twenty years younger !!!! Great job. You've done an outstanding job on ensuring many, many years grandparenting those perfect little twins.

The hunger is more than likely.....not hunger. If you were sleeved and are experiencing real hunger then you should be talking immediately to your surgeon about this. You have to take sips of Water......no real gulps or big swallows.........just carefully meter it down your throat......a trickle at a time. It gets easier.

Me too I'm so confused and not too sure >< oh you mean this one? Can I ask you something (/^\) do you know the protein powder smell .. that strong smell? dose this one have it (/^\) and it's only serviced as iced beverage? oh and the link I never saw this Bariatricpal products except for now after you guys post it they have Click on the site too!! I always mixed it with ice Water in a shaker bottle. No strong smell.....other than that of rich coffee. The mocha version is killer, too.

Amazing !!!!! Amazing !!!!! Amazing !!!!! Amazing !!!!!

Self paid. Done in my hometown by an excellent surgeon through a Center of Excellence accredited facility. ~$20K and that included complication insurance. Zero regrets other than wishing I'd done so sooner.

@@jane13 Getting coffe down the hatch......getting ready to head into work when I posted earlier. lunch break now. Some flavored tuna and smoked oysters. Not great, but what was stashed in my desk drawer.....forgot to bring some of yesterday's leftovers in. Yes, thanks, he was really happy and so was I. Best Christmas I've ever had in many ways.

I experienced that from the 3-5 week post-op times. It was attributed to low blood sugar, low blood pressure and off course......low calorie intake. It improved greatly once I cut my bp meds down and went over to real, chewable Protein.

Outstanding !!!! Merry Christmas