Sajijoma

I haven't gotten a card, but I will have to ask. I would love to go to Sweet Tomatoes, but I refuse to pay 8.99 with a coupon to eat 1/4c of lettuce and maybe a tomato if I'm lucky.

I am 2 1/2 months out and have no appetite at all. I have literally forgotten to eat all day on several occasions. It's hard. You really just need to tell yourself that this is what you have to do when I get up in the morning I make a protein shake...usually like a syntrax nectar and I'll fill it with ice and sip it off and on all morning. Then at lunch time, since I'm still not hungry, I might nibble a piece of string cheese or a baby bell or sometimes nothing at all. Then at dinner time I try to force myself to eat even though I'm not hungry and sometimes I just can't. It's just miserable to even be there at the table, so I'll make another protein shake and sip it over the next couple of hours. It helps me get close to my minimum without feeling like I'm being forced to eat against my will.

I stopped drinking soda July 4th of last year. I had just been to the seminar and was trying to discern if this was really the thing for me(although I knew it was). So I told myself that after surgery I couldn't have soda ever again, so I better leave it behind now to see if I could. I set July 4th as my Independence Day. The first day instead of 2 sodas each time, I'd go for just one. Then after a few days, I went to 1 soda a day...then 1 soda every other day and then to half a soda every other day and then at that point it was an easy jump off. Iced tea was harder. I was a mean ole bear for about 2 wks before I managed to get over the addiction to the caffeine in tea. It's worth it though. Now I only drink water and protein shakes at 2 1/2 months out.

Congratulations on your NSV! I just reached a point where I can buy clothes in stores with a plus size dept and it's exciting! I've been reduced to buying online and accepting whatever could fit for so long, that it's now so much fun to go to Lane Byrant or Nordstroms and walk in and get to choose things that look good on me or make me feel good! I also just made it to zulily sizes 22/24 so now I have a new favorite online store. such a big change from the 32/34 I was wearing in July!

I don't measure often, but I am to the point that I really need to because I have body dysmorphia and I cannot tell that I've lost any weight when I look in the mirror. I still look the same to me visually, so by measuring, and weighing on the scale, I find it is helping my mind understand that I am changing.

It may come down to your surgeon or insurance. My surgeon doesn't do DS because he says the complications risks are too high, for the payout. My insurance also wouldn't cover it pretty much siting the same reason. I went with rny because it seemed like the best option for me at 429lbs. I'm only 2 1/2 months out, but so far, I'm totally pleased with my results and I know it's only going to get better.

It depends on the hospital and surgeon. I had to remove all my piercings. I ended up losing my cartilage piercings on my ears, and my body went into rejection mode and I lost 2 other sets on my lobes. I'm fighting to keep the 2 I have left.

I have had anemia all my life. Although I am in the low end of acceptable range currently, I can only get there by cooking all my meals in black non enameled cast iron pans. If I eat a few meals completely not cooked in the black non enameled cast iron pans, my iron levels dip down in the unacceptable range again. I don't know if you've tried the pans, but it does help. Post op I was severely anemic due to surgery and the fact that I was on liquids and then puréed foods and didn't cook those meals in cast iron. After I made it to soft and started cooking in them again, it went back up to a low normal.

I'm a grilled and if I had to give up the grill, that would probably have been a deal breaker. lol my only advice is stay away from BBQ sauces because those are full of sugar and sugar is not our friend post surgery at all. Also, make sure you eat moist meat and if it's something that tends to be dryer like chicken, just make sure you have some sauce on hand to lube it up. ????

I'm 2 1/2 months out and my belly is definitely shrinking, but now comes the loose yucky skin. Don't worry, you will lose belly fat. It can take awhile. Depends on how your body distributes the weight to begin with. As a rule last on, first off. My ass is virtually gone now. It's hard to sit on a boney ass. lol

I have chosen not to tell too many people. My husband and I talked through my decision and he was on board although reluctant. I told my best friend since high school because I needed the moral support and I told my SIL because I needed her natural cheerleader self on my team. I also told my college roommate because she had already had the surgery and I wanted to pick her brain for info on if it was the right move. About a week before surgery I got nervous and told my Inlaws because I wanted to have a plan in place Incase God forbid, I didn't make it. They were all really supportive. Since surgery, I've told 3 more people who were curious about my extreme weightloss and tiny meals. It's been hard. I wanted to keep it an utter secret, but I didn't want to lie either, so I just tell people as the need arises. So far, everyone has been really supportive of my decision except my brotherinlaw who is a body builder and trainer and just thinks I could try harder somehow. It's a mixed bag I guess. Over time, you may find yourself explaining to a lot of people or trying to find excuses to cover yourself, but I think it's preferred to telling everyone up front and listening to them feed you with horror stories. I told everyone I was having a hernia repaired and got enough hernia repair nightmares to make me glad I didn't actually have one! lol

I didn't have anything other than an EKG. Sometimes if the EKG is a little inconclusive, they may do an echo or stress test to check to make sure you are strong and healthy enough for surgery.

The wording from Aetna is that there cannot be a net gain. As long as you haven't gained any weight, it's fine that you haven't lost, as long as you've been compliant with your 90 day program. I know the waiting is nerve wracking, but maybe you should just call and see the status of things. I called twice to find out my status and I'm glad I did! The first time I found out my stuff hadn't been submitted because the psych held my eval hostage because he forgot to Bill me. Then it took another week to get the recommendation letter from the surgeon because he was out of town in that time, so when they did get it all submitted, I called Aetna again and they told me it was being assessed. Later that afternoon it was approved. It never hurts to call. In some ways the squeaky wheel gets heard in this business.

I didn't see much weightloss at the beginning post op. In my first month, I had lost maybe 15lbs total which was less than I was losing pre op on my own. It wasn't til the second month that things really got burning. At 2 1/2 months now, I'm down 58lbs since surgery.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I know exactly how that feels. I lost my beloved cat Salem that I hand raised as a baby just about 2wks before my surgery. I wanted to eat everything and I didn't really care anymore. He was my love and like a child to me. I kept telling myself to know that this is a battle I had to win. I know stress eating has always been a problem for me and especially ai want sugar and high calorie fat when I am in this state. It's better to talk out your pain than to hold it in and let your body try to eat the pain away.

@@DDBug I have lupus and have had it for many years. The funny thing about this sucky disease is that it goes dormant for long periods of time and pops up to torture me just when I think I'm "over it". Being pregnant can often either aggravate an auto immune disorder or put it in remission. For me, my 7 kiddos kept my lupus in remission for a long time. Now that I don't have any more babies(youngest will be 2 in June) my lupus is back to flaring up again. I have a friend who also has lupus and her pregnancy caused her skin to peel off and all her hair to fall out. It's a wicked wicked thing! I don't think rny can cause an auto immune disorder, but it could possibly stress the body enough to create the symptoms to pop up or appear worse.

Don't always believe the hand around the wrist thing or that broad shoulders means you have a larger frame. I thought for a long time that I must have massive bones and was just built big because my hands are nowhere near going around my wrist, but turns out I actually just have small hands(child size apparently) and as I'm losing weight this go around, I see that my bones that are showing up now aren't as big as I thought...just broad shoulders and short hands! ???? I have no idea why I weight heavier than my body looks, but I've officially ruled out the big bone theory.

When I first started changing up my diet per my NUT's plan, I would have days where I was physically starving to death and days where it wasn't so bad. For me, when I try to restrict anything, my body makes me want that thing more before it will even consider using fat stores so if I restricted carbs, my body would crave carbs desperately to the point I spent a lot of nights awake dealing with the hunger. Things that helped for me were protein drinks and getting in lots of water above and beyond what is expected. Those two things held me together through my program. Now that I'm on the other side of surgery and 2 months out, that is all gone. The good news is after surgery, this goes away! ????

Do you still have your gall bladder? It sounds like gallstones to me!

I use the Bariatric advantage French vanilla. It's tolerable. Kinda too sweet. I love flintstones, but to equal the same nutrition you'd need 4 a day and still would be low in some key nutrients. Costs more too.

Thanks! They really are great people. I feel like I really lucked out! ????

I didn't find it as hard as I thought it would be. I wouldn't say it was easy, but just not as hard as I expected in some aspects. I think what helped a lot for me, is that I planned for the worse case scenarios and when they didn't come, it made what I did have not so bad! I was prepared for hellacious gas pains when I had surgery, but my surgeon is amazing and does his best to get out all the gas so I didn't have that severe gas pain and feeling like I was stabbed in the neck that I did when I had my gall bladder out 14yrs ago. That was a nice surprise! I was warned about the desire to just lick food and taste stuff when you first get home from the hospital, and I laughed because it seemed so absurd to me, but that first meal at home, when all I could do was drink broth, and the family was having brats with kraut and mac and cheese and all the trimmings, yeah, I was pretty pissy. I wanted to just lick the sausage or maybe chew it up a bit and spit it out, but I didn't. That was probably my hardest thing was just NOT giving into that head hunger.Then I've dealt with lactose intolerance brought on as a result of surgery(not fun but I knew it was a possibility) and I have a grumpy pouch that doesn't like certain foods or textures, so a lot of foods that would have been my "go to" foods for a quick meal are out now, not because they were unhealthy(like chicken breast) but because my pouch simply doesn't like them and I will spend the next hour or so dry heaving if I take even one bite. Beyond that, it really hasn't been so bad! I absolutely LOVE not feeling hungry although it is a double edged sword, because it's hard to eat enough food to cover my needs when it's just a chore to eat. I supplement a lot with protein shakes because of that and the fact my pouch has trouble holding more than 2 oz at a time, even at almost 2 months out.

Usually once in a lifetimes only apply to the policy you were holding at the time you had the service. So for instance, the once in a lifetime coverage for wls when you got the lap band would only apply to as long as you had Cigna since that was the insurance you had with the stipulation. If however, you have an insurance plan through an employer and the employer contracts out who will oversee the insurance like mine, the once in a lifetime could still apply if the employer switches from say Cigna to Aetna to cover their employees if they are the ones who made the insurance plan themselves. Really, the only way you are going to know for sure is to call your currently insurance and ask them what they cover and if they have any stipulation on things like that. Most of the time they won't, but you need to know before you sign up for an expensive surgery. I nearly fainted when my bills showed up from my rny because I wasn't expecting them, but the hospital had my insurance # wrong in the system so they sent me the bills instead and I had to get it straightened out. There's a big difference between paying nearly $2000 and paying nearly $800,000 so it's super important to know where you stand.

I've had a few bouts of dizziness and the two things that helped were drinking a glass of v8 original everyday because I was low on potassium and sodium and that one drink gave me both of those things I so desperately needed. The other thing was my Iron was low and I was getting dizzy and tired from that, so as soon as I started to get my iron sorted, the dizziness left.

I absolutely LOVE the whole crew at National Bariatrics. Dr Chae does amazing work and my scars from my rny are tiny and very few compared to others I've known who had the exact same procedure. I didn't have any bruising or gas pains. What really sticks out is how much he himself cares. He's not just in there stamping out surgeries to pay for a boat or something, he genuinely cares about his patients and wants to help you succeed in the least painful way possible. Kelly is the resident NUT for the group and amazing in her knowledge and just her great personality. I've been working with her since like June 2015 and I don't just consider her my NUT, she is a friend and I love going to see her. We always have a good time and she gives me such useful advice. Rounding out the place is DeDe. She is the one who keeps you on your schedules and makes the appts. She is an absolute angel! I love her to death! Christine handles the insurance, so unless you have problems with your insurance, you may not ever meet her, but she's always back there working hard for the patients to get them approved for their surgery of choice. I absolutely cannot say enough good things about Dr Chae and his team. They are absolutely wonderful, and if you are looking for a surgeon in Colorado, he is the BEST! <3