Sajijoma

is it possible that you aren't excited because you are afraid of getting your hopes up and failing? I know how you describe feeling is how I feel now about diets. Like you want it to work, but you have just been burnt so many times you cannot allow yourself to do that again...to hope. It's hard to get past that experience when that's all we have to go on. I hope for you, that this is the one that works and that you've got the right amount of support and people to kick your butt when you need it(I need butt kickers when I feel like giving up).

Looks like I get a reprieve from the whole thing...the psych's wife(I think) called 20 mins before my appt time and said he was sick and couldn't make his appts today and would call back when he was well.

I have to admit, I am terribly nervous about the whole thing. I mean, not only am I sure I already made a "great" impression as a flighty airhead after he called to set the appointment while I was laying on my front step sucking air after attempting to walk around the block for the first time, but I'm kind of a quirky person and sometimes people mistake my quirkiness as being stupid and then try to talk down to me. I can't stand that. Whenever someone does that, my first instinct is to either talk in a baby voice back to them or otherwise get really defensive and I'm praying that doesn't come up in the process. I'm just worried that I won't pass or I'll be referred for more councelling. I mean, what exactly are they going to be asking about? Obviously this isn't something I can "study" to pass. There is no faking "normal" I guess. But I am very aware of the real risks and possible problems associated with the surgery and I'm more than capable of understanding that this is for life and there's no going back-which I'm glad about. I don't want to go back to this. I want to leave this far off in the dust. I guess this is turning into more of a rant than an actual question about anything. God I hope I pass. LOL

My NUT is a gem! She's been specializing in Bariatric surgery prep for over 20yrs so she really knows her stuff. She doesn't insult me with the basics of how to be on a diet. She's seen my extensive history and knows I know that crap. Usually we sit down and chat and talk about what's going on in my life and at home and then she mentions little ways to sneak in stuff. Like I used to skip breakfast because my bedroom is upstairs and I hate going up and down multiple times so I do all my upstairs work before heading down. That's getting the baby washed and dressed, cats fed, laundry collected, get the kids up and on their morning cleaning, make the beds, take a shower and THEN go down stairs and feed the kids first and then myself if there was anything left over. Sometimes it's nearly lunch time before I make it to breakfast at this rate, so she suggested a 20+gram protein bar. I keep them in my upstairs cabinet and have it for breakfast when I get up and it revs my metabolism up to start burning. We also talked about easy to do exercises that don't cost anything and we set goals on what we want to accomplish like protein first, at least 20 grams of protein per meal, only eat 25-30 mins and not more(I'm a slow picky eater and can drag a meal out over an hour eating peas in single file) and we set a goal for exercises and that was it the first appt. the second appt we did a lil more and I'm already down 12lbs so that's pretty cool! The best part for me is that I don't feel like I'm dealing with a carb nazi. I mean, we talked about donuts and the various kinds and what makes them all so great even. It's just really friendly and helps make the process a lot easier than saying "go home and lose 20lbs over the next few months somehow".

I'm trying to take my whole family paleo as well. Some of my younger ones are really starting to become sugar addicts and I don't want them to end up like me. Since this will be a lifestyle change for me for life, it won't hurt them to follow along as well. My husband has wanted us to go paleo for a long time, but I've always been resistant because of my sugar addiction and I know how I get when I don't have my drug of choice. Hopefully by making slow gradual changes that my NUT has suggested we can transition less painfully. LOL

I found Splenda sweeten jello online recently. I bookmarked it for later, but since I'm on my phone I won't remember that. I just typed in Splenda gelatin into google and it popped right up. Amazon also sells some Splenda sweetened pudding by the name of loving spoonfuls I believe. I looked it up awhile back because I can't have aspartame because it causes severe migraines.

I have negative emotional attachments to cottage cheese from an abusive mother putting me on extreme diets at 4yrs old. I've tried to break that, but just not successful. You don't have to have cottage cheese to be successful at any stage in the process of WLS so if the taste is that bad for you, just eat something else. I hear sometimes taste buds change post surgery and things that bothered us before, we actually might like post surgery, so I think I'd just table it altogether til after surgery if I were you. Well, I'm not you, but that's what I've decided on.

Welcome!! you'll find a lot of helpful People here with lots of great advice!

Keep in mind, not everyone dumps. I don't. I haven't consumed any major quantity of sugar, but have had no ill effects of anything thus far.i don't actually have to dump, just knowing it is a possibility is enough! LOL I had horrific dumping like symptoms after my gallbladder surgery every time I ate dairy or spicy foods and that was soooo horrifically painful and miserable that I keep telling myself that sugar will be the same after surgery! It's a great motivator!

Only you can really answer this question, but it depends on so many factors. Have you seen your psych and feel that you are in a good place in your head or so you feel like you still have unresolved issues? Remember this surgery will only cute your stomach from being hungry, it won't cure your head so if you are an emotional eater or a depressed eater or whatever, that problem is still there and needs to be addressed. Whether you address the problem before surgery, directly after surgery, or all along the way is up to you, but if you don't take the time to fully address the problems you already have to weight loss, don't expect surgery to fix them. I was originally planning on a Christmas surgery because my hubby would be off work for a few weeks and I thought it would be the best for him, but as I'm going through the process, and talking to my husband about it, it's come to my attention that I ought to be thinking about me during this. Isn't it harder on me to wait when there's no reason instead of just getting it done and maybe making some visible progress by then? Will it really hurt him that much to take a couple days off to help with the kids while I attend to MY needs for just once? What would I gain from putting it off? Nothing. So as soon as I've completed my requirements I'm picking a date and doing this thing. I don't see any positives to waiting.

There is a condition associated with surgery as a result of the anesthesia not working quite right where the body actually felt all the pain of surgery, but being sedated you are unaware that your body felt the pain.(if that makes any sense). So basically the body gets traumatized by the surgery and becomes hyper sensitive to any source of pain. It can last anywhere from a few weeks to years after an incident. I wish I could remember what it was called, but I had a similar thing happen to me after surgery and it took 6 months before something like a simple paper cut didn't end in over exaggerated pain.

I was sort of similar in that I went in certain I would only allow a gastric sleeve but not anything else and after the seminar when we watched the slides over the various long term success rate and overall success rate, I knew I had been too close minded and opened myself up to other options. I can't wait to get my bypass now. My doctor agrees that it is the absolute best option for me.

I tend to ask weird things especially when I'm not in my comfort zone. One of the things I asked about surgery was at the seminar prior to the consult when I asked him basically how many people he's lost while performing the operation aka kill rate. It's not a bad answer to have, but make sure you use a little more tact in how you phrase things than I did! LOL you might want to ask how many operations he's performed. He bigger the number, the more experience he's had and less likely to screw up. Other things I wanted to know about was in the bypass does the empty stomach left behind growl since it's not getting food. Then I asked what causes people with undiagnosed hypothyroidism to suddenly die post surgery and what can be done to prevent the risk of sudden death given a I am hypothyroid. Also, I wanted to know if he genuinely thought this would work for me. I'd say sit down and think about what you want to know and make a list so you get all your questions answered and you don't end up asking questions you didn't plan on but slipped out your mouth before you were prepared! LOL

@@caligul I like how you think!

You know you are ready for surgery when you just can't take another diet that not only doesn't give you a weight loss but ends in a gain. Then you sit in the floor and cry, because you know your weight is going to kill you and there's no way out of it(except weight loss surgery) and the idea of surgery and never being able to eat your favorite foods, or eat birthday cake frosting, or drink Mountain Dew doesn't bother you! The first time I looked into wls I was in my 20's and when they mentioned no mt dew for life I was like "F that!" And walked out. This time around I'm More like "GOOD! I think I've already had my lifetime quota!" LOL that's how you ultimately know.

Yay! Congratulations!

I swear you just quoted my life from the cruel people making fun of you all the way to can't afford a treadmill or gym and kids won't let me do my dvd's and hubs won't watch the kids so I can. In all fairness his idea of watching the kids has always be to let them run loose and listen for blood curdling screams or the sound of broken glass before doing anything, but it's so frustrating! The one exercise we can do together is Dance Dance Revolution. We have the big floor mat and play it on the Wii and take turns. I'm mom so I get 2 songs and they each get a song of their own to dance to while I'm gasping and puffing between rounds. LOL

Are you getting enough sunlight? I have a D deficiency and if I don't take supplements and get enough actual sunlight on my skin I feel tired- like my butt is dragging the ground tired. I also wonder if you are getting enough overall calories or if your body is perceiving a starvation period and trying to conserve energy to make up for the famine it feels it's in. Have you looked at your food diary(assuming you have one) to see if you are tracking enough overall or if you maybe need to punch it up or bit with some good sources to see if it helps.

Every time I see the word surgery, I keep changing it to sugary instead in my head! Gosh, am I that addicted to the white grains that I even think about them while reading!

I hear ya on this one! My dad had a stroke last month and for awhile we didn't know if he was going to make it through or not and I haven't seen him in the past 13yrs because of my weight and cost of travelling with 9 of us. It was down to me having to take a plane to see him by myself, and I knew I couldn't fit in one seat, so I was literally going to have to drive 2 days by car to see him. If I had been a regular sized person I could have bought 1 seat and gone with no problems, but I couldn't afford 2 and there's no way I could comfortably fit in just 1. So I just sat here bawling because I was afraid I wasn't going to ever get to see my dad again. Luckily, he's recovered(mostly) and is home now, but I still haven't made it to see him. I'm hoping to go next spring with the kids in my new slimmer form.

@@Sajijoma glad it didn't "kill you" if it had, i'd be writing to myself walking a block is a good start next you'll be walking 2, 3 blocks etc eventually running them too!! phone ALWAYS rings when your sitting, resting, recuperating back when, i would "run" for the phone, answer it - i would also be out of breathe mom, or daughter would say"where are you running from"? would always say something like "i was upstairs, had to run all the way to phone" truth is i would/could be in next room, just exhausted breathing hard to get to the phone good luck with surgery healthy, speedy recovery kathy @@The Candidate ROFLMAO i'm not laughing at you, well actually............. i'm laughing with you having problems putting your shoes on??? those days are gone for me but i remember them well you are still pre-op this "physical chore" will be gone for you too really would i lie to you ?? kathy Oh it's definitely open for a good laugh! It was hilarious in review kind of like watching a bad comedy. I was pretty upset at how fat I've slipped down, because I used to be able to run the block 5x even at 300lbs and be all cool afterwards and just energized and here I am trudging and gasping like a fish after a fought for walk around once. Oh well though, It's a start! I mean, 2 days ago the farthest I had walked prior to that was to the van at the bottom of the driveway to go grocery shopping or the length of Super Target and back and that was my upper most tolerance, so I AM improving, even if it isn't as much as I'd like.

Thanks! Hopefully by the time we have our appt in 2wks he'll have forgotten the whole thing! God I hope! hahaha

@@caligul So you didn't tell them afterwards either? Hmmmm, just let them try to decide on their own what you did or didn't do? I kind of like that. Just keep them guessing. LOL

So I decided today I was taking my butt and my kids around the entire block on a walk even if it killed me. Well, it nearly did! LOL by the time I got home I was gasping and wheezing and was very lightheaded so I sat down on the porch to rest. Well, at that exact moment, who calls me? The Psych to set up my psych eval appt. and I'm trying to talk to him and I know I'm sounding like a dumbass but I can't really think straight and I'm gasping still and God, he sounded like he had the rubber stamp for the loonie bin ready with my name on it by the time the call was over. I hope he doesn't hold it against me when we have our appt in 2 wks! Haha it was so bad! Why doesn't anyone ever call me when I'm calm, composed, and not under physical duress!

I think maybe it's just something he thought was doable for me. Maybe if he wrote 145 he could sense me freaking the hell out! LOL I'm starting at 410 so that's a 50% drop so even IF that was all I lost, I'd be happy. I'm firmly packed so when I did weigh 200, I was wearing a regular XL in most clothes. Of course it would be pretty cool to reach my ideal weight since I've been overweight all my life.