Cervidae

Fitting comfortably into an airplane seat is right up there on my list of things I can't freaking wait for, only surpassed by fitting comfortably on a roller coaster. Congrats! I can't wait to be there.

My mother has MS and kidney disease. I grew up comfortably in terms of finances, but when she started getting really sick around when I was 7 or 8, we often didn't have food, or we would get food from a nice church or food cupboard, and you know how absolutely terrible that food is for you because it's all non-perishable. I learned to stuff my face as much as possible when we did have food, and at the same time my body and mind became addicted to utter junk, all right around when I went through puberty at ten and my PCOS symptoms kicked into high gear. Binge eating, starving, and eating complete sh*t when I could eat plus hormone disorder all adds up to severe obesity. Years after we went through our toughest times, I moved out and began shopping for myself and eating healthier, the majority of the damage was already done, as I was already in the upper 300s, lower 400s when I was able to afford decent food. All it takes is being in poverty for a few years to completely destroy your health, and it's even worse for people who happen to have health issues that make it possible for your body to just keep gaining and gaining and gaining... I will now spend the rest of my life dealing with the scars, both physical and emotional, left over from living in poverty.

@@James Marusek I somehow completely missed that last bullet. I had no co-morbidities when I began the process but was approved quickly because of my high bmi. Blessing in disguise I guess? The bariatric team was sort of amazed at how healthy I was despite being 402 pounds. Life is strange.

I have a 2-3 week stall (sometimes gain a few pounds during) every single month when my period starts. And yet, I've still managed to lose over 100 pounds since surgery in less than 6 months. 24 pounds in a week is freaking unbelievable - imagine how much your body is freaking out right now, trying to balance itself. It thinks you're in a life and death crisis. Be patient with yourself and in 6 months to a year you'll be amazed at how far you've come. We didn't get obese overnight and we aren't going to get healthy overnight either.

The two week diet is a snap after the first couple days. Congrats! This is a super exciting time.

I'm almost 6 months post op, so not quite to the point you are, but I just had my 6 month check up (got home about an hour ago) and when I told the doctor that I still log and plan everything I eat, she said that the people who log their food consistently have a much lower risk of stretching their pouch and slowing down too quickly/regaining. I've been using myfitnesspal since before surgery and I'm probably going to keep using it indefinitely, though I may relax it a bit when I hit maintenance phase.. I find that planning and knowing exactly what I'm eating and how much really eases my anxiety about food, and the fact that it increases my chance of long-term success doesn't. hurt.

My absolute favorite condiment is sriracha sauce. I was worried that it might cause problems after surgery, but I've had no issues at all, thankfully! I can't eat Frank's Red Hot sauce anymore because it makes me nauseous but sriracha, specifically the kind from Trader Joe's has been a godsend. Can't imagine how miserable I would be if I could never eat spicy food again. I also cook with a ton of garlic. Sometimes I saute half an onion with like 1/4 cup of minced garlic and eat that. I cuold eat onions and/or garlic with every meal and never get sick of it.

Looks to me that it's saying you either need co-morbidities or need proof of the 6-month diet, so I think you've got it right. I'm glad my insurance wasn't this way... my bmi was 66.9 when I started the approval process. I guess I would have been denied. D:

Glad I could help. My Pcos specialist/nutritionist has taught me a lot of really important information for reducing the hormone imbalance and insulin spikes. Feel free to send me a message or friend me if you want.

I would definitely give my doctor a call tomorrow. Especially if you do actually start vomiting. At this early stage in your recovery, staying hydrated and getting Protein into you is really important for the healing process. If you have to go in just to get rehydrated, do it. While you're there you can tell them about your symptoms. If it gets worse before you go in to your doctors, I would go to the ER. Most likely it's not anything very serious and it will pass, but on the off chance that it is serious, don't gamble with your health. The whole reason you had surgery was to take care of yourself. Hope you feel better soon, keep us updated!

You're squarely in the middle of the "normal bmi" category. Unless you work out a lot and a lot of that is muscle, most likely you're right where you need to be. If you're healthy and feel good, and you doctor is happy with your health, then you're probably doing just fine. Also a year to lose 100 is great, seems right on schedule to me. It's not like you started at a very high weight.

@@OutsideMatchInside if op is in the qualifying process, it can matter a lot. They joined recently so that's entirely possible. @@diamondrme I think you may have to contact the insurance provider or doctor or whoever is going to be measuring it to know exactly what they use. I wasn't aware that bmi calculators could vary, as they are supposed to follow an mathematical formula. Unfortunately, if you want to be sure, you probably have to find out the specific one the insurance or whomever is using. Probably there are just slight variations.

gas-x strips, a heating pad, and perhaps a recliner or couch to sleep on, as getting up and going back down into a sleeping position are going to be difficult for the first few days. I slept in our recliner for the first week or so, then was able to move back to my bed. Good luck!

You're moving along pretty quickly. It was 7 months between my first seminar and my surgery, and there wasn't a 6 month diet plan or anything. It just took that long to do all the requirements and have everything checked and so on. Good luck!

Unless you have PCOS, you should be perfectly fine. It's not the "genetically modified" that you should be worried about - literally every single fruit and veggie you eat, even organic, home-grown stuff, has been genetically modified since we first discovered it and started growing it while selectively breeding ones with traits we like (more fruit, smaller seeds, etc). The fact that it contains soy could be a problem if you have PCOS or any other hormone imbalance, or if you're pregnant or going through menopause. Soy causes an increase in estrogen which can throw your hormones all out of whack if you have one of these pre-existing issues going on. Otherwise, you should be fine.

I'm almost 6 months out and I actually still make some of the soups! I would recommend the beef bouillon and the cream of tomato soup. Then when you're a bit farther out, the chicken pasta soup is really yummy. I have texture sensitivity so I don't like a few of the soups that have a lot of parsley in it (I mean.. a LOT. It gets stuck in my teeth and tickles my throat and I hate it) like the cream of chicken. Also The beef with pasta is good, but if you're grossed out by rehydrated carrots, stay away from that one too. Hope this helped!

the only fruit I've had so far that didn't give me any issue was a banana. Which is lucky, because I LOVE bananas.

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@@ProudMomof2 the naked juices are even worse because they have all that sugar plus added sugar and usually other additives as well. Same with Bolthouse drinks, which were a favorite of mine before surgery and are now off limits.

the key is too occasionally treat yourself (within reason) so that you don't overindulge. As every else has said, we're all just human. You can't be a perfect robot forever. Cut yourself some slack, and get back on the wagon.

my advice would be not to get discouraged before you even know if anything's going wrong. Just giving yourself anxiety and sadness with no cause and no solution. Who knows, it's entirely possible it will go through without a hitch. Or possible that if you get denied, your surgeon can appeal and their appeal will be enough. There's always a way.

I saw a picture of myself from behind and honestly did not even realize it was me until I noticed that it was my hair. Also I have a certain, um, sexy-time NSV that I won't share here in public but believe me when I say that there are new and fun things happening in our bedroom.

Sounds like you're doing really well! It's okay to struggle and feel sort of suspicious that this is actually going to work for you. Just don't let that stop you from taking care of yourself and moving forward with your life. You've got this, and I'm really happy the RNY is helping you in ways the band couldn't. Congratulations on all of your success, and all the success that is to come for you!

my 6 month post op point will be on Feb 17th, and I've lost 107 pounds as of this morning. However, I started at almost a hundred pounds higher than you. I think you're actually doing really well! I can't wait to be down to 230 - I still have 50 pounds to go before I get there, almost as much as you've already lost. So be proud of yourself, because you're doing great. This time next year it won't matter that some people lost more weight faster than you. What matters is your health and well-being.

@@Stevehud mental illness certainly has a role to play in obesity, as do choices, but I think about it like this. I ate healthier and exercised more than my best friend, who is also overweight, but she has been maybe... 220 at her highest weight. I don't think she's ever been above that. When she really buckles down and works out/eats right, she can lose weight reasonably easily. And yet, I managed to gain, and gain, and gain and eventually got to be over 400 pounds, and even seeing professional nutritionists and trainers over the span of many years could not enable me to lose weight and keep it off. If there weren't some other metabolic/hormonal/etc thing happening in our bodies, she would have been the same size or bigger than me. Or I would have weighed less than her. There are some people who become very overweight mainly because of poor choices, but it's the losing part that shows you what's really going on. A person without the disease can do what those trainers do in the fat reality shows. They could gain and lose 100 pounds pretty easily (at least compared to a person who can't seem to do anything to lose it). It always frustrated me that people see these shows and think "well, look how easy it is! all they did was eat healthy and work out and they lost weight! So why don't all the other fatasses in the world do that?" The answer is... the fatasses that try and try and can't lose weight or keep it off have a legitimate disease. Losing weight isn't easy, but it's doable for everyone. For people with the disease of obesity, the first big hurdle is even making it possible for your body to lose weight. My RNY made it possible for me to lose weight and keep it off for the first time in my life. Now the losing weight part is up to me.