redsohare

Yes a lot of people have been nervous prior to surgery. Just know that you will be in great hands surrounded by medical professionals whose best interest is do perform a successful surgery for you. Best wishes to you!

I think it depends on your experience with hospitals and such. For many other than a visit or 2 to the doctor they may not have had surgeries and procedures. For them it's a big deal and can be a little scary. It's perfectly normal. If it gets too overwhelming you can let them know when you check in and they can give you something to help calm you.

It's normal to be antsy.
I know I sure was.
You say it's getting real now. Think back to when you made the decision to have surgery.....remember your rationale then...your motivations. It'll bring things into focus.
One thing that made the jitters more for me on this surgery, was that it was the first elective surgery, other than a vasectomy, that I've had. All the rest were to repair stuff I'd torn up through one some misadventure. This one, however, was of my own choice. For some reason this kept me churning until I thought through it all over again and connected back to the "why" I chose to do this.
I wish you the best.
This surgery, by the way.....has been as easy for me to recover from as the vasectomy I dreaded and delayed on for years.

Worrying about how much more beautiful you are going to look and how you will need to fight the men off with a stick after the surgery must be pretty overwhelming.
Congratulations. Everything is going to go well.

It's perfectly normal. You're about to embark on a life changing journey. You've got emotions leaking out like sawdust. But just focus on what you're hoping to achieve. Looking at the big picture, the operation itself is barely a speed bump in the scheme of things. It's the new lease on life you're getting that's the real prize. And it's worth everything you're going through. You'll be fine. Good luck!

@@redsohare - Looking forward to seeing you on the other side. I noticed that nearly everyone freaks themselves out a couple of days before. You should. You are about to alter your life, and we pray for the good...or even great. I really recommend reading this post: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/195065-you-know-you-lost-weight-when/
It will remind you why you are on this journey. Good luck, best wishes. In a month you will be totally "why didn't I do this years ago."

I think it's partially PMS, and then a lot of stuff going on in my life, but holy cow I'm emotional. So much going through my brain. Surgery is Wednesday at 9:30, and my pre-op appointment was today. It's just very real now. I'm still very ready to do this, and I am not questioning my decision, but the EMOTIONS. I'm teary and sensitive.
Is this "normal?"

If you are thinking about having the wedding approximately a year to a year and a half after your surgery you will be fine!! By that time most of your weight loss will have occurred and your stomach healed so you can partake of some of your yummy wedding food.< /p>
One of my best friends just got married last weekend and she is 15 months post op!!
Congratulations!!

@@redsohare I Waited 5 years so I'm not the one to answer that. You can plan the wedding just don't buy a dress!

I just made Protein balls with Peanut Butter, Protein Powder and sf Torani Syrup last night. I made a bunch of them and put them in the freezer. They are delicious and one was pretty filling.

My "cookie" substitute was Protein balls that taste like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I took Peanut Butter and chocolate Protein powder and mixed it up until real smooth. I rolled it into balls the size of walnuts. One, sometimes two was more than enough to take off the edge of hunger. Just don't forget that peanut butter has calories and you wouldn't want to go crazy with this.
My liquid diet included bone broth, which was basically homemade vegetable Soup with meat on the bone, and vegetables. Boyfriend ate the veggies and meat. I drank the broth.< /p>
My preferred brand for shake mix was Syntrax Nectars. My favorite was the grapefruit because when I mixed up with Crystal Lite Lemonade it tasted like Fresca soda. They have a lot of flavors. I waaaaay overbought and took about 18 months to use it up. Right now I have on hand Syntrax Matrix vanilla, Syntrax Matrix chocolate Mint (tastes like a Peppermint Patty) and Core Athlete pumpkin Spice......OMG it's actually good!
I used the unflavored in Soups.< /p>
My Vitamin is a generic brand from Walgreens, labeled for women over 50. My labs are fine.
My goal outfit is just a few pounds from fitting. I bought white skinny jeans and a Vera Wang silk blouse. I have never in my life bought clothes of any quality. Vera was my first. I also ditched the white granny panties and Walmart $6 bras for good quality girly things that match.
I felt a difference in my weight at 30 pounds down, and that is when my primary noticed a difference in my face and skin tone. People around me noticed a difference around 50 pounds down. At 65 pounds down I had an appointment with my pain specialist whom I had not seen since pre-op. He did not recognize me and when he and his nurses were doing their pre-procedure "time out", he said "Are your SURE we have the right patient on the table." I cracked up. Total NSV!

People here like Quest Protein bars (I love them) but it will be a month at least after surgery before you are probably allowed to eat them. They are great in a pinch.

@@redsohare you can buy samples of Optimum Nutrition and several other brands at nashuanutrition.com. I would give you a direct link but it looks like the site is temporarily down for maintenance. Hopefully they will come back soon! Just Google Nashua Nutrition Protein Samples and it should come right up -- but keep in mind, you don't want their "free samples" page, you want the one where you purchase samples. The free samples page usually doesn't offer anything you would want. Good luck!

Do you have any recipes for low-carb high Protein Cookies? I want to make sure I have something I can take with me to Florida that's more exciting/quick than a shake if I need it available. I've been googling, but I thought I would ask the general hive-mind.
Okay, this will sound harsh but I promise you I don't mean it that way! Cookies? IMO, best not to try to re-create the foods that led you to obesity and kid yourself that they are healthy. Don't worry about whether food is "exciting." food isn't entertainment. You want excitement, go to a horror movie or ride a rollercoaster. Pack some packets of flavored tuna or salmon, or take some turkey Jerky.
What was your pre-op grocery list? low-sodium V8, boxes of broth (chicken, beef, ginger miso), CarbMaster milk (Fair Life is similar if you don't have Kroger stores near you), SF popsicles and fudgesicles, light cranberry juice.
What is your favorite flavored Protein powder and why? Favorite is probably Chike, it tastes the best to me. Their iced coffee flavor in particular is one I love. However, the numbers aren't necessarily the best, so I have also used Syntrax nectar Sweets, Syntrax Matrix, powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury chocolate Splendor, and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard. All sorts of flavors. I really like coffee drinks so if I am not using coffee flavored protein powder (or even if I am), I will add a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee to my chocolate or vanilla Protein shakes. Also, I used a lot of Unjury chicken Soup flavored protein immediately after surgery because that tasted better to me than anything sweet.
Realistically, how "quickly" do you go through a tub of powder? I know that I wont be making full shakes for a while, so not sure how much I need to have on hand.
Just buy lots of samples before surgery. Your tastes may very well change with surgery, so no use investing in a big tub before hand IMO.
Do you use an "unflavored" protein powder? If so, which one? I think this would be good to be able to add to Soups etc if needed.
I used it a little bit, both Syntrax Nectar and Unjury. The thing with adding it to hot liquids is that you have to be very careful about the temperature or it will turn into a curdled disgusting mess.
What Vitamin (brand) did you use post-op? my NUT was not specific.
For the first four weeks after surgery, I did a double dose of Wellesse liquid Multi-Vitamin. After that I switched to Trader Joe's High Potency chewable multi - cheaper, lower calorie, and lower carb than virtually every other chewable out there, especially the "bariatric" Vitamins. My labs have always been great.
Do/Did you have a goal outfit (even if not a final goal)? If so, how did you pick it? Any recommendations on what I should look for in clothing for my new body?
No goal outfit. My only piece of advice for clothing is that when you are in the process of weight loss, stick with used clothing (thrift stores, EBay, thredup) or with what you can find at incredibly discounted sales.
When did you start to "feel" your weight loss? I've already lost some, but still dont really feel it.
I don't honestly remember very well. Maybe 3 months after surgery?
When did others start to notice your weight loss?
I initially lost about 60 lbs during the pre-op year, which no one really noticed (I started at over 350). Then when I had lost about 50 lbs after surgery people started to notice. At 75 lbs after surgery people who hadn't seen me since surgery were visibly startled.

Warning: this is more or less a variation on the never ending ‘should I tell a guy I’m dating’ & ‘how quys react to WLS’ theme, so if you are tired of that jibber jabber, move on to something else.
I’m just 1 month out. I’ve recently met a guy and although I’m not exactly into dating at the moment, we immediately hit it off. So we went on a couple of foodless, Decaf, non-alcoholic dates, and surprisingly had a lot of fun. Apart from me constantly having to come up with reasons for my unconventional dating behavior while still giving the impression of a sane person, of course.
I hate lying on dates (not that I have moral issues, it just makes me more nervous), so coming up with answers that were truthful but wouldn’t expose the fact I had WLS has been EXHAUSTING. This is just a sample dialog: ‘Does 6 pm work for you?’ ‘Can we make it 7?’ ‘That’s fine. What do you do at 6?’ ‘I’m having dinner’ ‘Couldn’t we have dinner together?’ ‘I don’t think that’s the best idea’ ‘Why, do you have celery for dinner? ’ etc.
So yesterday he invited me over and it was all going very smoothly, except he kept offering me something to drink, and I just got tired of excuses, so… I told him I recently had the surgery to help me lose weight and I was in recovery, following a special diet.
After a minute or two of what seemed to me like an awkward silence, ‘Ok. So are you allowed to have sex yet?’
Am I crazy to think out of all the answers he could have given, that one was actually pretty good?

Got my date finally -- 10/21! I am excited.
I'm in Atlanta.

Got my date finally -- 10/21! I am excited.
I'm in Atlanta.