Riverswept

Today I got my surgery!!! Oh my word it feel so very unreal!
Wishing everyone the best luck! We got this!
Bariatric Barbie
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I have been getting a 502 Bad Gateway message any time I've tried to edit my profile. I emailed the site's "contact us" email. Their online comment form didn't work either.
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Wow maybe it is a surgery thing i have checked my suger levels and they have been fine. This morning it did not fully happen to me like in the passed but i still felt cold so i revert back to an old habit presurgery i tucked my hands under my shirt to my belly to try to warm up and usually i can but this time it felt different. I placed my hands on my belly and only felt cold. I moved my hands around but it all felt cold. I slid my hands between my thighs (no judgement please) and that area was warm go figure. I will see the surgeon on the 22nd so ill ask about it if he gives me a straight answer, since he has a dry sence of humor, i will let yall know.
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Have a great week everyone!
Had lapband surgery 10/12/16

Awesome <3 Mine is January 17, 2017 RNY bypass. Merry Christmas

Soon I will be joining you as well. Dec 26 is amazingly close. I wish you the best!

That's great! I'm a revision so I was really nervous about it being approved. Plus I have a really strict timeline with getting off work. It was either get the surgery next week (scheduling it for Monday means I'm out exactly two weeks) or wait until May to have it
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Okay so my first year was phenomenal! I did so good! And this past year? Well... not so much. My loss slowed around the end of last year and continued to be slow/creeping for the first couple of months. Chalk it up to holidays, the stress after a move, poor planning, it wasn't a great time. And I should have followed that up with renewed vigor, but instead I re-introduced two things into my life that has made this year, frankly?, a complete waste!
1. Carbs! I started re-introducing them back in February. Just a little at first. But what was an occasional thing turned into an every day thing, turned into an (almost) every meal thing, turned into an (almost) every meal/every snack thing. It's a slippery slope. And the worst part about this is that I don't even enjoy them that much! They're just convenient and EVERYWHERE.
2. Snacking. Before I was mostly doing the strict 5-6 meals/snacks per day. It would occasionally deviate, but for the most part, that was my mainstay. After introducing carbs, the desire to snack became so much stronger. The more carbs I ate, the more I snacked, the more I snacked, the more I ate carbs. It was just a gross gigantic avalanche of snacking/carbing.
3. Facebook! Can I blame the fact that I re-introduced Facebook on this? I recently read (a real article, though I can't remember the name of the publication at the moment! I THINK it was NYT.) that surveys suggest that Facebook takes up more of our time than exercising, reading, and socializing per day COMBINED. COMBINED. That's... INSANE. To know that I've wasted good quality exercising (and reading!) time on Facebook (which I don't even really LIKE, which is why I avoided it for SO LONG.) is mind boggling to me. I haven't deleted the app from my phone yet, but I'm doing it tonight! I'll keep messenger because for some reason people prefer that to texting these days. STILL. This is unacceptable in my world view. How did I allow this to happen?
I have not technically gained weight this year because I looked back and I'm around the same I was this time last year. So that's... something? But with gains and losses, I did gain back about 25 lbs. You could say ALMOST 30, but the only reason I ever dipped that low was because I had mycoplasma pneumonia (the one with gastrointestinal symptoms) for 2 weeks in the middle of the year. Apart from that one week period where I had lost weight because of Illness, I'd been hovering at about 255 for a pretty long time this year. Then, when I stepped on the scale one week ago I was shocked to discover that I was weighing in at 278.5. 23 and half pounds higher than my (non-pnuemonia-induced) lowest weight!
The little progress that I did make this year, just kept being erased by my poor choices! I hadn't stepped on a scale since I'd been sick. I was in deep denial!
I immediately joined a dietbet (which I'm going to lose because I'm losing too quickly!) and started eating right again. No carbs, veggies, Protein (at least 70/day), getting in my fluids, only eating 5/6 times/day. I began losing weight so rapidly that I couldn't believe it. Still can't. That was Dec 1st. When I weighed myself this morning. I'd already lost 12 lbs! This is TWO YEARS out from surgery. I haven't had ANY TIME this week to exercise (though I do babysit after work so I usually get all my steps in.) This tool still works! It still does EXACTLY what it's designed to do! And the REALLY remarkable part of this? Half way into this week, my dentist had to prescribe me an antibiotic AND a steroid. A steroid! Yet I still managed to lose 12 lbs. I feel like I JUST had surgery. These are astonishing numbers even if it's mostly Water weight. Even if I'd just lost 6/5 lbs this week I would have been astounded. 12 is beyond anything I ever expected.
Some things I've noticed this week:
1. I still don't miss carbs (much!)
It's hard to step away. But honestly? I just feel so dissatisfied with what I'm eating when I'm eating carbs. I've always been more of a meat and veggie girl. Carbs are just so abundant, so easily accessible and convenient, and so weirdly addictive even if you don't really love them, that it's just a habit I fall into that is almost exclusively environmental. I just need to REMEMBER that I control my own "food environment" if I make the time to plan!
2. I have to remember to take my Vitamins.
I still have them, I just have lapsed in taking them. Now that I really need them again, it's more important to remember!
3. I am going to the bathroom very infrequently, much like I did the first year post-surgery.
4. My capacity really is not as high as I feared.
When you nibble, stretch out your meals into long social affairs, snack frequently, eat slider foods, it can really be a bit of a mind trick. You start to believe that you can still eat like you used to. But you can't, you're just adapting what you CAN do, to what you WANT to do. If you want to eat more, you'll make it happen. You have to MAKE YOURSELF use your tool the way it was intended.
If I eat good quality veggies and protein, eat from start to finish (no stopping to chat OR BROWSE FACEBOOK for ten minutes in between bites!), I can still only eat ABOUT a solid cup of food before I'm comfortably full. Might take a few extra bites to make me UNCOMFORTABLY full depending on what the food is. I made a double-batch of Skinnytaste's Stuffed Pepper Soup (without rice) last week. Which is not very brothy and more like a stew. Yesterday I had a cup of that for lunch. (my ladle measures exactly one cup). By the time I finished the cup, I was UNCOMFORTABLY full. I actually should have stopped a few bites before I finished. Because it was stew-like, it was way more dense. For dinner today I had about 2 ounces of roasted chicken breast (which doesn't equal a half cup if you cut it up in chunks), about a half a cup of sauteed brussels sprouts, and a little less than a tablespoon full of homemade pimento cheese melted over the top. I was perfectly full by the time I was done. Not too full. Not still hungry. Just right.
5. I'm worried this will not last. I don't mean I'm worried I will fail again. I'm sure I will and I have a plan for that. (Get back on that horse, not 10 months later, but two minutes later!, etc.) I'm worried that I'll somehow do the same thing I did this week and for some reason I won't lose. I think I told myself for a long time this year that it wasn't ME and MY CHOICES that were causing me not to lose. It was something else. So I just have to remember that I am in control and I think these worries will go away. I'm really excited to get back to the gym too. Babysteps!
I'm so thrilled at this NEW START. I wonder if anyone else is in the same boat I am, or is in the same boat I was a week ago? Has anyone had long-term success with a re-start? After a period of not losing or a period of slight re-gain? What are you doing? What's working? What's not? How did you "re-boot?" Did you do the pouch test? What warnings do you have? Etc?
I feel like a newbie. It feels kind of good!

Just got my surgery scheduled for December 26th! So excited I can hardly wait! Going to spend next week doing work so I won't have to worrying about taking time off and prepping for after surgery! So excited!
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I had the traditional DS
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I got the call after only waiting a week thank goodness. I will be getting the ds surgery on January 17th!
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The Duodenal Switch is the most aggressive of all the weight loss surgeries, so I reckon it'll have the toughest recovery physically...but I imagine you knew that, going in. What you're enduring mentally, though, pretty much everyone goes through in some form or another, I think. My first couple of weeks, I was pretty obsessed with food. I was watching food Network a lot. I don't know why I was torturing myself but it was like my brain was raging against the fact that I had taken away its comfort, entertainment...whatever. It was almost like it was trying to punish me, reminding me of what I'd given up. Eventually I started to think of it that way; that my psyche had become so accustomed to using food in ways other than simply providing fuel, that it was rebelling against the change.
But you know what? It passed. The obsessing about food passed, and each strange new wrinkle that I have to deal with mentally or emotionally has passed, given time and exposure. I just realized over the past couple of days that I no longer feel weird about my portions. I used to be dealing with the feeling that it wasn't enough, every time I put my little portion on a plate. Now it feels normal to me.
You are going to go through ups and downs mentally, but be aware of them. Think about why you're feeling the way you are and ask yourself if it's rational. You know why you had the surgery, you know what you wanted to achieve through it. You knew what you were giving up, and the reasons for it. This is where the rubber hits the road...you've had the surgery, and now it's time to change. And I think most of us know that you're feeling the resistance to change that your "old brain" is putting up, because we've all felt it in some form or another. And the unfortunate thing is, we'll all probably be dealing with that for the rest of our lives...working to counteract those impulses. But you took a big step to get it under control...and that is what you've done. You have taken measures that will allow you to get it under control.
The physical stuff will improve as you heal, a little better every day. The mental stuff will take time and conscious effort to change. But it'll come together, you just have to be patient and diligent. Just do what you can. As for the "doctoring" your Protein shakes, I'm afraid of what that means...but I am hoping it doesn't mean adding stuff you shouldn't be having, because you'll only be causing yourself problems if you do that. If all you can do is drink Protein Shakes and you need to skip meals, then do that - as long as you are getting your Protein every day, and you are getting your Water, you will be fine. Over time, you'll get meals in too...just don't sweat it. One foot in front of the other.
And stay off the scale for a few weeks. People obsess about the scale. It is your enemy, avoid it. I am only weighing once a month, personally.

Bring something for your spouse to read!

Definately dont stress about it. The biggest thing is making sure you have plenty of Water, homemade broth, and maybe even some sf popsicles or sf pudding. For the first week you won't eat much more than that.
Also, have a heating pad available. It helps with the gas pain.
Honestly for me this surgery was a piece of cake. It was getting used to the life changes after that are more difficult but it just takes a few weeks and you will be well on your way.
Hope all goes well! See you on the other side.

Hey Ally I am in Plano
I had the sleeve so a little different but as far as needing help keep in mind you will not be able to lift much for 5 or 6 weeks.
What do you do every day? Take care of kids? Walk the dog?
I didn't do laundry or load or unload the dishwasher for about a week. I went to the store with my husband but didn't lift anything. Of course, I have my hubby and 2 adult kids so maybe I milked it for all it was worth for as long as I could. I still make my husband take the wet clothes out of the washer sometimes for me because wet towels and jeans are heavy.
I do understand maybe wanting to rest alone but it really depends on what you have to do every day.

Just reading some of the threads from re-starters and a lot of us are doing great. Keep up your good work.
For all those still struggling, today just try to master ONE THING. then in a few days try another thing. It will kick back in!
Check in here. I'm personally checking out a new support group in my area next week and although I'm nervous to go (because of my regain), I think that it really is necessary for accountability.
Hang in there everybody!!

I can't believe how quickly time is flying today is my pre op appt. I get to meet my anesthesiologist take xrays and get lab work done. My nerves are starting to get the best of me by how close the date is getting. Im so nervous. But still super excited about every life changing moment of this process.
9 days untill WLS

I didn't say not have fat. I said don't have anything TOO fatty, like deep fried stuff. I totally agree with you. Good fats are good for us.

I do not perceive that it had any adverse reaction on my marriage. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass and I have been married for over 40 years.
I think it had a positive impact because it put many of my health issues in remission, so I will live longer and also more capable of household chores. My wife doesn't want to be left alone if I passed early.
From what I read, some individuals experience chaotic emotions after surgery because as the fat cells dissolve they release chemicals and hormones that are stored within. Therefore they experience a hormonal flush. This generally dies down once they reach the maintenance phase. It also appears that many individuals can become more sexually active after weight loss and also more fertile.

My Dr put me on stool softener day after surgery. I take 2 a day and I have to say they helped. You do not want to strain. My first BM after surgery was a killer, but once I started with the stool softener it became better. (TMI) sorry

https://poshmark.com/closet/rionastar
If you haven't checked out Poshmark you might want to. Lots of people selling clothes for cheap.

Ever since switching to more of a plant based diet, I've noticed some positive changes. For one, its been easier to stay hydrated. I eat quite a few vegetables daily that have the highest Water content of any food. Below is an interesting article that lists such foods. Cucumbers just happen to be number 1 since they are about 98% Water. I actually find that I crave cucumbers and apple cider vinegar during the day. Apple cider vinegar is wonderful for vitality and overall health. I've already written a long post about it a few months back, but I do recommend it for decreasing hunger and increasing energy.
Ever since hitting goal, I've grown respect for fresh fruits and vegetables. The surgery has perhaps made them more appealing? Anyone else notice this?
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/list-fruits-vegetable-high-water-content-8958.html

That article is not scientifically accurate at all. A very low-fat (10-20%), whole food, plant-based diet has been proven over and over again to be absolutely the most healthful diet. When are obtained by eating the foods from which they are extracted (e.g. Corn not corn oil; olives not olive oil, peanuts not peanut oil), you get the full benefit of the food instead of a ton of calories with only a tiny bit of nutritional benefit.
The problem is, most studies that compare low-fat to other diets are not low fat at all. They are typically 25 to 50% fat!