onehappychick

We've all been there. Especially when you're about 5 days into the all liquid diet and can't muster any thought besides "this sucks!" The most important part of the pre op diet is the last 3 days. Hint. Post op the first 3 days suck. Pure suck. Uncomfortable (not really pain), surreal, confusing. By day 5 you'll have energy and start going from shock to adjusting. Can you tell him not sugar coating it? From there is about following the liquid then soft food guidelines. I didn't get all my Protein or Water. Still don't. But I do try everyday. That's the key. 40+ grams a day, yes. Most days. Not all. And 40 grams is below target. Oh well. I was sleeved on 3/29. I'm down 48lbs and have exercised exactly twice. Ankle injury 5 days post op is healing now. 48lbs! No hunger. No exercise. And no, I'm not a poster child for doing it right. But I did have to go buy all new clothes 7 weeks post op. I do enjoy the best food because it's 3 meals for me. And I didn't tell ANYONE about surgery. My story is hypnosis and acupuncture. No joke. My office friends are amazed at how powerful hypnotherapy is . In short. Do it. Don't look back. You will still love and enjoy food. In small quantities, and you'll be full.
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I too had 2oz of tuna during my pre-op diet... the surgeon told me it really only shrinks to right lobe of liver since it's smaller... my surgery went awesome 5/18... reading this post makes me chuckle cuz I also stressed out B4 surgery, like he was going to find the 2 2oz of tuna sitting on my liver and abort my surgery...
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I have a BMI of 35. I'm 5'9" and weigh in at 233. I have had lots of my co-workers (which are also ER nurses) tell me I don't need the surgery. Mind you these girls have BMI's of 22-24. So at 44 I have adopted the attitude of I really don't care what you think. It is my body, my health, my need to be around for my three girls.
My surgery is scheduled for 06/07/16. I am nervous but feel so blessed to be able to do this. I lost my mom at the age of 49 to a brain tumor and my dad to a cancer called Liposarcoma, which means it arose from his fat cells., at the age of 57. So as I creep closer to these ages I want to be as healthy as I can.
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I am now on day 10 of the diet and my goodness it has gotten so much easier. I am basically able to go about my normal life without even having to worry about what I have eaten which is actually kind of awesome. My energy levels surprisingly enough are through the roof. I woke up early before work and ran 45 minutes at the gym, had a full day of work and even played 4 games of pickup basketball after work and besides being a little sore I feel fine. Surgery is only 5 days away and I cannot wait!

Absolutely no judgement here but I would like to bring up some ideas. As a nurse I would be concerned about the fact that cross addiction is an enormous concern. After WLS people have an
increased chance of becoming addicted to other substances since food is no longer feeding our addiction.
I would also be concerned that alcohol and cocaine could upset the electrolyte apple cart and be more dangerous for a person that has had surgery vs one who hasn't. Please be careful, it would be crazy if you changed your life with weight loss and ended up an alcoholic.
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Wow!!!! You would never know by looking at you that you had a weight problem! Are you like 6'8"?
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My kids are 25 and 27...can I still blame it on pregnancy?

Walking also prevents blood clots which prevents pulmonary embolism, keep walking!!!
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Walking also prevents blood clots which prevents pulmonary embolism, keep walking!!!
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Chew ice...
It 'tricks' your body into thinking it's eaten AND it keeps you hydrated...
And for the love of God, stick with it!!!
It gets better...
I promise...
And altho I do make sh*t up, I'm not this time...
Keep us posted...

How bad is the post op pain? Is it possible to get through without the use of narcotics? I hate narcotics and usually only take Motrin. Can you take liquid Motrin? I have birthed 3 kidney stones with only Motrin so I'm not a wimp. And information is greatly appreciated.
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I didn't want anything to hinder my weight loss, so I stayed away until I was close to goal. Even now I eat it sparingly and only whole grains. Nothing white and never Pasta.
It's that shit that made us fat in the first place!

Bless you and continue to work on you just as before and allow Karma to take its course! Because Karma is a mofo! Concentrate on you and your kids
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22 years strong as of about 3 weeks ago - I am blessed.
He has been my partner since day 1.
I also kept him informed from the very beginning and asked for his input/fears/concerns about me undergoing surgery.

Whitneymc, I too suffered from depression. I lost my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and father in law in a short time frame. I was suicidal. I got help from my psychiatrist and am now considered in remission. She did my psych evaluation and it was fine. I would be worried if you didn't address the depression. It could rear its ugly head after the surgery. If you are already in a bad place and have surgery, it might send you further into the black hole.
I have been great for 4 years but I still plan on increasing my psychiatrist visits a little bit after surgery to stay on the right track.
I don't know if you believe in prayer but I will be praying for you!
Yohonna
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Whitneymc, I too suffered from depression. I lost my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and father in law in a short time frame. I was suicidal. I got help from my psychiatrist and am now considered in remission. She did my psych evaluation and it was fine. I would be worried if you didn't address the depression. It could rear its ugly head after the surgery. If you are already in a bad place and have surgery, it might send you further into the black hole.
I have been great for 4 years but I still plan on increasing my psychiatrist visits a little bit after surgery to stay on the right track.
I don't know if you believe in prayer but I will be praying for you!
Yohonna
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Whitneymc, I too suffered from depression. I lost my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and father in law in a short time frame. I was suicidal. I got help from my psychiatrist and am now considered in remission. She did my psych evaluation and it was fine. I would be worried if you didn't address the depression. It could rear its ugly head after the surgery. If you are already in a bad place and have surgery, it might send you further into the black hole.
I have been great for 4 years but I still plan on increasing my psychiatrist visits a little bit after surgery to stay on the right track.
I don't know if you believe in prayer but I will be praying for you!
Yohonna
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I work an 11a-11p shift in a busy ER. We are balls to the wall the entire shift. My doc says I can go back to work in 2 weeks. How do you get you 5-6 little meals in during work? Sometimes we get a lunch break and sometimes we don't.
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Whitneymc, I too suffered from depression. I lost my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and father in law in a short time frame. I was suicidal. I got help from my psychiatrist and am now considered in remission. She did my psych evaluation and it was fine. I would be worried if you didn't address the depression. It could rear its ugly head after the surgery. If you are already in a bad place and have surgery, it might send you further into the black hole.
I have been great for 4 years but I still plan on increasing my psychiatrist visits a little bit after surgery to stay on the right track.
I don't know if you believe in prayer but I will be praying for you!
Yohonna
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Thank you so much, Valentina!! I really appreciate the prayers! Hugs!
Yohonna
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Whitneymc, I too suffered from depression. I lost my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and father in law in a short time frame. I was suicidal. I got help from my psychiatrist and am now considered in remission. She did my psych evaluation and it was fine. I would be worried if you didn't address the depression. It could rear its ugly head after the surgery. If you are already in a bad place and have surgery, it might send you further into the black hole.
I have been great for 4 years but I still plan on increasing my psychiatrist visits a little bit after surgery to stay on the right track.
I don't know if you believe in prayer but I will be praying for you!
Yohonna
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How bad is the post op pain? Is it possible to get through without the use of narcotics? I hate narcotics and usually only take Motrin. Can you take liquid Motrin? I have birthed 3 kidney stones with only Motrin so I'm not a wimp. And information is greatly appreciated.
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I would fill the narcotic med prescription and discuss non NSAID options with surgeon. Better to have stronger stuff on hand and not need it, than need it and not have it.

Hi Everyone, I'm a husband to my beautiful wife and father to my beautiful 18 month old daughter. They are the reason I went through the surgery. I want to make sure that I am here on earth as long as I can be to grow old with them, and being obese doesn't increase longevity. Time has gone by so fast these last 2 years, especially after my Mom passed in Jan 2014. You forget just how temporal life actually is and you have to make the most of it.
I didn't go to college, but I have a great corporate job that pays the bills but monopolizes my time. I am in payroll administration and sometimes the schedule can be a bit much. I'm sure we could all say we wished we didn't work as much! I'm sort of a geek, to the fact that I still like to play video games and I'm 30 years old.
I'm a Christian, saved by the loving mercy of Jesus Christ, who brought me out of the horrible life I had before as a drug addict. I'm living proof that you do not have to be an addict for the rest of your life. One trip down to the altar and I've never even had a second thought about the drugs I did before.
I love this forum since I joined and will definitely keep coming back for the advice and the success stories! Thanks for letting me share!

Hi, you can call me Uncle Buck, and I'm a fat guy. The scales really don't support that statement these days, thus my screen name. However, once a fat guy, always a fat guy. I'm a bit more than two year out from surgery. I came within 15 pounds of my goal weight, which is good news-bad news. I'm content where I am, but I'd really like to get that last 15 pounds off to say I made it. To do that, I need to get my head back in the right place, which is why I'm here.
I was born a dirt poor fat guy. Men in my family fall into one of two categories: skinny as a rail or ginormous. I was one of the genetic lottery winners who fell into the ginormous category. I don't remember a time in my life when I wasn't fat. There have a been few times when I was able to lower the tonnage a bit, but it never lasted. Sound familiar to anyone?
I'm probably also not telling anyone any secrets by saying that fat kids aren't generally treated very well by the little monsters known as children. I was not the exception to that rule. My childhood could not be called enjoyable. The best I can say about it is that it ended. I did learn a couple of fairly valuable lessons. The first was that if one gives a damn about what others think of them, it makes for a long childhood. I got over that. I also came to the realization that there was a lot bigger world than the podunk town where I grew up, I just needed to get there. Finally,I learned that I don't like kids and certainly didn't want any of my own. Little quasi-clones of me running around? The horror, the horror!
I mentioned earlier that I didn't exactly hit the genetic lottery in the gravity category. I did do fairly well in the brains category. Life got better for while when I hit college. I coasted through four years to my first bachelor's degree. I graduated out of the largest college at a pretty big school. Order of walking was by ranking, and I was the fifth out of about 500 people of walked that day. Not too shabby. However, I also found that I still didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life. At that point I made the biggest mistake of my life: I decided to go to law school.
Not to say that I didn't do well there. The genetic brains came in handy again, at least on paper. I graduated in the top 10 percent of a somewhat prestigious state school. However, I didn't really consider the reality that intelligence and ability usually don't mean squat, particularly in a highly competitive field. I didn't have any of the big three going for me: lots of money and high level contacts, a father/grandfather/uncle with a legal practice that I could move into, and I wasn't a hot female. About that time I started going through a process which became a recurring theme: everything looks good until the interviewer sees me, and at that point I may as well just leave. So I found myself with student loan debt that rivaled the trade deficit and no career prospects (remember the dirt poor bit from earlier?)
I chased a legal career for about 8 years with no success whatsoever. I don't want to sound as though I'm whining, but I think the primary reason for that was my weight. Okay maybe I'm whining, this is my spiel, I'm allowed. I had to come to grips with the fact that my window of opportunity had closed, and I had to come up with plan B. I remembered good advice I read once: if you want to get rich, do something that has to be done and no one else wants to do. I cast about for that job, and came across the occupational health and safety racket. Job that is needed: check. Job no one wants to do: check. Once can make pretty good money at it: check. Sign me up. A couple of years pursuing college degree number three in safety, and I actually found a job where they wanted me and didn't seem to care about my weight. Score!
Another unexpected consequence of changing my career was meeting my wife. I had given up on the concept of female congress, as a rule they don't care for ginormous guys. My wife didn't mind, and she actually got my sense of humor. Life was definitely looking up.
As most do, I wanted to advance my career. I did all the usual stuff, completed professional certifications, got college degree number four, a masters, yada yada yada. All I need now to bat the academic cycle is a PhD. Then that problematic interview game started again. Straight back to having outstanding phone interviews, and just watching the consternation on their faces when they actually saw me. You'd think I had a booger on my face or something.
This is where weight loss surgery comes in. I knew about it of course, but my basic idea was not just no, but hell no. I had been a bit of a curiosity in that I hadn't had any serious health problems associated with the ginormousness. However, my wife couldn't say that. She had weight loss surgery, and did fantastic. About the time she was at the peak of her fantasticness, I poured my copious arse into a plane seat and flew to yet another interview, to know within five minutes that I didn't have a hot dog's chance at a fat guys' convention of getting that job. I decided enough was enough and scheduled my initial consultation with my bariatric doc.
There's really not much to say about the process. The insurance company approved immediately, my surgery happened 90 days after my initial visit. The surgery went great, no complications. I was back to work in a week. The weight came off exactly as it was supposed to. I dropped about 140 in a year. One thing I did find interesting was that fact that my doc told me my stomach was 50 percent longer than an average, non-ginormous person. I don't want to use that as an excuse, but it did make feel a little bit less like an unmotivated slug.
I decided to try the job market again. If nothing else, it's a great way to see the inside of airports and meet new and boring people. Three job interviews. Three job offers. I talked my wife into letting me take number three.
The good news: I was finally making the money I should have been making 15 years ago. The bad news: people don't pay you a lot of money for taking over programs with no problems and in which everything is running smoothly. My stress level over the last year and a half has been quite high. Stress is not good for trying to get the last 15 pounds off. I don't think my diet could have been a lot worse. Every day I get on the scales expecting the weight to be coming back. Every day it stays right around 240. Having only 15 percent of a stomach can be a very good thing. I've had to remind myself that my life is not going to get less stressful, and the surgery isn't going to let me get away with being a sluggard for long. It's time to get back to business. Thus, this process of getting my head in the right place.
As an aside, you remember when I said my family produces either stick men or ginormousness? One of the reasons I never wanted children was an assumption that they would be ginormous like dad. Thus, me taking a dip in the gene pool was not a good idea. My brother was one of the stick figures. One of my nephews hit the ginormous gene lottery. People assume that he's my get. Remember my comment about the horror? He's 14 and already approaching 300. I really wish I could spare him the years that my weight cost me. At the same time, I guess he needs to find his own path. I suppose the cycle continues.
I really didn't plan on posting this, I just wanted to spew it out and then delete it. On second thought, I think I will post it. Anyone who has made it through to the end of this diatribe, my hat is tipped to you.