MNovalis

Hey all you beautiful people! I am, hopefully, just a few weeks away from my surgery. So happy to see that the Christian thread on here is active!

Most likely, the best thing that can happen in our weight loss journey is to 'fall off the wagon' a time or two. It reminds us that we are humans and still capable of failing. That our surgeries were not a fix-all for our bad eating habits that got us in the shape we were in to begin with. I don't know about the rest of you all, but I have learned from my falls what I can and cant eat, what my new stomach wont tolerate and that eating carbs today means I may just gain a pound tomorrow! Its all a learning process and many of the things I have learned are from falling off of that wagon!

Most likely, the best thing that can happen in our weight loss journey is to 'fall off the wagon' a time or two. It reminds us that we are humans and still capable of failing. That our surgeries were not a fix-all for our bad eating habits that got us in the shape we were in to begin with. I don't know about the rest of you all, but I have learned from my falls what I can and cant eat, what my new stomach wont tolerate and that eating carbs today means I may just gain a pound tomorrow! Its all a learning process and many of the things I have learned are from falling off of that wagon!

Most likely, the best thing that can happen in our weight loss journey is to 'fall off the wagon' a time or two. It reminds us that we are humans and still capable of failing. That our surgeries were not a fix-all for our bad eating habits that got us in the shape we were in to begin with. I don't know about the rest of you all, but I have learned from my falls what I can and cant eat, what my new stomach wont tolerate and that eating carbs today means I may just gain a pound tomorrow! Its all a learning process and many of the things I have learned are from falling off of that wagon!

Most likely, the best thing that can happen in our weight loss journey is to 'fall off the wagon' a time or two. It reminds us that we are humans and still capable of failing. That our surgeries were not a fix-all for our bad eating habits that got us in the shape we were in to begin with. I don't know about the rest of you all, but I have learned from my falls what I can and cant eat, what my new stomach wont tolerate and that eating carbs today means I may just gain a pound tomorrow! Its all a learning process and many of the things I have learned are from falling off of that wagon!

This is something I've always said, "If nothing changes......then NOTHING changes."

Girl, you got this!

I cried reading that list! Then I printed it out! I'm carrying it with me everywhere I go!

I'm a little late to this party, but I do believe in the prophetic and waiting on answers, etc. Let me ask you this. If your gall bladder, or appendix, etc. were giving you trouble would you wait for a 'sign' or 'answer' to seek medical help and have it surgically remedied? I questioned having the sleeve surgery in the beginning too. And then I thought to myself, I trust medical professionals in other areas to take the knowledge that God has placed in them to 'fix' me, so why wouldnt I trust them to 'repair' my stomach and do something that can make me a healthier person? I have ZERO regrets in that decision! ZERO! I hope that you have decided to pursue the necessary steps to a healthier you, whether they involved surgery, lifestyle or whatever avenue you felt lead to pursue! God Bless!

Since about a week before my surgery, I began telling everyone, EVERYone, that I was having WLS. So far, no haters. And if they do surface...oh well. I've got bigger problems to deal with. Like shopping for new clothes! :-) Seriously though, once I reached the 75 lb weight loss mark, I even went on Facebook and posted before and after pics and announced to the whole 'world' what I had done and to my surprise, got nothing but support and "Wow, you look great!" And even a few curious questions about how they could do it. I'm over 50 years old, I aint got time to deal with haters! Life's too short for that mess! If people cant be supportive, then they can watch my 'slimmer' backside as it walks away!

Since about a week before my surgery, I began telling everyone, EVERYone, that I was having WLS. So far, no haters. And if they do surface...oh well. I've got bigger problems to deal with. Like shopping for new clothes! :-) Seriously though, once I reached the 75 lb weight loss mark, I even went on Facebook and posted before and after pics and announced to the whole 'world' what I had done and to my surprise, got nothing but support and "Wow, you look great!" And even a few curious questions about how they could do it. I'm over 50 years old, I aint got time to deal with haters! Life's too short for that mess! If people cant be supportive, then they can watch my 'slimmer' backside as it walks away!

Good for you! I have told anyone and everyone about all facets of my journey -- including the surgery -- from the very beginning. And I have not had one remotely off-color thing said (at least to my face). And I pity the person who ever would say anything like that. They'd have a confrontation on their hands that they wouldn't soon forget!! To lose nearly 160 pounds, surgery or not, is a pretty impressive feat. Someone would have to be pretty ignorant to disparage such hard work and commitment.

Since about a week before my surgery, I began telling everyone, EVERYone, that I was having WLS. So far, no haters. And if they do surface...oh well. I've got bigger problems to deal with. Like shopping for new clothes! :-) Seriously though, once I reached the 75 lb weight loss mark, I even went on Facebook and posted before and after pics and announced to the whole 'world' what I had done and to my surprise, got nothing but support and "Wow, you look great!" And even a few curious questions about how they could do it. I'm over 50 years old, I aint got time to deal with haters! Life's too short for that mess! If people cant be supportive, then they can watch my 'slimmer' backside as it walks away!

Since about a week before my surgery, I began telling everyone, EVERYone, that I was having WLS. So far, no haters. And if they do surface...oh well. I've got bigger problems to deal with. Like shopping for new clothes! :-) Seriously though, once I reached the 75 lb weight loss mark, I even went on Facebook and posted before and after pics and announced to the whole 'world' what I had done and to my surprise, got nothing but support and "Wow, you look great!" And even a few curious questions about how they could do it. I'm over 50 years old, I aint got time to deal with haters! Life's too short for that mess! If people cant be supportive, then they can watch my 'slimmer' backside as it walks away!

Since about a week before my surgery, I began telling everyone, EVERYone, that I was having WLS. So far, no haters. And if they do surface...oh well. I've got bigger problems to deal with. Like shopping for new clothes! :-) Seriously though, once I reached the 75 lb weight loss mark, I even went on Facebook and posted before and after pics and announced to the whole 'world' what I had done and to my surprise, got nothing but support and "Wow, you look great!" And even a few curious questions about how they could do it. I'm over 50 years old, I aint got time to deal with haters! Life's too short for that mess! If people cant be supportive, then they can watch my 'slimmer' backside as it walks away!

Since about a week before my surgery, I began telling everyone, EVERYone, that I was having WLS. So far, no haters. And if they do surface...oh well. I've got bigger problems to deal with. Like shopping for new clothes! :-) Seriously though, once I reached the 75 lb weight loss mark, I even went on Facebook and posted before and after pics and announced to the whole 'world' what I had done and to my surprise, got nothing but support and "Wow, you look great!" And even a few curious questions about how they could do it. I'm over 50 years old, I aint got time to deal with haters! Life's too short for that mess! If people cant be supportive, then they can watch my 'slimmer' backside as it walks away!

This past Sunday I completed another goal I set for myself. I completed the 2017 Disneyland Star Wars Half Marathon. While I wasn't fast I finished in 2:51:33.

Despite the look on my face I was actually very happy (almost in tears #revokemancard). This event will hold a special place in my heart.

I have completed many 5 and 10k events. My first being in a 5K in November of 2015. Now here I am coming up on my 2 year anniversary in March and completed my first half. Before having this surgery I would have never entertained the idea of running a half let alone anything else.

I'm having my surgery in Birmingham too! Dr Pennington at Grandview Medical Center. Sorry, I haven't seen anyone else on here near me.....I got excited !
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Thank you!

Over the last few weeks, I've seen a number of posts about "cheating" on the diet plan in the days and weeks immediately following surgery, and I am very concerned about this trend.

I am not a doctor, I do not play one on TV, and I am not dispensing medical advice.

However.

I am a registered nurse, and what I'm about to say is an informed and educated opinion.

Surgeons tend to give VERY detailed instructions about what to eat after a stomach surgery, and for VERY good reason.

Even when the surgery is arthroscopic and looks to be a very tiny surgery on the outside, it's a VERY BIG surgery on the inside. The VSG surgery leaves a staple/suture line the entire length of the stomach. That incision has to heal, and if you could see it, it would look like raw beef. If the incision were on the outside, we would be very careful with it, keeping it clean and bandaged while it healed. Of course, it's on the inside, so we can't do that. But we need to keep in mind that it needs to heal in the same way.

We have to eat, and that food will be against that raw incision. At the same time that we have to protect the healing stomach, we also have to get in plenty of fluids and nutrients, specifically Protein, in order to support healing. Protein is the primary building block for tissue, so it's critical to healing. Carbs are mainly just energy sources, so they're not as important, especially given that people having bariatric surgery have plenty of energy in their fat stores. This is why protein is stressed so heavily over carbs in the diets.

Additionally, the stomach is now in a new shape, and it basically has to learn how to function as a slender tube instead of a big bag. There's a learning curve. Kinda like a newborn baby's stomach. We don't dump steak and salad into a newborn's stomach for good reason - it doesn't know how to deal with it. Similarly, we don't want to do that to our new sleeve. We start off with stuff that's easy on the suture line and easy to digest, and as the suture line heals and the sleeve learns its job, start working our way up to "real" food.

So over the years, doctors have learned what foods are best for a healing stomach, and that translates into the post-op diet progression instructions.

Typically, that looks like this: Clear liquids, then full liquids, then pureed foods, then soft foods, then slowly move into a "full" diet beginning with high moisture content foods first. When moving from one stage to the next, it's typically advised to add just one food at a time, in small amounts, and see how it's tolerated. A food that's not tolerated well can be tried later on as well. If an entire stage is not being tolerated, back up to the previous stage for a while, and then try again more slowly.

Surgeons tend to specify how long to stay in each of these stages, what types of food make up each stage, and how to transition to the next stage. Every surgeon's instructions are a little different, and it's based on their experience and sometimes changes based on the patient's specific medical case.

The general idea in the very early weeks is to eat foods that will not stress the healing suture line, and do not have particles that are known to cut into the raw tissue or get embedded into the suture line. If a cut or embedded food particle gets infected, it can become an abscess and develop into a leak. A leak can be life threatening, and at the very least cause the patient to have to be hospitalized and possibly have more surgery to correct it. Foods that are particularly known to cause issues are those that swell up like rice, have seeds like strawberries, or have rough hard edges or hard to digest fibers like wheat crackers or raw vegetables.

There are people who eat all sorts of things against their doctor's orders and have suffered no ill effects, but this should not be used as an argument that the doctor's orders are not important. Similarly, you will find some people who smoke a pack of cigarettes every day and drink a pint of whiskey every day but live to 100. They are not representative of most people, and should not be used as the example other people follow.

The reality is that some people will develop abscesses and leaks because they ate things before they were cleared to by their doctors, and there is no way to predict who will have the complications and who will not. And the consequences can be as severe as death. It's not common, but that's how bad it can get. That's why the doctors give the instructions they do. They're not just testing you or trying to make your life hard. They are giving you the best information they have to keep you safe.

Violating these orders is not "cheating" on a diet. It's risking your life. I am not being overly dramatic with this statement, it is a fact that it has happened. You are risking your safety and your health if you violate these orders. It's not about "being human", it's not about "food addiction". It's about your safety and your health. It's hard to be on liquids only for 2 weeks (or more). Some people have huge cravings, or "head hunger" as we tend to call it here. Or just want desperately to chew something. No one is saying it's easy. But it's necessary. Distract yourself. Eat/drink anything that's allowed on your plan - freeze it, heat it up, try something that's opposite of what you've been having to shake it up. Walk around the house or the block. Suck on an ice cube. Count to ten or a hundred. Post about how hard it is, and ask people to help you get through it. But muscle through. It's nothing less than your health and safety.

As for why one surgeon will have his patients on Clear Liquids for 2 weeks while another only does 2 days? Or why one will skip a phase entirely? Each surgeon has different experiences that inform his practices. One is not right and the other wrong. They are each operating out of what they were taught and what they have seen in their own patient groups. They may have even modified the plan because of a specific health concern in your specific case. As a patient, you need to fully understand what your surgeon expects, and if you have a problem with the protocols get it straight with your surgeon and team BEFORE you go under the knife.

If you don't trust your surgeon and his protocols, find another surgeon. I personally would question a surgeon who doesn't allow any Protein drinks including the clear ones for 2 full weeks post op (saw that in one patient's instructions on this site) and likely wouldn't work with that surgeon, given what I know about the needs of protein for healing. But after surgery is not the time to be questioning the surgeon's protocols. Get those questions asked and answered to your satisfaction well before the surgery date.

If you are having surgery, and you have not been given your post-op instructions, at the very least for the first 2 weeks post-op, do not proceed with the surgery until you have that information. We have people posting here stating that they were sent home without clear instructions as to what they were supposed to eat or drink, just a vague statement about "full liquids". That is not sufficient information, and instructions should be given WELL BEFORE the surgery, not after. You should fully understand what will be expected in the weeks after the surgery before consenting to the surgery, or your team is not doing their job.

(This ends my sorta rant about post-op diets and "cheating")

Good luck to everyone!

It all depends on your insurance. I would call or get online (in your bcbs account) and find the EXACT requirements. Likely, you'll have to have a BMI of 35, with 2 co morbidities or a bmi of 40 or more. 6 months of a supervised diet, a psychiatric evaluation, and be medically cleared for surgery.
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I am in Alabama and have BCBS as well. Of course it always depends on the individual plan itself, but I had to go through the 6 months of Dr supervised weight loss to gain approval. BUT, I don't regret it. You really do need that time to get your head wrapped around what you are about to go through, what you are about to put your body through. And it will go by pretty quickly in the grand scheme of things. My surgery date was here before I knew it!
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That's a long time but I guess I have no other choice. Some have waited 90 days so that's why I was confused. Thank you for your reply.

Absolutely what the above posters said..."Just keep doing what you are supposed to be doing!" Keep getting in your Protein and fluids and the weight WILL start to fall off. It has to. My longest stall was a little over 3 weeks and I attribute it all to stress. We were moving into our new house and I was hardly eating at all. I was only getting maybe 300-400 calories a day and I could NOT understand why I wasnt losing weight. Sure enough, once the furniture was moved in, and all the boxes delivered (stress was relieved) the weight literally began to melt off again! Just hang in there! It will happen!

Absolutely what the above posters said..."Just keep doing what you are supposed to be doing!" Keep getting in your Protein and fluids and the weight WILL start to fall off. It has to. My longest stall was a little over 3 weeks and I attribute it all to stress. We were moving into our new house and I was hardly eating at all. I was only getting maybe 300-400 calories a day and I could NOT understand why I wasnt losing weight. Sure enough, once the furniture was moved in, and all the boxes delivered (stress was relieved) the weight literally began to melt off again! Just hang in there! It will happen!