katie09/21/2016

Looks like we are good for Wednesday!! I have been feeling so under the weather I haven't had a chance to worry about the surgery but now the nerves are kicking in a bit....at least I think it's nerves? Just want to get this over with now & start the healing process!!
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I'm probably going to get strung up and whipped for this comment but I'm going to risk life & limb here regardless....
I have a lot of respect for the veteran weightloss folk. You guys are very inspiring & some of you have been beyond helpful. I like seeing the banter & joking and I am in no way easy offended by anything.
What I don't like and I don't respect is the way some people just cut others to pieces in such a disrespectful way. It's one thing to advise bluntly that eating a taco or a pork chop is a bad idea (*tacogate*) - that's fair.
It's really not necessary tell someone that their doctor or surgeon or whatever is full of crap when sharing information on this public forum - perhaps those things that didn't work for you might work for someone else? It's really sh*tty to see people treating other people like that. I've had enough of that as a fat person.
So, letting the whipping begin....
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I am loving this thread! I was sleeved on 09/21 and I can relate to just about everything everyone is saying here!! Except for you lucky people who didn't get the pain or nausea...I wish that was me
I felt like I was really prepared for everything going into surgery - a proper know it all! I was even reading some of the posts of people in this thread last week before my surgery thinking: "how on earth could they feel regret and misery? Surgery will be wonderful!" ....haha well, I learnt the hard way that it's not always smooth sailing!
I still believe knowledge is power going into surgery, but it can be much harder initially to deal with....I'm still in the "initially" phase (getting better).
I haven't even attempted Vitamins yet, just grateful to get fluids down!! So grateful for the support of the forums
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. Omg your fridge is awesome so organized!!!
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I am 33 years old & I had my surgery (sleeve) last week.
(5'9.5 tall ) starting weight was 271 and I just weighed in this morning at 209
(I had to do many months of pre-op weightloss, most of my weightloss to date has been pre-surgery)
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My surgery is sep 21 & I'm doing the clear liquid diet...it's hard - mentally & physically - but I keep telling myself: "this too shall pass!" And I'm focusing on the end goal.
Getting support from others is helping, we can all struggle through it together!
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I think it's lovely that you are trying to help your friend. I'm envious - I don't have any friends who are close enough to me or my children to take the time to help with anything.
This may or may not be relevant, but I grew up with parents who had extremely healthy strict eating habits & a very active family (we were at sports every day of the week). To this day, my mom has never even been through a drive thru or never had a sip of soda. Around the time I was maybe 12, I started to resent the strict food routine and I would overeat any junk food I could get my hands on at school through my friends and I started to gain weight quickly because I had never really eaten that sort of food my body just went "wtf?" And I gained weight FAST. My parents had no idea what was going on & I'm close to both of them so this is not resentful.
They were just so strictly healthy they didn't consider for a moment that I would get my hands on rubbish! I went on to develop an eating disorder for the remainder of high school (starving myself) so things kind of swung back the other way.
I'm not in any way offering criticism, I just know that as a tween and then teen who had eating disorders (overeating and then the opposite) we can hide the behavior extremely well from our parents & loved ones. This might be worth considering alongside all the physical and hormonal investigations?
I hope you can all get to the bottom of things. This young lady sounds like she has wonderful support so I am sure you will all figure it out. Goodluck
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I'm probably going to get strung up and whipped for this comment but I'm going to risk life & limb here regardless....
I have a lot of respect for the veteran weightloss folk. You guys are very inspiring & some of you have been beyond helpful. I like seeing the banter & joking and I am in no way easy offended by anything.
What I don't like and I don't respect is the way some people just cut others to pieces in such a disrespectful way. It's one thing to advise bluntly that eating a taco or a pork chop is a bad idea (*tacogate*) - that's fair.
It's really not necessary tell someone that their doctor or surgeon or whatever is full of crap when sharing information on this public forum - perhaps those things that didn't work for you might work for someone else? It's really sh*tty to see people treating other people like that. I've had enough of that as a fat person.
So, letting the whipping begin....
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I think it's lovely that you are trying to help your friend. I'm envious - I don't have any friends who are close enough to me or my children to take the time to help with anything.
This may or may not be relevant, but I grew up with parents who had extremely healthy strict eating habits & a very active family (we were at sports every day of the week). To this day, my mom has never even been through a drive thru or never had a sip of soda. Around the time I was maybe 12, I started to resent the strict food routine and I would overeat any junk food I could get my hands on at school through my friends and I started to gain weight quickly because I had never really eaten that sort of food my body just went "wtf?" And I gained weight FAST. My parents had no idea what was going on & I'm close to both of them so this is not resentful.
They were just so strictly healthy they didn't consider for a moment that I would get my hands on rubbish! I went on to develop an eating disorder for the remainder of high school (starving myself) so things kind of swung back the other way.
I'm not in any way offering criticism, I just know that as a tween and then teen who had eating disorders (overeating and then the opposite) we can hide the behavior extremely well from our parents & loved ones. This might be worth considering alongside all the physical and hormonal investigations?
I hope you can all get to the bottom of things. This young lady sounds like she has wonderful support so I am sure you will all figure it out. Goodluck
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I got mine 20 minutes before my surgery started! I asked to run into the bathroom one last time before surgery and...SURPRISE! It was annoying but the staff didn't even blink I guess it's pretty common. If you have ever had a baby they give you basically the same underwear/pads as you get post baby.
Doesn't have any impact on the surgery at all it just wasn't fun afterwards because I did not come out of surgery feeling well at all & it was just another thing I had to deal with...I was feeling very sorry for myself on many fronts! lol but honestly it was fine
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Thanks for your support! My nausea has pretty much disappeared (thankfully!!) I'm going ok, recovery is a bit trickier than I expected but not bad considering most of my guts were chopped out
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I'm not here to fight either. I'm like the least confrontational person you will ever meet! And I don't think people are here to attack me - I am not paranoid & I don't need prayers for my wayward soul...I'm simply pointing out how some of the attitudes can come across and how this in turn is NOT helpful to anyone.
If my grandmother, mother or aunt spoke in terms of telling people they are full of crap just for the sake of it I would sound them out too. I am a mother too & I'm probably not as young as you think (33). But I get what you are saying here.
It's ok for the leaders to make mistakes - and its ok to be humble and say "yeah ok, that was a pretty poor move" or "I get where you are coming from". I witnessed a perfect example of this on another post today with one of your named warriors & I have much respect for this person and I learnt something from it.
I think your posts add a lot to the forums & my original bee in the bonnet wasn't really directed at you.
So I am not sure if we can see eye to eye on this, or if it's agree to disagree - either way your hug is much appreciated and well received - thankyou
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This is so funny because I was raised in Australia too but have lived in Arizona for a long time!!! I have 3 boys also haha and I'm raising them to have a different relationship with food than what I was taught: eat healthy, but cut loose a little.
I love that lucky charms story!! Haha
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My surgeon told me that if I get all my Protein in daily and my Vitamins I shouldn't lose my hair, but if I started to notice Hair loss to take Biotin, Zinc and Omega 3 everyday.
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My go-to was jalapeno and green olive white pizza' with a thick chocolate' shake'.

OH NO!!! NO!!!!!

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Hey BariatricPal Members!
I hope this newsletter finds you well and making progress towards your surgery, weight loss, and health goals. Now that summer is officially over, it’s about time to take advantage of what autumn has to offer to help you lose more weight. We hope this newsletter will help you do that, and here is what you will find.

Ready for Weight Loss Anytime, Anywhere Appreciating the Weight Loss Surgery Journey Autumn Weight Loss: Take Advantage of the Season
Take a look at the newsletter for some inspiration and ideas. Then, why not put what you learned to the test by planning the next stage in your weight loss surgery journey? The BariatricPal forums are always there for encouragement and support, so you can be confident that you’re never alone in your journey. To your health!

Sincerely,
Alex Brecher
Founder, BariatricPal

Ready for Weight Loss Anytime, Anywhere
Your best bet for sticking to your weight loss surgery diet is to be prepared. For starters, you can stock your kitchen with fresh vegetables and fruit, chicken, tuna, yogurt, and other lean Proteins, and instant protein breakfasts and entrees to use in a pinch. There may be times when you need something even faster, and you can be prepared to get a healthy meal or snack anytime, anywhere.

Shakes, Bars, and Snacks
A healthy snack can give you needed Protein while curbing hunger, but putting together a fresh snack is not always practical. Protein shakes, protein bars, and protein Snacks, such as protein chips and protein pretzels, can do the trick when you are time-crunched or have other things on your mind.

You can find the calorie-controlled, ready to use choices you need at The BariatricPal Store. New to our store? Use coupon code BPNLSEP2016 for a 15% discount on your first purchase!

Insure Nutrition
We are always thrilled to welcome a new newsletter sponsor into the BariatricPal family, and this month, Insure Nutrition is giving us the pleasure of doing just that. Our latest sponsor, Insure Nutrition, is an online company that specializes in getting health insurance coverage for nutritional supplements. Its Post-Bariatric Surgery Nutrition products includes Premier Protein shakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors and OptiSource High Protein drinks in caramel and strawberry flavors. Checking if you are eligible is easy. Insure Nutrition encourages you to use its online form to find out if you qualify.

Our sponsors help make BariatricPal newsletters and other services possible. We encourage you show your thanks by considering them first for your bariatric needs.

Unjury and Opurity
BariatricPal is proud and excited to announce two new sponsors for our newsletters. The new sponsors are Unjury, a supplier of wonderful tasting, highest quality protein supplements, and Opurity (from the makers of UNJURY), highest purity Vitamin supplements for bariatric surgery patients. Their support lets us keep BariatricPal newsletters coming to you each month.

Unjury was founded by a master’s degree dietitian who has been helping patients since 1974. It is committed your health. You know the importance of getting enough protein after weight loss surgery, but you also know that meeting your protein goals can be challenging. Unjury makes your task not just easier but actually enjoyable. Product flavors include Chocolate Splendor, Chocolate Classic, Vanilla, Strawberry Sorbet, Chicken Soup Flavor, and Unflavored. These ready-to-use protein powders come in single-serve and multi-serve containers, and contain high-quality whey protein to keep you full and nourished.

Launched in 2007, opurity is dedicated to using the purest ingredients in its supplements. Opurity Bariatric Multivitamins have two unique big advantages:

First, each Multivitamin requires only one tablet per day*. Second, Opurity is so dedicated to quality that it is unique in using no ingredients from China.

Choose from chewable orange-berry multivitamins for gastric bypass and gastric sleeve patients or for lap-band patients.Opurity also sells chewable Calcium, Vitamin D and folic acid/vitamin B-12 chewables. All supplements come with a 100% satisfaction guaranteed. They return policy is: “Yes you can return it.”

Support from Unjury and Opurity helps us continue to bring you the services you enjoy on BariatricPal, so please support these two brands! When looking for your bariatric surgery supplements, first visit Unjury.com and Opurity.com. Purchasing from these companies helps support BariatricPal. Thanks to Unjury and Opurity for your generous sponsorship, and thanks to BariatricPal members who support our partnership!


*You still need calcium and sublingual B-12.

Healthy Options at Every Corner
No matter how careful you are to plan ahead, life can throw a wrench into your plans. When life happens, you can be caught empty-handed and starving. Even then, you can find something that fits into your weight loss surgery diet.

Fast food restaurants have a lot of bad options, but they have some good choices, too. Whether you are stuck with a coffee shop, a burger joint, a pizza parlor, a sandwich shop, or another type of national franchise restaurant, you can fit something into your WLS diet if you order carefully. You might want to consider your options ahead of time so you can be confident in your choice when you have only a few quick minutes to decide what to order.

These are some likely possibilities to look for.
Eggs and cheese from a Breakfast sandwich. Chicken or turkey breast, a burger patty, or cheese from a burger, sandwich, or taco. A side salad or green salad with chicken breast. Fat-free yogurt.
You always have the choice of how much to eat, so do not ever pressure yourself to eat too much just because you received too much food. Also, you can pick and choose what to eat. Never feel obligated to eat the bread when all you wanted was the chicken breast inside the sandwich, and feel free to pick out the shrimp and vegetables from a rice bowl, while leaving the rice untouched.

Appreciating the Weight Loss Surgery Journey
There is a lot to think about from the moment you begin the weight loss surgery journey. Goal weight may be at the front of your mind. Also at the forefront are probably milestones such as getting through your pre-op diet, having surgery itself, progressing to solid foods, and, if you are a lap-band patient, finding the green zone with your band. On top of all that, you need to focus on working hard day in, day out, on following your WLS diet.

There is truly a lot to concentrate on as you chase weight loss surgery success. That is good because it can keep you focused on track, but it can keep you from noticing some of the great things that are happening every day of your WLS. Making an effort to notice these exciting moments on a daily basis can keep you motivated and make your entire journey easier.

Recognize Great Choices
On a daily basis, you are faced with countless choices that affect your weight loss surgery journey, from what to eat to whether to exercise. No matter what else happens in your life, you are in control of your choices. If you make a habit of noticing and praising yourself each time you make a good weight loss surgery choice, you will be motivated to make more good choices. They build on each other.

Here are a few choices you might recognize. They may seem small, but they show your commitment to your weight loss, and they add up to big results.
Measuring portions instead of eyeballing them. Packing a lunch the night before so you don’t rush out of the house empty-handed the next day. Getting up to walk in the morning instead of rolling over in bed. Making the effort to go to your support group meeting instead of staying at home. Phoning a friend to talk through your feelings instead of drowning them in food.
Enjoy Daily Progress
You will not hit a major milestone each day. The scale will not go down each day, or even each week. But you can still progress in your weight loss surgery every day. When you appreciate your progress, you can see the links between your hard work and the benefits that it leads to. In turn, that can increase your motivation.

All kinds of progress can happen on a daily basis. Many of them will be NSVs (non-scale victories) that can pop up at any time. For example, there might be that first day when it takes you a moment to see that the skinny figure reflecting back at you from the shop window is…you. You might find that you ar Or, you might realize that you chose to order the grilled chicken salad instead of your old go-to of nachos supreme not because you had to, but because the salad actually sounded more appealing for your new palate.

Autumn Weight Loss: Take Advantage of the Season
Ready or not, summer is over and the chillier weather is coming in. You might as well embrace it, though, since autumn can be a great season for weight loss. For one thing, the distractions of summer vacations are over, so it is easier to focus on routine, including the routine that you know will get you to your weight loss goals.

Here are a few more ways you can take advantage of fall for weight loss.
Walk outside in the invigorating brisk air instead of avoiding the summer heat. Snack on crisp fall apples, or bake them with cinnamon and serve them with Greek yogurt for a guilt-free dessert. Discover winter squashes such as acorn and butternut as one of the most nutritious starch choices you can make – packed with Fiber, potassium, and antioxidants. Find a local farm where you can burn calories picking apples or pears. Curl up with a hot cup of protein cocoa or cappuccino on a chilly evening. Go to a gym regularly, since they are fairly empty at this time of year.
Get creative as you think of ways that the fall season can help you lose weight, and take advantage of every opportunity that comes along. Whenever you have ideas or need ideas, hop on over to BariatricPal and get those conversations going!

I hope you enjoyed the newsletter and got some inspiration from it. You are always welcome to share your questions and comments over on the forums, and I hope you will! Have a great fall, and thanks for your support.

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Lol. I'm an Italian Catholic girl raised in an Orthodox setting. My Mother has been the administrator of a synagogue since I was a little girl (I'm 50 now)-we've taken to celebrating Passover, Sukkot, Purim and Hannukah- now with my children as well. The High Holidays are a part of it[emoji4].

Sounds crazy, but it's just how we roll.


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Ahhh... I see.
I totally see how you're offended and for that I apologize. My jesting had NOTHING to do with your size and everything to do with combining pickles and yogurt. That's a very common sitcom scenario for pregnant women -- pickles and ice cream or anything sweet, really.
@@volfan - I was 264lbs and 5.3. I would never joke about someone's size. I hope you understand.

I flip clothes on eBay and plus size sells great!
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Well, it has now been 1 year since my gastric bypass surgery. Looking back, the year really flew by. There were ups and downs along the way, but I wouldn't change a thing about it... well, my only regret is not getting the surgery done sooner.
I have stuck to my diet, which is primarily vegan/vegetarian, for the entire year. I don't crave junk food and really feel like I've hit a groove and can keep this up for life. It's no longer a diet... it's simply the way I eat now.
A year ago I thought a lot about my own funeral... I was convinced I'd die by the time I hit 50. Not healthy thoughts for a 35 year old with 4 kids. I pictured my parents, brothers, kids and wife being at my funeral. I told my wife I wanted her to promise to cremate me as I couldn't bear the thought of all the people it would take to carry my coffin. Happily, those thoughts are a distant memory.
The stats to date... my "high" weight (I know I was higher) was 425lbs. On the day of surgery (October 1st) I was down to 404lbs. October 1st, 2016 I clocked in at 217lbs, so 208lbs down. I've gone from 56 waist pants and 5/6XL shirts to a 34 waist pant and size large shirts. I do have the much talked about loose skin around my midsection and inner thighs... but it's actually much better than I anticipated after viewing pics online before surgery. I figure I'll start looking at plastics in 6-months to a year... but honestly, I'm not that worried about... loose skin beats being over 400 pounds.
Things I've done in the past year:
Traveled on an airplane a few times with no worries about being forced to buy an extra seat or seat belt extenders... no worries about infringing on the space of the passenger next to me. Started playing ice hockey again in a beer league after a 14+ year hiatus. Took the family to Universal Orlando and rode every ride. Trained for and completed the couch to 5k program. The last bullet was a big goal of mine. I've always hated running, but I wanted to do something big for my first surgiversary, so with the help of my cross-country running 14-year old daughter, I began the couch to 5k program 10 weeks ago. There was a local 5k that just happened to be held on October 1st... the exact date of my first surgiversary. So I was able to run it this past weekend with my 14-year old daughter and 12-year old son. I really wanted to do it in under 30 minutes... which I just missed with a time of 30:34. My daughter finished first in the under-19 female with a time of 25:45 (4th woman overall) and my son (who didn't train and has never run anything beyond a mile) finished 1st for under 19 men and 4th overall with a time of 21:44.
Bottom line, I feel like I've been given a 2nd life to live thanks to this surgery. I couldn't be more happy with the decision. Big thanks to my family, my surgeon (Dr. Garth Davis in Houston, TX) and to all of the great posters here on BariatricPal... I wouldn't be here today without the support and kindness all of you have shown through this journey... while I may not post as much as others, I read this forum daily.

Love Bai! I dilute it as well, but drink them frequently

Hi all, is anyone drinking Bai drinks? I was sleeved on 9/19 and am not having any issues getting in fluids, but I'm a little sick of the fake-tasting sweeteners of Vitamin Water zero and others. I tasted Bai yesterday and it was SO delicious. It has 5 calories per serving and 1 sugar, though it lists 7g of Erythritol. I did a quick search and didn't see anything alarming. I really hope that no one bursts my bubble on these because they taste so much better. I know that the fact that they have any calories isn't ideal, but...
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Today, I woke up, went for a run and came back to get ready for the day and weigh in. Bam! Hello next "decade" of weight loss... Dropped into the 160's today!!! 167.4. Hello! That's a 5 lbs drop since last week. Huge!
27 to goal... Holy macaroni Batman. 6months 10 days
The last frontier.... Ugh need to finish tightening up the lower tummy and the top of my waist. Amazing how picky I'm getting now!!!
out  
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I'm actually in the USA every surgeons plan is completely different. There are 4 surgeons who work out if the center I go to & they all have slightly different ideas on nutrition!
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