Navigating the Wilderness

Why not just main-line Crisco and save the trouble of cooking? Some people are seriously f'd up.

Yes, lots of excitement with you SHOUTING IT VIA TEXT!!! Seriously though, glad to hear it, and if you follow the plan, you will do wonderful! My best advice is to lose as much weight as possible before the surgery. It will help immensely.

Awesome, wishing you all the best!!

Welcome to the club, make sure to get your water in!!

I remember when you were going through all of this and how relieved I was when it came back as benign. Glad to hear you are progressing again, it is great news!

Is it possible to go to a different surgeon that is covered by your insurance? 90 days is ridiculous. My surgeon required exactly 1 day of a liver reducing diet, and that was the day before surgery. If you have to lose weight and fast, you could try a liquid diet, but I was absolutely miserable when I had to do this for 2 weeks post-op, plus it is not sustainable and when you go back to solids you will gain weight, but if it was a deal where I HAD to lose weight in a short time-frame or I would lose my job I would do it. A more sustainable weight-loss program would be keto, but it may take a bit to kick in. Please let us know what is going on.

In that case I wouldn't worry too much unless you start having trouble getting or keeping anything down. Of course if this continues for a bit I would check with your surgeon to see what they say.

How far out are you? If it is just a few days or even a couple weeks this would be rather common.

That is a tough question to answer. Have you contacted your surgeon about this?

At age 54 I would not worry about there being an issue with healing. Many people have WLS in their 60s and do just fine.

I think most of the unflavored protein shakes are about the same in regards to taste if they use whey. I tried Unjury unflavored and it was pretty tough to get down.

I truly don't think the surgeon will care. @Joann454 has a really good story about this. I'm sure she will respond soon.

It was constant for me during the liquid phase, but became much better once I could add back solids.

It took me 3 months or so, then I could eat normal food. I am not a very adventurous eater, but I have not had a single issue with any food.

Excellent news! Keep up the good work, just remember the water!!

Sounds like a fantastic first step. I wish you all the best in the months to come!

Its a (very!) personal choice. You have to take all the pros and cons of each surgery type and weigh those against what you feel comfortable with. There is absolutely no one on this board qualified to tell you which surgery is best for you. Heck, my surgeon pushed me for RnY and I cancelled 5 days before surgery because it took me all that time to decide I would really rather prefer to have a VSG. I think all of the surgeries are effective depending on how much work you want to put into it, and all can fail you if you do not use them properly. As to your question regarding the sleeve in particular, there are several users on this board who have lost over 200 pounds with it. I would say check out @blizair09 for success regarding the sleeve, and @Redmaxx for success regarding RnY, though there are plenty of others who have had great success with each.

Always good to see a success story! Congrats!!

Fantastic news!

When that happened to me, it was usually not accompanied by heartburn. I would just wake up from sleeping that way. I agree it is a good idea to talk to your Surgeon though.

Sounds a lot like GERD. It happened to me quite a bit before surgery.

Sounds like you are making good progress. Congrats!!

Hi Dave, I am going to take a slightly different tact than most on here. Yes, I think you are best served getting surgery. To put it in perspective, I never had a problem losing weight, ever. I needed help with keeping the weight off once I lost it. To me that was what the surgery was about. Not doing it so I could lose weight, but doing it so I could lose weight and keep it off. I have been very happy with my surgery. What I wanted to encourage you to do was not focus on IF you should have surgery, but focus on what surgery gives you the absolute best chance at losing and keeping the weight off. Since you only have a one-time shot at it, you need to make sure you choose the surgery that is best for you. I am not arrogant enough to tell you which surgery is best for you, but I would encourage you to ask all groups here what they think. It is an amazing journey. All the best!

Everyone needs to remember this. My Dr. did not encourage me to lose weight before surgery. I am quite happy after surgery, but it was a hard switch to do make in only one day.

Yes, of course it is. We don't lose linearly all the time, there are periods where your body needs to adjust, or times where you are losing fat, but gaining muscle. Be patient, and stay away from the scale for a bit!