Hammer_Down

Only my inlaws and parents know about my wife's and my surgery. My mother in law was Christmas shopping with a cousin who was close to her and my wife growing up. Her cousin saw a clothing item she thought my wife would like and mother in law commented that my wife has lost some weight and is still losing and she didn't know what size, and wasn't sure how long it would fit. Her cousin commented "well, she won't lose that much that it would really matter" and mother in law said she was down 25lbs. Her cousin was agape and asked how she had lost 25 lbs (my wife is 5'3" and was about 180lbs preop). Mother in law replied that we are really watching what we eat and restricting portions. Which is true.

@@lisa52 Imagine instead of a food problem, you have an alcohol problem. Your drinking is causing health problems and relationship issues. Your insurance has just approved you for a procedure that will (with your cooperation) offer you a chance to get right and start getting healthy. Your procedure is scheduled for a few weeks from now. Do you spend the next few weeks getting smashed and bidding farewell to wine, gin, vodka, whiskey, lager, IPAs, porters and wheat beers? Or do you start your part (remember, it only works if you're willing to make it work) early, and try to get a jumpstart on this golden opportunity to turn your life around?

I would like to add that a substantial number of people are just not willing to give up the foods that contributed to their obesity in the first place. How many times do we read "I didn't get this done so I could be on a diet for the rest of my life!" and people who are basically waiting out their weight loss (or sabotaging it) so they can reindulge in their staple comfort foods. The holiday poats are already streaming in: "Can I eat (insert off plan food here) at Christmas? It won't be Christmas unless I have Grandma's (insert confectionery items here). Everyone else will be enjoying (insert junk food here) and I just CAN'T resist!"

At the risk of sounding like a sarcastic jerk, I will lay it all out for you: It's only liquids. Many doctors prescribe a clear liquid diet, which is all Clear Liquids. If you're avoiding sweeteners, that's basically a tea, broth and Water diet. I was on that for 10 days, 3 preop and 7 post op. We were allowed sugar free Gatorade and popsicles, but artificial sweeteners tend to make me crave sweet foods so I avoid them all.

I didn't say anything about drinking milk, as I haven't for more than 5 years. There's too much sugar (lactose) in milk for me to lose weight. Even cheese will stall my weight loss in very small amounts, so I'm avoiding that as I lose weight. Butter is a whole other story, but I can't say for sure if it's the saturated fat in my butter, bacon or steak that helps keeps me from having excess skin.

2 things: Your thyroid is primarily in control of regulating body temperature. My mom has a hypothyroid and before she was diagnosed her hands were always freezing. We often move tables in a restaurant 2-3 times before she can find one that's warm enough to take her jacket off. Losing weight downregulates the thyroid, so perhaps this is what's causing all this chillyness among ye. Body fat actually increases your surface area, which increases your sensitivity to cold, so it wasn't the fat keeping you warm before. Secondly, 8 layers of non suitable fabrics are not as good as a single layer of appropriate fabric. Yes, many layers will slow the heat loss but they will not retain and hold heat close to your body. Your jacket doesn't keep you warm - you keep your jacket warm. Real down filled bedding, real down jackets/pants and wool are the only truly appropriate fabrics for winter layers. It's good enough for the Canadian military stationed in the arctic, so it ought to keep you warm enough south of the Mason Dixon line.

The scale becomes an addiction for many people. They discount the positive things that are happening with their weight loss if the scalar doesn't reflect the number they want. They build up expectations and are disappointed when it's "only" xx lbs lost. The scale is a snapshot, not scientific. Someone might weigh, eat a cupcake, then weigh again and show a loss of .5 lbs. The natural conclusion? Eat cupcakes to lose weight! Our weight is dynamic and changing all the time. Getting upset over a 1-2lb gain is going to release cortisol which is a stress hormone that promotes weight gain. Getting worried over nothing can literally give you something to worry about. I weigh once a week when I am home. More because I am curious. I'm expecting a stall any week now (haven't had one yet) and I'm not hung up on the numbers. I feel good, my clothes are getting looser, I see it in my face and hands, my rings are loose - so I know I'm going the right way.

I'm curious about your statement at the end about Atkins not being healthy for the body? The Atkins plan is a high fat, moderate Protein and low carb diet - which is similar to what many WLS patients follow. Eating low carb diets have been shown to improve cardiovascular health, regulate blood sugar and insulin in diabetics and non diabetics, promote weight loss and the list goes on. Fats are essential for health. Protein is essential for health. Did you know that your liver produces 280g of glucose (carbs) per day? Or that your lover also has the ability to create glucose out of excess protein (gluconeogensis)? Eating carbs is absolutely not required, not even a minimal amount. Your body is able to produce all the glucose it needs from or cellular and brain function without ever eating any sugar.

I'm pretty much there at only 6 weeks post op, I'm back on solid foods, I have no pain or issues sleeping, etc. I have yet to regurgitate anything I've eaten. I'm eating very small portions (3 bites of salad or meat and I'm stuffed). I'm reminding myself to make every bite count. I can't really tolerate Vitamins at this stage. The few times I've taken them, I feel kind of uneasy and nauseaous. So i'm giving myself some time before I start trying again. In a few days I'll be clear for excercise. I DO notice that I fatigue pretty easily. Honestly, I haven't been active at all for the past few years (hence gaining 100lbs) so I can't be sure if I would be fatigued anyway, or it's the super low calories or both. I don't think about the surgery often, enjoying the lack of hunger and mending up nicely.

My wife and I both had surgery. We told her parents before travelling to Tijuana and it went ok. They knew we did our homework and were mostly just worried about us having surgery so far from home. I Knew my parents (mom, really) would be worried sick and not especially supportive of having an elective surgery. I called them the night we got home and told them that it wasn't just an anniversary vacation in Tijuana, but that we'd had surgery. Lots of questions, which I did my best to answer. Mom confirmed that she happy I hadn't told her ahead of time as she wouldn't have slept for a week. Other than 1 of my friends, no one else knows. The friend who knows was the person who first got me thinking about bariatric surgery, as she was planning to get it done. Now, I seldom hear from her and she's totally reversed her position on the surgery. The last few times we'be texted, anytime my weight loss comes up she ghosts me and disappears for a few weeks.

Your skin is an organ, and like every organ is requires certain nutrients to flourish and maintain health. Dietary fat is an essential component to maintaining healthy skin. Saturated fats especially. My mom has a cousin who has followed the low fat no saturated fat mantra for many years. My mom, a pharmacist, never bought into that craze and has always consumed red meats and real butter (she told us margarine has more chemicals than paint growing up). They are almost the same age, and both quite slim in their 60s. The huge difference is that my mom has smooth skin, tans easily and almost no wrinkles. Her cousin is very pale and has tissue paper like skin, and is quite wrinkly. My mom looks 20 years younger.

You should edit the title of your post so that it's more clear what you're looking for. People will be more likely to see and read it if they have an idea what the post is about.

Where I had my surgery, they used our weight from starting preop, not pre surgery. Also, our cutoff was BMI 30 and not 35. Seems shady that they would deny you for following their diet plan and losing a few pounds prior to surgery.

My surgeon in Mexico sent us home with keterolac (powerful NSAID). We were taken to a pharmacy where the pharmacist could prescribe just about any medications we wanted to purchase from there. We bought some Tramadol (an opioid, not an opiate). Unfortunately I didn't do my homework, and because the USA recently (2014) reclassified Tramadol as a narcotic (again, not an opiate but an opioid) I couldn't take it. As a commercial driver, I am medically excluded from driving while taking narcotics. There was a variety of pain medecines available and I wish I had looked it up before buying Tramadol specifically.

food funerals are a very common topic on this website. I struggle to understand it, but that's just my own experience. I paid out of pocket for the procedure and so I was committed with my mind and pocketbook to making sure I am successful, no matter what. When I received my preop and post op plans, I started comparing all my food choices against my surgeon's directions. If it was something I shouldn't be eating to be successful after surgery, I tried to cut it out before starting the process. I ended up doing an extra few weeks of preop because I was anxious to get the ball rolling. The kinds of foods I crave are my nemesis, not my friends. I wouldn't mourn the loss of someone that ruined my life and ditto for the foods that contributed to my weight gain. Good riddance, I say.

@@smyleetn Sounds similar to the preop process at most centres in the USA as well. Surgery is covered in NS, but only if we meet their criteria (which I don't). Just being 100lbs overweight doesn't cut it, they're only covering surgery for patients over BMI 50, with diabetes and/or heart disease, immobilization from excess weight and probably half a dozen other conditions. My surgeon in Mexico is one of the most experienced bariatric surgeons in the world. He does 7-8 sleeves and bypasses per day, compared to fewer than that per week for most American surgeons. He is regularly invited to speak at conferences in the USA to share some of his experience with bariatrics.

@@LipstickLady @@Djmohr All the more incentive for me to get down to goal and I can have all the cheese I want! So many awesome recipes out there that I just can't try right now, but I'm confident it's worth the wait!

Imagine if you had gained 35 lbs from the day of surgery until now. How would you feel? Would you feel like that was a normal or even moderate weight gain in that time period? For me, I haven't gained 35 lbs in the past 3 years. I would go up 10 lbs and down 10 lbs and basically stay static. If I suddenly piled on 35 lbs I would have been making a doctor's appt STAT.

@@AndrewSS02 I highly recommend it. With the regulations around diabetics and sleep apnea tightening all the time, this is one way to protect your means of making a living. Small price to pay to be even more valuable to a company as a metabolically fit person in an increasingly small pool of drivers. Neither of us has either condition, but the writing is on the wall that life will be cut short if we continued gaining weight and being so sedentary. We were right back to work (as OTR drivers we have no touch freight) and feeling great. Other than needing a bit more sleep than usual in the past weeks, it's like nothing changed. Except, of course, our bank account is healthier than ever as we haven't spent a nickel on the road since we returned to work. We pack and portion everything at home before the week.

@@LipstickLady I've had to accept that cheese as a garnish is okay for me, but cheese as a meal is a surefire way to totally stop my weight loss. The good news is that I can live on cheese and not gain a pound, but it's definitely not a losing food for me. This was my very first personal discovery WAAAY back when I first started Atkins after gaining to a new high after quitting smoking. I lost the expected 10% of total body mass during induction, but then stayed stalled for 6 weeks as I gradually eliminated sweeteners, caffeine and all nut products before I realized it was the cheese all along. It's a darn shame, because I absolutely love all cheeses. More proof that we shouldn't always "listen to our bodies" when they crave something.

You have great advice here. The only thing I will add is to watch out for sugar free junk food. (No nutritional value). Artificial sweeteners like acesulfame-potassium (in virtually every diet pop and many sugar free products) cause a noticeable spike in insulin. If you are insulin resistant (very likely if you are overweight) this will only compound the problem. Saccharin (sweet and low, pink packets) will also compound problems with blood sugar regulation. Xylitol and maltitol (sugar alcohols) cause gastrointestinal distress for many people (Google "Amazon reviews Haribo sugar free gummy bears" for some very entertaining recaps). Powedered Splenda is usually blended with maltodextrin, which also causes raised blood sugar and insulin spikes. Ditto for powdered stevia. liquid splend and stevia are your best best, but good luck finding packaged junk food that contains those relatively expensive formulations. The bottom line is that there are multitudes of ways these frankenfood products can be thwarting our best efforts. The simplest and cheapest way is to just cut them out. Deal with the cravings short term (buy some L Glutamine supplement to help, if necessary) and suffer through. You'll be better off long term.

Your body will proportion some of your body fat around to its liking as you lose weight. Hence, it's unusual to see someone with a very large face and neck but little abdominal fat. When women retain fat in their thighs and legs but not on their torso, it's actually a disease of fat distribution called lipedema, or possibly Cushing's syndrome. Fat redistribution often happens during stalls on the scale. You may notice breasts, hips, abdominal fat deposits getting smaller as the fat is moved to other areas where it is needed. None of this even touches the issue of white vs brown fat, surface fat deposits vs visceral fat deposits or the (mostly) myth of "spot training" areas with more fat than others. Fat isn't static, and the fat inside each fat cell is constantly being circulated in and out. The best advice is to be patient. Many of us spent years and years in an obese body, so giving our bodies some time to adjust to radical weight loss shouldn't be too much to ask.

Did your nails not really grow before? Or were they just poor quality? My nails have always grown extremely fast (I have to trim them twice a week), but I've always been a big meat eater and maybe that's why.

I used to need Water to be ice cold to drink it, and I also preferred Diet Coke to water for many years. Now, I can't get enough water in if it's cold. Cold water stays in the stomach until it is warmed up and moves into the lower intestines. Drinking room temperature or even slightly warm water will pass right through and i skip that gross feeling of being overfull for 30 mins after a few ozs of cold water. I can keep sipping and drinking luke warm water all day, which has helped get my water up over 32oz or so a day.

I'm Canadian and my provincial healthcare system will not cover non essential surgeries. So I would need a BMI of 50+ (I was BMI 36 preop), plus other obesity related medical conditions like diabetes, heart disease or blown out knees (none of which I have). I opted to go to Tijuana, Mexico and pay $4700 instead of $15-20,000 in the USA. There was no waiting, and I only needed 2 weeks notice to complete preop diet requirements. In reality, I booked the surgery for about 4 months ahead so I could save the $10k for my wife and I to both have a gastric sleeve and not have to seek financing.