Little Green

Yaaaay!!! Glad you made it through just fine. Thanks for the pic; I find those to be so reassuring, haha. Keep doing a great job!

Sometimes anxiety isn't rational. Sigh. I wish I could beat up my brain sometimes!

Yeah. Been here recently. Exact same feeling as you... convinced I'm going to do this surgery and die on the table. Angry with myself that I'm taking this risk. Why can't I just lose the weight and keep it off myself? Why do I need to have surgery? Why couldn't I have done something when I was younger? And on and on and on, running on my hamster wheel of anxiety until I'm completely exhausted. You're SO not alone. Lately I've been feeling better. I had an extremely long talk with the nurse practitioner at my program and she said basically before surgery you're going to meet with the anesthesia team and they will run tests and make sure you're safe to be put under. She told me that this is elective surgery and most of us are healthy when we go under... meanwhile extremely sick, unhealthy people who have severe illnesses or disease or organ failure are put under for emergency surgeries all the time. That made me feel a lot better. They're monitoring your stats all throughout and nothing will be a surprise for them. If something happens you are already in the best place to get emergency care. My therapist says that surgery is a risk, but staying obese is also a risk, and so is getting in the car, or going swimming at the beach, or any number of other things in life. As far as anxiety goes... I have an appt 8/24 to start medication, most likely Wellbutrin (bupropion). It will help both my anxiety and depression and is one of the only drugs of this kind that doesn't have an issue with weight gain or increased appetite; in fact the psychiatrist said it has an appetite-suppressing quality. I was extremely afraid to try drug therapy for my anxiety for the longest time, but my husband began using Wellbutrin for depression and has had great results for more than six months with no personality changes or side effects. That gave me the confidence I needed to finally say yes when my therapist asked if I wanted to try medicinal assistance as well as therapy. So, don't be afraid to get help for your anxiety. We don't have to be slaves to our hamster wheel minds. Good luck!

I'm glad you are home and feeling better. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us pre-oppers! I saw a video Lauren Losing made on YT about how she felt "protein first" was pushed too much at the expense of water intake. So now I know, fluids first!

Size 28/30, BMI is 54.

I've been using MFP for 3+ years including one year of premium. At $49 per year, hell no it is not worth it. That is an EXORBITANT fee. Like, ridiculous. Yes, you get to set some custom numbers (by gram instead of percent) but the other features are not really something most people would either be interested in or get a lot out of - things you can do in your head like eat different # of calories on the weekend. If it were a ONE-TIME fee of $4.99 or $9.99 like when you purchase the upgraded versions of other apps, then fine. But $50/yr (or $12/month!) subscription for a few bonus features is absolutely ridiculous. Subscriptions are for companies who provide ONGOING SERVICES, not for unlocking the door to features. Clearly I am still very angry about this haha. I remember when they debuted it and I figured I'd been using it so long and why not support them, etc. Definitely a mistake and waste of money. It also makes me angry because there's no other way to get rid of ads. I always pay the $1 or $2 to get rid of ads in my other apps but my only option to do that with MFP is a $50 yearly subscription... unbelievable. OK sorry! I woke up on the wrong side of the bed anyway and this question made me rant! LOL! I've been trying out Baritastic and I like it a lot. I'm not sure yet whether I'll make the permanent switch or not.

I'm kinda conflicted. On one hand you are obviously infinitely healthier than you were 75 lbs ago, and you certainly look totally normal to me. You don't look overweight to me at all. On the other hand, though... even though the BMI formula isn't perfect, the data show greater health risks for people above a "normal" BMI. So while I'd love to dismiss it I'm still anxious to get into at least the overweight category if not the normal. BMI is basically an estimate of your body fat. It often understates obesity in short people and overstates it in tall people. And, obviously the very athletic who have lots of LBM get miscategorized as well. I've also read some research that proposes an alternate BMI schedule for Asian-Americans (currently understates obesity) and African-Americans (currently overstates obesity). So if you're in the normal body fat range for women then you shouldn't worry about BMI and just carry on being active and eating nutritious foods. But the truth is most of us don't know our body fat, short of visiting a health club and paying for the DEXA scan. (From what I've read, the presence of excess skin after WLS makes calipers unreliable.) In that case, BMI can be a useful tool. So, I dunno. I don't think we should totally throw out BMI and say it's useless. Statistically speaking it predicts health outcomes and mortality rates. But I do get why it feels inaccurate or frustrating when your body is strong and you're active and have healthy habits but the height/weight ratio tells you you're part of The Obesity Epidemic. So, I feel you! You look awesome and it's hard to believe you are just four months out from surgery! Amazing!

Awesome idea! That would be a good breakfast idea for people who don't have a lot of time before work. I'm impressed you make your own cold brew! They also make a good cold brew concentrate at Trader Joe's for us lazies.

@jess9395 YESSSSSS. Omg! That is too frickin' awesome. To OP, the dietitian I used to work with (before joining the bariatric program) told me not to keep ANY "fat" clothing because the fit of your clothing is a better indicator of your weight than the scale, which can reflect all manner of odd variables. She said when her pants became tight or uncomfortable she knew she was probably 4-5 pounds above her usual weight range and needed to cut back on sweets and snacking or add in some more exercise. Take her words for what they're worth. I have no personal experience with this - I wear 95% dresses and skirts... they're very forgiving. It'll probably take 100+ pounds lost before I need new clothes.

@JupiterinVirgo posted about having this issue recently. Maybe the two of you could discuss and see if there's anything in common? I'm sorry this is happening to you. Fantastic work on your weight loss, though! That's so awesome.

Okay, I'm glad we're on the same page. From your original post you seemed to be implying RNY had lots of cons with no pros, and VSG had lots of pros with no cons. Just wanted to make sure that was clear. Good luck with your surgery and I'm very glad you are in good hands! My therapist called my hospital "the Johns Hopkins of Virginia" so I know how you feel. It feels great to have a lot of confidence in the person who's cutting me open!

I'm confused... which is it? Did you get the information from research, or was all of it from your surgeon's office? Regardless, your statements were not factual. I'm thrilled you're going for the VSG, and it's a great surgery. RNY is also a great surgery. It's very safe and is performed without complications every single day.

Yep... lots of surprise babies. My surgeon recommends switching to a barrier method like IUD until your weight is stable. I have an IUD but I'm so anxious about getting pregnant I'm trying to convince my husband to get a vasectomy lol. (Not planning to have kids.) So far he's a no go. Hopefully the IUD does the job!

I'm preop so I can't tell you specific food options but I have the same issue with eating things over and over - whereas my husband has eaten the same exact bowl of oatmeal every day for 10+ years... jerk lol. (And we've only been together 5 years! His relationship with his oatmeal is more than double ours! ) One thing I've tried with success is to find at least 2-3 options and rotate them. Right now my main 2 are a breakfast sandwich (whole grain english muffin, turkey sausage, egg, thin slice of colby jack) and the Kashi cinnamon harvest cereal. I basically alternate them so I'm never eating the same thing 2 days in a row, and sometimes I have to get up and rush out so I just eat a protein bar or get an Egg McMuffin, and that helps add variety too. Obviously you'll need different food choices, but try that approach and see if you can stretch your taste buds a bit longer. You're not alone! Good luck.

Wow. Almost nothing in this post is true. Sleeves are a lot more popular now, yes, but they are not "almost always" done over bypass, not even close. The data I found from the ASMBS indicates that the rate of bypass has remained relatively stable, while surgeons are performing far more VSG procedures instead of bands since 2011. Nothing I have read attributes the development of marginal ulcers in RNY patients to the bypass of the pyloric valve. According to Dr. Matthew Weiner, RNY patients rarely have a serious, life-altering malnutrition of any kind. When they do, it's usually iron. Any massive weight loss, surgical or otherwise, can induce hair loss. It's almost always temporary and usually returns by the 1-year mark. Plenty of VSG patients also experience hair loss. According to my surgeon, only 25% of RNY patients get dumping and sugar is not always the trigger. Additionally, over time the intestines usually adapt and incidence of dumping is greatly reduced. RNY has averages of 70-77% excess weight loss at 2 years with VSG at 68-70%. Big difference? No. Difference? Yes. The sleeve has plenty of downsides including greater risk of leaking (much longer staple line), complications like kinks, 33% chance to develop acid reflux or GERD, higher rate of revision, slower weight loss, lower AVERAGE percent of excess weight lost, as well as all the regular issues like hair loss, dehydration, etc.

Thanks for the correction! That's awesome news. I read the information about ghrelin in one of the books I read about WLS, but I did not research further after reading that claim. It's likely the book was written prior to the publication of that research, or it's possible it was simply written by a poorly-informed author lol. (I've noticed some of the commercial material about WLS seems hastily put together.) Regardless, I'm really psyched that I was wrong! If you don't mind some feedback, Johnny, you might consider working on your delivery. We're all on the same team here!

Double post, very sorry!

They definitely do not physically remove the rest of the stomach in RNY. It remains inside and is reconnected to the bypassed intestine. One of the reasons I was initially considering VSG was the possibility of reduced production of the hormone ghrelin due to the complete removal of the excess stomach where the hormone is produced - which is not one of the benefits of RNY.

Don't be frightened, you definitely have every chance of making it under 200 pounds with the VSG! It's a great surgery. (Dr. Nowzaradan does the VSG on 600+ lb people!) Check out this video from Dr. Matthew Weiner about predicting weight loss after surgery. Ultimately it's all about permanent nutrition changes, eating healthy and nutritious foods because it's good for us, not just to lose weight. "How much weight will I lose after Bariatric Surgery - The answer may surprise you" by Dr. Matthew Weiner

I'm chill, I just don't like generalizations or misinformation. Just call me Little Green the Science Queen.

That is not true at all. Many surgeons, absent a clear indicator like disease or other comorbidity, will leave it to the patient to decide. My surgeon basically shrugged and said I could be successful with either surgery; it was on me to research and see which one I prefer. The latest literature on RNY shows remission of diabetes in 80% of patients so that might be a good choice for you as another poster stated. Also with your gallbladder already removed you aren't likely to have any issues with extremely rapid weight loss which RNY will induce. There are a lot of posts on this forum about choosing a surgery, and obesitycoverage.com is a good website that compares them too. Good luck

Are you on any insulin or meds to help with blood sugar? Other than that, keeping your sugar and refined grain intake as low as possible is about the only way I know to lower your A1C. Congrats on getting it as low as you have!!!

Love seeing that pic of your smile & thumbs up! Thanks for letting us know you made it through & I hope the pain continues to lessen!

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your son. That is an incredibly difficult cross to bear. Please don't beat yourself up for struggling with your depression and eating habits for awhile, that is completely understandable. *big hugs* Could you give us more details about your bariatric program? Is it your insurance or your surgeon with the hold up? Do you have any pre-surgery requirements to do? Let us know.

You could also add some yogurt or kefir (yogurt-like beverage but with even more probiotics) to a smoothie!