Little Green

I'm here in the waiting room, waiting to go to pre-op! Last weigh in was 342, from 358, so 16 pounds lost on my liquid diet. I'll see you guys on the other side. 💖

I'm here in the waiting room, waiting to go to pre-op! Last weigh in was 342, from 358, so 16 pounds lost on my liquid diet. I'll see you guys on the other side. 💖

I'm here in the waiting room, waiting to go to pre-op! Last weigh in was 342, from 358, so 16 pounds lost on my liquid diet. I'll see you guys on the other side. 💖

New surgery date... May 17

I'm here in the waiting room, waiting to go to pre-op! Last weigh in was 342, from 358, so 16 pounds lost on my liquid diet. I'll see you guys on the other side. 💖

Well I just took the half bottle dose of magnesium citrate for bowel prep for tomorrow... we'll see shortly whether or not I'm full of sh*t!
I had a massage and a float session today, both were very relaxing. I'm feeling pretty good, overall, not as anxious as I'd imagined. Plan to relax some more with a bath before bed, and hopefully I can sleep tonight! We'll be leaving for the hospital around 6:45am, I believe I am the second case of the day.
I'm *almost* allowing myself to believe surgery is going to happen! I won't really believe it until I'm in the OR but... almost!

Well I just took the half bottle dose of magnesium citrate for bowel prep for tomorrow... we'll see shortly whether or not I'm full of sh*t!
I had a massage and a float session today, both were very relaxing. I'm feeling pretty good, overall, not as anxious as I'd imagined. Plan to relax some more with a bath before bed, and hopefully I can sleep tonight! We'll be leaving for the hospital around 6:45am, I believe I am the second case of the day.
I'm *almost* allowing myself to believe surgery is going to happen! I won't really believe it until I'm in the OR but... almost!

Actually, Little Green is a reference to a Joni Mitchell song, NOT a comment on my size - but I thought the title might be funny
So I'm 2 weeks away from surgery and just started my liquid diet. I thought I'd officially start one of these "tell your story" posts so that I have a place to keep track of all my stats and thoughts.
My highest weight is 381.25 and that was 6/14/14. After that I lost down to around 300-ish in about 18 months doing calorie-counting on MFP, but regained nearly all of it after my husband became disabled in a motorcycle accident. About a year after the accident - last March - I visited the bariatric surgeon for my first consult and I weighed 367 pounds. I've gone up and down since then but I started my liquid diet (today!) at 350.2.
I am a classic story of overweight-since-childhood along with a rapid weight gain starting in my late 'teens after getting a job and my driver's license, giving me full access to fast food morning, noon, and night. I'm not sure of all my milestones throughout the years but I know I weighed 180 pounds in 7th grade at age 12, and more than 220 when I graduated high school. I'm 5'8 so BMI 25 is 164 pounds and my goal weight is 150.
About six weeks ago I decided to go vegan and I've been transitioning into that diet ever since. I'm relying on plant-based Protein supplements during the liquid phase but I hope to move to getting protein from whole food as soon as possible. My post-op diet will definitely be a lot higher in carbs than most people on this board are used to, but I'm confident in my choices and really excited about the health benefits in addition to weight loss.
I am going to try my darnedest to weigh myself only once per month after surgery. I did the obsessive daily "don't drink anything, have a bowel movement, get naked, and weigh myself" routine during my MFP days and it was really harmful to me mentally. I'm also logging my food in a physical journal and I won't be weighing anything or measuring beyond the standard 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup, etc. meal sizes for post-op guidelines. Measuring food definitely works and I think many people can benefit from it. But again, it ended up being bad for my mental health. My ultimate life goal is to eat and enjoy an abundant amount of healthy plant-based whole foods without weighing or measuring portions. I know it will be awhile before I get there, but that's where I'm going and how I'm positioning myself for long-term success.
So that's a little about me! I'm going to post random crap in this thread, like musings on diet stuff, numbers, feelings (I have a lot of them), my appointments, etc. Thanks for reading!

Well I just took the half bottle dose of magnesium citrate for bowel prep for tomorrow... we'll see shortly whether or not I'm full of sh*t!
I had a massage and a float session today, both were very relaxing. I'm feeling pretty good, overall, not as anxious as I'd imagined. Plan to relax some more with a bath before bed, and hopefully I can sleep tonight! We'll be leaving for the hospital around 6:45am, I believe I am the second case of the day.
I'm *almost* allowing myself to believe surgery is going to happen! I won't really believe it until I'm in the OR but... almost!

You'll do it, I have complete faith,in you. Remember you're going to keep me from having to get a job in the Jolly Green Giant's vegetable factory. Please save me, I don't want bag peas and onions throughout eternity!💦😪

Not true. Someone I know on this forum had issues with a single dose of oral NSAID.
Look, people with RNY cannot take NSAIDs, ever. I had to sign a paper saying I wouldn't. That is a big, bright shining line behind which we are safe. "Oh, a dose or two here or there, as long as it's not high doses, or for too many days in a row" is a fuzzy line that patients are notoriously bad at toeing. Stay behind the bright line of NO NSAIDs EVER!

I haven't lost much weight in the last week, only 4 pounds. So I'm at a total of 14 lbs down. After 18 days on the liquid diet I would have expected to be at 20 pounds or so (because my starting weight is higher than most). I have had a few odd hormonal things happening - I have PCOS with amenorrhea so I haven't had regular periods since I was 17, but the last couple of weeks I've had on and off spotting that started 4 or 5 days into the diet. I don't know if that could factor in or not.
I'm just hoping my liver is small enough for a safe surgery and that my surgeon won't be disappointed. I still have today and tomorrow to go, of course, maybe I can take off another 2-3 pounds.

Thank you so much for reading! Yes... omg, lol, it really has been a rollercoaster. I'm glad the last couple weeks have been mostly smooth sailing for me! You will do a fabulous job on the liquid diet and we'll be here to cheer you on!

I just read this entire thread...wow what a roller coaster! Not in a bad way but just a lot of ups and downs. I start my liquid diet on the 17th...this whole process has fell into place for me (almost waiting for the other shoe to drop) but really resting in the peace I have about this journey. I can’t wait to hear how it goes for you Little Green!

I've thought about it, but no. I need a solid date and solid plans and solid food and... solidarity and... solidness. No more waiting for phone calls.
I'm going to look at the bright side. (I'm sorry my thread has been full of mood whiplash, lol.) One nice thing is spring break at school is March 5-11 so I won't be missing classes that week and may even be able to go back on the 12th depending on how I'm feeling. I'm sure there are other nice things I'll think of. I'm having WLS and changing my life. Ultimately it won't matter when it was. Just need to get my husband's work stuff sorted out and then we'll be good.

Thanks, you guys
To make a long story not quite as long extremely long, sorry, once I got started I couldn't stop, I did this to myself by accident. In December I asked to get a sleep study done to see if maybe the reason I can't sleep on my back is due to breathing issues, and possibly get a CPAP machine to help me get through the post-surgical period where the incisions make sleeping difficult. I didn't realize this is a months-long process, which one of the nurses in the sleep lab has been graciously expediting for me by finding cancellations every chance she has. Unfortunately, I failed my in-home study because I could not use the machine properly - it would stop reading and flash a yellow light in my face every time I rolled on my side, and, again, I can't sleep on my back. They want me to repeat the test in the lab, which I'm fine with, but I said because my surgery date was already scheduled, I would need to do that after surgery. They said fine, we hung up, everything was okay.
Except not. Because. Even though I passed all the apnea questionnaires, and no medical professional ever told me I have sleep apnea and need a sleep evaluation, because I took it upon myself to ask for the referral, almost as an experiment to test my hypothesis, now they have it in their system that I have a pending sleep study. So now they need the resolution of that before we can proceed with surgery. Because liability and legal issues. Which I was made aware of last week, when the coordinator told me she would be getting in touch with the sleep lab to sort it all out. Cool. Except when I called yesterday to find out the status, she told me I had been taken off the schedule because of this issue. Um, what???? Why wouldn't you tell me that upfront???????
So, yesterday in my no-carb liquid diet stupor I was frantically trying to be the go-between with these two offices, explaining that I need some kind of document or note faxed to the bariatric office saying that the sleep doctor is okay with me waiting until after surgery to repeat my test. For some reason I can never get in touch with the bariatric coordinator until the end of the day and the offices all close at 4:30. So the best the sleep lab could do was send a note to the sleep doctor's MA.
She called this morning and said she spoke with the bariatric coordinator to clarify what was needed, but that the sleep doctor was not in the office. She said she'd talk to him tomorrow. So... I'm hoping that when I call tomorrow, they will have faxed over the necessary document and the coordinator will give me some good news about the date.
We will lose our health insurance on 2/28 unless we can get my husband back to work, which is a jungle of red tape and hurry-up-and-wait situations. And we have no idea what's going to happen if he doesn't go back by 2/20 which is the end of his 2-year disability period. He doesn't have to work, he's on SSDI, except that I don't work because I'm in school full-time, so that's our only route to health insurance unless we want to derail our entire life plan and have me go back to work before I finish my degree. (And he wants to work, anyway.) So to have all of that happening at the same damn time is just... overwhelmingly overwhelming.
The coordinator, who really is very nice and is trying her best, answered "I can't say that," when I asked if the 15th was completely off the table. So there is a chance that that slot was not filled and she can put me back in. I also said I could do it earlier. But the thing is I have to attend a class which is ONLY ON WEDNESDAYS FOR SOME REASON before I can have my surgery. So it's either tomorrow (today) which is obviously not happening, or next Wednesday as planned, or else the earliest my surgery could be is 2/22 if I can attend the class on 2/21.
You can see why all of this mess causes intense full-body shutdown. I don't know what's happening and that's the worst part. I'm just desperately hoping that everything can go ahead on the 15th. We've planned everything out, my mom has taken time off, we're moving ourselves and our cats into her house this weekend (surgery is in a different city), I've notified all my professors and my family, etc.
Since I've gone this far I'll confess I cheated my liquid diet last night out of stupidity and stress. I fasted for most of the day today not to punish myself but because I felt like crap physically. I ended up having 3 Protein Shakes over the last 6 hours or so, so I'm at 495 calories and 90g of Protein.
I'm a hot frickin mess, y'all.

72 hours until Surgery Eve!
The last couple days I've started having trouble with my head hunger on the liquid diet. Right on the home stretch I graduated with my associate's degree Thursday night and my parents, brother, and husband were all there. Afterward, despite everyone saying they didn't want me to have to go out to eat while on my diet, I insisted we all go out. The table was covered in chips & salsa and fried pickles and steak and chicken & waffles (my husband) and the smells were overwhelming. Ever since then I've been dying to eat. Not unhealthy food specifically, just food. My husband made a black bean burrito last night and I nearly cried smelling it. I'm still not having much actual physical hunger but the drive to eat is in full force. I just keep reminding myself that in two weeks (from surgery day, I mean) I can have pureed foods like Beans and hummus and chili and veggies and applesauce. It's not that far away! This stage isn't forever... it's just for my safety and recovery. *repeats 100 times*
Having said all that, despite the recent issues I absolutely LOOOOOOOVE the Svelte Protein Shakes. I've got 5 flavors now (thanks, Amazon!) - chocolate, vanilla, Cappuccino, spiced chai, and banana créme. I love them all, although cappuccino might still be my favorite. I'd like to use them exclusively after surgery but only being 11g of Protein I'm not sure that will be possible. I could just about hit my protein goal (60g) with five of them but that's 55oz of protein shakes in addition to the 60oz of Water I'm supposed to be having, which seems like a lot to tolerate. I might have to do one Premier Protein per day since that's 30g and that'll give me more leeway. I want to stick to the plant-based shakes but I'm going to try and be as flexible as possible during the liquid stage, it's all about staying hydrated & healthy!
Tomorrow I'll be finishing up laundry & house prep and then Tuesday afternoon when my husband gets home from work we'll load up the car and the cats and hit the road for my Mom's! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but just in case, I'm having surgery in another city near where my parents live, in the hospital where my husband was treated after his accident. It's a large, teaching hospital and is a center of excellence for bariatric surgery - so I felt safer there than at a regional hospital in my area. I'll be at Mom's until the weekend of Memorial Day (10-ish days). So that's why we'll be heading off Tuesday night!
On Surgery Eve Day (Wednesday) I booked massage and floating therapy sessions, and I'll have a bath in my parents' big tub that night as well. By then I assume I will be nearly catatonic with anxiety so I'm trying to take every precaution against losing my mind I doubt I will actually be able to relax but hopefully the relaxing settings will at least give me the opportunity to do so!

72 hours until Surgery Eve!
The last couple days I've started having trouble with my head hunger on the liquid diet. Right on the home stretch I graduated with my associate's degree Thursday night and my parents, brother, and husband were all there. Afterward, despite everyone saying they didn't want me to have to go out to eat while on my diet, I insisted we all go out. The table was covered in chips & salsa and fried pickles and steak and chicken & waffles (my husband) and the smells were overwhelming. Ever since then I've been dying to eat. Not unhealthy food specifically, just food. My husband made a black bean burrito last night and I nearly cried smelling it. I'm still not having much actual physical hunger but the drive to eat is in full force. I just keep reminding myself that in two weeks (from surgery day, I mean) I can have pureed foods like Beans and hummus and chili and veggies and applesauce. It's not that far away! This stage isn't forever... it's just for my safety and recovery. *repeats 100 times*
Having said all that, despite the recent issues I absolutely LOOOOOOOVE the Svelte Protein Shakes. I've got 5 flavors now (thanks, Amazon!) - chocolate, vanilla, Cappuccino, spiced chai, and banana créme. I love them all, although cappuccino might still be my favorite. I'd like to use them exclusively after surgery but only being 11g of Protein I'm not sure that will be possible. I could just about hit my protein goal (60g) with five of them but that's 55oz of protein shakes in addition to the 60oz of Water I'm supposed to be having, which seems like a lot to tolerate. I might have to do one Premier Protein per day since that's 30g and that'll give me more leeway. I want to stick to the plant-based shakes but I'm going to try and be as flexible as possible during the liquid stage, it's all about staying hydrated & healthy!
Tomorrow I'll be finishing up laundry & house prep and then Tuesday afternoon when my husband gets home from work we'll load up the car and the cats and hit the road for my Mom's! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but just in case, I'm having surgery in another city near where my parents live, in the hospital where my husband was treated after his accident. It's a large, teaching hospital and is a center of excellence for bariatric surgery - so I felt safer there than at a regional hospital in my area. I'll be at Mom's until the weekend of Memorial Day (10-ish days). So that's why we'll be heading off Tuesday night!
On Surgery Eve Day (Wednesday) I booked massage and floating therapy sessions, and I'll have a bath in my parents' big tub that night as well. By then I assume I will be nearly catatonic with anxiety so I'm trying to take every precaution against losing my mind I doubt I will actually be able to relax but hopefully the relaxing settings will at least give me the opportunity to do so!

My doctor said two weeks...we lasted one.

Uh oh... too late. lol. Made it 5 days... 🤷🏼‍♀️ but I never really had any pain since surgery so I was fine. Lol.

My doctor said...use your discretion, wait until you're comfortable.
We got kinda creative and sexlike activities happened fairly soon.
But actual full on...bouncy sex...I think we waited a month or so?

I had my pre-op appointment today which included the nutrition/surgery day class and the lab work. As soon as I walked into the hospital my brain and stomach remembered that I'm having surgery and went into overdrive with anxiety, nausea, etc. I'm feeling better now, though, so that's good. I'm not anxious about whether I should have surgery, or even the specific procedures, etc. -- I just want to wake up afterward. I'm just having "end of life" thoughts about things I have or haven't done or said and regrets and fears about what happens if I don't make it through. I know that is soooo dramatic lol, and I can't wait to laugh at myself. 7 days to go!
The lab work was all normal and my bg was 76, it was about 4 hours after my morning Protein Shake so not exactly postprandial but still a great number. (I'm not diabetic, I just worry. I can't wait until I don't have to be paranoid about medical conditions I don't have!)
One more week... so hard to believe it's nearly here!

I'm not sure what it is, dagnabbit! And woohoo, 11 days to go!

Great report girl. Congrats no 10lbs!!!! Glad the nausea and feeling bad is lessening. Good that you go through it now and not after surgery!! But ICK on the heartburn. It sounds like your Protein Drinks are not playing well with your bod hon. Or else, your Vitamins aren't? May 17th will be here so fast!!! Excited for you!!!!

I read through most of the thred and soo sorry you had to go through all that but you got through it!! And May 17th is around the corner. I wonder why your not feeling well, seemed your first liquid diet wasn't that bad. Hang in there!!