lovely_tai

My other favorite right now is puréed clam chowder. I found yummy chowder in the refrigerated section of Trader Joe’s.

I’m 2 weeks post op and in the puréed stage too. I’ve had refried Beans with melted cheese. I also added a little plain Greek yogurt to it. It’s a great sour cream substitute. I puréed the beans first and thinned them out just a little with Water. It taste great!

Hi everyone. I was sleeved on 1/23/18 so I’m almost exactly 2 weeks post op. I’m down 20lbs yay!

I had started to feel better about 10 days out, but last night I got increased pain on my right side so bad it made me nauseous... I was dry heaving this morning but then it subsided after I got back on my pain meds. I had stopped taking it a few days ago. I’m a little sad that I’m still experiencing this level of pain, as I thought I was on the mend... anyone else still have pain??

Jan 23 here! Day before my wedding anniversary. Well, this is one year I won't Celebrate with a mai tai!

That's awesome!!
Congrats!! [emoji324][emoji324][emoji324]

Got the green light at my psych eval. Now Dr Dutta will look at my file and if he gives me the approval, I get to schedule surgery! WOOHOO!

If you lose the weight relatively quickly, this summer is very possible. The waiting is also dependent on if they hire a new psychologist soon or not. They have been shorthanded for a while so I would hope that they are getting close to finding someone new. Other kaisers were helping out by doing some of the psych evals for fremont but last I heard, they pulled back and said they couldn't help anymore.

I didn't start losing weight until a week AFTER I met with my surgeon(I met him the day before Christmas eve so enjoyed my holidays before getting serious). I lost 40lbs in my first 7 weeks. Once 1/1/17 hit, I went straight down to 1200cals. I have not had a soda, carbonated beverage, caffine, alcohol, fast food etc since. I added in a lot of the staples that they say are helpful post surgery, Greek yogurt, string cheese, eggs, etc and made sure i got my Protein in from a lot of different sources. You could probably cut carbs and lose quicker but I didn't. I went high protein, low carb. I tracked my protein intake but not my carb intake, just kinda avoided excess carbs. I still have a piece of toast every morning but I don't usually have a carb with dinner.< br>
2 thing to remember. 1, the most important part pre op is to build the right habits. A lot of people who do extreme dieting to lose weight preop quickly, really struggle with post op. You are dropping to 1200 cals, you will lose weight quickly regardless if you cut out all the carbs or not. 2, you have to maintain and continue to lose weight throughout the whole process. Especially because they are backed up, you can't gain weight after you hit goal. If they don't see you under your goal weight and continuing your weight loss progress, they won't approve the surgery. So however you decide to lose weight, it has to be sustainable.

Hey guys! I'm going through the Fremont kaiser as well. I'm a little farther in the process as my psych eval is tomorrow. Let me know if you have any question. They also want you to go to one support group meeting. The Fremont Support Group is actually meeting tomorrow from 6-8pm if you guys are interested.

All of the surgeons have very good reputations at fremont. I personally have Dr Dutta and I feel so comfortable with him. You can pick your surgeon but I just went with the first available appointment and got Dr Dutta.

It has already been said but I can't stress it enough. START NOW! They take your highest recorded weight within the last year so if you start losing now you can speed up the process.

Also 10% is not for everyone. Just depends on what your surgeon decides. If you are on the border of the 40% bmi they usually only ask you to lose 5%.

I don't want to discourage you guys on timing but right now psych evals are completely booked in April and going into May. Realistically, if you lose the weight quickly you might get a July-ish surgery. They are down a psychologist so things are a little backed up.

I only tell you guys that because I had an expectation that things would move very quickly. I hit my goal weight in February so I expected a March surgery. Now I'm looking at early May.

Hi there
How was orientation at Kaiser?
Question??... did you have your weight documented by your Dr who referred you before going to info & orientation classes .. just wanted to find out cos I was told at Fremont office (which he highly encouraged to do ) would use that as starting weight & anything u lose before meeting the surgeon/ nutritionist would count toward 10% pre-op weight ... is that true for you ?
I've been trying to work on it .. being I had to wait a few weeks before this first info class ..

Thanks for letting me know.[emoji4]
I'm going next week on April 1 Saturday
We just may be on same surgery schedule at Fremont ...
Nice to know we are all in it together.

I went through Kaiser Richmond. Orientation, met with surgeon to get goal weight, shrink evaluation, I think there was four classes and then got my date. Started November 18th and surgery was February 15th.

Oh ok .. that's good to hear you got it all done in the beginning.. then on to the 12 classes .. you are so close ... !!!
What was your starting BMI? / weight ?
I'll find out soon enough if they are the same requirements . I've been talking to kaiser bariatric office & told me after 2hr info class .. I schedule a 2hr orientation class ... then schedule to meet the dr & nutritionist.. next psych evaluation.. when I'm 5lbs away from 10% of pre weight loss ... then I wait for approval when I get to pre weight loss off .. about 22lbs ... So far I'm down almost 10 & it will count towards my documented previous weight I was told. ..
I just had all labs done march 2nd w a physical.
I'm sure they may want to evaluate my health again before they approve it.
I'll let you know if there is more to it ..
I was thinking all Kaiser bariatrics is all the same..
We can be Kaiser bariatric buddies !!
Thanks for sharing!

Let me begin by saying that I have been completely open about my entire weight loss journey , including the surgery, with anyone and everyone since I made the decision to do this and began my six month pre-op diet program almost a year ago.
At 5.5 months out, I have now lost 180 pounds. And, trust me, people notice, and it always is a topic of conversation. How could it not be? And you know what, the surgery is probably less than 10% of those conversations. People are more mesmerized at the transformation and the hard work it took to make these changes in my life. Not one single person has said one negative thing about the surgery because, surgery or not, losing 180 pounds is an incredible accomplishment.
Everyone has the right to privacy, and, in this case, the right to tell people or to not tell people, but it has been my experience that the surgery part of the equation is not the most prominent.
Am I a poster boy for WLS? No. But, to these people, am I a poster boy for weight loss and changing my life for the better? Yes, I am. And again, how could I not be? You don't come across people who lose this kind of weight every day.
To each his or her own on this one...

I had gastric bypass a year ago and I can share my experience as someone who was very open about it. I didn’t shout it from the rooftops but I did tell close family, a few friends and colleagues before the surgery. After, as I noticeably started to lose weight a lot of curious people asked "how are you doing it?" , "what's your secret?". I've always been honest and said I had weight loss surgery. 95% of people respond with "good for you", no more questions asked. The other 5% want to know more, what you can eat, what it feels like to lose that much weight. They're generally curious and 2 ppl I know have since had the surgery. At this point if you know me you know I've had WLS.

I don't feel like a poster child nor do I feel like im spilling all of my personal details everyday. I've been super lucky to never encounter any negativity from anyone.

Not saying you should share with everyone and you should only do what makes you feel comfortable. Just wanted to give the perspective of someone who has been through it and has decided to be open.

Hi everyone . I'm in the beginning stages of my wls journey as I was recently accepted into a Bariatric program and have my first meeting with a surgeon next week! I'm planning to move forward with the sleeve. I have been doing a lot of research and preparing myself mentally for the changes that lay ahead.

One thing that is really bothering me is not wanting to be the poster child for wls! I'm a private person and the idea of having to tell people (outside my immediate family) I had this surgery is driving me nuts. I also don't want to lie to anyone who asks how I'm losing all this weight! "Oh I'm just exercising and eating right blah blah..." I'm not ashamed so I don't feel the need to lie, and I also don't want to miss out on an opportunity to encourage or inspire someone who may be thinking about surgery. And I don't want to contribute to the stigma of this surgery. However, opening up about the procedure invites more questions, scrutiny, etc and at this point, I just don't think I will want to share those private things about me... just doesn't feel right.

I'm not really sure what my question is, but what are others thoughts about this? Should I just suck it up and accept that I will be known for this and prepare to answer people's questions? Or is there really a way to do this privately? Lying to people is not an option I'm considering because I think it will be damaging to my self image. Thanks in advance for any insights!