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Awesome. You might also want to quantify how much walking you do at work as a benchmark (I like the google fit app). I know when you work on your feet all day it can be hard to really know how much exercise you accomplished versus how much of the dead on your feet feeling is just from standing.

That's pretty impressive in and of itself. I have no idea the effect that stress plays in any of this, but working 75 hour weeks would stress just about anyone out. While I'm sure you are getting lots of walking around exercise you might also benefit from picking up some other sort of activity be it at the gym or outside maybe mixing it up will help with both the weight loss and help relieve some stress. It sounds like you are sticking to the diet so at the end of the day you are operating at a caloric deficit, which means its only a matter of time before the results show up on the scale. Don't let the lack of immediate progress become another source of stress.

I'm sorry you are having such recent difficulty, but being a nurse I'm sure you know that it's only a matter of time before the results start showing on the scale. Just curious did you lose weight on the pre-op diet?

I'm not as esthetician (nor am I even sure that's the right word), but I would think that the shorter the hair the more visible any patches of thinness would be.

I'm not aware of many people who were primarily motivated to have a WLS based on how we would look in the mirror, we all approach this from the perspective of how this will help us lead healthy and long lives. I would echo some of the other posters opinions that the Lap-Band is becoming more and more uncommon due to complications and while effective for folks that are 40 lbs over weight I don't believe that the gastric balloon procedure typically has the best long term outcomes for treating morbid obesity. I am curious why are you limiting your self to considering just those solutions (as opposed to the far more common gastric sleeve)? Are you concerned about their reversibility or are you worried about something else? I would also add that perhaps its hard to sense these things, but this forum is full of people who have gone through or are considering going through these surgeries so when we say "Mobidly Obese" this isn't meant in any way to judge you. As for activity I can't speak to the balloon, but for most other WLS not only are you able to get back to regular activity pretty quickly but you are expected to get back. Most surgeries expect you back to 100% (playing sports, lifting weights ect) within a month and you will be resuming most things almost immediately.

I think the main problem I had with them was that they were almost entirely pre-op folks with a couple of post-op success speakers. So it wound up being about the post op folks talking about their success and the pre-op folks asking questions of those folks about recovery and diet. If you could find a post-op only class I think you might get more value out of it.

Around here they are run by the Hospital, but I believe that there are also private groups. I went to the support groups that were required pre-surgery, but I really didn't get anythng out of them so I don't plan on doing them again. Have other folks found them helpful?

Congrats!!! The wait usually depends on the surgeons scheduled so I've seen it vary. My surgery was about 3 weeks after final approval, but some folks here have posted about it being less than a week. My guess is its a question of how the surgeon schedules things (like do they put a placeholder for you pending approval or whether they don't even look at the schedule until everything is settled).

Congrats, the first 24 hours are the worst. Dedicate yourself to getting to 4oz of liquid an hour as fast as you reasonably can so you can be discharged.

Congratulations!!! Don't worry about it we have all experienced the same thing. What they don't tell you is that liquid just passes through your new stomach. I was thinking damn was this all just an insurance scam then I finally got to the puree stage today and had a couple tablespoons of tuna salad fill me up.

I don't really want to get into a debate with you on this, but telogen effluvium is incredibly rare in gastric sleeve patients because the "trauma" of the surgery is so minor. Additionally Mr. Humblebeast is a man and far less likely to have hair loss attributable to post surgical hormonal changes. In the not likely event that Mr. Humblebeast begins to lose hair it is likely going to be caused by vitamin/nutritional deficits and if so may not even be avoidable to some extent.

If you are losing hair it means you aren't getting your protein (or like me you are getting old). Don't think of hairloss as the disease, but rather a symptom of your body telling you "more protein please."

I use the Trader Joe's brand adult chewable that's i've been taking for years. They are cheap and have everything a vitamin should have. The great thing about vitamins though is that you can always change if you don't like them.

Is it constant or does it occur when eating (or sitting/standing/coughing/whatever)? If this is a constant pain I would definitely ask you doctor. My guess is that it's normal pain, resulting from trauma that was caused by the cannulas that get pushed in and moved around during surgery.

Just had my first post-op appointment (12 days out of surgery) and I was given permission to have a pickle if I wanted, so I think you are good to go (though based on the age of this post at this point I'm sure you have done it)

I would also add in contrast sometimes the pushback I got was because of ignorance or fear for me that was based in the heartfelt, but completely wrong view of what the surgery is and its risks. At the end of the day while it may change our lives this is a pretty simple surgery with very little downtime and/or complications. Heck the only reason this isn't an outpatient surgery is because they have to make sure you can take in liquids before sending you home. I found that explaining the surgery to those naysayers got them to understand. If you are dealing with those like "TLHvsg2018" mentioned then as my nana would say "F*ck Them."

Folks here have offered some amazing advice that I would echo wholeheartedly. Remember you are doing this surgery for yourself and you shouldn't let anyone, no matter who they are tell you that you aren't good enough or aren't smart enough to know what's best for you.

I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, but of course see what your doctor says about it.

When you say "pain swallowing" are you talking about muscle pain from the process of swallowing, incision pain, pressure and discomfort in the stomach? No way to know if the gurgling is related, but that is pretty common right after surgery because the space they are passing though is so small and becomes filled with liquid, especially right after surgery. Imagine pouring water down a pipe into a balloon if the pipe isn't full air can freely travel back up, if the pipe is full of water air travels up the stream as bubbles.

I'm sorry to hear that. I believe the average price for self pay is ~$26K and there is generally financing available, but this can vary quite a bit so it's worth asking your local providers what they charge. Alternatively there are a bunch of folks here who go to Mexico for the surgery where it can be done for much less out of pocket (the VSG is a pretty simple proceedure so complications are pretty rare). You could also see about changing your insurance during your next life changing event/enrollment peroid.

Just curious why won't your insurance cover it? I ask because many of the reasons insurance denies coverage are also reasons why a surgeon may not take your case (i.e. you lack the medical need for the surgery).

You might also consider giving it to your nutritionists. At my hospital at least they take anything you don't like and give it to some of the low income pre-op people to try.

I'm not sure what you mean by retain in this context. You should be losing water through either strength training or cardio, but obviously you are going to sweat much more during cardio because you will have a higher heart rate and blood pressure increase. This means you need to stay extra vigilant about drinking while you workout. Working out on the other hand (either cardio or weight training) shouldn't cause you to stop losing weight. Of course cardio may cause you to burn more calories and lose quicker.

Fingers crossed, so far so good. Feeling hungry (pretty much all the time) has always been my Achilles heel and I'm really hoping this provides a permanent solution for that.

Rotten meat is what you get when you mix "Ketosis" with ultra low calorie diet. My wife is similarly missing the abnormally sweet breath I had a couple of years ago when I was on Atkins.