karen_marie

Glad to hear it! And good luck on the smooth recovery with the kids. I guess I have a blessing in disguise in that I don't have kids yet (one reason why I'm doing the bypass - I have PCOS so this should help things work better). Keep us posted! My surgery is next Friday crazy how quickly it snuck up on me!

Welcome, and good luck with your approval process!

Wow, sorry you had to have that reaction from your mom. But CONGRATS on staying positive and getting your revision approval! Do you have friends and family who are supportive?

No cal, sugar free syrups are totally helpful! I'm on day 6 of my liquid pre-op diet, and those syrups and flavor extracts have been very helpful. Been using my Ninja blender like CRAZY lol surprisingly, as long as I get my protein powder shakes in, I don't really feel any bad hunger. Not gonna lie, I've been salivating over the smells of other foods that coworkers eat at lunch time, but I haven't strayed from the liquids haha.

Sending good thoughts your way!

When you say your doctor wants you to lose, do you mean your primary physician or your bariatric surgeon? If it's the surgeon, have you considered meeting with a different surgeon to see if they would have the same plan for you? And I def wanna echo @Conroy3917 and say make sure you're eating enough, especially protein.

Started mine last Thursday, and so far so good! I've found that having sugar free syrups and different flavored extracts help to add flavor but not sugar or calories.

My hospital actually has you do clear liquids the day before, then a gatorade (regular, not no cal) that night, and another gatorade in the morning at least 2hrs before your arrival time to the hospital. They started adding them in a few years ago because it helps with the recovery apparently. I'm in the middle of my 2wk liquid liver shrinking diet and am looking forward to those gatorades hahaha

Awesome!! Mine took longer than expected (I guess BCBS of IL was behind on approving a lot of surgeries), but I got mine too last week and an getting my pre-op tests done at the hospital tomorrow. Surgery is on 10/27 and I can't wait! Started my 2wk liquid liver shrinking diet yesterday, and so far so good lol

OMG soooo excite! Bought my protein powder for my liquid diet. Going to spend the next few days ordering some things I need off Amazon. Have a work conference this week, and start my liquid diet next Thursday 10/12. SOOOOO GLAD the timing on that worked out! It would have been miserable trying to faithfully do the liquid diet while at a conference lol

This is just an informational posting, but I thought it would be helpful to some to get an idea of what your surgeon/nutritionist may recommend. These are from Alexian Brothers Health System out in the Northwest suburbs of IL. I'm working with Dr. Wallace and the Kane Center out in Hoffman Estates, and will have my surgery at St. Alexius hospital in Hoffman Estates. ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR regarding your specific pre-surgery instructions and protein powders/shakes that are approved by your program. This was very helpful info to have for me, so I thought it could be nice to share for those early on in the process and wanting to learn all they can beforehand

Here are pics of the pages in the other resources packet. My program really does provide a lot of information, these pics are only part of what the nutritionist provided and discussed with my small group. PS 'applications' actually refers to apps lol I haven't looked into any of them, so can't vouch as to how good any of them are. I did flip through a few of the recipe books on the list that the nutritionist had out, and I'm definitely thinking of buying one or two of them.

I'm not sure what you're referring to? I uploaded 2 pics, so only two pages to view.

When you're trying to be cheesy, but everyone around you is laughtose intolerant. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. I don't trust those trees. They seem a little shady. What video game do you play on the toilet? Call of Doody. Why did the birdie go to the hospital? Because it needed tweetment. Didi you know I used to be a banker? Meh, I lost interest. I started a band named "999 Megabites" but we haven't gotten any gigs yet. A blind man walks into a bar...and a table...and a chair...and people

Yeah I'm not super thrilled about the 'why' questions I'll probably get when I let a few of my family members know this weekend. My mom and sister have known the whole time, and I know that my dad, step mom, and in-laws will be supportive no matter what. But I know they'll want to ask those 'why' questions. I think I'm just go to frame the conversation in a way that I'm just letting them know because I'll be under anesthesia for the surgery, and I also don't want them to worry about the rapid weight loss that will occur for awhile. We had an issue in the past with my dad having surgery on his lungs and not telling us kids until MONTHS AFTERWARDs...we were NOT amused, since his health is not that great and things could have gone south on the operating table. So I'm telling them because 1) I want to extend the courtesy that I didn't get from my dad, and 2) we're a very open family and are supportive when we share things. I've only mentioned to my boss and one or two other people at work that I have to be out for 'abdominal surgery,' which is accurate, but I don't have any intention of telling them what I specifically had. Maybe down the road but no plans to do it now.

Congrats and good luck! Going through the process with your spouse is going to be a great support system

Woohoo! Is your surgery in the morning? I always assume that surgery is scheduled for like 'buttcrack of dawn' times, but I know I've seen others in the forums with afternoon surgeries too.

This reminds me of a weird problem I had in my last apartment. My scale never seemed to be accurate, and I would have to weight myself like five separate times in a row and take an average. I realized that the floor wasn't level! That wreaked havoc on the scale trying to accurately weigh me. It's probably not what the issue is for you (@chasingpolaris321 is totally right in the daily fluctuations). I ended up having to find the one place in my apartment that was hard flooring and level to weigh myself - and it happened to be the front door entry. Since I tend to weigh in my birthday suit, I had to make sure that door was triple locked haha.

I don't have to wait too much longer now (my start to surgery process has been much faster than I was expecting!), which is good because I am not known for my excess in patience haha. I've been spending my time doing a few things that I've found suggested in the forums, from my doctors, or just things I thought of: Trying to walk 30min more days than not during the week (I have to walk my two dogs after work so that helps) Writing in a private online journal to kind of document my journey (I want to be able to have something to look back on when I'm going through the weight loss and when I'm years down the road). I've been using penzu.com for my journal. Practicing being more mindful of my usual eating habits. The psychologist mentioned at a support class this past weekend to take this waiting time to really pay attention to things like emotional eating - what is the exact emotion that triggers it? for instance, angry is usually not the underlying emotion, since it's usually a defensive reaction to being sad or frustrated times of day I eat/get hungry - see if I have any times of day that tend to be triggers for me to eat. Since I get to work early and eat an early lunch, I've noticed around 2pm I'm looking for a snack to give myself a distraction or break from my very heavy workload. Knowing that, I can plan ahead and make sure to have healthy snacks for that 2pm break pay more attention to the food I'm eating - start working to slow down my eating and my chewing, really take time to taste flavors and feel textures.

LOL I've already got some chin hairs from the PCOS, might as well rock a full beard

I'm glad this topic came up, because I've been a little concerned about how that general vicinity would fair once the weight really started coming off. It's definitely plump, just like me (I joke with my sister that I can grab a handful of it due to the fat deposits in the hood). I thought maybe a tummy tuck would help that loose skin, very happy to hear that seems to be the case!

Happy to see another Disnerd getting surgery like me You should plan a victory vacation back to Disney so you can take a new pic with Tink and do a cool side by side comparison! But that's me, I'll find any excuse I can to get back to Disney World lol

Yeah, I hear ya about the one and done! I've got a bit of GERD so RNY is definitely the way to go for me. But I also wanted it because of the major shift it will force me to make in my lifestyle. I know how I am, and I know I'd be able to more safely 'cheat' with a sleeve. So I'm just taking the nuclear option right from the gate haha.