brightfaith

I'm so very sorry you lost your sister and your best friend. How tragic. I can't imagine how terrible that would be. I hope that you are better able every day to take good care of yourself and treat yourself well as you work through her death and all of the challenges of the surgery/weight. I am having a good experience now with mindful eating, focusing on hunger and satiety, enjoying my food, and giving myself nourishing food (proteins, fruits, and a small amount of whole grains and foods like dark chocolate--I hate vegetables, unfortunately), and this has really helped me not to eat for non-hunger reasons. I don't know if that is a challenge for you, but if it is, focusing on mindfulness could help.

I second Baritastic. You can track vitamins, and it also syncs with my FitBit. You can also track weight and measurements if you want.

Have you heard of Rolfing? I haven’t done it myself, but I have a friend who has and have looked into it. I understand it can greatly improve posture and alignment.

Lol. So glad you got back in. And very glad to hear you were cleared to go in so soon -- I hope that will be the case for me when the time comes.

Hike the Cinque Terre. That would thrill me.

RainbowWarrior, I also love exercising in the pool and just got back myself. I do 1800 meters of water walking in chest-deep water -- forward, backward, side-to-side, jogging, and galloping. How long after surgery were you cleared to go into the pool? I can't walk very long on land at this point and so will want to get back in the water as soon as I am able after surgery.

Great article! Very helpful.

I have a light box that has natural light -- it's called DayLight, and I got it from Amazon. I don't use it enough, though. I have depression year-round, but it definitely gets worse in the winter when there is less daylight. It also helps, if you work during the day and do not generally have windows, it is good to get out for a few minutes and take a walk. I would also so love to be in my bed right now...

Thank you very much! I'm feeling much more hopeful about things, and it may be my imagination, but walking and going up steps seems just a tiny bit easier.

Wonderful! I hope you're feeling great!

FluffyChix, I am using the workbook on mindful eating for people having bariatric surgery that was written by the doctor who wrote the Bariatric Times article you linked to above, Michelle May. I have been practicing mindful eating, focusing on eating when hungry and stopping when full (about a 5 or 6 on the hunger-fullness scale) for more than 2 months and have only twice eaten when not hungry in that span. I am also doing daily meditation and generally practicing self-kindness. All in all, it has been incredibly helpful. I feel well-nourished, I have been able to incorporate many of the habits I will need after I have RNY (not until spring), and I have lost 25 pounds. Loss is slow now after the initial loss when I started. Eating according to hunger and fullness generally has me eating between 1,400 and 1,800 calories a day, and I am fine with that. My meals are pretty boring (I'm no cook), but I do track, and I'm happy to join in and get ideas from others. I hate vegetables passionately, so that will always been a downfall of my meals. B: Premier Protein chocolate shake L: Tuna, string cheese, apple slices, peanut butter D: Turkey meatballs, cottage cheese, grapes

I had my appointment with a cardiologist last week to obtain clearance for surgery. Although he said I do not have any current symptoms of coronary artery disease, because I have a number of risk factors (size, strong family history, diabetes, high cholesterol [though controlled with medication]), he wants me to do a stress test. I have the appointment on Thursday. Because I cannot walk for more than a couple of minutes at a time, they will be giving me medication to induce the stress. I am getting nervous. I do not want to find out that I have coronary artery disease. My father died at 40, presumably from a heart attack, and I take after him in almost all ways health-wise. I guess it's better to know, but I am worried. The cardiologist also said that false positives are an issue with stress tests... hope it's right the first time. Anyone have any experience or wisdom to share?

Great, I am so glad you are calling your therapist and have made an appointment with the psychiatrist. That is wonderful. And you are not alone. *hugs*

Beausie Bunny, I'm very sorry that you've been feeling suicidal and very concerned. Could I convince you to give your therapist a call and let him/her know? As amazing and helpful as folks on this board can be, it's really important that you have support right where you are if you are feeling like you might harm yourself. I am much older than you, but you and I have similar starting statistics (I haven't yet had surgery) and seem to struggle in similar ways -- I have difficult to treat depression and have dealt for many years with binge eating. I know how hard it is to eat well and prioritize taking care of yourself when you are depressed. I am wondering if you could work to try another medication or a new medication combination -- this is ultimately what made the biggest difference for me and enabled me to really put into practice what I was doing in therapy and with mindfulness approaches to addressing binge eating. Please talk to your doctor or psychiatrist about options. And take care. Edited to add: And, you've had an amazing accomplishment in losing 155 pounds. You've gained back a small amount. All is not lost! It is really important to keep in perspective that this is a minor setback that you can deal with.

You can do a short warm up on the treadmill, then lift, then do cardio — that is what I was taught by a trainer as best practice.

I still have a long way to go -- I've completed one of 6 months of supervised nutrition visits. I know someone who had the sleeve and did very well -- I second those above who say the commitment to nutrition and exercise is the same regardless. Hope all this info has been helpful!

I have not had surgery yet but have chosen bypass because I’m starting at a very high BMI (and bypass has slightly greater loss) and because I’ve had diabetes for several years, and bypass offers better chance for resolution or at least improvement. Good luck with your decision!

Hi SLT, how far along are you in the process. I will be having gastric bypass but am early in the process — I’ve started the 6-month supervised nutrition program and am beginning to get medical clearances. I don’t expect to have surgery until May or so. I am also in therapy for depression and binge eating disorder. What I am finding helpful is a mindfulness-based approach to eating. The book “Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Binge Eating” by Michelle May has been very helpful, and there is a companion workbook for people who are planning to have or who have had bariatric surgery. I haven’t binged for a long while and have eaten when not physically hungry just twice in the last two months, which is really good progress for me. I’m using this time to really work on mindfulness and meditation and prepare for the surgery. You may be looking for a veteran, but let me know if I can be helpful in any way. I know binge eating and overeating are difficult challenges, and the surgery and pre-op diets can be bingeing triggers.

I have lost 22 pounds since I attended the surgery info session in mid-August. At my consult soon after, the surgeon recommended that I lose 20-30 pounds before surgery (which won't likely be until May as I have to go through the 6-month supervised nutrition visits for insurance) but did not require it. My insurance requires the supervised nutrition visits but does not require weight loss. I have been wondering whether I will be able to sustain this. In the past, it's usually at about 6-9 months that I really struggle to maintain changes to my diet and weight loss. At that point this time, I will be going on the 2-week liver shrinkage plan and then moving to surgery, so I'm hopeful that any weight I lose pre-op will actually remain lost. I lost most of the 22 very quickly, and it is now slow. Does anyone know -- when you are looking at average excess weight lost, do you calculate from you initial weight or your surgery weight? So if an average loss from RNY is 65% of excess weight, would I use 362 (my starting weight) or XXX (whatever my weight is the day of surgery) to calculate the 65%?

Thank you! I still have a long while to go -- I have 1 down of 6 monthly supervised nutrition visits, which will be completed by the end of March. As long as all my clearances have come back fine, the hospital will submit my paperwork to insurance then. I'm hoping to have a May 2018 date. April would be even better, but that might be overly optimistic. It would be nice to have a local support group, but the only one I know of is at Bayview, and I believe that is for their patients only. UMMC doesn't have an in-person support group (they said people don't show) but said I was welcome to try to start one! I would love an in-person group, so maybe I'll think about it.

I’m in Baltimore and having surgery at University of Maryland Medical Center. Nice to see others from the area here!

Wow! What an amazing experience! How fabulous that you were able to hike like that. This is an inspiration.

Hi BlackCatMatt! Although I was quite nervous for my first consult with the surgeon, I found there was no reason at all to be anxious. Mine involved completing introductory paperwork and questionnaires, meeting the surgeon and having the opportunity to ask him questions (after he asked several of me), a short physical exam by the surgeon, and then the chance to meet with the dietitian and patient navigator. They both provided me with packets of information on the clearances I would need to have for the surgery and basic information about the pre-op and post-op diet phases. The surgeon told me I was a good candidate, strongly recommended one surgery for me over others (RNY), and recommended (but did not require) that I lose 20-30 pounds prior to surgery. All in all, it was a good and reassuring experience. If you have some time tonight, write down your questions if you haven't already--I am glad that I brought a list with me. I also brought a friend--it was helpful to have a support person there, and she also asked a few questions. No big deal to go by yourself, but I was happy she could attend with me. I wish you the best of luck! I also have diabetes and take a high dose of insulin, and healing or at least better controlling diabetes (in addition to improving my mobility) is a main motivation for the surgery. Many folks on here have had resolution of their diabetes, which is very encouraging.

You’re beautiful! May the good health continue!