MrsGamgee

*quietly slips back into the forums* Apologies for my absence. Some stuff came up (not WLS related) that sent me into a bit of a funk and I didn't feel very much like chatting to anyone. I've tried to stay focused on my pre-op diet, with limited success. But Thursday begins phase two of the diet... 5-6 glucerna shakes, and 200 calories of veg per day. Hopefully it will knock out the last three pounds I need to lose before surgery. I hope everyone is doing well and not feeling too overwhelmed as your dates draw near.

I'm leaning toward calling my pouch Hermione because she's going to be the smart one in this relationship, always pushing me to make better choices and saying 'I told you so'.

Just a heads up about biotin... make sure you let your doc know you're taking it. It can mess with your bloodwork and you should stop taking it 2 weeks before any blood tests. I was advised against taking it.

Iron can be finicky, especially for women (making an assumption here). Being a little low isn't uncommon. I would confirm with your surgeon about the supplements pre op but I wouldn't be too concerned.

This is my plan for today too... a stop at Timmie's with a little pay it forward.

Totally normal, especially when you consider that you were pumped full of fluids in hospital. Your body is in shock from the surgery. Be kind to yourself! Give your body time to heal.

I've seen melba toast on some maintenance food lists, not during active weight loss.

[emoji4] I'm scheduled for May 16th. The meds are on board now for as long as the docs say I need them... thankfully they've already removed one of my 3 diabetes meds and have cut both my blood pressure meds in half. My goal with surgery from the beginning has been to put the diabetes into remission.

I've been doctoring my Glucerna shakes for the last couple of weeks. My favourite is adding cinnamon and chipotle powder to my chocolate shakes. Seems to cut that fake sweet taste a little. I'm still pre op and am already looking forward to when I don't need to have so much sweet in my diet.

My why boils down to 3 things. My husband. My daughter. My son. When my almost-7yo was a year old I was diagnosed with type two diabetes. I had dealt with gestational diabetes twice, and facing the rest of my life with those frustrations and challenges, I committed to losing weight once and for all. And I did lose weight. For a year I did well. I was down almost 80lbs from my highest. Then life got messy and I turned to food again for comfort. I again became a lump on the couch, and to help our meager budget, I went off my meds... for a year. Bad idea. The weight I lost was found. I started getting the tingly toes and fingers that go along with diabetic neuropathy. I was having hypertensive headaches daily. I regularly started having anxiety attacks about my health. I was terrified of dying while my children were still small, of leaving my husband with two kids to care for on his own (my hubs is a great father... but he cannot cook a healthy meal or do a braid to save his life). I was terrified and frozen in place at the same time. What finally sent me back to my doctor was a yeast infection that I couldn't deal with without a prescription. Around that same time two of my SIL were preparing for WLS. I asked a few questions and did my research. And after another 3 or 4 months of working on my courage, I finally asked my doctor to refer me to our bariatric clinic.

Day 17 - I normally only listen to my playlists when I'm driving or when I'm writing, neither of which are on the schedule today. I will see about putting on my happy playlist while I'm prepping dinner (steak fajitas... no tortilla for me... and black bean salad). B-side - I'm not putting myself at the bottom of my list any more.

I have someone in my family who takes pleasure in sharing articles about WLS horror stories. The thing is, I'm certain that she feels threatened by me taking control of my life and my weight. I've always been the biggest and I don't think she likes that I'm making changes.

This is me too... the TV is on pretty much all day long as background noise.

Favourite binge worthy TV show? Are you sure you want to ask this? LOL... I'm a big nerd and a tv junkie so my list is probably obscene. My husband and I are big fans of GoT, so that's probably number one on my list. Other than that, I love me some PBS dramas and Call the Midwife just started again recently... yay! Can't watch a single episode without crying. And Star Trek: Discovery and the Orville are brilliant. Oh, and we just turned the wee-lings onto Doctor Who...

Thanks! It was more than a foot all told... I shaved my head a few years ago in support of a friend who was battling cancer, and I had been growing it out since. It was more than time for a major change.

A follow up to my 'treat yourself' day. Before and after the haircut... think I lost a pound?

Lol... they are excited to help. They want me to go on the rides at the fair with them next summer.

I'm planning to use my kids' A&W glass mugs. They hold 2.5oz.

I can't speak to the pills or life post-op yet, but my testing was fairly straightforward. I had an endoscopy, a sleep test to rule out apnea, a couple of ECGs, and regular blood work. My program also had me do a refresher course on managing diabetes. Best of luck!

My reasons... numbers 1, 2, & 3. After dealing with blood pressure issues and Type 2 diabetes for too long, I decided that if I wanted to grow old with my husband and be around (with all my limbs intact) for my wee-lings' graduations, weddings, lives I needed to do something bigger and better than what I had been doing.

I wish I would have had the opportunity/wisdom to pursue surgery at a much younger age. It could have saved me so much heartache and $$ (all those years of failed diet programs, diabetes/hbp meds!).

Harder for sure... I find it easier to focus on my routine when my kids are at school and hubs is at work.

That is definitely another reason I decided to go shorter. And I'm sick of finding my hair all over the house.

Day 15 - treat yourself. Tomorrow I'm going for a major haircut. Currently my hair is down past the middle of my back, but I want it to be easier to deal with after surgery, so I'm thinking of getting a bob.

Yes, it's a long pre-OP diet. Because of a side effect of one of my diabetes meds I have struggled to lose the 10% my surgeon requested before surgery. My RD and doc agreed that a longer focus on liquids (3 Glucerna, 300 cal fruit and veg snacks, 1 500 cal meal/day) will do more work to shrink my liver. Originally it was going to be 4 weeks of optifast with no solids. When I was able to lose a little after they changed my gliclizide dosage, the diet became 4 weeks with the Glucerna and 2 weeks of optifast. Given how successful the first week went they changed it again to 6 weeks of Glucerna. I've actually been able to cut my hbp meds in half, and I'm completely off the gliclizide already (still on metformin and jardiance). The results are keeping me motivated, even though the scale hasn't moved in a few days.