Shimmy

Some see a hospital bed ... others see a jungle gym for grown ups!

I'm with @FluffyChix ... flattering lighting, and confidence!
Just rock his world a few times in the dark, or dim lighting, so you are comfortable and confident. Then once the lights come on, he'll already be thinking you're a sex goddess and he'll be crazy about every bit of you.
I'm speaking from experience .... just entered a relationship after losing 80 lbs (and losing nearly 20 more since), and before plastics. I hate the way I look naked, but he thinks I'm sexy af

Worst date ever
FML

Ahahaha
Online dating is like online shopping for me... Often things come damaged and I just want my money back...😓

I'm in Michigan. I start liquid diet one week prior to surgery so the 27th....I have my few hour long pre-op class on the 26th. Thanksgiving will be my last big meal! Excited for 2019......a life-changing year!!!

Shimmy,
Congrats on the 4th surgery date! I too have gone through the seminar, the classes, and talking to the doctors. I'm not really worried about the surgery, more about failure. I've tried so many things to lose the weight and I am so motivated that I can do this, so I am very hopeful on the outcome.

December 4th for me....just got my date a couple hours ago! I've decided to go with the bypass (praying I made the right decision). Good luck to all December 2018 WLS peeps!

December 4th for me....just got my date a couple hours ago! I've decided to go with the bypass (praying I made the right decision). Good luck to all December 2018 WLS peeps!

I just got my date today....December 4th! I'm also having the bypass. I attended a 3.5 hour seminar where they explained both the sleeve and the bypass surgery thoroughly. You should definitely know what the surgeon will be doing to your body! I'd ask your nurse navigator (if you have one) for more information about the surgery itself. You can find a lot of information on reputable websites such as WebMD. I thought I had to do 2 weeks of liquid diet prior to surgery but it's just one week so that was a bonus. I'm also nervous but not so much about the surgery itself but of failure. I'm hoping I will always feel as committed and positive as I feel right now! Good luck to you, we can keep each other posted. We got this!

I can totally relate to this! I did exactly this!!!!!!!!!!!! I had no weight requirements and my PCP was so understanding of my weight gain. Two months before my surgery (Sept) I ate absolutely the worst I've ever ate. Like bread w/ every meal. Pasta. Potatoes. Ohmygosh. I can even begin to describe but I felt like you and I thought i needed to. But then I went for my last appointment the weigh in or whatnot its called and realized OMG I'm the heaviest I've ever been and I gained SO much weight! And something like clicked and I left the office and said no more!!!!!! And I did the shake thing and a one small meal thing up to the 2 weeks before the surgery (which is next week btw) and the weight is like coming off so fast already just by eating right! Its crazy.
Anywho. Point is. You can do this. We will eat delicious foods again, but this is a tool for us not to eat ALL the delicious foods lol . We got this!!! You got this!!!

It is certainly not an abnormal behavior. The reality is that you will eat these items again though. I have eaten Doritos gasp! I have eaten a small bit of a brownie or a cupcake, oh no!
The difference is after surgery you are most likely going to experience less tolerance and less cravings for these items. Once you start to lose weight, you will desire them even less because your progress and non scale victories will motivate you to stay on track 90 percent of the time.
We are human though, and food tastes good. We are meant to enjoy certain things in life, and in moderation I think food can be one of those things.
I would try and stay away from that food funeral thinking. You’re going to set yourself up for having a hard time staying on track for your pre op diet. You don’t want to really gain twenty pounds before surgery anyways and I would not test the surgeon on his no gain policy with a large gain.
Set yourself up for success preop, and you can definitely lose some pounds and have a smooth transition for after your surgery.

I'm currently using them. Have been since 1 month before my surgery, so coming up on 6 months now. My 3 month levels were all well within acceptable ranges. I haven't talked with anyone who personally had issues with them, I've heard stories, but never have I seen a review from someone stating they used them and had issues. I reached out to a few folks here, the 1 that got back to me said he stopped using them because he no longer needed them with his diet meeting his needs.

For me (and only for me) So far, so good. I haven't spent much on them either thanks to the point system on this site. My wife uses the Iron during her cycles and said she can tell when she doesn't use the patch verses when she does. But that's just anecdotal. I get my 6 month labs drawn in 2 weeks, so I'll have more results shortly afterwards. I'm happy with them so far.

If it gets bad, check with your nutritionist to see if they can alter your diet. Not all pre-op diets are to shrink the liver. And no pre-op diet is a set in stone situation. Do your best, but if you are having issues, reach out to your team.

Pound that Water and schedule so that you are "drinking" something every 2 hours. So like 1 of those "drinking" events might be bouillon for me. And one might be a SF popsicle. I tried to do it so I only had 2 bouillons and 2 popsicles max. Oh and we got SF Jello, so I had 1 of those at night before bed. So it would sit heavy with me.
You can do this. It does improve after about day 3-4!!! Think of the prize. Eyes on the prize!

I just had the bypass on 9/18 and I’m glad I did. The weight loss is steady but still takes effort. I don’t think the sleeve would have been enough for me.

"Clear liquids" don't mean 100% clear. It means "See through". It doesn't matter if it's colored. With the coffee, before surgery is fine, but understand that you'll want to avoid it for a while post surgery due to several things coffee/caffeine does. It pulls Water out of our system so, right after surgery when we are struggling to get our water goal, it's not a good idea to have something reducing our water levels. If causes increased acid production, which is bad during healing. Caffeine also binds to Calcium so you'll want to make sure there is some actual milk in your coffee to allow the caffeine to bind to that calcium, rather than in your gut.

I went up 3 pounds one week into my 10 pound "weight-loss goal" set by my doctor. I'm now back down to my starting weight of 298. I contacted my nurse navigator who is super amazing and helpful. She told me to call her when I'm down 5 pounds and we'll schedule surgery whenever I want it. So, I'm kicking my Water intake and food choices into high gear because I'm so ready! I recommend you contact your nurse navigator if you have one because they know all the different insurance company requirements.
GOOD LUCK... You've got this!!!!

I took 2 months with my Band... and with my Revision to Bypass. Post op was easy for each surgery, but my reasoning wasn't just for the potential movement or energy issues, it was more for taking the time to relearn what I can and can't eat. And I'm super glad I did, I had issues with some foods early on that, if I wasn't home... would have been very uncomfortable to deal with at work/in public.

Based on on your profile/stats, I don't think the sleeve or bypass is clear cut the better option. I would probably lean towards the bypass because you're a little on the higher BMI side but I think both are good options for you.

I didn't see your age, but that's typically a factor too in what my doctor recommends (age is a factor for women not really men)
But one thing I think that has to be a huge factor that is often overlooked is how many bypasses does your surgeon do? There are some surgeons who quite frankly do very few bypasses, and I would never go to one of them. The bypass is a fairly complex procedure, so do yourself a favor and ask them how many they do in a year!

I have surgeons at my hospital who might do several hundred sleeves a year, but do less than 20 bypasses a year. I would absolutely not get a bypass from a surgeon like that, even though the odds are it'll still be fine. It's just unnecessary risk in my opinion

Hi everyone
Its my first post and would like to let everyone know how appreciative I am that this community is out there. Im writing also because I'm conflicted on which surgery is best for me and I know its ultimately my surgeon and my decision but still very scared. Just a little history of me I'm a working mom of almost 3 year old twins, I work at a fast pace medical office so Im pretty much on my feet 8-12 hours a day. I've been overweight all my life but since my pregnancy I have not been able to loose weight and have high blood pressure with high cholesterol levels. My father had passed away from a massive heart attack at 43 yrs old and I just turned 40. My BMI is between 36-37. My first initial visit 6 months ago was to get gastric sleeve but since I've been feeling in my heart I want bypass. On my endoscopy it shown some inflammation due to acid reflux and I've suffered most of my pregnancy with it and definitely do not want GERD. I know theres more Vitamin deficiencies and more complications but I feel like theres more long term benefits with bypass. Again I really can't thank you all Ive been reading most of your posts and I feel so much more informed then I was when I started this journey.
BTW my pre-op appointment with my surgeon is this week and Im a ball of nerves

Everyone is going to have a different experience. But looking at the "averages", it seems a decent number of people develop GERD from the sleeve. And quite a few people don't get any dumping at all.

I've had exactly 1 incident of dumping, in over 6 months. And that was with Tomato Soup. I can eat pretty much anything I want at this point with zero dumping. I do get crampy here and there if I eat something I know I shouldn't, but I don't have any issues with any sweeteners. I went with the band back in 2011... and was revised to RNY this past March. Honestly the best thing I've done. I have a friend that was sleeved and he also had to get revised to the bypass due to complication with the sleeve. Also, the sleeve is 100% non-reversible. The Bypass is reversible under certain conditions, it's a risky reversal, but it does happen, you cannot undo the sleeve since 90% of your stomach ends up in the trash.

Also, long term research keeps showing that the bypass out performs the sleeve in all metrics. Patients lose more, keep it off longer, have lower rebounding weight gain.

It is 100% your decision, but my 2 cents, go with the bypass.

If I were you and had to lose 150 lbs I would go with bypass.
I have bypass and do not dump. Not everyone with bypass experiences dumping. I actually had a revision of sleeve to bypass due to not losing weight and having GERD. Trust me, GERD is not in any way fun. I was miserable with anything I ate.
If you experience dumping, it could be a blessing; it’s your body’s way of letting you know “oh no, don’t put that in your mouth again.” Some people experience different food likes/dislikes post op; it may last forever, it may be temporary. Dairy may not agree with you a few months post op, but you may eventually tolerate it.
These surgeries aren’t cookie cutter by any means so to say that you WILL or WILL NOT experience a certain thing isn’t always the case.
good luck with whatever you choose

not everyone dumps. I never have - and most people I know who've had bypass don't. I don't know what the statistics on this are. I see 30% thrown around on here and on other boards sometimes, but I don't know if there's any hard core research behind that. It can be prevented, though, by limiting your sugar intake (many dumpers can eat *some* sugar - just not a lot of it)
Artificial sweeteners don't cause dumping that I'm aware of, but some people are really sensitive to them (especially sugar alcohols - the ones whose names end in -itol). GI distress, diarrhea, etc - but this can happen to anyone, bypass or not.

Did your surgeon not make any recommendations? My surgeon advised against the sleeve because it can exacerbate or cause acid reflux. I already have some, so I certainly don't want to make it worse. And I wouldn't want to cause it - knowing myself how bad it can be sometimes. I'm pre-op, too, but I've talked to a LOOTTTTTT of patients and families of patients and it is SO variable who has dumping and who doesn't. And everyone has said, it only happens if they do not stick to their diet. Bypass was a no-brainer for me.

I agree with what others have stated, if your profile is correct and your BMI is 50 opt for bypass.
Gastric bypass is a great option if you have been obese for most of your life, including childhood. Having well over 100 pounds to lose makes it a great choice for you, even with no other comorbidities.
I have never dumped after my surgery and tolerate small portions of anything. Whether that is good or bad is an individual thing. If you need dumping to keep your eating in check you may not be successful in the long run anyways.
None of this is to say that you could not accomplish this with a sleeve, but your chances of success may be greater with gastric bypass.
Congrats on your approval and do let us know what you decide and how it goes!