GradyCat

I didn't tell my family or anyone for just that reason. I don't want to hear the negativity and judgment. Only my husband knows.

Family are the hardest to deal with and often don't accept us as we are. WLS is NOT the easy way out and you are not a bad person for having weight issues. Good luck on your WLS journey.

I had GERD before VSG and now I don't have it. It went away after I lost the weight.

That's not nearly enough calories. Drink some Protein Shakes.

Most surgeons and nutritionists don't count calories. They just say, "Eat your Protein first. If full, stop. If not full, go on to veggies, then if full, stop. If not full, go on to grains." Don't get hooked on the calorie-counting game post-WLS because it doesn't work.

I treated myself with trips/vacations. Able to fit in a standard airplane seat. Able to walk around excursions and hiking. Able to fit in a swimsuit. It was a win/win.

Oh that IS weird and funny and a wonderful non-scale victory. I think one of mine might be not wearing WIDE shoes anymore. Now I'm just a regular medium width foot.

I heard somebody say this the other day and it really resonated with me. She said, "Reward yourself for consistency."
Too often we set unrealistic goals over which we have no control, like "I've got to lose 5 lbs by the end of the month and if I do, I'll buy myself a new sweater."
But what if instead we rewarded our BEHAVIOR instead of relying on the results, which may or may not come by the scale.
Say, for instance, we rewarded ourself for tracking our food every day for a month. Or we rewarded ourself for every 10 times we exercised.
It can be small things like a mani/pedi or a new outfit or a foot massager or movie tickets or anything, but reward yourself for making the effort.

It worked out for me. I used to have 2 Migraines a week. Haven't had one in two years. I used to have GERD, it's gone. I used to have sleep apnea. No longer have it. I used to have borderline high blood pressure. Now my BP is normal.

My bariatric surgeon says she's completely in charge of my stomach now, so when I needed an endoscopy to check for GERD, instead of going to a gastroenterologist, my bariatric surgeon did it.

I treated myself with trips/vacations. Able to fit in a standard airplane seat. Able to walk around excursions and hiking. Able to fit in a swimsuit. It was a win/win.

Stick to/get back to the basics of tracking all of your food and Water intake. Focus on Protein 60g or more a day. Exercise if you can. You'll start losing again. Keep in mind why you had WLS in the first place and that'll motivate you to get back on track.

I don't know, Lizzie, perhaps you can approach this without WLS. I'm not trying to talk you out of it by any means, but if sounds like you've got a good handle on what you need to do and are committed to doing it, so WLS might not be the tool you need at this time.

I was eating "regular" food at a month, but I didn't turn back to eating junk food, pastas, and bad foods that made me fat in the first place. I just ate REAL food.

Fairlife are good. I use both their chocolate and vanilla. Sip slowly, don't gulp or put too much Protein on your stomach too fast. Otherwise you shouldn't have any side effects.

I think it's only natural to question why we can't "do this on our own" at various times in our lives and even during pre-op WLS appointments. Only you know the answer to that question.

Thanks for checking in and letting us know how you're doing. I'm glad you gutted through to Day 4 and no longer have the buyer's remorse. It just takes time. Good luck on your WLS journey.

I was self-pay at Cleveland Clinic. Package price (sounds the same as fourmonthspreop) was $26,000 🥴

Has anyone else gone the self pay route?? I’m looking into it and was just curious what was included in your “package price” .

I live in Tampa Florida. My insurance doesn't cover anything obesity related so I had to pay out of pocket. Luckily I was able to save and scrimp for it. I paid for all my pre op appointments, bloodwork, endoscopy, surgeon fee, anesthesia fee and hospital fee. It ended up costing $25,000 total. A large portion was the hospital fee for $17,000. They offered payment plans and medical credit too so there are a lot of options if you don't want to pay up front.

I realize it was a sh*t ton of money but it's my life and happiness on the line so I saw it as worth it.

I have no doubt there are cheaper self pay options available in and out of the country fyi

I just went with this program because it was highly rated in many different aspects in my state.

Best of luck!

Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

Good luck on your surgery today and let us know how you're doing. There are plenty of useful and helpful threads and forums here to guide you along your WLS journey.

The sweet spot is the first six months you don't have too much of an appetite. That gives you time to deal with head hunger and eating from boredom, stress, etc. After 6 months you'll regain your appetite but hopefully by then will have learned coping skills and alternate strategies to keep from eating.

It depends on what type of job you have. A desk job would be easier to go back to work sooner than a physically demanding factory line job. For the most part you'll feel fine, just tired maybe for the first part of a week.

I was eating "regular" food at a month, but I didn't turn back to eating junk food, pastas, and bad foods that made me fat in the first place. I just ate REAL food.

I was eating "regular" food at a month, but I didn't turn back to eating junk food, pastas, and bad foods that made me fat in the first place. I just ate REAL food.