lizonaplane

I haven't had periods in years because I have been on continuous oral contraceptives, but when I got periods in high school I got nausea, vomiting, migraines, diarrhea, etc. I will have to stop the pill prior to surgery to prevent blood clots and I'm not looking forward to getting my period again.

Mine is just a high protein, low carb, low fat diet for two weeks and then I think it's liquids the day of surgery or maybe the day before. Still don't have my surgery date and I've been preparing for almost 5 months!!

I was told to avoid any food four hours before bed, but I tend to have GERD during the afternoons when I'm not even sleeping! (I haven't had surgery yet however). I notice that some of the flavored waters give me GERD, so maybe stop those for a while to see if that helps. Rich foods can be a problem as @Arabesque mentioned, not just spicy. For me too many sweets were an issue, but I've stopped eating most sweets in preparation for surgery. Good luck!

Yes, diet is the much bigger portion of weight loss compared with exercise, but exercise is considered important for weight maintenance, so it may be a good idea to think of ways to exercise that don't involve standing or walking. For example, are you able to swim or do water aerobics? What about an exercise bike? I don't know what your disability is, but there are physical therapists who work with people with many disabilities who can help you develop a program of exercise suited to your abilities and limitations. I wouldn't give up on WLS just because you have limited mobility, but I would talk to your treatment team about what your options are - in any case, moving in the immediate period after surgery is important to avoid blood clots, even if it's just for a few minutes at a time.

My surgery center does once a year for life but gave us a list of the labs in case we want to go to our PCP to get them done. I think that makes sense since some people may live far from the city, but I'm pretty close in. However, I work for a company that does labs so I have no choice but to get my labs done by my employer or my insurance won't cover it. I will just ask them to write a scrip for the right labs. I like that the surgery center makes a big deal out of how the psychologist and nutritionists are available too.

I agree with @catwoman7. But also, are you tracking/counting your calories? If not, small snacks can really add up! I found that when I have been trying to lose weight prior to surgery, I've been doing high protein and low carb, and it's be so much easier than earlier attempts. I would make sure that the snacks don't have sugar/carbs (Like low fat yogurt can be really high in added sugar unless it's something like light and fit greek, which is great because it's also high in protein). But as @catwoman7 said, you won't lose 10 lbs every week even if you're perfect.

My program says no caffeine until 1 month out, but I plan to try this with decaf coffee.

I would definitely call your surgery center. With surgery they want to know you are getting better each day. If you start to get worse, it could be a sign of a problem.

My nutritionist told us not to take too much biotin because it doesn't really help with hair loss and it can interfere with noticing other vitamin deficiencies.

I haven't had surgery yet, but about 6 months ago I got a treadmill and I went from being sedentary throughout the whole pandemic to using the treadmill every day for more than an hour every day, usually at an incline. I got bursitis in one hip, which is just an overuse injury. It could be what @Arabesque said, but if you went from not walking too much to doing 7-9 miles every day in a short period of time, it could be just overuse. Also, like @Arabesque said, it could be your shoes. When you lose weight, your feet can shrink and that can make your shoes too loose. I hope you can find a solution! There are good videos on how to stretch hip muscles, you can try that too.

Yeah, I had a lot of work forgetting at 500mg but I'm now at 300mg and it's fine.

Thanks for the idea - I just ordered these. I plan to freeze some water with drink mix added and some protein drinks for before surgery and when I'm on full liquids after surgery.

My insulin and A1c levels have always been normal but metformin was suggested to me because I take medications that increase weight and there's evidence it helps in those cases. Also, it can help if you have PCOS or other conditions and it can just help with weight loss for other people, although the effect is moderate. So does topamax, but the side effects can be... a bit much. I take it every day to prevent migraines. Again, it's pretty cheap, since it's available generic. I'm sorry your wife has struggled so much.

Did you diet for one month before May 5? Otherwise, you need an appointment in August. You will have dieted in May, June and July, so you will need to go in at the beginning of August for your final weigh-in.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I don't have a lot of chronic pain, only migraines which are bad enough. I do have bipolar disorder, so I understand having to go through lots of trials to find stuff that works for you and gaining weight from illness/meds. I tend to listen to podcasts and take naps when I'm trying to prevent eating due to stress, boredom, or anxiety. I will also watch YouTube videos sometimes, or talk to my mom on the phone, but sometimes she just stresses me out more. A nap is a wonderful way to waste a few hours. Or funny books. I love Janet Evanovich's Stehanie Plum series for laugh out loud silliness. You can also get books on CD at the library. I hope you find something that works for you and that you can get an appointment with the pain clinic soon!

I bought some protein2O but I haven't tried it yet. I have a done of powders but I tend to prefer the premixed drinks because they aren't clumpy. Is there any way to fix that?

So, maybe I shouldn't say anything since I haven't had surgery yet, but I tend to get snackish late morning and afternoon, and I'm trying to lose weight prior to my surgery. I'm trying to eat low calorie/high volume foods that help me feel full like cucumbers and red bell peppers with or without tzatziki. They really fill me up and have a lot fewer calories and carbs than protein bars or pb banana toast. Maybe you could eat veggies at night? I've seen one surgeon on line that said if you're not hungry for veggies you're not really hungry; it's just head hunger, so I'm trying to keep that in mind.

Congratulations on losing your re-gain. I can't really offer any suggestions since I haven't even had surgery yet, but I know that some people increase by 100 calories every few weeks till they stop loosing.

What about metformin? It doesn't work by curbing appetite and I know it works well at helping weight loss for a lot of people. I take medications that increase weight through a variety of mechanisms and my doctor put me on metformin. Bonus is it's really cheap.

Some medications can cause heat and cold intolerance. I have trouble with that due to my meds, but I haven't had surgery yet, so I can't say whether it gets worse with surgery. Check drugs dot com to look up all your meds to check the possible side effects.

Yah, Boston is expensive and Newbury St is ridiculous. I try not to shop downtown, but if you don't have a car you might be limited to that, since the T doesn't go very far outside the city and Cambridge. I live in the suburbs. You could check the Somerville area maybe?

It's 9:30. Just go to bed!

I just took some too small clothes to the women's shelter... and then started on this journey and started to lose weight! I will have to see what we have in Boston area by way of consignment.

I hope he told you what shakes he wants you to drink. Hard to find ones without sucralose.

Yeah, these are all great suggestions but I don't feel comfortable in dresses or leggings or belts. I guess I can just buy one or two pairs of pants and do the laundry more frequently. It doesn't matter if my shirts are too big unless I'm on the road for work and I can worry about that in a few months. Donating clothes isn't really a great fix as most donated casual clothes end up in the trash, and that's what I wear. Dressed for Success is really for business wear, and I don't wear suits.