CandiceRW

@ShoppGirl
I will to totally order some fruit punch ones. Thanks for the tip.

Just had premier cafe latte. Soooo good. Took everything I had not to down it ?. Love that it has caffeine. Probably go to for breakfast, right now. We'll see how long it satisfies my hunger. This clear peach protein drink lasted quite a while.
Thanks for being here guys!

Same

I agree. ?
My new surgeon told me that the weight that I did lose with the band was probably mostly my doing. Not the band.

My Upper GI, Chest XRay, and clearance with Primary Doctor on Tuesday went well. The Upper GI wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The Pre-op coordinator called today and said she was passing me now to the schedulers and warned that they were slammed and scheduling now for April and May. I told her I was being a patient patient and going with the flow. She emailed some lab work that I will have done at the end of next week.

It’s good to have this over and done and now waiting for the ducks to get into a row. Now I’m focusing on the daily goals of watching my blood glucose numbers, closing my Apple Watch activity rings, and getting good sleep.

^^^ yes - I agree.

Thank you, guys. Good luck to you both!

Congratulations to all the March surgery dates. I was March 9 last year and boy what a year it has been so far. I am currently stuck at about 9 pounds from goal. I may have to add in more exercise to get there but this process really works. Good luck to you all.

I had my plastic surgeries (body ones, anyway - I had my face done later) three and four years ago. Things change as time goes on - my breasts, especially, look different than they did right after surgery. They dropped and look a lot more natural now. I was shocked after surgery - but now they look great and I'm so glad I did this.
you need to give it a lot more time because they're going to look a lot different six months from now than they do now. If you're still unhappy with them at that point, they can do implants. But you may be surprised and turn out to be really happy with them...

(P.S. of course, your thighs won't change since there was no surgery on them. I never had mine done because mine were never that bad, but still, they have a little hanging skin on them whereas I don't have that anywhere else - so I suppose it looks weird - but I'm in my 60s so my mini skirt and short shorts days are long behind me. If it mattered, I'd have those done, too.

I’ll admit to being completely inexperienced when it comes to any kind of bra shopping that doesn’t involve searching for the largest size available! So now you have me kind of excited! Thank you!

I didn't have a revision, but when I was doing the research on my surgery I ran across a few peoples posts about how they revised to the DS and their weight loss. I remember one lady was in the 350's prior to her original surgery (gastric bypass) and got down to the 190's but then gained all her weight back and so had a revision to the DS and went from the 350's down to the 180's (she got to 170's after skin removal). I was actually considering the gastric bypass surgery at the time and I just kept thinking 'what if it fails' I didn't want to go through another surgery so I chose the Loop DS as my main surgery and it's worked great for me so far. I figure by the revision comments that I had stumbled on in my research before my surgery choice that your weight loss will probably be about the same, maybe slightly less than it would be with a fresh surgery but you'll probably still likely lose 70+% of excess weight. Just might be a tiny bit slower than a first time surgery.

I had a lapband placed in 2013 and it was removed April 2021 due to GERD. I'm in the process of revising to RNY.
My surgeon won't perform DS on anyone unless they have really bad diabetes. So it was never an option for me.
I never made it to goal weight with the lap band. From what I've read, most don't. So I'm hoping to cure the GERD and lose a little more weight after RNY.
Best wishes on your Lap band removal and DS surgeries!

Just follow the plan the surgeon gave you. I think the shakes and the one meal a day is what I did pre surgery and it worked very well. I think this is just for the liver shrink anyway.

Post op you will probably do a lot of those. Everything else except the premier protein clear fruit punch flavor was way too sweet to me post of (I don’t like peach but assume it’s sweetened with same product). Then eventually I found their caffe latte shake. It’s not too sweet either. It has caffeine in it though.

Thanks for the posting. Excited to know about the Aldi's 0 carb bread. Adding it to my list now! ?

I don't know your age, situation, weight, other health problems, etc. If you think you can do this without surgery, then do it without surgery. I am not being sarcastic. It is a huge, life-altering decision and if I could do it without surgery, I would.
But the surgery isn't just another way of saying, "Eat right and exercise." I understand what your husband is saying: with or without surgery, you will have to watch what you eat and stay active. But I struggle to explain to people how the surgery changed me, in terms of my relationship with food. Bypass/sleeve doesn't just make your stomach physically smaller; it changes the hormones from your stomach. My cravings for food are so much weaker and different; I don't crave rich foods (I am much more likely to crave saltines than cake). More than any time in my life, I see food simply as fuel rather than a source of pleasure/joy. I choose foods as much for how they will make my stomach feel than how they taste (my stomach will find it much easier to digest fish than steak, so I am much more likely to order salmon at a restaurant than sirloin). It's easier to stay disciplined when you don't even feel the same tug toward the foods that destroyed your old diets.

It is a difficult decision, and I can understand going back and forth. I certainly did, and I was very worried about all the things that could go wrong. Honestly, I wish I did this years ago now. The time I spent telling myself I could do it on my own could have been spent losing weight and living life happier. Having said that, I wasn't in the right place mentally before, and I certainly wouldn't have been ready to have success. I'm still in the honeymoon period right now, and I know things will get harder as time goes on, but I feel a sense of hopefulness which I rarely felt any other time I've been losing weight. I don't obsess about food, other than worrying if I will get to my calorie goal or not (when have I ever had to work to eat more, vs less?)
It is also ok for you to be ready to do the surgery, and for your husband to not be ready. He may still be in the "I'm not sure stage." That's fine, but you are different people. You have to do what's right for you, whether that is doing it now or waiting and seeing what happens.

I can only speak from my experience.
I had several of those "I can do this without surgery" moments throughout my life. I first started down the path of surgery in 2013/14. I was doing the Tim Ferriss Slow Carb Diet (6 days/wk, eat only beans/meats/veggies, 7th day is cheat day) and having great success. I explained what I was doing to the bariatric surgery coordinator and her response (paraphrased) was, "That's nice, but you won't be able to do that post-surgery." I didn't want to hear that, figuring that I had already lost 40+ pounds this way and cancelled my appointments. I ended up losing roughly 150 pounds on that diet, but gained it all back. Why? It reinforced binge eating habits and didn't set me up for future success.
Like a lot of overweight people, I thought my next lifestyle change (clean eating! intermittent fasting! keto!) would be the one that allowed me to lose the weight and keep it off. I finally realized that I was only fooling myself. It takes an incredible amount of discipline to lose weight and keep it off without surgery. You have to commit to eating a certain way for the rest of your life; I have yet to meet someone who did a diet for 6 months, lost the weight, went off the diet and kept the weight off. I reached a mental state where I had two choices: 1) continue living my life as I had been or 2) making a truly radical change, the change most likely to keep the weight off. I chose Option 2, because I owed it to myself, my wife and my kids to be the healthiest person I could be. I do not regret my choice.
But while I do not regret my choice, I don't go around telling other people to do it. I don't think I would have succeeded in 2013 the way I have today with the surgery. In 2013, I would have seen it as "I do a surgery, I eat less, I lose weight, winner, winner, smaller chicken dinner." That is a set up for long-term failure. Now, I see it as "I have been given a great chance to live a healthy life and I need to take advantage of it." Until you reach that mental state, you are not ready to succeed with this surgery.

I was in a similar boat where my surgeon told me that either RNY or VSG would be fine and left it up to me. I considered the pros/cons and worried about the effects of RNY.
I ultimately went with RNY because I wanted the surgery that gave me the best chance to lose the most weight. If you know you will be self-accountable for your Vitamins, you have already drastically reduced the chances of long-term bad effects. Obviously, there are no guarantees that everything will turn out OK (and that weighed on my mind when I was on the gurney, waiting for my surgery to start). But long-term complications are relatively rare in people who are committed to taking their Vitamins, hitting their Protein goals, etc. And taking the Vitamins isn't difficult -- get a good bariatric multivitamin and find a workable routine for taking it (I keep mine at my desk at work and take it when I get to work).
I am very happy with my surgery. I am 41 and am in the best health/shape/weight I have been since college (it has been at least 20 years since my weight was so low).
I was also a sweet tooth and addicted to food. But I have to say that not being addicted and not being constantly tempted by sweets is such a liberating feeling. The surgery definitely changes the hormones in your stomach in ways that change how you feel about food. I am 6.5 months out and here is my response to most foods: meh. It's there. It has nutrients. It will taste fine. As someone said in another thread, I no longer feel like my body is fighting against my efforts to lose weight.

My weight has “gone up” several times now since having had my surgery 5months ago. In fact this is the weirdest weight loss experience I’ve ever had in terms of predictability. It’s happened four times now where I get on the scale and “suddenly have lost” 5lbs “overnight”. Then two days later I’ll “gain 3lbs” that will remain stubborn for a week. Then after that week I’ll lose 4lbs within 4 days. Then “plateau” again for a couple days. Some days I’ll lose 1lb a day. Other days I’ve stalled for up to 4 weeks. My highest “gain” was 8lbs, which I “lost”within 3 days. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to any of this. I follow my diet very very consistently. I could exercise more but I do move around a lot naturally due to where I live. My nut and doctor both agree it’s perfectly okay as long as the overall direction of the scale is to go down. I’m 5months post op and have lost 90lbs so (despite it still being super hard) I remind myself not to stress out over it. When the scale is giving me too much a headache I just stop stepping on it for some time. All that to say: dont stress out! You’re most likely doing everything perfect and your body is working hard! Good luck!

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 have my pre-op procedures of upper GI and chest X-ray on Tuesday morning and my pre-op primary care physician appointment for clearance on Tuesday afternoon. I’m getting closer! After I had finished my nutritional class requirements at the first of January I thought surgery was imminent as we were told in the doctor talk that we were about a month away. But as I’ve read on here, enjoy the journey. Don’t rush. Be patient. Be gentle.

I haven’t been very patient which is very evident by how little I chewed my food! I’ve been working on that.

I’m turning 60 this week! I am excited that this milestone and my wls are close together. I feel ready for some good changes. My bmi is 44. I think at my highest weight it was 46. I feel so roly-poly. I want to kick my type 2 diabetes to the curb. I want to be able to be more active without the constant pain in my arthritic knees and ankles. I want to keep up with my two little granddaughters. I want to fit into seats!

I am very glad to find this app/support group. My doc said that they had one on Facebook but I’ve given up that so I was glad to find this better alternative.

Glad you've got sorted enjoy your journey keep us posted how your getting on x

So excited for you!
I just joined today and am loving the supportiveness of this group. Loved hearing you say "But as I’ve read on here, enjoy the journey. Don’t rush. Be patient. Be gentle." I definitely need ed to hear that.
I was going to start last year on this journey, but got side tracked by Breast Cancer. All set now and ready to go.
Starting pre-op diet this week. Causing me much anxiety. Gonna have LapBand from 2009 removed in about a month, then DS 3 months later. And I can fit my required dietician visits in during that time so it all seems to be lining up.
Wishing you all the best.
Candice

So excited for you!
I just joined today and am loving the supportiveness of this group. Loved hearing you say "But as I’ve read on here, enjoy the journey. Don’t rush. Be patient. Be gentle." I definitely need ed to hear that.
I was going to start last year on this journey, but got side tracked by Breast Cancer. All set now and ready to go.
Starting pre-op diet this week. Causing me much anxiety. Gonna have LapBand from 2009 removed in about a month, then DS 3 months later. And I can fit my required dietician visits in during that time so it all seems to be lining up.
Wishing you all the best.
Candice