mcipanda

Just go slowly. Better to eat a yoghurt over an hour or so than be too low with your Protein. I often took an hour to eat (I still often take 30-45+ mins to eat a meal or snack including yoghurt). It’s so thin it does go through your quite tummy quickly (not as fast as a liquid if course). You could always eat it slowly over a whole day (like grazing) if that feels more comfortable than eating that volume in one go.

If you can finish, you absolutely should for the nutrition. Hit that Protein goal! You're eating so few calories it doesn't matter! That's my opinion anyway! I'm almost 6 weeks out from bypass.

Well this weight loss journey has been never ending for me. I blamed Covid but really it’s been my lack of discipline. I’m down from 212.2 to 174. Dedicated to not giving up. Hoping to lose to 164 by next month.

I have a feeling they are not gonna be yay no matter what we do I just want my body not to reject them at this point. I can tough out not so yay but headaches, gas, almost throwing up, bloating etc is not cool.

I tried something like 15 different brands of Protein Shakes and my top three are Fairlife chocolate or strawberry banana, Ensure Max Nutrition in vanilla and Premier Protein Chocolate blended with 1oz banana and a scoop of PBFit. I really loved the Fairlife Vanilla (has the taste of melted DQ), but my taste buds shifted after surgery and now I have a hard time with it. *shrug* this process is pure sorcery. 🪄

I had a great experience- the only thing I’d do differently would be to push myself more not to cheat at all; sugar, snacking etc… during the first year when you can lose the most. I would have liked to reach my goal. I’m almost there and I know I could reach it but at 18 months out it’s already slower

Hey there, congrats on your 56lb weight loss! I don’t have an auto immune disorder, just wanted to let you know I appreciate how determined you are in the face of such setbacks. It really shows how much you want this for yourself. Best of luck with everything!

Hey guys I'm back with my day 2 post op. Right out of surgery I was out of it I slept the whole day but I did make sure I walked a little and sip on sum Water. I haven't had my full liquids yesterday just water but I will start my full liquid diet today at 8 am. There was no pain It was all gas once you let the gas out your good to go. I did experience nausea twice due to the gas pain but nothing too serious. To everyone going for your surgery soon you'll be okay. My birthday is March 26th hopefully I get to have a little bit of fun . Thanks to everyone for the support.

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Thanks everyone, I think I just need to come to terms with this. In my heart and intellectually I know its the best way, I just need to get there emotionally....

Congrats, I’m so excited for you! I’ve been on the forums here with you for a bit and remember your surgery getting postponed 😭 but now it’s finally happening! Yay! I had my surgery on 3/13, so one week out. If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be: have a heating pad nearby!! It helps with pain and gas and is my “bff” these days lol Good luck!! Let us know how it went. We are rooting for you.

Hi Mark, welcome. I noticed that you’re willing to treat other side effects of your weight with medications & tools - CPAP machine, meds for the high blood pressure, and knee surgery for the worn out knees…
But you hesitate with GERD and Constipation, both of which can be corrected with medications alone (over the counter options as well as prescription). Having the surgery could even correct your high blood pressure and sleep apnea, which would remove those issues from the list. Not to mention, weight loss in the long term is desirable for knee replacement.
This leads me to ask, what are you actually scared of?
Weight loss surgery is an extremely effective procedure for long term results, and the RNY gastric bypass is highly effective in treating or preventing GERD. I’m so glad you’re here, because there is a lot to learn and reconcile with when it comes to weight in our society. At the end of the day, getting to a healthy weight and keeping it off is what everyone here is working toward. You will never be alone in this if you choose to move ahead. Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the Top Tip on the heating pad. I've also got my sleeve tomorrow and now that will be waiting at home for me when i get back from hospital!

Congrats, I’m so excited for you! I’ve been on the forums here with you for a bit and remember your surgery getting postponed 😭 but now it’s finally happening! Yay! I had my surgery on 3/13, so one week out. If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be: have a heating pad nearby!! It helps with pain and gas and is my “bff” these days lol Good luck!! Let us know how it went. We are rooting for you.

Hi Mark, welcome. I noticed that you’re willing to treat other side effects of your weight with medications & tools - CPAP machine, meds for the high blood pressure, and knee surgery for the worn out knees…
But you hesitate with GERD and Constipation, both of which can be corrected with medications alone (over the counter options as well as prescription). Having the surgery could even correct your high blood pressure and sleep apnea, which would remove those issues from the list. Not to mention, weight loss in the long term is desirable for knee replacement.
This leads me to ask, what are you actually scared of?
Weight loss surgery is an extremely effective procedure for long term results, and the RNY gastric bypass is highly effective in treating or preventing GERD. I’m so glad you’re here, because there is a lot to learn and reconcile with when it comes to weight in our society. At the end of the day, getting to a healthy weight and keeping it off is what everyone here is working toward. You will never be alone in this if you choose to move ahead. Best of luck to you!

Hi Mark, welcome. I noticed that you’re willing to treat other side effects of your weight with medications & tools - CPAP machine, meds for the high blood pressure, and knee surgery for the worn out knees…
But you hesitate with GERD and Constipation, both of which can be corrected with medications alone (over the counter options as well as prescription). Having the surgery could even correct your high blood pressure and sleep apnea, which would remove those issues from the list. Not to mention, weight loss in the long term is desirable for knee replacement.
This leads me to ask, what are you actually scared of?
Weight loss surgery is an extremely effective procedure for long term results, and the RNY gastric bypass is highly effective in treating or preventing GERD. I’m so glad you’re here, because there is a lot to learn and reconcile with when it comes to weight in our society. At the end of the day, getting to a healthy weight and keeping it off is what everyone here is working toward. You will never be alone in this if you choose to move ahead. Best of luck to you!

Hi Mark, welcome. I noticed that you’re willing to treat other side effects of your weight with medications & tools - CPAP machine, meds for the high blood pressure, and knee surgery for the worn out knees…
But you hesitate with GERD and Constipation, both of which can be corrected with medications alone (over the counter options as well as prescription). Having the surgery could even correct your high blood pressure and sleep apnea, which would remove those issues from the list. Not to mention, weight loss in the long term is desirable for knee replacement.
This leads me to ask, what are you actually scared of?
Weight loss surgery is an extremely effective procedure for long term results, and the RNY gastric bypass is highly effective in treating or preventing GERD. I’m so glad you’re here, because there is a lot to learn and reconcile with when it comes to weight in our society. At the end of the day, getting to a healthy weight and keeping it off is what everyone here is working toward. You will never be alone in this if you choose to move ahead. Best of luck to you!

I would ABSOLUTELY recommend a pre-op diet of some kind I had to do two weeks of straight liquids and it really prepared me for how life would be after surgery. Good Luck look forward to hearing about your journey. =D

I ditched MFP when they started dropping features (things like being able to scan barcodes) from the free version to try to entice people to pay $20/mo

I've tried apps in the past, but figuring out the calories, carbs & Protein and all for things I made at home I found very frustrating.
During my pre-op clearance process (surgery is scheduled for 3 weeks away) I was placed in a weekly group session with psych. One of the things we discussed was keeping a food diary.
We were told in the class that food diaries are the #1 best predictor of weight loss. What helped me was when I was advised not to focus on the macros, or calorie counts but to focus on what I ate, when I ate it and how I felt.
I whipped up a spreadsheet on Google Sheets and just go to it on my phone and list it down, it was frustrating at first but I found it has really helped me these last two months that I have been doing it. I'm hopeful that it has helped me be on the right footing in my post-op "new life."
I hope that helps.

I ended up getting in earlier to see Dr. Ehret for a consultation at The Aesthetic Surgery Center in Tacoma, WA. After some asking around, I've found these prices are pretty high. I'll be taking the procedure names back to those I previously called, along with contacting Dr. Streu in Portland, to price shop these a bit:
Lower face/neck lift: $18,275
Eyelid lift (includes a "Laser Skin Treatment for $1,500) and Endobrow, which I think is some sort of less invasive procedure. All in all, this is to lift my brow slightly, get rid of some of my eyebrow sagginess from being heavier, and fill in the (now very) hollow area under my eyes: $15,450
Breast lift with augmentation (adding the fat under my armpits to my boobs (I don't want implants) $16,575
Breast lift without augmentation $13,395
Inverted T Abdominoplasty with liposuction $16,875

Second quote Dr baltrusch, Portland. Also super nice, was concerned about a male surgeon but he put me at ease immediately. Took plenty of time as well. He could only do arm lift and fdl tuck at same time- sounds like he is a bit slower, he’s a newer surgeon so I’m assuming that’s why.
Fdl: 8360
Arm lift:6050
Anesthesia:2077
Facility: 3200
Total 19907

Ok! I’m back and I have costs for anyone interested!
Dr. Streu, Portland. Super nice, took her time. I liked her and she says she has a lot of experience with things like this (175 plus weight loss). Recommended a fleurdelis, I have a lot of upper stomach skin. Can combine an arm lift, breast lift, and fdl tuck in one procedure. Would do a 23 hr stay at the surgery center. Drains are a must. Boo.
Fdl cost: 11,179
Breast lift: 6270
Arms: 3987
Facility fees and anesthesia 2600 and 1541, plus 725 for overnight stay
Some discounts for multiple procedures
Total cost 24,470

Well, doesn’t look like anyone had suggestions thus far so I’ll just update my own thread 😜. I contacted Dr. Hayes and Dr. Waldorf, both in Portland, OR to see about setting up consult appointments. Both had good reviews but we will have to see how initial appointments go. My list of what to ask is:
1. Costs, and what are reasonable combinations of surgeries?
2. I have a lot of loose skin on the upper abdomen, would a traditional Tummy Tuck address this or is there another option?
3. I’ve read about drainless tummy tucks and I’d have a strong preference for that (don’t know why but drains really freak me out), is that a possibility and why/why not.
4. As a “far down the wishlist” idea, addressing the sad state of my cleavage post children and 175 lb weight loss would be nice. I don’t think I want implants but would like to hear a surgeons thoughts.

If anyone else has any thoughts, let me know! My dream is to get consults with both on the same day (morning, afternoon) so I can take one trip. I know both surgeons are quite popular however so I may be a long time out, and coordinating like that may be a long shot but a girl can dream.

I found everyone's posts about which procedure and surgeon they went with to be really helpful when I was struggling to find the right surgeon so I thought I'd start a thread for mine too. I've lost over 170lbs total and am currently 16 months out from my surgery, and at a stable weight for over 3 months.
I just scheduled an extended Tummy Tuck for this August with Dr. John YS Kim in Chicago at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. There will just be a single scar, and even though I do have a bunch of extra skin above the belly button too, he said I didn't need a Fluer de Lis which is great.
I had also seen Dr. Shifrin who had recommended a circumferential lower body lift to get all my extra backside skin too, with "auto-augmentation" to make it rounder. Dr. Kim recommended to not try to do that at the same time since the recovery would be quite difficult with both front and back worked on at the same time. I was having a hard time understanding how I would even recover when it would hurt to be on my back, front and sides so it wasn't hard to convince me.
I was really unsure of if I was "at weight" or not and as long as I was standing there naked in front of him, I asked if I had more weight to lose or not, or if it was just skin. I find it impossible to tell. He said that I actually don't have much fat, just some on my pubis and above belly button which he'd remove with liposuction at the same time. It's nice to just focus on being a stable weight and not wondering if I'm getting it done too soon.
The surgery should take 4 hours, and I would go home the same day, and then see him once a week for the next 4-6 weeks. There will be 2 drains in place and removed 2 weeks later as well. Plus a binder/compression garments for 3 months.
The surgeon fee was $16,000 with a non-refundable 10% down when I scheduled and the remainder due 3 weeks before the surgery. With hospital and anesthesiologist fees it came to $20,800. If I change my surgery date, I lose the the deposit so I can't chicken out. 😅 There was another surgeon there, Dr. Galiano, whose fee was $10k less which was tempting, since it was still a great doctor at Northwestern hospital, but I really liked Dr. Kim and kind of wanted "the best". Dr. Shifrin who performs the surgery in an outpatient surgical center at his office would have cost $22k. I didn't feel comfortable doing these surgeries outside of a hospital so that helped narrow down my choices too.
I have BCBS and only one of the surgeons was willing to try to document skin irritation so that insurance would pay for some of the procedure. Everyone else was just like "lol no it's cosmetic" and that was the end of it. I get infections from time to time but they do respond to medication and don't happen all the time so I felt like it was really unlikely that I could go that route. Insurance said that if your pannus was below your public line AND you have infections that don't clear up, then they would pay for just the Panniculectomy.
The entire experience really convinced me that you have to see multiple surgeons because prices are ALL OVER the place, even within the same practice/hospital, and everyone had a different idea of what work I should do, the combination of it, pain management, etc. After the first consultation, I learned that I suck at asking questions while in a paper gown, and gave the surgeon a printed copy of my questions and asked him to walk through each one with me, which also was a great way to way to feel out their personality and willingness to work with me.
My plan is to also get a breast, arm and inner thigh lift but none of the doctors wanted to talk about surgeries that wouldn't happen for maybe a year or longer out. Once I'm recovered from the Tummy Tuck, then we'd discuss the next area to focus on which for me would be arm/breast combo. So this process is going to take a while, with having to save up all of my vacation for the entire year for each surgery.

Thank you! 😊 the peeing comment totally made me laugh out loud!