melodyssss

Thank you for posting this. I am scheduled for surgery 11/18 and this really helped me to see that its all worth it and that you realize everything works out after you get thru all the hard stuff.. Liquid Protein diets! LOL. I start tomorrow with that .. wish me luck. I'm scared!

Hopped on the scale this evening...guess who's now inder 300 pounds? This lady! So stupidly excited! Yayyyyy! Lol

I've been doing very well with my sleeve. It’s said on this site all the time but I'm say it as well...Getting the sleeve was the best decision I've made and I wouldn't change anything. I had a positive outlook on the entire situation from the beginning and I truly believe that helped.

I started out at 262lbs, I lost 15lbs from doing the pre op diet, and today I weight 156lbs so total I’ve lost 106lbs. I started in a size 22 now I’m in a size 8.

No, I did not work out, however I did change my eating habits, I completely gave up sugar and only do sugar substitute or sugar free. I do Protein first and I eat a lot of Protein Bars, I can’t stand the shakes they make me nauseous.

In the beginning this was all like a fantasy or a dream, but now I’m actually living it and it feels wonderful.

Hi There.. i am going through the same struggles are you. I am scheduled for surgery on Nov 18th. While i am drinking all these Protein shakes and dreading them, i'm thinking to myself "geez if i can do this then why can't i lose on my own?" The truth is i have tried before and i know i can't thats why i need to push through and have the surgery. I'm just trying to keep a positive mindset and take it day by day. My devotional today was really good and hopefully it encourages you too:
I can do all things through christ who strengthens me. - Phillipians 4:13
Hang in there.. we can do this! :-)

I'm having surgery on Nov. 18th. I keep thinking.."oh bummer, i wont be able to eat on Thanksgiving" and then i remind myself is the food worth me being unhealthy another day longer? I'm on my 2nd day of the pre-op liquid diet and have the rest of this week and next week to go. Praying for strength to do this! Yikes.. its getting real! Best of luck to you Cryssyd and others having surgery this month!

I'm having surgery on Nov. 18th. I keep thinking.."oh bummer, i wont be able to eat on Thanksgiving" and then i remind myself is the food worth me being unhealthy another day longer? I'm on my 2nd day of the pre-op liquid diet and have the rest of this week and next week to go. Praying for strength to do this! Yikes.. its getting real! Best of luck to you Cryssyd and others having surgery this month!

I purposely scheduled mine for 2 weeks before thanksgiving so that I wouldn't gorge myself. It happens to be my favorite holiday.
So prior to starting my pre-op diet, I went ahead and fixed a few of my favorite Thanksgiving items for my coworkers and we had an early Holiday. Now I've had my dressing and pumpkin pie fix and I'm choking down the shakes and Clear liquids for pre-op!
I say definitely go for it! Get your new life started ASAP!!!

Turkey's gross. Dry, tasteless, bleh.
I'm gonna do it... I'm just being a chicken sh*t Hahahaha

As I right now my surgeons office has me penciled in for surgery November 25th, two days before thanksgiving (so long as I don't get a denial in the meantime). If I was in the hospital for two days i would come home on thanksgiving.
Ideally I would've not liked to do the surgery that week. But if I wait it has to be the following week or AFTER the new year.
Obviously I want the surgery over and done with, so waiting until after New Years is not happening. But do I really want to torture myself being on a liquid diet on thanksgiving??
What would you do!?!? Help!!

Nov. 18th here too! Just started my pre-op diet today.

Hello everyone!
My surgery was yesterday in Houston and everything went as planned including repairing my Hiatal hernia! They gave me something to relax about 10 minutes before they took me back. My surgery took 1 hour 15 minutes then I was in the surgery recovery room for 2 hours (I don't even remember being in the surgery recovery room.) My husband was anxiously waiting for me in my hospital room. Yesterday I felt pretty good because I had an automatic morphine drip and I also had a push button if I needed more (I loved that thin) I was up most of the night with everyone checking on me. Respiratory breathing treatments 3 times (15 minutes each time) checking my BP and puls-oz and changing out my IV fluids and antibiotics. It's way busier than during the day! I would recommend bringing ear plugs if you are a light sleeper because of all the movement in the hallways. This morning they stopped my automatic morphine drip so all I have is my push button. 2 ounces at a time up to 5 times -an hour! I had my barium swallow to check for any leaks and no leaks!!
I will have to say drinking that Fluid 4tablespoons totally filled me up!! Make sure you tell them that your stomach is the size of banana so it won't take as much liquid to coat your stomach. I had to stand up because It didn't feel like it was going slow. 20 minutes after we got back from that....my chicken broth, Jello and Water showed up. I drank 1 ounce of the chicken broth that took me about 15 minutes to sip it all. I also had two bites of raspberry Jello.
If anything it feels like in having a very bad period!!

Thank you everyone for all the luck and prayers! My surgery went well and there were no leaks this morning. I was going to post yesterday after surgery but i kept dozing back to sleep because of the pain medication. I was very comfortable and i was with family in a private room. So today they took out my catheter and did a leak test and so far I have taken 3 strolls down the hall and the pain is tolerable. I think the worst thing was not being able to have anything to drink until after my leak test the today. So far so good.

I am having my sleeve done on 11/18. Who else?

BeccaR,
Don't get too bummed out. My surgery was cancelled the night before because my thyroid was out of wack. It gave me two more weeks to stay on the pre op diet. I was losing 10.5 lbs per week following it to the letter. By the time I reached my operation day I had already lost 40+ lbs. and I felt great, so much so I was questioning weather or not I nedded the surgery. You can drop the weight and the bmi before your surgery. You need to stick to the 4 shakes per day and your three meals. Do not binge, do not cheat, remember this is for you and you alone. Would you steal from yourself? I am going to give you a quote that someone gave to me at the beginning, and every time I was in a situation that required total willpower I always said this to myself.
" Nothing tastes better than being thin ! "
So every time I looked at my plate or my options I would say " is that really worth not being thin? And the answer was always no. You can do this as long as you keep a good strong spirit. You have your family and friends that I am sure believe in you, now you need to believe in you. This whole experience will not work unless you can believe in yourself. I don't even know you and I believe in you. If I could pull this off then I know you can too. I started at 405 and had surgery in July and now I am 289. I feel great and that food that I could have had would never had tasted as good as I feel today.
Keep me posted on how you are doing and always remember that there are people out here that really care about your success. We are all now part of the healthiest people on the planet, and we welcome you to the family.
Good luck on your diet, and if you need any help or have any questions please feel free to send a direct message.
Jack Hollywood

332 here and down 53 lbs!

Thank you for posting this. I am scheduled for surgery 11/18 and this really helped me to see that its all worth it and that you realize everything works out after you get thru all the hard stuff.. Liquid Protein diets! LOL. I start tomorrow with that .. wish me luck. I'm scared!

Hi, I'm Shirley. I'm 42 and never married. The me underneath the weight is a girl who loves God and creating art. One of my dreams is to be able to make a living as an artist. Which is why I work full time as a bank teller lol. I love Contemporary Christian music, Pure Flix films, NCIS, and old episodes of Northern Exposure. I'm a total book nerd, as evidenced by my book hoarding.
I've struggled with my weight for most of my adult life, and as a result, my life always seemed to be on hold. You know, "I'll meet the right guy when I lose weight", "I'll find a better job once I get down a few pounds". I'm an introvert by nature, and the weight gave me a convenient excuse to just exist rather than live.
In a way, I feel like having sleeve surgery is like hitting the reset button on my life. It's a second chance. And I don't want to waste it.

Hey everyone - still doing well and taking time to reflect each day on the wonderful gift I have been given.
My latest musing - I realized the other day that without this surgery I could have never lost weight (and kept it off) on my own prior to this surgery. Now, I am not saying that surgery is ALWAYS the answer and that NO ONE can lose weight without it. I am saying that for me, I know now that there would have been no way I could have been successful, which is why I have been overweight for the majority of my life.
But I couldn't SEE that until I got on the other side of the fence, so to speak. I had nothing to compare my experience to because I had been fat for most of my life - the way I saw food was skewed. Now, I have a "before" and an "after". It's just another realization that this was the right thing to do.
One of the things I did not expect was to feel "normal" so soon after surgery. This means I no longer have to "tip-toe" around my stomach (although there are some things I do not eat like donuts, soda and steak). I definitely feel full after eating a certain amount but because my stomach tolerates almost everything, it means it is very easy to eat too many calories. I realized the other day that chocolate chip Cookies (really, Cookies of any type I imagine) go down way too easily. So this means that I have a hard time saying no. This further means I don't have them in my house because I know I will eat them if I do. And I am not sorry about that in the least, but it was something I had to recognize.
What is gone is the resentment of "I can't have this or that" or the strong cravings. The feeling that yet another attempt to lose weight will likely fail is gone too - I just eat as healthy as I can each day and exercise. I have been losing about 2 pounds per week pretty steadily, and I am okay with that. I don't worry anymore if I will be fat forever - I know it will be gone eventually and it will never come back. It gives me a sense of peace that I have never before had. I've got leftover packets of Protein shakes from past liquid diets. I keep them in case I need a quick meal because they actually taste pretty good. But knowing I don't have to LIVE on them ever again is priceless.
Best wishes and continued good health to all, whether pre or post surgery!

Lol. We will all be ok.

Day 4 of the liquid pre op and it's going pretty well. Only had a spoonful of the chili I made for the family on Saturday. No other slip ups. It's amazing how I don't feel hungry, oh , I want foods..but I'm not really hungry. Tough stuff considering I'm the cook for our family and they still gotta eat. I just made a pot of from scratch spaghetti for tonight. I'm staying with the diet. I've loss 8 lbs since Friday and my Liver feels smaller.......lol

I was also told to use Bariatric Advantage but i have not ordered any. I was just going to use Unjury, Syntrax or Isopure. Does anyone know if this is ok for pre op? i thought they all were about the same. Guess i should call the nutritionist too.

I'm officially starting my liquid diet tomorrow on the 1st, my surgery is Nov 18! I am just absolutely terrified that I will not be able to stick with it though. I have started a little early with liquid for Breakfast and lunch and then having a small dinner. Any suggestions on how to better myself on sticking with it?
My surgeon said to do 3 Protein Shakes a day, 1 for breakfast lunch and dinner and then a yogurt after breakfast for a snack and a broth after lunch.
What have your surgeons suggested for the liquid diet? I feel like mine is veeerrryy limited and I've heard that other surgeons will allow some other things.
All comments and suggestions are extremely appreciated! ????

In my humble opinion I think MANY interpersonal relationships change when you have WLS. Family dynamics shift, depending on your place in the family. I have always been the one to support and give of myself to everyone. If I had nothing, I would still try to give. I would be suffering, in pain, yet I was always thinking of others. I had been off over two months from work and had spent 6 days in the hospital, yet in May 2013 I made sure to get to my nephew's wedding. ( Four days after I was released from hospital for a major DVT/PE) I was not perfect, but I tried. Then I decided to have the surgery for ME. As I lost weight I became more and more aware of how certain family members used me, and I put a stop to it. Then there was work. Most of my work associates supported my decision and have praised me for the weight I have lost. One coworker though has always been difficult. She is extremely passive aggressive and difficult to get along with. I put up with her nonsense for over 12 years, biting my tongue. Earlier this year I couldn't hold it in anymore. I let her know in no uncertain terms exactly what I thought of her. It got tense and ugly in the office for a while, but I didn't regret it. The old fat me did everything to keep the peace, don't rock the boat. The new thinner me isn't going to put up with the same BS. I am very over that.
And then there is my "personal" relationships. I will admit 100% I thought it would be easier to find a nice guy to date if I weighed less. I never got asked out on dates at 300 lbs +, I really thought when I became physically more attractive that would change. It has not. I haven't dated more than once or twice since I have lost weight. Yet I have made a change in this area too. I used to be available for "FWB" friendships. The problem was they weren't really friends and the only benefit was mostly for them. They didn't want to hang out. Heck most of the guys I have had "benefits" with over the past 10 years have had significant other women in their lives at the time! No, once again I did things just to have a guy pay attention to me. I believed I was desirable to the men, but the truth be known I was just easy. Well since I have lost weight that has stopped. I no longer have FWB. If I am not good enough for a man to take out on a date, been seen together in a social setting and want to actually spend time with me, I am not good for the other either. I think a lot of overweight people will do this, settle for less than ideal rather than nothing at all. Whether it be getting involved with people who are not the best for you or having intimate relationships that are without a relationship, obese people will put others before themselves. I think with weight loss after surgery we begin to find some confidence. We want better for ourselves. And those who have used us don't always like this change. They accuse us of being different people, that we have "changed"- like it is a bad thing. What has changed is we are learning to love ourselves enough to want better. And yes, it does often lead to changes within our social and familial dynamics.

That is just horrible!!! Actually I hope that losing weight will help me find someone cuz no likes the cute fat boys!!

Hey now don't put 'everyone' in the same category, I like "cute fat boys" just fine