mb20mom

Hey all, I was at the grocery store today and came across a brand new Greek yogurt made by Yoplait! I've heard a lot of you talk about Greek yogurt because it's so high in protein and low in carbs and figured I would have to go to a specialty health market to find it. So I was surprised to find it and just thought I'd share. :thumbup1:

I feel much better too! Every day gets easier. I ventured to the grocery store today and that took it all out of me. Time for a nap! Nice to know I still have several days off work to rest up.

I had surgery 6 days ago, and my lower abdomen is like a rainbow of bruises right now from the heparin shots, but the bruises don't hurt. I have minimal bruising around the incisions, and they don't really hurt anymore. The pain I have since yesterday is an ache on my left side. It's very tender and sore, and feels like a muscular bruising on the inside. It's always good to get as much information as possible, so good that you're asking. I found that I didn't prepare myself enough for the actual pain and nausea during recovery. I had to stay 4 days in the hospital due to the continued nausea and lack of Fluid intake. I was miserable and wished I hadn't done it. Now I feel better and am concentrating on learning my new tummy's signals and a great journey of weight loss. Not everyone has a bad recovery, but it wouldn't hurt to expect the worst and be prepared.

Wow I wanted to post almost the exact feelings about recovery, but didn't want to scare potential sleevers. I'm 7 days out now and I remember waking up in recovery thinking what had I done? I had not prepared myself for the pain and the nausea. Every few hours someone was poking me with something and I wanted a time machine to reverse the whole thing. I would hit the pain pump button in order to get back to sleep, and I'd wake up with such a feeling of despair and regret. I thought why didn't someone talk me out of this, and that this is totally not worth it. I feel much better now, except for this odd pain on my side. The intense gurgling has relaxed a little but I still get spasms like my stomach is being squeezed. My only trouble now is trying to read the signs of my new anatomy. Don't always know if I'm hungry, full, satisfied, just not sure, so I keep trying to suck down the Protein shakes and creamy Soups for meals. The Water is actually more uncomfortable but getting better. So thanks for being honest about recovery because everyone needs to know. We spend so much time preparing ourselves for the new way of eating, but not about the recovery feelings.

I'm with ya sista! Having my surgery today also. Of course we are making the right decision! See you on the loser's bench. Good luck.

Good luck and congratulations on getting your surgery. I know just how you're feeling since my surgery will be on Tuesday! I'm anxious to get it over with and start the healing. We can heal together! Keep us posted, and welcome to the new you!

I'm choosing the sleeve because it's less evasive, with no re-routing of the intestines. Also with the sleeve you can eventually eat anything, whereas the bypass limits you and there is possible "dumping".

I had an EKG last week for pre-op and it took longer to set it up than actually measure my heart beat. The nurse put a dozen electrodes all over me while I laid down. I did have to take off my bra. I think the test was one minute of heart activity. No xray required for my pre-op, just blood tests.

Whoo Hoo you're on your way!! Great to hear from you and I hope you're feeling good and have a smooth recovery at home. :thumbup:

I agree with Mini-Me. I am looking forward to my 2-week break from work and housework. I could watch crap on the Bravo channel for hours!

Hey Sleeve Sister! I bet you just got out of surgery and I'm thinking of you...hope it all goes well and you have a great recovery! Let us know how it went when you can.

Well I was in the grocery store the other day just thinking that I'm surprised that they haven't come up with a bariatric section yet. WLS is so common now that having a source to go to for what we need would be ideal. As far as Protein goes, I recently have experienced the confusion of picking products for my upcoming surgery. I took Tiff's recommendation of ordering the sample pack of the Gold Standard brand so I could try their flavors. That's the one thing lacking in the protein market...smaller dang quantities! What's with the 5-lb tub? I can't think of any other product that I buy in such a large size. As far as the common consumer is concerned, the only difference between them all is the taste and consistency, so why would I buy such a huge quantity of something I might not like? I wanted to try the nectar brand, but couldn't bring myself to buy so much. They all need to offer samples!! Or a combo pack. I know that The Vitamin Shoppe carries the Gold Standard brand, but that sample box I ordered online is not available there, nor are many of the good flavors, so I will order mine online again. Ya know what would be handy? A survival kit for the first 2 weeks after WLS. Soup, protein, shaker bottles, 2oz, 4oz cups, Jello, smoothie recipes, etc... there is definitely a market for the bariatric industry right now.

Oh yes there are a few on YouTube that I've been following. "Thinjourney" has an awesome before/after video: YouTube - thinjourney's Channel I would also recommend "WeightNoLonger", "faithkp" and"jrzygirlforlife".

Funny you brought this up because I'm still on the other end of the spectrum by waiting until the day I can get my wedding ring back on! I've gained so much (married 18 years) that I finally had to take it off because it was so tight. It's one of my mini-goals that I look forward to.

I did this the week after Christmas, tried to say goodbye to my favorites. I had to have Claim Jumper Black Tie Chicken Pasta and sliders from Chili's! It is definitely food like this that got me to this obese weight, so bad for you and full of fat and carbs. I was so sick of food by the end of that week that I was glad to get back to my 1500 calories a day gig. I only have to do 2 days of liquids for pre-op, and the doc said it was because I lost so much weight so far, so I didn't want to gain any by eating more. My surgery is 2 weeks from today, OMG!

Wow wow wow! Post before/after pics so we can see!

Yes I thought this exact same thing. Since I am a Kaiser patient, I was required to take a pre-op class for 6 mos and try to lose 10% of my weight. I was so successful at this (typical 1500 cals per day diet) that I thought for awhile I can continue like this and lose all the weight. Then the holidays came and I let myself eat again. I am reminded that the surgery will allow me to not fall back into bad habits, and keep me on track as I continue to lose weight. I don't trust myself to be able to lose the weight without it because all my life I'm either in "diet mode" or "eating mode" and I need to be in "lifelong healthy eating mode"! I am confident the surgery will be just the tool I need to keep going and lose another 100lbs....just 16 more days!

Hi Lee, Looks like you're right on track to meet your goal already. Look at you, 13 lbs lost just like that! They tried to scare our class with lots of stuff like that too. I remember them saying many times that they check your blood for nicotine right before surgery and won't do it if you've been smoking... really?? Does Kaiser do that for every surgery? Great job on the weight loss, keep it up!

I lost the 30lbs in the Options program. We had to weigh in every week and yes, lose 10% of our weight before we could be referred. I just tried to stick to my 1500 calories a day and fortunately it came off. I think it came off so easy because I had just gained 30 lbs last year from quitting smoking. I must have been pigging out before and the 1500 calories was just a big deficit. I did a lot of walking too. I'm not sure what they do if you don't lose the weight, except that my surgeon's instructions for pre-op was just 2 days of liquid diet, and I heard from someone else using the same surgeon 1 week before me that she was told to do a 2 week liquid diet. And she said she didn't lose the 10%. Our Options classes were like nutrition classes, all about how to eat, so we were expected to lose it. And my goal weight? I just guessed! Nothing scientific about it...ha ha.

Hello Jenn20, Welcome to Options. I am having my surgery thru Kaiser, at the Harbor City location on Jan. 26. It's been a very long process to get to this point. Options classes used to be 24 wks long (I heard they were being shortened to 20 weeks). Then there is a few months to wait for the surgeon consultation. I started with my PCP in Feb, started Options in April, and finally got a surgery consult in Dec. While the Options classes aren't that great, it is good that you will have so long to make sure you are 100% on board with the surgery. Fortunately during mine I switched from wanting the LapBand to the sleeve. Thanks to this forum I was able to become better educated and feel I am totally ready for my surgery. So I hope you are a patient person, because it will feel like forever before you get it, but it will be worth it. Good luck!

Whoo Hoo! Mine is on January 26th! We can join the loser's bench together. Luckily I am only required to do 2 days of liquids prior to surgery. I think for 2 weeks I would starve. Congratulations on the date!

I have always wondered, for those of you who have made it to your goal weight, how do you stop losing weight? I mean, why would you, if you're only eating 600-800 calories a day? That is still a deficit isn't it? So why wouldn't you just continue to lose? I know the body will require less caloric intake at a much lower weight, but still...this doesn't make sense to me. If our tummys don't have room for extra calories, how do we maintain?

I am scheduled for surgery 1/26, the same week as you, and I know what you mean. I think I'm still not convinced that I am going to lose weight from the surgery. I think our brains are so conditioned to believe we will never lose all the weight, it sounds too good to be true. "I'll believe it when I see it" is what my brain is telling me...I think if I lose the weight I won't recognize my own body!

Oh you need to look at your before/after shots again! You can totally tell the difference. Patience, grasshopper...ha ha! You're doing great. And that's funny you mentioned Stereograms..I've been looking for more of those for years. And I rarely find anyone else who knows what they are...loved those things.

Wow, what an inspiration! It must feel wonderful. Congratulations on your success.