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I’m having my revision done by Dr Joey Jarrard at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. His office does accept self pay. When I was getting ready to have my VSG, my insurance initially denied coverage so they quoted me a flat amount to have the surgery. Eventually my insurance did cover my surgery but it was good to know that they were willing to work with me if I needed to self pay. The staff in his office is really great and they communicate very well with their patients. The surgery scheduler keeps me informed of every step in preparation for my revision. If you want to talk to her, her name is Samantha and she’s very nice. I think she would be able to let you know about self pay options. Their office number is 850-877-6212. Best wishes and I hope you can get scheduled for surgery soon! 😊

First treat BMI as a suggestion. Same with any goal you may choose. Body type, your build, age, lifestyle, health, genetics, etc. all influence what is the best weight for you & you can’t put a number on a scale against them. The other factor which you can’t do much about is your body’s natural set point. This is the weight at which your body seems to naturally settle. My surgeon did ask if I had a goal. I chose a weight which was the lowest I reached during my weight loss & gain cycles. It put me at about a 23 BMI. He thought it was sensible & achievable. I reached that in 6 months but continued to lose as I tried to find my maintenance balance. Initially my surgeon & doctor were concerned about my lower weight but it turns out I don’t have a larger frame as everyone thought! As one doctor said you’re actually quite a tiny person aren’t you & they all stopped worrying. Plus I don’t have bones protruding - I have plenty of flesh (fat ha!) on my bones. I’m about 2kgs heavier now than where I had initially stabilised for a year. (I believe an necessary increase in my HRT dosage & protein intake contributed to the sudden weight gain - all happened in the same month.) and I’ve been stable here for a good 7 months. My body seems happy at around this weight & so am I (except for those 2 kgs 😉). You’ll settle at a weight that is healthy & works for you and it’s okay if it ends up being more or less than you initially thought. My food choices & the way I eat to maintain my weight doesn’t restrict me living my life as I want. It’s been a sustainable way of eating for 2.5yrs now. I might make slight changes in the future but for now it’s working. I guess that ‘s the real goal. Being at a weight you can maintain in a healthy, sustainable way that allows you to enjoy your life as you want. PS - the slowing down of your weight loss is perfectly normal. It slows as you get closer to your body’s set point & your calorie intake is nearer to what your body needs to function effectively & healthily. Can you lose more if you want? Sure if you reduce your calories & intake your activity but can you maintain that without impacting your health or your life?

I agree with going slow with raw vegetable. I didn’t do salads for a few months though I could eat cucumber (peeled) pretty early out. Lettuce leaves, spinach, rocket, etc, can be too coarse. When I started salads I used iceberg lettuce only. I ate a lot of different cooked vegetables from soft foods. Watch how you cook your meats to avoid drying them out. Poaching, steaming, roasting, braising, slow cooking, is a good place to begin. And buy tender cuts. Like use chicken thighs not breast. Cook steak to medium rare. Have gravies, sauces, etc. to keep your meals moist. Continue to keep your bites small. I still cut my food into bite sizes pieces before I start to eat when I’m at home. Don’t load your cutlery with both protein & vegetables - one or the other. I could eat any red meats, poultry or seafood but some struggle with certain meats at first. Best advice is go slowly and never give up on anything. Try it again in a week or so or try a different cut or cooking it a different way.

Hi Kevin! Dietitian here. You're correct in that much of this isn't researched and is anecdotal. Clear liquid stage is to help your stomach heal and prevent nausea/heartburn, everything you listed. If you feel like you're tolerating that stage fine, you can move on to the next. Just take baby steps.. start slowly sipping on a protein shake, if you do great try to add something else. If you start to feel queasy, take a step back for a day. It is all subjective and listening to your body. Some of the other things you asked about... corn/grits can be difficult to digest. I'd recommend trying that down the line, maybe 3+ months post-op. Small amount of potatoes is ok. The main concern is that it's just crucial to get your protein- so eat the potatoes last. As you know, you'll fill up on much less food way quicker, so you don't want to fill up on potatoes. Same thing with rice and peas. Rice can also expand in your pouch and make you feel uncomfortably full, so very small bites & chew very well. In our practice you can have scrambled eggs in the pureed stage. Dried fruit isn't advised bc it's a large amount of concentrated sugar- even if sugar isn't added to it. Honey digests the same as white sugar- so you want to avoid, or minimize, it to prevent dumping syndrome. For fish... if you're tolerating other "soft" foods fine, I don't see why you couldn't introduce it sooner. As long as it's tender & flaky. I hope some of this helps!

I hear you and I have also gained weight this year. I will be 4 years post-op from my sleeve in Dec. I have gained about 25 lbs and I am working on losing it. My stomach still has portion resistance, however I now have the hunger pains and want to graze. I am doing water when that occurs and have upped my protein and am eliminating all the processed foods and junk that has creeped into my life.

Also is not that I have to limit carbs- she didn't give me a # but she was happy that i was staying around 30 carbs a day, I'm just to get them from fruit- veggies instead of bread, pasta, rice etc. Which is fine. And I think it's true for everyone that protein comes first then fruits/ veggies. Honestly I think the first thing I'll try is sliced tomatoes. That's a food I miss.

Hello, When I started back to solids, I still ate all the soft foods and introduced one solid food at a time so I knew exactly what I couldn't tolerate if it came up. I wasn't allowed grilled chicken until solids, at the soft food stage we were told to cook chicken in the slow cooker so it was fall apart tender and more juicy. So, I actually started with a baked chicken breast. Then went on to cooking chicken all kinds of ways, included grilled. I then went to turkey burgers, still kinda soft but more solid than ground up meat. All that was going well so I just tried everything one at a time and always at home in case I got sick. Baked pork chops, pork tenderloin, turkey and regular Italian sausages. We were told to try steak last because it tends to be the hardest to digest. So I actually didn't try steak until about 3 months post op, and it was sliced steak for kinda what you get on a cheese steak sub. But, lean steak we sliced and made at home. I tolerated that fine, twice so just yesterday (4 months post op) I ate some New York strip steak from the grill which also went fine. I think at this point I have tried and tolerate all the meats just fine but I can't eat COLD chicken, makes me sick every time. I think it probably is too dry when cold. I am not low carb per my bariatric Dietician. He stresses a balanced diet of everything while focusing on protein. Always eat the protein first. I typically fill up so my normal is about 40-60g carbs a day but there are some days I have more. I bring this up, because pizza. I have made my own at home, protein packed and did well. Also had take out pizza and ate the topping first and only a few bites of the crust before being full. I can't seem to eat "soft" breads, they don't make me sick but hit me like a bolder in my stomach and gives me a stomach ache. I can eat it toasted, or crackers, wraps. Anything but the normal soft breads. I eat all the veggies! I love salad and tolerate it fine. Again, started with eating 1 veggie at a time rather than a bowl of mixed veggies in a salad. To know where the issue was if I had any. I did not, and EAT ALL THE VEGGIES! I have always been a huge veggie person, moreso than fruits. Never a big fruit person, strawberries, watermelon are my go to but I have actually only had watermelon since surgery. I went kinda deep but I hope this helps.

Alright my friends! I talked to my dietician yesterday and she said I can start Solid Food in 2 weeks. I am to slowly start introducing new foods at that time so I know what I'm tolerating and what I'm not. So far I've had carnitas minus the tortillas, eggs, bacon, grilled chicken, tuna, peaches, applesauce, ham and yogurt on the soft food diet. I just kinda have those in rotation. I'm excited about incorporating more food but I'm not 100% where to start. It has to stay low carb per my nutritionist. I'm to avoid high carb/ high starch food for at least the next 6 months. Honestly I think I will avoid them the rest of my life. So here's my question... where do I start? I was wondering if salads are back in play or if that's too much ruffage and not enough protein. Advice? I look forward to your answers.

My husband is a teacher also… so we were hoping I’d get a date before school started. (I’m cutting it close!). Good luck with the Optifast. I have friends who use those and they like the flavor options so hopefully it won’t be to bad. 🙃 My program gives a few “menu” options to choose from, to make sure we meet nutritional and hydration guideline. I can’t do any bars or actual “meals”… however the nutritionist did say if I was struggling to call - they would help me through it to make sure I stayed on track. I’m thinking 8 days no chewing!! I know it’s psychological but I have 17 days to get myself prepared for it.

How are you doing on pre op diet...im drinking the protein drinks as instructed and I gained 2pds I pray this does not effect my surgery I've lost weight all along the way been doing keto so I'm not sure if I stalled...anyone have this issue also

I just broke my stall today, started at 3 weeks post op. It lasted for 14 days, gained and lost the same 2 lbs the entire time. My dietitian said its because of my transition from liquid to soft food and now that I'm a month in today I have no food restrictions. She wants me at 900 cal a day and 60/75 g protein. No limit on carbs. With my stomach restriction I dont see how in the world I'll be able to do that. She said once I start eating more my weight will start to go down again! We've always been taught less is more. Not sure why or how more is going to work but we'll see. Lol

70 calories, Low carbs and high in protein. Sounds like a great find.

Hey all. Just wanted to post a 1 week update. I have dropped 12.6 lbs since surgery last Thursday. And when I include my pre-op weight loss, I'm down 40 lbs total. I am definitely happy with my progress and anxious to see where this goes in the coming weeks. My 3XL shirts are fitting much looser and I'll need to see where we put the 2XLs this weekend. I'm tracking my food, protein and water in my MFP app. It looks like I'm only consuming 450-500 calories a day. I am not doing a good job of tracking my water yet, but I'm trying to get with the program. I think I'm getting 6 cups (3 bottles) or 50 oz per day, so I need to remember to do better at some point. Today I moved on from clear liquid to full liquid, but I haven't done anything too different as of yet. I am putting a full day of work (from home office), so I didn't have much time to prepare anything different at lunch. Maybe I'll get a little more creative this evening. I did have one of those chocolate Fairlife protein shakes for my breakfast. Those taste really good, so I I savored it. I will go back to my BodyTech 24 protein powder and water when I work from home and save the premade protein drinks when I'm on the go. Overall, I think I'm on track with this thing. No regrets. Heading out for a walk now. Go July Peeps!

Yea, I'm great at tracking my calories, protein, carbs and water. I usually average under 800 calories per day.

I would also monitor how many calories you are eating. It’s important to track your macros, but ultimately weight loss depends on how large your calorie deficit is. It’s easy to meet your protein, etc goals and be eating too many calories for sustained weight loss.

One tip, if you haven't tried them already, is to incorporate Keto Chow shakes. They have a ton of flavors, 26g protein per shake and a ton of vitamins/minerals. They are designed to have you add the fat of your choosing to them (heavy whipping cream, butter, MCT, whatever) so that you can hit your macros. Congrats on taking charge of your nutrition!

Met with my surgeon this morning. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a date before my husband goes back to work (school), but it is before classes start. Aug 16 will be here before I know it. Spoke with the dr about my options - she went over everything with me and she is recommending the sleeve and after listening to her reasoning and experience, I was on board with her recommendation so that is how we are going to proceed. It was the first time I had a chance to meet her and she is AWESOME!!! I’m so glad that I followed my instincts. It’s night and day difference from the prior surgeon I met with (different program) and the one I have now. Nervous and excited!!

When I was going through this early post op phase, there was a group on one of these forums from a particular surgeon who did very well with combining the sleeve with extreme dieting, and he got overall very good results with even very high BMI patients (lost track as they all disappeared, so have no idea how they are doing now, however!) There was one guy on there who was very similar to my stats who was following this program and got to his goal weight at a bit over four months. Wow, but so what? I was working on slowing things down at six months to ease into maintenance, and wasn't doing any of that extreme dieting. I wonder now how well that guy is doing - did he learn how to maintain his weight over the long term, or was he one of those who "gained it all back"? It really isn't a matter of whether you can do better, or lose faster, but can you meet your goals, and maintain yourself in the long term? This is a marathon, not a sprint. so what happens to you over the next 5, 10 and 20 years is a lot more important than how you lose over the first 4, 6 or 12 months.vsg Overall, the bypass has very similar performance to the VSG in overall weight loss and rate, so there isn't much to choose there - one might lose a bit quicker with the bypass owing to its' malabsorptive component, but that dissipates after a year or two and you are metabolically in the same basic place that you would be with a sleeve, but you still have the added nutritional deficiencies to make up for. Have there been some challenges in maintaining my weight over time? Yes, much the same as there would have been had I gotten a bypass (my second choice was the DS, which does make weight maintenance easier as it is metabolically a stronger procedure, but I felt that it would have been overkill for my needs then, and still do.) We see just as many come through here who struggle with being "slow losers" or "gained it all back" with the VSG as with the RNY. With the VSG, I do have a bit of GERD, which is easily controlled with low level OTC meds (some are not so lucky, others are more so and have no problems.) OTH, I do not miss having any of the comparable RNY potential side effects - dumping, reactive hypoglycemia, marginal ulcers, bile reflux (pretty rare these days with how they structure RNYs) low iron requiring periodic iron infusions, osteoporosis (already have a family tendency towards that, so don't need more risk added,) or the other limitations in medication and medical treatment options as I get (even) older that come along with a bypass. These are not insurmountable problems if one needs to go with a bypass owing to preexisting conditions, but are things that I don't think are worth risking for whatever very small difference there might be in weight loss performance. I don't miss that at all. YMMV

I just mean water weight, some people retain a lot of water weight. You can build recipes in the my fitness pal app too. Exactly how you make them and then you know exactly what you are eating. If you are not hitting protein and eating such low calories your body may be in starvation mode too. Try to focus on getting that protein in, it is important for lots of reasons.

If you use a tracking app like My Fitness Pal, you can type in what you are eating and it gives some close proximations of calories and usually several options to choose from. That is better than just guessing if you do not want to calculate every ingredient.

When I make home recipes, I literally add up all the ingredients (and things like protein, fat, etc) and then figure out how much it yields (for example, 14 cups) and then calculate the serving breakdown. Not fun, but that's how I do it.

Hi 👋 You’re right. I did list everything for the first few weeks - and I was at the 500 calories mark. Now that I can eat more solid food I’m making family meals and eating just small amounts. If I scramble an egg for myself then I can count that no problem, but I’m not sure how to calculate a ladle of home-made stew, for example. I’m assuming I’m under the 700 because I don’t drink calories, I don’t eat anything off-diet like sugar. I certainly don’t hit my Protein mark by far though.  I am drinking a lot more. Is that what you mean by water weight?

You're right. I've been trying so hard to follow their directions to the letter that I haven't been listening to my body. I know I can't go crazy with the fats, but more than 50 per day is needed for keto. I used to hit around 100-120g of fats per day, so if I look at maybe 75g of fats per day, while still keeping my carbs very low (the bariatric diet is 50 or less carbs per day, when I did keto I stayed under 35 per day) I'll see if it works well or needs to be adjusted again. And I always stayed around 80 or so grams of protein per day. And I went on sugar free and very low sugar when I did keto to begin with and just always kept it. The fats are really the biggest difference. So we'll see how it goes. Worse comes to worst, I can just go back on the bariatric diet and do a "pouch reset" and start again.

Someone may have mentioned it, but I added Unjury unflavored protein powder to things like soup (pho 💙) & oatmeals. I also added unflavored collagen protein to drinks.

I like to make decaf cold brew, add a carmel premier protein and a little water depending on the size of my cup. Love it! Sent from my SM-G998U using BariatricPal mobile app