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New and at the very beginning of my VS journey



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Hello Everyone,

I am new to this site and at the beginning of my VS journey. I am English, living in England and have been overweight all my life. I have a huge amount of weight to lose. I had been seeing a dietician for the past six months (with no real success) (had a lifetime of failing at every diet going) and the dietician mentioned WLS. She suggested I speak to my Dr. about this as I have type 2 diabetes and she thought I would definately fit the requirements for surgery (my BMI is 59). I went to the Dr. who was at great pains to point out that WLS meant you could only eat smaller portions and had I thought about doing that????? :( Despite this he did say he would fill in all the forms to see if I could get approval for funding for surgery on the NHS but not to get my hopes up. A week later I got a telephone call to say I had been approved. :D Another week later I got my first appointment at the hospital to see the Dr. there.

During my time with the dietician (who was a lovely lady who actually listened to what I said) she put me on a 'milk' diet for three weeks. I lost 10lb the first week, 7lb the second and gained 2lb the third week! I have since regained all but 4lbs of that weightloss, even though I have been extremely careful with my diet. I know I will have to lose more before I can have surgery and am planning to put myself back on the milk diet next week. I am trying to lose that 5% people have talked about on here. I am hoping that if I manage to lose that magical 5% they will push me forward for the surgery.

Although I only joined this site recently I have been reading avidly for the past fortnight. There is so much useful and interesting information here, and everyone is really generous with their own experiences and knowledge. I hope that my journey details will be equally beneficial to others as it progresses. I chose the name Phoenix Rising as I hope that people will begin to see the new slimmer fitter me rising from the ashes of the old fat unhealthy me. I know I have a very long way to go and look forward to having your help and support. Thank you

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:welcome: Phoenix Welcome to the neighborhood. Don't be afraid to ask any question as we are all family here. I am so glad you have decided on the wonderful journey and look forward to your updates on your progress. Do you have a surgery date yet? I have been on a 6 mo supervised diet for my insurance and have been trying to eat as I will after surgery. Protein, Protein, Protein is the key with low carbs from veggies and fruit. I am not familiar with the Milk diet but know the Protein-low carb is what you will be doing the rest of your life after surgery. please keep us posted on your progress and good luck. We are here for you!!!!

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Thank you ladies for your welcome. I have sent a message to you SmokeyMtnGal2011 as I couldn't find the piece I put on earlier. Have now obviously found it. I do not yet have a date for surgery and am still waiting for my next hospital appointment which should be when I am told when and how things will happen. The milk diet is liquids only, 4 pints of milk daily, 1 pint of oxo or Soup of some sort and tea or squash to drink. Very boring but it does shift the pounds, until you start to eat again. I am not terribly good with computers so could do with some tips on how to do things. Add friends etc. I am sure I shall be bothering you both on a regular basis with questions etc. so thanks for being here.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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