So, I was just mentioning to my Mom how hard the pre-op diet is going to be, just drinking protein shakes and having a salad. She looks at me and says, "Well,if you can do that then why can't you go on a diet?" Really?! I don't know how many times I have to keep repeating myself. It actually gets me irate now because I'm tired of trying to get them to see my point of view. She's overweight too! Why can't she just be skinny?? Probably for the same reason why I can't be. Also, the guy that I've been dating keeps trying to tell me that I'm just wasting my money, that I'm a hard headed person and I can do this on my own blah blah blah. And guess what? He's overweight too! If it's soooo easy then why are they still overweight? I hate that they look at me like I'm just running off trying to get a "quick fix" when I'm not doing that at all. I KNOW that if I don't get this surgery, I will NOT lose weight. Even if I go on a diet, I know myself and I will give up because food has that much power over me. I'm such a strong person, but this is too much for me to overcome without some kind of help. I wouldn't run off to another country, risk the complications, spend all the money on it just for a quick fix. I'm going because I have faith that this is the answer that I've been looking for! I know it's not going to be easy, but having it as a tool that I can utilize will help me so much. I just wish others in my life, my "support system" could actually see that too.

Hang in there! Even the people that are "there" for you go through a lot of changes after YOUR surgery and the support you had can waiver. Lots of changes ahead, but like someone ahead of me said, remember who you are doing this for in the first place!

Do you recommend any good Protein shakes?

Premier Protein Shakes are pretty good and give you 30grams of protein.

So far I've only tried Premier Protein in chocolate and vanilla and Syntrax Matrix in cookies & cream, strawberry creme, and bananas & cream (although I think maybe the Syntrax Nectars are supposed to be better for you) and those are all pretty good. I recently learned about the About Time brand and I am extremely interested in them because they are sweetened with Stevia, a natural 0-carb sweetener. If you go to http://tryabouttime.com/, you can get a sample pack of 2 flavors of your choice for $3.99 and free shipping (I picked birthday cake and chocolate peanut butter as my flavors).

My doctors recommend taking someone to the preop meeting where they discuss everything and sign all the releases. I won't be bringing anyone. My nut said if my mom wasn't going to be supportive the last thing she'd do is bring her to the last meeting before the surgery because they talk about the diet, operation, and risks. All she'll hear are the risks and that's not going to be helpful to me in the 2 weeks between the preop and the actual surgery date. I am very disappointed about that. I think I'm going to be the only person there in the preop class by myself. I'm so disappointed in her that she can't help me when I actually need her.

On to Protein shakes, I found the walmart brand very gritty and tasted funny (price was great though, like $15). I liked muscle milk but was told there were too many carbs. On I went to muscle milk light which was better, but I ended up on Isopure (pricey of course $40-47) because it had more protein and not gritty. I don't really like the taste of vanilla so all my stuff was chocolate. I bought powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury chicken so I could have a 'dinner' flavor on my 6 day preop liquid diet. don't know if any of that helps you, but there you go.

Make yourself happy, if the other people are not, oh well!

The past few days I've been really asking myself if I want to do this... Take out a portion of my body, risk an infection or leak that could keep me in the hospital unable to care for my 3 year old son, or even death. Sometimes I'm on the verge of a panic attack... I read all the positive stories, and that keeps me going, but I've also read some negative ones that really have me thinking.

The past few days I've been really asking myself if I want to do this... Take out a portion of my body' date=' risk an infection or leak that could keep me in the hospital unable to care for my 3 year old son, or even death. Sometimes I'm on the verge of a panic attack... I read all the positive stories, and that keeps me going, but I've also read some negative ones that really have me thinking.[/quote']

No one can decide for us. It's a personal decision. I wrestle with my choice. I internalize most of it. I don't think either decision is right or wrong. I think it's a personal choice.

Amanda Rae

My take on the family and boyfriend is fear. Not fear for you but fear that they will now be fat alone. It makes them look at themselves differently. Their eating and overweight buddy is gone.

This is for you and not them. It's likely they will be jealous of you during your journey.

As to the shakes, Premier Protein is one of the best I've found pre made. And, I love the Syntrax nectar line. Great for when you're sick of milky shakes. I also buy vanilla whey Protein powder and make my own with frozen fruit, Water, yogurt and a good blender.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/health/biological-changes-thwart-weight-loss-efforts-study-finds.html?_r=1&

Have her read this

The past few days I've been really asking myself if I want to do this... Take out a portion of my body' date=' risk an infection or leak that could keep me in the hospital unable to care for my 3 year old son, or even death. Sometimes I'm on the verge of a panic attack... I read all the positive stories, and that keeps me going, but I've also read some negative ones that really have me thinking.[/quote']

I have been struggling with my weight for 20 years and finally had surgery on 14th November, just after my 55th birthday. When I look back now and think about all the things I didn't do because of my weight, I wish I had done this 20 years ago. I can't get that time back but now I can really make the most of my future. Ask yourself, do I want to spend the rest of my life like this? Yes there are risks with the surgery but there are risks with being overweight too. Now I am 42 pounds lighter and I know for sure it was worth the risk.

Study Shows Why It’s Hard to Keep Weight Off By GINA KOLATA Published: October 26, 2011 RECOMMEND TWITTER LINKEDIN SIGN IN TO E-MAIL PRINT REPRINTS SHARE For years, studies of obesity have found that soon after fat people lost weight, their metabolism slowed and they experienced hormonal changes that increased their appetites. Scientists hypothesized that these biological changes could explain why most obese dieters quickly gained back much of what they had so painfully lost. GETTY IMAGES But now a group of Australian researchers have taken those investigations a step further to see if the changes persist over a longer time frame. They recruited healthy people who were either overweight or obese and put them on a highly restricted diet that led them to lose at least 10 percent of their body weight. They then kept them on a diet to maintain that weight loss. A year later, the researchers found that the participants’ metabolism and hormone levels had not returned to the levels before the study started. The study, being published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, is small and far from perfect, but confirms their convictions about why it is so hard to lose weight and keep it off, say obesity researchers who were not involved the study. They cautioned that the study had only 50 subjects, and 16 of them quit or did not lose the required 10 percent of body weight. And while the hormones studied have a logical connection with weight gain, the researchers did not show that the hormones were causing the subjects to gain back their weight. Nonetheless, said Dr. Rudolph Leibel, an obesity researcher at Columbia, while it is no surprise that hormone levels changed shortly after the participants lost weight, “what is impressive is that these changes don’t go away.” Dr. Stephen Bloom, an obesity researcher at Hammersmith Hospital in London, said the study needed to be repeated under more rigorous conditions, but added, “It is showing something I believe in deeply — it is very hard to lose weight.” And the reason, he said, is that “your hormones work against you.” In the study, Joseph Proietto and his colleagues at the University of Melbourne recruited people who weighed an average of 209 pounds. At the start of the study, his team measured the participants’ hormone levels and assessed their hunger and appetites after they ate a boiled egg, toast, margarine, orange juice and crackers for breakfast. The dieters then spent 10 weeks on a very low calorie regimen of 500 to 550 calories a day intended to makes them lose 10 percent of their body weight. In fact, their weight loss averaged 14 percent, or 29 pounds. As expected, their hormone levels changed in a way that increased their appetites, and indeed they were hungrier than when they started the study. They were then given diets intended to maintain their weight loss. A year after the subjects had lost the weight, the researchers repeated their measurements. The subjects were gaining the weight back despite the maintenance diet — on average, gaining back half of what they had lost — and the hormone levels offered a possible explanation. One hormone, leptin, which tells the brain how much body fat is present, fell by two-thirds immediately after the subjects lost weight. When leptin falls, appetite increases and metabolism slows. A year after the weight loss diet, leptin levels were still one-third lower than they were at the start of the study, and leptin levels increased as subjects regained their weight. Other hormones that stimulate hunger, in particular ghrelin, whose levels increased, and peptide YY, whose levels decreased, were also changed a year later in a way that made the subjects’ appetites stronger than at the start of the study. The results show, once again, Dr. Leibel said, that losing weight “is not a neutral event,” and that it is no accident that more than 90 percent of people who lose a lot of weight gain it back. “You are putting your body into a circumstance it will resist,” he said. “You are, in a sense, more metabolically normal when you are at a higher body weight.” A solution might be to restore hormones to normal levels by giving drugs after dieters lose weight. But it is also possible, said Dr. Jules Hirsch of Rockefeller University, that researchers just do not know enough about obesity to prescribe solutions. One thing is clear, he said: “A vast effort to persuade the public to change its habits just hasn’t prevented or cured obesity.” “We need more knowledge,” Dr. Hirsch said. “Condemning the public for their uncontrollable hedonism and the food industry for its inequities just doesn’t seem to be turning the tide.”

Oh my gosh! My boyfriend totally says that! Why can't you just lose the weight yourself, just stop eating all that crap and watch your portions. (He has Crohn's so he doesn't each too much and has always been thin.)

He doesn't believe that I will come up with the money to do this. Just watch me.

I am not going to tell my family until after I have surgery. I've told a few people at work and they think I've gone totally nuts. So, here I am on the forum, reading all the posts I can and realizing that many people are like me.

Thanks everyone!!

I have tried the Bariatric Advantage, it is O.K., I prefer it for my pre-op shake as it has fewer carbs. I prefer the taste of Chike, but am trying to cut those out till after surgery. One of the secrets for a shake that mixes well is the shaker bottle with the little wisk ball in it. Otherwise you end up with big nasty chunks of shake mix. The first 4 times I tried the Bariatric Advantage I thought it was the worst tasting stuff in the world. Now I can handel it O.K. Get used to drinking the shakes now, so you'll have an easier time post surgery.

By the way I am experiencing great support from my husband and mother, but my sister who is almost as large as I am keeps asking if I'm "sure you still want to do this." I asked her to not ask me that anymore. She acted all hurt and said "fine then I just won't bring it up anymore. It seems like I just can't say anything right about it." I told her thank you, and to not bring it up anymore.

It's kind of amazing that despite the overwhelming failure of dieting for America at large, how everyone from people on the street to doctors to celebrities can just act like it's the only answer to obesity.

First and foremost, if dieting were as simple as willpower and a 1,200 calorie diet we'd see a lot more success with Weight Watchers. I had willpower like a madwoman...in four month stints. But after four months of restricting myself, not losing weight and not seeing results it's awfully hard to keep going.

Beyond that, I'm sure you've dieted before. All of us have. We don't get up one morning twenty pounds overweight and opt for the sleeve as our first way to lose weight! We're all here as obese and morbidly obese adults that have spent a good portion of our lives dieting. I know more about eating a healthy diet than any of my friends that have never had a weight problem, for sure!

This is about you, your body and living your life the way you want to live it. Make this choice for yourself, not for anyone else.

That said, the pre op diet will be hard, but I encourage you to give it your best. Because pre op, your diet stumbles will only make you feel guilty. Post op, they can cause complications. Knowing that you can stick to a restricted diet simply because your doctor ordered it is important. I think that the pre op diet and your ability to stick to it can really show how mentally ready you are for the post op phase. Because yes, your stomach will be smaller and you're not likely to have any real hunger after surgery. But the mental game you'll play is the same one you'd play on the pre op diet. You'll want food, even if you aren't hungry. At some point, you'll be tired of tiny sips of shakes and warm drinks and you'll wish you could chew. And you won't be able to. And you'll be risking your health if you break the doctor's ordered diet. So try to think of this as an extra tool to have under your belt before the surgery. You'll know you can hack the post op diet if you can make it through the pre op one.

Good luck to you. We all have naysayers or unsupportive people somewhere in our lives. They'll come around once they see your success in most cases. But otherwise, try to ignore it. This isn't about anyone but you.

~Cheri

The past few days I've been really asking myself if I want to do this... Take out a portion of my body, risk an infection or leak that could keep me in the hospital unable to care for my 3 year old son, or even death. Sometimes I'm on the verge of a panic attack... I read all the positive stories, and that keeps me going, but I've also read some negative ones that really have me thinking.

Oh I get it, I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old too, I was scared that I might be one of the few who don't do well and get complications/die. I even went so far as to record goodbye videos for my children, what a ton of fun that was. In the end, my decision was just statistics. I am 35. My knees creak when I climb the stairs. I have no comorbidities but I was approaching 50 BMI. I couldn't keep up with my kids. I figured the chances of bad stuff happening to surgery was less than the chance of me developing diabetes etc during the rest of my life, needing joint replacements etc. So logically the surgery was the less dangerous course.

Oh I get it' date=' I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old too, I was scared that I might be one of the few who don't do well and get complications/die. I even went so far as to record goodbye videos for my children, what a ton of fun that was. In the end, my decision was just statistics. I am 35. My knees creak when I climb the stairs. I have no comorbidities but I was approaching 50 BMI. I couldn't keep up with my kids. I figured the chances of bad stuff happening to surgery was less than the chance of me developing diabetes etc during the rest of my life, needing joint replacements etc. So logically the surgery was the less dangerous course.[/quote']

Exactly! I was walking around Walmart the other day and I realized just how bad my knees hurt. And I thought to myself, I wonder how bad they would hurt 100 pounds less? Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer all run in my family. My nanny is in her early 60's and can't leave the house. She's already had a quadruple bypass surgery on her heart. It's so sad... I know that will be me if I don't make changes now!!