WELCOME ABOARD!!!

Just found out a few days a go that 6 October is my surgery date. I thought I would get this topic rolling.

I have been down this road before. Last year I started the 3 months of losing weight for the insurance folks and even got a surgery date of 22 February. Then I went to my Pysch appointment and she said no to me having the surgery. I was not in a good place mentally and so we have worked on getting me to a better place. I started out at 396 and I had lost the 35 pounds the doc wanted me to lose but once the surgery was cancelled I went off what I was doing and now I am even heavier. 403 is my current weight. My sleep apnea has gotten a lot worse and I am having other issues I did not have before. So I am starting the process again. I have my first appointment 19 August so we will see what happens then.

Edited July 22, 201511 yr by 395Ron

@@thbrown223 and @ welcome and anyone I missed.

I will let you know tomorrow or more likely Monday how my shakes taste. I will probably be too tired by the time I come back tomorrow around 6.

I have to go now and make my plan for tomorrow. I will probably get up at 4:30 am and not get back until 6pm. LOL, oh yea, we are stopping at McDonalds for lunch. Nothing like challenging myself on the first day. More like torturing myself.

@@395Ron what shakes are you doing?

Thanks for the welcome!

@ this is my 4 week pre-op diet:

4 Bariatric Advantage shakes. I have strawberry, vanilla, chocolate and banana. They were out of Orange Crème.

2 Bariatric Advantage bars

1 small Banana or 1 cup skim or 1% milk (this to maintain potassium levels)

3 of either sugar free popsicles or sugar free Jello-O

All the Water I care to drink (can have Crystal Lite, MIO, unsweetened tea, or coffee) but at least 64oz

4 weeks OMG!!! I think my diet is similar with the shakes and bars. It is costing me $300.

Did u get it already @sleevechica

No, I think in have to pick it up right before I start. Who is doing your surgery?

Dr. M I have my nurse visit on Wednesday so hopefully I have and get more details

I am hoping to find a good support group within bariatricpal.com. After I got the band I just dropped out of communicating with anyone because I thought I was home clear. So when i had those really hard times when I needed support I didn't have it.

Would anyone be interested in forming an October, 2015 gastric bypass support group on this site? I think there needs to be at least 3 people interested to form a support group.

Anyone?

Hey guys, I know it sounds hard at first but the more you follow the program, the more easier it becomes I started this journey in January after I went through a bout of severe depression over my mom passing the previous year in December, I was at 388lbs by December 2014, I had researched the options and surgery for two years prior, and in January this year I was at 360lbs, on June 10th my day of surgery I was at 346lbs, now almost 3 months out I am at 294lbs!!!!!!, the plus is that after they removed the lower part of my stomach was that I now at this point have to remind myself to eat at times, I am rarely hungry, and do more than 60oz of fluids per day, I have also become very addicted to the Gym, working out at least 3x per week for an hour and a half to two hours, my apnea is gone, my vitals are at 124/78, 78P, and i am no longer pre diabetic, the down sides are that I have dehydrated twice, I have reflux sometimes, and alot of people think it was easy, since my wife is in school full time and works, we are on a tight budget, so I also learned to shop wisely and look for options to dietician recommendations, I purchase my protein through The Vitamin Shoppe, I buy the 5lb chocolate powder for $49.00, and I buy fusion vitamins online for 24.00, the snack bars and ISO drinks are great if you can afford them, but you can substitute with 1oz potions of jerky, cashews, and cheese, as for drinks I hate soda now and easily get by with water, G2, MIO, and the cheaper Walmart brands of water enhancers, also tea, and decaf coffee on the weekends, when you begin to see and feel the difference it will carry you over and start a wonderful momentum, don't get discouraged, even thin people are unhappy and make mistakes at times, and follow these 3 basic rules

1. Don't dehydrate, it is painful and since we can't drink fast it lingers longer.

2. Don't make the scale rule your emotions, I weigh myself once every one or two weeks only.

3. We are all shedding bad habits and relearning, so just like a baby you will fall, but at that age no one tells you you can't get up, so if you fall GET UP!!!!!!

Good luck I hope this helps, message me whenever you want, I vowed to pay it forward for the rest of my life, and welcome LOSERS!!!!!

@@betrthnever ok I am confused. : ) I thought we joined this thread to support each other. At least that was my reason. How is creating a support group different? What does creating a support group involve? Where would we go on this site? What are the benefits to joining a support group vice this thread? Thanks for your patience and educating me. I am interested.

Edited September 6, 201510 yr by 395Ron

Report on my first pre-op diet day:

I wrote out a schedule the day before of when I would have a shake or bar. That helped to have a plan to look back on.

It went so much better than I thought it would. I kept myself busy from getting up at 430 and having a shake to picking up the kids to taking them to the qualifier and then keeping an eye on them when they were in different locations. When we got there about 9:30 I had a BA bar but then got so busy running around that I didn't have anything to eat except lots of Water until 3pm. I drank 2 shakes to make up for the ones I missed and my banana. The kids had cheeseburgers and french fries oh how I wanted some of those! But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Once I got home I had another shake and a bar and 2 Jell-O's. I started getting a little headache and I was so tired I went to bed.

The biggest problem I really had and still am having today is missing my gum. I used to chew gum almost constantly. Now I find myself reaching for it and then remembering I can't have it. They didn't say I had to quit chewing gum as well but I also didn't ask. They told me at an earlier appointment that after surgery chewing gum would add air to your pouch and that was not a good thing. So I figured I would stop it now and get used to it.

I just got back from walking 6 miles so I am getting my exercise in.

I will not be so busy today so we will see how it goes.

Report on my first pre-op diet day:

I wrote out a schedule the day before of when I would have a shake or bar. That helped to have a plan to look back on.

It went so much better than I thought it would. I kept myself busy from getting up at 430 and having a shake to picking up the kids to taking them to the qualifier and then keeping an eye on them when they were in different locations. When we got there about 9:30 I had a BA bar but then got so busy running around that I didn't have anything to eat except lots of Water until 3pm. I drank 2 shakes to make up for the ones I missed and my banana. The kids had cheeseburgers and french fries oh how I wanted some of those! But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Once I got home I had another shake and a bar and 2 Jell-O's. I started getting a little headache and I was so tired I went to bed.

The biggest problem I really had and still am having today is missing my gum. I used to chew gum almost constantly. Now I find myself reaching for it and then remembering I can't have it. They didn't say I had to quit chewing gum as well but I also didn't ask. They told me at an earlier appointment that after surgery chewing gum would add air to your pouch and that was not a good thing. So I figured I would stop it now and get used to it.

I just got back from walking 6 miles so I am getting my exercise in.

I will not be so busy today so we will see how it goes.

Thanks for the update!

I am writing about my experience with the first three days of pre-op because before I started it this was the thing I feared the most. I had heard that the first three days were the worst. Ok, what does that mean? But I didn't see where anyone said how it was. Well that is why I am writing. When you go through your pre-op feel free to share so that those that come after you may know a little about how it may be.

Yesterday was more difficult but not anything I couldn't handle. I spent the whole day at home. As I mentioned I went for a walk in the morning. Then I spent the rest of the paying bills, watching some T.V., playing a game and basically sitting at my desk.

I do not get up at the same time everyday because I don't go to bed at the same time or I may get up in the middle of the night. So yesterday when I got up the first thing I did was write out a schedule once again.

Now I don't have a problem with any of the Bariatric Advantage shakes or bars. I am not going to write a glowing report on the taste and say it is just like a rich and creamy milkshake. But, as my wife said I can drink it if I have to. So, taking that stuff was no problem.

As I mentioned in my previous post my worst thing was missing the gum. It seemed like every 20 seconds I was looking for a stick of gum. Luckily I removed all temptation the night before I started this pre-op diet. I went through my fridge, my cabinets, and my desk drawer pulling out everything. I even pulled the gum I had in my truck out. Most of it I threw out but some of it my wife took downstairs for her. Out of sight out of mind. Now watching some of the food commercials were not fun but once again not anything I couldn't handle.

I went out and mowed the grass later in the day and when I came back in I had two of the sugar free popsicles. They did help me cool down. The popsicles and the sugar free Jell-O do not do anything for me as far as filling me up or filling that hole in my stomach that wants some real food.

So was sitting around the house a good idea? Well I would say I had an easier time the first day when I kept myself extremely busy. But by staying at home I didn't expose myself to food smells. I don't think I could have handled going through a grocery store and smelling those smells. So I think all in all yes it was a good idea. If things got too bad I could always go for a walk.

Now this morning I got up at 4am because I woke up and my brain wouldn't shut off. I had to fast after midnight because I am getting my pre-op blood work done this morning along with chest x-ray, gall bladder sonogram, and my knee x-rayed to see what is going on with it.

Ok hopefully I will be back tomorrow to say how my third day went.

@@395Ron how's it going?

@ thanks so much for asking. I have been posting in the pre-op area on the October post there. I have been so busy as I am sure most of us are juggling work, juggling appointments, getting paperwork sent to my surgeons office, and getting my house straight that I don't have much time. I am stressed trying to keep track of it all even though I write it down. This is the first time I have been stressed and got through it without food! Wow.

I lost 15 pounds the first week of this pre-op diet. I think a LOT of that was Water weight. I think it will be more towards 6 pounds this week but will see Sunday. I can't say I am hungry although I don't know what the rumblings are in my stomach sometimes. That doesn't stop me from thinking "hmm if I were still eating right now I would go in the kitchen and fix me a whole bunch of food. Especially because my wife is in bed and she wouldn't know." I mean I am planning a binge in my head even though I can't eat. Weird.

How are you doing @?

How is everyone handle the upcoming surgery?