Hi! I have my consultation tomorrow. I am a self pay client and have been considering this for years. I am finally ready to move forward. I've done a ton of research, but I fee like there things I haven't considered or will not think to ask. What do you think is important to know? What surprised you? Anything else you want to share?

The sleeve will give you time - portion control and lessen hunger (removal of the areas of stomach that produce the hunger hormone ghrelin) to get your mental issues with food worked out. If you don't use the "honeymoon" period to get your eating habits under control and reteach yourself how to eat, you will risk failing.

Everyone will lose weight in the first year or so, even eating total crap and fast food all the time. But once the honeymoon is over, your body will adjust to the amounts of food you eat, and if all you're eating is nutrient poor crap food, the weight will come back. That's why it is so important to relearn how and what to eat ASAP. Your sleeve won't fail you, but you can easily eat around or eat slider food (foods that are easy to eat like ice cream or Cookies or crackers - that "slide" right down) and can fail your sleeve.

Don't compare yourself to others. As long as you are following the dietary requirements (Protein, Water, exercise) you will lose weight, but your body will decide how fast.

Stalls will happen, and often. Weight will not drop off on a steady rate. You will see days, sometimes weeks where the scale doesn't move. This isn't failure. Make sure you're eating enough calories (eating too few can stall weight loss) and sticking to your requirements, but otherwise it may just be your body trying to decide if you're going to stop eating/exercising like this or does it have to keep giving up its precious fat stores.

Take measurements in the beginning as sometimes when the weight isn't dropping, you might be burning fat and building muscle (a pound of bulky fat takes up way more space than lean muscle).

Edited January 15, 201610 yr by FrankiesGirl

It's a tool, not a magic wand. It is a powerful tool that provides your besides chance to make permanent change, respect it that much. If you don't...back to where you were.

One of the things I asked in my surgeon consultation was about his approach to pain management and is the shoulder gas pain inevitable. The surgeons typically will expand your abdominal cavity with CO2 so they can see your organs better more easily manipulate their tools.

After they close up, whatever gas remains has a tendency to rise up into the shoulder area where it will torment you for days until it dissipates. by the way, walking is about the only thing you can do to keep that gas moving along.

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My surgeon said that he does indeed use CO2, but he extracts as much as possible before closing you up. Consequently, I did not have shoulder gas at all I am surprised that more doctors don't do this. It won't cost you anything to ask.

@big_mama_s There are so many questions to ask when you're first starting your journey ... the most important I feel ... is to make sure you're having the right surgery for YOU ...

lapbad / sleeve / bypass ... they are HELP you lose weight ... each in it's own way ... but the key word here is HELP ... as @@OKCPirate has said in several posts ... it's a tool not a magic wand ... you have to embrace that ....

You have to put in the work ... the tears ... the pain ... to get where you want to be ...

Make sure with your surgeon you're getting the proper WLS for YOU ...

Talk about how long is the surgery ... how long is recovery ... make sure you understand your Fluid requirements ... your Protein requirements ... exercise ... food choices ... all of this and so much more is so important to know before hand ... that way when you're home after surgery having buyers remorse ... you already know the answers ... ( most of us have that ... but get over it quickly )

Be prepared to try several kinds of Protein shake / powder ... not all of them are even worthy of a space on a store shelf if you ask me ... thank God I found one that I can actually look forward to drinking

You know your body ... you know what is right for you ... it's a hard hard choice ... but trust us ... it's the best one EVER!

GOOD LUCK!!!

I think the really important things to understand are how your life will permanently change post-sleeve. What things will be required of you to have your best chance of success? You really need to get a strong sense of what foods you will be able to eat, what Vitamins you will have to take, what guidelines you will have to stick to, how much exercise you will have to do, etc. The sleeve is just a tool. So it's very important to understand how to USE that tool to your best advantage.

I was shocked at how poorly I felt the first three or so days after surgery. I had not had major surgery so I really didn't know what to expect. My second day out after the fun hospital medication wore off I really felt horrible. After about the 5th day I knew I was going to be ok, but be prepared for that first week. It's a booger!! It's now been a couple of months and EVERY DAY I am grateful to have this opportunity to regain my life back. At least now there isn't any viable excuses for me. This is working. If I have issues, it will be on me.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond!

Find out what type of follow up care they provide. I'm amazed how many people post after surgery they don't receive much aftercare.

At my bariatric center I see a nutrionist, an exercise physiologist & a nurse practitioner at every visit. Anytime I have questions I can call. BP is great but it's good to have a more personalized care plan.

Also find out if they offer support group meetings.

Since you're self pay (like me), I recommend asking what all of the charges will be up front. This could include surgeon's fee, hospital, anesthesiologist, nutritionist, psych evaluation, program fees, lab work, any products you have to get from them, follow up care. Even though I was self pay, I was able to get some of it to go through insurance, like lab work and meeting with the social worker. Have them file the claim and see how it goes before you assume you have to pay for it all.

Be ready for the big change in your life. I am so happyI did this but sometimes still get frustrated in how little I eat. My head hunger is such a pain in the butt!! I am happy that it keeps me from going overboard though! I am only eating between a fourth and half cup of food! It is so awesome watching the scale go down and clothes get big!

But again, just make sure you are mentally prepared for this.

Good luck!!!!

It's very important to know what type of follow up you will have after you have your sleeve surgery. Find out what kind of support they have. Make sure you take all your vitamins as instructed and one that has been very important to me is don't compare your loss with no one else. If you do, you could set up yourself for disappointment. Remember this is a lifetime change and learn what works best for your body during your honeymoon weight loss period. Good luck!