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Hi everyone,

I am scheduled for a sleeve revision to sleeve on December 2, 2019. I am 46 years old and have been significantly overweight since I was 20 years when I was pregnant with my daughter. I called this thread 'Weight loss 2.0' because my previous gastric sleeve was December 3, 2013. Looking back, I believed the surgery was the magic fix to all of my problems. At first I had considerable success and dropped 100-120 lbs. Then,life happened - well bad things in life happened. I survived two violent attacks, the first in 2014 which left me with physical challenges, and then in 2015, after a sexual assault, I attempted suicide twice. It took me two years to get to a place of mental stability, but by then I regained my weight, plus more.

In 2017, I began discussing with my doctor the prospects of having a revision surgery or bypass. For health reasons, the bypass is not an option. I discussed the options and decided I would not get back on the surgery table until I knew I was truly ready for change. What I have learned though, is that there will never be a moment when I will be truly ready, but it is about making a decision to change my life and working hard to do so. I am very good at self-sabotage and while awaiting my final doctor's visit to schedule surgery, I went over in my head all of the reasons I should and should not have the surgery again. After all, my first sleeve in 2013 was a failure and I stretched my sleeve to 2.5 times its size at surgery. There is a million little things that added up to me regaining weight, but I could not stop wondering if I had the fortitude to stick to it this time.

All of the questions and doubts went away when I fell out of my shower two weeks ago yesterday. My spine is fused from C2-T1 and I handed on my back with my head and shoulders against the sink cabinet and the shower curtain rod jammed against the bathroom door. Short of the fire department tearing the door down, I had to find a way off the floor. It was early in the morning and my pride/embarrassment was too much to ask for help. Eventually I painfully got up off the floor. In that moment, I felt there is no reason at 46 years old I should not be able to get off the floor. I went to the emergency room to make sure I did not suffer any real damage and then decided to schedule my final appointment and pick a surgery date.

I am teetering through excited and terrified because I have been down this road before. In my gut I know it will be different because I am in a different place and have already made changes to start my journey. To commemorate the start of my pre-op diet, I gave up coffee, sugar, Snacks, all at once. For some reason last week, I kept eating things I figured I would never be able to eat again and then went cold turkey starting Monday morning. The lack of coffee and sugar alone makes me feel like crap all the time, but I am keep working at it and already lost 3.5 lbs this week. I had a Protein Bar today that somehow tasted like a mixture of cardboard and paper mache paste dipped in cocoa powder, which was some sort of scientific miracle that allowed it to be stamped as a food product. But it had 20 g of Protein and 3 g of sugar. (definitely will not try that one again).

For any other coffee addicts out there, I found that hot tea with dry non-dairy Creamer (no sugar) is enough to trick my brain into thinking I had my usual coffee drip. The good news I no longer feel like I am losing my mind. The sugar substitutes are just not my thing. Fortunately, I love Water and the many trips to the second floor bathroom have been a kick-start to my exercise regime - that is after many years of couch surfing. I found a 64oz water bottle that has times on one side and inspiration on the other, but I feel like I will start floating soon. I truly never realized how dehydrated I was, probably from the excessive amounts of coffee every day.

I am less than 2 weeks away from surgery now and I am grateful that I have a sense of hopefulness, mixed with the reality of knowing that after surgery is when the hard work starts. A part of me is grieving too because I need to give up this life-long terrible relationship with food to live a fuller life.

Thanks for reading and happy to be here to share my story. I look forward to learning more about other people here.

Mya

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Thank you so much for sharing your journey! You have been through a lot. Best of luck with your upcoming surgery. 💚

Edited by Kimberly3
Typo

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Hi !

I can feel your pain, keenly lol. I also gave up coffee for my revision surgery and it was also cold turkey.

Glad you're in a better place! You'll do fantastic.

💙CONGRATULATIONS💙

Edited by GreenTealael

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Thank you both for the support!

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Good morning and welcome to the group! I am a faller, I fall a lot in fact last night I fell, grrrr. I am hoping that improves as I lose weight. Like you I have a very similar Water bottle but on a 32 ounce bottle. It does help me get my water in! Nice to meet you!

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1 hour ago, Lynda486 said:

Good morning and welcome to the group! I am a faller, I fall a lot in fact last night I fell, grrrr. I am hoping that improves as I lose weight. Like you I have a very similar water bottle but on a 32 ounce bottle. It does help me get my Water in! Nice to meet you!

I fall, too. I'm hoping for the same after surgery.

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I am excited for you. Good luck with your surgery!

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@Lynda486 Thank you for the support!! I hate that I fell!!

Edited by Myap

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    • Prdgrdma

      So I guess after gastric bypass surgery, I cant eat flock chips because they are fried???  They sell them on here so I thought I could have them. So high in protein and no carbs.  They don't bother me at all.  Help. 
      · 1 reply
      1. NickelChip

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      1. NickelChip

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      How do you figure out what your ideal weight should be? I've had a figure in my head for years, but after 3 mths of recovery I'm already almost there. So maybe my goal should be lower?
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      1. NickelChip

        Well, there is actually a formula for "Ideal Body Weight" and you can use a calculator to figure it out for you. This one also does an adjusted weight for a person who starts out overweight or obese. https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/68/ideal-body-weight-adjusted-body-weight

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    • BeanitoDiego

      Now that I'm in maintenance mode, I'm getting a into a routine for my meals. Every day, I start out with 8-16 ounces of water, and then a proffee, which I have come to look forward to even the night before. My proffees are simply a black coffee with a protein powder added. There are three products that I cycle through: Premier Vanilla, Orgain Vanilla, and Dymatize Vanilla.
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      · 0 replies
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