I'm a Newbie and I'm Overwhelmed!!!!!!

What bothers me most is my health deteriorating,losing limbs from diabetes,  dying before I turn 50 and the fact that I really dont like what I see in the mirror.  I dont see me.  I love myself enough to be honest with the fact that I dont like what I have become (overweight) and only I can do something about it.

I remember being told my surgeon's mortality rate was really low but I am going to ask about that again.  I guess the fear is really about the pre op and post op diet and if I will really be able to eat/drink those protein drinks because I have never been a milk drinker and drinks like that make me sick to my stomach.  All the physical stuff I know will pass - I have had surgery before but will I regret having the surgery if I have problems getting through the preliminary stuff?

Im going to keep reading..................thanks for sharing your experience.  I guess you know how invaluable this info is.

"The last thong"
 
I know it was a typo...but it made my day!!!!

Although like everyone else, I had lost weight and gained more throughout my adult life, once I decided to have the sleeve, I personally didn't do a thing to try and lose weight until I started my preop diet.  I have not regretted or questioned or doubted my decision to have this surgery, and can do nothing but praise the doctors who developed it so that it is now such a marvelous tool for us.

Thanks so much - this is the feedback I need to hear because I have a tendancy to think I have to do things perfectly.......and there is no such thing!

Hi, I am just about three weeks post-op and need some help with pureed recipes...kind of stuck!!

 maybe you should start a new thread? there's a lot of people who have great ideas that wouldn't think to look here, but, one of the things I actually liked was a kind of VSG omelette:

hard boil eggs and separate the yolks out
cook some 99% fat free ground turkey with just some Pam and season it with salt and pepper.

Take the egg whites and stick them in a food processor and grind them down to the size of BBs. Then take some of the cooked ground turkey and do the same. 2TBSP of each into a small cup and stir them together. If you prefer it hot, stick it in the micro for 30secs or you can eat it cold. It tastes kind of like an omelette and is food that isn't ruined by being pureed. It's a super protein dense meal too. 2OZ fills me up. If I eat it just a tiny bit at a time, I can stretch it out for 15 minutes and feel pretty good about the whole thing. As opposed to resenting the fact that there's not enough food there to make me feel like I ate something.

The other thing I like a lot was to take even amounts of tuna - completely drained, 1% milkfat cottage cheese and an hard boiled egg and stick it into the food processor. It makes a very yummy tuna salad. Same thing with a little salt and pepper of even a couple drops of hot sauce or a few pickle chips.... add them to flavor it up for you. 2OZ or 4TBSP goes a long way.

I decided in March 2012 that I HAD to do something.I'm 37 and  I hit 452lbs. I decided on weight loss surgery so I came here and started reading everything. I decided on sleeve surgery. Problem? Insurance did not cover weight loss of any kind. So I had to do self pay in Mexico. $6000. So I started in March saving money and working overtime and on call to pick up extra money. During that time I decided that if I was going to make this work I would need to really change the way I approached food. So going by how post op people were eating I changed my eating habits. I cut out the carbs to under 40 grams. I cut out processed foods and sugar and bread and pasta and anything that didn't fit in a post op diet.

I started living post op. The only difference was my calories were higher and honestly I don't know what my calories were because I didn't track them at the time. I did however eat my protein first and then veggies. My snacks were cheese and sugar free or no sugar added popcicles and fruit. I figured if I could live like that for the few months it took to get the money for surgery then I could make the lifelong commitment.

I started the liquid diet 2 weeks before surgery even though I was only required to do one week. But the first week I did all liquids and one evening meal. The second week I did all liquids.  Between March and July I lost 26lbs. Not a huge loss but it was encouraging to me that making these changes was a positive and that I could pull this off. I would be able to live with my sleeve and it would not be a hardship. Sure I wanted to eat cake and ice cream and sure I wanted to stop for fast food. But overall I realized I felt better and the junk food didn't make me do better in life.  So July 20th I went to Mexico, had my surgery and so far have done just fine. I can eat most foods without issue and my only real struggle is staying motivated to exercise. I've always hated exercise but I force myself to do it. 

So I guess what you really need to ask yourself is how much do you want to lose the weight. How hard are you willing to work. And are you willing to make the changes neccesary to accomplish your goal.

Wow! Thanks so much for your story......you have given me some things to think about as well as everyone who has responded.  This message board is literally helping me save my life!

I am willing to change my life - this much I know.  I also know for sure that I CANNOT do it on my own.  These two things are paramount.  I do believe that that all this information that is being given to me is telling me that  I am on the right path.  Please continue to share your journey with me because its giving me a lot of hope.