newbie-looking for like friends :)

i am stephanie. i live in mesa az. i have been overweight my whole life. currently i am 337 pounds, 5`2. bmi: 61. my goal weight after surgery is to hit 140. I have PCOS,asthma and semi high bp. I dont have any other medical conditions. I currently have two more months of supervised weight loss visits with my PCP. i have my EGD scheduled for april 17th. ive done my psych eval. only a few more steps left. im beyond ready for surgery. I had first thought i wanted lap band surgery due to having friends who have it and their success. when i went to visit surgeon he gave me two options bypass or vsg. I knew starting this i didnt want any rerouting of organs. so bypass was out of the question. i asked why he didnt offer lapband and he explained that in my case its not the best option. and they remove a ton of them every year. so we decided on vsg. ive done a lot of research and have stalked this group for a bit. just now ready to make my presence known. I am having trouble finding a flavor/brand of protein shakes that i like. so far vanilla works for me but i will be tired of it soon enough. so this is me and my story!

Welcome!  Hopefully your surgery date will be here sooner than you know :D  

You definitely do not want a lap band.  They are overall so ineffective that some doctors aren't even doing them anymore.  There are also many people on here who have had to have revisions after problems with the lap band.  Keep on with your good attitude.  You will do great.  Are you following a pre-surgery diet now with some success?  If so, you are already off and running.  You'll meet lots of friends here and feel free to send a personal friend request to anyone who you'd like to converse with more.

Best of luck to you!

hi, I also am a newbie and asked this very question about protein shakes, the thread is lost somewhere, I thought I asked it here now I'm not sure, I/they lost it! lol. I did get some helpful answers, one suggested body fortress whey protein choc peanut butter, about $16.00 at walmart, but amazon has different flavors online too. then there's pure protein probably at gnc or the vitamin shoppe, & Kroger carbmaster milk, I can't really find that in my area, might be a regional thing. I drink ABB protein drinks & ensure high protein drinks but they are as expensive as hell! I have vsg surgery scheduled for nxt month and a high bmi of 57, so good luck on your journey!

Hi Steph, I'm Karen. I just had my sleeve done on 3/12 and I already feel like a whole new person. My mother in law had the bypass and I too knew I didn't want that. I also had doubts about the lap band, even though I have two friends who have had great success with it. I just didn't like the idea of there permanently being a foreign body inside me. Three of my friends have been sleeved within the last year and a half and their results are AMAZING. Your surgery will be here before you know it (it's actually on my birthday, so we both can celebrate something that day!) and the first few days will be difficult. But it is all so worth. Just remember to follow your doctor's instructions to the "t". I have been lifting more than I should and on some days that makes me tired and sore but I have a 33 lb. 2 year old and when he falls asleep on the way home from somewhere, what am I going to do? 

Re: the shakes, I think if you just Google "bariatric advantage protein shake recipes" you should get a ton of variations to keep your boredom in check. I'm alternating between chocolate and vanilla and haven't tried any add-ins, but I know some people really like them.

Good luck with everything and keep us posted!

Hiya!

One thing that I'm looking forward to is sugar free syrups (the kind used by coffee shops to flavour coffee and Italian sodas) to go in my shakes. Apparently if you put caramel and coconut syrups in, it can taste a bit like German Chocolate. Almond and vanilla might be nice too.  I have tried peanut butter and tonight I will try peppermint mocha. You can find them in some groceries and easily on amazon.com.

Bleh. Protein lol

I have EASAdvantage from Riteaid. I only like the chocolate and it has to be ice cold. While I was on clear liquids I drank Isopure but they were all super tart and my tastebuds just aren't too into tart post surgery.

Welcome to the fold. I hope you have a happy journey!

Welcome!  I love my sleeve.  See my post today about once weighing 447 pounds!  

I am extremely particular about the protein shakes I drink.  They must be whey isolate based if at all possible.   Not protein blends or protein concentrations.  So, I read labels and ingredients.  It is important that I get the best protein benefit from the shakes I drink.

For what is worth all of our hospitals/bariatric programs around here dropped the lapband 2 years ago due to known high failure rates and complications.  

Hi stephanie and welcome! You will be so happy with the sleeve.  Your taste will change on the protein shakes so dont go crazy on what you purchase.  I really on like chocolate now.  I use EASadvantage alot but my favorite is Gladiator by smoothie king.  My non sweet choice is Unjury chicken broth/soup.  Best of luck to you on your journey. 

Hi Stephanie, we have some pretty similar stats. I started out with a BMI of 59.9. I lost some weight on my six month supervised diet and 2 week pre-op diet. Had surgery 9 months ago and am now about 35 lbs away from a normal BMI, which seems pretty do-able! I know they say the last 10-20 lbs is the hardest though. I had no complications and have been determined in sticking to my surgeon's strict eating plan, and that has helped me a lot. My surgeon also told me he wouldn't do the lap band on me because he thought it was a poor option for someone as heavy as I was. I didn't even want it though, after reading the horror stories here and elswhere.

It sounds like you have been doing a lot of reading here, and additional research, which I think is great. Keep us all posted on how you are doing!