Newbie Here

Hi, everybody, I am new here and I have been here on this forum for a couple of weeks now and I absolutely love the information and support you all have on here for VSG. I am 36 years old and weigh 268 I've been having weight issues and struggling with my weight since in my early twenty's when I was first diagnosed with my Mental Illness. I am doing amazingly great with my Mental Illness but my health has been declining ever since I started to gain more and more weight through the years. I have tried many diets and have gone to the gym many times but I had two knee surgeries on my rt knee and I had an Achilles Heel surgery on my lt foot as well plus I have arthritis on both my knees, hip, ankle and back that I can't really exercise that much. My endocrinologist was the first doctor to recommend me to do wls years ago but at the time I was not ready I was thinking about it but I know I was not ready for it yet. At the time both of my parents were set against it at first but last year one of my cousins did VSG surgery and she is doing so much better now that she has lost all the weight and she has been so much healthier now. I decided that I wanted to do wls when I went to see my GI doctor last month and my weight was 270 that's when I decided I needed to do wls and my parents agreed and are very supportive for me and I only told close family and friends that I wanted to get wls. I just meet a bariatric surgeon last Tuesday who I think he is a great surgeon and I made the decision to go with the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy for me. Now I am preparing to do all the tests and see all the doctors I need to see all next month because it will take two months to get ready for VSG surgery so around June or July I should be getting the VSG surgery done. I actually see the dietician this coming Tuesday and I am both excited and really nervous about my wls journey but I also have a lot a faith in God and leave everything in his blessed hands that everything will be alright. I would love to get any tips and advice you all can give me I would really appreciate it thanks in advance.

Welcome!!! This forum is pretty good

I joined 7 yrs ago and I just got back on

i do find the info that is posted on this site is very helpful. The food recipes are pretty helpful. I'm 7 yrs out now.

I'm not sure if you are aware but there are bariatric food websites out there which I use to order cereal, hot chocolate, and pudding

The good thing about the websites is that the food is low on carbs and sugar and they do have protein in them. So u just have to google and find a good website

If you have MyFitnessPal you can add me

Kelly Tacoma is my user name

kelly

Hi, Thank you so much, Kelly, for the welcoming I will most definitely add you on MyFitnessPal when I get the chance to get an acct on there. Have a great weekend.

So your in NJ??? I had my surgery done at Cooper.

Yes, I am in NJ and Cooper is just 59 minutes away from where I live at I actually live in South Jersey.

Cereal, even if it's protein-fortified, is not a great choice for your post-op diet, no matter how far out you are. You're much better off sticking to dense protein, which will stay in your stomach much longer than cereal or pudding and keep you fuller longer :)

Thank you so much I don't usually eat cereal for breakfast I actually used to drink protein drinks years ago before but I totally stop drinking them I don't know why I stop drinking them I just did. But I will most definitely get back drinking more protein drinks and dense protein food for my post-up diet. Thank you so much for your advice.

Welcome Kati! Glad you've made the decision to go for WLS.

It may take a bit longer than you expect. Have you checked with your insurance company regarding coverage and their requirements? Many insurers require a six month medically supervised diet. Insurers and surgeons may have different pre-surgery requirements, so be sure to check both. You don't want to take care of all of your surgeon's requirements, and then discover your insurer requires additional tests, diet, etc.

Insofar as diet, once you have surgery you'll probably be instructed to eat low calorie, low carb, and high protein. That's after the typical two weeks of fluids (protein shakes), then two weeks of soft/puréed foods and then the normal diet stated above. You may want to check out Eggface's site for information and recipes.

Best of luck to you on your journey. It's life changing. Best thing I ever did for myself.

Keep us posted.

Hi Mary Gee, I have checked my insurance if it covers the Sleeve and they do cover the VSG but they never told me what the requirements are for the VSG surgery I have Medicare and NJ Medicaid. But they did tell me about my insurance coverage, I probably need to call my doctor's nurse and see what are my insurance requirements are thank you so much for the advice, Mary Gee. Have a great weekend.

Your doctor may not have the information you need; most of the time, you'll need to reach out to the insurance company directly. If you can find a copy of your benefit book, that will often have the requirements in it, or you can ask a customer service rep over the phone.