Paul11011

Nothing?? Nada?? Well then...

Calciium in supplements are in the form of Calcium carbonate or calcium citrate. Calcium carbonate is inexpensive and more commonly available. Both forms are well absorbed HOWEVER patients with decreased stomach acid (i.e. after gastric sleeve surgery) will absorb calcium citrate more easily. These supplements contain different amounts of ELEMENTAL CALCIUM, which is the actual amount of calcium in the supplement. Calcium carbonate in supplements is only 40% ELEMENTAL CALCIUM. For example if a supplement contains 500 mg of calcium carbonate, only 200 mg is elemental. The other 300 mg is the carbonate ingredient. Calcium citrate is 21% ELEMENTAL CALCIUM but it is better absorbed than calcium carbonate and does not require acid for absorption.

Yep, what she said....and said very well.

Maintaining at 1400 cals, 80 + grams Protein, less than 100 grams of carbs. I try to shoot for a calorie mix of 40% protein, 30% fat and 30% carb

My secret is to be an unapproachable ass. That way no one wants to know anything from me.

I really get very few PMs, but the ones I do I answer sincerly. If they took the time to ask my opinion, then I will give it to them the best I can.

Thank you so much for your for your response! How was the taste? (I will still follow their instructions, I'm just curious.) Congratulations on your success!

The taste pre op was not bad, for packaged food that is. your tastes after surgery will likely change and honestly I did not care about taste at that point any way.

Happy Friday! I have a question for anyone who has had their surgery through McLaren Northern Michigan or Dr. Randal Baker...what kind of pre-op diet does he put you on? Does he require you to buy the supplements in the office or give a guideline? I have an appt with him in two weeks, but I am inpatient for answers. Thanks!

Hi BethAnn. You're going to enjoy Dr. Baker. He is an outstanding surgeon and wonderful man in general. He was my surgeon too. I went through his Grand Health Partners (GHP) facility in GR but I'm pretty certain his requirements through McLaren will be similar. I would expect that you will purchase your two week pre-op and two week post op foods and Vitamins from McLaren or directly from GHP. There will be a bunch of information that will be given to you, pay close attention to their recommendations and follow them closely. That is all that I did, follow and do what I was told, and it has worked wonderfully for me. Best of luck to you.

Great! Something interesting gets posted and I'm a few hours too late to read it. Grrrrrr.

I am still not used to seeing the "new" me when I look in the mirror.

Kohls, Macy's, Younkers, Nike, Under Armour oh and I'm still a big fan of thrift shops. I have been amazed at some of the great quality name brand items I find there.

Yes, they will deny you and not allow you to reapply for the procedure...................that feeling you're having right now. Hang on to it and remember it next time you want to stray.

No, they won't deny you. We all make mistakes, the important part is to learn from them. I would definitely say in all seriousness, do not have anything to eat from now on, if that is what you were instructed. There are physiologic reasons that they may want you on liquids a day or two before surgery. Good luck!

As to the eating...I'd say go back to basics...definitely get back to the beginning. Go back to your very basic post surgery losing phase diet. Not necessarily full liquids...but the lean Protein, low carb way you ate those first few months. Logging your food, weighing your portions...get back to that for a period and I bet you can turn this thing around pretty easily.

This was said so well it is deserving of a repost! Additionally realize that your head is what is going to need to change in order to make this effective long term. Even though our stomach are much smaller then they were, it is still not healthy or productive to revert back to our old habits....overeating.

Strive to think like a skinny person, food is fuel and nothing else. We don't pump gas until it's flowing over the tank do we? Learn what amount of food your body needs to make you feel satisfied, not full. This is a learning journey we are on.

Calories alone are not the best thing to go by. The first things I would check are that you're getting at least 60-80 grams of Protein and 64oz of non caffeinated non caloric fluids. If you are, then how much are you exercising? It could very well be, especially if you're exercising, that you're not getting in enough calories. If that is the case, try bumping it up to 800-900 calories. But again focus on the Proteins first. If all of your numbers are where they should be, then there is a good chance that you're just in a plateau Stick with it, be diligent and do what you're supposed to be doing and the scale will start moving again. This is a good time to mention the importance of taking body measurements so you can see that your body may very well still be shrinking even if the numbers are not going down. Good luck!

I highly recommend a Tanita with a body fat monitor. If you get one with a body fat %, make sure it's the type that has the warning to NOT use if you have a heart condition. These ones send out an electronic wave that is strong enough to give an accurate body fat reading. I have had one that did not send out a strong enough wave and the % was way off....in the high direction, not good.

The daffodil comment was from the mythological story about how the daffodil came to be.

"Narcissus was so handsome that many women and men fell in love with him. He rejected all of them. One of his admirers was the nymph Echo, who had been cursed by Hera* to repeat only the last words spoken to her. Ameinias, another admirer, was so devastated by Narcissus's indifference toward him that he killed himself. Before doing so, however, Ameinias called on the gods to punish Narcissus. They caused the beautiful youth to gaze into a pond at his reflection. He fell in love with his own image and drowned trying to touch it. In other accounts of the story, Narcissus killed himself out of sorrow and frustration. The gods then changed him into the flower that bears his name." AKA the daffodil

Read more: http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Mi-Ni/Narcissus.html#b#ixzz2L80lsFjA

Lol, leeann71. That is so sweet of you to say.

You bring up something that I have realized and has been pointed out to me, if anyone is flirting with me, I don't often know it. That really is a serious statement. I have always been the nice, funny, big guy, just kind of who I became. I never expected to be flirted with and went out of my way to avoid being in situations were other guys were getting flirted with because I just saw it as a situation where I would feel left out. Strange the psyche one develop having lived their entire life morbidly obese.

It has happened more than once in the past 6 months where a person I was with has pointed out to me that women had been flirting with me and I simply didn't catch it. Uhhhgggg.....lol.

We used to have pizza every Sunday night, it was our weekly family event. After getting my sleeve and starting to account for all of the calories I was putting into my body I went through what I would have eaten on one of our typical Sunday pizza nights. I would have 1/2 of a family sized stuffed crust 5 meat pizza, bread sticks, a bigggg bowl of ice cream and of course a soda or two. That one meal alone I was eating nearly 8000 calories! It makes me sad to know now what I was doing to myself then.

Thank you all for your comments and the congratulations, I have taken some words of wisdom from each of the comments. I love the skiing analogy!

During the time I was in "active weight loss", the first 12 to 18 months or so, the frequent congratulations and " you look so good" comments were awesome. They were one of the things that kept me diligent and working to follow all the rules and stay on track. I don't mean to say that I was an attention hound, but the immediate feed back was a motivator and felt great.

In addition there were NSV victories coming left and right, the ability to climb stairs, fit in stadium seats, set in booths, etc were more instant gratification and motivation

Now most of the people I encounter don't know anything about me "before" or have already shared in my transformation. I have recently started a new career and those people all know me as the "after" version. When I talk about running or biking as a hobby, to them I'm just a normal guy. It is bitter sweet. On the one hand, they don't look at me with disbelief, they see a guy that is fully capable of running for sport and completing long distance bicycle rides. On the other that "Wow, you have come so far" sparkle in the eyes of long term friends is nowhere to be found if I were to be telling them of my new hobbies.

There still is the rare occasion when I encounter someone I have not seen since pre-surgery, and those times I get to re-live the initial joy I had from the congratulations and way-to-go's but its very seldom.

I can't say I'm surprised about the diminishing attention, it's the natural course of events. At some point in time we all fall away from being the latest, greatest show in town and become who we will be from here on out. I do have to admit I miss those days of new experiences and excitement. Am I alone in this period of having to adjust to the new normal? Should I be concerned that I'm going to morph into a Daffodil?

I'm feeling somewhat narcissistic, I'll play.

I went with Grand Health Partners. They are based in Grand Rapids but I know they do work out of other hospitals. I'm not sure if they have made any affiliations with Lansing as of yet. My surgeon was Dr. Baker, one of the founders of the organization. All four of their surgeons are top notch and on the leading edge of WLS surgery innovations. I know of patients they have worked with in DeWitt, Ann Arbor, and Mason. If you're interested their website is www.grandhealthpartners.com

In my opinion, ones relationship with food must change in order to be successful long term. The surgery and the restricted diet will provide a weight loss while you're in the "honeymoon" phase (approximately 12-18 months) but then it is going to be up to you to use the surgical tool along with your learned new habits and relationship with food that you'll need for the rest of your life.

Emotional eating and breaking that pattern is one of the toughest parts of this process. You will go through periods where you morn the loss of food. It is not hard to understand that when we look at the ways many of us used food in the past. It was our friend and comfort. It made us happy and was an immediate gratification. That instant gratification will be gone with the vast restriction seen with the new sleeve...for a little while. Eventually you will be able to eat more and maybe even enough, especially of the wrong foods, to comfort your emotions again. Work as hard as you can and utilize all the tools at your disposal to break that pattern of emotional eating during the honey moon period.

Again, long term success is what we're all really striving for and that will only come with the necessary behavior modifications.

Howdy neighbor...(maybe)....at least we're both in MI anyway. Insurance coverage can very from policy to policy. If the surgeon that you are working with can provide all the information and documentation that the insurance company requires then you're primary care doctor would not have to be involved at all. I would recommend talking to them about it and letting them know you are pursuing WLS. They will need to know as it relates to your follow up healthcare with them but they may not have to be any part of getting approval. Good luck! Depending on where you're located and if you're looking for a great surgical center let me know and I would be happy to give a recommendation.

I started my journey on Nov 23, 2010 at 492lbs. On the day of surgery Jan 10, 2011 I weighed 456lbs. One year post op (Jan. 10, 2012) I was 200. Today 2 years post op. I set here at 190. I had gotten to a low weight of 177 around September 2012. I was still 4lbs away from "ïdeal" weight putting me under a BMI of 25, but my body fat was under 9% and I felt like crap. For once in my life I made a conscientious decision to be heavier. That concept is still surreal to me even as I type this. I found that I felt the best and looked the best in a range between 185 and 195. I am using a target of 190 as my new life goal. It took a long time for me to get comfortable with the reality that I was still over 25 BMI and would likely always be. Now is where I get to make myself feel better and preface that this is all weight before any removal of loose skin so in all reality my "real" body does weight less. My best guess based on others I have seen that have had removal is that I have at least 25lbs of skin that could go. Will I ever be able to get the skin removed so that I can actually see what my "real"body looks like? Who knows, I doubt it. And yes there is a bunch of extra skin. I like to make jokes about it, after-all who doesn't want a butt that looks like a Shar-Pei? The reality though is that it sucks. I have bags and folds that are a constant reminder of the size this container used to be. I can dress it well but in my birthday suit it is not a pleasant sight. Uhhhhggggg! Is the extra skin burdensome enough to regret the decision to have surgery, nope, never. The surgery is still the best decision I have ever made.

Haha! This is awesome! Now I am going to have to search the internet.... Hehe

Just curious, what exactly are you going to enter into the Google box?

I think getting comfortable with our new bodies and being able to have confidence in our appearance is going to be an ongoing battle for most of us, I know it will be for me. I certainly don't mean to imply that we went through this process because of vanity but we need to learn to be comfortable in our own skin, even if there is more of it sagging around us .

I don't think I will ever be as comfortable with my appearance as is a person who is my same weight without having been obese previously. I know I am still not accustomed to seeing what I see when I look in the mirror. I almost expect to see the nearly 500 lbs me in my reflection. Learning to feel ok with ourselves physically is an important part of our transition process. I know I spent the majority of my life ashamed of how I looked and I don't want to feel that way anymore. Taking some risks and putting myself out there for others to see, I think, is a way to move past the feeling of shame. Developing a good body image is important.

laura-ven......my nude pictures are in a different thread. It's titled, "Nasty images you will never be able to get out of your head".

Glad to hear about the changes Alex. It "pops up" on my screen and appears in the messages. I just checked my email account and I get a notification in the email every time as well. Thanks for addressing this.