Rootman

I personally have found that Mirilax works best for me - half a cap every morning in water. It's odd how some get diarrhea and others constipated, just goes to show how different everyone is.

Yes, what the previous poster's said - you have to KNOW your limits. For me the feeling is so subtle that I can easily take a bite or two more then the pain and nausea hit. Thankfully I've only experienced this maybe 4 or 5 times and out of that only once that was really, really bad and I almost barfed.

WooHoo! I too am past the halfway point, even with 90+ pounds to lose it just seems like a big hurdle and seems like a big weight (pun intended) has been lifted from me. It seems to be all down hill from here.

Time alone will tell but you also have to know that there are MANY instances of people living healthy long lives without a stomach at all, cancer survivors or injury patients come to mind. I've seen a couple of instances where a particularly deadly cancer is linked to a gene that a few families seem to get double dosed with (inherit from both sides) and entire families have had their stomachs completely removed preemptively to avoid it. Gherlin has only really been known about since 1999 if I read stuff on the net correctly. I believe like a lot of other hormones it is produced by other glands or organs too, not just the stomach, the stomach is just the principle producer. While it MAY (unlikely) prove to be more harmful the weight loss and elimination of diseases like diabetes and heart issues have to mitigate some of the "risk".

I've done a LOT of looking for this and while Kinky above has some good points the truth is that they really don't know EXACTLY what mechanism causes diabetes to go into remission. They were thinking it was something with the intestine till the sleeve showed it also produced the same type of results.

Good for you girl! I am glad to see a woman loosing at a rapid rate, a lot of females really think of this as a "men only" thing, glad to see you're loosing at a rapid rate too.

I'm going to be joining you next week when I turn 50 too. I have to admit that it age has presented it's challenges I don't really think I'd trade it for any other age in my life. BTW: After perusing your photo gallery I think the others are right. You're hot and don't look to be 50!

FAT and HEALTHY do not play well together for very long. DON'T end up like me ( and MILLIONS of others) and let weight related health problems mount up and make you life miserable. YES it is a drastic thing to do at your age but the procedure is by far the LEAST invasive of weight loss surgeries and does not re-route anything and cause malabsorbtion problems (with the possible exception of Vitamin B12). Remember that it IS possible to defeat the sleeve by eating too much, too often and the wrong things. So it's going to take a LIFELONG - and in most probability your post-op life is going to be a lot longer than the typical sleever - commitment to the proper diet aided by the sleeves physical and psychological restrictions. I'd say without knowing you and not knowing your health to GO FOR IT, if the doc has approved. We all wish you the best!

My wife started taking it for the same reason, she previously had breast cancer and is post menopausal so an estrogen replacement was out of the question. Her libido was non existent and our love life was pretty non existent too. I have to say SOMETHING is kicking her libido into overdrive. She reread Tim LaHaye's book "The act of marriage" ( http://www.amazon.com/Act-Marriage-Tim-LaHaye/dp/0310212006 ) which she said helped her to recenter her desires toward a proper sex drive (I'm trying to dance around the words here without being to graphic). All I know is sex is better than it has been in years and years, if it was the book or pill or combination of them both. My losing over 100 pounds and taking a testosterone replacement shot certainly helps too. If you want to return to a more satisfying love life I'd give them a try, be sure to stay on them for about 2 months as results are slow to come and DON'T cut them off cold turkey as it can really screw with your head big time if you do.

OK ladies, since you clicked the link I guess you can chime in too I apologize if I offend anyones sensibilities, I just saw this happen again today and was wondering where to post this question when the MAN ROOM came to mind. OK, I've seen this a few times and am consumed with curiosity. From time to time I see full grown men when using a urinal unzip, unbuckle, unhook and pull their underwear down and whiz over the top of the waste-band. WHY? I find this absolutely one of the most stupid things on the planet. Did no one ever teach them to simply unzip, fish around through the underwear fly and pull it out and go? Even if you're wearing "fashion" underwear without a fly you can peek over the top through the fly can't you? This has got to be so inconvenient too. I mean one slip of the hand and your pants drop to the floor. It's bad enough to see other dudes gyrating their hips making sure they host down every square inch of the urninal puck then do the "shake dance" on one leg after going, do we really need to see all of this too? I actually saw (he was an Asian from Asia if that even has anything remotely to do with it) a man stand there, DROP HIS PANTS TO HIS ANKLES and the pull down and whiz, this is in a public office restroom at a bank of urinals. Is this just in America we have goofs that do this?

More than likely it's due to ketosis ( Wikipeia: https://secure.wikim...ki/Ketosis#Diet ) which is due to lack of carbohydrates in the diet. I view it kind of like a car burning oil and smoking. You might get a coat on your tongue too. This can be taken care of using a tongue scraper and using mouthwash. It will lessen with time and may even totally pass as you reach your target weight and stop losing.

I sometimes stare at my bony feet and can hardly recognize them. I noticed today that my arms are starting to have definition too rather than look like round sausage links . The wife told me today that I walk totally different, I guess I don't "waddle" any more as my thighs can actually pass each other now! I agree, one of the best decisions I've ever made - besides marrying my dear wife (in case she's reading this )

You go girl! Isn't it great!

Well in my case I am NOT "starving myself", the fast weight loss is just happening. I eat healthily and take my Vitamins and get my Water too. Like I said if it happens, it happens, if not then push your goals out and don't expect as much. Everyone's body and VSG results are different and no one can expect rapid weight loss as a "typical" result. Breakfast - I eat lightly, an egg or sausage or Protein drink, vitamins and Miralax. Mid morning - A few crackers for a "snack" (and to settle my tummy) lunch - larger meal - Soup or prepared meal or portion of fish or other meat, veggies and vitamins, piece of cheese and a protein whey shot. Mid afternoon - a few crackers Supper - light portions of the same stuff as lunch, no whey shot or cheese, maybe a pudding cup or yogurt and the last of the vitamins. Before bed - A few more crackers if I need them. I get full, feel satiated and have more energy than I have had in years. Last full blood workup was spot-on and the only thing the doc recommended was to cut back on my B12 supplements and drop back on my hormone replacement (testosterone) since I was losing weight and making the dosage too high. If it works for you then great, more often than NOT it won't work that fast. Call me lucky, fortunate, blessed whatever - the weight is just falling off me with little effort on my part. And I'm healthy. Maybe it's just karma, lord knows I've gotten screwed on just about every other aspect of life

Any way you lose it is great as long as you can maintain it and keep on the diet without starving yourself, malnutrition or hunger pangs which will undermine you efforts. Having said that, I've lost 100 pounds in 4 months - which includes the 2 week pre-op diet. I just don't get hungry and frankly don't want to eat. After I eat my small meal I am stuffed to the gills and just don't want any more. I get a weird feeling before lunch and supper and sometimes in the evening that is probably acid churning up. I use an old fashioned word "peckish" to describe it. It doesn't feel the way pre-op hunger did when my sugar would tank and I would be absolutely starving and eat everything and ANYTHING in site, it's just a gentle feeling that I can ignore if I try hard enough. I have 2 or 3 saltine crackers and I'm fine. I seem to lose about 14 ozs a day or more. I would say - don't set yourself up for a failure, it'll come off if your body will let it. Set it as a tentative goal, if you don't reach it then stretch it another month, if your DO make it then celebrate! Good luck!

Well, I wouldn't agree either, if only for the reason that anything but liquid was absolutely revolting to me till after maybe 3 weeks. I tried and just couldn't get them down. Follow the docs orders, he should know better than we do.

Yes by all means if pureed food is turning your stomach stick with what works - the liquid / soft diet. I too had this problem and didn't eat pureed stuff regularly for a week or so after I was supposed to start on them. No harm can be caused by sticking to the liquid / soft diet.

Yep, me too - I use a straw or sippy cup with a built in straw ALL the time even though there are a few that suggest NOT using one. Their reasoning is that you swallow the column of air that is in the straw and it ends up in your stomach. I call BS on this as when I suck on a straw I pull a vacuum in my mouth by pushing air OUT and then expanding my cheeks, when the Fluid hits I get a mouthful break the vacuum and THEN swallow. I agree that you get smaller sips when using a straw and - especially post op - it is easier to swallow small sips.

Ditto to what XXM4NDAAXX said. I would avoided a lot of misery and pain if I had done it sooner.

Yes, regular bread may ball up and sit like a lump in the stomach. I avoid it like the plague and even toast. I eat little melba toast rounds now and then to satisfy my hunger for bread.

It's really hard to say, it depends on your caloric intake and metabolism. Since you've been dieting so long and lost so much your body has already acclimated itself to the reduced caloric intake, a further reduction may not accelerate the process. You SHOULD have a much easier time maintaining though as the physical restriction will keep you from eating as much.

Me too. NW Arkansas. Went to Mexico last December. If you are who I think you are you already know that

BTW: That's OFF the CPAP, NOT ODD I've been an a CPAP for like forever, maybe like 10 years. I've lost 103 pounds and was having fits keeping my mask from leaking, I've lost so much fat on my face that I have to keep adjusting the straps to keep it tight enough to not leak. I found I had to shorten the over the head strap so much to keep upwards pressure on the nasal pillows that it put the top around the head strap right next to my eye and it bugged the heck out of me. So 2 nights ago I just decided to try and ween myself off it. I know I should go and have another sleep study but just don't want to go through the expense and waiting. I fall asleep very uneasily as I am not used to the weird feeling of not being masked. I seem to sleep through the night and awake in the very early AM hours only once, this is opposed to waking every couple hours to air whistling around my mask and having to adjust it again. I seem to sleep LONGER but not as deeply, if that makes any sense. I wake up with a stuffy nose and dry throat. The wife says she does not hear me snoring so that is a good sign. Anyone have any hints on how to make the transition easier? Just go for it?

I elected to do the liquid pre-op diet for 15 days, the guidelines from my surgeon said 2 weeks POST-op liquid diet and I stuck with it a few more days than that, in fact I didn't want to eat as the thought of eating ANYTHING just was just revolting. I gradually introduced pureed stuff and thicker Soups and at 6 weeks some mushy whole foods. Take your time, there is NOTHING wrong with taking the liquid diet for a longer period but you may seriously mess yourself up trying to force food on your tender stomach too soon. BTW: Used2b575lbs, I glanced at your profile pic, man do you look fantastic! You've come an incredibly long way and are a true inspiration to us all.

Best wishes!