Butterthebean

Stress? Nerves? Body going into shock from lack of carbs? Too much dog meat? Relax...you're gonna do great. When you come out of surgery all these little troubles are going to disappear. You're going to have all new troubles that will make these pale in comparison. Uh...I mean....everything will be rainbows and unicorns.

Aaron, I think the best thing you can do to reduce the chance of saggy skin is keep up with your Protein and hydration requirements, and do plenty of strength training. I think the more muscle mass you can keep and develop, the better you will be able to fill out your skin. Any evidence to suggest that skin can be made to shrink farther than it wants to naturally is purely anecdotal. It possibly will snap back some, depending on many variables like your age, how long you've been obese, genetics...no one knows for sure. But yes, start pumping that Iron Aaron. I believe that's the best thing you can do. Not to mention it has many other health benefits. Maintaining that muscle will help keep your metabolism higher, which will help you burn more fat (which is obviously everybody's goal).

I prefer fiber one. There are better ways to get proten but there are not too many sources of fiber better than fiber one. If I eat 1/2 cup a day I notice a big difference in regularity and it's quite filling compared to more sugary cereals.

I'm 10 months post op and sometimes it sounds like my sleeve is trying to call the mother ship.

I just went through this same thing. Stand up too fast and get dizzy. Orthostatic hypotension....that's what all the docs thought. You stand up too fast and our BP drops temporarily, leaving you light headed. Only problem was they did every test under the sun and couldn't prove it. But because the symptoms fit so perfectly, 3 different docs stuck with that diagnosis. I had my blood work checked, brain MRI, echocardiogram, carotid ultrasound, inner ear checked....you name it. Nothing. Although my blood work showed no sign of dehydration, I took it upon myself to start logging my Water intake again. Turned out I wasn't drinking as much as I thought I was so I got it back up there (128 oz/day) and the spells went away almost over night. I've kept this up for a month and no problem. Whether or not the increased water helped is anecdotal. Perhaps I conditioned myself to not stand up so fast. Who knows? But I do feel better now.

I wouldn't do that. Most protein bars are nothing more than jacked up candy bars. They are loaded with carbs. To my knowledge, the one with the fewest net carbs are the Quest bars, but they are not the tastiest bars. But if your sleeve can tolerate a quest bar, then it can tolerate lean meat and that is a much better food source. Fish, chicken, turkey, cottage cheese, eggs, Greek yogurt....all better protein sources and probably easier on your sleeve than a Protein Bar.

My neighbor has 4 and every night I wish for at least one of them to have an untimely death. Please come by here on your canine eating world tour. Best thing about dogs....they are low carb.

It seems to me the more important factor is not "who" is posting in the veteran's forum, but rather the subject matter being discussed. I thought the vet's forum was for vet's issues. As long as it is, then the status of the poster is of minor concern.

I haven't thrown up since that damn barium swallow. That had me retching. And in between retches I was begging me wife "help me, help me." After a few minutes it was "kill me, kill me." I had that feeling of ....what have I done? But it eventually passed and I've been fine ever since. In fact, many is the day I've wanted to write one of those "the doctor didn't remove enough stomach" threads. But I have too much self respect.

That's amazing Fiddleman. No trouble with the foot since you started running?

You've only been sleeved for what??? 3 weeks? I remember needing a nap after taking a shower....I had no energy. Suddenly not eating much food can zap you of your strength. Especially if you were formerly a carb monster like I was, you're body wants to burn carbs all the time, but probably you're not ingesting very many. Very soon you're body will learn to burn fat for fuel more efficiently and you will feel better. Plus, as the weight comes off, you'll be stronger. And I'm not even going to go into the roll that regular exercise plays in all of this.....but it does so I will. For every ounce of energy you spend exercising, you get 10 pounds of energy back. So it's worth it.

That's a great realization. I cannot imagine the shock of waking from surgery to find you had been sleeved. I think most people here would say it's the best thing that could have happened, but it's never an easy pill to swallow when it wasn't your decision. But kudos to you for accepting and trying to make the best of it. You're absolutely right, you certainly can eat around the sleeve. So many people go into this not understanding that fact. It still takes some discipline...willingness to make the right choices. But losing the weight and getting healthy are so much more gratifying than the occasional twinkie....or whatever your poison.

So I guess that's not going to work on my deflated beach ball of a belly. ....oops...there I go oversharing again.

You may as well overshare...I do. I already posted pictures of my feet with my dirty house in the background.

Do not get me started on motion control shoes.

Those are Injinji toe socks and yes, you can wear them with any shoe. They are supremely comfortable. I also love Smartwool PHD socks. Those things make my feet feel like a new born babies bottom.

Oh yes....here's a pic of my high tech running socks and my high tech running shoes. Never had a blister but last weekend I kicked a rock the size of a lemon with my big toe. That smarted.

It definitely gets easier. And if you're like me, you won't notice it happening. You'll just wake up one day and realize how easy it is...and it didn't used to be. It's kinda like the feeling of waking up and realizing you've put on a few pounds....you don't see it happening, but one day the realizations hits you in the face. And as for those blisters, I'd recommend two things....a generous application of KY jelly between your toes and all over your feet if need be...and quit wearing those snow boots. They clearly do not fit you properly.

Here....yes I have one and use it. My recipe (or at least one of them) is in my sig. But you can do lots of things with them. Yes they are pricey, but when the zombie apocalypse hits and destroys the planet...this thing will still be going strong (with use of a generator of course). It will liquify an avocado pit....it's pretty bad ass. When you make soup, if you leave it on high for a minute the soup comes out hot already. It spins that fast.

I think if you use really lean turkey bacon wrapped around the neck, it will shrink the skin. If not, at least you will smell really good to the neighborhood dogs.

There's a rumor going around that doing 500 face scrunches a day will get rid of turkey neck. And if there's not a rumor, we need to start it.

Ouch....good luck. Hope it goes well. After 17 months I would think you'd be safe from GB problems.