Matt Z

Isopure Zero Carb RTD's have been my fall back Protein source. 40 grams of protein in 20 oz of clear Fluid, no carbs, no fat, no sugars, only 160 calories. Tasty light drink. That and Muscle milk. People always say "but it's higher in calories" that's fine since I can't pack down the calories like I used to and being banded one "serving" could be 2 or 3 for me. So it really does balance out. They taste GREAT too! A bit tip I have for people getting sick of broths, is to invest in a tea steeper. Steep your broth in seasonings that you would normally cook that meat with. IE Lemon and Herb with chicken broth. Garlic, onion, pepper, basil with beef broth. I will pour out a set amount, like 1/2 a cup or so and drink that slowly. When I feel a bit heavy in the chest, I stop. Don't want to push it and cause slippage or early pouch expansion! Good Luck and Stay Strong!!!

I know the feeling LB4Me! I'm still not 100% sure it's in there lol. I'm only 9 days post op and I have zero restriction now, once all the swelling went down, I was back to normal. But I have been making sure to superchew and picking my proteins and veggies over carbs and sugars. Been working pretty good. That restrictive feeling will come back once we hit the green zone. I guess this is bandster hell... Stay Strong!

Fivey, I used to inhale my food, no joke. When we were out to eat, I'd finish everything before the wait staff could come back to see how everything was going. Lots of "look at that fatty" looks from them. Now I put down my fork/spoon. I chew until I can pretty much swish the food around in my mouth, then I swallow. Then I repeat. Using smaller forks/spoons help too, and I use a timer afterwards so I know when I'm safe to drink. Just use all the tools you can and It won't be so hard. Talking to someone between bites helps too!

I have been floating around 340 - 350 for close to a year I suspect. I avoided the scale as much as possible. I knew it was "time" when I couldn't stand for more than 10 mins without my lumbar going numb and my knees bothering me. I know the "seperation" issues are normal, it still doesn't prepare you for them. As much as I can say to myself, "it's fine, it'll be ok, don't worry, it's normal" the emotion still comes up, I just make sure not to let it take over.

Today marks my 1 week post op and what a week it has been. Let me recap in a few important catagories. Physical I've experience the pain, which in all honesty isn't as bad as I would have expected. If we ignore the day of surgery and the day after, the rest of the week has been ok. I haven't needed any pain meds since the 3rd day post op. Pain has been limited to gas pain and incision site pain, both completely tolerable. The begining of the week I was a bit more tired than usual and I became tired quicker when doing simple activities like walking, each day this gets a bit better. Today I went shopping with my mother, my fitbit says I took around 3500 steps and walked 1.4 miles. My knees feel better, my back feels better, my feet feel better. I am actually sleeping better and waking up feeling as if I slept, no more waking tired. Looking forward to the next week! Emotional This has been one of the toughest things to deal with, the disappointment in not being able to enjoy the foods I love has hit me pretty hard a few times, always when out. I went to breakfast with my wife and her dad, I assumed that the resturant would have yogurt for me to eat since most do, they didn't. So I sat there with a decaf coffee and a kids sized orange juice while they ate. I don't like eggs and what not, but the smell comming off of their plates was so amazing, it took most of what I had to keep from breaking down into tears. I focused on why I'm doing this and resolved in the fact that I would be able to eat again in a few weeks. The biggest test was Thanksgiving. My family are big eaters, Italian families know how to eat. So I was dreading Thanksgiving at my parents house. The night prior I jumped the gun on my puree phase and attempted some pureed meat pie, a tiny 1/4 inch slice and some beef broth, blended it up, poured it into my 1/4 cup ramekin and heated it up. It looked so nasty, but the taste, after all the liquids and puddings and jello's was so damn amazing. And lucky for me, I didn't have any problems with eating it, I finished the serving a little quick for my liking, but I held off and sure enough, I felt the fullness coming on, but it never got painful, so I knew I hit the mark size wise. This gave me a bit of a bump for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving came and I pureed some turkey with gravy, some corn and potatos and took a 1/2 slice of cranberry sauce about a cup of food in total. We all said our thanks and got to eating. I focused on taking my time, I watched the clock and put my spoon down between "bites". About 20 mins in I knew I should stop, the fullness was just starting to kick up, so I put down my spoon and pushed the plate away. Everyone was suprised by how little I could eat. But they were all impressed. So one more big eating day left and it will be a smooth year. Weight I saved the best for last. I weighted in at 350 when I finally decided that I had had enough and that diets and yo-yo weight gain/loss had to go. My last appointment with my surgeon I weighted in at 343. The last "official" weight in at my pre-op training class was 336.8. The night before surgery I weighed myself on a medical scale at 335. Pretty good. But these next numbers are amazing. I had surgery on Friday, the following Monday I weighed in at 329, Yesterday, I weighed 324. So from 335 to 324 in 1 week! and all without feeling underfed. This is the motivation I need. I'm feeling the weight loss in my clothes, on my back and knees. It's noticable. I'm greatful to everyone here for the information and support that you are providing. All comments, both positive and critical are appreciated. I understand that to learn we need to be shown our faults. Stay Strong LBT!

not sure exactly why you are going to be required to wait between removal and sleeving. The process of sleeving removes the left most portion of the stomach, I've seen video where and erosion was removed and sleeved all in 1 surgery. Since they are going to be potentially cutting to remove the eroded band, whats the reason for the wait to cut rest of the stomach off and staple up? Something I would ask your surgeon.

You first step should be to contact your insurance company and get the list of approved and expempt surgeries. For my current insurance, all I need is to have a flap caused rash, sores or infections of some sort to qualify for the abdominal region. As far as everywhere else, that's a much different story. Your steps to this process should be as follows. 1. Find out if your insurance covers it and under what conditions. No sence getting your primary or your WLS involved if your insurance has it exempt for all reasons. 2. If your insurance company does have conditions that garner approval, check to see if they are what you are experiencing, if it's sores and the such and you say "well I have mobility issues" they will point back to the coverage documents and tell you goodbye. 3. If you do have a condition that is listed as an approved reason for plastic/cosmetic surgery, contact whomever has been treating these issues, have them fax all the information to you so you have a copy as well. If this person is your primary, next would be to contact your WLS and inquire about plastic/cosmetic surgeons that they have referred patients too. Some medical insurance requires referral from either your primary, your WLS or both. 4. Depending on method required by insurance, you will either contact the plastic/cosmetic surgeon yourself to set up consultations and the plastic/cosmetic surgeon will file the insurance claim. Or your Primary or WLS will file the claim prior to you seeing the plastic/cosmetic surgeon. That's pretty much it, hope that helps you out some! It's a right pain the butt with each and every company working in different directions to get something done!

Tima, right now in the US there are only 2 Adjustable Gastric Band makers that are approved, Allergan and Realize. Allergan makes the Lap-Band system brand and Realize makes the Realize band brand. Gastric sleeving is a stomach resizing by cutting out a large portion of the stomach without any re-routing of the intestinal tract. It is not usually reversable. Banding reduces the volume of the upper portion of the stomach by way of the restrictive band, it is in most cases completely reversable. Bypass is the resizing of the stomach by seperating the stomach into a small pouch and a lower unused section, the intestinal tract is re-routed causing malabsorbtion. This process is also not reversable. I hope that helps clear up some of your confusion.

I'm feeling ok, enough to walk a few blocks, but not much more. Driving sucks, every bump and change in lateral G forces hurts, not major, but it hurts none the less. Just remember that you will have damage to your core muscles that needs to heal, these muscles are in constant use when we are driving around, so I would advise taking your pain meds, keeping some liquids on hand and a pillow or 2. It's not impossible, but it sure is uncomfortable.

Tima, I'm in the US, my Surgeon was Dr. Ryder and my band is the Realize band. Read over my blog for some more indepth information about me and my surgery. The body is an amazing thing, the placement and materials used reduce most chances of rejection. Granted it is a potential outcome, but the best place to have that happen is the hospital right?

Not a bad combination. I've been drinking the Isopure Zero Carb RTD bottles, 40 grams of protein per 20 oz. And it's a clear so you don't need to worry about watering it down or anything.

I'm on day 4 of my post op and I can't feel the ring exactly. I do feel different, just like my stomach is WAY smaller than it was pre-op. Other than that and a little bit of diaphram irratation due to swelling and remaing C02, I don't feel it at all.

2 days post op here Sue, I'm not hungry either, and those "grumbles" are most likely gas moving around your insides. I have found that doing the breathing exercises with the Voldyne machine several times an hour helps out more than any gas-x. You need to NOT be doing much of anything aside from some light walking. If you are trying to pick up something that's around the weight of a gallon of milk, that's too much. A full gallon of milk weights around 8.8 lbs, you put that weight at the extension of your arm and you are putting far too much strain on your core muscles. Rest, Rest, Rest, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! My post op diet is clears for the day of surgery, clears the day after, full liquids for the next 2 - 3 weeks, liquid mushies after that, then up to soft foods. I read people eating regular foods just a few days post op and that is NOT a good thing! Think of it this way. You have foot surgery, do you go out and wear a pair of stiletto heals the next day? the next week? No you wait until your foot is healed up good before you put any stress/pressure on it. Your stomach and abdominal muscles are the say way, they need to heal up. Take it slow and easy, pace yourself, keep on your liquids and pain meds, walk a bit and just relax and recover. Stay strong!

Mine was 2 hours or so of questions, followed by a 30 min review a few hours later. Don't be afraid of saying the wrong thing, just be 100% honest and truthful. You gain nothing by trying to work the system to ensure that you are approved. If you don't have a binge eating, purging habit or other psycosis that would hinder your change in diet and the restrictions you will have post op, then you will be fine. Just come clean with everything and you'll be fine.

Agreed, too many people go into the gastric band thinking it's a cheaper, safer, reversable bypass. It's not. It's a tool, not a magic wand. I didn't selfpay, but I know that the band in my gut is just the traffic light, I have to chose what cars to let in. I think people need more proper education about the surgery.

Not quite, All unflavored protein has some sort of flavor, even Unjury (yes I've used it) some foods cover the protein flavor better than others. But No matter how expensive, no matter how "good" or surgeon backed it is, protein will have a protein taste. Your best bet is to sample companies to find the best fit for your tastes.

Roeroe, I'm part of the november banders group on FB, lots of fabulous people!

Thanks for all the pre-op support all, I'm still feeling kinda icky, but I'm home and I wanted to provide a proper update. Friday the 18th of 2011 at 6:30 am I was admitted into the Rhode Island Hospital Outpatient Surgery Center. The staff was nice for how early it was. I checked in and around 7:00 am I was taken back to the prep room. I geared down and johnny'd up, complete with the fantastic johnny socks compression socks and a fabulous blue hair net. I voided, and I will tell you this, if I had known that this was going to be my last easy void in the next few days, I would have taken the time to enjoy it a bit more. I was then paraded past other weary surgical travelers enduring what I was soon to as well, the slew of questions from the prep nurses, anesthesiologist, head anesthesiologist, attending nurses, supporting nurses, and finally my surgeon. Everyone was fantastic. My doctor signed off on my belly and at 8:10 I was wheeled into the OR. The OR was super bright, bustling with prep work, beeps and boops, motors pumping away at this and that, the whole time the surgery staff was light hearted and up beat, The slide me from my gurney onto the operating table, propped up my arms with arm boards, pluged in me and put the gas mask on. Within a few moments my ears started ringing, my vison got distorted and everthing stopped. I had a bit of a dream, about my dogs I think, but I don't fully recall. With me out, the surgeon and her team started preping me and the equipment for use, I found out later that the laprascope was mis-behaving and not outputting video, so I waited in some undisclosed state of prep for 30 mins while they got it fixed or replaced. I opened my eyes around 11 am, coughing, which I guess is a good thing. I was woozy and had a hard time focusing on what was going on around me, the place was simalar to the pre-op room, but was clearly not. Other post-op patients beeped, buzzed, whooshed and groaned around me. Again the staff here was very pleasent. I was checked and rechecked, told to sleep, but once I'm up, I'm up, and with all the noise and lights, going back to sleep again wasn't going to happen, even if I was as tried as I have ever been. I overheard several comments about me not having a bed to go to. I've got sleep apnea, so I was being admitted for overnight observation. I saw in the recovery room for several hours, I was visited by my lovely wife, my parents and my oldest son, who notedly did not want to be there, but that was ok, I understand why. I was in moderate amounts of pain, more discomfort than pain, slight burning pressure under my left clavicle, but nothing major. My incisions were tender, but I wasn't putting any strain on the abdominal muscles so the pain meds I was given control of did the trick at keeping everything to a decent ache. 5 pm came around I my doctor came back in to check in on me. I was upgraded from swabs to wet my mouth to ice chips and small sips of water, this was fantastic news! After 6 hours of narcotic added dry mouth, some cold water and ice was heavenly. I was sat up, walked around and allowed to void again, but this time with great amounts of trouble. The muscle groups just wouldn't work with me, it was all about the relax and let go, which is a LOT harder than it sounds. 6pm I had my room. A step down ICR shared room. But I had a bed now, not the 2 inch thick gurney pad that had be causing me tailbone pain for 6+ hours. I walked around a bit, attempted to void again, and watched some tv with the wife. All while enjoying this fantastic new discovery, ice water! I was cleared for an amazing 60ml per hour, so 2 of those little meds cups per hour, this was fine with me. We watched TV for a bit, talking with doctors and nurses that came in and out checking in on me. Tried to stay up to watch Fringe, but by then I just couldn't hang it. So I made my way to the bed. After some tweeking, a few extra pillows, a fan (it was VERY hot for some reason) I put my cpap on, grabbed my pain button, slid down my blindfold and drifted off. Most important thing to bring with you to a hospital if you are going to be there overnight, a good pair of blindfolds! Saved my night! The night was oft interupted by the snoring of the woman that was my roomate, by nurses checking temps, iv amounts, my vitals, etc etc, understandable interuptions. These folks were taking care of me, so I was being extra nice back. Nothing can make their already stressful jobs worse than a pissy patient! 4am I was up again, the void at this point was much less stressful, and much more welcome. I stopped using my pain pump at this point. I guess that while I was sleeping, I pretty much just kept pressing the button, oops. At least it was set to lock out, so I got the max amount of meds. I fell back a sleep for a while. 6am rounding time for the doctors, I was visited, told that I was stable enough to go home once the orders were drafted, which take a while I guess. I amlessly watched tv for a few hours. At around 8 am a tray was brought in with apple juice, a bottle of water and a cup of broth, lol I'm on 60ml of fluids an hour and they bring a liters worth of liquid. The apple juice was FANTASTIC! The wife showed up at around 9:30 am, she helped clean up and pack things together to make it easier on everyone. I was then slowly removed from iv's and monitors, provided with my liquid pain meds, and started getting word of a potential release. I hurt, moreso now because of the lack of constant pain meds, but nothing super horrible. Just very uncomfortable to move certain ways, like sitting up, spinning around, leaning over, picking stuff up at arms length, putting my head over my head etc etc etc. All slow and deliberate movements from here on out I guess. Shortly before Noon I was signed out, wheeled down and driven home. Ouch, bumps SUCK. I putted around a bit outside, working out some of this interesting pain which can only be described as a combination between gas pain and hunger, without the growling. It comes and goes. Gas-X doesn't seem to be doing much of anything, but I've been trying just in case. I slept a bit, had a bit of a fever spike 100.5 (still below what they said to come/call in with) fever is down into 99.0 right now, took some liquid tylenol to help with some slight pains and the fever. Still on clears until tomorrow, so once the Jello is done setting up, I'm going to break into some of that, the Isopure Zero Carb RTD's have been yummy, just enough flavor, and it's clear and full of protein! So that is all for now bandsters/bandits and those starting out where I did. I'm offically banded with the realize band. The worst pain is behind me, now to just tough it out through the next few days of pain and discomfort. Thanks for reading! Stay Strong!

I am to be admitted at 6:30 am tomorrow. Sigh. That's earlier than I would have hoped, not because it's early in the day, but because I have sleep apnea, that means I'm there all day, all night and part of Saturday. My poor wife is going to be sitting around doing not much of anything for hours on end until they kick her out for the night. At least by this time tomorrow I'll be banded. Today has been ok, the emotional rollercoaster started off early, but right now, I'm 100% not phased at all. I know what's going to happen yesterday and I'm resolved to the fact that 1 of 3 options will occur tomorrow. Either A ) I get banded. B ) I die from complications or C ) They find something inside and are unable to complete surgery. Either way, I know that this chapter of my life has come to a close. We'll see tomorrow if it was the last chapter of the book of Matt, or if there is another exciting adventure awaiting in the pages forthcoming. Today I'm doing a clear liquid only pre-op diet and it's been a mixed bag. I've quelled most of the true hunger, but I've battled several brain hunger episodes, short lived as they were, they occured. But I won. I'm going to weigh myself tonight, just an un-official pre-op weigh-in on a medical grade scale, just to see what the last week has done for me. I'm not sure if I'm down or up... I guess I'll see. *update* Just weighed in, 335. So that's 1.8 lbs since the 10th and 15lbs total since I started the whole process. yay! Thanks for reading all Stay Strong!

I paid $3.33 per bottle when I bought the case of 12 (no extra deposit charge) I buy them at Performance Nutrition since they are cheaper than GNC without a membership. GNC's cases are close to $50, cheaper if you have their membership card on certain days of the month. It is Ion exchange whey protein isolate. I know that 3 and change sounds pricey, but pre-op it's as good/filling as a single meal, so it's cheaper than going out somewhere. Post-op the 20oz is going to stretch itself out so it will be more of a value when I'm fitting half my day into a single bottle. Just something to think about. I've seen the 3lb bottles of powder range from 35-50 depending on where you buy. Like today, I'm on my liquid only diet since I go in tomorrow for surgery and the bottle I'm drinking for my breakfast into lunch is keeping me nice and full.

I did pay $100, something to be aware of, is there are 2 versions. There is the original Fitbit or FitBit classic which does not have the same storage or features as the FitBit Ultra. I've seen Fitbit classics for as low as 80 bucks online, but I liked the updated features and storage of the Ultra. Check them both out and compare to see if you can get away with just the classic. If you do buy from BestBuy, if you have the bestbuy rewards card, at least you'll get some points back to use towards other things there.

About the Fitbit, I went and bought one for myself for my birthday yesterday, LOVE IT. Granted I had to get the Black/Plum one since BestBuy doesn't have the Black/Blue ones, but that's fine, I'm secure enough in my manhood to wear purple. This thing RULES. I wore it to bed last night and got a very amazing view of my sleep patterns including when I would wake up and hit the snooze button! The online food tracker is wonderful, lots of foods already have been put in, and if it's not you can input it once, and never have to do it again, just click the food item and presto all the nutrional facts get stored to your meal. It tracks your calorie output verse your input, steps, etc etc etc. The customer support has been fast too. Overall, I'm happy I bought it. I've found myself wanting to walk a bit more just to have more points scored! lol Thanks again for all the inputs! Keep them coming!

I've become addicted to Isopure Zero Carb bottles, 40 grams of protein per 20 oz bottle, no carbs, no sugars, no fats, only 160 caloies. They are fruity and light, not shake like at all!! They are clear too so they are good for the "clears only" parts of the pre and post op phases. Check your local fitness retailer for them, they usually have them in singles. Isopure also sells the Zero Carb fruity flavors in bulk powder form as well. Same idea, light fruity drinks rather than shakes. It might not have been the amount of protein you were ingesting but the shake itself being too thick or milky for your body.

I see you go to the same office I do, I have Dr. Ryder. What I've done since I have the same exact paperwork you do, is, I've been decreasing solid foods and increasing the liquid Proteins so that tomorrow when I have to do clear liquid only, I won't be a total bear.

Congrats and good luck! I'm getting my band Friday and the anxiousness is coming in waves mixed with tints of doubt. But all I have to do is look down, and I know that I don't really have a choice.I'm not breaking up with food, but I'm setting new ground rules. The healtier, better for me foods are going to come first in this releationship. But I'm not going to say I won't have a quickie fling with some bad foods once and a while lol.