Matt Z

Just wanted to let you know that Muscle milk isn't lactose free. As per their website. http://www.musclemilk.com/learn/ DO MUSCLE MILK® PRODUCTS CONTAIN MILK OR DAIRY? The term “dairy” on a food product, pertains to foods such as milk, cream, half and half, yogurt, ice cream, and custards. Since dairy is a regulated term, to qualify as a dairy product you need to contain fluid “milk” or certain “dairy” ingredients conforming to the federal standard of identity for “milk“ or “dairy”. Key Points: MUSCLE MILK® Ready to Drink Protein Shakes are derived from milk (calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, milk protein isolate, milk protein concentrate and/or whey protein concentrate, depending on product.) Since these ingredients are more refined than milk, (reduced lactose, cholesterol and fat content), it is not the same thing as milk. So technically speaking, MUSCLE MILK® Protein Shakes are ‘non-dairy’ and are labeled on the bottle as such. An example of another ‘non-dairy’ product derived from milk ingredients is non-dairy creamers. MUSCLE MILK® Ready to Drink Protein Shakes do contain milk proteins and therefore should not be consumed by persons with milk allergies. MUSCLE MILK® Smoothie Yogurt Protein Shakes do contain milk in the form of Greek-style yogurt and added whey protein concentrate. MUSCLE MILK® Protein Powders, similar to Ready to Drink Shakes do contain proteins derived from milk, but in a powdered form. It's important to note that Whey is made from Milk, and not all Whey protein is the same. Whey Isolate has a greatly reduced lactose content and that's what makes it easier for those with lactose issues to tolerate, but no Whey is 100% lactose free, since it's derived from Milk.

Congrats! Those are some amazing results! And don't forget, you'll be losing upwards 10-20 additional lbs or so with that tuck from the skin removal!

Congrats! With the light headedness, I assume you've had your blood pressure checked... I get light headed when I stand too quickly, seems that having a lower blood pressure (still normal) and a much lower resting heart rate (got mind down to around 60 bpm from 100+) means that standing up too quickly can result in a temporary bout of lightheadedness.

Sadly, "normal" is super subjective. Some folks take longer to feel normal than others. And it's not always related to healing. I've seen/heard of folks that should be all healed up, having some issues with things still. It's a learning process overall, but it does get easier to deal with and with each passing day, barring any issues or complications, you should notice things getting easier. Tespo information can be found here https://gettespo.com/ PatchMD here https://www.patchmd.com/ Both can be purchased from the Bariatric Pal store.

From my understanding, a good portion of sleeve patients will have to do another barium swallow as a "leak test" before they leave the hospital.

You will feel normal again. The process takes time and yes, it sucks. But it does get better. Have you looked into liquid vitamins (tespo) or the vitamin patches (patchMD) (and yes I know there is a major controversy around the patches, but in my own personally clinical trial, they are working quite well for me).

I'm not suggesting they return everything back the way it was and do the surgery again, I'm saying they can go in endoscopically and resize your pouch that way, without having to open you back up.

For me, the best description of dumping is, a weeks worth of the flu, compressed into a few hours. Nausea, cramping, cold sweats, maybe a fever, diarrhea, some folks get vomiting, aches, pains, light headed and dizzy.... and then you feel like you got hit by a truck for a while. Then you've got what I'm calling "light dumping" which is most of those symptoms just dialed way back but still super uncomfortable.

Avoid the band all together. There are other options, like Endoscopic gastric pouch plication.

Zero times. Didn't even need the nausea meds before, during or after surgery.

Just curious why you "have" to have it? I'm not a fan either, and I didn't consume any at all during my pre-op, even though it was an option on my list.

First and foremost, wait until your docs give you the thumbs up for weight lifting, you don't want to rip anything! Machines are going to target muscle groups, but that's it. They don't really help with all the supporting muscle groups that get activated when you use free weights. But, machines keep your form correct, something that you have to do on your own with free weights and if your form isn't right, you can cause damages. So it really all depends on what you want to do, there is nothing wrong with using machines at all. But you just need to understand that there are lots of muscle groups that are just not going to be activated during those machine based exercises. But you know your form is going to be correct. (or more correct). And yes people are divided on machines / free weight. But both will work for building muscle. Check into alternating your lifting with drop sets, pyramid sets, super sets, etc etc. Check into Casein protein for your night time protein because it is a slow acting protein and helps build muscle mass over night while you sleep. Creatine is also very helpful. But again, get clearance before you start doing anything heavy!

There isn't one. Everyone's process is different. Everyone's stalls are caused by different things. The best answer is, make sure you are tracking EVERYTHING. Make sure you are exercising. Make sure you know your BMR (and pay attention to it since it changes as you age and lose weight) and that you are coming in under your BMR daily. And if you are only tracking your weight, and not body fat %, you are missing out on a pretty important measurement. If you are working out, you can lose fat and gain weight.

You need to sit her down and explain to her what you need her to do, in order to help and not hinder your whole surgery. You need to be 100% honest with her about all of it. And she's going to need to make some changes as well... if she doesn't or refuses to, then it's pretty clear that you don't mean as much to her as food does.

Do you think that's fair or caring to you? You might love her, sure, but if she's not going to bother to change even a little for you, while you need her to... well. That's 100% on you man.

Well, firstly you don't have to eat what she's eating. Will power is required here. And it's good to get used to using that will power now, because for pretty much the rest of your life... there are going to be people around you that are going to eat things you can't. Sounds like your girlfriend doesn't seem to care about your situation. And if that's the case... might be time to re-evaluate that situation, Do you really want to stay with someone that's unsupportive, unhelpful and down right subversive? Your call, but, personally, if my significant other refused to get on board with what I needed in order to be healthy... then I wouldn't want that person around at all.

"Clear liquids" don't mean 100% clear. It means "See through". It doesn't matter if it's colored. With the coffee, before surgery is fine, but understand that you'll want to avoid it for a while post surgery due to several things coffee/caffeine does. It pulls water out of our system so, right after surgery when we are struggling to get our water goal, it's not a good idea to have something reducing our water levels. If causes increased acid production, which is bad during healing. Caffeine also binds to calcium so you'll want to make sure there is some actual milk in your coffee to allow the caffeine to bind to that calcium, rather than in your gut.

I'm using PatchMD patches. Just put them on in the morning... and that's it. Nothing to take orally. Yes they are controversial and people have some very strong opinions about them due to lack of research etc. But I've been using them for 5 months or so now and my blood levels are all just fine (except Vitamin D, but that's super common where I live) The only thing I still take by mouth are a once a week 50,000 IU vitamin D, a daily 10,000 IU vitamin D, an acid reducer (that I really don't actually need to take anymore, but the doc says it's not hurting by me still taking it) and I take biotin and fiber chewables daily as well. But that's it, everything else is provided by the patches. Blood work to prove that the patches (for me).

Stalls suck hard. As much as we can be mentally prepared for them... they are still mind numbingly frustrating!

If you are stalled out. First thing is to not worry about it. It happens. If it is *REALLY* bothering you, then you need to make sure you are doing the following. You need to be tracking **EVERYTHING** You eat Your total calories need to be lower than your BMR You need to be tracking your water intake and ensuring it's above 64oz, the human body needs water to break down fat, if you don't have enough to meet your normal requirements, fat loss is going to suffer You need to be doing SOME exercise, daily If you aren't doing all of these. Then start. Also, Weight is just 1 number in this whole process, if you are not tracking fat loss, you are missing out on another important measurement. You can not lose weight, or even gain weight and still lose body fat (if you are working out / exercising)

Yellowing of the whites of your eyes is usually Jaundice. Found this other post where another user had the same issue.

I adjusted from 10.4 to 8 and it seems to have helped quite a bit. I talked with my PCP and she suggested that I keep playing with the pressure until I get something I can tolerate, that I've still got a ways to go with weight loss and it would be unwise to have a study now, only to have to have another one in a few months. I agreed. Thank you very much! This week has been much better.

Here is my largest to most recent "photo recreation". 370 in 2011 to 243 (when the photo was taken) in 2018.

Just not feeling "it" this week. I'm exhausted, not sleeping well, feeling really run down, drained. I feel fat. I know I'm not anywhere near as fat as I was, but... I feel fat this week. Bloated, gross, fat fat fat fat fat. My sleep **SUCKS** not sure if it's the weight loss changing my CPAP pressure requirements, or something else all together. I don't want to have to get another sleep study, because they blow, but I know I need some follow up. Not looking forward to yet another medical bill. Work sucks this week too, a shop of 5, reduced to 2. really 1 and a half since it's just me and my team lead, and my team lead has to do all the leadership / team lead stuff... so, It's just me, supporting just under 3000 users, on over 2000 computer systems, in 20-30 buildings spread out over all of RI, parts of Mass and CT. Fun stuff. I've been in and out of stalls for almost a month now, more in than out of at this point. Between Monday and today I'm up 2 lbs... not sure why exactly. All intake is right where it should be and I've been in the gym daily. Not going today, just not feeling it. Way too tired and drained to even care really. Growing tired of this forum again as well. Which sucks because, well, I do enjoy helping folks out. Just getting to the point where every question has been answered over and over again, yet almost no one bothers to use the search function first. So that's it really... Not a happy Matt at all this week.