Fiddleman

yes, I love eating bananas too especially with peanut butter spread on them. They are perfect fuel food before a run. And they go down in seconds. Well, 20 seconds that is. I just started eating bananas this last week and am 10 months out. Tried a strawberry today and it was so refreshing. This next week I am going to start eating apples. I feel so much better eating the carbs from fruit.

It is best that way (wait to month 6) in order to be over all food issues before complicating things with alcohol. Also a fair amount of weight loss will be lost by month 6 and alcohol is known to slow down or stall weight loss.

Actually, I don't think Iced drinks are so bad. Carbonation is on the light side. I had these once or twice post op only because they are SF and they looked appealing. It was many months ago, probably around month 1. This is just my experience. I have not had any since then but would probably have hem again if nothing else were readily available.

How about we call it soda pop and then both east and west coasts are covered along with the heartland.

If you are going to call newbie post ops stupid (which I don't think is necessarily good), at least do it in the vet forum where they cannot unload on you. Lol.

Show me a post op that will win the Darwin Award for their stupidity?

Ok all you post op closet coffee drinkers (myself included): you loved coffee as a pre op and you still love it as a post op. There is no shame in declaring your love of the bean. After a largely successful drink poll thread this last week ( still active), I think a 2nd slightly less controversial poll is in order. What are your favorite ways to drink your daily or weekly coffee? How often do you like to have coffee? I will go first. At 10 months post op, there are a few ways I like to drink coffee: Daily: 1 cup of standard coffee with a tbsp of coconut creamer and two Splenda or 1 Cappuccino with NF frothed milk and 2 Splenda. Made with my nifty SB verismo machine. Weekly: 1 grande NF latte with SF hazelnut from Starbucks or 1 Grande NF Mocha with SF raspberry (not at Starbucks as they do not carry SF raspberry ) Hot day (today!!): 24 oz NF iced mocha with SF raspberry. Ice takes up space so it is really about 16 oz coffee. I drink coffee because of the flavor and the "pick me up." I started drinking cappuccino size coffee at 2 months. It was really not until month 6 when I started to drink standard grande size. What about you?

Oh I can see it now. After you step on that cruise line, it is going to be drink heaven. Lol. I have only been on one cruise in the Caribbean formerly and utterly enjoyed it for the quality and quality of food and drinks. That was during my heavier days of course. A cruise is truly a place to live it up!! I am not sure exactly what I would do if I went on a cruise again. Those boat rides are almost designed for eating, drinking and for some, gambling. Perhaps this time I would go the healthy direction and attend fitness classes, drink tons of water, practice yoga, swim, work out on the bow set of machines, etc. not sure though. It may beat the purpose of the cruise if you are not living it up! What would you do?

I am going to try making this Long Island ice tea at home: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mrs-baxtons-long-island-iced-tea/ It looks like a keeper according to the reviews.

Awesome it is!

What good is a soda if you are not using it to wash down the cheeseburger you ate at dinner or the popcorn and chocolate candy at a movie!

So that is what tape worms are good for.

I started taking one Pack a day 2 days ago because I have heard good things about it if you are training. There are quite a few amino acids in it. Both times I take it I get a headache after 20 m that goes on for hours and am fatigued (as in sleepy) by it. I also get very mild cold/ flu symptoms. Have any of you tried the animal Pak and know what is going on? I haven't changed anything else, drink about 1-1.5 gallon Water a day and do sleep the 7-8 hours a night. I am thinking about returning this back to amazon even though I used 2 packs. Here is a review of the Animal Pak: http://voices.yahoo.com/review-universal-animal-pak-multivitamin-multimineral-3221931.html?cat=5 I am taking these to help with building muscle, being that is a goal of mine. These are not to be taken during weight loss phase of VSG post op.

Anyone who eats a cheeseburger needs to wear a Scarlett letter 'C' on the chest for everyone to know. The shame! The shame! Lol.

Thanks. I know we are weather complainers ( or is that weather babies) up here in Seattle. We cannot have it over 72 and we cannot drive in even an inch of snow. Lol. 60-70 is perfect. Here is the route I am thinking of working towards: http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/snohomish-wa/centennial-trail-starting-at-snohomish-t-route-18924616 It is about 20 miles. I really like MapMyRun for the sharing capabilities. It is easy to go find a route that someone has already done given a criteria like length, elevation gain, location, etc.

As for sweet tea, think about getting the McD version that is SF and add as many splenda as you like for sweetening. For a large, I add about 8 splenda. It was a good drink in the first few weeks post op when out and about. McD is everywhere. Cheap too @ 1 dollar for a large.

Thanks for the warning about not running in the sun. Unfortunately, I missed running before sunrise today. I've only run in the sun once where temperature was 95 and humidity was near 100% when in Washington DC as a high schooler on some school trip. I remember it being grueling even though I was in shape and on the cross country team. It was only about 3 miles, but seemed like so much more in the hot weather. Maybe not a fair comparison to my current running ambitions, but it is all I have to compare with in my own memory banks. I found this website for hydration belts: WWW.fuelbelt.com It looks like a good option and this company has been a pioneer in these types of products for marathons and triathlons.

I want to do some running today outside where temperatures will be between 80-90f. Here in Seattle area we are not used to hot weather so early in the year. A thermal low is going to settle in for a few days keeping the mercury up in the 80s. My course is 8 miles of flat running on a local popular trail called the centennial trail. This trail is very well maintained, paved and wide. I usually walk on it for miles and miles, but want to run on it for my 1/2 training. The literature says while running in hot weather is possible, it put a lot of strain on the internal systems. Oxygen and nutrients are directed away from the muscles causing them to slow down. And your core body temperature rises fast. I also need to research a hydration belt so I can more easily run with wanted and refueling supplementation or energy squares. What kind of hydration belts has been working for you? How do you guys run in hot weather? What do you carry with you for hydration and refueling?

I think trader Joes carries the Bolthouse.

Yeah, I have protein bars on the mind often too. Cut em though! I can't eat them ( the chocolate ones) because they make me want more. My favorite deserts were oatmeal raisin cookie, Oreo cookie, apple fritter and old fashion donut ( or holes). They were so yummy. Now you are probably wishing you had one.