DanaInNewOrleans

I wear a hi-waist firm shaper and a great sports bra by Maia. It is now my favorite bra and I wear it with everything. In fact I bought 3 more colors. Here is the Amazon link http://www.amazon.com/Moving-Comfort-Womens-Maia-Black/dp/B001B1PL1A/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1345957471&sr=8-7&keywords=sports+bra+full+figure

From VST I've learned that there is quality Protein and so so protein -- I had no idea before coming here! I've tried a number of Protein shakes and a few protein powders (Syntrax Nector and Prescriptfit) and the only one that I can really stomach are the Atkins shakes. Does anyone know if they contain a quality protein or a low grade? I ordered a bunch of samples from unjury but I have a feeling I'm not going to fare much better with those based on what I've read here. Thanks! Dana

Congratulations Phillip! I'm in my insurance mandatory pre-op period. Hoping to have surgery at the end of November. I cannot wait!!! Keep us posted. I love to read the details of the new sleevers because it sort of keeps me excited and less anxious. Dana

That doesn't seem possible!!! Are you around lots of jealous types??? Maybe they don't want to be too personal? ( or are you talking about family?)

Sending prayers and positive thoughts!! Keep us posted when you are able.. Sending positive thoughts your way

Hi, yes, my one and only previous surgery ( thyroid cancer - thyroidectomy) was miserable because of nausea after anesthesia. It began while I was still in lala land in recovery. I have these vague visions of me turning my head and throwing up, someone wipes my face/mouth, turn my head and puke on the other side ....over and over. I was sick 24hours-- nothing they gave me worked. They would not let me go home. I would not let an ice chip touch my lips.. finally they sent a different anesthesiologist to my room to discuss something new to try. It was some kind of mixture/cocktail of 3 different drugs. And it worked!! She came back and told me the name of the drugs and said I should remember it for the next time. Well of course I remembered it for abut 7 years and now I have no clue other than one of the drugs was a steroid. I had never had surgery but I knew somehow that anesthesia would make me sick. I told the anesthesiologist when I met with him that, trust me, I will be sick. He said no worries, I'll give you Zofran " you'll be fine --- it's what we give chemo patients".... Yeah right! I am more afraid of the nausea than anything else. Do you happen to know the name of the "good stuff" .do you? LOL.... I am definitely going to be insistent. My first visit with Dr. Lavin and I was already trying to tell him about my nausea issues....

Hi, Can you elaborate a little on a few of your points? You said sometimes the sleeve is not the best surgery for someone with metabolism issues and that a different surgery may be more appropriate... why and which one? I have been very concerned about this issue. I lost 160lbs 10 years ago on low carb ( I was still overweight -- size 14/16) and managed to keep the majority of it off. I've gained about 60-70 pounds over the last 5 years even though I still adhered to a low carb diet ( just maybe not as strict). Ok, so I'm thinking that maybe my body is immune to the low carb at this point so I tried Weight Watchers.... I GAINED WEIGHT ON WW. That is how I ended up here. I felt surgery was my only hope.... Let me add that I had Thyroid Cancer and my thyroid was removed, but I take Synthroid so that should not be the issue. I also have Multiple Sclerosis but cannot think of any reason MS would affect weight loss. You also said that if you only had 1 protein shake in the morning and 1 protein bar at lunch you would faint... But isn't that close to what we're supposed to be doing. Lets say a protein shake has 200 calories, so far so good right? A protein bar has 200 calories. So we're at 400 calories before dinner. My impression was that staying around 600-800 calories is optimal to keep losing? Help! Now I'm concerned that I will be failure at this!!

Hi, I'm just curious about the sleevers who were prone to motion sickness before their surgery. How did you fare with nausea issues after surgery? .... ( I'm stressing out about nausea). I've read a few horror stories here about horrendous nausea, ending up back in the hospital for dehydration, picc lines.... ( yes, I am completely paranoid) ~Dana

Last night I ordered a bunch of the single packs of Unjury to try. I ordered direct from their website unjury.com Each one was $1.99

I haven't tried any of them yet. Some on VST like them, some don't. I think more people seemed to like them than dislike them so I thought I'd give the samples a try. Fingers crossed!

Hi, I just ordered a bunch of samples of the Syntrax nectar from bjsbariatrics.com. They have a sample pack for $14.99 and you get to choose the flavors you want. Dana

Just wanted to share some ideas I came across that I really think will help me with the shake thing. I'm sure the sleeve veterans know these things but maybe some newbies could use the info. I was digging around here last night trying to find different opinions/ideas on Protein shakes -- I'm supposed to be doing Prescriptfit right now per NUT but I just cannot stomach them. Too frothy and slimy and gross. So that means in less than a week I'm already disobeying instructions I've always thought the Atkins RTD shakes were the best around and I could drink them with no trouble. No slime, no bubbles, no froth. The Premier Shakes are good too. I have pretty much decided that I'll have to just circumvent the NUT if I wanted to be able to be successful and get enough protein after surgery. I just put my Atkins Mocha Latte in my little personal blender with 1 tablespoon of sugar free banana cream pudding and about an inch of fresh banana and it came out awesome! The only problem I'm seeing is that I only have had half of it and I am stuffed. The Atkins shakes have 15 grams of protein. After surgery I will only be able to sip, sip, sip, sip -- 1 shake will take me all day! I cannot figure out how people can realistically get in the amount of protein they want you to have in the first few weeks(months) after surgery. I've seen people mention "high quality protein" here. I have no idea how to tell the difference. I didn't even know there was a difference so I have no idea if the Atkins shakes have quality protein. Also MegInNOLA posted about making her own Protein Shakes and smoothies because she never could tolerate the protein powders. She uses simple ingredients like Greek yogurt, egg whites, milk etc. Why that never occurred to me I'll never know. Thank you Meg!

Just wanted to share some ideas I came across that I really think will help me with the shake thing. I'm sure the sleeve veterans know these things but maybe some newbies could use the info. I was digging around here last night trying to find different opinions/ideas on Protein shakes -- I'm supposed to be doing Prescriptfit right now per NUT but I just cannot stomach them. Too frothy and slimy and gross. So that means in less than a week I'm already disobeying instructions I've always thought the Atkins RTD shakes were the best around and I could drink them with no trouble. No slime, no bubbles, no froth. The Premier Shakes are good too. I have pretty much decided that I'll have to just circumvent the NUT if I wanted to be able to be successful and get enough protein after surgery. I just put my Atkins Mocha Latte in my little personal blender with 1 tablespoon of sugar free banana cream pudding and about an inch of fresh banana and it came out awesome! The only problem I'm seeing is that I only have had half of it and I am stuffed. The Atkins shakes have 15 grams of protein. After surgery I will only be able to sip, sip, sip, sip -- 1 shake will take me all day! I cannot figure out how people can realistically get in the amount of protein they want you to have in the first few weeks(months) after surgery. I've seen people mention "high quality protein" here. I have no idea how to tell the difference. I didn't even know there was a difference so I have no idea if the Atkins shakes have quality protein. Also MegInNOLA posted about making her own Protein Shakes and smoothies because she never could tolerate the protein powders. She uses simple ingredients like Greek yogurt, egg whites, milk etc. Why that never occurred to me I'll never know. Thank you Meg!

I just added a drop of almond extract to my Prescriptfit vanilla shake. My doc wants everyone to start on a diet plan before surgery. There were two to chose from -- My Weight and Prescriptfit. I chose Pres.criptfit because I already had two full containers ( at like $40 each) when I tried them 2 years ago. I'm a sales rep and the surgery group I'm using was my client so I was in the office all the time and decided to give Prescriptfit a chance. The flavor is not bad --- it the disgusting foaminess and sliminess. I tried adding 1/4 of a banana and I used Soy Slender instead of Water hoping that it would help the texture ( didn't help much). I think on my next appointment with the NUT I'm just going to have to tell her I will stick to a diet before surgery but it will have to be using Atkins shakes and Protein Bars. They have as much protein as the Prescriptfit. Prescriptfit's claim to fame apparently is it has a ton of amino acids as well as protein. The actual diet is 4 shakes a day and 1 food only (veggies, chicken, seafood, etc) for a week, then you pick another food for another week....and so on.

Yeah, that's what I thought! Darn!

lol... guess what? You're right! She is overweight!

This is definitely what she meant but my question to her (which she didn't really address) was what about the people who have to lose say 200 pounds -- is it reasonable to think they will lose 200 pounds in one year? I'm sure weight loss continues. I didn't mean to imply that I thought she meant," ok, year is over, you're done" I just was surprised that she came at it from almost a negative position instead of saying, hey the first year is where you will have the most success so lets make sure you get the most bang for your buck.

Does this mean the powder doesn't have any flavor -- (ie, not as gross) or does it mean it still tastes gross but it is just not a flavored gross?

First nutritionist appointment yesterday -- she was very nice and informative however she said something that kind of took me by surprise. She was looking at my stats -- weight, BMI.... She says ok, "lets see, you have one year to get 100 pounds off". I said yeah, that would be great. Then she says ." you only have a year to do this. This doesn't go on indefinitely, you only have about a year. After that, pretty much where you are is where you are going to stay". I must have had a surprised look on my face because she said again, kind of scolding --- "Yes, you have about a year do get off as much as you can because after that is where you'll stay". That is not the impression I've gotten from VST. I would say, yes, the majority of people lose the majority of their weight in the first year-- that makes sense, but there are many that are still losing after a year. Right? She was also very dramatic when I mentioned I was dreading the pureed/mushy. She said. "we're not doing anything to your teeth -- YOU CHEW" I do not want you pureeing food and only eating mush. I want you to CHEW your food until it is soft. And I DO NOT want you eating baby food, for Gods sake. All these people come here and say their pureering food - ridiculous! They need to use their teeth!" Thoughts? Dana

Is it my imagination that it seems like the guys here have an easier time as far as common complications after surgery? Maybe it's just because there are less guys here...lol.... but it seems like most say it was a piece of cake ( probably not a good analogy huh?) I don't hear them complaining much of nausea or pain. And they don't seem as food specific sensitive. Seems like they're running around quickly too.

I have a feeling based on my track record that I will be a slower loser than many here. I've just got to prepare myself and try not to compare --- that is where the disappointment comes in. Think about it -- if you had lost 79 pounds in a vacuum with no one else to compare to you would be ecstatic right?

I was thinking the same thing Cheri! 79 pounds is wonderful!!

When people talk about being in pain after they eat something...exactly what type of pain? Heartburn type, gas type, gall bladder type, heart attack type....LOL just trying to get an idea...