DBAGuy

FYI: The FTC levied fines against several 'fat burner' products because of false or misleading advertising, or having inadequate scientific evidence to back their claims. These included Trimspa, CortiSlim, and Xenadriine FX. All three of those advertised themselves as fat burners. FTC Fines Weight Loss Pill Firms $25M - washingtonpost.com I did a search for independent research studies that supported the idea that fat burners work for long-term weight loss and came up empty...lots of the product sites cited research, but not many had links, and they all seemed to lack independence and peer review. I did find studies that supported the fact that some supplements can cause a short-term increase in metabolism. (always be wary when a research study is paid for either directly or through a grant from the company making the product being researched...) Don't disagree that fat burners 'up' your metabolism, but...if you're bumping your metabolism artificially (i.e., not be exercise), then you have to keep taking the supplements in order for it to stay that high, right? If you stop taking them, your metabolism goes back to whatever it is naturally. Here's a link to a letter from the FDA to Tim Patterson, CEO of Biotest Laboratories, LLC (maker of Fahrenheit) warning them about claims of one of their other products: http://www.fda.gov/cder/warn/cyber/2005/CL160e.pdf Interesting that one 'serving' of Thermodynamx had 199 mg of caffeine...compare that to a 12 oz. can of Mountain Dew, which has only 55 mg of caffeine. If the other, herbal ingredients give you so much energy, why do they have the equivalent of 3.5 cans of Mountain dew in each serving (they say to take 2-3 capsules twice daily...that's a lot of caffeine!!!) Syntrax Fyre is more careul on their label, but the second product (means the second most by amount) is: "coffee bean extract (standardized for 99% Caffeine)" Fahrenheit's label is also careful about listing caffeine content, but it does list caffeine as the second ingredient. Hmmm...maybe I misread the label on the other website. This one: Fahrenheit - Fat loss for women says one dose of Fahrenheit has 750 mg of caffeine!!! Again...if the herbs are so effective at raising metabolism and burning fat, why all the caffeine? Caffeine is rough on the stomach (my surgeon recommends avoiding it after surgery) and is physically addictive (I'm ex-navy submarines...I know what its like to go off caffeine). Not saying anyone's wrong, all I'm saying is...good to have your eyes wide open when getting into the herbal supplement market...

thanks very much for the response!

I have my first fill on July 5th. I was told during the 'mushy' stage that I should only eat 4 oz. of food per meal, so now that I'm on solid foods I've been sticking pretty close to that amount. I started at around 352, lost 23 or so pounds to qualify for the surgery, and now weigh 297.

I've been told that the critical aspect is chewing VERY WELL so that the food will go through the stoma, and eating VERY SLOWLY so that there is less chance of you eating more than the pouch can hold. My understanding is that a PB is caused by food backing up into the esophagus, which triggers a reflex. I can't say the pouch has no stomach acid, but I don't think it has much, since it would just drain through into the pool at the bottom of the stomach.

I attended a support group at the hospital where I had my surgery. The nutritionist there (work for the hospital as part of their overall surgery support program) strongly recommended getting a medical alert bracelet/necklace stating (at least) what kind of surgery you had and who your surgeon was...

With my lapband, I'm only eating between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of food per meal, 3 meals per day. I have to push to get 1000 calories/day. If you use the thumb rule, you multiply your weight by 12 (men) or 11 (women) to get a rough idea of how many calories you need to sustain your current weight. For me, that's about 3500 calories. Now, another thumb rule is that 'shorting' myself 500 calories a day is equivalent to losing a pound a week. So, needing 3500 calories and only getting 1000 is 'shorting' myself by 2500 calories...divide that by 500 and I should lose around 5 pounds/week. I'm not going to take any diet pills, because 5 pounds/week is pretty fast weight loss if you're not under weekly medical supervision. Also, I realize this is unsolicited advice, but I'd be very careful about any ephedrine-based products. While they do work for temporary weight loss, it is effectively similar to taking speed...all it does is speed up your metabolism (heart rate, respiration, etc.) which means you consume more of everything...not just fat. With the lap band in place, and working with such few calories, there is a chance that you will lose muscle tissue along with fat (that's why most programs want you using Protein supplements). Most programs also want you to increase your base metabolism through exercise, which provides other benefits, such as cardio-pulmonary health, builds muscle mass, etc. Ephedrine provides none of the other benefits...just increases your metabolism. It is possible that, with reducing the caloric intake by that amount, exercising and taking ephedrine, the body my incur undue stress. I'm not a medical professional, but I'd take a hard look at research and talk with my doctor/nutritionist before I'd go taking ephedrine post-lapband.

One scary aspect of the internet is that anyone can present themselves as an 'expert' on any topic. If you're looking for medical advice, I strongly recommend talking to a board-certified surgeon or checking out the websites of organizations like NIH, AMA, JAMA, etc. Its like those TV commercials where a woman says "Hi, I'm Dr. Jane O'Connor, and I heartily endorse this fantastic weight loss product." What is she a doctor of? Is it a paid endorsement? Did she participate in an approved research study? We have no reason to give her credence at all, yet there lots of folks that would buy the product because a 'doctor' endorsed it.

I use Centrum chewable vitamins...supposedly orange flavored, but for me, they don't taste very good. There's also chewable Omega 3 that I get from CVS.

I'm paranoid about pills...haven't had my first fill yet, but crush everything, just to be safe. Especially time-release tablets, which are designed to dissolve slowly. I don't know how long pills take to dissolve, but we don't have any stomach acid in our pouch, so if it does get stuck, is the only thing that would help is drinking Water? I was told to use papaya enzyme to help with stuck food, but I'm not sure it would help with pills.

BMI's are based on statistics of millions of people, so they're valid when looking at medical impacts of that large a group. Many nutritionists and doctors I've spoken with agree that BMI numbers aren't precise when looking at an individual. My ideal BMI weight range is 140 - 180, but my doctor will be very happy if I can establish a control range of 190 - 210.

Interesting that the Alli website doesn't mention Xenical anywhere - it got such bad press from the 'side effects' of people not reducing their fat intake. Even Alli's label says: " alli capsules work by preventing the absorption of some of the fat you eat. The fat passes out of your body so you may have bowel changes. You may get: gas with oily spotting loose stools more frequent stools that may be hard to control eating a low-fat diet lowers the chance of having these bowel changes for every 5 pounds you lose from diet alone, alli can help you lose 2-3 pounds more. In studies, most people lost 5-10 pounds over 6 months" In the studies, they lost a whole 5 - 10 pounds in 6 months? Probably becaues most folks approach pills as a 'fix it all' solution, and don't follow the diet/exercise regime included in the package.

Congratulations!!! :clap2: :clap2:

I found this section a bit late...my banding was on 5/21/07. Officially today I can move from mush food to real food, but I'm a bit apprehensive about that...as long as I was on mush food, it was easy to control what I was eating - I've lost 50 lbs counting the 23 I had to lose before surgery. I'm a bit concerned that when I taste real food again, it will be hard not to fall into the old habits. I guess the good news is that it seems like I'm getting at least some restriction even before fill, since I haven't been starving with only eating 4 or 5 oz. of mush 3 times a day. My first fill is on July 5th.

My dentist bashed me for hard candies several years ago...if they're not sugar free, sucking on hard candy is like continually washing your teeth with sugar, so i switched to sugar free breathsavers. the only thing I'm worried about with the band and hard candy is accidentally swallowing it...will it get stuck in the stoma? I've heard that papaya enzyme will help if you get regular food stuck, but don't know if it would help with candy.

hair is Protein... Take a look at the protein supplement you are using. The best (according to my nutritionist) is made of 100% whey protein isolate. You have to be careful, too, because some products will have Whey in the name but have mostly collagenic protein, which isn't as readily absorbed by the body. unjury and Isopure are the two recommended by my nutritionist.

Xenical works on fat, but doesn't help control caloric intake. All it does is attach to some of the fat you eat so it won't digest. If the only 'extra' calories you took in were fat (not carbs), it might be effective - otherwise, it only looks at part of the problem.

I use the pre-mixed IsoPure, buy it at Vitamin Shoppe. I prefer the punch, raspberry, and orange flavors.

I went down to visit my mom this past March - she was having surgery for a pancreatic cyst. The surgery went great, but 2 days after (still in the hospital) she had a heart attack, which she survived, then three days later had a stroke, which she also survived but left part of her face paralyzed. She's been overweigh her entire life, and has diabetes, hypertension, and congestive heart failure. She's 77, and I suddenly saw myself in the same condition in 27 years, and decided I didn't want to go that route.

I have 4 small 'pokes' and one larger incision for the port. My surgeon usually only uses 3 pokes (I think), but he had to fix a hiatal hernia that was found during pre-op tests.

My surgeon explained the difference by what kind of approach you have to eating. He broadly categorizes people as either 'grazers' or 'portion control problems'. Not clear cut, and plenty of spots in between, but generally: - grazers eat pretty much all day...lots of Snacks in between meals and in the evening. He recommends bypass for folks that eat like this and have trouble not snacking. - portion control problems (like me) eat very large meals, but snack very little between meals and in the evening. Banding generally works well, since it helps you control the amount you are eating at a meal. He didn't seem to look at BMI as a differentiator as to which surgery you should get.

I hadn't thought about an alert bracelet for banding...I wear one because I'm allergic to tetanus shots, but I think I'll get a new one with lap-band info...

My doctor wanted me to lose 25 lbs before surgery - I lost 23. While they were banding me, they also fixed a hiatal hernia, so I have an extra incision. I was off the prescription pain medicine within two days after surgery, and was moving with very little pain by 5 days after. The doctor let me get back on the treadmill on day 10. I'm feeling great, and have started hitting balls at the driving range again. How much you should lose before banding varies by doctor. It was explained to me that losing weight ahead of time shrinks your liver (which stores fat) so that it isn't as much in the way of where the band needs to go. My doctor would have cancelled my surgery if I hadn't lost at least 20 lbs, but not all doctors have that approach.

I'm still in the 'mush' food stage - haven't had my first fill. When I went in to qualify for the surgery, I weighed 354. I currently weigh 305.

The way it was explained to me (not saying this is a universal truth, just saying this is what I was told by my surgeon): There are broadly two types of overweight folks: - The grazer, who eats pretty much all day long...snacking constantly between meals and in the evening before bedtime. - The portion control problem, who doesn't snack much between meals, but eats too much during a meal. They aren't clear cut, well-defined differences...they tend to blend together, but I was told that if your primary problem was portion control, then banding was the best approach. If you can't control the snacking or 'grazing', then banding may not be the best approach...bypass may be a better option. Hunger (for me) is both physical and mental. Part of re-training yourself is recognizing the difference, and working to overcome the mental hunger...the habit of eating. One thing I've seen someone recommend if you're hungry before meal time is to drink 8 oz. of water and see if you still feel hungry. Of course, the whole idea behind banding is that, once the band is in place and filled, if you eat slowly and eat the right kind of food, you'll feel full after eating much less food than before...that's why banding is great for portion control problem folks. I am most definitely a portion control problem person. I would stop at the drive-through after leaving work and get a grilled stuft burrito and two chalupas, then stop at the next drivethrough and get a quarter pounder and a fish sandwich, then eat it all on my way home (my commute is about an hour each way). I'd stop at the chinese buffet and eat two full plates of food. At home, I'd buy a medium pizza and eat the entire thing for a meal, or stop at KFC and get a four-piece and eat all of that for a meal, with an appetizer of boneless chicken wings. when you consider that a standard single serving of meat is only 3 ounces, you can see that my portion control setting was way off. Sorry if I'm rambling - cutting down on what you eat will cause both mental and physical hunger - both can be the downfall of a diet. I look at banding as more of a lifestyle change than a diet, and it helps with the physical hunger directly. I also think that, knowing I've made the commitment to get the surgery and follow the program, it helps with the mental hunger, also.

I sincerely hope everything goes extremely well - I am new at this also, and I believe that everyone, regardless of age or experience, has things to learn. In the midst of starting this weight loss journey, I'm also starting a new job and am 1/3 of the way through my second masters program, so learning is a lifetime approach for me. Never intending to lecture - guess I need to learn how to relay information and thoughts without lecturing. best of luck to all -