Justinh125

Caffeine also can irritate the stomach and GI tract (mildly.) For some people, it acts as even a mild laxative in the morning--some say it "gets you moving" in more ways than one

My doc told me I can take pills that are about the size of an M&M or smaller. If larger, they told me to split it in half with one of those pill cutters (UNLESS it's a delayed release pill.)

I am type II diabetic. I was amazed to see how quickly my blood glucose evened out, even before I really lost any weight. Now, it's almost always 100 on the dot...I was shocked at how much the surgery helped my diabetes.

It gets better as things heal. You'll start feeling better

Remember, at 9cal/gram of fat you have to burn 9 more calories than you take in to lose 1 gram of fat. in turn this means you have to burn about 4000 more calories than you eat to lose one pound of fat. On the other hand, you can lose up to 10 or more lbs of Water in one day. None of us should be so hard on ourselves. Its a gradual process, but it will work in time

Don't forget, your body can never violate the 1st law of thermodynamics. Ever, for any reason. Just think about it like this: The average adult body needs to burn between 1500-2500 calories/day just to keep you alive (that doesn't include exercise, and yes, you burn plenty of calories while you sleep, because you don't die when you go to bed.) If you consume less calories than that, then your body has to get the energy from somewhere else, or you would die. So the body either has to burn its own muscle or its own fat (or some combination thereof) to keep you alive. As long as you remain in a "negative energy balance" (meaning calories in < calories out,) you will lose weight, even if it's not as fast as you want. They have machines called indirect calorimeters which can actually measure (in real time) if you are building fat, burning fat or at equilibrium by measuring the amount of CO2 vs. O2 in your exhaled breath. http://www.pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/core-services/?serviceid=82 This is a link to a research center that studies such things.

Have you been using any painkillers? Narcotic painkillers (morphine, hydrocodone, etc) cause at least some histamine release in most people, and that makes many people "itch."

This argument has merit. As someone who knows the people who first researched and discovered the connection between Ghrelin and being fat, I also learned a lot over the years about the GI microbiome. The thing is, there are about 100 trillion bacteria in the gut, but only 10 trillion cells in your entire body. Do we really think that giant colony of bacteria aren't doing anything important? Some research suggests that specific types of Fiber (for example,) might help alter the microbiome of our colon. By doing so, it might help people become more or less thin. I think this will be an exciting area of research moving forward, and I think there will be many interesting discoveries down the road.

I was naked as often as possible and that worked well. I'm normally a lawyer so it was a nice transition from suits and ties!

That's wonderful! Great pics too. You must be feeling good!! Keep up the great work

Maybe try to space your meals so that you eat closer to the evening. I always wonder about when they say "head hunger," as I always thought the feeling of "I'm hungry" came from my brain to start with.

I've been walking 3 miles or so every day and haven't changed my food intake to accommodate it. feeling fine and the pounds are flying off.

As someone who personally knows the scientists that first realized that Ghrelin had anything to do with being fat, I learned a lot about Ghrelin back in 1999 and 2000. (Google "Tschop Ghrelin"...you'll find the Nature paper that first demonstrated it.) At any rate, every pharmaceutical company has synthesized various ghrelin antagonists (they do the chemical opposite of,) but while these chemicals suppress ghrelin, they don't seem to change body composition very much. Instead, the body up-regulates many other hormones to make up the difference. The thing is, it's entirely possible that there are other hormones produced by the stomach that haven't been understood or discovered yet. Prior to about 2000, the stomach wasn't considered an endocrine organ at all. So it's reasonable to think that VSG does more than just dramatically decrease ghrelin production. It certainly does that, but a pill that blocked ghrelin likely wouldn't have the same effect as VSG. If it did, many companies would have such a pill on the market by now. While ghrelin is certainly very important in regulation of hunger and appetite, it's not the "smoking gun" per se. There are other hormones that have already been identified (like leptin, for example) that also regulate hunger, and I wouldn't be even slightly surprised if more are produced by the stomach that otherwise signal to the brain that it's "time to eat!" If you take out (most of) the stomach, those signals are also gone (among other things,) even if scientists haven't yet figured them out.

I'm also about 2 weeks out, and I know what you mean about the walking. I've been walking long walks every morning and I feel better and better every day.

Nice. Hope you are feeling well. I'm enjoying pureed foods.

Had mine at barix in Michigan with Dr Pop. The nice thing about barix is that its all they do. You get an awesome book with recipes and a bunch of other great info, nutrition counseling, etc. They pretty much let me dictate the speed of the process. They also scheduled my surgery at a specific date that I needed because I had a small window to get it done, and they made it work

Yep, the first few days were the toughest for me, too. It was hard to get comfortable sleeping, hard to get rid of the gas pain, but walking around really does help, and chewable Gas-X helped me too. Keep up the positive attitude and keep moving your body...I firmly believe it's the fastest way to get rid of the pain, plus you'll probably sleep better too.

The seats are tiny anyways, unless you have the $$$ for 1st class. With some airlines, I learned I could log on and re-check in right before the flight, and if I was really lucky, get a seat that was not next to another person. I would always try to do that so I wouldn't have to deal with it.

For me the worst was when a guy sitting next to me on the airplane demanded that I buy a second ticket because I was "taking up his seat." The airline tried, but I babbled some legal-sounding nonsense and the guy just had to deal with it. It almost delayed takeoff. I always knew I was a big guy, but that might have been the point where it really hit me just how big I was. Airplane seats are too small anyways.

Do you think/know if it might be some sort of food allergy or something? I've heard some lactose intolerant people have that problem with whey protein. This morning I got to have my first scrambled eggs/cheese puree, and it was like a Heavenly feast or something! I've always loved eggs, and it was so nice to be off of fluids only...eggs have good protein, and so does cheese.

Really? I was sleeved on 8/21 and can easily drink one of those 11oz Premier Protein Shakes (30g) in a few minutes...though finally onto pureed food and eat that much slower. Water, juice, whatever seems to go down fine...before today I seriously wondered if I actually had the surgery or if they just made a few cuts and sewed me up.

Impressive, my abdomen is still too sore, but oddly I haven't had the desire since surgery (8/21.) Very unusual for me, as it's normally a "high priority" in my mind. LOL...

Had my first pureed food this morning. Scrambled egg pureed with a small amount of low-fat cheese and some spices....that was sooo satisfying Finally something other than a Protein shake or a popsicle. I was able to eat about 1/4 cup total of the puree, and it seems to be working its way through my system slowly, but fine.

Still struggling with this but only sleeved on Aug. 21. I know the feeling. I'm hoping that once I get to eat more solid food, it will help with the hunger.

Looks like we have a lot in common indeed. Hope your journey goes well also