JamieLogical

I got word this morning that one of my coworkers and friends passed away over the weekend. Details are still sketchy, since most news is coming second or third-hand, but his death has hit me like a ton of bricks. I had to leave work as soon as I found out, because I just couldn't stop crying. He was in his early 40's, had a wife and a young daughter. I immediately assumed he died suddenly due to some complication from obesity. He was probably over 350 pounds and not very tall. As I said, I don't know anything for sure yet. But he had JUST had a conversation last week with another one of my friends/coworkers about how he and his wife were trying to do everything they could to give their daughter a leg up on life, since they didn't know how long they would be around for her. He and I had talked a lot about weight loss and getting healthy over the years. Back in 2009 my sister-in-law died of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 41, which prompted me to try to get very serious about losing weight. I managed to lose 90 pounds by summer of 2011 and Ron was very encouraging to me. We talked a lot about how much hard work I was putting in. And he started calling me "Skinny" every time he saw me. I eventually regained almost all of that weight before my VSG, but we continued to talk about weight loss once in a while. And he noticed once I started losing weight again after my VSG and encouraged me with my running. In my grief today, I couldn't help but feel a little "mad" at him. He knew he had weight and health problems. He knew that those things might take him out of his daughter's life too soon. Yet he didn't really do much about it that I could tell. Had he been willing to have WLS, he might still be here right now for his daughter! So this brings me to another thought. I have another very good friend/coworker who is also obese. He's both older and bigger than Ron was. He has chronic knee, back, and neck pain. He's always complaining about how he doesn't sleep well at night because of the pain he's in. Yet, of all of the people I told about my WLS, he was the most against it. Even two years post-op, he still acts like it was a bad decision. And now, in light of what has happened with Ron, I want to shake some sense into him and try to convince him that he should seriously consider WLS. There's no way he makes it to 60 and he's already in his late 40's! I know having such a talk with him would probably doom our friendship and might not have any effect on him. But I can't help but think about how much I might regret NOT having that conversation with him if something happens to him they way it did with Ron.

Thanks, JamieLogical, for pointing that out. *I'm* comfortable counting it as 30g based on local support group members who are using it and having good labs, as well as my surgeon's support, but everyone should consider the chance that it's only 15g per serving. Well, obviously beyond the liquid food stages, we should all be aiming to get the majority of our protein from actual food. So hopefully we'd only be using Genepro or any protein supplements as just that, a supplement. At that point whether it's actually 15 or 30 grams or somewhere in between shouldn't matter much. But if someone is supposed to be getting 90 grams a day and is relying solely on Genepro to get there, the risk would be only getting 45 grams, which would put them WAY short of their target.

It all gets better. I know it's hard to believe, but this will all be a distant memory someday. Eating gets easier. Getting your protein in gets easier. Your incision WILL eventually heal. Are you on solid foods yet? You could try protein bars instead of shakes. I switched away from the shakes as soon as I could because I was SO over them. Just make sure to choose protein bars with high protein, low carbs, and low saturated fats.

Sagging skin won't kill you. An extra 80 pounds of fat might. Is sagging skin a risk? Yep! But it's not a risk to your life! There are a few things you can do to try to lessen it. Keep up with your hydration, moisturize daily, take your supplements, and try to "fill in" some of the loose skin with muscle. If you get to the end of this journey and loose skin really bothers you, you can always have plastic surgery to remove it.

I feel the need to inject my normal disclaimer about Genepro here. They *claim* to give you the "benefit" of 30 grams of protein in a 15 gram serving. But there have been no independent studies to verify this claim. So, I would take it with a grain of salt and still only count each serving as 15 grams toward my daily goal. If you ARE actually getting the benefit of more protein, then great! But if their claim turns out to be false, you could be coming in very low on your daily protein goals if you are relying heavily on Genepro to get there.

@@TracyBar I can't speak for Cape Crooner, but I am easily able to participate in social events that center around food now. I honestly didn't even have much trouble early on post-op (at least once I was on solid foods). I remember going to a super bowl party a couple of months post-op and just had some chili and a couple other high-protein foods and no one seemed to notice at all. I also went to a company dinner with my then-husband and, again, I ordered some fajitas ( the kind you build yourself), just ate the chicken and shrimp and a couple bites of veggies, skipped the tortillas and all the other fixin's and no one said two words about it. Since then I do dinners, parties, even a wine tasting or two, and don't have any problems just fitting in.

Definitely stick to the plan your surgeon gave you and call if you want to deviate from that early. It is definitely normal to be hungry post-op. First of all, many of us experience an increase stomach acid, which a lot of us associate with hunger (rumbling stomach). Second of all, you are literally starving! Third of all, even if you aren't craving bad things, you are probably still experiencing head hunger. Your brain doesn't understand that your stomach isn't physically capable of digesting solid foods right now.

I didn't try salad for a long time, just because it was such a waste of space. I could barely eat enough to get in my 100 grams of protein, so had no room for things like leafy greens. Unfortunately, once I was all healed up and my restriction subsided a bit, I found I still couldn't eat salad or any raw veggies. They make me INCREDIBLY burpy. Any raw veggies have that effect on me now. I do fine with cooked veggies though.

You really aren't going to stretch your stomach out by eating too fast, but you will likely cause yourself a lot of discomfort, At least while you are healing. Once you are all healed up, you can eat quickly with no real ill consequences. I find that eating quickly keeps me from eating too much now that I'm almost 2 years post-op. If I eat slowly, I can eat a lot more food, because it has time to actually move through my stomach and make room for more.

Yeah. I know that it's really hit home with my other friend at least. He was one of the last people to see Ron alive. If nothing else, maybe it will get him thinking and maybe he'll come to me as a resource?

Absolutely! I'll be 2 years post-op on September 1st. I've been maintaining below goal for about a year now. I'm running a marathon on September 18th. A MARATHON!!! Can you believe that?!?! Was there some pain and misery in the early weeks? For sure! Was there a period of adjustment in the early months? Heck yeah! Did I wonder if I would ever feel "normal" again? Yep! For a long time! But now that is all a VERY distant memory! I am happy and healthy and enjoying all aspects of my life!

It might be too soon fro you. Even though the food stages exist as guidelines, they just mean you can TRY those foods at those times, not that you HAVE to be eating them then. Everyone heals at a different rate. Have you tried drinkable yogurt (the stuff for kids?). I actually started that before moving onto thicker yogurt.

I am currently training for a marathon (it's on September 18). I do struggle with trying to get enough calories in to not keep losing weight through my training, but I have it pretty well figured out now. I eat 7-8 times a day with one or two of those meal/snacks being carb-only. I also aim for very calorie dense Proteins like nuts and cheeses. I don't have any problems with hydration. I have no restriction with drinking now. That only lasted a few weeks post-op. I can gulp Water and G2 no problem. During my long runs, I use GU for calories/electrolytes and supplement my water with G2 to stay hydrated. Before a run, I always try to eat something carb-heavy like a Clif Bar or whole grain toast with Peanut Butter.

I am so so glad you have decided to finally do this for YOURSELF. My husband wasn't supportive either, but it is one of the best choices I've ever made for myself!

Haha! I love that you ordered your own medal. You deserve it! Most of the races I've done didn't have medals, just t-shirts.

Here was my packing list from when I went for my VSG: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11I51ulCBco9cimQj882eV1KfMWodyiIO6X4gNaLpDDc/edit?usp=sharing

I did every other day, so my "weeks" were a little shorter that way. On my "off" days, I would rotate between extra cardio through biking, strength training, and rest days.

I did use it when I very first started running. In fact, I had to work my way up to being able to use the app by just running for 60 seconds and walking for 4 minutes for a little bit. That's how terrible my endurance was! Now I'm training for a full Marathon next month!

you should try to breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. But, if you are like me, running makes your nose runny, so breathing through my nose eventually becomes impossible. I like to do breath in for two steps, out for two steps. That keeps my breathing very regular, as long as my pace remains consistent. PS: You should really look into the Couch to 5k app.

I took my Calcium at lunch and before bed. My multi-vitamin first thing in the morning and when i got home from work.

I disagree with the other posters. With your starting weight, 1500 calories would still allow for a huge calorie deficit. Remember guys, it takes a lot more calories to sustain a 320 pound body than a 220 pound body. Too large a calorie deficit can cause the body to go into starvation mode and have long-lasting ill effects on your metabolism. In any event, I was a much lower starting weight than you and still pushed hard to get my calories up over 1400, since I am a runner and burn a LOT of calories through exercise. Now that I am in maintenance, I eat about 2200-2400 calories a day, since I am training for a full marathon. My tricks for getting all the calories in are to eat calorie-dense foods like cheese and nuts. And to eat more meals/snacks per day. When I was aiming for 1400 calories, I ate 5-6 times per day.

Where did you go in Mexico? And what Dr did you use. I need a revision from lapband to gadtric bypass or sleeve. But im on a budget cant go over $5700. Just dont no where to go. Sent from my SM-N900P using the BariatricPal App For my VSG I went to Ariel Ortiz at Obesity Control Center in Tijuana. I am not sure you could get your revision with him for under $5700, though. You should contact OCC about their current pricing. There are many other excellent surgeons in Mexico, though that might be in your price range. My first suggestion would be to contact BariatricPal's Mexico coordinator, @@Bill Yanez. He could give you current information on pricing with the BariatricPal affiliated surgeons.

I have heard of other people doing that as well. The thing to remember is that, even if insurance does cover WLS, you might have little choice when it comes to surgeons. If you live in a smaller town or have a small insurance network, you may have only one or two surgeons available to you. If they aren't great surgeons or you just can't get a lot of info on them, that could be a scary thing.

Hey, thank you i will check it out! I lost the 1st month i lost 35lbs then 2nd,3rd,4th and 5th month have been 3 or 4lbs per month. Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App In case you are on the phone app and can't see my signature, here is what it says: Month 1: 221.2 (-14.8) - Month 2: 212.6 (-8.6) - Month 3: 207.0 (-5.6) - Month 4: 200.8 (-6.2) - Month 5: 194.8 (-6.0) - Month 6: 189.2 (-5.6) - Month 7: 181.0 (-8.2) - Month 8: 178.6 (-2.5) - Month 9: 175.8 (-2.8) - Month 10: 171.6 (-4.2) - Month 11: 169.4 (-2.2) - Month 12: 164.0 (-5.4) - Month 13: 162.2 (-1.8) - Month 14: 161.6 (-0.6) - Month 15: 160.0 (-1.6)

I also had surgery with Dr Ortiz on July 11th and have no regrets!! Awesome surgeon and staff!! Sent from my SM-G900V using the BariatricPal App I had mine with Ariel Ortiz in September 2014. Almost two years out now and maintaining below goal. So worth it!