Stevehud

Hello, I post video taste tests of Protein powders and ready mades on my blog at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com I will say be very very careful most protein powders have both regular ( non diet) and diet versions. Such as Muscle milk has regular which is for body builders and designed to put on weight. and muscle milk lite, which is for dieters. so be careful. I know one big issue I have is with the GENEPRO, it says you get 30 grams of protein from 1 tablespoon of product, which is impossible because one tablespoon is 15 grams, so how you can get 30 grams of protein from 15 grams of product beats me I even posted on their face book page and sent them an email and my posts get erased and emails go unanswered. I have asked friends who are chemists and one food additive manufacturer with a phd in food sciences and both tell me its not possible there is no way this is a factual statement, both felt it was a marketing ploy where they are using weight vs volume in the same sentence. Personally I enjoy the Syntrax nectars the best so far , matrix also very very good, I also like a particular chocolate by twin lab but its very hard to find. Particularly I enjoy the vanilla torte, and the fuzzy navel, I also enjoy the Cappuccino, and it uses totally decaf coffee in its flavor. Now if you have allergy issues or want a really mild taste look for abouttime yes its one word you can find it online or at some gnc's and natural food stores. they make a product called fill shake and go, its a pre loaded plastic disposable bottle, you just op the top an add liquid , shake it up and drink. but it has very few ingredients, just 4 total, the flavors are extremely mild, almost not there, I recommend the strawberry chocolate, birthday cake and vanilla, the banana is ok but you have to like banana, per se. find them online. Hope this helps.

ive ben somewhat lucky I haven't had a problems getting my fluids in, my problems is drinking too much too fast, I only hit my fill point , that is, my sleeve saying, Hey! put just one more thing down here and im going full reverse on you! Although I now have another issue, sever hunger pains, I know im not hungry but these hurt, only time I veer felt this before was when I had an ulcer like 4 or 5 years ago. The funny part is my stomach sounds are so loud you can hear them in adjacent rooms in my home. lol seriously. I emailed my nutritionist to see if she thinks I should page the surgeon on call or wait until Monday. thankfully yogurt and protein shakes have been really go od to me so far. now the chewable calcium tablets.. yechh.

fen-phen was a combination of Phentermine and Fenfluramine, Fenfluramine was removed from the market as it caused pulmonary hypertension in 3% of users. I loved it me and my wife both used it but we only got ot use it for 3 months before it was pulled off the market. Tried the replacement which was Phen-Pro aka phentermine and Prozac, which turned both of us into walking meth zombies. Not fun. lol

Jakcelyn Im so sorry you re going through this much pain and suffering. I had my surgery on the 16th and the last two days have started to make me human again. Has a little worry when I spiked a temp of 100.6 but it went away on its own within a few hours so the doc isn't worried. They did give e a tac block ( nerve block) in the belly right after surgery and one of the needle sites is very very sore, which the anesthesiologist said would be as they went deep into the diaphragm area. I wish I didn't have to cut up pills lol but I don't mind. They gave me a huge amount fo vicodin that I couldn't possibly use if I had pain for 3 months then maybe. lol Im thinking and hoping for you to get better. I hope things will get better for you fast. We are going to do win this, any way I can help even if its just to chat, let me know. Keep the faith. .

Bob we are in the same boat, I am 48 removed rom my sleeve surgery. I too had an uneventful procedure Event the IV went on first try ( I had a surgery where it took them 17 sticks to get one in) Yes the gas pains are the most horrible by far. I have never been so happy to fart in my life lol. I was very impressed by the hospitals team, the nurses for bariatric patient's are limited in that they can have more then 3 patients total. Which means you get a lot of quality time in. Heck a few even let me take their picture for my blog. I was also blown away by the bed I was in. Now in other hospitals they didn't seem to care that I was a fat guy and you fit into the little narrow bed etc. But this hospital just outside of boston mass, has nice big bariatric air beds. The best part they were transformers, I kid you not. At ne point I wanted to sit in a chair so they push a button or two and the whole bed turns itself into a chair??? I was stunned and it was awesome as well. What did suck was the sleep deprivation. By that I mean that they kept me on telemetry and an apnea monitor knowing I did have apnea. But I cannot use cpap, for various reasons, so every time I dozed off the o2 sat would drop a bit then my alarm would go off waking me right back up. The morphine pump was worse they all doctors and nurses kept telling me to use the pump, but I think I used it twice, once right after surgery just before they did a Tac Block, and once when I reached my floor, but that was it. The morphine made me very sleepy but I wasn't allowed to sleep. I will say they gave me scripts for nausea (Zofran) acid ( zantac/ranitidine) and pain, ,Vicodin. A lot of vicodin lol Keep me informed Bob id like to see how we do in this endeavor.

oh ill be posting to my blog right from the hospital bed, so check it out and please by all means put in messages and such we can make a great first few days of post op surgery blog party!

I am also on the 16th looks like im the only guy lol ill have to watch out lol

Yes all, I said coddling , as in handling with care, even babying because baby steps are very necessary sometimes. Don't apply a negative connotation to it. It is a very positive thing. I, am going to have to rethink posting responses. I think Ill read and maybe ask questions, but if I write a word someone doesn't like , woo I get torn apart. . But Give Em Hell RJ.

RJ I meant coddling in a good way, like sometimes everyone needs a little extra hug or such to get by.

Well insanity and all, I got the word a few short hours ago. I HAVE BEEN APPROVED!!! Tuesday as in 5 days from now, I have the 10:30 am slot in the operating room. Its amazing I went from angry and depressed to excited then right to scared lol

Are you a failure ? NO! Should you be here? If it helps you, why the hell not! But as to the rest, I don't know almost anything about why this has happened to you. The only thing I can say is sometimes the way we write things can make others feel like we don't want help. and maybe people get..confrontational about that. S Like when you say you know more than the shrinks, I understand you a have been through a lot and are frustrated beyond measure and deservedly so, but wording it that way might make someone leery of trying to reach out and offer help. I will say that there is a lot of coddling here, but hell who doesn't need that sometimes. I don't think anyone would say you don't belong here.

nothing wrong with finding your new self. way to go man.

the Russell stover stuff was expressly forbidden to me by the surgeon and nutritionist because the are full of sugar alcohols which is sugar , your body turns them into sugar more slowly so they don't cause a high glucose surge in your blood but the sugar is the same once it does hit the blood. So might as well just have the real one.

So I went today met with the surgeon, the nutritionist again had pre-testing done, bloodwork, ekg, etc. So if we get the approval either tomorrow (Thursday) ot Friday they are holding a spot in surgery for me, for Tuesday next week. lol 6 days and I just find out. So I will be letting you all know soon.

my surgeon and nutritionist have me off coffee and tea decaf or not for 6 months to start. decaf tea and decaf coffee still have caffeine in them. so I will make do.

I will say I am glad to have tried so many flavors and brands of powders before my surgery, I know what I tolerate, what I hate and what I really really like. I will give one little guideline, chocolate, vanilla strawberry etc don't mix them with Water, use skim or 1$ if youre allowed, fruit flavors like the Syntrax nectars fuzzy navel, twisted cherry or pink grapefruit etc are great with water and an ice cube or two in a blender to keep them cold, very nice especially in the mornings. Fior those of you with a taste issue or an allergy issue, if you know its not the whey your allergic to i.e. dairy. then I suggest you look up abouttime products yes its one word. they have these ready to mix plastic bottles that you pop the top. fill shake and go, they call them, fill shake and go..also available in packets. But they only have 4 things in the whole product whey Protein isolate ( actually its microfiltered for smoothness, soy lecithin, some natural flvors, and stevia. as a result the flavors are extremely mild, tasting. you can see the video taste taste tests on my early blog pages on my blog below.

ok so here's the scoop the insurance company now wants me to have another appointment with my nutritionist of course at the farthest point from my home lol, right away on Wednesday, so we book that appointment and immediately after it I am meeting with the anesthesia team and pre surg team just in case..lol Now here's the good news, the company I work for which I getting bought, is having the buyout delayed for a month, so now I have more time to have this surgery done. of course ill lose all the money in my out of pocket and deductible etc but all in all not a horror show. AND I found out our new benefits will be under blue cross blue shield of Texas which does have my surgeon as an in network provider.. so I would still be able to do all my follow ups. worst case we blow off this insurance company wait until February ( which will piss me off but I would live at least, and we could re-file under the new insurance company. So its not as bad as it was. But we are still hoping to get resolved this week. ill keep you all informed. I truly thank you for all the support.

Like I said Jess you've done awesome, Im inspired by how well you've done truly. I just wanted to know more about how you enjoyed and handled the Matrix. I know that at different stages we can use different Protein types, for immediately after surgery I was simply going by , as you say, my doctors and my nutritionist guidelines of no sugar or carbs for awhile and then only after Proteins, which makes sense.

Just great posts ladies, you are why this place is truly a godsend to us all.

Jess are you sure about the Syntrax matrix I mean at your stage this could be totally way off base, congratulations by the way you have done wonderfully! As is said I do a lot of taste testing and the people that make the syntrax products , Si03 is the name of the company, they sent me tons of syntrax nectars to try I had asked for matrix but they said in an email " Syntrax Matrix Products are not Weight Loss supplements, they are Meal Replacements, and as such do not meet Bariatric guidelines for post surgical usage." Now you are well past normal post surgery so It probably doesn't apply to you. Blerdgirl- first, every surgeon is different evidently. I know in the hospital and for the first 2 days after surgery I am not to have anything besides Water or Clear liquids. No Protein or anything until day 3. My surgeon even went so far as to tell me the nurses in the hospital may offer me Protein drinks, but do not take them. Now again that's just me, but It seems that a lot of people on here do not take protein on the first few days. I know you asked about sugar and carbs the issue I have is if a mix has say 10 carbs per use that could put you at s high as 40 carbs for the day, which is a lot for a bariatric surgery patient. Sugar and carbs derail weight loss faster than a drive through window. Also sugars and carbs are a huge contributing factor to dumping as well. Basically I can tell you 3 things my team ( surgeon and nutritionist) are adamant about. 1. Always protein first then carbs or sugar if you absolutely have to. 2. Weight loss supplement protein mixes and drinks are different pro Meal Replacement shakes or powders. ( more on this, 90% of protein powders are marketed to weight GAIN, They are designed to add bulk to people doing bodybuilding and heavy heavy weight training. Which is something a bariatric patient most certainly does not want. Many protein powders etc will say on the back in small print..This is not a weight loss product". 3. stick to whey Isolate protein only, hemp, soy, and other Proteins are not readily absorbable in a sleeve patient, they take too long to be absorbed and by the time they would be they have already past the point of digestion, they can also make traveling through your intestines and lower GI tract , rougher than you would like. You may want to post a question to the forums in general, and ask " how much sugar and carbs should I have? I think you would get a lot of good answers. Just as a caveat, I take in less sugar and carbs in my pre op diet than whats in those shakes.

just be sure whatever you chose to avoid all the sugar filled ones I can from above there are several mentioned here that are way to high in carbs and sugars. You will not affect good weight loss if your intake of sugar is still continuing.

Leila if you have a little time, I do a lot of taste test videos on my blog I taste quite a lot of Protein drinks and mixes, I am adding a few more today. They are flash based so they may not run open an I-pad or i-phone but I can always post them to youtube so every one can watch them there. if you want to check them out , they are at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com thank you. there are a lot of flavors you can try that might meet your needs. just be careful not to use protein powders made for weight lifters these are weight gainers not for weight loss. keep your spirit up!