Stevehud

there are radically different programs for all prior to surgery. Mine was thre visits with the doctor, 4 visits with the nutritionist, 2 visits with a psych specialist and my barium swallow, and cardiac stress test, plus bloodwork, and an ekg. i also had appointments at 2 weeks 6 weeks and next up in 3 months. so everyone is a bit different. Also sugar free Jello is your friend during liquids, and after too, it at least gives you the illusion of chewing. lol Goo dluck! You can do this!

i never took the morphine after surgery, i just plain dont like it, besides i had really bad sleep apnea and morphine makes me sleepy so id be awakened every 3 minutes by the oxygen sat monitor. I relied on IV Toradol and iv Tylenol. then home i took Vicodin for 2 days then nothing. id rather have a little pain than be loopy or on any drug.

yep even my local CVS and rite aid carry it. doesnt taste good, but man it works.

food? this early? are you not on a liquid diet for awhile after surgery? Unless by food you mean yogurt o Protein shakes . I cannot imagine tring to actually eat something that soon, but thats me. calories arent important, fluids are most important, Your gut will rumble it is your stomach getting used to its new size, it feels a lot like severe hunger pains, bu its actually a combination of acid, inflammation and trauma. takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to calm that down. The diarrhea thing is common at first, was with me for the first month. taking in all fluids its very tough to make a solid out of. so just be sure to increase your Fluid intake appropriately.

what kind of protein is it? does it say? remember it should be whey protein isolate. Thats and you can get a lot more protein from a lot less ounces if you wish, but as an adjunct, hey why not.

What irked me was that one of my biggest goals, and the reason I have a blog, was to put it all together to create an ebook for men, on WLS, specifically the sleeve, and to be able to show from a man's perspective the hard truths about WLS. I wanted to do this so men won't take the same 3 to 4 or more years of waiting around to get what they need or to not do it at all and die prematurely or continue to live horribly. That one sentence uttered on a tv show, set back what I had hoped to accomplish by light years. Some know my anger boiled over and in a very inarticulate way, I let the show know how I felt. The worst part was reading posts from other overweight people who are attracted to the show like moths to a flame, and even in many cases repeated what the "doctor" had said while begging to be helped with their weight loss and obvious co-morbidities. Once people see it on television they become almost armored against the real facts. Once that first impression is made, it becomes a battle of incalculable proportions to change that perception. That's the real loss to the WLS community. Also I do wish more celebs who had this surgery would have stood up and decried this statement as malicious and untrue. While i do commend Rosie O'Donnell for having an open dialog about WLS, Iw would've been nice to see a press statement speaking about this issue as well. People Like Rosie, Al Roker, or Magic Johnson, etc. all have a forum in which they could advance the knowledge we have, to the general public, but no one stepped up to take their turn at bat, and as a result we all struck out mightily.

its not just gas, putting extra air into your sleeve stretches the sleeve, which is something you dont want to do. now you know why the straw helps you so much the air makes more room in your sleeve so the liquid goes in easier. there are people who use straws in the maintenance stages etc, but early on, its kind of a bad thing to get your liquids at the expense of why you had the surgery. But that is simply what I have in my guidelines from my surgical team. , " Use of a straw or drinking device (i.e. sipping cup) can cause secondary air buildup, resulting in stretching or over-sizing of the surgical sleeve." Early Stretching of the surgical sleeve will result in reduced weight loss and a lower hunger tolerance." That's the exact quote off the page. Good luck with everything. We can do it!

i was cleared at 6 weeks for cardio, bt no major ab stuff .

for me pictures work also. but what is even more helpful is putting on clothes that are too big now. for example my wife has a picture of me when I went back to school 2 years ago. at graduation I weighed 408 pounds. I was wearing this lightweight tan suit, and I thought I looked good in it, but I put on the suit jacket the other day and my god, it was like wearing a toga, I was sooo happy. its nice to physical compare yourself against you own body image to see the changes...if that makes sense.

Well it doesn't really say cholesterol doesn't matter it just says that cholesterol is primarily genetic and that external sources don't really change cholesterol that much. That being said people with high cholesterol are probably that way for reasons they cannot control. Which makes a lot more sense. But I do love the obese health food story. I know people like that as well, a friend who wont eat anything unless its bought at a health food store. When I told her about gluten free products actually are not regulated yet in this country or how free range doesn't really mean what people think it means or how organic is a label that in many cases just means the farm does one thing organic, but can still use pesticides , etc. they just ignored it all. Organic oreos are still oreos. I do think about the milk thing, I don't blame milk at all for obesity think people report drinking milk and we equate that as being fattening, but who do you know just drinks milk, all by itself. everyone I know ( myself including) has milk with some Cookies, or a brownie or some little debbies or tastycakes or hostess or drakes cakes, or pie or cheesecake or whatever. That's why I think milk gets its bad rap. Just a thought.

angiwii-how fast are you eating. I had the same problem and I thought I was eating slow then I timed myself and I really wasn't slow enough. if it doesn't take you 25 minutes to 30 minutes to eat, and mean actual eating not just putting it in front of you , you are eating too fast. I would suggest using your phone and downloading a free timer app and set the timer so you take a bite every few minutes and not before, after awhile you will get used to eating this slowly and not need the timer, it really helped me.

Sleeved December 16th and im at 49.5 pounds down. just got over a stall, but doing better and exercising, just about to start strength training, it is a bit surreal sometimes.

seriously amazing, and inspiring. Ill get there someday, but good for you man. Keep it up! breaking 300 was amazing for me, I will probably be in a daze when I break 200. Thank you for sharing!

a lot depends on the soup as well, for example during my liquids stage I had cream of broccoli, and I strained out the actual pieces of broccoli because you don't want small pieces of vegetation in your sutured area of your sleeve. now in the pureed stage I just removed any bigger bits so little small things I didn't bother much with. but that's just me.

I assume all profile information is available to anybody. on the brighter side, you look awesome, Well done indeed!!

Heres something to try there is a company called aboutttime yes it is one word, ill get the link in a second. They make the gentlest flavored Protein mixes around. they literally have no more than 5 ingredients in the entire product, whey isolate, xanthan gum, natural flavors and stevia. the flavor is sooo mild in some cases its almost barely perceptible. I recommend them to people with hyper taste sensitivity or the over sweetness issues. heres is a link for their single serving pack, you can also get them through amazon, ebay and walmart.com they also make a product called fill shake and go, its a pre filled plastic bottle with one serving of mix in it you add the milk or almond milk etc and shake it up and voila, great for on the go or work if you have the need. http://tryabouttime.com/shop/single-serving-pack/ You can also see my video taste tests on my blog at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com just scroll through the olde entries to see them. They have very mild flavors the chocolate vanilla and strawberry are excellent, especially the strawberry its so mild it taste like a light strawberry shake, very smooth and easy. the birthday cake is ok, I had one on my birthday but more as a special thing than everyday and I haven't tried the new flavors yet, cinnamon swirl and mint mocha. They also have a new vegan line called abouttime VE , made with coconut and stuff. I hope you find something you like. Personally the Syntrax nectars work for me, another hint is Water in the fruit nectars and milk or almond milk etc in the chocolate, strawberry vanilla type.

Ill be honest, this really isnt the place to ask for money. Many many of us are in debt over our surgeries anyway. We also have to find creative ways to fund our own plastic surgery. Secondly, you dont have a profile set up, no name, no whereabouts, no pictures, no email surgery dates, surgeon, nothing , so as far as we know you dont really exist as a WLS patient. Even your go fund me page has no name or contact information. The picture on your go fund me page looks great but it shows no skin issues. I would suggest talking with various plastic surgeons in your area, they do much work at cost or for free to needy people on a regular basis, also you can lok into contact the WLSFA ( Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America, they give grants for WLS and for Plastic surgery as a resultof WLS. They help a lot of people every year. Your doctor can read about it below. at http://www.wlsfa.org/looking-for-help/faq-about-our-grant-referral-program/

heres a tip, for those who drink Protein shakes. If your mix says one scopp try using 1 1/2 or even two, while anything over 40 at a time ( grams of protein that is) wont get absorbed, theres no reason you cant take in more protein up to the max/ SO for example i use 1.5 scoops of Syntrax fuzzy navel in 5 to 6 ounces of Water. that way i get about 39 grams of protein in a 5 to 6 ounce serving, which is seriously great and if you have a hard time getting all your fluids in, this is a way to get your protein with minimal fluids ( but keep drinking fluids please!) anyway just a little tip, also use a blender or nutri ninja etc to mix your shakes, they blend better and taste better well blended. hope this helps! You Can Do It!

Syntrax nectars fuzzy navel, twisted cherry, etc and cuappuccino. Worst for me was any of teh readys made shakes, like premier, rtd30 etc. If your interested you can see my video taste tests of many flavors and brands on my blog, the videos are spread across the posts, so you have to go back a little. but im brutally honest about the tastes etc. i will be moving them to you tube probably this evening and ill post a link to them then as well.

when i first looked inside myself, ( introspection not surgically) i realized that i never saw myself as fat, one of the coping mechanisms is our mind trick us into just being ourselves, not a fat person. Sure we feel the weight etc and the results of it, but the changes while i can see it in clothing sizes, in energy level, in health, but you stilll feel like you and you always will because who else can you be? I do believe in the side by side picture thing. My wife keeps a pic of me from went i graduated after going back to school two years ago when i was at my heaviest and we splice in a pic of me now, so i can see the true difference. i do notice it in my face, at first i thought, who is this guy its nt me, but i do like him. so i get used to it. and i look forward to meeting the skinny me inside this guy. When my surgeon told me my weight loss goal, ( down to 170 pounds from 374 , he said " you're going to lose a whole person, and since he isnt paying rent, lets kick him out." it was meant as a joke, but it was very perceptive. We do lose a whole person in becoming the new us.

great advice on this one! way to go all.

it would be nice to facepalm yourself and say "gee i never thought of that." in a very sarcastic voice. But people would think you were the rude one. its a no win situation. although there is a great deal to be said for sarcasm!

stalls aren't fun my first, the dreaded 3-week stall was 6 days long and drove me nuts but when it broke it was nice. i just beat a 4-day stall this morning. They happen. i recommend , that if you tok measurements before surgery that you re-measure your self now. you will see that many times, even though the weight isnt changing, your body is. Keep at it.

to add an avatar or picture go to the top of the page on the right click on your name and select my profile. Once opened click on the empty space where your picture should be. To add someone as a friend click on their name and when it opens their profile at the bottom of their profile is a link that says add me as a friend. Simple. Welcome abaord.

pI had to lose 18 pounds pre op, i did two shakes a day one for Breakfast and one for lunch then a big salad with Protein in it ( hard boiled egg, pepperoni, chicken breast or tuna. no sugar, in 1.5 months i lost 30 pounds. I do question why someone would eat a meal and follow it with a Protein shake unless youre trying to gain weight. protein shakes have calories so to add them to 3 meals a day seems very off. I reccomend Syntrax nectars shakes, you can getthe variety pack of flavors for cheap. you can also watch my video taste tests online on my blog at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com Good luck and You can do it