Stevehud

Hello All, my name is Steve Hudson, I am 43 and pre op gastric sleeve. I weigh about 340, im down from 261 for my pre surgical weight loss. Anyway I write a blog called cutting the fat with a knife. I will post the address at the bottom. What I am trying to do is im going to keep this blog very blunt in cases telling people the things that I feel men need to know. The reason is that I have seen many cases where men avoid the life changing and potentially life saving surgeries because of the stigma that other men have. The macho peer pressure that I am sure many of you have gone through. 1 year post op I will compile this blog into an E-book for men who are thinking about WLS. I even have a few hospitals and weight loss centers that are asking for copies when it is complete. So far almost all the books out there are by women and deal with a lot of womanly issues. I was reading one book and there was two chapters on bras and panties another on pregnancy etc. Not at all a help to me. My surgeon is actually going to appear on the blog as an ask the Bariatric Surgeon byline once a month. OK all this being said, I would like to ask you al some thing now and then to see how your experiences coincide with mine etc. So the first question I would like to ask , I will post it maybe in a top ten type list and give credit to each contributor of course unless you wish me not to, keep it a couple of sentences if you would please. Here's my first question. Was there a final straw, event or moment etc. that made you move from thinking about WLS to actually taking the steps to have it done? If so what was it? Thank you for your help. Even if you do not wish to contribute but wish to check out the blog, I do many video taste tests of various Protein powders, ready made drinks etc, with even more to come. Thank you all for your time. Oh and this book will not cost anything it is not a money issue it will be free to all. I am absorbing any costs myself. http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com

I know now there are outpatient laser procedures for our moobs as well. no incisions uses ultrasound and lasers to break up the fat underneath the skin and the liquid is drained out through a syringe I believe. so far it looks great im not sure of cost, ill see if I can find the link etc.

Mrs Coffey, first let me say thank you! Second I love the article. it is tough I personally am fighting against the stigma to men, which is seemingly even higher than that associated with women, although I am not belittling anything women have to go through. Men get the , why are you having surgery just stop eating crap and workout at the gym, etc. there's a macho anti acceptance that permeates society. As a result I can say that many man and I would say women, stay away from the life changing and life saving surgeries that exist. I am keeping a blog, I do a lot of video taste tests and stuff like that as I am still pre op, but I am turning the blog into an ebook to show men what this is all like. Thee are many books including your own that are great but they are very female and men have different questions and expectations. Look at the men's forum, and the questions are very different. Together all of us can show that this is not some cop out that it is hard work, and why we needed to do it. For Ruth1966- Ruth, I posted this in a different post on one forum, and it got a great response so I though I would re post it here for you. Maybe it will help you get your point across. Please feel free to use it as you need. In my blog I used this analogy for when people asked me why I am having this surgery, why aren't I just going to the gym more and eating right etc. If you are out running and your tired and you see a small hill up ahead you grit your teeth and go for it. That's losing 20 pounds. But if you saw a mountain in front of you you would probably just turn around and avoid it. That mountain is how much we ( bariatric patients) have to lose. If I climb that mountain on my own, I will never make it, I don't have the experience nor the physical tools to do so. The best professional mountain climbers use sherpas to help them. This surgery is my Sherpa, I still have to do the climbing, but he will be there to show me the way, and all my friends and coworkers are my climbing gear that support me as I climb. I love you all, together We can all do this. http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com

Wait are you saying the skin from your mouth falls off? if it does you should see a dentist immediately because that's not good that's well, I wont go further but to say its bad. And phosphoric acid is less acidic than the citric acid in orange juice cranberry juice or pineapple juice.

Yeah lets be frank here people one tablespoon is only about 15 grams, so you CANNOT get 30 grams of Protein from 15 grams of product. I know they say they have some magic formula but be serious for a second, how can you get more protein than there is actual product?

My nutritionist had this down pat, halfway through our first session I found I was making the suggestions and she was just helping me with the how's. It is very empowering and very satisfying. I went in to the meeting expecting to meet some skinnier than a rail, vegan who would look down on me and tell me I have to eat kale because I was a bad person, I ended up leaving having realized that I can do this, and not even thinking about how I had come to that realization. Quite a nice change to nutritionists I've had years before.

that's a lot of sugar. I was thinking about posting how I see people eating yogurt that I know has a lot of sugar in it. I personally eat the light and fit carb and sugar smart yogurt which has less than 1g of sugar. Im just thinking that its imperative that you get the sugar out of your diet before the surgery, don't just limit it, the old, everything in moderation bit is a bunch of bull, we are obese we are fat yes I say it not in anger or hate but to remind myself why im doing this, I use it as motivation, take it to heart I love you all, and lets face it, if youre not one of us you will never truly understand us or the pain we hide, some deeper than others, and some rationalize it more but I know we all have felt it. Give yourself the best chance at success. It seems like the people here that are the most successful really do the work, and don't say well this is ok, or that's ok, its only little of this etc. I hate reading about people who fail or are obviously failing. Don't be one of those we can all do this, I believe that with my heart and soul. Sure im projecting my own fears, but hey nobodys perfect, but we damn sure have to try.

I taste test the isopure drinks in my blog. I do video taste tests of many Protein drinks and powders and ready mades. personally I only like 3 of the isopure ready made's, and im not counting the cocotein because I hate coconut. BUT for me the hands down best and many agree with me, is the black tea with lemon, it is almost indistinguishable from basic diet iced tea. The alpine punch is decent, and the orange is my second favorite, the blue raspberry ws ok at first but by the end I was not as happy with it. Now isopure also makes a few flavors in small 8oz plastic bottles ive only seen them online for about 27 bucks a case. What is funny is the best powder so far has been by twinlab ( for me this is) called basic essentials and its cheap as heck but sold out in a lot of places and only avail in chocolate and vanilla. I have just taste tested a prudct called fill shake and go, from abouttime, yes its all one word. its a plastic bottle with the powder init and you just add the liquid after you open it, so its good to carry in a purse or store at work, but the flavors are all very very mild, so if you have hyper taste or don't like strong tastes those are seriously for you. I have abunch of sample of the Syntrax nectars coming as well, the company would like me to taste test those for them as well ( its nice getting free mixes, but I do a lot of taste tests lately. lol) I have had one already which was the fuzzy navel, I did mix it with some frozen fruit ( mango pineapple and peach) and for liquid I used a diet decaf iced tea, oh my it was so delicious, like a liquid creamsicle. I wanted to go an put vodka in it, t was that good. SO I should have these sample this week, check in the blog this week for the videos. 9 check out the past ones as well, theres no money involved Im doing the blog to help me and other guys but that's another story. so feel free to check them out, at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com be safe, I love you all, and we can all do this!

I cant remember which, but one comedian said something to the effect of, when you lose weight and people say, "oh yeah I can see it in your face." Im thinking, my god! how fat was my face before?

my goal is to someday be called skinny. I look forward to it.

okay I started my weight loss goal ( need to lose 5% of your body weight to have the surgery, in three weeks im down 25 pounds. and I still cheat now and then, I just cheat well. no candy bars, no French fries, a couple of pop chips, no biggeee. but most of it is from Protein shakes, a good one for Breakfast, a good one for elucnh a ready made Isopure to sip on during the day, sugar free Jello and sugar free jello pudding when I need chocolate, and a nice big salad fro dinner, very lite dressing fat free and as low sugar as you can get, I like mixing my own vinegar and oil in the shaker thing. I use various types of lettuce but mostly romaine, butter raddichio, iceberg and bibb. I buy the pre cooked grilled chicken at trader joes and dice it and warm it in a frying pan, and the hard boiled eggs at trader joes as well. I chop up an egg and a good portion of the chicken and put it in my salad with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and have that. if it just wont fill me ill have a Protein shake a small one, a few hours before bed. I ate this diet for three weeks. I had to lose 18 pounds from my 361 to made my goal and im at 25, I now just go to maintenance level, where I work in some things like once a week I have a few slices of bread usualy as toast on a weekend breakfast morning. or I had a half of a small bar type pizza last Saturday night with broccoli chicken and artichoke hearts topping, was very filling because im use to having so many shakes lol. even with that cheat I was under 1000 calories for the day. I walked arouind the mall a few times and walked through the supermarket ( need my jello fix lol) in the average day no I will take in about 30 to 40 carbs and out of that maybe 6 grams of sugar. Also heres a hint, protein shakes have a tendency to um bind you up. I now mix half a tablespoon of flavorless Fiber ( benefiber or any of those is great, in with my shakes, the fiber helps move things along, but also that fiber keeps you feeling full longer. Anyway if youre interested in sometimes funny, my taste test video are available here on my blog, they are short and to the point, http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com

well if you like I taste test a lot of ready made and mixes and drinks on my blog in video form, fun to watch. almost all the ready shakes I think are way past disgusting A few isopure flavors In the fruit punch type are good, but I know in my guide I have from my surgeon, im to drink no more than 4 oz of liquid at one continuous time, so 16oz bottle will not work. . make sure youre allowed to have that much liquid. and anyone not taking just whey isolate is doing this very very wrong, unless you have a specific form of intolerance. Anyway if you like my blog with the taste tests is at http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com keep the fight going. we can all do this!

warm is okay but as the marketing person from nectar just told me in an email, do not go over 140 t0 150 degrees or you turn the powder to cement. you can mix first then heat a bit mix then heat, its not an easy thing to do. The people who make nectar are sending me out a bunch iof samples to do my video taste test on. as soon as I get them ill post them with all my other Protein drink/shake/mixes taste videos I already have up, on my blog. If you are interested check them out here http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com

Id like to say this, first people, please avoid diagnosing someone, youre not a doctor having WLS does not make you an expert. I would like to ask didn't everyone have to use the shakes for weeks before your surgery? It seems like a lot of people are saying they started their shakes for the first time after surgery. I am kind of flabbergasted ( stupid word I know) that there are so many different programs and surgeons that can differ greatly their pre-surg regimen. Ive tried over 15 different kinds of powders and ready mades so far and im still a ways out. I know that some people change taste after surgery, that's fine, but if you didn't start shakes and drinks until after surgery, well, Someone let you down big time. Second thing that concerns me is people seem to go off their diets and eat or drink things they aren't supposed to. Why would you go through this and just arm yourself with failure? I mean everything from drinking regular Soup broth, on the liquids phase ( its a big no no from my team) to putting sweetened condensed milk in your shakes? that's pure sugar, worse its almost pure corn syrup, why not just squeeze in some hersheys chocolate too! Im very curious, my team when I first went in gave me a three ring binder full of guides, information, lists of shakes and drinks, schedules and more. Did I just get lucky or what? I assumed everyone did the research and got all this information ahead of time. Im not picking on anyone, what you do with your life is totally your decision period. I really am interested in the pre surg education, and Since I am determined to not fail, I am looking at all the traps and pitfalls, I truly believe forewarned is forearmed. Ive seen people complain they aren't losing enough weight, then they admit they aren't going to the gym or exercising at all. Do a lot of people secretly believe the surgery is a magic bullet? how many times is everyone told the surgery is just a tool, you still have to do the work. Im very confused, I know everydeals with things differently, but it seems like a lot of cheating going on. My surgeon told a story to me about a post op patient who wound up back in surgery after tearing their pouch, they went to mcdonalds on the way home from the hospital, and got chicken nuggets because they wanted to see if they would fit. For me, yes I know this is personal, but for me it seems like if youre going to go through this, I know its hard as hell, but please gove yourself every chance to succeed, its that old movie script saying "failure is not an option." Love you all, I wish you all well with your struggle. Be safe and be well.

no one can tell you about that relationship. But you definitely need to be you, the you that is a great mom, the you that doesn't have to be stared at, the you that wont have their daughters classmates refer to her mom as fatty fatty boom balatty. Not that they do now , but it certainly happens to people. Youre doing this for the right reasons.

why take in carbs when you don't have to.

oh and you don't have to eat until your full. eating less is the whole idea. So not feeling a restriction is good unless your overeating. you don't try to eat until youre full its a guide.

Par, you do know they make no carb low calorie Protein shakes that have more protein than you can possibly get eating anything else. I don't think you should be here telling people not to drink their protein, when you are not a MD or bariatric surgeon. You also drink coffee, and caffeine is a huge no no. Most people are not allowed to drink a whole bottle of Water. Youre post is extremely irresponsible. If you drink 5 Protein Shakes ( I use a 90 calorie per shake mix) I take in under 400 calories a day. Hardly high calorie. Protein like say chicken breast, has the following: Calories 100.0 Total Fat 1.0 g Saturated Fat 0.0 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g Cholesterol 60.0 mg Sodium 250.0 mg Potassium 0.0 mg Total Carbohydrate 0.0 g Dietary Fiber 0.0 g Sugars 0.0 g Protein 22.0 g Vitamin A 0.0 % Vitamin B-12 0.0 % Vitamin B-6 0.0 % Vitamin C 0.0 % Vitamin D 0.0 % Vitamin E 0.0 % Calcium 0.0 % Copper 0.0 % Folate 0.0 % Iron 0.0 % Magnesium 0.0 % Manganese 0.0 % Niacin 0.0 % Pantothenic Acid 0.0 % Phosphorus 0.0 % Riboflavin 0.0 % Selenium 0.0 % Thiamin 0.0 % Zinc One shake has the same or less calories, plus fiber and lots of Vitamins. AND it wont stretch your sleeve, which is a great thing. So I would avoid telling people to go against their doctors and nutritionists.

carbs can be a very bad thing indeed to overweight people. the brain uses very little in the way of added sugars or carbs, the body breaks down fats into usable compounds for the brain. That's the entire basis for losing weight and WLS surgery. adding sugars to someone after WLS is the dumbest thing you can do.

way to go!! you are proof we can make it. Thank you for being you!!

well I am doing a lot of taste test videos on my blog. I am right now trying the nectar Caribbean cooler mixed with some frozen mango strawberries and pineapple mixed with diet iced tea and blended, oh its heaven. but the regular powders and drinks are in video format on my blog. I will be added a few more taste test videos later today. http://cuttingthefatwithaknife.blogspot.com

im ordering up some unjury this weekend so the taste test for those will be late next week. If anyone has problems viewing my videos and wishes to see them, feel free to let me know along with an email or I can upload them to a fileshare site for you. email might work best but totally up to you. Have a great Halloween, and we can all do this. We have the power!

if youre on a mac or an ipad you might have issues they play in adobe flash format. let me get a list together for you. I starting a new product taste test tomorrow called abouttime, fill, shake and go. its a plastic bottle with the powder already inside you can carry it like that and then fill when you need one and toss it away when your done. its a neat idea and have 4 flavors to try . ill send you t the results as well.

Well I have done a little research on it. Two things worry me. The first is that itrequire two scoops per 8 ounces, it also has lots of weird extras in it like phenyalanine, and tryptophan, togther this has a laxative effect. So be careful. I guess that's why their add says it eliminates bad foods. The second and most problematic for me, is it says you can only take this once a day. Evidently the additives that worried me are too strong to take more then once , probably would make the laxative effect a bit strong shall we say. Here is the guidelines I have from my nutritionist and surgeron, Protein powders and rinks shouls have more than 15 grams of protein per 8 ounces and less then 4 carbs, no caffeine, no laxatives either. I tast test several commonly available ones on my blog if you would like to see the videos. AT http://cuttingthefatwithaknife@blogspot.com good luck, you can do this! and ask anything anytime this is a helpful place.