OKCPirate

I'll go along with that @@Bufflehead said except the nuts. My initial gut reaction was "umm Water." but I would add chicken wings. I like to put chicken on a skewer and have the grilled chicken to munch on. You can really snack well on great quality Protein and it doesn't cost that much.

@@NewAdventure2016 - well the plus is at that point you can grab a "muscle milk" Protein shake at nearly any vendor at the airport. $4 and you have 30% of your protein for the day. I wouldn't want to do it every day, but once in a while, it keeps you going.

@@LowBMISleever - Yes, esp. B vitamins. But it also could be that you are getting some extra testosterone because of the fat loss. Extra B's won't kill you, but its worth monitoring because of your sleep.

@@pixystix0116 - I can only share my experience, everyone is the same in that we are all VERY different. So with that said, let me tell you what I did to prep...I walked for at least an hour every day. I went to the gym 3x a week to lift. I was very faithful two weeks before surgery on the diet, got rid of alcohol, caffeine et. al. Surgery day came, because I was in as good shape as I could get. Surgery took less than 30 minutes. I was up and walking within minutes. The first day was rough only because of the dang IV and the drain plug. After both were removed I didn't need any pain killers. Would walk all the time. I had the surgery on a Tuesday. Flew home Friday morning (added an extra day, because I always plan for the worst case). But Saturday I went to an University of Oklahoma football game and my son's fraternity "Dad's Day" celebration. So pain on surgery day 1 - eh 5, after that 1-2. So much better than when my appendix burst. That took nearly six weeks to recover from.

@@NewAdventure2016 - I had to go to a business conference for a couple of days while I was on liquids. I just told the banquet staff, all I want is soup...and I'm sitting here. They took care of it. No one at the table mentioned it. With so many people on different diets because of food allergies or they are intolerant to various fools no one wants to mention it these days.

@@Hiraeth Fair

@@Hiraeth - well that sucks almost as much as me almost eating peanuts on the flight home from my surgery . Push it out with more Water. If you have been doing everything else right and you tell you doctor you should be fine. BUT it is a great reminder to BE MINDFUL. just saying

@@Hiraeth - because she should. She is going to permanently alter her body. I would be nervous if I was going to get a tattoo (I'm not, but if you ain't nervous the first time, go home and sleep it off). @@jaycass - I expect every one is due at least three or four freak out moments before surgery. It's ok. You will have more. If you get to the point where you don't think this should be an option, read this post...http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/195065-you-know-you-lost-weight-when/ Good luck, feel free to let us know when you are feakin, every single person on the losers bench felt it, and we are here to help.

Might want to check with the surgeon, but I think the decaf might be a no go, only because of the acid. Not sure, it is a question, not an absolute, but worth checking on. I just like chocolate no sugar powder from GNC, I'll put in some vanilla yogurt and some Peanut Butter powder. I started adding coffee after week 6.

Hope it does, done

@@fatgirlsvelte - NOTE TO SELF, quit letting the interns write the questions. If you let them, proof their work. That is all.

And going along with what I said above, a pound of muscle actually takes less energy to maintain than fat. It makes evolutionary sense when you think about it. If there is surplus and you have enough food for fat, your bod gets less efficient. If you start sliding into 10-15% body fat range, your body gets VERY efficient.

@@Seastars - I am going to suggest something very contrarian to your NUT and surgeon on your calorie goals. This is based on a couple of things I have found on the weight loss paradox that lead many of us to yo-yo on our weights: 1) From the HBO Special Weight of the Nation and summarized here (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?_r=0) in order to lose and keep it off, you might need to eat far fewer carlories than "normal people." That is what I am finding. When I look at what I ate and what I eat and what I eat to maintain, it is really low. [side note, eating below your calories is actually good for long term longevity, please Google, if you disagree, PM I'll look up my research on it again] 2) My GF is a much better athlete than me. Her resting heart rate is 50. When we calculated how many calories she burns vs what I do, it isn't close. And that is part of the athlete paradox. If you have a highly functioning metabolism, it is highly efficient and again you need far fewer calories than one might expect. I wish I had kept the article, but I'll never forget it...I saw it in Men's Health, there was this fat triathlete. This guy was world class, but he was fat and 50. No one could figure out why, until someone started monitoring him when he wasn't working out. The guy had no inefficient movement. He didn't jitter. He didn't even cross his legs. When he wasn't working out he was still. He was perfectly minimally efficient. So, may I suggest, you go back to your support team with this idea, see if they think it has merit. Your base metabolic rate may be way below the norm and even with 60-90 minute cardio, you may using fewer calories than most.

@@fatgirlsvelte - I guess they are the professionals, so they know this to be true. But really? What professional would write that question?

Thanks - this does not bring me joy! LOL Forewarned is forearmed. I didn't really know about it until several month post surgery. I could not figure out why I found myself wanting to watch chick flicks when the estrogen was oozing out, but it was comforting to realize I wasn't becoming a wus. I wish I had known about the testosterone boost. Geez, It was dang potent stuff. I had sex three times one day (I'm a 53 year old guy, but I was behaving like a randy teenage boy...but it was fun). Many ladies experience a similar rush. So try to get your significant other in shape when it happens. They might actually put up with your pre-op and liquid phase diet moodiness.

@@ajdavenport - Good luck and let us know how it goes. Your back will be much happier lighter. Ft. Sam is one of the better facilities, but it you can afford the $4000, I'd do it in Mexico, just saying. Much fewer hoops, great results, VA won't penalize you for getting it done elsewhere so if there are complications, you get them taken care of here. Your call. Thanks for your service. I hope you had as much fun as I did when I was in uniform.

@@Candygyrl - Yep, sounds like you were seduced. Some guys are predatory and they seem to spot low hanging fruit, not saying this was the case, but I've seen it. Now recovering from an affair is hard and it does require a great deal of investment. An affair to a woman is very different than it is to a man. His hurt is that you disrespected him. That would not be your hurt if the situation was reversed. So please look at it from his perspective. (And this is interesting, nearly every book I see about recovering from infidelity and healing is from a woman's perspective. Guys who have been cheated on seem to leave, kill, or get over it. I'm sure there are exceptions, but not much written about it.). At least you are not being tempted at this point. So you don't have lust playing with your emotions. But you have body issues as well as healing in the relationship. Those are two very different things. Deal with these separately. If hubby suspects you are losing weight so the 22 year old's will keep coming, he is going to resent any positive change. If you succeed at losing and he knows this, well it would be difficult to keep going IMHO. I am not one to judge because to me monogamy is not natural. Never has been. I've met very few people that have only slept with one person ever. And when I have they have all been that way because of perceived social pressures, not because they were not tempted. I was faithfully married for 21 years. It has only been post marriage where I started really re-examining my beliefs towards marriage. With my ex, we had negotiated complete fidelity within the marriage. I won't do that, nor expect in future relationship. I am completely happy with it now, but this has been a subject I have discussed with my significant other, and we are coming to a meeting of the minds in this area. I am of the mind that relationships should not be ruined because of sex. In the course of the marriage, kids happen, too much work happens and one partner can just lose interest...does that mean you have to rip up a relationship because one has needs and the other doesn't? It is worth discussing down the road, but for now you have some healing to do. Good luck.

Mathmatical Evidence for Finding the Right Person This is an interesting TED talk on the math of romance... https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_fry_the_mathematics_of_love?language=en#t-699041 Great reason why bald guys should never wear hats and why you should not try to hide things which might make you appear unattractive. Looking absolutely perfect will result in few contacts because most potential suitors will say "oh what's the point, I am not going to humiliate myself." Very much worth watching just for that.

It worked very well for me, but it really depends on where you live. If you live in sparsely populated place, or with low internet penetration, it just wont work well. The last web stats I saw was Match.com was 60% female. Tinder though is 2 guys to every woman: https://mic.com/articles/110774/two-thirds-of-tinder-users-are-men-here-s-why#.u29TpoB5v Good Washinton Post article on creating a profile that is credible: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/02/researchers-have-figured-out-the-one-thing-not-to-do-in-your-online-dating-profile/?wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

Very good article on how to design a believable profile for online dating in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/08/02/researchers-have-figured-out-the-one-thing-not-to-do-in-your-online-dating-profile/?wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1

@@TracyBar - The hormone dump lasts about as long the major weight loss is happening (testosterone and estrogen are stored in the fat). Then you get a big testosterone boost because estrogen levels drop when you lose weight. That effect can also last a 1-3 months.

@@J_Lynn77 - hmm, what changed? Are you tracking? By tracking I mean exercise and every bit of food and drink. Be hard on yourself for a while. I gained four pounds this last quarter...it ticked me off. BUT I realized that I have been really slacking on my exercise. OK, that will make it happen. Having some data points actually helps to make better calls.

@@darima77 - THIS IS A JOKE....Just spread a rumor that you have gotten heavily into crack cocaine, That will at least end the WLS talk. And when you don't lose your teeth the rumors will stop.

Good luck, are you a dependent or active duty? (And thanks for your service. The stay at home spouse sacrifices as much as the other...umm I was the other ). Look hard at there rate of infections. I found the self pay in Mexico had much lower rates of post opp infections than most government facilities in the states according to http://theific.org when I looked into this a couple of years ago. Which is why I picked those facilities.

If you are an American, HIPAA law prevents your employer or future employer from being able to access your medical record. No medical practice would go giving out that information unless they want to get sued. It is against the law. Sent from my Nexus 10 using the BariatricPal App Ummm, Horse S**t. Sorry, HIPPA was wiped out in 2009 when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was passed. One of the provisions was an automation of doctor and hospital records via federal grants to state hospital associations. The public reason was "well it will make it easier for people's medical records to be shared with other medical providers in case of emergency." And that is a dang lie. If you want more information than you ever want on this, I am very sure I can prove that assertion. For the purposes of this discussion, if you have serious drug/alcohol or psychiatric problems and you think the government, law enforcement or big pharma doesn't know it, you are wrong if you have third party coverage. What this means is even though you think your attempts to get help won't or can't be used to keep you from purchasing a firearm in the future, hurt your job prospects, create difficulty getting insurance and professional licening et. al. YOU ARE FLAT OUT WRONG. That patient privacy/HIPPA form that you sign is not worth the paper it is printed on. I self pay and have to work very hard to keep my information out of that system. NOTE: you might ask, why do I care? I really don't give a rip about being one more data point in a government data base, but my ex-wife is a government employee (and bi-polar) and she has access to the whole dang database. She illegally tracks everything I do on the system and let's my kids know everything about my medical history, with the hope of embarrassing me. I don't want her, or anyone else to know. So I work very hard to keep it private. I switched to a non-ObamaCare insurance plan. My doctor is not on the state electronic record system. Most of my pharmaceuticals are purchased from other countries because its cheaper, and no one has a record. So the assertion that it's ok to get help with drug and alcohol problems because "the government will protect your privacy" is VERY, DANGEROUSLY wrong. Sorry. That's a fact and I will gladly defend my position to anyone who wants more info. But this isn't a political site,so I don't want to get too far afield on this, so please if you disagree or want more info please PM.