NikkiDoc

The whole month of October I was 161 or 162 but my clothes were fitting looser. Finally Nov 1st 159.4 and kept it there today. I didn't make goal but at least finally made it out of the 160s.

I personally like both Matrix and Nectars. My surgeon's office sells both so I would take that as an endorsement by them. I have read that the human body cannot digest more than a certain amount of Protein at a time. The numbers I have seen vary from 20-30 grams. What I recall is that most of the studies regarding the high protein at one meal was done for body builders. That having higher amounts of protein per meal did not result in better building om muscle mass. It seems to me that this has then been twisted into the thought that we cannot absorb/digest more than X grams of protein per meal. I have not been able to find legit research that has been done to document how much protein is too much protein per meal as it applies to normal everyday people not body builders and their goals. I certainly have not been able to find how it relates to bariatric patients. Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and may be way off base with what I am reading. If somebody has a link to research on how much protein is too much protein from a legit source I would love to read it.

You do not need a crock pot to make the chili. You can use a pot on the stove. I just bring it up to a light boil and then reduce to low. I stir frequently. I sometimes find with things like meatballs, chili, lasagne that I don't like it as much Day 1 as I do the next day. I think it takes time for the flavors to blend. For my chili I have used fresh tomatoes if I happen to have them, or Rotel which is diced tomatoes which has green chili peppers in it, or canned diced tomatoes or canned stewed tomatoes. It all depends on my mood. I also use tomato sauce as my base. FYI- green chili peppers are really pretty mild. Chili is fun to play with. I have added sauteed onions, sauteed carrots, a little canned corn, sauteed celery. I have used ground beef, ground turkey or turkey tenderloin. I cooked the tenderloin in the chili. Once fully cooked I took it out and chopped it up and added it back to the chili. We have Cash Converters in our area which are basically pawn shops and they frequently have crock pots for pretty cheap. I am not sure if a regular pawn shop would have them.

I like both Syntrax products: Matrix and Nectars. I don't know if they are available in Canada but I get them through the internet from various sources. You can order samples from a few places.

Not at all since my surgeon doesn't use them. I had sleeve and hiatal hernia repair at the same time, too.

I think I waited until about 8 or 9 weeks post op. I tried a filet. I have had filet, ribeye and a good sirloin since then. I eat my steak really rare. Come to think of it I like my fish that way too. Yum, sushi.

I am not the OP. But oh how I wish I was a candidate for something like that. Regretfully I get blood clots from BC pills. I got them when I was only 19, was only about 15 pounds over weight and was never a smoker. I just can't take the chance with my history. OP- I have read that since the body stores all kinds of hormones in your fat cells that you can wind up with heavier periods during your rapid weight loss phases. I have read of people that were newly menopausal when they had WLS surgery getting Aunt Flo back for a bit.

I sleeved on 2/2/2015. My surgeon was Dr. Kacmarski. I have been very happy with him. He has been willing to answer all of my questions. I never feel rushed. Even better I had an uneventful surgery and recovery so far. I was inpatient at Barix Clinic. I was the only patient on that floor. I had 2 full RN's to myself. both night and day. Most of these nurses had 10+ years at this facility and two had 26 years of nursing. They were good at keeping me informed of what to expect. They were patient. They pushed me when I needed to be pushed. It is a shame that the owners prefer to not advertise. Apparently they used to be constantly full. Now not so much. A number of the local big name hospital now have bariatric programs. Lots of ads on the radio. I chose Barix Clinic since they only do the Bariatric surgeries for the inpatient stays. No sick people to pick up germs from. The staff has years of experience. They know what is normal for a bariatric patient and what is not. While I appreciated the dedicated attention it was a shame to see such a nice facility under utilized. My only complaint was no Wi-Fi. If I watched TV I would not have been happy with the size of the TVs or the channel selections. I didn't turn it one once so not an issue for me.

I use Matrix vanilla. I add thawed No Sugar Added- peaches, strawberries, mangos. I add DaVinci SF syrups in caramel, gingerbread, brown sugar/cinnamon, Peanut Butter. I have Matrix peanut butter cookie that is good. My coworker uses Matrix Orange cream. She makes it with milk and OJ. I guess you could make the vanilla shake with half milk and half OJ for an orange creamsicle. I drink my Water with MIO and I found another brand that has caramel flavor and vanilla flavor. I think they are to add to coffee but I added the caramel to the Protein shake. I guess I could add the fruit MIO's to the protein shake for various flavors. I liked the Nectars brand of shakes too.

I found some by Warner at Kohl's. I think they are labeled for muffin top control. It has a nice wide band of lace across the top. They come in a ton of colors. I find them very comfortable with one exception. I have a horse and after a 3+ hour trail ride I got a bit of a rub from the overlap on the seam on the leg band at the lower part of my butt. I wear a Fruit of the Loom hot weather perforated one for riding now. Not sexy just functional.

I fly fairly regularly for my job, about once a month on average. I flew in mid August from Philadelphia to Dallas and back. No problems. No flights in September. Last week I flew from Philadelphia to Manchester, NH and back. On both flights TSA told me my groin area lit up. I was then patted down from belly button to tops of thighs, including between the thighs. My left wrist also was checked. Only in Manchester, NH did they also swab me for explosives. I had the sleeve and hiatal hernia repair. At first I was thinking maybe my surgeon used a mesh to repair the hernia that was setting off the detectors. However, the more I thought about that the less likely it seemed. I also had ACL reconstruction about 9 years ago and have 2 very large screws in my knee and they don't trigger the detector. If the screws don't trigger it I can't imagine that hernia mesh would. I also don't think my hernia was bad enough to require mesh. I carry my remaining weight largely in my abdomen and I have two rolls, apron and pannis, plus a little hanging skin on the tops of the thighs. My husband thinks the rolls and saggy skin show up on the advanced detector strange and somehow look like a bomb belt or something. Anybody have any thoughts or insights on why I would be suddenly needing a pat down by TSA?

I don't resent the pat down. I know they are just doing their job. Sometimes I think the TSA person is more uncomfortable about it than I am. Or they are anticipating getting flak for the pat down. I generally like a good "personal bubble". I don't really like talking to somebody that wants to stand in that personal space and being in crowds can get me a bit weirded out. But for some reason I quick pat down by TSA is no big deal.

I know I am late to this thread but I understand. Hubby and I remodeled the kitchen last summer. We were our own contractors except the granite install. It took about a month. We also have pets so going elsewhere was not feasible. Hubby took down our textured ceiling. It was 600 pounds of drywall to the dump and presumably 600 pounds of drywall to replace the ceiling. We put in recessed LED lights while we had the ceiling down. I got a cheap microwave from CL and put it in the living room and we worked around the fridge. Our regular micro is an over the stove/counter model. There was nothing to attach it to. I couldn't be a whole month without the fridge or micro. I am sure you will ve very happy once it is done. I now love my kitchen and I hope you love yours too.

OP's husband? or mine? Mine is not. I had a history of GERD and decided to have the endscopy redone just to be on the safe side. My surgeon actually only required an upper GI and a copy of my endoscopy report from a few years prior. I thought is was 3 years prior but it was almost 5. My surgeon ordered a breath test for the h pylori that is fasting and done through Quest or one of those types of lab places. I had it done at the same time as my pre-op blood work. The breath test is you blow in Bag A, drink solution, wait for a couple of minutes with mouth closes- no talking or mouth breathing, blow into Bag B. Bag A is your baseline. My gastroenterologist did the biopsy and the h pylori test because she does for anyone that has an endoscopy.

That is weird that they found it after your surgery. I had a breath test as part of my lab work that was required by my surgeon pre-op. I also had it done as part of my endoscopy pre-op. I would have had to treat and get it cleared up prior to surgery being scheduled.

161.4 It does not look like I will make my goal. I am stuck right around this 162 mark. I will be gone all week for business which always makes exercise and eating right hard.

I used Nexium both both before and after the surgery. Mine was RX and then went generic so my copay went down. Yippee. Prilosec is a brand of Omeprazole. Nexium is esomeprazole. I am assuming from the names they are all the same class. If you are using omeprazole already I would try the Nexium. Some people supplement with Tums too. You might be able to use Zantac with the omeprazole it is not a PPI. Active ingredient is ranitidine. The Zantac website has some coupons

My surgeon recommends subligual B-12. He does not feel that the injectable B12 is better. There is research that shows that for most people subligual is absorbed just as well as the shots. I was taking subligual B-12 everyday. When I had my follow-up bloodwork I was high on my B12 numbers so now take it every other day. My multivitamin has Vitamin D and Iron. I take a separate Calcium that also had D. I use Celebrate brand for all three. I get them on-line. I am not sure if they are available outside the US. My surgeon's office sells Bariatric Advantage brand so that may be an option too.

163.8 this week. I missed last week as I was traveling

I had not heard of this. However my surgeon had me on Actigall for the first 5 months after surgery to prevent gallstones during the rapid weight loss period.

My work had a clothing drive for a women's shelter. They wanted business casual and dress clothes for women to interview in and to go to work in an office setting. When I outshrunk my next batch I tried to find a consignment store with no luck, tried to sell on Craigslist some big totes of clothes with no luck, I could not get ThredUp's link to get shipping bag to work. Finally I posted them on here. I gave away 4 big totes to another BariatricPal member. I think she is going to share with another BariatricPal member that is close to her. I just gave the clothes to her. She was really nice and sent me a text wearing one of the skirts. I was just happy to have them go to good use.

My surgeon's plan was 10 days of 3-4 Protein shakes a day, broth, SF drinks, SF popsicles. I started mine about a week before the 10 days by replacing some of my meals with protein skakes. I had already given up caffeine and diet soda. I figured it would be easier to ease myself into an all liquid diet. It seemed to work for me as I was never hungry during the pre-op diet.

I was 165.6 Monday morning. I forgot to post yesterday. GW 152

Week 4 I started soft foods. One of the first things I had was the Ahi Tuna appetizer from Outback. It is basically raw tuna sliced thin. I did not eat the cabbage. I did not have sushi with rice until more like 3 months. I generally try to avoid the rice and just go with sashimi or pick the fish off the top of the blob of rice. I prefer the fish to be sliced thinner than it is for sashimi.

I live in Pottstown, PA and work in Wilmington, DE. I will be in Elkton, MD at Fair Hill the weekend of Sept 18-20th. I can deliver. I have 2 big totes of clothes I have shrunk out of. They are mostly business casual and some jeans. The pants are mostly 16 short, the tops are XL. There are some 18s, and 2X that slipped through the last purge. There are a some skirts and dresses, some shorts that are likely 18/20, some blazers. Clothes are from Sears, Boscovs, a few are Walmart. I have 2 smaller totes of long sleeve t-shirts and sweaters. These are primarily XL with a few stray XXL or L. I will deliver. I am frequently up in Oley, PA. I can deliver anywhere between Pottstown and Wilmington. I can deliver up to Oley or Reading area. These are free so must take all the clothes. (Totes not included) Please note: smoke free house, all clothes are clean and in good repair. I do have cats and dogs. Flea free house but I can guarantee you will find the occasional pet hair. I will likely be going to Ephrata and Hershey the first weekend in October so could deliver along that corridor during that week- although I would prefer they disappear before then.