BigViffer

Nah, I can't tell a difference. Pretty much every personality I trust agrees that monohydrate is the best way to go if you are going to do creatine. And it doesn't have to be the expensive brand either. Bodytech is what I was using and I think it was like $10. Supplementation is only really necessary when you cannot obtain the results naturally. I cannot get in the 150-200 grams of protein I need for my lifting regimen so I supplement protein. I do use BCAA's because I tend to take a while to recover. I tried creatine again late last year and cycled on/off on 30 day stints. The only difference I truly saw with the creatine was jitteriness and water weight gain.

Creatine is a difficult supplement for me. It gives me monster headaches because it requires you to drink a ton of Water. It's hard on the kidneys if you don't increase your Fluid intake properly. You had best be peeing clear if you are taking creatine. It's also not meant to give you energy (they aren't calories to be burned). BCAA's are just taken to be used in tissue repair more quickly than a complete Protein that must be broken apart before use. As to when you can start taking them, that would depend on your lifting regimen. If you are just doing a circut routine, you don't need them. If you are seriously training, go ahead and start. Until you are lifting at a stage where you need 24-48 hours to recover though, there is no point. In regards to the loading phase, I've heard it both ways. I've tried it both way. I don't see a difference personally. The one thing for sure is that creatine never gave me a permanant change. As soon as I stopped taking it, the mass I gained went away. Probably because it is mostly just water being held by the body. If you have any issue with your blood sugar, be wary of creatine. If you have issues with your blood pressue, be wary of creatine. If you have a history of headaches be wary of creatine. If you have trouble hitting your fluid intake, don't even consider taking creatine.

At this stage of the game, there is no need for supplementation. You aren't going to be performing at a level that will require BCAA'S or lucine or anything like that. What you will need is a complex carb like shredded wheat, bran or oatmeal. A second of those will give you a safer and more natural source of energy. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

This topic had been discussed ad nauseam. It's bad for a number of reasons. Death due to bleeding being the one I remember happening since I've been here. I always chuckle when people say they know what they've done is wrong, but don't want to here anything bad about it. Posting something about imbibing a barbiturate, depressant, and blood thinner all rolled into one is something that should be mention as a very bad idea. Glad you're not seriously hurt, but I hope you don't do it again for a while. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

Never was a fan of PB2, it just had this weird aftertaste. Hope you get this figured out though. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

Quite welcome Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

Actually very common. Depending how far you are out it could be as simple as too big of a drink that you tried to swallow. It could also be too cold of a drink and your stomach spasmed. Since there is very little room, it goes out the pat of least resistance which is back up the esophagus. If it really is only when you burp, it means you are getting too much air with your drink. It can happen with a straw or a can in my experience. The burp bring the fluid up through the esophagus for that wonderful second tasting experience. Only thing I can offer is take the drink and hold it in your mouth until you seperate the air from the fluid, then swallow and blow out the air immediately afterwards. I do this when I am very hot outside and took way to big of a gulp of my water.

At 2 years out I wouldn't even bother trying to finish that plate. Turkey and cranberry would be gone though, that is for sure! @bariboy - I can see where you are coming from. However, I don't put much weight in other peoples opinions except for very close family and those are the ones that are always the most supportive. I am betting that if you are a really big guy, you probably have some back issue, blood sugar related issue, cholesterol... something. Anytime there is a family gathering and you feel uncomfortable, tell them you are having blood work in the morning or something like that and you are supposed to be fasting or something. They usually don't think twice about it. However, once you start losing weight quickly it will be impossible to avoid the questions. So you'll need to think how to continue after that.

jesus... I absolutely hate how this website turns every word into an URL to the store. I inserted only on URL and that was to the Protizyme product. Please ignore the others.

While I agree that a really good peanut butter is hard to beat, the macro's make it hard to indulge in it without guilt. On average, pure peanut butter is 185 calories per 7g carbs, 16g fat, and 8g protein per ounce. If we take the 64 ounces that you had over 10 days, that breaks down per day like so: Calories: 1,184 Carbs: 44.8 Fat: 102.4 Protein: 51.2 Now I have gone through many protein powders and peanut powders, and in MY opinion the one that is the best tasting and or closest to tasting like real peanut butter is Metabolic Nutrition Protizyme Protein Peanut Butter Cookie. Whether you want to mix it with smoothies, milk, or make a protein cake out of it, it is the best in MY opinion. If you were to use that protein powder instead of the real butter, it would break down roughly like this: Calories: 864 Carbs: 19.2 Fat: 19.2 Protein: 153.6 As a note, the serving size for the powder is 35 grams (1.24-ish ounces) If I just want a bowl of goopy peanut butter, I will add hazelnut coffee creamer to one scoop of the powder just to get it wet but not a cake batter. Microwave for 15 seconds and you have a very passable peanut butter.

I'm with @blizair09, those are staples of my diet. So far then only thing that I hated prior to surgery and still hate is cantaloupe. FIsh never bothered my before, but now I find that I crave it. eggs are so darn versatile that they are a great way to mix up what could be a monotonous diet. Inversely, things that I thought I would miss dearly and literally mourned the loss my first month, I don't even remember why I loved them so much. My wifes biscuits and gravy was my favorite food ever. It was my "last meal" so to speak. I had it maybe about a year ago and it was just bread and gravy. No emotional response. You will be shocked at how your views on what foods are satisfying or appealing will change if you truly commit to a lifestyle change.

Depending on the surgery, the stretchy part of of the stomach (the fundus) is removed (sleeve) or bypassed (bypass). Therefore it is not possible to stretch the stomach again. However! Once the scar tissue has fully healed, the stomach that remains does regain some pliability. I would liken it to a garden hose in the winter versus the same hose in the summer. On a properly performed surgery, when people say that their stomach has stretched, most likely what has happened is that the pylorus (for sleeves) or the created opening to the intestine (bypass) has been weakened and/or stretched and food can move from the stomach or pouch into the intestine quicker allowing for more food to be consumed. To make the myth worse is the fact that doctors/surgeons will put the above into "laymans terms" for their patients. Thus perpetuating the belief that you can stretch your sleeve by eating poorly or too much or drinking carbonated beverages.

Not normal as in being common place, but it is definitely not rare. This could be a good sign that you are going to have an easy recovery. I know that in the early recovery stage there is some lack of sensation in the skin as well as numbness in the stomach. It can be confusing to people because they are expecting a sensation of fullness but the signal is being sent because the stomach is numb. This is one reason that measuring your food is so important early on. We can't rely on the sensation or signals being sent so close post op. There is also the confusion between actual physical hunger and habitual eating or boredom hunger.

You talking about these: https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Protein-Variety-Chocolate-Peanut/dp/B01126O3OY/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1488059942&sr=8-3&keywords=Pure%2BProtein%2BBars&th=1 Those are actually a pretty well trusted name in protein supplementation. The only negative I know of is the amount of sugar alcohols contained in them. If you were to too many bars too soon together, it could cause abdominal discomfort or diarrhea. Nothing too horrific, but we used to have a saying amongst the vets here, "Never trust a fart". It was because a lot of the foods we start introducing can cause that reaction. So I don't think there is any reason to doubt the validity of these bars nutritional claims. I cycle through my bars pretty regularly. These, Think Thin, Kirkland, and Cliff Builder Bars. Every once in a while I'll get a Met-RX too, but those are complete meal replacements, 400 - 480 calories!

Completely depends on your workout. The longer and more intense cardio would call for oatmeal. A prolonged weightlifting session would call for oatmeal and maybe BCAA's. Other than BCAA's and perhaps creatine monohydrate, there is nothing you "need" . It's mostly marketing of simple carbs and caffeine. Creatine is one to keep an eye on though, you will retain Water and gain weight with it. If you don't drink enough water, you will also get horrific headaches and put serious strain on your kidneys. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

This is totally normal. The emotional effect of losing a support mechanism can usually manifest about this stage in the recovery. Some people (like me) it, was frustration and anger. Others were the blues or depression. At this point of your recovery, massive amounts of hormones are being dumped into your bloodstream from the fat reserves that you are burning right now. Yes it gets better, it will just take some time. The most important thing to do (IMO) is to recognize right now how emotionally attached you are to crappy food. I don't mean that insultingly, but your examples are business that make their money buy purchasing the lowest quality ingredients as cheaply as possible and resell them for as much as the market will bear. Business. Bread and pastas are some of the cheapest foodstuffs to make and tortillas and chips probably aren't far behind that. I know, they were my favorite foods too. Hopefully soon you will realize that you and your health are worth more than the pan pizza The Hut was dishing out.

In this case, I was merely quoting the tagline they have on their lid. All I care about is that the protein is high for the serving size honestly. As far as a "rule", I kind a 10% rule. If the food has 200 calories, it needs to have about 20 grams of protein. Thats just my thing, it was never told to me by a doctor or anything. Back to Siggi's, I am the only one in this house who likes it. It's even thicker than Fage. It's borderline soft cheese!

Big fan of it! More protein than sugar. I don't recommend the orange ginger one. Real weird. The rest are awesome. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

You would be better off starting your own thread asking that question rather than posting it randomly in a thread that has nothing to do with dumping. But since I am here, I can say that you are not dumping. If you truly have not eaten in anything in that time it is not possible to experience dumping syndrome. More than likely you are hypoglycemic and/or dehydrated and feel awful because of that. If you are pre-op like your profile says, it is even more unlikely that you are experiencing dumping syndrome.

Unfortunately this is going to be very unique to the patient. I was puny for quite a while. I couldn't even push a shopping cart on a polished floor for a couple weeks. Dragging a cart uphill would be pretty daunting. However, there were some poeple on here who literally after a weeks time said they felt completely normal. I think they ust wore a compression wrap around the abdomen while working. If you turn out like me and are puny post op, there is the option of having Amazon deliver your heavy things like cat litter. Make them carry it up the hill!

Lettuce is pretty worthless actually. Many nutritionist say to ignore it and just get the good stuff (the salad toppings) or more robust greens like kale, cabbage, and spinach. The downside to these tougher greens is that they are not as flavor neutral as lettuce. They are an acquired taste. Though once you acquire it, going back to any lettuce is bland.

@Middus - as usual, you seem to be able to intuit the point easily. Really glad to newer members like you on the forum.

Now the corn catches my eye. I cannot eat corn anymore. I have tried popcorn when desperate and it was ok, but regular corn does not sit well at all. I believe it is because the outside of the kernel doesn't get digested, but that is only a hypothesis.

Calm down, no one is judging and no one is insinuating your are wreaking havoc on the honeymoon. @Montana Gal only mentioned the often used phrase honeymoon phase in reference to the first year post op. She even gave encouragement by saying "you could do this". No one is questioning your humanity nor are they saying they are perfect. Me in particular, I am not judging any one because it makes no difference to me. Whether anyone succeeds or fails post op affects me not at all. I brought up the point in case the OP did not realize that dumplings are not really the best choice for any bariatric patient. You amy read my past posts and see that I generally only try to be helpful and not start tiffs on the forum. If she or you choose to have dumplings or biscuits knowing full well they are poor nutritional choices merely because you are wanting to test the waters, I'll just store that away and remember it for the inevitable questions that come next and then ignore them.

I don't have it often, perhaps once a month, but it as never caused me any issues. How was it prepared? What else came with it? Is this the first time you have eaten salmon since surgery? Few more details please.