BigViffer

Nice to have you back @KindaFamiliar. 12 grams of carbs is insane! You must feel pretty damned lethargic without something in the tank to burn. Carbs are nothing to be afraid of when they are eaten properly. Oats, bran, shredded wheat, sweet potato, fresh fruits; all of these are OK'ed by my surgeon. The key is to only eat the daily recommended amount. Which incidentally is usually about the same as your Protein intake. My intake over the last week has been 100 - 200 grams per day. My protein intake is about the same as well. Of course I am also very active in the weight room and I need those carbs to give me enough energy to finish the workout. If you are trying to lose weight still, low carb is fine. Dangerously low carb is impossible to keep up long term though. Are you working out at all? Reason I ask is because I have to really try hard to gain weight at this point. Let me rephrase that, I am finding it difficult to find HEALTHY nutrient & caloric rich foods to help me gain muscle mass. If you are hitting it hard at the gym and keeping your intake the same, those last few pounds/kilos will start coming off again.

If you are on pain meds, I'd bet a dime to dollar that is what is causing your constipation. Oxycotin and Hydrocodone are like cement mixers to my bowels.

I don't remember when I started eating them, but I eat pork rinds all the time. They were on my list of recommended foods as an alternative to chips and crackers. The only chip I have ever really liked is tortilla chips with salsa, but I don't use them for that (I use celery). But I eat pork rinds frequently now with my hummus. In my opinion, when your surgeon says you are cleared for all foods, then give them a try. There is no rush to experiment right now.

For those of you that lift heavy or train hard, how are you getting in enough calories to fuel your activity? I peaked a few months ago on my major lifts and I just cannot make any gains. Everything I am reading, and the professionals that I have spoken to have said that increased food consumption is the only thing I am not doing. I cannot build muscle if I am burning everything I am taking in. I have my 2 year follow up appointment with my surgeon coming up next month and I plan on asking him about Gold Standard Pro Gainer: http://www.optimumnutrition.com/en_US/products/pro-gainer The nutrition label is pretty good and not loaded with unnecessary carbs. 60grams of Protein in one scoop is impressive to say the least. But the healthy fats and needed carbs push up the caloric value much higher than just my normal protein powders. Does anyone have experience that I can take to my surgeon as a discussion topic?

Just beautiful! You've done a fantastic job. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

lol, oh man... you DO NOT want to know how bad the bathroom trip is going to be the first time you have that AFTER you are cleared for it.

Where are the pictures of the truck?!

Pork Rinds. Learn to love them. Eat them with hummus for variety of flavor.

I'll give you a piece of advice. Watch slapstick comedies and fast paced action films. Basically chewing gum for the eyes. Whatever you do, don't watch anything dramatic, sentimental, romantic, or existential. When I was recovering, I watched Paulie with my daughters. You know the movie? Has a parrot that can really talk... regardless, I was blurry eyed and lumpy throated the entire fricken movie. I didn't cry at my own brothers funeral but I am crying because a fictitious bird misses a little girl. Ugh.

@@Bufflehead - yep, that would do it for me too!

Totally agree with @@Bufflehead, Fage & Siggi's are great. But every once in a while once you are further out and if you are hitting the gym pretty hard and need the carbs, Noosa is a special treat. I love the pumpkin one personally.

See, I was cool before it was en vogue.

I think of that episode every single time. No sh_t. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

Me personally, I never had issue with either of those. But depending on how your surgery was performed your surgeon may want you to wait. That is something that the assistants at the office should be able to answer for you. Hemp hearts are an excellent choice BTW!

I am prone to my blood sugar getting too low post workout. But I have found that if I eat proper amounts of a complex carb like oats or shredded wheat about 20 minutes before working out, I do not dip so low. Those carbs take longer to break down and will not cause dumping like post workout juice.

I cannot speak from personal experience of course, but I would imagine that this would be completely unique to the individual. I've eaten too quickly and had severe gas pain from gulping air. Some people do not seem to have that issue. If you do not suffer from gas pains frequently, I would imagine that it would be fine. If like me air/gas is still problematic at almost 2 years, it's something to consider.

Many say it is a lifesaver, others say it is crap. I'm in the "it's crap" camp. Talk to your surgeon is the best advice I can give. But if you really want to know what some strangers on the internet have to say about it: http://www.bariatricpal.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&section=search&do=search&fromsearch=1 There are 37 recent topics about it. It's a dead horse that has been beaten ad nauseam.

I think this happens to all of us. All the people I have spoke with have done this very thing. I believe it is actually the disgust we have with letting ourselves get in that state being transferred to the people we see. Everything we are repulsed by stems from the seed of self loathing we may have had.

I just found this thread, don't know how I missed it really. I love cottage cheese. I love the cheap stuff just as much as the expensive stuff. I can eat it with just about anything, mixed together with just about anything too. But honestly; my favorite is just drizzled with maple syrup. Well, sugar free "maple" syrup.

Wow, necro-post revivial! I know this is in the Ladies Room, however there is somethings that were not mentioned in this thread that is actually kind of important. So please forgive the intrusion, but it is done with the best of intentions. Semen is made up of Proteins, fructose, and Vitamins. But they are in so little total quantity that nutritionally speaking they are irrelevant. The amounts of them are for the sperm, not the human digestive system to process. So the idea that it is a viable source of Protein or carbs is invalid. And the people who mentioned it causing dumping syndrome must have had the pineapple juice first! I know we are all adults here, but I shall still try to present this as tactful as possible. The other thing that is actually important is the actual act of fellatio. The suction coupled with the motion inherent with fellatio will cause gulping and swallowing of air. This can result in mild to severe stomach pain! So while I totally appreciate anyone wanting to do this for their significant other (you rock), don't be in any sort of rush. Take care of yourself and heal well first.

@@JodiT140 - @@OutsideMatchInside pretty much got it right. According to the makers of GENEPRO, they have reduced the size of the Protein molecule ala "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" magic. Then they say that what they really did was make a protein that absorbs so fast that it is "like" eating 30 grams of protein. Which again is horseshit. Another problem I have is that there is no verified independent study of the stuff. There are people on this board that swear by it because their blood test came back good after their 6 month or whatever. However unless you are talking more than a year, that could be from breaking down their own muscle tissue or the fact that they are getting the minimum needed from their diet to be in the normal range. Genepro is pretty much just BCAA's (amino acids that build proteins). That would leave protein markers in the bloodstream. But lets just say for a moment that it did exactly as it advertised. It gave you 30 grams of magical protein with only 90 calories. If you are trying to build muscle, believe it or not you are going to need the calories. You can't build new muscle tissue if you don't have enough raw material to prevent atrophy. Genepro would be of no use to anyone wanting to build muscle because it doesn't contribute to a caloric surplus.

No hair loss for me either. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

GENEPRO is crap. You want to have Protein traces in your blood for the check ups, that's fine. You want to maintain or build muscle, use whey. Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

I had the same thing, people commented that it looked fuller, thicker, longer... but what I finally deduced was the fact that my hair follicles are just closer together now than they were when my face was puffy. Same thing with my legs, arms, back, stomach... getting the idea? I feel hairy as sh!t now.

I had a FitBit something HR. It was pretty decent, but I bought a Garmin Vivosmart HR around April of this year. It is not as forgiving as the Fitbit I can tell you that! I was routinely hitting my 10K steps a day with the FitBit, but my Garmin shows about half of that. I much prefer the Garmin. lol... One time while on the motorcycle, my fitbit said that I climbed 200 flight of stairs and had some insane amount steps. There was no way to correct it either. That was the reason I decided to try something else. I personally still like the Fitbit software UI better, but the hardware is better on the Garmin. Whichever route you go, remember that it's not so much about the steps as it is the heart rate. And while the hear rate may not be accurate for any wrist monitor, as long as you are only using it to track changes it's great. If your monitor says 60 is your resting HR and you workout and get it up in the 130's, all that is important is that you know you elevated it and by how much approximately. Who cares if your HR was really 63 and it ended up at 127 bpm?! You are moving and burning fat. The device will just be able to show you when you are being active and when you are being lazy. I say get one!