Wheetsin

Crystal Light made per instructions has about 11mg of caffeine. Mio basic flavors are caffeine free, though I believe their energy line is caffeinated (I don't do "energy drinks" so I never bothered looking at the labels). Lipton Brisk has about 10 (brewed Lipton has about 50). Generic instant tea mix has about 26. So kinda depends on what mix you're actually asking about.

As a revsion, my case is a bit different from most. My responses are below in blue.

Here is something I have bookmarked:

I've never heard of a sleeve surgeon refusing to work on a self-pay patient. They get more money out of self pays than insurance, so if anything I'd think it would be the other way around. Odd! Regardless, my surgeon does self pay. $11,999.00. I got insurance approval, but if I hadn't I would have self-paid for him to do my sleeve. Being able to use my surgeon of choice is far more important to me than saving a few thousand $$$. Not to mention the convenience of being 45 mins away.

I use Bariatric fusion brand vitamins, the strawberry ones. Best tasting bariatric Vitamin I've found. My RTD protein of choice is Nature's Best Isopure in "Grape Frost" flavor, with a half a packet of grape flavored drink mix added in. My favorite powdered protein is Six Star, doesn't matter what flavor because I always doctor up the taste. HTH

I'm 3 mos out and I struggle to hit around 700 calories, and can only do it really if I eat a higher calorie protein bar or something. If just left to foods I'll range from 450 - 650. I have a _lot_ of restriction. That being said, it's too few calories. My NUT wants me at 800 - 1000.

That aounds like dysgeusia and there are soooo many things that can cause it, from pregnancy to diabetes to medications to poor hygiene... How long it will last is directly related to what's causing it. Time to put on your detective hat.

36 y/o mother of one DD. DH and I will be married 15 years this year. DH is from Europe - I met him on a trip I tookwith a girlfriend from college days and 3 years later we got married. He and DD have dual citizenship and we're working to raise her with both cultures & both languages. My in-laws are perhaps starting to acclimate to the idea that he's married to an American, and lives in America. It's only been 15 years married/18 years together, maybe they just need more time? I work a regular M-F as a senior consultant in the field of human performance engineering, and own my own company doing freelance work in the same field. DH and I also jointly own a business doing web design & technology infrastructure for small businesses. And when I have spare time, I own a second business making cupcakes! I've been in my field pretty much since I was old enough to have a job, so no great stories of career transition or super fun past jobs. DH's regular M-F is working as a contract engineer for the government. He's a hell of a hobby physicist, astronomist (he's building an 8ft telescope in his spare time), and AI programmer. Yeah, we have some really funky dinner table conversations in our house! I was a fairly serious athlete most of my juvenile life, until I completely tore up my knee (which lead to losing a scholarship to play for my college, and who knows what else). I had periods of chunkiness in off seasons, but as soon as the play seasons came up I would instantly trim down. That all went a bit out of control once I didn't have the sports any longer. I maintained "chunkiness" for a long time, and I just started blowing up 10 - 12 years ago. In 2006 at close to 400 lbs I had AGB surgery. Within a year I lost about 120 lbs, and within about 2 years I'd lost about 200 lbs and was preggo with DD. My band prolapsed during my pregnancy and I bounced between ~250 and ~280 for the next few years. Band was removed last year, and between removal and sleeve surgery I went back up to about 350. Hobbies - I'm a certified diver (deep, night, etc.) but haven't done it much since DD was born. Just about anything artistic... and I love interior decorating (but I'm not very good at it). Cheers.

These aren't mine, but stretchmark tattoos: Google tatoo stretch mark coverups, there are tons of ideas, results, etc.

My pre-op was 2 days and I did just fine.

Best cardio for...? Different exercises target different things. For fat burning, I believe the current trend is high intensity interval training (HIIT).

You know, I"ve neither read nor participated in this thread (to be fair)... I found it via search results for an unrelated topic, but I have to tell you that meteorologists can make some serious bank. We have three of them on our street - they & DH all work with NOAA. They aren't paid storm chasers, but they do it as a hobby - and always have an "in" for when the good storms will hit.

Most things like this boil down to bottom line. Usually things like employer-paid wellness benefits. I didn't read the article but I would be surprised if it didn't meantion employer-provided benefits somewhere. The data also supports overweight workers having a higher likelihood of OTJ accidents, and more severe (requiring more time off work - which is another bottom line factor). There are some jobs that an obese person simply cannot do as well as a non-obese person. I'm not a nurse and I don't know if nursing is one of those jobs. Bartending/serving positions - maybe not a need but yeah, if I were a business owner focused on male clientele, I'd hire the hottest girls I could.

My drain came out the day after surgery but while in it was easily one of the more painful things. Didn't feel a thing when it came out tho.

http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/5544-questions-to-ask-at-pre-op-consult/page__p__52459__hl__+questions%20+ask%20+surgeon%20+consultation__fromsearch__1#entry52459 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/41150-surgeon-questions-the-ever-growing-request/page__hl__%2Bquestions+%2Bask+%2Bsurgeon+%2Bconsultation__fromsearch__1 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/35973-questions-to-ask-at-my-consultation/page__hl__%2Bquestions+%2Bask+%2Bsurgeon+%2Bconsultation__fromsearch__1 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/26320-consultation-what-should-i-expect/page__hl__%2Bquestions+%2Bask+%2Bsurgeon+%2Bconsultation__fromsearch__1 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/23380-consultation-is-tomorrow/page__hl__%2Bquestions+%2Bask+%2Bsurgeon+%2Bconsultation__fromsearch__1 http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/7847-questions-to-ask-a-surgeon/page__hl__%2Bquestions+%2Bask+%2Bsurgeon+%2Bconsultation__fromsearch__1 There're a few to get you started.

I don't mean to give you a non-answer, but this topic has come up at least two or three times a week forever. If you search for phrases like "consultation questions" or "surgeon questions" or similar you should be able to find TONS of lists of questions that people have posted. I'll see if I can track some down for you.

Well let's see... between mid-September when my band was removed, and late March when my sleeve was done, I gained about 60 lbs. I'd say I went overboard with my pre-op eating. But coming off 6 years with a band, about 4 of which spent never knowing if I could eat or not, I allowed myself the time off without the guilt and really over-indulged in all my favorites, and things I knew it would be a LONG time before I would have again. With 20/20 hindsight (not really because I knew this at the time, too) anything you gain now, you'll just have to lose later. So I'm not saying I did it perfectly & you should too, but just keep in mind you are taking steps backwards.

Oh you can also buy (or make yourself) "crackers" made from a baked parmesan mixture. They're really good. When I was doing Atkins I made them and while they were still hot I would fold them over a foil form -- homemade cheese taco shells. You can also buy the crackers at Whole Foods, and some other places I'm sure (though I've not seen anything like them at Trader Joe's).

My favorites are Wasa (sourdough & sesame, don't care much for the other flavors)... a cracker called "Flatbread Crisps" in the sea salt & olive oil flavor... and I cn admit I love Cheez-Its and a DIY cheeze-it knock off I make at home. I like Triscuts but am not yet willing to try them with my sleeve. That's about it for crackers.

Cigna likes to take all of it's allowed days. It's seriously the slowest insurance company I've eer dealth with in that regard. They took 29 business days to deny me, then like 28 to overturn the denial. By then it was the end of the year and my insurance was changing. Sigh. IIRC their policy is something like "take at least 15 business days, but can take up to 30." I forget now, but I know I've posted it here before if you think it's worth looking up. Hopefully you'll hear back sooner, just don't expect to. They take their time, for sure.

I tried a Cookies n' Cream one a few days ago and didn't care for it. It's a product my NUT normally advises against, but I'm having trouble with some of the more standard proteins so she suggested I try it. I don't think I'll be buying many more. Maybe if I'm on the road and NEED something, and can find it at a gas station or something. I might be willing to try some other flavors but I don't think anything with banana would be one of them.

Oh, had I thought of it I would've warned against that. I don't know of any powdered Proteins that can be mixed into something that's hot. They all get gloopy. You can put unflavored Protein into V8. I bought the small (airplane sized) cans of V8 and would mix in some unflavored powder when I was cleared for acidics.

Abbreviation for Nutritionist

My band is the majority of the reason I stopped eating red meat. There's just seemingly no way to chew it down the the point that it can clear the stoma. Every attempt to eat it (I only tried a few times) was a fail. I _can_ eat it now, but for the most part I still choose not to. I do eat some moist beef Jerky now and then. But I've found the taste no longer appeals to me, and my body does not feel as good. If you're a steak lover, then congrats. I've found several things to be blessings over life with the band. Like I can drink when I'm thirsty, not when my band wants to let me. I can eat at night, or morning... not just in my band's "window of opportunity". I don't have to question at every meal whether or not I'll be able to eat. I don't have to rely Soup all the time, or start a meal with soup to prep the oven, so to speak. I can take pills when I need to take pills. With my slip, something stuck might cause discomfort for 2 - 3 days. I can remember some pretty horrible headaches that I just had to wade through, because there was no chance I was getting drink or pills down. And no more having to taste those pills, btw. I would yak on a Tylenol, they were too big. Few things are as nasty as the taste of Tylenol or Tylenol sinus, or Predisone. Gah.

I had my baby with my lapband, so no pregnancy with sleeve (nor do I plan to). I know it has been done, and I know it's considered one of the better WLSs for people planning to have kids. Just make sure your OB understands your needs, and that your surgeon understands you're pregnant.