MxKitty

Hey Dev, My original RNY was in 2002. I was 5'2" and 268 then 11 months later I was at goal 132 pounds. I did just have a revision 2/9/16 but you can read my story in my profile if you'd like. Here's a picture: Best of luck with your surgery and feel free to ask all the questions you want

I was allowed gummies after 2 weeks. I use Walgreens Women's Multivitamin for my main Vitamin and haven't had an issues. I take them twice a day instead of just once as suggested on the bottle. Edited to add that these gummies are a lot smaller then any other I've found.

Dr Snow & Dr Van Wagner no longer share a practice as of Feb 1st. I will call Dr Van Wagner's office though and see if their nutritionist takes outside patients. Thanks so much!!! Hello! I am new here and am seeing Dr. Snow, also (though I live in the Festus area). Have my 5th out of 6 dietitian appointments on monday before I can be officially approved for the sleeve. I have been seeing the dietitian in Dr. Wagner's office and before the first of the year, visits were free. After the split, I pay $20 copay, but can still see her. Oh that's fantastic! I did email her earlier today to see if she's accepting new clients since I didn't see her before my revision. Thanks again for sharing Best of luck at your last appointment & on your weight loss journey!

Oh.My.Gosh. *heads off to store for ice cream maker*It was a happy birthday with extra protein!!!

I found Bob's Red Mill unflavored protein @ my local grocer and it worked out really well

I really like GNC Pro Performance whey Protein powders currently Cookies & cream is my favorite sometimes mixed eith PB2. I make shakes, protein ice cream & starting today 5 minute protein mug cakes(yum! and its my birthday). The best part is if you buy a powder from GNC (or anything else for that matter) and dislike or can't tolerate it that take it back with a full refund within 30 days of purchase no questions asked. Good luck!

Just a quick post to share a picture of my chocolate protein cake with cookies & cream protein ice cream birthday surprise [emoji322]

@elsalvador7 I also became very lactose intolerant after my original surgery in 2002 and it totally sucks. I did finally find a brand of Lactose free milk I can manage. It's called Fairlife and I can usually find the little 11oz bottles in the milk section if you want to try it without getting a bigger carton. The bonus is it actually has more protein than regular milk 13g per cup instead of 8g. Are there any powdered protein powders you can tolerate? I can manage the GNC Pro Performance 100% Whey. There are a dozen or so flavors too. I've also used Bob's Red Mill unflavored Whey protein I found at my local grocery store. If you can tolerate one or the other maybe you could add unflavored to your eggs? Or make a warm Protein Drink (or tea using unflavored) to sip on (see Hot Protein Drink How To.doc attached). Oh and I just remembered GNC also carries Isopure Zero Carb usually in the cold cooler that's a clear lactose free drink. Also many flavors, 1 20oz bottle has 40g protein but they are about $5 a bottle here in St. Louis. If you could drink one bottle a day you'd definitely be ahead of the game. Let me know how it goes. ~K edited to add pictures! Hot Protein Drink How To.docx

@SuzzyQ_delli You'll need an ice cream maker but here's the basic recipe I started with: Shelly's chocolate Caramel Protein Ice Cream 2 cup vanilla Soy Milk (I used Fairflife Lactose Free 2% milk) 4 scoops Chocolate Protein Powder 3 Tablespoon sugar free Torani Syrup (I used Archer Farms SF Caramel from Target) Mix together milk, protein, SF syrup & sauce. Shelly uses a milk frother I used my blender It makes it airy and lump free (and practically doubles in volume). Pour into ice cream maker. Follow your machine's instructions for freezing. Makes about 1 pint. So 1/2c of this awesome stuff was right @ 20g protein -I also add about 1/4 of splenda to mine.

The protein ice cream I found at TheWorldAccordingtoEggface blog - she has fabulous post-op recipes and shares what she eats day to day. She's several years post-op. I wish i could just link her page here but I haven't figured that out yet. Enjoy!! -27 pounds in three weeks is incredible!! I know we all get impatient but your loss is great!!!!! I've been stalled for almost a week so I'm trying harder on my fluids/water & really want to see that scale move down in the morning so I completely understand.

Thanks for sharing!! I always get extremely anxious when we travel or out doing hours of errands because I know we'll end up out for lunch.

Hey @It's Time - a day in my pouch is basically like this.... Breakfast - a protein shake in the morning using lactose free skim milk, scoop of GNC Pro Performance whey Protein (currently Cookie N Cream) sometimes a splash of sugar free flavor syrup and other times 2T of PB2 so my protein shake is usually 32-37g of protein. (Takes me about an hour to finish it though) Lunch - flavored tuna pouch mixed with a little plain Greek yogurt or a portion of Shelly's Ricotta Bake Mexican Style so lunch is 14-16g protein Dinner - this one really varies as I try to have something very similar to what I fix for my family mine just gets dumped into my NutraBullet first and I skip the carb heavy stuff like mashed potatoes so dinner is around 16-26g protein. Example last night I made Shepard's pie from Friday's leftover crockpot roast with potatoes & carrots. I shredded the roast, drained the carrots and potatoes then skinned the potatoes tossed both in the food processor with Greek yogurt & seasoning to make the "mash" for the top. I added the roast to the juices I drained from the veggies, added a splash of Worcestershire, 1c shelled edamame (they don't like peas) and some salt & pepper. I filled individual ramekins with the meat filling (tossed mine in the NutraBullet with a little beef broth first) then topped theirs with the mash, mine with some fresh parmesan! In the oven and BLAMO awesome dinner for everyone and no one even realized it was reinvented leftovers. My portion had 26g protein! Snack - this one is my favorite. PROTEIN ICE CREAM!!!! I have 1/2c-1c of this awesome yumminess depending on what my protein was for he rest of the day. I try to get 90ish grams a day. 1/2c of my protein ice cream is right at 20-21g of protein per serving and it goes down really easy. I even invested in a new ice cream maker just for this daily dish of awesome - I got it free using my credit card points (from being self pay) on amazon.com heehee Last but not least I usually have 1 piece of Russell Stover plain dark chocolate - it even has 1g protein so I savor it! Today is my birthday so I'm going to try playing around with making a 5 minute microwave high protein cake and see how that turns out and how many grams of protein I can squeeze into it! So everyone - please tell me how its going! Are there any food type things I can help you with or experiment with to help you get to a better you? Let me know!!!

I think i just got bored and didn't think then I was putting everything in myfitness pal & freaked out. I had dinner and will drink Water the rest of the night. Thanks for letting me vent/freakout...

Ughhh okay so today has not been my best day... I don't know WTF is wrong with me I know I'm not actually hungry... Quick backstory - Open RNY 03/2002 - revision via Endoscopic Soft Tissue Re-approximation to cinch stoma/pouch 02/09/16. I have been doing spot on fantastic the last 3 weeks and its like I lost my mind today. I'm on a soft modified diet meaning I should be introducing more solid foods as my pouch can manage it but I'm pretty scared to so I'm still eating mainly soft foods... Breakfast - 10oz chocolate Caramel Protein shake (33g protein) with FF lactose free milk Snack - 1 Hershey dark chocolate sugar free miniature Bottle of Water 16.9oz lunch - Ricotta Bake Mexican style (19g protein) Bottle of water 16.9oz Snack - Oikos triple zero banana cream Greek yogurt (15g protein) ANOTHER snack and I don't know why but I inhaled a Pure Protein Bar (20g protein) I have dinner prepped its a 1/3c portion of blended "Shepard's pie" kind of - just the beef, gravy & edamame (whirled in the blender a little) that I'll cover with cheese instead of mashed potatoes (26g protein). If I eat the dinner I'm sitting @ 1,063 calories 113g protein, 75 carbs 37 fat & 27 sugar. You'd think with all this protein I'd be stuffed - maybe I shouldn't have dinner and just drink a ton of water? Any advice?

@{member="It's Time"] I'm much better at getting my Protein than my fluids but I'm trying!!! I average about 75g protein and probably 32-40oz fluids. I find I do much better if I start my day with a Protein Shake - I get 8-10oz first thing and just keep going. I had a Gorton's Grilled tilapia fillet, the package said it was 89g so I'm not sure how many ounces that is... I also made a 'tarter sauce" using homemade plain greek yogurt, a little dill pickle relish and a ton of fresh dill - helped everything go down easier. @@Positive44 My scale is Lucifer... it still hasn't moved in days so I'm not going to weigh again until next week. I'm trying to get to where I only weigh once a week but I'm weak I know I'll climb back on it in the morning LOL edited to remove double post

I was on soft food 10 days after my revision but all my Dr. has me shooting for is 94g of Protein daily. I found some great ideas on a website called The World According to Eggface - give it a google if you are looking for ideas

STLBariatrics has a deal going I believe its $11,111 for the sleeve procedure that's supposed to be all inclusive. Dr. Snow operates out of Jefferson Mercy Hospital in Festus, MO Here's what they posted on Facebook Feb. 22nd.

I know I had a hard time finding information on others with my situation so I thought I would put my story out there and share as I move through the stages of weight loss then maintenance… March 4, 2002 I had my original Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (OPEN they didn't have laparoscopic then). I just turned 27 years old. My starting weight was 268 pounds and I lost 136 pounds – a little more than half my starting weight. I hit 132 pounds February 1, 2003 – it took a mere 11 months. I didn’t have any real follow up care after my staples were removed so I just exercised a lot and tried to eat right (and totally got full of myself by the way..). Slowly between moving twice out of state, getting a divorce and coming out as a lesbian to my family and trying to figure it out for myself – some of my bad habits like grazing returned. Since I couldn’t handle much food I also turned to alcohol as my “comfort” so to speak. I really don’t know why it didn’t “click” that a chocolate martini has about 500 calories EACH with no nutritional value and 3-4 of those a night 4+ days a week did me no favors. I had also pretty much quit exercising. January 2013 I decided to get my **** together and I was 208 pounds (gasp!) so I had regained 76 pounds. I started eating better, joined the gym and even spent $5,500 on hiring a personal trainer. I was seriously invested. I lost and gained the last 15 pounds several times over 7 months. It seemed no matter how hard I worked the weight just stayed… so again I gave up and decided to just eat & do whatever I wanted too (great idea right?)… November 2015 I quit drinking – yes totally it’s just not worth it… by now I’m sitting right at 204 pounds. I had been really having issues eating. I could eat “insert any food here” one day and be fine; two days later I’d warm up the leftovers and dump like crazy so my digestion was/is totally unpredictable and I’m hungry practically all the time… so I went to google and typed in WLS revision. That’s when I found Dr. Snow. I called his office and made an appointment to find out if I had totally screwed up my original surgery. December 1, 2015 My first appointment with Dr. Snow. I provided the story as I’ve written it above. So during this exam we did a barium swallow test right there in the office. It was fairly fascinating to watch it on the monitor. What Dr. Snow determined was my pouch still looked great and wasn’t stretched but my stoma reduction didn't hold from the original surgery. He scheduled me for an Endoscopy to go in and confirm the stoma was enlarged. I weighed in at 204.0 in the office. December 18, 2015 Endoscopy day – fun times! I was put under light anesthesia & Dr. Snow went in with a camera and checked out my guts. Once I started to wake up he conformed the enlarged stoma and said he would do a Endoscopic Soft Tissue Re-approximation to reduce the size of my stoma which would keep food in my pouch longer helping me feel full longer and to prevent so much dumping since the food I was consuming was falling right out of my pouch into my intestines… his office staff was to contact me with the details. January 15, 2016 After all the holiday madness I realized the staff hadn’t reached out to me so I called the office. Dr. Snow had moved to his own practice so I was given his new contact information. I called and left a message which was returned the next day. The staff was fantastic. We talked about where I was in the process (insurance coverage) and I was told I’d get a call back once my coverage was determined. February 2, 2016 I received a call that although my insurance does covers bariatric services they would not cover a “repeat procedure”. I was then told that if self-pay was an option it would be $4,900 for everything and my insurance would cover my follow up care… I scheduled surgery February 9, 2016. Dr. Snow called me later that afternoon and went over expectations and risks. He said I should expect to lose about 60% of what I had regained so he estimated 40-45 pounds. That would put me right about 155 and I would be very happy with that. February 3, 2016 I started a clear liquid diet & went in for my pre-op testing (Blood draw & EKG). February 9, 2016 I went into the hospital @ 6:30am for outpatient surgery. Dr. Snow cinched my stoma down to 1mm (yes really 1mm according to the surgery notes in my chart) and added several pleats to the inside of my pouch to make it a bit smaller since he was already in there. I didn’t find out about making the pouch smaller until the next day when I got a follow up call from a nurse who went over the surgery notes with me. I was home by 1:30pm –the hospital was a 30 minute drive one way from my house. Oh and the hospital scale said I was 196.0. After surgery Food: Basically 3 weeks later I’m on soft/moist foods. I can usually eat between 1/3c-1/2c of food and I’m happily full but not bursting at the seams. I do try and eat on the schedule otherwise I forget to eat, like today (2/29) I forgot to eat until it was 11:30 so I’ll be playing catch up all day to get in my Protein. But knowing there’s a 1/2c serving of protein ice cream I can have tonight with 20g protein I’m not freaking out. I use MyFitnessPal to track everything I eat/drink always getting protein in first. I average about 80-85 grams of protein & roughly 700-800 calories per day. Weight: I have dropped a little over 18 pounds. Follow up care: I was Dr. Snow Feb 18th and he was happy with my progress at the time. He would like me to lose 9 pounds before our next appointment March 24th. He also approved of me finding a local bariatric nutritionist I can work with to keep me on track. Insurance coverage: The office staff is going to file a claim with my insurance for the surgery on 2/9. I’m fully expecting a denial letter but that will give me a starting point to appeal and fight them on it. This wasn’t a repeat procedure it was a repair and as such should be covered so time will tell. My total out of pocket thus far including co-pays for office visits and the endoscopy is $5,161.72… …So there it is in a nutshell. I’m attaching a scan of the brochure/pamphlet pictures that explain the revision procedure for the benefit of others wondering what can be done. I’m an open book so please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind

I wish. Following to see what answers you may get

For me Yes! I usually enjoy 1 Russell Stover sugar free dark chocolate each evening and i haven't had any issues. All things in moderation

Hey 2/9 Team!!!! I may be MIA from now through Sunday. My wife & I have had this beautiful little demon whoops I mean girl for nearly two years (she's now 4 and we get to go to court tomorrow and finalize the adoption - its been a long expensive road but man-o-man that little turkey is worth it . I have to brag so I'm attaching her first day of school picture). She's definitely my "mini me" and wow does she pick up on everything we say! So anyway I doubt I'll have time to browse the forum as we've got family coming in to help Celebrate, however, if anyone needs food ideas or just a friend to email please feel free to reach out lilmskittty@gmail.com and I really mean that having a strong group of us to talk too really helps! @Positive44- Is the binder still helping? @@ElChrisPLindo - I finally got brave enough to try fish last night and OMG was it wonderful thanks for the idea! So what else ya got? @@losinglily - How the purees going? Have you found anything you really like? I'm not really all that hungry but I try to eat on a schedule. I'm been writing down what time I eat whatever it is I'm eating in my food journal. I have indulged in 1 Russell Stover Sugar Free Chocolate candy each evening this week. I don't beat myself up because its really low carbs and even has 1g Protein in it @@dietbelle - are you feeling any better? If I missed anyone (It'sTime!) forgive me but lil demon just got up and I have to get her ready for school! Hugggggs all, ~K

I'm down 18.4 pounds - not to shabby consider I had my monthly 'gift" last week!

Try this kind Isopure! It dissolves in everything no thickening and I can not taste it at all! Has been a lifesaver! I got it at The Vitamin Shoppe but others have said GNC has it also. ImageUploadedByBariatricPal1456371009.516378.jpg ImageUploadedByBariatricPal1456371022.681123.jpg That is the exact kind I have. I only tried it on chicken broth and it did not dissolve. I have not tried it in anything else. Personally I've found I have to "temper" the Protein powder when mixing into something hot so it doesn't turn into floating pieces of cardboard yuckity-yuck. Put your protein powder in the bottom of whatever mug (I used a 12oz) you'll drink your broth from add enough cold/room temp broth to get all the powder pretty wet Put the rest of your broth on the stove or nuke-o-wave to get it hot (in a measuring cup with a spout is ideal or kettle) Meanwhile mix your powder/cold broth mix up to make a mud consistency. I like to smear some of it against the mug to make sure there are no lumps Once the rest of your broth is hot, slowly pour it into your mug with the mud/sludge already in it and constantly stir until your mug is full After everything is mixed and dissolved you can reheat the whole mug in the nuker at will with no issues as many times as needed I'm attaching the instructions for making protein hot chocolate that I found @ http://www.bariatricfoodie.com/ it really helped me while experimenting in the kitchen! Hot Protein Drink How To.docx

Hey St. Louis peeps I have some chocolate soy Protein powder that I don't tolerate well so before it ends up in the trash I thought I'd offer to give it away (free of course!) to one of you. I used 3 servings out of it. I'm attaching a couple of photos so let me know soon if you'd like to take it off my hands as I plan to toss it Thursday morning. Lilmskitty@gmail.com. Sent from my iPhone using BariatricPal