MacMadame

I'm working on the pictures, guys... it's been hard though for various reasons. I will post them when I have a week's worth, I think.

I don't think there is any relationship between before and after. Some get heartburn who didn't have it before, some find theirs gets better, some find it gets worse. It's kind of a crap shoot. I *swear* that my Calcium pills are causing me heartburn, but I take them 3x a day so of course they are going to be taken around the time I get heartburn, just as I will have recently drank some Water. So it's hard to tell...

My surgeon recommends we take 45 min. I used to do 10-15 and now I'm up to 20-30, which I see as a big improvement. I don't think I'll ever do 45 on a regular basis but I wouldn't mind doing 30-45.

These scales use bio-impedance. They shoot electric current up your feet, basically. They aren't as accurate as the dunk-tank method but they are good enough for most people. Of course, the more you spend, the better they are. The one your surgeon probably has costs about $1000 and is as good as bio-impedance gets. The one I have my eye on costs $300 and is as good as a personal scale can get. Caliper can be more accurate, if the person knows what they are doing. But they can be wildly inaccurate if the person doesn't know what they are doing. And, yeah, they are all an estimate, even the dunk tanks. But you have to start somewhere and it's not like a dunk tank is going to say your body fat % is 50 when it's really 20. :lol0:

I was back at 1.5 weeks but probably should have taken two.

I get them at GNC. I think other places have them too. I'm pretty sure they have sugar alcohols though.

Add exercise or eat less. Those are the choices. :biggrin: Online tracking helped me a lot too. I may only focus on Protein and calories, but the carb and fat and sodium and sugar and Fiber is all there. So, if I need to focus on those for a week or two, I can, with no extra work on my part. I use My Fitness Pal. The Daily Plate on Livestrong.com is decent too. I started with that one, but I think My Fitness Pal is easier to use.

Normal women on a normal diet are supposed to get 55-65. So we need more. My program recommends 70-90 g a day. If you are very active, you need more!

I had it pretty bad and my surgeon warned me that I would and said he was sorry. But I don't think it's because he's "rough" because I'm 10.5 months out and I *still* have issues with back pain there. I once tore a calf muscle and it took TWO YEARS to not feel it when I went on a long car drive. My hiatal hernia repair is behaving similarly. When I workout intensely, it hurts when I drive home. But I have seen videos where surgeons are yanking and pulling and pinching. That's rough. I'm sure it doesn't help. But most of the "trauma" is from stapling and cutting and a machine does that and does it pretty uniformly. :biggrin:

People should add their sources too!

You can also get special bariatric food that is made to be higher in protein and lower in carbs than the regular versions. You can get protein pancake mix, hot chocolate, fruit flavored drinks, sloppy joe mix, soups, etc.

I hear it all the time. But it isn't true. :biggrin: It's a really popular and common myth though. But there are studies that disprove it.

Actually, I haven't seen that 2 weeks is a common time for leaks. I see a mixture of times when people have them. A lot get them right away and some have them right away but it takes a while for them to be diagnosed. Once they are diagnosed, it becomes clear they had it from day one.

This is one reason our calcium supplementation is so important.

I feel like I've become my true self. It's awesome. :biggrin:

I did a lot of things to prepare pre-op that didn't cost any money.... for example: -I started tracking my food intake in an online diary -I practiced chewing my food slowly and more thoroughly (wished I'd done even more of that) -I started taking the Vitamins I needed to take post-op -I started drinking more Water -I cut out carbonated beverages -I started eating smaller portions -I started eating more Protein -I started exercising about a month pre-op (probably should have done that sooner and more often) I also bought a book called The Food and Feelings Book by Karen Koenig. I think it's a good book for people who are emotional eaters, but it became clear from working through it that I wasn't so I never got very far. :biggrin: I did have a pysch eval as that was required by my program. I thought it was fun and interesting, but essentially worthless. I also had a Nutritional Consult as that was required too. That was actually pretty helpful. Both were paid for via insurance even though insurance would not pay for my surgery. There is nothing wrong with getting counseling, if you need it. Some people do and there are a lot of free and low-cost options, particularly if your needs aren't heavy (i.e. you haven't got clinical depression, bi-polar disorder, etc.).

I can't remember if I said this earlier... I originally only planned to lose 90 lb. I couldn't imagine losing 100. I ended up losing 110!

Exercise is good for depression too. Also smiling. And sunshine. Not that you shouldn't take pills too, but everything helps.

I would say do the following: -up the Protein. On a very low calorie diet (anything under 1000-1200), you need more protein than average to help prevent muscle loss -get as much Water as you can -- it helps flush out the waste products of fat burning -exercise - it helps everything about you -have faith - if you are eating that little, the weight is coming off even if the scale isn't showing it

Personally, I don't think there is. There is if you get a BAND. But not a sleeve. First of all, you wouldn't go to them for your aftercare. You'd have that done by a combination of your MX surgeon (via phone & email) and your PCP. So they wouldn't even be involved at all. Secondly, if you go to a hospital with a leak or kidney stones or a blood clot or a bowel obstruction, they absolutely will treat you. Some of those things will even be covered by your insurance. (Everything but a leak can happen to anyone at any time and can't be proved to be tied to your surgery.) It's different with a band because you require regular adjustments and those can only be done by a bariatric center of some sort. The centers don't want to take other doctor's patients because the money is made on the surgery, not on the fill visit. Insurance won't pay for any complication that requires removing the band because they can prove the band caused it. But the sleeve is not like that. People don't always realize that and that's why they give bad advice.

I had my first attack on my honeymoon. I thought I was going to die! I also figured it was food poisoning. I had them every couple of months after that and by the time I'd think about going to the ER, they'd be done. I only went to the ER when I had one two days in a row. They diagnosed me immediately! I felt kind of dumb having waited so long, but they can be over so fast and it doesn't bother you in the meantime. I got scheduled for a surgery date about 6 weeks into the future and had one more attack before it happened. I'm glad I got it out, but I don't think it's a big deal to wait either. Some people take Actigal to try to dissolve the stones instead of having surgery, too.

I use Greek Yogurt -- it has 5 g of carbs. I don't drink milk (it gives me a stomach ache) or soy milk. When I was just out of surgery, I drank a lot of Protein drinks with hardly any carbs and most of my softs had few carbs. I averaged about 25 g a day. But, over time, as I added in more choices, it went up. I was up to about 45 g a day and 900 calories by 7-8 months pre-op. Once I went to 1200 calories a day and more, the carbs varied so wildly that it's not worth tracking them. :biggrin2: I now just worry about protein and calories and let the carbs and fat take care of themselves.

I don't it's necessarily that they are gentle the way we think of it. But some surgeons definitely have better technique than others and some take care to line things up properly so there are less complications, etc. You have to figure that less cutting and less stitching and more effective stitching (i.e., not having to go back and repair parts) are going to make healing go faster. Pain is subjective so I don't think you can necessarily tell a surgeon's skill by how long people are on pain meds. Some people really feel everything, some people want to be as comfortable as possible while others will tough it out. Also, having a hiatal hernia repaired gives some people killer back pain.

That price is slightly more than what I paid. I don't know what the CoL is like in AZ, but it's pretty high where I am. But surgeons in SoCal charge more than up here in NorCal. I have heard of Chiasson, but not Burpee. Chaisson seems to do a reasonable number of sleeves and is respected. I don't know how many he's done altogether though. IMO, for that price, he had better have done at least 100.

You can get samples at: Vitalady.com ChikeNutrition.com Syntrax SYNTRAX SPECIALS I think there are other places that sell samples, but I haven't used them (or don't rememer). When you order from Nashua Nutrition and your order is over a certain $ amount, they will throw in 3 samples, but only from a certain list. It can be fun, but it's not a convenient way to get samples.