MacMadame

My surgeon says it's very hard to do. The part of the stomach that remains is made of a very tough muscle and it just doesn't stretch the easily. There was a study where they measured the size of people's sleeves once they were two years out from surgery and only 1 person had any change in size. They were still maintaining just fine, too.

No, no, you don't understand... .DS is the THE BEST SURGERY. For everyone! We VSG people are self-deluded losers who will not lose all our weight or will gain it all back!!!!1! Well, that's how some DSers talk anyway. I say the ones like that have "drunk the koolaid" because they aren't remotely rational about it. For example, I got into with one of them on OH and said that I don't have diabetes and that I lots all my excess weight so the DS would not have bought me anything but increased risks. To which she responded, if you had the DS you would have lost more of your excess weight! Um, how can I lose more than ALL OF IT?!?! Moron.

Don't forget, not all hunger is caused by ghrelin. Sometimes you are hungry because your body needs fuel. That kind of hunger is good, IMO. The people who don't feel that often get too thin.

I found another article with that in it, but again it was buried... When you search for "estrogen in fat" or "weight loss and estrogen" you find a TON of articles.... about stuff completely not related to what we're talking about. :thumbup: Mostly it's stuff about how estrogen can make you gain weight or lose it. Blah...

Estrogen is fat-soluable. Therefore, it has to be stored in fat. :001_rolleyes: But there isn't a lot of info about this on the web. This article mentions it: Fat facts - AskMen.com

This chart shows that they do in each surgery: Weight-Loss Surgeries Compared

Don't forget that estrogen is stored in our fat so as we lose weight, it is released into our bloodstream. So it can be like having permanent PMS for a while there.

It's because we have less intrinsic factor so some people have trouble synthesizing B12. However, it's something like 5% who have this issue so my surgeon makes B12 an optional vitamin unless our labs show a need for it.

Oh, it's that looney tunes, Sue Widemark! Her websites are horrible - full of misinformation and lies -- and she is completely not interested in hearing anything good about WLS. She calls herself a medical researcher but she's a software engineer who reads stuff on the web about medical issues and blogs about it. Medical researcher, my ass! She's a Morbidly Obese woman who belongs to the Size Acceptance movement and believes WLS is evil... but Weight Watchers is okay. (Hypocritical, if you ask me....) My response is: "I wonder why you want to run a list about WLS when you've never had it and don't believe in it."

Size7, you've pasted the picture of your ticker so it won't move. There is a tutorial here that shows what to do: http://VerticalSleeveTalk.com/vertical-sleeve-talk-forum-assistance-suggestions/267-vst-tickerfactory-ticker-tutorial-pictures.html

Um, 230 calorie is not high calories. :smile: Plus, half a chicken breast, cooked without skin and not fried, is 71 calories according to My Fitness Pal's food database, not 230. A whole chicken breast fried in flour is only 213 calories! Remember what we think of as a chicken breast is really half a breast, if you want to get technical. So when you eat half of that, it's 1/4 of a chicken breast. Some databases consider a chicken breast to be one side of the breast, but a lot of them consider a chicken breast to be both sides of the breast so when they say .5 breast, it's really what most of us think of as 1 breast. That can catch you, if you aren't careful. A good way to figure it out is to remember that that 1 oz. of most meat is around 7 g of Protein and each gram has four calories so 1 oz. of meat is 28 calories.

Are there going to be negative consequences to gorging? For example, some docs won't do the surgery on you if you gain between the consult and your surgery and some want you to lose weight in that time. If there aren't, well... it's all going to be over in two weeks so it's a problem time will cure, one way or another. :sneaky2: If there are, you need to remind yourself that you'll be able to eat anything you want eventually, just in smaller quantities, so there is no reason to have a "last meal" of absolutely everything. I did treat myself a little bit more leading up to surgery, but I was still counting calories and I still lost weight. I didn't go nuts, but there were a few things I knew I wouldn't have a lot of for months on end so I wanted a taste pre-op to last me... but I just had a taste as it was all mental anyway and a taste was enough to satisfy whatever was going on in my head.

They do and they don't. It depends on the center you go to and some centers will only give you a sleeve if *THEY* decide that you aren't a good candidate for RnY or band. But it's changing and some docs will do the sleeve if you ask.

Okay, that's enough. You have been told REPEATEDLY not to post PRIVATE MESSAGES to the public forum. Worse, this is a PM that wasn't even sent to you. If you don't stop, you will banned.

For me, my insurance has co-pays so it's no big deal. I pay so much a night for a hospital stay, so much for a surgery, etc. But people who have PPOs and pay a percentage are kept hanging and that's crazy.

I always made sure I had two bras that fit. You look so much better in your clothes with a well fitting bra. I also made sure I had two pairs of pants that fit too. Anyway, my new scale came!! It says I have 9.5% body fat. Hmm. Not sure I believe that. I'm going to ask for a Dexa scan at my 1 year PCP check up and see how it compares. But it says my left leg is more muscular than my right and I believe that.

Everyone is different, but in general, unless exercising after eating gives you a tummy ache, you want to make sure you have some fuel in your body. You don't want to be exercising on "fumes." But you do want to space it out a bit. Most people try not to eat less than an hour before exercising.

Mine are the same...

If your cable service has "On Demand" video, there should be some exercise videos in there. It's a good way to mix it up without having to spend a fortune on exercise DVDs!

The best advice I've seen was given to someone by their doctor: "I've given you the stomach of a baby. Raise it well." It really is like when you start your kid on solids. One new food a day. If it's rejected, try it again later when you're more healed. Go slow. Etc.

Well, I ate this the other day: http://VerticalSleeveTalk.com/members/macmadame-albums-what-i-can-eat-picture201-2-eggs-some-shredded-cheddar-cheese-6-mushroom-slices-some-salsa.html It seemed normal to me. :001_tt2:

The insurance company will probably pay about 25% of that though. They bill high knowing they won't get it. It's all part of our wonderful "system." As a self-pay, I paid just under $17,000 for everything. That's much closer to what insurance will pay out.

I use them all.

No because my next reunion is my 35th HS reunion. I'm old too! :001_tt2: