MacMadame

The two biggies are high fever and unexplained intense pain. But there are others including: rapid heart rate, dizziness, shortness of breath, abdominal distention, the appearance of illness and a general feeling that something is very wrong.

I find it interesting that weight loss people say caffeine is an appetite stimulant but sports nutrition people say it depresses the appetite. I am trying to find out why they both say what they say so I can figure out which group I think is right. :lol0:

I can't see if I posted this already, but in the early days the nerves on your stomach are irritate and that is a theory as to why people don't get a strong full signal immediately pre-op. But, as everything heals, it will get stronger. Which is good because that uncomfortable feeling of eating too much is the pits! Hope4Me - Dr. C cares about results. You lost over 5 lb. a week on average, which is well within the expected .5 to 2 pounds a day that happens in the early days. So he should be happy. How fast you eat and drink will only come up if you have a problem related to that. Or you chose to bring it up. Let's put it this way, I tell him at EVERY check-up that, while I'm doing better than the check-up before, I am still eating too fast for my liking. But the only time he was upset with me is when I didn't lose as much as he expected me to. :lol0: I'm going to see him on Wed. in SJ. When are you going to see him?

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.

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.