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Yes, it's not a surgery thing per se, but you get either what's known as "keto breath" when you are are on low calories diets where it smells like acetone or some variation on an unpleasant breath. Those dissolving breath tabs that you put on your tongue work great to fight them.

If you have other hormone issues have you talked to that doctor about this? I ask because the reduced calorie diet can cause decreased levels of leptin, thyroid hormone and norepinephrine, the drop of which can cause your metabolism to slow down. This particular issue may not necessarily be something your surgeon may be aware of so it may be worth broaching with your specialist (who may be able to prescribe something that may help).

The reason for the pre-op diet is that it needs to be high protein to put you into ketosis so that your liver shrinks dramatically prior to surgery (the liver can get in the way if it doesn't and some doctors don't like to use a major device to move it out of the way). The reason so many doctors prescribe the liquid diet is that it's a lot easier for people to stick to. Mixing some shakes is a lot easier to follow than making sure you cut out most of the carbs from your diet.

First of all let me say that your doctor sounds like a prick, and that 70lbs is a huge victory. This isn't a huge deal, but generally you want to be doing your weight training before your cardio. Weight training doesn't limit your cardio performance, but cardio can limit your weight training performance, because weight training gains only come by pushing you muscles to the limit. Based on what you have said you are getting only about 25% of your calories from protein which is a bit low. Have you have a urine test lately? If so are you testing positive for ketones in your urine? If not you may consider shaking things up by severely reducing your carbs to see if that changes anything for you.

Depends on where the suture in question is. Your stomach internal organs don't have nociceptors so you probably wouldn't feel a it there either way. If you are talking about incision sites then you could probably feel it, but depending on how far removed you are it may or may not matter. The question is where do you think you may have poped a suture? Why do you think you may have poped a suture? What kind of surgery did you have? How long ago was the surgery? Are there any other symptoms (extra pain or fever)? Have you reached out to your team? If you think something is wrong contact your doctor or go to the nearest ER.

800-1000 calories seems high for less than a month out from surgery, but I'm no expert on that. How many grams of protein are you getting in that 800 calories? How much are you exercising and what sort of exercising are you doing?

I don't dislike the taste. The "tannins" I was referring to aren't actual tannins, they just give you a weird coating in your mouth. It's the trade-off for having a lot of protein and not tasting like a milky shake.

I wouldn’t worry to much about it. The Doctors want Tom give you the surgery almost as bad as you want to get it. They are really good at getting this stuff approved.

Everyone is different, but the general rule is two weeks out back to the gym for lower impact cardio, and then a month out for returning to normal strength training (coincidentally this is also when people who have manual labor jobs can go back to work). Some doctors may ask patients to wait longer on the strength training if they are not used to working out, because the risk of injury is higher if you don't know what you are doing.

It might be hard if you are looking specifically for someone who has also had the gastric sleeve, but you could try looking for somebody from Rutgers (the R-Newark facebook page). When I was in grad school there a bunch of us would always go to the gym after class at night... then we got old and fat.

I've never really understood sugar free candy for people that aren't diabetic. It pretty much has the same empty calories (or just slightly less) as sugared candy plus it has those cough*** unfortunate ***cough side effects.

If you tolerate the cold go for it. It might also be worth it to make some skim plus ice cubes for this purpose so you can bolster the protein in the shake (getting 75-100 grams of protein a day after surgery is a bit of a chore). Also wait until you are onto the puree phase before adding the powdered PB unless you are using the most minute amount.

Also try spaghetti squash it tastes much better (IMO) than zuchini noodles and is a lot less effort to make. They also make a spiralizer attachment for kitchenaid mixers that is amazing at making "noodles" out of anything.

Well the ISOpure bottles are 20oz bottles and I think the Premier are 10-11oz. The difference is the size not the protein density. They are all going to be pretty much the same.

I like the Isopure for the non-creamy flavors (apple melon), because its nice to have something that doesn't taste like a shake sometimes. You just have to get used to the "tannins" (I'm not sure what to call them, but they leave a thin coating in your mouth). It has pretty much the same amount of protein per serving as anything else, so if you don't like the taste use something different. In fact generally all of the proteins are going look pretty similar on the nutritional label (the ones called "Whey Protein Isolate" are going to have maybe one less gram of carbs). I'm a big fan of MyProtein.com (they sell only their brand) for my mix of "shake" flavors (Canadian Maple, Salted Caramel, and Banana). Regardless of brand I would also recommend getting some unflavored as well because after surgery when you are making extra thick shakes it will help you reduce the sweetness.

I will defer to the experts here, but while there may be an initial post surgical reason to avoid the gummies, I get the impression its more that they are looked at like candy. I guess it's the equivalent of having tobacco smoke flavored nicotine gum.

Just to clarify while Rhabdomyolysis may be something you should look out for this is not a common occurrence for people who don't have a genetic predisposition. The most common reason why this occurs with people who don't have the predisposition is that they don't adequately hydrate themselves and don't give their muscles time to recover. Pushing your muscles to exhaustion is the only way you build muscle (by literally tearing them and forcing them to repair themselves).

It tends to be all over the map, but the high protein diet is basically trying to put you into ketosis before your surgery because if you have a fatty liver that will quickly shrink it. The reason it is a liquid diet is more that it's easier to get patients to follow that, than it actually having to be liquid.

I like the Trader Joe's chewables, they are cheap, go down easy, and I can get them without a separate trip to the store.

I'm exactly seven days out from walking into the surgical suite and feeling pretty darn good. This was my progression getting here. Day 1: Surgery went fine, but for me I absolutely hated the 14 hours between waking up in recovery and discharge. Things were deeply uncomfortable between the surgery and not being allowed to sleep (1am, 3am, 4am, and 5am wakeups didn't help). For folks who go through this and start regretting the surgery, hold on it gets better from here. Day 2: I had a long car ride home if you expect this, make sure you are topped off on the Tylenol II for the ride. Pretty much needed to make sure that I was taking my pain meds every 4 hours. Day 3: Pain was more manageable and drinking was easier (getting down the Protein Shake was tough though), cut the Tylenol II to first thing in the morning and right before bed (with some Chew-able Tylenol when needed). Day 4: Phased out the prescription pain meds and feeling much better. Weird gut feelings (I'm assuming are gas, but I don't really have a frame of reference). Day 5: Feeling pretty good starting to feel a little hungry. Bruising around the incision cites starting to develop. Day 6: Woke up to angry red stretchmarks starting to form, but otherwise feeling great. Went "grocery" shopping for more Jello and walked around my happy place (home depot). I I figured out how to make my protein taste better/less sweet, cut it with unflavored protein. (Thank you myprotein.com) Day 7: First day back to sleeping on my stomach and I finally feel rested again. Also discovered how amazing watered down chicken bullion cubes taste (like cup o noodles sans noodles). A little bit bummed that my appointment isn't till next week cause while I'm not hungry I would really like to start putting something with texture in my mouth. Down a total of 12 lbs since the surgery, but more importantly feeling like a normal person again.

My pleasure, it was cathartic to write it down.

You sound like you are doing the right things so I wouldn't worry if the scale doesn't reward you all the time give it some time and I'm sure you will break through your plateau. Are you still excited by what you are doing, if not mix things up. Try new recipes, add some more fiber to your diet. I would suggest mixing things up a bit if you've settled into a rut at the gym. I don't know what you do now, but I would think if you are just casually doing cardio perhaps work in some more strength training or do some other physical activity that you haven't tried before.

You've already lost 66 lbs so even if you never lose another pound that's a huge victory. That said its hard for people to answer questions without specifics. What are you eating? How much are you eating? Are you exercising?

I'm 5 days out from surgery and feeling pretty good now, pretty much this was the progression to getting there. Day 1: Surgery went fine, but for me I absolutely hated the 14 hours between waking up in recovery and discharge. Things were deeply uncomfortable between the surgery and not being allowed to sleep (1am, 3am, 4am, and 5am wakeups didn't help). Day 2: I had a long car ride home if you expect this, make sure you are topped off on the Tylenol II for the ride. Pretty much needed to make sure that I was taking my pain meds every 4 hours. Day 3: Pain was more manageable and drinking was easier (getting down the protein shake was tough though), cut the Tylenol II to first thing in the morning and right before bed (with some Chew-able Tylenol when needed). Day 4: Phased out the prescription pain meds and feeling much better. Weird gut feelings (I'm assuming are gas, but I don't really have a frame of reference). Day 5: Feeling pretty good starting to feel a little hungry.

Is there anyone out there with Emprire BCBS (NY) know if I would be disqualified for losing weight during my 6 month supervised period? My surgeon said no, but I'm not sure that's right and there doesn't appear to be anything on empireblue.com that seems to indicate. When I started the process I had a BMI of 40.2 and fatty liver disease, high bloodpressure (at least in the doctors office), and a high A1C as comorbidities. I want to lose weight before the surgery but I'm concerned that if I drop below a BMI of 35 the insurance company will not approve.