Rainbow_Warrior

Yes, I understand that. Having been through almost 30 years of obesity and morbid obesity, I saw or sensed (or both) people assume that, because of my weight, I was: 1) not very smart/clever 2) lazy I have heard many oft-dismissed women friends say over many, many years that, at work, "I have to put in almost twice as much effort as the younger men I have trained and get paid under 75% of what each of them earn. Fortunately, working twice as hard as these entitled boof-heads is not difficult." CASE IN POINT: My sister-in-law has been with her company for nearly 35 years and trained at least 40 male junior managers/executives and 15 female junior managers/executives. She was saying last Saturday, that of the 40 males, 31 were promoted past her or left the firm for career opportunities 'up the line'. Of the 15 women, only 2 have passed her by. (I have suggested that she get a good industrial advocate and an attorney and take the company on.) Sorry for that digression; I just thought it was a good analogy. It came as a great surprise to lots of colleagues (my age and younger, some much younger) just how capable I was and how much I knew and how much I could glean on the job. Too many people assume too much from some very prejudicial viewpoints. Discrimination is appalling wherever it occurs.

Ditto that. Well said. Exactly ... she/he treats me well as a patient/customer. I respect the years of preparation and training that she/he has done in the years leading up to my surgery. I pay any fees promptly. I verify that the health insurance company transfers moneys to the surgeon, the anaesthetist and the clinic/hospital. She/he gives good follow-up care in the 9-15 months post-op. Too easy!

Not TGA approved in Australia as yet.

THURSDAY 9th 1) 140g blueberry yoghurt, 25g trail-mix (early) 2) Optiman protein shake plus 100mL skim milk and 100mL egg whites; espresso coffee (mid morning) 3) 120g shredded fat-free ham; 140g strawberry yoghurt (noon-1:30pm) 4) 95g shredded tuna; 65g shredded chicken breast; 140g blueberry yoghurt (3pm-4pm) 5) Vanilla protein shake with a raw egg & 100mL skim milk & fibre supplement (6pm-7pm) 6) 140g strawberry yoghurt (8:30pm-9:30pm) Water consumed throughout day = 1600mL

Hold your finger on the ellipsis until the supplementary/secondary menu opens as a 'pop-up'. Press and hold your user name 'Gazebo'. When the tertiary menu opens, finger-touch "Profile" ... then set to work. Or take a few minutes to log in from a desktop computer, a laptop or a larger tablet. The web-browser version of the site is close to painless to use.

They go raw into protein shakes or as drink 'fillers'.

Yes, the 24 hour clock removes all doubt.

Most definitely not. Very widespread. The Gregorian calendar and the Universal Time Conventions are the norm pretty much everywhere. Just because people use or interpret something different to what's normal or accepted does not make it right. Just consider the terms "billion" and "trillion". Thirty years ago, the world (except for the USA and a couple of other exceptions) used billion to mean 1 x 10^12 and trillion as 1 x 10^24. Since the internet became popular, for some reason, three-quarters of the world has gone to the American interpretation, i.e. billion as 1 x 10^9 and trillion as 1 x 10^12.

Yes ... very much so. Over time, people in certain places have assumed that because the early afternoon is P.M. as in 12:01pm, 12:02pm, ... etc. then 12 noon is also PM ... but it's not. Morning goes until 12noon/12a.m. is reached then PM starts immediately after. 8am, 9am, 10am, 11am, 12am/12noon ... And I said, above, in another earlier post, "As a mathematics person, it follows that the later evening is " ... 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, 12pm (midnight)". A moment after that, in the milliseconds after midnight, we start the next day's a.m. tally." As a lot of people assume or use maths wrongly, sometimes in unison, and often without thinking, Long time bad practices exist in lots of places. I remember back to the later years of the 20th Century. 90% or more of people assumed that the YEAR 2000 was the first year of a new century and a new millennium ... BUT IT WASN"T. A decade of years is not complete until the year with the zero in the last place is over. So DEC 31, 1999 was not the last year of the 20th Century. 20 x 100 = 2000. So twenty centuries (or two millennia) were complete AT THE END of DEC 31, 2000. The first date in the 21st Century was Jan 1st, 2001. - - - Another quirk of counting time that few people are used to is years ending with TWO ZEROES. 1600 = leap year; 1700 = NOT leap year; 1800 = NOT leap year; 1900 = NOT leap year; 2000 = leap year; 2100 = NOT leap year; The rule established by the church and the pope of the day (Greg, as I recall) was that every four years we would have a leap year EXCEPT that only end of century years that were DIVISIBLE by 400 would be LEAP YEARS and all others in between would not. That's because, in reality a year is NOT QUITE 365.25 days from all that planet Earth circulating around the sun ... IN FACT, it is closer to 365.2488 days ... so about three days have to be "ERASED" every 400 years. - - - I used to do a regional radio program about all sorts of maths stuff on a local talkback station.

I've written two emails to support (37 days ago and 15 days ago) and not got even an acknowledgement from the support "team". I suspect Max and 99 are dead and just Himey and Fang are running support ... using the Chief's cadaver as an office-chair.

You need to update your mass/weight. Your profile summary says 1 pound lost.

I have read (in threads on this website) that it is very important for the referring doctor or surgeon TO WORD THE REFERRAL OR INSURANCE CLAIM APPROPRIATELY. You might need expert help from a doctor/surgeon who has succeeded in making a case. Mind you, the picture you supplied is very convincing evidence.

SUN 5th Nov: 1) 140g blueberry yoghurt, cup of tea, mug of coffee (early) 2) 140g raspberry yoghurt; 70g chicken breast shredded (mid morning) 3) 70g chicken breast shredded; 140g strawberry yoghurt (1pm-2pm) 4) 140g blueberry yoghurt, two squares 95% cocoa chocolate (4pm-5pm) 5) 65g shredded tuna; 140g raspberry yoghurt (6pm-7pm) 6) 65g shredded tuna; 90g plain Greek yoghurt (8:30pm-9:30pm) Water consumed throughout day = 1750mL - - - MON 6th Nov 1) Chocolate protein shake with raw egg plus three egg whites (early) 2) 140g raspberry yoghurt; 250mL mango juice (mid morning) 3) 80g chicken breast shredded with three egg whites (1pm-2pm) 4) 90g refried black beans with raw egg and two egg whites (4pm-5pm) 5) 90g refried black beans with raw egg and two egg whites (6pm-7pm) 6) 140g blueberry yoghurt, 70g mashed green banana (8:30pm-9:30pm) Water consumed throughout day = 1285mL - - - TUE 7th Nov: 1) 140g blueberry yoghurt, cup of tea, mug of coffee (early) 2) Coffee-flavoured protein shake with five egg whites (mid morning) 3) 140g strawberry yoghurt, mug skim milk cocoa, small mug coffee (1pm-2pm) 4) regular mug espresso coffee, 140g blueberry yoghurt (4pm-5pm) 5) 100g poached egg, 50g shredded bacon, pot peppermint tea (6pm-7pm) 6) Coffee-flavoured protein shake with four egg whites, 100mL almond milk (8:30pm-9:30pm) Water consumed throughout day = 1655mL - - - WED 8th 1) 140g strawberry yoghurt, 500mL apple-pear juice (early) 2) almond milk and turmeric espresso coffee; 95g shredded salmon; 25g smooth peanut butter (mid morning) 3) 50g veal rissole with tomato paste, mustard, curry & garlic (1pm-2pm) 4) 95g shredded salmon; 65g shredded chicken breast (4pm-5pm) 5) Coffee-flavoured protein shake with four egg whites, 100mL almond milk (6pm-7pm) 6) 15g salted mixed nuts; 325mL apple-pear juice(8:30pm-9:30pm) Water consumed throughout day = 1900mL

Online work in 60-75 minute sessions: just five days. Home-visits/Office-visits (10 mins drive; 50 mins interview; 10 mins drive home): 8th or 9th day Full-sessions at business premises): (10 mins drive; 4 hrs work; 10 mins drive home: 12th day (Today, noon on Thursday 9th Nov in eastern Australia, I am now 28th day post surgery and I have one home visit today followed by a 70 minute online interview with a continuing client who's easy to work with.)

That is interesting. I think you mean to say, "I eat from 12 noon until 8pm." The way you actually wrote it, most Europeans, Brits and Aussies would assume that you don't eat from midnight one day until 8pm in the evening of the next day. 12pm, where I live, is the stroke of midnight. 12am is noon or midday. As a mathematics person, it follows that the later evening is " ... 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, 12pm (midnight)". A moment after that, in the milliseconds after midnight, we start the next day's a.m. tally. - - - We had an ex-pat American who started a restaurant here in Toronto (Australia) who put a sign on the door: "OPEN FOR SERVICE" "12pm to 10pm" "Kitchen closes 9:00pm" After a few weeks of jibes about midnight food, he changed the sign to: "OPEN FOR SERVICE" "11:45am to 9:30pm" "Kitchen closes 9:00pm"

As a cryptic crossword addict, my eyes and mind have a tendency to see the humour in potential ANAGRAMS. Your tag, "ASPIRING EVANGELIST" immediately lit up as a news headline: EVIL ANGELS RAIN PIGS. Also VEGAN'S LEGIT ASPIRIN ... :-)

Well, no! I refuse to vote for options which include bodgee spelling or coded swearwords. :-) ignerent [sic] ****** [sic] The latter presented a significant problem as I could not be sure which of the six-lettered swearwords I know made sense after IGNORANT was restored. That's the trouble with erudite, articulate academic Australians like me. <GRIN>

In my case, about 13-14 hours re the gas AND about 18 hours for the bowels. Mind you, my bowel movements resembling "normality" ... i.e. not being 85% or more gas or runny liquid ... that took about nine days.

I'm way too ambivalent to have to choose any of the three given options. :-)

I live in Australia where we've been metric for 45 years now. I set my height as 176cm on day one of joining here but the system came up at 175cm. I tried to adjust my profile ... several times. No luck. I have now written twice to the website manager. Still no reply after 5 weeks and 2 weeks respectively. I am a tad annoyed as being a whole centimetre shorter elevates my BMI by a few tenths above its real number. If you look left now you'll see "Height: 175cm" and BMI: 50" when it's truly 176cm and 49.6 ... go figure. I sense it annoys you too!

I hear you. And I see a direct analogy. In primary (elementary) school and in high school, before weight and obesity became a feature of my life and my being around a quarter of a century later, I was part of a group of very high-achieving students in mathematics, civics, public speaking, debating and inter school competitions. Of the other 80+ students in our grade/year, about 50 or so spent their days in the schoolyard, their mornings and afternoons on the school buses and trains and random meet-ups at the cinema or shopping strip as random opportunities to insult our skills or achievements, to shout offensive remarks, etc. They "hunted" in packs; they jostled, they assaulted; they were nasty in unison. Of the four of us, despite invitations and opportunities to attend the 10th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 40th reunions of the class, only one of us has attended just one of the events and only ever once. The other three of us have not attended at all. Because of my career success and my recent community awards and my time at the city council, my name is well-known in this city/region. Recently, representatives of the majority of the student body have asked. They have asked two of the "still-alive" teachers to approach me to be at the 45th reunion next year. They have even offered me the chance to provide the keynote address. The other three have also had the same or similar offers. We still decline. We did not enjoy their blatant bullying and belittling tactics at school (and outside) in the 1970s. We never liked the hateful notes, the jibes, the anger at our success. We had many years of nastiness directed at us. We, OTOH, were generally congratulatory of others' sporting and pastime successes. We often provided study support or essay help to some of the students that originally asked ... but we eventually let that slide. The painful memories mean that we have no empathy for sharing time drinking to celebrate/remember old times that we never fully enjoyed. - - - In my recent years, while obese, I have heard some very shitty comments from truly ignorant people and I don't have to like or acknowledge them either. Four men (now in their 62nd or 63rd year have no interest in sharing time with hollow people from our early lives who treated us with derision. @Kat410 ... you are well entitled to not like dealing with ignorant or ill-informed comments and veiled (or real) disrespect. My opinion does not matter and neither does anyone else in this thread if they don't fully understand the shoes in which you walk and the exact experiences you've been through.

TWO QUESTIONS that I did ask between July 17th and October 9th ... Q. How long until I'm off hypertension medication(s)? A. Between a week and 13 weeks depending on the level of your blood pressure to begin with. - - - Q. As a morbidly obese person, how does the risk of stroke change after WLS? [I asked when my mass was 174.6kg and my BMI was 55+ and I was 61.2 years old.] A. You are currently at a 0.0003 (three-hundredths of one percent) daily risk of a stroke on any given day. Just by losing 20kg and getting your BMI under 50, you will reduce your daily risk level by about 1/5 to 1/4 ... i.e. 0.00024 to 0.000225 And by the time you near your goal [under 85kg], your daily risk will likely be 0.00015 to 0.00008 until you pass 69-71 years of age. The healthier your eventual diet and lifestyle, the lesser your risk will stay.

I find that unless one is a strict vegan/vegetarian, almost anything can be obliterated to tiny particles in an excellent blender then mixed with 25mL, 50mL, 75mL, 100mL or 125mL of pourable raw egg whites. These amounts of egg whites offer an extra 15g, 29g, 44g, 58g or 73g of extra dietary protein respectively. Egg whites blended into anything else are near to neutral. Makes swallowing anything else easy for most people. My dietitian and surgeon applauded this idea for protein building. Each 55g (2oz) egg only adds 7g protein plus a whack of fat and may kick your cholesterol count way out. Egg whites are negligible to zero cholesterol depending on brand or processing.

Yes! Qualifies as a strenuous effort job. My jobs/roles (described elsewhere in this thread a few minutes ago) are low sedentary to medium sedentary. They are also limited public presence to open public presence (as I also described). When I am working on Skype/FaceTime, I have a "optional pants" or "optional slacks" rule. I often just operate in my tracksuit bottom with a neat polo shirt ... but, heck, only my upper head and chest show on those services.

I am a retiree ... but I have a skill set in high demand ... so I get plenty of offers of work for $$$$. The one restriction was that my surgeon and clinic said, "Ideally, don't plan to do anything strenuous for at least 7-10 days post-op. And, please, try not to drive in the first four days post-op as you may have residual anaesthetic issues." - - - My work is such that I am: (a) registered with a professional body and can be offered single days or multiple days filling in for other full-timers who need personal leave or sick leave. (b) registered with four local service go-betweens who take bookings for work (2hr, 3hr & 4hr temp blocks) and assign it to people like me. (c) able to be phoned by former or ongoing clients and to provide them ad hoc help and guidance via Skype/FaceTime (d) can be referred by former clients directly ... they pass my name and role onto friends and family and I step in and work fee for service to address their current needs. So, before the sleeve op mid October (Thur, 12th Oct), my work week looked like this: Monday - provide two hours on site at a professional business showing young executives presentation techniques and product skills (3:30pm-5:30pm) Tuesday - engaging at a business premises (2pm-6pm) owned by a fee-for-service franchisee showing school-leavers "the ropes" to getting employment in a range of suitable industries. Wednesday - 5pm-6pm - sitting in an easy-chair at home on Skype/Facetime with two people in remote Australia who need development and use this hour every week to ask me questions and seek my advice. (THIS ROLE CUTS OUT NEXT WEEK.) Thursday (1) - provide two hours on site at a professional business showing young executives presentation techniques and product skills (3:30pm-5:30pm) - same people as Monday Thursday (2) - 6pm-7pm - sitting in an easy-chair at home on Skype/Facetime with two people on the far south coast of my state who need development and use this hour every week to ask me questions and seek my advice. Friday - a young man with a chequered personal history comes to me home office to seek my advice to rejoin his career full time from next year. His family are paying me to help him "clean up his act" with some stable advice and tips to get him back to full accreditation. Outside of these actual hours, I spend about 10-20 minutes per individual client reading/writing/tracking progress for them (and for my benefit too.) - - - The hard one was the Tuesday job - I stayed away for it for two full weeks and did just a half session on the 31st Oct. I went back to it for full session yesterday (7th Nov) and did okay. The Monday & Thursday identical jobs (where I drive across town) I missed on the Thursday of the op and the Mon & Thur the following week. The Wed and Thursday online jobs I resumed the week following the op - hey, I'm just sitting home in my own comfy chair ... little energy expended and limited risk of pain/trouble, I thought ... I was right. I missed the Friday job at my residence on the 13th (the day after the op) and the 20th Oct as I wanted to be settled in my post-op diet and toileting to be sure. So I resumed that from 27th Oct and again last Friday (3rd Nov). - - - You just have to consider whether you need to allow yourself any time to cover pain and adjustment, I guess. Are you right to drive or catch transport to work? Be your own best judge, Ms_Meli.