mickeymammoth

Just for completeness, I found the following tasty bars: Zone Perfect chocolate Mint and Fudge Graham. PayDay Pro. It's a Payday bar, with more Protein and less fat and sugar! Yay! Didn't like the Fruitified Zone Perfect bars, or the MET-Rx Big 100 Colossal bar.

I also only have 24 hours of clear liquid before, but I don't think they mentioned red or purple. I know that when you have a colonoscopy, you can't have anything red or purple beforehand because it tends to stain things and look like blood or something. So it must be the same concern.

I just got my date this morning, August 7. I still have to have my gastroenterologist send a letter before it's a done deal, and I've already asked her once! Doctors, I swear! After they get the letter (regarding medication and surgery timing), then I set up another appointment with the surgeon and I assume complete any pre-surgery junk. I'm pretty nervous about it. I'm going to make a reservation for the fancy restaurant in town sometime between now and then, and have one last go at overeating.

We have a new-ish cupcake store here, and I bought a bunch a few months ago (not banded yet). They looked absolutely delicious, but they all sucked! Hope your cupcake was good!

So I found a bunch of new Protein bars to try. I don't know if these will be a regular part of my diet or not, but they might be good on the run meals. These were all around 10-12g of protein, but the calorie counts were generally lower than some other bars, so you have to take that into consideration. Winners: Detour Biker and Detour Runner bars. My favorite flavors were chocolate Chip Cookie and Lemon Yogurt. I didn't care for Chocolate Peanut Butter, Toffee Almond, or Raspberry Chocolate. These are approx. 200 calories with 12g protein. 3.5g - 7g fat. I thought the Kashi GoLean Rolls were OK, but kind of bland. The Balance apricot mango was good, but the texture was too hard to chew for me. Detour core strength and Karma bars were yucky.

I have United as well, and it took about 3 weeks before I got my approval letter. My BMI was 37, but I have sleep apnea and some other problems that might have counted. I was worried that my BMI wasn't high enough (ha ha), but I guess my company paid for decent coverage! Yay! I don't think United usually requests 6-month diets or anything.

Good news! I just got my approval letter from United Health! I was like, "Yay!... Uh oh." It all just got a whole lot more real. I wasn't able to get through to the surgery scheduler today, but hopefully soon I'll have a date. Eeek!

I doubt you'll find Naked in WalMart; they are often carried in their own case like Odwalla. They're all fresh juices so are perishable, and also not cheap. I get them at the grocery store.

I'm not an expert, but your AHI number was under 5 events per hour, which means you're "normal." However, since you snored and had 16 hypopneas (those are where you don't stop breathing, but you breathe shallowly), and your oxygen sat got a little low, they must think there's room for improvement. Frankly, your numbers aren't that bad. I'm surprised they even diagnosed you with sleep apnea. I recommend you post your results on cpaptalk.com where people with more knowledge can tell if it's worth you trying CPAP or not. I have much worse sleep apnea, and my CPAP is my savior. I can actually sleep! But it's kind of a trial getting used to wearing a mask.

Hi all, I'm pre-op, and my homework was to find Protein drinks that were edible for the liquid diet phase. I also thought I'd test some Protein Bars for an on-the-go meal. Criteria: I am avoiding artificial and low-calorie sweeteners (including stevia). I think they might make me fatter by stimulating my appetite. This is very hard to do in the diet world!!! I'm also avoiding sugar alcohols for the same reason, also GI upset. Protein Drinks: I tried Odwalla, Naked, and Mix1. I also tried a slimfast one, but noticed later that it had splenda. Winner: Naked Protein Zone banana chocolate. This drink actually tasted great, and I would drink it in real life! It has 16g protein for 8 oz. (1/2 bottle) and 240 calories. It uses a mix of whey and soy Proteins. I've heard that whey is better than soy, in that it's easier for the body to absorb and is more of a complete food. Runner Up: Naked Protein Zone. Not as good as the choc-banana, but OK fruity flavor. Also worth buying: Mix1 has a set of nice fruit-flavored drinks (using whey protein). They are 15g protein in 11 oz. (1 bottle) and 200 calories. I thought the Blueberry-vanilla and Mango-Papaya flavors were the best. They almost taste like a yogurt drink, but they don't have any yogurt in them. The berry and lime were OK, but I couldn't imagine drinking a whole bottle. The Tangerine was yucky; tasted like a chewable Vitamin. I'll probably get these too, for variety: Odwalla SuperProtein Chocolate, and Vanilla D'almondo are edible. They aren't as good as the Naked ones, though, and they are only soy protein. 10g protein in 8 oz. (1/2 bottle) and 190 calories. The Original flavor was yuck (I didn't try the Chai one, since I don't like tea). The slimfast high protein chocolate one (with splenda) was yucky anyway. Protein Bars: I tried Clif Builder's Bars, Labrada Sweet & Salty Lean Body Granola Bars, Snickers Marathon bar (Doh! Splenda!), Balance Bare Sweet & Salty (Doh! Maltitol), PowerBar ProteinPlus, PowerBar Performance Bar (Maltodextrin?), Special K Protein Meal bar (Doh! Sorbitol), Slim Fast Protein Meal Bar (Maltodextrin?), Odwalla SuperProtein. Winner: Labrada Sweet & Salty Lean Body Granola Bar, Peanuts and Chocolate. 20g protein (mix of soy and whey and nuts), 340 calories, 11g fat. This is a bit more caloric, but it tastes great. The Almonds 'N Yogurt flavor was pretty good too. Runner Up: Clif Builder's Bar. This tastes pretty good, and is all natural. Soy protein only, though. 20g protein, 270 calories, 8g fat. I liked Cookies and cream the best, but they're all edible. The PowerBar Performance was pretty good, but it was only 9g of protein. I'm not sure how I feel about Maltodextrin. The PowerBar ProteinPlus had an icky aftertaste. Same with special K, and SlimFast. I almost liked the Odwalla bar, but it was cloyingly sweet. I loved the Balance Bare bar, but it wasn't super high in protein and it had maltitol, and that made me a little gassy. The Snickers Marathon bar was tasty, but then I noticed it had splenda. If you're not averse to Splenda, it's really yummy.

I got Non-fat for a long time, and then more recently bumped up to 1%. I find that 1% tastes so much better than non-fat, that it's worth the extra calories. Whole milk is awesome, but probably not worth the extra calories. I get all my milk delivered from the local dairy. My son, who is the main drinker, can't stand store-bought brands in comparison. I don't drink milk, except with cereal. Note, that there was a study last year or so in Sweden or something that tracked people who drank whole milk vs. skim, and I think the whole milk drinkers might have been less overweight or no different from the skim milk drinkers.

The official line from most surgeons is that they're equal. The one study I've found on google says they have the same outcome/complication rate. I personally am interested in the Realize band because the port is supposed to be nicer (lower profile, less initial pain). But I don't think it matters much which one you choose.

I had bad GI issues with metformin; I didn't stay on it for long. I also tried Byetta for a few months, but it just made me feel queasy. It didn't really help me lose weight. I did lose a little weight at first, but I think that's because I was trying to watch what I ate. I was diagnosed with PCOS at around 180 lbs., so I have a long way to go to get thin enough so the PCOS might resolve. I'm not really sure it will resolve even if I get to a lower weight. I recently went off BCP in preparation for surgery, so I'm a little nervous my acne etc. will pick up. We'll see.

I gave up soda 2+ months ago, but am still drinking plain bubbly water. I figure I may as well enjoy that while I can. Same with drinking while eating; why suffer in advance :smile2: Whenever I try to take little bites and chew really well, I get so bored of that! I think that's going to be very hard...

It really is amazing how little you can eat to maintain a normal weight!!!

I think the Viactiv multivitamin and calcium chews are yummy! I also take a Biotin melt-away that I put under my tongue. I'm not a big believer in vitamins, but what the heck. Better safe than sorry.

"The bigger you are, the more calories you can eat. So when I get to goal, I need to eat less than I used to just to maintain my weight."

My husband was against it at first, because he was afraid I'd die from an "elective surgery," but he looked into it and attended a seminar with me, and is now totally supportive. So, there's hope that your hubby will come around. I suggest being armed with the facts (low risk from surgery, best outcome for weight loss).

I went to my nutrition class yesterday, and all 7 of us were lap-banders. Not a single gastric bypass patient there! I don't know if this is indicative of a trend, but I think the less invasive, adjustable quality of the Lap-band has attracted a lot of us who were put off by gastric bypass...

My surgeon chose 159, but I had already been thinking 150. That is by no means my skinny weight from my younger days, but I feel like it's relatively thin. I figured it was going to be tough to just get to 150, let alone my ideal weight. I was 120 at my thinnest, and thought I was so fat at 130, 140, and all the later weights that I have visited on my way up. So I'd love to be thinner, but get real!

After reading a recent study on rats where the ones who ate artificial sweetener were fatter than the ones who ate sugar, I gave up all artificial sweeteners. I guess that you can't trick your body; your body thinks you've eaten something sweet, and gets pissed that there's nothing work with, so makes you hungrier. Although Stevia is natural, I don't see how it could be any different to the body than other artificial sweeteners: it's sweet, but it's not fuel, like sugar. I avoid Stevia too because in theory it shouldn't be any better. I just eat some sugar when necessary. I know it's "empty calories" etc., but all things in moderation. Fruit is better than sugar, but still some sugar is the cost of forgoing Splenda and Nutrasweet, etc. I have to recommend a cookbook I got recently called "Secrets of Fat-Free Baking" by Sandra Woodruff. I never thought I'd be able to tolerate baked goods without fat or sugar, and made with whole wheat, but I've had success with several recipes so far. I'm pre-band, so it's possible I won't be able to eat any of this post-band without getting stuck, but if you can, it's a good approach to still getting a sweet fix without breaking the rules.

I haven't gone to the nutrition class yet, so I don't know the specifics. I'm currently eating 1500 calories, and often get in 100g of protein a day. But the ratio of protein/carbs/fat is still around 25/50/25. So if I eat 1000-1200 calories post-band, and they want the ratio to be 50/25/25 or even more extreme, then it would mean keeping the protein similar to what I have, and cutting out only the carbs. That seems like a very unbalanced diet that one would grow tired of. My current diet is all about 1/2 protein and 1/2 carbs in terms of portion sizes. In reality, because the Proteins aren't always ALL protein, my diet skews as I've described. There are some foods I eat alot of that I'll prob. have to ditch: cottage cheese, which is probably too mushy to be the protein, etc. But this is a diet (Body for Life) that I feel I can live with. I hope I don't sabotage myself with the band for not eating so much protein. I already feel my protein is pretty darn high!!!

I am very prone to headaches. I've been dieting for the last 2 months, and am eating much healthier. But I haven't cut out everything like you have. I still get headaches. I'm hoping that they might be less over time. But since I don't really know what the cause is (tension? food? hormones?), I'm not expecting a cure-all.

I would delay the surgery. If you're losing weight without really trying, I'd wait and see if your weight loss tapers off or you begin to gain again before scheduling the surgery. If your sense of smell comes back, then schedule it right away! I've known a couple of people who have lost their sense of smell, and one told me that at first he gained weight because he was trying so hard to get food satisfaction. Then he lost it again. But he didn't wither away to nothing, either. It's possible that the enjoyment is now gone from eating for you, and therefore you're not eating for emotional/pleasurable reasons anymore. That might be enough. I sincerely hope you get your sense of smell back. Like anything, you'll probably get used to it, but it seems like a bummer. I do think weed poison is bad news all around, and I never use it. I've also read that a lot of sinus "infections" are often caused by mold. Have you tried an anti-fungal spray? I don't know what's out there for that... Good luck!

I guess my surgeon doesn't feel it's necessary to shrink the liver. He has done thousands of bypasses and lap-bands, so I assume he has the experience. He also claims a very low complication rate. So hopefully he knows what he's doing!