ouroborous

Lis, did you ever find out anything about the Carafate (sucralfate)?

I am not going into details. It's just that certain... male reproductive functions require a fair amount of Fluid to... conclude successfully. And I am not Sneaky McSneakerton -- is this the gals only forum, or just focused on gal things? :001_tongue: You ladies make appearances on the man forum (although we don't chat much over there, we just grunt and grill things), so all's fair in love and war and bulletin boards.

Your dating doesn't have to center around religion (or lack thereof). Go to poetry readings, book signings, and concerts. Go to wine tastings and museum openings. Go to the beach and play pick-up volleyball. There are so many things you can do where you'll meet other singles, that you don't ever have to focus on the religious aspect.

Just tell him that you had stomach surgery a while back, and you're under doctor's orders to eat very small portion sizes. That's the truth, and it should get him off your back. You can assure him that you're perfectly healthy on small portions, given that you're probably eating more frequently, and that you're being careful with your Vitamins and Water. And thank him for his concern :sad0:

You STILL may not be getting enough carbs. There's a lot of debate (apparently even among doctors) about carb restriction post-sleeve. I'll tell you what my nutritionist said, but of course you should always check with your own doctor. YOU NEED CARBS. If you look at your food, you may find that you're eating almost entirely Protein, or that your carbs are spread WAAAAAY out. Without carbs, you won't be able to maintain enough blood sugar to be healthy. Some symptoms of hypoglycemia can include: Nausea -- doesn't this suck? You're not eating enough, so your body makes you... feel like not eating anything at all! Mental confusion -- you read this same sentence how many times? Sluggishness -- it's literally hard to pick up your feet when walking Fatigue (sleepiness) at odd times/hours Irritability -- I WANT SOME BREAD, DAMMIT! Chills -- I don't get this, but I get... Flushes -- isn't it weird that the same cause (hypoglycemia) can cause you to feel both hot AND cold? Ick. Generally icky. My nutritionist gave me a few recommendations: Quit counting carbs. She said I'd still lose PLENTY of weight on 80-100 g of carbs/day, as long as the carbs are good carbs -- whole grains, fruits, vegetables, you know the drill. Try to incorporate some carbs with your protein. Apparently digesting carbs and protein together slows down the digestion of the carbs and prevents your blood sugar from spiking and then crashing. When in doubt, pure apple juice (for clear liquids) is a good "instant pick-me-up" (and, if you feel better 30 minutes after having some apple juice, you can be pretty sure it was low carbs!). On full liquids, apparently skim milk is God's Gift to Food, since it contains both protein AND carbs, and is good for both a quick burst of energy as well as a long-term source of fuel.

The endorphin high when you're really pushing yourself is just amazing... It's like drugs. Well, it IS drugs -- your body's natural drugs.

Here you go: http://www.tcanham.com/downloads/sleevetimer.zip Download, open it, and run setup.exe. Oh, I should mention: this is Windows only. The installer may require you to download and install the .Net Framework 3.5 from Microsoft, but this is fairly painless and you really should have it anyway If you like it and feel generous, you can drop a buck or two via PayPal at prothe113@yahoo.com (I only use that email for spam and PayPal, so don't bother emailing me there :sad0:)

This is a very good idea -- although we men are visual creatures, confidence matters too. Just like for women with men, with men there's nothing more annoying than a woman who's always talking down on herself, always insecure, and clearly not comfortable in her skin. So even if you can't make your looks "perfect" (and let's face it, who can... besides, "perfect" is very subjective) if you're confident and happy and FEEL sexy, that will be a HUGE draw. I've been VERY attracted to larger women in the past (including my girlfriend) because they were confident, happy creatures. So it's not ALL visual.

Howdy, neighbor! Don't worry, they'll shave you at the OR. I woke up smooth as a baby's bottom...

It's true, gender makes a difference. Also every doctor/nut. seems to give different advice. I'm just glad that my nutritionist didn't care about carbs. One less thing to monitor, for me at least!

We take the generic Omeprazole (Prilosec, IIRC) you can buy in bulk from costco, and it's ridiculously cheap. I recommend it

Well, we can all give advice -- you know what they say opinions are like -- but absolutely, you're right: the doctor should always be the bottom line. Get a second opinion if necessary, but make sure it's a second medical opinion. I'm such a stickler for this because a friend of my girlfriend's nearly died last year because she decided to ignore her doctor's advice and try a "natural" remedy instead of take her medicine (unrelated to WLS, but still...)

By the way, my nutritionist told me to simply not worry about minding anything other than Protein. She said that 100g of carbs per day was "fine" (as long as most of those are "good" carbs, not sugar/flour). She said to not worry about fat at all, since we can't eat enough volume for it to matter. Bottom line, as long as we're getting enough Vitamins and protein and Water, and as long as our calorie count is about right, we'll lose weight. And I agree with others: ditch the scale, or at least don't get on it more than once a week. You can easily gain or lose 2 lbs or more of water and waste per day, and if you track it too frequently it'll give you a complex!

So, I asked the nutritionist today whether I should be shooting for 600-800 gross calories (total eaten, period) or net calories (total eaten minus calories burned in exercise). The answer? Net calories. She said that it's ridiculous to believe that a 6'1 man can live on 800 calories a day if he's burning 400 in exercise. That's effectively asking my body to live on 400 calories a day; no wonder I was feeling woozy and nauseous and not well. Now that I'm eating about 1000 calories per day (and burning 200-300 on average), I'm feeling much, much better (and still losing about a pound a day!) So good to have definitive answers to these things

So I met with the nutritionist today, and much of the talk was about carbs. Specifically, she told me to not worry about carbs, because sleevers simply can't get in enough food for the carbs to be an issue (as long as you stick to complex carbs from vegetables or whole fruits, not sugar/flour/etc.) In fact, she specifically suspected that my icky feelings (wobbly, nauseous) were due to mild hypoglycemia from not eating enough carbs, and not eating them regularly enough. Just to be thorough, I asked "so 80-100 grams of carbs a day isn't a problem?" and her response was "oh no, not at all. As long as you're sticking to the calorie total, you're going to lose weight. Just make sure you're getting enough Protein, but otherwise don't worry so much about restricting carbs." As usual, your doctor/nutritionist/mileage may vary, but from what I'm hearing from the "experts" (as opposed to internet folklore), I really don't think I'm going to worry about carbs at all. One benefit of more carbs (when on whole foods) is that they tend to contain more Fiber -- helping with any bathroom issues you might be having (and which I definitely have been having). So that's one less thing to worry about. Don't worry about the carbs... just the protein, Water, and Vitamins. I mean, I've been averaging 100 g of carbs/day and I'm STILL losing about 1 lb/day.

Amazing progress! Congratulations!

Dunno if I'm hot yet -- gotta get the flab off and find out what's underneath. I'll be happy with just "geeky biker" -- anything else is just frosting!

You really should take the B12 sublinguals. They are almost discomfort-free, and (once your levels are normalized) you might be able to skip the shots. Of course, talk to your doctor. B12 is not something to be messed around with. Insufficient B12 can lead to brain damage.

Sorry, darlin', testosterone is a harsh ruler: it makes my hair go away, but it also helps my gut go away and my muscles stay muscle-y. You could always get steroid shots, if you don't mind going bald and growing a thick, lush mustache! Edit: oh, and I should mention, that's 40 lbs. from my highest weight right before surgery. Since the sleeve, I've "only" lost 25-30 (depending on whose scale you ask).

Of course, always, always, always, always take your doctor's guidelines over those of ANYONE on the internet, but still, I'll chime in to throw in some facts and maybe calm you down a little. Here are your priorities, in terms of risk to your health: Hydration: dehydration will kill you, fast (less than 3 days of no hydration means death). Don't mess around with this; if you have to choose between Water and Protein, choose water. Protein: the problem with insufficient protein is primarily muscle wasting. But remember this: you can live without a bit of food for nearly three weeks. I'm definitely not recommending this, but a few days or even a week of a mildly malnourished state won't kill you. It will make you feel utterly miserable, but it's probably not life threatening. Vitamins: there are a few Vitamins (notably my favorite, B12) that can cause irreversible damage if you don't get enough. A lot of people have trouble taking them; I commiserate, but still, you gotta take them once you're cleared for them. Try different brands and flavors, there are enough varieties that you'll find SOMETHING you can stomach. Carbohydrates: despite the no-carb religion that's popular these days, you need all the food components (protein, fat, carbohydrates) to live well. Extremely low-carb diets can cause lethargy, confusion, and other unpleasant effects. Definitely mind your carbs (especially simple carbs like sugar and bready things), but don't try to eliminate them completely. Best to get carbs from complex sources like vegetables, once you're cleared for that. Calories: please don't try severe caloric restriction (below 600 calories), especially with exercise. Not only might it backfire (your body will go into conservation mode, burning very little and you'll just want to sleep all the time), but it might actually make you nauseous, leading into a dangerous downward spiral. Also -- and talk to your doctor/nutritionist about this -- if you're working out hard like me, burning 300-400 calories/day, you may need to bump up your intake to compensate. If you're getting enough water, you're probably not in danger, for at least a few days, anyway. If you're getting enough water and protein, you've got a few weeks before anything can go really bad. If you're getting enough water and protein and vitamins, it'll take a long time before anorexia does real damage. And if you're getting enough of all of these, you're on the fast track to Wellville. If you get any of the following symptoms, run, don't walk to your doctor: Repeated vomiting Excessive pain anywhere Difficulty breathing Constant (ie, not momentary or positional) dizziness Mental confusion Pooping blood (it will look black and tarry) Peeing blood (it will look brown -- not dark yellow, but brown) If any of those happens, get ahold of a doctor, fast. Many of them (e.g. difficulty breathing) are 911-type emergencies.

There, I fixed it!

Well, since the start of this adventure (pre-sleeve weight), I've dropped 40 lbs. For the most part, I feel great! I'm still struggling to maintain my nutrition levels throughout the day, and I'm really looking forward to starting solid foods this weekend, but all things considered, I'm doing great! My weight loss is total; since the sleeve, I've lost 25 lbs (I dropped 15 lbs on the pre-op diet, but probably 10 lbs of that was Water weight, per the surgeon). Can't wait for the big 5-0 (lbs, that is). Oh, and I just bought this to replace my tired old 2001 Magna. More horsepower, better sound, way more off-the-line, and model good looks: View image in gallery I can't wait until I can change "fat geeky biker" into just "geeky biker." Life is grand!

Definitely follow the doctor's orders on this one. If the doctor says get off them (because, like stcyt you are at risk of osteoporosis, which is about the only real risk of PPI's), then get off them. If your doctor says to take them, then take them. The point is, these are not something you should fool around with without talking to your doctor first.

Right now it's not in the stage where anyone except a developer can tune things like the alarm frequencies (you have to modify the code to do that). Gimme a week or so and I'll post it for free up here or on my website. I probably won't be able to support it, but hey -- it'll be free, and you get what you pay for!

...and I have been having trouble remembering when I can start/stop drinking and eating (let's see, I have to eat and drink every two hours max, but I can't eat less than 30 minutes after drinking, and I can't drink less than 15 minutes after eating, so...) It pops up and nags me when I forget, or when a feeding/drinking time has arrived!