ouroborous

So, the consensus is that my memory may well get WORSE after surgery? Great...

Well, I can tell that I'm going to have to re-learn EVERYTHING about how and what to eat. After discovering that one of my little "snack bags" of raw almonds (a healthy "snack," right?) was nearly 40g of carbs and over 1100 calories (almost 1000 calories of fat!), I have been SUPER cautious about EVERYTHING I put in my mouth. This is going to be tough!

I may be the only 39 y.o. man without ANY tattoos. After I've hit my "target weight" might be the time to finally get one, it sounds like :wink0: Who knows, maybe a bit of clever ink might hide some stretch marks!

Interesting. My cautions regarding melatonin came from a doctor, who told me to "save my money" since the body just metabolized it away during digestion. Here's a link to a double-blind NIH study showing that melatonin was no more effective than placebo for treating primary insomnia: Treatment of primary insomnia with melatonin: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study However, AFAIK, oral melatonin doesn't cause any harm, however, so if it helps you, go for it. Even if it IS just a placebo, don't underestimate the power of placebos. If you have something that makes you believe you "can sleep now," just that belief alone might be sufficient to LET you sleep! Bottom line, it doesn't cause any harm, and if it helps you, why not? Edit: doing further research shows that the verdict isn't yet final. Here's a slightly less "authoritative," but still insteresting study showing the opposite: http://www.springerlink.com/content/756t11t76616540k/ Doing more research, it appears that melatonin may be useful in treating some specific CAUSES of insomnia, such as asthma and Alzheimer's disease. As a generic "sleep aid," however, it appears ineffective. As is so often the case, however, there are "warring studies." So I'd still stick with "if it works for you, go for it."

Thanks for all the responses. I'm SOOOO hopeful that my apnea will resolve. I've been diagnosed with apnea for 10 years now, and I'm used to sleeping with the machine, but it's a constant struggle -- every night, I fight with it, and the "good nights" where I lay down and sleep deeply through the night, are still rare. I'm REALLY looking forward to good, healthy sleep after I drop the weight. NB: Apparently playing the didgeridoo (specifically, the "circular breathing" that it requires) can significantly improve apnea. I may try this (even though I may feel silly). Anything for health, right?

I'm going to use the 2 week pre-op diet (starting Tuesday!) as an opportunity to start working exercise back into my routine. For me, it's all about habit changes, and exercise is a habit that I really WANT to acquire.

The poor self esteem that can result from overweight and obesity is a big deal, and should not be written off. But it's also important to remember that overweight and obesity can cause real, physiological problems that can lead to reduced sex drive and reduced sexual performance. Obesity reduces stamina and physically complicates sex -- even if you and your partner are the most willing partners around, if you're in pain or out of breath, it gets hard to maintain the mood. Add to that the evidence that obesity disrupts hormonal function significantly -- I don't know about women, but in men, fat cells aromatize testosterone to estrogen, which is a Very Bad Thing for sexuality in men -- and you begin to see that it's not just "all in your head." Obesity is, to some degrees, a sex killer! In fact, despite all of the fat acceptance sites saying otherwise (and, for the record, I'm pro-fat acceptance... I just think that you have to be realistic), I'm more surprised when an obese person has a NORMAL sex life. I suspect that for many obese people like my girlfriend and I, sex just sorta drops out of the picture. I'm really looking forward to getting that part of the picture BACK again. We're too young to be sexless!

So, I've read some studies showing that obesity can lead to poor memory. I was wondering if anyone has experienced improvements in mental function since losing all the weight. I have an off-the-charts IQ, but even so I've felt for a while now that my brain feels "fuzzy." Specifically, my recall is poor and I often fumble to remember names and facts and information. Anyone felt like their mind is "sharper" after losing weight?

Oh, we all have issues, I suppose. I just tend to be more outspoken about the things that trouble me. I doubt that, when you boil away the unimportant parts, I'm that much more messed up than anyone else. I think that I've just learned a few things about changing habits, and was using you all as a sounding board for my plans for exercise changes! Thanks for all the feedback :wink0:

So, in my lunches, I've been packing raw almonds. For some reason, I had them in my mind as a healthy "snack." They are relatively healthy as Snacks go, but as always -- portion size is king. I weighed one of the ziplock bags that I've been taking to work, and it was 183g of raw almonds. I looked up the nutrition facts (for almonds, found it here: Raw Almonds), and... WOW. That "little bag" of almonds was almost 6.5 servings. It was 36g of carbs (! almost my entire day's allotment in one "snack"), and over 1100 calories. Yeesh! So my other healthy snack was a cup of grapefruit. Turns out that that "little" cup of fruit was 32g of carbs. I can see that I'm going to have to relearn EVERYTHING if I want to comply with my pre-op diet!

I actually haven't had that in years. It would be nice!

I highly recommend generic omeprazole. It's fairly inexpensive in bulk at Costco.

Hiatal hernia repair usually happens during the sleeve surgery. It's not a big deal, just a little more discomfort during the recovery. It's good to get it fixed.

It's quite normal to be able to eat a bit more after the surgery heals; remember that right after surgery your stomach will likely be very swollen (and thus even more constricted than normal).

Do what you should have been doing all along: LISTEN TO YOUR DOCTORS! We can give you advice and support, but ultimately if you want to get healthy and succeed at weight loss, you have to do what your doctors tell you, including getting surgery if you need it, eating what you're supposed to, and following up with your doctors on a regular basis.

From what I understand, oral melatonin is basically an expensive placebo; the body metabolizes it into inert compounds before it can get anywhere near your sleep regulation systems. I've had lifelong problems getting to sleep and staying asleep. I've tried every substance known to man, from Ambien to alcohol, and honestly the most reliable sleep aid I can find is -- healthy habits! From getting as much exercise as possible to turning out the lights early, those little things REALLY make a difference. On the nights when I'm still having troubles, good old Tylenol PM usually kicks me over the edge. If it's worse than that, then nothing that's not a narcotic is going to help!

Honestly, I'd prefer to lose the weight slower... I'm impatient, but I know it's MUCH easier on the body to have a slow and steady weight loss compared to a stampede. That being said, I'll take it any way I can get it!

Edit: sorry this post looks so bizarre. I was responding to a post that was either edited or removed, so now my post looks weird. In that post someone had said that they would lose "60% of their total weight." If I lost 60% of my total weight, I'd be a skeleton (330 pounds *0.4 == 132 pounds on a 6'1", broad-shouldered, barrel-chested man). I think that the 60% figure is "EWL" or "excess weight lost." In other words, if you calculate what your "ideal" weight is (for me, it's around 185 per the height/weight charts), subtract that from your current weight (for me, 330-185 == 145 pounds) to get your "excess weight," and then multiply that number times 60% (145 * 0.6 == 87), you get the expected weight lost. Now, a few things complicate this. First, every single case will vary. Period. Second, this "EWL" figure is a mean, or average among a number of cases -- this means that some people will lose a lot more, some a lot less, but most will cluster around this number. Finally, if I recall correctly, this 60% figure is the mean from an earlier procedure (which didn't involve resecting, or removing, a portion of the stomach -- just stapling it). Resecting the stomach removes ghrelin secretion, which apparently is another vector for weight loss -- so the "real" VSG produces more significant (and more importantly, more durable long-term) weight loss. My surgeon told me that the figure they're seeing for the "real" VSG is closer to 80% of EWL, with some people approaching 100% EWL. For me, 80% of EWL is 116 lbs!

I've actually been keeping those in mind if someday (some happy day) I hit my "goal" weight and want a few extra calories (to build some muscle mass, or something). What a wonderful problem to have!

As long as the things I find out are GOOD...

From what I remember, the cortisol that stress releases causes the body to do a little more "fight or flight" stuff. One of the fight or flight reactions is a shift in metabolism away from fat storage towards calorie burning; the rationale that I remember is that during times of stress we were more likely to need the energy boost RIGHT NOW than to save it for later. Of course, the interesting thing is that PROLONGED stress can lead to weight gain. I don't think that researchers fully understand that yet; it may be a homeostatic mechanism. Regardless of the physiological causes, it's very normal. Do some meditation or deep breathing exercises to lower your stress level, make sure you're treating your body right (good Vitamins, nutrition, hydration), and it should normalize.

Well, that's good to hear! One more bonus of weight loss, for us XY folks!

Congratulations, brother!

Indeed. I sometimes hesitate to call myself an atheist for the same reasons that someone who believes in equality for women might hesitate to call themselves a feminist: the actions of an outspoken, militant portion of the population have really cast all of us in a bad light. I don't believe in God and never have, but I also have no real desire to "preach the gospel" of non-belief to anyone (because, what good would that do?) As I said, I just tend to live and let live and don't usually bring the subject up (because that always leads into long, pointless "why don't you believe in God? Are you angry at him? What's wrong with you?!" discussions). Of course, this subforum is FOR us, so we can be ourselves here

Okay, okay, I know I'll get a whole lot of "size doesn't matter" responses to this, and it's embarrassing to even ask. However... To us guys, our "endowment" is intimately tied to our self-esteem. Now, on that front, I'm doing okay genetically speaking, but, well, I'm fat. Obese. The result of that is that I have a big gut hiding... things from me, and a fat pad above the pubic area that also makes stuff look smaller than it really is. Any guys (or gals for that matter) know if losing the weight will make the, um, package area more prominent? I know, I know, it's silly and shallow, but then again -- isn't all concern over our appearance silly and shallow? I'm not counting on a dramatic change in this area, but it would be nice to have that uh... little REMINDER that "hey, I'm a man after all!" Anyone?