Kristy29

I had been looking forward to trying this since I saw him make it on the Apprentice. Unfortunately, I work at CVS and for some odd reason, we don't carry Snapple!! I never go anywhere else, but now that I've heard it's good, I'm going to have to make a point to find it somewhere!!

Abracadabra is right, I eat the greek yogurt for the extra protein, as recommended by my dietitian. And the flavored ones have twice as many carbs, so to find a way to flavor the plain one without adding any carbs is great.

Well, actually most protein powders have about 100-130 calories per scoop and 20ish grams of protein (at least the ones I've tried). So 2 scoops is still within that calorie range and then it has 24 grams of protein, which is a good amount.

That's encouraging. I also have Aetna, and since I am flying overseas in October I am hoping the process takes as little time as possible so I can have the most possible time between surgery and my trip.

So I have been eating greek yogurt, but I have been buying the plain one to avoid all the sugar. Well I bought some DaVinci sugar free syrup, and I added it to my yogurt tonight and it was really good! I used the irish cream one, but I also bought watermelon and pumpkin pie. Tomorrow I am going to try and make a smoothie with the watermelon, since I am sooooo jealous that Dunkin Donuts just came out with a watermelon coolatta.

Ok, I have a problem with a lot of what was in the article. First of all, with the lawyer, if her band was so tight that nothing was going down, she should have gone to a doctor or the er or something. Second, with the teenager with the perforated stomach, why is a teenager having the surgery to begin with? And with the last patient, why did she have the surgery if she only weighed 156 lbs? In that case, I think it is the doctor and the patients fault for going through with the surgery. Even if that was her weight 6 weeks out, she couldn't have possible been big enough to justify the surgery.

My sister had gastric bypass, and she actively gained weight in order to qualify. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Interesting thing though, when I went for my seminar the nurse actually talked about this. She said that if you are borderline, and then go on the pre-op diet, it won't matter because the insurance takes your weight from that day. Maybe call your insurance and tell them that you weighed this much at your appointment, and you want to lose a few lbs during the pre-op phase because you know it will make surgery easier on your body. My doc requires a 5% weight loss or he will not perform the surgery, so not losing is not an option.

I use Sparkpeople. It is connected to the website, and you can enter your food on your computer or your phone. There is also a huge community on Sparkpeople, with different Spark Teams. I am a member of the lap band spark teams. I like how I can enter my food from my phone, because when I am out I don't have to remember to do it when I get home. But then I like how I can use many more features on the website.

I have these, but I don't know what kind of calcium they are. Never mind, I just checked the bottle and it's calcium carbonate. Guess I need to hunt down something else as well.

Oh, sorry I wasn't clear, I am allowed one meal, it's just that I am replacing 2 meals with a shake now instead of one, like I have been doing.

I got two samples of the Lean Dessert with my bariatric eating sample pack. My husband tried the chocolate coconut one and said it was nasty. I haven't gotten the courage up to eat the cinnamon roll one yet. I hope it's not as bad as he made it out to be, because that sounds like a flavor that has a lot of potential.

I really like the chicken Soup one from unjury. You make it in warm Water and it tastes like a cup of soup. As someone on here pointed out before, it breaks up the constant sweetness, since every other Protein shake is sweet. I also like the isopure grape frost zero carb one (I don't know which isopure you tried), muscle milk light vanilla, Inspire dutch chocolate cake, and EAS AdvantEDGE chocolate. DH likes the EAS strawberry one also. Both bariatriceating.com and unjury.com offer sample packs. I ordered them and still haven't gotten through them yet, and it's a good way to find out what I like and what I hate. I am limited to ones that have less than 110 calories (although the Inspire one has 126), so I have less choices. Boost, slimfast, atkins, etc are not allowed on my diet.

So went in for my second appointment today. I am down 5 lbs. I now need to go to 2 Protein shakes a day. Yikes, I actually tried that out on Friday and I felt so weak and hungry. I am a cashier and am on my feet all day, and it's hard to do when you haven't eaten much. The dietitian did say I could have some fruit witht he Breakfast shake and a salad with the lunch shake, so hopefully that will help. So now I have one more appointment in a month from now. If I am close to my pre-op goal, we will move forward. She said I didn't have to be at goal because by the time I meet with the surgeon and submit to insurance, I will keep losing so as long as I'm close they let us go to the next step. I also found out from my pcp today that my thyroid levels were normal when they did a re-check, so no delay there trying to get it under control. My sugars have been much better lately as well, since I am not eating carbs, so there should be no problem there either. I am confident now that I should have the surgery by the end of August. Yay!!

I am down 5 lbs!! Went to doc today and got weighed. If I am close to the 15 lbs next time I go to doc (in one month and 2 days) I get to make an appt with the surgeon and submit to insurance, woohoo!

May I ask the reason for not drinking before you eat? I understand why you can't drink during a meal and right after, to prevent flushing the food through the band. But why no drinking before you eat? My surgeon says you can drink up until the second you put food in your mouth, and then it's no more liquids for one hour. Makes more sense to me.

That sounds about right. I am in pre-op now. So far I have met with a cardiologist, who did an in office ekg, and then I had to go to another office for an echo and a stress test. Had to get clearance from my pcp, a psych eval, an upper gi xray, an egd, and 3 months of meeting with the nurse practitioner and the dietitian. The only thing you are doing I'm not is the sleep test. I would rather do all the required testing, than not do it and run into complications during surgery.

I have Aetna and my surgery, nutritionist visits, etc are all being covered. All I have to pay are any co-pays.

I was told when in my class that I will continue to incorporate protein drinks into my meal plan, even after the liquid phase post band. Also, in my support group, we have discussed protein drinks as well, and there are people there who are a year or more out, and they still use protein shakes for their meals. It is also in the book that I was given from my surgeon that explains the meal plan they use that protein shakes are to be used post op. So maybe your doctor told you that, but my doctor puts a big emphasis on protein shakes, both pre AND post op.

Interesting about the Protein drinks. My doctor is the exact opposite. We are expected to rely greatly on protein drinks. Right now I am pre-op and trying to lose 5% (15 lbs) in order to be approved for surgery. I am required to replace 1 meal a day with a Protein shake, and eventually I will go to 2 a day. When you go to their office, they have bottles of protein drinks everywhere as examples of what is acceptable. The rules are that it must be less than 130 calories and less than 3 grams of carbs. Every one meeting these requirements I have come across has zero fat. So I disagree with your doc that says it is high calorie and high fat.

So I made my first smoothie today. I took plain greek yogurt, and put in fresh (bought from my farm co-op, so really really fresh) strawberries and one scoop of unjury's strawberry sorbet Protein Powder and blended. It was pretty yummy, and better than just Protein powder mixed with Water like I've been doing. I think it would be even better with ice, but I didn't have any. What is your favorite smoothie recipe?

Yes, I understand that it isn't the root cause of all my weight, and fixing it won't be a magic cure. But I do believe it is the reason that even when I do diet and eat right and exercise, I still don't lose. Last year while living with my parents, I was walking and biking 4 times a week and eating a high Protein low carb diet with lots of veggies. I don't think I lost even 5 pounds. That just can't be right, and it is so frustrating to know I am doing everything right and getting nothing for it. I have been on the pre-op diet for over a week now. I have been eating a Protein shake of less than 115 calories for 1 meal a day, the second meal is no carbs and the third meal is very low carb. Also low fat, low calories. I have been journaling my food on SparkPeople, and have been within the calorie range to lose weight. Not an ounce has come off. So so so frustrating, especially since I can't have the surgery, per my insurance, unless I lose 15 lbs. I have never lost 15 pounds in my life.

So many times in the past, I have tried to diet. I have always failed. I do everything I'm supposed to, follow all the rules, and nothing. Maybe I'll lose 5 lbs, I think once I lost 10. But that's it. Well, I got my pre-op bloodwork done, and when I went into my surgeon's office to meet with the nurse practitioner, she said my thyroid levels were off. So now I am wondering if my doctor ever checked them before. Every time I would go in to see him, I would get a lecture about losing weight. If he never checked my thyroid, and I have been suffering and struggling with my weight all this time, I will be pissed. If I could have been taking a pill that could have helped (I know fixing my hypothyroidism won't magically make me lose, but it will make me lose when I am trying). Every time I would go on a diet and nothing would happen, I would get so frustrated and quit. And then feel like a failure. And even my husband made me feel like a failure, because he would always say well you must be doing it wrong because you aren't losing. Even though he would be eating the same things and he would lose weight. All that suffering, and it could have been prevented with one blood test!!!!! :confused::cuss::cuss::cuss::thumbup::cuss::tt2::cuss::cuss:

So I have decided that when I lose 100 lbs, I am going on a cruise. As a reminder of this and as a visual motivation, I bought a bathing suit in a size XL, and it is hanging in my bedroom where I can see it every day. I hope I get to wear it while lounging at the pool on my cruise sometime soon! Anyone else planning a reward for themselves or have a motivation of some sort?

I also have Aetna and am in the middle of my "3 months". It's not actually 3 months, because it only has to be 3 appointments in 3 separate months, so first appointment was May 24th and last is July 12th. Every month I need to meet with the dietitian and nurse practitioner. Plus my surgeon requires that we attend at least 3 support groups, and I also need to lose 5% of my weight.

I live in the Poconos, which is a big tourist destination. I live in a gated community on top of a big hill (or a small mountain, whichever way you look at it). I have close neighbors, but most of them are vacation homes so empty half the time. It is 10 minutes to the nearest grocery store, 25 minutes to the nearest walmart, and half an hour to the tiny mall. Any big box stores are near the mall, and there are only a few of them but they are building more every year. It is very peaceful here, we have birds, deer, turkeys, squirrels and other animals we see all the time. I like it but hate the inconvenience of it. I wish I lived in a town where I could walk places, I can't even walk to my mailbox here. We get a lot of tourists for skiing in the winter, and camping, shopping and river activities in the summer. This creates a lot of traffic, but as locals we know all the tricks to get around it. We moved here because we were living in NJ and couldn't afford it and we wanted to buy a house. Now that the market has gone down so much, and it's especially bad here, we can not sell our house so even if we don't want to be here anymore, we are stuck. I try to tell myself it's beautiful and I should love it, but sometimes I just don't want to drive so damn much all the time.