leeblewb

Has anyone tried the Chocolate Milk Diet protein shake? It looks wonderful, but don't they all. Still trying to find something tolerable to supplement my protein intake.

yummm luna. i will have to try that

Well, I am 4 months out and the hair loss started about 3-4 weeks ago. Not balding by any means, but significant thinning. Have a small handful every day. I think I am vacuming up as much hair from me as from the cat if that tells you anything. I went to get my roots done and a trim yesterday, thinking that at least what I had left needed to be shaped up. I was talking with the beautician and she gave (sold) me a new set of products by Redkin. Now, I am always a bit of a sucker for a good product line and have more half used, had to try it beauty products in my bathroom closet than anyone I know. But, I decided that it was worth a shot. She did say redkin was giving it a 30 day money back guarantee, no questions asked. I could just log onto the website and they would cut me a check if I did not see improvement. So, anyway, I bout the 3 product kit. It was only like $35. I figured when she started on the guarantee, etc that it was going to be way more. The lady that owns this salon has lapband about 2 years ago and is one of the lucky success patients with it. She has lost like 150 pounds and has done great. I and my hairdresser talked with her about the surgery, etc and if it would help WLS alopecia (fancy name for hair loss), etc. She seemed to think it would. I will let you know how it goes. If anyone else wants to give it a try instead of waiting for my 1 month report, it is called Redkin Intercept. I got the 3 piece kit, which is a shampoo, a toner (conditioner they just call it a toner) and a leave in treatment. It does make my scalp feel all tingly. It is supposed to help with scalp circulation as one of the things it does. Just thought some of you might want to know.

Here is there website. Just always looking for a yummy Protein shake as I have to supplement to get my 60-70. Wondered if anyone had tried. http://www.chocmilkdiet.com/?tag=Google&gclid=CLTN_vnryqgCFcbc4AodzXjxrg

Good luck to you too Jojo. That is next week. It is exciting when it get close to time. This has been a long journey for many of us. I know I felt sort of surreal when it got close. Keep us up to date.

I started off with outdoor walking about 1 1/2 weeks after surgery. To the end of the driveway the first 2 times, then the corner a few times, then around the block. After that I joined the gym and started the treadmill about 3-4 weeks after surgery. It gets way easier pretty quickly, mainly because the weight starts to drop off pretty quickly at first.

The exercise was harder at first. You just have to start off slowly, but as the pounds have come off, it has gotten much easier. At first I could only do the treadmill for about 12 min. and was huffing and puffing. Now I can do about 45 without huffing much. I can tell I am working, but it is not the strain it was to start with. I now feel so much better after working out that I am really enjoying it. That is all new to me. Someone told me once that being 100 pounds overweight is like carrying a washing machine around all day long, thus the fatigue. Now that I am down the 57 pounds, I have wayyyyy more energy. It is great. I can really tell a huge difference.

Oh Sherri, I am so sorry you are having to go through this. Like Kelly says though, try not to worry until you know you need to. I have a really good friend who is currently going through breast cancer treatment and I know how scary the thought of that can be. Try not to yet though. The waiting is hard. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Let us know what the results are.

I am in. Would love to reach this goal by 4th of July. SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Leeblewb ............268.............211..........190.........21

Wow Tex, that is phenominal results. You are doing great. Keep up the good work.

I have PCOS. My surgery was January 17th. I have not lost weight quite as quickly as some, but more quickly than others. I have My now lost 57 pounds and even though was not quite as quick as I would like I have never lost 57 pounds in 14 weeks before and known it would stay off. I never had regular periods. Usually were every 6-8 weeks. Since about 3 weeks after surgery they are now every 4 weeks like clockwork. I really thought it would take longer for that to regulate out. I am no longer taking Metformin. Any really think that I will probably start ovulating in the near future, if not already. We don't all lose weight at the same rate. Even if you don't lose as quickly as some, you will lose. Lots of factors play into it. Age, genetics, exercise, starting BMI to name a few. You can not compare your rate to others. You are in it for you and for the long haul. Yes I get frustrated when some weeks I only lose 1 pound or even have a stall, but when I look at the over all picture, I was more than halfway to goal at 12 weeks in. Wow. That is nothing to get frustrated about. Stay motivated and you will get to your own goal.

My friend did about 2 weeks after her surgery. She was still having nausea and it did help with that. Not an endorsement, just saying.

We generally do the sharing thing. Or if we are eating chinese, I order an appetizer order of chicken wings. The place we go does not fry them, so I feel pretty good about them. I am only 14 weeks out, so still can only eat like 2 wings and am stuffed. Have ordered a steak salad a couple of times or at Applebee's the Weight Watchers steak tips with broccoli.

There is also a product called Hoods Low Carb Countdown that has a sugar free chocolate milk. Something like that you could try. You may tolerate, you may not. Everyone is different. I think Kroger carries it in the dairy section.

Jenny, i am with you. I have the same issues some weeks. I have only lost 1 pound a week for the last 3 weeks. I think our bodies have just been through so much that out metabolisms are trying to catch up. It is still coming off though. That is what I keep telling myself. Keep your chin up.

Crystal, Congrats on putting all that history behind you. We all have a history of dealing with our fat, they just all vary a bit. Enjoy the new soon to be skinny you.

My BMI was 43 and the surgeon said he had no problem at all. Things looked great. It sounds like you are going into it with the right attitude. The varying pre-op diets is just the surgeon's personal preference. They have not been doing this surgery really long enough to have a consistent standard of care for the pre-op diets. They are doing studies. Any of the options they use provide positive benefits. The pre-op diet has a couple of purposes. First it is to shrink your liver, which gives the surgeon more room to do the procedure with the laparoscope. I think most docs use a 2 week pre-op diet. Some however do either none or just a couple of days. Some even though they do a 2 week one do full liquids, some do some variation of a low carb diet. My surgeon used basically a modified low carb diet. I did Protein shakes for Breakfast and lunch with a piece of fruit and another shake mid-afternoon and a low carb dinner. All the studies I read said this would shrink the liver just as well as a full liquid diet, they also show that usually a 1 week diet worked just as well as 2 weeks. Docs also tend to recommend diets based on where they were trained and what diets that doctor or facility used. The pre-op diet also jump starts your weight loss and reducing your BMI even a little bit helps to give the surgeon more room to maneuver. Good luck with everything. It sounds like you will do fine, just follow your docs advice. Keep us updated on how things go.

What is your BMI? From what I have read, most of the time when they are not able to do it laproscopically is if you have an extremely high BMI. That is one reason some people are required to lose weight before the doc will do the surgery. It is also one of the reasons you have to do a liver shrinking diet prior to surgery. If you follow your pre-op diet you should not have a problem. Hopefully someone who had that complication will respond to your question. From reading on here, it is a very rare issue. One however that I think we all worry about before surgery.

Yes it does. Congrats on the loss. You are both doing great. Keep up the good work.

It is a very personal decision. You only need to be surrounded by people who are supportive as you go through this. After the fact, you may change your mind about who to tell, but ahead of time it is best to just use your own intuition about who will be supportive of this decision.

I thought the same when I was on my preop diet. If I could do that and lost weight, why was I having the surgery. Well, because if we could do that we wouldnt be here. Metabolism, sedentary lifestyles, metabolic syndrome, whatever reason we may individually have...... losing weight and keeping it off is very hard. I know that with my sleeve, it is not only a tool to help me lose the weight, it is a tool to help me keep it off. And in as opposed to the people that think "that is the easy way out" it is not. For me, it was the only way out. b

They will get better. Reading others stories on here helps. We all had our own fears in this journey. As far as a leak, most leaks occur in the first 10 days and it is usually people who advance their diet before they are supposed to. Most doctors will keep you on a liquid diet for a couple of weeks. At the pre-op class at my hospital they said they have only had one leak with a VSG. She was only 1 week out and ate a piece of pizza. duh. I don't think you are going to do that. Information is the best way to arm yourself. The fears will go away the further you get into the process. Hang in there.

The gurgling, etc will pass too. In another couple of weeks it will just go away. I agree with the above poster, just work on fluids at this point. When you can tolerate it greek yogurt has been my saving grace as far as getting enough protein in . It has like 15 gms, depending on the variety. Try it, it may be easier on your system than the protein shakes. As to the hair, most people only have a little thinning. It won't all fall out. This is not chemo. Your wedding is almost a year from now. Don't worry about it yet. One thing at a time.

Another point also is that you age, resting metabolism and how high your BMI are all affect how quickly you lose weight. At your point, I thought I was losing much slower than I had seen others on here post. It was a bummer, then I realized I was losing. That was new for me. I am now 13 weeks out and halfway to goal. I have never lost this much and been able to keep it off. When your clothes start to get too big and you have to buy smaller pants, you will feel better. It is truly amazing and you will get there. As far as the crunchy thing goes. At about your point I started eating a couple of whole grain saltines a day. It gives you that crunch and salty sensation, but they get chewed down to mushy. Now I am loving the special K crackers. You can eat 17 of them for 90 calories. I only eat about 5, but love them.

That is wonderful. congratulations. You do look beautiful. I think there are many of us on here who are praying for the same. I am so happy it finally happened for you.