• Why did you choose sleeve vs RNY?
• What protein shakes do you like?
• What is a good vitamin to take?
• What are your favorite purees?
• Help, I'm three weeks post-op and I've stopped losing weight!
• What should I take to the hospital?
• When can I go back to work?
• How can I prevent loose skin?
• If I take 50 million mcg of biotin every day and get all my protein in, can I prevent hair loss?
• When can I eat pizza/popcorn/birthday cake? When can I drink alcohol? When can I drink coffee and isn't it true that drinking coffee will leave you a dry, withered husk of a person with all your vital fluids sapped out of your body?

Don't get me wrong -- I am not mad at anyone for asking these questions (though truth be told I wonder why people don't try a little harder sometimes to read up on things in advance and figure out they've all been asked many, many, many times before). It's more that I have been here a long time and don't feel like I have anything new or enlightening to add, and it's time for the newbies to get some practice answering the most frequently answered questions. Good luck y'all! I will stick around but will be trying to dial back my talkativeness.

Edited October 10, 20169 yr by Bufflehead

Too bad there arent studies on the people that researched extensively preop vs those that walked through it blindly and their weightloss stats 5 years out.

I would be very interested in this.

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Few studies yet but plenty of raw data showing that patients who get pre op education are half as likely to regain more than half their weight loss at five years. I can't believe that Medicare pays for WLS but not for comprehensive pre op preparation.

Oh, and while I'm here I was wondering when you people started to drink beer again. I'm 3 weeks out and could really go for a cold one...

I.hope your joking about beer. I'm heading to Germany Wednesday but know beer has no future in my diet ever again and should not be in any bariatric patient.

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I'm heading to Germany Wednesday but know beer has no future in my diet ever again and should not be in any bariatric patient.

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Says who? I'm over 3.5 years out and maintaining beautifully. My restriction is super tight to this day. I drink a beer or two on the weekends easily and without issues.

Says anyone who was told "no liquids with calories" and who struggkes with carbs. I think that's tge majority here...your ability is in the minority. Pkus,all of my meds say bot to have alcohol ic beverges with them

Too bad there arent studies on the people that researched extensively preop vs those that walked through it blindly and their weightloss stats 5 years out.

I would be very interested in this.

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Few studies yet but plenty of raw data showing that patients who get pre op education are half as likely to regain more than half their weight loss at five years. I can't believe that Medicare pays for WLS but not for comprehensive pre op preparation.

Oh, and while I'm here I was wondering when you people started to drink beer again. I'm 3 weeks out and could really go for a cold one...

Wait until you are ready to stop losing and to start regaining weight.

Says anyone who was told "no liquids with calories" and who struggkes with carbs. I think that's tge majority here...your ability is in the minority. Pkus,all of my meds say bot to have alcohol ic beverges with them

Well, that would mean no Protein drinks, no coffee with creamer, no milk...

I "struggle" with carbs. (Well, not really, I just avoid them.) A few beers a week won't kill me, though. I'm fairly certain I'm not the minority. Most vets I know drink wine, beer or mixed drinks occasionally and are still successful. My surgeon ok'd it once I hit maintenance so I'm fairly certain I'll be fine.

I'm so far out I no longer take meds, but if yours say to abstain, you absolutely should!!

Struggling with carbs means (to me) knowing that i cannot ever yield to the temptation and expect to have a reasonable response to having ingested a portion. The surgery did not provide any easier way to manage one potatoe chip or one quarter cup halo top icecream. The struggle for me means if i buy the halo top pint and eat the first spoonful, i will not beable to stop until i have ckeared the whole pint. If i wouls drink one beer, i would obsess about the other five. If i allow one banana, i would not beable to contain the carb cravings that follow. When it comes to simple carbs i simply am never satisfied. If surgery was supposed to have accomplished yhat, then mibe failed

Struggling with carbs means (to me) knowing that i cannot ever yield to the temptation and expect to have a reasonable response to having ingested a portion. The surgery did not provide any easier way to manage one potatoe chip or one quarter cup halo top icecream. The struggle for me means if i buy the halo top pint and eat the first spoonful, i will not beable to stop until i have ckeared the whole pint. If i wouls drink one beer, i would obsess about the other five. If i allow one banana, i would not beable to contain the carb cravings that follow. When it comes to simple carbs i simply am never satisfied. If surgery was supposed to have accomplished yhat, then mibe failed

Nope, it didn't fail. You had surgery on your stomach, not your mind.

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Struggling with carbs means (to me) knowing that i cannot ever yield to the temptation and expect to have a reasonable response to having ingested a portion. The surgery did not provide any easier way to manage one potatoe chip or one quarter cup halo top icecream. The struggle for me means if i buy the halo top pint and eat the first spoonful, i will not beable to stop until i have ckeared the whole pint. If i wouls drink one beer, i would obsess about the other five. If i allow one banana, i would not beable to contain the carb cravings that follow. When it comes to simple carbs i simply am never satisfied. If surgery was supposed to have accomplished yhat, then mibe failed

I'd definitely say you MORE than "struggle" with carbs by what you describe, and I agree. You should abstain all together.

Have you considered seeking support from a counselor or a support group like OA to figure out why you can't stop?

Lipstick lady...yup. so far im told bacterial overbloom in gut, poor absorption of what i do eat and that everything i am eating is the right food for me. Im told to eat more fermented food and get more magnesium. Am on methylated b12 , 10k vitamin D, 7keto DHEA, ultrazyme, prebiotics, probiotics, and stuff i havent started yet.i spent 18 days in israel, ate out everyday snd lost 2 lbs. Living alone doesn't help. I did better on vacation than here. And i still battle with a slice of bread (which ive not touchedsince 2011. My friends attacked foccacia bread and oil in front of me and i didn't even feel jealous. Couldn't even finish my meal. But now, a week later, i find myself thinking back to that scene and boy do i taste that bread.. wonder if EMDR will workbfir carbs like it does for trauma

I still go to OA. It's very helpful.

I never did well with those goups. iI find the meeting a pain in the neck because i need a sign language interpreter i orefer individual therapy...

I am not a big fan of support groups myself. OA is the exception because the meetings are orderly and people are kind to each other. Only the newbies interrupt and explain why YOU are doing it "wronge".

I imagine it would be hard to track in a group if you needs a sign interpreter. They do have on line meetings.

EMDR for carbs would be AWESOME!

I love the snarky vets and hope they stick around....and it is true that people are asking the same questions over and over and over again. It happens - that's the nature of a forum. I've been on them since the early 90's and they haven't changed (I used to take such abuse on AOL when I was a moderator on it for a company I worked for). I've only been on this site a few months and am just now starting to venture away from the Pre-Op/Post-Op forums into the other areas. I didn't even know there was a Rants/Raves section...I like it tho...I need to see what else I've been missing...and learn a few things too...carry on...

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The shrink says its the same tx as for alcohol or other addictions. We did fool around once trying to imagine not drooling over a hot pastrami sandwich (on rye with mustard!!) But i purposely aborted that one. EMDR does work,though for trauma andi wholeheartedly suggest anyone with ptsd try it.

I need to accept that i am seriously addicted to simple carbs and must avoid them for life. No magic or surgery no mantra or mindfulness has been helpful in dealing with this issue. Still working on the batch of supplements the holistic med doc gave me but am getting thrown off schedule because i developed an unrelenting upper respiratory cold that stubborn ly kees getting worse no matter what i throw at it. Am grateful i did not have it the whole time i was in Israel.