M2G

What a great story! Thank you for sharing and taking pics for us.

What a great story! Thank you for sharing and taking pics for us.

Well, it IS frustrating to be more educated on this than your doctor. Heck 3 years ago my own surgeon basically was new to sleeves (I was his 15th sleeve!!) and they weren't sure how things were all going to go down, so they did the "search and replace" for their big book of pre- and post-op info and "modified" the bypass bible and turned it into the sleeve bible. BUT they have made great improvements since then, but it was a process. Doctors are also human, though, and just because they have the certificate hanging on the wall, as Gmanbat so eloquently pointed out, the certificate does not show strength of character or brilliance. So even though it is frustrating to have to "educate" your doctors, I would basically calmly explain how the VSG works, how it is DIFFERENT from the bypass, and then hope that they can follow along enough to give you good medical care. The ones that I would be mostly worried about are the ones who AFTER explaining the basics still continue to call it a bypass or act as if your intestines have been re-routed. Good luck...hopefully the worst of any of your complications are over and you can take a break from having to explain the VSG for the millionth time.

Well, it IS frustrating to be more educated on this than your doctor. Heck 3 years ago my own surgeon basically was new to sleeves (I was his 15th sleeve!!) and they weren't sure how things were all going to go down, so they did the "search and replace" for their big book of pre- and post-op info and "modified" the bypass bible and turned it into the sleeve bible. BUT they have made great improvements since then, but it was a process. Doctors are also human, though, and just because they have the certificate hanging on the wall, as Gmanbat so eloquently pointed out, the certificate does not show strength of character or brilliance. So even though it is frustrating to have to "educate" your doctors, I would basically calmly explain how the VSG works, how it is DIFFERENT from the bypass, and then hope that they can follow along enough to give you good medical care. The ones that I would be mostly worried about are the ones who AFTER explaining the basics still continue to call it a bypass or act as if your intestines have been re-routed. Good luck...hopefully the worst of any of your complications are over and you can take a break from having to explain the VSG for the millionth time.

OOOOH and they (Torani) made a S'mores sugar free syrup this summer and I MISSED it. Somehow didn't realize/know about it and then when I went to buy it ...poof gone. I was very sad about that.

Wait I thought you were STEPPING AWAY from them...but then what is the POINT of baking if you can't lick the bowl right? Yeah, the snow melted by 2pm or so, but then as I was fixing dinner I noticed more flakes falling. Sigh...I love Colorado, I love Colorado...really I do!

I love that you have a selfie of the road rash...haha! But seriously that looks ouchie! I'm like Lynda I'm on my 3rd winter being sleeved and in addition to my beloved Protein coffee (summer iced, winter hot) I'm becoming quite the lover of tea. On fast days my favorite tea is Gingerbread Spice tea (which I believe is seasonal only...we found it 2 years ago so last winter stocked up and carefully ration it...lol) with a bit of Pumpkin Pie sugar free Torani syrup (which I think is *also* seasonal!) YUM! Warm and sweet...no cals tho! We also tend to do more crockpot meals this time of year because it just works. Favorites are shredded chicken, pot roasts, chili and pork roasts. Apples and pork are always a nice combo. So we actually had SNOW today...so NOT ready for snow and winter! I would take SoCal right about now...

Great job! Looking forward to seeing your updates over there. It really does help keep me accountable checking in with my 5:2 buddies!

We posted at exactly the same time. Sorry you didn't get it, and I hope you held up ok. Hugs from all of us to you! I'm doing good at 531 right now. I am NOT working out today and glad to be a bit on the lazy side. My calories today include a new treat that I made to use up the bananas we had sitting around. Normally I end up making banana bread and I was DETERMINED NOT to do that this time. So while they were still yellow (probably wouldn't work as well if they are brown/mush) I chopped them into 1/2-3/4 inch slices, put them on wax paper and froze them for 2+ hours. Then I melted some dark chocolate chips and a drizzle of sesame seed oil (turns the melted choc. into the kind that will harden a bit upon cooling) and coated my frozen banana pieces with chocolate. Oh added a bit of coarse sea salt to the top...YUM! I had ONE (yes really just one) for dessert and it was perfect. I keep them in the freezer because they are a bit fragile and you don't want them to melt. But totally a better use of the bananas instead of the old standby bread!!

You, Meliss000 and I are all in Colorado. What do you mean your work in Austin? As in Austin, TX? You "commute" from Denver to Austin? Welcome to the challenge, yeah that snow was a tad early for my taste, but meh, with the way our weather has been I wasn't too surprised by it. Maybe it will freeze some of the mud.

Oh yeah I've totally been there before, and it's NOT fun! Looking forward to you joining us over at the 5:2...amazing group of ladies and it DOES help to check in and stay accountable!

You WILL GT, you WILL!

Hey I'm a (*almost*) 3 year vet who didn't hit goal either. Also in the group who regained and is working off the regain (half of my 20lb regain is gone, so I'm chipping away at that!) Totally agree having a positive mental attitude makes ALL the difference in the world and also a big fan of "checking" in here with my buddies who keep me going. I know you said (in an earlier post) that you are doing the 5:2...it's awesome and I'm glad you are trying it. Have you been doing it since that first post a few weeks ago? Look forward to seeing you march on down the scale...keep working that sleeve!

YAY glad to see we "revived" this thread! Esp. great for those who are working on getting to goal but not doing the 5:2. Good job Georgia for resuscitating this thread!

Yes good luck Cathy! I'm here and fasting today after doing 5 major intense workouts already this week. I fasted on Mon but probably went over by a bit. Today I'm really going to keep in the 500-550 range. I *know* my weight is up because I started intense weight lifting 2 weeks ago...BUT it still is frustrating to see the number go up when I've worked SO hard to see it go down. I will try to take some measurements today because my weight-focused brain needs something else to focus on. Oh and resting this weekend...if anything I might do a light bit on the treadmill...but I'm not planning much working out in the next 2-3 days...

I use something called Flexees ...it's a tank and I wear one every single day (and for workouts also.) They really do help keep everything tight and in place, except for I'm larger chested. No matter how tight my exercise bra is I'm still just not a fan of jumping jacks. Awesome job on the squats. I don't keep track of mine (maybe I should?) but I've done enough this week to feel the burn during and the pain after! Great job, keep it up! Current numbers: 35.8 (collectively from spin, treadmill, stairclimber, and running around the gym track.) My next big plan is to take it easy this weekend...

Welcome yjt45... If you look below your profile on your post, and click on where it says "My Surgeon: Dr. Frank Chae" and then look to the left where there is a column of words, one of them will say "patients" meaning who here has listed Dr. Chae as their surgeon and you will see he has 14 patients listed here at VST. Some of them are from this year. You could PM them for personal questions or maybe some of them will find this thread. P.S. - 10-22 is an awesome date...(it was my surgery date 3 years ago also!) Best of luck to you on your journey!

It's thank you for your response! Just a couple of things...weight "lifting" for an hour a day 2x a week is "new" to me, but lifting weights regularly is not. 9 years at Curves on a consistent basis is admittedly not the same as intense weight lifting for an hour at the gym. But it is weight resistance and I've also done a class once a week for the last 2 years that incorporates 20 minutes of the same weight routine that I'm now doing for an hour. I guess I'm just clarifying, that working out in general is NOT new to me at all. That being said, I'm working with a PT for my weight class (there are 6 of us in the class so she is keeping an eye on our form/helping reduce injury risk, etc.) but she is also pushing me physically, which is good. I'm quite sore but not injured if that makes sense. Right now I'm doing a combination day of weights for an hour and then cardio (intense both of them) for an hour, 2x per week, and I will NOT fast on those workout days. Right now the only workout I include on a fast day might be light cardio (walking/running on a treadmill) but not lifting. So I think that is probably a safer plan than trying to workout intensely AND fast. On Fast days my personal goal is 50-60 grams of Protein a day. It is hard but also quite doable to get that much protein in a small amount of calories. It forces me to make really good choices on fast days that have the most amount of protein while keep the calories to a minimum. I will check in here after another week or two on the weight lifting combined with and let you all know how it's going...

Wow, incredible! Such a huge difference, and you are so early out in the healing process, etc. It doesn't "look" very swollen, and I know drains are more uncomfortable/annoying than painful but yours almost look painful (hopefully not.) I can only imagine that things will keep healing and looking awesome from here on out!

This is a really great conversation here, and timely for me as I just started working out with weight training 2x a week. Before being sleeved I worked out at Curves for 6 years, then I was sleeved in Oct. 2010 and stayed with Curves another almost 3 years until this past May when I finally quit because I was going to a regular gym (in addition to Curves) and honestly (please no need to bash Curves, it CAN be a good workout) I was getting more out of my gym workouts than Curves so I decided to put my money into challenging myself more at the gym. With all that being said, I am curious as to what combining weight training + cardio and doing a sporadic low-calorie diet (like the 5:2 eating plan) will do for someone who has been sleeved a while (almost 3 years for me.) Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on something like this? I've only just begun the intense weight lifting (2 weeks ago) so I'm wondering how long it will take me to lose some extra lbs... For anyone curious about some FAQ's about the 5:2 plan here is some common ?'s... http://www.52fastdie...t-faq-t246.html

LV- OMG I would NOT be able to control myself around the "golden nuggets of crack" haha! I am a HUGE sucker for granola and the best way for me to have it is to NOT allow it in my house. But sprinkling on yogurt is something that I've done before (I have made eggface Protein granola before ...with "click" protein powder...omg combine my love of granola with my love of coffee!) but I have to MEASURE it out or I could just keep eating that stuff. Cathy- Good luck with *hopefully* getting the job! I bet it was a great feeling going in at -90lbs LESS!! OD- I bet it is hard to be around your BF who likes to eat. Have you told him about your food restrictions? I know you can't expect the world to conform to your eating habits, but maybe a friendly reminder that everything does NOT revolve around food? Just a thought... So thank you all for your comments regarding the rudeness from my weight instructor scoffing at my previous attempts at Curves. To be fair I didn't elaborate with her...so she has NO idea that I spent 9 years working out there and that I felt it was beneficial, even though I was close to 300lbs, etc. I guess part of it was because of HER reaction when the word "Curves" was spoken and I didn't feel like "educating" her. But as I said I'm letting it go. I'm sore as heck because yesterdays "regular" fusion class was almost a total weight workout (normally it's 20 mins cardio, 20 mins weights, 20 mins abs) but she changed things up this month and somehow she managed to work ALL the SAME muscles from Tues. weights class ..oy vey. Diff. instructor so it's not like she knew, but now I have to go to weight class again today and I'm dreading a little bit. Oh and the scale keeps going up. Awesome. And this is the reason that I didn't want to lift weights. Even though it's more than likely muscle...it messes with my head to know how hard I'm working in the gym and then see the scale go UP. Ugh. FYE - I know you mentioned in the other thread taking measurements. I did not do all of them but I did my waist a while back and it hasn't changed at all. Now my tape measure is missing (thanks to my kids, playing with it....grrr) so I might have to get old fashioned and do a piece of string and lay it out flat to measure. Double grrr.

GT, you're back!!! YAY! Well, I'm glad you do not have a hernia, and what can the military (sorry forget which branch you are) do to you? You had symptoms that turned out to be something different than what the drs. thought, so what are they going to charge you for fees incurred? Argh. I hope you don't catch any flack for that. I know absolutely nothing about a leaky gut but it doesn't sound nice. Thank goodness for Dee, she sounds like she knows a LOT about it. Whatever you need to do to restore health is your primary concern now. I don't care if you are or aren't doing the 5:2, please stay here and keep posting! Glad to have you back...

I'm going in 12 days for blood work through my PCP but results to be forwarded to my VSG surgeon in anticipation of my 3 year anniversary in Oct. I wish that I had some recent results to compare it to, but my blood work was so stellar at my 18 month checkup, my surgeon didn't order labs for my 2 year. Sigh. So the most recent work was in April 2012. At least I will have *something* to compare it too. I kind of wish I could have had blood drawn right before starting and then a few months later (like M. Mosely did on his video) but this will just have to do. Has anyone else had labs done recently? What were your results?

Yum, crab cakes!!! I do love crab, just hate having to crack it, LOL. I will sometimes cheat and add albacore tuna or leftover salmon to whatever crab I have. I think crushed almonds (or flour) might be tasty.

Sounds yummy. I'm always trying to bake "healthy" and my kids groan and usually hate it. Pfffttt. Where do you find the Atkins baking mix? (Target, Wal-Mart? Etc.) Is it with the regular baking stuff or somewhere else? Thanks for sharing your recipe.