PdxMan

I quit a few years ago and used the patch. It took a few months and I slowly weaned myself off of them. There are a few risks: http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20101019/smoking-raises-surgery-risks http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ASMBS/20921 The thing that gets me is the delayed healing. You want the suture line in your stomach to scar over as soon as possible to remove your risk of a leak, which, IMO, is the greatest risk of VSG. Then, of course, there is the whole thing of we're getting this surgery to improve our health, so ... If it is time to make a change, then let's make a change. Believe me, I know it is not easy and when you have some emotional turmoil in your life and your usual coping mechanism was to turn to food and/or a cigarette, and now you have neither ... well, it will force you to confront the factors in your life which made you turn to these vices in the first place. Having a therapist in our lives can be a blessing beyond our current understanding. Got shrink?

I guess the big question is are you wanting to lose weight or lose fat? If you are wanting to lose weight only and do it rapidly, stop working out. You will lose A LOT of muscle mass and your fat will have lots of room to nestle itself. If you want to lose fat and retain muscle, then work out and do it vigorously. When you work out and begin toning/building your muscles, you are also allowing them to store glycogen more efficiently. When glycogen is stored in muscles, as opposed to the liver, it is stored with 4:1 ratio with Water. So, if you are able to store and additional pound of glycogen, then you are also storing an additional 4 pounds of water, so you will have a net of 5 pounds. This is a good thing. This is one of the reasons people who work out feel they have so much more energy and they have such great endurance. Plus, you are helping you muscles instead of losing them to the cannibalistic process of weight loss. When you lose weight, do you really believe it is all just fat? It is not. Fat and Protein contain the same number of calories, so as the body metabolises itself for energy, it is going to chose from both repositories. Working out will lessen the effects of muscle loss. So, you choose what you want to lose. Fat or weight. I wanted to lose fat and so I worked out like a mad-man. Got to goal and have been maintaining for over 2 years now.

Been posted a million times, but it just never gets old and the information is relevant. The video is for RnY, but is relevant for the sleeve. I know when I was carbing up for a race, I would drink with my meals and could easily double my calories for the day. If you are not exercising rigorously, you do not want or need to be doubling your calories. Drinking with meals releases the feeling of restriction so much sooner.

I believe the best takeaway from this thread is to ensuring we all keep our EXPECTATIONS in check. It is often said, expectations are future resentments. I believe most folks researching and those early post-op often have unrealistic expectations. It is a difficult pill to swallow sometimes, but alas, it is reality. How we deal with the resentments ... Now that will be a test of character.

How would which part even work? If you are referencing the OP's original post, it is in reference to band, so ... I don't think they realized where they were posting this, but I was not going to move it as I don't want to alter their intention. It is my opinion they got a little ahead of themselves and didn't objectively look at the information they were posting. Again, we all need to settle down here a bit and be objective ourselves. A lot of people are getting equally excited and ahead of themselves, so, let's all just take a deep breath. Nothing to see here ... move along, folks.

So I can show how narcissistic @PdxMan is ... nice @@Alex Brecher! Is it OK to have punctuation immediately following or is it looking for a space delineation?

This is definitely a personal choice as has been mentioned many times. It is up to your personal levels of what you are willing to do and what your risk tolerance is. But one thing just caught my attention. I've been rolling this between my ears. What does this mean to you? If I were to internalize this statement when I was pre-sleeve, my comments, with a filter, would be: I would like to lose a bunch of weight, but still be able to eat what I want at times. If I were to remove the filter and speak frankly, it would be further resolved to: I would like to lose all of my excess weight but still be able to abuse food at times like I do now. My definition of what "normal" was isn't anywhere close to my new definition of "normal". For me to enjoy a "normal" Thanksgiving meal, I would have to end the day in a food coma. Now, I end the day chasing my kids around and having them chase me. To enjoy a "normal" date night with the wife meant finishing my dinner with no doggy bags. Now, we split an entree and take something home. I've been at goal for 2 years now and I want nothing to do with my previous definition of "normal". I love my new normal. I don't think there is a single WLS which would have allowed me to abuse food like I "normally" did. If you seriously want/need/desire WLS, I think you need to come to the realization that your fundamental relationship with food is going to change. If you are not OK with that, then WLS may not be for you.

Oh, this is an oft discussed topic. Do a site search on tailbone or butt bone: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/300539-strange-tailbone-question/ http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/297549-my-butt-bone-hurts-tailbone-pain-post-weight-loss/ http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/292035-my-butt-is-always-sore/

What does your Drs orders say? Clear liquids, liquids or purees for the first phase? When do they recommend moving to the next stage? Don't be too quick to move through the stages. Remember, you just had 85% of your stomach removed.

Tony, we are not here to attack other members. Harringm posted links to the research they are quoting. It would appear you did not follow the links. If you had, you would discern the studies quoted are based on Dr advertising the mini-bypass by dredging old research and pulling quotes out of context. They are attempting to get business by spreading fear. If you read through the posts on this thread, you will note a link from TooMuchFun which has more objective, up to date research.

Maybe, maybe not ... when you are in the middle of your workout, what is your heart rate? You can count the number of beats over 10 seconds, then multiply by 6. What is the value and what range is it in?

Let's all settle down here. If you go to the links in the original posts, and also view some of the slides from his other presentations, I think it is pretty easy to see some issues. First off, my fifth grader assembles a better formed power point presentation. I mean, come on ... I love this title: What Happens When General Surgeons Become Bariatric Surgeons And Forget Their General Surgery Training. Giving your conclusion in the title ... nice method of persuasive argument. Let's also take a look at the Dr.'s site. He performs Mini-Bypass. Am I really going to be surprised when I read his slides pulling information completely out of context? I love all of his conclusions as to what causes cancer. This man has all the answers. The bottom line is we all have to do our own research. There are some people out there who will believe that Bill Gates will eat a cat if you don't forward this post to every one of your contacts. Then there are others who will dig a little deeper and come to their own conclusions.

To cure binge eating, I don't think so. As you have probably hear, the sleeve is a restrictive type WLS. As BGP points out, it is a tool, but you still have to make the right decisions. There are slider foods that I can still eat great quantities of. I can sit down and still eat the same huge bowl of ice cream as I could pre-op. I, too, was a binge eater. Like you (I'm guessing), I wanted to be able to stop eating once I was full instead of eating until I couldn't anymore. I abused food and it controlled me. I was beginning to think of my next meal before I finished my current meal. I had to make a permanent change with my relationship with food. For me, the sleeve was the answer. The restriction I feel came up on me quickly and I did mourn not being able to abuse food the way I had. But it also forced me to look deep into my soul searching for the reasons why I wanted to keep eating even though I obviously was full. This can be a highly personal journey of self reflection if you choose to do the work. Just know that the sleeve is not going to do the work alone. You are going to have to participate. To rob a saying and mutate it for my own use: "The sleeve can move mountains, but bring a shovel!"

I just have to ask ... then what did you eat pre-op? Prepared foods? You say you never will want to cook. What was your plan for your sleeved life? The chicken veggie Soup takes only a few minutes and tastes awesome. I just find it hard to believe someone can't go buy a rotisserie chicken, frozen vegetables and broth. The pulled pork is even less time. Buy it at the store, put it in crock pot, drain liquid, add sauce. Pretty much all the recipes I have listed are just that simple. Fry ground turkey, add tomatoes, Beans and spice. Done. Don't think of it as cooking, if that is what has you stuck, think of it as assembling. All the stuff is there at the store, you are merely combining them. There is no magic here and very little effort. For me, taking an active role in my nutrition has been so rewarding. I know it is one of the reasons I have been successful with my sleeved life. I wish you well on your journey.

Take MOM for no less than a week. Kept me going.

She didn't mention Protein Shakes? That would be unusual. Lean Proteins are difficult early out. It was about 5 weeks before I could handle a teaspoon of tuna mixed with ranch. I would put this on a piece of sharp cheddar cheese and take about 3 bites to eat it. But Protein shakes are part of every post-op diet I have seen ...

I think it depends on your level of activity. I started a daily exercise regimen and after 2 months, I discovered I was not getting enough carbs to support my daily activities plus go out for a 30 minute jog. I was wiped out. I increased my carbs to well over 100 and my energy levels increased dramatically. So much that I was able to increase my level of exercise. With more exercise came my need for more carbs. I started running 5K and 10K races and would carb load for a couple days prior going well over 200 carbs a day. All this time, I was still dramatically losing weight. It is what helped me get to goal losing 120#. It's one of those catch-22 things. If you don't have the energy to exercise well, then you won't burn calories and fat as efficiently. I'm sure you have all heard of the analogy of your metabolism being like a fire. Get it burning hot and it will burn everything, but it is going to need to be fed fuel. Carbohydrates are that fuel. Do low/no carb, how can you possibly expect to have the energy to burn efficiently? At least, that is my experience and what worked for me. I think I was brainwashed by all the diets I had done pre-sleeve into thinking carbs were the enemy. The truth was I was the enemy with how I abused food ... I cannot use the philosophies of diets designed for people with 100% of their stomachs intact. For me, it just isn't the same anymore.

They sure can, as long as you leave about half an inch on the top, the liquid will expand into that space. You are freezing them, so you don't have to put a death grip seal on them, either. Air can escape from the seal, if things get too, cramped, I would think. I've been doing this close to 3 years and haven't had a single jar break. You do want to make sure the jars have cooled after putting the food in before placing in the freezer, though, as the quick temperature change could make them crack. I actually started this while in the puree stage. The turkey chilli above was one but another I loved, but not currently in my inventory, is smoked ham and lentil soup with veggies. I have one of those immersion blenders and I would just puree them before putting them in jars. Ready to go. As I progressed, I blended them less and less.

Yes, when I started my reply, there were no other postings, but my response took me a bit to articulate. The nice thing about the mason jars is they can go directly into the microwave, if necessary, can be placed anywhere in the dishwasher and the lids are totally universal. Very easy to pick up more lids, if necessary and you will discover many other glass jars which will also fit the lids. As long as you use them for freezer, not canning, alternate glass jars work just as well.

Sunday evenings are my prep days. Here is what I have done and it is working for me. I bought 4 cases of mason jelly jars. On Sunday, I go to the store and get my ingredients and make a huge batch of whatever and put them into the jars. As I walk out the door to work, I grab a jar. It sits on my desk and by lunch, it is ready to go into the microwave. I have been doing this for awhile, so I have a nice variety in my garage freezer. If you have a garage freezer, great, but just clean out your kitchen freezer and you will have plenty of room. So, what do I have in there? Turkey Chili - Ground turkey, Beans, onions, carrots, tomatoes, chilli spice. Takes me about 20 minutes to prepare, I let it simmer for an hour and jar it. chicken Veggie soup - I bought a rotisserie chicken, put it in the fridge to cool. It is easier to pull apart that way, too. Bought a few bags of frozen veggies I like with some chicken broth. Again, about 20 minutes to prepare and simmer for about 30 minutes. Jar it. Lasagne - Trader Joes has Italian chicken sausage that I take out of its casings and simmer with ground turkey. I added some spaghetti sauce and some extra Italian seasonings. No Pasta, but when I jar it, I add a teaspoon of low fat parmesan cheese. 20 minute prep and simmer for 20 minutes. German cabbage and ground turkey - This is probably my favorite. Red cabbage with vinegar, spices and veggies simmered with ground turkey. Mahi Veggie Quinoa - I know you don't like fish, but this is to die for. Baked Mahi, quinoa, tomatoes and veggies with lot of garlic and lemon. Smells a little with you microwave it so be sure nobody is in the office or just save it for home. Fish dish in a mason jar? Yup. 20 minutes. Shredded pork - On sale at QFC for $1.77 last weekend. Put in crockpot for 10 hours with onions. Pour off liquids after and add your favorite BBQ sauce. 10 minutes. Yankee Pot Roast - They had them on sale last weekend at QFC BOGO. In the crockpot for 10 hours with onions, carrots and potatoes. 30 minutes because I also make a gravy to pour into the jars. Having this for lunch today. Like I said, I've been doing this for awhile, so I have a large variety, but you are worth taking the next two Sundays to prepare 6 different dishes that can be stored in the jars. These jars are re-usable and will be with you forever. And also let me add, this is darn cheap eating. Everyone around me is going out to lunch to the tune of $7 a day while I have great, nutritious meals for around 50 cents a serving ... sometimes less. You can do this. Not just the OP, but everyone reading this. It really isn't that hard. Don't make it be. Make meals, not excuses ...

This is an impossible question to answer. There are too many variables. Surely you can guess a person with a BMI of 50 is going to lose more than someone with a BMI of 35 during the same stretch of time. Men usually lose faster than women and younger folks are going to lose faster than older. Comparing yourself to others can only result in heartache because I can guarantee you someone will chime in who will make your loss seem miniscule and then you start to have a pity party which will do you no good. I say this not just for your sake, but for all the other new sleevers out there. Don't compare yourself. This is probably the 4th most often asked question behind stalls, hair loss and Protein. Bottom line is to follow the guidelines your doctor laid out for you and you will lose at the rate YOUR body will lose.

I think I would avoid the Tower of Terror, but you will be fine. Disneyland now allows you to bring your own food in, so you'll be fine.

Welcome to BariatricPal! Choosing a surgery type is a highly personal choice. You will find many folks here with impassioned opinions on why their own personal choice is the best. My recomendation is to research each option thoroughly noting the complication rates, success rates and personal tolerance for what is being done for each option. If you cannot handle the thought of having a foreign object in your body, then the band is not for you. If you cannot handle the thought of having your intestines re-routed, then the bypass is not for you If you cannot handle having 85% of your stomach removed, then the vertical sleeve is not for you There are other procedures out there, too, so be sure to do your homework. This is a major decision and for some of the procedures, will change your relationship with food forever. I also was self-pay and opted to have the sleeve done in Las Vegas by Dr Thomas Umbach. It was $10,400. I would definately recommend him.

It's funny. I used to freak out thinking about this, too. Now, I freak out thinking about the portions I used to eat! What I have come to learn now is my current portions are what my body truly requires and my old portion sizes were abnormal. Funny ... So, last night, I took my son fishing so we stopped at McDonalds after. We got 2 quarter pounders with cheese. In 20 minutes, I ate half of mine. I was stuffed. For lunch today, I have 8 oz of chicken vegetable Soup. It will completely fill me up. For dinner night before last, I had meatloaf and peas. I would estimate the meatloaf portion was about a half deck of cards. I put a piece of cheddar cheese on it. About 20 peas, I would guess. Breakfast would be one egg, over medium, one piece of bacon and half a slice of toast. ** EDIT ** Forgot about the sipping ... No, don't sip for the rest of your life. But ... you also can't chug the way you used to. I would say I now drink liquids like my wife does. Just normal drinks. I'll be 3 years post in a couple months.

There is a post stickied on the top of the Veterans Forum, but here is a link: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/291240-52-links-and-info/ On the original topic, I am sure I am over simplifying things, but for me, this has worked for the past 2 years that I have been maintaining. I still basically follow the original guidelines for the VSG patient: I don't drink with my meals I eat my lean Protein first I chew really well and put my utensil down in between bites assessing how I feel before taking the next bite Exercise. I don't exercise anywhere NEAR what I did when I was in the losing phase as I have had a couple back surgeries, but I still do SOMETHING to get moving Have nutritionally relevant, balanced meals I just posted this in another thread where someone was asking how to get back on track. Here is my reply: I still eat crap, but only after I have satisfied everything else. I have a huge chocolate chip cookie after lunch just about every day. But only after I have done everything else I have described above. I know tonight for dinner I have a pot roast with vegetables waiting for me. That will round out my day nutritionally. Will I have a cookie later on? I doubt it, but I might, if I go for a long walk and my head is in the right place.