WingRider

Good thing Jesus talked to people he didn't know about some great ideas he had. I guess since I am in outside sales I am forced to talk to people about things that they might not be comfortable about. Yes there are going to be some people who get offended or blow you off, big deal, you didn't know them before and you won't know them afterwards. The pay off is if one person listens to you and it makes a difference in their life. Regardless if they get WLS or not, maybe they go another route, maybe they share what you told them with someone else. Who knows where your words will travel, but if you never say anything then you aren't going help anyone. Bill Bill

SLEEVE, If you are getting the VSG done, you do not need to take 20-30 Vitamins a day. She was referring to people who get the DS procedure done. They are restricted and malabsorbtive so they have to take a bunch of vitamins. I do take a calcium chewable morning and night as well as 2 chewable complete vitamins at lunch. I never had heartburn issues and figured I wouldn't need to take an acid reducer post-op. I have never felt any pain, but I did have the hunger sensation that many have attributed to acid over-production. I started taking Prevacid once a day in the morning and it resolved those weird hunger panges I was having in the afternoon. I would think I was hungry but when I tried to eat I was still stuffed from lunch. I am glad to have figured that out. Bill

I am in the same situation, sort of. I am in outside sales in the food business. My top client is a woman and she is where I was about 5 years ago, big but not as big as I would become. She and I share a lot of personal things, she knows about my process of getting approved for lap band, sleep study, and eventually choosing VSG. She is seeing the results now and has even complimented me on my success. She needs to do something, I don't know what her current routine is, probably nothing as she works a lot. Even with all of the information I have shared and with the visible results I am having she has never asked a question that pertained to her. I have even tried to lead her into that by telling her about how some of my friends are considering it and talking to my patient care coordinator. She hasn't taken the bait. I am haven't just blurted it out because she is my biggest customer(stop it, I mean spends the most with me) and I don't want to upset, offend, or embarrass her. I truly thinks she is in the same state of mind I was in, denial. I never visualized myself as fat, the only time reality would smack me in the face was when I couldn't squeeze through a narrow opening, or I couldn't fit in a booth, need the extension belt on the airplane, etc. I think that is where she is now. In your case, you have no relation with these guys. Thus nothing to lose really. They are the ones who have everything to gain. You have had great results and would be a perfect poster boy for the sleeve. Maybe not hit them right over the head with it, but ease into it over a couple of visits. Good luck. Bill

I am doing the sublingual Cherry flavored B12 from GNC, ZipMelt is that they call it I think. 83,000% of the recommended daily allowance so I am sure it is enough, LOL. Tastes great and it melts in about a minute. Do it every morning after I brush my teeth and eat my chewables. Which is worse, a cherry treat everyday or a 1.5" needle in the butt once a month? Bill

That is awesome man, congrats. What is ultimate goal weight and when did you get sleeved? Bill

I have only been sleeved 6 weeks, but I have days where I seem to be able to eat more and days when I can eat less. I don't know if it is a difference in what I am eating? I am getting in lots of Protein every day, half from my morning shake and the rest from food, (approx 60-75g). Bill

I do want to add, that I had a stall from week 4.5 to week 6. I fluctuated .5 pounds up and down for 10 days. I was prepared for it, but like everyone else upset. It broke on Monday and I have lost .75 pound per day since then, which is a tad faster than I was loosing pre-stall. It will start moving again. Bill

It is physiological, our bodies are programmed to go into a starvation mode when resources become scarce. There is nothing we can do about it as this ability is genetic. Bill

I am 6 weeks out and Water is finally starting to be tolerable to. I can do the sugarfree powerade's like they are nothing, but plain water has been horrible till just a couple of days ago. It tasted bad and felt like it got stuck right before it entered my stomach. Really strange, and I liked water pre surgery. Bill

Did you see the Discovery Health special on Eric, winner from a couple of seasons ago? The high from winning was over as quick as it started and he became severly depressed and gained back almost every pound he lost. It was very eye opening how hard they will struggle once the show has moved on. I just can't really understand why they are picking people who are so big that they cannot complete their task within the six month season. They get them half way there and then what, good luck? Bill

You weird crazy freak. Someone had to call you one. I think now that they are casting some real heavyweights(men in the 400+ and 300+ women) they are going to start having some issues with excess skin. The other wall they are going to start hitting, and they did last season, was that they cannot physically get a 400+ person to goal in 6 months, it takes 12 to 18 months to do that. They even have a guy who start out 500+ this season, there is no way in hell he can get to his goal weight during this season. Also, during the finale I have thought the guys especially were wearing a body girdle type of undergarment. You could see the way their shirt was hanging that something underneath was providing support. Bill

Whey Isolate is BETTER than Whey concentrate. Most body building info that I have researched says that whey isolate is 94 to 96% pure protein while the concentrated whey is only 70 to 80% pure protein. Whey Isolate is also supposed to be better for lactose intolerant people and those who get gassy easier. As to the OP, I couldn't stomach the protein shots. I still have a couple of dozen in the fridge. I am getting a good dose of them in the morning with my "It's About Time" protein shake(approx 45 grams) and the rest from my food throughout the day. I did try the Sour Grape one from GNC, has like 42 grams of protein in it, and it was okay. I think the sourness hid a lot of the protein taste. Bill

Hello, First of all, congrats on losing 38 pounds in 6 weeks, that is awesome, almost a pound a day. I don't know if this is the problem or not, but I personally I don't think you are eating enough. That can't be very many calories at all and what kind of protien numbers are you getting daily? How is your energy level? I would be dragging my butt all over the place on that little bit of food. Bill

Campbell's Tomato Soup rocks. Can of soup, can of milk, heat it up. I even crumbled up 3 or 4 saltines into my little 3-4oz portion size. It was tasty. Randall's also has some really good soups in the produce department. They should have a soup station where you can serve yourself cups of hot soup to eat there in the cafe. Near that soup station there should be a cold display of pints and quarts of thier soups. They are all tasty. I had puree mine for a couple of days to get them creamy, but they still tasted great. Bill

You are tackling two heavy duty addictions at once. The smoking is the easiest. I am an ex-smoker and can attest to it. Smoking is pretty easy to quit because our bodies are over the PHYSICAL addition to nicotine in about 24 hours. Nicotine is metabolized by our bodies very quickly. That is why we have to smoke so often, to replenish the nicotine that has been metabolized. That is why a smoke after eating is so good because our system is low on nicotine as it is getting metabolized more quickly as our body goes to work on digesting the food in our stomach. If you can make it 24 hours your body is free of nicotine. It does not need it anymore. The problem is your mind. The pyschological need for nicotine takes a little longer to get over, some say a week some say 21 days. I know when I quit I was completely over them by about 10 days. By day three my sense of smell was coming back and when I walked by a smoker the smell was so horrible that motivated me to stay off of them. Now 5 years later I am still smoke free and will never go back. I did use an herbal product called Smoke Away that I ordered online. There were two things that really helped in it. One was the CD explaining the science behind the metabolism of nicotine and some little breath mint pellets. These pellets left the aftertaste a cigarette would leave in your mouth after smoking. I used them for about 2 days, but I don't think they are totally needed. I used to see the product at Walgreen's, not sure if it is still there or not. The food I can't help you with. My surgeon only required 3 days of pre-op diet and even if I cheated it was okay just as long as I didn't eat or drink anything after 9pm the night before surgery. Once you cross over to post op, eating will be easy to conquer. Focus your energy on the smoking, it will kill you faster than being overweight. Bill

I agree. It seems to me that True Results could advertise the service just like they do Lap Band, and they might once the insurance companies start to cover the VSG more consistently. True Results is the reason I started to look at WLS and then to seriously consider it, I was going band. Thank God my nutritionist there directed me towards lapbandtalk.com where I stumbled across a post about the sleeve. I would have never even know about it if it weren't for her suggestion. I guess in a way True Results did advertise the sleeve to me, it cost them my surgery. The funny thing was when I had my surgeon's consult he was happy to throw True Results under the bus and would deal with me directly to do the sleeve. He told me that the sleeve was going to be better for me in the long run as long as I was comfortable with the higher complication rate during the first 30-45 days due to leaks. Bill

I also have Aetna, and I also have the worst luck in the world, so with that being said since I just got my sleeve done in Mexico because I couldn't afford it here in the US I am sure Aetna will start covering soon. Granted I have nothing to prove this, just my speculation. I was approved for the lap band and gastric bypass, but no evil experimental VSG. Good luck and keep working towards your goal. Bill

The fish like it...LOL. Vomitting underwater happens, fortunately the regulators used for breathing are designed to handle the problem and they clear themselves pretty easily. If they didn't the only other option pretty much would be to drown. Bill

just got me some Mootopia too, can't wait till morning time for my Protein shake. Isn't HEB great? I can't believe the assortment and high quality of thier store brand items. Glad that I live in Central Texas where they are located. My folks live in Amarillo and they have never heard of HEB. Bill

I guess I am from a different school of thought. I am in outside sales and have told almost all of my customers. I wanted them to be aware of what was going on in my life and understand why I wasn't eating like I used. I sell restaurant equipment and supplies, so food was constantly being offered to me. Everyone that I have told have been so supportive and glad that I told them so their mind wouldn't race to thoughts about me being sick or dying because I was losing weight so fast. Several have called me and talked to me personally about WLS and where they could get information. As far as I know they might be lurking on here right now. If so, HI! Most of my family knows and the rest will find out when I see them. I haven't found a reason to not tell anyone. Bill

I guess my thoughts are different here than the other posters. I got my sleeve to help me with portion control, not as something to deprive me. I agree with Cajun's post, eventually we will be eating the foods we used to eat. To be honest at two weeks out I ate a tater tot from Sonic. I didn't die, nothing burst open, I didn't gain 4 pounds the next day, but it satisfied me and I haven't wanted one since then. The only things that are on my list that I will never be able to have are white breads and rice, and I guess my head is cool with that. But the other nice things in life I will continue to enjoy, just in a greatly reduced quantity. Granted right now with a healing stomach I don't push it. I say, next time eat the french fry. It has been so processed and cooked to death there isn't much left that could hurt your sleeve. Savor it, remeber that used to have eaten a hundred of them and that didn't work out to well, then move on. And if you are going to eat it, might as well dip in some ketchup to get the full effect, I forgot to dip my tater tot in ketchup:sad0:. Next time I won't make that mistake. Oh yeah, and walk an extra 5 minutes to burn off that french fry. Bill

I would stay away from rolls for a while because of the rice. Try sashimi, I would start you with a nice tuna or yellow tail. Neither one have a real fishy taste to them, especially the yellow tail(it isn't tuna, even though there is a yellow tail tuna). Escolar is good if it fresh. Salmon is very tasty, but very oily and does leave an aftertaste to me anyway. Seabass is also very good, has a buttery flavor to it. I think the seaweed paper will be okay, I feed it to my fish a lot and it doesn't expand, but the rice certainly will and fill you up quickly. I doubt I could eat more than a couple of pieces of a roll right now. I didn't make it for sushi yesterday like I had hoped. Mmmm....raw fish....drool.... Bill

I would say you are drinking too conservatively. One week after for me and I could kill at 12oz ready to drink Protein shake in about 20 minutes. Now 3 weeks later and it takes about 15 minutes. sugar free Poweraid goes down easy and quick too, about 1.5 hour to drink a 32 oz drink. Water is still tough for me, I wasn't a big water drinker before, but now it is like it gets stuck easier. I drink a lot of the sugar free poweraid. I am trying to convert to water though. Once you get to more solid foods you will know the full feeling and you will STOP, otherwise it hurts. The liquid is just going right through your stomach. Bill