DLCoggin

Looking forward to hearing what you guys think of the app!!

I have flex spending as well and would love to be able to use it for vitamins. That said, I don't know exactly how their computer system works but wouldn't it likely deny a charge for "vitamins" on your flex spending card? Even if your doctor wrote the script, I'm dubious that the charge would go through. Would definitely love to hear someone tell me that it works!!

Doctors sometimes write Rx for vitamins but I believe they are usually for exceptionally high doses such as the B-12 that mami mentioned or high doses of vitamin D. But as with any Rx, they need a medical justification for writing the Rx. I've never heard of a doctor writing a Rx for "normal" doses of vitamins. Interesting question if flex spending would cover the cost if your doctor did write a Rx for every day doses of vitamins. Please let us know what you find out!

Fear not! All part of the process. Stay focused on following the protocol, stay active (love the mall walking - walking is walking and it's so important to find something that you enjoy in the process!!), and stay away from the scales for at least a week and more if you can stand it. Sometimes increasing your Protein to a 100g a day for a few days will jump start your metabolism and cause your body to start burning stored fuel. How many calories are you eating on a daily average? If they are too low your body can interpret it as a famine state and it starts to conserve fuel in response. If you think that might be the case, increasing your calorie intake a little may result in the pounds starting to come off again. No matter what, as odiemom said, trust the process. If you just keep doing what you're doing, the stall absolutely, positively will pass! The laws of the universe cannot be denied!! Lol!

Good evening Mr. John!! Couple of questions for you. Are you keeping a food log? If so, what has been your average daily calorie intake for the last 30 days (or whatever period of time you have data for). If not, as you know I strongly urge you to start logging right away. Have you discussed your concerns with your surgeon? If there is a problem with the pouch, there usually are options but I have no idea what kind of timeline would be medically appropriate - in other words the surgeon may be reluctant to consider a second surgery so close to the first. Finally a gentle reminder - this is all about lifestyle changes. Even RNY patients "can" eat a lot if they're determined enough. The surgery can be defeated. You may want to consider some follow up with your nutritionist and possibly even the psychologist. No one understands better than all of us how powerful food addiction can be. There is absolutely no shame in asking for help from the pros. That's what they're there for and they have a lot of tools in their arsenal. Don't wait too long. You can do this!!

I can't believe that you guys started this on Sept 2nd and I'm just this minute seeing it! We're trying to put together a day next week for the "on location photo shoot"! Trying to schedule it during the week to avoid or at least reduce "noise" - which includes pretty much anything that we don't want in the photos. I promise photos are coming although I'm not sure about "before" shots as I've never been much of one for having my picture taken but I'm working on it! You guys are crazy you know that? Lol!!

Medically speaking, no one knows more about your history, your case, and your surgery than your surgeon. Doctors have widely varying opinions and ideas on pre-op and post-op care. Regardless of how good our intentions might be on the forum, you would definitely want to think twice (or ten times) before ignoring your surgeon's instructions. You put your life in his/her hands for the surgery. Not much of a leap to go with his/her judgement for post-op. You're gonna love the new you!!

Doctors break dumping into two groups. "Early" dumping usually occurs within 30 minutes after eating. "Late" dumping usually occurs from one to three hours after eating. Early dumping sometimes results in vomiting. Late dumping usually does not result in vomiting but is strongly linked with hypoglycemia where your blood sugar crashes with the resulting symptoms. About 1/2 of all gastric bypass patients do not experience any dumping. Of the remaining half that do, about 2/3 have early dumping and 1/3 have late dumping. For more information you might find my post "Dumping the Confusion About Dumping" interesting - http://www.rnytalk.c...-about-dumping/ .

Although sugar is probably the most common culprit, some folks have dumping symptoms from carbs. Others from fats. Still others go through a period where they're just plain "trigger happy" regardless of what they eat!

I so wish you hadn't asked that question. But...time to come clean and take my medicine. Before my surgery, my wife and I and both of our sons often enjoyed eating at a Korean BBQ restaurant not far from the homestead. You guys probably know what I'm talking about. Gas grill in the middle of the table and you cook your own meat right at the table. Tons of options from teriyaki rib eye to chicken to baby octopus. We haven't been there in well over a year and decided that yesterday would be a great time to go back for a visit. My oldest son had other plans but the youngest one, his terrific wife, and the world's cutest grandson joined us. I am forever mindful of what I eat and how much but hey, it was a holiday right? I'll spare you all of the details but I proceeded to eat about five pieces of sushi, maybe three to four ounces of teriyaki rib eye, and probably three or four ounces of white rice - you know the really sticky white rice that I absolutely love. Now if that wasn't bad enough, this place has one of those big machines that makes the best soft serve vanilla ice cream that I have ever tasted. Anywhere. I just had to have a small cup - maybe two, three ounces at the most. Now - I'm close to eleven months post-op and have never had what the medical geeks call "early" dumping. About 2/3 of the folks who experience dumping (about half of all RNY patients don't experience any kind of dumping) experience "early" dumping. Early dumping usually occurs within 30 minutes of eating and sometimes results in vomiting. I on the other hand am in the 1/3 of folks who experience "late" dumping. Which usually occurs one to three hours after eating. Late dumping is strongly linked with hypoglycemia which is just a fancy way of saying that your blood sugars crash following consumption of too much sugar - you know, the stuff found in stupid amounts in starches like sticky white rice? And I seem to recall hearing that there's quite a lot of sugar in things like ice cream? Where was I? Oh yeah, fast forward to roughly two, maybe two and a half hours later and we're all back home enjoying my grandson and watching a little U.S. Open Tennis. I'm hanging out being my usual lovable grandpa self and BAM - cold sweats, everything I have started shaking, major fatigue just kind of swept over me. So I say to my wonderful wife "I'm not feeling so good." And she says to me "You're not looking so good." And I say "I think I better check my blood sugar." So I stand up to go get the test kit and came about as close to passing out as you can get and still be upright. "Honey, I think I'll just sit back down on this here couch and perhaps you would be so kind to grab the test kit for me?" Are you ready for this? My blood sugar was 39. For those of you who are not present or former diabetics, that's a touch on the low side. Like about 70 or 80 points. Much lower and I'd have been on the floor as opposed to the couch. "Honey, you suppose you could grab me a handful of grapes? Maybe even a piece of chocolate anything if we have any in the house?" One of the strange things about hypoglycemia is that the recovery from it is one of the more dramatic responses there is. A few grapes and a couple of small squares of year old chocolate and in 30 minutes, other than feeling like I had just run a marathon, I was pretty much back to normal. Well, that and the unshakeable feeling of being a total jerk. Today I'm right back on track. A little older. A little wiser.

You might want to stay away from the really spicy spices e.g. cayenne and jalapenos for a while. There's a lot of healing still going on and ulcers are a possibility. Other than that, I've never heard of any specific spice restrictions either.

Just keep doing exactly what you're doing. Stay focused on following the protocol, stay active, and stay away from the scales for at least a week and longer if you can stand it. Stalls are frustrating but perfectly normal. Trust the process. You'll be glad you did and you're gonna love the new you!!

Great job "smaller don"!! Congratulations!!

Thanks for the kind words! Surgery was 10/20/11. Three weeks out is probably a little early for steak. Doctor post-op diet recommedations vary quite a lot but they usually don't recommend you start with "regular food" until four to six weeks out. And even then, I don't think I'd jump into steak too early. Lean ground beef would probably be a better option. When you do get to that filet (and you will!!), you'll want to be sure to take small bites and chew very well. You'll probably find that "solid protein" is much more filling than soft foods so keep the portions very small - two to three ounces. You're gonna love the new you!!

Me to Sherry! It's amazing how listening to music while you're walking turns it into this great, almost meditative experience. Really makes a tremendous difference!!

I like that "Protein any way you can!" Thanks Ray!!

Ray I was exactly the same as you and just plain old walking has been a real life saver for me. I started out on my treadmill but that quickly became pretty boring so I switched to walking in a park near my home. I don't have to drive anywhere to do it. No cost. I enjoy it. And there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that it has played a big role in the amount of weight that I have lost and the amount of time that it took to lose it. It was crucially important for me to start slow and gradually increase time and distance as I got more comfortable with it. If you set the bar too high in the beginning, all too often you abandon it. And maybe the most important consideration of all is finding something that you enjoy. If it's going to a gym - great! If it's walking - great! There are lots and lots of options. It's all about finding something you enjoy because that's what will be sustainable for you and that is everything.

Cytomax was my abolute go to immediately following surgery. I do not care for Isopure at all. Cytomax is very sweet but a huge improvement (for me) over Isopure.

Happy Birthday! Congratulations! Have a terrific birthday/holiday weekend!!

I like the Pure Protein bars as well with the Frosty chocolate being my hands down favorite. 200 cals and 20g of protein and I think delicious. Their bars come in a number of different sizes all the way up to a whopping 78g of protein. That said, I have never tried the Quest bars but am planning on doing so given the almost unanimous raves about them! Does anyone have an recommendations for the best place(s) to buy them? Pricing on a lot of these supplements can vary widely from on place to another. Panda you spelled my name perfectly and thank you for the kind words!!

Great job!! Congratulations!!

Absolutely no doubt that protein from real food is the best way to go IF you can get ALL of your doctor's recommended daily protein by eating real food. That can be difficult for folks who are still on pureed or soft foods and sometimes even after you're on regular foods. My surgeon requires 100g a day. I'm right at 11 months out and would still have problems hitting that number without my daily 35g protein shake for breakfast. Real food is always the best option. But if your choice is shakes/powders/bars/other protein supplements and getting all of your daily protein, or just eating real food and falling short of your daily protein requirement, the supplements are likely a better option.