Fiddleman

Isn't that the stuff you wax onto your skin after a bad sunburn. I know it smells nasty. Have never tasted it. If it works for you, all the power to you!! As for hunger, it does leave for a bit when you transition to solids. However, for most it is back by month 4, 5 or 6. Must be that a person is healed more by that time or the body decides to start up the g-juice again. I have never found a good reason for it. What I do know is that you need to use your first few months to build good eating habits and will power so that when hunger returns, you are ready with your defenses. I think this is key. If you are unable to change your life style while your body is down, you may find it really hard to keep your weight down when initial loss is over.

Are you stating husbands are like Ferrets?

Sorry to hear about the Gall Bladder. Good luck!

Yup. Chia seeds will work great for a daily BM. Very natural too as not a lot of effort. However, you ( or rather, a person) should probably use a forceful method if you are blocked as Chia seeds might not help you in that case. I use Chia seeds and Miralax together in the morning for a few months now. So far great results!!

They are also good for endurance or high intensity activity ( e.g running) as they hold a lot of water in you GI tract that is available on demand. I believe they make a difference in ramping up athletic ability, but have no proof or scientific studies to back this statement.

This is a really great thread to read. Thanks for all the information!

These are magic pills (for me). They may not work the same way for everyone. I took these before my 5 k run today and ran 6:50 min mile without fatiguing. It was ammmaaazing. Legs felt perfectly mobile in joints and muscles. After about 20 min 5 k, I hopped on my ellyptical for another 25 minutes at level 7 on hill program. I usually can never do level 7. This stuff made my cardio exercise feel like nothing ( was still sweating a river though). I cannot wait to use catalyst before cross fit tomorrow and see how it helps with burpees and Olympic lifts ( 2 of my cross fit weaknesses) as well as pull ups. I have high hopes. Kind of expensive stuff, but can replace my previous pre-workout drinks (c4).

I don't know if we need to remove evidence of surgery. Maybe it is because I am a guy, but I look at scars as war wounds that each tell a story. Wear them with pride! I have various scars from different repairs in life. I like telling people about where they come from. I am like an old quality piece of furniture with lots of nicks and scratches. Apologies in advance if this metaphor is really bad. Lol.

Mole skin used to help me all the time from blisters when I am out on a long hike (e.g greater then 1 week). I am not sure if they also apply to running blisters. Maybe. Also just soaking your feet in Epson salt will probably help.

9 months - still here. Not too concerned because not very noticeable. I might use a cream at some point to fix this, but not feeling the urge to yet.

Went back and looked at the Amazon Reviews and the company web site on the Tonic Alchemy green drink. I have placed an order for this and see how it compares to Amazing Grass. There are SO many green drink options out there to research. Hopefully, this will be a great experience. No issues with Amazing Grass, but do want to try some other products to find what I interpret as the best alternative. Thanks everyone for your comments so far. This is a constant learning experience as a post op.

I usually do not follow up an hour of cross fit with an hour of yoga because of being tired and not enough time to drive from one to the other. On my cross fit days, I have been thinking about doing Yin after cross fit as a way to really deeply stretch out those muscles killed during cross fit. It is a little later in the evening so I can take my time getting there. On my running days (alternate days), I run in the morning and am thinking about attending Yoga in the evening. On these days I am thinking about Power Vanyase or Hatha. Something that is still fairly active. I like a combination of funning, cross fit and yoga because it will allow for a general development of fitness and athleticism rather then bulking up. Bulking up to be super strong is not really my goal, but I would like to have a good athletic physique, be in the BMI range of healthy and not be self conscious about how I look in the Water, on the beach, etc in the summer. Right now, I am in the BMI range of healthy, but not really in the physical shape yet that is my goal. So, going back to a plan, typical weekly schedule would roughly be: M: Run (9am - 5k timed), Hatha (6 pm) T: cross fit (4 pm), yin (7:30p) W: Run (9am - 30 min HIIT), Power Vinyase (6 pm) Th: cross fit (4 pm), Yin (7:30p) F: Run (9am - 10 k timed), Hatha (6 pm) Sat: Run (train for 1/2) / Hike Sun: recover I also like to do a mile run when I get up in the morning and some light weights. It helps me wake up and get ready for the day. Finally , I am one of the tightest, immobile and inflexible people according to my cross fit coach so we are working on special mobility exercises. Tightness in my upper body comes from my job as software developer ( long hours on computer) for decades. Tightness is my lower body (hamstrings and hip flexors) comes from recent running. I am really hoping by doing all the Yoga that I can become gumby man and also get off my inflammation meds for the back. I will also start treating myself to longer hot showers and pro messages to help the tension in the back, shoulder and neck region. I recently bought a foam roller from last week to help with tightness in legs. Not very much, but I didn't place a high enough priority on it. What do you think?

Time to order a new supply of green grass drink. I ordered original flavor last time and it was good for the most part. Does anyone have comments on the other flavors?

If you are going to have chocolate ( good for you!!), try to eat dark and pure chocolate. The expensive stuff!! The reason is because it will be low sugar and still be satisfying. The cheap chocolate tends to have a lot of sugar and milk in it, both which can cause issues post op, especially for newer sleevers.

What is wrong with 1-2 lbs a week?

It is hard to meet Water goals in the beginning, especially before 3-4 months. It just hurts too much to drink faster then sips and like Laura says, drinking water is a full time job. However, it gets easier as the months go by. Start out drinking to a schedule and try to meet mini goals during the day. For me, my goals were really small in the first couple weeks. I was just trying to get through 2 ounces every hour. After you are in liquids phase, try and empty 3 blender cups a day. By solids at 5-6 weeks, try and hit 64 ounces ( 32 ounces by afternoon and 32 ounces by evening). At 3-4 months, try and make sure you can drink 90 ounces a day. This usually happens by trying to get through 32 ounces in between the 3 major meals. The point is that increasing water intake is progressive over a long period of time. You want to be able to drink a lot of water a few months out in order to meet hydration needs from flushing toxins out of the body (translates into faster weight loss) and also to meet hydration needs for during and after exercising. Add flavor to your water as soon as you can. It will make drinking water much much easier. Water was really hard to drink plain for me until month 6. I still flavor my water every day with Desani drops. Other posters like a variety of different types of water enhancers. It just tasted weird plain, lots of strong minerals in every type of water I tried, from tap water to Fuji water. Just could not do it without flavor. At 9 months now, I think my daily water intake is 120+ ounces. Sure I spend a few extra times in the bathroom during the day, but it is worth it from all the benefits from staying well hydrated.

oooooo, gourmet!! Looks really good!

Hate to say it, but the VST site is dominating by threads about slow losers. You hardly ever see a thread about a fast loser. So it is hard to say or answer your question. I would say a new VST reader would form the wrong opinion if all they read are all the slow loser threads. A lot of these people are losing 10, 15 or 30 lbs in 30 days! Come on, how does that even qualify as slow losing? Anything more than 2-3 lbs a week should be considered perfectly acceptable. Later on, 2 lbs a week is very good as you get closer to goal. Sometimes a whole month may go by where the scale does nothing. People need not be so hard on themselves. Take one day at a time and celebrate on the small successes along the way!! And when weight loss does slow down, change is required. More water, more protein or more intense exercise for example.

I seem to be way more hungry all the time post op then I was pre op. Every hour! I am not kidding or using hyperbole!! I eat every 3 hours " on purpose" and then a spoonful of cottage cheese, an ounce of chicken, an extra energy square or some other helpful food in between (try and limit to 50 calories). I have even been known to eat an extra low carb/fat Protein bar (200 calories!!). Arg!! I am getting tired of needing to eat so often mainly because it is so distracting and I worry a little about it. This has been going on since month 6 and am now month 9. Even though it seems like I never stop eating during the day, my weight stays about the same, maybe down a little bit. My weight is hovering 178-182. The hunger strikes the most between 11 and 3 pm for me. I normally eat at 12 pm and 3 pm as part of my plan, but oh how I want to eat more in between. I stopped tracking what I am eating in between planned meals so cannot tell you exactly how many calories are coming in. My planned meals are about 1200-1400 calories during the day. Always drinking Water too in order to keep well hydrated, especially for exercise. I eat mostly animal meats, leafy green veggies, Protein Bars and shakes. My supplements in terms of Vitamins and minerals are also complete. I eat good carbs and low to moderate fat. My protein is 150 g or more during the day. I do not think I am depriving myself of anything that is needed from a nutritional standpoint. I am not eating or drinking junk food or soda. I do have splenda and caffeine in my coffee. Anyone else want to rant about this??? Can someone just come snip my Vagus nerve right now to take this hunger from me?