Fiddleman

I think it is a good idea to avoid the wrap as everyone above has said, but also see if you can ask them to leave the dressing or sauce off. These usually contribute to calorie, carb and fat counts in a sort of "hidden" way. If you look at the nutritional information on the grilled chicken wrap, it has on average 270 calories for 1. Are you going to have 1 or 2 per meal? Even for 1, If you are eating 5-6 times a day ( to better control blood sugar levels), this calorie count may be a little on the high side when added up over the duration of a week. I like that it has 18 g of Protein, but watch out for the high sodium count of 800 mg. The sodium is probably injected into the chicken so cannot be avoided. Given that you are with limited options because of the nature of your trip (kids love mcD and cheap), this is probably your best protein choice on the menu. To most, myself included, the McD chicken wrap looks like a healthy option. Looks can be deceiving! Something that looks healthy may end up being higher cal, high sodium, etc so it is important to try and research menu options ahead of time instead of just evaluating based on what you think is healthy. You made a good choice to ask on this forum instead of finding out a week later you gained. The fast food marketing machine has really figured out how to disguise their food. At least people are tending to wise up about it in recent years in part to publications like "The end of overeating." Eating fast food tends to make you want to eat more fast food because of added sugars, salt and fat. Eating a couple fries may trigger you to want to eat more fries, especially when everyone around you are eating them. Hope this helps. Be strong.

I second the daily use of chia seeds. In fact, I am about to have my Protein shake mixed with chia seeds now. There are a few rules I discovered: 1. Always let the soak in Water for at least 20-30 minutes before mixing them with a shake powder or anything else. The reason is the the seeds are really only effective in gelled form as a solution to regularity. Failure to do this has a couple consequences: 1a. The seeds will just pass right through because they will not sit very long in our small stomachs. 1b. The seeds will rob you of water as they pass through, leaving you dehydrated. 2. Always mix with water before use. Mixing with any kind of milk leads to non gelled seeds no matter how long you wait. I have not tried to gel the seeds with any other kind of liquid such as juice. 3. Buy from a reputable grower who is interested in your health and not just profit. They will be easier to get advice from and you will probably get more seeds for your money. I highly recommend a business called "The raw food world." The owners are extremely pleasant, down to earth and provide excellent customer service. On Amazon, you can buy 1-3 lb bags of seeds for a good price. I usually buy the 2 lb product that they offer and it lasts months.

Very good input everyone! Now I have some practical comparative analysis based on empirical evidence to share with my sister-in-law so she has a clearer picture of why the sleeve is much more beneficial over the band.

Thanks for the response.

Craig's list is a good place to look. That is how I found mine 3 years ago. Make sure that whomever you buy it from that they will deliver and install it; these are really heavy to lift with 2 people. You might also consider commercial instead of home models because the motors and belts are designed for gym use. I tend to buy older commercial Precor models when I am looking for equipment because they are built really well. I have both a commercial Precor elliptical and treadmill, each are over 10 years old, but work really well. I have put years and years of almost daily use into these. You should service them every couple years to keep them running in refurbished condition. One disadvantage to buying older models is they may not have all the programs or things like heart rate monitors, but still, these machines maintain their vales fairly well. I believe the elliptical was around 1000 and the treadmill was around 1200.

Yes, I thought it might be the fills and un fills of the band that eventually makes it too difficult to remain successful without forming new healthy habits based on a sound physical and psychological foundation. There is only so tight you can safely inflate the band and that is where good eating habits and exercise need to take over. What I like about VSG is that the restriction starts from day of surgery requiring everyone to come to terms with their eating and drinking habits immediately and progressively over the first 6 months if necessary, or face the uncomfortable consequences. I am only about 6.5 months post op, but feel that 6 months has been a good amount of time to build a new lifestyle, tweaking my strategies as I advanced through the stages. I think it takes months for a band patient to find the right restriction and if they are not careful to develop habits during that time the band may not help them because there are only so many changes a person can take on at once. I suppose the same might happen with the sleeve, but it would be harder to fail until much further out in the process. The restriction experienced between band patients and sleeve patients appears to inversely related.

One positive that came out of this flu ordeal is I lost 7 lbs this week, placing me 2 lbs below my first WLS goal of 185. YAY! This is the lightest I have been since 9th grade. Do not read this as an endorsement of the flu to lose weight. Lol. My caloric intake was so bad this last week and I got so dehydrated, I would not recommend this on my worst enemy. Now I will have to figure out if I am done losing or if I really need to go to my new goal set this week of 170. I'll need to discuss this with the nut rationalist and dr next week.

Gee, reads a little bit like a dear John letter to the newbies... Just seeing the humor in it.

I wish you the best cat tracks and hope the new vitamin plan will help you lose that last bit of weight. You are so close. I just did my first set of post op labs week before last and hoping for the best. I usually take multi, d, b12, b complex, krill, calcium chews, etc in the recommended doses by my nutritionist, but my diet is mostly absent of vegetables and completely absent of fruit. I have an appointment next week to do a review of the results.

Thanks everyone!!

Congrats on your success!

No longer feel like the walking dead today and mental clarity and focus is returning, but still am getting sheet drenching night sweats and my fever usually picks up in the evening hours. I suppose the increased fever in the evening is because the immune system weakens a little at night due to circadian cycles. I am making this up, so someone please chime in if they know the real reason. I bought some pedialyte for adults to replace the electrolytes lost from the sweats. This stuff is hard to drink as it is like drink a cup of cough medicine. Yuck. I got the shakes last night too, but not nearly as bad and they subsided after I took a couple Tylenol. At the same time I also woke up with a blinding headache which was also cured by the fast acting Tylenol. Love the fast acting variety. It is almost as good as the liquid Tylenol with regards to immediate results ( 5 min instead of usual 30 min). Today, there are still aches in my back and in the abdominal area, including below the rib cage. I hope this ends soon! I want to feel normal again (or better than normal) and get back to my 5 k And strength training. Exercise this week has been non existent because I was the walking dead ( no joke here)and usual protein goals were never met because of much reduced appetite and intense sore throat. I am looking forward to eating again, starting today. i have been on protein shakes this week and got though about 2 a day (50 g of protein on average). Thanks for your support. It has been so hard this week and I am still really weak. I guess the flu this year really is intense especially with regards to dehydration. Not good for us sleevers.

My pulse was recorded at 100 this last Tuesday, but probably because I have been battling one heck of a flu this week. Typically, my resting heart rate is between 50 and 60 so 100 really surprised me.

I took three weeks off and not because of pain. I did not come home until week 2. By the end of week 2 I was still exhausted, much like a nasty flu. I took the extra week to build up my energy and get used to walking, protein shakes and liquids before adding the stress of work into it. My energy did not truly return until month 2; my body needed that amount of time.

Hey BTB - My diet has not changed with running longer distances. It is a fairly clean diet: low carb, low fat high protein and lots of water. However, I do drink a pre workout energy drink and a post workout protein shake. It seems to help with endurance and recovery, respectively. As you know I try and run every other day ( this week exception because of nasty flu): one long run, one HITT run and one times 5 k.

She has gone back and forth for about a year on whether to get the sleeve or not. She is a foodie and has trouble with not being able to eat certain foods again. That is the opposite of me, but I am trying to convince her that she does not need to abstain completely and certain foods she will be able to eat again after 6 months. She is also worried about surgery as has never done it before. I have explained the process of it from prep room to recovery room. The main reason she wants to get sleeved is to get pregnant. We have been trying for 5 years and I have heard of women becoming more fertile after losing excess weight. She is BMI 54 and is really looking forward to being more active ( loves rowing for crew). We do not have any kids, so no worries about that post sleeve. I will be helping as much as I can after her surgery but my advise is to invite one of our mom's over to help and be on call. I do need to work so will appreciate any help. I have given her a lot of advise and have been trying to be a good example for her with my own sleeve journey. She comes to all the support groups 1 x a month. Is there any advise you can give to put her mind at ease and to know this is a good decision?

Thanks for the info! It is very helpful and she agreed with your comments when I told her. In fact, she has said there are many fertility treatment areas who are biased against obese women and will not help them other then saying lose weight. That was her final straw on going down the IVF route. We will be going to a Swedish seminar with dr mcmahan (sp?) Tomorrow. He and his entire support team (yay brittney) are the best! (my opinion only, of course)