Fiddleman

Yes, I tend to agree with the comment on whey concentrates. However, that being said, this is still a decent choice if you can afford it and it allows you to get your protein counts up! Good luck! I am happy you have found some protein supplement that will work for you. as an aside, strawberry and creme sounds yummy. I used to like that flavor as a pre op.

It looks like a decent shake based upon the nutritional information here: http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4179707 The macronutrients look balanced, and if you love the flavor, that is even better. My only concerns are the cost per unit and the quality of their proprietary Protein blends. The cost is going to add up fast, so please take that into consideration. Can someone else look closely at the components of each proprietary protein blend listed in the ingredients and see if these are suitable for absorption as a sleeve post op? The whey isolate is good, but I am not sure about the others in the blend. They look like filler Proteins which would make the drink less effective. Again, need confirmation on this observation.

The cramps in the calves went away yesterday so had them for a number of days. They went away mostly on their own. This week has been a little off for me. I don't know if off is the right word, perhaps unbalanced. I think my vitamins and minerals are not balanced out in some way and I need to get it checked out if it continues past next week. I've been getting uncomfortable (cramping) feeling around and above my stomach on the left side. Bowel movements have not been the best either (even though nothing has changed in terms of miralax/chia seeds) so perhaps it is just blockage or diverticulitis. Not sure. I don't like the fact that my stomach area hurts every time I eat something. Energy went way down after the OP on thursday. Good news is I still pretty much stayed on eating and exercise plan during the week. If anything, I ate less because of the stomach aches associated with eating. Should I be concerned about some stomach issue like ulcer? Or is it jus dehydration ndi should focus more on getting hydrated more effectively ( eg. coconut water or some drink with electrolytes). Dang it is hot outside today! Seeing flashies in front of my eyes.

Yes, agree wholeheartedly with using nestles. I like to put the coconut creamer in my coffee every morning. I do not really succinctly measure, it is more of an eyeballing, timing sort of thing. I would say it is about 2 tbsp. it sure makes a big difference to be able to enjoy coffee every day with creamer. On the weekend, I usually make a point of buying 1-2 16 oz SF mochas with NF milk. Keeps me perky! As for dehydration from coffee, I am not sure it happens. Regardless, I drink 32-64 oz every morning before coffee and then the same after coffee before lunch. I do not think I would be getting dehydrated with that amount of liquids before and after.

I had my sleeve on July 2nd 2012 and it has worked out so well in be a catalyst to building exceptional nutritional and fitness programs that work for me. Hey, I designed and tweaked them over and over again in the last year so they better be optimized! My wife is going to have a sleeve surgery next week on July 2nd, 2013, exactly 1 year later by the same surgeon in the same hospital. Isn't that cool? I will be in the hospital caring for her instead of the other way around. Maybe someday you will see the two of us standing side by side holding before photos with big grins on our faces on the WLS center web page!!

Hi all. I am still taking my daily PPI without fail daily at 1 year out. It is just 1 a day every morning with my other daily supplements. I am aware that we should not be needing to tak this any longer, but I still get some burn feeling on occasion in my throat after eating spicy foods. How does on stop taking the PPI? One less pill would be kind of nice, but not really a blocker for me. My PPI is 20 mg Omeprazole.

Have not heard of this term before so had to look it up. Also known as love lines, moneymaker, michaelangelo muscle, markys mark, etc. lol. Good job, man. According to the source material, you have to have 5-8 % body fat before it is visible.

Hey Laura- that toboggan ride looks like so much fun! You are doing so good to be out there and living life. Is tht a broken arm in the picture?? Did I miss something in one of your posts? That would be really hard to run with or do any activities with. I hope the stomach bug your husband has blows over soon. No fun!!

SunMoon - fascinating! I am such a junkie when it comes to seeking out knowledge related to optimizing health post sleeve. You are onto something with the magnesium. I do get an occasional calf muscle contraction when I stretch it, especially in the mornings. My daily magnesium supplementation is 25% according to the label of my optimen Vitamin. WTF? This vitamin is supposed to be superman making. Lol. I do eat a ton of lean Protein like chicken and Protein shakes. I would think they both have magnesium. One thing to add- I never really had chronic Acid issues pre sleeve requiring any PpI. Sure I got the occasional throat burning acid after eating high fat or spicy dinner, but who does not? And it was very occasional when it did happen.

I am about 80% open about the VSG surgery. All friends, family members and those in the medical industry will get complete honesty and, in fact, will get to hear about the glorious benefits of it. I still have not told work about it nor have I seen but one coworker since having VSG ( told her about my exercise and diet which is completely honest, just did not bring up surgery). I am not sure I will ever bring it up with my work sphere of people. What do others think about this?

Thanks Kristie! You inspire me as well. I cannot begin to count all the others of VST that are inspiring! Everyone, keep posting and coming back!

Susan- thanks! I am happy to hear that I am not alone in having to take PPI so far out.

Serenity - Thanks for your support. That is very interesting that you have explained a correlation between acid reflex and wheat. I have not heard of that before. Everyone will have their own diet variation post op ( mine, for example, has always been lacking any and all bread) so it is helpful to hear about "problem areas" based on different post op diet experiences. Thanks for sharing.

Not sure if these people mean it when they say they hate exercising. I love working out for short periods of intensity of about 20-30 min ( not including warmup, cool down). I used to love running earlier in the year for miles and miles. It was great and I enjoyed 2-3 10 k a week, but it was a muscle eater for me. Now I really enjoy cross fop it and body weight workouts at home. I still do run, but only as a warmup of 1-2 miles. They key is to find something you love and make sure it helps you achieve your short term or long term goals. However, be ready for change as you listen to what your body needs. Long cardio is not what my body needs at this time.

Here is what dropping 180 from 360 looks like from a couple months ago: I am 5'11". I have increased my lean muscle percentage since the after picture while maintaining about the same weight of 180 lb. Good luck pre ops! All is possible.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article, but just do not agree with the closing statements of dirty versus clean dieting being irrelevant to changing body composition. What is the author smoking? Otherwise, I found myself in agreement with a vast majority of it and even picked up a few very good ideas for improving strength while in a calorie deficit.

I agree with Amazon that 600-800 calories is a good target for calories by the time you are at month 2. Low carb and high protein is going to help you achieve the fastest and most consistent weight loss month over month. Be really careful about the type of carbs you do eat making sure they are low on the glycemic index. As for counts, a good goal Is to eat no less then 80 G protein a day and no more then 30-50 g carb a day. You will need to get your required nutrients from vitamins so do make sure you are taking a good one with 200% RDA on everything along with calcium, fish oil, vitamin d and b vitamins. Do keep in mind that around month 5 or 6 you re going to want to transition into eating more calories, slowly working up to TDEE - 300 for your height, weight and activity levels. It will take a few months of slow adjustment to reprogram your BMR after eating 600-800 calories a day for months so it is best not to rush it. That is my advise from one VSG post op to another.

I have a mobility issue with my hamstrings and am unable to completely straighten my legs. Maybe it is not my hamstrings, butI do feel it is tight there and my leg locks at about 170 degrees when trying to stretch it against a vertical bar with my back on the floor. For the past few months I have been doing some pretty focused mobility exercises to straighten them out because lack of flexibility is holding me back in my cross fit training. I do not know what has caused this, but suspect it is either from decades of rigid exercise with no concern for stretching or lack of exercise period. My career has been a desk job as a software developer. It could also be caused by a few months of lots and lots of running earlier in the year. I have a PT roller and use it on my upper body daily, but not so much on lower body. Mainly because I do not know how to do it without being uncomfortable. On my back, it is the best massage ever and really deep. Do you know some really good lower body flexibility exercises that are going to fix this issue? Or a supplement? I already do most of the standard hamstring stretching exercises and do take 2-4 g of very high quality fish oil daily. Any good books on how to fix flexibility issues perhaps focusing on lifting. I have the same problem in my shoulder where my arm will not straighten when doing heavy lifts over head. I am strong enough, but body will not stay straight. I really want to be hyper flexible!!! That would make some lifting activities so much easier.

Recently caffeine has been giving me stomach pains. Not sure why now. Beef seems to sit heavy in my stomach recently also and leaves me feeling a little unsettled. Has anyone lose got a feeling like kicked or punched in the stomach after eating something that used to be fine previously? Not that I have ever really been kicked or punched, but I am guessing that is close to what the feeling is like. I hope this is just a phase.

Laura- have you had Fiber One cereal before? I used to love their cereal in the morning every morning day in and day out. It was so good. If you like the original flavor it has a very good amount of fiber (57%) and calories are reasonable. It is very filling and good for the daily BM too, without fail.

Another good week on the transformation plan. I am down to 180 lb this morning and really like my efficient workout plan during the week. It does not seem like a lot of work. Dropping about 2-3 lbs a week on average. Yet increasing my strength and lean muscle. 180 is my ideal body weight for my height. Tuesdays and Thursdays are Cross fit with my PT for 60 minutes. Usually 10 minutes warmup, 15 minute strength and technique, 20 minutes for WOD and the remainder for cooling down. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are "you are your own gym" body weight strength training. Again 20 minutes of warmup, 20 minutes of body weight exercises and 20 minutes of cool down and flexibility. Warmup for me is usually about 12 minutes of 6.6 mph running, some quick reps of heavy dumbbell dead lifts, a cross fit like warmup of dynamic planks, sumo squats, jumping jacks, lunges and sit-ups and then special full body stretches to prepare for "you are your own gym" workout. I am transitioning into intermediate level next week and then will transition into advanced in about 3 weeks after that. I am thinking about getting into yin hot yoga this next week as a way to gain flexibility and mobility. However, the hot yoga power flow vinyasa sounds intriguing as well in 105 degrees. And I thought I am a good producer of sweat Already. Lol. Probably only 1 night a week of this, maybe 2. The 20 minutes of balls-to-the-wall intense full body compound body strength exercises from all workouts are very effective. Short enough that I do not feel like I am bored. Really focused. Let me tell you, when I am done my strength feels zapped. Totally fatigued not from muscle soreness necessarily, but from lack of energy ( fatigued?) . It is like I can feel energy leaving my body rather then feeling energized. From only 20 minutes?? Feels like army boot camp. correction: special ops boot camp. I do eat 40 g recovery Protein shake afterwards and some energy squares to replenish carbs. I eat about 2 hours before working out. It takes about 20 minutes before my energy starts returning and my drained feeling goes away. As stated before, I eat a lot (paleo style) during the day to keep the transformation moving along towards fitness goals. We are over 1/2 way through the program. I really like the transformation results so far in terms of physical and mental strength. Totally unrelated but I got my annual performance review back today and got "Exceeds expectation" on my first year with them. This is a big deal in a huge corporate company (105000 employees) where there is only a certain number of points to go around in each division. Crossing my fingers that this turns into something tangible. The focus i have gained from working out hard has helped me have good performance at work. Hope everyone else is having a good time on their transformation.