Sandi

It's just called Nectar. It's by a company called Syntrax. You can find it on the net. They have many falvors. The two that I like best are Caribbean cooler and Vanilla Bean. I mix the caribbean cooler with 4 ounces of water or orange juice and it tastes like a pina colada. I mix the vanilla bean with some sugar free hazelnut coffee mate and 4 ounces of coffee, and it tastes like a latte. They have lots of other flavors. You can buy a sample pack and try them all. It's a life saver when it comes to protein, bc you can get 24 grams in only 4 ounces of liquid (which is all your stomach will hold) and it tastes really good.

I personally, don't worry about sodium or fat. I look at the calories. The bottom line is that you can eat only fat and still lose weight as long as you burn more calories than you take in. Not the best option from a health standpoint, but as far as losing weight, I don't think it's good to get too caught up in the sodium/fat/carbs thing. I found the hardest part to be the mushy stage. I hated that. Once you get past that stage, it is pretty much clear sailing. Good luck.

Try the Vanilla Bean with coffee. It's yummy. I mix it with some sugar free coffee mate hazelnut first, then add the coffee. It mixes really well, and it tastes great.

It's good. I like the caribbean cooler flavor. It says to mix it in 8-16 ounces of water, but I mix it in only 4 ounces, and it tastes good -- like a pina colada.

Go read about it on the net. My doctor told me that hair loss would occur at month three if we didn't take in enough protein. I also read about that on the internet, and even saw a video of a woman who saved all the hair that she lost and she had a huge bag of it. I didn't lose any hair bc all of that scared me so much that I made sure I got in 50 grams of protein a day. And, it was very hard at first, bc all the Protein drinks were 8-16 ounces, and my stomach would only hold 4 ounces AT THE MOST. So, I spent a fortune trying different Proteins until I finally found one that I could mix in 4 ounces of Water that didn't taste like crap and didn't make me nauseated. I gave the info about that above. It was a life-saver for me. Also, on the nausea, be sure you get in some carbs, bc too much protein without any carbs to buffer it will cause you to be nauseated. Good luck. You can do it. We've all been through it. I have now gone from a size 2X to a size XS in less than a year. It's worth it, and with time you will get used to and be satisfied with smaller portions. It takes a while to get your head around it, and I am still working on the sadness of not being able to sit down and eat a whole platter of mac and cheese. You eat a little bit and it tastes so good you want more, and that is why I gained weight in the first place. But now, no matter how good it is, I can only eat a few bites, and it takes a while to get your head around that and not be sad about it -- not feel deprived. But, it is coming. I am getting there. It just takes time.

Try the protein I suggested above. You can get 24 grams of protein in just 4 ounces. Have one in the morning and one at night. You'll never be able to get enough protein drinking shakes which are 8-16 ounces. You just don't have enough room to hold that much. Why doctors don't tell patients about how to get enough protein in 4 ounces, I will never know. Didn't your doctor tell you about the hair issue if you don't get enough protein? It is very important.

You can do ANYTHING for a short period of time. Hang in there. At the four-month mark, you will be able eat anything you want -- just not very much of it. For right now, try some refried beans and the Lipton chicken soup in a box that you make with boiling water. The worst part is the part you are going through right now. You can still go out with your friends and have fun. Order a brothy soup. You don't need to eat to have fun. Order water with lime instead of an alcholic drink. As to the protein, try Nectar by Syntrax. I like the Caribbean Cooler flavor. You can mix it in 4 ounces of water and get 24 grams of protein in that very small amount. You can get it on-line. It tastes kind of like a pina colada. I also like the Vanilla Bean flavor. Put it in a cup, add 3 tsp sugar free hazelnut coffee mate (the liquid, found in the dairy section with a green top), mix it up, then add 4 ounces of hot decaf coffee. Good way to get your protein in the morning with your coffee. If you don't eat enough protein (50 grams per day) you will start losing your hair about three months out. To stop the nausea, be sure you take in some carbs. If you eat only protein, you will put your body into a state of ketosis and a byproduct of that is nausea. Eat some applesauce or baby food fruit or yogurt, but get some carbs down, and that will help with the nausea.

lol Pickle juice snow cone. That's one I hadn't heard. I am literally rotflmao

Try to find something you don't hate to do. For me, it's low impact step aerobics. Then, I also found something I LOVE to do, which is ballroom dancing. For you, it could be racquetball, badminton, square dancing. I don't know. Think about it, and when you figure it out, then look on the internet for places where you can take lessons, and that will get you started and get you in touch with other people who like the same thing. You will start hanging out with people who are more focused on that activity than they are on food, and that is a good thing.

Look at the food they are all eating, and think of it as poison, bc for you it is. Instead, embrace the healthy yogurt and soup you are eating. Eventually, you WILL be able to eat anything, but the key to your success will be that you will only be able to eat a few bites of everything, and then you will be full. That is the point of your surgery, right. It is the hardest thing to get your brain around -- not being able to eat all the food you used to be able to shovel in. You brain still wants more of the taste. Just talk to yourself every day. You don't need it, you don't want it. Eventually, it will start to sink in.

You will be. Running four miles in a week is awesome. Sounds really good to me, since I HATE to run. But, I can tell you, I haven't seen many fat runners, so if you love to run, keep it up, and you will see those pounds melt away. Good luck to you.

You have found the key to success!!! Easier said than done, but it CAN be done. It's a matter of retraining the brain.

You can't get away from the smells. Try to associate something bad with them. Like, for fast food, I imagine rancid grease and stale french fries. For pizza, I imagine cardboard crust and too much of the red sauce. You get the idea. Pretty soon, the smells won't affect you. It's kind of like quitting smoking. When I smoked, the smell of smoke didn't bother me. Now, it makes me gag. Same idea.

There is a program you can buy called Weight By Date. There is a nominal cost, if I recall right. There, you can keep track of your measurements and your weight. There is also a scale you can buy called the Omron scale. It keeps track of weight, muscle percentage, fat percentage and BMI, as well as body age. My actual age is 62. My body age when I started was 69. Now, it's 45. I keep track of as many stats as I can so that I am never relying ONLY on weight. So many things change with your body when you are on this journey, and it is kind of exciting to see all the changes that are taking place that you might not otherwise notice.

And, remember, you don't have to get to goal to start looking a lot better. Every time you lose 10-15 pounds, you will go down a size. I took pictures of myself every time I lost 15 pounds. It gave me little bite-size goals. I posted them on FB and my friends got so they were rooting me on bc they wanted to see the next pic. lol You can do it. Once you get through the mush phase and can eat what you want, believe me, it gets a lot easier. Until I got there, I was asking myself every day what in the world I had gotten myself into. Try to drink water so you don't get dehydrated, and try to get in the protein so you don't lose your hair. A great protein drink that you can mix in 4 ounces of water that actually tastes good is Nectar by Syntrax. The caribbean cooler flavor tastes like a pina colada. Not bad, and you get 24 grams of protein in 4 ounces, which is all your stomach will be able to hold. I mix the vanilla bean flavor in 4 ounces of coffee in the morning. It is good. First I mix the powder in a cup with about 3 tsp of sugar-free Hazelnut coffee mate. It is in the dairy section in liquid form, and has a green band around the top. After you mix that up, then add the coffee. If you add the coffee first, it doesn't turn out right for some reason. That is what I usually have as my breakfast even now. Another really good liquid that I virtually lived on was the Lipton chicken soup that comes in a box, and you boil it in some water. I would just eat the liquid part, and it is yummy. And, of course, Crystal Light. I'm sure your doctor has told you about that.

You'll get there. Just keep exercising. The sleeve will keep you from eating very much. I took a picture of myself that I posted to my friends on FB every time I lost 15 pounds. It was great for me to see how much of a change there was, gave me small bite-size goals, and the encouragement from my friends was a big boost.

I have never tried to hide my surgery, any more than I would try to hide from people if I had cancer. There are lots of people out there who are overweight, and trying to find information on how to lose weight. If telling about my journey will help them, I am more than willing to do that. In the beginning I thought that some people would be jealous or try to sabotage me, but NO ONE did. Everyone was so supportive. Give your friends and co-workers a chance. People are a lot more benevolent than we give them credit for.

...for me Pilates is fun, but I just do the basic beginner routine. I have no idea what a basic plank is. lol I bought my reformer from QVC and it came with a little basic routine of about 50 exercises. It takes me about 1/2 hour to get through them all, and I had them memorized in very short order so that now I can move from one to the other pretty easily. For me, it's an easy full body workout. The only time I was sore was when I first started doing the "100" ab exercise. That is a killer at first, but now, it's pretty easy.

I have a pilates reformer and use it every other day at home. I love it. I also do bowflex for upper body mainly, and do 1/2 hour of low impact step aerobics every day. Much easier, for me anyway than Zumba. In addition, my husband and I got into ballroom dancing lessons, and now we dance 1-1/2 hours four nights a week. It's very fun, and a good way to meet other people who are also interested in keeping fit. I also have the AbCirclePro, and love it for abs.

I love my AbCirclePro for the waist. It is easy and it works. I do 150 reps a day. 50 in the morning, 50 in the afternoon, and 50 before bed. I also like my pilates reformer for a total body workout. My waist is now a size 28, and I have gone from a 2X to a XS. No hanging skin anywhere except a bit on my thighs -- and I am 62. I exercised religiously for 1-1/2 hours per day from four months post surgery. 1/2 hour aerobics, 1/2 hour on pilates or bowflex, and 1/2 hour floor exercises and AbCirclePro. In addition, I dance 1-1/2 hours four nights a week.

As far as exercise, I exercise 1-1/2 hours a day and then do ballroom dancing 1-1/2 hours four nights a week on top of that. It has not sabotaged my weight loss. I am 10-1/2 months out and lost 92 pounds. I have gone from a size 2X to a size XS. And, I have consistently eaten only 500-700 calories per day since my surgery. Believe me, the body can sabotage and hang on to those pounds for only so long. If it could do it indefinitely, no one in Africa would be starving, right?

I asked my family doctor that very thing. How could I be healthy eating only 500 calories a day. She told me that I am living off my fat. Duh!!! Why didn't I think of that. She said I would be perfectly fine as long as I took the vitamins I was supposed to and the protein.

...also, you might want to try dancing. My husband and I got involved in ballroom dancing lessons, so in addition to my exercise routine, I am dancing 1-1/2 hours four nights a week, and we are meeting a lot of new (thin) people. Most dance centers have monthly activities for the students, and it's a great place to make new friends, while exercising.

Put together a routine that starts with stretching exercises while you are still in bed. Usually once you start with a routine, you won't stop. It's the getting started that is hard. Then, build on that with aerobics, or stairmaster, or whatever, and then add in muscle building exercises -- I like bowflex and pilates reformer. But, you can do whatever you want. You need to do 1/2 hour of aerobics every day, and then alternate every other day with weights (upper body one day and lower the next). The weight lifting is important to avoid a lot of hanging skin at the end of your journey. I also love my ABCirclePro. My waist is now a size 28 and my pant size is XS. I used to wear a size 2X. Start slow and build up. But, most important, exercise every day.

I'll tell you what I did. You have to find what works for you, but this is what worked for me. I started exercising at four months post-op. I spent the first four months just trying to acclimate to the whole new relationship with food. When I started exercising, I started with a 1/2 low impact step aerobics tape that I made for myself years ago. I hadn't done it for years, so it was like starting new. I started out doing only ten minutes without stepping up on the step. When I could do that, I moved up to 20 minutes, and before long I was able to do the full 30 minutes without the step. Then, I wanted to add in some muscle building, so we bought a bowflex and my husband set that up for me. I put together an upper body routine, and started doing that every other day along with my aerobics. Then, I got out my pilates reformer, and did the basic routine on the days I did not do the bowflex. So, I was now doing aerobics every day with either pilates or bowflex. I finally got to the point where I could do my aerobics and actually step up on the step, so that added more calorie burning. Then, my husband and I got into square dancing and ballroom dancing, so in addition to my exercise routine I was dancing about 1-1/2 hours four times a week. Then, I hurt my leg, so I had to go back to do my aerobics routine without stepping up on the step, and even had to stop dancing for a while. But, I kept going with the all the things that I could do, and just modified for the things that hurt my leg. My leg is almost healed now, and I am beginning to add more and more as I can. But, in 10-1/2 months of losing 92 pounds, I have very little sagging skin, and I think if I keep exercising after I get to goal, I will be able to tone up the little bit that I do have in my thighs. For me, I knew that I would never go to a gym. I always think that by the time I drive there and back, I could just about have finished exercising at home. And, I hate to run. And, I didn't want to be limited or be able to find an excuse not to exercise because the weather was bad. So, for me, the ticket to success was to find an exercise routine that I could do inside my own house. And, then, I just tried to find an activity that I could do at night with my husband that we would enjoy that would keep me from becoming a couch potatoe at 6:00. Dancing was the answer for me, and my husband and I love it, and have met a lot of nice (thin) friends. Good luck with your exercise routine. Find what works for you, and even if you get sick, or injure yourself (which seems to always happen) keep going. Do what you can do. If you injure your legs, you can do more arm lifts, or cut out the jumping (or whatever). You can always modify your routine, but don't ever stop. Another thing that helps me with my exercising is that I start off in the morning with some stretching exercises while I'm still in bed. Once I get started I won't stop, so by starting before I even get out of bed, I don't get side tracked. Good luck.