gmanbat

I just got good news today. My wife told me her latest labs say she no longer needs cholesterol meds! She shed her need for diabetes medicine even before getting out of the hospital after her Roux N Y surgery. I got the sleeve and I have kicked my diabetes medicine as well, the disease that had a great deal to do with my dad dying at the age of 46. I am on the edge of ridding myself of high-blood pressure meds. Another 10 pounds should do it. My resting heart rate is down 30 BPM, my heart is happy. I know WLS does not affect everyone the same but it sure is great that it can kick these bad boys out of your life.

I hesitated to start this thread because I know that not everyone who has WLS drops diabetes and the other obesity related conditions. I am sure, however, that your health will improve as you put healthy eating, drinking, and exercise practices into your life. But: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57404810-10391704/weight-loss-surgery-can-reverse-diabetes-studies-confirm/

Sloppy coding is a big problem.Wife and I had 3 operations, her rouxny, my gall bladder removal, and my sleeve. In all 3 cases the anesthesiologist used the wrong codes and we were stuck with the bill until we could talk the hospital into fixing the mistake or the insurance company into paying it anyway. In all 3 cases the hospital just sat on their butt and we had to keep calling the insurance company until we got a sensible person who realized that if they OK'd the operation they would certainly OK the anesthesia and just sent the check.

I agree with Lissa. The surgeon needs to deal with this crass employee. If you feel like you could stand a battle, let him know. Otherwise, it is only a matter of time before she runs into someone like my wife who would mop the floor with her.

Sounds good to me, and sleevy friendly. Lay it on me! By the way, very descriptive thread title!

You are averaging about 1/2 pound a day. That's about 15 pounds a month. If you keep up this average you could lose 180 pounds in a year. With sleeving, it is much less likely that you will put it back on. It WILL come off!! Check out LilMissDiva's pictures up there. See what I mean? No worries!

I love it, an insult/compliment! Sometimes sleevers confuse the snot out of people. I have a NSB...Non-Surgical Bummer. That great shirt I bought at Macy's just a month ago now hangs on me like a six-man tent. I should have had more faith in my continued weight loss. Goodwill is getting a great shirt.

The mystery here is why the surgeon came up with 60 pounds in three months and why that was more on target than 45. That is a difference of an average of 0.5 pounds a day as opposed to 0.666 pounds a day. 0.16 is not a big amount. At my two week my doc expressed concern that I was losing too fast. I would like to know the context and the reasoning why the doc laid this on his patient. If I could have averaged a half a pound a day loss in my pre-sleeve days I woulda bragged myself silly.

I am two months and about two weeks out and I have lost 38 pounds so we are about the same. I am VERY happy with my loss. I have disposed of 2-30-gallon garbage bags worth of too-big-for-me-now clothes and am now wearing formerly-too-small-for-me clothes plus some updated new stuff. My strength is going back in time to where it was when I was in my 30's, (I am 63). My resting heart rate has dropped 30 beats per minute, a sure sign that I am making my heart happy. At my two month follow up the doc was pleased with my progress and my labs. With the Water I am drinking, the exercise I am doing, and with the diligence in which I follow eating guidelines it is inevitable that I will reach my goal and beyond if it seems appropriate. I am one of those people that weighs themselves every day. The thing is, I don't care if I get a stall. Why? Because I know it will start down again. I know that my workouts put muscle on which weighs more than the fat it is displacing. However, it takes up less space which makes me look mighty good according to my wife. You have a powerful tool in the sleeve. Don't get discouraged, follow your guidelines and it will work for you as you work for yourself.

I'm going to Florida for some fun next week, flying in with my wife, daughter and granddaughters. We will be riding rides at Busch Gardens, running on Siesta Key beach, swimming in the gulf and in pools, walking through malls and museums, and other general spontaneous exploring. Two years ago we went to Universal Studios theme park in Orlando. I had to get a wheelchair and grandkids pushed me around. I had a wonderful time then but had great difficulty fitting my rotundus torso into the ride seats. I remember debating whether to get on the Mummy ride. They had a model seat and hold down out in front so you could decide whether you should try it. I could barely get the bar down, breathing was difficult and my ribs were strained. No more of that nonsense! I'm going to get a wind burn from all of the roller coasters and test out how well my sleeve can hold down food in in the midst of major vertigo!

I considered the lactose thing when I learned that after surgery some folks who were not lactose intolerant before sleeving become that way after. Here is a blurb about the types of whey powder and lactose content: Isolate vs. Concentrate vs. Hydrolysate As for whey Protein powder, you’ve got a couple options. Whey protein concentrate contains some fat and lactose, while whey protein isolate is pretty much pure protein with very little of the other dairy elements remaining. Concentrate is less processed and more whole, but has less protein. Isolate is about 90-94% protein, but it’s subjected to a more rigorous refinement process. Bodybuilders are drawn to the “purity” of whey isolate, lured by the moderately higher protein counts. Isolate is also considerably more expensive than concentrate, and the purported boost in beneficial effects on protein synthesis are overstated; drinking any kind of whey Protein shake will have a beneficial effect on your muscle recovery and protein synthesis. If cost is not an issue, or you’re mildly sensitive to dairy, then isolate is your best choice. Otherwise, it’s probably fine to go with concentrate for most applications (or otherwise further you could just eat a steak instead). Whey hydrolysate is predigested whey protein that’s easily absorbed and virtually free of any potential allergens, but it’s (in my opinion) horribly overpriced. Whey in general is already highly bioavailable and easily absorbed by our bodies, so absorption is rarely an issue with whey. Hydrolysate is great marketing. That’s about it. The elite of the elite – those hulking magazine cover superheros with tanned, smiling faces atop straining, veiny necks – may have actual cause to maximize protein absorption, but you guys definitely don’t need to fuss over that stuff. Read more: http://www.marksdail.../#ixzz1q9Usg3lY So isolate and the overpriced hydrolysate are more free of lactose.

My roux n y wife and I have ordered Multivitamin Chewable (Mandarin Orange) - 90 Day and Calcet Creamy Bites (Chocolate Fudge) - 30 Count (9 boxes) three times now from Calcium chews. All three times the order has been at our door the very next day, even on Saturday! We discussed getting cheaper Vitamins but we love these so much we ponied up the money. The chewables are large but dissolve easily in your mouth as do the calcium bites. My labs were great for my 2 month follow up, calcium great,too.. They laughed because my B12 was extremely high. I take a B12 sublingual as well as hitting a 5 hour energy everyday plus the Celebrate vitamins. They said it wasn't a problem, they were just not used to seeing one that high, they are more often low.

When I go through Walmart and similar stores and see the many customers there that are too big for any of their clothes I marvel at the lacking intelligence of marketers who ignore such a large demographic.

Just bought up dinner. Durn crock put smells up the house all day and puts to much giddyup in my appetite! Wife warned me but I plowed in and ran it over. Live and learn....again!

The only recourse in my town was the Goodwill. I inherited some donated large shirts from the wrestlers at our town college which kept me through my tent years. No clothing stores in the huge mall near us stocked big and tall ..except Macy's, which I discovered too late. Now I buy in the "normal" section.

If you don't act like your frugal eating is a big thing they will lose interest. A person's worth is not measured by their ability to consume vast quantities, unless they are from Remulac.

I was suprised my first upchuck. Is that all there is? Nothing like my early wayward days of late night party aftermath, lingering long in violent upheavel at the porcelon throne.

I have been studying the relationship of testosterone levels with body fat percentage. I found this in a study: Previous studies have shown a well-established relationship between testosterone and body fat composition. For example, men with low testosterone levels are characterised by a high body fat percentage. However, despite this well documented link, the causal factors behind this relationship have remained unknown. In this study, the authors show the set of genes that control testosterone levels also control body fat, providing for the first time an underlying causal link to explain this relationship. I am pretty sure low testosterone contributes to higher levels of body fat but could the reverse be true? Could lowering our body fat percentages, like most of us are doing here, increase our testosterone levels? What caused me to start thinking about this is the embarrassing fact that my temper has been getting a bit surly lately. This is what happens to me when my test goes up, I remember from my bodybuilding days. I realize that there could be other reasons for my hot headedness. I have managed to keep it a secret from my family, I have confined my tantrums to the destruction of inanimate objects that don't cooperate while they are out of the house. Wow, that sounds insane! Aren't there any other guys out there that bust up annoying, non-functional stuff? :angry:

That's a good point.

I tried to find backing for this on the internet because I would like to believe it but could not. Can you get your surgeon to site his sources without making him mad? Sometimes docs don't like to be questioned. I found this interesting post which tries to help guys who want their stomachs bigger, (competition eaters, etc.): There are a few methods to stretch your stomach and make your capacity larger (again, there is a point where you hit your genetic limit and I guess for most getting there isn't necessary) Water training, basically drink as much liquid as you possibly can as fast as you can till you are at the peak of vomiting or actual vomiting. I've done this on a number of occasions, it's painful and not fun at all, even if you’re a masochist like myself... The other way to stretch your stomach is to eat as much food as you can (if you wanna stay low calorie go with veggies, but eating tons of lettuce gets really boring and tires out your jaw) then top off with water. I've done this on a few occasions to, this is also very painful and not much fun. So to answer your question, yes, there are ways to stretch ones stomach, but like with body building we all have our genetic limits. I thought it was interesting in that we are told to hold off on the water 1/2 hour before and 1/2 hour after and take it in slowly. This guy is talking about cramming and topping off with water drunk fast to stretch it. I guess my NUT and doc had it right.

That is a good price for whey isolate unflavored. I paid $54. for NOW whey isolate, 5 pounds and thought that was a deal. $35. free shipping has it beat. Bookmarked that puppy! Thanks!

Like doggz109 I was talking to the anesthesiologist and he must have been bored with what I was saying because he put my lights out pretty quickly. It seemed I woke up immediately in the recovery room. I asked the nurse if it was a boy and a girl which I thought was funny but she obviously had heard that one a lot. She kept encouraging me to breathe more, they have you hooked up to some oxygen in the blood sensor. After a while they wheeled me up to my room where my wife was waiting and ready to baby me. The pain was not a factor, the drugs they have nowadays are far superior to what I experienced in my childhood operations. My recovery from apendicitus and tonsils in those days was much more distressing. They have a machine to measure your breathe strength that you are supposed to do regularly. It was a challenge to get the first few sips of Water down. I have quite overcome that at 2 months out. I have to consciously slow myself down now when I am thirsty. Taking the drainage tube out was weird but not painful. I hate catheters, I had one during cancer treatment. When it came out I must say it wasn't so bad. All in all, it was a piece of cake compared to what I've been through. When the surgeon came in I asked him if he found anything in the belly portion he dragged out of me, I'm missing some car keys. He said he had someone else do that, he didn't hear anything.

Ya, don't sweat the ovarian cancer, Vance. But seriously, one of the reasons I got the sleeve was to reduce the odds of a re-occurance of the prostate cancer that I have been treated for. I had heard that losing weight helps, this is the first time I saw it in writing.

....for every pound of fat lost, your body breaks down and reabsorbs 7 miles of vessels! Wow! That would explain my resting pulse going from 90 to 60 in 2 months!

Pretty good writing for the morning after! Yes, that gas gets some folks. I understand that they balloon up your chest and belly area to give them room. Sometimes the gas goes to a shoulder for some reason. I never had a problem with it but a lot of folks do. I had 2 surgeries close together; my gall bladder insisted on coming out 2 weeks before my sleeve surgery. Isn't that time displacement weird? I go to sleep and wake up, no sense of time passing. I always have something funny ready to say to the recovery room nurse. This time it was, "Was it a boy or a girl?"