gmanbat

Thanks, Carlos. My wife thinks I'm beautiful. Seriously, prayers for you on your surgery. I don't regret mine at all. My life is on an upswing and yours will be, too. Hang in there, guy!

Yesterday my family and I went to a local restaurant after church. This restaurant is known for LARGE portions and is always packed. My wife, who had a roux n y, ordered stir fry and I got meat loaf and mashed potatoes. When we were done eating it was difficult to tell if we had eaten anything. Our meals were destined for the take home boxes to be slowly devoured over the next week or until they go bad. I looked around at the mountainous plates being delivered to other patrons and it astounded me that I had eaten like that. I had always pictured being weak eating the small portions that I do now. It just is not so. All the large meals did were keep me fat. I did not eat to provide energy and sustain life. I ate to satisfy an inordinate love of eating. I still love to eat but the volume is not of supreme importance.

For a male my age, 63, height, 6"2", and body type, big boned my ideal weight according to the calculators of health experts, ( http://www.calculato...r=180&x=78&y=12 my ideal weight is between 167 and 194 pounds. I am now 271 and my goal is 220. I haven't been 194 since I was 18 and I was probably about 13 when I was 167, sickly, and just had my appendix out. I ran into an old friend last night and she was very happy about my losing 60 pounds but when I told her I had 50 pounds more to go she freaked out. She thinks I've gone nuts with this, that I don't need to lose that much. That would just get me down to 220, if I went by the calculator I could lose another 104 pounds. I am thinking I would look and feel lousy at their recommended weights. What do you folks think about them? The bodybuilding calculators are different. The ideal weigh for my height is 220 there, IF I am a bodybuilder. I figure my age is going to lower that number because I can't put on the mass that I used to with lowered testosterone. So 205-215 is realistic.

Great responses! I think we pretty well agree that the guildlines are to be considered but not worthy of slavish adherence. To me it's like the fashion advice given for men on some shows on cable. I normally scratch my head in dismay that masculine people would want to parade around like that. Some of it makes me want to put a rider in my will that if anyone dresses me like that in my casket I will haunt them for the rest of their life.

That thought ran through my mind as well. Those first few sips in the hospital were nearly impossible. To get solids at 2 weeks would be equally impossible. I am over a month out and even the mushies are sometimes difficult. I have no desire to throw down a french fry or hamburger, the anticipation of the pain and the certainty of throwing it up quickly squelches any craving I have for it. I crave Soups now. Good taste, no pain. This sleeve gives one a kind of aversion therapy. The discomfort of eating wrong with the occasional need to throw it up sets you straight pretty quick. I used aversion therapy to quit smoking. When I have a desire to purchase an over-priced pack of coffin-nails I recall the time that I was driving down a winding street and the burning part of my cigarette fell off into my lap. The trauma of having to choose between keeping the car on the road and myself alive or putting out the fire down below serves me well as a smoke retardant.

http://www.hollowtop.com/finl_html/mealworms.htm Chitin, the polymer which forms insect exoskeletons, is not easily digested by humans and thus thought to be a source of dietary Fiber. Interesting topic, Pookeyism. It seems the exoskeletons are similar to wheat bran in that they are not easily digested but can be a good source of fiber. My concern would be about whether the chitin breaks down and absorbs Water to make it harmless. I have had no experience with bug eating, voluntarily at least.

As you have gathered from the excellent posts that have gone before, the sleeve is far from being just another diet scheme. Other diets you can mess around and no permanent damage. This is a permanent and serious procedure. During my argumentative stage with my wife, (she got the roux n y before I got my sleeve), I told her it was the equivelent of putting a gun to your head to stop overeating. Drastic words but essentially true. I know I could kill myself right now at any buffet in town just by eating. I could also smoke and infect myself to the point of death. I am improving my health greatly but I could ruin it quickly beyond the point of help by being stupid. this is a video of the procedure which is similiar to ours. Pretty serious stuff. (Caution: graphic)

I know the feeling. Hey, I was the walking land mass that would make buffet owners cry like babies when I walked in. Chinese? Two mountain plates plus dessert. How do I cope now? Small dishes. When I make a can of soup I pour most of it in a storage container and the small amount I can eat in my mini-bowl. I pay attention while I eat, watching TV can ruin concentration. I try to have something planned right after I eat so I have a distraction from wanting to stuff. My sleeve will let me eat too much but slam me a couple of minutes later for it so I have to take my time and I have had to pick up on the subtle feeling that I am full before the uncomfortableness hits. A big, tough guy like me has to "get in touch with his feelings". Wife and I were talking about how it was drilled in our head as kids to "clean up your plate". Something to do with kids somewhere who wouldn't starve if I ate it all. I never could figure out how my stuffing could make them feel better. Anyway, we decided wasting is good. So is take home bags. I have found that if I make my 50-75 gram Protein shake in the morning and hit it off and on through the day I am less hungry. And LOTS of Water helps. You almost have to have one in your hand all the time. If I wake up during the night I get a couple sips from the bottle on my nightstand. We did not take the "easy way to lose weight" as some numskulls accuse us of. This is hard work. But it IS effective and so worth it in renewed health and hotness!

I was diagnosed with apnea after suffering pneumonia in the hospital. The test was too close to my pneumonia in my opinion and making me sleep on my back which I never do compounded the problem. After sleeving the thing burned my nose, hydrator acting up or something and I got mad and abandoned it. I have lost 30 pounds since and don't think I need it. My biggest test is having the wife stay up and watch me. She has no problem telling me when I'm out of whack.

I am from Waterloo originally, Jerry. Praying that all goes well for you.

There are more homes in the US with dogs but more cats in the country. Why? Most homes with cats have more than one. Why? CATS ACCUMULATE!! They have some kind of telepathic power that calls cats in and puts suggestions in your subconscious to get more. We started with CoCo Puff. We "decided" to get him a companion so we got Tigger from a farm. Then Spoticus wandered in from a field and attached himself to the horde. We then "had the bright idea to go to a cat show", telling ourselves that 3 cats was quite enough and resolved to go no further. But then the humane society had ribbons all over Clepatra's cage,(we later renamed her Cleocatra). Amazing that a one-eyed black cat could earn such awards but we bit on it after some displays of affection and no doubt some telepathy from the feline in question. We are determined that 4 is all. But who knows what the combined mental pressure of the 4 will do to our weakened will.

It would seem that the one visit psychiatric session is designed to dig out your potentials for failure rather than help you work out your mental state for the struggle to come. In the psychiatrist I had, he, it seemed, had more issues than most of the people he talked to as testified to by many people in the support group meetings. I don't say be untruthful but if you expect the psychiatrist to help you work out your problems know that his prime directive is to weed you out. The bariatric surgeon and his/her staff should have long known if you have unrealistic expectations through their preliminary assessments.

Hi DcMak72, My psych eval was a problem. It turned out it wasn't to help me in my weight loss but a pure screening process in behalf of the insurance company. I made the mistake of telling the psych that used to be a hippie and I did drugs for about 11/2 years IN THE 60's! Clean ever since. It was enough for the insurance company to reject me. They later accepted me after the bariatric doc appealed. I advise you to be careful what you say.

Call your doc.

I sure don't have anorexia. I never minded being a fat guy except for no energy, no breath, ill fitting clothes, diabetes, high blood pressure, and various other health issues. But the fat hid my wrinkles.

Awesome! Your family reminds me of my Dutch friend who immigrated from Canada. I met his family and the whole group, sisters, brothers, dad and mom were tall cedars. Wonderful kind and intelligent people. My friend is 6'6" and he married a woman who was 5"2". They were and are one of the best matches I've ever seen. Their hearts match, that's where it counts.

When I was younger I was 6'4". When I got fat I went down to 6'2". I am just wondering if anyone got some height back after losing the extra pull of gravity. Or do I need to hang myself in the closet like Barney Fife getting taller for the deputies test?

Hi, I was referring to your not being able to hold food down. I noticed that you are eating fruit cups. I was suggesting just dropping back to liquids. Holding liquids down would be better than eating more solid food and bringing it back up. I went through stomach flu recently, retching and diarrhea for days. I definitely had to drop back. Just now getting back into mushies. I don't mean to minimize the serious nature of your situation. I am just trying to be helpful in one small part of it.

Sorry for your problems. When I have problems I drop back into pure liquids, clear if necessary. I take a sip and swish it around in my mouth to mix in the saliva digestive juices before I swallow it. This is a technique I learned from the juicing people,... "chew your juice". I resist the urge to take it in fast. I take a sip and set the cup down and wait a couple minutes whether I feel like it or not. I think of my new stomach as a newborn baby. It needs to be "babied" or it will keep you up all night. Apologies if this is old news to you. I am praying for you, too.

My apologies to any tall gals out there for the lumbering giant thing. You gals are beautiful, too, you know you are. My daughter is tall and she is a looker.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the average height for an adult female in the United States is: 63.8 inches, or 5 feet 3.8 inches You are taller than the average women in many countries like India, Brazil, China, Columbia, etc. and not much shorter than the rest. Europeans seem to be the tallest but still not that much taller than you. The gals you are comparing yourself to must be lumbering giants like me.

People's tastes are different, aren't they? I actually like the taste of Lortab. I guess it could be a conditioned response, I know I'll feel better and will be in a better mood after dosage. At one time in my life I liked smoking and wiskey, too. :ack2:

I got Omeprazole to keep away heartburn and Lortab. That's it except for my blood pressure meds and a small D3 capsule that I now take. I have chewable multi-vitamins, (Celebrate) and chewable calcium, (Calcet).

I'll get my 2" height loss back one way or another. If not by spinal decompression then by cowboy boots.

5'3" is short? I don't think so.