James Marusek

Although this seems like a great motivator for getting exercise, it might have some downsides: Today in the news - four teens in the St. Louis area were using "Pokemon Go" to lure victIms to a specific spot so they could rob them. They did this by planting a "beacon" to draw players to that specific spot. Apparently the suspects may have been involved in in nearly a dozen robberies around St. Louis. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/11/missouri-police-say-4-teens-used-pokemon-go-to-rob-people.html In yesterday's news - a Wyoming teen playing 'Pokemon Go' discovers body face down in river. No foul play was suspected. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/10/wyoming-teen-playing-pokemon-go-discovers-body-face-down-in-river.html Then a few days earlier - one of the risks is that the player in his/her enthusiasm for playing the game may not be paying attention and walk into things (doors, moving cars, cracks in the sidewalk) and get injured. http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/07/08/players-in-hunt-for-pokemon-go-monsters-feel-real-world-pain.html

Generally I drank Crystal Light. More recently I found that bottles of Bai which I bought by the case at Sam's club was good (especially when they went on sale). They had a variety of flavors. I also found that fine English teas were enjoyable.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

This link helps to describe the condition. https://www.ridgeviewmedical.org/services/bariatric-weight-loss/enewsletter-articles/reactive-hypoglycemia-postgastric-bypass

If you were given a B12 shot in the hospital, then I believe you are good for a month before you begin your B12 regiment.

Good luck on your surgery and let us know if we can be of any help.

Congratulations and let us know if we can be of any help. Make sure you take a good before photo of yourself so you can compare it with an after photo.

After surgery the three most important requirements are meeting your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. I had RNY gastric bypass and I am 3 years post-op. So my program is similar but not the same as the requirements of sleeve patients. I hated drinking protein shakes. But I drank them because I could not reach my protein goals without them. But as my meal volume increased, I was able to phase out my protein shakes. I went from 3 a day, down to 2, down to 1 and finally at a year and a half when I reached 1 cup meal allotment per meal I stopped drinking protein shakes completely. I was able to do this because I concentrated on high protein meals. Soft foods (chili and soup) went down much easier than hard foods such as steak, so this is what I mainly ate. I have included some recipes at the end of the following article in case you might wish to try them. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are meeting your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. It is also important to do 30 minutes of walking each day (or equivalent exercise). Weight loss is achieved by meal volume control. In the beginning you are limited to 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal. This is an incredibly minuscule amount of food. This will increase over the next year and a half to 1 cup per meal. Prior to surgery I was given a binder that had all the requirements of the program. It told me what was acceptable foods at each stage after surgery, how much to eat, when to transition from full liquids, to pureed foods, to solid foods. It is important to follow those guidelines, if you want to avoid some of the problems that you are describing.

I slept in my own bed after surgery. But my bed is a Water bed. I do not recommend sleeping in a water bed after surgery because when you try to get up out of bed it puts stress on your stitches and is very painful. Normal beds you can just roll off. But in a water bed you have to lift yourself off. I found that several months after surgery as the fat disappeared from my knee joints, I could feel bone on bone contact on my knees. This was uncomfortable. I found that slipping a pillow between my legs helped with this problem.

It sounds like you answered the question correctly and honestly. My primary care physician when I told him I would like to pursue weight loss surgery was somewhat against this. I am from a small town and some of his patients tried this type of procedures in the past and with ran into problems or failed. So I can understand his reluctance. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. He commented on my last visit that he was pleased with the surgery I had and that I was one of the individual that in his opinion succeeded.

During the first month after surgery, I remember sharp pains if I moved strange sometimes. After surgery, I was on blood thinners for a little over a week. This caused me to bruise easily. So I was black and blue for almost a month and this bothered me more. If the pain is very severe and persistent, you might want to check with your surgeon's office.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, the three most important elements are meeting your Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Weight loss is achieved by meal volume control. So right after surgery you are limited to 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of food per meal. This is incredibly minuscule. Slowly over the next year and a half this amount is increased to 1 cup per meal. So at the beginning of the process it is very important to meet the protein requirements and you cannot do this by food alone, so therefore you must rely on a protein supplement such as a Protein shake. At the beginning I drank 3 Protein shakes a day. Many find that they dislike drinking protein shakes. I was one of them. There are a wide variety of protein shakes out there. Some are premixed, others are in powder form. As your meal volume increases, if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein shakes. But in the meantime it is a tool that you need. You do not have to like a protein shake, you only need to be able to tolerate it.

I was 64 years old when I had RNY gastric bypass surgery. At the start I weighed 260 pounds and I lost 20 pounds pre-op and almost another 100 post-op.

The last time I tried to lose weight on my own I combined diet and exercise and over the coarse of a month, I gained weight. I am getting old and my body was changing. I had type 2 diabetes and I think my glucose levels interfered with the weight loss process. I could no longer make a dent in my weight even when I tried hard. I did not want to go down the very destructive path that diabetes leads to. I saw first hand how it destroyed my mother. So I choose the only option that looked like it might work. I had RNY gastric bypass. I am 3 years post-op and pleased with the results. So hang in there and don't give up. Weight loss surgery is an entirely different process than dieting and it does work. But you have to follow the program requirements.

@@biginjapan I gave the subject a little more thought. I had RNY gastric bypass surgery and my weight dropped off overnight. But it sounds like you will be having VSG. Sleeve patients tend to lose weight at a slower pace than RNY. They can achieve the same weight loss results only it takes a little longer. So whereas my weight loss leveled off at around 7 months. Those who undergo sleeve might take a couple years. Also sleeve patients encounter many stalls where weight loss temporarily stops and it seems to drive these patients crazy. So they tend to look for motivators. And clothes can be a great motivator. As I was losing weight, I would go to a store and buy pants or a shirt that barely fit. I mean that I would have to take a deep breath just to get it on. And hope that I would not pop a button if I took a breath. A week later It fit like a glove. I found the experience to be a good motivator, actually it was a great motivator. There are probably several reasons why you might like to combine shopping with your operation. Although I have never visited Japan, I believe that almost everything is more expensive there. Therefore it might be like buying clothes at bargain prices. Also the ability to find large size clothes stores may be very limited in Japan. So if clothes buying is your desire then by all means buy clothes while you are here. But don't buy any that you can currently fit in. Buy a size range of clothes. I am not sure of the range, but what size would you wear if you were to drop 100 pounds. Maybe one item of clothes for each size drop. Choose clothes that you would really enjoy wearing. Each of these pieces of clothes will represent a milestone in your weight loss journey.

@@biginjapan your approach seems very strange to me. I lost close to 100 pounds after surgery. I went from a size 46 waist down to a size 33 and from a size 3X in shirts down to a size Small. I got rid of my entire wardrobe of clothing. There was nothing that would fit any longer. I was able to buy the latest fashions and they really fit and looked good on me. So shopping for clothes or shoes pre-surgery does not make a lot of sense. You may even drop your shoe size or the width of your shoes. Since it is difficult for you to predict how much weight you will lose, it will be hard to shop for clothes. Most individuals buy clothes from second hand shops like Goodwill as they lose weight and after they bottom out go on a shopping spree. The one item of clothing that will be important is a pair of good walking shoes. There are some high end brands that are comfortable and low impact.

I am 3 years post op RNY gastric bypass surgery. One of the reasons why I choose this procedure was because I had severe acid reflux (GERD). Gastric sleeve will only make that condition worse. I am 3 years post-op and GERD is no longer a problem. I don't think you will experience any muscle loss (provided you meet your daily Protein requirements), but the weight will drop off quite noticeably. Also you may gain more muscle mass because you will be exercising more. This is my before photo compared to my 6 month photo after the operation.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. But the hospital that I went to also does Duodenal Switch. The Vitamin requirements for this type of surgery according to their handouts are: (Quantity 4) children's chewable complete multivitamin's daily. 1800-2400 calcium citrate daily A total of 5000 International Units vitamin D3 daily 1000 micrograms sublingual B12 weekly or one B12 injection monthly 100 milligrams Thiamin (vitamin B1) weekly. You cannot use gummy Vitamins because they don't absorb. I tried the injections of B12 for a year. I had my wife give me those. She hates blood. So I saw that she would turn her head away just before she put the needle in my arm. So I stopped that and switched to the sublingual tablets daily. These must be sublingual and not time release. The chemistry for this B12 must be methylcobalamin. About a year after surgery, the blood tests showed that I was Iron deficient. Therefore I had to take an iron supplement 65 milligram tablet per day. The chemistry for these had to be ferrous sulfate for best absorption. With this many vitamins the time spacing is important. Iron and calcium do not mix. So you need a 2 hour time spacing between the iron (in the Flintstone multivitamin) and the calciums. Also to meet the calcium requirements it will take several tablets. These need to be taken spaced around 2 hours apart. I take additional supplements other than those required by bariatric surgery. So the approach that I use is to fill up 2 weekly pill containers, one for the morning and one for the evening vitamin/supplements. I take my iron at the end of the day just before bedtime. I put my calciums (Citrical) in a small bowl. Throughout the day, I pop these. If I am up and about, I put them in a zip lock sandwich bag and carry them with me. Otherwise I will lose track. I generally buy my vitamins in bulk size. Most of them I pick up at Sam's club. At 3 years post-op, I am far enough along that I am transitioning away from the Flintstones to a multivitamin tablet (GNC Ultra Mega Gold). GNC will periodically have online offers of Buy One, Get One Free. Overall I do not find the cost of the vitamins/supplements to be excessive. I was on four types of pills for my high blood pressure and diabetes prior to surgery and the cost of these supplements is around the cost of the pills I no longer need because those medical conditions are in remission.

Venice Beach may be a good choice post-surgery because it is along the ocean, laid back, full of small shops and also it is very close to Los Angeles Airport. I suspect that you might not get much enjoyment out of it because post-op your body will be in a major heal mode and you may find it difficult to get around. But what little walking you do will be good for you. I would recommend San Diego over Los Angeles for pre-op. It is a smaller city. It has a nice old town area. In most cities in the U.S. they have shopping malls with a concentration of stores. So if you are coming shopping it might be important to find the malls near where you will be staying. After surgery, you may have a weight limit (lifting) of 5 or 10 pounds imposed on you to prevent you from tearing open the surgery. This can make travel difficult post-surgery. If your suitcase has wheels, you might be able to roll it along but you cannot lift a heavy suitcase. You will need help. So don't be afraid to ask the bus driver to load and remove your suitcase or train stations should have someone who can help you. Tijuana can be a dangerous city especially at night. So you might have the transportation to and from the hospital worked out in advance. This is my experience after RNY gastric bypass surgery. It might help you on identifying items you might need post-surgery. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. My main goal was to eliminate several of my co-morbidities including high blood pressure, diabetes, severe acid reflux (Gerd) and sleep apnea. Those conditions went into remission within 2 weeks after surgery. So I am pleased with the results of this operation. Since one of the reasons why you are considering this type of surgery is to better prepare your body to conceive and give birth to a child consider the following. * It is important to not conceive immediately after surgery. You should probably wait until after you have lost the weight and stabilized. My program guidelines read: - Avoid pregnancy. It is recommended to wait at least 12-18 months following surgery. - Low caloric intake cannot support a pregnancy. - If you have been told by a doctor that you cannot get pregnant... DO NOT COUNT ON THAT. * In general, after surgery your body will become more fertile. [Which is your main goal] So when you go to your first appointment, this is probably one of the issues that you should discuss.

Generally after surgery, you are placed on a blood thinner to prevent blood clots from forming. This is only for a short time for a week or two. But because of that your body will bruise really really easily. My body looked terrible for around the first month after surgery. It was all black and blue. When you see the surgeon ask him/her about the hard bump.

Happy Birthday.

About a year ago my wife said I should experiment with essential oils. So I bought several books on the subject. Many of the books were too New Age for my tastes, but they contained formulas. I bought some supplies and began making up formulas to treat various conditions. Many of these seemed to be effective. In developing formulas, I generally take the following approach: I review the books on compounded formulas and also the single oil traits, then I search the internet for other ingredients. I am a believer in that more is better. So some of my formulas use between 10 and 20 oils. I only use Bio-Oil as a carrier oil. I have used this oil on my face for a couple years now and it has all the properties that I desire in a gentle carrier oil. Generally I begin by using a total of around 13 drops of essential oil in a 15 ml amber glass bottle, the rest I dilute using the carrier oil. Then if I do not achieve the desired results, sometime I increase the dosage or change the formulation. In general, I have not experienced any negative side effects. There may be one exception. The most powerful formula I created which is almost all essential oils, I call ADT4. I have used it to treat different forms of cancer. But I have also been using it on other types of skin conditions and also eczema. I noticed that it also removes age spots. But it may cause a condition known as vitiligo.