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James Marusek

Gastric Bypass Patients
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Everything posted by James Marusek

  1. James Marusek

    Black and blue?

    You are on blood thinners to prevent blood clots. This makes you very susceptible to bruising. That will be the case for the next couple weeks.
  2. James Marusek

    Woohoo

    Congratulations.
  3. James Marusek

    Rapid heart rate, beating hard

    Rapid heart rate and dizziness could be a sign of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), specifically reactive hypoglycemia. Symptoms occur generally within 4 hours after a meal. When you ingest too much sugar, your now smaller stomach does not digest it properly so your intestines absorb and deposit too much of it into your blood stream. Your body compensates by releasing more insulin which makes your blood sugar drop.
  4. A new study from the Netherlands gives significant support to the ability of bariatric surgery to eliminate clinical findings of Type 2 diabetes, also known as “adult onset” diabetes. Compared to results from individuals that did not undergo surgery, remission of type 2 diabetes was about 43 times more likely in patients who had gastric bypass, and almost 17 times more likely for patients who had procedures known as sleeve gastrectomies. Remission was about 7 times more likely when patients underwent gastric banding. http://acsh.org/2015/10/weight-loss-surgery-improves-health-of-some-diabetics/
  5. I am down 3.4 pounds in 4 days using a blend of essential oils that I named "Anti-Hunger". So far so good. Able to complete resist the temptation of snacking. Loss of hunger is similar to being in the Honeymoon stage after RNY surgery. I am 29 months post-op RNY surgery and very near my bottom weight when I began this experiment. In a couple weeks if I find this experiment to be successful, I will post the formula on my updated webpage at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf
  6. James Marusek

    Week one post op essentials?

    That can be rough. All I wanted to do after they release me from the hospital was to sleep in my own bed. Some of the most important requirements after surgery are Protein, fluids, Vitamins and walking exercise. So you would need to bring along items to meet these requirements. For example you may need a pill crusher and pill splitter because you may find that your individual vitamins are too large to swallow. You might opt for premixed Protein shakes because you will not have a blender handy in a hotel. Make sure you have good walking shoes. If you are still on narcotic pain medicine after you leave the hospital, you may be a bit wobbly on your feet and may need someone who will walk with you to make sure you don't fall. Putting a pillow between your legs may help you sleep better at night. For me right after surgery it was a rough but every day got better and better and better. Oh! Congratulations on your 45 pound weight loss pre-op. It all adds to the end result.
  7. James Marusek

    Introduction

    Welcome Trevor. Mini-gastric bypass is not that common in the States. Your procedure is different than gastric bypass and your requirements post-op are different. Therefore try not to become too confused when you read the posts because many people have different surgeries than yours. You might want to repost under the Mini-gastric bypass page at http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1111-mini-gastric-bypass-surgery-forum-new/
  8. After RNY gastric bypass surgery, your stomach will no longer process fats and sugars. That can mean the fats and sugars in milk. I became lactose intolerant after surgery. Anytime I drank milk, it immediately led to an upset stomach and a trip to the bathroom. Some of the Protein shakes also contain lactose. This lactose intolerance condition went away after about two months.
  9. James Marusek

    Starting my journey

    Your daily Fluid requirements after surgery are met in several ways. They include drinks like Water and Crystal Light. The fluid component in your Protein shakes count towards the requirement. Teas and decaf coffee count. So does the liquid component in Soups. Another drink that I found to be good especially in the winter when it is cold and snowy is hot cocoa. The cocoa must be "no sugar added" and the milk must be 1% milk or lactose free; otherwise you might experience dumping syndrome. The advantage of this drink is that it counts towards your protein requirement and also your fluid requirements.
  10. James Marusek

    3 days Post op, thinking about FOOD!

    It is common to think about food and miss it after surgery. But life has many trade-offs and this is one of them. This desire is especially prevalent in the liquid and puree stages. We are physically imbedded with a desire to chew. Until you reach the solid stage, you will miss the ability to chew foods.
  11. James Marusek

    Protein Shaker Forever?

    I concentrated on eating high Protein meals. As a result as my meal volume increased I was able to drop off protein shakes one at a time. I went from 3, down to 2, down to 1. When I transitioned to 1 cup per meal, I was able to get rid of all my protein shakes and haven't had any since. I am 29 months post-op RNY.
  12. I am 29 months post-op from RNY surgery. I am pleased with the results. I have been in the "Maintenance" phase for around 22 months and my weight has been fairly stable. I have even lost a few pounds in the "Maintenance" phase. It is my belief that the key to keeping the weight off in the "Maintenance" phase is hunger control. Fats are fairly important in this phase because they contain the ability to control hunger. Around a month ago, my wife suggested that I explore essential oils especially the medicinal properties of essential oil. I bought a few books and read them. It was interesting that there were formulas for Appetite Reduction. I ordered some essential oils and created a blend that I named "Anti-Hunger". I then began experimenting with this formula. I am 3 days into the experiment at this point. I apply a dab of oil blend to my wrist and then rub my wrist together. So far I have observed that my hunger disappears around 30 minutes after the application and returns about 24 hours later. It is similar to the loss of appetite after RNY surgery, the honeymoon phase. I have been snacking on foods, primarily on foods that contain fats for over a year now. I have found it interesting that I have not eaten a snack in 3 days now and don't feel a strong temptation due to the loss of hunger. Well I will run the experiment for at least a couple weeks and determine to my satisfaction, if the experiment is successful or not. Thus far I have been pleasantly surprised. So I am a little optimism. I asked my wife to try it. She is not overweight nor has she had surgery. She said she feels the same effects as I with about the same timing (effect window).
  13. James Marusek

    Medicinal Properties of Essential Oils

    After I complete the experiment, if the experiment is successful, I will post the ingredients on my website.
  14. James Marusek

    Protein Shake Problems...

    There are many options available on Protein shakes and supplements. GNC carries quite a few. I would probably go there to start experimenting. I used protein powders (Muscle Milk Light - vanilla Creme). I found it to be acceptable. For me most Protein Shakes taste terrible. The objective is to find one that you can tolerate after surgery.
  15. James Marusek

    Surgery Tomorrow

    Good luck on your surgery. Remember to walk, walk, walk after surgery. It will help the recovery and make the pain go away quicker.
  16. James Marusek

    Never Enough

    Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. 126 pounds is impressive. Your goal is an artificial number. Your body determines when you transition from the "Weight Loss" phase into the "Maintenance" phase. Here are a few things you could do, if you aren't doing this already. Your daily Protein requirement is the sum of the protein that you consume from meals combined with the protein from supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). If you concentrate on eating high protein meals, at a 13 months post-op, your meal volume should be large enough that you should be able to almost completely discontinue using protein supplements. These supplements contain calories, and discontinuing them will drop your caloric intake. Most people consume food over a 15 hour window. This is meals and Snacks. If you can reduce this eating window down to 10-12 hours per day, that has been shown to reduce weight. Look at your "eating window" and set an end time for your window and restrict consuming food after this time. Make sure you get your 3 meals in per day but this will cut off all snacks after you reach the end of the window. It is important to burn off the calories that you consume and you can't do that sleeping in bed.
  17. Lots of information is exchanged in this class. They gave me a book that provided all the requirements for the program in great detail. It was about an inch thick.
  18. James Marusek

    seems like more spammers lately

    I think that they should restrict "Newbies" from generating messages with website links. That would probably go a long way for removing this type of spam.
  19. James Marusek

    I need to vent/complain....

    Congratulations on losing 50 pounds over the first 4 months. I had RNY gastric bypass and my weight loss ended at about 6 or 7 months post op. But sleeve patients lose weight at a slower pace, but more consistent over a longer period of time. So take a deep breath and continue to follow the program and let the magic happen. After surgery, I was drinking 3 Protein shakes a day. But as my meal volume increased, because I was concentrating on consuming high protein meals, I was able to begin to drop my Protein Shakes from 3 a day to 2 then 1 and finally when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal, I completely took myself off all protein shakes. The point here is that protein shakes contain calories and as I dropped the protein shakes (while still meeting the daily protein requirement) I was able to kick-start my continued weight loss even when I hit a stall. The daily protein requirement is a combination of the protein from meals combined with the protein from supplements (protein shakes, protein bars).
  20. James Marusek

    I HATE protein shakes

    You might try blending in a half a banana into the shakes.
  21. James Marusek

    Trouble with intaking protein

    I used "Muscle Milk Light" (vanilla creme) powder. I blended it with Water using a Ninja blender with a single serving cup. I never really liked any of the Protein shakes but the important thing is to find one that you can tolerate. So experiment until you find one that you can live with. It also helped to blend in a half a banana into the shake. It made it more edible.
  22. James Marusek

    My 8 year journey

    Welcome and congratulations.
  23. James Marusek

    Is decaf water?

    Yes decaf can be counted as part of your Fluid intake. Also if you eat Soup, the Water component of the soup can be counted in your daily fluid intake requirements.
  24. James Marusek

    Good morning

    Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. 191 pounds is quite an accomplishment. It looks like you had surgery over 5 years ago.
  25. James Marusek

    Questions about going #2

    You might also take some Probiotics. If you were given antibiotics during or after surgery, it may have destroyed the good bacteria in your digestive tract. These need to be restored. That is what probiotics do.

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