JamieLogical

Does death count as a "bad experience"?

The ingredient change shouldn't have any real effect on the nutritional value of the bars. It's just that some people (like me) have issues digesting it. My flatulence was so bad that I was almost ready to schedule a doctor's appointment thinking there was something legitimately wrong with me. Luckily someone mentioned the ingredient change to me and sure enough, my current batch of bars had the new ingredient (soluble corn fiber). As soon as I switched to a bar that used the old ingredient (isomalto-oligosaccharide), my flatulence went away. Not everyone that eats the new bars has this problem. Just like anything else, some people are more sensitive to it than others. I'm pretty disappointed that I am so adversely affected by it, because I really really really loved Quest Bars! While I am okay with the switch to Combat Crunch, they are a little overly sweet for me sometimes and they are almost 50% more expensive.

I was a big fan of Quest Bars, but they recently changed one of their main ingredients and they DO NOT agree with me anymore. So I started eating Combat Crunch (still uses the old main ingredient of Quest Bars) and they are good. They are VERY sweet and candy-bar like, which is a little too much for me sometimes. They have 7g of fat and 5g of sugar. Not sure if that's too much for you or what your targets are.

Sounds like a question for your nutritionist as well. I had specific guidelines with dates of when I could introduce foods along the way. I was allowed peeled and pureed fruits without seeds in stage 3... days 18-27. But it specifically says "after" protein. In other words, don't fill up on fruits and not get your protein in.

Definitely depends on how dense it is. Ground beef? I can easily eat 4 oz. now (14 months post-op) no problem. Chicken breast? Still probably can't even manage 3 oz.

If you don't like super sweet, you may not like the Combat Crunch. They are very much like a candy bar. They use isomalto-oligosaccharide, which is the ingredient Quest replaced with soluble corn Fiber. So if you didn't have gas issues with the OLD Quest bars, you shouldn't have any issues with these.

My surgical report says a 32 was used. But as others have stated, there's no correlation between bougie size and weight loss.

I have two protein bars a day, so that really helps. Here's my typical day: Breakfast: Protein Bar (20 grams) Morning Snack: String cheese (8 grams) Lunch: Leftover meat from a previous dinner (16-20 grams) Afternoon Snack: Dannon Light & Fit Greek Yogurt with granola or Kashi Cereal mixed in (~15 grams) Dinner: Meat from whatever dinner my husband makes (16-20 grams) Evening Snack: Protein Bar (20 grams)

which one do you use? Vitaleph, which was recommended by my surgeon/nutritionist. They are currently rebranding to "Caral", but I plan to keep using them so long as their formula for their multi-Vitamins stays the same. They have shakes and other vitamins/minerals, but I only use the Multivitamin, as their pricing is pretty high. http://www.vitaleph.com/

I use a different brand, but it's one I have to take 3 times a day and that has worked great for me! All of my blood work has come back perfect at 2, 4, 8, and 12 months post-op.

Same with my surgeon. Excess acid is VERY VERY common in gastric sleeve patients because your stomach is still producing the same amount of acid as it always did, but now you are giving it way less food to break down. I'm 14 months out and still on a PPI, it is one of the risks associated with sleeve, but a small price to pay considering where I am now, at goal and maintaining!

I agree that it is especially critical to follow your surgeon/nutritionist's plan in the early weeks/months. I think down the road, once we are past the initial risks of leaks and whatnot, then it is up to us to explore and find a way to LIVE the rest of our lives. A lot of those early plans are in place to ensure proper healing and coping with your new stomach. But further out, you have to experiment with things that will make your new life sustainable for the long term and find the right balances for yourself. My nutritionist's plan didn't really extend out this far (I'm almost 14 months post-op) aside from the no eating and drinking at the same time and making sure I get 100 grams of Protein per day. I've found what works for me. I reached goal and I'm maintaining. All my blood work has come back great at regular intervals since my surgery. I'm pretty happy and comfortable with the way I eat now. I drink coffee every single day. I was allowed it at day 30 post-op and you can bet I had that day marked on my calendar and literally counted down the days! But I did wait the full 30 days. I was allowed alcohol at 3 months post-op and only have it VERY rarely. I find that I get drunk stupidly fast now. I am a SUPER light-weight. I haven't tried soda, so I don't know what effect that would have on me at this point. I wasn't big on soda even before surgery, having made the switch to Water years earlier. So I don't really miss it at all. I've had a couple of mildly carbonated alcoholic drinks in the past year and they were fine, though I do try to avoid them. I've drunk from a straw several times, just by accident mostly. Sometimes a restaurant will bring my drink with a straw already in it and I'll drink from it without even thinking about it. I haven't had any ill consequences from that, but I don't use straws the vast majority of the time. My nutritionist wanted me to switch away from protein supplements ASAP and get the majority of my protein through real food, but I still eat Protein Bars every day. It's what works for me! Like I said, it's very important to stick to the guidelines in the beginning and not jeopardize your healing. But you are the one who has to be able to live the rest of your life so only you can know what's going to ultimately work for you for the long haul after you are all healed up.

Wow, I can't believe a woman would treat her grown child who has grown children of her own with so much disrespect! That's completely crazy. And does she have the legal right to withhold your inheritance or is that an empty threat? As for surgery, you need to make sure this is something you are considering for YOU, not to please your mother. WLS can be the answer for a lot of us, but it requires certainty and commitment. It will change your life LONG past when your mother is gone. So you need to make sure you are evaluating what is best for yourself and your husband and your future.

What does your surgeon say?

I felt like complete crap up until I was able to eat solid foods and start to actually get enough calories in to sustain me. Make sure you are getting all your water and protein at a bare minimum, but also work on upping your calories as soon as you can. Once I was getting closer to 800 calories a day, I started to not just feel like a giant slug.

I had issues swallowing even the tiniest sip of Water for the first few weeks post-op. I would go through this whole process where first I felt constriction in my esophagus, then there would be this gurgling coming all the way up into the back of my throat, and then I'd have to burp. The good news is, it seemed to just be a product of the swelling, so once that went down after a couple of weeks, it became much easier. The key is you still have to drink as much as you possibly can, no matter how unpleasant it is. You need to be sip, sip, sipping. Aim for an ounce of water every 15 minutes, so that's 1/2 cup per hour. I know how tough it is. I remember how miserable it was. But, it is SO IMPORTANT to stay hydrated so you don't end up back in the hospital. As for that dryness and burning in your throat, my guess is acid reflux. Did your surgeon prescribe a PPI?

People stall. It is VERY VERY common. If you can find me one person on these forums who got to goal without stalling out multiple times along the way, I would be SHOCKED. And no, a stall is not just slow loss, a stall is NO loss or even a gain. It happens. Your body will adjust and re-adjust a million times throughout this journey and that's going to mean stalls and weird fluctuations on the scale. If you are getting your protein, water, and exercise, you are doing it right. Have faith in the process.

I have. My issue is the low Protein to calorie ratio. Over 200 calories for only 13 grams of protein doesn't seem like much of a bargain to me. The Combat Crunch bars I've switched to have 20 grams of protein for the same amount of calories.

@ I really hope all goes well. The good news is, as far as surgeries go, WLS is one of the safest. It has a lower mortality rate than knee replacement! And if you take into consideration that the vast majority of people undergoing WLS are morbidly obese, and are by default at higher risk from ANY surgery, that should tell you how safe it is. I think the best thing you can do is be loving an supportive.

I am super lazy about breakfast and I always just eat it at work, so I have a Protein bar AFTER I drink my first cup of coffee for the day. Currently I'm eating Cinnamon Twist Combat Crunch Protein Bars for breakfast now that Quest Bars are no longer an option for me.

Glad to help! While weight loss surgery may be a medical necessity for some people, that's no reason it can't be an elective surgery for others. I do think it's a little shady that the doctor is fudging the numbers and I would worry a *little* bit if those fudged numbers made it to the anesthesiologist. But my suspicion is that he is fudging the numbers to file with the insurance company and those won't be the numbers that appear on her actual medical chart when she undergoes surgery.

See my above post. Those "regulations" are dictated by the insurance companies and are about saving them money, not the risk to the patient. They have nothing to do with the risk of surgery. WLS, like any other surgery, is SAFER to perform on someone closer to a healthier weight. Overweight/obese people have a higher risk when undergoing ANY surgery because they have more stress on their heart and lungs.

There's no more danger having WLS at 180 pounds than at 250 pounds. In fact, it may be safer, since a 180 pound person has less stress on their heart and lungs. The weight requirements are dictated by insurance companies, not the surgeons. That's because insurance companies don't want to pay out for WLS when they don't feel like it will save them money in the long run. WLS on a 250+ pound person will likely save them the cost of other health issues for that person down the road. A 180 pound person has a much lower risk for future health issues, barring any other co-morbidities. If a patient is self-pay, there are MANY MANY surgeons who would perform WLS on a lower weight person. For a lot of people, weight loss surgery is actually more about weight MAINTENANCE. If your family member has struggled with her weight in the past and has a very high chance of regaining the weight she's lost, having surgery may drastically increase her chances of keeping that weight off. I personally had managed to lose SIGNIFICANT amounts of weight "on my own" before I had weight loss surgery. The problem was I always regained it. So it wasn't a matter of being able to lose the weight for me, it was a matter of keeping it off.

Definitely don't want to rain on your parade, because it sounds like you've done pretty well weight-loss-wise. I do think you REALLY need to step up your protein game though, especially if you are working out more and more. You should be aiming for 100 grams a day and it sounds like you are nowhere near that. You mentioned only drinking two shakes a week. How are you doing with protein from real food?

There are SO MANY things that can cause weight fluctuation. Try not to panic! If you are indeed stepping up your workouts, you should read this fantastic article that explains weight gain when starting a new exercise plan: http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=why_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_new_workout_plan Lots of other things can lead to temporary Water retention as well. Like a super high sodium meal, hormonal changes, constipation, even dehydration. I can promise you that you haven't eaten 17,500 excess calories in the last week, so it is not actual fat that you are gaining!