drmeow

Can you melt a little bit of cheddar on some refried Beans? I've heard of lots of people doing that post-op.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/15/take-off-that-fitbit-exercise-alone-wont-make-you-lose-weight/

Yep, as the article points out, exercising does have a lot of health benefits. It's just that weight loss isn't one of them. So trying to "burn" 500 cal to reduce weight isn't very effective compared to limiting what goes in your mouth. I love my Fitbit, too!

I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be no, but thought I'd ask anyway. Due to delays by the psych office in faxing over my report, and then the surgeon's office in submitting to insurance, my surgery has been delayed until mid-June at least. I am supposed to go visit my sister at the end of June, and due to a job change and other factors, there is no other time for that visit this summer. Long story but I really do have to go visit her. We will be driving and it's about 12 hours in the car. If I stop every hour to walk around is this even do-able at all? Always assuming there are no surgical complications of course. Otherwise, I have to delay surgery until September. I know that's the most responsible thing to do, but I was so counting on getting started losing weight this summer, not spending another summer miserably hot and sweaty due to chafing, and not having the energy to do much outside. I cannot afford to fly (my kids are going too). I may have to do all the driving, or my oldest son might come along and split it with me, but either way I would stop hourly to prevent any clots.

Medical science has proven over and over that calories in/calories out is not the way the body works. Someone can eat 1500 calories of very low carb, high fat food and lose way more weight (and fat) than someone eating 1500 calories of high carb, low fat (assume Protein moderate in both these diets), regardless of calories burned with exercise. Read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes for a good explanation. Yes, stalls may happen when the body suddenly "realizes" it's lost a lot - might be starvation coming, better hold onto some weight for the lean times. Of course, some stalls may well be due to people inadvertently adding in extra food they forget to account for. Just because it doesn't happen to every single person doesn't mean it isn't real. I hope after surgery I can prevent myself from weighing very often. I think that in many stalls you are probably still losing in inches or reshaping but we often focus on only the scale.

Googling online shows 10 g Protein per 190 cal shake, which seems awfully low for that many calories. Atkins is slightly better - 15 g per 165 cal. I think slim fast may have a high protein one that is 20 g but I didn't see the calorie count on that one. I'm pre-op but currently use zerocarb Isopure powder, which is 25 g/scoop with 105 calories. caveat - I usually mix it with unsweetened almond milk which adds a few calories but little protein. Some people use soymilk b/c of the high protein but I can't use soy due to my Hashimoto's thyroid disease. I've heard the Premier Protein premixed are good.

Did you ever address the reasons you became overweight in the first place? I'm not talking about just the grazing, although that sounds like a big problem itself. I mean emotional reasons. Most (not all) overweight people use food in some way as a comfort, or to avoid feeling negative emotions like sadness, anger, etc. Most of us may not even be aware of it since we've been doing it SO long, often since early childhood, even if the weight didn't pile on until later. I would highly recommend finding a therapist if you haven't, and do some work on this as well as working on your actual eating habits. You can do this! Oh, a book that helped me a lot was Overcoming Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth.

I have had catheters put in for my C-sections, when I'd already had the spinal block, so no feeling there. They stayed in usually for 24 hours after surgery and I was able to walk with them just fine. I've also had catheters put in fully awake and feeling and while not painful, it's something I'd prefer to avoid. One of mine was after vaginal childbirth when I didn't feel any sense of needing to urinate - my bladder was huge and I couldn't go, so they catheterized me then, after the epidural had all worn off. I'd rather not repeat that after WLS so I don't mind having one and I will still get up frequently to walk.

wow, very encouraging news so far! I did not expect that. It sounds like it will be important to have my son along for some of the driving so I can rest. That makes sense. Unfortunately we'll need to drive it all in one day most likely, due to limited time off for both of us. Of course I am still waiting on the insurance anyway so this may all be moot.

I do hot stuff in my Ninja too and have had no problems. I think the polycarbonate (?) is not really rated for hot stuff but so far so good. I use my small cups to do bulletproof coffee every morning.

The sleeve is not really less invasive. It involves cutting out a huge part of your stomach and throwing it away. In the bypass, part of your stomach is stapled off, but it could be opened back up if you ever needed it. Yes, your intestines are rerouted, but again, they can be returned to their normal position. Now, I'm not saying any of that would be a simple procedure either but to me pulling a big stomach out of a tiny incision is pretty invasive. I know there are many people happy with the sleeve and it sounds like a great tool for the right people, but as others have said, if you already have reflux it's not a good one for you. And some who don't have reflux develop it afterward and end up having the bypass. So keep reading lots of info on both procedures and read stories from both groups of people before deciding.

Thank you - so tired of hearing "happy memorial day" and seeing all the focus on picnics and fireworks. Most kids probably don't even know what it is about. so thanks from the daughter of a Naval man, the wife of a Naval man and the mom of a Marine

I'm still pre-op and have that fear every single day. I've been on so many diets where other people stuck with it and lost weight, and I always caved in after some amount of time. What if I can't stick to this either? But, I keep hoping that this will finally be the key. I do know it's only a tool, by itself it won't work long term. And I'm doing everything I can now to be successful afterward but I am still afraid.

yes - they use cheap unshrunk cotton knits that shrink in length but not width. What I hate is how as sizes go up, they make the sleeves longer and longer and the shoulders huge, but can't seem to add enough length to cover my belly. Most of my weight is NOT in my shoulders and my arms certainly didn't get longer! I've learned even when sewing my own shirts to prewash the fabric TWICE to get all the shrinkage out before cutting out the pattern. Oh, and empire waists in dresses? The last time I wore one our priest congratulated us on our upcoming baby. Yep, last time I ever wore it. Ironically, the priest was even fatter than me (and sadly has passed away from diabetic complications now)

I believe that is true most of the time, but there ARE people who just don't absorb Iron well after bypass and do require the infusions. yes, rare, and yes some may be due to not taking it but I'm pretty sure most of them would gladly take their supplements to avoid having it IV. Not a fun trip.

Honestly, until he said that he's been great (started seeing him about 4 years ago). He was the first doctor to talk to me about low carb dieting, and to get off the low-fat bandwagon. He's managed my BP and my depression pretty well so far. And he really talks to me. And maybe sweater just popped out without him thinking about it, b/c it was a very quick conversation. But I did realize then that he'd had little good information on WLS.

Obviously you can tell better in person what someone's intentions were, but I would have assumed the person was just trying to make you feel better about your size. Many people mistakenly believe only the super-obese like 500 lbs, need surgery. My PCP, when asked about WLS, said he only recommends it for people who are in danger of dying soon otherwise, like unregulated diabetics losing limbs, etc. At that point I had not done much research myself and at first accepted what he'd said (he'd been a great doctor up to that point). Then he said, "and all those people who have had the sweater just gained it all back after a few years" yep, he called the sleeve a sweater. LOL

If your esophagus is red and raw, ask your doctor about a sucralfate slurry - it binds to ulcerated areas and soothes them. I'm currently treating a cat with it

Another forum I post on regularly is for women in the midst of separating or divorcing their husbands. One woman there wrote about Meetup, which is an online thing, not dating but just finding people near you who have similar interests. You just search Meetup + your town, and I was surprised to find so many groups near me with all kinds of things - book clubs, hiking, biking, dogs, fantasy gaming etc (that last one is not one of my interests LOL, just pointing out the variety) It seems to be generally singles but I don't think couples are excluded automatically, may depend on the group. But the person who suggested this had found several new friends and some interesting dates that way. Less stressful than online dating IMO.

My first appt was in Jan and I'm currently waiting on insurance approval, hopefully to have surgery mid-June. Frustrating right now b/c my last step before submitting was the psych eval and they held up faxing over the record for 2 weeks, despite repeated calls. Now it's been sitting at my surgeon's office another week and still has not been submitted! I have been working on some of my bad habits, but I also have to be careful until my approval b/c my BMI is "only" 39.7. I am hoping my hypertension will be the co-morbidity that seals the deal, but the patient coordinator told me sometimes they don't accept that if it's well-controlled on just one medication. So I cannot lose much weight until I know I'm approved. So it's harder to be motivated on exercising and cutting out all the bad food if I'm afraid I might lose!

You let your cat eat an entire chicken including the bones? I doubt those were hunger noises he was making. I hope he's not obstructed or has a perforated intestine from the bone shards going through. PS not really funny

@ I am in the same boat - waiting on BCBS for approval! I finished my last task, which was the psych eval, 3 weeks ago today, and they said they'd fax it right over that day, but it got held up for 10 days and the surgeon's office only got it last week, and then they seem to take their sweet time in submitting it. I am hoping for quick approval b/c I need to get this done in June, or else will have to wait until Aug or Sept, due to work commitments. Lucky for me, though, my doctor requires NO liquid pre-op diet.

So, surely I'm not the only overweight person with lots of skin tags in friction areas right? I'm curious what happens after WLS with them. I have heard anecdotally from others with general weight loss that sometimes they just drop off when there is no longer friction. I am not looking forward to having these things snipped off - there are many of them. I did a search and never found anyone mentioning skin tags here!

The key is not to do low fat, no fat. Olive oil is one of several "good" fats - grassfed butter, coconut oil, macadamia oil, others. Too many people cut fat out and you need good fats along with your Protein. Just avoid the high carbs! Nothing special about drinking olive oil at a certain time, other than it might fill you up to prevent carb binging.