BigViffer

Have you not read any other topics in the Rants section of this forum? Most of them are pedantic. And in regards to the posts that I cannot decipher I do exactly what you say, I close the thread and divert mine eyes onto something else. As for the people dying and the world collapsing around us; if some of the people on this forum have a difficult time with spelling and grammar, do you really thing I can have a conversation with them about the pros/cons of humanitarianism and the differences between competing political ideologies? I'm sure it must be nice to be perfect, but I wouldn't know. I don't think I am perfect, I just know that I am better than many. And I also don't get self righteous on forums either.

I'm 6'1" and my surgeon said anything over 75 grams was good enough. Of course, shoot for 100, but don't freak out if you fall short. You're NUT will probably have you focus on getting 30 - 35% of your calories coming from protein.

I have a store that I buy my protein powder from called The Vitamin Shoppe. If you buy any powder and don't like it, you can take it back for full in store credit. There was a chocolate powder I tried that I hated. I made 3 shakes out of it just to make sure it wouldn't grow on me. It didn't. It was $45 and I took it back for a caramel powder. Straight swap!

I guess I can't relate to the being judged part. I can't think of a time when someone else's opinion mattered to me. Especially in regards to my appearance. Even at my biggest, I can't recall being mocked. Then again, since I don't really care what others thought, I could have just missed it. Many people are here for support, I get that, but I'm not. I'm here for information. And amid all the cruft that gets posted, you can actually find some pretty good information. But no one on here can support everyone else on the forum. If that were true, there wouldn't be people that agree with me and no one would think this thread was something to be ashamed of. Since some people think that we should support everyone, why aren't you supporting me? Don't worry, I'm not serious. Just pointing out an observation. Here's what I'll do. I'll find all the threads that are excellent examples of grammar and spelling holocausts and you guys can then go support them and answer their questions.

Another problem with the straw is that it will allow you to take in more volume of liquid. Your new stomach is still pretty inflamed and will have hardening scar tissue that will not be very elastic. The increased volume of liquid may surpass your stomach volume. And then you puke. That being said, I use a straw now. My surgeon told me in the beginning never ever use a straw. At a follow up visit, he asked how I was doing holding food and liquid down and I replied that everything was pretty great actually. But my liquid intake was still pretty low. He then told me I could use the straw since I was not having any vomiting issues. Powerade is a good idea at this stage too. The electrolytes are just salt. It will help you retain the fluids you need at this point.

lol, that is insidiously brilliant. I hope you were laughing maniacally when you typed that out.

None of those things are off the list according to my surgeon. But he also said there is no benefit to eating them. I did try a regular Pasta once. Puked. It was awful tasting and uncomfortable the moment I swallowed. I have tried chickpea pasta and it was great tasting and loaded with Protein. That was about a month ago. Even though it is not bad for me, I just don't crave pasta that much anymore. Nor bread for that matter.

I can forgive spelling errors for the most parts, just because I understand the prevalence of mobile devices. I can also forgive grammar problems with people that English is a second language. So the examples of lose/loose and there/they're/their I can chalk up to autocorrect or translation problems. However, when someone post a paragraph that I have to read several times, then check to make sure they are from US, then read again and I still don't understand it; I just close the tab. I imagine the spell checker on their computers and/or mobile devices are just like, "I got nothing dude. WTF are you trying to say?!"

I have a desk job as well. I took 8 personal days off work because sitting at home was boring me to death. My work was not stellar during the time I came back. I was a zombie. No energy whatsoever. But I also couldn't walk around the neighborhood because of snow and ice. And I had to wait until my wife came home to take me to the mall or bigger stores for me to walk around in. If you can afford to do it, take off as much time as you can to recover and talk lots of walks outside. Everyone is different, some bounce back withing days, some take weeks. Don't push yourself because of pride.

Oops! I did not see that. That was not intentional. Since you are still new here, you'll soon see that men's only and women's only sub-forums are not always clearly marked when looking through unread threads. I'll remove the post.

removed. I did not mean to intrude on a women only thread.

My wife has worked around surgeons and doctors for so long that she passed some knowledge down to me. There are certain things that people just firmly believe that are wrong. Many people want the doctor to give their child a shot instead of "just a nurse". But what they don't realize is that the doctor doesn't give shots that often and is really bad at it from lack of practice. Nurses to many a day and therefor are better at it. Same thing applies to surgeons and their assistants. Many times the assistants have better bedside manners and they are more familiar with complications and questions post-op. Surgeons are good at what they do, which is dealing with people when they are knocked out. The assistants are the ones that are going to be giving you the real information and dispensing it as well. They also can translate what you are saying to what the surgeon needs to know and vice verse.

Hot damn that sounds awesome!

I have been thinking this for weeks! I just assumed it was me. I am getting them on my arms, my sides, and the occasional one on my face. The whiteheads are what I am seeing the most of right now on my arms. I have resorted to using my wife's scrunchy/loofa thing on my arms. Bizarre.

Man, everyone is posting meals with far more planning than I am interested in! I keep it simple. Last night I had hanger steak on the grill medium rare. Seasoned it with sea salt, ground black pepper, and garlic. That's it. Huge dose of Protein. I ate brussell sprouts pan seared with olive oil, butter, and garlic then topped with cheese for a snack. High Fiber and more protein. If my wife is cooking, she does more intricate meals, but if I am cooking, I'm having steak. It's actually affordable when you don't eat more than 4 oz at a time! Oh, for the rest of the family they had steamed vegetables and pork chops. I could have gone that route myself, but I had already bought the steak the night prior and it was on my mind all day.

Ah, we have something in common. Single sided swingarms are sexy on a bike! I've heard the boxer engine design makes for a smooth ride, but I have never ridden one. If you have time, I'd love to know what bikes you have ridden/owned in the past.

Just saw this, what do you ride @@LisaLouBop?

ST1300's are wonderful touring bikes! Good friend of mine just sold his last year with 150K miles. The rides that bike has seen are enough to make me green with jealousy!

The problem with coffee is the caffeine. Caffeine is absorbed into the body with the same receptors as Vitamin D. If caffeine is present, you cannot absorb the Vitamin D. On top of that, it also leeches Vitamins out of the body. I have at least a cup of coffee a day, sometimes two. But I also have mega dose prescription of vitamin D that I take mid day. As always, talk to your surgeon about these things. My nutritionist is worthless for the most part as I always have more information going in to my appointments than she has prepared. Her appointments feel more like scheduled product sales pitches than anything else.

I did the baby spoon as well, I forgot to mention that. That is a really good tip too. Eat slowly, but carry a small spoon!

Sounds perfectly normal to me. Uncomfortable yes, but normal. That's how I always knew I was eating too fast or eating something that did not agree with me. One thing I can tell you, do not think that taking a sip or Water will get that feeling out of your chest. Basically, the food is slowly seeping into your stomach. Add water on top and you will only exacerbate the feeling. First time I vomited was because I thought something was stuck in my throat and needed a sip. I am 6 months out and I still get that feeling from certain foods. That is the main reason I do not eat Pasta, tortillas nor bread. It clumps and sticks to my esophagus and makes me feel like I am choking. I talked to my surgeon and he recommended toasting bread or tortillas first to get rid of the elasticity. When I say tortillas and bread, I DO NOT mean white wonder-bread and the cheapy flour tortillas either. I've only had a hard toasted slice of a french loaf and a quarter of a whole wheat tortilla.

I keep a spreadsheet of everything I eat by meal (Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack) and track my macronutrients. I pull the data off MyFitnessPal. Every week I pull a report and add it to my table. I then have pivots showing me my average Protein intake by meal, day, week, or month. I also have a calculation to show % of calories that come from protein, carbs, and fat. Lastly I have a graph of my weight loss. Unfortunately I didn't start using MyFitnessPal until sometime in May, so while I have my weight starting from surgery I do not have macronutrients logged in. Here is an example of one of my pivots: Of course, this is from Excel, so the formatting does not transfer well into forums, but you get the idea. One thing I should mention, the times when I did not lose weight coincide with the times that I get the most compliments. I think it has to do with our bodies changing shape/moving fat deposits. Now that I am 6 months out, I am on a pretty steady 3 lbs a week weight loss. EDIT - dang it, that is not what it looked like when I was pasting that stuff in. All formatting was lost. I'll tinker with that. EDIT AGAIN - took screen shots.

Figs and dried apricots are my go-to remedy for getting regular.

I have the Android version and it seems to work pretty well. Every once in a while it will hang during launch then crash. But it is few and far between.

Ah, now I remember your story. Short and sweet: you are going to lose muscle and fat. Once you are fully healed and can start introducing regular food, you will taper off. But it will take time. A year from now you will likely level off and start to gain weight again. The thing to keep in mind is that you can get overweight again even with a reduced stomach by grazing and eating junk food. You are going to need to focus on Protein rich foods as much as possible and begin weight lifting to stave off muscle loss. The good news is that you will be able to gain healthy weight this way also.