LynnAlex

Lexuskela, My brother had problems with the peroneal nerve. He had to wear a boot for foot drop. His doctor said that when you lose a lot of weight, many people sit with their legs crossed and do damage to the nerve. When I started having trouble--like one day I woke up and couldn't walk, I called my brother and got some advice. Don't sit with your legs crossed and put a pillow between your legs at night time. Once you pinch the nerve, it may take 6-12 months for total healing. I went to the doctor yesterday, and she told me to wait 30 days before I go for the nerve testing, as I am getting better. I have had the problem for about a month. I thought it would go away in a few days.

I used to cycle a lot, avg 3,000 miles a year. Highest year, 9,000 miles. I had my bypass on 8/4/2015. I was unable to ride long distances at first. I was too weak, and I couldn't drink enough fluids. I cycled on week 2. I was riding 12-13 mph on a road bike for 10 miles and needed a nap. I had to wear a binder so my tummy wouldn't jiggle. I recently went to Florida to start base training for RideTheRockies. I cycled 30,40,50, rest day,65,15 mile days. Then I did "hill training" on the Clearwater Bridge, up to 4 repeats on the second week. I did one day of 75 miles. So, it is really easy to bike now. I was not exhausted. I did not push speed. I am riding at 15-17 mph, with the bike computer saying avg. 14.1. There are a lot of stops on the Pinealles Bike Trail. I usually ride with the Ann Arbor Bicycle Touring Society. In my prime, I rode some with the Wolverines. I eat every 15 miles and try for about 200 calories. This may change as I get more in shape and don't need so much food. Usual weekday club rides are 35 miles with no food when the season starts after winter. I will be doing TOSRV for two days of 100 miles on Mother's Day weekend in Columbus, OH. I don't anticipate any problems. I live in Novi, where do you live in MI?

You look fantastic. The video is great, it doesn't just show you, it shows you in your life.

I frequent another WLS board. On that site, many people put their monthly weight loss in their signature. For lightweights and older folks (like me) the weight loss is not as quick as someone who is heavier or younger. What I like is that I can see that people with my stats (Female/Age 59/RNY/Lightweight (238) usually lose 15 pounds average(12-18 pounds) each month for the months 1-3, After that, it slows down to 10 pounds a month for a couple of months and then down to 4-5 pounds a months for the last couple of months. Another factor is whether you lost weight before surgery. I lost 28 pounds in the 2 months prior to surgery. There was a short time I had restriction Months 2-3, but before and now, I can consume a lot of food if I don't stop myself.

I bought 60 days supply of the Celebrate Vitamins chewy calcium citrate. I switched over to the PatchMD last month and I use the chews when I need something sweet. From another website, people who have used the patch MD have good labs, but need to supplement with sublinguil B, and Vitamin D. I take Vitamin D, 50,000 2 x per week. The patch is great because I don't have to take pills all day long. I have not personally taken the patch long enough to recommend it, but I got tired of trying to time all the vitamins and Iron and calcium. It was an all day event. Now, I put on the patch after a shower, and 2 times a week a swallow a Vitamin D and put a B vitamin under my tongue.

All of the calcium chews I found at CVS, Walmart and costco were calcium carbonate. We don't have enough stomach acid to process the calcium carbonate, we need calcium citrate.

I am going to be the lone person who thinks there is not a problem. For at least 2 weeks after surgery, I had no restriction. I weighed 210 and eat 1000 calories for the day. If you eat slider food, food that has a lot of carbs, you can consume a lot of food. 3 Lean Cruisines probably equal 600 calories, it would not have been a problem for me. I was mad that I could eat so much. At my 2 week appointment, the doctor said just because I could, I shouldn't. You don't have hunger in the first 2 weeks, you have head hunger. You are swollen inside, and the nerves have been cut, so you don't know the boundries. I was waiting to feel full in the area where my old stomach was located. At the 2 week meeting, I found out that my new stomach was located just below my breasts. That is the area I thought was my esphogus, and thought it was sore from the tube from surgery. Turns out, it was from overeating. Around week 3, I was only able to eat to eat 1/4 cup of food. But, if you are eating food every few hours, I can see where you can get your calories up to 2200 for the day. People that are months and years post surgery all tell stores of how much "slider carbs" they can eat. BUT, dense Protein, it still difficult to overeat on. You have to get your mental act together, and not be so rebellious. Work the program, until you get sensation back in your pouch or until they find out if something is wrong.

I would be thrilled to walk 10 miles for 2 days. I read somewhere that women perform better at endurance sports, something about slow twitch or fast twitch muscles. I don't see many men because it is hard to walk. I walk on trails by myself in many parks. It used to be if I saw a guy, my safety alert was switched on. In the last 5 years I see many more men trail walking. Usually the guys are running or taking pictures. So the macho man thing is usually the runner (with many ailments, knees, back, feet, etc.) while the healthier choice long term is probably walking as it is easier on the body. I would also like to run, 1-5 miles a day seems like a healthy amount, but I have yet to to go past the first week on a training program. I think carrying your food and Water, without everyone blowing their horn and clapping, will be much harder than the 3 day cancer walks. When I've gone on week long bike rides in different states, the crowd excitement of the other 500 to 10,000 riders keeps you moving. You and your buddy won't have that encouragement or excitement to keep you going. I think you have a grand goal.

http://walking.about.com/od/breastcancerwalktraining/fl/Training-Schedule-for-the-3-Day-Walk.htm I found the above training schedule for the 3 day walk. I think there are hundreds of women on the walk in Michigan. I have seen a couple of guys. They do have a lot of support, food stops, people cheering them on.

I might check the breast cancer 3 day walk. I think they walk 3 days of 20 miles. There is probably a training guide on their website. They pay thru my neighborhood and there are a lot of ladies walking. I couldn't do it.

Well if she is a nurse, she has to have some brains. She needs to use them. There are liquid Vitamins, Patches and chewable vitamins. I can not eat in the morning, but I drink a Protein shake. She can take a cheese stick and meat for lunch. She must of snacked at her nursing job when she was overweight. I am sure she must get a lunch. I think she is so eager to lose weight she is starving herself. My brother had congestive heart failure and diabetes and weighed about 400 pounds. Now he is 140. He looks like he is 90 years old. He acts like he is 90. He was like your wife, he did not eat Breakfast, and only one meal a day. Well, 3 years post op he is so weak, he can not work on his car, he can not do home projects. He can not turn a wrench. He did it his way, he is skinny and too weak to do anything. He will not listen to anyone. Your wife knows the consequences of not taking medicine or vitamins. She saw the movies or read the material. She is choosing to self destruct. If she doesn't get enough protein, her muscles (heart) and brain will suffer.

I started with sports induced asthma, then over the years had more triggers, dust, cold, humidity, etc. I had allergy shots for 5 months before surgery. I do not use my inhaler now. Normally, when I lose weight, my asthma becomes worse. My muscles are stronger and my lungs can't keep up. Because I was overweight, things like climbing steps made me winded, but not wheeze. As I gained weight, I didn't do much exercise, therefore my lungs were not under stress. I have lost over 60 pounds, but with the low amount of calories, I don't do the same type of sports. I walk, skate and bicycle but with about a 50% intentsity. My lungs are not stressed, I am not doing much aerobically as I don't have a lot of energy. Ex: Today I walked 2.5 miles at the mall. Later I will walk 2 more miles. If I didn't have the surgery, I would have cycled 30 miles at a high pace with my bike club. I can't keep up now, so I do other things for exercise. I am not sure if the allergy shots helped, or my lack of intense exercise and altered my asthma. I am not taking my 5 allergy meds either. It is all I can do to take all the vits and acide reducer and gallbadder meds.

I don't think you have to live in fear of dumping. Most people experience some form of distress over some new foods, or something. I have had dumping one time when I overate on bad foods, chocolate covered almonds (10) and Hostess little donuts (4). I had a bad case of cramping and diarihea. Not all forms of dumping involve feeling like a heart attack or whatever. Eating too quickly, or one bite too much causes foamies. It is a learning process. The discomfort I experienced is enough to stop me from eating sugar, but my episode didn't make me feel like on death's door. So, don't live in fear. You will have discomfort, too much Water, too much food, etc. but it is a liveable consequence.

I had my tummy tuck about 10 years ago when I lost weight on my own. When I gained weight, I added a nice pad of fat on my mons area. It is going down now. But I have said, "I am women enough to wear these balls!" (since that is what it looked like--only sisters have enough guts to ask you such a private question.)

When you have a tummy tuck, they pull the tummy skin down to the hip bone, they pull the mons area up to the hip bone. A side effect is it changes the position of the clitoris, allowing more pleasure just from the act of thrusting and the pounding as opposed to actual clitorial stimulation.

Surgery date 8/4/2015, 5'4 58 years old, 34 pounds since surgery HW 238 6/2, Surgery Wt. 210, Current Weight 176 I started off being able to eat a lot. I drink 2 Premier Protein shakes a day and eat the rest. At 2 months I upped calories to 650 from 550. I have trouble eating now. I eat something one day, great -- next day I throw up. I go to full liquids for next day. It is a chore. Nothing tastes good except carbs, fruit, vegetables. Protein is hard for me to eat. I eat 1/2 egg. 1 oz of beef or chicken or tuna fish. If I eat 2 oz, it comes up. I have little forks, eat slow.

I too was mostly eating clean. I was off artificial sweetners for several years. But for all the healthy food, my portion sizes of the delicious food made me super obese. So, clean eating can help in a lot of the micro elements of our body, and long term of the many cancers avoided, but I was creating a un-healthy monster with high triglicidates, diabetic, border-line cholesterol. You will have to bite the bullet for about 3 months, maybe more. I drink 2 Protein shakes with artificial sweetner, because my healthy one with seeds, spinach, yogurt, fruit, etc was way way too many calories. I am about 2 months out. I probably drink 1 Crystal light per week and my 2 daily shakes. The rest of the time I am eating healthy and clean. I can buy organic meat and when my portion size is greater than 2 oz, I can start to eliminate the Protein Shakes. If you want to eat a lot of yogurt and cottage cheese, you may be able to eat clean sooner.

I pretty much eat a lot of what I did before, just in much smaller portions. I don't eat as much fruit as before. I could kill a cantelope or a container of strawberries in one sitting. I could make a walnut/oatmeal/blueberry/greek yogurt with FF milk of about 1500 calories and eat it in 2 hours. I have my healthy favorites and look on-line or in my healthy cookbooks every couple of weeks for something new. I am a creature of habit. I mostly order whatever I want when I go out to eat and just eat 2 oz of the insides of a buritto, or pick the meat off an entree. I'll order an omelet and short stack of pancakes and eat 4 bites of eggs and 1 bite of pancake and toss the rest. Sometimes I'll see where another member has posted something that looks good and I'll make it.

My 2 c-sections were full cut. The RNY was faster healing. The only pain for the RNY was the gas pain. You just have to walk and deal with it. The good thing is this surgery is about YOU, not about a baby. You get a lot of attention, people want to know how YOU are feeling.

My stepfather got some new dentures last year, and didn't want to go to the dentist to have them fitted. It took him forever to eat. Once my sister took him to the dentist, he was able to eat. My brother never got his dentures fitted and had the bariatric surgery. He had a horrible time with eating. He still mostly eats cheese. Before WLS, you eat ice cream, carbs like chips, etc that can melt in your mouth, or swallow with only a few bites. After surgery, you are mostly eating Protein, and need to chew your food. You probably need to have them re-lined or a new pair. My mom had to get a new pair about every 10-15 years.

We were told to keep meat tenderizer in your purse. If something gets stuck, use a little warm Water and meat tenderizer and it will speed up the disolving of stuck food.

To the original poster and the last poster who said they gained weight. I have some questions? Did you start off on high Protein and low carb, and no drinking after meals? What happened that you gained weight? Did you start adding junk food or drinking calories? I am only 2 months post-op, but as soon as I eat a small piece of cake for my birthday or such, I don't lose any weight for 5-8 days. I have to tract my food on myfitnesspal everyday, even when I grab a bite of something I shouldn't eat. My calories may be around 600 a day, but if I eat junk, I won't lose.

I took Ambien for many years. Before surgery, my doctor replaced the Ambien with Trazadone. Trazadone is an old anti-depressant. Another usage at low dose is as a sleeping aid. It is not habit forming. It only cost me $2.12. She prescribed 50 mg. and then cut that in half and I can use up to 1 whole tablet. So really, it is 25 mg. that I take. The first 30 days after surgery I was so tired, I didn't need a sleep aid. Now, I use it 2-3 times a week.

For some people eggs are a problem, others beef or chicken. I eat fruits and many vegetables but meat Proteins are some work. I have to really eat slow and only 1 oz. for beef/chicken/fish. I have not tried nuts, they have too much carb and fat for the calories. I'm not sure about peanuts, but I think they have even more carbs and less Protein. When I've done Atkin's in past, I had trouble with portion size on nuts, so I am going to pass until I get to maintenance.

My NUT wanted 700 cal a day, most people on forums were using 350-500, so I work toward 500. Yesterday I ate 900, I couldn't get full, today I am not hungry and have only eaten 350, but 90% of the time I eat about 500 calories with 2 Protein shakes and whatever protein I can eat.