summerset

I just had to look up Flintstones Vitamins on amazon (I'm in Germany). They look interesting but are way too expensive here to give them a shot out of curiosity. I guess they're kind of cheap in the US compared to other vitamins?

Best you can do. Not worth getting into heated discussions.

I know the sigh - the runny nose is a problem when I eat spicy food though.

Not a vegan (anymore) but I find Protein shakes and Protein Bars still useful, especially on very busy days (Clif Builder Bars are vegan and there are more out there; even decent tasting low-carb ones if you want to take the low-carb road). If I wouldn't be so lazy I would make my own bars from time to time to get more variety. As for vegan protein food you might want to check out the "Protein Ninja" cook book as well.

In the beginning there really are some (almost) instant and very motivating results, huh?

I don't count carbs. When I eat too much carbs and not enough Protein I tend to get diarrhea. If I don't eat enough carbs, I feel sluggish. If I eat too much fat, I tend to get a stomach ache. If I don't eat enough fat, I feel cold and restless. In general I feel best when I balance out carbs-fat-protein quite even. It's not only a matter of the weight going down but also how I feel in general and how good my digestion works.

Mini Gastric Bypass or One-Anastomosis Bypass.

Don't be sorry. I think it was a legit question. What you will be able to stomach or not - you will have to make your own experiences. I talked about Asian take out food. This usually contains noodles or rice. I don't have problems eating noodles or rice but some people can't stomach them. Some people can eat french fries (for some they are slider foods!) - my stomach doesn't like them. I got queasy the few times I tried them. Same with ice cream. Some people can gorge on it, I get early dumping with nausea and tachycardia so I don't eat it. In the end you have to experiment with foods (this includes the healthy foods as well!) down the road after you've been cleared for all foods and find your own diet that works for you in the end. This might be a bit more scary than simply following a tailored plan but if e. g. some of the "allowed foods" like certain vegetables or burgers without buns give you heartburn, gas or diarrhea - they are not for you though they might be the right foods for another patient. It's sensible to stay in contact with a NUT (if possible), e. g. I have the possibility to call or write an e-mail.

Believe me, you will still have people eating too much of the unhealthy foods. Maybe not 4 months out, but 1 year or more out. I'm on two German speaking boards as well and there seems to be a lot of what I've heard is called LOC (loss of control) eating. Usually the threads are titled "HELP! I can't control myself anymore!! What's wrong with me all of a sudden??" They almost all got the 6 months program and the psych evaluation (I'm talking about patients in Germany). There is no bullet-proof solution to avoid falling down the wagon. Emotional eating is a strong bitch to come to terms with. I always recommend the books written by Karen Koenig or books about emotional eating in general. Pretty helpful stuff in there. I hold the opinion (and I know it's a very unpopular one on this board) that one has to learn how to deal with the temptations as early as possible - and when I talk about "dealing with it" I don't mean abstinence.

I can understand this. The person has already made up her/his mind and if the person is aware of the consequences - it's ultimately her/his decision. I was a vegetarian before surgery and a vegan for a whole while. I'd like to go back there and have taken steps into this direction. The nutritionists on my bariatric team don't mind a vegetarian diet at all. They're a bit cautious about going vegan but say it can be done. When I'm now writing on a vegan/veg thread discussing the veg/vegan options you have after WLS I don't want someone tromping around how "unhealthy" or "dangerous" that is. I simply want to talk about how it's possible to meet the nutritional goals while eating vegan. I don't need self-proclaimed whistle blowers while exploring my options. That's just annoying.

I usually skip these posts as well. I don't have anything really constructive to say. I could say that it's dangerous and that people mustn't do it again for their own safety. I remember when being at the hospital that there was a lot of food stolen from the fridge. Patients hat the possibility to put their own stuff into the fridge, e. g. some yogurts. I don't know if that is food addiction out of control or simply being an asshole. Absolutely. After all, we want to live a life as normal as possible (or so I think) and that includes eating out and eating stuff the people around us consider "normal". It doesn't mean gorging yourself on burgers and chocolate daily but that wouldn't be considered "normal" anyway by the people in my immediate environment.

Try the syntrax trophix or matrix in hot coffee - delicious!

@@john925 I couldn't have said it any better. I absolutely agree. PS: If it's really true that users on here made plans on how to ridicule and bully other members then that's just sickening and the ban is well deserved. Don't these people have lives to live?

I'm not able to express without being impolite how much I hate these "big girl panties" comments.

I have MGB but don't have the issues you're experiencing now (however, I'm only 8 months out so...). Your surgeon seems to be very quick about recommending revision into RNY. An "it might be IBS" doesn't sound like a valid reason for performing revision. If possible see the doctor in person and I'd get a second opinion before revision, especially if you really don't want one. There should be proper diagnostic done before deciding what treatment might be the best.

I choose the fast food that tastes good reheated. Asian food is usually good for re-heating. pizza tastes good when reheated in the oven. I wrap and freeze slices individually. Makes a quick meal and the frozen slices keep for weeks. Doener doesn't reheat well and I don't like to eat them cold. I don't care for the typical fast food burger or sandwich you can get in Germany.

On this board: a lot of people. Anyway, I still don't know why people post so much about eating fast food here as this board is very judgmental when it comes to eating fast food. The harsh posts will come for sure. Is it to actively provoke that kind of reaction?

Me, too. It's different from person to person. For many people (including me) it's different from day to day. On some days I feel like I can eat the whole tuna steak and have some more, on some other days I feel ridiculously full after a half one. The same goes for other foods as well.

Absolutely but not that early out. Fast foods are usually loaded with fat and I don't think I would have been able to stomach it before being three or four months out. I'm having problems with certain stuff so I don't eat it (e. g. french fries, somehow can't stomach them).

That's something I don't understand as well. Everyone who's browsing the boards for a while knows that there will be harsh answers. Trolling? And why should I make a post about some gummy worms I've eaten a few minutes ago anyway? So I've eaten them a few minutes ago. Now what? I neither need absolution nor tough love a kick in the bee-hind.

Complications really stink. As I already said, I admit I had an easy recovery (not that an easy recovery is something bad, or something I should be somehow ashamed of but I think it changes perspective on things). I'm one of the people who had a hard time seeing the scale go down. I was absolutely surprised when another kg was gone even though I wasn't able to exercise much because of my shoulder (still having problems) because even walking or running hurts after a while, let alone biking. I never thought maintaining weight after I reached a low with the GB was that hard before the fill needed to be removed though I never got to BMI 25 or lower. I needed to pay some attention but it definitely wasn't the obsessive self-control horror I went through before WLS. I think now I need to exert about as much self-control as many non-obese people need to exert when they reach the age of 40 (that's the impression I have when talking to other people) and in my view that's ok but I don't know how it will be a few years down the road since my MGB is a fairly new one. I did ok maintaining with the GB, that gives me hope for the MGB future.

What you've listed here is exactly the same as with "conventional dieting", except the recovery phase. Ever heard of Optifast? I didn't do it but compared to the length of their liquid phase, the surgical liquid phase pales in comparison. Compared with what I have endured with dieting in the past I'd choose surgery over and over again (but I admit that I had a easy recovery with almost no pain at all). As for plastics: even if one chooses not to have surgery to lose weight, plastics might be necessary. I understand that surgery is no breeze (I've had it myself after all) but it sometimes seems to me that there is so much emphasize on the "hard work"... as if obese people weren't allowed to "take the easy way" because they have to "pay for their sins". The sad part about this is: even obese people seem to think this way and emphasizing all this "hard work and commitment" sometimes seems like a kind of justification. I also think that people are making their lives harder as they need to be by telling themselves that "they have to work hard". I'm not saying, that there is no work and commitment involved after WLS - but is it really as hard as it was with conventional dieting? If you do think so, why? Because I think not having to battle constant hunger because of portion control or having to fill up on disgusting low-cal food and feeling full, but somehow empty nevertheless is a blessing and takes out a lot of the hard work. Is there work involved after WLS? Of course. There are slider-foods etc. after all. Is it "as hard as before"? I don't think so. Because if it was "as hard as before" - why get surgery in the first place?

@@xoxococojay I personally don't see anything offensive but since I don't know what exactly people wrote as answer I don't have an opinion when it comes to the reactions you got.

Well, compared to losing and keeping off weight surgery for me it was the easier way. Or so I think. Because I never was able to get off about 50 kg of weight. I also never was able to keep the weight odd. So for me there was/is something about WLS that actually made/makes it easier. But who says that you have to do things the hard way? Do the people going on about "WLS is wrong because it's cheating" or something equally ridiculous slap their dirty laundry around in the river down the road instead of using a washing machine or what? It's ridiculous to demand that people "lose weight the hard way", i. e. without surgery. But lets face it: one can go on and on and ON about how "WLS is hard work" and about the "commitment" etc. - something must make losing and keeping weight off easier with WLS or the outcomes would be as bad as the outcomes of "traditional" weight loss. The results are so much better. There has to be some kind of magic after all. Maybe the plastics afterwards are equally important, btw. Having plastics after WLS seems to improve the likelihood of keeping the weight off.

Over the years I've seen too many people from being gung-ho in the beginning with great weight loss that gained back weight in the end anyway. However, I understand the need to think "this won't be happening to me because I will be the perfect patient following everything to the letter and more" - I'd like to have a guarantee that this whole WLS thing will be the end of obesity as well. Unfortunately there is no guarantee as it seems. Look at the long term studies. Ask any real old timer who is 6, 8, 10 or more years out and is still active on boards or in RL self-help groups. Many people who were quite smug during their first months or even years have become much more modest after some years, even though they didn't gain back weight or only a bit.