MacMadame

I never add it to anything and I can taste it in stuff and it bugs.

SpringerLink - Journal Article Also, losing weight can help Type 1 diabetes. It can't cure it like it can Type II but it can make the symptoms much better.

There are a bunch of people on OH who used BCBS Fed for their VSG. However, an individual company may have a WLS exclusion that would override that coverage.

Oh, I forgot to say that for the hamburger, it's going to depend on the size. A quarter pounder? No. I can eat most of a frozen hamburger if there is no bun but cheese and tomatoes on it. If there was no cheese, I could probably eat it all. But I also want some veggies, so that adds to the volume. Two things I have found is that a) many times a taste is all it takes to satisfy a craving for me and if it's really, really important that I eat a certain volume, there are techniques you can use to get it in. You won't be able to get a 16 oz. steak in that way, but you can get in an extra 50% more. It's kind of a slippery slope, though.

I'd be very surprised if you could do the 6" subs. You might be able to eat out the insides, but the combo of the roll and the insides would be a bit much for most people. That said, there are docs who make the sleeve big enough that people can do that. But the larger sleeves have trouble with regain too. I can eat half a PB and J sandwich right now. 1 piece of bread, with a regular amount of PB and J on it, folded in half. I need to eat some stuff I don't normally eat so my pictures aren't all the same thing over and over. LOL The problem I have is that I measure stuff out and then, either I need more than in the picture or I can't eat it all. I'm trying to put stuff in each picture that everyone knows the size of too. So I put m fork in, usually. Sometimes it's a dinner fork and sometimes it's a salad fork though. I'll have to label them well so it's always clear.

My program says as soon as you can manage it and are on regular food....

Oh, that's not the only one who wasn't overwhelmingly positive... that's why you have search around on all the boards.

Let's do something fun every weekend! I have a poll for you: 1) What are your plans this weekend 2) What's your favorite movie and why? 3) How many states have you visited? Lived in? Your favorite? Here are my answers: 1) I am going to do a Sat. and Sun. workout, but take it easy the rest of the weekend. I might bake or go to the movies or I might lounge around in my pjs. Whatever strikes my mood. 2) My favorite movie is Blade Runner. I love how stylized it is and how a time and place has been created down to the littlest detail. Plus, it makes you think. It's film noir set in the future instead of the past. 3) I've been to 41 states. I've lived in 5. My favorite to visit is Hawaii. My favorite to live in is California.

I'm going to try to have a "take it easy" weekend. I am biking to a support group meeting on Sat. (and back, of course). On Sunday, I'm doing a swim in the ocean followed by a run in the morning. But the rest of the weekend, I have nothing planned. I hope to be able to catch up on stuff -- grocery shopping, reading, watching tv shows I recorded back in May and never got to... maybe go see District 9. But nothing I *have* to do.

I found I had more energy after about two weeks. I had a certain kind of energy the first two weeks, but I also got tired more easily whenever I tried to do anything. My first two days back at work, I was a zombie. But I also was back in the gym doing cardio at two weeks. I had more energy for physical stuff than for mental. I did take more naps the first month, but I wasn't sleeping nearly as much as you guys. I don't know if it's because I wasn't on Clear Liquids at the start but went right to "thin" liquids or if it's just an individual difference. I think the main thing is that you should gradually be getting better. If you aren't, you need to work with your surgeon and/or PCP to find out why and not just accept it as "the way things are."

I want to be normal as possible. Normal people sometime eat in the way that they shouldn't. The difference is, they get right back on track and their bodies don't fight to keep them at a really high weight. So, it's not like I want to be able to eat an entire small bag of Kettle Korn at the movies every day or even every week. But I'm glad I can do it once or twice a year.

Hey, I know you!

No, you don't need to keep calories lower. I lost most of my weight eating 650-850 calories a day. Most programs only want you to keep your calories under 800. (Some even want them higher than that, but that's unusual.) Once you are on regular food, 600-800 is perfectly reasonable and most people can lose 2-3 lb. a week doing that, if you exercise 3-4x a week for at least 30 min. There is a risk if you go too low that you can suffer from malnutrition. Yes, we take Vitamins, but that doesn't replace everything. You need a variety of food to do that. You really need to up your Protein too. You are barely getting enough for someone who is eating at least 1200 calories a day. You are risking losing too much muscle mass by not getting adequate protein. Since muscle is more dense than fat, if you lose muscle mass, the scale might look good, but you'll be bigger than if you lose mostly fat. It's much better to be a smaller size in your clothes than a smaller number on the scale. My BMI is 21.4 and I am as small as I was when my BMI was 19. That's because I eat a lot of protein and workout. As a result, I didn't lose *any* muscle mass through this process.

Super Morbidly Obese. It's a BMI over 55. (Or some say 60.)

For a protein bar, it is very hard to get them with less carb grams than protein grams. Those actually sound reasonable to me... assuming the fat grams are below 10.

I was shocked the first time I realized that my sleeve wouldn't restrict popcorn. I have felt restriction with cookies, but that was early out. I think the trick is to eat them with other things that will fill up your sleeve.

It's kind of normal, but it's also exacerbated by not getting in enough fluids and/or protein. How are you doing in those areas?

If you have never been on a diet, you may want to join a diet program first. Something like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. They will teach you about nutrition and tracking your food and hold your hand. While diets don't have a good track record, they do work for some people, so they are worth trying at least once. After all, if you can avoid surgery, why not? They aren't worth trying over and over, though. If you lose and can't maintain the loss, then it's time to try something else. Also, no diet or surgery is going to work if you are an emotional eater. (And that's what stress eating is.) So you need to work on that, no matter what you do. The rest of the stuff is mostly irrelevant. Both sweets and salty food have their "slider food" variations so preferring one or the other isn't going to matter. You can eat a ton of Cookies or a ton of chips and either way, they *will* go down and you will be able to eat around the surgery. Eating out can be bad but I eat out all the time and I do fine. You just have to have the right attitude about it (it's not an excuse to eat anything you want) and make intelligent, educated choices. Liking to exercise is good, whether or not you have surgery. :lol0: The liquid diet lasts weeks, not years or even months. Trust me, you can do it whether terrified or not. Plus, if you don't stay on it post-op, you could die which is definitely more terrifying than liquids. Just think of it as a medical requirement and not a "diet." Because that's what it is. Food can still be pleasurable when you are eating small quantities. In fact, if you now eat fast and don't chew well, eating after the surgery will often times be *more* pleasurable because you actually taste your food.

They can do the stress test in a way that doesn't involve running. I was given a choice and I chose the treadmill. If they don't give you a choice, then ask them. (Instead of the treadmill, they inject you with something.)

It has to be a typo because the grams she listed for fats, Protein and carbs is 454 calories. It's very common to stall at 2 weeks out. There really isn't anything you can do but be patient and keep following the rules of your program. Not weighing yourself all the time helps too. :biggrin0:

I'm getting a Garmin Forerunner 310XT. So I'll be selling my Nike+ and not participating in any more challenges after the one that ends in Aug. I just couldn't take having 3 devices to keep track of any more The 310XT does it all in one.

I meet people by joinging clubs. You can meet some great people by taking a class. I have my figure skating friends and my triathlon friends. They are awesome! And very supportive of my surgery because they understand about healthy living and how important it is to lose weight and be healthy.

Another good bar is the Rock 'n Roller bar. It's a bit higher in carbs than I like, but it's fine for maintenance. They are modeled after a Pay Day. I like Pay Days. Which is weird because I don't like peanuts all that much or crunchy, salty things. I do like when sweet and salty are combined though.

Leaks are more likely to occur if: You are SMO You are diabetic You smoke That's about how you heal.... those things interfere with your body's ability to heal. Some surgeons are less skilled than others and have a higher leak percentage... that's surgeon skill But anyone can heal poorly that one time... that's just random chance. As for it being there all along, some people have symptoms from day one... extreme pain, nausea/pain after eating. But it gets misdiagnosed. So they are told "it's just gas" or "it's nausea from the anesthesia". But the symptoms don't go away and, eventually, it's very clear that it's not "just gas" or it's not "from the anesthesia". So then the medical staff looks harder and finds a leak. At that point, you realize, you had that leak from very early out.

This is a myth, btw. Fatty Fights Back: MTYHBUSTERS: Starvation Mode