MacMadame

You've just had surgery! If you had just had some regular stomach surgery and not WLS, I bet they wouldn't have that reaction because they'd just accept it as temporary -- which it is. People are weird. :thumbup: Exactly.

I used to do some counseling of bfing moms. There is nothing about a sleeve (or the band for that matter) what would prevent you from bfing. However, you probably want to wait until the anesthesia is somewhat out of your system before starting up again. With a 19 month old, I would say that should be pretty easy to accomplish as they are better about waiting at that age than, say, a 4 month old. Also, there is a risk that the very low calories you'll be on in the beginning might mess with your supply. A lot of this will depend on the diet your surgeon has you on. Mine had us on thin liquids right away so I could do protein shakes and was easily getting in 70 g. of protein a day. But some put you on clear liquids for 7-14 days after and that might make it more difficult.

Hey, if any of you guys are in the SF Bay Area, I'm starting a team to do the Bike MS: Waves to Wine event in Sept. We're called Team Altered Reality (because we've all had WLS) and you can read all about it at: National MS Society - Bike Event: Homepage If you are interested, let me know and I'll send you a coupon to wave the registration fee.

Today I ran on the treadmill. 2+ min. warm-up, 50-55 min. run, 2 min. cool down followed by some stretching. I got in 5 miles and the treadmill was set on 5.3 (my highest yet) so I was happy.

I usually run on Tues. but I have a meeting tomorrow. So I ran today on the treadmill. I haven't been inside a gym in ages ... I've been doing everything outdoors. I was able to run for about 55 min. at 5.3. It did get harder as I went on but I really want to up my pace so I wouldn't back down.

I divide what I'm doing up into small pieces. When I first started running, those pieces were about 2 minutes long! :thumbup: But I concentrate on getting through each piece and don't worry about the whole workout.

I love to swim and bike. I run too but I don't *love* it. I just love to bike and swim though. Dancing is fun too. Oh, and pilates. I lurve me some Pilates. My philosophy is to find something you love to do and then do it and not worry so much about whether it's the world's best exercise. Anything you do is better for you than the stuff you won't do because you hate it.

Actually, it only has to be 51%! Ain't democracy wonderful? He's just some guy who publishes "magazine" articles who happens to be a doctor. Anyone can publish a magazine article on this site ... including you! Plus, I happen to think he's a moron. I already questioned some of his advice in another one of his articles. I thought it was particularly bad. The salad advice I can somewhat see because what most in the US call a salad is just iceberg lettuce with a hint of veggies and a sea of high fat dressing. But it doesn't have to be that way and salad compacts really well so it's not like it's going to fill you up for hours in place of better food. I just consider that one mediocre advice vs. horrible advice. I get it. He wants to pretend the whole relationship didn't happen. Acknowledging the fruit of that relationship makes that impossible. So he'll do the easy thing and pretend he hasn't got a kid.

My surgeon wants us to eat as many leafy green vegetables as possible and says we don't even have to count them in our carb count.

That's great!

I admit, my first bite is often of veggies. I want to make sure I get some in! Then I eat a bunch of protein and then when I start to fill up, I finish with veggies. My surgeon is okay with this. He even recommends that people use protein supplements so that they can eat more veggies with their meals and still get in all their protein.

Definitely! Plus I have this really long scar from when I was split from breastbone to belly button for my gallbladder surgery. I think I may wear a two-piece anyway. They are easier to pee in. :thumbup:

Hey, when I first got here, I read a lot of old posts of yours. (I read everything... then I got a sleeve. Heh.) So I feel like I already know you. :thumbup:

I didn't have one. It depends on the doctor. Mine likes people to lose 10 lb. but I had already lots 20 so he said I was good to go. Good lord. But I did say "typical". I'm guessing 100 BMI is not typical. :thumbup: That's very sensible. I hate the whole liquid diet thing. It just encourages cheating and gets people discouraged.

I don't know why it happens, but I've experienced it. For the lactose stuff, I had trouble with the shakes and with regular milk but not milk in things or things made from milk (like cheese and yogurt). If you aren't having trouble with your Protein shakes, you are lucky!

I would send progress pix. Otherwise, it might be too overwhelming for him.

Did a Bike-Run brick yesterday. 16 mi. bike and 30 min. run.

You have nice arms. I still won't go sleeveless though I do short sleeves.

Welcome to LapBandTalk! Good luck at the seminar and let us know how it goes.

People always say that if you have sugar cravings, you should get bypass, but I don't agree. First, not everyone with a bypass dumps. Secondly, lots of people lose their sweet tooth when they get WLS. I have a gastric sleeve and my sweet tooth is gone. My surgery was safer than bypass, cost less and has similar weight loss stats. I think bypass will be a thing of the past in about 10 years and replaced by the sleeve. Be sure to look into all four WLS types and then pick the one that directly deals with your food issues and has the post-op lifestyle that you can live with. For example, some people, the maintenance of a band is too much. They know they won't be pro-active about getting fills. For others, the malabsorption of the bypass scares them as they know they'll be bad at taking their Vitamins. For some, dumping is a deal-breaker -- they want to be in control of what they eat -- but for others it's a benefit. You have to answer those questions for you. Here is a chart that shows all the surgeries: Weight-Loss Surgeries Compared

Typical OR times are 45 min to an hour.

I think in the environment that you are in, not telling could have repercussions. For example, there is a teacher I know whose students started spreading gossip that she was losing weight because she was a drug addict.... because she was always taking "pills" (i.e., her Vitamins & supplements). She ended up telling them and going over all the stuff in her pill box. I'm not sure if a big announcement is the way to go though. But when people ask you how you are losing weight, you can tell them you are eating less, moving more and you had WLS to deal with your hunger. Tell just a few people and the word will spread...

None of that sounds mental to me. WLS works because it provides hunger control. If you have no restriction, it's like not having WLS at all. So you are in the same place as someone who hasn't been banded and can't stick to a diet. IOW, you are in the same place you were before you got your band.

Full liquids includes things like yogurt and FAGE yogurt is high in protein. I had a lot of special "bariatric" foods for that time including protein soups. Or you can add protein to your soups. What's the name of the unflavored protein powder you are using?

Hunger, for me, feels mostly like an emptiness. I can tell I'm weaker and it's time to eat. Sometimes it is gnawing though, but that's mostly A rule of thumb is that it's normal to feel hunger every 3-4 hours. So, if it's been that long since you last had calories, eat something.