MacMadame

A really common problem immediately pre-op is how to get all your protein in. One of the reasons that it is hard is that a lot of protein drinks taste horrible, especially immediately post-op when our sense of smell and our taste buds are heightened. One way to find a protein drink you like without breaking the bank is to get samples and try a lot of them. Where can you get samples? I have also heard that Syntrax will send you a sample pack of their products for free or a small charge, but I've never been able to find the info on how to get it on their site. I think you have to contact them via email or phone to get the samples. In terms of buying protein in stores, GNC sells many of their proteins in individual packets and in smaller bags. They will also let you return any protein powder you buy from them even if it's opened. So you can try it and, if you hate it, you can return it. Jay Robb makes single serving packets of their proteins. I bought them at Vitamin Shoppe.

Anyone else out there from California?

Highest Weight: 223 (as of Feb. 2008) Weight Date of Surgery: 191 - 32 lb. loss in 7 months First month: 179, 12 lb. loss Second month: 167, 12 lb. loss Third month: 159, 8 lb. loss Fourth month: 151, 8 lb. loss Fifth month: 144, 7 lb. loss Sixth month: 134, 10 lb. loss Seventh month: 128, 8 lb. loss Eighth month: 122, 6 lb. loss Ninth month: 116, 6 lb. loss Tenth month: 113, 3 lb. loss Eleventh month: 113, 0 lb. loss

Yeah, that's the place. You have to be careful with bikedirect.com. You can get some good deals, but you have to know what you are doing.

Okay, who else is training for triathlons? I've done 2 so far and am doing a small one on Sunday in my hometown. But the biggie I'm training for is a Half-Ironman in Oct.

Where are you seeing these deals? There is a place online that sells fake Motobecane's so be careful.

It's hard to find a good road bike for under $1000 unfortunately. I also think it's important not to cheap out on this purchase or you'll be buying another bike in a year or so. I spent $1200 and I outgrew my bike in 6 months! (Luckily someone gave me a better bike so I didn't have to spend $2000 after spending $1200. That would have hurt.) Therefore, if you can borrow one for the first tri or get one used, you can save a lot of money and get an idea of what you want in a bike. Any bike by Specialized, Trek, Giant, Cannondale, or Fuji should be good. There are other brands but they don't have anything entry level. Or what I consider entry level. My first bike was a Specialized Dolce Elite and it's a decent bike for a beginner. I just progressed faster than I expected to and so wanted something faster sooner than I anticipated.

Have fun? One thing I didn't realize when I was training is that you don't have to be doing the distances you will race at in your training. It's not bad to do them (or even more) but it's not necessary. I was thinking that, since I was going to bike 13 miles, swim 1/2 a mile and run 4 that I needed to be swimming 960 meters, biking 15-16 miles and running about 6. But it turns out that you only need to train about 90% of the distance, not 110-120% like I was thinking. I'm not sure why that is, but I did my first Olympic (.9 mi swim, 26 mi bike, 6.2 mi run) when I'd never run more than 5.5 miles and that was with breaks (it was a track workout) and had only biked 23 miles tops and only one time and I was fine. I think it's because my total mileage for the week was over what I raced and, to your body, it's not *that* much different if you are doing it over a week or over a day. The other thing is: watch some transition videos on YouTube and PRACTICE! You'll feel so much better on race day if you aren't fumbling around in transition trying to figure things out. Oh and don't be one of those people who brings an entire suitcase into transition. :svengo: It's going to be tight in there so, even if you bring a lot, just lay out what you need and put the rest back in your bag or your car.

I'm on OH but not so much the VSG board. I just started hanging out on the Bariatric TV boards.

Hi Chrissy- I don't post here much any more, but you can read all about my experiences in my blog. I started out wanting a band but switched to the sleeve at the last minute.

Hi there! :laugh:

I paid $16890 using their "ala carte" plan. I had already gotten the NUT consult and pysch eval that are included in the 17,500 price. If you have to get everything done, then the "all inclusive" price is better. I'm going to assume that it will cost you more to get a revision though. Only because that's what other surgeons do.

I'm still on prilosec but, from what I've seen, that's pretty unusual to still be on it at over a year out. I did miss two days in a row and was okay, but I think I'll stay on them for a while more.

All carbs do it for me. So I limit them.

It will be hard to keep to your Protein and carb guidelines if you eat a lot of cereal. It's very important to get enough protein while on a very low calorie diet and filling up on cereal when you can't eat a lot will make it harder. You may also find that cereal isn't appealing in the early days... it can expand in your sleeve and make you uncomfortable. (Later on, the sleeve isn't as swollen, so it's less of an issue.) Finally, you may develop lactose intolerance, making drinking milk difficult. I used to live on cereal and milk -- sometimes I'd have it 3x a day (usually on weekends). But after I had my sleeve, I lost my taste for it. I can't drink more than 2 oz of milk at a time and, when I have cereal, I often can't get my protein in. Plus, it just doesn't taste the same. Whatever it has that used to sooth me, no longer appeals.

Yes, you need to wait until your incisions are healed or you risk them getting infected. But some people can take a bath at 2-3 weeks because they heal fast.

My surgeon says that everyone who he's removed a band from and not done another surgery gains the weight back.

Also, it's one of the few where you can set your own goals for calories, fat grams, etc. It's still crude that way -- you can only do it by % and only in increments of 5, but the other sites I tried didn't let me set anything but calories.

You have to change how you think about it. For me, it's more like homework. I find it interesting to see how different foods stack up and how different combinations can make or break a day. Also, I have one week a month where I'm just going nuts eating things and then it's over. By tracking, I have learned that this week doesn't make or break me and not to panic when it happens. I use tracking to help me get a healthy relationship with food.

No. You can't listen to the formulas online. Anyone who has ever dieted in their life has a slower metabolism than someone who hasn't dieted. The formulas do not take that into account. I have never lost weight as fast as the formulas say I should because of all my dieting. (This was true even before surgery.) Also, My Fitness Pal sets your protein requirements WAY too low. Most experts recommend anywhere from 55 to 65 g of protein per day for a menstruating woman. And that's for people who are unaltered and eating to maintain their weight. If you are getting less calories, particularly if you are on a very low calorie diet, you need to have more than the minimum or you risk losing lean tissue (i.e., muscle) instead of fat. My program (and many others) recommends the following: <800 calories a day 70-90 g of protein a day <40 g of carbs <30 g of fat This is for the weight loss phase. As you get farther out and more active, however, most people gradually end up eating more and by 1 year out most people are at 1000-1200 calories a day. Of course, this is also why most people see their weight loss slow down after 6 months so you don't *have* to up your calories, if you don't want to. But for most people, it's a natural progression to do so. The way I worked it was that I kept an eye on my calories and I made a concerted effort to get in a minimum amount of protein and to not go over a certain amount of carbs. I kind of let the sodium, sugars and fat all fall where they may, because keeping the calories and carbs under a ceiling and the protein above a floor kept everything else in line without a lot of work. But some people find other nutrients are their problems areas and concentrate on others. For me, I tend to keep my sodium and fat low anyway and it's hard to have high sugars if you have low carbs, so it was three more things not to worry about. :confused: I never thought of it as a diet either. I thought of it as retraining myself on how to eat in a healthy manner. I was very careful about what I added into my diet as I progressed so that I didn't introduce bad habits and get used to eating a lot of my trigger foods. I never told myself that I *deserved* certain foods or that life was meaningless without them. I told myself that food was fuel and my body deserved the highest quality fuel available. This is not to say I never eat junk, but I keep it very limited and there just isn't a lot of room for it once I get in my required healthy stuff.

I tried them all. I like My Fitness Pal the best, then The Daily Plate. The others were too hard to find foods with and didn't have half the foods I eat on a regular basis.

I track everything. When I'm at home, I do it online as I eat it. When I'm on vacation, I write it in a notebook and input it into my online journal when I get home. I think this is a big reason why I've been so successful in losing my weight and never had any stalls. (Exercise is the other reason.)

I don't believe it. Now, if she had a coke within the first two weeks, she might have developed a leak and people sometimes die from leaks, but there is no way her stomach exploded no matter what she drank, how fast she drank or how much she drank.