disco stu

Wow @Postop. THis is exactly the kind of response I was hoping to get. Thank you. So you do 100,000 every day? Holy Cr*p! They only want me taking these 50,000 ever other day, so you're quadruple that. interesting point about pill vs gel cap. DIdn't know that, but it kinda makes sense since fat flows through us like sh*t from a duck, so why would something oil based be absorbed? Calcium in okay. I'm at the bottom of the range, but I'm in range (8.5-10.7). And it's trajecting upward, 6/14/18 . 10/29/18 . 2/8/19 8.7 . 8.8 . 9.0 I forget what I'm taking (giant cosco bottle) but it's in a pill form, so I guess thats a good thing. I'll look into the Biotech D3. Thanks again for the advice!

Haven't tried chewables. I'm supposed to take these 50,000 ones once ever two days for total of twelve. I haven't picked them up yet, and I don't rremember what they look like last time....

Hahaha. I dont know. LMGTFY Difference Between Vitamin D & Vitamin D3 Written by Sandi Busch; Updated December 14, 2018 Look at the label on any bottle of vitamin D and you’ll likely see vitamin D-3 listed as the primary ingredient. That’s because multiple forms of the vitamin exist, and D-3 is most common for use in supplements. Once they’re inside your body, all forms of vitamin D have the same effect.

My level is 17 as well. "Normal" is between 30 and 100.

Quick Update for anyone following my progress on this thread: I've more or less been stuck on the scale at 211 for the last couple of months, which is partially due to the holidays but mostly due to the fact that I've been hitting the gym really hard. And it shows. I've started to buff out, and people are noticing. At the same time, it's been frustrating not to see the scale move. Well, two weeks ago I had an accident on one of those Bird electric scooters and blew out the ACL in my left knee. Ouch. I stopped going to gym, and guess what? I seem to be losing weight again. The first sign was, I ran out of belt loops and had to go buy a new one. On a lark, I bought a pair of size 30 jeans too, and guess what? They fit! Checked the scale this AM and I'm at 207. Cool! Gonna stay out of the gym till I break 200, then re-evaluate, because I really do enjoy lifting weights, and some of this weight loss is my hard earned muscles disappearing. Sigh. Balance. My one year anniversary is in April, so still have a couple of months to hit my goal of 190.

300 is in the high side, but not terribly. 250 is typical for patients with high BMI. I came with a relatively low BMI, so he gave me 280. Also, Keep in mind that SIPS channels are twice the length of traditional DS, so don't get thrown by those numbers.

Blossom is a good deal with no wait time\hassle. For me it was significantly cheaper than any California option. Travel to Vegas is cheap and easy too. In general, they are a well oiled machine; very professional. Right now, They are advertising a "fast track" service that will get you in within 5 days for under 7k. Downside is that they are a bit of a factory.... Get you in; get you out. They had me on my feet and out the door of the surgery center within a half hour of waking up. I'm not joking. Compared this to most other stories on these boards who have a 2-4 day hospital stay afterward.

Band is basically medical malpractice. According to research, it worked for less than 1 in 20 patients! But it was pushed by surgeons because it was easy and they could charge a lot for it. Personally, I gained 35 lbs while banded Sleeve has better results - I think I read 60% somewhere - but still, if you look around on these boards you'll find a LOT of posts from people looking to revise their sleeves.... For me, things looked good initially. Lost about 30lbs in 6 months, but then it all started coming back...and fast. I regained 20 in just a few months. SIPS is the newest kids on the block - some would say it's still experimental - but it's basically a simplified (and therefore the argument goes safer) version of DS (Duodenal switch). DS has been around for a long time and is widely regarded as having the best LONG TERM WLS results. Meaning, you'll lose the weight and it stays off. I'm down about 50 lbs in 6 months and still continue to lose weight. BUT - and this is important BUT- DS comes with some significant "life-style" issues that you will have to deal with the rest of your life, most of which revolve around the restroom. Do a search for my posts in the DS forum on this site and you can read some of the smelly details. Something else to keep in mind, each procedure loses effectiveness which each previous WLS. My surgeon who sleeved me said I had to lower my expectations with Sleeve by 50% because I was a revision from Band. Similarly, I was told to lower my SIPS expectations since I'd already revised from Band AND sleeve. So I would be better off in the long run - and with hindsight that I probably was going to fail with the sleeve - if I had gone straight to DS.

Although I personally love working out - especially weights - I sometime fear that it's counter productive. The issue is that it makes me incredibly hungry afterward, which often leads to over eating\not sticking to the plan. Just something to watch out for. Remember: Abs are made in the kitchen.

I went band to sleeve to SIPS. Wish I had skipped the middle step...

Quick update: Recovery is going so-so. Struggling with the AA style, full abstinence, but my total alcohol intake is way way down from what it was, so I still feel mostly successful. As to my vitamin theory, I still think it has a lot of merits, despite a few people\medical professionals calling it into question, especially the use of Vitamin b12 injections vs pills. As an experiment, I stopped the shots and doubled up on B-complex pills for a week. Of course these things are hard to measure scientifically, but I definitely felt an increase in the intensity of cravings. I switched back to the injections, and the craving lessened. Your milage may vary.

I think I did Miso soup with a couple of cubes of tofu which I squished around in my mouth. My first 'real' food was really fresh Salmon sashimi, I think

Motrin and Advil are too harsh on your stomach. My Dr said Tylenol is ok\better.

Yup It's real, but it gets better with time and management. Management equates to mostly avoiding Gluten and other carbs. You may discover other 'stink bomb' foods as well - avocado for me - so there's a bit of trial and error for the first few months. The good news for me is that most of the bad stuff happened at night; during the day at work I was mostly fine. I do carry Poo-porrie in my backpack just in case though...

The pain will be a fleeting memory a week from now. Grunt through it. The more interesting questions will come in a week or two...

Why are you focused on salad ? That's a coping mechanism ur gonna wanna save for months and months from now. Right now should be protein, protein, protein ,protein ,protein ,protein. My fav at this point? Clear Chinese: like sizzling rice soup ... minus the rice. More than a month out: grilled salmon with a side a butter. Hell yeah I said BUTTER. The least you can do to stay away from wheat carbs. Trust me. There is no amount of BUTTERED fish that will hurt you more than traditional carbs. You will be OK. Have patience. A watched pot never boils.

Why are you focused on salad ? That's a coping mechanism ur gonna wanna save for months and months from now. Right now should be protein, protein, protein ,protein ,protein ,protein. My fav at this point? Clear Chinese: like sizzling rice soup ... minus the rice. More than a month out: grilled salmon with a side a butter. Hell yeah I said BUTTER. The least you can do to stay away from wheat carbs. Trust me. There is no amount of BUTTERED fish that will hurt you more than traditional carbs. You will be OK. Have patience. A watched pot never boils.

Yup. First week sucks . But then you'll jump on scale and maybe, wasn't so bad....

One trick I've read about and tried myself is to go back to a "day after" post-op diet for a week (or two if you can do it.) Remember the liquids only, followed by puree'd baby food? Yum! But honestly, our stomaches are weird. I have noticed multiple times that if I go ham the night before, I wake up ravenous. But if I tone it down - or even fast - the night before, in the AM I can barely finish a meager breakfast. Weird, but true. So maybe give it a try. GO back to your Dr.'s post-op diet for a week and see what happens....

Vegas? Was it Blossom? They're good, but they're a high volume bariatric farm; the "love 'em and leave 'em" school. If you want them to take responsibility and help, you're gonna have to get pushy\aggressive. i.e. Threaten to blast their name all over the bariatric forums and Yelp. maybe even get a lawyer involved. Unless you make noise, they will not help you, which is BS. Whatever is going on with you, it;'s not normal. They need to step-up and help you through it.

A lot of us have had the DS (or simpler SIPS) after re-gaining with the sleeve.... more that I expected when I first joined these forums. On positive side, most of us found the recovery to be a breeze compared to the sleeve procedure. Also, I have read a few posts from people complaining about lengthy stalls, but almost zero stories of regain. This thing absolutely works! On negative side, you will have to get used to some significant, potentially embarrassing, life-style changes - most of which revolve around the restroom - that will be with you the rest of you life; much more life altering than either lap band or sleeve. As someone going through this, I say it's 100% worth it, but be forewarned. If cost is a factor and you live in an expensive state like California or New york, consider going out of state. I'm from California, and was able to save 10k to 15k by having the procedure done in Vegas. Texas is lower cost as well. DS does seem a little extreme to just lose 35lbs. But if you want to lose it and keep it off forever, it's something to consider. With DS, there is something called the "common channel" which depending on it's length, can somewhat control the total amount of weight you will lose. The longer the channel, the more nutrients you retain. And like my surgeon said, if you find yourself too skinny, eat more cheese burgers!

Way to go! You still have plenty of runway. It will come off.

Good to meet you and welcome. Yeah, like I said in an earlier post, I was eating solid food within days of surgery with no ill effects. I'm of the "listen to your body" school of thought when it comes to my health, and I felt fine. According to my surgeon, he has yet to have a SIPS patient not lose 100lbs within a year of surgery, so it would seem your goals are well within reach. Just be patient. It can feel excruciatingly slow at times, but in the same way that your weigh gain just kinda crept up on you over the years? Now it's going to do the opposite. It's going to slowly fade away on its own. So the best advice I can give someone just starting this journey is "A watched pot never boils." Relax. It will happen.

Funny. At my center all they said was, "You're going to be much more sensitive to alcohol. One drink and you'll be flying! Your friends and relatives will love that you're such a cheap date!" They sold it as a bonus!

"transference" in an interesting notion, but based on my current experience, I've become convinced that there's a brain chemical explanation for my alcohol increase post-bariatric...... First off, let's acknowledge that heredity has a lot to do with addiction. Some of us are just born wired to fall prey to over drinking. Study: If neither of your parents were alcoholics, you have a 1 in 10 chance of developing alcohol issues. If one parent was an alcoholic, your odds move to 1 in 2, and if both parent were alcoholics, your odds move to 4 in 5. ack!! Guess who drew that last lucky straw! AA calls it being born 'allergic' to alcohol. Second, alcoholism is a scientifically provable brain chemical disorder; not some kind of moral failing or weakness of will-power. Here's a snippet from a great video that really helps explain. Third: There have been studies which link vitamin deficiency with an increase in alcohol abuse. I'm describing this study from memory, but it goes something like this: Back in the 50s, they did a study where they placed rats in a cage with a bowl of water and a bowl of alcohol and then fed them Puppy Chow. About 10% of the rats turned into alcoholics, which is in line with the general US population. Next they re-ran the experiment with a new set of rats, except this time, they extracted all the vitamin nutrients out of the food. About %85 of the rats turned into alcoholics. Finally, the re-ran a third time, but with Puppy Chow mega fortified with vitamins, specifically B and C. None of the rats turned to the alcohol. When I read this study - true or not - I was inspired. It made a connection in my head. What is one of the major issues facing post-bariatric patients? Vitamin deficiency. And who hasn't been a very good boy about taking his bariatric vitamins for the last two years.... the exact time frame where my drinking went from the occasional bender, to daily drinking? Me!! So two weeks ago I started getting really serious about my vitamin intake, including getting B-12 injections every two days. Wow! what a difference! My craving went from a scream to a whisper. This last 12 days of sobriety has been a piece of cake compared to all my other attempts (none of which lasted more than seven days before giving in to the cravings). Your milage may vary, but if you are struggling with managing your alcohol cravings, give b12 injections a try. Hopefully it makes the same difference as I've experienced the last two weeks (knock on wood) I'll keep this post updated and honest.