ouroborous

Well, we can all give advice -- you know what they say opinions are like -- but absolutely, you're right: the doctor should always be the bottom line. Get a second opinion if necessary, but make sure it's a second medical opinion. I'm such a stickler for this because a friend of my girlfriend's nearly died last year because she decided to ignore her doctor's advice and try a "natural" remedy instead of take her medicine (unrelated to WLS, but still...)

By the way, my nutritionist told me to simply not worry about minding anything other than Protein. She said that 100g of carbs per day was "fine" (as long as most of those are "good" carbs, not sugar/flour). She said to not worry about fat at all, since we can't eat enough volume for it to matter. Bottom line, as long as we're getting enough Vitamins and protein and Water, and as long as our calorie count is about right, we'll lose weight. And I agree with others: ditch the scale, or at least don't get on it more than once a week. You can easily gain or lose 2 lbs or more of water and waste per day, and if you track it too frequently it'll give you a complex!

Amazing progress! Congratulations!

Dunno if I'm hot yet -- gotta get the flab off and find out what's underneath. I'll be happy with just "geeky biker" -- anything else is just frosting!

You really should take the B12 sublinguals. They are almost discomfort-free, and (once your levels are normalized) you might be able to skip the shots. Of course, talk to your doctor. B12 is not something to be messed around with. Insufficient B12 can lead to brain damage.

Sorry, darlin', testosterone is a harsh ruler: it makes my hair go away, but it also helps my gut go away and my muscles stay muscle-y. You could always get steroid shots, if you don't mind going bald and growing a thick, lush mustache! Edit: oh, and I should mention, that's 40 lbs. from my highest weight right before surgery. Since the sleeve, I've "only" lost 25-30 (depending on whose scale you ask).

Of course, always, always, always, always take your doctor's guidelines over those of ANYONE on the internet, but still, I'll chime in to throw in some facts and maybe calm you down a little. Here are your priorities, in terms of risk to your health: Hydration: dehydration will kill you, fast (less than 3 days of no hydration means death). Don't mess around with this; if you have to choose between Water and Protein, choose water. Protein: the problem with insufficient protein is primarily muscle wasting. But remember this: you can live without a bit of food for nearly three weeks. I'm definitely not recommending this, but a few days or even a week of a mildly malnourished state won't kill you. It will make you feel utterly miserable, but it's probably not life threatening. Vitamins: there are a few Vitamins (notably my favorite, B12) that can cause irreversible damage if you don't get enough. A lot of people have trouble taking them; I commiserate, but still, you gotta take them once you're cleared for them. Try different brands and flavors, there are enough varieties that you'll find SOMETHING you can stomach. Carbohydrates: despite the no-carb religion that's popular these days, you need all the food components (protein, fat, carbohydrates) to live well. Extremely low-carb diets can cause lethargy, confusion, and other unpleasant effects. Definitely mind your carbs (especially simple carbs like sugar and bready things), but don't try to eliminate them completely. Best to get carbs from complex sources like vegetables, once you're cleared for that. Calories: please don't try severe caloric restriction (below 600 calories), especially with exercise. Not only might it backfire (your body will go into conservation mode, burning very little and you'll just want to sleep all the time), but it might actually make you nauseous, leading into a dangerous downward spiral. Also -- and talk to your doctor/nutritionist about this -- if you're working out hard like me, burning 300-400 calories/day, you may need to bump up your intake to compensate. If you're getting enough water, you're probably not in danger, for at least a few days, anyway. If you're getting enough water and protein, you've got a few weeks before anything can go really bad. If you're getting enough water and protein and vitamins, it'll take a long time before anorexia does real damage. And if you're getting enough of all of these, you're on the fast track to Wellville. If you get any of the following symptoms, run, don't walk to your doctor: Repeated vomiting Excessive pain anywhere Difficulty breathing Constant (ie, not momentary or positional) dizziness Mental confusion Pooping blood (it will look black and tarry) Peeing blood (it will look brown -- not dark yellow, but brown) If any of those happens, get ahold of a doctor, fast. Many of them (e.g. difficulty breathing) are 911-type emergencies.

There, I fixed it!

Definitely follow the doctor's orders on this one. If the doctor says get off them (because, like stcyt you are at risk of osteoporosis, which is about the only real risk of PPI's), then get off them. If your doctor says to take them, then take them. The point is, these are not something you should fool around with without talking to your doctor first.

Right now it's not in the stage where anyone except a developer can tune things like the alarm frequencies (you have to modify the code to do that). Gimme a week or so and I'll post it for free up here or on my website. I probably won't be able to support it, but hey -- it'll be free, and you get what you pay for!

I'm really having to re-learn how to eat! Before the sleeve, my girlfriend used to joke that I ate like a camel -- one GIANT meal a day, and nothing else. She would just about faint if she didn't eat every few hours. I used to sort of scoff at that. Now -- wow, the shoe is on the other foot. If I don't eat a little something every couple of hours (and I'm STILL trying to work out the best schedule), I start feeling miserable. I get grumpy and moody and no fun. I get a weird "hollow" feeling in my stomach (which I think is actually hunger). And if I go too long, or if I exercise really vigorously without putting in some "fuel" first (and preferably some sugar- or carbohydrate-rich fuel, at that), I really run out of steam! When my girlfriend and I took our 1.9 mile walk yesterday, I started out really strong, but by the end I felt like I could barely pick up my feet. I wasn't in pain or breathless, just... no energy. Then we got back and I got super sleepy. I'm noticing THIS, too -- I think when I'm just out of fuel, I get sleepy, like I just want to take a nap. It was only 6:30 pm -- way too early for me to sleep -- but I was nodding off. Then I had a Protein shake, and really perked up, for about 45 minutes. My girlfriend suggested that, now that I'm nearly in the solid food phase, maybe liquid food is just not providing a long-lasting enough burst of nutrition. That might explain why I get energy for 45 minutes to an hour after having a Protein Shake, but not for longer. Between sipping Water -- not too fast, not too slow, not too close to meal times -- and stopping to eat a little bit of food every couple of hours, this is a completely alien way of eating to me. It's probably healthier in the long run, and good for me to learn good eating habits, but it's really completely the opposite of the way I used to eat. I'm having to re-learn everything!

Isn't it awesome? I'm still not cleared for anything more than walking (but, shh, I've been doing light upper body -- non-abs -- work with a 15 lb dumbbell), but even that feels AMAZING. When our bodies are slim enough that they work right, exercise feels really, really good. The combination of the physical feelings of a satisfied, well-worked body and the mental satisfaction of doing healthy, good things for yourself -- what a rush!

That's amazing! Congratulations! Yes, I think how much we have to lose has a lot to do with how fast we lose it!

Mmmmmm... that all sounds so good... Once I can stabilize my energy level with real food, I'm going to start trying to increase my Fiber (BM's are still... challenging) and control/watch my carbs. Also, I'm worried that I'm getting some gall bladder twinges, so I'm hoping that I can control that before I need to have my GB out!

Oh, thank god (and this, from an agnostic!) I was hoping that this yo-yo between high energy/low energy and full to overfull/ravenous was going to get better. Glad to hear that it will! I'm so looking forward to Saturday. I want MEAT! I cheated a little last weekend and had a tiny piece (like maybe 1g? itty bitty) of juicy, awesome-prepared tri-tip steak at a barbecue. It didn't cause me any discomfort, and it tasted like freaking ambrosia. I'm so tired of Protein shakes and yogurt and... ick. Gimme a steak! Gimme some chicken! Gimme some vegetables!

So, sleeve gurus, here's one for you. Should I be tracking gross calories (every calorie I consume during the day), or net calories (the calories I consume, minus the calories I burn)? If I track gross calories, I lose weight like gangbusters, but I feel like crap if I do almost ANY exercise. It's like 800 calories is the bare minimum my body wants to live on. If I track net calories, well so far today I've consumed 938 calories, but I've burned 396 calories with a 2.7 mile walk. So according to LiveStrong, I have 258 calories remaining. Any thoughts? I'm going to see the nutritionist on Thursday, and I'll ask her, but I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on this. I feel much better on more calories when I'm working out so much, but I don't want to sabotage my weight loss!

I wonder how things will go on solids for me. I'm actually finding that mushy/slushy is the hardest part, since most of those go right through and tend to be fairly calorie dense. Hopefully "real" food will make things easier!

I just don't see how 400 net (usable) calories per day is sufficient. I'm going to ask my nut. about it, but I know for a fact that when I eat 800 calories per day and burn 400, I feel miserable. If I eat 1000 calories per day and burn 400, I feel great. So, with the nutritionist's blessing, I'm going to listen to my body! Of course, I've been losing about a pound a day even so, so I don't really have anything to worry about.

Having a lot of the same issues. I have constipation (2-3 days between movements) and REALLY hard stools. My nut. recommended Cholace (sp?) as a stool softener. That worked, but it gave me explosive diarrhea! I think the big problem is I'm getting little to no fiber these days. On Saturday I start "real" food (solids), and I'm really excited to think about eating some actual, real vegetables. Weird, huh? But the thought of a well-prepared, tender piece of chicken and some green beans just seems like HEAVEN right now!

Yeah, I'm starting to think that I need to switch up the content of my meals, too. First, I'm drinking too many Protein drinks. I don't think these give lasting energy, because 30-45 minutes after I have one, I'm down again. Second, I need some carbs. My work gives out free goldfish crackers, and I'm finding that 5 crackers (12 calories) is a nice "snack" that makes my head hunger go away and gives me a tiny burst of energy. Of course, this Saturday I'm cleared for "real food" and I think I need to start eating meat and vegetables again -- more satiety, better quality nutrition, more Fiber... what's not to love?

Thinking about it, I HAVE to track net calories. If I'm truly burning 396 calories on a fast (3.0-3.5 mph) 2.7 mile walk, and if I'm only eating 800 calories total, then that's only getting me 400 calories to live off of. That's just not enough! I'll talk to the nutritionist about it, but I'm starting to think that I need to track net calories. When you eat so little, it makes a difference (back when I was eating 3000 calories per day, 400 calories burned was only about 15% of the day's total; now that I'm eating 800 calories per day, 400 calories is 50% of the day's total!)

The Premier Protein drinks I drink in the morning are 160 cals and 30 g of protein. That's 5.33 calories per gram of protein. Your drink is 4.6 calories per gram of protein -- even better! As long as you can stomach it all and it's not crazy in some other way (super high sugar or sodium or whatever), it sounds good. And no, the 30 gr of protein at a time thing is an urban legend. It's a persistent one!

Follow your nutritionist and surgeon's orders, of course, but please don't skimp on the B12! I take a B12 sublingual every single day. The reason I'm singling it out is that B12 is probably the most important, most unheard-of Vitamins for sleevers! Without enough B12 you can rapidly develop severe, irreversible brain damage. Check with your doc. I doubt B12 deficiency is causing fatigue, but hearing that you were taking it weekly scared the heck out of me!