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Another place to purchase Whey Protein Isolate (Isolate is a type of refining process for whey protein and was the type recommend by the Nut) is the Vitamin Shoppe. I found them to be much cheaper than GNC.

Without knowing your weight/height and weight history it is hard to say whether your doctor is justified in saying they don't support the surgery. Did the doctor say why they aren't in favor? Have you checked the requirements for your insurance? A lower BMI can be an issue for some people getting approved. Please don't take this the wrong way but it will be hard for people to advise you without more information. Depending on your situation it may just mean you need to go to a new doctor. I am considering changing my doctor because in the last 2 years I have never actually met the doctor. I have always been seen by Nurse Practioners Or Nurses. Keep in mind I had a blood clot in the brain (mini stroke) at 39. You'd have thought that would have warrented a meeting with the doctor.

Could you speak with the Nutritionist at the doctor's office about using whey Protein Isolate instead of CIB? I have purchased some from both the Vitamin Shoppe and from Bariactric Eating. Here's a breakdown of Gold Standard chocolate Cal 120, Fat 1 g, Cholesterol 30mg, Sod 60 mg, total carbs 3, Protein 24g. I am on a self imposed liquid diet and have been making the following two meals a day. Protein Powder, 3 fat free milk ice cubes (app 1/3 cup milk), 2/3 cup fat free milk, 1/3 cup ice Water, 2 ice cube, 2/3 cup frozen fruit Total calories about 250 calories. CIB seems to have a very low protein count. I think you would feel better with a higher level of protein. Though you probably would need to cut down to 3 shakes a day. If you do move to protein powder I highly recommend the Hamilton Beach Single Serving blender. Only $16 at Walmart or Target.

In my PreOp meeting with the Nurse Practioner she mentioned several things that could come up during the surger (we were signing a release document). If the surgeon finds some kind of structure (tumer etc.) they take a Biopsy and send it to a lab for review. She did mentioned that they did not remove gall bladders as a matter of course. She did mentioned only once in all the surgerys they had done that they had to remove a gall bladder. She was astonished that the person had not been in complete agony because the GB was black and the tissue dead. Because of medical ethics they could not leave that and remove later it was a sever threat to her health.

After losing significant weight when I was eighteen I started to have these abdominal pains. After several episodes the pain was so intense; Unable to stand and difficulty breathing I ended up at the emergency room. Turns out I had Gall Bladder sludge. This was 20 yrs ago and I had to have an "open" operation vs. Lapriscopic. The pain is so horrible I would'nt wish it on anyone. Please keep in mind I have a very high pain threshold and this was unbearable.

How long do you swim? I also have joint issues so I swim every day. I try to do 60 minutes of continuous lap swimming. I use a waterproof MP3 player which really helps pass the time.

Hi. I am preband but wanted to address your concerns on the cruise experience. Last spring I took my mother on a two week cruise. I had started to swim and eating better six months prior to the cruise. When I came back one of my friends said "You are the only person I have ever known who came back from a cruise and weighed less!" My mother and I went swimming in the mornings before breakfast (you could go to the gym). The ships are enormous. You can burn a lot of calories walking around. We also did a lot of excursions on the islands so lots of walking. I would pick and choose my treats. Our ship had free warm cookies all day at one of the coffe shops. I think we got 2 cookies each one day and ended up throwing half away. There was a ice cream sunday party every day at 3:00 I think we did that once. For breakfast and lunch we much preferred the buffet. At breakfast they had scrambled eggs or eggs made to order; which will be a great way to get your protein. At dinner they have a lot of courses but you don't need to order them all. Also since there are a lot of courses the portions are on the smaller side.

I also use the overnight with wings kind. I use two at a time; one in front of the other. I replace the one in the front as needed. The one in back is more for overflow protection. Less likely to leak on the couch. Anyone else use a towel on the bed when they are staying over at a friends'. I would be mortified to leak on someone's sheets.

My surgeon does an overnight stay. I am personally glad about this because I had a serious blood clot issue 5 months ago and like the idea of being in the hospital for 24 hours. Also I have had allergic reactions to pain killers in the past and would not want to have a bad reaction at home. My insurance lists the surgery as day surgery but if "medically necessary" will cover admittance. Since my doctor considers is a requirement that's were I will be.

I tried to get you the link to the nutrition section of the starbucks website. Shocker the only calorie count they are willing to share is for some sandwhiches less than 400 calories. Found another site not sure how accurate they are. CalorieKing - Calorie Counter - Fast-Food Chains & Restaurants - Starbucks Says one blueberry muffin is 500 cal. Ouch. I sometimes look at how many calories someting is and it helps me not eat it. Big Mouth Bites (with Fries) at Chili's has 1,000 cal with 95 grams of Fat. Haven't eaten them since I found this out.

Disclaimer I am not a food journaler at all. If you think you are "eating to much" I would journal everything you eat. You might find that you are not eating to much and are just having a plateau. Alternatively you could discover calories consummed that you just aren't noticing. Do you use cream in your coffee or sugar? In New England you often hear at Dunkin Donuts "I'll have an Extra Extra"; that would be extra suger and extra cream:ohmy:. That seriously adds up.

First, please speak to your doctor about your personal situation. Currently my excercise is an hour of moderate lap swimming. My surgeon said I could return to swiming 2 weeks post op. I asked if I could go to the gym during those two weeks and do the treadmill and he said yes.

My doctor did not require me to do a preop liquid diet; but suggested a special liquid diet so I could loose more weight before the sugery (and thus leading to a lower eventual goal weight). After speaking with my nut I decided to wait on starting a liquid diet until I at least have a sugery date (It is also 500 calories which I just think is too low.). The diet he recommend is sold online and at the hospital (45 minutes away) I want to do a liquid diet that I can buy locally. I wonder if you were not loosing based on the number of carbs per searving. EAS Carb control and muscle milk are 4 carbs per searving; with protein at appr. 25 grams.

So I got a call today wanting to schedule for 3/4. My problem is that I cant do the surgery until I meet with my neurologist on 3/8 to confirm I can go of the bloodthinners I am taking. The scheduler hasn't called me back yet.

Hi. I wanted to write in to get some advice regarding the (first) meeting with my surgeon. Some background about 16 months ago due to a knee problem I started swimming daily and eating better; lost 30 pounds. Five months ago out of nowhere I had a blood clot which caused stroke like symptoms. The treatment for the clot is going well but requires taking blood thinners. Hopefully my March tests will indicate that I can go off the blood thinners. Lost 5 pounds before attending screening session. Nurse practitioner said the doctor might put me on a liquid diet once I met with him. In the six weeks since that meeting I have lost 12 ponds. I had a great meeting with the surgeon and asked lots of questions. At the end I asked whether he would be putting me a liquid diet. He said that from feeling my abdomen that he could do the surgery today without a liver shrinking diet. However, to reach a lower goal weight he recommended I jump start weight loss by doing a specialized 500 calorie liquid diet. The hospital sells the shakes at their pharmacy though you don’t need a prescription to take them. At this point I do not have a surgery date. The doctor said he may be booked until April. I had an appointment with the nutritionist and she said this particular doctor likes this liquid diet. She is not a huge fan. The liquid diet consists of 5, 100 calorie shakes. The Nut said she sometimes has someone do 2 shakes and one sensible meal for two weeks before the surgery. The Nut said she would tell the doctor we were holding off on the liquid diet at least until I meet with the NP in March. One thing I did not like about this brand of shake is that the Protein level was low (10 grams) versus the higher levels of Whey Protein Powder. Given the facts what would you do? Start liquids today, wait until you had a surgery date, do two weeks before surgery? If I stop loosing weight I might change my mind; but for now doing a liquid diet for 2-3 months just seems excessive.

I have been swimming for about the last 16 months. I had always hating swimming for excercise, my mother loves swimming and would always want me to go with her. Here are some suggestions. 1) Water proof MP3 player! A must have. You can google this or run a search on Amazon. :thumbup: 2) Excellent sources for ladies plus size bathing suits online. Some places have higher prices for your first purchase but then you get discount coupons for future purchases. I usually get 35-50% off coupons and will pay with shipping around $40 for a suit. In stores they tend to be twice as much and are'nt as cute. 3) Since I wear swimdress type suits I don't feel uncomfortable walking from the changing room to the pool. Also that walk is like 20 seconds and then I am in the water for the rest of my work out. No one is really seeing me.

Thanks for the replys so far. I must say that the doctor did suggest I look on line as the program may be cheaper. Based on this comment I can't fairly say he was putting me on a diet that the hospital would profit from. I am thinking perhaps once a week until my next appointment with the Nurse Practitioner I will do 2 Protein shakes with a protein heavy WW or lean cuisine for dinner. That would be four days over the next month. As I am currently unemployeed I am not having to get up and go to work everyday (though my profession is a desk job). As mentioned in my first post I do exercise daily. My biggest concern about the 500 calorie diet is that I would not be able to function as I currently do. I do an hour of continuous swimming (I'm not Mark Spitz or Jenny Thompson but I am moving constantly:w00t:). The Excercise Calorie Burning sites on line say on average that I burn 900 in that hour. Even if they are off by 50% the doctors diet would barely cover the calories I burn excercising. I would be concerned that I would not just be burning stored fat to metabolicly (sp) run my body but lean tissue/muscle.

Okay I am not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. I though I remembered reading about a British Medical study that said during ovulation your body burned an extra 500 calories a day. This could explain why you are hungrier at that time. Again, have no medical training. I wonder if you could try something like air popped pop corn. Not the microwave kind but the kind made in the 1970's air poppers. You could spritz i with I can't believe it's not butter. That would give you volume. That's the best I got.

I have to say though that one bottle lasts me months. Sometimes I buy a new bottle because I think the old one is too old.

double post

Some people comment that fat people should get off their butts and exercise. Well if I do go exercise they can't comment about how unfit I look. Anyway due to a knee issue my main source of exercise is swimming. Here is my super fashionable swimming look: fat lady swimdress; snorkle googles and breathing tube (allows me to swim much faster because I don't have to worry about breathing); Speedo waterproof mp3 player (absolute must for lap swimming). The upside is most of the time I am in the Water so there is not much for anyone to look at. Oh another thing when I swim at night the local high school swim teams are taking up half the pool; so I have both the high schoolers and their parents as an audience. I don't know these people. Bottom line what do I care what they think? I did have a woman stop me at a local store recently who wanted to let me know that she has noticed me at the gym and wanted to congratulate me on my weight loss.

Slightly off topic but I had a coworker who had br##st reduction surgery and was out for about a month. This was at an enormous international company and she was on short term disability. No one ever said what surgery she was having but it was pretty obvious what surgery she'd had. I find it pretty funny that you are being asked about high blood pressure as if they were told the premiums were high because someone had high blood pressure. WLS is an item on the insurance program so if they really wanted to save money they could change their policy. Not that I am trying to give them any ideas.

If they continue to try and discredit your decision I would ask them "If I needed a pace maker would you tell me not to have the surgery?" Or "If I need Chemo would you tell me to use a natural cure?" They probably would not. Also if you really feel the children are being malnurished you need to take action. A few years ago in MA a child died of starvation because the mother (member of a cult) insisted the child only Br##stfeed.

I also have very short legs for my height. I've discovered that depending on the fabric that if I buy petites and put them in the dryer that they shrink to being "high waters". I can get better results buying "average" length and when they shrink in the dryer they are the right length.

Coverage comes down to the contract that usually your employer has written with the insurance company. Insurance companies usually have a arbitration (not sure if thisis the right word) group that you can call to dispute a coverage rulings.