male only Glad to see I'm not alone.

[Stringbender 0]

Just registered with this site. Been looking around and all I was able to find were woman posters. Good to find other male WLS members. Having gastric plication surgery this coming Wednesday, 8/17/11. Any one here had this surgery done by Dr. Watkins, of the Cincinnati Weight Loss Clinic? I'd like your opinions if you care to share. Seriously looked at going to Mexico but opted to spend the extra money to have surgery done in US.

Planning on loosing around 115 pounds. Have lost 19 pounds so far on my pre op diet. Walking two miles a day five days a week.

Couple questions: Any one else find Unjory tastes really bad? I ended up sending it back. Tried several different things to make it eatable and nothing worked. Any alternative suggestions?

Other question is, assuming I follow a sensible diet and exercise program is it feasible to loose 100 pounds in around a one year period of time after having the gastric plication surgery? I haven't been able to find much information regarding after surgery results pertaining to men.

Thanks,

Dan

[Khy 16]

Try Chike. It tastes ok to me. Or Protizyme Peanut Butter cookie. Are you sure you want a plication or the sleeve?

Khy

[RickM 1,747]

I can't comment on the plication surgery, but I would expect that your goal is reachable with it - most of the common procedures offer enough restriction that 100 lb loss is quite reasonable during the 12-18 month prime loss period (the bands seem to be the least reliable in this area.) I am also looking to lose around 100 lb with the sleeve and am down about 65 lb after 3 months. The big differences between the different procedures for those of us in this "moderate" weight range is the durability of the loss along with the rate and severity of potential complications. The sleeve, with its relative simplicity seems to have a relatively low complication rate and its weight loss durabiliity seems to be similar to the other restrictive procedures like the RNY, while the bands seem to suffer from both poor loss durability and high longer term complication rates. I can't comment on the plication as it is even newer than the sleeve with less of a long term track record, but I would expect its basic near term loss to be similar but with a somewhat higher complication rate due to its band and folded type stomach restriction. As with the sleeve and RNY, I would expect that long term durability of the loss will be highly dependent upon your ability to stick to the lifestyle changes required to maintain a stable weight once the pounds come off.

On the Protein Drinks, I find the EAS brand powders to be pretty good (or at least the least objectionable) with their chocolate having a fairly delicate flavor that can be enhanced with a little cocoa powder if desired. I use the Unjury unflavored powder as a mix in to other foods to enhance their Protein component. Taste is such an individual thing that it's hard to give a solid recommendation other than just to experiment with the different brands.

Good luck in your ventures,

[Stringbender 0]

I can't comment on the plication surgery, but I would expect that your goal is reachable with it - most of the common procedures offer enough restriction that 100 lb loss is quite reasonable during the 12-18 month prime loss period (the bands seem to be the least reliable in this area.) I am also looking to lose around 100 lb with the sleeve and am down about 65 lb after 3 months. The big differences between the different procedures for those of us in this "moderate" weight range is the durability of the loss along with the rate and severity of potential complications. The sleeve, with its relative simplicity seems to have a relatively low complication rate and its weight loss durabiliity seems to be similar to the other restrictive procedures like the RNY, while the bands seem to suffer from both poor loss durability and high longer term complication rates. I can't comment on the plication as it is even newer than the sleeve with less of a long term track record, but I would expect its basic near term loss to be similar but with a somewhat higher complication rate due to its band and folded type stomach restriction. As with the sleeve and RNY, I would expect that long term durability of the loss will be highly dependent upon your ability to stick to the lifestyle changes required to maintain a stable weight once the pounds come off.

On the Protein drinks, I find the EAS brand powders to be pretty good (or at least the least objectionable) with their chocolate having a fairly delicate flavor that can be enhanced with a little cocoa powder if desired. I use the Unjury unflavored powder as a mix in to other foods to enhance their protein component. Taste is such an individual thing that it's hard to give a solid recommendation other than just to experiment with the different brands.

Good luck in your ventures,

RickM; Congratulations on lossing 65 pounds.

Thanks for the information. Going to the local GNC store today to try some different protein Meal Replacement drinks. One thing about protein drinks I have found in my research is that several of them are made from inferior ingredients made in China. Don't know if you remember all the infants that died in several countries a couple years ago from being poisoned from infant formula made in China. It is inevitable any more in this country that we all will buy items made in China, still I try to keep my consumption of Chinese products to a minimum. OK, getting off my soap box now.

Main reason I decided on the plication is all I have read about it, it has the least possibility of complications. I have a cousin that had the sleeve and she had some serious problems with leakage. In order to solve the problem required another surgery. With the plication procedure there is no cutting of the stomach, and no foreign objects left behind other than the stitches. The material used for the stitches has been used in other abdominal surgeries for many years, and have proven to be reliable in both the short and long term. Another thing about the plication it is supposed to be reversible. Though my surgeon agreed with me that over time it is very likely the areas of the stomach that are stitched together will grow together. Wether this is all true? Well, guess I'm going to find out.

Wish you continued success in your weight loss endeavor.

[thinoneday 445]

stringbender, you may also want to try Bariatric Advantage Protein Meal Replacement. I lived on those forever. They are really really good and mix very well. Not chalky or pasty tasting at all. They mix really well with Peanut Butter too. . good luck.

[RickM 1,747]

RickM; Congratulations on lossing 65 pounds.

Thanks for the information. Going to the local GNC store today to try some different Protein meal replacement drinks. One thing about protein drinks I have found in my research is that several of them are made from inferior ingredients made in China. Don't know if you remember all the infants that died in several countries a couple years ago from being poisoned from infant formula made in China. It is inevitable any more in this country that we all will buy items made in China, still I try to keep my consumption of Chinese products to a minimum. OK, getting off my soap box now.

Main reason I decided on the plication is all I have read about it, it has the least possibility of complications. I have a cousin that had the sleeve and she had some serious problems with leakage. In order to solve the problem required another surgery. With the plication procedure there is no cutting of the stomach, and no foreign objects left behind other than the stitches. The material used for the stitches has been used in other abdominal surgeries for many years, and have proven to be reliable in both the short and long term. Another thing about the plication it is supposed to be reversible. Though my surgeon agreed with me that over time it is very likely the areas of the stomach that are stitched together will grow together. Wether this is all true? Well, guess I'm going to find out.

Wish you continued success in your weight loss endeavor.

Stringbender,

You are more of a pioneer than even us VSGers - good luck with it. All of these procedures start that way with little history and a good concept, with some enduring and becoming mainstream and others never being adopted widely and ultimately being dropped. My wife had a duodenal switch a few years ago, when it was reasonably accepted within the WLS community but still generally considered to be "investigational" by the insurance industry so we self paid for that one. Mexico didn't have the WLS factories that they have now, so the primary budget option at the time was Spain, but the delta cost wasn't worth the hassle over going to San Francisco.

I was not overly concerned with leaks as my docs have been doing these VSGs for around 20 years as part of the DS and they are very anal (so to speak) about leakage and testing for them; I would be more concerned about leaks with some of the practices that do the VSGs outpatient where any leaks happen at home rather than in the hospital. Further, there is a small percentage of us out there whose bodies are particularly ornery and will react negatively to any procedure - that's just life. After being around the WLS community for a number of years now, I take a somewhat jaded view of "reversible" claims considering, as your surgeon notes, the body's propensity to adapt - things can often be reversed if there is some sort of adverse reaction early on, but less successfully as time proceeds. The bands are widely promoted as being "reversible", but more accurately they are "removable" while the damage that they can cause, sometimes in a matter of months, is far from reversible.