New 60+ Thread

[lxg 0]

Hi Everyone,

I've been following this thread for a while and finally got up the nerve to post. I've been moderately successful with my weight loss since being banded last August but I'm still taking pills to control blood pressure, cholesterol and bone loss plus several Vitamin supplements. Does anyone have good ideas to share about how to get these down??? I am SO tired of crushing the pills and mixing them with applesauce or pudding! The bitter taste comes right through, yuck :biggrin:.

Thanks for your help.

[pennyw 0]

Hi Everyone,

I've been following this thread for a while and finally got up the nerve to post. I've been moderately successful with my weight loss since being banded last August but I'm still taking pills to control blood pressure, cholesterol and bone loss plus several Vitamin supplements. Does anyone have good ideas to share about how to get these down??? I am SO tired of crushing the pills and mixing them with applesauce or pudding! The bitter taste comes right through, yuck :biggrin:.

Thanks for your help.

Lynne, I'm sorry I'm no help. Since I just got banded I have no problem swallowing my pills. I take cozaar for high blood pressure - and the doctor assures me it will be ok. The only one I am worried about is Boniva - and that is just once a month. I was wondering what meds you are on. I think the high blood pressure - in my case - might not go down because it is hereditary in my family - my son has been on BP meds since high school! And both my parents were on it, and my mother doesn't weigh 90 pounds dripping wet.

Hugs,

Penny

[lxg 0]

Hi Penny, thanks for your answer. I also have BP and cholesterol issues that are hereditary - all of the women in my family have died from heart disease or stroke, and my internist and I are determined that I will not be one of them! She is a bear on keeping those levels down, and I am happy to comply, I just wish I could find a better way to get the meds down. I take metoprolol (toprol) for BP, lipitor for CHL and evista to counter bone loss.

[JoannMarie 0]

Hi Everyone,

I've been following this thread for a while and finally got up the nerve to post. I've been moderately successful with my weight loss since being banded last August but I'm still taking pills to control blood pressure, cholesterol and bone loss plus several Vitamin supplements. Does anyone have good ideas to share about how to get these down??? I am SO tired of crushing the pills and mixing them with applesauce or pudding! The bitter taste comes right through, yuck .

Thanks for your help.

Welcome! If your ticker is correct you have lost 49 pounds since banding - was it August 2008? If so - that is almost 50 pounds in 5 1/2 months - about 8 pounds a month, 2 pounds a week. I think that is an excellent loss.

I don't know what kind of Vitamin supplements you are taking, but many of them are available in chewables or liquids. I've not been crazy about the liquids - they just taste so supersweet to mask the real taste. I am taking the costco brand childrens' chewable Multivitamin (similar to Flintstone's) and they taste okay, price is right. I also take a childrens' chewable Omega 3 (fish oil). My B Vitamins and D vitamine are small round tablets, not a problem to swallow, or they are small rectangles and I use a pill cutter to halve them. For Calcium I am taking the Viactiv chewables, which are either chocolate or caramel. I love the chocolate, and I was able to find the sugar-free type (also Costco's brand). I have read you can go to Bariatric Advantage website and they have a selection of Vitamins, but I have found mine at - TA-DA - costco. (bet you already figured that out...) I am sure you could find them at any full service drug store, Walmart or Sam's Club.

Keep up the good work!:thumbup:

[Memere-9 0]

I don't have any problems with my meds my doctor does not have me on any Vitamin supp except Calcium and multi my other meds go down ok as well. I also have spams in my eshogus (sorry for the spelling) but i have had that for years. I hope you find a good way to take your meds

[lxg 0]

Good morning, and thanks for your support! I haven't tried just swallowing the pills - guess I'm afraid they'll get stuck. I do chew the chocolate or caramel Viactiv with Calcium, yum. My doctor has me on Vit. D & B12 (but they are BIG pills!) and I take Biotin to (hopefully) prevent further hair loss, since my hair has been falling out in handfuls since the surgery.

JoannMarie - thanks for the tips about costco, there's a new one near me and I will definitely take a look there.

Thanks for your help!

[phyllser 3]

Good morning, and thanks for your support! I haven't tried just swallowing the pills - guess I'm afraid they'll get stuck. I do chew the chocolate or caramel Viactiv with Calcium, yum. My doctor has me on Vit. D & B12 (but they are BIG pills!) and I take Biotin to (hopefully) prevent further hair loss, since my hair has been falling out in handfuls since the surgery. JoannMarie - thanks for the tips about costco, there's a new one near me and I will definitely take a look there. Thanks for your help!

I haven't had any trouble swallowing pills, but I don't try the really big ones. Calcium, Vit C and Omega 3s tend to be big. I use the chewable Calcium from costco, too. For a while they had some "easy swallow" Vit C, but now it's out, so I bought some chewables. I also use Centrum Silver Chewable Multi. Omega 3s can be found in little squeeze packages.. orange flavored, and I have one a day over the top of some SF 60-70 calorie Jello pudding. There is an easy swallow Calcium... Citracal, I think, but it's SQUARE!! That's just SO WRONG!! I still had trouble swallowing them because of that, so I just stick to the chewable Calcium. But it's Calcium Carbonate, and some doctors want you to take calcium citrate.... supposed to absorb better or something.

[Memere-9 0]

Good morning, and thanks for your support! I haven't tried just swallowing the pills - guess I'm afraid they'll get stuck. I do chew the chocolate or caramel Viactiv with Calcium, yum. My doctor has me on Vit. D & B12 (but they are BIG pills!) and I take Biotin to (hopefully) prevent further hair loss, since my hair has been falling out in handfuls since the surgery.

JoannMarie - thanks for the tips about costco, there's a new one near me and I will definitely take a look there.

Thanks for your help!

Need to ask. did you have lap ban or gastric by pass. You seem to be having symptoms of gastrc by pass surgery. There are no malabsorbtion issues with lap ban. At least I don't think so.

[skinnydippn42 0]

Hi Ya'll,

I have not been on for awhile. Still hanging in there around 238 lbs. (30 lbs down) I don't know if I need anouther fill or I'm eating the wrong/too much food. I don't see the Doc for another month.

Our monthly support group has started a weight lose challenge for the next 2 months with money prizes. It has me thinking a little closer as to what I'm doing. Maybe this will help.

But I'm not giving up. Just getting started and a long way to go to a new me. Even 30 lbs down I'm looking better and already can get in some of my smaller clothes.

Don

PS: I starting Bowling the last couple weeks on Friday with a seniors group. Bowling is a lot more excersize than I remembered. Nice to meet other people and get in a little different type of excersize. Highes game so far is 153.

[phyllser 3]

Hi Ya'll, I have not been on for awhile. Still hanging in there around 238 lbs. (30 lbs down) I don't know if I need anouther fill or I'm eating the wrong/too much food. I don't see the Doc for another month.

Our monthly support group has started a weight lose challenge for the next 2 months with money prizes. It has me thinking a little closer as to what I'm doing. Maybe this will help.

But I'm not giving up. Just getting started and a long way to go to a new me. Even 30 lbs down I'm looking better and already can get in some of my smaller clothes. Don

PS: I starting Bowling the last couple weeks on Friday with a seniors group. Bowling is a lot more excersize than I remembered. Nice to meet other people and get in a little different type of exersize. Highest game so far is 153.

Good to hear from you, Don.

Do you know about how many calories per day you are eating? What do you eat in a typical day?

Good place to go for help is a mentors' thread... I'm here to help is an excellent one for "coaching" in your journey.

[skinnydippn42 0]

I have not lost anything for about 3 weeks now. I have increased my treadmill time over 2 mph for 30 + minutes to every day & go Bowling mosts Fridays. I "think" I'm losing inches but no weight. I see my Doc on March 12th., maybe I need another FILL, not sure yet.

They say this banding weight loose is slow but this seems to be TOO slow.

Time will tell,

You might be right, no I have not been counting my calories. I need to start that again. It's so hard for me to do that. Things should change for the better soon, I just have to hang in there.

Don

[phyllser 3]

I have not lost anything for about 3 weeks now. I have increased my treadmill time over 2 mph for 30 + minutes to every day & go Bowling mosts Fridays. I "think" I'm losing inches but no weight. I see my Doc on March 12th., maybe I need another FILL, not sure yet.

You might be right, no I have not been counting my calories. I need to start that again. It's so hard for me to do that. Things should change for the better soon, I just have to hang in there. Don

Good to hear from you again, Don!

Its always good to hear from our 60+ folks!

Yes, you probably need a fill. But it will also really help if you start keeping a food diary of everything you are eating and figure the calories. There are some good websites you can use to do this if you don't like the pencil and paper method. I like FitDay.com, but I know there are a couple of other good ones. Check out your options. Maybe someone here has some other favorites because I can't think of them right now. You may be eating too much, or need to make better choices.

Have you cut out most of the carbs?

Sounds like your exercise is on target.

Bowling is not too effective for exercise,

but the treadmill is excellent.

Portion control + healthy food choices + exercise = SUCCESS!!

[JoannMarie 0]

Don - I know you have the Realize band - have you been using their website? I really like it. I track my food there, though I don't track every day. They have good information for exercise, support, planning, etc. If you have not been using it, give it a try. You should have received an access code number when you received your band. If not, give them a call (you will be able to go into the website enough to get a phone number) and they will contact your doctor to coordinate with him and get you an access code to use the full website. Play with it a little and you'll figure it out. If you have trouble, they will help by phone till you are able to use whatever part of it you want. They also have recipes that look pretty good, although I have not tried any of them. You can track your food and exercise both. Food tracking is broken down into calories, Protein, carbs and fat, so very helpful.

If you have only had one fill, you probably don't have enough restriction and another fill will help. My doctor starts with the first fill of 3cc, then a second fill with 2cc. I had my third fill yesterday with 1cc, so I now have 6cc in my band. She says it takes several fills, starting w/3 and working on up with smaller fills each time till I am at the place where I have restriction that will allow me to be satisfied with 1/2 to 1 cup of food per meal. After yesterday's fill I am fairly tight, everything is going down, but very slowly. I know it will loosen in the next few days as the swelling goes down, and hope to be where I need to be as that happens. I'm scheduled for another one on Mar 20, but I don't know if I will need that one. I'll just wait and see.

Edited March 3, 2009 by JoannMarie

[Doddie63 6]

Hi Don: If it helps you any, I got my band Feb.07 and my maximum weight loss has been 1/2 lb per week. It is very discouraging to see the small numbers, but when I look back I have lost a total of 80 lbs. Simply put, at 66, I am a turtle and no matter how much I exercise the weight does not come off any faster. In fact, I injure my joints to the point I have to take time away from exercise to heal.

You are correct, you will have to count calories and the best way to do that is use Fitday or some other free program. Once you have set up your program to the usual food you eat, it only takes seconds to record.

Simply put the less food you eat the more weight you lose.

Just hang in their and the weight will come. In the meantime, enjoy your new lifestyle of eating small quantities but healthy meals.

I have not lost anything for about 3 weeks now. I have increased my treadmill time over 2 mph for 30 + minutes to every day & go Bowling mosts Fridays. I "think" I'm losing inches but no weight. I see my Doc on March 12th., maybe I need another FILL, not sure yet.

They say this banding weight loose is slow but this seems to be TOO slow.

Time will tell,

You might be right, no I have not been counting my calories. I need to start that again. It's so hard for me to do that. Things should change for the better soon, I just have to hang in there.

Don

[roxie 0]

Hi Everyone,

I have lost 22 lbs. since 12/17/08 surgery date. Slow Slow Slow but I do notice I lose better if I eat lighter in the evening.

If you do not feel uncomfortable after you eat more than a cup of food, I would say you need a fill but I went in to get a fill and they wouldn't give me one because even though I am losing slow, I am losing. So don't listen to me.