(Part 2) Top products from r/wls

My "go to" bar is Thinkthin Brownie Crunch bar. I love the taste and texture but do not buy at Amazon. It is regularly on sale in Kroger stores. Sometimes for $1 but most of the time for $1.50

I have one every morning for breakfast and I don't feel hungry for a long time.

Then I love the One bars. I tried all of them and wrote down my reviews. So why mot share, right. My favorite is the Almond Bliss. The prices at Walmart are very good for those.

Here are the reviews for all the ONE bars:

Maple glazed Doughnut
Very sweet. Tastes like an old fashion doughnut.
Verdict: OK to Meh

***

Cookies and Cream
Not too sweet
Verdict: Good. Enjoyed it.

***

Almond bliss
Verdict: very good. Really enjoyed it.
230 calories though

***

Birthday Cake
Tastes like cheap sheet cake you get in the office
Verdict: sweet, not great. Meh

***

Blueberry Cobbler
Blueberries can be tasted but very sweet.
Verdict: sweet, meh.

***

Chocolate Brownie
Bar is chewy and not too sweet.
Tastes like brownies but not intensely.
Verdict: good. Not great though

***

Salted Caramel
Chewy and kind of solid. Not too sweet.
Taste is OK. I thought I would be better.
Verdict: Good. Would eat again if I did not have any better.

***

Peanut Butter Pie
Chewy. Not too sweet.
Taste is great. Tastes like Reese’s.
Verdict: Very good. Enjoyed it.

***

Cinnamon Roll
Nice. Taste is good but of course sweet
Verdict: Good.

Okay... incoming wall of text (you've triggered "verbose Amy mode"):

I am an utter newb at this, so I'm still learning myself. So far, I'm just working on my own, although I just got the name of a promising-sounding personal trainer from my physical therapist, so when my current round is over, I might try that out. I'd like to. But since I was starting from zero, I figured anything is better than nothing, so as long as I learned enough to keep from hurting myself, it would lead to progress.

Here's my current plan:

I split my routines up by parts: Sundays are legs, shoulders, back; Tuesdays are biceps, core, chest; Thursdays are legs, core, triceps. So legs and core get worked twice a week, everything else once.

Each workout is built around one of the big, compound movements: squats, pushups, pull-ups (which I can't actually do yet), and deadlifts (which I don't have the equipment for right now.) I do one of those every session; then the rest is made of accessory exercises focusing on more specific movements. They're usually 9-12 exercises total, and typically 3 sets of 10 reps, or however many it takes to fatigue the muscle. Then stretch, and done.

The only equipment I'm working with is one 15-lb dumbbell, one 8-lb dumbbell, a physio ball (I love mine), an array of resistance bands (most of which are too easy for me now) and body weight. This selection is a bit limiting, but since I started from fat middle-aged woman status, I've been able to make some initial progress with just this.

The really hard part, I've found, is finding books on strength training that are suitable for people in our situation -- it's like, everything is either pitched for 80-year-olds or people not really interested in actual strength training, or else for already-fit athletes. The books that I've found the most useful are Delavier's Women's Strength Training Anatomy Workouts, because it shows you very specifically what muscle group you're focusing on, and it does a good job of explaining the pros and cons of variations and modifications; and The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises because it's just got a million variants of major exercises included, which can be helpful for modifying and keeping boredom at bay. There are some better-respected books out there, too, but they tend to lean heavily on a pretty fit starting state, and access to really extensive collections of equipment. YouTube is also super helpful to find videos on correct form and further modifications for stuff that's still a little too hard.

Again, this is just my limited understanding from a novice perspective. I feel like I'm getting to the point where I won't be able to make consistent progress for much longer without investing in a lot more equipment (or finally dragging myself into the beautiful, state of the art fitness center to which I have access through my job), and some expert advice would probably do me a lot of good. So over the summer, I'm hoping to transition to a gym-based workout with some help from a personal trainer. So far, though, it's been all me, making it up as I go (with some research to back it up.)

The biggest thing pre-op to realize is that you will still be able to enjoy many of the same foods that you do now, but maybe cooked slightly different and smaller portions. A good example for a pre-op dinner for me was 6 oz of marinated salmon, 100 g of grilled asparagus, 160 g of green beans cooked in low fat butter, and 90 g of roasted red potatoes. It is actually quite alot of food, but a good chunk of the volume comes from the vegetables, which have few calories. Typical breakfast was 169 g of low fat/low sugar greek yogurt, 105 g mixed berries, and 39 g of Kind brand granola. For lunch, I would do a 2 slices of no sugar added bread toasted, ~100 g of turkey with a slathering of spicy mayo, served with 3 veggies of my choice. I would get two snacks as well. One was typically more of the greek yogurt and berries. The other was the granola and ~20 g of cashews...I would mix those snacks together. My fiance and I would eat the same things pre-op, and honestly it wasn't bad and felt like I was still eating alot. As for your husband eating unhealthy things in front of you, it will be hard pre-op, but you don't have to be perfect pre-op either. Some surgeons have weight loss goals before they approve you for surgery; mine did not. After surgery though, you won't feel hungry at all...ever. You will have cravings or so-called "head hunger," but I can at least easily ignore it. I can watch my fiance eat take-out Chinese food in front of me and be fine.

Post-op our diets haven't coordinated quite yet since I am still fairly restricted on what I can eat. We found a great book called "Eating well after weight loss surgery" (http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Well-After-Weight-Surgery/dp/1569244537/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462453288&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=how+to+eat+well+after+weight+loss+surgery). The recipes are designed so that you can use them at almost any point after surgery and tells you what modifications if any you will need to make. Each recipe is prepared by default for someone who hasn't had the surgery so it would work for your husband.

For going out to eat, you will be able to find things that you can have just a few weeks out of surgery. For example, we went out to a Chinese place less than 2 weeks after surgery. I got the wonton soup and didn't eat the wonton (I also only was able to get down half of it and took the other half home). I was a cheap date at $2.25 + tip. Even longer after surgery, you will be able to go pretty much anywhere and find something to eat, but you probably won't finish it.

The alcohol for me wasn't a dealbreaker, because I rarely drank as it was. It can be especially dangerous in the first year, because you are rapidly losing the weight. I do know several people that have drank after surgery and typically a beer or half a glass of wine is where they feel like it may have been too much. To go by your program's guidelines though, it is one year to make you much healthier to live a longer and more fulfilling life. You will be able to do more than you ever imagined.

I have tried every popular protein powder and I couldn't stomach any because of the taste and/or texture. I ended up getting BlueBonnet original flavor, it's unsweetened and unflavored but tastes/smells like milk powder and it's GREAT. I usually add in a scoop with a cup of 2% milk and half a banana. This gets me 35 grams of protein. It tastes like mild banana milk.

For my multivitamin I use MultiVites Gummy Vitamins, which are delicious and cheap. I also use Celebrate Calcium Plus 500 for my calcium which aren't as delicious, but there are plenty of different flavors to try. I don't require an iron supplement, so no help there, sorry. It's easy to get a B-12 shot once a month if you ask your PCP, and for Vitamin D, I use NatureMade. Good luck.

I bought this glass scale back in 2010 and it's still going strong! It's digital, goes up to 400 pounds and is pretty darn accurate. So glad Amazon remembers purchase history 😃

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KXZ808/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apis_1500664871817

I was just listing a few of the foods that are my 100% no gos. Calamari and oysters were a few others i forgot which I don’t touch at all, but everyone has a different experience with which foods they tolerate.

I’m about to have some bloodwork done in the next 2 weeks so i’ll know if i have any vitamins deficiencies soon enough. My protein shake is where i get most of my vitamins and combined with a healthy diet i only expect an iron deficiency.

I’ve never weighed over 200 since the surgery but i do notice that during the winter i will gain 10lbs or so due to more inactivity and cold weather but it comes right back off in spring when i start hiking and swimming more. Uhh social life is a bit interesting because you have to know your limits and do not cave to peer pressure. With GBP you are more prone to blackouts because a large amount of alcohol hits you at once and you’re a bit gone after that. I had 2 really stupid nights after i turned 21 and I wasn’t very aware of how much was too much, and i figured out shots are an absolute no. To be on the safe side i never have more than 1 per night and 2 if I’m out celebrating but not driving. Make sure you avoid cigarettes aswell. That road leads to stomach ulcers and alot of pain. Yes i was warned about it before hand but thats growing up and having to learn the hard way sometimes lol.

It sounds like you're still on liquids/mush? Do you like Miso soup?
Soybeans are packed with protein. Get some Hondashi and miso paste... add tofu if you like it.. and then whatever other additions you like (soy sauce, black vinegar whatevs) protein packed and soup-er (I COULDN'T STOP MYSELF) delicious!
When you can eat eat, snack on edamame!

Thank you. It's been quite a long road, but I did my research and bought the tools that got me through it.

It's just a lifestyle now.

https://www.amazon.com/Ziploc-Twist-Loc-Containers-Lids/dp/B000LNY1D8

Are your friend.

I have this book which has lots of good liquid recipes, using cocoa, peanut butter powder, pumpkin purée, decaf iced coffee, etc: https://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Start-Bariatric-Cookbook-Weight-Loss/dp/1623157730.

My advice: Optisource multivitamin for post bariatric surgery patients and Bariatric Advantage Calcium chewy bites. Optisource does not taste the best, but you just take 2 tabs twice a day. In the middle of the day (2 hours from the others), you take one 500mg calcium. That regimen contains everything my program requires. There is iron, therefore I would recommend taking your levothyroxine on an empty stomach and 2 hours before the Optisource.

https://www.amazon.com/Optisource-Chewable-Vitamin-Mineral-Supplement/dp/B00CJB9K4K/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1482005654&sr=8-1&keywords=optisource

https://www.amazon.com/Bariatric-Advantage-Calcium-Citrate-Tropical/dp/B00OKUL5UK/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1482005684&sr=8-1&keywords=bariatric%2Badvantage%2Bcalcium%2Bcitrate%2Borange&th=1

Check this book out https://www.amazon.com/Gastric-Sleeve-Bariatric-Cookbook-Recipes/dp/1939754704

I use this for unflavored powder: Isopure

Having curly hair AND having hair loss even before the surgery, I can tell you my curls do little to nothing to hide the hair loss. I recommend just using a product. My mom loves Toppik spray but imo it's kinda gross and sticky and gets everywhere. I prefer the 'fibers' but Toppik is sooo stupid expensive. So what I've done is kept an old empty Toppik fibers container and have been refilling it with this. Works pretty good. Can't get your hair wet or it kinda washes away but you're gonna get that with most of these kinds of products.

I found this stuff called Better than Bouillon and really like it because you can make it weak or strong for whatever your preference is that particular day. Plus they have a lot of flavors.

Unfortunately however if you have an aversion to broth of all kinds, I don't think that there's going to be anything you will find that will fix that problem.

I take these (bypass 18 months ago):

1. One a Day's Womens - I'm a woman so if you're a guy you should probably get the men's version
   
2. Bariatric Advantage Dry Vitamin D
   
3. Nature's Way B-50 Complex
   
4. Natrol Maximum Strength Biotin
   
5. Kirkland's Calcium Citrate
   
   Then, I'm not currently on either of these, but for a while I was taking:
   
   
6. NOW Vitamins B-1 Thiamine
   
7. Country Life Dry Vitamin A
   
   When taking all of these vitamins daily as recommended my numbers have all come back fine. Personally, I HATE the B- Complex because it smells funny, and I've tried a few brands and discovered that its just the way the B-50 complex smells and I just deal. Have one of those lame pill/vitamin containers that you can fill for a whole month, and I keep the B-50 in a separate container because otherwise ALL of the vitamins smell and its a more horrible process.