NEED YOUR HELP THIS TIME

EVERYONE, PLEASE JUMP IN HERE ... ESPECIALLY YOU LONG-TIMERS & SUPER STARS WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS. OUT OF ABSOLUTE FRUSTRATION, I JUST WROTE DR BYRNE & NURSE BRENDA ASKING FOR THEIR SUGGESTIONS ... I'M ALSO ASKING FOR YOURS. I'M EXHAUSTED, & I'M IN THE DEATH-GRIP OF A NON-ENDING STALL. CHECK OUT MY ENTRY ON MY JOURNAL FOR TODAY, 2/17/2006, FOR THE E-MAIL TO THEM, BUT BASICALLY ... DO YOU THINK CHANGING FROM FLINTSTONES COMPLETE (3 TIMES A DAY) TO THE CHELATED VITAMINS AS ADVERTISED ON www.bariatriceating.com WOULD HELP WITH THE EXHAUSTION? IS ANYONE USING CHELATED VITAMINS/MINERALS, & IF SO, DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE FROM OTHER VITAMINS? THEY'RE EXPENSIVE & I DON'T WANT TO WASTE MONEY IF THERE ISN'T ANY DIFFERENCE IN THE EFFECT. AS FOR THE STALL ... I LOST THE 1st 50 #s IN ONLY 69 DAYS & HAVE BEEN LINGERING OVER A 7-8 # LOSS FOR THE LAST 43 DAYS WITH BASICALLY NO LOSS IN THE LAST 4 WEEKS. WEEK 12 - 4.60 = = 223.80 DOWN FROM 279.80 THIS IS WHERE THE STALL BEGAN ... LOST GOOD AMOUNTS ALL THE PREVIOUS WEEKS ... WEEK 13 - .60 = 223.20 WEEK 14 - NO LOSS WEEK 15 - GAINED .80 WEEK 16 - LOST THE .80 I GAINED THE WEEK BEFORE = 223.20 = BASICALLY THE SAME WEIGHT FOR 4 WEEKS FLUIDS: 40 - 64 OZ A DAY PROTEIN: 60 - 100 GRAMS A DAY, MOSTLY FROM PROTEIN PRODUCTS & SEAFOOD CALORIES : 500 - 800 A DAY SUPPLEMENTS: DAILY, RELIGIOUSLY EXERCISE: NO, SO EXHAUSTED, I DON'T WANT TO LOOK AT A PIECE OF EXERCISE EQUIPMENT, BUT KNOW I NEED TO!!! THANKS ... DAWN & NICK

Hi lady D I have been going through a 5 week stall. I talked to my dietician and she told me to get on the protein train for 3 days to try and jumpstart my system = protein shakes, meats, cheeses, and water water water! I lost 2 pounds the first day. so i'm guessin its workin!! as far as the vitamin. i had been feeling exhausted all the time for the past couple of weeks - i switched to optisource - its specially made for bariatric patients and you take four a day rather than two. i have noticed a big difference and i also upped my b-12 to 1000mcg every other day. good luck and hope the stall is almost over!! shannon

LOOK AT YOUR NEW PICTURE, MS SHANNON ... YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RADIANT ... YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL! WELL, I FEEL BETTER THAT I'M IN GOOD COMPANY AT LEAST ... THIS STALL HAD ME SO FRUSTRATED. FROM WHAT I'M READING HERE TODAY AS WELL AS WHAT YOU JUST SAID ... I'M LOW IN THE PROTEIN, ESPECIALLY TO JUMPSTART A LONG STALL. WHERE DO I PURCHASE OPTISOURCE? I'LL GIVE IT A TRY I LIKE THAT IT IS MADE JUST FOR GASTRIC BYPASS PATIENTS. I'M ALREADY ON 5,000 mcg OF SUBLINGUAL B-12. I TRIED TO DECREASE IT & THOUGHT I WOULD FALL ON THE FLOOR I GOT EVEN MORE EXHAUSTED. SO, I'M STICKING WITH THE HIGH AMOUNT. THANKS FOR THE INFO, MS SHANNON, & LET ME KNOW WHERE TO GET OPTISOURCE! GOD BLESS DAWN & NICK

hey! the protein train worked and the stall has ended!! (i hope) I lost 5 pounds over the 3 day protein binge. Optisource can be purchased at target or walgreens and is in the regular vitamin section - it comes in a citrus flavor. Thanks for the compliment - that means so much to me since it is still hard to see the difference in myself. anyway - try the protein thing here is what i basically did - morning - vitamins, b12, piece of turkey and cheese rolled up mid morning - 7 - 8 cheese cubes water all day lunch salad with chicken or shrimp afternoon - more cheese cubes or turkey and cheese roll protein shake dinner - fish or chicken, no veggies more water I am kind of a picky eater so there arent a whole lot of things I want to eat but you may have more variety. take care and I'm praying for a break in the plateau for you!! shannon

THE PROTEIN TRAIN & INCREASED CALORIES (WENT FROM 500 UP TO 800) WORKED TO BREAK THE STALL AS WELL, MS SHANNON. BUT, I LOST ABOUT 6 #s & NOW, I'M STALLED 5 DAYS AGAIN. THIS JUST MAY BE MY WEIGHT LOSS PATTERN AS FRUSTRATING AS IT CAN GET. I MAY JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. AS LONG AS I'M LOSING OVERALL, IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER. ON THE OCTOBER BOARD, WE HAVE LOSSES FROM 55 #s TO 123 #s IN ABOUT 4.5 - 5 MONTHS, SO I SOMETIMES FEEL LIKE I'M STRUGGLING, BUT THAT IS 64 #s I'LL NEVER CARRY AGAIN, SO IN ALL REALITY, I AM PLEASED. I AM ON THE OPTISOURCE YOU SUGGESTED ... WHEN I'M OUT, I'LL TRY THE VISTA VITAMINS W/ CHELATED MINERALS I GOT FROM BARIATICEATING.COM. THOSE WERE THE 2 BRANDS MOST PEOPLE RECOMMENDED ... I DO FEEL BETTER SINCE CHANGING & GETTING OFF THE FLINTSTONES. SO, IT MAY BE BABY STEPS BUT I AM TRULY THANKFUL FOR THE INFORMATION ... THANK YOU! HOW HAS YOUR WEIGHT LOSS BEEN GOING SINCE YOU BROKE YOUR STALL? HOW ABOUT THE HAIR LOSS - IS IT SLOWING DOWN? GOD BLESS & THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP DAWN & NICK

Well after the initial stall broke and I lost the 6 pounds, i started to lose about a pound every other day now I'm down to 214 and going back and forth between 213 and 214. it is frustrating but i guess this just may be the way our bodies work. my hair loss has slowed some. my doc told me that hairloss is indicative of being in the active weight loss phase so i guess its not such a bad thing after all . well i hat that we didnt get to have the meet and greet buy maybe in april we ll get to meet. take care! shannon

I KNOWWWWWWWWW THAT FRUSTRATION OF JIGGLING UP & DOWN ON THE SCALE, MS SHANNON, BUT WE'RE STILL LOSING SO THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS! WELL, I FINALLY AM LOSING HAIR ... I "DID EVERYTHING RIGHT" BUT MY HAIR JUST STARTED FALLING OUT A COUPLE WEEKS AGO. NICK SAID, "THAT'S OK, YOU'LL BE CUTE BALD!" SWEET MAN THAT HE IS. NO BIGGIE ... IF IT GETS TOO BAD, I'LL GET A WIG ... IT WILL GROW BACK! THERE'S A LADY AT CHURCH WHO LOST HER HAIR DUE TO CHEMO THERAPY FOR CANCER, SO WHO AM I TO COMPLAIN THAT I'M LOSING HAIR BECAUSE I'M GETTING HEALTHIER!?! COUNT MY BLESSINGS! YES, WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR "MEET & GREET" NEXT MONTH WHEN WE CAN ALL PUT REAL PEOPLE TO THE FACES ON THE BOARD! GOD BLESS YOU DAWN & NICK

The hair loss shouldnt be too bad. I find that it falls out heavily for about a month and then it starts to grow right back as it continues to shed so you'll have little baby hairs coming in soon enough. The other thing I learned is that low vitamin b turns your hair gray. I wasnt prepared for this but I am going gray all over! I guess these are the prices we pay for health and beauty! Hope to see you next month! Shannon

It's getting much better, Ms Shannon. It has really slowed down considerably & I just got it cut to take some of the stress off of it.

Hey Dawn, I'm sorry that you are having such a hard time lately. I have taken the vistavitamins chewable from bariatriceating.com from the start, so I don't know if it would be better one way or another. You take 5 a day of these, which is part of what makes them so pricey. I bought a 12 week supply, so if you want to try them, I'd be glad to send you 1 bottle to try (I have your address, so I can do this!!!) (then you can pay me back when/if you get some). The only thing I can see that you could do differently is to bump your calories to around 1000 per day (drink another cup of milk, or yogurt...or even another protein shake).....and try to just walk even if it's 15 minutes twice a day. I really hope that you start feeling better!!! Hugs, Dianne