OH Event in Orlando was Outstanding!!

Hi everyone! I know it has been almost 2 weeks since the event, but I have been so busy since that time. What a great thing to meet and greet folks that you see on OH boards and then get to meet and hear some of the workers and staff of OH. Bo, Amy and Jeremy were a few of the familar faces that I saw. Bo is a person full of energy and enthusiam and always ready to give encouragement to anyone he meets. He was awesome and I loved his stories and inspirational talks as he hosted the event. Amy is a behind the scenes gal and loves being online but not in the limelight at these events. She is so sweet though. Then there was Jeremy. What a caring and concerned person. He spoke to us about the importance of cardio exercise and getting that heart rate up. It was interesting because he stated that 30 minutes a day for 5 days is optimim, but that you can break it up and it all counts toward burning those calories and keeping fit and maintaining the weight loss. He genuinely cares about the OH community and those who are working to loose weight in their lives. Dr. Jawad from Ocala, FL came to speak on RNY and other surgeries and what we need to do to maintain success. I didn't realize that I haven't been eating enough protein (he recommends 70 to 90 grams of protein a day), drinking those liquids and those vitamins. I learned a lot about the vitamins I've been taking and have changed things around a little. He said that calcium needs to be taken twice a day at different times. I had been taking mine at the same time and he said the body will only absorb 500 mg at a time so anything over that is waste. Now I take one in the morning and one in the evening to get the most out of my calcium. He also stated that B-12 is best taken sublinguialy or by injection. Pill form is not broken down and is also a waste to us. I will be seeing my PCP on Tuesday to discuss this with him. Dr Jawad and his staff have a wonderful after care program and he has you come to see him once a year for the rest of your life because you never know when something may happen. Is a wonderful doctor. Dr. Shuster from Hollywood, FL was the Plastic Surgeon they had and he was compassionate and very informative. I have decided that I will be going to see him for a consult when I get the timing together for it. Several people asked about lower body lift and if insurance will cover this. He stated that he had insurance pay for it once and that was due to a clerical error, so if you are looking to have lower body lift done, it will most likely be out of pocket for you. He had some wonderful pictures and stated that whoever you see should be more then willing to show you pictures and give you names of people to hear how their experience went. Of course they will have given him their permission to do so. There were several people there that had Dr Shuster as their surgeon and it was nice to see how happy they were with his work. I look forward to meeting him in the near future. There were several vendors there and lots of free samples. I really like the profect in the vials (protein drink). They have 20 grams of protein and its about 4 1/2 oz of liquid to drink. I had blue raspberry and it was really good. I am going to get these for boosting my protein intake as they are quick and easy to use. If you have any questions, let me know. I'll try to answer them for you. It was really a good weekend for $20 and it included lunch!! What a bargain!!! Lori 293/185/150