Hey, get your mind out of the gutter! (Or was that just me?! :))
As part of this new lifestyle, I’m back on the vitamin bandwagon. I’m going to be taking these supplements for the rest of my life, so I might as well get used to them, right? Kaiser Bariatrics put together a list of vitamins that could be purchased at Costco, which really helps to cut down the cost. So yesterday my wonderful dad took me along for his Costco run so I could get “a few things”:
(The Biotin is supposed to promote healthy hair, nails, and skin. This isn’t on the Kaiser list, but in all of the weight loss surgery forums and blogs, Biotin is recommended to prevent/diminish hair loss. Losing that much weight so quickly seems to do a number on most people’s hair. I’ve said many times that I have enough hair for 3 people, but even so, I want to do everything I can to make sure it stays that way!!)
The nice thing about buying these vitamins at Costco is that I won’t need to repurchase most of them for 3-6 months. So while the initial output of cash is fairly high, the overall cost per month is really very low.
But with all these different vitamins that I take a different times, I needed a way to keep it all organized, especially when school is in. I went on Amazon (where I find EVERYTHING!) and found this great pill organizer. I really liked that it had room for lots of pills and that it had the separation of AM/PM as well as days of the week. Plus, I can pull out each day’s compartment and slip it into my purse or lunchbag.
And just to give you an idea of exactly how many pills I have to swallow, here are today’s supplements all laid out. Sixteen pills! The small pink pill near the bottom of the photo is the sublingual B12, which I take twice a week, so on the days I don’t have that I “only” have to take 15 pills.
But if these pills keep me healthy, I’ll take them. Once my diet consists of only consuming between 600-900 calories a day, it’s going to be vital that I take these in order to maintain healthy levels. It’s a lot better than the alternative of being on lots of different medications, right?
What’s your take on vitamins? Do you take them?
Wow, that’s a lot of pills! But I love the organizer — very practical. I’ve heard the research is fairly mixed on how much vitamins really help, but I feel like I spend a lot on being healthy anyway (food, exercise), a little bit more won’t hurt, and even if my body only retains a small amount of the vitamins, it’s better than nothing.
I take 7 pills per day: multi, turmeric, flaxseed, calcium, C, B12, and birth control. I sometimes also do chromium picolinite (sp?).
I’m intrigued by the sublingual B12, I’ll have to read up on that.
BTW, thanks for your nice comments today!
I take 9 vitamins and 3 medications. Its such a pain to remember to take them.
You’ve been busy lady! I had the exact same pill organizer post op…at least I think it’s the same one? Anyways, great job building the habits pre-op, it really will help in the long run.
It’s also really interesting to see the difference between program requirements. It amazes me that there is such variation when it comes to supplements and then food requirements and progression through food stages from one office to the next.
Post op recommendations for pills…Calcium Citrate Petites (Costco unfortunately doesn’t sell them, but Amazon does!) because theyre about half of the size of the regular Calcium Citrate pills. Biotin-I have tried the one you have now from Costco and it does the trick, but the pills are HUGE. I highly recommend the ones from Amazon, Natures Bounty 5000mcg once you are post op, at least for the first 6-8 months. They are tiny, about the size of a risotto rice kernel. Ohhh, one more (sorry, longest comment ever) once you are allowed to chew your multi-vitamins again post op, the Centrum Daily (not the Women’s version, the standard version) are about 33% smaller than the Kirkland brand. I only recommend these ones because some mornings it feels like breakfast #1 is pills, and there will only be so much room in your tiny little tummy!
I really appreciate the tips. I was wondering how my tummy would handle all of these pills post-op. I’m having a hard enough time with it now. If I take them on an empty stomach, I get a bit nauseous.
The Kirkland brand multi’s made/make me pretty nauseous. I had given them a try but wound up returning them for the Centrum version. Luckily Costco is amazing with their return policy. For some reason certain multi-vitamins make people nauseous, not sure why. The Centrum Weight Control (or some name in that realm) also made me feel pretty icky, so I would avoid those ones if you can.
Today I’m doing better in terms of the nausea – I just take the vitamins in the middle of my meal and it seems to be going well.
Correction * once you are no longer required to chew your multi vitamins.
I USED to take a Multi-Vitamin every day, but I haven’t taken it for a while now, and I’ve noticed a serious, SERIOUS difference in the health of my skin and nails, so I’m thinking I’m going to have to bite the bullet and add yet another pill to my daily dose.
That said, if it helps, it helps! Luckily, I don’t take as many vitamins as you do right now, or will need to – just one Multi-Vitamin’ll do me – but my daily amount of pills is… urgh.
I’m curious: what’s the taste like of the sublingual B12? I’ve always hated melt-under-the-tongue type stuff… *laughs*
The sublingual pill is marked as cherry flavor, but tasted more berry to me. Really mild overall, nothing distasteful.
I take all those plus, spirulina and probiotics! Crazy vitamins, but like you said, it’s for our health. I have to take my vitamins with my protein shake every morning and the rest have to be taken with food too. The nausea is killer. I LOVE your pill organizer!
Spirulina, huh? Something to look forward to. Lol. I’m sure I’ll be taking some sort of probiotic/fiber supplement post-op, too.
It’s funny that I just read your post, because my hair has been falling out like crazy lately and it was driving me nuts! After googing it the other day, I figured out it was most likely due to the weight loss. Guess who’s buying some biotin this weekend….
It works so well! It also helps with nail growth, which is nice.
[…] has been knows to help in hair and nail growth (further confirmed by reading Bella’s blog post). I’ll be purchasing some of that thankyouverymuch, and hopefully along with the multivitamin […]