curveball21

No offense taken. I didn't mean to imply that I had all the same old bad habits I used to. I have changed the way I view and relate to food quite a bit. I just haven't been able to banish all the bad habits. I don't need to wonder how much more I would have lost if I had been perfect. It would be on the order of about 50 more pounds I think just by comparing myself to the percentage other men have lost in the same time-frame. I am not in any rush to lose the weight at record speed as I really don't want to deal with carrying a bunch of loose skin around in a wheelbarrow. I'm willing to give it more time to rebound naturally. I prefer to keep my eye on the prize rather than pursuing the prize with tunnel vision. I work on my relationship with food every day, forgive myself when I mess up and get back in the saddle right away. I think by the time the honeymoon period has completely worn off I will be in the right place to continue my journey the rest of the way.

Hello everyone, Just dropping in to tell a story in hopes that it might help somebody else. I weighed 495lbs at my highest "official" weight. I probably tipped 500 at some point. On day of surgery I was 486. Today, six months out I weighed in at 413. What did I do right? I had the surgery. It has my weight going in the right direction, something that just wasn't possible before. Also, I always get in my protein. What did I do wrong? Just about everything else. I started eating solid foods 9 days out from surgery. I still indulge in junk food from time to time. I rarely exercise. I have had beers and sodas (infrequently and never more than 2/day.) I can eat 8-12 oz of food at a sitting and I do get hungry, although not always. I have never thrown up and stop if I feel any discomfort. I was really hoping to have an exercise program in place by now, but I have not been able to go for more than 3 straight days of physical activity (even simple stuff like walking a mile or 2) without suffering a foot or ankle problem that takes me out of commission for a week to 10 days. Still, I can perform all regular daily hygiene activities without a problem ( that was getting tough prior to surgery) and I feel better than I have in a long time. Last week I put on a suit I hadn't been able to wear since shortly after I bought it in 2004. I'm losing 1-2 lbs a week on average now and even though it goes up a pound or 3 on occasion I either fix what I'm doing wrong or wait it out if I don't know what I'm doing wrong and the weight loss resumes in a few days. I have recently found that drinking a 30gr protein shake first thing in the morning in lieu of breakfast really helps me keep weight loss consistent. Still, I don't do that everyday, just days I don't have time to make breakfast or days where the scale was particularly unkind to me. My BMI cracked under 60 about 10 days ago and I'm not giving up on my exercise. I know one day my feet and ankles will be able to handle my smaller frame without incident and I will get it done. I know it is unusual for someone of my size to opt for this surgery as their primary plan instead of a bypass, but let me tell you when I go to post surgery meetings, I'm the one that's doing well compared to the others in every category other than total pounds lost. While I would like to have lost more weight, I know that the surgery was just a tool and not a cure. If I were able to be less of a tool about what I eat, the surgery would have worked better than it has. Still, I have no complaints and am in a much better place and have a much brighter future than I did six months ago today. I hope that my 12 month report will be even better. Thanks for reading, comments and opinions, good or bad are always appreciated.

Hi Dawnie, I don't want you to take this the wrong way because you clearly care about your boyfriend and want him to be able to be intimate with you not only physically but with thoughts and feelings as well. As a man, I can guess that his hangup might be about your weight or if you are physically fit possibly your ability to eat and keep things around the house that might cause him to be a recidivist. The problem is, once we have made the decision, there is no going back and we don't want to hear about problems or concerns other people have for us (especially from mothers, wives and girlfriends who complained about us being fat before) and we don't want to be with another person who is going to make it easy for us to get fat again. Therefore if you are overweight and love your boyfriend and want to have a future with him, it's time to get in shape yourself, otherwise the relationship will end with a bang or a whimper sometime in the next couple of years. He's just going to convince himself that he needs someone that isn't going to lead him back to where he was, because he needs to be healthy to live. If you are in shape and he is physically attracted to you (initiates sex, compliments your appearance without you fishing for it) then what you need to do is buck up, apologize to him for anything you said or did that caused him to feel you weren't supportive and know that you will love, support him and do whatever it takes in the future to help him on his journey. What you have done is somehow hurt his feelings and that's the best way to get it back on track and discuss these things with him, even if you have no idea what you did that caused this problem. Even better if you can do it with a clear-eyed discussion and avoid getting emotional. I hope this helps you and good luck!

My sleeve surgery is happening 9 AM tomorrow at the Cleveland Clinic. January 7. A day that will live in infamy as far as the local McDonald's is concerned.

I think it's a cool idea. My surgery is scheduled for Jan 7 and I start my liquid diet December 25. The Cleveland Clinic makes you go 2 weeks! I can be e-mailed at curveball21@yahoo.com.

Well that subject is almost all true. I'm actually starting down the insurance gauntlet for the second time. I had all the poking, prodding and everything done back in 2007 when I was considering the lapband. I chickened out near the end of the process when it was time to submit everything to insurance. I convinced myself that somehow this time it would be different and that I had a new-found desire to avoid surgery and commit to non-surgical diet and exercise. I'm now 75 lbs over where I was the day I made that decision. So now its time to go for it. In many ways it was a blessing in disguise because part of the problem was that I wasn't interested in having a device implanted in me anyway (unless they really do invent an orgasmatron). I'll be entering the Temple of Health (aka the Cleveland Clinic) again in a few weeks time to begin the poking, prodding and six months of dieting again. (Yes nice lady I know I'm supposed to be eating a slice of lean meat the size of a deck of cards and that crap with sugar is bad for me *insert Sam Kinison Aaaahhhaaaaaahhhh! here*) I went to the seminar 10 days ago and the schedule will be in the mailbox this week. This time I'm determined to do it the right way and have the right frame of mind about needing surgical intervention to help me solve me weight problem. I hope to be able to get some information and from time to time maybe even some encouragement from this group. My family has lined up behind me, but sometimes there is stuff you just would rather share with virtual strangers if you know what I mean. The biggest hurdle for me to get over is losing 75% of my stomach forever. The way I'm thinking about it right now is that it hasn't exactly been doing me any favors now has it? Maybe it's time to just go for the divorce and skip the trial separation. I do have some concerns about not having stomach tissue to harvest in the event of severe ulcers or stomach cancer. Balancing that out is that I have had occasional bouts of severe gout for over ten years now and I really need to be able to use NSAIDS when that crops up. Also my dad's half of the family has a terrible gene that seems to encourage pulmonary embolisms. They treat it with coumadin. Does anyone happen to know offhand if coumadin is not a good idea for RNY patients? I am considering getting the gastric sleeve as a first stage procedure (BMI 70) and getting the RNY 18-24 months later if the sleeve is not satisfactory. That is how the Clinic does it on high BMI patients. Frankly I would be satisified losing 65% of my excess weight and keeping it as the only procedure. Thanks for all the great information you guys and gals put out there. Looking forward to virtually meeting you all as I impose my opinions on your threads.