BriarRose

I started in 2010 with my sleeve. I was 54 years old. 320 pounds 5’2” - I got. To 175 at my lowest. I gained back 10 right away then another 40 in 10 years. Last summer I decided to lose 20 pounds in a year. I have lost 35. I am not even down to a normal weight by far - but I have gone from. Size plus 28 (at the start 10 years ago) to a 16 petite today. How ? Protein first. Lots of organic veggies, healthy fats, fruit. And some kind of “treat” everyday. I use complex carbs as “sprinkles” - if I am making baked potatoes for the family with dinner I might take a couple tablespoons and sprinkle it over my veggies. I do the same with pasta -chop it up and sprinkle on the veggies ! Life style changes. I garden and swim. No major exercising. And plan what I take to work. ( essential work in social services )

I am thinking about staying right here at the 185 mark for a while. For me, maintaining my weight, and knowing how to do that is important. So yes, I am still considered obese. My BMI is 34 unless you look at the age BMI and I get to be 33 BMI - I have lost and regained and then re lost weight. Started the journey at 320. Lost over 140 pounds Gained back 40 in 10 years Lost 35 in the past year. Just bought myself clothing in a size 16 petite. Not plus size anything. If I had wanted to hem pants, I could have bought size 14s. Not hemming pants. I walked into Kohls knowing I couldn't try on clothes. I bought 4 pr of capris and 2 pr of slacks all for work. mix and match with 10 tops and 2 light weight jackets. ALL on major sale - all guessing on sizing - needed to return 3 things that didn't look right for me. I am good for now. Will learn to maintain this weight within a few pounds either way. And feel like it is a huge success. I feel good. I am eating well. Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, good proteins, some carbs, and a treat or two .... Using my tool 10 years out.

Thanks for your responses. To MSWDiet - is that your initials or your degree ? I have an MSW - still working as a social work supervisor in foster care and adoptions. So it is now June, and I am still creeping down the scale - slowly - which has been my plan.... I need to know how to maintain, and how to lose .... something one would think I would have figured out at my age... but I am happy to say that I am at 185 - and feeling really good about it. Of course, now i have to figure out how to get some clothes that fit for going back to work in a few weeks.... and the stores are still closed here. I ordered shorts in 3 sizes from Kohls because mine were falling off... 20,18 and 16. Holy Crap. the 16s fit. My last pair were 2x. Happy to be back down out of plus sizes, and to be feeling strong and healthy.

I had a gastric sleeve over 10 years ago. I weighed 320 and was 5'2" and 54 years old. I also have asthma - life long and I needed a surgery that would allow me to take oral steroids and other life sustaining medications that also cause weight gain... but breathing is an important concept. I could not have a bypass surgery, as my pulmonary docs said that the surgery would make the use of oral steroids impossible and I am prone to pneumonia from years of impaired airways. (And yes, I am working from home right now !!!) I went from 320 pounds to 180 pounds. I unfortunately gained 40 pounds back in the last few years, mostly due to not being able to exercise much and well.... life. I got pissed off at myself last July and went back to high protein, and low carb and more veggies and cut out the slider foods... and I have lost 25 pounds. Yes, I am still obese, but for me, who weighed 320 pounds, I now weight 193. (27 pounds down actually) since this July. At 64 years old I will probably stick around the 180s to 190. Yes - it could and should be less, but my doctors are pleased and I have been pretty darn healthy for me. I take care of my critters, keep up a house, a career as a social work supervisor, I garden and am active. For me, I have kept off over 100 pounds and now am back to having lost 137 pounds and holding. I highly recommend it. Oh, I was in the hospital 2 nights after surgery. Mostly to stabilize my lungs. And I had surgery at 54 years old

I had surgery 10 years ago...so things and protein drinks may have changed. I could not tolerate the protein drinks. I get so ill from anything with any kind of sugar substitute. I sill have to read labels like crazy because flavored yogurts, and any "diet" sweets will make me very very sick. Read labels and see what is in there and try different protein drinks.

I am with Kaiser too. I started the process about the same time you did - March of last year. I have a pre-op with Dr. Billy in Ventura ( I live in Palmdale) on 1/4/10 and then will get a surgery date. This is taking forever is all I can say. But I can't complain too much. I've had blood tests, ekgs, heart stress tests, upper GI, abdominal ultrasound, x-rays.....and it's all covered. Keep in touch and let me know how it goes !!! BriarRose

No, not in TJ. In California. And NOW I don't even know if it will be that day....grrrrrr. I have a Health Maintance Organization (Kaiser) and they farm out the surgeries. The surgeon's office is now saying, maybe 1/18 or could be the next week.....grrrrrrr. I have my pre-op and will find out on 1/4/10 ---seems so long away. Good luck on your travel and surgery. Keep in touch ok ?

Sending prayers from here. Be well. ! Briar Rose.

I finally got my referral to the surgeon from Kaiser. I have a pre - op appt on January 4th with a probable date for surgery for January 18th ! So excited.

Different doctor, but hopefully the same date !!!!!

Still doing the waiting game for Kaiser to send my referral to the surgeon. I've sent an e-mail to the nurse that is in charge of all the paperwork at Kaiser; just to remind her that I'm still waiting. . . . . of course I know that things take time. . . . but I am anxious and don't have alot of time. Thanksgiving weekend was spent in Las Vegas for a family reunion. I managed to convince everyone that buffets were not in our best interest, since my 80 year old uncle is a diabetic and he would have to wait in line too long. Also makes sure that I didn't have the opportunity to eat really really badly. !!! I did eat too much, and made a few bad choices, but all in all not too bad. I only had one dessert, which I shared with someone. One meal that alot of things were fried, but that was unavoidable and for the most part, I made sure that I kept healthful eating in mind. Of course I got on the old scale when I got home and had gained about half a pound; but I consider that to be a victory -- 5 days of eating out, and to only have gained half a pound ?! I am pleased with myself. I'm back to eating my lean cusine lunches at work, and counting out crackers for a snack. I sure wish that my doctor would hurry up with this referral. It's going on 8 months since I started with this process....and I'm ready. NOW. Andi

I started on this journey as a child. "Eat, children. The children in Europe are Starving" ; "Eat your dinner if you want dessert"; and the cryptic "You never know when there won't be enough, eat my child." You see, I am a product of parents who grew up between the World Wars, and my mom lived in Western Europe. As a Jewish family, the reality of concentration camps, of a forced ghetto, was real to my family, and it was barely 6 years later my parents met in this country (USA) and married. It was only 10 years past food rationing and hiding bread for the children that I was born. You might not think of kids growing up during the baby boom of the 1950's as being affected by WWII, but we were. And I think that is where this first "fat generation" came from. Yes, I was a chubby baby, and always was a size or two bigger than my age mates at school growing up, but I managed to still be a popular if quiet girl. I had plenty of friends, had mom and dad and a brother, and a grandmother who lived in our home. In Junior High, I was still chubby, and it was more difficult to keep up with my peers in PE. By high school, I was actually the slimist I would ever be, being very active in social groups, lots of friends, and dating. College, and even Grad school I managed to keep my weight in the just over weight "zaftig" (pleasingly plump) realm, where I had lots of men interested, and in the 1970's and the 80's we had no diseases you couldn't get rid of, and freedom to be hippy-dippy as we wanted, and so I did. But my weight began to creep up, and up. I remember buying my first clothing in the large ladies section in my late 20's. And it just kept going up from there. Yes, I had health issues and years of taking prescribed steroids for asthma that added to my weight and eating, but somewhere between 30 and 40 and when I married and had a child....it got out of control. I found myself in my late 40's weighing 300 lbs. I was still active. I walked, I hiked, I camped. I kept up with my kid and my friends. Then at 49 the little bits of arthritis I had in my hands and knees went balistic. Everything hurt. Medications, MRIs, and the medical advice to lose weight. So I did. I lost 25 lbs in a year, found out my (now ex) husband was cheating, so I divorced him..... then 25 more the next year. I was going to curves, and really eating healthfully. Then I had major emergency abdominal surgery. The good thing was, that it wasn't advanced cancer, but still needed a few courses of radiation. All self control for healthy went out the window. I was terrified. I did not tell my family. I just did it. We had recently lost my mother to ovarian cancer, and I couldn't put them through this again.....and I gained back the 25 lbs, and then some..... So here I am. I have spent the last 2 years thinking about it, and doing research on it. I need 2 knee replacements that I can't have until I lose more weight. I am in constant pain. I asked my PCP from my *** for a referral in March. I attended the 12 week class starting in August. I have lost 20 lbs in the past 5 months. I had the screening tests. I had the follow up on the heart test to a stress and non stress tests. I did the lab work last week, a new ekg, and chest x-ray. I had my flu shot. And now I may lose my job and my insurance with it, so I am pushing like all get out to get this done NOW (or as soon as possible) in a system where nothing moves quickly. Yesterday 11/17/10 I got approval to be referred to a surgeon ! The one doing them the fastest requires additional tests. I managed to get cancellation appointments for TOMORROW for the upper GI and a gall bladder ultrasound. Once that is done and read, I will (hopefully) get my referral packet sent to the surgeon's office. I am hopeful, and I am scared. I have chosen vsg because I want to continue to be able to take the naprosyn for my arthritis, and not have the malabsorsion for medicines in the future. My Dad is still alive, at almost 85; and I have a teenage daughter who needs me. Daughter knows about my plans and is minimally supportive. I haven't told Dad yet, as we lost my brother to H1N1 last year.....and I don't want Dad worrying more or longer than necessary. I will up date this after tomorrows scary tests. Briar Rose

Well, I am still pre-op and started with my ***'s program at 300lbs. I have lost 22 lbs so far on my own, and MY goal for myself would be 165. That would put my total weight loss at 135 pounds. My doctor origionally wanted my goal to be 135. I laughed. I probably weighed that in 5th grade. But frankly, at this point, I look at it by each meal, each half pound lost, each day being closer to surgery and closer to my goal. Briar Rose

Well, I lived through the upper GI and the abdominal ultrasound. The upper GI was gross. I am a Water drinker. We never had soda growing up, I drank milk with a spoonfull or two of coffee in it, because I have always hated plain milk; water, and we did have juice in the house, but I never really liked drinking sweet drinks. (probably a good thing !) Now, I drink water, more water, and coffee, with an occasional unsweetened iced tea with lots of lemon. So to have to drink a thick gross tasting cup of what looks like elmers glue -- only thicker... blech. But it was over fairly quickly=I was in and out of the upper GI in about a half an hour. Now, it's just waiting for the test to be read, sent to the *** gatekeeper and then forwarded to the surgeon. The thing that is making me so nervous is that there is a good chance I may lose my job, and with it my health insurance. And finding a social work job these days is not easy. I just hope and pray for a date that is soon, so that if I have to pay for COBRA, I won't be hanging out for nothing.....Of course, I am worried like heck about my job, and losing it, and the possibililtly of losing my home....seems that the past couple years have just been so hard. It is almost a year since I lost my only brother to the H1N1 virus. He was just a few weeks shy of his 50th birthday. So impossible to lose someone you love to the flu. but that was what started his respiratory failure. That is one of the reasons I am not telling my 85 and a half year old father yet. Mom has been gone for 7 years, and we lost my brother this past year. I don't want Daddy worrying too long, or too hard. But I HAVE to do this. I HAVE to have another tool to fight with. I use every ounce of self control that I own to make better choices in what I eat, but I eat too much and I know it. I lost close to 50 pounds a few years back, went from 300 to 245. But that was before my arthritis got really bad, and before I had a bad fall on my knees. So exercising like I was able to then isn't in the cards this time around.....I did rejoin curves, as I did last time, and am working out there -- but I am at about one quarter of what I could do then, because of my knees-- barely walking is the pits. I so need this surgery to get back on track. To LIVE instead of exist. I have to live for myself, and for my daughter; but also for my brother. To Celebrate his life, to honor his memory. I can't do that when I am so obese and crippled that I cannot do what I want to do in life. Of the people in my group at my ***, I am the only one who pushed for appointments, who pushed for taking cancellations, calling the appointment centers daily, sometimes every couple of hours to get cancellation appointments, to hurry this up. I am the only one out of my group who was basically done before the classes ended. I am 54. I am divorced. I have a daughter with some special needs who although she is doing well needs more help than most at 18. I am a mother, an adult daughter of an octogenarian father. I want more in my life. I want to be attractive and FEEL attractive. I want to date again. (I did some a couple years ago....but not now....) I want to take my kid on a 7 day horseback tour of the southern sierras the way I did when I was 20. I want to not kill the poor horse. I want to hike and ride again. I keep hearing that 50 is the new 30; and I was married to a man who wanted me to be fat, to make sure that I stayed home and with him. I knew enough to get out when it started to go sour; and am glad I did....but man, it isn't easy. I want to interview for a job and be vibrant and capable, and look like I could keep up with the 30 somethings who have half of my experience, but can run faster and jump higher......Just give me a tool to help me get there.

I am so glad you decided to do this at an early age. I wish I had. Of course, then these options were not around......so I won't beat myself up too much !!!! Briar Rose

My ekg came back funky so I had to do a cardiac stress test. If you can walk fast on a treadmil it's not bad. If you can't they give you a medication that makes your heart race to simulate what exercise does to your heart. Because I have arthritis in my knees I had to have the medication. That was not fun. Otherwise it was easy. You go in and they put an IV in your arm, then they inject a radioactive substance in the IV. They tape the IV down and you go to the hospital cafe or out to lunch to push the radio active crap out of your stomach into your blood stream. You come back and then either walk on treadmil or have the yucky injection. If you have the injection, they give you an antidote in 2 minutes. So it's over fast. Then you lie on like an x-ray table and put your hands over your head,and lie there while a camera thing goes around you and takes pictures for about 10 minutes. BriarRose

I see that there are other Kaiser members here, so maybe you guys can relate, but I am sure that everyone has the BIG WAIT issue . . . . . I started this journey with my PCP in March. I need two knee replacements, but they wont' do them until I lose 70 lbs ! I am a54 year old woman, and wieghed 300 lbs at referral. I was seen in May by the "gatekeeper" doctor for the bariatric program. I was accepted in the program to do the orientation and start the process... I started the next open class in late August, and will finish the class tomorrow night. (12 weeks) I had my psych appt, did blood work last week (19 vials of blood !) chest x-ray, and ekg. I had to do some other cardiac testing because of a funky ekg result, so had to do stress test and non stress tests from nuclear medicine. Now they want an upper GI and an abcominal ultrasound. I'm getting excited and nervous all at once. I've lost 20 lbs, and am a single parent to a teenager. So this is where I am in the journey. Tomorrow night we have to "prove" we can walk for 15 minutes. My ortho doc says I'm not supposed to walk much to save my knees. But tomorrow night, come heck or high Water, I'm going to walk with my cane for 15 minutes. It may be walking with a pain pill already in me.....but darn it, I'm going to walk for them !!! I have my last consult with the gatekeeper on Wednesday and then the GI and ultrasound that the surgeons office wants on Friday. (have to drive an hour for that one....) I'm hoping for the surgeon referral on Wednesday and a date SOON! Anyone have any experience with Dr. Helmuth Billy in Ventura ? Thanks !