GraceAbounds

About anything can be waivered in the right situation. If the "needs of the service" are high enough you can get the waiver. Keep pressing them to help you.

Congratulations. I can imagine your day to day living experience has improved tremendously! Small things like bending over to pick up your cell phone, putting on shoes, and walking a few feet are all suddenly easy and even enjoyable. Keep at it!

BMI is not only a poor indicator of health (how long and with what ability you will live) it is NO indicator of such a thing. It is a lie plain an simple. But it is a revenue generating tool for big companies who will and do charge higher premiums for folks who live on the upper end of this scale.

While modern medicine continues to astound us all with innovation that makes life better for so many - it has failed us greatly when it comes to how health is measured using Body Mass Index. And, if it is not changed, many of us will pay the price for years to come for this total fraud in health care. You will pay higher premiums not only for health insurance but eventually for car insurance (study just released that shows higher BMI equals greater risk of injury in car accident). It is a free ticket to higher profits for companies who know how to slant this in their favor. Check out this article from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439 1. The person who dreamed up the BMI said explicitly that it could not and should not be used to indicate the level of fatness in an individual. The BMI was introduced in the early 19th century by a Belgian named Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet. He was a mathematician, not a physician. He produced the formula to give a quick and easy way to measure the degree of obesity of the general population to assist the government in allocating resources. In other words, it is a 200-year-old hack. 2. It is scientifically nonsensical. There is no physiological reason to square a person's height (Quetelet had to square the height to get a formula that matched the overall data. If you can't fix the data, rig the formula!). Moreover, it ignores waist size, which is a clear indicator of obesity level. 3. It is physiologically wrong. It makes no allowance for the relative proportions of bone, muscle and fat in the body. But bone is denser than muscle and twice as dense as fat, so a person with strong bones, good muscle tone and low fat will have a high BMI. Thus, athletes and fit, health-conscious movie stars who work out a lot tend to find themselves classified as overweight or even obese. 4. It gets the logic wrong. The CDC says on its Web site that "the BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for people." This is a fundamental error of logic. For example, if I tell you my birthday present is a bicycle, you can conclude that my present has wheels. That's correct logic. But it does not work the other way round. If I tell you my birthday present has wheels, you cannot conclude I got a bicycle. I could have received a car. Because of how Quetelet came up with it, if a person is fat or obese, he or she will have a high BMI. But as with my birthday present, it doesn't work the other way round. A high BMI does not mean an individual is even overweight, let alone obese. It could mean the person is fit and healthy, with very little fat. 5. It's bad statistics. Because the majority of people today (and in Quetelet's time) lead fairly sedentary lives and are not particularly active, the formula tacitly assumes low muscle mass and high relative fat content. It applies moderately well when applied to such people because it was formulated by focusing on them. But it gives exactly the wrong answer for a large and significant section of the population, namely the lean, fit and healthy. Quetelet is also the person who came up with the idea of "the average man." That's a useful concept, but if you try to apply it to any one person, you come up with the absurdity of a person with 2.4 children. Averages measure entire populations and often don't apply to individuals. 6. It is lying by scientific authority. Because the BMI is a single number between 1 and 100 (like a percentage) that comes from a mathematical formula, it carries an air of scientific authority. But it is mathematical snake oil. 7. It suggests there are distinct categories of underweight, ideal, overweight and obese, with sharp boundaries that hinge on a decimal place. That's total nonsense. 8. It makes the more cynical members of society suspect that the medical insurance industry lobbies for the continued use of the BMI to keep their profits high. Insurance companies sometimes charge higher premiums for people with a high BMI. Among such people are all those fit individuals with good bone and muscle and little fat, who will live long, healthy lives during which they will have to pay those greater premiums. 9. Continued reliance on the BMI means doctors don't feel the need to use one of the more scientifically sound methods that are available to measure obesity levels. Those alternatives cost a little bit more, but they give far more reliable results. 10. It embarrasses the U.S. It is embarrassing for one of the most scientifically, technologically and medicinally advanced nations in the world to base advice on how to prevent one of the leading causes of poor health and premature death (obesity) on a 200-year-old numerical hack developed by a mathematician who was not even an expert in what little was known about the human body back then.

And by the way - I love what Von said about tossing the scale. Fact is, if you eat the diet the doc gave us and get as active as your life can bear - the weight will come off and the number just don't matter. Living long, well is the goal. And this step takes us all closer to that.

I stalled at 291 for 4 days. Fiber was the issue for me. Once I added Equate powder in big doses to shakes and eggs things got moving and I am now 287 3 days later. I am active an hour a day every day walking, light weights, and even a short jog here and there. If I let up on that I stall as well.

Full link to the original article from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439

A friend at work had Sleeve and has lost almost no weight after the first few months. She struggled with getting protein in right from the start. Her diet has consisted mostly of carbs with some protein. She is a busy mom and professional so exercise is not happening at all. I'm hoping she gets things turned around. I have lost 54 pounds in 6 weeks and never felt better. But I love the protein drinks and work out with my sons. Different place for sure. Hope you get rolling and congrats on the marriage.

That is a great post clk. I feel guilty, honestly, that nothing I have eaten has been an issue. I wonder sometimes if they just poked holes in me to make me feel like I had a sleeve? LOL. Protein powders were never my favorite when I played football or while I was in the Army training - but they are easy now. Eggs, sushi, potatos, soups, Chinese food (mostly just the chicken from the broccoli dish); beans and rice at Mexican, and others all go down easy and have caused no issues. I log it all in MyFitPal and stay under 1000 calories in a day. Losing weight and feeling better than I have in years. I hope this course stays the same. And for all those I read who are struggling with eating I pray things improve quickly and fully!!

Had 8 small pieces of Sashimi tonight. Nothing else. It was wonderful and no stomach issues. Big load of protein and good oils to boot. I'm 5 weeks out and so far have not had a single issue with anything I have eaten. Lost 46 pounds of the 130 I want to lose in that time. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall and have some issue but so far this has been easy and a blessing of gigantic proportions!

Sounds about right. I would have been stunned to learn anything different. The good news is as a nurse you have a great career. I admire you for wanting to serve and wish you the best in whatever you pursue.

I have had rice at Chinese and Mexican places (4 weeks out) with no issues. Small amounts. Looking forward to Sushi now! Thanks for the topic.

I agree. And today one of the big challenges recruiters face is that so many potentials recruits do not meet the entrance weight standards. This could help solve that issue. The only place I could see an objection would be how it would effect a person's ability to deploy and operate in a war time environment. Eating "Meals Ready to Eat" instead of hot meals is the norm. From my perspective a person 12 months out should be fine. But I'm sure a doc would have to weigh in on that. As soon as I hear I will post what the Recruiter tells me.

I was in the military for 8 years. Spent 4 years enlisted and did ROTC and got my commission. National Guard then regular army. I don't know if the Army would permit a post sleeve patient. In my day, the likely answer would have no. But that may have changed. I have a friend who is a recruiter. I just sent him a message on FB. I will post his response.

The point about your height and weight in at surgery date is key. I'm 6 feet tall and weighed 342 on Dec 13, date of surgery. This morning I was 294.8 pounds. That is 47 pounds in 30 days. But I have followed the diet closely and walk every day. Even have started light running and lifting in the last two weeks. I have a teenage son who is a QB and I catch passes for him almost nightly so I likely get more activity than most folks 1 month out... The great news for you is you are headed in the right direction! Losing 40 over 5 months beats the tar out of gaining 1 more over any period of time. Keep at it!

Good info. Thanks. I have been using GNC amp protein powder with peanut butter dropped in the vanilla shake for flavor. Good for me but I understand not everyone likes the shakes. Bars sound like a good source.

Not a doctor but I studied this. I had a tube and glad I did. It was no big deal at all and they emptied it (there is a small bulb at the end of the tube that collects excess fluid so it does not stay inside your body where it can cause issues) several times over the few days it was in. I had mine at the VA and would consider it a "best practice".

I had the same thought. But then it dawned on me. This is not a perfectly healthy part of my body. It helps drive me to overeat and that was killing me slowly. And making what Life I had terrible at times due to health and physical issues. So, now that I am 4 weeks out I can say emphatically I am glad to that piece of me is gone. It was doing more harm than good. Now it poses no problem.

Congrats! My surgery was Dec 13. This has been a great blessing to me and my family. I spend 1/4 what I used to on food and I feel amazing already!

Greek has more protein that regular yogurt. But check your label as many of them are full of sugar. You will want to choose the one's that are not so heavy in calories.

Well done! Keep up the great work.

Still praying for your recovery.

Wishing you the best on this. I had mine Dec 13 and am down 44 pounds and not having the issues you describe. Taste is more sensitive for sure as I'm eating much slower. For me, the challenge has been the food companion is now dead. I refuse to allow food to be more than nutrition at this point. It used to be a pal. Hoping you soon reach a better place in this!

That is interesting. I ate a small piece of peanut butter fudge a couple days ago and wondered if it would cause me issues. It did not. I suppose it was because it was small?

How are you doing? If you don't mind to post an update that would be great. Thanks!