ShrinkingBiker

Right now I ride a 2009 Victory Jackpot. First bike was a 1972 1000 (sportster) bought from a pagan for $300 when I was 14. It was TRASHED More tape holding it together then bolts lol. My step father and I rebuilt it over 3 years as my first "car" Had a lot of bikes over the years but those 2 are the ones that I love the most.

Hey guys, I started a post when I first joined here, but I put it in the wrong forum, so I figured I would start a new one here.. A lil back story.. I am 36 years old (Male) from New Jersey. In HS I put on weight my senior year from about 185-190 to about 250, and then dropped back down to the high 100's for a few years. It crept up over time and I maintained at about 225-250 for most of my 20's. My 30's I ticked up to about 275ish and after getting married I got to my peak of 326. So, that covers my weight struggles.. Now the reasons for the sleeve.. Well, I was what I would call a heavy eater.. I worked on the road so I usually skipped Breakfast and got moving on my client visits.. lunch would usually be a stop at some fast food type place.. If per say it was the Arches.. I would get a double QP large, and probably a 10 piece nugget.. If it was a sub shop I'd get a whole sub.. You get the idea.. big meals that where not healthy.. I'd get home, and make dinner usually filling my plate with 2 portions of everything.. Then snack on chips or something later.. Drinking Coke the entire time.. Or Snapple Peach Iced Tea. So, last year I decided enough was enough.. I had tried diets here and there, but never really stuck with them.. Will power is not my strongest quality.. I spoke to some friends who had surgery (RNY) and decided to set up an appointment with Dr. Chau of NJ Bariatrics. I really liked him, and decided that I didn't need to look any further.. I had planned to meet many doctors, but felt confident enough that he was the man for the job. My insurance (through my wifes job) required a visit to the shrink and 6 months with the NUT.. So, I did it.. Got off of Sugary drinks, tried to make sure I had some sort of breakfast every morning and tried to change my meal choices.. I did lose a few pounds, but as soon as my 6 months was up, I pretty much went back to old bad habits, and ballooned up to my peak.. Insurance approved the surgery and I had it on 3/20. Pre op diet for me was shakes for breakfast and lunch, and then protien heavy dinner no carbs. I did cheat on 3 occasions.. once the first night.. I had a pb&j, then later in the week I had a sub for lunch, and finally 4 days before the surgery I had 1 hot dog.. Even with that, I still lost 12 pounds. The day of surgery came and I was sleeved! After the surgery, I spent 1 night in the hospital, and had issues with being "Tachy" my heart rate would sit at about 100-160 and they loaded me up with all sorts of pain meds in addition to my magic button of highness. :oP So, I will skip the details of what a bad patient I was.. you can see my blog for those.. Link is in my sig. I got home and was in moderate pain. I had to walk holding my belly up because the incisions felt like they where pulling and had to sleep on my right side because the largest cut hurt too much when laying. The pain only lasted 2-3 days at a constant level, then dulled down enough that I didn't need pain meds anymore. Since the surgery I've only had one minor event.. I had a shake one night for dinner and it didn't sit well. I got nauseous, but couldn't vomit.. Just sat over the bowl dry heaving.. It hasn't happened since and I hope it doesn't happen again. Also.. POOP! I wasn't expecting not to poop for a week.. That was strange.. but thankfully the ladies in chat are not shy about talking about poop and told me it was normal. Since my surgery which I am 5 days shy of one month, I now weigh 280. I saw my sister for the first time today and she was shocked! That felt really nice. I am so happy that I did this, and I get so excited when I pass my mini goals. I'll make a list of my mini's at the bottom of this.. I hope to be able to share events with my weight loss and life with you all in this thread, and also on my blog. If you are on the fence about doing this, I hope this might have tipped you in the direction of making that big change. Goals Be under 300 DONE Lose 25lbs post surgery DONE Be the weight I was when my wife and I got married DONE 275 lose 50 pounds total Be the weight I was when I met my wife 250 Loose 100lbs total 225 200 185 Long term goal

Good luck with your surgery. It is the best thing you will have done for yourself. You will be shocked looking back at yourself a few months from your surgery date.

Thanks.. I don't always wear all black.. it just happens that most of my shirts are black because I outshrunk all my other clothes and most of the "promo" free shirts I get a rallies, and events are black. It is more slimming though! haha

Some updates. I weigh 223 lbs as of today! 103 lbs down in about 5 months!

same as others have said. About 1.5 to 2 months out. It fills me up quick, but chicken seems to stay with me much longer and keeps me full for a long time. Beef Jerky is my favorite thing ever now gives high protein lowish calorie and low fat.

It may be helpful to continue on with the Shrink after your eval too. You might be able to benefit from it. I chose to revisit him since surgery to work on some non-related issues.

Only regret not doing it sooner. since march I'm down almost 90 lbs and probably added 10 years to my life.

congrats man. great job

Here are some links that might help. Just look at the ingredients to make sure no carbonation. http://www.cosmopolitan.com/food/cocktails/low-calorie-cocktails#slide-3 http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/2008/12/5-best-low-calorie-cocktails#slide=1 http://pinterest.com/shapemagazine/low-calorie-cocktails/

I'd also like to add that it is very easy to read and back light as well.

I have this one and it is very accurate. I weighed myself before going to my docs yesterday and it was dead on to the scale there. They also have top notch customer service. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MK6QKO/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Don't get too down on yourself. Just try your hardest to stick with the pre-op diet. The reason we had the surgery is because most of us have trouble sticking to diets. Nothing worked for me before this, and I am over 80 lbs down in 3 months. It is much easier to change your ways once sleeved. It's an awesome tool.

order soup only I suppose. Don't worry about what others think.. If you don't want to share that you had surgery then just say you had a late lunch.

walk as much as you can. The first week is the hardest part. After 2 weeks you won't even remember the pain much

Thanks for the link.. pretty cool app there. I'll check it out. Do you know if it has items from restaurants as well?

exactly what others have said here.. I vary between 600-1100 calories per day depending on what is going on. With WLS it is a bit of a different ballgame.. the way I look at it is in the early stages when we lose weight the most rapidly we are pretty much eating what we need to stay alive and active. Our small stomachs make it very hard to maintain much calorie intake anyway. Once you get to the maintenance stage then you will want to work more on making sure you are getting a good amount of calories. Obviously protien is #1 then you want to try to keep your carbs low. under 50 should give you optimal weight loss by putting your body into Ketosis. I don't really pay too much attention to ketosis unless I am in a stall.. I will eat carbs for a couple days and then cut them out as much as I can (only 20-30g a day) and it usually kick starts my weight loss again. Just a tip for something that worked for me when you get to that stage.. but for now, ignore the notice from MFP, but it is a great tool to track what you eat, how much, and be able to look back and see trends in your diet that can be adjusted to make sure you lose as much as you can.

it will get a lot better. The first week is really the worst part. While I didn't regret it, I had to deal with the head stuff for the first couple of months (and still do sometimes) more wishing I could eat more then I can when something tastes awesome. But, the scale makes you forget about that as it keeps getting lower. I'm here if you need someone to vent to or whatever. I know you're like 10 minutes or so from me.. If you need a walking buddy some time feel free to let me know.

I'm dealing with my first long lasting stall now (sleeved 3/20) and it is driving me nuts.. I'm under 1,000 calories a day bounce between 50-100 carbs and sugar and fat are always under recommended goals. It'll pass.. eventually!

hope your surgery went perfect!