starlight82

Hello DS Community: I am new to the forum and happy to have stumbled across this site! I'm a 32 y/o female, 5'2.5" tall and currently weigh 263 lbs. I've had an interesting weight loss journey and was told by my doctor that it was somewhat atypical. I lost about 75 lbs on my own from 2007-2008 but then regained a great deal of that weight and in 2009, I decided that I needed to take surgical intervention. I had a lap band in 2009 and immediately had issues following it: both issues with finding my "sweet spot" in terms of fills (either I would feel no restriction and would eat a lot or I would feel so much restriction that I would throw everything up) as well as throat infections. Between those issues and my losing my job in 2010, I ended up not using the band. In 2011, after finding new employment, I sought information on the DS. After reading forums and support pages and getting my insurance to approve the procedure after months of a diet and exercise plan (that yielded about a 20 lb loss), I had the first part of the DS (the switch) in May of 2013. I was 310 lbs at that time. My doctor did not do the sleeve at that time because I had a lot of scarring that was contributing to the terrible GERD I had post-band. From May of 2013 to March 4th of this year, I lost 30 lbs. Admittedly, I was not very diligent about changing my lifestyle as I was helping with a family member going through ongoing chemo treatments and also studying for a graduate school admissions test and then applying to graduate schools. Since having the sleeve on March 4th (at 277 lbs), I've been trying to pour all of my time and energy into eating healthy (lots of protein), making healthy lifestyle choices, and increasing my exercise. I am fearful that I am not going to see the type of success that others (i.e. my family) expects though. I also suffer from PCOS and am finding that while my hunger has basically gone away on most days, I'm still having cravings and wanting to eat everything in sight around my period. Also, I am experiencing strange spikes in my weight. I'm trying to weigh myself no more than once a week but realistically, I'm weighing myself at least 2 times a week. My weight fell from 277 to 262.4 between March 4th and April 7th. I then went to a conference out of town for a week (where I thought I ate pretty well) but came back on the 15th to a whopping 269 lbs. My time of the month started on the 19th (and just ended today) and I have come down to 263 lbs so far (so about .6 lbs heavier than my low on April 7th). I'm concerned that my weight loss has not been on "track" with the averages that I saw of losing 25% of excess weight at two months out. I'm under that target by quite a bit: I've lost ~17-18 lbs out of the 36.5 lbs that I'm supposed to have lost by May 4th. When I spoke to my doctor, he said I should not worry about the spike in my weight loss (that it was probably Water weight from traveling on a plane for 5 hours or my period being near) and that I should not focus on the numbers at all, given my unique history of having the switch first. He also said that he thinks I need to dramatically increase my water intake. In the past week, I've started eating a lot of salads (now that I'm allowed to eat them again!). For the past few weeks, since I've been post-op (and as I was cleared through the stages), I've been eating salmon, grilled chicken, eggs, Babybel cheese wedges, and a piece of fruit each day. I've just started eating Peanut Butter crackers as Snacks. I've also been trying to walk 1-2 miles almost every day and to climb the stairs at work. I'm in the process of moving so my evenings are often spent packing but I'd also like to start swimming now that the weather has improved. I'm not looking for the weight loss to occur over night and am extremely grateful even to be almost 260 lbs when I was 310 a year ago but I would like to be able to get down to one-derland (and I'd be over the moon to get down to 150-165 lbs) in the next year to 18 months. As such, any advice from veterans would be much appreciated. My past history paired with this recent blip/spike has shaken my confidence a bit about my ability to be successful with this so I'd love to hear from others!

I also no longer have diabetes (was very borderline for years) or GERD! Diabetes gets reversed in 98% of DS patients. I like to Celebrate each and every "decade" of weight loss (e.g. Getting into the 260s, the 250s, etc.)

I completely understand what you are going through. I will say this: even with my frustrations and slower-than-most weight loss, I would still have the surgery today. Just the fact that I have gone from 310 to 256 from the switch surgery (May of 2013) til today has made a world of difference for me and made me feel so much better. Feel free to PM me if you would like!

Are you only looking at Dr. Alverdy? There are a few DS surgeons at UChicago.

I just has the gastrectomy portion of DS (reverse staged procedure) in early March. I think that the only thing I "regret" per se is how much smaller my stomach is/how little it holds now. My weight loss has not been as rapid as other people here though so I am sure that if I were enjoying huge losses, I would feel happier about the whole thing. (I've lost 20 lbs over 10 weeks). The other thing I have found is that I am forced to no longer eat for comfort. I also avoid carbs like the plague since bread, rice, and Pasta all fill me up REALLY quickly (3-4 bites, max) and having DS, I need to get in a lot more Protein to survive. So basically, you need to find better "fixes" for comfort -- I've gotten my nails or hair done, gone for a walk, read a good book, talked to a friend, etc. But I can still find that it is still difficult in social settings. Over the weekend, for instance, I wanted to have a slice of pizza and could not finish a piece. Granted, I should not be eating pizza at all but once in a while, I want to be able to have those things and do not want to feel like I am going to throw up if I have one slice (especially since this was a relatively small size and not the large sized slices that a place like Sbarro sells). Anyway, I don't mean to sound like the Debbie Downer here but I just wanted to be honest. I don't regret having the gastrectomy portion of the surgery at all, but I do get frustrated with how little I can eat at times. I also know that my stomach size is going to increase down the road in any case so I am learning to live with this. (As a side note, be sure to discuss your stomach size with your surgeon. Mine decided to give me a 50 bougie pouch without discussing it with me. He typically does 60 bougie pouches for DS patients -- and this is what I was told I was getting in the general info session -- but decided to be more aggressive with me because of how much I had to lose. My understanding is that a lot of VSG patients get smaller pouches since they do not have the malabsorption to aid in their weight loss).

Question: how hard are you guys working out? I'm in the process of moving and doing a lot of other stuff to prepare for starting grad school so I have not been the best about doing a lot of exercise at the gym. I was just curious about your exercise routines.

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm at 256.8 today. So 6.2 lbs in 2.5 weeks. Not bad. I will take it! 20 lbs total loss since surgery on 3/4, which is 10 weeks as of yesterday. While 2 lbs a week is not that "rapid" of loss for someone of my size, I'm just going to be happy that I am losing. I really hope that I can get down to one-derland by my one year anniversary though. That gives me a little over 9 months to lose 57 lbs

Thanks for the advice ladies! I was advised to get in 75-90 g of Protein a day and to eat that first but it sounds like most switchers eat VERY little carbs, whatsoever. Is that just when you are trying to lose weight? My NUT said that salads are great but to make sure to eat all of the chicken first. We also talked about how I can no longer eat Pasta or South Asian/Thai dishes (my favs) b/c I I cannot eat more than 3 or 4 spoons of rice before filling up. I'm okay with this but it is hard to turn the brain to just eating protein all the time!!! 1.4 lbs down this morning! So finally seeing my first drop since 4/7!!!

I am really grateful to have read this experience. I'm new to the board and just posted about how I'm 7 weeks post-op and 18 lbs down but feel "behind." (I also recently experienced a 7 lb spike in my weight but it has since come down post-time of the month). It helps to know that others have gone through this and that I will be okay. Like the original poster, I too am fearful that I will be the exception to the rule and will not be successful at this!