vanessak8

Love this update, you give me hope!! My highest weight was 376 and I am now at 244. Great job!!I am 1 1/2 years post op. I achieved that loss mostly in the first 12 mos. the last 25 lbs has taken 6 mos.

SW-360 currently 195

215... And that's after a 10 day vacation.

217

222

225

Starting 227....goal 207

I'm in

Hi, glad you are doing so great... I started at 360 and am now 210. Down 150lbs. Had surgery 7/11/2014. I to would like to get to 150. After being so focused since Jan of 2014 I have found that my diligence is definitely wavering. I have been maintaining this weight for the last 3-4 months. The problem is that even though I haven't met my personal goal I have far exceeded my surgeons and I have achieved many of the things that I wanted that have nothing to do with the scale. So I often waver mentally between feeling like I have failed because I haven't reached my goal and being happy with where I am at... Which is more active, participating in life, happier and let's not forget about the shopping , which I enjoy. While I haven't been heavy my entire life I haven't been this weight since I had my first son and he's 17.

Starting weight 207.... Goal still 198

My insurance was if BMI >40 you qualified with no comorbidities. If >35 but less < 40 you needed to have comorbidities. These included HTN, DM, OSA, heart disease etc

I'm in

207...

208

210

211

213

214

I need a belt...that's a NSV

Calm down it will stop. My hair loss started at 3 months and it felt horrible. It slowed down by the end my six month and stopped by the 7/8. It's text book to start shedding your hair. It is important to get your vitamins/protein, but if it's going to happen hitting those goals will not stop it. The actual hair loss is called telogen effluvian. If you look it up it talks mostly about the stressful event that caused it. An example is pregnancy( I personally lost a ton of hair after having my kids, with my third I literally thought I was going to go bald). Then you have this.... The stressor is the the surgery. The hair loss actually starts right after surgery. Hair has three phases: two are anagen(growth) and telogen(resting/shredding). Normally it's an 80:20 ratio, but with stressors like surgery it can can change the ratio making it seem like your hair is never going to stop coming out. The up side is that in actuality by the time you see your hair coming out the follicle has already went back into the anagen phase because it is the new hair growth that is pushing the old hair out of the follicle or in many cases allowing you to pull out(but not literally) when you are brushing or washing your hair. I promise it will stop. Only caveat is Iron deficiency can contribute to hair loss and has been known to happen to WLS patients but usually further out.

Don't feel like a failure... Weight loss is complicated. Just keep doing what your supposed to be doing and it will come off. I had a 3 week stall starting my 3rd week. I'm currently 9 months post op and it slow going, but I feel great. I've lost 146lbs since I started. While I'd like to get to below 200 I'm starting to feel like I'd be ok if I stayed where I'm at.

My starting weight is 223.... My goal weight is 199

We are not supposed to have food in our charting areas but we all do which might be sticky situation as a new employee, but drinks are definitely ok were I work... So protein drinks would be ok

I was in a full liquid diet for 2 weeks before and after surgery. I was allowed to have yogurt, Protein shakes and strained cream Soups. I also took a chewable Multivitamin. I bought my Vitamin from vitacost. It was twin lab bariatric chewable vitamin. I'm 9 months out and I just switched to a regular multi. I did do clears for the first 3 days after surgery.

Congrats on your job in the NICU.... However, please don't think it's not hard work. I went from being an adult ICU nurse to the NICU and yes our patients are smaller but some of the hardest and most demanding days I have ever worked as an RN have been in the NICU. I have been a nurse for 20 years and the last 12 have been in the NICU. When I first started as a NICU nurse the demands on me weren't the same as they are today. I currently do charge, transport and place PICCs in our tiny patients which often makes getting lunch at a reasonable time unpredictable and infrequent. (I work in a level 3, 94 single room NICU... That can hold 124 patients. We have multiple rooms). My point is there is not many places in hospital nursing no matter what size your patients are that does not require some planning when you have barbaric surgery. I would drink Water on my way to work and a Protein drink. I also packed string cheese and deli slices in a lunch bag that had freezer packs so they would be convenient to access in my work area as our lounge and my locker were not close. I also carried a Protein Bar in my pocket or kept in work bag. As for water I just always kept it with me. I also did not go back to work for almost 9 weeks after I had my surgery. I took full advantage of my surgeon requiring the full six weeks off and I already had some vacation planned at the end so by the time I went back I was back to eating a regular diet.