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Jcotti

Gastric Sleeve Patients
  • Content Count

    24
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Jcotti

  • Rank
    Intermediate Member

About Me

  • Gender
    Male
  • Occupation
    Nurse Practitioner
  • City
    Jonesboro
  • State
    Arkansas
  1. So I have two questions not really relates to each other First one is for men. Has anyone had any issues with low testosterone post op? I'm 7 months out and have hit a wall recently with energy. I've lost close to 100lbs. I work out 4-5 times a week and have had good gains. I have not increased in weight lifted in a month or so. There is a lab in my clinic and another doctor suggested I check my T level. Range is 138-816 and mine was 160. He recommended a testosterone therapy clinic. Anyone else had these issues? Second question is for coffee drinkers. I've never drank coffee until recently at work we have a kuerig and I had a few cups with come creamer it tasted decent and gave me a nice boost. I have one at home now. How does it fall into our caloric intake? Any negative effects? Suggestions on best tasting coffee? Thank you in advance.
  2. Today is my 6 month anniversary. My goal was 100, missed it by 10 lbs. I've fallen off my schedule a handful of times but with the sleeve I'm able to recover. I've adopted the mindset that holidays and family functions I will eat what is there just much smaller portions. Otherwise normal days of the week I follow a clean diet. I've had some breakdowns in relation to working out. I'm hoping to minimize loose skin by lifting weights. I'm in a constant battle of should I do more cardio or more lifting today? Weight loss has slowed since I've started a set lifting routine. I'm hoping to amp up my cardio and increase my fat loss but its difficult at times to get in good clean calories with the sleeve.
  3. Well it's been 3 months since my surgery. A lot has changed obviously. The sleeve is a great tool, it's worked wonders for me so far. It's allowed me to make clear decisions about my health and diet choices. I'm working out around 4-5 times a week (30min weight lifting and 20min of cardio). I feel like my mental state is returning to normal. Those first few weeks of caloric deficit really alter your mental state. I've had some ups and downs. I lost my brother I was close to on December 5th. He had diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, etc. I was following his path in life. He was so proud of me for getting the surgery. He said I hope I can get it one day too. He died of a heart attack at the young age of 49. If I had not of had the surgery before they I would been in a completely different state now. I made it through the holidays. It was different not gorging on food,but honestly it felt so much better this way. I have clarity now I didn't have before. I enjoyed family more without focusing on food. Overall at work my mind is clearer and sharper. Just this week I returned to joking nature. I'm down about 70lbs. I would like to lose another 60. I start p90x next week and am looking forward to that. I tried to focus more on building muscle and not just losing weight. I feel so much better. See yall in 3 more months!
  4. I'm a nurse practitioner in a busy pediatric clinic. My patient load varies daily but I'm constantly in and out of rooms. Very rarely do I get to sit. I was conditioned for this before surgery so post op I've transitioned well back into my daily routine. I seem to do fine all day but at night I completely crash. I'm not planning ahead for meals as I should.
  5. Hello. I was sleeved on October 7th. I go to soft foods on the 28th and then can advance to solid as I can tolerate. My first week was rough, but every day has been better and I actually feel better now than I did before surgery. I don't have a scale but on day 8 I had lost 20lbs and I would safely say I've lost 25 or more now. I'm currently on pureed and it's been going ok. I went back to work at 10 days and I walk 8 or more hours a day. Energy is ok most of the time, however at night I completely crash. I know I'm not taking in enough calories for my workload. I've been logging around 6-700 calories a day. I honestly have cheated a couple of times and had a few soft foods, I chewed them up well and didn't have any issues so I know I can advance to a normal diet not long after the 28th. I've been researching diets on bodybuilding.com as I plan to lift considerable after 6 weeks. Most of the diets I'm finding though call for a fair amount of food to be consumed. I know that I will not be able to consume that much so I would like to see what ever uses in their daily food, specifically lunch and dinner. I'm a creature of habit and eat mostly the same meals on a weekly basis. In the past I've rotated certain meats every other day (seafood, steak, chicken, turkey, then repeat). Here is my current routine: Breakfast: scrambled cheese egg. Snack: Premier Protein shake Lunch: Pureed something (refried Beans, mashed potatoes, etc) Snack: Premier Protein Shake Dinner: Thick Soup, tuna salad, etc. Please post your favorite lunch or dinner and a recipe if you have it! Thank you!
  6. Jcotti

    Sleeved Oct 20th

    I'm 15 days post-op. I'm feeling great now. However, the first week was miserable. I regretted my surgery every single day. I was positive I was going to die from malnutrition. It seems day 7-8 was my turning point. Since then every day has been better. Today I feel slightly better than I did PRE surgery. I've lost 25lbs so far and am happy I went through with the surgery. You won't regret anything soon.
  7. Jcotti

    It's done...

    I was sleeved the same day. Scheduled for 1030am but they were behind in surgery so I didn't roll into ER until 530. I was a nervous mess. First day was the worst but each day is getting better. I'm 325 hoping to get down to 195ish. How are you doing so far?
  8. Jcotti

    New Sleevers 1st oct

    Had mine on October 7th. First couple days were tough. It's getting easier. I'm mainly doing broths and juice. I'm on full liquid. In 3 days I go to pureed for 2 weeks then on a regular diet. I've had head hunger today terrible. It doesn't help my wife is 7 months pregnant and eating in front of me in addition to fixing normal meals for our other kids. Oh if only my eyes could eat.
  9. I had my sleeve done Tuesday at 7pm, so I'm almost 3 days out. This surgery was a lot more painful than I thought it would be. Today I've been able to move around a lot. I'm home, walking around in the home, how much should I be walking right now? The only place I'm hurting is on an incision to the right of my belly button. None of the others hurt. Whenever I move that side hurts terrible. I'm still taking my liquid pain medicine every 6 hours. When did yall stop taking your pain medicine? I'm able to drink broth and water well, no vomiting
  10. How was your recovery with the davinci?
  11. I do somewhat feel ashamed. I feel like when I tell people I'm going to have the surgery they have this look like, "you're taking the easy way out." I've even had someone just as obese as I am tell me I don't need the surgery and that I can do it on my own. I think they meant it as a compliment like I have the drive to do it. I feel like my all the willpower during the day but at night it leaves me and I gorge. My surgeon laughs and says he can fix that. On a side note, he's using the da vinci which is a robot to do the surgery, has anyone else had theirs done that way?
  12. For as along as I can remember, I've been overweight. I joke that I was an obese embryo, that's not true. I was a normal weight until age 5, then slowly started gaining weight. I never could play sports, I winded so easily. My parents were factory workers and they worked long hours. I was a latch key kid. Since I couldn't play sports I became really good at video games and school work. At 12 I had to have a tonsillectomy, during surgery they could not lower my blood pressure. Later I was sent to a childrens hospital to be evaluated and they found I had a congenital heart defect called coarctation of the aorta. At the time I was 6'0 and 235lbs. I had open heart surgery (posterior) a couple of months. I had some difficulties after surgery was my recovery ended up being short. Post-op I was 185lbs. After surgery I was cleared for exercise with the exception of contact sports. I exercised for a few years and tried to eat a little better but old habits die hard. By the time I was in 11th grade my weight started to rise again. I graduated high school around 250lbs. I went to college for business and never could find any area I really wanted to work in. I had my first child at 22. After having her I finally focused on what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a nurse. I stayed in the school for the next eight years, moving from LPN, to associate, to bachelors and last I graduated with my masters in Family Nurse Practitioner. Along the way I had two more children. Within a couple of weeks I was offered my dream job in the pediatric clinic I went to for my entire childhood. At this point I had struggled with my weight for the majority of my life. I had tried every diet; Atkins, south beach, paleo, low calorie, hi energy supplements, weight watchers, etc. On two previous occasions I went to the same surgeons weight loss seminar in attempts to get the lap band. During my required pre-op diet I would lose 30-50lbs. I would get this false sense of hope and think to myself I didn't need this surgery I could do it on my own. A couple of months later I would be off my diet and the weight would creep back up. I always had excuses along the way. Being married with 3 children (4th and final one the way now) consumed alot of my time. I also worked full time as a nurse while going to grad school full time in addition to our photography studio. There was always an excuse, I'm too busy, I don't have time, when things slow down I'll lose the weight. Long story short, I never learned good eating or exercise habits. I tend to not eat during the day then gorge at night. I'm up to 325lbs now, the biggest I'v ever been. Now with my 4th child on the way I worry about being around for them. I have a great wife and family that I have to be around for. Back in January when I started at the clinic I had no excuses. I was out of school, things had slowed down, the gym is only a mile from my clinic and I had a 1.5 hour lunch nearly every day. I started out on a great diet and exercise plan, I lost nearly 30lbs in a couple of months, then old habits returned. I became somewhat depressed about my poor willpower. Working in pediatrics I see a lot of overweight children and it saddens me. My entire obese life came to head with one patient. One day my nurse told me that my next patient wanted to discuss weight loss. During our discussion the patient went to the bathroom and the mother caught me in the hallway and said, "Look I really need you to talk to her about her weight and how bad it is." I was taken aback, what was I suppose to say her her? Eat good and exercise or you'll turn out like me? Don't live your life like I lived mine? After that day I to admit defeat and that I needed help. It was that time I contacted a local surgeons office and started working on my packet for approval. Over the summer I completed everything, met with my doctor and was fortunate enough to have my surgery approved. My date is set for October the 7th and I feel somewhat melancholy. I'm excited for the life change but sad I couldn't do it on my own . Knowing that part of my life will be over is sad. My habits and priorities in life have changed so much over the years. Food is an integral part of my family and friends interactions. 9 days and counting!

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