Djmohr

I have severe Osteo Arthritis as well as Psoriatic Arthritis. Before I had RNY 2 years ago I could barely walk with the pain in my knees, hips and ankles. That got better after losing the first 60lbs which happened very fast. I have more energy than ever. I will say the pain in my spine has definitely gotten worse. It is nerve pain and has been more present since surgery. I know that I would not be walking today if I had not lost 152lbs. It is worth it and even though i am in a lot of back pain, it was still very worth it!

I will be your friend and i am not as bitchy as @@LipstickLady! LOL She is actually hysterically funny!

@@MeganE I will say that is one of the longer programs but please dont get discouraged. It took 9 months for me to get through all the hoops and in the beginning i was pissed, mostly because i was sick and my kidneys were failing and the only thing to improve their performance was getting rid of fat and medications. I could not lose weight anymore because my metabolism was so screwed. The beauty of that long wait was that it gave me the ability to make some really hard changes before i got the surgery (my weight loss tool). I am not sure i would have been as successful without that time to change some things about my eating patterns. You can work on a couple things per month that will make huge changes over time. I started by #1, eating 3 meals a day. Prior to that I would skip Breakfast, miss lunch and by dinner i was starving and would eat all the way up until i went to bed. Very bad behaviors when you want to get your metabolism operating well again. I also did things like learn to slow down while eating, remove distraction like watching tv and mindless munching. I learned to chew more effectively. Had i been smoking or drinking caffeine or carbonated beverages i would have used this time to stop those things because they are a requirements for surgery and take time to make happen. You dont want to be going through withdrawal while recuperating. It is hard enough to get your Protein and liquids in the few months following surgery. That time, if leveraged properaly can set you up for a successful outcome. Many insurance companies and surgeons know if someone cannot make the changes in the pre op phase it is not likely to land for them post surgery. The surgery really isn't the biggest part of this, it is the head game and getting rid of the bad habits. That is why you see a shrink and a dietician that whole time. Try not to let it discourage you, enjoy yourself the next 12 months while prepping for surgery and it will be over before you know it! My 6 month supervised turned into 9 months and it flew and i mean flew by. Best of luck to you!

@@OKCPirate Wow, I love your post!!!! Thankfully i am very lucky and have a man that after 29 years of marriage knows exactly how to help me relax. He is the date night guy, I am the family travel coordinator for vacations. I prefer he take care of date night and we usually have a quick conversation so he knows what i am up for. Tonight we are having date night.....my favorite steak place in Milwaukee. Nice slow relaxing meal, lots of great conversation (yes, we still have plenty to talk about). And who knows ......maybe that will lead to some fun at home for us! LOL Lest not forget a couple of really great glasses of wine! Wine makes me very mellow!

I never used an actual binder post op RNY. I did however and still use spanx to tuck away all my lose skin. Is that your goal hiding the loose skin? Or are you wanting to use one for some other reason? If it is to hide loose skin, I have bought many brands over the last two years and found for me that spanx is worth the extra money. And they have many different shapes.

I had a very difficult time and followed a 1200 calorie high Protein, low/no carb diet before and literally lost 5lbs over 6 months. My doctor told me he was not surprised give how bad my metabolism was. I will say that when i went on the liquid Protein liver reduction diet for 2 weeks prior to surgery i literally lost 14lbs in that time. Its a touch diet but if you are really stuck and following the plan, you might consider doing that with your surgeons approval of course.

It is absolutely ridiculous how the pendulum has been swung. I hate pain medication but there are times with my back problems that it is necessary. Well, it is near impossible to get a prescription for pain anymore unless you have had surgery. I think ultimately what will happen is actual drug addicts will become more addicted to alcohol because they can get it very easily. I take nothing for pain now at all and of course cannot take nsaids so there are times when i feel absolutely useless because i either have a heating pad or an ice pack on my body mostly every day all day long. Tylenol does absolutely nothing but then again neither did pain meds so.......the moral of the story is pain meds are good for acute type pain and work in the short term but do nothing for chronic pain. I do miss alieve, at least at one time that seemed to take the edge off. This has been my experience.....anyway.

YAY! Love these types of NSVs!

Those of us who have bariatric surgery can pay no attention to what MFP tells you. I use is simply to track what i eat and where i am at but dont count on it to tell you what your intake should be. Follow your doctors plan for that and my fitness pal will provide awesome tracking.

@@momto3E I know you will be feeling better soon. Keep us posted!

Here's the deal....the first several months is rough. That is a reality but I promise it does get better every day. My surgeon had me stop my Vitamins 2 days before and did not start me on them again until i was 30 days post op. Every surgeon is different. Just take it one day at a time and focus on liquids. If you dont get enough, that it itself can make you feel miserable.

You are not doing anything wrong and trust me that is a significant weight loss for the time post op. You have to remember, your body needs time to breathe in between all the changes. Keep following your plan and if you are thirsty keep on sipping that Water and Protein shakes. they will only help you in the end. Be patient. The weight did not come on in a month or two and it wont come off that way either. It took me 18 months to lose 152 and i feel like that was so fast that it still did not give my brain and body time to catch up. Dont be in a hurry.....just follow the plan and you will be good to go!

This all depends on the person. I had rapid weight loss for the first 4 months losing between 15 and 20lbs per month. Then things began to slow down to about 10lbs per month until i hit the 1 year mark. My last 25lbs took another 6 months to completely lose. There were some months where i was stalled completely and others where i would lose 3 to 5lbs. When i did get to my goal of 165 I quickly surpassed it losing another 7lbs and then everything stopped in March. I was exactly 18 months post op. Now of course since March i have gained and lost that 7lbs multiple times but I am still below goal. Best of luck to you!

Congratulations! You are doing well!

I am two years post op and my feeling of hunger came back at about 5 months post op. I think because i was working out like crazy. The good news is, it does not take much to fit my tummy and if i follow the rules i can stay full for a long time. The only real pain i had post op was from the gas they pump into you and the only way to get rid of it faster is to walk alot for days. When you do sit, a heating pad helps and when your bowels begin to move again, gas x will definately help that pain. Be prepared to stick to the plan and really the first few weeks are all about getting your fluids in. that sounds os easy but when you are not hungry it is much harder than you think. If you dont do it, you get dehydrated very quickly which can make you feel tired, nausea and hungry. I learned to keep the Water bottle in my hand and sip like crazy all day long.

I had United Health Care when I had my surgery 2 years ago. They have strict policies but given you have a BMI over 40 you wont even need comorbitities. They did require that I use a Bariatric Center Of Excellence and that I had a supervised 6 month diet with that center of excellence. I had all my ducks in a row and they submitted at 9am in the morning and by 1pm the surgeons office was calling me to schedule because I had been approved. My BMI was 44 and I did have 4 of the 5 comorbitities. Surgery for me was a piece of cake (pardon...) but it took some getting used to the new eating plan. I have since lost 152lbs and am at a normal healthy weight. All my comorbitities are gone and some serious illnesses in remission. I have since begun plastics because I have alot of loose skin and it is exciting in this whole new body. Best of luck to you!

@@annagene12 I have an excellent plastic surgeon here in Pewaukee WI. Not far from you at all and she does incredible work and her rates are pretty great too. She has quite a few patients that travel here to see her. Just to give you some idea, I had my arm lift in July and it cost 5950.00. In January I am having a full Abdominalplasty, and breast lift and augmentation and the total cost will be 17200.00 and that is with two nights in the hospital. She would be worth the drive and stay over. Her name is Dr. Maida Parkins/Quintessa Medical Spa in Delafield Wi You can find her on real self or just google her. She provides a free consultation as well. I am attaching my before and after Brachioplasty. I could not be happier with the outcome. They look fantastic! My after pics are from 3 weeks post op so I am even still swollen in these pics. they really do look great. Before After

I dont know but if she is truly a friend blocking her and ignoring her questions might just pose a bigger problem. Having this surgery can cause confusing emotions about sharing how. Most people knew i had been working on my weight but I found that telling people makes it harder. I was actually treated differently by very close friends in the beginning and they knew. They are both morbidly obese and honestly I think they were just uncomfortable around me. Now everything is fine and we go out all the time together. It has all worked out. You just need to decide how good a friend this person is and if you are comfortable you might just explain that you really wanted to be private about this and she should keep it to herself.

Believe it or not, once i actually climbed Homestead mountain in Colorado and I was very very heavy. I thought I was going to die literally but I did it. That was back in 1997 and I still have fat pictures of me at the summit.

Congratulations! There are two things that helped me stick to the liquid diet. 1. I stayed focused on my end goals which was to get healthy and I knew i needed to be strong. 2. I took one hour and one day at a time and tried not to think about how long i would be on strictly liquids. What i found was after day 2, I really did not care anymore and that made it easier to handle. Lastly, I would not have survived without good homemade chicken broth. You get so sick of the sweet taste of the Protein shakes that homemade, well seasoned chicken broth keep me going. I practically lived on it for those 2 weeks and the 3 weeks post op as well. Make it homemade though because that crap in a can tastes like dirty dishwater. Blech! Best of luck to you. Bypass was the best thing I ever did. Now i am about to have my second plastics surgery and I cannot beleive it has already been two years for me.

I am having my Mastoplexy, Breast Augmentation and Abdominalplasty here is WI with an amazing doctor and two nights in the hospital for 17,200. I also had Brachioplasty 3 months ago and it was 5950.00 I think these prices were very reasonable and she does excellent work. I just would not feel comfortable going to another country for this type of surgery. Alot can happen and sending pics just isn't like the real thing of being able to go to their office.

Getting your head straight is important because as time goes by, restriction loosens up. Oh and as for RNY patients, hunger comes back so your really have to recognize real hunger from head hunger. I am at a normal healthy weight for the first time in 30+ years and I fight every day to stay that way. Some days I do better than others but it is all about my head and the want to keep the weight off.

Yes....I do know exactly what you are talking about. Including the complete fear of weight gain. There are days where I am hungry all day long and other days where I can barely eat anything. As i hit the 2 year post op mark, it has become even more difficult. I just have to be aware and stay on top of it. I knew that when i hit goal, I could not stop watching what I eat. If I did, i would be in trouble. I have lost and gained the same 5 lbs 2 or 3 times now since March. I hate to tell you but I think we are forever going to be focused on our food plans if we want to stay smaller.

@@KaiserKid I do 100% of the cooking in my family. I am Italian and my family was very used to the big sunday dinner scene at our house. I will say that for the first 6 months, it took some getting used to. I began cooking less of the mixed meals like spagetti and meatballs and really focused on good quality Proteins and lots of veggies. I found a whole new passion for cooking like this and now love to cook. At first my family missed things like Lasagna, Tater Tot casserole......things like this but I do still cook them very occasionally. They got used to having a Protein, veggie and a salad instead of so much starch. I still cook potatoes and rice but it is maybe once a week or so and not every meal. I also still bake for my family but it is less frequently. I would much rather have some fresh fruit. You will get the hang of it. It will just take some getting used. I literally find myself on pinterest everyday looking for recipes to makeover and make them friendly for me.