LoBMI VSGguy46

Anyone have weight regain?

My weight loss has completely stopped. I got down to about 195 and now it’s hovering around 197 for the past 3-4 months. Was hoping to get it down more. I’m happy at this weight but don’t want to gain.

I was just sleeved on Oct 18, 2017. I am a white male, 46 years old, 5' 8", and a devout follower of Christ. My highest weight ever was 270. I lowered this slowly during the first half of 2017 to 255 when I signed up for the surgery. In August I started my life reset in preparation for surgery and followed the pre-op diet. I started running a lot and was doing 1-2 miles most days, and 6.55 miles on weekends. I ran a 5K the Saturday before surgery. The day of surgery I weighed 232. Now, four days out, my weight is 228. My goal weight is 170, I believe. (Not sure how to decide about that.) Since surgery I have had a lot of abdominal pain, but it has gotten a little better each day. The night after going home (day after surgery) my calf muscles started hurting. Doctor didn't think it was clots. I started walking a lot and enjoy it quite a bit. I've walked between 6-12 miles each day since I've been home. I only threw up my pain medicine once (which was painful) but haven't thrown up, or even felt like it, since. Each day I reduced the frequency of taking the pain medicine and today went without it. Today my calf pain was almost gone. The first two days after surgery I only drank around 30 oz., I think, which might have contributed to that pain. These last two days I've gotten my 64 oz. down or more. I've noticed last night and today that food my family was eating looked REALLY good and I wanted to eat it so bad. Felt hungry. This worries me some. I can't wait until my belly stops hurting and I can start running again. My belly still looks bloated out from the incisions. Wondering when I can expect for that to happen. I also wonder when the reduced hunger pangs are going to happen, if ever. If I feel as tempted as I did today it will be a difficult journey for me. Also, the only person in my life who knows I've had this surgery is my wife. I haven't told parents, kids, friends or coworkers. My parents expressed opposition a couple years ago so when I made the decision I decided that it was a personal one that they didn't need to know about. But I would like to make a friend or two on here so I can discuss things on this journey.

My doctor told me that the sutures last for a couple months before dissolving under the skin. I want to know how long until it stops being indented? Mine only indents when I flex my stomach muscles. To me, that looks worse than the scar itself. It's not a big deal but I'm wondering about others experience. Please share.

I struggled a lot wondering if I should tell people about getting weight loss surgery. I had considered getting sleeved a couple years before I did and told a few people I was considering it. I was surprised at their responses, especially my parents. For one, most people had a pretty negative view of it—even a doctor friend of mine. But it was clear most people were not well-read on the topic and were prone to all of the common misconceptions. At first my parents sounded like they would be supportive but them wrote to me in unison telling me that I shouldn’t do the surgery. My dad had been successful at losing a bunch of weight and controlling his diabetes a few years back but has since gained most of it back. Their thought was that if I needed to have a lifestyle change after surgery to maintain why not just do the lifestyle change and forego surgery. They also thought that if it was something I had to be secretive about (because I had asked them not to mention it to my siblings) then it must not be right. Well, this discouraged me and I decided not to do the surgery but try to lose weight on my own. And, as you can imagine, I did not succeed. My diabetes got a lot worse and I started daily injections. I also developed sleep apnea and needed to sleep with a CPAP machine. The trajectory of my health was not good and I came back to the idea of bariatric surgery. I thought that I would not ask my parents their thoughts but just tell them my decision and ask for their support. My thought was that I had to tell them because they are my parents. But I struggled a lot thinking about how they would respond and doubted that they would keep it from my siblings, who, if they knew, would tell the world. I actually talked to my primary physician about it and she supported me and suggested that since I’m an adult (46) my parents don’t even have to know. So I wrote to my parents a desperate message telling them the extent of my health problems and that I needed to do something. I asked for their prayers. I already decided to get sleeved but didn’t know if I should tell them. I decided that if they replied and changed their tune about surgery and brought it up to say they’d support me if that is what I decided (since we had discussed it before) then I’d tell them. But otherwise, I would take that as a sign that I should not tell them. They just said they’d pray for me, so I decided I wouldn’t tell them. I also decided that I couldn’t tell people in my workplace because of gossip—telling one would be the same as telling everyone. So, in the end, the only people in the world who know, besides the doctors and nurses who performed the procedure and my other physicians, is my wife. I didn’t even tell my young kids. I was afraid people might guess I had had the surgery if I suddenly lost a lot of weight—especially the few people I had previously told I had been considering it the first time around. So about 3 months before surgery I posted on Facebook a pic of me on my bike and that it was time for me to reset my diet and lifestyle and lose weight. I did start exercising then and would regularly post pictures and updates so that people would get accustomed to the fact that I was exercising and working hard, which would leave little room for suspicion about the cause of my weight loss. This worked really well and I did indeed lose 38 lbs pre-op through diet and exercise, which, to this day, convinces me that I did do this and can take credit for it. I took a 2-week vacation and got the surgery on the third day of the vacation. This gave me time to recover so that I’d be in good shape by the time people saw me again. I had told a couple people that I was going to take my vacation to ramp up my weight-loss efforts and alter my diet. I lost a quick 10-15 lbs immediately after the surgery and when I went back to work a couple people noticed. I went to my explanation: “I had been losing weight since August but no one could tell but me; then when I get to a certain threshold everyone starts noticing and thinks it happened overnight, but truthfully, ive been losing weight over the past 3 months!” I’ve lost 34 lbs since surgery and am much thinner than before. But I’ve continued to run races (5K, 10K and half-marathons) and post about it online. People have said some very encouraging things to me but I’ve been a little surprised that I haven’t gotten more comments about my weight loss. Maybe because I’m a guy—might be different for a girl. Not one person has asked me if I got bariatric surgery, or have seemed to be “fishing” for that either. I’m sure some people think I’m just being prideful by posting so many selfies and race results, but I decided that would be both understandable and effective for keeping the secret about surgery. So far all has gone well—I don’t regret the surgery or keeping it a secret. I also don’t feel like I’ve lied about portraying myself as having done it all on my own when really surgery did it for me because I lost more pre-op than I have post-op, and I have still had to maintain all that discipline since surgery as well. I can eat a lot more than I thought I would be able to, and so it is still my self-discipline that is keeping food out of my mouth, not just the sleeve. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5’8” HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 198, GW: 170

I struggled with this a lot. I had considered getting sleeved a couple years before I did and told a few people I was considering it. I was surprised at their responses, especially my parents. For one, most people had a pretty negative view of it—even a doctor friend of mine. But it was clear most people were not well-read on the topic and were prone to all of the common misconceptions. At first my parents sounded like they would be supportive but them wrote to me in unison telling me that I shouldn’t do the surgery. My dad had been successful at losing a bunch of weight and controlling his diabetes a few years back but has since gained most of it back. Their thought was that if I needed to have a lifestyle change after surgery to maintain why not just do the lifestyle change and forego surgery. They also thought that if it was something I had to be secretive about (because I had asked them not to mention it to my siblings) then it must not be right. Well, this discouraged me and I decided not to do the surgery but try to lose weight on my own. And, as you can imagine, I did not succeed. My diabetes got a lot worse and I started daily injections. I also developed sleep apnea and needed to sleep with a CPAP machine. The trajectory of my health was not good and I came back to the idea of bariatric surgery. I thought that I would not ask my parents their thoughts but just tell them my decision and ask for their support. My thought was that I had to tell them because they are my parents. But I struggled a lot thinking about how they would respond and doubted that they would keep it from my siblings, who, if they knew, would tell the world. I actually talked to my primary physician about it and she supported me and suggested that since I’m an adult (46) my parents don’t even have to know. So I wrote to my parents a desperate message telling them the extent of my health problems and that I needed to do something. I asked for their prayers. I already decided to get sleeved but didn’t know if I should tell them. I decided that if they replied and changed their tune about surgery and brought it up to say they’d support me if that is what I decided (since we had discussed it before) then I’d tell them. But otherwise, I would take that as a sign that I should not tell them. They just said they’d pray for me, so I decided I wouldn’t tell them. I also decided that I couldn’t tell people in my workplace because of gossip—telling one would be the same as telling everyone. So, in the end, the only people in the world who know, besides the doctors and nurses who performed the procedure and my other physicians, is my wife. I didn’t even tell my young kids. I was afraid people might guess I had had the surgery if I suddenly lost a lot of weight—especially the few people I had previously told I had been considering it the first time around. So about 3 months before surgery I posted on Facebook a pic of me on my bike and that it was time for me to reset my diet and lifestyle and lose weight. I did start exercising then and would regularly post pictures and updates so that people would get accustomed to the fact that I was exercising and working hard, which would leave little room for suspicion about the cause of my weight loss. This worked really well and I did indeed lose 38 lbs pre-op through diet and exercise, which, to this day, convinces me that I did do this and can take credit for it. I took a 2-week vacation and got the surgery on the third day of the vacation. This gave me time to recover so that I’d be in good shape by the time people saw me again. I had told a couple people that I was going to take my vacation to ramp up my weight-loss efforts and alter my diet. I lost a quick 10-15 lbs immediately after the surgery and when I went back to work a couple people noticed. I went to my explanation: “I had been losing weight since August but no one could tell but me; then when I get to a certain threshold everyone starts noticing and thinks it happened overnight, but truthfully, ive been losing weight over the past 3 months!” I’ve lost 34 lbs since surgery and am much thinner than before. But I’ve continued to run races (5K, 10K and half-marathons) and post about it online. People have said some very encouraging things to me but I’ve been a little surprised that I haven’t gotten more comments about my weight loss. Maybe because I’m a guy—might be different for a girl. Not one person has asked me if I got bariatric surgery, or have seemed to be “fishing” for that either. I’m sure some people think I’m just being prideful by posting so many selfies and race results, but I decided that would be both understandable and effective for keeping the secret about surgery. So far all has gone well—I don’t regret the surgery or keeping it a secret. I also don’t feel like I’ve lied about portraying myself as having done it all on my own when really surgery did it for me because I lost more pre-op than I have post-op, and I have still had to maintain all that discipline since surgery as well. I can eat a lot more than I thought I would be able to, and so it is still my self-discipline that is keeping food out of my mouth, not just the sleeve.

I still have mine. Still indented quite a bit. Almost 5 months out.

Just wondering... Does Mr. Nipple come with an underwire option?

My nipples have gotten smaller and get chafed on long runs from rubbing against my shirt. Actually get little scabs around the tip. Still rather hairy. Now my pecs are rock-solid, though, and no more man-boobs. Never wore a bra before. Oh... is this for girls only?

I believe they call this “one-derland”! Boo-yaa! PTL! #down70

I had my three-month follow up this past Monday. Doctor says I'm doing perfect. (Always good to hear!) I lost 11 pounds since my one-month follow up. She said her goal for me is to lose 70% of excess weight by one year, and that I'm only 16 pounds away from that with 9 months to go. So, well ahead of schedule. Traveled overseas for the past 3 weeks and didn't always track what I ate and ate a lot of rice. But I ran 5 miles almost every morning in 5 different countries. Came back home and my weight was the same as when I had left. But I lost another belt size during this time. Today I am down again and on the cusp of what they call "one-derland." Can't wait to be under 200! Haven't been this thin since I was 26 and ran a marathon in 1998. My new clothes are getting loose again. I used to buy XXL shirts. I went to buy an L the other day and it felt big. So I tried an M and was amazed that it fit me! I feel fantastic but am eager to continue to get rid of the loose belly I still have and for the scars to continue to fade. (The big one is still indented.) Wishing to celebrate with someone today but don't know who, so I'm posting here. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 200, GW: 170

I had my three-month follow up this past Monday. Doctor says I'm doing perfect. (Always good to hear!) lost 11 pounds since my one-month follow up. She said her goal for me is to lose 70% of excess weight by one year, and that I'm only 16 pounds away from that with 9 months to go. So, well ahead of schedule. Traveled overseas for the past 3 weeks and didn't always tracked what I ate, ate a lot of rice, but ran 5 miles almost every morning in 5 different countries. Came back home and my weight was the same as when I had left. But I lost another belt size during this time. Today I am down again and on the cusp of what they call "one-derland." Can't wait to be under 200. Haven't been this thin since I was 26 and ran a marathon in 1998. My new clothes are getting lose again. I used to buy XXL shirts. I went to buy an L the other day and it felt big. So I tried an M and was amazed that it fit me! I feel fantastic but am eager to continue to get rid of the loose belly I still have and for the scars to continue to fade (big one is still indented). Wishing to celebrate with someone today but don't know who, so I'm posting here. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 200, GW: 170

Also, drink your stomach full of some Powerade Zero.

Try munching on high-volume-to-calorie ratio foods. Two of my favorites are skinny pop popcorn and beef Jerky. The former gives me crunch, Fiber and volume with relatively low calories compared to most snack foods. The latter gives me a hard chew, which can trick my brain, as well as high Protein and low calories.

I was sleeved in October, and the big picture is that I've done awesome. I'm already approaching a normal weight and no longer look like an obese person. That is good. However, one thing I've now noticed is that my tailbone hurts when sitting for a long time, such as while driving for more than a couple hours or when flying. I've assumed this was due to not having as much "padding" on the backside as I had before. Has anyone else experienced this? Does it go away over time or is this just a lifelong thing I'm going to have to deal with, growing older? Sleeved on 10/18/2017 Male 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 203, GW: 170

I ran in a half marathon last Saturday and did it under 2 hours! My body shape looks mostly normal but I still have a belly. Weight loss has definitely slowed down for me. I've been between 210 and 205 the last few weeks. Would really like to be under 200. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 205, GW: 170

I ran in a half marathon last Saturday and did it under 2 hours! My body shape looks mostly normal but I still have a belly. Weight loss has definitely slowed down for me. I've been between 210 and 205 the last few weeks. Would really like to be under 200. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 205, GW: 170

I was sleeved 10/18. My weight loss has slowed down but I have lost 26 pounds since surgery. In the year prior to surgery I had lost 38 pounds. I don't feel a lot of restriction (to my surprise) and my tastes haven't changed at all that I can notice. I can easily eat 2,000 calories a day, and normally eat in the 1,800-2,000 range, sometimes more. I have. Even doing a lot of exercise--mostly running and dumbbell workouts. I ran 8 miles this past Saturday, followed by 5 on Sunday. I don't regret the sleeve at all--I could almost forget that I had it--but fear that I will either stop losing weight or that I will regain it all back eventually. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 206, GW: 170

I was sleeved 10/18. My weight loss has slowed down but I have lost 26 pounds since surgery. In the year prior to surgery I had lost 38 pounds. I don't feel a lot of restriction (to my surprise) and my tastes haven't changed at all that I can notice. I can easily eat 2,000 calories a day, and normally eat in the 1,800-2,000 range, sometimes more. I have. Even doing a lot of exercise--mostly running and dumbbell workouts. I ran 8 miles this past Saturday, followed by 5 on Sunday. I don't regret the sleeve at all--I could almost forget that I had it--but fear that I will either stop losing weight or that I will regain it all back eventually. Sleeved 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 206, GW: 170

Well, I've hit a stall and have even gained about 3 pounds. Not sure why. I have felt hungrier than usual and could easily graze all day if I wanted to. I have eaten a little more than usual. Hope this ends soon and that the weight continues to drop. Afraid I have lost discipline and now it will all come back on. Sleeved on 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 212, GW: 170.

Loving exercise and the serious increase in all that my body can do. Ran my fastest time yet (24:40) in a Thanksgiving day 5K race. Yesterday I ran a quarter-marathon (6.55 miles) in training, and it was my fastest time yet (1:01:27). Still hope to get that under an hour soon. I've felt noticeably stronger during my dumbbell workouts and added another 5 lbs to each one. Ate a lot during Thanksgiving, but have continued to lose weight. I know I could put it back on by eating junk and drinking sugar, so it is on me to be consistent with healthy choices. I've bought all new clothes already and enjoy how I look plus the positive feedback I'm getting. Grew a beard for a couple weeks but shaved it off yesterday. Can't wait to get under 200. Hopefully I can do so by the end of the year. I haven't noticed any taste changes--I like all the same stuff. I'm 5.5 weeks post-op and eating anything now. Still haven't tried beef jerky but will probably get some soon. Had popcorn for the first time a couple days ago. Looking forward to more of that. There is a guy in the office who is big-time obese and has some comorbidities as a result, but no diabetes. He is always friendly, but perhaps passive-aggressive. I'm new to the office and there might have already been some jealousy on his part with some of the hype our mutual boss gave me when I arrived. Now I sense some more as I have been successful in this journey so far and he has not. I think he's happy for me but just doesn't want to hear the praise I get from others. He gets annoyed easily by me now and scheduled an annual review meeting on a date he knew I'd be gone. Normally, people share encouragements of one another at this meeting and I can guess I'd hear a lot about my weight loss. But that's okay with me--I don't really need that, and if it keeps him from having to hear it, too, all the better. But I wrote these words down the other day, "If you do anything above average there will always be some people who are jealous and resentful of any praise you receive from others." I can't let that stop me, but I still need to be gracious to all. Sleeved on 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5'8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 210.8, GW: 170

Have exercised a lot the past two days and have eaten a lot. I've gotten down over 2,000 calories both days. I can't do it at once, but by grazing I can eat a lot. Feel like my sleeve was good for about 15 of the 58 I've lost since last year and keeps me from eating a lot at one sitting. Beyond that, it seems up to me and my discipline to lose more and get to my goal weight. Still have a long way to go.

I had my one month follow up visit with my doctor today. Excellent! She said that my exercise and nutrition are wonderful. I've lost 21 pounds since my pre-surgery consult appointment and that is almost up to the amount they expect people with my BMI to get to after 6 months. Felt a little pain behind my scars tonight. Probably from playing a little basketball with my son this evening. Sleeved on 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5' 8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 212, GW: 170

Honestly, I've felt less motivated to post updates of my journey here because of the thought that people will question it. Decided that I should post again, anyway. If it feels to me there is too much opposition I will leave this app behind. I am not looking for advice, unless I ask for it, but primarily ask and take advice from my doctor. I'm not trying to get anyone to follow my example but just want to log my journey here. Hopefully there will be encouragement. If not, oh well. I'm at a week-long training away from home and forgot to bring my scale. So, last I checked I was at 215 four days ago. I might be the same or I might be at 214 or 213 but have no way of knowing until I get home on Monday. Running has been going excellent! I ran a quarter-marathon (6.55 miles) on Sunday evening. Pre-op I had been doing that weekly. Well, this time I did my fastest time ever--1:02--just over an hour. Today I ran 3.8 miles (1/8 marathon) and again had my fastest time ever--28:48. Felt great. Back in my room I did 40 sit-ups, 30 push-ups and 20 squats. I was nervous about eating at this event with other people. It is cafeteria style. But it hasn't been a problem. I'm just taking very small portions and chewing a lot. Even though everyone has noticed my weight loss, no one has noticed (or mentioned, I should say) my small portion sizes. Eating very soft meats, soft vegetables, eggs and soup. Sleeved on 10/18/2017 Male, 46, 5' 8" HW: 270, SW: 232, CW: 215 (or less), GW: 170.

Yes, I don't keep any secrets from him. The goal is to keep under 100 carbs a day, which I do most days, easily. So he wasn't worried about that. However, I did not report eating these things here as if to say it is okay to eat those things--I reported them as lapses. There are two concerns with eating--one is how food will physically "push" the sleeve's seam and the other is nutrition. Chewing food well makes a big difference for the former, and keeping your macro/nutrients at the daily goals is what's important for the latter. I know what I need to do and will stay committed to eating right, and according to the plan, in spite of those lapses. Your comment sounds like a rebuke or as if you've caught me in hypocrisy, or something. I am using this space to log my journey--not to boast or expect others to follow my example. I want to be completely honest as I log my experiences--it does me no good to lie and say I didn't eat some pizza, when I did. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I don't need to worry if people will like or agree with what I have to say because I'm not trying to convince anyone about anything--just telling my story.