warrior68

Well today is my one year surgivesary, and I celebrated with Cookies, cakes, candies, pizza, garbage plates, chicken wings, and ice cream Sundays! LOL

Or maybe I celebrated with a 3 miles run, bought myself a new bicycle so I could do a sprint triathlon this spring, as well as re joining the CrossFit gym.

One year total loss of 151 lbs, most of it was lost in the first 6 months, its been slow since then. From 326 lbs on March 1, 2011 to 175lbs on March 1st, 2012.... Not bad if I say so myself. Who would have ever thought a last March that I would be in shape enough to be considering being able to do a half triathlon by the end of this summer?

All I can say DAMN I am proud of me! I could care less if the few people I told about the surgery discount all the hard work and gym hours I have put in because I had the surgery. Fact is, none of them are even close to in shape enough to think about running to the car in a parking lot, and I running three miles on whim.

I really shouldn't make comments like that, but I do occasionally get tired of hearing, "well of course you lost weight, you had surgery!" I have given up on explaining that it wasn't the surgery alone that made me lose 140 lbs in 6 or 7 months, and reminding these people that while they we sitting on the couch eating pizza, I was at the gym, running, lifting, biking, and going to crossfit. Wow how did I turn what was going to be such a positive post into a screw those people post, sorry bout that.

Anyway, long story short, I'm loving life right now, and looking forward to an awesome summer. I will say to anyone on the fence about getting the sleeve, JUST DO IT! The sleeve has changed my life, and I am forever grateful for it. My only regret was not doing it sooner, and I kinda regret telling the few people I did tell.

I would to thank all the people on this awesome forum that helped me out answering questions, and giving guidance as I needed it.

Hey everyone, just joined this group today, I am from Upstate NY, Way Upstate, In the Rochester NY area. Is anyone else from the Upstate area?

Thank you everyone for the words of encouragement! I am getting back on tack at the gym. The sweets are hard to kick, but I am cutting back on them daily until thanksgiving, then cutting them out completely after I have a small piece of pumpkin pie on turkey day.

Long story short I spend a lot of time outside, even in the cold NY winters. I have been putting off buying a new Jacket, and had given away all my old ones that were way to big. I went shopping for new Jacket last night, not only did I find the same Columbia jacket that dicks had marked down from 210.00 to 150.00 Kohls had it marked down to 129.00, TJ Maxx had it for 79.99, Major score on the price! Now for the most important part of the story, its not a XXXXL, XXXL, XXL, or even a XL, its a large, and I still have extra room in it! Its hard to believe that last fall I was wearing XXXXL - XXXL depending on the type and brand of the jacket. I have never in my life been able to fit in anything made by Columbia, This is just the motivation I need to get back at it for the last 25 lbs I need to lose.

What is the 5 day pouch test?

The past couple months I haven't been coming to this forum, mostly because I have not been being so good. I am still losing weight, although very slowly, but I have been eating the wrong foods, and have all but completely stopped working out, WTF is wrong with me? I had huge loses over the first six to seven months, down over 130lbs in six months, then started letting up on everything, and have only lost 16lbs in the past three to four months. I am so close to goal (25 lbs away from goal to be exact), but its like I am sabotaging myself. I stated on Monday with eating right and working out again, but it is so hard to get back in the "Zone" that I was in, I really wish I would have never let up! I am finding it very hard to cut sugar back out of my diet, I crave it like its a drug! The more little sugary Snacks I sneak, the harder I find it to be motivated to get back to the gym. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my sleeve, and would recommend it to others, what I am going through is not a product of being hungry, or needing sweets, its all in my head.

Has anyone else gone through this and then got back on track?

I tend to wonder if I give up the coffee, if it will make it easier to give up the sweets again? I mean I wonder if I need to just be 100% at all times with my diet in order to stick to it, it seems the more I cheat, the more I think it is ok, and then cheat some more.

Had my Surgery on 3/1/11 down 141 lbs at this point. Started at 326 lbs, most of my loss was in the first 6 months, now things are slowing down, but I am consistently maintaining or loses a pound or two a week at this point.

I dont friggin believe it! I made it, I'm there, I just weighed myself, 198.6!! Hell Yeah, damn I doing back flips here! 6 Months, and 126+ Lbs lost!! Holy crap! When I got down to 220 I told myself, ahh heck one hundreds at such a big deal, why does everyone go so crazy with this damn Wonderland crap? Well now I know why, its the best feeling ever! Worse part is now I wanna Celebrate with a fish fry, is that so bad?

Every since my Dog Sampson was 12 weeks old I have taken him to the dog park every day, he is almost three years old now. I do not miss a day at the park, I get a lot of walking miles in every day while Sampson plays. Being a park regular obviously you get to know the other park regulars, we all walk laps together while the wonder mutts wrestle, play chase and swim. There is this one lady that used to be a semi regular, she hasn't been around for months, the last time she saw me was before winter, lets call her missy . Yesterday when I got to the park all the dog walkers were standing under a large tree hiding from the sun, so I walked up and said hello. Before I even got to group I noticed that "Missy" was there, I always notice when Missy is there, she is wicked hot, the kind of lady that you can tell works hard to take care of herself. I walked up and said hello to everyone, everyone else said hello, and Missy looked at me kind of puzzled, as I said hello to her, and used her name, I thought, how odd, she seemed confused or something. As the group walked and talked every time I looked in Missy's direction she had that same puzzled look on her face. At one point more people showed up, and my dog ran over to greet them, of course I followed him, and then walked a while with that group. When the two groups met up again, Missy walked right up to me in front of everyone and said " Oh my God Tom I really have to apologize to you!" I was like, what? why? And says out loud with like 20 people there, "I wasn't sure who you were! I thought maybe someone else was Walking Sampson for you!" "I Honestly did not recognize you at all." "You look amazing!" " You're literally half the size you were!" " And so damn Handsome too!" At this point I was blushing and kind of embarrassed. Missy goes on to state that if she hadn't asked one of the other dog walkers, she would have never guessed it was me, She went on to say how I am " A shadow of my former self". Mind you, although Missy is Happily married, and was not hitting on me in any way, it felt so good to hear her say those things. Missy is one of the ladies at the park that if she wasn't married, well it would probably insight riots with all the guys trying to chase her, she really is HOT! and as I said you can tell she works very hard to stay in shape. After the whole OM I cant believe it you, her and I talked about our workouts, and compared gyms and so on. he whole time we were talking I was thinking "wow, did this beautiful lady just really say all that stuff to me?!!" I was really blown away, and felt great all day!

I was sleeved on 3/1/11, and I have been doing awesome, I'm down over 115 lbs so far! I could not be happier! This weekend I noticed that I have some thinning spots in my hair, one spot on each side of my head, I guess near/ above my ears, needless to say I am not happy about this! I keep my hair short, I call it the #2 hairdo (a buzz cut with the #2 clipper every 4 to 6 weeks), needless to say these spots are very noticeable to me, so others must be seeing them too. Not a lot of people know I had the sleeve, so If others are noticing the thinning spots I can only Imagine what they are thinking, or saying behind my back. People that dont know about my surgery must be thinking, Hmm major weight loss, now he is losing his hair, does he have Cancer, or the hivs? Maybe I'm making to much of this, but it has me very concerned.

What causes Hair loss? Is it Vitamin deficiencies? Lack of Nutrition? I take my Vitamins, I have missed a few days, but for the most part I'm very good about my Vitamins. I have been getting at least 70 grams of Protein on most days, My morning Protein shake has 50 grams on Protein, so I cant see how I would be defiant there?

Is this I temporary thing? Do I need to call my Surgeon, or Just go to my Primary doc and have him run some blood test?

Holy crap, I'm tweaking here! Worse part is I do not work a job that wearing a hat is acceptable, so even if people haven't noticed yet, they will soon!

I will be ordering my Fitbit on the first of the month, unfortunately this pay period all goes to banks, I will keep you all posted. I like the smaller size and less noticeable design of the fitbit just from the photos I saw. The body bug is a bit of a pain the ass, as a guy in the summer I often wear sleeveless shirts to work or go for my walks, I hate heavig everyone ask what it is, does it work? how does it work? and so on.

I have a body bug, like the ones on the biggest loser, and until I read this post, and checked out the fitbit website I loved my body bug. This fit bit seems to use different technology than the body body bug, and I am not sure if it would be as accurate as the body bug. The free website, and cheaper price make the fit bit much more attractive than the body bug. Needless to say I am thinking about switching up and going with the fit bit, the free website tools are the kicker for me, even the premium membership at fitbit is cheaper than the body bug website. I may run a side by side comparison for a week or so and see which one works best.

That is so frigging Awesome!

A mini Triathlon is one of my goals, I have no problem with the bike ride, I am decent with swiming, but I suck at the running! I so badly want to like running / jogging, and I really want to be better at it, problem is I just flat out hate it!

I have had great success with my sleeve, over 115 lbs since march 1st, but I want to hit the gym even harder! Has anyone taken Testosterone booster or creatine? Can we take that stuff having the sleeve?

I absolutley love the chocolate Peanut Butter whey isolate Protein by Sci-Fit, it is in my opinion the best Protein Powder ever! 50 grams of protein per serving.

Jut starting my 5th month, I was sleeved 3/01/11 I have lost 115 lbs. I followed the doctors orders exactly, and I work out like a mad man.

Isnt that a great feeling!! I had a similar situation a couple weeks ago, I've been on cloud nine ever since!

I would let her know just once that you now weigh less than her, or are smaller than her, and then take the high road.

They will check you for leaks at the hospital, follow your doctors orders when you get home.... Absolutely nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the kind words, they are truly appreciated! As far as what I eat, and what I do for work outs I posted all that further back in the thread, scroll back up a bit and you can read it there. There is nothing that I can not eat, never felt sick (with the exception of the first two days), I have been "going" regularly, and i definitely drink liquids all day. I think the single biggest thing I did or do is that I told myself I was not getting this surgery to be lazy and let the weight come off slowly, I knew from long before my surgery date that I was going to bust my ass from day one until I get down to my goal weight! I Promised myself I would not piss, moan, complain, or make excuses any more once I had the surgery. I really do work very hard at this, I had a lot of major health problems that stemmed from being obese, which all 100% gone now. Health was a big motivator, but an even bigger motivator, although I know its not supposed to be the big motivator, is I really wanted to get out and start dating again! I knew that losing the weight would make me look better, feel better, and have a ton more confidence with women than being heavy did. Follow your doctors diet to the letter until he tells you to go ahead and eat whatever you want, and even at that point make good, healthy, well thought out choices. If you feel weak about wanting a candy bar, slice of pizza, or chicken wing, weigh out the options, make a choice that you will be able to be happy with, not one you will regret. Sometimes I chose the candy bar, pizza or chicken wing, but I think it through first, sometimes for hours or days before giving in. before making that bad choice think about how long it takes to burn those calories off at the gym, what will it do to your calorie deficit? Sometimes the couple minutes of pure satisfaction we get form a tasty treat may be worth it, but most times it is not. Sorry to have rambled on and on, I tend to get very passionate about the whole weight loss, working out, and sleeve things these days.

First off I want to say CONGRATS that is just wonderful and you totally deserve to be "friggin" happy lol. I want to have a story like yours how in the world did u lose that much in 5 months????? I am 1 week post op and feel great i drink a ton of liquids all day, I have not felt sick and I go regularly not to be gross heheheh .... Is that how you felt right after ???are there any foods you cant eat???? I would like to know what your fabulous tips are so please write back when u have a chance!!! Congrats again!!!

WOW!! You look awesome!!

Congratulations!

I cant wait till I get there, I'm at 213 right now, I should be under two hundred in few weeks, I hope!

This is incredible. Please tell me what kind of food and exercise plan you have been on!

My food plan is simple, I follow the rules, Protein first, then veggies if I feel like it, Breakfast is a Protein shake 53 grams of Protein, that hold me till lunch or snack which can be just a chobani yogurt, or a cheese stick, sometimes both, for a snack I will have 5 or 6 cherries, or a small handful of almonds, dinner is chicken, fish, or beef, and I have a mint chocolate skiny cow ice cream sandwich every night.

I have made some mistakes along the way, the occasional candy bar, or slice of pizza with the guys, but for the most part I try to be very good about what I eat.

My work outs are pretty harsh, but here is a typical week for me.

Every day without fail I walk 3 to 8 miles with the dog, I do not miss a day, EVER!

Three or four days a week I do CrossFit, its insane, and it hurts, it hurts a lot!

the other three or four days I go to the gym and walk, jog, run on the tread mill. I get on the airdyne bike I do 90 second sprints on the bike followed by 60 seconds of slower rest type pedaling, I do this as long as I possibly can, I mean until it hurts. I try to row at least two if not three 500 meter runs on the rowing machine, then I attempt that damn Jacobs ladder three or four times until failure. I also do a couple nautilus circuits every week. When I have the time and weather is nice I ride my bike to the gym rather than driving to get in more exercise. Thats pretty much my evening workout, I also do some sit ups, push ups, and assisted chin ups in the mornings.

To work out like this takes a lot of time, and effort, I have cut back on my internet surfing, cancelled all my movie channels, and missed out on some social events. Its is so worth it to me, I have caught women checking me out, I have had two girls in a car at stop light chat me up, and on top of all that my health is great now, and i feel great!

I been wearing clothes that are kind baggy on me, its an old habit, I'm sure you can all relate to. Anyways I have been working my way through my closet from 5X shirts to 4X to 3X to 2X, and giving away (donating) the stuff that is WAY to BIG on me. The past few days I tried on some of my tighter fitting 2x shirts, ones that had shrank to more of a XL and they fit, they fit well!! Today I went to JC penny's because they were having a huge sale, Saint Johns bay polo shirts for 9.99, Nike dry polo shirts, and so on. well to my surprise I fit in every single XL shirt I tried on even the Nike and Adidas ones that are known to run small. I was trying on pants and shorts, I'm down to the point where any cut or style of pants or shorts in a 38 fits, some of them are loose! As I walking out of the store it hit me, I just went to a store and bought clothes off the clearance rack, got great deals, and never once had to walk in to the fat kid section of the store! As I walked past the big and tall section I laughed to myself and thought, no more fat kid section for me! No more over paying for extended sizes!! No more limited selection on clothing, I can wear the same clothes as anyone else now!

Everyone kept telling me I was getting smaller, I knew I was, I just didn't see it as much until my niece took my pic yesterday. I am so happy right now I could just, well I dont know what I could do, but I'm really frigging happy!

To show the difference the clothes make in how I look, the one in the red shirt was on fathers day, and the one in the grey sleeveless Adidas shirt was yesterday, july 3rd, I only lost about 8 lbs maybe ten between the two. The ones in the grey sweatshirt are at my all tie high or 326, the black shirt was a couple months ago. I am down to 213 lbs and well within reach of my next mini goal which is to be under 200lbs at my next visit with the surgeon in mid August.

I was sleeved back on 3/1/11 and have had better than average results, I could not be happier with this surgery. The results I have had are due to the surgery, plus that fact that I have been working out very hard, going to the gym 4 days a week, and CrossFit 3 days a week, not to mention the daily walking. I am down a little over 100 lbs at this point, and could not be happier, but a few weeks ago I hit a stall, and was stuck there in spite of how hard I worked out, and how perfect I ate. So at the end of last week the scale did finally start to move again, wow was I happy, but that's not the victory I'm taking about, but its the lead in to it.

Yesterday after leaving CrossFit, I was driving down a busy four lane rd, I was whooped, my whole body physically shaking from the workout, I was covered in sweat, I mean my shirt was soaked, and I was burnt out I could hardly process information(This is how I feel each time I leave CrossFit). As I am driving down the rd out of the corner of my eye I see a silver car that keep pulling up next to me, then dropping back, and pulling up next to me again. Being so wiped out form my workout I wasn't paying much attention at all. Being that it was a awesome summer evening I had all the windows in the car down for some fresh air. I came up to red light and get in the turn only lane, the silver car pulls up next to me, and of course I'm still not paying attention, after a few seconds I hear soemone scream "HEY!" really loud, so loud it kinda scared me at first. I look over and in the silver car there are two chicks, maybe in there late twenty's, hard for me to really tell how old they were. Anyways as I look over the passenger points to the driver who is hiding her face in her hands, and looking embarrassed, and says, "she thinks you're really cute!". I was shocked, this is like the kind of stuff that goes on in high school, and I am 42 years old, I was at a loss for words, no clue at all as to what to say. I'm such a geek I all I could think to say was "thanks" then the damn green arrow came on, and the cars behind me were beeping so I had to drive away. In hindsight I should have asked for her number, but I was so shocked that It was all I could do to even get the word thanks out of my mouth. I was smiling the rest of the ride home, all the way though dinner, when I went to sleep, and I'm still smiling right now! That was exactly the type of motivation I needed to keep me moving forward on my journey! I cant even explain what a HUGE boost of confidence it was, especaily after just breaking through a two week stall. I honestly think from this day forward I will remember that few seconds at that traffic light as the Hell Yeah moment in post surgery life!