Search the Community

Well, after 10 or so months of thinking about surgery, I have decided that I am going to do it. I have spent many many hrs researching to learn as much as I could before I made a decision. I've spent 20 hrs or so on this site, reading about other peoples journeys and decided it's time that I join them. I am lucky, my family is extremely supportive and so is my man. I have no intentions of telling anyone else for the time being. I don't feel like it's anyone elses business. I have tried everything I know to try on my own: WW, Jenny Craig, Transformations, low carb, low calorie, low fat, no sugar, the cabbage soup diet, the liquid protein diet, the 6 week body makeover, apple cider vinegar diet, you get the idea. Do I lose weight on those diets? Sure I do but I can't keep it off. I excercise 5-6 days a week for an hour to an hour and a half at a time and manage to tone up some but no real weight loss. I don't eat fried food, cheese or many of the other things that I know are so bad for you like bacon. I eat more fruit in a week then most people I know do in a month. Bottom line....I'm tired of being fat. My highest weight ever was about 385 (several yrs ago), I lost down to about 325 (where I am now). I have managed to keep that 60 lbs off but every other pound I've lost since then have always put back on up to that 325 mark. For someone as overweight as I am, I am still a very active person, for example this last year I bought a house that needed some work as the yard was in horrible shape. During the summer of 07 I dug up and hauled off railroad ties that were suck in 4 ft of concrete, tore down a shed piece by piece, but up a new privay fence, crawled up on my roof and patched it, tore off an extension over the back porch, rented a jackhammer to bust up concrete, hauled off said concrete (about 6,000 lbs of it), laid a flat of sod (you get the idea), I'm not a lazy person but as I was doing all of these things I just kept thinking how much easier it would be if I didn't weigh 300+ pounds. So, I began weighing (no pun intended) my options and begin making a list of the pro's and con's as well as a list of goals. The pro's outnumberd the con's by 2 to 1 at least so I begin my research. I have decided I have nothing to lose. I go to my seminar at the surgery place on Feb 2nd and I am excited. Also a little scared but I know that's normal. This is going to be a huge change. I know other people have felt the same way and they have come through it okay but you never really know how they felt until you've been through it yourself. So...hang on, it's going to be a wild ride....:redface:

Well, after 10 or so months of thinking about surgery, I have decided that I am going to do it. I have spent many many hrs researching to learn as much as I could before I made a decision. I've spent 20 hrs or so on this site, reading about other peoples journeys and decided it's time that I join them. I am lucky, my family is extremely supportive and so is my man. I have no intentions of telling anyone else for the time being. I don't feel like it's anyone elses business. I have tried everything I know to try on my own: WW, Jenny Craig, Transformations, low carb, low calorie, low fat, no sugar, the cabbage soup diet, the liquid protein diet, the 6 week body makeover, apple cider vinegar diet, you get the idea. Do I lose weight on those diets? Sure I do but I can't keep it off. I excercise 5-6 days a week for an hour to an hour and a half at a time and manage to tone up some but no real weight loss. I don't eat fried food, cheese or many of the other things that I know are so bad for you like bacon. I eat more fruit in a week then most people I know do in a month. Bottom line....I'm tired of being fat. My highest weight ever was about 385 (several yrs ago), I lost down to about 325 (where I am now). I have managed to keep that 60 lbs off but every other pound I've lost since then have always put back on up to that 325 mark. For someone as overweight as I am, I am still a very active person, for example this last year I bought a house that needed some work as the yard was in horrible shape. During the summer of 07 I dug up and hauled off railroad ties that were suck in 4 ft of concrete, tore down a shed piece by piece, but up a new privay fence, crawled up on my roof and patched it, tore off an extension over the back porch, rented a jackhammer to bust up concrete, hauled off said concrete (about 6,000 lbs of it), laid a flat of sod (you get the idea), I'm not a lazy person but as I was doing all of these things I just kept thinking how much easier it would be if I didn't weigh 300+ pounds. So, I began weighing (no pun intended) my options and begin making a list of the pro's and con's as well as a list of goals. The pro's outnumberd the con's by 2 to 1 at least so I begin my research. I have decided I have nothing to lose. I go to my seminar at the surgery place on Feb 2nd and I am excited. Also a little scared but I know that's normal. This is going to be a huge change. I know other people have felt the same way and they have come through it okay but you never really know how they felt until you've been through it yourself. So...hang on, it's going to be a wild ride....

If you ever tried Weight Watchers, they usually keep the card where you attended last, unless it was many many years ago, you may still have your old one. That would be a document. How about diet pills, did you ever use prescribed diet pills? If so the doctor would have a record of prescribing them. After my surgery, I bet I threw away 10 kinds of over the counter diet products. Make a list of those that you've used. Hope this helps.

I can't eat in the morning due to my pills getting stuck though I have an Unjury shake. I get really, really hungry about 2 p.m. so I have breakfast. I don't seem to have head hunger. I'm really hungry. So I eat breakfast at 2-3 p.m. and then dinner at about 6-7 and then I'm hungry about 3-4 hours later so I snack late at night. I eat nuts, cheese and protein except for the ice cream cone I have every night. I love that ice cream cone. I don't care if it's fattening. But that may explain why I lost 40 pounds and stopped. I have weighed the same for a year--no further weight loss. I figure it cost me about $250 per pound so far. I'd really like to lose 10 more pounds so it will only have cost me $200. But on the bright side, I only take 1/2 of my diabetes pill now. If I take a whole one, my blood sugar drops too much. Things are better.

Thanks Aubrie. I wondered if it could be normal. I also have this feeling of being full all the time. No fill yet, I am in a 10 cc band. Should I be grateful? I can keep my 2 to 4 oz down at each meal just fine. I just get this periods of feeling discomfort. They pass very quickly. Can I ask how you did the weight loss ticker? I don't seem to be able to figure it out! Thanks Karen

Nausea will pass. When anyone asks "how was it?" my response is always the same. 'First 2 weeks SUCKED, first 2 months were, eh.' A lot of trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. Now I'm 11 months out. Down 60 lbs. Went from a size 18-20 to an 8-10. Would do it ALL OVER AGAIN! It gets better, I promise

At first u feel nauseous and ur in some pain. But it is so worth it. I am 9 months out and 93 lbs down. I would do it all over again in a second. It has been the best thing I have ever done. From 2x scrubs to mediums too big. I wear medium t shirts from xxl. Size 10 jeans from 22. Stick with it. Follow ur drs plan and u will see results. Each day u feel better. Hang in there.

Remember eating too few calories can also put you into a stall. The body will hold onto every calorie since it's doesn't know when more will come. I wasn't an overeater. I was a disorganized eater. I could wake up at 8, get a cup of coffee around 10 and then not eat anything until 8 -9 pm easily. Then when I did eat it was typically some carb laden meal. Usually a plate of Pasta with some veg and a creme sauce. One of the first things I did when I started trying to get healthy nearly 4 years ago was begin to eat regularly and change the quality of food I ate.

I am at 700- 800 calories per day. So 10% of my calories going to these pills is weird. I tried Metamucil and it wasn't working as well. All of the fiber supplements have calories. What is surprising is how high in carbs the calcium chews and multi Vitamins are. I guess once you move to pills they don't have as many calories.

@@Sexy-D If you go back to basics (not drinking before and after Eating) it will help. I've stuck to that exact plan and I'm down 40 lbs in 10 weeks. You can do it!

Make sure you are meeting your protein goals. Healing is slow when you are light on protein. I was good to go back to work after 10 days with almost no pain.

You know what I realized about 10 weeks out? That I was eating about the same amount of food as the skinny girls I hung out with. If people are giving you grief find some healthier more supportive people. Take car of YOU[emoji6]

It takes two weeks before I know exactly how a fill is working. I notice it right away, but 10-14 days it seems to really settle in.

Had surgery May 2013. Had my PE June 4th...5 days after surgery. Feel very lucky to be alive. It is a risk we all know prior to surgery and is a very personal decision. I was severely depressed before surgery...not really living any sort of healthy life. My highest weight was 316 lbs. I am now 180 lbs. 10 months later. I am finally living life every day. Thankful to be truly alive and appreciating every moment, taking nothing for granted!

Do you have a surgery date yet? You may have read in some of my other posts that I'm not a big fan of goal weights. My surgeon never offered one and I decided even before my surgery that my body would know when it was where it wanted to be. So I just kept following the protocol until my weight stabilized. I believe there are several advantages to this approach. When you have a goal weight in mind, it increases your impatience and frustration with the time it takes to reach your goal. If you don't have a goal weight, you're not on any timeline - you won't know you're there until you're there. Much more conducive to focusing on the all-important lifestyle changes as opposed to some "magic" number. WLS patients often experience a weight regain following their weight loss - commonly referred to as "bounce back". It can be as little as 10-15 pounds or, in some cases, considerably more. There can be a lot of reasons for it but, at least in my experience, if your body is at the weight it wants to be at, there's little or no bounce back. I stabilized at 155 and my weight this morning (13 months later) was 152.8. And that's after increasing my daily calorie goal following the stabilization of my weight. Initially by 300 calories. And most recently I increased it again by an additional 100 calories over what I was targeting during weight loss. Finally, not having a specific goal weight takes at least some of the emphasis off of the number on the scales. That's a big deal. And one of the reasons I always recommend folks who are in the rapid weight loss part of the journey weigh themselves no more often than once a week. When you hit a stall, once every two weeks is even better. No matter what we do, our weight loss is going to fluctuate in response to too many variables to even identify, much less address. Downplaying the number on the scale and focusing your energy instead on staying positive, staying focused on following the protocol as closely to the letter as you possibly can, staying patient and maintaining a food log is a much more rewarding and much less stressful plan. You're gonna love the new you!!

Thank-you. I think I'm getting obsessive with the weight loss, I lost 10 lbs within the first week and have only lost a pound since. Frustrated cause I wanted to be one if those that lose their weight quickly.

It's been hard to do any outdoor exercise due to heavy snow and weather where we live but since spring is finally coming around every night I've been strapping him in to the back carrier and going to collect sap for our maple syrup and hiking back from the woods w him through the field Bc there is at least 6 inches of tough crust to fight through. I've also pulled back out my elliptical and have been trying to do it in the evenings. I was worried I lost my pouch but I've literally have been eating 3/4 or an egg and maybe a half of a sausage link for Breakfast but am starving by 10. So iv had a shake to hold me over until lunch. I'm happy to know my pouch tolerance is only my fault but now to get over the stupid food addiction again. So I've been starting to keep a good log to keep me accountable

It took me to get to week 4 almost before I was comfortable with the mush foods. Just be patient. Sleeved 10/24/12 Sent from my iPad using VST

They took out 2 ccs and brought me down to 7 in an 11 band and it still didn't help the pain, but helped me gain 10 pounds so far!

Wow it sounds like some of us want to do "K's". I was thinking once my doctor tells me I can exercise I'll be slowly startting to train for an 10 or 15K myself I was thinking training was like a year so I would do one for my 40th next Feb. But if I could do a small one like a 5k this summer I'd be so sprung!!! (ok I'm showing my age) I go to the doctor tomorrow so we will see

That's how I would read it. Personally I would have 8 oz at say 8:00 am and another 8 oz at 10:00 am so that you can spread out your eating.

I went in for my second post operation visit with my gastric surgeon and have no complications. I have kept a record that started 3 weeks before surgery, so for a total of 10 weeks I have lost 64 pounds.I started at 397 and have a goal weight of 200. I go in for an adjustment on July 18 th, my surgeon does his adjustments in the hospital and only in the office if a emergency. He says this is much more precise and my dietitian agrees totally. I have yet to try a lot of different foods, pasta rice, vegetables, fruits, so I'm looking forward to that. I was so happy with my weigh in because I didn't step foot on a scale since before the operation. I figured if I do as I'm told and stick to the amounts I'm supposed to eat I will lose. Also, since I have such an enormous amount to lose, at this point weighing all the time would be like an emotional roller coaster. Why put myself through that? I was so happy I cried in front of my surgeon, the relief of finally feeling like there is HOPE is so wonderful, I hope everyone can get that too! 133 pounds to go!

Past pych and all other test..just waiting on insurance..so excited...

I had sleeve surgery in Tijuana with Dr. Frayre from Ponce Bariatrics on December 5th. Like anyone, I was nervous about going over the border for this and my family was pretty freaked out about that, although they supported me in making this decision. I had the single port surgery through my belly button ($6,000), and for an additional $700, they took out my gal bladder as well through the same hole. My starting weight was 210 lbs, 34 BMI, and 5'6" tall. I had a friend who had gone through Dr. Ponce and had a great experience, so that is why I chose them. Dr. Frayre is another surgeon who works with Dr. Ponce and I was told that they always do surgeries together, even though I can't verify that, as I never saw or met Dr. Ponce. I won't lie, the first couple of days were rough, and it was my first major surgery, so I have nothing to compare to, but I do believe I received excellent care. I am a total sissy when it comes to pain and I really think I have a lower than normal tolerance for it. I was in a sort of tiny hospital called "INT clinic"...only about 12 or 14 rooms total and I had a room to myself with bathroom and walk in shower. The nurses were great and so responsive, even though they spoke little to no English. My single port incision is about an inch long, and located not so much IN my belly button, but at the top of it which was different from what I thought. I have a very deep and narrow belly button, and they have to get all their instruments through that hole, so maybe that is why. I also had a very small drain incision. From my experience, I wouldn't say my recovery was faster with this surgery, but if you want less scars, this may be what you want to choose. You could save $1,000 and just go with the regular surgery and have 4 or 5 tiny incisions. But I am healing well after 10 days and no issues. I do believe Dr. Frayre and Dr. Ponce are accomplished surgeons. I was told Dr. Frayre had the sleeve surgery himself. This is long, but I hope this info is helpful. Sent from my SM-N910G using the BariatricPal App