Use Your First Six Months Wisely

[june13sleever 223]

Now that I have stopped losing I am losing my hair normal now. I am hoping now maybe it will start growing back and I am wondering if hair regrowth is a sign that your body is going into it's maintenance phase. I would love to actually get out their and start doing research to come up with some consistent strategies to avoid stalls, look at hair re-growth. I mean since this surgery is still new I feel like our doctors should have us also be sort of like lab rats and have a monthly questionnaire. There is nothing.

[lizv123 389]

Guys.. I need strength!! I want to get in gym .. was sleeved on Oct16' date=' I need to be pushed! I needed to hear that! Gotta get it !! Damn I know I can go it I just need to go hard! Jeez its hard will go in tonight to gym ! I will![/quote']

Just remember if you don't exercise you're going to have a surplus of droopy skin. You can kick your own butt and exercise now, or you can kick your own butt later for looking a naked mole rat

Once you find a groove, music works, exercising is no problem. It's just another part of what you do everyday like bathing.

[june13sleever 223]

And I always come back to my posts! And I don't care what you think about me. Maybe someone who is struggling will choose to go a different route. Maybe what I am saying doesn't work. All I know is I was fortunate that I kept losing because I am hungry all the time now. I was on cruise control...yay those days are over. I am driving this car now.

[Jessica9190 127]

Now that I have stopped losing I am losing my hair normal now. I am hoping now maybe it will start growing back and I am wondering if hair regrowth is a sign that your body is going into it's maintenance phase. I would love to actually get out their and start doing research to come up with some consistent strategies to avoid stalls' date=' look at hair re-growth. I mean since this surgery is still new I feel like our doctors should have us also be sort of like lab rats and have a monthly questionnaire. There is nothing.[/quote']

That makes me feel better. I haven't even had surgery yet but my hair falls out all the time. I'm not on a diet it just falls out!!!

[lizv123 389]

All of you that are setting outlandish goals of unrealistic dieting and exercise are increasing your chances of failure.

That's considered crash dieting, and the objective of any WLS is to put a stop to that, not use your new stomach to aid in it. You're not paving a realistic path for your future.

[june13sleever 223]

Um the first six months to a year is not a diet. It is a self inflicted form of starvation no matter how you look at it. It is a crash diet...however you can never eat normal again so once the crash is over you can't eat a large pizza to celebrate...you can however find ways to gain through grazing and eating every single time you are hungry. Have you even had the surgery yet?

[june13sleever 223]

And I never said you have only six months. It is possible that you could have only six months...but yes you could lose weight for up to 2 years...but...a lot of people do not make it to goal. In my support group there were only two of us that made it. I am just saying that use the first six months to get down with the get down ok. That is all.

[delta_girl 931]

Um the first six months to a year is not a diet. It is a self inflicted form of starvation no matter how you look at it. It is a crash diet...however you can never eat normal again so once the crash is over you can't eat a large pizza to celebrate...you can however find ways to gain through grazing and eating every single time you are hungry. Have you even had the surgery yet?

Yup. 500-600 calories a day is exactly a starvation diet. Ever wonder how many calories a day anorexics strive for? This goes back to a post I made about being able to survive on fat stores. We have so much surplus that the deficit has to be extreme to get results moving. That doesn't mean we are meant to continue to live out the rest of our lives on such harsh calorie restrictions.

We have agreed to an extreme medical intervention to address an extreme addiction.

[june13sleever 223]

And don't buy hair clips from the people in the mall!!! Go on ebay they are way cheaper!

[june13sleever 223]

I believe that this board is the best support group ever and I owe a lot of my success to this board!

[lizv123 389]

Um the first six months to a year is not a diet. It is a self inflicted form of starvation no matter how you look at it. It is a crash diet...however you can never eat normal again so once the crash is over you can't eat a large pizza to celebrate...you can however find ways to gain through grazing and eating every single time you are hungry. Have you even had the surgery yet?

Being sleeved yet or not has nothing to do with common sense and reality.

[Butterthebean 8,146]

I said it earlier and I'll say it again....if you go into too big of a calorie deficit your body may very well sabotage your weight loss efforts, not to mention your health. Your body may have enough fat stores to fuel your body for weeks or months, but it won't. Your body doesn't work that way. After some time your body will protect itself by shutting down systems to protect those reserves of fat. That's what it's programmed to do. That means your metabolism will slow down. Your body will also go into a catabolic state, which means its breaking down muscle instead of fat. It does this because calorie intake is low and your body knows those muscles are what's requiring the calories, therefore, in times of extreme starvation it will try to get rid of them.

You will also not have the ability to workout for 4 hours a day consistently without eating enough fuel. Your body will burn fat for a while, but as stated above, it will eventually try to protect its fat reserves and burn lean tissue instead....including our heart.

To prevent this, you must eat a healthy amount based on your BMR, workout consistently, and eat a nutritionally balanced diet. With our limited calorie intake, our diets must be Protein heavy to prevent lean tissue loss. But if you are working out to the point of extreme without adding calories, your small protein intake will not be enough to protect your lean tissue from breakdown.

[LizInTexas 125]

I'm 7 weeks out this week and am still having trouble making myself consume enough fluids and calories (but it's getting better !). This surgery isn't all peachy and easy for everyone even if they had no complications, so take those "it's so easy" postings with a grain of salt and hope you get as lucky. I didn't. I was speaking to a dear friend of mine a few days ago about my struggles (she is a nurse) and she told me the story of a 44 year old woman who had wls almost 2 years ago. This woman claims she was never told how to eat post op (which is BS in both of our opinions since insurance paid for her surgery and there are a million insurance hoops to jump through) so she did not consume enough nutrition nor enough fluids and the end result has been tragic. Yes, she's lost weight, but she did it completely the wrong way, by not eating and drinking. As a result, she has lost the ability to hoist her own body weight due to muscle loss, she had kidney stones the size of marbles, is almost bald due to Hair loss, and has damaged her liver beyond repair. And by "beyond repair", I mean this woman is now bed ridden (sp?) in a skilled care facility waiting to die. Her liver is failing because she turned her "tool" into a weapon by choosing not to nourish her body. She blames the surgery instead of taking the responsibility herself. "it's all the surgery's fault". Moral of the story: there are worse things than not meeting your weight goal, especially if you allow yourself to become so obsessed that you destroy your body trying to get there. My surgeon is the head of the bariatric program at a center of excellence and, though opinions are widely varied, his opinion is that the weight loss doesn't stop after any set period of time if you're eating proper nutrition, getting proper hydration, exercising moderately (he's a marathon runner HAH !), and stay focused on getting to your goal in a healthy manner. Weight loss may slow down somewhere in between 6 and 18 months (his numbers), but none of us got fat in a couple years time so what's a few more months ? As for me, I plan on following the healthy and steady wins the race method. I can't imagine that I'll give a rats arse what I look like if I'm lying in a box because I've starved myself or exercised myself to death (though I don't think I've ever been in any danger of exercising myself to death ) My best advice is to use your common sense, do research beyond these forums (though these forums are very helpful), make a healthy eating and exercise plan and stick to it, and filter out the extremist postings. This surgery is about living a better, healthier life. It's not about destroying your body just to be as thin as possible as fast as possible. We all want fast results, but rest assured, if you don't do it the right way, your body will pay the price, and this poor woman's story is proof that the price really can be your life if you don't. Just my 2 cents...

[lizv123 389]

I'm 7 weeks out this week and am still having trouble making myself consume enough fluids and calories (but it's getting better !). This surgery isn't all peachy and easy for everyone even if they had no complications' date=' so take those "it's so easy" postings with a grain of salt and hope you get as lucky. I didn't. I was speaking to a dear friend of mine a few days ago about my struggles (she is a nurse) and she told me the story of a 44 year old woman who had wls almost 2 years ago. This woman claims she was never told how to eat post op (which is BS in both of our opinions since insurance paid for her surgery and there are a million insurance hoops to jump through) so she did not consume enough nutrition nor enough fluids and the end result has been tragic. Yes, she's lost weight, but she did it completely the wrong way, by not eating and drinking. As a result, she has lost the ability to hoist her own body weight due to muscle loss, she had kidney stones the size of marbles, is almost bald due to Hair loss, and has damaged her liver beyond repair. And by "beyond repair", I mean this woman is now bed ridden (sp?) in a skilled care facility waiting to die. Her liver is failing because she turned her "tool" into a weapon by choosing not to nourish her body. She blames the surgery instead of taking the responsibility herself. "it's all the surgery's fault". Moral of the story: there are worse things than not meeting your weight goal, especially if you allow yourself to become so obsessed that you destroy your body trying to get there. My surgeon is the head of the bariatric program at a center of excellence and, though opinions are widely varied, his opinion is that the weight loss doesn't stop after any set period of time if you're eating proper nutrition, getting proper hydration, exercising moderately (he's a marathon runner HAH !), and stay focused on getting to your goal in a healthy manner. Weight loss may slow down somewhere in between 6 and 18 months (his numbers), but none of us got fat in a couple years time so what's a few more months ? As for me, I plan on following the healthy and steady wins the race method. I can't imagine that I'll give a rats arse what I look like if I'm lying in a box because I've starved myself or exercised myself to death (though I don't think I've ever been in any danger of exercising myself to death ) My best advice is to use your common sense, do research beyond these forums (though these forums are very helpful), make a healthy eating and exercise plan and stick to it, and filter out the extremist postings. This surgery is about living a better, healthier life. It's not about destroying your body just to be as thin as possible as fast as possible. We all want fast results, but rest assured, if you don't do it the right way, your body will pay the price, and this poor woman's story is proof that the price really can be your life if you don't. Just my 2 cents...[/quote']

Exactly. well said, Liz

[makemyownluck 785]

I am two months post op and am now able to do light exercise. I still have weight restrictions (lifting) and am not allowed to do vigorous exercise involving twisting or bending. It's not an "excuse" it's a doctors requirement.

In addition...eating "when you are hungry" is easy to say when preop because you haven't experienced the changes your body will go through. I'm never hungry frankly...ok maybe if I go too many hours without solid food I do get a tummy rumble but Water will satisfy that or a latte. If you only eat when you are hungry you will likely suffer slow weight loss because you aren't taking care of your body properly.

You are motivated and I think that's great...but given you haven't gone through the process all of the way' date=' it's difficult to read your "advice" because it is misguided. Its your speculation on how you'll do, not reality.

I'd suggest reading your doctors requirements for exercise as well as your diet guidelines. You are likely to find that after surgery you get a big wake up call about that eating when hungry...and please don't knock others who are following their doctors guidelines for exercise. They give these guidelines for a reason and it has nothing to do with excuses.

[/quote']

I didn't knock anyone, but thanks for the advice anyway....