BariatricPal Newsletter 03/01/2014

[Alex Brecher 10,502]

Hey, BariatricPal Members!

We’re turning the corner from winter into spring, and it’s about time! How did the winter go for you? Did you make progress toward becoming the healthy person you want to be? Just before you look ahead to spring, take a look at this month’s BariatricPal newsletter, and spend some time on the boards for further motivation and ideas. Here is what you’ll find in the newsletter.

• Member Poll: Governor Chris Christie and the Lap-Band
• Member Spotlight: Meet cindymg!
• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: Bariatric Success or Disappointment?
• Come Chat on BariatricPal

We hope you enjoy the newsletter and then you log into BariatricPal to talk about it and everything else related to weight loss surgery. Get tips, share stories, and find inspiration on the boards, and don’t forget to tell your surgeon and support group members about BariatricPal. Thanks for your membership!

Sincerely,

Alex Brecher

Founder, BariatricPal

Member Poll: Governor Chris Christie and the Lap-Band

• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie quietly had lap-band surgery in February of 2013. As you can read in this month’s BariatricPal newsletter, recent political events have made the topic resurface, highlighting his 100-pound loss and his current weight of 320 pounds. What do you think about the issue?
• He failed because his BMI of 45 keeps him in the morbidly obese category.
• He is doing great because of his 100-pound weight loss in a year.
• It’s too soon to tell. He’ll fail if he doesn’t lose any more weight or gains it back, but the surgery will be a success if he keeps losing weight.
• I really can’t give an opinion – I do not know anything about him or his diet, and I would not want people to judge me if they didn’t know me.
• Other – Read my answer in the discussion!

Click here so you can mark your answer and let us know what you think in the discussion on BariatricPal!

Our Latest Newsletter Sponsor: Insure Nutrition!

We are always thrilled to welcome a new newsletter sponsor into the BariatricPal family, and this month, Insure Nutrition is giving us the pleasure of doing just that. Our latest sponsor, Insure Nutrition, is an online company that specializes in getting health insurance coverage for nutritional supplements. Its Post-Bariatric Surgery Nutrition products includes Premier Protein shakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors and OptiSource High Protein drinks in caramel and strawberry flavors. Checking if you are eligible is easy. Insure Nutrition encourages you to use its online form to find out if you qualify.

Our sponsors help make BariatricPal newsletters and other services possible. We encourage you show your thanks by considering them first for your bariatric needs.

Member Spotlight: Meet Cindymg!

This month’s spotlight is on cindymg from Chicago. She is a 59-year-old computer consultant who says she has been dieting since high school. In those 40 years, she tried every diet program and calculates that she has probably gained and lost 2,000 pounds in yo-yo dieting. The diets seriously harmed her health as she developed diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease. When she started to lose the feeling in her feet, she knew that she would lose her feet soon if she didn’t do something drastic. After some serious investigation, cindymg chose the vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) because she felt it would be effective without having the side effects of gastric bypass.

Cindymg’s surgery was in May of 2013. Her starting weight was 258 pounds, and she is just under the 200-pound barrier en route to her goal weight of 175 pounds. She had no complications from surgery, and her family has been largely supportive. Her main challenges now are her excess skin and her hesitation getting rid of her oversized clothes!

Since getting surgery, cindymg says that she has been able to cut her medications to one-quarter of what they were. She exercises now and feels much better “without lugging around that extra weight.” She does not get hungry, so she is saving money on food in addition to losing weight! She also notices a change in attitude. Cindymg says she now “eats to live, rather than lives to eat,” and does not feel guilty over food. The gastric sleeve feels like a permanent solution, not a temporary fix.

Cindymg says BariatricPal keeps her mindful, and she enjoys reading members’ stories. She hope to provide them with advice and humor. Her advice for members struggling with weight loss is to avoid beating yourself up. Just get up and try again, and “keep coming back to the forum!”

Thank you, cindymg, for being in our member spotlight! We are excited to be a part of your journey to mental and physical health, and are proud to be part of that journey.

Do you have any members whom you want to see in the BariatricPal newsletter? Do you want to be featured? Let us know in the Member Spotlight Forum or by sending Alex Brecher a private message. Thank you!

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie: Bariatric Success or Disappointment?

A year ago, New Jersey governor Chris Christie got the lap-band. At the time of his surgery in February of 2013, Governor Christie, who stands at 5’11,” weighed over 400 pounds. Since then, NBC News reports that he has lost 90 to 100 pounds and now weighs in at 320 pounds.

The speculation surrounding Governor Christie’s weight loss journey has led to opinions as divided as the political views of those who follow New Jersey politics. Critics maintain that he has failed in this weight loss effort. They point to his current BMI of 45, which places him in the morbidly obese category, and claim that he will be unable to run for president in 2016 because of his weight. Supporters point out that he appears to have lost 40 to 45 percent of his excess body weight, which is right on target for most lap-band patients in the first year after surgery.

Governor Christie himself has kept relatively quiet about the issue from the beginning. He did not reveal his surgery until months had passed, and provided few details. In September, he said that he is more than halfway toward his goal, although he did not specify his current or goal weight.

What do you think? Is Governor Christie’s surgery a failure? Will his weight prevent him from making a serious run for the presidency in 2016? Is he on the right track? Or, maybe it is too tough to judge because it is too soon to tell or because we, as outsiders, do not know the whole story. Let us know what you think on this thread!

Come Chat on BariatricPal

Where do you go when you need a pep talk, information about your weight loss surgery diet, or a celebratory high-five? The BariatricPal chatrooms, of course! In-person support groups might only be once a week or month, you need an appointment to see a doctor, and nurses are only available by phone. Family and friends are encouraging, but they might not understand what you are going through.

The BariatricPal chatrooms are open 24/7, so there’s always a chance that you can find people to talk to. When you chat with BariatricPal members, there’s a good chance you can find someone who is sympathetic to productive burping, or who can suggest a WLS-compatible snack to satisfy your munchies. The chatrooms have been updated to better serve members’ needs, so come check them out!

That’s it for this month’s newsletter. We hope it brightened your day after these long months of winter and gave you some inspiration to look forward to a healthy spring. Thanks for reading it, and we’ll see you on the boards!