My Journey

[kyle.odom 57]

I have just joined the site and am looking for some guidance, advice, and support from others who have recently began their journey's and from those who have had success, failures, and so forth from their surgeries.

To start, I am 27 years old and currently weigh 291 lbs. At 6'3" I have received lots of criticism from people who I have told about my decision to have the surgery. For the most part, I have only talked to my close family and friends about the surgery. They all say that I am tall and can carry it well, or that I've lost the weight before, I can just do it again. Their responses tend to frustrate me. I think it is because a lot of people see the surgery as a way of giving up and forcing yourself to lose and I know that is not the case.

I was a very small and skinny kid up until the age of 9 or 10. Because I had problems with ear infections, I stayed on antibiotics which kept my stomach upset and kept me from eating as much as the normal child. Then I had my tonsils removed and that seemed to cure the problems with my constant ear infections. It also cured my inability to eat. I got fat, very quickly. Around the age of 15 my weight peaked at about 297 and my mother and I began a physician assisted weight loss program. We weighed in every 5 weeks and were prescribed bontril as an appetite suppressant. Along with dieting, I lost 40 lbs in the first ten weeks and consistently kept losing. Eventually I plateaued at about 240. I felt great! After graduating high school I gained a little of the weight back but quickly began taking OTC diet pills (which are now off the market) and was full of energy, exercising 7 days per week, and eating just enough to stay alive. My food intake wasn't intentional, but I just didn't need to eat - I was not hungry. On the pill bottle, it said to take the pills for 45 days with a 30 day break in between. I ended up taking them for about 6 months, without a break. I lost down to about 220. When I stopped taking them I, very slowly, gained back to 245 and stayed there for several years. Although my exercise habits weren't great, I was very active due to my job. Then, within the past few years I started working in an administrative type job and thats when I gained everything back. It was like waking up one day and suddenly being back at 300 lbs. I hated myself and how I had allowed myself to get back there. I made an appointment to begin the process of having the gastric sleeve surgery. My insurance requires a 3 month waiting period and my surgeon requires me to have a psych eval, occupational therapy eval, and 2 night sleep study. Most of the appointments I have already completed, the others are scheduled. My 3 month waiting period will end on February 23 and I can have a preop appointment with the surgeon where he will schedule the surgery.

I have started eating low carb/high protein/sugar free in preparation for the surgery and for what is to follow. I am impressed at how satisfied I am with the diet. I have never disliked "diet" food but it requires a lot of work to make sure healthy options are available for me. I have also started to add Meal Replacement shakes in to prepare myself for the liquid diet. That has been my main concern is the liquid diet. It will be the largest obstacle for me, I feel, throughout this process.

Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the support!

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

Congratulations on making such a big decision and welcome to this site. It is a great source of inspiration, information, and support.

I was sleeved April 20, 2015 and couldn't be happier with my experience, my recovery, and my results so far.

Learn as much as you can and ask lots of questions.

One thing that really helped me was to gradually wean myself off of carbonation and caffeine pre-op. That way I didn't have to deal with caffeine withdrawal after surgery.

Keep us posted on how you are doing.

[Miss Mac 6,262]

Welcome. I recently passed my two year date.

Unless these vocal people have Power of Attorney over your health care, they can't stop you.

What are they going to do? Kidnap you or chain you to the bed? Once you get your sleeve, they can't undo it. They will just have to tolerate the healthier happier you.

Quit listening to them and hampsters running around in your head.

A couple of snarky responses you can use are:

Thank you for your sudden concern about my health, but this is something I have to do for myself.

or

Here is my doctor's phone number. Call him and tell him that you disagree with his diagnosis.

Here are links to a couple of threads about this topic:

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/315739-snarky-comebacks-to-snarky-comments/

and

http://www.bariatric...-way-out-crack/

[Pinkgirl1234 761]

I have just joined the site and am looking for some guidance, advice, and support from others who have recently began their journey's and from those who have had success, failures, and so forth from their surgeries.

To start, I am 27 years old and currently weigh 291 lbs. At 6'3" I have received lots of criticism from people who I have told about my decision to have the surgery. For the most part, I have only talked to my close family and friends about the surgery. They all say that I am tall and can carry it well, or that I've lost the weight before, I can just do it again. Their responses tend to frustrate me. I think it is because a lot of people see the surgery as a way of giving up and forcing yourself to lose and I know that is not the case.

I was a very small and skinny kid up until the age of 9 or 10. Because I had problems with ear infections, I stayed on antibiotics which kept my stomach upset and kept me from eating as much as the normal child. Then I had my tonsils removed and that seemed to cure the problems with my constant ear infections. It also cured my inability to eat. I got fat, very quickly. Around the age of 15 my weight peaked at about 297 and my mother and I began a physician assisted weight loss program. We weighed in every 5 weeks and were prescribed bontril as an appetite suppressant. Along with dieting, I lost 40 lbs in the first ten weeks and consistently kept losing. Eventually I plateaued at about 240. I felt great! After graduating high school I gained a little of the weight back but quickly began taking OTC diet pills (which are now off the market) and was full of energy, exercising 7 days per week, and eating just enough to stay alive. My food intake wasn't intentional, but I just didn't need to eat - I was not hungry. On the pill bottle, it said to take the pills for 45 days with a 30 day break in between. I ended up taking them for about 6 months, without a break. I lost down to about 220. When I stopped taking them I, very slowly, gained back to 245 and stayed there for several years. Although my exercise habits weren't great, I was very active due to my job. Then, within the past few years I started working in an administrative type job and thats when I gained everything back. It was like waking up one day and suddenly being back at 300 lbs. I hated myself and how I had allowed myself to get back there. I made an appointment to begin the process of having the gastric sleeve surgery. My insurance requires a 3 month waiting period and my surgeon requires me to have a psych eval, occupational therapy eval, and 2 night sleep study. Most of the appointments I have already completed, the others are scheduled. My 3 month waiting period will end on February 23 and I can have a preop appointment with the surgeon where he will schedule the surgery.

I have started eating low carb/high protein/sugar free in preparation for the surgery and for what is to follow. I am impressed at how satisfied I am with the diet. I have never disliked "diet" food but it requires a lot of work to make sure healthy options are available for me. I have also started to add Meal Replacement shakes in to prepare myself for the liquid diet. That has been my main concern is the liquid diet. It will be the largest obstacle for me, I feel, throughout this process.

Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the support!

I fast forwarded the back story you wrote.Instead I am focusing on your upcoming surgery...your "journey to a new you.".I never listen to people who say.."Oh your tall ...you can carry your weight"Nonsense.My pre op with my surgeon and nutritionist was different...it was soft foods ,no sugar no starch.I had cream of wheat very runny ,crime or puréed Soup,a premier Protein shake,and a Protein with steamed or sautéed Water based vegetables for 2 weeks.2 days before surgery I started cleaning my system with Miralax and collace,and the day before full liquids...

Clear Liquids.

[Pinkgirl1234 761]

My system was clean and I had no gas whatsoever...oh by the way I gave up caffeine the week prior to the pre op and had the worse headaches and body aches....I just quit it....best decision.

[kyle.odom 57]

Thanks to the both of you for your comments and advice. Currently I am in the "liver shrinking" stage of my diet. I have had to be careful because my BMI is not over 40 and for insurance purposes cannot fall below 35. Because I have high BP it qualifies me for surgery. I have thrown shakes in to my diet though because I know I was eventually be on liquids only for some time.

Carbonated beverages has been a big part of my life for some time now, Diet Coke is definitely my friend. Although, I haven't had much of an issue coming off of them because I drink crystal light when I feel the urge for a soda. However, I still get the caffeine from coffee every morning. Has that been an issue for anyone?