September surgery buddies!!

[tx2az 54]

September Buddies - 2022 This past year has been great. I am pleased with my weight loss, even though I have been at a stall for quite a while. Need to kick-start this again to get that last 15 pounds gone! My daughter has begun the journey, too. Her sleeve surgery is scheduled for Oct 11, 2023.

I hope y'all are doing well! Best wishes and thanks to all for the support we have shared and will continue to do so.

[kukuiokalani 102]

On 8/5/2023 at 11:14 AM, tx2az said:

September Buddies - 2022 This past year has been great. I am pleased with my weight loss, even though I have been at a stall for quite a while. Need to kick-start this again to get that last 15 pounds gone! My daughter has begun the journey, too. Her sleeve surgery is scheduled for Oct 11, 2023.

I hope y'all are doing well! Best wishes and thanks to all for the support we have shared and will continue to do so.

Hi! I'm so happy your year has been such a success! And how exciting for your daughter! It's awesome that she could see how your journey has gone, especially in that first month or two post-op.

My surgery was on September 7, 2022, and I am kicking my butt trying to get to below 200 pounds by my one year RNY anniversary - I've got 10 pounds to go! I have lost 200 pounds since my highest weight in November 2021, and 145 pounds since surgery 11 months ago.

Highest Weight: 410 | Surgery Weight: 355 | Current Weight: 210 | Goal Weight: 185

Physical Health:
I am weight lifting 5 days per week, and my cardio is spin cycling or swimming 4-5 days per week. I'm currently a size 12, medium/large, down from size 28, 5x - I haven't been a size 12 since 6th grade! I am still not used to walking into a store and easily finding clothes that fit me. For decades, I have only been able to shop at plus-size clothing stores like Lane Bryant, and my options are so vast now! Also my hair is growing back and getting healthier again. My last blood test showed I was low on folate, so I'm taking that which has the benefit of helping with Constipation, too.

Recent realizations: collar bones and ribcage are things that I have turns out??

Mental Health:
I don't track my food anymore because I started noticing some unhealthy food restriction patterns starting when I was closely tracking it. I have also asked for help from my support people. Just yesterday I asked my mom to remind me that, no matter what I said, today is going to be a rest day and she helped hold me to that today. She also offered to hold onto my scale for a bit which I took her up on so I can keep my weight loss progression mentally healthy. That said, I have been off my depression and anxiety medication for about five months now and I'm finding that my mental health has been thriving lately.

Excess Skin:
Because I've lived at 300-400 pounds for 20+ years, I have a ton of extra skin and I have started looking into excess skin surgery options for my belly, arms, and breasts. I am saving money wherever I can to try and save up for skin removal surgery. I will never be able to afford surgery in the US, but I've been researching options abroad like in Mexico, Colombia, and Thailand. Right now I use compression garments to hold my tummy skin in place while I exercise or basically just exist because chafing is a real problem. I have really bad skin to begin with and I don't need to add in chafing and skin infections just for fun.

I hope you guys are doing great as we all come up on our one year anniversaries! Let's keep supporting each other and sharing in our various successes and struggles!

[milly Moo 0]

Yes ! September 13th for me

[LauriL415 1]

I am scheduled for the 12th also

[Hope4NewMe 173]

I can't believe its almost been a year already! I hit my 1st major goal of 155 which is what I have been trying to hit for over 20 years but then I of course have been in a stall and have been going up and down the same 3 lbs and haven't hit it again since. So I'm hoping this stall will break soon and that I can keep going. Its so sad to not really feel happy about hitting that goal because I gained the next time I weighed myself and so I can't count it in my head yet. I'm close though so I'm happy about that. Once I hit 152 I'll have lost 80 lbs which is my next goal lol. I'm scared because I seem to have to be very strict with my calories to be able to lose and not gain. I have to be under 1200 and over 800 and I have to exercise. If I don't exercise then even with that range of calories I start to gain or stall. Which means I might be stuck at 1200 and under for life which is depressing because my hunger is really coming back and I've never had a great restriction so every day is a harder battle. I'm using veggies to fill in the hunger gaps and Water too but its scary. I was hoping that after this amount of time that eating less and eating better would be natural and normal for me so that it wouldn't feel like a diet. For awhile it was like that but now with the hunger back I can easily eat too much and my brain still thinks I should be eating bigger portions. I'm still working on it though and I'm still hoping to reach more goals so I hope I don't fail this close to the finish line. One day at a time

[Jeffrey131 6]

16 hours ago, LauriL415 said:

I am scheduled for the 12th also

And I'm the 11th. Lol

[LauriL415 1]

6 hours ago, Jeffrey131 said:

And I'm the 11th. Lol

Good luck! I am so ready!

[ZeeGee 40]

So I had my final nutritional visit and have been cleared for surgery… they sent off my paperwork to insurance for approval today so praying I get a September Surgery date… fingers crossed! Congratulations to everyone else that has 🎉

[kukuiokalani 102]

On 8/8/2023 at 4:11 AM, Hope4NewMe said:

I can't believe its almost been a year already! I hit my 1st major goal of 155 which is what I have been trying to hit for over 20 years but then I of course have been in a stall and have been going up and down the same 3 lbs and haven't hit it again since. So I'm hoping this stall will break soon and that I can keep going. Its so sad to not really feel happy about hitting that goal because I gained the next time I weighed myself and so I can't count it in my head yet. I'm close though so I'm happy about that. Once I hit 152 I'll have lost 80 lbs which is my next goal lol. I'm scared because I seem to have to be very strict with my calories to be able to lose and not gain. I have to be under 1200 and over 800 and I have to exercise. If I don't exercise then even with that range of calories I start to gain or stall. Which means I might be stuck at 1200 and under for life which is depressing because my hunger is really coming back and I've never had a great restriction so every day is a harder battle. I'm using veggies to fill in the hunger gaps and Water too but its scary. I was hoping that after this amount of time that eating less and eating better would be natural and normal for me so that it wouldn't feel like a diet. For awhile it was like that but now with the hunger back I can easily eat too much and my brain still thinks I should be eating bigger portions. I'm still working on it though and I'm still hoping to reach more goals so I hope I don't fail this close to the finish line. One day at a time

Great job hitting your goals! I'm working on finding some non-scale victories to keep me motivated because the stalls are getting longer and longer, but progress is happening albeit slowly. I think my calorie count is around the 800-1000 mark, too, and I think that's where I'll be pretty permanently.

Congrats on 155! That's amazing! I can't believe we're at the one year mark.

Also, we seem to be scooping up some of the 2023 September surgery folks since this post isn't dated. To the new people, welcome! If you have any questions, let us know. We've all had our surgeries in September 2022 and while we don't post as often anymore, folks pop in every couple months to update / Celebrate / commiserate.

Best of luck to new and old September weight loss comrades!

[Hope4NewMe 173]

8 hours ago, kukuiokalani said:

Great job hitting your goals! I'm working on finding some non-scale victories to keep me motivated because the stalls are getting longer and longer, but progress is happening albeit slowly. I think my calorie count is around the 800-1000 mark, too, and I think that's where I'll be pretty permanently.

Congrats on 155! That's amazing! I can't believe we're at the one year mark.

Also, we seem to be scooping up some of the 2023 September surgery folks since this post isn't dated. To the new people, welcome! If you have any questions, let us know. We've all had our surgeries in September 2022 and while we don't post as often anymore, folks pop in every couple months to update / Celebrate / commiserate.

Best of luck to new and old September weight loss comrades!

Thank you for your kind words! So you are ok mentally to stay at 800- 1000 calories forever? To me I get scared that that would not be a healthy number for anyone and that we are training ourselves into eating disorders. I find myself very close to being counted as having an eating disorder because of how much I count my calories and weigh my food etc. It's not officially an issue because we're under medical supervision but soon at the 1 year mark we are supposed to be mostly set free, at least I am. I go to every 6 months visits instead of 3 months with the dr. The line is blurry between what we do to to lose weight because we've had this surgery and we have lots of weight to lose and what is healthy long term. I was always under the impression that the goal was to eventually get back to eating a more normal amount of calories, but if we can't without gaining the weight back, what do you do? Is this the reason that so many surgeries fail? Its just scary to me no matter which way I look at it lol. I still am sooo happy to have lost this weight though and I would have the surgery again in a heartbeat. I just need to figure out this next step in the journey. I don't want to fail.

[Cassandra Maughan 9]

I’m down 175 lbs since 9/12/22 and currently eat 1700-1900 calories a day. I’ll hit my surgeon’s goal in the next 1-2 weeks and I’m about 30 lbs from my personal goal. You can damage your metabolism staying at 800-1200 calories for life. I have adjusted very slowly first going to 1400, then 1500, 1600, and now I try for 1700 but do go as high as 1900. On vacation I ate 2500+, gained 3 lbs and lost 5 the week I got back. I am very concerned about disordered eating and a lifestyle that is sustainable long term. I do exercise quite a bit, mostly because I genuinely love food and want to be able to indulge in small ways without stalling my progress too much. It’s about balance.

[Cassandra Maughan 9]

I’m down 175 lbs since 9/12/22 and currently eat 1700-1900 calories a day. I’ll hit my surgeon’s goal in the next 1-2 weeks and I’m about 30 lbs from my personal goal. You can damage your metabolism staying at 800-1200 calories for life. I have adjusted very slowly first going to 1400, then 1500, 1600, and now I try for 1700 but do go as high as 1900. On vacation I ate 2500+, gained 3 lbs and lost 5 the week I got back. I am very concerned about disordered eating and a lifestyle that is sustainable long term. I do exercise quite a bit, mostly because I genuinely love food and want to be able to indulge in small ways without stalling my progress too much. It’s about balance.

[Hope4NewMe 173]

9 minutes ago, Cassandra Maughan said:

I’m down 175 lbs since 9/12/22 and currently eat 1700-1900 calories a day. I’ll hit my surgeon’s goal in the next 1-2 weeks and I’m about 30 lbs from my personal goal. You can damage your metabolism staying at 800-1200 calories for life. I have adjusted very slowly first going to 1400, then 1500, 1600, and now I try for 1700 but do go as high as 1900. On vacation I ate 2500+, gained 3 lbs and lost 5 the week I got back. I am very concerned about disordered eating and a lifestyle that is sustainable long term. I do exercise quite a bit, mostly because I genuinely love food and want to be able to indulge in small ways without stalling my progress too much. It’s about balance.

Congrats on all you have accomplished! You are doing amazing. I love food but I hate exercise which is why I needed the surgery to begin with lol. How much exercise is a lot to be able to eat that many calories? I think if you exercise the calories off then its about the same as not eating the calories to begin with. Maybe its healthier to do it that way? Exercise for me has not been sustainable and I'm just barely hanging on by doing 2 miles on the bike every day which only takes me 10 min. That's all I can motivate myself to do. Maybe that's the reality though. That to stay thinner we have to eat less than the average person or exercise more.

[Cassandra Maughan 9]

9 minutes ago, Hope4NewMe said:

Congrats on all you have accomplished! You are doing amazing. I love food but I hate exercise which is why I needed the surgery to begin with lol. How much exercise is a lot to be able to eat that many calories? I think if you exercise the calories off then its about the same as not eating the calories to begin with. Maybe its healthier to do it that way? Exercise for me has not been sustainable and I'm just barely hanging on by doing 2 miles on the bike every day which only takes me 10 min. That's all I can motivate myself to do. Maybe that's the reality though. That to stay thinner we have to eat less than the average person or exercise more.

Minimum an hour a day, 7 days a week. Sometimes 1.5 hours. But I also don’t love exercise so I had to find things I enjoyed or at least find tolerable. For me my top choices are swimming, Water aerobics, and walking. I need to do more strength training because more muscle burns more calories.

[kukuiokalani 102]

I don’t track my calories too closely because I was developing unhealthy restriction habits when I was tracking. While 1000 calories isn’t my forever, I also started with a lot more to lose than most people (410 lbs to 210 lbs currently) and it’s still a reasonable calorie intake for my current weight/exercise level. Also, more important than calories is keeping my Protein ratio high; my 1000 calories hovers somewhere around 60% Protein, 20% fat, 20% carbs. Just keep in touch with your dietitian.

As far as exercise is concerned, I split my workouts into 20 min cardio + 25ish min core training or yoga in the morning, and 10 min warmup + 45 min strength training in the afternoon and once a week I skip the lifting and swim laps for 45 min instead. Strength training is my happy place.