BariatricPal Newsletter - February 2015

[Alex Brecher 10,494]

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Hey BariatricPal Members! How is winter treating you? Are you finding ways to stay active and developing your own healthy comfort food recipes? Or is the dreary weather getting you down a little? If it is, the newsletter can help! Here’s what you’ll find. Member Polls: What’s Your Opinion? Member Spotlight: Meet RJ’s/beginning! Super Bowl Sunday: Go for the Victory! After going through the newsletter, come on over to BariatricPal and get the spark back! Find out how others are staying motivated and what you can do to stay on track. Thanks for all of your support! Sincerely, Alex Brecher Founder, BariatricPal Member Polls: What’s Your Opinion? When you want to know what others are thinking, go to BariatricPal’s Member Poll Forums. It’s a place to check out other members’ thoughts and give your own opinion. There are always new polls coming out, and if you have an idea for a poll, just PM Alex Brecher. Here are a couple of hot ones this week. Some Encouragement for Beginners… If you’re even thinking about weight loss surgery, you’ve struggled with your weight for years. If you haven’t gotten surgery yet, why haven’t you? If you already had surgery, what was the last thing holding you back before you decided to go ahead with it? Your answer and explanation can help other BariatricPal members make their decisions. Give your answer here! One for the Ladies… Overweight or not, there’s something that almost every woman thinks about: her dress size. Sound like you? Are you driven to become a red carpet-reminiscent size 0 to match the Hollywood stars? Is a “normal weight” 6 to 10 more your style? Weigh in on our poll on “What’s Your Ideal Dress Size after Weight Loss Surgery!” Member Spotlight: Meet RJ’s/Beginning Our featured member for this newsletter is RJ’s/beginning from Dieppe, Nebraska. Her story is one of struggle, bravery, and determination. It’s also one of remarkable weight lost. Unlike many BariatricPal members, RJ remembers a time in childhood when she was not overweight. Her family was poor and did not have much to eat. Once her family situation stabilized and food was available, RJ began to gain weight as a teenager and throughout her adult life. Diets helped her lost weight many times, but she always gained it back and then some. Her weight ballooned up to a high of 381 pounds after falling in a bathtub eight years ago. The fall left her with a back injury and Migraines, and she was barely functioning. RJ got a referral for the vertical sleeve gastrectomy in 2008, and waiting for four long years until she could get the surgery. RJ just celebrated her 2-year surgiversary, and is already at her goal weight of 170 pounds! She lost an amazing 211 pounds, which is well over half of her original body weight! Since surgery, RJ says her mobility has improved 100 percent, and she has only a few migraines. She can do the chores, play with her granddaughter, tie her shoes, shop ‘til she drops, and walk for hours. She no longer feels “doomed to a no life at all.” It’s been far from easy for RJ, though. As she says, “I am one of those 10% of patients who has endured extreme complications from the choice of weight loss surgery. I got a leak shortly after the surgery and went septic. I ended up in surgery and in an induced coma for nineteen days.” Doctors were finally able to get down her temperature of 104 and get her out of the coma. That, she says, was when the real work began. She had 14 procedures and surgeries, and ended up with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. She needed to learn how to walk, write, talk, and eat again. Five and a half months later, she left the hospital and went home under the care of family, a friend, and nurses. She’s still recovering from the ordeal, having developed a stage IV bed sore in the hospital. Because of her struggles and triumphs, RJ has been able to help others who have had complications with weight loss surgery, as well as those who are still considering it and are scared for their futures. She hopes to help them see that there is hope. RJ says she started using the BariatricPal forums for information, and the vets who reached out treated her kindly but firmly. She was touched by their sincerity in wanting to help her succeed. RJ may have started out using BariatricPal for get help, but now she’s one of the ones who helps others. She hit her 3000th post on BariatricPal a couple of weeks ago, and she also helps out the community by being a BariatricPal host. RJ remains optimistic because, she says, “Failing is not an option.” It’s worth the fight to maintain good health and chase happiness. She remembers a lesson she learned from a nurse: “One step at a time. This is your life now.” She doesn’t regret her decision to have bariatric surgery, saying she wouldn’t be the person she is today without it. She wouldn’t be as compassionate, and she’d be in a wheelchair. Her surgery gave her a new purpose in life. RJ, we’re grateful to you for sharing your story and for all that you do on. Congratulations on your weight loss success, and best of luck as you continue to recover from complications of surgery. It takes a special kind of person to go through so much and come out with the dedication to help others that you have. If you want to be in the newsletter or there´s another BariatricPal member you´d like to see in the spotlight, please let us know in the Member Spotlight Forum! You can also PM Alex Brecher if you´re shy about posting. We want to hear from you! Super Bowl Sunday: Go for the Victory! One of the best parts about weight loss surgery is getting your life back, but life includes the Super Bowl. As much as you may want to hide while the rest of the country is at a Super Bowl party, you can’t. The good news is that you don’t need to. You can use the Super Bowl as a healthy experience that makes you even more confident that you are a weight loss surgery success story. Practice Hard for the Big Day The countdown begins. As the big day approaches, the teams are practicing hard. You should be, too. Make it a point to get in your daily workout every day this week. You wouldn’t want to show up on Game Day and know you didn’t give it your all. Make these workouts fun, and challenge yourself a little. Find a buddy and toss a football…or find a wall, and toss a tennis ball. Run or walk obstacle courses with tires and ropes to test your agility, just like the players. Plan for the Attack The attack? You may not be a quarterback facing the entire defensive line, but you are going to be facing a roomful of high-calorie food and drinks. For every play the opposition could make on you, you need a strategy. While they sit and eat, you find something to keep your hands busy so you don’t munch mindlessly for the entire three-hour game. Play with the kids if there are any over at your house. Or, be the bet keeper for your friends and family and write down each play and how much keep track of how much you owe each other. Keep it strictly game-related, or include items of interest to the non-sports fans, like the number of red shirts shown during commercials. The more complicated you make it, the less likely you’ll be to overeat. You can predict the food disasters that are going to show up, so have a plan to counter those, too. If they serve beer, you drink Water. Put a lime in it if you want it to be more interesting. When they eat junk, you eat right. Forget the chicken wings, cupcakes, and snack mix. They’ll make you sick. Instead, go for weight loss surgery-friendly recipe makeovers. Raw veggies low-fat dip or hummus. Grilled chicken or shrimp skewers. Portabello or button mushrooms stuffed with ground turkey and Italian seasoning. Turkey bacon wrapped around fat-free cream cheese with sliced olives.< /li> Seven-layer dip with fat-free Beans, Greek yogurt, diced tomatoes and green onions, guacamole, olive slices, and fat-free cheese.< /li> Make what you can ahead of time or get up a few minutes earlier so you have time to get in a quick walk or another workout. It’ll make you feel more motivated to be strong today. During the game, be a good host or guest. Take people’s empty dishes into the kitchen to keep moving, and everyone will appreciate your generosity while you get in a few extra steps. Go on to Victory Gather your food, take a deep breath, and it’s show time! Stick to your eating plan, and get busy with something other than eating. Get through the game, and you’ll be proud of yourself. Your Super Bowl victory will give you confidence for the future. Maybe you’ll be inspired to set your own challenge, whether it’s walking a 5k this spring, getting back some of those high school football skills, or learning a new sport. We hope this newsletter helps you out on Super Bowl Sunday and, football fan or not, during the rest of the month. Have a great one, and see you on the boards!

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Woo Hoo! Let's hear it for @RJ'sBeginning! She's been through a lot and always so positive!