CBL

9 months out yesterday, and I have been maintaining between 179-182 for three months now. My doctor ordered me to stop losing weight when I hit 180. I have a lot of loose skin, but it is tightening up on my chest and arms somewhat. Still have a lot of orthopedic pain in my lower back and hips. Saw the ortho doc about it, and I don't have any hip or disc issues according to the imaging. His theory is that my body has changed so much, I still need more time to adjust and its just sciatica. I would say my biggest complaint is the weird pains in my joints from the complete loss of padding in my butt... especially since I drive an hour each way to work and have a desk job. Vitamin D is supposedly deficient, but when I upped the Vitamin D intake, I got very irritable and extremely constipated. Got some magnesium citrate tablets, and I am going to cycle the magnesium up and then maybe think about increasing Vitamin D. Diet is still mostly low carb, with the maintenance struggle being upping and restricting carbs depending on what the scale is doing. Now the pics: http://cdn.verticals..._896_461410.jpg Before Surgery @ 322 http://cdn.verticals...1136_317133.jpg 6.5 Months http://cdn.verticals...1308_930144.jpg 9 months.

Haha, thanks. I haven't worked out much, as everytime start tend to hurt myself overdoing it. i did play football for 1e years, so maybe some base athleticisim is coming out.

More pics can be found in my gallery as well.

6.5 Months out... what a difference! Wearing medium shirts and 30-34" pants depending on type and maker. Started @ 322, 270 day of surgery and now 182. Still losing in that step-wise fashion that a lot of people talk about. If I gain a lb or two, I usually know exactly why and can make a change to drop it back off in a day or two. Fish seems to be my go-to dense Protein when I need to jump start a quick loss. Ask me any questions you want, and I will do my best to answer. Before Consult: http://cdn.verticals..._896_461410.jpg 6.5 Months Out: http://cdn.verticals...1136_317133.jpg

So this is a weird issue... I am down 77# from my surgery weight, and am very happy with the results thus far. However, I cannot cough deeply anymore or belly laugh like I used to. I used to have a very distinctive loud laugh, and I literally cannot do it anymore at all. Same with the coughing... you know when you have phlegm deep down and you want to cough a deep inside rattling cough to break it up and get it out? I can't do that any more. Any one else experience this? Is it indicative of some bigger problem (hernia, Fluid in lungs)? I have no adverse symptoms to report.

I had a 4oz (weight) yellowfin tuna steak last night for dinner. I have eaten these before with no problem. I overcooked it last night though, and when I was done it felt like there was a rock in my stomach. This was about 715 last night. I was able to drink a Protein shake at 9 last night that went down, but it felt like it was "going around" the rock. This morning I woke up with gas pain, rock feeling, and a little difficulty swallowing. A workout (with much farting), three GAS-X strips, two bottles of Water, and Breakfast (one egg two turkey sausage links) has made the rock feeling better but the swallowing discomfort is still there. Did I stretch the upper part of my stomach and now it is mad at me? I brought soft food for lunch to work to give my tummy a break. On a scale of 1-10 the difficulty swallowing is about a 3. Any advice?

And next time I take pics I will SMILE

Honestly, I have only lost 64 lbs since surgery. I lost 50 pre-op during the 6 month diet and pre-op diet. Down to 206 as of today, so not sure how much more I will lose. And I do watch the carbs and I am very leery of the salt too... I will hold on to Water like crazy if I am not careful.

Before consultation at highest weight: http://cdn.verticals..._896_461410.jpg About 3.5 months out from surgery: http://cdn.verticals...0_896_50082.jpg More pics can be found in my gallery with side and back views.

The most helpful thing for the rhomboid pain is a tennis ball in a sock... drape it over your back till you find the spot, then work it out up against a wall. I have also been doing 50 upright rows a night with a green theraband. At first, I was getting weekly adjustments at a chiropractor, but now I am down to once every two weeks, as it is becoming clear to both he and I that it is not so much an alignment issue as a muscle issue. I am going to give it another couple weeks, and if it is still bugging me I am going to get a trigger point injection.

I am three months out today, and am down 61 lbs since surgery. I was a high of 322 on the initial consult in May of last year, so total I am down 113 lbs. I have done it all by following the low carb rules, portion rules, and drinking over 100oz of Water a day. I still drink two Celebrate Vitamins ENS shakes per day to get 50g of Protein. These also have all my vitamins in them as well (I still have to take one 500mg Calcium supplement though). I haven't had follow up bloodwork yet, but soon. I would say my average day has 900-1000 cals and 100g of protein. I also take 4g of Coromega-3 gel Omega-3 supplement. This really helped my mental sharpness come back around month 2 when I was cleared to take it. I am down to 36 pants, and L shirts. Its not all sunshine and bubble gum... even with Benefiber I have significant constipation issues. I have a bottle of miralax, just haven't gotten around to using it. I also have developed some trigger point pain in my rhomboid muscles due to the rapid change in posture. I have always had a small amount of pain from years of power lifting, but it has really flared for the last three months. I am just now getting it under control. I have the batwing arms since I am an ex-football player, and have recently started going to the gym in an effort to tone them up some. I also have a good amount of skin / fat on my belly still as well. My easy goal is 200#, but I would like to get down to 185. Weight loss has slowed significantly in the last month or so, with multi-day stalls or very slight losses becoming the norm. Overall, I am still happy with the surgery despite the minor issues. I have no idea what size my bougie is, and have no desire to know. I have never wanted that to be an excuse for failure.

I have noticed in the last couple weeks my deodorant failing earlier in the day than it used to. Anyone else get this? I'm 10 weeks out.

I had one that they put in once I was out. Not uncomfortable after the surgery as I was pretty doped up... and it was pretty convenient not to have to get up to pee. Taking it out was weird, but again, doped up so not painful. Only weird part was sputtering pee after I got home like air in the garden hose. That went away after a couple days.