samnyc

Shoot...missed the opportunity to ask for Adamantium ones.

No issues here. I have salmon quite often.

It means that they are more likely to gain weight if they consume a higher amount of carbs.

I guess I better start wearing my wedding ring so no one gets the wrong idea.

PS I probably sound like a ****** for even starting this topic, but once a topic is started you cannot remove it.

Hey..it always feels good to be admired. It doesn't sound you are leading anyone on, so enjoy!

Beautiful pictures. Best of luck for the delivery. Hope all goes well.

I haven't been sleeved yet, but hope to in early December. Here is my question. For those of you who have lost 100 plus pounds, or are more than a year out of surgery...are you hungry? Does your hunger slowly come back? Thanks for your insite : )

I'm 11 months out. I do get hungry. Of course, nowhere close to what I used to get before the surgery and it can usually be satiated after eating 2-3 ounces. I do eat every 2-3 hours (still only eat around 1000-1200 calories a day). It just works better for me.

Looking good. Very nice pictures. Congratulations!!

I started at 498 and have lost over 200 lbs. I wish I had started at "only" 400 lbs. Would have been close to goal already. Ha Ha.

There are a number of people on this board who started over 400 lbs and have been very successful in losing a lot of weight.

Good luck!

Good for you brother and best of luck on the remainder of your journey.

Your post did reinforce what I have said before in discussions, there is a time everyone makes their own decision to change. No one can really force you to do so.

I have not had my surgery yet but what my doctor says is that with vsg a patient can expect to lose 50% of their excess weight within the first 6 months following surgery - then the next 25% in the following 6 months, and the final 25% in the next year - so that is two years total. I am a dreadfully slow loser as well - but the thought of even getting under 200 is such a pipe dream that I wont care how long it takes

My loss seems to have mirrored what your doctor said almost exactly.

Rocky > Freud

Awesome!

I'll stand up on my psychobabble hat and take a shot at it.

Well, it seems to play a part in some of "happily" marrieds too. I've chalked it up to changing hormones, changing chemical balances, changing self image and increased self confidence. Notice I've chalked up all the "reasons" on OUR part of the situation and none on the "other side". What I've concluded is that while all the changes seem to happen on OUR side not all the REASONS of the imbalance in the relationship are ours. Like many people we fat or formerly fat have a tendency to walk into co-dependency type of relationships. To sum it up it's like the explanation that Rock Balboa gave as to why he liked Adriane - gaps:

Rocky: Sure, I like her.

Paulie: What's the attraction?

Rocky: I dunno... she fills gaps.

Paulie: What's 'gaps'?

Rocky: I dunno, she's got gaps, I got gaps, together we fill gaps.

While we all have needs and all have strengths to give, when a relationship is TOTALLY based on filling someone else's needs with strengths - or worse yet filling needs with weaknesses the relationship is on a much narrower road to success.

Quite often the other partner needs us to be (pick on: fat, unhealthy, insecure, etc, etc, etc) because they feel "safe" in the relationship. As long as you have the problem / weakness / issue they feel that they are needed in the relationship. As soon as the balance changes they feel threatened or abandoned. While SOME of this goes on in every relationship, when a relationship has this as it's PRIMARY foundation then you are treading on thin ice and relationship threatening problems can occur.

You're going to have to discuss this with your partners, get to the root of the problem and seek outside counseling if you cannot resolve it. Perhaps what I've said is wrong and they genuinely desire fat partners, in this case WLS may be a deal breaker and the relationship will end. Don't just assume you can "make it work" after success with surgery, I'd advise getting to the root of the problem BEFORE surgery so you aren't working through the issue AND the other issues that are bound to pop up POST surgery.

Just MHO, IANAD.

You absolutely can shoot for a healthy BMI. There are a number of people who have achieved a healthy BMI and lost a lot of weight. Quite a few people have lost over 100 or 150lbs. I've lost over 200 lbs myself and am still going.

Good post. I just went through this. I spend 60 minutes at the gym every day and have been eating my regular healthy diet but I gained 3-4 pounds in a couple of days!! Stalls I deal with but I can't stand it when the weight goes up. It was incredibly frustrating and I got mad and eat some crappy unhealthy food and didn’t go the gym yesterday. Sigh....need to get back on track. I just need to shift my mental focus on something else and not obsess about my weight loss every day. It is immensely frustrating and I've never been known for my patience anyway.

I just wanted to add that it appears you are at a normal BMI and can probably go into maintenance mode so I wouldnt worry about having 1600 calories. I would think it would be ok as long as they are "healthy" 1600 calories. I doubt you will start gaining at that amount. I get hungry every 3 hours or so and so I have multiple smaller meals through the day (keeping the total around 1000 calories). I realized early on that 3 meal structure was not going to work for me.

This is all not to say you shouldnt get the acidity issue figured out. Good luck with everything.

Congrats!

I'm a little over 10 months post op. I would say 3-4 hours for me.

Excellent post!! If I could vote for this post for the comment of the month or year, I would!! I agree with everything you said.

I picked up an issue of Oprah’s magazine in my doctor’s office, and saw the article on the inside back page, titled “This I know for Sure”. The title captured my attention more than the content – because it rang true for me. In life there are things we know and believe to our very core – items which we are sure of in every fiber of our being.

Here are some of my items that I know for sure . . .

• VSG was the right decision for me to make positive change in my life
• I will never go back to the way I was pre-VSG. This is a forever commitment I have made.
• I will not hold perfection up as a goal for myself – I will strive for making sane, healthy choices.
• Nothing that I have lost, left behind or can no longer indulge in is important to me in the grand scheme of things.
• There is nothing in my cabinets or fridge I need to fill my life with. I will fill my life with LIFE.

100 lbs are GONE!, in just 4 months. 1 month pre-op dieting and 3 months post-op. This includes a 23 day stall where I only lost 2lbs. I feel Grrreat!!

I currently own only 3 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. no sense stocking up as I intend to keep on doing my incredible shrinking man impersonation.

One concern is that the loss by month is slowing down. 31 - 30 - 22 - 17 However that 23 day stall straddeled months 3 and 4. I have lost an additional 7 lbs in the last 8 days, so I am hopeful that this month I can beat the 17 lbs I lost last month.

FM

Very cool. Congratulations!! Some slowdown will happen but also keep in mind your body is now losing weight of a smaller base so look at the percentage of weight lost month over month, rather than just absolute numbers.

Awesome! Congratulations!!

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the kind and encouraging words.

I am at 10 months post op now and have a lost a little over 200 pounds. I thought this would be a good point to share some of my perspectives and experiences. I learnt a lot from other peoples experiences and hopefully someone will find mine helpful.

Background: I had surgery on Nov 23 2010. I was at 498 pounds that day. I’m a little over 6’1” so my BMI was around 66. I was self pay and had no pre-op diet to speak of.

Surgery: Surgery went well, had some pain and discomfort but nothing out of the ordinary. I got a high fever a week after the operation which was due to an infection and had to be readmitted for a couple of days to take stronger antibiotics. No issues afterwards.

Recovery: This was the part I was least prepared for. I would say it took 4-6 weeks for things to be a bit normal. I was exhausted all the time and couldn’t sleep on my side (which is how I sleep). It was pretty tough that first week back at work. As time went by and I started eating solids things became easier.

Diet: I followed my doctors recommendations through the liquid and mushy stages. I never really took Protein Shakes and tried to get all my calories and Protein from “real food”. My doctor had recommended a balanced diet but I follow the low carb diet mainly. I do low carbs (20-30 carbs) for a few days and then ease up for a couple of days and have a sandwich or something. The carbs I do take on a daily basis come from fruits, usually watermelon (very refreshing if you are hitting the gym) or bananas (helps with the Vitamin D issue also). My meals are usually chicken or steak or shrimp / fish cooked in various ways.

In the early days I used to have 2-3 main meals but it wasn’t working for me so I now eat every 2-3 hours. I keep my total to around 1000 calories/day. It works better for my energy levels. If some days I can’t do it then I’m ok and don’t feel any crazy hunger. My capacity has gone up marginally. I used to have a tough time eating 4oz but can eat up to 5oz relatively easier now.

Coffee/Soda: I’ve been having Tea and coffee from pretty early on. However instead of having 2-3 cups a day pre-op I have half a cup (if that) a day and haven’t had any issues. I have a diet coke maybe once a month and it’s been fine. If I feel the urge for something soda-like I have sparkling Water.

Exercise: I was bit late in ramping up the exercise component. I started walking a couple of miles a day (commute to the office, I’m in NYC so I can walk) about 4 months post op and became serious about the gym 2-3 months ago. I go 4-5 times for 60-90 minutes now. I don’t do anything too fancy, just the treadmill/elliptical/cross trainer for most of the time and sometimes the weights. I want to increase the weight training component.

Medicines: I take a doctor prescribed daily Multi-Vitamin and a Vitamin D tablet weekly. My Vitamin D levels became very low after surgery.

Hair Loss: I had thick wavy hair which has thinned out considerably almost to the point of a couple of bald spots. I haven’t taken anything for it but am thinking of trying out Biotin. I’m hoping this will reverse when I hit the maintenance stage.

Skin: I definitely have significant sagging skin and see some kind of procedure in my future but I’ll wait and see how everything looks when I’m closer to goal.

Speed of Weight Loss / Stalls: My rate of loss has obviously slowed down from a few months ago, which is to be expected. However, what is hard is spending crazy time at the gym and eating right and not losing (and even gaining) for a few days. The math simply doesn’t make sense. This can be very discouraging but you just have to steel yourself. I try to focus on how much healthier I am getting. For example, I can walk 3-4 miles without tiring, or how faster I can do a mile week over week. I also take my weight 2-3 times a day which probably doesn’t help but that’s just how I am and that’s not going to change.

Summary: Overall it’s been an amazing 10 months. My quality of life is significantly better. My back pain and knee pain have disappeared. I don’t snore any more at all (this has been a pleasant surprise. I’m not sure why this has happened but my wife loves it.). There are probably a 100 more benefits I could list out. Of course, I get frustrated with the Hair loss, sagging skin and erratic weight loss but then I remember I’ve lost 200 pounds and I’m on my way to losing another 100 and all is good with the world.

Awesome job! Congratulations!

I'm very interested in this question. My big hope is that I once I've lost 250 pounds, the last 50 pounds will come from my skin removal!! (Bit optimistic I know).

Hey,

My hubby has been doing testastrone shots for a the past year. He had his VSG surgery in Aug and he is wondering if at some point he might loose enough weight to not need to get the test shots anymore...what do you vets think? Thanks, Tracy w.

There's a good chance. I was not taking shots but my levels were a bit low (I forget the exact numbers, but they were low enough to have a discussion with the doctor). My levels were back to normal on my 3/4 month post op check up and have stayed good.

Good for you! School started today...for some reason my "too cool' QB son doesn't want to ride on the back of his mom's bike to school.

Ha Ha. That reminded me of when I was younger and my father would insist on dropping me off to school or other places on this old classic Enfield he had. I hated riding it in the back. However as I got into college it basically became my bike and I loved that thing. I rode it everywhere, however the minute you tried to go a bit fast the engine would start misfiring. That's part of the fun of owning a classic bike. I had a Ducati Monster 696 for a few years and it was awesome but parking in NYC was a pain and expensive so I got rid of the bike, which I regret doing. I am thinking of buying a new bike next year around spring time (also give me time to loose more weight). Got my eye on the Aprilia MANA 850.