karenb4729

I have kept the surgery to myself too. My husband knows as do 2 of much children (my other lives out of state). I am so glad to have kept this secret in part because I have had to work hard to get the weight off. Many people misunderstand weight loss surgery and think the only reason for your success is the surgery. But, I am the one maintaining the diet of 600 - 800 calories per day, I am the one at the gym 6 days a week working out for an hour, I am the one making this surgery work and I don't want to have that hard worked dismissed because I had surgery so my stomach is smaller.

I didn't have a band but I do know that my surgeon does revision surgery. Dr Cheblis - his office just moved to Overlake.

My Doctor uses a 40F and I have very good restriction and at almost 8 months out am only 15 lbs away from goal and a normal BMI. I think bougie size has less to do wtih success than what you actually put in your mouth.

I'm 7 months out and haven't lost any hair. The only Vitamin I take is my multi vitamin and my B12. My Protein intake is 80 grams minimum as required by my Doctor. I didn't really start hitting that number until my 3rd or 4th week out.

You are amazing and such an inspiration!

I don't do any running on the treadmill because my knees can't take it. I can get my heart rate up without it. I started out doing 3 mph and no incline and gradually increased the incline over time. Now my standard on the treadmill is 50 minutes, 3.5 mph and 10% incline. Oh, I'm 7 months out. I tend to do more elliptical. When I was first out it was summer so I did what I called "natural" walking but once the weather got colder I joined the gym.

Also, get some good music going, its amazing how you can push through if you have music with a good beat. My standard is Ella Fitzgerald... i'm into old jazz!

I can relate too! My best feeling is when I walk past a window and now see a reflection of someone who is a bit overweight but certainly not obese!!

You may want to talk to a person who deals with eating disorders. Its great to have people tell you to stop but when it comes down to it you are dealing with a disorder that may be hard to stop. I'm in the same boat, but my issues seems to be around not eating enough. Each day I'm watching as I try to end the day with 0 calories. I do stay focused on getting in 80 grams of Protein but then I have to work out and expend at least the same amount of calories I took in. Yea, not good. I am scheduled to talk to someone about this because I don't think it's healthy but I do think it may be more common than we think. After all obesity is an eating disorder that we have dealt with and I bet its not all that unusual to go to the other side of the spectrum.

I'm another June person. If left alone I could probably eat a cup full of food in one sitting. However, since I want to get to my goal weight I still limit myself to 600 - 800 calories a day, low carb and only 3oz max serving per meal. I eat 6 times a day spacing everything about 2 hrs apart and this keeps the hunger at bay. My Protein is lean meat like chicken or fish, actually I eat lots and lots of fish. I still focus on protein first and then veggies. I don't do bread, rice, Pasta or anything starchy. I also have bad reflux which I did before surgery and use both prilosec and pepcid. Check with your DR.

I took it, it did nothing for me.

I have been out of work since the surgery for personal reasons and the job is the biggest reason I keep my surgery to myself but its a fear for me when I return because i dont want to eat out of the 4 oz containers around them i do know now when enough is enough so i can pretty much eat out of anything i want, its just the containers help maintain control and assure i wont stretch my pouch.. I guess I can use big containers to throw my coworkers off and make sure my fish/chicken is already 3-4 oz inside of that container.. *shrug* its easy to be me at home but when outside others watch they look they see. I am undercover for a reason! I have heard them talk about others that had this or surgery like this and it was not pretty they made the decision for me to keep this to myself lol Judgmental but wipes!

I kept my surgery a "secret" too because I have also heard my co-workers opinions on weight loss surgery. I'm glad too because I have worked hard to get off my weight going to the gym daily and consuming less than 800 calories a day - this is my work and sweat and I really don't want the surgery to get all the credit because people have the misconception that it's the surgery doing the work.

Anyway - those first couple of months back I tried to just eat at my desk or use my lunch hour to go for a walk so that people weren't observing how little I was eating.

I thought I was immune to the 3 week stall.... kept on losing until I hit my 2nd month and then stalled out for almost the entire month and lost only 3 lbs. The good news is that you just keep on your path and hopefully you will get to the finish line in the end. I'm down 105 lbs and have 25lbs to get to goal. 1 year ago I needed to lose 130 lbs. My mind now focuses on the 25 lbs because it sounds so much more doable and sounds like what a "normal" person needs to lose. Even with all the stalls, the frustration of losing slowly, the feeling like everyone else loses faster than me.... I wouldn't change a thing!

I understand how you feel!! I was just notified on Monday that my job was being eliminated and the first thing I thought about was grabbing something to eat. Instead, I headed to the gym. If you are going up and down the same 3 lbs the past 6 months then you have found your maintenance calorie range so now you just have to either decrease the calories or increase your exercise. You can do this!!!

Thanks for the info!! I can't drink plain Water either and I live by MIO. My favorite flavor is Mango Peach and I end up buying it online at Amazon because I can't find it here in the stores.

I seem to stall for a bit after every 20 lbs dropped. I lose pretty slowly, 1 to 1 1/2lbs a week but after every 20 lbs lost I will go for about two weeks where there is nothing lost and then it's back to the 1 to 1/2 lbs. This week however out of nowhere I dropped 3 lbs. My main focus is on exercise now. I'm 29 lbs away from goal and I know that it gets harder the closer you are and you have to work really hard to get those last lbs off. I'm 7 months out.

I love chicken Tikka - I just had it yesterday for lunch. We have an Indian restaurant near my work and on their appetizer menu they have fish tikka kebobs and chicken Tikka (without the masala sauce) and served with a cilantro chutney. Its perfect because it's 3 pieces and they are 1 oz a piece. Its such a perfect lunch with lots of flavor!

Yea, that's from my Surgeon. It was part of our surgery book.

Wow, I didn't know that this was a disorder. I suffer from this as well. Luckly my choices are usually a piece of string cheese but last week my husband had some chocolate striped shortbread Cookies and I ate about 6 of them. That was my first real suger binge in the past 7 months and when I got up in the morning I had a horrible bout of dizziness. I am really trying hard to work on this issue.

I sincerely doubt your diet is the culprit as you are almost assuredly eating far less than you did prior to surgery.

Some people really do just lose more slowly. You can fiddle with your diet if you need to feel more in control of the situation. Counter to what you'd likely think, if anything, it's more likely you need to increase calories/carbs to jump start yourself.

At that point post op I was struggling to consume 400-500 calories and 60 grams of Protein a day. At some point around four months I was struggling mentally and started to incorporate more calories, carbs and Protein. I started with additional shakes because that was easiest for me. I noticed no increase in the rate of my loss, but mentally I felt much better. I had more energy and did feel less deprived and more in control of my diet.

I lost 107 pounds over the course of 17 months, with two 9 week stalls along the way. I lost at a rate of just over 6 pounds per month. Prior to surgery the only stories that stood out in my mind were swift losses and I was certain that I'd get to goal in roughly nine months. The fact of the matter is that I lost slowly and nothing I did changed my body's pace.

I am no less a success story for reaching goal more slowly. In fact, I maintained my weight (prior to my current pregnancy) with very little effort and reached goal happy and healthy both physically and mentally.

Nobody wants to hear it but the real truth is that you cannot control how your body loses. There is a reason for many of us having years of failure on various diets before we choose surgery as an option. I could not have reached goal without my sleeve. Try to focus on the fact that every pound you lose is one gone forever, and be grateful that you've chosen this surgery that will make your goal achievable. The 1,200 one-size-fits-all diet and expectation to lose two or more pounds a week does not apply to many of us. If it did, we would have reached goal our first round of Weight Watchers and kept our stomachs!

Good luck, and try to stay positive. I won't offer up a sample menu as you'll see plenty of them and could search them out in any case. Many, many of us lose more slowly. If you search these boards you'll find that you are not alone and that there is really no need to get so frustrated over a time goal. Focus less on how quickly you'll lose the weight and more on building the foundation you need to stay at goal once you achieve it.

~Cheri

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post!!! I am pretty steadily losing 5 to 6 pounds a month but when you always read about people with fast weight losses then you have a tendancy to feel like you are doing something wrong. Your post is just what I needed to hear this morning! Eventually we will get to goal as long as we focus on correct eating habits and doing our exercise.

I started out following a guideline that I found on the internet, the doctors name was Joseph Chebli.

7am Breakfast: usually an egg with Mrs. Dash (later I would eat 1-2 saltine crackers)

8:15am start fluids

10am Protein drink

12pm Lunch: yogurt or Soup

1:15pm start fluids

3pm Protein Drink

5pm Dinner: ground meat/ meatloaf or meat balls or chicken with a bite or two of vegetable

6:15pm start fluids

8pm Protein drink if wanted

I'm two and a half months out and I've lost 56 pounds. Remember though, I started at 317. I still try to follow the timing of the food, although I have added new foods.

LOL - that's my Doctor. He is big on making sure you get in 80 grams of protein.

I took a month off but I had FMLA and was paid 100%. At 3 weeks I could have gone back but felt much better at 4 weeks. Of course I'm also 54 years old so that had an impact too.

I gotta be honest, I don't miss that 85% of my stomach at all and certainly wouldn't want it back. It wouldn't matter if there was a newer better surgery tomorrow, today I am happy and 100lbs less than I was a year ago.

Well said. I am losing slowly right now. I thought it was just me. Thank You for sharing this

You're not reading the right threads!

A large number of people lose weight quickly, achieving goal in nine months or so. An even larger number of us slowly plod our way there in fits and starts.

I lost, on average, just over six pounds a month. It took me 17 months to lose 107 pounds and get to goal. I am no less a success story simply because it took me longer to get to goal. In fact, I might argue that the longer journey gave me more time to work on overcoming my food issues and to build good habits. I maintained nearly effortlessly until this pregnancy and have no doubt I will return to my nice, comfy goal weight window once this baby is born.

You'll do this. The goal here isn't a time goal. It's a number goal. It doesn't matter when you reach it, provided you get as close as you can. Some people have to readjust their goals upward or downward because they find their body has a different idea in mind. I did - I never did have an easy time maintaining 135 pounds. It was a struggle every day, but if I just let that number sit at 137 instead? No issues, no gains, no counting calories and what the heck, I'm still a size small and 6 at that weight, right? Sometimes we have to let go of the expectations and just let it happen.

Focus less on how quickly you reach your goal and more on building the habits you need to stay there once you achieve it.

~Cheri

I'm so glad you posted this! I'm 7 months out on Friday and it's slow going for me too. But, I only have 30 lbs to lose to be at goal so whether I make it in 5 months or in another year the important thing is to not give up.

Oh one more thing, one of the gals in our support group lives in Marysville and also works at Boeing in Everett - if going to group is something you are interested in maybe you could carpool with her.

Oh and my Dr runs two support groups, one at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland and the other at Northwest Hospital in Seattle. Everyone is welcome at the groups. I usually go to the Northwest Hospital one since its close to work for me. We usually meet for dinner prior to group. At group we have the nutritionist, psycologist and the sports/exercise Dr. Usually there is a topic, I don't think they have been posted for 2013 yet.