johnlatte

good job on the couch to 5k. Stick with it and you'll be running full speed in no time.

So today it's been 4 months since my surgery. I had calculated through a couple of formulas that I would be down exactly 50 pounds by 3/20. (I'm analytical like that) I missed it by 2 pounds..damn. First I had about a 3 week stall, since then I've lost exactly 1 pound a week. For the last 30 day's I've lost exactly 5 lbs. That's pretty depressing. I could have done that or better with out the sleeve. I've eaten right getting plenty of protein, logged on MFP, done the cardio, kept the carbs low, drank the water till I am about to float away. Still only 1 lousy pound a week. I only have a couple of months left before the weight loss starts to get tougher. I wanted to be at goal weight by August (my 55 birthday), because i am going hiking in Alaska and do not want to be a fat ass doing that. Now, don't know if I can get the 53 pounds off by then. Very discouraged about that. So today, I had to go buy some clothes because a while back I ditched all my "skinnier" clothes thinking that I would never get under 260 pounds. Since surgery, I've basically worn track pants that have a drawstring. I have a job opportunity and needed a pair of slacks and dress shirt. For the inital interview, I wore a suit that was at least 15 years old, that somehow didn't get donated to the smiling g. At the store, I picked out a pair of pants that I thought should fit and tried them on. The were too snug , so I had to get a size that I've worn for a long time. I was soooooo bummed. Granted it is 3 sizes smaller than I was at surgery, but I really was expecting to be down one more size. So I am beginning to waver about the sleeve. I read about all these people that have lost 60-70-80 pounds at 4 months. It is depressing. I am glad for them, but for the life of me I can't figure out what I am missing. Not a great way to celebrate an anniversary.

Good job, glad you are doing well. Now comes the fun part as the weight starts rolling off. See ya over at MFP!

So I guess that part of this is an actual scale victory, but in some ways it isn't. My whole goal for WLS was to get off as many drugs as possible. I've been taking diabetes medicine along with hbp meds, and cholesterol meds for almost 10 years. In actuality I've never been diagnosed as a diabetic, only IGT and I've never had high cholesterol. The endocrinologist that I saw, felt that this was a preventative measure. My BP was high at the time, but I am not sure that I really needed the meds. By the time I saw the Dr. I has dropped about 60 pounds, and I think if he had waited a bit before testing me, we would have seen that my numbers were coming down. My A1C never got about 6.1 until right before surgery when it when to 7.0. I was taking Actos, (a proven carcinogen) 2000mg Metformin, Avapro and Vytorin. I took myself off the Actos right before surgery after reading that it will lead to bladder cancer. After surgery, I cut my meformin back to 1500mgs. On Wednesday, I went to my PCP who has been really very supportive and we talked in detail about my plan to get off the drugs entirely. He hedges a bit, but I think he feels we can get there. So....he cut my metformin to 1000mg, cut out my Vytorin entirely and to my surprise cut my Avapro to half the dosage!!! Wasn't even lobbying for that one. We did a blood test to baseline my numbers and will do another in 3 months. I'm down 50 lbs since November 20th and have 50 to go to hit my goal. It feels SOOO good to be off the drugs. Just by having the surgery has increased my quality of life 100%. By summer, I expect to be drug free! If you are reading this and you haven't had surgery yet. This is probably the best reason above all to do it. It won't be the easiest thing that you will do and at times you will hate it But gosh the benefits so out weigh the short term struggles. Peace... John

When I first decided to have VSG, I didn’t initially come to this board. I did my research, talked to my Drs. and went through the process. Any questions that I had, I was able to research through the internet and typically I found answers. If I couldn’t I would discuss them with my Dr. or my nutritionist during my 6 month pre-op requirement. I found this board just days before my surgery. I came here looking for mutant people like myself. People whose life had spun out of control and sought solace and comfort in excessive food and drink. People who had decided that they have had enough of the churn. People that were taking the steps to improve their health and their lives. People that actually allowed themselves to be spread out on an operating table and let a group of strangers cut out a perfectly good stomach. You see, I don’t have a lot of support at home as my spouse had RNY a few years back and failed to maintain her weight and is fairly obese again. She’s been pretty passive aggressive about the whole thing and, well that’s a whole Jerry Springer episode all in itself. I don’t have any close family, and I didn’t share my surgery with anyone who was particularly close friend wise. For some unexplained reason, I needed to be in a tribe for this journey, so I found this board. I came here and I met a whole raft of nice people, people that I enjoyed conversing with on a daily basis, mutants like myself (you all know who you are, and I thank you for the friendship that you all have extended to me). I learned things on this board and I contributed and tried to support. As I did, I came to realize that this surgery is a whole lot tougher on some people than it had been for me both physically and mentally. I guess that I had focused so much on trying to lose the weight and get healthy, that I didn’t see WLS as that big of deal. I’ve done every diet, taken nutrition classes as part of my school work, was a pretty faithful follower of good gym habits; I just couldn’t put down the fork and the cup. I barreled through all this like I always had, by not taking any prisoners. It never occurred to me that others weren’t like that, so it was an eye opening experience to hear the struggles of others. As I tried to pass along my experiences and support, I started getting offline messages. Some were funny, some were more questions, but over the last couple of weeks, I got a couple that were just down right mean. I was being chided for responding in an honest and forthright manner, not being judgmental, but offering an opinion based on experience and facts. Then last week, I was perusing a thread over in one of the other sections that basically called out the so called “vets” on the board for hijacking threads and interjecting silliness and nonsense into too many threads. The poster felt like all this should be relegated to the chat room and policed off the boards. What really melted my butter was a reply by someone that I had truly respected, and someone that had been chastised openly on the board for some of their responses, actually agreeing with the poster about how some of the “vets” handled their posts. This was someone that I had actually defended and sent a message of encouragement to, now blazing away at others (and myself, in my opinion) on the board. It was a wake-up call that maybe there are mutants here that don’t come here for the same reasons that I do. Maybe they feel that this should be a very narrow, well patrolled repository of information and facts, and that there’s no room for a joke and a smile and a bit of irreverent behavior among the tribes people. So, last week I decided to take a few days away from VST and figure out what I wanted from it. Had I graduated from the tribe of mutants? Was this drama that seems to interweave itself into threads on a regular basis worth it? Had I really been that callus in my responses as I was accused of being? I even visited another gastric sleeve board just to get a perspective of how the other tribes live. Then, it dawned on me that we all come here to get something that we need. It might be information, it might absolution, it may be reassurance, and it might even be a joke when we need one, but we all come here seeking something. Because my reasons for being here are different from others, I shouldn’t be castigated for offering an opinion or a word of tough love or even warm and fuzzy encouragement. I shouldn't feel bad to have a joke with a fellow mutant about some nonsense. But, I have decided that for now, it is best that I don’t participate as regularly as I have in the past. I want to continue to learn, I want to see how others react to their quest for health, but mainly I want to be with my tribe. I can do that from the lurkers chair just as easy as I can by participating and I don’t have to sweep the drama from my mailbox. Thanks for listening – I appreciate each and every one of you for taking the courage to make the life altering changes necessary to live a long and happy life. Peace.... John

There you go. Good luck, I am a bit older than you are, but most of my reasons are very similar.

Not haten' ....totally supportin'

It was funny. jeeze lighten up...some folks need to remove the stick from their hiney and eat a cookie every once in a while.....nobody's judging. There just seems to be the same flipping questions getting asked all the time. joatsaint, you left out the one about how soon after surgery can I start banging at the bar again.

totally agree, I never had done bars or powders and try to limit my ready to drink protein drinks to about 3-4 a week. Everything else I get from real food.

Grace you do a great job on this board. There are just so many people here that just can't handle or accept what is the truth. Its hard to change ways that have become so ingrained that to them they see only see normal. Their view of "support" on this board and many others is some type of absolution. They want to be socially accepted for their failures without having to face the hard reality that they can't make the changes needed for success. From my time here, I've seen a lot of people that haven't reconciled their relationship with food and why they are the way they are. They come here and want easy-peasy, warm and fuzzy and if I screw up, well I'm still a great person. I think that you pulling back the covers and exposing this the way you do is what is needed on this board. This is serious stuff and you can't go through the process and not make significant lifestyle changes and expect to be successful. There seems to be a fair amount of mental preparation in this process that gets completely overlooked. I see that every day I visit here, with the questions about alcohol, eating a week after surgery and the general complaints about the pre-op diets ,people simply aren't ready or are unwilling to commit to the changes they need to be successful. Of course people will fail at this, mess up, eat what they shouldn't and so on, we all do, but coming here to gain absolution seems just asinine. Support comes in all sizes and forms. For those that get upset when they hear something that might be unpleasant, or isn't what they wanted to hear is equally foolish. I urge to you keep up the good work, you are doing a lot of good. I know that you might have to get the Kevlar socks out every now and again, but what you are doing is part of the whole process of support, the good the bad, the truth and the fluff. To the poster that wanted you go off can create your own rant group, well...If you do, I would be the first one to sign up. At least I can tell the difference from what is real and what isn't. Hang tough Grace!

PJ please know that I'm not judging you at all. I was a pretty solid drinker in my day. But I never felt that I had to drink to be normal. A lot of times, I went out with friends and didn't drink, just wasn't into it. Other times not so much. But before this surgery, I made a commitment to my self that if I was going to crawl up on that table and let them cut out 85% of my stomach, I was going to do my part and get my body and mind in a place that I could be as healthy as possible. I wanted to eliminate a lot of my demons from my past so that they would not be part of my future. Drink was part of that. I used the opportunity that I was given to make the kind of lifestyle changes that I needed to make in order to live the kind of life that I needed to live. That was my normal. Again not judging and not trying to be all soap boxy but try to understand that normal takes on a lot of different forms and some people are just as passionate about not drinking as those that want to drink are.

Should be required reading for anyone starting the pre-op and complains, or anyone that has stalled/gained and complains. Good post!

hey there, I read some of your blog posts. I really would love to do the Disney 10k as well with my kids. I totally understand your frustration, but I don't think that there's anything wrong with your sleeve. We all want this to go really fast, but hey we didn't get there overnight either. I might suggest a couple of things. You are working out like crazy so that's a good thing. You will need to up the protein big time, so that you are building muscle and burning fat. Try to spread the protein out across your day instead of getting it all at once or in larger portions. It will make you feel fuller longer. Liquid is so key, I see that you are struggling with it. I would make this a big big focus right now. The thing that water does beside keep you hydrated is that it will push the fat out of the cells and replace it with water. I really think it would be a great idea if you religiously tracked what you eat on myfitnesspal or some other app, I have found that I eat better, eat less and get a better understanding of where my calories, carbs and such are coming from. I noticed from some of your other blog entries that you were estimating your carbs. That right there tells me a lot. Do it for a week or so, just so you get an idea. Don't worry about what other people are losing. A lot of people that have a lot of weight to lose will lose it quickly, so it is not uncommon to see a 5 or 6 pound a week loss. However, even in our sleeved state, that isn't particularly healthy and could very easily lead to the weight coming back sooner. Two to three pounds a week is great, one pound is fine, if it goes away forever. Hang in there, I absolutely know that it is hard. I want to be at goal right now, but I would rather be healthy and lose the weight slowly and not have to fight it down the road again. This is my last goat rodeo with weightloss, so I am planning on doing it right this time. You are heading in the right direction, just don't get down and frustrated, that's when little things start adding up. Its gonna be good, I truly believe it!

I'm in the middle of mostly a 3 week stall. I'm 0-3-0 for the last 3 weeks. It's going to happen. Mostly your body is adjusting, and you are going into starvation mode. My nut is on my case to eat something every 2 hours, and I am trying but mostly just forget to do so. It will turn around. Just hang with it.