graylola

Day of surgery at 383 (?), down from a high weight of 410 a couple months before. 6 months and 1 year progress pic. Down from a size 40/5x to a 16-18/XL.

I picked up running a few months ago and when I told my NUT how many miles/hours I was logging in my week, she insisted I get at least 1000-1100 calories a day. I think when I made that adjustment and increased my carbs, not only did I lose like, 4 pounds that week, I wasn't battling a constant fatigue. Listen to your NUT and listen to your body and let the pounds fall where they may. If you're doing the right things you'll see the results one way or another.

Still here, still losing. Good job to you!

Here are my latest pictures. I was at I think 383 on the day of surgery (down from a high weight of 410 a couple of months prior to that - prior to surgery I started replacing as many meals as I could with Protein drinks). So 4/3/13, 6 months out and then yesterday, 1 year post op. I've lost 209 pounds. I am currently 201, so I'm excited to get below 200 for the first time probably since high school.

I was lucky enough that the surgeon was fine with my choice, actually encouraging of the sleeve given my age and how long I would have to deal with malabsorption issues with full bypass. I think the reasons they hesitate are if you have other issues like diabetes - which is resolved much more quickly/easily with the bypass, and if they're less experienced with the sleeve. I think there's a possibility you don't lose as much or as fast, but I don't know, that certainly hasn't been my experience.

I will be over a year post-op by the time I go. My surgeon's program does technically allow brown rice and whole wheat Pasta at this stage, but I'm choosing not to add any of that back into my diet if I can help it. The only grain I eat is quinoa. I have had some frozen veggie burgers that probably have rice product in them. I've used some bread crumbs or panko in recipes. But mostly no bread, no Pasta.< /p>

So I'm not really interested in adding any of that in, though I am fairly certain that I'm at a stage that it wouldn't really hurt me. I mean, I'm sure I could eat some gnocchi and not have any intestinal problems, if I needed the food just to not go hungry. But I would prefer not to.

I'm going to be primarily in Milan and florence. I might pack a bit of Protein powder to supplement, just in case. But does anyone have any experience in the country and know how easy or hard it will be for me to find appropriate high Protein options?

Wow, that is a drastic change!

I'm lucky enough I've never had what I would consider a stall. Or if I have had one week here or there that's a little low, it's always followed up by a good week the next one. I don't know why that is, when I see so many people struggle with it, but I like to think it's because I constantly change up what I do. Some weeks I wouldn't feel the elliptical, but I did a dance dvd. I do some strength training when I'm on top of it. Or some weeks I'm a slug. My metabolism probably needs those time periods too . Every week I change my menu - if I've been having a lot of chicken, I'll try to throw in some ground beef, or pork or seafood. I hit my Protein and Water goals set by my surgeon every single day.

I try not to worry about slow loss. 1 pound is 1 pound. As long as I keep being honest with myself and try to burn more than I eat, it'll keep heading in the right direction, I figure. I expect it to get harder on the other side of 200.

You're doing great!! I started at 409 and am down to 216. I'm so excited to be so close to 2 big goals - losing 200 total and getting under 200 for the first time in forever. I'm also training to run a half marathon in May, and I am happier than I could have imagined. Attached are photos from sometime last February or March, and ones from last week.

Don't know if anyone's still reading this board. I stumbled back onto it after browsing the site again. Sometime after my last post I really had the Eureka moment of realizing that the only thing keeping me from doing more strenuous activities was this mental voice that said "Oh, no, I can't do that" because my brain was stuck in my old body. I started going to an hour long high intensity aerobics dance class. I started doing weight machines in the gym. And since last fall, I've been running. I'm training to be in my first half marathon in May and I run 5 times a week in varying lengths. Last Saturday I ran 5 miles.

Whatever you all ended up doing, I hope that you've gotten rid of any mental blocks and are as successful as you can be.

I avoid it as much as possible unless it's necessary. I had one of my toughest choices going to meet friends at a restaurant that only served pub food, where i just ate the insides of shrimp tacos to get a few pieces of shrimp and cabbage in. Sometimes it's really hard to find options that aren't stuffed with hidden calories - wings that are fried, meat that has sauces, salads that have just tons of random cheese and croutons. But if they have the option to add grilled chicken to a ceasar salad or something, then the waitstaff are pretty willing to give me just a chicken breast and some side veggies.

Whenever possible, look at the menu's nutritional information online beforehand or ask the staff if they have a sheet available. After a lifetime of bad choices, you'll be surprised at the times that you think you're being "good" by picking something that turns out to have way more calories than you would ever eat at a normal meal at home, even if the components sound healthy.

My surgery is Monday and I'm so afraid I have an extra large liver and will wake up unsleeved. Is this a fear anyone else had?

And to maybe make you feel even better, my program didn't even have a pre-op diet. Just Clear liquids the day before. I attended a support group meeting that had one of the surgeons from our Center of Excellence speaking, and he said they don't believe that there's any use or truth to a liver-shrinking pre-op diet. They are able to do the surgery regardless, though of course it remains a possibility that they have to make adjustments as they go - perhaps doing a full cut as opposed to laproscopic, or making more holes than they originally planned.

Ok everyone, I want to be super clear, so dumb question....what is the most a sleever will ever be allowed to eat at 18 mos. post-op? There seems to be a slight debate on the answer from my sources, so I present the question to you.

My "bible" from St Vincent's says at 18 months I should be up to 8oz. 4 of Protein and 4 of other (starch, veggie, fruit).

"Allowed" makes it sound like someone's going to arrest you if you eat more. You're allowed to do whatever you want. You should be eating 8 ounces.

Congrats to everyone once again! Love the updates in this area of the board. I started out at 410, BMI of 75. I'm now 273 and BMI of 49! I am no "Super Morbidly Obese", only "Extremely Morbidly Obese". Haha. I'm looking forward to hitting 250 for the first time in like 10 years. Just bought my first pair of jeans in years, and just went shopping at an outlet as opposed to the specialty online stores. Happy happy happy!

Down 133 total, including pre-op loss. I'm still losing, but some weeks it will be 1 pound and others it will be 5. Working out more seems to help really keep the losses going.

A 5k? That's fantastic! I'm still not comfortable running (still waaay too much shaking around), but I can't wait. I have been doing hour long high impact dance classes, ellipticals, golf, etc.

Definitely losing a lot of hair. Nioxin seems to be slowing it down and I'm taking 5mg Biotin and garlic oil daily to keep it from getting noticeable (lucky to have thick hair, so far it's just me that notices as I handle my hair daily).

I'm up to 4 ounces of food, 3 times a day, with fruit/veggie Snacks in between if I want. Still don't get terribly hungry, though. I eat a lot of baked chicken, lettuce, shrimp & grits, eggs. This week I made a sweet potato/pork dish in the crockpot, just to throw in some higher calories in as I increase my workouts. I get anywhere between 600 and 800 calories a day in food. How about others?

I’ve been trying to really workout from the day I was released by the doctor to do something other than walking, but so far I’m not living up to my goal of becoming one of those nuts that works out every day.

Post surgery was mostly walking. The first week after being released I actually did 10,000 steps a day. After stopping the pain meds, though, that got more difficult with how many back and leg aches I had. Once back at work and released by the doctor, I did two days walking 30 minutes with friends and would do 1 or 2 sessions of kickboard swimming per week.

About the last month or two (I’m now almost 5 months post op), I’ve been adding regular hand weights and crunches into it all, and my goal has been to do at least 30 minutes of dedicated activity per day. I’ve played golf several times this summer. I’ve done a few dance aerobics sessions at home and now I’ve started doing 30 minutes of elliptical when I’m not doing walking or another activity. I have ADD when it comes to fitness and I just haven’t found something I like to do every single day.

My favorite thing, above people saying I look better or seeing the numbers, is all the NSV you appreciate when you are so big that the little things become unbearably awkward.

Car seatbelts fitting (especially where the cars yell at you when it’s not buckled).

Flying without feeling mortified or getting a 2nd seat (haven’t done this yet, I was still nervous about my flight in November so I still got an extra seat – we’ll see how it goes).

Not feeling like a beached whale when trying to roll out of bed.

I won't get too TMI, but anyone who was at the point I was might understand when I talk about just general bathroom and bathing issues.

Not constantly fearing that I’ll break every chair you sit in. I mean, really, Seating could be an entire NSV for me all on its own. Chairs, cars, airplanes, toilets, the booth/table issue, etc.

Still looking forward to: Not shopping from online or Catherine’s. I’m just now getting to the point where Lane Bryant will fit me. Roller coaster rides. Taking up running.

I was getting to the point where my mobility was severely impaired. I felt like I was dying walking from my office to my car, and I would leave later or earlier than my coworkers just to avoid them seeing how bad it was (though they knew). The freedom that comes from being able to want to do something or somewhere and actually doing it is the greatest thing in the world. I say “yes” to so many more activities now because I don’t have to worry about not being able to walk the distances required or fit in the seats that are there.

For me, the hunger part is hard to describe to people. I'm about 2 months post-op, and I generally tell people that I don't have typical hunger feelings. If I skip meals (I'm good about not doing so, but one day I was waiting somewhere for hours with no way to get my mid-day meal in), then I feel a headache, as if I'm having low blood sugar. But my stomach will never growl as it used to.

Sometimes there's what I would call more of an emptiness, but mentally it only registers for a moment at a time and is soon forgotten, especially if I take a drink of fluids. It doesn't dominate my thoughts with desires of food.

And then of course there's the head hunger. That is the hardest to tackle, but I think through this process I have become more aware of when my body actually needs something and when psychologically I just want it, because even though my head is telling me to snack, the rest of me is saying I'm just fine. Those are hard, especially late at night when I used to binge. I just have to do things like not keep Laughing Cow Wedges in the house, because I'm prone to just grab something like that, that I can justify eating with no prep work required. And I do sugar free popsicles, because at least they're on the list of things that are fine to snack on between meals and can get in some last minute fluids.

My paperwork said to be there at 8:30am

Have you tried Powerade zero or G2? I had to survive on those mixed half & half with Water for a while. Plain water felt like it was sticking, Mio/Crystal lights gave me toilet troubles. :/ But I found if I put even a couple ounces of gatorade in there, it helped. Also, green tea, iced or hot. Have you ever had those Lipton Diet Green Iced Teas? Don't know what artificial sweeteners they have, or if those would irritate you as well. Very, very important to get fluids in, keep testing!

I had heard the 30 day rule as well - I think it's just a general policy so that if they determine at pre-op that your sugar levels are ok, for example, you don't have a bunch of time prior to surgery to have a huge spike and throw in unexpected complications. My testing was February 14th and I didn't have surgery until April 3rd. I can't remember for sure, but they may have done additional testing that day just to check basic things like sugar or Vitamin D prior to starting. At the most, that's what they would probably do if you ended up with a bunch of time between the two dates. Every surgeon/hospital/program is pretty different.

I wouldn't worry until you have to Roxanne. I think a lot of the pre-op work is done so that they can be prepared to work with possible complications. If there are things you need to address, then they'll get you on the path to doing that before having surgery. It will be another step, but it will be worth it. I know one member of my support group had to work on her sugar levels for a couple of months before finally going through with surgery, but it worked out in the end.

Stacey03 - Thanks! I've been very lucky, I feel awesome (except for the fact that as I become more active, I'm discovering sore muscles that I haven't felt in a while!!). I like Dr. Diaz a lot. He's very positive and caring. I go to my local support group every month - here in Terre Haute. I wish I was in Indy to take advantage of all the fitness and swimming classes they offer over there. But it's a good support group here with a good mix of pre and post op.

Oh, ok, yeah, that's what i thought it might be. My history was lumped in with my testing and I didn't have to do a physical.

No, the 25th was when I found out my surgery date, sorry, should have been clearer. My surgery date ended up being April 3rd. So January=insurance approval, Feb=testing, found out date, April = surgery.

I had pre-op testing the 14th of February and got my date the 25th. What's H&P?

You may be talking about something else newme-in13. Because the all day class does not include an exercise regiment. The first half of the day is spent with the nutritionist, going over Vitamins, supplements, diet plans, what to expect in the hospital. Plus there are a couple of guest speakers. The second half is done by a nurse and is primarily about prevention of blood clots and giving yourself lovenox shots after surgery.

You are amazing! It is so inspiring to hear how well you're doing. I'm starting from a similar weight, although shorter. I had a sad chuckle the other day at the doctor's office when I realized I still had another 160 to lose before I went from "super obese" to "morbidly obese". So I really applaud what you've already accomplished to hit that milestone. What kind of exercise program are you doing?