BryBro63

1. I actually got hurt on a ride at Disney (strained my back) and I know it was because I got tossed around hard and strained my back. Spent two days on my back in the hotel while the wife and kids enjoyed Disney without me. No permanent damage, but a picture of what's to come.
2. High blood pressure, on meds now, and boarderline CHL and other stats getting close to the red needle.
3. I am hungry all the time. I have tried tons of diets / weight loss schemes. It wasn't until I bought a fitbit and started really tracking my movements, I realized I get 8-12K steps a day (work IT for hotels), but I still creep up 5-10 pounds a year.
4. Finally saw 300 on a scale.
5. Tired of that "up/down" snap judgement look. I think everyone knows the one.

While on a field trip with my son's preschool class, another little boy asked me, "how'd you get so fat?" I was mortified in front of all the other kids and parents... I was DONE!!! Been fat since 2nd grade. It was time to change!

I like the idea!!! Personally I always prefer the swift kick in the ass, to get my full attention!!!
I like it!!!!

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Dear BariatricPal Members,
Happy Father’s Day! It’s a day to say “thank you” to the fathers, especially when life can be complicated by weight loss surgery. Fathers can be our strongest supporters, often in a quiet and steady way that is so appreciated during transitional periods in our lives, such as weight loss surgery. In hopes of inspiring you to make this Father’s Day a little healthier, here’s what you’ll find in this newsletter.

On the Menu: Barbecued chicken and Blueberry Pie How Is WLS Making You a Better Father (or Child)? Father’s Day Gift List
We hope you enjoy the newsletter and then you have a beautiful Father’s Day with your family. Congratulations, and thank you, to all the dads out there. We couldn’t do it without you!

Sincerely,

Alex Brecher
Founder, BariatricPal

On the Menu: Barbecued Chicken and Blueberry Pie
Father’s Day is probably going to involve a meal. You could go to an all-you-can-eat buffet and stuff yourself, and you could go to a family restaurant for gourmet burgers, fries, shakes, and a beer…with a 2,000+ -calorie price tag. Or, you could head to the backyard or a local park for a healthy, delicious, and fun barbecue.

Good food, Good Nutrition
You know the drill for barbecues. For an easy marinade, combine Tomato sauce, a low-calorie sweetener, red pepper flakes if you like heat, onion power, and apple cider vinegar. Bring your lean Protein and cut veggies, and have at it! Grill chicken breasts, veggie burgers, extra lean turkey burgers, and even portabello mushrooms. Serve your protein with grilled eggplant, red peppers, zucchini, and even peaches or pineapple. If you top the mushrooms with low-fat cheese, you’ll get a good dose of protein and bone-building Calcium. Don’t forget to serve your protein “naked” or on a lettuce wrap – you don’t need a starchy, high-carb bun.

If you still have room, check your picnic basket for dessert. Maybe you can find a little watermelon in there as a refreshing end to the meal. If you’re a little more ambitious, make individual “pies” in muffin tins. Make your pie with blueberries, strawberries, or other seasonal fruit and low-calorie sweetener. Skip the crust, and instead sprinkle the tops with a streusel made of toasted oatmeal mixed with cinnamon and sugar.

It’s Funner When You Burn It Off
A little exercise can help you end the meal on a high note – you’ll feel better about the meal, bond with your family, and get in some mood-boosting exercise, not to mention burn a few calories. Don’t forget to take some toys. You can easily pick up a few different-sized balls from a local dollar store, grocery store, or drugstore. Play volleyball, soccer, keep-away, or catch, or make up your own game. And, feel free to invite other families to join you. They’ll appreciate the invitation, and the more, the merrier.

How Is WLS Making You a Better Father (or Child)?
A common fear surrounding WLS is it pulls the family apart. You may worry about this because of your new WLS lifestyle. You need specific meals, which may make you miss family restaurant outings or force you to eat separately from the rest of your family. Your exercise routine may take a good chunk of time from your day or week. You may feel guilty for focusing on yourself instead of putting 100 percent of your energy into others’ well-being.

But that’s wrong! You should feel proud of your weight loss surgery. It’s not only your right to care for yourself, but also your responsibility. Getting healthy is the best thing you can do for your family if your goal is to be there for them for as many more years as possible and to prevent yourself from becoming a burden due to obesity-related disability.

Helping Yourself Helps Others
Being healthy takes time and effort, but the returns are much greater. The healthier you are, the more efficient you are, so you save time. And, the healthier you are, the more able you are to deal with stress and the pressures of daily life – so the effort you put into your own health is worthwhile.

How can being a healthy person make you a better family man? Think about:

Taking care of your parents as they get older. Letting your parents stop worrying you’ll die before them. Giving your parents the satisfaction of seeing you confident, maybe for the first time since you were little. Being there to see your Participating in your little ones’ activities whenever parents are invited. Giving your kids something to be proud of when you send them off to school each day. Letting your significant other stop worrying how much longer you’ll be around.
These benefits are priceless, and well worth the effort it takes to eat right, exercise regularly, and focus on yourself every day.

Multi-Task
Okay, but how does this all fit into your busy life when you may be working, taking care of the family, and even fulfilling other commitments such as going to school? Multi-task, of course! Here are a few ways you can be a good family member and take care of yourself of at the same time.

Play football, catch, basketball, or tag with your children to burn calories, develop and teach healthy habits, and enjoy quality time. Let your children help you plan meals and creative recipes – kids love being helpful, and they may come up with high-protein dish ideas you never even considered. Use your meal planning to teach your kids a little math along the way. Let them help you count protein grams, as long as you keep it fun and light-hearted. In the evenings, as your kids pack up their backpacks for school, do your own preparation for the next day. Pack your gym bag and whatever parts of your meals you need to pre-pack. You’ll be modeling the importance of planning and spending time with them.
Father’s Day Gift List
A tie, power tools, and dinner at a steakhouse come to mind, but are they really what Dad wants (or are they really what you want to get from your children)? Instead, what about giving a gift that is truly desired? Here are a few gifts that can bring together a father and his kids when either one is or will be a weight loss surgery patient. Put them on your gift list or think about picking them up when you go shopping for Dad!

A protein basket packed with individually selected favorite protein treats, such as turkey Jerky, almonds, Protein powder, and roasted soybeans. The BIG books on weight loss surgery: Look for the lap-band, gastric sleeve, or roux-en-Y gastric bypass book if Dad’s early in the journey, or the lifestyle book if you’re a vet or an inspired newbie. Time together…ask Dad to show you how to grill. He’ll love the company as long as you make sure he knows he’s still in charge! Fan gear that comes with a bonus – a promise to work out together. A little cooking demo – is Dad secretly embarrassed he doesn’t know how to cook food on your weight loss surgery diet when you go over to visit?
However you choose to Celebrate this Father’s Day, I hope it is healthy and happy for you. If you’re not a fan of Father’s Day, you can still celebrate the first day of summer. Keep it active, healthy, and social – keep checking in to BariatricPal to keep us updated on how your summer is going!

After much waiting...and much heat from my sleever homies...I'm posting my before and after pics!!! I hit my goal weight back in August, and haven't had any significant gain whatsoever...swearing that I'm never going back to 'Heavy B' again!!
 

Found this question fascinating, so I trolled the bodybuilding.com site, which appears to have plenty of topics from guys who had WLS.
The following is brief summary made up from several posts:
1. Quality Carbs before a workout AKA complex carbohydrates.
2. Bananas to keep you from cramping.
2. BCAA supplemented drink just before a workout.
3. Protein to repair muscle after a workout. Don't depend on just liquid proteins: fish, poultry, boiled eggs. The more complicated the food the more your body works digesting it.
4. Shock workouts by alternating whether you do cardio or weights first.
5. Continue to take a quality Bariatric supplement to prevent deficiencies.
From there it gets even more esoteric what people do to build mass.
Here is an inspiration story on how a formerly 370 Lbs castric bypass patient: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/body-transformation-danny-figueredo-sliced-his-weight-in-half.html

My dr is huge into resistance training for his male patients. He said don't worry about cardio as long as you walk a lot and I do. I set my phone app on 10000 steps a day and always get it.

Thanks so very much for this article!! I think this pretty much solidifies the train of thought I'm on right now. If I gain a pound or two, I would hit the panic button, with the ghosts of the past haunting me again...another failed weight loss attempt!! But now I definitely do feel much more in control...I just go 'back to basics', and I'm back on track!!!

One of my most shameful slob moments happened during the period of my life when I was struggeling through a divorce. I can't even remember what sent me off on this emotional eating binge....but it started at the Arby's drive-thru ordering a giant roast beef sandwich...then on to McDonald's for a 10 pc. McNugget, fish sandwich, and fries....then to Wendy's for a frosty ans spicy chicken sandwich...then to the last fast food joint before I hit my street which was Taco Bell for some soft taco's. I was eating food from a previous resteraunt while sitting in the drive-thru for the next resteraunt. I remember being so physically stuffed and sick with food, sick with shame, hate, and guilt, sick with self-loathing.
Today I am exactly one year post-op and below goal. The most amazing part of this journey has been cutting the emotional hold that food had on me. Best decision I ever made.

All, I sent out a bunch of mfp requests.. Looking forward to the support. I'm three weeks post op today..

I think that's where I am now...I can have just about anything I want in limited quantity, but I now I don't even want half of the stuff I used to eat. Liking the new me way too much to go back to the old me, so that's what I keep telling myself whenever I do get the urge every now and then. The thing is when you're in maintenance mode, it's a bit hard at first, since you feel a bit lost...even now I can't seem to get away from the frequent weigh-ins, just to make sure I'm still good. The only thing I really deal with is the harder I work out, the hungrier I am...but I imagine that should make sense, right??

He loves planning stuff for us to do. He's 10. Actually, we're going swimming today. But hiking is a good one, thanks!!

My butt it's aching something awful today! But I'll take it in stride because yesterday I rode my bike for the first time in about 2 years, and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I remember it was last time I rode it. We did about 4 miles too.
Best of all, I was able to keep a promise to my son that we'd ride together once I was healed from surgery.

Amoreno,
I do consider myself lucky. I had a very easy pregnancy especially being so overweight and old. I worked with an amazing Reproductive Endo and OBGYN and their staff. We ended up conceiving naturally so that was another blessing. I was 3 weeks PP when I had my psych evaluation for the surgery. I was holding my daughter in my arms and the psychologist asked me how having a child would affect the way my husband and I eat. I said that I was going to ensure she had a healthy relationship with food unlike me. I wanted to teach her about how to treat her body. I made many mistakes in my life due to low self esteem and with each mistake I felt worse about myself. I don't want her to have to go through that. It does hurt my heart that she might have PCOS like me but I will be proactive about her health.
With that being said, your daughter has a wonderful mother that is taking charge of her health. I will tell you that you have to be a bit selfish when it comes to your healthy which is hard for a mom to do. You have to take the time out to shop for the right foods, take your time when eating, and take time to work out. I struggle with this, but this is an investment in your future with her. Good luck on your journey! She will be so thankful you did this when she is walking across the stage to graduate, or walking down the aisle, or looking down at her own child, or just when she needs to talk to mom.

I realized there was a better way to live my life! I knew diets worked, but I didn't stay on them. And, life was about food. One day, I learned from a friend about the lap-band, and immediately I researched it. It's what's helped me lose weight and eat healthy for the last 12 years, and life has been a blast since then!

several things...
hard to walk
couldnt stand for more than 5 min as my legs/knees hurt so bad
couldnt wipe my butt after going to bathroom
hub had to put my socks on
wearing a size 5x skirt and wonder do they come bigger
and the most important thing...my son saying i was to be a grandmother....

the single most blunt reply i can give besides stepping on the scale at my doctors office and breaking the 400 pound barrier. I was having a hard time ( no pun intended) with sex, physically, you had to sort of guess at location and aim, if you understand what im saying.

One of my weaknesses used to be the Little Debbie Swiss Rolls, and you could buy them in a box of 12. My usual snack was to polish off an entire box in one sitting, usually about 6 minutes!!!
Another was those icing covered honeybuns that you could buy 2 for $1.00...I would buy 4 at a time for a snack, and have a 2-liter bottle of soda to wash it all down...the funny thing was the soda had to be a DIET soda, since I was trying to cut down!! Yeah, right!!!
The third was KFC chicken...in order to cut down, I wouldn't eat the skin from the chicken. So instead of eating 8 full pieces, I would eat 14 skinless pieces!!! What a slob I was!!! Now I can barely eat 1 skinless leg or thigh...thank goodness!!!

Can I be the first to throw a question or two out there?
I was sleeved on 1/27/2014, and I reached my goal on 8/20/2014. Since then I've lost a few more pounds, and then I as well as my PCP and my surgeon thought I was a bit too thin. Afterwards, I wanted to gain back some of the muscle mass lost, and I'm currently taking in about 1500 calories a day. I've gained back about 10 pounds, and I'm HOPING that what I've gained is more muscle than fat...when I get on the scale and see the numbers go up instead of down, my initial reaction is to panic!!! Old habits die hard!!! But trying to keep in mind that my clothes are still fitting great!! By chance am I the only one going through this?? I still have a little bit of a belly, but the surgeon says that's not going to go away without cosmetic surgery, so I can live with it!!
Thoughts??? Comments???
Thanks in advance, guys!!!

Damn that Little Debbie--for me, it's her Nutty Bars. Those things are like crack to me. I could polish off a box of those without blinking.

Hullo!! Can we show the psychiatric community this thread? When my therapist tells me that food is not technically an addiction, I want to scream. Who does these things except people who are addicted? Old food, bad food, too much food. If you substitute any other substance for food in these posts, it would look like any other addiction be it alcohol or drugs or anything.
My therapist says it's not an addiction because it doesn't change the brain. I call bulls**t on that. I know my brain lights up like the Empire State Building when I see Pasta. Hell...it happened last night. We ordered Italian in and I was cleaning up the leftovers last night and all I wanted to do was eat that cold dry spaghetti. Don't tell me this is not an addiction. I know that Pasta is my heroin and no one can tell me different.

"(Slobovian pro tip: grilled cheese leaves a very distinct aroma in the house. Plan your binge early in the day accordingly.)"
LOL! That's funny - AND helpful!

I once worked in a donut shop and one day the boss told me to throw out a tray of about 20 donuts as they didn't sell for a few days. I took them round the back and started eating them when the boss came in there was about 4 left he saw me while I pretended I was throwing them in the bin he said why are you throwing them away one by one I just smiled.

Today is my 9 months surgeversary. I am thrilled to report that I am down 60 pounds from my surgery weight and 84 pounds from the 260 I weighed when I started working on losing weight pre-op.
60 pounds might not seem like a lot to some folks. I know there are people out there who lose that much in just a couple of months. But, for me, I am very very pleased.
In the beginning, once it became clear I would be a "slow" loser, I was very frustrated. I had all the same thoughts and reactions that I see other slow losers having on these forums. Why did I have 80% of my stomach removed and undergo an expensive and potentially risky surgery to lose weight more slowly than I could on my own? Why is everyone else losing 10 pounds a week when I'm only losing 1 or 2? What am I doing wrong?
Luckily, that mentality only lasted a couple of months for me. Eventually I realized that I wasn't in a race. I was losing weight and I would continue losing weight until I didn't need to lose anymore. It didn't matter when I got to my goal, so long as I got there eventually and was able to maintain it once I did. After all, that was the main reason I got WLS. Weight LOSS is the easy part. I've managed to lose weight on my own dozens of times. It's weight MAINTENANCE that was always the challenge for me. And now I am VERY confident that once I reach my goal, I will be able to maintain it much more easily than in the past.
Now, 9 months out, I am quite content to just be losing about a half a pound a week. Every half pound brings me that much closer to my goal, and meanwhile, I am just enjoying my life!

I have many, but I guess the top 3 would be these -
Getting thoroughly depressed when trying to find clothing in my size...finding anything stylish in size 3X is not an easy task!!! Working out at the gym and seeing all the pounds falling off of every family member except me!!! Apparently I must have been eating back everything I worked off!! During my latest doctor's visit, hearing the dreaded term 'DIABETES'...I saw what it did to many of my family members, including losing my mother...didn't want to do that do my family, especially if it's something I have the power to avoid and control!!!