Andrea K

I had RNY on July 31st 2014. I almost backed out at the last minute. So glad I didn't. I am down 78lbs. and feel great. Don't let fear of complications talk you out of WLS. Choose your surgeon wisely and stick to the program. You are going to love the new you.

that is an awesome loss!

Since having my surgery on October 20, 2011, I have set a "main" goal every year. Year one was obvious, get to the weight that my body wanted to be at. Approximately fourteen months post-op I hit 155 lbs, my weight loss leveled out, I felt great about my weight, about myself, and about what I had accomplished.
Year two. I had read so many times about "bounce back weight gain". Usually ten or fifteen pounds but sometimes much more. I researched everything I could find and there appeared to be no physical or metabolic justification for the weight gain. It was/is quite common, but I could find no science to explain it. So my year two goal became to avoid the bounce back. I established a window of 151 to 156 lbs that I was determined to maintain. I changed my weigh-ins schedule from my year one weekly weight checks to year two daily checks. My weight in year two was seldom below 151 (maybe two or three times) and never above 156.
Year three. As you get further out veterans who have "been there done that" often drop off of the forums. It became more difficult to identify potential "bumps in the road" that were common in the third year post-op period. Then over a period of time I read a number of posts by a five year veteran who repeatedly stressed that maintaining your weight becomes more difficult, m u c h more difficult, after the two year mark. And responses to this member's posts seemed to confirm that many had experienced the same difficulties. Once again I looked to science for an explanation and possible suggestions for avoiding or at least minimizing the challenges. And once again I was unable to identify any credible science to explain the problem. So my year three goal became more of a mental challenge than a physical one. I had lost 130 lbs. And I had maintained it for a year. The goal for year three became to maintain my commitment, and my focus, on following my plan that had resulted in the success I had achieved.
Stay positive. Stay patient. Monitor my weight daily and respond very quickly to weight changes. Making slight increases or decreases in my calorie goal depending on whether I needed to gain or lose two or three pounds. Exercise to my ability. Continue to maintain a food log. The result? I frankly never experienced any identifiable change in my diet, in the effort required to maintain my weight, or in my confidence that I was in complete and absolute control of my weight. No changes. None. Zip. And my weight this morning? 154.2
I only have one problem - I'm at a total loss for a year four goal! Everyone's thoughts, suggestions, ideas or experiences are most welcome!!
You guys have a terrific day and regardless of where you're at in your journey always remember - follow your plan and you're gonna love the new you!

My husband and daughter run marathons. I occasionally walk a 5 k and I come in dead last most of the time, if not next to last. They are hard for me and I don't love them. My family runs ahead then circles back to find me and walk me to the finish. I feel very self conscious while doing it. I don't own a sports bra but you don't need them to walk. I am proud that I even did some (total of about 7) but it is hard coming in late.
Well in October I am running my first 5k. I found a bra at Old Navy that actually is a sports bra and it fits (amazing). I am trying a program called couch25k. I am going to follow it religiously and this year I will run it and not feel self conscious at all. I came in next to last year because someone got injured and was behind me as a result. It is in my hometown and I saw loads of people I knew. I want it to be different and the 41 pounds I have lost to date is giving me the confidence to try. Posting here for 2 reasons: Because I want to proclaim it so it happens (keep me honest) and I want to encourage others that have no athletic desires or abilities to tell them it can be done.

When I gain a couple of pounds, I reduce my calorie goal by 100-200 calories for a day or two and my weight comes right back down. I've done it many times. But failing to log your food in MFP every day dramatically reduces the value of the log. For example, one of the advantages of a food log is that it makes you accountable to the most important person in the equation - you. Log the good days and not the bad (or vice versa) and you're only getting half of the story. Odds are good that your weight is responding to the half that you aren't logging.
Logging also gives you confidence that you are managing your weight as opposed to your weight managing you. Nothing builds confidence like making a calorie adjustment and then seeing the results on the scale. When you do that three or four times and you see the results every time, your confidence soars. You know you are in control and that is a great feeling. It also works the other way. If your weight drops below the number you have established as your minimum (I have a five pound "window"), you simply increase your calorie goal 100-200 calories for a day or two and you'll see your weight come back up.
One of the strongest features of MFP is the ability to customize almost every aspect of your weight management. For example, you are struggling with sugar. Go to the MFP website and login (you cannot do most customized values from the phone app), go to My Home > Goals > Change Goals and then choose the Custom option.
My daily sugar goal was set (by MFP) to 60g. A few days ago I decided that was too high so I changed it to 40g (20g would be even better but "baby steps" are usually a wiser way to go). Just knowing I made that change increased my awareness. In the last few days I have consciously chosen to pass on relatively high sugar temptations that I was pretty sure would have resulted in my exceeding my goal. So far I have not exceeded my new 40g goal. Perhaps a small victory. But in my mind an important one. And one that has been relatively painless. MFP increases your awareness which in turn encourages you to make better choices.
I believe that it's crucially important to treat not only your calorie goal, but all goals in MFP as "averages". Using my new sugar goal as an example, I want to "average" 40g a day. That doesn't mean that I can realistically expect to never exceed that goal. Special occasions are part of life and often involve food relatively high in sugar. So when (not if) I have a day where I exceed my sugar goal, I simply make a mental note to reduce my goal for the next couple of days and I'm right back on track with my average. As long as you log everything you eat, every day, your weekly summary of all of your nutrition information is a tap away. Divide any given number by seven and you have your average.
Next to the surgery itself, food logs are the single most powerful tool that you can have in your arsenal. Commit to MFP for 90 days, get to know it, experiment with different values for calories and nutrients, and it will teach you the numbers that work best for you and your lifestyle. You'll see the results where it matters the most - on the scale!

Here is my backyard!!

For my furbabies

I have recreated all of my favorite foods to be high protein/low fat/low carb with all the flavors & textures I crave. So when I am craving something I have alternatives that do not derail my maintenance.
That being said, cravings are not what they were pre-sleeve. I may crave something for a second, then it's gone. Cravings no longer equal OBSESSIONS!

Fonts
I want to read everyone's posts. But the ones with script font or pale colors just don't work with my itty bitty iPhone screen and lousy aging eyesight. I almost never go to the desktop site anymore. Not really a rant, just tossing that out there.

If I get a response that feels mean-spirited, then I don't answer back and just move on. I learned from having such stress that it maxed out my blood pressure and hit me with a stroke in 2010. Now if I think someone is bullying me on-line here, I just walk away and leave them unresponded. I am not going to give them a chance to hit me twice. I have been on here since September 2013 and have received awesome advice that carried me though many dark days.
The 80/20 rule of life works here, too. Let's say that 80% of the comments here are intended to uplift you and sail you over the rough spots. Don't let that 20% of roadkill slow you down. There is a lot of valuable support on this forum. Please feel free to ask us questions. As you procede through your own weight loss journey, you will be able to look back and help other newbies following behind you.

@akt1908
I eat 60-80 grams a day. I like Fage geek yogurt. 3/4 C., 1/2 scoop unjury Protein and sugar free cherry Syrup (by the coffee Creamers at Walmart) . That starts my day at 27 grams. I also like a milk at Kroger's "Carbmaster nonfat reduced sugar added protein" 1 C. has 11 g. Protein and no lactose. Mix that with 1 C yogurt add some splenda and a few berries and another great tasting Breakfast with 34 g. protein. I started looking at food logs of successful people on "MyFitnessPal" to help me learn how to eat after RNY. my food log is viewed by "friends only" so send me a friend request I LOVE meat and seafood. Read your food labels. 3/4 C crab select 2 creamy swiss laughing cow wedges, spices, onion...makes a lunch with 16g. protein. Good luck on your journey to better health.

Hope you receive a good report on your treatment options. Praying for you and your doctors.

Frozen chocolate fat free pudding.......mmmmmm

Haven't had my surgery yet but I definitely believe in affirmations. One of my favorites is " your thoughts become your reality"
Helps me to remain positive and hopefully will translate into a successful weight loss.

I was 170 pounds overweight and I thought I had tried everything. I had a LAP-BAND for 11 years, during which I lost and regained 130 pounds. The LAPBAND was ready to do its' job, but I was not ready to do mine. This is the story of how I embraced, life, living, healthy food and exercise, and finally shed 170 pounds 8 years into my LAPBAND journey. From needing a "walker" to climbing America's tallest mountain in 2 years, this is my story.


Food was my way of comforting myself and relieving stress for as far back into my childhood as I can remember. There was alcohol and violence in my childhood home and I needed comfort. There was no human source for it so I created a source for it.

Food "hugged me" and made me feel safer. In an environment with stressors beyond my control. I had a small something I could easily access to sooth myself. It was my mind deciding what to eat for comfort and it was my hand lifting the food to my mouth. I was in the driver's seat regarding something in my life and body, even if I wasn't safe in my home. Food was my best friend, provided comfort and gave me a way to manage even a small part of my life.

By my teens, my chubby appearance morphed into actually being significantly overweight. At the age of 12, I jumped from a women's size 12 to size 18 and never looked back. By the age of 20, soon after my mother's death, I was a size 26 and 330 pounds. In my 30s, I lost 130 pounds too rapidly and much of my hair by binging and purging and in my 40s, I again lost 130 pounds after LAP-BAND Weight Loss Surgery in 2003.

But because I had not done the emotional, internal work on my relationship with food and childhood trauma, my food addiction shifted to liquid calories I could easily pass through the LAP-BAND, which is common. At this time, for the first time in my life, I developed an alcohol problem and my dinner each night was a six pack of "vodka coolers" followed by a pint of low-fat ice cream for dessert.

Nutrition was the last thought on my mind and my focus was on comfort calories that could pass through "the band." By 2006, all the weight I lost was back. I also continued to eat solid foods that would force me to vomit and caused my esophagus to become distended. When a LAP-BAND patient doesn't respect the "full" signals the body sends to the brain and continues to eat, the esophagus becomes a storage place for excess food and the esophagus stretches. This made the LAP-BAND useless and while it is still in my body, it no longer functions properly.

At the same time, during the last 20 years, I developed back problems from bulging discs related to the weight I was carrying. I began using opiates under a doctor's supervision to combat pain and muscle spasms in my back and in my knees that resulted in five knee surgeries. At first, I viewed the opiates as a wonderful tool as they relieved or masked some of the pain and also provided an emotional high. Soon I was using the opiates for emotional reasons more than for pain and as my tolerance for them grew, I needed larger doses to get the same effect. Then I needed to graduate to a stronger form of opiate and that is when, 10 years ago, I began taking Oxycodone and OxyContin around the clock along with Flexeril for muscle spasms.

Sitting for long periods became unbearable and I was forced to leave my career as a Court Paralegal and qualified for "permanent disability." I cried as I left the hearing in which I was declared disabled. I didn't want to be disabled but felt it must be true for a judge to decide it was. It was 2010 and I believed my life was essentially over. At 50 years old I was simply waiting to slowly die. I believed all my happy days were behind me.

When my doctor suggested I try yoga before we take the drastic step of implanting electrodes in my spine for the pain, I began attending a very gentle yoga class for people with disabilities. Slowly, over a two year period, I began to build stronger core muscles which made the back spasms less severe and less frequent.

But I continued to take the opiates because by then I had an emotional and chemical dependence on them. During this time, I was diagnosed with sleep Apnea which was caused by the opiates and excess weight. Opiates disrupt the brains signals to the lungs and suppress the respiratory drive.

On top of this - physical pain, addiction and emotional unhappiness - I was also caring for my father with Alzheimer's. Although in a safe and loving group home, I still felt responsible for my father's well-being and comfort. I was his only family within 3000 miles. As so often happens when caring for a loved-one, we stop caring for ourselves in every sense.

Soon after my father's death in 2012, I developed pneumonia because my breathing became so inconsistent that my lungs filled with Fluid. I realized at that point I needed to change everything about my life including losing the weight and decreasing, even eliminating, my use of opiates or else I would die. At that moment, in the hospital in 2012, the desire to live was sparked in me by the threat of death!

After leaving the hospital, for 60 days, I detoxed and experienced cold sweats, tremors and anxiety as the opiates slowly left my bloodstream. Once I was drug-free, I began making small, sustainable changes to my diet and gradually increasing amounts of movement. (Yes, that means exercise!) Over the following 18 months, my weight dropped from a high of 333 pounds down to 185. As a 6'3" tall woman this is a healthy, lean weight for me.

In 2013, I decided then to give myself the gift of nearly full-body plastic surgery. Since I was already severely overweight in my teens, at a time of life when many young girls look their best and enjoy being pretty, I decided "it is never too late to have a happy childhood." During an 11-hour surgery, 13 pounds of skin was removed from my abdomen, buttocks, back, chest and under arms. For the first time since the age of 12, no part of my belly and buttocks continue to jiggle when I stop walking, no part of me droops and my thighs do not rub together. The Sleep Apnea is gone and I now climb mountains instead of grabbing railings to pull myself up stairs! But the hardest mountain I've ever climbed was a "metaphorical mountain" in those first few weeks of starting to change my relationships with food and drugs, as well as beginning to move.

I am enjoying a lovely renaissance in a healthy, lean, strong and coincidentally beautiful body. However, this transformation has not been about beauty. My goals are continued health and a desire to live with passion, and about choosing to do more than survive. I am driven from an internal source to live a vibrant, full life of joy so I can continue to enjoy the love of family and friends and so they needn't lose me to obesity and addiction.

This photo (above) was taken on the highest mountain in the 48 contiguous United States, Mount Whitney. After 10 hours of climbing 6,134 feet to an elevation of 14,508 feet covering 11 miles, I summited at 2:00 pm and like every part of my weight-loss, fitness and "reclamation of life" journey, I did it!

Yet, like during every aspect of my journey I had partners. My partners knew the lay of the land, my strength and challenges. I surrounded myself with people who knew how to help me get where I wanted to go. Physical and mental health professionals who coached me to express my full potential. What mountains will you climb in your life and who will help you get there? Build your team, including here at BariatricPal, and there is no "mountain" you cannot climb!

Dr. Huffman,
If you would share any study findings about the efficacy of phentermine for WLS patients used in the ways you describe above, rather than vague anecdotal testimonies about its efficacy for some of your patients, I'd welcome the chance to read those studies.
Otherwise, I'll trust my own personal anecdotal experience with phentermine and the anecdotal testimony of literally every other person I've ever known (dozens of friends and relatives).who was prescribed phentermine by physician-managed weight loss programs.
In my experience, phentermine is just another FDA-authorized version of Meth Lite.

Ditto at three weeks out. And I swear my old tummy is grumbling and wants food in it. Lol

Sounds like you need a new partner. Glad your kids have stepped up to the plate. That is a testament to the good job you did raising them to be caring and unselfish young adults. I hope as your friendships and health increase you are blessed with a man who will CHERISH you and your children.

I had RNY 7/8/14. Doing well, on puréed foods and have lost 37 pounds. Walking 3 miles per day. Have lost 16 inches overall.No complaints!

Karen glad to hear you say you don't feel hungry or full. Thought it was just me. My head says you need to eat this is not good. My stomach says I don't care if you ever eat again. Strange to go from shoveling anything down to not caring if I eat. Oh the head games begin.

had my one week dr. appt. I am down 12 lbs. feel good. Started the soft food stage too. I am up to eating 50 g Protein and 64 oz. Water. While in the city yesterday had lunch at Red Robin. Its my birthday month so I gave my free hamburger to my husband and I had the clams out of a bowl of clam chowder. I have been walking and I can go down 8 houses and back. my 1st goal is once around my block (about 2 miles) Hope you all are having good results and feeling stronger each day.

Well said xx

Walking 6 miles without tiring out.
Hiking for 5 hours.
More energy.
Better health..off of blood pressure meds.
Recently taking swimming lessons and swimming almost a mile so far Would like to do a triathalon ...one day. Making a vacation into a healthy one..i.e. eating healthy and hiking.....
and I'm over 60. !!!! You are never too old to change. If you want your life to change...you have to make changes to your life. Taking action is the key. I was very reluctant to have the gastric sleeve. I backed out several times. So happy that I had the surgery and made changes in my life.

Great thread ! The thing im most proud of ? The fact that I can call myself a runner. Mind. Blowing. I ran in my younger years, loved it, but havent ran in probably 25 years. I still cant run fast, or very far, but I can call myself a runner. Thank you lap band ! I used to look at average size healthy women wearing cute running gear and wish it could be me, and now it is ! I also enjoy cute clothes, nice compliments, my husbands supportive comments, and yes, funny flirting from cute men! ( Im married, not dead !)....... I look forward to horseback riding, getting stronger , yoga, zip lines, , traveling comfortably, and running , even a short ways, in every state I visit in the future !

After WLS I am proud of my stamina and my self control. Also I am proud of myself for changing my mind set about food. I use to love to eat and made eating my hobby. And now, I eat to live and prefer doing others things in life like loving myself, taking control of my body and my life and loving the new me. I never thought I would get this far and I am so proud of myself. My family has been the biggest support and I am grateful for that. Friends are there but they don't understand me fully. I have to actually explain them the anatomy and physiology of what has happened internally. Also I am very proud of getting the RNY and I love to educate people about it. People have misconceptions and they think this is lyposuction. So I actually love to teach people about it and they get it that this is not easy and it's a lifestyle change.