betternowthanever

Frequently Asked Questions - Weight Loss Surgery - What is the honeymoon period?
 
For about 6 to 10 months post-weight loss surgery is the time when it is the easiest to lose weight. Outside of the dreaded stalls, weight generally tends to fall off magically. But eventually the body becomes adjusted to the lower caloric intake and adjusts it's metabolism down. So it's vitally important to take advantage of this "honeymoon period" to stick to your doctor's dietary guidelines and lose as much weight as possible.
 
After the "honeymoon period" it is still possible to lose weight, but it will require more vigilance on caloric intake and diet, being careful not to fall into old habits, and increasing exercise levels to maintain your metabolism.
 
If you like/dislike my videos, please thumb up or down, and leave a comment about how I could improve the content. Your input helps me become a better Youtuber. :-)
 
Keep Pimpin' that Sleeve!
 
Google Plus
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102076899634252886094/102076899634252886094/posts/p/pub
 
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frankensleeve-Vertical-Sleeve-Gastrectomy-VSG-Community/289332951205311
 
Twitter
https://twitter.com/frankensleeve

I get emails daily asking me how to I lose my weight and look so good but I must admit, things are not as they appear. I too have love handles and golf ball thighs but I don't post the pictures that show that of course. I lost a ton of weight fast but I did it with the sleeve and the gym. Ask my family where I spend my free time when I'm not at the office, I'm at the gym. Nothing is free, we must work out and sweat to get results and that is the only reason I look like I do. I also avoid carbs and sugars and focus on protein. Protein shakes and yogart and chicken is in my daily diet. You can do it too, don't give up!

I get emails daily asking me how to I lose my weight and look so good but I must admit, things are not as they appear. I too have love handles and golf ball thighs but I don't post the pictures that show that of course. I lost a ton of weight fast but I did it with the sleeve and the gym. Ask my family where I spend my free time when I'm not at the office, I'm at the gym. Nothing is free, we must work out and sweat to get results and that is the only reason I look like I do. I also avoid carbs and sugars and focus on protein. Protein shakes and yogart and chicken is in my daily diet. You can do it too, don't give up!

I get emails daily asking me how to I lose my weight and look so good but I must admit, things are not as they appear. I too have love handles and golf ball thighs but I don't post the pictures that show that of course. I lost a ton of weight fast but I did it with the sleeve and the gym. Ask my family where I spend my free time when I'm not at the office, I'm at the gym. Nothing is free, we must work out and sweat to get results and that is the only reason I look like I do. I also avoid carbs and sugars and focus on protein. Protein shakes and yogart and chicken is in my daily diet. You can do it too, don't give up!

This is really a repost of something I said yesterday but thought it was worth a blog entry
 
Watching my 600lb Life on TLC can be inspirational, aggravating and downright annoying. Many times I want to reach through the TV and slap patients but more importantly the non-supporting people in their lives. I will admit I have only seen a handful of episodes.
 
One thing I can tell you from being a 5'6 488 pound morbidly obese person is it was just a struggle to wipe my butt and it was to a point where I showered after to make sure I was clean and the shower alone was a task because of the aches and pains in my muscles and joints. Walking from my car to my office even with the use of an elevator took a lot out of me. I would last 10 minutes walking the grocery store with my wife and would end up going out to the car and wait for her to finish because I was out of breath and legs ached so bad.
 
I don’t recall eating food and gaining weight simply because I was lazy or didn’t care about myself. I didn’t eat with the intent of becoming morbidly obese to a point where I couldn’t do those simplest of daily life tasks. I have a serious junk food addiction and I loved it. I ate from the moment I wake up to the moment I went to bed.
 
I am not making excuses for myself or anyone else but keep in mind you’re watching an edited reality t.v. show. Do we really know what is going in these people’s lives? They edit the crap out of these things to create the draw and because everyone loves a train wreck and more often than not they will put those things front and center.
 
One thing I am certain about is I will always remain humble and will make sure I never become like the people who used to judge me. I was a terrible mess physically and eventually mentally and I am lucky to be where I am today. I absolutely refuse to forget my 488lb self. Sometimes I wonder why me? Why was I successful? Just because someone doesn’t care about themselves doesn’t mean they don’t WANT to care about themselves.
 
Hope is a very powerful emotion and it can make or break you

I am very excited to meet with a plastic surgeon today to discuss my excess wt on the bottom half of my body that still makes me feel "ugly". I was hoping by hitting the gym everyday hard that I would not need additional surgery but I do not feel comfortable yet in a swimsuit as long as my back side is as big as Kim Kardashian's. Cross your fingers for me that it is affordable and painless and I will keep you all posted on what they say in case any of you are interested in pursuing this as well.

Today is my 6th day on my pre-op diet, and it has been the easiest so far. While I still find the shakes and vegetable concoctions in my recipe book nauseating, mentally I am finding it easier to get through it. I have no more sugar cravings or cravings for any junk food, which to me is a miracle. I never thought I could stop eating sweets so quickly. I am craving food, but mostly protein, like chicken and hard boiled eggs, and I would kill for some chicken broth!
 
I'm not saying it's easy now. I'm still counting the hours until my surgery. Today I feel the best mentally that I have in months. My head feels clear. I'm not in a fog. I wonder if it also has something to do with cutting out the diet soda. I am using sugar free syrups in my shakes, but that's nowhere near the amount of artificial sweetener I consumed drinking 3 or 4 cans of diet soda every day.
 
I know why I'm doing this. I have my goals in the forefront of my mind. Eight more days of revolting shakes and nothing else...I can do it!

Here is a breakdown of how I spent my 60 minutes today at the new gym we joined:
 
1 minute- deciding if I wanted to use the treadmill in the giant room with all of the exercise bunnies
2 minutes-picking out the treadmill and wondering where to put my sweatshirt I had taken off
1 minute- thinking I looked really new to this
1 minute- sneaking glances at the other people, noticing all the old people that were there and realizing
that I was the fattest person there
45 minutes- walking on the treadmill
 
While on the treadmill:
20 minutes- wondering how many people behind me were staring at my fat butt and
hoping my pants weren't riding up the crack of my a$$.
5 minutes- doing fat girl adjustments to my clothes to make sure my belly wasn't
hanging out
1 minute- trying to sneak glances to see how fast other people were walking
19 minutes- feeling good about my performance and listening to Pandora 80's Cardio
Channel to get my groove on
 
5 minutes- trying out an elliptical machine for the first time. thinking wtf? this does not feel natural.
5 minutes- waiting for my hubby to finish his stuff and checking out the group classes and deciding
we need to go to the beginning yoga class tonight.
 
Really, it was great. I've been walking on my treadmill at home so I'm not totally out of shape. I must say that the presence of other people does motivate me to do better. I walked for 45 minutes at 3.0 to 3.4 mph. I felt good about my work out.
 
Mostly I was happy that my husband and I went to the gym together. I have dreamed of this moment for years. That someday, he would become interested in something other than the television and we could do it together.
 
I'm happy.

Destructive thoughts within our minds
can keep us in despair...
those doubts and insecurities
are not worth the pain they bear.
 
It's sad to carry baggage
that causes grief and shame...
and in time we come to realize
we have ourselves to blame.
 
We can choose our way of thinking
and ask God to give us peace...
as we pray for a healthy attitude,
our negative thoughts will cease.
 
These human hearts are fragile
and sometimes we can't see...
it takes some effort on our part
to find worth and security.
 
Don't let those demons haunt you
and keep you in the dark...
just know that God, who formed you,
loves you just the way you are.

"As I look back over my life, and I think things over, I can truly say that I've been blessed" I'm headed in to get my labs drawn for my one year appointment that is coming up very soon! I am just in shock over the fact that I was able to take this journey. I am so happy with the decision I made over a year ago to pursue WLS. I would have to say, without a doubt, that is the best and hardest decision I have ever made. There were days when I wanted to give up and had eaten badly, but I got back on the saddle and rode this one out! This morning I stepped on the scale to discover that I have lost 98lbs! That is 4 additional lbs to the last time I checked. I now completely understand that this is life-changing. I will never stop maintaining what I have worked so hard for. I have spent $$$ on vitamins, co-pays, supplements, medicines, etc. I am invested and I want to protect this investment of good health with living healthy. I feel like a different person when I step into public places. I am no longer as insecure and ashamed as I walked around feeling for years. I feel like I might cry through my entire appt this week. They have a picture of me the day before surgery. I have not seen it, but I know I am bigger than my license picture. As a reward to myself (and getting tired of people focusing and questioning that I am the person on my license) I am going to the Secretary of State to get a new picture and new license mailed to me. This will be another little happy gift to myself. It truly is the NSV that make me so content. Congratulations to the people that are celebrating their one year surgery anniversaries with me this month! I know I was on this site 24/7 as I rested after surgery. I am so appreciative for all the great advice on the blogs and chat rooms here. I couldn't have made it so well through my first month without this site. I started back when this site was verticalsleevetalk.com. Thank you everyone for the encouragement when I needed it, and the advice to give me discipline. I am emotional now just writing this. We have all made it over hurdles that we didn't know we had the strength to do.

Destructive thoughts within our minds
can keep us in despair...
those doubts and insecurities
are not worth the pain they bear.
 
It's sad to carry baggage
that causes grief and shame...
and in time we come to realize
we have ourselves to blame.
 
We can choose our way of thinking
and ask God to give us peace...
as we pray for a healthy attitude,
our negative thoughts will cease.
 
These human hearts are fragile
and sometimes we can't see...
it takes some effort on our part
to find worth and security.
 
Don't let those demons haunt you
and keep you in the dark...
just know that God, who formed you,
loves you just the way you are.

A hearty hello to all our fat fanatics worldwide!
As another year comes to an end, I thought this would be an opportune time to do a little self reflecting. After all, it has been an interesting year for me to say the least.
But first, I realize I have been derelict in getting you timely updates on my current status. Quite frankly, I was reluctant to keep posting because I was afraid of what the holidays and my short vacation were going to do to me. Well, I have good news to report. I am down about 2 pounds from the day before Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve! I wanted to be 185 on Thanksgiving. That didn't quite work out. But I was 186.5 today. WHEW!
I am really pleased with this number. Why? Because I did an above normal amount of dinning out, family parties, traveling and, of course, the social drinking that comes along with it. I was very conscious of my food intake. When I dined out, I tried to order the right things, always protein. Save the sauces. At Thanksgiving, I loaded up on turkey and ham and passed on potatoes and gravies. On Christmas eve, I feasted on lobster, shrimp an calamari in red sauce. I only had a small mouthful of homemade lasagna to be polite. I also watched my drinking. You know I had to imbibe, so I drank my bourbon straight and my vodka on the rocks. I had a few excellent Cabernets. I even had two frosty beers. My first since March. All in all, I made it through the yearly bacchanal virtually unscathed. I consider this VICTORY. But I can only savor this achievement for a fleeting moment.
Year in review - PHEW! 2013 has been a whirlwind to say the least.
1) My first appointment with Dr. X on a blustery January Monday
2) My first lap band support group meeting
3) My first ever visit to a shrink
4) My conversations with Rajeeve
5) My 14 day pre-op diet
6) My surgery
7) My first unauthorized cocktail
The list goes on. Suffice to say, last year was a life changer for me. I sit before you today 68 pounds lighter than then the guy that wrote to you in April. That's whole lotta fatass folks.
2014 Resolutions - I have big news for you on this front. I saw Dr. X for my monthly tune up right before Christmas. After he gave me another 1/2 c.c injection, I offhandedly remarked that I wanted to lose about another 20 pounds to get me under my goal of 169. He immediately whipped a calculator out of his staff coat and started doing some ciphering. By way of some secret bariatric calculation, he tells my he wants be to be at 150 pounds! I was FLOORED.
ME: "150 pounds? Are you serious? I mean I haven't weighed 150 pounds since 6th grade!"
Dr. X: " I'm working from a BMI index. A 28.5 BMI is healthy, but a 25 BMI is golden! That puts you at 150 pounds."
ME: "Is that 150 pounds here on the fat ass scale or 150 pounds in the morning naked on my home scale?"
Dr. X: "I'll take the 150 on your scale."
So I got that going for me.

Then he asks me, "When did you have your surgery?"
"May 15" I told him.
"You haven't even been doing this a year! This is a TWO year project.'
You could have knocked me over with a wet noodle. This whole time I was working on a ONE year time table. I was hoping to get to my goal in April. But our dear doctor just tagged on another 19 pounds of weight loss! At 2 pounds per month, that's about a year more. So I guess his math is correct.
"You are doing great. You can do this and I will help you get there." he told me.
Comforting words did little to ease my shock.
But then I started thinking. What's changed? Really nothing. I have learned a new way of eating. I am watching my portions and I'm cutting as many empty calories as possible. So I have to keep counting my calories for another year. So what. I can do it.
Can I really get to 150 pounds? Do I really want to be 150 pounds? I really don't know. I do know I have a ways to go to get rid of some excess ass and gut fat. I also know I don't want to be the weakling that gets sand kicked in his face at the beach. So when it comes to my new goal. I guess I'll know it when I feel it.
I'll try and be more prompt with the next update. Until then ... Remember
YOU CAN'T BE TOO RICH OR TOO THIN!