Stephanie Rodriguez68

Sorry but I have to believe they are deluding themselves. There is just no way with a metabolism reset and keeping a nutritious diet under 1000 calories a day there is no reason you should regain that weight back.

This is my uneducated opinion but I really think a goodly number of us got to where we were because we had an unhealthy relationship to food, i.e. an addiction. Speaking for myself, I definitely had an an unhealthy relationship to food. Being super strict about eating is as bad as overeating as it's swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction. We have lived our lives between two extremes: extreme dieting and extreme overeating. @Creekimp13 is quite correct about learning to live a life in balance.

Vets are the only ones that usually seem to not post overly dramatic themes. Some of us wait, like big viffer , reading and wondering when the bickering will stop, mostly counting on the fiercest members moving on.
We’re still here (11+ years)working our OWN programs. Best of luck to all.

Why did I read this in his voice 😂😂 I love DR. Now.

45 pounds is great! You are headed in the right direction. I also experience slower weight loss than I expected, but at 14 months I am down 90 pounds from my highest and 75 since surgery. When I stall, it lasts for months! I actually thought I was done losing weight when I hit a major stall at 6 months, but since then I have had spurts of weight loss and now I am 20 pounds from goal.
Try not to get discouraged. If you keep eating healthy and stay within the parameters of the diet your doctor laid out for you, you will continue to lose. Slow weight loss is better than weight gain any day, right? You got this, Pinkgirl. Congratulations on your success so far!

I am not sure what to make of my stall and slow weight loss? I am over 50 with a PCOS.I have lost 45 pounds in 5 months .I have stalled for a month....not so happy.

I will be having an RNY revision from Lap Band. I initially wanted the sleeve, but due to my severe reflux and damage it has caused, my surgeon said RNY would be the best option for me. My surgery has been rescheduled for November 5th.
I hope it all works out for you

Weird question: Would you ever knowingly poison yourself? I am betting your answer would be no!
Yet, how many times a day do you talk to yourself in a way that diminishes your value or undermines your self worth? Every time we call ourselves a name (stupid, fat, an idiot) or repeat a message that confirms we are somehow lacking, or not enough, we are essentially ingesting a small dose of poison and wondering why we don’t feel so well.


"Be careful how you talk to yourself because you
 are listening."

--Lisa M. Hayes What we say to ourselves, and how we say it––matters.
When we put our negative thoughts about ourselves into words and say them (even if it’s just in our own head) those words have a far greater impact on our physiology and behaviors than we imagine.
According to the article: Figure Of Speech: How The Words We Choose Shape Our Lives, by Dr. Habib Sadeghi,
“Research from the University of California at Santa Barbara clearly shows that a weak message repeated twice becomes more valid than a strong message heard only once. Repetition increases our mental validation of anything we’re exposed to.
“Now consider how many times (a day) you falsely call yourself stupid, untalented, ugly, or anything else, and you begin to understand how your internal (messages) shape (and perpetuate) a false self-image.”
Simply put, we tend to believe and integrate as “true” what we hear. Particularly if we hear the same words, said in the same way, over and over. That is how racism works. That is how sexism works. And that is how our inner-critic works.
Developing an “updated” honest but compassionate self-image is the key to success after weight loss surgery. All of our internalized systems––mental, emotional, psychological & physiological––need to work together in order to manifest our goals. To create alignment between our thoughts, self-talk and actions, we need a sort of spiritual “chiropractic adjustment” that will retrain our brains to focus on what we are accomplishing instead of focusing on our flaws.
As you might imagine, making this sort of radical shift in our focus and attention isn’t something that comes naturally to most of us. Particularly since we live in a culture that has a significant amount of fear, judgment and distain when it comes to obesity. Most of us have learned to hate and fear obesity the same way the culture does. But for us, hating obesity leads to hating ourselves and treating ourselves with the same disrespect, impatience and distain that we see and feel from others.
Here is a 10-Step Process that I developed that you can do on your own to transform critical self-talk, so you never have to poison yourself with unkindness again. Consider this process your path to inner “poison control!”
1.) Look in the mirror and say the things you notice about yourself (out loud).
2.) Write your comments down.
3.) Look over your list and circle the words you use most to describe yourself.
4.) Do these words come from your present experience, or are they steeped in your past view of yourself?
5.) For each circled word, go back and write “past” or “present.”
6.) Now go back to the beginning of your list, and write the phrase: “I am telling myself that I am…” before each of the words you used to describe yourself. (For example, if I wrote the word “fat” as something I say about myself, I would write: “I am telling myself that I am…fat.”)
7.) Notice (and write down) how you feel in your body as you give yourself this message. For example, “When I tell myself (that I’m fat) I feel…(sad and disappointed)
8.) Next, look in the mirror again and finish the following sentence: “What I need to remember when I talk to myself this way is”…(that I am doing the best I can, or, I have lost ___ pounds and am down __ sizes, for example)
9.) Then add: “And remembering this helps me feel more…”(hopeful, for example.)
10.) Now, put all of your statements together like so:

“I am telling myself that I am (fat). When I tell myself this, I feel (sad and disappointed). What I need to remember when I talk to myself this way is (that I am doing the best I can, and I’ve lost __ pounds and gone down __ sizes). Remembering this helps me feel more (hopeful). Next, rinse and repeat, as they say on Shampoo bottles, by doing this process with all your critical “self-talk” statements. Learning how to complete your thoughts by adding compassionate and accepting language can serve as your anecdote to years of poisonous self-talk.
If working with your inner critic on your own feels like an overwhelming task, you can start creating more alignment between your thoughts, self-talk and actions by signing-up for a complimentary conversation with me, Jill Temkin, the author and Director of Living Thin Within.
I would be happy to discuss how I could help you to maximize and sustain the health and weight loss results you are working so hard to achieve!
Go to: http://www.livingthinwithin.net/free-consultation.html
Or, Check out our unique services @: http://www.livingthinwithin.net/services.html

Got a friend, relative or acquaintance who thinks weight loss surgery's a cop out? Arm yourself with some easy facts that will enlighten the less informed about the brave commitment that's changed your life.



Weight Loss Surgery: The Easy Way Out?


Are you frustrated with diet and exercise? Feel like it’s too much effort for little to no payoff? Is weight loss surgery something to consider? Probably not. Why? The qualifying criteria for surgery is strict; the lifestyle changes required are extreme, and after surgical healing is complete… a healthy, low calorie diet must be followed. And exercise? That doesn’t go away either. In fact, the recommendation is about an hour every day.
Weight loss or bariatric surgery has become more common in the U.S. as surgical techniques and outcomes have improved and most insurance companies are covering it.As a bariatric dietitian, I see patients before, after and many years out from surgery. Sadly, there’s a common misconception that patients who choose to have surgery are taking the easy way out. Short story: going under the knife is copping out.
I find this comment uninformed and hurtful. I have never seen a patient who hasn’t carefully considered the risks of surgery or what they will have to incorporate and eliminate from their lives afterward. Proactively choosing a surgical tool, when all other measures have failed, is a courageous example of taking personal responsibility for one’s health…not a stroll down Easy Street.
Bariatric surgery is not for those with 10, 25 or even 50 lbs. to lose. Surgeons will only operate on patients with a body mass index or BMI that is 40 or greater. If a patient has a chronic disease as well as obesity, the qualifying BMI drops to 35 since the health urgency is even greater.
When an individual meets the BMI minimum and has had no luck with a long series of diet and exercise plans-- weight loss surgery could be the tool helping them regain their health.
Ironically, there’s a lot to gain from bariatric surgery but it comes with a high price. I always ask my patients considering surgery if they are prepared to do the following….permanently.
· Never drink with meals again
· Give up smoking, carbonated drinks and severely restrict if not outright eliminate, alcohol
· Exercise an hour per day 6+ days per week
· Take a minimum of 5 vitamin/mineral supplements throughout the day
· Chew food at least twenty times per bite
And there’s little margin for error. If patients push the limits of their new stomachs, they pay for it with intense physical pain including nausea and vomiting.
The journey after weight loss surgery is exciting, scary, motivating and hard. As more weight is lost, confidence grows but new challenges appear. Relationships can be tested; self-esteem may soar or sink. It’s no surprise that support during this journey is essential. Research repeatedly shows patients receiving professional, non-judgmental support after surgery lose the most weight and keep it off. Since surgery is only step 1 in the weight management marathon, it’s clear to me, patients choosing this option aren’t slackers at all—more like superheroes.

"Serenity Now!" Remember this infamous line from the show Seinfeld? If only clearing out our self-limiting thoughts was so easy. Bariatric Dietitian Elizabeth Anderson explains why the effort is well worth your time.


I have a light blue car. I really, really wanted a navy blue one but the affordable, gas-sipping car I found was ‘previously owned’ so I didn’t get to customize the color. I considered a paint job but decided it wasn't worth two thousand dollars to me. Still, it’s been a little hard to let it go.
Since that day two years ago, (and surprisingly not a day before,) I have seen no fewer than 6,324 navy blue Prius' near my home in southern NH. The New Hampshire DMV might disagree with my statistics but I am convinced. My materialistic heart longs for a dark blue Prius so my brain is highly sensitive to seeking out this particular colored car and miraculously noticing them everywhere. If perception is our reality, I have all the proof I need. And therein lies the trouble.

"The mind's job is to validate what it thinks." Byron Katie


This isn't good news for those of us who fill our heads with toxic thoughts/beliefs that we carry around 24/7. Think about it. How many affirming, positive statements do you say to yourself in the ever constant conversation going on in your head? Now, if you were able to record that conversation, how many thoughts/comments would be self-berating, self-defeating, pessimistic and negative? Is it any wonder we continue to struggle to make even a small change when we've set a course for failure before we even begin?
So what does this have to do with nutrition and weight and healthy eating? Um, everything. If you want, strive... ache to be lighter or leaner or simply healthier but you BELIEVE you are fat, gross, lazy and incapable of changing your life, you won’t.
A brilliant life coach named Brooke Castillo explains it to her clients this way: We all have circumstances that we cannot control. We think thoughts about these circumstances and those thoughts lead to feelings. Feelings lead to actions (or inaction) -- which can affect our circumstances and.... the loop continues.
If you are engaging in actions (overeating, eating like your pre-surgery days, drinking a little too much wine, etc.) that you can’t seem to control or don’t understand, start back at the beginning. Review your circumstances and try to really uncover all the thoughts you have about those circumstances. Journaling here is highly recommended. I am constantly surprised at what I type (I use a keyboard vs handwriting) when I'm madly trying to get out all my jangled thoughts. I tell my clients to do the same and strive to uncover as many thoughts as possible. The object is to expose unexamined thoughts/beliefs to fresh air. You might be shocked at what's really going on in your mind.
Only when you bring thought and beliefs to the surface can you decide if they are serving you or if they need immediate replacement. Sometimes the digging is treacherous and requires a good therapist. Go get one and then Celebrate the changing seasons by uprooting all the weeds holding back your best bloom yet!

It’s often quite a surprise to learn how slowly you really need to eat after surgery. For those of you that have had surgery, you know that even one very small bite too many can be painful or lead to vomiting. Before surgery, we encourage you to eat slowly to learn that it takes about 20 minutes of slowly eating before your brain recognizes your stomach is full. After surgery it may only take a few bites to begin feeling full.


It’s often quite a surprise to learn how slowly you really need to eat after surgery. For those of you that have had surgery, you know that even one very small bite too many can be painful or lead to vomiting. Before surgery, we encourage you to eat slowly to learn that it takes about 20 minutes of slowly eating before your brain recognizes your stomach is full. After surgery it may only take a few bites to begin feeling full.
The first step in slowing down your eating is to chew your food to applesauce consistency. A lot of our patients find success by making each bite last 25 chews. Chewing to applesauce consistency works better when you take a very small bite. Think of a bite of food being about the size of a pencil eraser or the size of the tip of your pinky finger. Use smaller utensils like the salad fork or teaspoon or even toddler or baby spoons and forks.
Speaking of utensils, put them down between bites which helps you slow down your eating. A lot of us already have a bite of food loaded on a fork or spoon ready to put in our mouth immediately after swallowing bite of food. Use a saucer or salad plate to reduce portions so you have less food in front of you.
No seat, no eat. Sitting at a table without distractions around you will help you focus on business of chewing. Remove distractions from your eating area. Eating while standing at the sink, driving, watching TV, working on the computer, answering texts or e-mails, reading, making “to do” lists or doing another load of laundry are common distractors in our busy lives.
When you are able to start eating food you can chew foods like cottage cheese or scrambled eggs, start with eating 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) every 10 minutes. Discover your “I’m just about to get full” signal. Our patients report they will hiccup, sneeze, sigh quickly or just realize that next bite of food really isn’t going to work. Focus on the enjoying the few bites you are able to have. Concentrate on the flavor and texture of the food. Many of our patients discover that chewing food well often results in finding out that the foods they really liked before don’t taste as good as they remembered.
If you are eating with others, focus on the conversation and people at the table. Many of our post-surgery patients report that the focus of the meal becomes the conversations, enjoying the company and socializing rather than the food. Learning to slow down your eating will be a difficult skill to master, but is an essential skill to have successful surgical outcomes.

I am a nurse on a Pediatric unit and plan on taking off a minimum of 6 weeks. If it were the beginning of summer, I might have said 4, but the fall/winter months are our busiest time and I sure don't want to get kicked in the belly or strain myself lifting anyone. Plus, we also get Adults if the rest of the hospital is busy.
Good luck to everyone!!!!

Wednesday is my surgery and I am starting to get nervous. I have been wanting this revision for awhile. I just hope everything goes smoothly. Good luck to everyone

I am going with the RNY. My doctor DOES NOT LIKE the sleeve. He says there is a higher chance of gaining the weight back. I have read that many people say it feels like nothing. That worries me. That was also said about the lap band. That would mean eventually you can outsmart it. It can happen as well with the rny and you can regain. It is a mindset. I also do not like the sleeve. I am not comfortable with them cutting a piece of my stomach out and tossing it in the garbage. No one wants a reversal, but the sleeve is obviously not reversible but rny is.

My dr would not do a sleeve revision because your cutting through scar tissue and the staples would be in that scar tissue. With the bypass you have a greater chance of healthy tissue to reattach to. I am a month bypass today and have lost 38 pounds. The bypass has saved my life. I have not experienced dumping yet. I have to constantly remind myself to eat because I am not hungry. I wish i would have done bypass in the first place.

Today, I'm celebrating my first surgiversary! 105 lbs gone from my HW. Time to share my story:
I was morbidly obese for the majority of the last 20 years. I'd diet and lose 30 only to regain 40. Sound familiar?
My ankles and left shoulder were in constant pain from old injuries, bone spurs and edema. I could barely get up from a chair without assistance. Exercise was very difficult. I thought that having surgery to repair my ankles would be the answer to getting moving again. In January 2012, I had surgery to remove bone spurs and repair my left Achilles' tendon. A week later I had bilateral pulmonary embolisms. Luckily (obviously), I survived, but even with the surgery, my left ankle isn't any better.
It was during 2012 that the start-up my husband worked for was acquired. Starting in 2013, we'd have insurance that would cover WLS. I made a plan to get a lapband with my family doctor and he was very supportive.
With the new insurance, I had to have 6 months of documented visits with a nutritionist. For those visits, the nutritionist recommended changing one or two habits per month. I'm a gadget girl, so the first one I tried was to log my food into MyFitnessPal. I'm proud to say that since March 2013, I have only missed 1 day logging my food. Other habits changed during that time included cutting out soda/carbonated drinks, no straws, eating more frequently, measuring/weighing my food, chewing 30 times, separating liquids from meals, etc.
At month 4 pre-op, it was time to finally meet the WLS clinic team to start their process which included a psych eval, meeting the WLS nutritionist and my surgeon. My surgeon told me that a sleeve or RNY would be a better option for me than the lapband. I had an upper endoscopy which uncovered an issue (Barrett's Esophagus) which ruled out the sleeve. RNY is was!
I was fast tracked to have my surgery in August, but the week before the boot camp WLS class, my husband was laid off. In the severance package, the company was going to continue coverage for us, but there would be a month where it would appear that we didn't have insurance. Ugh. Then the morning of the boot camp class, I got a call from my family doctor's office that I had appendicitis and needed to go to the hospital at 1 pm to possibly have it removed. The strangest part was that I wasn't in any pain! It turned out to be a false alarm (duh) from a CT scan I had done.
Once insurance was straightened out and the RNY was approved, my date was set:10/2/13
For all the worries I had about the RNY surgery and recovery, that was the easiest part for me. Nothing dramatic or even remarkable happened. I was back to work at my desk job 10 days later.
I've followed the clinic's plan and have lost pretty steadily with only the typical 2 week stall and a month stall in July.
I could exercise a bit more. I found that I will stick to an exercise plan for a month or so, but then I get bored, busy or both. I just signed up to learn to be a Strong Women leader (it's an evidence-based exercise program for middle-aged women to build strength as we age. ) Two of my co-workers and I are planning to lead free lunch time classes for our colleagues probably starting in December. I think if I'm teaching, I'll be more likely to keep up with it. Plus it will be fun!
I was a fashion merchandising major as an undergrad, but it was expensive and difficult to be fashionable when I was obese. I'm having so much fun now shopping for clothes in the local thrift stores. Recently, I've had to buy all new shoes because I'm now a size smaller.
Another unexpected bonus is that I've made some new amazing friends through the local WLS support group. We eat dinner at great local restaurants once a month. It's pretty funny when there are leftovers from 5 people sharing one pizza. :-)
One fear pre-op I had was that I would lose interest in my favorite hobby: cooking. I'm happy to report that cooking is still my main hobby, but what I cook and how I cook has changed dramatically. Now that I get full so quickly, I want everything I eat to be tasty and nutritious. I'm no saint, but most of the time I'm satisfied and my family is as well. We just don't have the junk around. Everyone is reading labels before deciding to buy or eat. I was the only obese member of my nuclear family, but we've all gotten healthier as I've lost post-op.
Health wise, my ankles are still problems but less so because the edema is gone now. I now don't have to have help getting up from a chair. Pre-op, I took Celebrex for swelling and pain. Since a week post-op, I've only taken 6 Tylenols. I think 100+ lbs gone has lessened the strain on them.
If you've stuck through this long, rambling- thank you for listening. I hope that a pre-op or two will see similarities in their story and that this gives them some hope!
Molly 

I'm hoping you wake up with relief! It really is a strange sensation not having the acid feeling. I have pics of the hernia...pretty big hole, glad it's sewn back up

Stephanie I have had Gerd and knew there was a risk of it being worse with the sleeve, BUT after my hiatal hernia was fixed, I am having no issues with heartburn or reflux. Honestly, it feels so calm in my throat now lol. I normally would need antacids everyday and didn't start a PPI until a few days after surgery, which would have been awful had the hernia not been repaired.

You don't have to start over if you look for another surgeon. You can verify this with your insurance company, but you do not have to have a whole set of tests to start with a new surgeon. The new surgeon might have the same opinion, but it might be worth a try. It would be a shame to have come this far and then be turned back. Good luck to you.

Stephanie- I just bought feosol preop and used that and for once in my life me Iron was normal!

I am sorry girls but I don't see due diligence from either of your doctors and staff.
cpower : It is my understanding, insurance will only cover weight loss surgery if your BMI is above 40 or 35 with comorbitities. Such as high blood pressure, obstuctive sleep apnea, diabetes or pre-diatetes, etc. I cannot believe you were not informed. Why were you on a 1,000 calorie diet for 2 months if your BMI was just above 40?
Stephanie: The low Iron level in July with nothing done about it is just a BIG screw up. This is why I always call my doctor's office and talk to the doctor's nurse and ask for the actual levels in the blood tests. I don't accept the phone call with "all is normal" at all. I also always ask my blood pressure numbers when it is measured. The good news is both low Iron and the H Pylori should be easy to fix. Just a little delay, no big deal. I would also look into why you have low iron. Heavy periods or some other condition is causing this, right? Or is it just your diet is very poor in iron? Time for supplements. My kitchen counter looks like a pharmacy with all the pills and supplements I take.
The good news is, aren't you glad your doctors caught this in time to make sure it was safe to do surgery. Those are some real concerns who needed addressing. It wasn't safe to go ahead with surgery.
Good Luck, life is not easy!

Jeeeeeeez, sorry you guys! I'm scheduled for 10/31 and I'm just hoping it stays on course! Hope all goes well, you two! Hang in there!

Will I'm hoping I get my date soon being I changed insurance company's I can go in a month earlier so I'll find out by this Friday or Tuesday next week

I know waiting longer seems counterintuitive, but I purposely went on a last minute cruise with my husband before surgery. It's soooo much more enjoyable. You'll have a blast! And yes, I believe that could be a great reason why it didn't work out earlier.
I do have to say though, I'm scheduled for October 21st and it seems too far away lol

Stephanie, I agree with your thinking, and this wway you will be able to enjoy your cruise bedore starting your new life. If you are anything like me you wanna start NOW!