dhrguru

Wow, what a surreal year this has been!! My stats:

High weight: 337; current: 213.1; goal: 175

Height 5'6.5"; #lost: 123.9; # to go: 38.1

Health: I'm not as thrilled as I thought I'd be with health improvements. I was taken off blood pressure meds, but I won't be surprised if I end up on them again based on readings lately. I'm still pre diabetic (Grrr!), but my A1C has gone down. Blood work otherwise looks good, I'm battling to keep my ferritin and Iron up, but feel no ill effects. I take my Vitamins regularly.

Fitness: I'm rocking this. I have a routine I love, a mix of activities including running, circuit training, weights biking and the elliptical. Best of all, it's a sustainable routine. I feel fabulous!

What's surprised me about post op life: not having any complications. That dumping and other GI upsets can be so subtle and easy to miss if not paying close attention. That while I have loose skin; it's not nearly as bad as I feared.

I didn't hate life before- it was good then- it's just enhanced now. Some pics...

It never once crossed my mind to clean out my fridge or cabinets. Personally I'd never waste that kind of money. If it's frozen, I'd just let it be. If it's canned, let it be. No you may not use it for a while, but I imagine you'll be eating most of that stuff in a few months to some degree.

I have a family, so what I don't eat others do. Only thing that's sat untouched since my surgery is a box of Cheerios.

Canned broth was nasty to me- I bought broth from au Bon pain.

Soft foods vary a lot...what you listed what a mix of my "full" liquids and soft foods phases

anything fried for me- creates intestinal upheaval. High fat foods too, I still can't eat bacon.

Pain is subjective. What you feel or can tolerate varies from what I will feel or tolerate. I didn't have any gas pain after my bypass. More so incisional pain.

Went to the appointment. Got the referral. Brought it to the Bariatrics place...not the right referral. WTF!?? Need an insurance referral...NOT a doctor referral.

Ummm...how about somebody in office just tell me what they need and I will get it.

It is going to be a looong journey.

You should call your insurance and see what the coverage and requirements are for WLS. Insurance calls the shots in this process. Bariatric offices should be familiar, but you should know first hand. You may also be able to view the medical policy online.

I think sometimes it's people fearing that if you continue losing you will weigh less then them.

My doctor set my goal weight at 230 pounds. Any more than that is gravy. Frankly, I'm ok with that as a goal weight, but I've noticed that many people's goals are those on the BMI chart for their height. Would you be ok if you don't get to that weight?

Just curious.

Goal is whatever you want it to be. A lot do go by normal BMI. That was too far fetched for me to imagine. My goal is 175. When I reach it

I'll revaluate, but not sure to what. I just want to achieve that then figure the rest from there. I may not want to lose more, and I'd be ok with that

I've been getting lots of compliments, and it humorous to me to see how they've evolved. They have progressed like this:

(The double take-- no words, just looking twice cause something seems different.)

You look like you're losing weight.

You're slimming down

You look great

You're getting skinny

Your face looks so slim

You're getting too skinny

Careful, you don't want your face to get too skinny

You're withering away!

I guess 'skin and bones' is coming next. Doesn't bother me, but listing them out shows how this slowly turns into passive- aggressive 'advice' when others feel enough is enough.

I had my heart set on the Sleeve.. but they already approved me for the Bypass.. I do not want to wait for a new approval for the Sleeve..

I know the greater benefits for RNY but I do not want my insides to be re-arranged. I also think the Bypass is drastic for me. I'm 5'0 and weight 212.

I'm leaning towards doing the RNY but I'm still not sure..I just want to move on with my new beginning..

So, how is it that you think removing get 80-90% of your stomach is not " rearranging your insides"?

At your height I'm guessing you want to lose about a hundred? RNY would make sense to me. Would you be frigates to taking your supplements?

Main feelings that loomed for me right after surgery was doubt. Doubt I could do it, doubt it would work. Regret was reserved if my doubts proved to be true. Thankfully they haven't. Stick with everything your supposed to be doing and the feelings should turn around.

Great job!

I'm not at goal yet, but I always wanted to shop in Victoria's Secret, got that around Thanksgiving. Gap was another wish, bought one thing there and lost interest. I've browsed in the limited, express and forever 21, just haven't bought anything in there yet.

I really want to go to a boutique type store (not a chain) and be able to buy something. Just haven't been to one yet

Hello everyone! My name is roni. I just got approved for my surgery! I am new to this site, i need friends, and also i could use some help! I am at 418 lbs and i need to get down to 390 for my insurance to pay for it! I cant wait to meet new people who are going through what i am! Hope to talk to you soon!

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Welcome! Losing that weight now will be a good practice in adjusting to how you'll eat after surgery. Is there a time frame you have to lose it by?

Initially my clothes just started fitting as they should have. I should have been in a 26, but owned mostly 24's. I also had 22's and 20's on hand from prior weight loss. I didn't start buying clothes till I was in 20's and definitely 18's. I used thrift stores a lot and bought any size, even if it didn't fit yet. If I bought new, I wouldn't pay more than $20 an item. Each size lasted me about six weeks. I'm currently transitioning into 14's in pants, I'm a large to XL in tops. I'll also need new bras soon., currently 38dd (down from 46dd). I think I'll end up a 36d. (I won't skimp on bras, to important) And also, I'm gradually replacing shoes. Wide widths flop off my feet now, so I need standard, some times I can even go a size smaller than usual.

Early on I felt this fear. Id read so many stories of people dumping On things as simple as ketchup, it made me a bit fearful. I still ate out, just stuck with foods I knew were safe for me. I tried questionable things at home and added them to my diet when I went out when I knew it was ok for me to eat.

I have tried just about every arm exercise known and because I had huge upper arms, I now have huge near empty bat wings. I have some definition below but I will have to have this removed. Believe it or not my arms bother me more than anything. When I raise my arms I can see the beautiful thin arm of the future but all the sagging skin is hanging off them. Ugh!

I hid them when I was fat and I am now hiding them because they are really ugly.

I just hit goal today so now I need to maintain for the next year and then I can think about plastics.

Congrats on making goal!!!!!

I'm 11 months out and 114# down. i had an interesting appointment with my surgeon today. He asked what I was doing for activity, and I proudly rattled off my routine. He then asked me what I was doing for relaxation. Blank stare, felt like I was just handed a pop quiz. He stressed the importance of not over doing things and trying to 'conquer the world one pound at a time. ' he cautioned me about push, push, pushing to do more and more; cause life will inevitably throw us a curve ball and we need to be able to balance those curve balls and activity and diet etc. basically the journey can't take over your life, because your life is well, your life. His message was one of sustainability, which I feel I have with how I've handled things. But I did tell him I felt like others often pushed me to do more. He told be don't be persuaded into being the pinnacle of everything. He shard a story of a patient who worked and lost weight, ran a huge marathon and then just stopped.-- then regained.

I thought it was great advice worth sharing...

One of the reasons I chose the RNY was because you're not supposed to be able to handle sugar. I'm a sugar addict so that was a big plus for me! It's been 3 1/2 months since my surgery and I haven't had any sugar. Hubby baked St. Patty's shamrock sugar Cookies with light frosting for church today. I decided I would try one this afternoon in the privacy of my own home; I wanted to know--would I dump if I ate sugar? I ate a whole cookie (pretty big actually) and i had no affect whatsoever! I'm really disappointed about that--I was hoping it was going to help me stay away from it. I know, I know, I shouldn't have even tested it but just ASSUMED, which is what I've been doing thus far.

But now I know. It's back to willpower. I'm still going to try very, very hard to stay away from it though.

I don't dump on sugars either. I do know if I eat a lot stuff highly concentrated in sugar my heart will race a bit. It's really subtle, but I notice it. I don't tolerate fats well though... So I figure it a trade off.

Technically no I didn't. I "blurred the lines" between purees and soft foods- but otherwise I stuck to my 1 week clear liquid, 2 week full liquids and then purees/soft foods for 4 weeks.

No ill effects- but then I figure I mostly followed the rules

I took 3 weeks from my office job. It wasn't just about the physicality of the work I do, but I wanted time to work through post op diet phases, and learn and adapt to my new normal.

I had my surgery on 2/29. I will not be weighing in until returning to my doctor. I have a nice scale at home but have not replaced the batteries because I'm afraid I will become an "obsessive weigher" if that makes any sense. So I guess my question for everybody is how often do u weigh and are u obsessive over the scale?

Early on I did like you, stayed off the scale totally until my post op appointment. After it, I weighed weekly for a few months. I started daily weighing when I joined a weight loss study. I'm glad I weigh daily now, but I couldn't have appreciated the fluctuations just after surgery- it would have driven me crazy!

So tonight I was working on my taxes. (FYI- for those that donate your too big clothes, you need to keep really a detailed record of what you donate, when and get receipts!)

I remember right after surgery last spring struggling with the idea of getting rid of my winter clothes since they'd be too big by winter. It was impossible to wrap my head around. Now it's heading to spring again, I looked through my closet and drawers and realized there is not a single item in there from 'before'. Not a shirt, bra or even a panty-- everything is new. (Or like new-- I do thrift stores at times). I was a size 26, and am starting in on 14 now. And again, its hard to wrap my head around the fact that I'll likely have this same 'wardrobe flip' next year this time.

I didn't hate myself before, but I love my new shape and fitness in a different way. I've worked for it and appreciate it. My life was pretty complete before all this, but now It's rounded it out in a way I didn't expect.

Being lightheaded if fairly normal. Side effects from the anesthesia, also, if you can monitor your cloud pressure, it could be doing low especially if your on bp meds. You'll feel better, for me it was week 3.

I'm curious, who/where is your support system? You said your Mom and aunt have been through this, have you expressed your feelings to them? Reached out for moral support? Is your fiance a support?

Why have you not seen your doc since surgery?, usually the first post op visit is one week out.

I won't tell you what you don't want to hear or believe, you seemed to have made up your mind. Be very careful in seeking reversal. It's complicated and there's no telling if you'll ever be back to what you think is 'normal'.