IrishGermanRN

You will likely lose more quickly with bypass than with sleeve. But there is no limit to how much you can lose with either, as long as you use the tool correctly and follow the plan.

So as I approach Onderland I thought I would find some photos to compare. I took photos the first day I met my surgeon back in August, right before surgery February 10th and end of February as I shopped for a few new pieces of clothing. Unfortunately I took the pre op photos in underwear so oops! Had to find different photos! Realized I'm usually the photographer and don't have my photo taken.
It should be noted I did my pre op liquid diet starting January 1, 2016 and surgery was Feburary 10th so please don't think I have lost everything since surgery.
I also cut off my face in both photos but trust me I have lost a ton of weight in my face
I am 5'3
Photo on left is August 2014 and I was 245lbs
Photo on the right was February 27, 2016 and I was 206 lbs
Not near goal yet but I feel it's already showing!

I believe I can officially post in here and call my journey a success. I know that one year is a small insignificant amount of time in the grand scope of things. .
The whole process was a whirlwind for me. I contacted Dr Owen's office upon referral from a friend on 2/8/15. Upon talking to the front office they make me aware of pending insurance changes. At the time my insurance didn't require a 6mo monitored diet. Therefore if I wanted to get this done I had to have my surgery before March 15th. This didn't leave much time. However Dr Owens staff is so well versed in the insurance game I was approved a few days later. Reflecting on it now it was probably good that I didn't have much time to second guess myself. It was truly a "crap or get off the pot" moment.
Insurance approved my surgery was set on Mach 11, 2015
I snapped this picture in my pre-opp weight of 380lbs
liquid only phase pre-op to me was the worse part of this whole thing. Being 380lbs and eating like I was the 4 or 5 shakes a day just sucked. I've confessed on here that a few times during that 2 week diet I failed with the thinking "Oh I will never get to have this again". One night I left the house to go to Target and went through a McDonald's drive-thru. I then sat in the Target parking lot devouring a lot of bad food items. I faltered, but I picked myself up and carried on. The day of surgery I had lost 20lbs
Physical recovery for me went easy. I think I took one pain killer the day I came home. I got up and started moving the second day I was home. I just walked around my block over and over and over again. The surgery was Wednesday and I was back at work on Monday. My Dr. keeps his patients on a post-op liquid phase for another 3 to 4 weeks. This was the 2nd hardest thing. I found myself getting angry because I just wanted to chew something. I think that first scrambled egg I had was best thing ever. The mental game is REAL. Physically after surgery you are given the tool you need to succeed. What surgery doesn't do it fix the mental side of the house. It took a few weeks for the cravings and the "why did I do this" stuff to work it self out. I'm not going to diary out the other 10 to 11 months, but I am happy that I did go though with the surgery. I have accomplished things I would have never attempted to do. Namely running 4 different 5K races and most recently my first 10K. So here it is 1 year and 3 days later and I have lost 165lbs. I am definitely a new man.

Protein is a must for anyone undergoing any surgery. I'm 5 weeks out and am slowly losing, I too have had gains but I've upped my calories and saw a loss. I'm pushing to get to 1000 cals a day now.

Hello all!
Before you come at me sideways with your remarks realize this is simply what happened and I do realize that I should have done much differently. Hindsight is simply what it is... Hindsight. So save it!
My surgery was on Thursday the 25th of February. It was actually moved from the 18th of February because I was sick and told my doctor I wasn't able to follow the diet accordingly. He moved it back a week. Still even when I felt better I didn't follow it like I should.
I was to be on shakes 3 times a day for two weeks prior to my surgery. I only got a few shakes I'm per week and for the rest of my meals I was not only eating what I shouldn't have been but I was eating worse than how I ever eaten before. Of course I didn't want to tell my doctor the truth because I wanted to just get it done as I figured it would be much easier to follow the post op diet.
Man I had wished that I got my surgery pushed back. I ended up with a ton of internal bleeding. I vomited blood shortly after my surgery while I was in recovery. My vitals were out of control and they had to call rapid response. Turns out I lost a litre of blood and I had to go back under surgery again to fix my issue.
While the surgeon didn't say that not following the diet caused such complications, I know that if I had choice again I wouldn't even think about going off the preop diet. The pain and scare from internal bleeding was so unbearable I wouldn't wish it on anyone and for what just a little extra junk food?
All is ok with me now. I had to stay in the hospital a couple of days longer than normal but I'm out and following my diet as I should be. So if you're reading this and you're preop and you're tempted to go off your diet... Please don't make the same mistake I did. My medical team was amazing but I put myself at such great risk just to get some junk food in. Please share any thoughts or questions!

I bet after you are sleeved that A1C comes down. Have it drawn every 3 months as it is an average blood sugar. As you lose weight it should decrease

I agree with My fitness pal. I also agree supplementation if needed. Protein Shakes are NOT a no no if you cant get your requirements in. By all means use them too

I agree with My fitness pal. I also agree supplementation if needed. Protein Shakes are NOT a no no if you cant get your requirements in. By all means use them too

Protein is a must for anyone undergoing any surgery. I'm 5 weeks out and am slowly losing, I too have had gains but I've upped my calories and saw a loss. I'm pushing to get to 1000 cals a day now.

Protein is a must for anyone undergoing any surgery. I'm 5 weeks out and am slowly losing, I too have had gains but I've upped my calories and saw a loss. I'm pushing to get to 1000 cals a day now.

Protein is a must for anyone undergoing any surgery. I'm 5 weeks out and am slowly losing, I too have had gains but I've upped my calories and saw a loss. I'm pushing to get to 1000 cals a day now.

Same here. I lost about 30 pounds total with a lot of difficulty. My band then did slip. had an unfil and never the same since. Looking forward to the removal and getting the sleeve in 3 weeks.

I bet after you are sleeved that A1C comes down. Have it drawn every 3 months as it is an average blood sugar. As you lose weight it should decrease

This happened to my mother. Her pcp said to go down the street and order a huge burrito and come back after.. She then made the weight

This happened to my mother. Her pcp said to go down the street and order a huge burrito and come back after.. She then made the weight

This happened to my mother. Her pcp said to go down the street and order a huge burrito and come back after.. She then made the weight

This happened to my mother. Her pcp said to go down the street and order a huge burrito and come back after.. She then made the weight

This happened to my mother. Her pcp said to go down the street and order a huge burrito and come back after.. She then made the weight

Yeah, that's the theory behind it ???? body thinks we're starving it so it holds onto the fat for stores rather than let it go! It gets better though - I didn't so much stall as slow down and worry myself over nothing ???? I know better now. Even if we don't lose for a week, or slow down, as long as we're doing the right things there's nothing to worry about - you'll be fine!

Sorry you might need a new pcp. Mine was the one who encouraged me to have surgery. You need support not negativity during this time.

I've hit a stall as well. Sucks! But I'm just gonna keep doing what I normally do and hopefully it'll break soon. I'm going to a wedding in March and it would be nice to have lost some more weight by then.

Hello all, I was sleeved on 1/6/16 and stalled around week 3 for about 10 days. For about a week of that time, I had my period. I get my 70g Protein and do 30+ minutes of cardio every day. I'm not very successful at hitting my Fluid intake
It was funny that I took one day off from working out and that seems to coincide with when my stall broke. It's been a week since that time and I've lost another 7 pounds.

I"ve lost 0 pounds this week in the 3 week stall. I'm averaging 2 pounds a week loss. dont be discouraged. I've read many times to just keep going and the weight loss will come

My surgery weight was 236, so I started pretty much exactly where you did. I "only" lost 14.8 pounds the first month and "only" 8.6 pounds the second month. At 7 weeks, I had lost about 19 pounds, so right where you are. You want to know something great? I still reached my goal and I've been maintaining for over 5 months! So don't give up hope. There are some advantages to slower loss. It's easier on the skin. It's easier on the budget (replacing clothes less frequently). And you get fewer probing questions about your rapid weight loss.
Long term, how quickly you lose the weight won't matter in the slightest. Once you are at goal and maintaining, you won't be looking back thinking "if only I'd reached goal a month sooner!"

And it's articles like People mag January half their size issues while it's fantastic they did lose all the weight. People mag said they did it without "short cuts" this tells the general population that reads their mag and conditions them that anything other than the way they lost weight, is a short cut.