BostonGary

Boy, I thought I'd never tell another GS person that they "look too skinny", but I'd agree that @ 115 lbs. you're far too skinny and on the right you look much healthier. I also think you could probably not have to worry about another 10 lbs or so, you look pretty tiny (still). But it's where YOU feel comfortable, right? You're an inspiration. Thanks for the post. You mention intuitive eating? I think for men eating is a completely different game. I don't know too many men that have eating disorders or obsess about their weight or have body image issues. I've said here before that for me, I've always been "heavy" even though people would comment that my diet and what I ate was not indicating that of someone who's got food on the brain all the time. For me personally, it was always about "feeding the beast", feeling hungry all the time, eating large portions to remain "full". As I got older, it got worse because your metabolism slows down, you get less active. The cycle gets worse. Add in two or three attempts at a diet to lose 30 - 40 pounds, only to gain back the weight plus the "reset" weight of a Yo-Yo, and do that three times in your life, it's easy to see how you can gain 100-125 lbs in 10 years. This works for me, now I don't really get hungry, I eat smaller portions, I eat what I want and I eat over the course of the day when I want... smaller portions 4 or 5 small meals a day. I don't ever think about food, I'm not obsessed (or never have been) obsessed with the idea of not being able to eat or drink what I want. Quite frankly, the idea of not having to "feed the beast" all the time just to take the hunger away was liberating. Now when I get hungry, I know, "hey, a half sandwich" or "that cup of soup" will do... I'm not eating a huge meal portion and then looking for more an hour later and if I am, I know a small snack like some crackers and cheese will placate me. it's liberating for me mentally and It really has been a life saver. @BigUtahManI just noticed, you and I are tracking very closely with our timing and our weight. You had your surgery a day before I had mine as well! It would be good to keep in touch, do you want to share emails?

Amazing! Well, it sounds like you're doing well. Like I said, you look great. And other than the challenges of eating, you probably feel great -- feel healthy. I know that after I lost about 50 lbs. my body started to feel far less "tired" and I started having much more energy and drive to do more... 70 lbs. down and about four months in, I'm really glad I did this. Cheers to you!

I just learned that you can revert a Gastric Bypass to a Gastric Sleeve? I wasn't aware you could do that. Are you sure you didn't get the sleeve then move to a Gastric Bypass? I thought that the Bypass removes ALL of your stomach and forms a small pocket and then reroutes your digestive system -- hence the complete evasiveness of the surgery. Regardless, you look terrific. When I see these pictures I'm more impressed with the changes around the face. You really have transformed into the person you want to be and are... congratulation.

Totally agree. I also noticed @orionburn that you've lost a whopping 73 pounds in less than three months! I was sleeved on 11/21 and I'm down about 65 pounds, so you're flying! Great job. Here's my take on this whole adventure. Before, I would eat to feel full. But that was (in one sitting) probably 2000 calories and maybe during the course of the day, I'm eating 3-4K calories JUST to keep myself from being hungry. Once I was sleeved, the first month? Couldn't care about food at all, but as you know, you've got to eat. So the liquid (protien shakes) worked out fine and I lost about 1 pound a day for 30 days... The next stage, I moved to solids (soft), that helped, but again, I had no desire and didn't really miss anything as I would eat 6-8 ounces of food, not feel hungry and almost could not finish. I'm in the "Stage 5" now, which is absolutely awesome. I don't have any food restrictions, I can eat what I want but get this, I don't need to eat this massive amount of food. Small, small portions. I'm completely satisfied. The reality is, I can't eat that much! Which I really love about this situation. In fact, the biggest adjustment I've had to make? My eyes... I've had to keep telling myself "you'll never eat all that, get the smaller size." -- which has been a challenge as we know with being overweight, we all tended to lean towards larger portions and getting seconds, right? Today? I love it... small 6-8 ounces of food, whatever that food is, and I'm done. I miss nothing, I lose weight slower (because I'm eating a bit more calories than the earlier stages) but I'm 100% loving the idea that I'm perfectly happy with tiny portions of food over the course of the day keeping my weight loss moving forward and not having any real setbacks (other than plateauing once in a while , which is normal with the sleeve). Now here's my big observation. I'm wondering if people who have a tough time with this surgery and complain (or worry) that they aren't happy with the life changes, do they have food issues (food addictions, etc)? Going into this I knew I was a good candidate because I never sat there and obsessed with eating food or was overly food obsessed. My relationship with food was that I had to eat larger portions to feel "full" and snack a lot as well -- which now? If I snack, it's a couple crackers and maybe some cheese and I'm done! Before... well, you know, you'd get the hungry horrors and just keep eating. Anyway, I never worried about never having something again and as much as I like food like the next person, I always felt I would trade any food for being healthy and normal sized. This has been the best decision I've ever made.

I don't think about food at all until I get hungry (which is around normal times). I love food like the next person but I'm not someone who obsesses about food or feels they have to have something -- in fact, the only thing I really missed post surgery in the early stages was coffee (if you can believe that). Now that I can drink coffee, I'm good! I have not had any moments that I think about food or different types of food. Odd as that sounds, for me, my weight issues have always been about portion size and lack of movement -- having a sedentary job. Quite frankly, it's been rather comforting because in the past, I always was hungry and was always trying to feed my hunger to to curb my appetite -- now? I eat small portions and eat a lot more protein and far less sized portions.

The surgeon and team are really important. I would bring your experience up to the head surgeon when you are at a point where you feel more comfortable. It's not sounding like you've had a great experience. I had a terrific team and an incredibly supportive (and fun) doctor. So I can't imagine feeling the way you do, I'm sorry for your experience -- it should For the amount of time you've had this surgery and the weight you've lost, it sounds to me like you're ahead of schedule. They should have explained that. You've lost 36 pounds in around 6 weeks, which is close to a pound a day. That's pretty damn good and on track based on my experience. I would try and focus on eating your protein, drinking plenty of fluids and making sure you take your supplements. I have no idea why they would think a B to S would have less weight loss, I've never heard that. In fact, I find that to be a little hard to believe since the sleeve is removing your stomach and the band simply restricts intake. Maybe they have numbers based on their experience, I would google around or talk to another specialist. However, the bottom line it sounds like you're having good success and you're on track. Be positive, keep focused on YOU and make sure you try and not get too discouraged -- Trust me, you'll have periods of no weight loss and it's frustrating, then you'll break through and lose another 10 pounds. Think in terms of major goals and not worry too much on short term numbers.

I'm a little surprised your doctor and program didn't have pretty strict Stages you were suppose to follow with as you progressed through. Most programs have Stage 1 through 5... each stage represents what you can and should be doing.

One thing that helps doing is to track everything during stalls. MyFitnessPal can reveal some interesting things that you might not be doing which sometimes can contribute to additional calories. If you're well within your calorie range allowed and you're stalled, it's probably just a plateau and you'll bust through that at some point. I had surgery on 11/21. I started off losing between 1 and 1.5 pounds a DAY! I'd wake up and set new record (I have a Withthings scale that tracks my weight via App). Then in December, early January, that loss fell to about .06 - 1.0 pound a day and by the end of January I had stalled for about three weeks at the same weight... it was frustrating. So I tracked and tracked.... Then BOOM! I was back to losing about 1 - 2 pounds a week. It was explained on the GS this is normal. I have to admit, one of the things I have not been doing enough of is exercise. I do a lot of walking, but I need to step that up into a workout program a couple times a week. I'm sure that is something that's not helping when I hit stalls.

You're going to have stalls and starts with the GS. This is normal, some of these stalls are 3 - 4 weeks without weight loss. It was explained to me that the reason for this is your body is going a "reset" with the reduced calories and fighting back by slowing down your metabolic rate -- the body is trying to tell you that "hey, I have less calories, I need to stop burning so much fat!"... After some time, your metabolic rate will adjust again and start burning off the fat... it's normal. It happened to me in month three. I literally lost 1 pound in 4 weeks. Meanwhile, I was at about 1000 calories (at best) a day. It was insane -- another thing I was constipated as hell.. Water, water, and when you think you drank too much water, drink more. Another thing you can do is make sure you cut back on diary (cheese and milk). Anything that creates inflammation won't help. Hang in there, you'll be fine as long as you calorie rate is in line with what's been prescribed.

20 lbs over 3 months is 1.6 pounds a week. That's pretty good weight loss. If you weren't losing anything or gaining weight you could be concerned. My suggestion is to track everything you put in your mouth... Use the App MyFitnessPal and make sure you're around the calorie intake that your nutritionist has set for you. Otherwise, 20 pounds in 3 months is decent weight loss for someone. Lastly, as I've found, there's time when you will slow down and not lose for a week or two at at time. With the sleeve, this is exactly the way things go and are expected as your body adjusts to the new stomach you have. Gary

Good to see another Dr. Jones patient. I had him, he's amazing. Anyway, I had the same surgery on 11/21. The thing I did was immediately after I went to my room after recovery and was cleared to move around, I walked up and down the hallway a couple times. Moving is important and I know from past experience the more you move, the better you're getting your body ready to recover and blood flow moving around. I didn't have any cramps as you've described. In fact, my surgery was pretty painless. So I feel lucky. The question I would ask is if you're having movements and going the bathroom, if you aren't, gas is your issue. If you are going normally or regularly, then it could be something you'll have to just get through. Good luck!

Yesterday 12/21 was my one month anniversary. I'm down 35 pounds since the surgery weigh in. Had no issues at all, no real pain and no problems outside of having to "understand" my stomach and what it can and can't do. I'm in Stage 4 (for me that's solid food, ground turkey, etc.) Eating slower, chewing more -- eating far less in portions has been the only challenge. I haven't started exercising as of yet based on being on a blood thinner. But today Is my last needle (yes, I've had to administer two needles daily) and I will start my exercise plan post X-Mas. So far I can say this is the best decision I've made for my health and well being of my life. I look forward to seeing more weight come off and be much more active.

Sleeved on 11/21. Beth Israel (BIDMC) in Boston. Wednesday will be my 30 day anniversary. That FLEW by... I mean, FLEW by. I can't believe it's been 30 days this week. Anyway... My pre-surgery weight was 348 (11/1) My surgery weight was 339 (11/21) As if 12/18, I'm 316. Total weight loss as of 12/18 - 32 lbs. The journey started off a little bumpy. This whole thing started back in 2014 when it was recommended by my primary that I should look into surgery. My wife balked as she stated it was "dangerous" and was concerned that it would be something too "risky". We actually attended a seminar and I was impressed with the advances, but my wife was still concerned. My physician tried to assure her, but we both decided that I should try more traditional means. Of course, 6 months with a personal trainer lifting weights and doing cardio took off 27lbs, but I hurt my my hip and my knee, stopped working out and quickly gained back that 27 pounds PLUS another 10 on top of that. Yes, the Yo-Yo effect is something I've dealt with for years. Work also hadn't helped. After selling my company in February of 2014, it was expected that I take over a team in New Jersey. Let's just say living in a Hilton with too much eating out, too many meetings with wine and drinks, I put even more weight on. By the end if the summer of 2015, I had another doctor visit who then looked at my numbers and said the following: "You're not diabetic, YET. Your blood work is passable, not great and your blood pressure is just about normal, but it's getting higher." She then approached the topic of WLS surgery and said, "I'll talk to your wife." We decided this was the right option and moved forward. After originally getting a surgery date of 9/12, my insurance provider (which was through my wife's employer), actually blocked it. Apparently, large companies can do a "Chinese Menu" of health care they provide to their employees. To get better prices, they pick and choose what procedures they can keep and strike from plans to get better rates. Of course "Weight Loss Surgery" was off the list as of 2014. We had no idea until we got all the way to the surgery date then it was blocked. Oddly enough, they covered all the pre-surgery costs (Endoscopy). To make a long story short, switched providers in October to my employer, approved 100%. The crazy thing? Both companies used the same carrier -- Yep. Same damn carrier. The good news? Surgery was done on 11/21. No issues at all with the surgery. I stayed two nights, and was home the day before Thanksgiving. sleeping was a bit of a chore (I'm a stomach sleeper) so I had to sleep for about 10 days on a recliner but was back to normal and work about 10 days after surgery.