SampTheChamp

I'm sorry that you had to go through that but, super glad you made it out on top. Dr. Fitzer and staff are REAL DEAL!!! Reston Hospital were phenomenal as well. Buckle up. Your life is about to get REAL GOOD!! I'm excited for you!

I'm also going (back) to Fitzer's office in 2 days! It's been 2 years since my surgery with him, and it's time for my annual follow-up. As @SampTheChamp said, Fitzer is the best. He may come across as a bit over-confident, but he is not wrong about how good he is and how relatively few complications his patients have. 😄 I had to work a bit to get him to recommend which type of surgery was best for me, but when I finally asked him if he were in my shoes, would he choose sleeve or bypass, he said bypass all the way. He explained why, and that's why I went with the bypass. Best decision I've made in a long time.

At the hospital getting ready to go in for surgery. Wish me luck. Good luck to all having surgery today. Let's Rock!!!
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What time is your appointment? I will be there at 1:00 today.

6:00 p.m., Pavilion 2, 2nd floor, Classroom A. Hope you're doing well and hope to see you there!

PS - I turned 50 March 10th. Spent my 50th birthday recovering Will Celebrate the milestone birthday next March on a beach - in a bikini - with my husband once I reach goal!

The will to live will force you to try something new. It's a no brainer. You'll be in great hands. I am beyond pleased with my results and the way I feel. I feel like a "machine"!!! It's awesome. As a former athlete, I feel better now than I did when I was a well trained athlete. I strongly encourage you to come to the next support group like my 2 brothers @gr8ful1 and @reboot mentioned. You'll get all that you could ever ask for while there. Plus I'll be there. I'm kinda awesome!! Hahaha. I hope that you come take us up on our offer. We got your back!!!

I just wanted to give a thumbs up to a few of the things that SampTheChamp and gr8ful1 said. I too had been told for years that I needed to consider this, but always fell into the "I can do this myself if I put my mind to it" trap. The recommendations to look into this started 8 years ago when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure... I ignored them. Then I got sleep apnea - I still said no. Then I had a heart attack - AT 36 YEARS OLD - that still wasn't enough. It wasn't until I found my 2 year old son on top of me screaming"Wake up Daddy" after my blood pressure got so high that I fainted that I decided to do anything.
I called three different surgeons, then met a patient of Dr. Fitzer. I came in for my appointment and felt good but was still on the fence. It wasn't until I attended one of his support groups, and met, in person a number of his patients that have been through the process (Including these two guys) that I decided to go through with it. In the area - there is no one better than him. I'm 61 days out until surgery and absolutely can't wait. Having seen the new lives that people have been blessed with is beyond words. It will be a whole new life for me, and it can be for you too.
I strongly recommend you come out to the next group meeting which I believe is on September 3rd in Reston (correct me guys if I'm wrong). In the meantime, you don't have much to lose (except the low cost of the sessions) with starting the nutrition counseling with Jessica - who is awesome by the way! If you decide to go through with it, you'll be glad you got a head start on the counseling which is required by most insurance (mine is 6 months). You really aren't committed to anything until about a month or so before the surgery, so you have that much time to really decide.

Hi Fin! I too had some serious doubts when I first started considering weight loss surgery four years ago. It's not just a surgery, but a new lifestyle, and you have to get your mind right before you proceed. Would you consider attending a support group? Dr. Fitzer's office offers 2 monthly support groups to his patients. The groups are especially welcoming to pre-surgery patients, and everyone is very open about sharing their own experiences and answering your questions. The support group definitely helped me with my fears and made me feel less alone in my journey.
By the way, I am exactly 2 weeks out from gastric bypass surgery, and sleep apnea was my only major co-morbidity as well. But I knew that I could be told I have diabetes or hypertension at any given checkup, and I didn't want to wait for that to happen, or worse. I am doing great. I am not disgusted by food now, which was one of my fears pre-op. I feel like I now have a control over food, as opposed to food having control over me. And that is a GREAT feeling. :-)

Indeed my friend!!!

It gets better every day. I'm very blessed to have had a complication-free experience so far.

Today I went to a public pool with a big Water slide. I went down 5 times! I felt so young and good! Such a wonderful NSV! My smile says it all!

My weight loss has slowed down a lot lately but I know I definitely need to hit the gym more regularly. So excited to be close to goal. The last time I saw the nutritionist she thought that 170lbs would be a good goal for me and we could reassess once I reach it. Today I'm 184lbs and I have my one year surgery anniversary coming up April 20th. Trying to crack down to hopefully be 170 by my annual check-up. Regardless I'm really proud of how far I've come and I know that I can get there with the same focus I've had the last 10-11 months. In the last week or so when I've seen old pictures I don't even recognize that person. Surgery was the best decision I've made!
December 2016

February 2018

NSAIDs are a HUGE No-No after WLS. Hopefully you've discussed this with your surgical team and primary, there are other options besides just Tylenol for your pain relief needs. But you'll be banned from NSAIDs after WLS. They cause some nasty stomach issues due to the change in stomach size.

I like your style. I think I wanna try this. I am addicted to the scale and it is so stressful. I'm doing well, but the need to check the scale several times a day is a bit much. I want to start weighing every few weeks. I hope I can stick to it. I think it will do me some good to just focus on how i feel. The weight will come off as long as I do my part. I think your idea is definitely worth trying. Thanks and good luck to you. You are doing great.

I am just the opposite, I weigh myself daily to keep on track. In my mind it is easier to lose 1 lbs than 5 lbs if I gain any. I am l year out and down 85.5 lbs. I am at my goal weight of 115lbs at 5'2" and couldn't be any happier. Do what is best for you

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Yes! You stated this so eloquently. I'm not going to weigh in prior to my 2-week follow-up and then after that I think I'll reserve weigh-ins for once or twice a month. (At my weight it will be awhile before clothes stop fitting so that won't be a good guide for me.) I did the obsessive naked post-BM don't-drink-any-water daily morning weigh-ins for almost two years and it was exhausting and depressing especially when you knew you did EVERYTHING right and the scale wouldn't budge.
As bari patients we have a program to follow - hydrate, walk, eat nutritious whole foods in small quantities. If we do that, we cannot fail.
So long, scale!

You'll be fine. I'm a worrier too. Just listen to your body. You'll be straight. Congrats again.

I'm thinking about it. If I can free up, then I'll be there

WOW!!!! You Go Girl!!! Job well done. You look amazing!!!

Yes indeed!! That scale has the power to mess up my ENTIRE day if I don't see what I want to see. Imma try leaving the scale alone for a while and see if that helps settle me down. It's exhausting thinking about weight loss 24/7. I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted from it. We'll see.

Yeah....I used to be so snappy with my kids if the scale didn’t show what I hoped...my WHOLE family paid for it...

I don’t need the scale to shame me.

I know what I’m eating and this is my life now, not a diet. There is no end. So it feels much more like my life than a diet where I’ll hit a number and FINALLY be happy.

Best of luck to all of y’all!! And sampthechamp- let me know how it goes!

Yes indeed!! That scale has the power to mess up my ENTIRE day if I don't see what I want to see. Imma try leaving the scale alone for a while and see if that helps settle me down. It's exhausting thinking about weight loss 24/7. I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted from it. We'll see.

I like your style. I think I wanna try this. I am addicted to the scale and it is so stressful. I'm doing well, but the need to check the scale several times a day is a bit much. I want to start weighing every few weeks. I hope I can stick to it. I think it will do me some good to just focus on how i feel. The weight will come off as long as I do my part. I think your idea is definitely worth trying. Thanks and good luck to you. You are doing great.

I think this approach is great! My scale has been not reading right for almost a month now. And the relief of stress to not have it around has been wonderful. Good for you!