JohnnyCakes

On 4/11/2018 at 4:58 PM, Mattymatt said:

Guys, have you noticed your beards growing a lot slower post-op? I used to get the 5 o'clock shadow very quickly. Now I can almost go a day without shaving. I heard of people losing head hair but that isn't a problem for me because I've been bald since I was 25. I am just amused that my goatee grows back really slowly now, same with the rest of my face.

facial Hair growth is almost directly correlated to your testosterone levels.

and it's normal for testosterone to dip during a rapid weight loss phase.

my guess is after your weight stabilizes, so will your testosterone, and so will your facial hair.

this is awesome, i’ve received exactly ZERO responses.

3 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Hey Johnny, I checked and am not in the Guys' Room... but um am a newbie, so feel free to flame. But your pic made you look pretty buff. Just out of curiosity, have you had a body comp DEXA done? I think they are relatively cheap at some universities (maybe around $75 bucks)? Cuz it might determine whether you could do P90 shredding stuff to lean out any more?

But again, I shouldn't even be talking on this thread so apologies for busting in! ((hugs))

haha.... no worries. just don't skew the voting tally until you're done losing!

no i'm not really worried about getting any more "shredded" or anything. just honestly curious if i can start buying clothes again or if i should wait. it seems like my 6-week stall might be saying "you're done buddy", which is fine, but i think i would be an outlier if my weight loss stopped at 7.5 months, right?

i am at 10 months. i reached my goal weight (230) right at 8.5 months and have been stalled there since.

i was wondering if i'm done losing. because i see on all the calculators that weight loss continues... some say between a year and 18 months. others say up to 2 years!

will i lose more weight? if you're curious, no, i'm still not hungry.

the sleeve sucks.

RNY ftw.

you‘ll be fine.

i had really bad subclinical hypothyroidism for years pre-surgery. no medication worked and i gained 20lbs a year for 5 years straight.

after surgery i have no thyroid issues at all. it completely resolved it.

from the research i've done, you basically have a "genetic reaction" to the surgery. in other words, don't beat yourself up or OBSESS (a big problem around here) about whether you lose 65% or 75% or 85% of your excess weight. the initial loss is virtually all out of your hands.

it's the long-term years afterwards that your behavior and healthy habits will determine if you keep it off. that's what you control. that's what you should focus on.

just try to be at peace with wherever you land after a year or so. it's nothing you did wrong (or right, tbh). it just is what it is. and it will be 1,000x better than where you were pre-surgery!

7 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

I know. Sucks right? I'm stuck on Zyrtek maybe for the rest of humanity. My pulmonologist first told me that. Me=beyond sad.

eh... don’t be sad. zyrtec doesn’t stand a chance against gastric bypass surgery, sorry!

take your zyrtec and enjoy a skinny, sneeze-free life, mmkay?

38 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

https://www.aaaai.org/ask-the-expert/antihistamines-weight-gain

swearsies.

oh no... i wasn’t questioning you... i had just never heard that before. crazy!

13 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

I wouldn't. Antihistamines can make some people stall.

wth?!?

On 3/29/2018 at 1:20 PM, FluffyChix said:

Well as I've said in other places, I'd cut a bit*h to get those results...

i think your doctor did just that, no?

24 minutes ago, Kay07 said:

You never fail to make me laugh... 🤣

pretty much...

8 hours ago, ALFxRNY said:

You look amazing! Congrats!

3 hours ago, Tealael said:

Amazing

thank you...

5 hours ago, jenn1 said:

Celebrate big! 8 months and 140 down.

Your weight loss was rapid. Any challenges adjusting to your weight? Any plans for a goal reward?

no, no challenges at all.

and i’m not trying to be flippant, but, getting to the goal itself was the reward! it’s the thing i have wanted my whole life and it’s here and i can’t believe it.

every time i go up three flights of stairs and don’t even breathe hard, that’s my reward.

every time i sit on the floor and play with my niece, it’s a reward.

every sports game i take my nephew to, which i couldn’t before bc i couldn’t fit in the seats, it’s a reward.

every day is a reward in a hundred different ways.

12 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Ok, so I can get on with life. You are in fact NOT the old guy/dad from the 70s sitcom, Family Ties, masquerading as a short order line cook?

no my alter-ego here was a character on the Sopranos in season 5 i think. the name was just always funny to me.

13 hours ago, Kay07 said:

how do you feel?

feel amazing/incredible/extraordinary!!! words can't describe. a complete 180 life reversal. i'm alive again.

no complications - no insulin dumping syndrome, no throwing up or foamies, no strictures. not a single food i can't tolerate, though it doesn't matter because all i crave is super healthy stuff.

some health stats:

Blood pressure - 185/125 down to 115/70

fasting glucose - 125 down to 89

HbA1C - 7.1 down to 4.9

Insulin - 10 down to 4.4

LDL cholesterol - 305 down to 156

HDL cholesterol - 44 to 81

cortisol - 20.5 down to 5.4 (still a bit high... probably stress of losing weight so fast?)

liver ALT/AST - 64/103 down to 20/20

i was a runner for all my life. ran a half-marathon at 265lbs! it was always so hard.... for 20 YEARS! now i go out and i just glide... float. i'm actually mad! like... THIS is what running is supposed to be like?!? actually ENJOYABLE?!? (allow me to reiterate - people are not skinny because they exercise. they exercise because they are skinny.)

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!! it really means a lot.

sounds like you're killin it. congratulations!!! great to hear you're an exercise freak now!

17 hours ago, FatGuy5000 said:

My preop success makes me continually question my decision

no offense, but.... YOU WOULD HAVE GAINED THE WEIGHT BACK.

not your fault, 95% of diets fail and people regain, with interest.

but with your surgery? you have very high chances of success of losing weight and keeping it off your whole life. and isn't that what you want?

weather the mood swings. it's still early. in a few months you will realize this is the best decision you ever made.

your life will no longer be normal.

it will become extraordinary.

1 - switch to vaping. the thing about smoking that gives bariatric patients problems (ulcers) is not the nicotine. it's the other 2,000 chemicals in the things. i vape (albeit not regularly, at all) without problem. that doesn't solve your problem re: blood test for surgery, but it might help you after the surgery. for now you're going to have to give it up. google how long it stays in your system for drug tests and just grind it out...

2 - i know it seems like you're about to give up a lot of crutches. food AND cigarettes?!? but i promise you, you will change. you will look back and wonder how/why you ever took comfort in food. and you might very well do the same with cigarettes as you enjoy thriving in a new, healthy lifestyle. give yourself that room to change and grow.

2 - hot username.

4 hours ago, jenn1 said:

@JohnnyCakes No disrespect. You are just overly passionate about your thoughts on correct nutrition.

it's all good. thanks for the re-boot thread, Jess. i felt bad for hijacking that woman's thread. although she wasn't very nice to me trying to help her.

and i'm sorry you felt like i was "screaming". bygones...

anyway - let me state something from the outset..... my only dogma is this - WE KNOW/UNDERSTAND VERY, VERY LITTLE about obesity, dieting, and what constitutes a healthy diet. very, very, very little. i have heard this, in private conversations, from some of the top obesity researchers in the world. like... scary little.

so anyone coming at you as if they have THE ANSWERS (friends, magazines, blogs, doctors, anyone) you should take as a major red flag.

what i am reasonably confident in, at this point, is very broad:

- i believe obesity is a genetic problem largely out of people's control. it's not a character issue as the American population (and skinny people boosting their own ego) like to portray it as.

- i believe there's an environmental "x-factor" we have not discovered yet (BPA? EMF?) that is propagating a genetic instruction. but, it's likely a small factor.

- i believe Michael Pollan's simplistic prescription is probably best: "eat REAL FOOD. not too much. mainly plants."

- i don't believe in counting calories or macronutrients anymore. i think one should eat real food when they are hungry. stop when they are full. what is real food? i came up with a rhyme to tell people who ask me what i eat:

"if it grows in the ground,
or falls from a tree,
grazes on land,
or swims in the sea."

if what you're about to put in your mouth doesn't do one of those 4 things, chances are you shouldn't be eating it.

- i believe "set point theory" is the best we got right now. mainly because it leaves a lot of room for doubt and further research/explanation. it's a 30,000ft view that the statistics bear out to be true, even if we don't know why. yet. and right now that's good enough for me.

1 hour ago, Sosewsue61 said:

Many studies trying to prove or disprove them are seriously flawed models with no controls or double blind studies and often with unmeasureable variables.

by saying this, i see you definitely did NOT read these two studies i referenced. because while what you say has been true of nutrition science for decades... the hugely important thing about these two studies is that it IS proper science. with controls and adherence and randomization. not epidemiology, not food questionnaires, no conflicts of interest. they are, by far, the best scientific research experiments ever conducted.

and they both found zero benefit to the low carb approach.

keep in mind - i'm saying this as a former low-carb die hard. but i'm not going to let my own cognitive dissonance blind me to the truth. just accept the new truth and move on...