yes_anastasia

30 lbs in 5 weeks!

Hi friends!!
I'm 3 weeks post-op today and trying to feel good about my weight loss. I'm down 13.5 lbs and feel like I'm at the slower end of things. I was really hoping to hit 20lbs my first month but I'm not seeing that happen. I am very thankful I've lost this much, believe me, I know I wouldn't have lost this much without surgery. My concern comes from knowing these are my "golden months" where I'll have the most success. I need to lose anywhere from another 100-120lbs.
How are you all doing?

Oh dear. Here is a sweet tip from us who have gone through this, RELAX. It's a stall. It happens multiple times during your first 18 months of expected weight loss.
Some people get it the first month, others get it later on. The key is to relax with the scale. If you stress about it, it keeps your cortisol levels high which then causes you to regain (mostly water) weight.
This is also your bodies way of letting you know that it is time to start exercising. Not heavy exertion but walking around more and trying to get that heart rate to about 115 steady - fat burning level.
Now is the time to start taking "before" pictures if you have not done already. Then compare to the photos before and after/now. You will be losing inches at this time, so pay attention to the following:
1) Do your clothes fit differently?
2) Are you feeling lighter on your feet or knees?
3) Are you drinking enough Water?
4) Are you meeting your bodies Protein needs?
5) Are you really doing what you are supposed to be doing?
These five questions are what you should keep in mind when going through a stall. It could be that you need to tweak somethings.

Keep hanging in there and know that you made the right choice. Everyone's body acts differently so before you know it that 20lbs will be long gone and you'll have better things to worry about like OMG I need to go shopping Again for smaller clothes . Keep up the strong work!

Had my surgery on the 12th, went home the next day. Advice to you is walk walk walk! It’ll help relieve the gas pain and the air they pump in your stomach to release. Sip sip sip all day, but slowly of course. Im only able to keep 2oz down per hour. Listen to your body it’ll tell you when you’re full. I’m already down 18 pounds, and healing great. Pay close attention to all your docs instructions and follow them to the T for best post-op recovery and you will do great! Best of luck!

Add me to the list!!! 1/31/18! Can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away!

Add me to the list!!! 1/31/18! Can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away!

Just had my RNY this morning. I was definitely prepared to experience a lot of pain and discomfort. But let me tell y’all...i feel amazing!! Hardly any pain, no nausea, not much gas. So those who have surgeries coming up, DONT BE AFRAID! I am your reassurance that not every story is a horror story. Be brave and remember that it’s so worth it! So blessed!

Just a reality check for me - down 105 lbs- maintained til a month ago and gained 4 lbs- yikes!!! Have gone back to basics and plan to lose the 4 plus 6 more- I need to be diligent always and accountable I'm back!!

Down 55 lbs. I feel amazing. This is the best decision I could have made. 60 lbs to goal weight.  

Weighed in 278.4 day of surgery, 178.4 this morning. Sleeved 8/1 so just a bit over 10 months out.
Also, I'm officially out of the "overweight" BMI range. (my info says 25 but BMI calc says I'm justttt under it)

8/1 (surgery) - 1/18 (about halfway between then and now) - 6/11 (today!)
I'm 8.4lbs away from my initial goal but I think I might adjust to 150. Trying to get some kind of body fat testing done per suggestions in a thread I posted earlier this week so I can get a better idea of what's fat and what's skin.

Clusie L is my absolute fave. She had the sleeve and is almost 3 years out, 170lbs lost.

I just called my actual insurance because I was going nuts and she said told me I was APPROVED too!! it's a great day for approvals! Congrats girl!


-Mallorie

GREAT NEWS!!!! I WAS APPROVED ......

Since WLS surgery? Nothing. Not even the (relatively mild) gall bladder attack or GB surgery / recovery 4 weeks post-WLS.
But pre-op -- it was WAITING FOR THE DAMN SURGERY TO FINALLY FREAKIN' HAPPEN!
My surgeon was so backed up with huge demand. So jumping through all the pre-op hoops took a long time. It made me so crazy that I finally put myself on a diet and lost 11 pounds prior to the liver-shrinking diet.
Pre-op, I also practiced all the post-op eating behaviors -- eating slower, chewing lots more, not drinking with meals, drinking 64 ounces of Water daily, walking more (bought a Fitbit and got up and moved), took Vitamins, started tracking all my food on My Fitness Pal, etc.
I was like a kid who wore a Batman cape everywhere because he thinks he's Batman.
So when I hear about pre-op patients who are having a month of last suppers and whining about the liver-shrinking diet and worrying about losing their hair somewhere down the road and drama-llamaing about potential loose skin and not being able to close down the bars every weekend and other s**t like that, I just shake my head.
Don't they know how wonderful this surgery is going to be for them and that it will be worth any inconveniences and lifestyle changes required of them?
Again -- shaking my head.
(I may have had too much coffee this morning.)

This is going to be long so if you don’t care about the story part, skip to the bottom for the numbers.
I never thought I would be here, post-op from WLS surgery, especially a surgery that removed most of my stomach but here I am, and I am thrilled to be here.
I grew up in a healthy, athletic family, really athletic, at the Professional level. We had healthy food and some not so healthy comfort food, but always real food in the house. I was always athletic, but slightly overweight growing up. Then in college, I started to yo-yo. My weight would change between 20 and 40 pounds. Then I had a baby, BOOM. I gained 70 pounds with the pregnancy and never lost it. I started working with Tech Startups in the dot com era and we had all the perks. Free food, free alcohol, all day every day. I moved up the ladder and with all the five star hotels came high calorie free meals. Extensive business travel meant eating out 5-6 days a week 3 times a day. On the days at home the eating out continued because I was so exhausted from the work week.
I was healthy with low to normal blood pressure and not diabetic most of this time. I was a healthy fat person for a long time until I wasn’t. I was active. I exercised, I could walk circles around even my thin friends in a mall. Then 10 years ago, diabetes. It was easily managed with pills and diet, so it didn’t create drastic changes. I never took it very seriously because I was never really extreme in my high sugars. Then about 4 years ago it seemed like things took a turn, I could never lose more than 20 or 30 pounds. My ability to exercise and be active seemed to diminish. Carrying all that weight was finally catching up to me and my body was breaking down and suffering. Then last year, high blood pressure came. After taking high blood pressure meds for 2 weeks that made me sleepy and made it almost impossible to run my business. I decided to have WLS.
I had researched and looked at WLS for years. I read WLS forums and talked to people, but always talked myself out of it. I finally decided that even if I died on the table that was better than dying slowly. So I knew I was ready. I went through the process very quickly. Almost not trusting myself to drag it out and I felt a real necessity to get the weight off quickly. I went from my first visit with the surgeon to surgery in 8 weeks. BCBSIL was wonderful and the whole process was fast and easy for insurance approval.
Another deciding factor that WLS would work for me, was because the post-op diet was something I was already familiar with. Low carbing? Sign me up. I had been an avid low carber off and on with varying levels of success for years. I realize now that the reason I was never successful was I gave up in stalls, but with the sleeve there is no giving up during a stall. I have always enjoyed low carbing because for me it makes my mind sharper, it is like doing coke or Adderall (no, I have never done either but I have been told the experience in great detail multiple times from multiple people). I have never viewed it as a punishment but a perk.
My issue prior to surgery has always been Portion Control. I skipped meals, focused on work and then would be ravenously hungry, and consume a whole days plus worth of calories all at once, or maybe in 2 meals. Even low carbing and eating healthy I would eat huge amounts. A 12 to 16 ounce ribeye is 900-1300 calories.
I was lucky to have an uneventful, rapid and easy recovery. I had very little pain, went back to work as soon as I came home (I work for myself), and stopped taking the pain meds within 36 hours of surgery. I met my Protein goals after the 2nd day. I eat all of the foods I enjoy, just in small quantities. I was lucky in the sense I never ate or liked a lot of the things that people have issues with giving up post-op. So I don’t have issues with avoiding them. I gave up sugar years ago to try and control my diabetes. I gave up alcohol for the same reason. I was already years out from either of these things when I had surgery so I didn’t have to give them up post-op.
Okay that is by backstory and how I got to the point surgery and why I felt it would work for me. This is where I am now.
Numbers
The weight I have on here is the weight when I first went to the Dr. It is not my actual highest weight.
HW 377
SW 358
CW 231
Total weight lost 146, 134 since first surgeon visit, and 127 since surgery.
Inches lost
Measurements in Inches
Bust (fullest part of bust):
20
Pecs (just above the bust line):
15
Ribs (top of rib cage just below the bust) :
21
Waist:
25.5
Abdomen:
22
Hips:
17
Right Upper Thigh:
8.5
Right Lower Thigh:
9.5
Left Upper Thigh:
8
Left Lower Thigh:
10.5
Right Calf:
2
Left Calf:
2.25
Right Upper Arm:
6
Left Upper Arm:
5.5
Total 172.75
I wore a tight size US Womens size 28 plus and a comfortable size US Womens size 30 plus. Now I wear a Misses 14/16 I am almost to a 12.
I have boundless energy to match my personality. I am so active in my everyday life in big and small ways. I don’t hurt all over anymore at the end of the day like I did before. I thought that was natural, because I had been so heavy for so long, I didn’t think there was a different way to feel, I thought that was norm. Now I know the difference. I feel like I have taken 20 years off my age.
So that is my story, if you read it all, thanks. I hope it can help someone. Obviously I am still not done. I need to lose at least another 50 pounds and once I get there I am going to evaluate and see if I want to lose another 20 or 30. I never thought that would be an option, to get my weight that low, but I think now it is a possibility.

I went today for my 6 month check up - down 72 lbs per the doctor's scale and I am no longer considered overweight! My surgeon said I was a star pupil as I am 6 lbs from goal. I now think I will probably go lower than my original goal, as getting in over 1,000 calories a day would have me eating ALL day long and that sounds like a lot of work and no time to get in liquids. I will see how things look and feel. I have appointed my daughter as the one to tell me if I need to level out and stop losing. My friends thought I was too thin 10 lbs ago. Really, too thin at 170! I think not.
I spoke with the nutritionist and asked her where I should go from here in relation to food. She said do exactly what you are doing. She said to get in at least 100g of Protein (400 Calories), 40g of fat (360 calories) and 50-100g of carbs (200-400 calories). Right now I average 50g carbs, 105g protein, 20g fat which equals out to around 800 calories a day. Sounds like I could be adding butter to my dishes!
This is such an amazing journey and I know it will continue. Best thing I have ever done for myself. Only regret is I didn't do it sooner!

I love the discussion here. I do think some of is is individual metabolism. For me, I'm a natural born slug and if I can keep losing while not having to kill myself exercising, then I'm all in with that plan.

Who are you to judge? What makes her not serious because she smokes weed and she did say once in a while.

Actually I didn't stop smoking weed to pass a drug test I stoped smoking because I was starting to break out a little. And I am very serious about this surgery. I don't smoke weed every day or need it function or die without I smoke it rarely and I took a few hits of a joint I don't smoke one all to myself. And I'm probably one of the few people on here that are athletic and getting this surgery to lose the stubborn weight that isn't coming off easily anymore. I know what your thinking. Smoking weed and getting the munchies. I don't go pig out after I get high like you I'm sure think most people do. So go take your rude comment elsewhere[emoji849]

You are an inspiration!!!! Totally beautiful, as well. :-)