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Mattymatt

Gastric Bypass Patients
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Posts posted by Mattymatt


  1. I guess in some ways I am extremely fortunate because the surgery changed my digestive and metabolic system in very drastic and noticeable ways. I physically am unable to tolerate the foods that I used to be able to eat huge amounts of. Most of my pre-surgery foods make me incredibly sick. Fried chicken and pizza aren't soft enough and no matter how much I chew or take small bites, I cannot eat them. I end up throwing them up. I even have difficulty with steak. I have to cut it into very tiny pieces and chew the flavor out of it. I don't really like steak anymore - I prefer chicken and turkey. I used to love Tortilla chips (especially the Sweet Chili variety) but they physically hurt my stomach now. I cannot even do wraps. Wraps are so fiberous that my stomach just cannot process them.


  2. 10 hours ago, MN_Meg770 said:

    I am in the same boat- food addiction. I’m 2 weeks post op and now in tears daily because I miss food and worry about never eating tasty food again. It’s a serious and difficult addiction.

    Hi Meg! Congrats on being two weeks post-op. If it helps any, I was the same way. I can promise you that it does get easier. You're in a kind of mourning phase; mourning the loss of being able to eat as a form of medicine. Ultimately, you will find your relationship to food changes for the better.

    I now really like eating to live versus living to eat. I like how food no longer makes me feel better - it forces me to deal with the realities of life on life's terms. This is ultimately healthier for the psyche. It used to be that eating would make me feel elated or relaxed. Now it's just eating. I've had to find other things to do to fill my time because so much of my days used to be spent around food.

    Since I have had so much free time (and being out of work due to a long, hard recovery), I picked up a new hobby. I've always wanted to do Amateur Radio so I took the time, studied, and passed all three tests at once. There are three levels of Amateur (Ham) Radio: Technician, General, and Extra. I did a marathon study and became an Extra. I started blogging again because I love to write. Now, I will be able to go back to work full time next week. It's amazing how much of my life was wasted due to food and sometimes it saddens me because time is something you cannot recapture. But, you can always start anew, here and now.


  3. 4 minutes ago, MIZ60 said:

    I met my husband when I was 22 but we did not start dating until I was 25. At that time, I weighed 125-130. He was a former model and absolutely gorgeous. We were wildly attracted to each other. We married in 1984 when I was 26 and always had an active lifestyle (sailing, Water and snow skiing, tennis). I never had weight problems and we had a great relationship.

    In my late 40s I begin to gain weight even though there were no changes in my diet or activity level. I had multiple appts. with my doctor to do testing (thyroid, cortisol)---all normal. I gradually got up to 220 which was unbelievable to me. At age 50 I started Atkins and lost 40 pounds in about 7 months. At age 51 I quit smoking after 33 years. Over the next few years my weight really shot up and my asthma got worse. I then, in 2014, was involved in a horrible car accident and sat in my house recovering from surgery and injuries for 4 months and then forced myself to return to work but I was unhealthy, obese and miserable. I hit my all time high weight of 290 pounds in November 2017. I had gained 165 pounds since we met...

    Through all of this, he was and is my biggest supporter. Our relationship has suffered in every way because I was depressed, sick and felt so bad about myself. He has never gone a day without telling me that I am beautiful and he loves me. He has always said that the only thing that bothers him about my weight is that it makes me down on myself and limits/changes what activities we can do together. I do not believe this 100% but that is the type of man he is. We especially miss being able to take trips on the Harley, which we dearly love. Hopefully back to it soon.

    He is thrilled with where I am at now, even though there is still a ways to go. I know our commitment is forever.

    And in no time, you will be back to your active self! Just remember to be patient and gentle on yourself! :-)


  4. I decided not to do before photos this time. I did them on the previous two weight loss attempts. I want nothing to remind me of where I was. My past belongs in the past and I don't ever want to look at pictures of myself at 366 pounds again. I like living in the present and love watching my clothes get steadily too big for me. This is more rewarding than a photo ever will be. I am going to keep one pair of jeans from my heaviest so that when I feel down about life I can out them on and realize that I am a success.


  5. On 7/12/2018 at 10:32 AM, Creekimp13 said:

    We see them all the time. Hell, maybe we'll write one someday...

    OMG, I've regained! What do I do???????

    You know what I like to do?

    I like to go back in that person's post history and read about their diet habits in the beginning when they were losing....get a feel for what kind of dieter they were.

    And I almost always find that the re-gainers....were super strict, super disciplined, never-touch-a-carb, low calorie extremists.

    And it kills me...because the advice to these folks is always the same.....get back on your super strict diet! up your protein! don't touch a carb!

    And I'm sitting here shaking my head.

    Why do people return to what doesn't work? Over and over and over. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

    Don't mean to just pick on our Ketovangelists....there are plenty of Passive Pollys out there who ate junk constantly, never kept track....and wonder why their weight went back up after the honeymoon.

    My point is.....if a particular strategy ends in failure.....why in the world would you return to it? Why encourage someone to return to what didn't work longterm?

    if the goal is longterm maintenance....why send them back to another stop-gap measure that fails them in the long run?

    Ketovangelists....try something different if extremely low cal and carbs doesn't work long term for you! If you eventually lose your mind and fall off the wagon, maybe the wagon you're on doesn't fit. Try something more moderate so you can stay in control long term.

    Passive Pollys....try something different! If a total lack of structure is resulting in your surgery being useless.....add some freaking framework to your diet. Work on healthy limits without going completely overboard. Be accountable.

    More and more, I believe an addiction to EXTREMISM is what keeps people fat. So many of these folks are either "I must be in COMPLETE CONTROL"...or "I am helpless against my eating"....there's never any middle ground.

    Stop with the extremism.

    Knock that shite off.

    It's hurting you.

    This is my uneducated opinion but I really think a goodly number of us got to where we were because we had an unhealthy relationship to food, i.e. an addiction. Speaking for myself, I definitely had an an unhealthy relationship to food. Being super strict about eating is as bad as overeating as it's swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction. We have lived our lives between two extremes: extreme dieting and extreme overeating. @Creekimp13 is quite correct about learning to live a life in balance.


  6. This is going to sound strange but are you drinking enough Water? I had some pre-surgery edema in my ankles which subsided when I upped my Fluid intake. My doctor said that due to my excess weight, I needed to drink more water. She said sometimes not drinking enough can cause overweight bodies to hold on to water. Perhaps you want to have a discussion with your doctor?


  7. 45 minutes ago, nevertoolate said:

    Hi Everybody! Weird to have this be my first post given how many questions I had pre-op and how much reading other people's posts and comments helped me, but I just had my bypass surgery yesterday and I finally have .

    Anyhow... I'm still in the hospital... and my belly is shaved and there are definitely 5 wounds on it... but I'm not having any nausea, any change in cravings or hunger... okay, maybe I have more energy and I feel less weird about not eating... but what's REALLY strange is that I've had no problem drinking 3 cups of broth and three cups of Water. None of the baby sipping I'd heard about-- and no irritation. My surgeon said he reduced my stomach to 40ccs... I was told I'd never casually drink Water again... I heard all these stories about eating and drinking suuuuper slowly.

    I just drank a bowl of vegetable broth in maybe 2 minutes. I'm confused. Shouldn't this make me feel sick??

    Also, no one told me my first fart after surgery would feel that good.

    I had no problems with drinking either. The problems I had all came when I started eating again. My first 3.5 weeks post-op were smooth as silk. Then the next 4 were abject misery. But even with that, I am so glad I did this!


  8. 11 hours ago, Numbheart said:

    Many people are depressed because they lose self-confidence and self-worth because of their weight, but should it be an issue, to the point where it causes the end of a relationship? Can't couples do something to make it work without one having to leave the other? That's just depressing.

    In an ideal world, a person's weight should not matter in a relationship as we should really love someone for the entirety of the person. However, in the United States at least, physical attraction plays too large a role. I am now at the weight I was at when I graduated high school back in 1997 so clearly weight has been a lifelong struggle of mine yet I refused to see beauty in overweight women.

    I spent so much of my life in the shallow end of life's swimming pool that it wasn't until I began addressing my weight from a serious and sober perspective, i.e. this weight loss surgery journey, that I found myself looking honestly past physical imperfections. Something in me clicked and I realized physical beauty can be found in anyone! Where I am working, there is a beautiful dispatcher. She's overweight but has a beautiful face and striking eyes. Man, the old me would have totally missed this and I would've missed a very nice person. She's too young for me as she's only 22, but by all accounts, she's very beautiful. I kind of wish I was a younger man (with my present accumulated wisdom) because she would be in trouble ;-)


  9. I got the results of a repeat sleep study today and I no longer have sleep apnea. The sleep doctor said that my average apneas per hour was 2.3 which is well below the threshold for obstructive sleep apnea. This is the third benefit that I've realized post-op. The first two were off of blood sugar control and blood pressure medicines. Tonight, I am going to try to sleep without the CPAP machine. The sleep doctor actually told me that continuing to use the machine may actually cause problems at this point. I shall see how I feel tomorrow morning!


  10. 12 hours ago, twil1980 said:

    I had sleeve surgery in April 2015 and I was doing great. I was 235 on my surgery day and I got to my lowest post surgery weight last year, 152. I am now 173 and completely stuck. My goal has always been 135 but now I just want to get back to 152. I felt and looked healthy there. I feel gross and like a complete failure now.

    My question is how do you continue to lose weight? Any tips to keep motivated?

    I don’t know anyone who has had wls surgery that I can ask or confide in.

    Thanks,

    Tiff

    Tiff, before you can get back on track, you're going to have to stop beating yourself up. The key is just to go back to "bariatric basics." Start logging again and concentrating on Protein. This is going to be a life long struggle for all of us so the key is using the tools at your disposal. Perhaps some bad foods magically crept back in. I began noticing this myself so I forced myself to go back to logging and I had the "A ha!" moment when I saw potato chips sneak back in. I think my calories also crept back up too but not to the point where I was gaining; just stagnant or plus or minus a few pounds.


  11. 4 hours ago, actuallylosingit said:

    I keep telling myself you eat to live. Not live to eat. I have eaten a snack while making a snack because it took too long. Eaten things just because it was there and didn't want someone else to have it. My car has been know to magically appear in the McDonald's drive through. Ordering multiple drinks so it didn't look like all of it was for me.

    Growing up, you could not get up from the table until everything had been eaten. The glorified clean plate club... I don't remember what being full even feels like anymore; unless i'm already in pain from so much food. I have read so many terrible things that can happen from overeating post sleeve. I'm worried I wont recognize what full feels like and suffer the consequences. Any tells of when you feel full post sleeve?

    I'm hesitant to talking to anyone about my toxic relationship with food. I don't want anything to hold me back from being eligible for the sleeve. I know it is essential for progress but I am desperate to get my life back. I have been overweight my entire life. The smallest I remember being was 180 in the 6th grade. In the past I stuck to diets until i lost a little weight and treated myself with food that i knew was terrible for me. Thus gaining the weight back plus more. I am determined to get healthy and to have inner me match outer me.

    Any advice and/or suggestions?

    I am a former food addict. I say former because Gastric Bypass effectively cured the addiction. Much of the foods that I used to eat disgust me. For example: I used to go hog wild for pizza, wings, and fries, and not only can I no longer eat them, but just the smell is enough to make me nauseous. It could very well be that your relationship to food will take a 180 degree turn. I really and truly eat to live now. At times I miss being able to wolf down an entire large pizza but those moments are usually short-lived once I remember I was 366 and dangerously diabetic. Now I am a much better 294 and only have 104 pounds left to lose. This looks a lot more surmountable than the 176 when I first began.

    A psychologist once told me that people generally don't reach the weights that we get too that don't also have a terrible relationship to food. They almost make a basic assumption that you have a psychological issue with food. The psychologist with my program only looked for Bulemia or Anexoria because those two conditions could cause severe problems with weight loss surgery.


  12. 6 hours ago, zaid said:

    It's been 5 days since my surgery. Second day sleeping at home. It is now 1:28am, last night it was 4:30am and I still had no sleep. I'm in so much pain! What have I done to myself? I'm on a strict diet, only Water and Gatorade. I'm so mad!! It hurts to drink. Why are they forcing me to drink. I'm starving, my stomach is asking for food. I can't eat normal anymore. What have I done? I'm so mad. I just want to sleep. My family don't understand the pain. I need my medicine, "it's 1am, just go to sleep". I can't!! Doctor recommended walking, okay, let's go. I can't walk to far without feeling like my stitches are ripping. "Keep going", they say "Walk further." I know my family means well and I'm trying. I'm really trying. Some times I push through the pain. I do what I'm ask. But then there's time like today, where I'm just so frustrated with myself, with the pain, with only wanting to sleep. Did I make the right decision? Can I go back in time? I just want to press forward...skip through this frustration...feel me again

    Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

    Know that it may get harder before it gets easier. Around my 4th week post-op, I had all kinds of issues with my stomach. I developed an H. Pylori infection, ulcers, and a stricture. It sucked but I got through it and I am doing all kinds of better. During those times, I had some regrets but now I have none. I am at a weight I haven't been since 2014 and doing generally well. Just be stoic and keep moving forward.


  13. On 6/23/2018 at 11:45 PM, BEBJ said:

    WHEN is the right time to resume wifely duties in the bedroom after having RNY bypass surgery? Again, MY surgery were done May 15, 2018. Just had a minor endoscopic surgery and found to have 2 ulcers in pouch area ( on staples and inside). Given medications prilosec and carafe for 3 months. Still in recovering mode....Just need to know!

    The magical answer is when you feel ready enough.

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