Hrsnjs

Oh! Also...an interesting part of the visit was their scale. Apparently just 86lbs of my 245.5lbs is fat. The remaining 159.5 lbs is bones, muscle, organs, etc.

I’m officially at the 6 week mark today. I have lost 33 lbs & 18.25% of my excess body weight.
I feel good about the progress. I’m happy about it but it’s hard to be overjoyed. I lost 100+ lbs with the band and I remember feeling so good and being so ecstatic about every goal. I maintained that weight loss for a long time but gained it back in the last year when my band had to be removed.
It’s an odd feeling because this larger body doesn’t even seem like mine. I think that’s the opposite feeling that a lot of wls paitents feel. Usually it takes a while to accept the new smaller body.
I’m not beating myself up or thinking negative thoughts. It’s just so different from my last wls journey, ya know?

I did not think about it in this way, but I did think about it in a sense of I already have the food plan from the surgeons office, what if I could do the surgery food plan without the surgery it would accomplish the same thing.. Then my mind wandered to.. I wonder if anybody has ever tried it.. and then to.. Naw.. if they were successful it would be known out there and surgeries would be on the decrease not the increase.. and then I proceeded to continue my journey to have the surgery done. [emoji4] I will be a month post op in 5 days!

Mine says normally 7-10 days; earlier l lu once you're off narcotic pain meds for at least 24 hours.

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CONGRATS! THAT IS AWESOME AND I CAN'T WAIT TO BE THERE TOO!!

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[mention=329750]amy6152[/mention] [mention=336109]GirlShrinking[/mention] [mention=345410]Hrsnjs[/mention] Thank you all for your support. I know it came from the very best place.
I don’t think I communicated myself properly. My surgeon was in no way being mean, rude, or demeaning. He told me I was ahead of schedule and told me what we should expect out of my tool by the next appointment. I believe the point of having a weight loss goal for the next appointment is so we both have a benchmark to measure that periods success against. I Met and exceeded my weight loss the first 6 weeks. If I don’t come close then that might indicate that I’m developing some self destructive habits again. He doesn’t want that and I certainly don’t.
My Surgeon is part of a private hospital that only does Bariatric surgery. That means the nutritionist work closely with the surgeon. They are both contributors to an overall weigh loss program. In my experience, they are both on the same page.
While 5 lbs a week is daunting, if that’s what my tool is capable of, I want to meet that goal. If I don’t, I won’t beat myself up but I will be forced to be very honest with myself and reflect on the things that were within in my control.
I appreciate the target that he set even though it’s daunting. I’m confident that he will not shame me if I don’t meet it, he will only brainstorm how to course correct. I’m a revision from a band and although he was not my original surgeon, he was in charge of my fills and maintenance the last 4 years. Under his guidance, I lost 110 lbs before my band failed.
It’s really hard to talk about weight when you have spent your whole life overweight. I didn’t handle my banding like I should have in the beginning. I told myself I was doing everything right but I was lying to myself and others. I was seeking out slider foods more and more until my weight stalled completely. Then I was ashamed that I wasn’t loosing so I didn’t go back for follow up appointments. It took several years for me to go back and be real with myself and my doctor. I ended up gaining a lot of my weight back when I had my band removed because I thought I could battle my disease without a tool & the help of my weight loss team.

I wouldn’t follow what he gave you for a number. I would follow the nutritionist diet.. I saw my surgeon on the 13th of November and I had surgery on the 24th of October (just shy of 3 weeks apart he told me that he was surprised I had only lost 10 pounds and should have at least hit 25-30 lbs since surgery (in 3weeks??) that’s crazy.

I brought this up at my follow up appointments with my nutritionist which was November 22nd and she raised her eyebrows and said he’s nuts and you’re losing weight at a good rate of 2lbs a week. She said ignore him and follow the diet.

I felt like failure when I saw him and I thought about sabotaging myself because of it! I really had to mentally push myself pass what he had said and redirect my focus on healthier thoughts so I increased walking and added 3lb weights to my workouts. My surgery weight was 242.2 and today I’m 225.6

I’m happy with my progress.. pay no mind to that Drs stupid comments I think he’s an idiot for saying what he said. You’re doing great and doing what you can .. stick to your nutritionist diet

I think overall it's sort of human to judge. Especially in our society, where it's so ingrained. Once we have some success it'seasy to wonder why others don't follow suit...but I sure hope I never lose compassion for anyone going through this struggle though. I hope I never forget what it was like to be where they are....once I'm ON the other side of it, that is!

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HOLY CRAPPPP. Me too! I live in Martinsburg!

Did you have surgery at Berkeley Medical or Winchester? I went to Winchester. It just feels... safer. lol.

Can i just mention in the interest of keeping perspective. Average weight loss post surgery is 2-4lbs/week with the most coming off (usually) within the first 2 months.
Losing 16lbs in 5 weeks is actually smack in the middle of expected rol (rate of loss). 16/5=3.2lbs/week. [emoji4] That's actually quite a lovely rate of loss. Rejoice and be glad people of earth!

yes. I was a slow loser (lost 16 lbs the first month) and lost 100% of my excess weight - over 200 lbs. Your commitment to your program will make *far* more difference to your success than your rate of weight loss.

Totally unrelated - Yay a fellow West Virginian! lol!

@FluffyChix and@Hrsnjs — I wanna know the outcome of ya’lls experiments [emoji1360]

I have a feeling your story is me in a few months! First off, we're human, we've struggled and we certainly can be our own worst enemy. I get in my own way ALL the friggin' time [emoji14] Be an advocate for yourself and learn all you can. Read, read, read!
Just remember, there's no reason to "chug" Protein Shakes, if you do, only chug the ones with minimal to no sugar and don't go over your daily Protein macro set by your doctor. For women especially, just about anything that raises your blood sugar and causes insulin responses can trigger your body to store fat. #1 thing responsible for that is glucose and it comes from several different places, not just what you eat. We are 100% commercial grade, fat storing machines meant to survive and populate the world in all circumstances LOL
There is such a thing as too much protein. Protein metabolism, handled by your liver, has a limit. Our bodies make glucose from 2 main sources, #1 the break down of fat in the form of triglycerides in your blood and, you guessed it, #2 proteins...in the form of amino acids. Proteins are strings of amino acids. If you eat too much protein, that protein will become the preferred source of gluconeogenesis...in simpler terms, that's process of your liver converting those aminos to glucose, which in turn can cause blood sugar spikes, which in turn can trigger fat storage, which in turn can lead to dreaded weight loss stalls and gains (like you already experienced). OMG all the science! LOL
I haven't had surgery yet, but I'm speaking from the multitudes of knowledge gained while following a keto/LCHFMP diet for nearly 2 years. If you want to put your mind at ease, kill it with knowledge. The more educated you are, the less there's a need to freak out. No matter your diet, bio-science such as protein metabolism is the same for all of us (mostly).
Don't forget....YOU GOT THIS!!! [emoji176]

I can't live without my CPAP! My apnea is almost for sure due to my weight, I did not have any issues til I gained so much weight. I can't sleep without mine and love it. BUT...I'd love to not have to use it. I'm not just going to test it out, I need my dang sleep. But once I lose a large amount of weight I'd be willing to do a sleep study to determine if I still need it at all. I hope it corrects.

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It’s the night before surgery, can’t get to sleep. I’m a mix of nervous and excited. Hopefully goes ok.

So, my 4 weeks is officially today. I've lost 26lbs. I should be thrilled, right? Nope. I have this total mental derp happening that makes me feel like I will somehow be the only person in gastric bypass history to ONLY lose 26lbs and that's it. I'm done. No more weight loss. lol! I think because I've had so many failures in the past, I just anticipate this being another one of them... even though I am following everything the best I can (in light of my ulcer, I am low on Protein - working on it!)
I also have a mental derp against Protein Shakes. Aside from my whey allergy and getting super nauseous... back in 2009 I had liposuction when I was a mere 140lbs. After surgery I drank TONSSSS of muscle-building/weight-gaining Protein shakes because the plastic surgeon said I needed them for muscle recovery. Welp, I gained 40lbs doing that! I had no guidance and was an idiot, basically. But that's where the weight gain started - so I have a creeper lurking in my brain that Protein Shakes = weight gain = super morbid obesity. I am trying to get over it; I have a sweet home gym and was just told yesterday I am not allowed to exercise because my protein is currently too low. So, that has motivated me more and I started a soy shake last night. Gunna keep it up.
I feel like I have conquered so many of my cravings-issues, though. I read just a few chapters in Never Binge Again and it is so helpful. I highly recommend that book. I feel very in control, and did have one mishap the other day when I got very stressed (I overate, but not a "banned food")... we're all human, though.
Why are our brains so self-defeating?! I know I am championing through this in light of the complication and there is NO reason I will fail... unless I set myself up for it. So, nipping it in the bud now, for sure. But it sure is hard to overcome some of those mental blocks. If it wasn't, I'm sure most of us wouldn't be here.
Just my random blurb o' the day.

Wow. So picking the photos for this... I don’t even recognize me [emoji50][emoji50]! First is around my heaviest, about two years prior to surgery. Second is 6 weeks pre-op. Last is yesterday, about 4.5 months post-op... trying on my dress for a film noir party!

What a jerk! You know, you have gotten this far to let an Ahole that doesn't know you tell you these things...I know you felt horrible as I had my share of negative people around and now the feeling but I learned that they can say what they want and it doesn't matter, because you're doing your thing and minding your own business...everybody is different, we all lose at a different pace, there's no ONE fits all here! He should've known better being a doctor...my doctor told me that I have 100 pounds to lose but he also said to not expect crazy weight loss because I don't have a lot to lose and my metabolism is slow...so lets do this, TOGETHER! We got your back! We'll get there, no matter the pace!

I'm freezing too...and this is a girl who was always hot, hot, hot! Lol

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Close! You do your starting weight. Looking at your profile, it says surgery weight was 279 correct? Excess would be 148.
16/148x100=10.8%
My surgeons estimated weight losss for a sleeve at 6 weeks is 10-12%. Then 20% by 3 months out.

Thanks, this was a useful tool. Using this calculation it is 16/102x100=15.686. Did I do that right? My starting weight at surgery was 243. The IBW chart my doctor uses says 131 for me. Which means 102 pounds excess body weight. Seems like my 16 pounds is maybe ok...

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Hey, so, I'm just feeling really nice about my weight loss chart and thought I'd share it (with the y-axis, which shows actual numbers, cut off). That "expected" line was created by figuring out my excess weight (surgery weight minus ideal weight), multiplying that by .6 (on average, sleevers lose about 60% of their excess weight), and plopping that number down a year from my surgery date. That may end up being a bit off -- some people take 18 months to get there -- but it gives me a starting point. For sure, if the blue line ever crosses the red line, I'll move the 60%EWL number to 18 months and still have a motivating chart; but for right now, I could put it at one year out and didn't have to make that many spreadsheet rows. [emoji6]
Anyway, I take my weight every Wednesday when I wake up, and that's how the blue line is plotted.
Caveats: 60% is an average, and I'm not sure what the actual distribution of weight lost really looks like for gastric sleeve patients. So for my own case, yeah, I could end up doing better or worse, and I know that. Some of that is under my control -- I can follow the program and do the work to get the best possible results for my body -- but some of it will come down to age, genetics, etc.

I'm at not quite 15% of my excess weight lost this week (week 8). (I was past 10% at week 6, so I guess JessaK's team would say I'm on track. My team seemed happy enough.)

That really makes me angry! Instead of celebrating your weight loss - he made you feel bad about yourself! BTW - 80+ before surgery plus 16 since means your are closing in on 100lbs which is FANTASTIC!!! Please don’t let one jerk bring you down!! ((HUGS))