NovaLuna

I started my journey to weight loss in 2019 at 389 pounds. Had my surgery January 23, 2020 at 321 pounds and today February 14, 2021 I finally hit ONEderland! I weighed myself this morning and after a 26 day stall I lost two pounds and weighed in today at 199.6! Never thought I'd get here to be honest, but I'm incredibly happy! For anyone starting their journey at over 300 pounds, it's possible to reach ONEderland, no matter how impossible it may seem! I just wanted to share that.

I had low standards lol. For me I was excited to fit into non plus sized clothing (I used to be a 34 in US womens jeans. I'm now a 12), when I had my blood pressure taken at the doctors office I wanted them to be able to take it on my upper arm like a normal person instead of having it on my wrist because it didn't fit my upper arm, when I had to do tests at the doctor's I was looking forward to not having to ask for a plus sized gown anymore, to being able to fit into the back seat of a car again (the seat belt in the back seats used to never fit me. it made family road trips difficult), to being able to sit in a booth at a restaurant again, to not get out of breath walking for more than 5 minutes, etc. Those were all the things I looked forward to most. And I've met all of those goals.

So today, for the first time in over 20 years, I am below 200 pounds. I am still astonished at my results in such a short amount of time. In mid-April, I weighed 285 pounds. Every joint in my body hurt and I had high blood pressure and slept with a C-pap machine. I had surgery on 5/18/21, and today, almost 3 full months later, I weigh 198.6 pounds. I haven't used or needed my C-pap for the past several weeks, my blood pressure and heart rate readings are on the low side and I have so much energy. I really wish the best for everyone on this forum and hope you're all one day as satisfied as I am with your results. This has been a total life-changer. God Bless all!

I am in the midst of a cross-country move so missed posting about my two year anniversary a couple days ago. I had a VSG in Seattle on 8/12/2019. My starting weight was 286, today I’m 140. Although I lost my excess weight, I gained so much in the process. I am happy, healthy, and active. My only regret is not doing this sooner. I’m off all medication and no longer have sleep apnea. My blood pressure and resting heart rate are that of an athlete. I’ve never felt better in my adult life. I had plastic surgery in January to remove the excess skin and I’m so glad that I did that as part of this process. I still weigh myself daily and track all of my intake. I have a little more wiggle room now for a treat now & then, but in general eat a pretty healthy diet making sure to get in my Protein and fluids every day.

I am so glad this thread exists! I was starting to feel a little discouraged seeing so many start out in the 200's when I am starting out in the 400's. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for all of them and their journeys, but I would really like to connect with women who are more like me.

Anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight is going to have at least SOME excess skin. The amount a person has depends on a bunch of different things such as your age (the elasticity of your skin tends to be better the younger you are and thus you're more likely to have less excess skin the younger you are), how long you've been obese, the amount you exercise/your exercise routine, the amount of weight you actually lose, etc. For me, I'm disabled, 34, and had been obese for 20+ years so after losing 210 pounds I have quite a lot of excess skin. However, I'd rather have that excess skin then the fat. I can easily hide the skin beneath clothes, so while I know it's there, everyone else doesn't.
In the end, the choice for surgery is very much a personal choice. Just weigh the pro's and con's and do your research. Whatever choice you make is one that you're making for YOU, so make sure it's something that makes you happy.

I am officially overweight with a BMI of 29.8! Started at a BMI of 53 at my HW and 46 at SW.

I had low standards lol. For me I was excited to fit into non plus sized clothing (I used to be a 34 in US womens jeans. I'm now a 12), when I had my blood pressure taken at the doctors office I wanted them to be able to take it on my upper arm like a normal person instead of having it on my wrist because it didn't fit my upper arm, when I had to do tests at the doctor's I was looking forward to not having to ask for a plus sized gown anymore, to being able to fit into the back seat of a car again (the seat belt in the back seats used to never fit me. it made family road trips difficult), to being able to sit in a booth at a restaurant again, to not get out of breath walking for more than 5 minutes, etc. Those were all the things I looked forward to most. And I've met all of those goals.

It very much depends on your insurance requirements as ShoppGirl mentioned. My insurance required 6 months of monitored weight loss, 3 months of nutrition, lung clearance, heart clearance, nutrition classes, surgical classes, psyche clearance, etc. The whole process took approximately 8 months from my first appointment until the day I had my surgery. I was also able to lose 68 pounds in that time so I was at least productive during that time lol.

Hello!
First I want to start off by saying THANK YOU for this post I needed this, shoot I need people to speak to that may have or is experiencing the same as me. Okay now to answer some of your questions.
My starting weight before surgery was 312.8
My day of surgery is 306.4
My BMI the day of surgery was 49.1
Today weight is 380.0
Also yes I do that a lot I comparing my weight loss to others. I am just so ready for it to all be off, this week I am switching up my workout routine and only doing cardio because I was told that I am not even suppose to be lifting weights. Also I am going to change my eating up and cook some of my veggies and do some shrimp.

Also it wasn't TMI we are women here, don't be embarrassed about what we have to go through on a daily basis's. Also BIG CONGRATS on reaching your goal!

Maybe if you share what your starting weight is? For example: say you are starting at a lower BMI and thus a lower weight such as if you're starting BMI is 40 or your starting weight was 233 pounds then l would tell you that 22 pounds in 10 weeks is really fantastic for the weight you started at because that means that you lost almost 10% of your total body weight in those 10 weeks. If you start at a lower weight then you can't compare your weight to someone who started like me at 389 pounds because I would have needed to lose 37 pounds to equal the same percentage of weight loss as your 22 pounds. Comparing your weight loss to people who started at a higher weight is going to do nothing more than drive you insane! Trust me, you don't want to do that! We all lose at different rates because we all have different circumstances and each of our bodies works different.
Also, daily weight fluctuations is 100% normal. You can expect your daily weight to be different on average of a 2-5 pound difference due to Fluid retention, or your bowels being full. Hell, even inflammation or an upcoming or current period can cause your scale to have a higher number than you want to see. I had to deal with my hypothroidism causing more stalls than anyone I've ever seen on this site ever mention (literally went into one at least once a month from month three post-op to now. My longest one lasted 47 days) and yet I was still able to reach my goal weight. I've been in a stall since I reached my goal weight, admittedly, but I'm still weighing in at 179 (was 179.4 today, despite the fact that I had physical therapy just three days ago and am having a TON of inflammation and hip pain because of my arthritis, AND just started my period, tmi, sorry). I used to drive myself absolute crazy comparing myself to others wondering why my weight loss was so damn slow compared to everyone else and I hope you don't do that to yourself! If you keep with the dieting guidelines, and keep up the hard work, then your body will get there. It may just take more time then you expected, but you can do it!
Please try not to compare yourself and your progress to anyone else. We really do lose weight at our own bodies pace, and so trying to match someone else is just going to drive you up a wall! You will stress yourself out and my PCP warned me that stress can cause weight loss stalls (maybe that's why I had so many lol. I get stressed out wayyyy too easily!).
Anyway, I'm sorry that you're stressing out! It's pretty normal, I think. To stress out and think your weight loss is slow, I mean. I think many of us unintentionally thought we'd have weight loss like 'My 600 pound Life' despite the fact that none of us were that big. It's unrealistic to compare oneself to that since we generally have nowhere near as much weight to lose. Personally, I think you're off to a great start in your journey and I really wish you all the best!

Right after surgery some people can't feel full because of the nerves recovering from the surgery. You shouldn't have been pushing to eat 4 eggs in the first place and ice cream shouldn't even be in your diet this early out (it's not nutritious and has basically no Protein in it so it's wasted calories, carbs, and fat that you should NOT be consuming this early on). I think you need to call your surgical team to see if you unintentionally damaged your stomach pushing more food than you should have.

Maybe if you share what your starting weight is? For example: say you are starting at a lower BMI and thus a lower weight such as if you're starting BMI is 40 or your starting weight was 233 pounds then l would tell you that 22 pounds in 10 weeks is really fantastic for the weight you started at because that means that you lost almost 10% of your total body weight in those 10 weeks. If you start at a lower weight then you can't compare your weight to someone who started like me at 389 pounds because I would have needed to lose 37 pounds to equal the same percentage of weight loss as your 22 pounds. Comparing your weight loss to people who started at a higher weight is going to do nothing more than drive you insane! Trust me, you don't want to do that! We all lose at different rates because we all have different circumstances and each of our bodies works different.
Also, daily weight fluctuations is 100% normal. You can expect your daily weight to be different on average of a 2-5 pound difference due to Fluid retention, or your bowels being full. Hell, even inflammation or an upcoming or current period can cause your scale to have a higher number than you want to see. I had to deal with my hypothroidism causing more stalls than anyone I've ever seen on this site ever mention (literally went into one at least once a month from month three post-op to now. My longest one lasted 47 days) and yet I was still able to reach my goal weight. I've been in a stall since I reached my goal weight, admittedly, but I'm still weighing in at 179 (was 179.4 today, despite the fact that I had physical therapy just three days ago and am having a TON of inflammation and hip pain because of my arthritis, AND just started my period, tmi, sorry). I used to drive myself absolute crazy comparing myself to others wondering why my weight loss was so damn slow compared to everyone else and I hope you don't do that to yourself! If you keep with the dieting guidelines, and keep up the hard work, then your body will get there. It may just take more time then you expected, but you can do it!
Please try not to compare yourself and your progress to anyone else. We really do lose weight at our own bodies pace, and so trying to match someone else is just going to drive you up a wall! You will stress yourself out and my PCP warned me that stress can cause weight loss stalls (maybe that's why I had so many lol. I get stressed out wayyyy too easily!).
Anyway, I'm sorry that you're stressing out! It's pretty normal, I think. To stress out and think your weight loss is slow, I mean. I think many of us unintentionally thought we'd have weight loss like 'My 600 pound Life' despite the fact that none of us were that big. It's unrealistic to compare oneself to that since we generally have nowhere near as much weight to lose. Personally, I think you're off to a great start in your journey and I really wish you all the best!

Maybe if you share what your starting weight is? For example: say you are starting at a lower BMI and thus a lower weight such as if you're starting BMI is 40 or your starting weight was 233 pounds then l would tell you that 22 pounds in 10 weeks is really fantastic for the weight you started at because that means that you lost almost 10% of your total body weight in those 10 weeks. If you start at a lower weight then you can't compare your weight to someone who started like me at 389 pounds because I would have needed to lose 37 pounds to equal the same percentage of weight loss as your 22 pounds. Comparing your weight loss to people who started at a higher weight is going to do nothing more than drive you insane! Trust me, you don't want to do that! We all lose at different rates because we all have different circumstances and each of our bodies works different.
Also, daily weight fluctuations is 100% normal. You can expect your daily weight to be different on average of a 2-5 pound difference due to Fluid retention, or your bowels being full. Hell, even inflammation or an upcoming or current period can cause your scale to have a higher number than you want to see. I had to deal with my hypothroidism causing more stalls than anyone I've ever seen on this site ever mention (literally went into one at least once a month from month three post-op to now. My longest one lasted 47 days) and yet I was still able to reach my goal weight. I've been in a stall since I reached my goal weight, admittedly, but I'm still weighing in at 179 (was 179.4 today, despite the fact that I had physical therapy just three days ago and am having a TON of inflammation and hip pain because of my arthritis, AND just started my period, tmi, sorry). I used to drive myself absolute crazy comparing myself to others wondering why my weight loss was so damn slow compared to everyone else and I hope you don't do that to yourself! If you keep with the dieting guidelines, and keep up the hard work, then your body will get there. It may just take more time then you expected, but you can do it!
Please try not to compare yourself and your progress to anyone else. We really do lose weight at our own bodies pace, and so trying to match someone else is just going to drive you up a wall! You will stress yourself out and my PCP warned me that stress can cause weight loss stalls (maybe that's why I had so many lol. I get stressed out wayyyy too easily!).
Anyway, I'm sorry that you're stressing out! It's pretty normal, I think. To stress out and think your weight loss is slow, I mean. I think many of us unintentionally thought we'd have weight loss like 'My 600 pound Life' despite the fact that none of us were that big. It's unrealistic to compare oneself to that since we generally have nowhere near as much weight to lose. Personally, I think you're off to a great start in your journey and I really wish you all the best!

Maybe if you share what your starting weight is? For example: say you are starting at a lower BMI and thus a lower weight such as if you're starting BMI is 40 or your starting weight was 233 pounds then l would tell you that 22 pounds in 10 weeks is really fantastic for the weight you started at because that means that you lost almost 10% of your total body weight in those 10 weeks. If you start at a lower weight then you can't compare your weight to someone who started like me at 389 pounds because I would have needed to lose 37 pounds to equal the same percentage of weight loss as your 22 pounds. Comparing your weight loss to people who started at a higher weight is going to do nothing more than drive you insane! Trust me, you don't want to do that! We all lose at different rates because we all have different circumstances and each of our bodies works different.
Also, daily weight fluctuations is 100% normal. You can expect your daily weight to be different on average of a 2-5 pound difference due to Fluid retention, or your bowels being full. Hell, even inflammation or an upcoming or current period can cause your scale to have a higher number than you want to see. I had to deal with my hypothroidism causing more stalls than anyone I've ever seen on this site ever mention (literally went into one at least once a month from month three post-op to now. My longest one lasted 47 days) and yet I was still able to reach my goal weight. I've been in a stall since I reached my goal weight, admittedly, but I'm still weighing in at 179 (was 179.4 today, despite the fact that I had physical therapy just three days ago and am having a TON of inflammation and hip pain because of my arthritis, AND just started my period, tmi, sorry). I used to drive myself absolute crazy comparing myself to others wondering why my weight loss was so damn slow compared to everyone else and I hope you don't do that to yourself! If you keep with the dieting guidelines, and keep up the hard work, then your body will get there. It may just take more time then you expected, but you can do it!
Please try not to compare yourself and your progress to anyone else. We really do lose weight at our own bodies pace, and so trying to match someone else is just going to drive you up a wall! You will stress yourself out and my PCP warned me that stress can cause weight loss stalls (maybe that's why I had so many lol. I get stressed out wayyyy too easily!).
Anyway, I'm sorry that you're stressing out! It's pretty normal, I think. To stress out and think your weight loss is slow, I mean. I think many of us unintentionally thought we'd have weight loss like 'My 600 pound Life' despite the fact that none of us were that big. It's unrealistic to compare oneself to that since we generally have nowhere near as much weight to lose. Personally, I think you're off to a great start in your journey and I really wish you all the best!

Maybe if you share what your starting weight is? For example: say you are starting at a lower BMI and thus a lower weight such as if you're starting BMI is 40 or your starting weight was 233 pounds then l would tell you that 22 pounds in 10 weeks is really fantastic for the weight you started at because that means that you lost almost 10% of your total body weight in those 10 weeks. If you start at a lower weight then you can't compare your weight to someone who started like me at 389 pounds because I would have needed to lose 37 pounds to equal the same percentage of weight loss as your 22 pounds. Comparing your weight loss to people who started at a higher weight is going to do nothing more than drive you insane! Trust me, you don't want to do that! We all lose at different rates because we all have different circumstances and each of our bodies works different.
Also, daily weight fluctuations is 100% normal. You can expect your daily weight to be different on average of a 2-5 pound difference due to Fluid retention, or your bowels being full. Hell, even inflammation or an upcoming or current period can cause your scale to have a higher number than you want to see. I had to deal with my hypothroidism causing more stalls than anyone I've ever seen on this site ever mention (literally went into one at least once a month from month three post-op to now. My longest one lasted 47 days) and yet I was still able to reach my goal weight. I've been in a stall since I reached my goal weight, admittedly, but I'm still weighing in at 179 (was 179.4 today, despite the fact that I had physical therapy just three days ago and am having a TON of inflammation and hip pain because of my arthritis, AND just started my period, tmi, sorry). I used to drive myself absolute crazy comparing myself to others wondering why my weight loss was so damn slow compared to everyone else and I hope you don't do that to yourself! If you keep with the dieting guidelines, and keep up the hard work, then your body will get there. It may just take more time then you expected, but you can do it!
Please try not to compare yourself and your progress to anyone else. We really do lose weight at our own bodies pace, and so trying to match someone else is just going to drive you up a wall! You will stress yourself out and my PCP warned me that stress can cause weight loss stalls (maybe that's why I had so many lol. I get stressed out wayyyy too easily!).
Anyway, I'm sorry that you're stressing out! It's pretty normal, I think. To stress out and think your weight loss is slow, I mean. I think many of us unintentionally thought we'd have weight loss like 'My 600 pound Life' despite the fact that none of us were that big. It's unrealistic to compare oneself to that since we generally have nowhere near as much weight to lose. Personally, I think you're off to a great start in your journey and I really wish you all the best!

I had low standards lol. For me I was excited to fit into non plus sized clothing (I used to be a 34 in US womens jeans. I'm now a 12), when I had my blood pressure taken at the doctors office I wanted them to be able to take it on my upper arm like a normal person instead of having it on my wrist because it didn't fit my upper arm, when I had to do tests at the doctor's I was looking forward to not having to ask for a plus sized gown anymore, to being able to fit into the back seat of a car again (the seat belt in the back seats used to never fit me. it made family road trips difficult), to being able to sit in a booth at a restaurant again, to not get out of breath walking for more than 5 minutes, etc. Those were all the things I looked forward to most. And I've met all of those goals.

Right after surgery some people can't feel full because of the nerves recovering from the surgery. You shouldn't have been pushing to eat 4 eggs in the first place and ice cream shouldn't even be in your diet this early out (it's not nutritious and has basically no Protein in it so it's wasted calories, carbs, and fat that you should NOT be consuming this early on). I think you need to call your surgical team to see if you unintentionally damaged your stomach pushing more food than you should have.

I had low standards lol. For me I was excited to fit into non plus sized clothing (I used to be a 34 in US womens jeans. I'm now a 12), when I had my blood pressure taken at the doctors office I wanted them to be able to take it on my upper arm like a normal person instead of having it on my wrist because it didn't fit my upper arm, when I had to do tests at the doctor's I was looking forward to not having to ask for a plus sized gown anymore, to being able to fit into the back seat of a car again (the seat belt in the back seats used to never fit me. it made family road trips difficult), to being able to sit in a booth at a restaurant again, to not get out of breath walking for more than 5 minutes, etc. Those were all the things I looked forward to most. And I've met all of those goals.

Hello all. I am awaiting a Surgery date for the Duodenal Switch Loop surgery. I was just approved by my insurance. My doctors appt. Is Sept 15th maybe sooner (I'm on Cancelation list). When I see my dr. He will give me date for my surgery. I'm not sure what to expect pre surgery..I've been delayed for a long time due to the Pandemic. So the sooner the better..trying to be really conscious of my eating before I go for appt. Any advice would be helpful.

I literally posted about this a couple weeks ago. I was worried that with surging covid cases, they would shut down the elective surgeries again. My surgery was scheduled for tomorrow. This morning about 10 am, the nurses called me to give me instructions for pre-surgery. Then they called me at noon to tell me they were canceling me.

The worst part is that my husband lost his job, and I’m losing my insurance. This isn’t going to happen for me. I’m devastated. I’ve been crying since they told me. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do now. I’ve been on liquids for a week. I just feel like.... I have jumped through every one of the hoops for this insurance. I waited months the first time the hospitals were shut down. Finally got a consult. Finally got a date. Made it to THE DAY BEFORE.... I just don’t even know.

I knew surgery was the only choice for me when my younger sister gave birth to her second daughter in February 2019. I was 389 pounds and my health had only been declining as the years passed. When I first held my niece I was hit with the realization that if I didn't do something then I wouldn't be around to watch her grow up. It broke my heart. I was only 31 at the time (I just turned 34 last month) and I was absolutely sure that I'd be dead before I turned 40 if things didn't change. I'd done numerous diets over the years and nothing worked so surgery was really the only option for me if I wanted to be around to watch her grow up as I'd been able to watch her sister grow up. It's one of the best decisions that I ever made for myself. And, since I made that choice, and made that change, my sister has given me my first nephew and my brother gave me another niece. I get to watch all three of my nieces (ages 12, 2, and 17 months) and my nephew (age 9 months) grow up without having to worry that I'm not going to be around for them. My family has always been my strength and has always helped pull me through the worst times of my life and the idea of not being around to watch the youngest family members grow up into these amazing and complex little people were what pushed me into making the choice for surgery. I'm grateful every day that I made that choice.

You should reach out to your medical team. Why would you try to eat 4 hard boiled eggs or any ice cream at all 10 days post op? You still have internal sutures you could be damaging. It's possible you have nerves that are not yet healed and thus you are not yet feeling the restriction but you should be sticking to a nutrition plan regardless. And while I know plans can vary widely from surgeon to surgeon I don't think any would recommend ice cream or 4 whole eggs at one time. You shouldn't be trying to test the limits of your stomach.

The anesthesia they give you for surgery lowers your heart rate and blood pressure for a few days to a week or two post-op (in my experience, anyway). My doctor was initially one of those who thought my blood pressure would be fine after surgery, so she actually told me just stop taking my meds altogether. It wasn't okay. I went off my bp meds for three months and my bp SKY ROCKETED! I had to go back on them. I mean, I take less now then I used to (i.e I used to take my bp meds pre-op every other day. Now 18 months post-op I take them every 3-4 days. And my bp is normal with that. But I can't give them up altogether because my bp sky rockets and so does my heart rate. I also have tachycardia btw, so yeah). Just monitor your blood pressure for a couple days and then take them when it starts to rise again. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones that may not have to take them anymore (that's usually only for those who have weight related bp. Mine is genetic. Literally everyone in my generation except my sister has hbp. Everyone in my mom and grandma's generation take bp meds. Weight in our case doesn't matter).

Go the ER, hun. You obviously can't rely on the surgeon so go to the ER and tell them you had surgery less than a week ago and were only given tylenol and it's just not helping with your pain. Make sure you explain that you can't have NSAIDs though because they'll likely try and give you that first.