vikingbeast

8 minutes ago, carrielee said:

That is true.

I look at my friends that are healthy weights and what they’re able to do with their lives and it makes me sad, but motivated. My blood pressure yesterday was at stroke level again, and I’m on multiple hypertensives. I ended up back in the ER with heart attack type symptoms and ended up diagnosed with multiple PEs. At the ER, my BP was 178/108 and my heart rate was 137. I’m literally killing my self with this life.

That was my wake-up call, too, and almost exactly the same BP reading when I went to the ER. I was on two anti-hypertension drugs (losartan with the Water pill, and amlodipine). I took the last dose of losartan the day after surgery (my GP wanted me to take it mostly to get the surgery Fluid moving). Within three weeks I was on a half dose of amlodipine, and three months after surgery I was off BP drugs altogether.

I ended up in the ER last week (cellulitis) and when they took my blood pressure, it was 111/67, seven months post-op.

My resting heart rate is 48. My A1c went from 5.9 to 5.1 almost overnight. I haven't used an inhaler since surgery.

Do it for yourself.

I had my first carbonated drink about four months post-op. It bloats me like you cannot believe and it's actually painful. It's a shame, because I was used to drinking just a bottle of Topo Chico mineral Water with two shakes of celery bitters... and it hurts too much.

I had a sip of Coca-Cola Starlight Zero Sugar the other day and 1) the fizziness bothered me, and 2) it tasted like laundry detergent.

I had a moment like that too, where I looked at a picture of "vikingbeast: The Fat Years" and was all... how did I not die??

I'm seven months out and eat "normal" food that I pre-prep. Each day last week I ate between 20-30 g of sugar, in a diet of 1600-1800 cal per day.

I had it in January (so four months post-op) but really only felt a sore throat and very, very tired. I took quercetin with bromelain, Vitamins C and D, and melatonin every night per my doctor's suggestion (all things you can get delivered)

Ignore those people even if those people are your dad.

Besides, what exactly are you supposed to do, magick up a different size stomach??

And I just now roasted three peppers/capsicums and peeled them and put them in my egg bake for the week.

But you've recognized it, and you're here because you're thinking about doing something about it.

I will tell you, I wish I'd done it fifteen years ago. I look back at pictures from a year (and 110 lbs) ago and it's like I have a different life now, one that's not ruled by food. I don't plan the next meal as soon as I put the fork down from the one in front of me. I don't plan vacations around restaurant scenes. It's... liberating.

You can do it. It is a hard journey, but after the first week post-op, it gets easier. A lot easier.

Quote

2. Depression and it's effects post surgery?

My obesity was a major cause of my depression. I was able to move from 300 mg a day of Wellbutrin to 75 mg. When I tried to drop the WB altogether, I started feeling the symptoms again. I don't have any need to up my dose at all.

Quote

3. Binge eating - post surgery? I am hoping it's a positive effect.

You will want to find a therapist, because binge eating is in the head, not the gut. You will simply not be ABLE to binge eat for a while, but if you keep trying, you will eventually fit more food in there. I will say that I have a totally different outlook to food now. I meal prep and just eat that, and if I do snack it's not the diet-busting binges I once went on.

Quote

4. Biggest struggle post surgery.

Initially (immediately post-surgery) the gas was painful. That lasted 2-3 days. After that, it was the loss of strength from eating so little—some of my work is physical and I was no longer able to do it for a while. That also passed. Also, the bariatric diet from my clinic was written for sedentary people, and I am most definitely not sedentary. I got in a huge fight with the bariatric nutritionist (she tried to shame me for eating 800 cal a day instead of 400-500 at three months out), fired her, and hired a nutrition coach who now has me eating 1600-2000 cal a day depending on activity level, and I'm still losing.

Seven months out... absolutely you will "gain" there... the only gain we actually want! It's... become a bit of problem to wear certain kinds of pants.

WOOOOOOT!!!! Way to go!!

My fiancé was in a terrible car wreck (he is okay) and we had to go to the tow yard to clean out the car. Because the trunk was electric-release only, and it was a coupe, I had to fold the driver's seat forward and get in the back to pull down the seatback to get into the trunk—and I fit and got back out, with no wriggling or grease needed.

So I had a stall. An eight-week-long stall. And I'm pretty close to my goal weight, so I figured maybe this was it... they say N% of your excess body weight, and I'm way past that N%, so this must be it, right? I know it seems early (seven months out), but maybe my body's reached its new set point. Yay, no more meds, yay, normal sized clothing from the middle of the size range, not the top end and oh please God let it fit.

So I bought a bunch of new clothes. I've been wearing hand-me-downs and Goodwill thrifting specials for months now, and I wanted some new clothes. I had some belts made, too. Finally I can start to look like an adult!

Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha. My body decided, over the last week and a half, to lose NINE POUNDS.

The clothes I bought are too big.

Fortunately some of them still have the tags so I can exchange them. But I guess I needed to do this in order to get things moving again. LOL.

Smartfood cheese popcorn. I literally can't have it in the house. And you'd think it'd be hard to eat a lot because it takes up so much room, but no, apparently it's a slider too.

Yes, it's normal, and for me it persisted eight weeks post-op. But it got better every day. My surgeon was so completely unconcerned about it that it set me at ease.

Others have given you great advice. I will just say that your taste buds are likely to change after surgery. I literally couldn't eat fast food even if I wanted it—I tried it once and got two bites into a burger and was all "BLEH" and refused to eat any of it.

Now if only my body rejected cheese popcorn...

Before surgery, I was put on Clear Liquids for one day, and NPO (nothing by mouth) after midnight the day of surgery. I was also given a bottle of CHG (chlorhexidine gluconate, a strongly antiseptic wash) and told to wash twice with a washcloth and plenty of it. It made my skin feel "slippery". The night before surgery, a nurse called to go over things with me and ask questions about allergies, etc. She also answered questions I had (and I had a lot).

The day of surgery, I reported to the hospital. I'd done all my check-in paperwork before so just had a few minutes at reception/intake. Then I was sent to a waiting room, given a brain-swab Covid test, and called when my slot in the OR was ready. I changed into that super sexy gown, was washed again, and my stomach was shaved (I'm a dude). They gave me some pills, including an anti-nausea medication and some Tylenol. They also put a seasickness patch behind my ear.

I met the surgeon, who asked a bunch of questions, then the priest (just pro forma), then the anesthesiologist, with more questions. They started an IV in me. My fiancé was allowed to stay with me as my "interpreter" since I am hard of hearing and have trouble communicating with masks. I was rolled out and in the operating theatre there were the anesthesiologist, his resident, the surgeon, his resident, two nurses. I had given permission for my operation to be broadcast to medical students (how will we get new doctors unless we let new doctoral candidates see what they need to know?) so there was a camera.

The anesthesia was started and the next thing I knew I was in my recovery room with my fiancé by my side. I was EXTREMELY sleepy and kept nodding off. There was food brought but I only managed a few sips and actually fell asleep with my spoon in the broth. I was discharged twelve hours after I arrived and went home and slept.

Good luck. Just know that the first week can be hard—there's a lot of gas... but it is so, so, SO worth it and in six or even just three months you're gonna wish you'd done it sooner.

Don't do this. Don't try to set yourself up for metrics like that, because everybody is different, and most importantly, every BODY is different.

I will say that my bariatric centre's nutritionist tried to shame me for eating 800 kcal a day and told me that's why my weight loss stalled. I fired her loudly and found a different nutrition coach, who increased my calories based on my activity level, and weight loss resumed. I currently eat 1500-2000 cal a day at seven months out and am still losing, though I am extremely active and also taller and heavier than you are.

I do want to say one thing, because I'm a total control freak and had to weigh myself every day. Get out of that habit right now. And if you must weigh often, then keep a running average. Pick a day—let's say Wednesdays. Every Wednesday add up your total weights and divide by the number of weigh-ins. Then track that average.

Why? Because your body has way more going on than just fat loss. If you eat salty, or if it's time for your courses, or if you've been doing a lot of weight lifting, or if you're constipated, etc., etc., your weight can fluctuate by as much as 3-5 lbs. over the course of just a couple of days. Does that mean you "gained weight" (as in fat)? No... you couldn't eat that much. So it's inflammation, or bloating, or muscle inflammation.

Learning this saved me from the terrible things I would say to myself if I stepped on the scale and had an unexpectedly high weigh-in.

Good stuff! You look great.

Stalls happen and they're as frustrating as 🤬. But the closer you get, the more often they happen, and sometimes for longer, too. But you're off your BP meds, you're already feeling better—write that stuff down so that when you wake up and the damn scale is being a traitor again, you have something to fall back on.

I remember reading somewhere that you lose about as much in the first three months as the next nine months after that, so the curve definitely slows down.

I meant to make a post for six months, but then life happened. So here I am exactly seven months out from surgery.

Current weight: 268. Down 128 lbs. from my measured high, down 98 lbs. since intake, down 89 lbs. since surgery. 17 pounds to goal.

It's gotten a lot slower, and I expected it to. I hit a major stall for more than a month right around the six-month mark. I'd lose a pound, and then I'd retain Water or work out hard and cause inflammation, and those gains would be erased. My week-over-week average did drop, but by fractions of a pound. Then this week—whooooooosh, I lost five pounds in two days which just means my body cleared out the water, the 💩, and whatever else might've been hiding in there.

The big marker has been my body fat; at intake, my body fat was over 40%. At six months (the last DEXA scan I had done), it was 26.8%, and has dropped since then. Because I have been training like a madman, my muscle mass also went up quite a bit from the initial post-surgical drop. My goal is to be below 20% body fat, whatever that number is, so I recalculated it at six months and my goal weight moved from 240 lbs. to 251 lbs. (I'm a thicc boi, by which I mean "incredibly dense".)

Last week I was hospitalized for an infection and spent two days in there. While the infection absolutely sucked, I did notice my vital signs were exactly where they needed to be, without any medication at all. My blood pressure was 111/67, my SpO2 was 100%, and my resting heart rate was 48 bpm. That alone would have made it worth it. Also, the first night, I did not have my APAP machine and managed to sleep without oxygen desaturation happening (to the very great surprise of the nurse). I need to make an appointment for a sleep study to see if I still need the machine, I don't want to just drop it if I'm still having apnea.

I am wearing size 34 jeans (down from 52), large t-shirts (down from 4XL or even 5XL), and my shoe size went down again, so I'm in 11.5s now, which are a lot easier to find.

I eat 1500-2000 calories a day depending on my planned activity level. On days when I'm going to work out and then coach, I eat closer to 2000 cal; on days where I am more sedentary, I eat closer to 1500 calories. It's about a 40/30/30 split between Protein, carbohydrate, and fat calories. If I start feeling the restriction, I just stop, no matter how many calories I'm up to. I find that if I force myself to put the spoon or fork down between bites, sometimes my brain just forgets the food is there, so if I go, "Oh, hey, there's still food in front of me," I know I have had enough.

Yesterday's meal plan was this, along with 3 litres of water:

• 0700: Espresso with 3g brown sugar and 2 Tbsp. milk, 8 oz. tropical chia pudding with a few very small cubes of mango and nata de coco (coconut jelly). It took me about 20 minutes to eat this.
• 1000: Protein Shake (Core Power 26g)
• 1300: 4 oz. ground turkey breast with 1.5 eggs, some spinach, mushrooms, and roasted yellow bell pepper, with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, some salsa, and a high-fiber whole-wheat tortilla-type wrap. This took me an hour to eat.
• 1800: 6 oz. grilled pork chop with 2 Tbsp. sauerkraut and some cooked apple and caramelized onion, with 4 oz. steamed green Beans with a tiny bit of butter. It took me 45 minutes to eat this.
• 2030: Protein pudding (instant sugar-free pudding with Protein Powder mixed in, made with milk) and one single Thin Mint crumbled on top

Total was 158.3 grams protein, 122.3 g carbohydrate, 58.7 g fat for a total of 1650 calories.

Athletically, my mile run has gone from 15 minutes to about 10 minutes (though I don't run as often as I should), my flexibility and mobility are way improved, and my explosiveness has improved—from nearly missing an 18-inch standing box jump to doing a 30-inch with plenty of clearance. I'm juuuuuust about able to do a pull-up (soon!) and can do ring dips and support my own weight on the rings. I can also climb corral fences a lot better now that I don't have to wait at the top to find my center of gravity.

There's some loose skin, especially around my belly. There's a little bit of chicken wing in my thighs and a tiny, nearly unnoticeable amount in my arms. The belly one bothers me because I feel like it pooches out, but obviously I will need to be stabilized at a weight for a while before even thinking about plastics.

(I am not Jewish, but have Jewish family and have been immersed in Passover for decades.)

It would depend how far out from surgery you are and how strict your particular observance is.

If you follow a rabbi who insists on five kezeitim during seder, you might have a lot of trouble fitting it in. But Halachic observance does take second place to medical reality, which is why the very sick (or those who would become very sick) are not allowed to do ta'anit on Yom Kippur or Tisha b'Av.

At six months out, I would be able to eat five kezeitim, but not much else. I am not sure I would be able to eat an entire Hillel sandwich, for example, not with maror and karpas and extra charoset and all the rest of it. If I drank arba kosot, I'd be drunk off my tuchus.

But if you are willing to abide by the Halachic spirit if not the strict letter of the law, you could use a thimble-sized glass for the arba kosot, you could eat a small Hillel sandwich and a total of two kezeitim during Seder and have room for bites of other things depending on your tradition (Ashkenazim would have things like beitzah and gefilte fish).

You should have a serious discussion with your rabbi about it, because your interpretation and mine are probably quite different, and it's your observance, not mine.

Explanation for those who are scratching their heads at the random Hebrew sprinkled in these posts:

The OP wants to know how a religiously observant (frum) Jewish person who had had a sleeve surgery would manage to do the required eating of the unleavened bread (matzah) during the Passover seder. Some rabbis say that Jewish law (Halacha) requires that every person eat five pieces of matzah during Seder, each one being about 26 square cm or 4 square inches (kezeit). Some require two kezeitim. Some have different requirements depending on what the matzah is made out (you have to eat more if it's made from oats and wheat, less if it's all wheat). And some don't have any minimum amount required. There are also other things required—dipping herbs into salty Water (karpas), eating bitter herbs (maror, usually horseradish), making a sandwich out of matzah and fruit compote (charoset, called a Hillel sandwich), eggs (beitzah), etc., and you must drink four cups of wine (arba kosot), though they can be very small. Ta'anit means fasting, which happens twice a year for Jewish people, on Yom Kippur and Tisha b'Av holidays.

2 minutes ago, Tony B - NJ said:

After losing nearly 100 pounds and slowing down the weight loss I felt it was time to purchase a suit just in case the need arises where I need one. The Salesperson took me over to the "modern fit" area and tried on a jacket. He then took that off and brought me over to the "slim fit" area and tried on jackets there. The slim fit fit me perfectly. I went from a 52 Regular, Executive Fit to a 42 short, Slim fit. And the pants went from a 50 waist to a 36 waist. When I was checking out he saw I had purchased a suit about 18 months ago and asked who I bought those suits for since they were so large...it felt really good to answer him that I lost the weight but even better feeling to be in a slim fitting suit.

I had almost exactly the same experience yesterday—I went to go buy a decent set of clothes (better than the ranch wear I'm normally in) and went for a sport coat, dress shirt, and decent non-denim trousers. I ended up in the "athletic fit" trousers and the "slim fit" shirt... my neck went from 22 with a collar spreader to 17.5, my jacket size from a 58/60 to a 48. It was bizarre to go try on trousers, need a smaller size, and then realize they didn't have any in stock, not because it was at the upper end of the range, but because it was the most common size.

Definitely ask your doctor. But let me ask this... did your diet change at all? Maybe you ate more salty foods? Did your exercise regimen change? If you started, say, lifting weights, inflammation can cause Water retention.

It could be inflammation from the surgery. It could also be acid reflux (GERD). Talk to your surgeon's office.