Hi!

I have not done an online introduction, but a fair amount of posting. I have been using an app on my iphone and I am currently sitting at my laptop. The actual site is considerably different than the very simple app. Since I actually have a key board I can type out an introduction.

I am a wife and a mother. I am currently 3 months into the insurance required 6 month medically supervised weight loss. I live in Portland, Oregon and I think I will be going to Legacy Weight Management Institution. I originally started this process at OHSU, but I have not been pleased with the customer service. My insurance covers WLS and I have Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield.

I have already has my sleep study and lab work. On August 2nd and 3rd I will have my psychological evaluation, nutritionist, physical therapy and nurse practitioner appointments. From what I have read in my paperwork I may be asked to do some testing.

I am excited to get this journey started. I am preparing myself mentally to make changes and look forward to establishing a routine with nutrition and exercise.

I, like many others on this forum have struggled with my weight for my entire life. I have tried many different diets, a lot of exercise, but never drugs (my body is very sensitive). I am currently at my heaviest weight of 306.4lbs. I am thankful to not have diabetes or high blood pressure. I do have a great deal of back/foot pain, asthma, migraines, carpel tunnel, skins rashes and a few other minor health concerns. I think if I continue down this road I will not live too much longer.

I am thrilled to have this opportunity and look forward to the success and potential struggles.

Good luck to you, Sannah! Sounds like you have a good pre op blueprint for your future success. It ain't easy, but I don't regret a single thing. Wishing you nothing but good luck.

Sent from my iPad using VST

Junior Guru!!!

Hello!

Thank you kindly! Looks like your doing great!!!!

Sannah

I'm slow but steady. Working out is the key for me.

Sent from my iPad using VST

I'm slow but steady. Working out is the key for me.

Sent from my iPad using VST

What type or workouts do you do? I aspire to be a runner. One day!! It's on my list!!!

I'm a new convert to exercise. I've always hated it. Plus I have a herniated disc, so I have to stick to low/non impact exercises.

I started after surgery SD 4/9, started at the gym around 5/15. I began with 15 mins of elliptical trainer at level 1 intensity that about killed me. Now I can do 65 mins at 12-18 intensity.

I try to get two 60 min classes of water aerobics in a week. Plus I do some strength training. Last week I tried a Zumba class and although I loved it, my back spasmed the rest of the week. My schedule looks like:

Monday: 1 hr water aerobics 30-60 mons circuit/strength training.

Tuesday: 1 hr elliptical, 30 mins circuit/strength training.

Wednesday: repeat Monday

Thursday: repeat Tuesday

Friday-Sunday: off unless I'm making up for week before. Trying to commit to 4x week.

Sent from my iPad using VST

Hello!!

Sounds like a great workout plan!! You've really made some gains on the eliptical!! Go you!! So impressive!!!

I hope I can get established in a workout routine. I miss working out. It is rather hard to workout at this weight. I feel like keeping the house spotless is a workout. I spend a great deal of my time cleaning. I cannot wait until clearing isn't so youth feeling.

Thank you for sharing with me!! How have you liked your sleeve so far? Any words of advice?

Sannah

Hello!!

Sounds like a great workout plan!! You've really made some gains on the eliptical!! Go you!! So impressive!!!

I hope I can get established in a workout routine. I miss working out. It is rather hard to workout at this weight. I feel like keeping the house spotless is a workout. I spend a great deal of my time cleaning. I cannot wait until clearing isn't so youth feeling.

Thank you for sharing with me!! How have you liked your sleeve so far? Any words of advice?

Sannah

I LOVE my sleeve! I have zero regrets about the surgery. Recovery was easy, my high blood pressure disappeared and I'm losing despite thyroid issues and a messed up back.

Gyms always intimidated me but I joined a community center that has a gym and pool. It caters to families and older adults, and I don't have to hide from steroid muscle heads hogging the machines.

I can get a little overwhelmed sometimes when faced with too many food choices (like at a restaurant), so I try to find a menu and decide what to have before we go out. I still love to cook, but when we sit down to eat what I cooked, it's like "meh".

Get yourself a digital food scale if you don't already have one. I'm terrible at eyeballing a 2-3oz portion of anything. I don't use the scale for portion control really (no use in that) but to not waste food and accurately track nutrients.

Join an online/mobile/app like MyFitnessPal. I joined MFP when I started my pre op diet, and have found it invaluable. It's free, a lot of people from this forum are on it, and it has the best food database I've ever seen. There are other good ones too, can't remember names off the top of my head.

After surgery, immediately start weeding out your closet. First I got rid of all the clothes I owned but hated wearing because they made me feel old, frumpy and fat. I went through my pile of old clothes that I'd grown out of and picked out what still looked ok. Then I went to cheap places like Target and Ross and bought just a few mix and match shirts in stretchy materials that would last through a few size changes. . I hung all my "less fat" clothes in the closet even if I couldn't wear them yet and tried them on once a week or so. It's rather amazing how fast your size will change even if you aren't losing lbs. and you might actually shrink past clothes you could wear, so try on often.

Expect to get frustrated sometimes. It's normal and ok, and it gets better. It's hard to stay on liquids after surgery, food you loved before won't taste the same, going out is overwhelming, everyone on this forum seems to lose faster and easier than you. Relax, take a deep breath and let it go.

Sent from my iPad using VST

Hello!

Thank you for taking time to share this information with me. I first wanted to say congrats on your success, especially despite your back and thyroid challenges!!

I have a digital scale that I used to measure food. I have had it for 4-6 years. I am curious when these kind of items need replaced. I think I should do some research on this.

I have previously used MFP. I LOVE IT! My husband and I logged together and both lost a little weight doing this. I fell off the band wagon and I should get back on. My husband was my only 'friend' on MFP and maybe I needed more. We shared our food logs to hold each other accountable. Maybe I can find some buddies from this forum and add them to MFP's.

I am glad that you brought up the eating out aspect. My husband and our friends really like to eat out and even now this causes trouble for me. I, like you, feel overwhelmed with the choices at most restaurants. Perhaps I should tell my husband what I plan to eat prior to going out, so he can help me be accountable.

I will check out my local community center! Good thinking. I am not a fan of the meat market style gyms! Yuck! No thanks! I drive by a 24 hour fitness and LA fitness almost daily. I have been to 24hour fitness before and I was not comfortable. I am not sure about LA Fitness- maybe check it out based on location. For years I went to the local community center. However, we just moved and I am still learning a lot about my new area.

I hope that you have a good evening!

Sannah

Good luck. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I have done all of my preop duties and I'm waiting for my surgery date to be scheduled. I too feel without this procedure my life may be cut short.

I'm married to a metabolic wonder - someone who can eat almost obscene amounts of food and hardly gains any weight. Even though I'm not a competitive eater in any way, it's very hard to be around someone like that and not gain weight yourself. We don't eat fast food or fried foods, don't keep sweets or bad Snacks at home, but that's not enough to keep me from gaining weight. In the last month, my husband decided that he wanted to lose 10 lbs (!!!!!!!!) so he's also joined MFP. My sister joined MFP as well. She's very fit and eats healthy and it's helped me be accountable for everything I put in my mouth. I'm friends with several VST members as well. Do a search here on VST for "MyFitnessPal" and you'll see several threads with people providing their user names. Mine is dznygrl70.

Looking up restaurant menus has reduced a lot of my post-surgery anxiety - but I also look for a nutritional menu if it's available. For example, we wanted to go out for dinner last weekend. Three chain restaurants in our neighborhood (Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Outback) all had dinner specials. I was voting for Olive Garden until I looked up the nutritional values and saw the horrific calorie counts - even eating at my much reduced amount would have been unhealthy. I then thought "Fish is lighter" and checked out Red Lobster - and they were even worse! Of all places, Outback was the best choice from a nutritional standpoint. A 6 oz Outback Special steak with broccoli and salad with lo cal dressing comes in at under 600 calories, and I was able to get three meals out of that one order. I couldn't have had any of the special dinners at the other two restaurants for even a third of those calories. Who would have thought that a steak dinner was the answer?!!

Last week I met a friend at TGIF for lunch. I checked the menu first, thinking I'd just order an appetizer for my entree. They only had one appetizer under 900-ish calories and it was a spinach/cheese flatbread. The fried green bean appetizer is 900 calories - that is just CRAZY!!!! For green Beans?

I almost had a crying meltdown when we visited a local Thai/Vietnamese restaurant last month. The menu was huge, I didn't check it out beforehand and I got completely overwhelmed trying to figure out what to order. I finally just gave up and asked my husband if I could just nibble off what he ordered. That ended up working out perfectly, thank goodness.

Good luck. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I have done all of my preop duties and I'm waiting for my surgery date to be scheduled. I too feel without this procedure my life may be cut short.

Hello Honey Bear!!

Thank you kindly!! How are you doing? Ready?

I can not wait to be in your shoes!!

Wishing you wellness,

Sannah

Hello!

For some reason my iphone app and online are showing different screen names. So weird. Sannah and Sannah09 are both me and have different ratings. Strange.

So, anyhow... I know some of these metabolic wonders! I always wished to be like them, but I know this will never happen.

No surprise on those calories you listed. Isn't this just disgusting!? Even when you eat something bland or basic the restaurants manage to add tons and tons of calories. In the location that I live it is a big deal to eat local. While this is great for economy a lot of these local places do not document or seem to know nutritional information for their own food!!! Bummer deal!! In the past whenever we went out I just had a regular salad. I do not like dressing so I was okay with counting on salad.

I hope your day has been good!!!

Sannah