Almost 5 months since sleeve plication surgery and down over 50 pounds!

Jenn · July 4, 2011

I have been trying to reach 50 pounds lost for about a month now, I've been bouncing between 235-238ish. As a reminder, I started at 283 and had surgery Feb. 7, 2011. I have a follow-up with Dr. Billy on July 6 and really wanted to be down 50 pounds especially since his scale always weighs me a few pounds more than my bathroom scale I got on the scale this morning and weighed in at 232!

So it took me about 1 month to lose 5 pounds. I have been on summer break and reduced my exercise from 4 days a week to about 2. Since I've been home I have also been eating out more. Normally, at work, I only have 35 minutes for lunch so I bring left overs or my own homemade lunch. Eating out has definitely contributed to the fact that I haven't lost much.

This past week or two I increased my exercise again and started doing my Zumba DVD at home. I also started walking at the beach about 3 times per week. During the summer it's a lot harder to walk at the beach because of the number of people there (and lack of parking) so I am planning on going back to the gym this week. I need to go to the gym anyway because I really want to have brachioplasty (arm reduction surgery) when I get closer to goal so I need to work on building up my arm strength and muscles. I really need to work on my core strength too since this is typically a weak area for me.

I am hoping Dr. Billy's scale is friendly to me and shows a 50 pound loss as well. Tomorrow I'm going to start focusing again on increasing my Protein, working out more frequently and drinking lots of Water - the basics!!

Here is an example of a typical meal for me at (almost) 5 months out:

Breakfast - homemade Breakfast sandwich: 1/2 bagel with 1 scrambled egg and 1 or 2 pieces of bacon with 1/2 slice of lf american cheese (I usually only eat about 1/2-3/4 of this)

snack - the rest of my breakfast, water

Lunch - 1 chicken soft taco with shredded lettuce, cheese, salsa. About 3 tsps. of Beans, water

snack - none or if I'm hungry I try to eat some fruit (2 or 3 strawberries or 4-5 grapes)

Dinner - 1/4-1/2 of a BBQ chicken sandwich with only the bottom bread, 3-4 bites of broccoli

Snack - 1 snack size snickers or 1,000 grand bar (this usually takes me 15 minutes to eat as I put them in the refrigerator)

I haven't been tracking my calories lately but I'd say I'm around 1,200-1,400 on a typical day. I usually walk for about 1 hour and burn around 300-400 calories (when I exercise).

I just reviewed some of the results from the past plication studies and have been using these to help me set my goals. My goal for 3 months out was to lose about 30% of the weight I needed to lose, which translates to 30 pounds as I want to lose about 100 pounds total. For 5 months out I wanted to lose about 40% or 40 pounds - so I'm doing better than that!! I've already lost 50% of the weight I need to lose. For 6 months I'd really like to be closer to 55 or 60 pounds lost. My goal weight is about 175-180ish which puts me at about a size 12/14.

Overall, I'm very happy with my results and hope to continue to lose throughout this next 7 months. I will be ecstatic if I am close to or at goal by my 1 year anniversary.

To put this in perspective, when I was originally banded in December, 2001 I weighed 289 and had lost down to 237 by November, 2002 (almost 1 year out). It took until March, 2003 (15 months out) to lose down to 230 (down 59 lbs) and until July, 2003 (19 months out) to lose down to 223 (down 69 lbs) . At my 2 year anniversary in Dec, 2003 I weighed 188, losing 101 pounds. Even though we might be losing slowly, at least we are losing and I really do believe it is much better for our bodies to lose slowly.

Take care,

chowchows · July 5, 2011

That is inspiring! Congrats!

Lmom1980 · July 5, 2011

It sounds like you are right on track! Good job!

we have similar stats. I am approaching my 4 month mark, and am right around 40 pounds. over 50 if you count the pre-op diet. My goal is 165, with the hopes of staying between 165-175 for life. I am also looking into the arm surgery, and probably also need a little work on my lower abdomen. I want to hit the 100 pounds in one year goal, then the surgery will be my reward.

I got a little off track over the past few days will all the July 4th celebrations, but now I am motivated to get back on track. Thanks for sharing your journey!

mednar · July 5, 2011

It's always encouraging to read your posts. I appreciate you sharing your information. Each time I get tired and think "I won't walk today. One day won't hurt." someone usually posts something on here that motivates me to get off my butt and do it anyway.

One question for you. How did you set your final target weight? I'm a male, 5'7", and the highest weight on the charts for me to not be considered obese is 154. Which means I still have a little over 110 pounds to lose. Every time I see that chart in the doctor's office it seems so far off.

Thanks for sharing.

Jenn · July 6, 2011

I set my final target weight based on my lowest weight as an adult. I like myself at that size and my husband doesn't like me any smaller than that. I think, according to the charts I'm supposed to be 165 but I prefer closer to 175.

I know what you mean about the goal weight being so far off... I thought that too before I had my surgery and now I am halfway there!

What really helped me was to set mini goals along the way. For example my goal right now is to get into the 220s within the next week or so. My next mini goal will be to get to the 210s, etc.

Good luck to you and KUP.

TEXAS DIVA · July 7, 2011

Jenn, I always enjoy your posts! you are right "AT LEAST WE ARE LOSING" . I have always expressed my disdain at this slow weight loss, but I vow to TRY to not complain about it again. I lost 4 lbs this week after a 3 wk stall. I shouldnt do too much complaining because I do not exercise much at all, but my food consumption is soooo small every day and maybe thats why i did loose... Im just gonna use my common sense, have small endulges from time to time and keep up the fruit and water.. Some days my restriction is soooo tight that I can hardly eat a few bites.. other days I can eat way more.. still dont understand that.. but all things considered, I feel very blessed and fortunate to have had this surgery.. i havent weighed 187lbs in 10 years!