As always, I'll start with the stats:

HW (2/9/2016): 333
SW (3/21/2016): 287
CW: 219

Total Lost Since Pre-Op: 114lbs
Total Lost Since Surgery: 68lbs

I am very happy with the overall results of my surgery. I feel great, I'm off all of my high blood pressure medication, I have more energy and the pain from osteoarthritis in my knees is greatly reduced.

After having primarily focused on walking on a (near) daily basis, I recently started working out - cardio and weights. My body is in absolute shock! I had settled into losing 2-4 lbs a week the last few weeks, and with the new exercise regime, I dropped about 8 lbs the first week. It all works itself out in the end, but nice to see a little variety in the scale these days!!!

On the down side, the pain in my hip from osteoarthritis is no better, and I am planning on having it replaced next January. Even this is not all bad news as I am now a candidate for a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing in lieu of a Total Hip Replacement. Not to mention the surgery and recovery will be easier down 110+ lbs (and hopefully much more by next January!)

Eating is still terrible. This is definitely wearing on me. I have another follow-up appointment next month and will be checking in with my doctor, but it does not appear my stricture is getting any better. I have no problem getting in my Protein and fluids, but I still drink the majority of my protein. I can handle soft foods like cottage cheese, and certain seafood like shrimp and scallops. I can handle thinly sliced deli meat as well, but any other sort of chicken, beef, pork, etc is a disaster - even ground up in a Soup is a no god. Causes me almost immediate pain and vomiting. I even tried crab the other day - I ate about 2oz and had massive pain, and vomited it back up for the next 2+ hours. Thank god I'm not ever hungry! I feel like i should be progressing more than I am, and while it's great for my weight loss, I need to be able to derive my nutrition primarily from food at some point.

The big shift for me now is starting to think about maintenance. I am still 35 lbs from my original goal, but that seems like nothing at this point! First and foremost, I am no longer sure that is my final goal, I plan on re-evaluating when I get there. When I look in the mirror, 35 lbs doesn't seem like it's going to get me to where I need to be. Secondly, I am afraid of maintenance and what that means. Like many, I've always been able to lose. Keeping it off is the challenge. Losing has been my focus, and I've done well with it, but what happens when I make a conscious decision to stop? Combine that with my issue around eating, and frankly at this point, I would be unable to stop. I just can't consume enough calories/food to stop losing weight. I'm sure I can have a balloon dilation to help the stricture, but I do have a fear that I will be unable to stop losing weight. How freaking ironic, right?!?!

It's only been about 4.5 months since I first stepped into my doctors office for a consult. At 333 lbs, it was unfathomable back then that I could ever be under 200 lbs, and here I am, just 19 lbs away from it. It also seems crazy that after just 4.5 months I am even thinking about maintenance. I've never lost enough in any of my million diets that maintenance was an option - I just fell off the wagon and that was the end of that.

Thank you for sharing...it is hard to believe in such a short time you lost that amount. Great work!

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Great job. I hope my body responds as well,. (Even for a Michigan fan)

Edited June 21, 201610 yr by RJC5197

Great job. I hope my body responds as well,. (Even for a Michigan fan)

I certainly hope so as well! And I almost never encourage a wolverine. :-)

@

Congratulations on your progress. I am sorry that you have gotten there with a stricture and hope that they resolve that quickly for you so you can get back on track with getting your Protein mostly from food.

I myself still drink one premier Protein shake per day which gives me 30 grams first thing in the am. My protein tests have been great so far but 21 months post op I still have a pretty tight restriction only able to eat a few ounces of dense protein. I can certainly eat larger portions of veggies or fruit but dense protein fills me up fast and keeps me full and I cannot eat enough of it to get all of my protein from only that. Thankfully my team is comfortable with my having one protein shake per day.

In terms of your goal, you are probably right. As you lose the next 35 you will likely reassess. I have done that several times now thinking I would be way too thin at 165 which is the high end of the bmi chart for someone my height. I am currently at 161 and I certainly will begin to worry if I go much below 155. Mostly because in places I am very thin and the weight seems to still come off of those places instead of where I know I still have fat. It's weird the way that works.

I definately would prefer to stay somewhere between 155 and 165. It feels good to me to stay in that range.

In terms of maintenance I feel like I still do not have that figured out. I reached my goal in early spring and I seem to gain when I think I should be ok and lose when I adjust. Recently I started weaning off some medications they were using to try to control chronic pain. As soon as I started taking them I started gaining and almost immediately as I started to wean off I started losing rapidly again. For example.... I gained 5lbs about 6 weeks ago. I started weaning about 4 weeks ago and in the last 3 weeks I have lost 8lbs. I really haven't changed too much except the medications so obviously I need to make a adjustment to my diet.

Maintenance is going to drive me insane until I figure it out.

Best of luck to you and I certainly hope that your stricture is resolved soon. I also wanted to let you know that 21 months out and I do get hungry but it is quickly taken care of with a few ounces of something good for me. Also, it seems to come in waves where one week I will be hungry and another I have little to no appetite and have to really work hard to get 1000 calories in me. Those weeks I am hungry I consume between 1200 and 1400 which is enough for me given my very limited exercise routine.

Thanks for your thoughtful feedback @@Djmohr .

Can I just say OH MY GOD YES to my body continuing to lose weight from my forearms and legs, which are starting to look like chicken arms/legs, but stubbornly refuses to take weight off my gut where I now carry the vast majority of my excess fat!

I know the stricture will get resolved one way or another, I'm just impatient about it. The doctor said he would be willing to dilate it if gets worse or is bothering me too much. He also said I will look back in a year and wish I had it back There is probably some truth to that! That's why I'm trying to just stick it out for awhile. It sucks and causes me pain/vomiting, but man is it an extremely effective weight loss tool.

Right now, I rarely ever get over 600 calories a day. I probably average 400-550. I know that freaks a lot of people out, but my doctor is totally fine with it as long as I meet my Protein and Fluid goals. Even getting that many calories is a lot of work, and some days I admit to throwing in the towel, drinking my protein, and only getting maybe 300 calories in a day. But I fight the good fight most days. People also seem to marvel at how you have energy at that caloric intake, but I have more energy now than I have had maybe ever. Especially these last few weeks. I feel almost stir crazy when sitting around in the evening, like my body is telling me to MOVE. Even after I've worked out in the AM and taken the dog for a walk in the PM, my body still wants to MOVE. So it's getting energy from somewhere - stored fat I guess.

At my goal of 185 I'm still "overweight" per BMI, but I don't think I'm "normal" weight until like 164 lbs. It is just so hard to believe I would look good at 164, but who knows. I'm already getting a lot of "are you sure you want to lose more weight", which is ridiculous given I am still considered obese for another 20+ lbs.

Thanks for sharing about maintenance, can't say it really eases my fears any, but I appreciate the insight! Maybe by the time I get to maintenance you'll have it down pat, and can dispense some learnin' on me.