Question for those further along...what have been some of your “non scale” victories or changes?

Things I’m hoping improve with surgery include things like mobility. At 31, I’m having to rely on a walker to get around. I can’t climb stairs or walk more than 5 minutes without being winded. I can’t bend over to tie my shoes or put on socks. My back and joints hurt all the time. I’m on an extensive medication regime and see many specialists just to stay alive.

And of course there’s the more concrete medical things, like having sugars that never drop below the 150s, body being more acidotic, rapidly climbing lipid levels, angina and chest pain, and my extremely high BP that seems to be resistant to meds, climbing risk of cardiac events...plus things like not being able to fit in public places that normal size people don’t struggle with...

I’m just so hopeless and sick of this life and am ready to commit to life style changes before during and after the surgery process to start living a new whole life with a much healthier self.

I’ve been overweight my whole life. I tipped past 150 before I turned 18 and I remember the pediatrician raising major concerns to my mom about my weight, but because she too was immensely obese and didn’t do anything about it, my weight continued to climb even as a kid. I think the last time i was in a normal weight range was when I was a very young kid...

You are going to start seeing the victories very soon after the surgery. You will start to see that your blood pressure, A1C and cholesterol will start to trend in the healthy direction assuming you stick to the plan laid out by your team. If you commit yourself to getting up and moving your body, you will also see your energy increase and find you are able to do a lot more things than before. Some of the NSVs I saw fairly soon were being able to easily cross my legs without pulling the leg up, being able to easily get up from a seated position etc. It is very important in my view to make sure you are not only dieting but moving....exercise as much as you can by walking and try to increase it as you become more comfortable with it. At this point, my non scale victories are far sweeter for me. I am able to fit into clothing sizes I have not seen since my Freshman year in College, I am exercising 1.5 hours per day, I have a resting heart rate of 50 and my blood pressure is well below average. I am healthier than at any point in my adult life and I am 58 years old. After not quite 8 months, my life has changed drastically and I am not going back to where I was. I have lost 101 pounds and am going to keep losing until I reach a normal BMI of 25 or lower.

There is a whole thread on here for NSVs. But just a warning - don't count on all of your medical issues to disappear even if you lose a good amount of weight. Not all health problems that doctors say are caused by your weight are really caused by your weight. Some are genetic, like high blood pressure and cholesterol. Actually, cholesterol can increase right after surgery as your body releases certain hormones.

Congratulations on having surgery, but remember that "health" is more than just your blood pressure or other medical conditions. Health has a lot to do with how you feel. I have lost 112 lbs and I feel great being able to fit more comfortably in places and wear "regular" clothes. I also move more comfortably and walk faster. But I was promised so many things - like having more energy - that I have not experienced.

Good luck!

1 hour ago, lizonaplane said:

There is a whole thread on here for NSVs. But just a warning - don't count on all of your medical issues to disappear even if you lose a good amount of weight. Not all health problems that doctors say are caused by your weight are really caused by your weight. Some are genetic, like high blood pressure and cholesterol. Actually, cholesterol can increase right after surgery as your body releases certain hormones.

Great comment above. Doctors sometimes reduce certain health conditions to weight when it is more complex than that - for example, my very fit, thin cousin has uncontrollable high blood pressure, while mine is well controlled with meds. Just looking at our weights, you would assume the opposite is true.

Regarding NSVs, big ones for me have been cutting my HBP meds (again, I have well controlled HBP, so I have had to reduce meds), more energy, a better sex drive (a bit embarrassing to share on a forum but it is true so...), less anxiety about fitting in places, fitting into old clothes in my closet, feeling eager to move more (when in the past activity was harder and I wanted to avoid it.)