Hello everyone!

I'm new to the forum and didn't really know where to begin, so I figured why not start a thread about my journey?

So, I've always been kind of obese (there were a few years that I lost a lot of weight sticking to a low carb diet) I hovered around 300lbs give or take for many years. In 2012 during a divorce, I ballooned all the way up to 365lbs and I swore I'd never get to that point again. I started doing low carb and got all the way down to 235lbs before getting re-married and gaining back about 50lbs. During COVID in 2020, I just completely fell apart and ended up getting to my all-time highest weight of 385lbs.

I drive trucks for a living and in August of 2022, I had to go for a sleep apnea test and I failed miserably. Failing the sleep apnea test put my career in jeopardy. I decided immediately afterwards to contact my local hospital about bariatric surgery and immediately started a 6 month program in October, 2022. Since I had already had the sleep apnea test and failed, I'd already knocked that part out at least.

I literally just got back from my final doctors appointment and they told me that it's up to my insurance provider to approve or deny me for surgery. I'm really excited but also really nervous. The only time I've ever stayed in a hospital overnight was to take my sleep apnea tests.

I started this journey at 385lbs, today I weighed in at 365lbs. I had my ups and downs, but I'm really looking forward to this journey and really looking forward to getting to know everyone and to share my journey.

13 minutes ago, LookingForward22 said:

My progress has been slow but steady. Sometimes I get a little frustrated because my loss isn’t as fast as others, but then I remind myself this isn’t a race and I’m working to a life long change not just a quick fix. I was over weight for most of my adult life, that change is going to take some time.

I met a new “mini” goal today (I broke my weight-loss goals down into 10 mini phases/goals) so that felt pretty good. From my highest weight… I’m down 135 pounds! (57 of that was pre surgery loss, 78 since surgery). I’m hoping when I go for my 1 yr check up… I will be down 100 ponds post surgery (which will make 157 pounds lost if I hit that goal).

Best of luck - hope you’re recovery is going well! You’ve got this. ?

Congrats on your success and reaching your mini goal! That sounds like a great idea.

I’ll be honest, I’m hopeful to be around the 100lbs lost mark by Halloween. It’s a pretty big goal but I figure I’m already down almost 40lbs, so 60lbs in 4 months should be doable.

I’m excited for the future, which if you asked me two weeks ago, I was nervous and apprehensive, lol.

Quick update…

I had my first post-op appointment with my surgeon yesterday. Everything has been going extremely well. No nausea, no problems with the liquids, nor with the soft foods like hummus, cream of wheat, or grits.

I had the staples removed from my surgical incisions, thankfully!

My surgeon was kinda vague though. Told me that as long as I had no problems to keep progressing according to the handout and that he’d see me in three weeks. He told me to proceed to eggs and foods that I could mash with a fork, so I bought some instant potatoes and I’m looking forward to that.

I bought the original Sabra Hummus and after about a month on liquids only, it’s been amazing!

I weighed in at 339lbs, so to date I’m down 46lbs since starting my journey and down about 22lbs since surgery. I’m not going to complain about 11lbs a week since surgery, though I know it’s not going to last.

Double post.

Edited July 7, 20233 yr by TRClark23

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On 07/07/2023 at 01:08, TRClark23 said:

Quick update…

I had my first post-op appointment with my surgeon yesterday. Everything has been going extremely well. No nausea, no problems with the liquids, nor with the soft foods like hummus, cream of wheat, or grits.

I had the staples removed from my surgical incisions, thankfully!

My surgeon was kinda vague though. Told me that as long as I had no problems to keep progressing according to the handout and that he’d see me in three weeks. He told me to proceed to eggs and foods that I could mash with a fork, so I bought some instant potatoes and I’m looking forward to that.

I bought the original Sabra Hummus and after about a month on liquids only, it’s been amazing!

I weighed in at 339lbs, so to date I’m down 46lbs since starting my journey and down about 22lbs since surgery. I’m not going to complain about 11lbs a week since surgery, though I know it’s not going to last.

When I went to puréed foods, refried have never tasted as good!! I ate cans of it. Nobody wanted to be around me, but I was in heaven!!

2 hours ago, loras68 said:

When I went to puréed foods, refried have never tasted as good!! I ate cans of it. Nobody wanted to be around me, but I was in heaven!!

? yeah, the hummus is the same way! I need to look into refried beans too!

7 hours ago, loras68 said:

When I went to puréed foods, refried have never tasted as good!! I ate cans of it. Nobody wanted to be around me, but I was in heaven!!

My wife and I were out tonight and stopped by a “Gringos” restaurant, she got a taco salad, I got a side order of refried beans.

They were amazing!

7 hours ago, loras68 said:

When I went to puréed foods, refried have never tasted as good!! I ate cans of it. Nobody wanted to be around me, but I was in heaven!!

My wife and I were out tonight and stopped by a “Gringos” restaurant, she got a taco salad, I got a side order of refried beans.

They were amazing!

I had decided to only get on the scale once a week, I didn't want to be that person that gets on the scale every day and gets discouraged during a stall. My usual doctors appointments are on Thursdays (for some reason) so I decided that Thursday's would be the day. I have a lot of stuff going on tomorrow so I decided to get on the scale a day early.

Last Thursday, I had my first post-op appointment with my doctor and had lost 46lbs since entering the program and 22lbs since surgery. I got on the scale this morning and have since lost 9lbs! I went from 339lbs last week to 330lbs this week, bringing me to a total of 55lbs lost since entering the program and 31lbs since surgery.

This past week, I've focused mostly on trying to get my fluids in, mostly drinking water and the occasional Gatorade Zero. I never really cared for water so it's shocking how much of it I'm drinking now.

For the most part this week, I've eaten scrambled eggs, grits, cream of wheat, hummus, refried beans, and mashed potatoes.

I mistakenly ate the potatoes a bit earlier than I was supposed to, but I haven't had any issues with them, so figured they must be okay. I'm not 100% proud of it, but the mashed potatoes came from KFC.. ?

I've still done pretty good though, regardless!

I'm still trying to get as much protein from drinking the shakes as I can. I get roughly 20oz a day from the shakes which is around 2 whole bottles, so somewhere around 60g of protein. I'm taking my vitamins every day as well.

As best as I can figure, my calorie intake is probably somewhere around 500-600/day (this is just a rough estimate, the protein shakes alone are about 300.)

I have gotten dizzy a time or two, which I've read is normal and at times, I get ridiculously itchy on my back and stomach, but it's not too bad. I tried to fix it with Benadryl but it didn't work. I did get one hell of a good nights sleep though, so there's that!

I feel a lot better than I did pre-surgery. I still have a long way to go, but I'm feeling really great and only have 30lbs to go until I'm back into the 200's!

I haven't posted an update in awhile, but there hasn't really been much to report.

I tried sliced deli roast beef last week and it was too soon, my stomach really hurt for about 45 minutes, then stopped. I guess I'm just not ready to digest beef at the moment. I had pretty good success with turkey though. This week, I tried a chicken quesadilla and managed to take 2-3 bites and was okay.

I had a bit of a stall "weight loss" wise from the 13th through the 20th, but got on the scale this morning and was at 325lbs, so I managed to lose 5 more pounds since the 12th, bringing my weight loss since surgery to 27lbs, 60lbs since I started this journey.

I'm probably going to avoid the other forums and topics as this page as they seem to be pretty cliquish. I'm going to continue posting in this journal because I enjoy it and think it's fun to keep a history about what I'm going through.

My next doctors appointment is in four days, so I'll probably post another update then.

@TRClark23 so grateful for your updates, it’s keep motivated thru this little rough patch I’m going thru. My surgery was on July 11th, and I’m about to go to puréed food on Wednesday. My mouth is literally burned out from liquids, I’m barely reaching my intake goals. I can’t wait to try a quesadilla lol!

@TRClark23 so grateful for your updates, it’s keep motivated thru this little rough patch I’m going thru. My surgery was on July 11th, and I’m about to go to puréed food on Wednesday. My mouth is literally burned out from liquids, I’m barely reaching my intake goals. I can’t wait to try a quesadilla lol!

7 hours ago, theProcess said:

@TRClark23 so grateful for your updates, it’s keep motivated thru this little rough patch I’m going thru. My surgery was on July 11th, and I’m about to go to puréed food on Wednesday. My mouth is literally burned out from liquids, I’m barely reaching my intake goals. I can’t wait to try a quesadilla lol!

Congrats on getting your surgery! I know what you mean about the liquids!

The best for me was the sabra hummus and the mashed potatoes.

It’s kind of a pain trying to keep up with the vitamins, trying to eat 2-3 times a day (they told me to eat 5 small meals a deal, how am I going to get my fluids in if I eat 5 times a day and can’t drink for 30 minutes before and after, that’s 5 hours a day I can’t drink! ?)

I’m glad that my information is helpful to someone!

Today was kind of a bittersweet day. I had my final regular doctors appointment with my surgeon. Every thing has been going really well and he basically told me that I’m free to start eating a normal diet again, but to use common sense.

I won’t have another appointment for three months.

Between my last appointment and today, I lost 14lbs and he seemed pretty happy with my progress. He told me to expect to lose about 10lbs a month or so for about the next year.

I think my next big adventure will be to go low carb and try to drop a little faster while I have this great tool at my disposal.

Hi Friends,

I have high BP and sleep apnea and was on the low end of the BMI range. I expected to be denied but I had my approval very quickly. Saying prayers you get that approval soon!