Weight Loss Surgery - Daily Conversation 2013
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well I AM certainly glad xmas is over! no weight on....yes good but god did i hate having all those goodies around and how many times did i dump...ummm lost count xmas seemed to me like one giant dump!lol i am certainly NOT looking forward to next yr! :huh: yep just call me scrooge! :mad:
My rant over with lol i do hope you had brilliant xmas's and a happy new yr to all of you! :drinker:0 -
Hi, I want to be part of this group because I would like to have the sleeve bariatric surgery. My highest weight was 439lbs. I'm now at 345lbs. I'm 5'4.75", gotta add that.75"! I would like to weigh about 120lbs-130lbs. I'm not really sure what I should weigh, it's been many years since my weight was near that. Thanks for being here!:flowerforyou:0
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Hello Everyone:
I have to lose 12 pounds before my surgeon can resubmit my package to Kaiser. They denied the request for surgery after I've done every single thing I was supposed to do . . . maybe they wanted me to lose weight pre-op as well. I am hoping to get the sleeve, but I must admit after reading the posts, I'm afraid. It seems like you're damned if you get it and damned if you don't! I'm reading about those who have regained, those who are dumping, those who have lost, but are still having a hard time with food. This is VERY scary!
I know the surgery is not a magic pill or anything, but I sure hoped that it would help me get on the right track and be able to limit my portions. The surgeon told me that with the sleeve they would cut out part of the stomach that made the hormone, gherlin (spelling) which will help decrease appetite! But I'm reading about struggles with food. I just want to lose the weight and keep it off. I know I have to eat right and exercise no matter if I have the surgery or not. But I've lost weight before and gained it ALL BACK! So I hoped the surgery would at least help to limit my intake and help me stay on track! I don't know what to do!
Peace,
Carlygirl4120 -
I was denied three times by my insurance company in the last year and had finally decided to "do it on my own." Weight loss was happening, but was a bit slow, and I still tended to give in to the fast food urge when my sons wanted it for lunch or dinner. This was mostly to please them. Out of the blue, one day in July 2012, my surgeon's office called and said--"resubmit the appeal and send in the fair hearing papers." I did and was surprised that I was approved in a matter of days.
Yes, many people have struggles with food issues and have problems after surgery. But most of us do not. I am three months out and have no real issues. I follow my meal plan, keep my appointments, and I put my food issues behind me a long time ago. I don't go hungry and I make sure I do my best each day to get in all my supplements, protein, and water. Some days I am under, but I remember that tomorrow is a new day. If I eat something I shouldn't, my body tells me so, and I don't do it again.
In the three months since I had gastric bypass I have gone from morbidly obese to overweight on the BMI calculator. I can walk for miles, breathe better, have no heartburn or digestive issues that I had before. I can tie my own shoes, polish my toenails, bend over to pick things up off the floor. I can vacuum, move furniture around, and feel like a million bucks. And it's only been three months!
I have not vomited once since my surgery--a couple times food swallowed wouldn't go down early on, but no vomiting. I have never had dumping syndrome, unless you count the couple of times my heart beat rapidly during the first month after. All in all, this has been one of the best decisions I ever made. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Will I ever gain weight back? I hope not, but if I do, it's my fault--and I don't think that it will ever be to the extent that it was before.
Yes, your portions for life will be smaller for the rest of your life. You will be healthy because you have to focus on healthy, clean eating. Stay away from junk, processed foods, etc. Eat your meat, veggies, and fruits. Don't drink high calorie beverages. If you can do this, you will succeed.
Good luck with everything!0 -
I am officially one month post-op today and I am pleased as heck with my progress so far.
A few people have voiced there fear of complications in having this surgery done and fear of dumping and other changes as well. I too had those fears, but greater than those fears were the fear of not having it done and continuing on my old path leading to an early death, missing my daughter grow up and being a health burden to my family.
I took four years to make my decision and looking back I am confident that for me, the surgery was the correct choice. It is not easy, but I am committed to make the changes in lifestyle and my relationship with food in exchange for the reward of living.
I feel good about myself, have more energy and already am leading a more active lifestyle.0 -
Can anyone suggest some websites to find good recipes for protein shakes? I just bought strawberry, chocolate, and chocolate peanut butter flavors. I am determined to get my protein in daily. I have no excuses now! Thanks!!
Stephanie E0 -
I'd start with the website of the protein that you bought. They may have some recipes. I mainly do the same thing all the time..... 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, 3 frozen strawberries, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 tbps extra virgin coconut oil, a handful of spinach and 1tbsp of ground flax meal. I love it. You can use any kind of milk that you prefer or water. You can exchange any of the fruits for other fruits, etc....
You can use milk and peanut butter or almond butter with the chocolate/ and or the chocolate peanut butter. The banana would be a good addition to the choc pb. Yummm.0 -
Stephanie, I have 2 smoothie recipe booklets in electronic form I have gotten from different things. If you message me your email I will send them to you. The protein powder that they call for is VERY expensive so I use my own brand of course, but some of the recipes are really good.
Compudad- I agree, even with the minor things like occasional dumping and vitamin deficiency and any other minor issues I have had to deal with I would have surgery again in a heartbeat and I am not even to goal yet after 11 yrs. I could not even imagine what my life would be like if I still carried that 220 extra pounds around or most likely more by now and with 11 more years of age. I am grateful I was able to have the surgery and I never regret it!0 -
Hello Awyatt:
Thank you VERY MUCH for such an encouraging post! I needed to read that today. My therapist told me it may be a good thing that I was denied right now, because when she said I'll have to change how I enjoy myself with my friends (not have every outing involve food), it was hard to hear. She didn't say I could never eat out or have fun with friends with food involved, but she said early on, I'll have to find other ways to enjoy myself and kind of cut back on having food be the main part of the get-together!
I admit and I know that I am addicted to food and there are a lot of issues surrounding my relationship with food. I'm in counseling to help me deal with and heal those issues . . . they go all the way back to childhood. I've been fat all my life and I've lost huge amounts of weight twice in my life: once when I was 30 years old, I lost 112 pounds on Weight Watchers. Then when I was in my 50's I lost 50 pounds because I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. But both times I regained all the weight. Now, I want to get rid of the weight for good and I hope the surgery can help me. But as my couselor said, after surgery, it is still up to me if I can hold myself accountable and love myself more than I love food.
I really appreciate your frankness and congratulations on your weight loss and how you feel about it and what you can do in your life since you had it! I hope and pray I can be like you once I have the surgery . . . appreciate what the sacrifices will do for me and how I live my life!
Peace,
Carlygirl4120 -
Hello Amy and Compudad:
After I read both your posts, I find them to be encouraging as well. I have to be realistic and know that for me food is an addiction and it will be a struggle to change my life for the better. I guess it is just like a person on drugs or alcohol, they have to go one day at a time to keep clean and sober. I will have that same goal to stay clean and sober with food! My counselor tole me weight loss is mostly in the head/mind. It's the mind set that is the most important part, becasue that is what drives you to do your best with your food choices and exercise. It's the mind set that will keep you in maintenance and not in regaining weight. I'm glad to have this forum to write how I'm feeling. I never thought I'd try to have weight loss surgery because I love food so much, but I can't control myself enough to keep weight off once I lose it. My mindset has to change to decide to value myself, my health, and my life, more than I value food.
Thanks for your posts!
Peace,
Carlygirl4120 -
Carly- I waited over 10 years after surgery to try therapy and that was a BIG mistake. It was the best thing I have ever done for myself. I always thought there was nothing mental about my weight I just got the genetic short end of the stick, well I did, but I also found out I have buried a lot of stuff in fat- feelings of inadequacy, fear of rejection, and an overall dislike of myself and my body to name a few. I went threw 2 rounds of group therapy and I would like to do more. It is amazing how much it has improved my self concept. For the first time since surgery I can almost look in the mirror and see the woman in the after picture not the woman in the before picture. It is a difficult but necessary part of weight loss in my opinion. I wish I had done it many many years ago.0
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Can anyone suggest some websites to find good recipes for protein shakes? I just bought strawberry, chocolate, and chocolate peanut butter flavors. I am determined to get my protein in daily. I have no excuses now! Thanks!!
Stephanie E
http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-favorite-protein-shake-recipes.html
ABOVE IS A LINK TO THE BLOGSPOT OF A WLS PATIENT WHO HAS A LOAD OF WLS FRIENDLY RECIPES INCLUDING SHAKES. YOU WILL ALSO FIND MEALS, SNACKS, DESERTS ETC DESIGNED TO BE KING TO THE RNY POUCH BUTH HEALTHY FOR US ALL. HER RECIPES GENERALLY FOLLOW THE PROTEIN FIRST RULE. THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERY STAGE PRE OP AND POST OP.0 -
I am officially one month post-op today and I am pleased as heck with my progress so far.
A few people have voiced there fear of complications in having this surgery done and fear of dumping and other changes as well. I too had those fears, but greater than those fears were the fear of not having it done and continuing on my old path leading to an early death, missing my daughter grow up and being a health burden to my family.
I took four years to make my decision and looking back I am confident that for me, the surgery was the correct choice. It is not easy, but I am committed to make the changes in lifestyle and my relationship with food in exchange for the reward of living.
I feel good about myself, have more energy and already am leading a more active lifestyle.
CONGRATS ON MONTH ONE.
PEOPLE JUST DON'T REALIZE HOW LOW THE MORTALITY AND COMPLICATION RATE IS TODAY VS BACK IN THE 90'S WHEN I FIRST LOOKED INTO WLS. I ALSO TOOK YEARS TO DECIDE. EIGHT YEARS PLUS WASTED. MY ONLY REGRET IS NOT DOING IT SOONER.
STICK WITH YOUR PROGRAM AND IT GETS BETTER AND BETTER!0 -
Hi Amy:
I think therapy is great! I've been in before, but not for long and at some point, I ran the show . . . meaning I chose the topic and the therapists never asked the hard questions or took me any deeper than I would let them. This time, I've met my match and then some! My counselor won't let me get away with any BS! This February will be four years! I'm happy to have her during this time in my life. When I lost weight before, I didn't have counseling and I fooled myself that my life would be "perfect." I had so many issues buried and not healed that I didn't know how to handle the weight loss. I got in all kinds of trouble and when things got really bad, I consoled myself with food and hid behind my fat because I gained every one of those 112 pounds back!
This time, even though I'm scared on several levels, I feel I'll have the support of counseling and I've grown and changed some things in my life. Congratulations to you on your therapy and beginning to see the real you and not the person hiding behind weight. I hope you continue to grow and learn about yourself and become who you want to be. It's not easy making changes; at least not for me. Sometimes I go kicking and screaming before I get there!
Peace,
Carlygirl4120 -
I'M PUTTING THIS OUT HERE BECAUSE IT DEMONSTRATES HOW ONE CAN EASILY MOVE FROM SUCCESS TO RUIN. OVER TIME I'VE MANAGED TO STAY WITHIN A FEW POUNDS UNDER OR OVER A NORMAL BMI EXCEPT FOR MEDICAL ISSUES OUTSIDE OF MY CONTROL. EVEN THEN, I CORRECTED THE SITUATION ASAP. NOT TOO BAD ONE MAY THINK. BUT, FOUR DAYS OUT OF THE FIRST EIGHT OF 2013 I HAVE BINGED OR SIMPLY EATEN TOO MANY CALORIES.
THESE DAYS IHAVE NOT EATEN ACCORDING TO MY DIET FOR LIFE. EVEN IF I WERE TO DO THIS ONCE A MONTH WITHOUT COMPENSATING FOR IT THE RESULT WOULD BE WEIGHT GAIN. THATS NEWS TO NO ONE; YET, I AM SAYING IT OUT LOUD. I BROADCAST THIS BECAUSE IT IS VERY EASY TO LIE TO ONESELF. LIES ABOUT HOW WELL YOU ARE LIVING THIS WLS LIFE PUT YOU ON THAT PATH TO RUIN. I'M NOT GOING THERE.
MY AVERAGE CALORIES ARE WAY OVER MY TARGETED MAINTENANCE RANGE. ESPECIALLY SINCE THIS RANGE WAS REDUCED BY 550 CALORIES A FEW MONTHS AGO. STILL, I'M EVEN ABOVE MY OLD RANGE. I KNOW BETTER THAN THIS. NO ADVICE NEEDED. THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE. PULL MYSELF TOGETHER AND CUT THE BULL****.
NO MERCY AND NO EXCUSES IS WHAT A WLS VETERAN ONCE SAID TO ME ABOUT WORKING MY PLAN. THAT WAS OVER THREE AND YEARS AGO AND IT STILL HOLDS TRUE. THIS IS A LIFE TIME COMMITMENT. I HAVE THE REMAINDER OF THE MONTH TO COMPENSATE. AS LONG AS I GET BACK TO LIVING THIS WLS LIFE THE WAY I SHOULD I WILL CLOSE THIS MONTH WITH MY DAILY CALORIE AVERAGE RIGHT ON POINT.
MSW
I'M NOT SCREAMING AT YOU I'M JUST HARD OF SEEING ;-)0 -
@ MSW-WELL SAID! SOMETIMES I THINK WE LIE TO OURSELVES OUT OF THE GUISE OF HELP WHEN WE ARE REALLY JUST DOING MORE HARM. HERE IS TO STAYING ON TRACK THIS MONTH FOR BOTH OF US!:drinker:0
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AT LAST I'M EATING LIKE A RNY PERSON AGAIN. IT MEANS KEEPING MYSELF "UNDER ARREST" SO THERE IS NO CONTACT WITH ANY "WRONG FOODS" THAT MAY FIND THEIR WAY INTO MY HOME. ABOUT TO FIX A LATE WELL PLANNED DINNER AND A SNACK FOR LATER. I'M HOLDING IT TOGETHER. BACK ON MY DIET FOR LIFE.0
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When are your schedule for the sleeve? Congats on 51 pounds lost too!!! Keep up the good work!Hi, I want to be part of this group because I would like to have the sleeve bariatric surgery. My highest weight was 439lbs. I'm now at 345lbs. I'm 5'4.75", gotta add that.75"! I would like to weigh about 120lbs-130lbs. I'm not really sure what I should weigh, it's been many years since my weight was near that. Thanks for being here!:flowerforyou:0 -
We all would love it if we never had anymore struggles with food. The surgery is a great tool and only a tool. Take it from me it is the best thing I ever did for myself. I have kept off over 230 pounds since 2004 when I had the surgery. It has been a struggle but I am keeping it off. I never reached goal. Having the surgery for me was the best thing I ever did for myself. Unfortunately the surgery does not fix our heads and the demons inside. So if you need to see a therpist do so because that is the main reason for regain. Regain comes from emotional eating that the WLS can not fix.Hello Everyone:
I have to lose 12 pounds before my surgeon can resubmit my package to Kaiser. They denied the request for surgery after I've done every single thing I was supposed to do . . . maybe they wanted me to lose weight pre-op as well. I am hoping to get the sleeve, but I must admit after reading the posts, I'm afraid. It seems like you're damned if you get it and damned if you don't! I'm reading about those who have regained, those who are dumping, those who have lost, but are still having a hard time with food. This is VERY scary!
I know the surgery is not a magic pill or anything, but I sure hoped that it would help me get on the right track and be able to limit my portions. The surgeon told me that with the sleeve they would cut out part of the stomach that made the hormone, gherlin (spelling) which will help decrease appetite! But I'm reading about struggles with food. I just want to lose the weight and keep it off. I know I have to eat right and exercise no matter if I have the surgery or not. But I've lost weight before and gained it ALL BACK! So I hoped the surgery would at least help to limit my intake and help me stay on track! I don't know what to do!
Peace,
Carlygirl412
Please keep in mind the surgery has a much better success rate than traditional diets. I kept trying to lose weight and like you had done so myself twice but as you get older the harder it is to lose weight too. But you are wiser too so it is all about you now and most likely you have learned your lessons from your regains in the past. KIT and I wish you the best whatever you decide.:flowerforyou:0 -
Congrats to you!! Most people who regain do so after the honeymoon period. Honeymoon period is 2 years post op. Please note regain is the minority and not the majority. A high percentage of WLS patients keep 80% of their lost weight off. I do believe as you stated that we will never be able to overeat to the extent we used too and for that I am again totatlly grateful. Usually my pouch makes me stop because I will make myself totally sick. Keep up the good work!!I was denied three times by my insurance company in the last year and had finally decided to "do it on my own." Weight loss was happening, but was a bit slow, and I still tended to give in to the fast food urge when my sons wanted it for lunch or dinner. This was mostly to please them. Out of the blue, one day in July 2012, my surgeon's office called and said--"resubmit the appeal and send in the fair hearing papers." I did and was surprised that I was approved in a matter of days.
Yes, many people have struggles with food issues and have problems after surgery. But most of us do not. I am three months out and have no real issues. I follow my meal plan, keep my appointments, and I put my food issues behind me a long time ago. I don't go hungry and I make sure I do my best each day to get in all my supplements, protein, and water. Some days I am under, but I remember that tomorrow is a new day. If I eat something I shouldn't, my body tells me so, and I don't do it again.
In the three months since I had gastric bypass I have gone from morbidly obese to overweight on the BMI calculator. I can walk for miles, breathe better, have no heartburn or digestive issues that I had before. I can tie my own shoes, polish my toenails, bend over to pick things up off the floor. I can vacuum, move furniture around, and feel like a million bucks. And it's only been three months!
I have not vomited once since my surgery--a couple times food swallowed wouldn't go down early on, but no vomiting. I have never had dumping syndrome, unless you count the couple of times my heart beat rapidly during the first month after. All in all, this has been one of the best decisions I ever made. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Will I ever gain weight back? I hope not, but if I do, it's my fault--and I don't think that it will ever be to the extent that it was before.
Yes, your portions for life will be smaller for the rest of your life. You will be healthy because you have to focus on healthy, clean eating. Stay away from junk, processed foods, etc. Eat your meat, veggies, and fruits. Don't drink high calorie beverages. If you can do this, you will succeed.
Good luck with everything!0
This discussion has been closed.