New here need some advice

bluemonkey2080 · September 2014

Hi, I am 260 lbs and have a bad knee which keeps me from excersing. I tore my ACL 5 years ago, the day after my surgery my employer cancelled my insurance policy as I was not with the company long enough for full coverage. Then my past job the health insurance was too much for me to afford so I have gone with out coverage for two years, I did not receive PT for my knee and have had complications ever since. Long story short is Im now 260 lbs and have PCOS and have struggled with my weight my whole life. I was recently recommended by my primary for Bariatric surgery and Im wondering if anyone has had it the RNY or VSG I am not a candidate for the Lap Band b/c of my acid reflux and could help me to see if this is right for me. I am 5'1 and 34 years old, I have pain all the time in my knee, I want to loose this weight as it is unhealthy and making my every day to day difficult. I have done my research for the Bariatric and have reservations. I don't want to be heavy for the rest of my life and want to be happy with who I see in the mirror.

Thanks, Bluemonkey2080

awesomejdad · September 2014

you should try losing weight on your own LONG before your even researching surgery. Your Knee and PCOS are just excuses. You can lose weight without any exercise at all if you eat the right way. PCOS is something my wife has, it does make it harder, I get that. However , harder just means harder, it does not mean impossible. You can lose weight with PCOS and with a bum knee. No excuses.

independant2406 · September 2014

Hi There,

Welcome to the boards.I haven't had surgery so I can't offer too much advice there. Coworkers of mine have had both kinds of surgery. Its a life changing experience and still very challenging after the weight comes off. If you are dedicated and have a doctor who provides good support it can be a success.

A tip: I know if you search in the groups there's one specifically to support people who have had weight loss surgery. I think you'll probably find tons of information stored there and people with personal experience with the surgery, recovery and maintenance etc.

I wish you very good success whatever route you take!

bluemonkey2080 · September 2014

@awesomejdad I have tried losing weight on my own, last year for 5 months I was working out with a personal trainer 3 times a week and walking when I wasn't with him, watching my calorie intake, and he said to me I don't understand why you are not loosing the weight, he knew about my PCOS and even though I was toning in some areas I was not loosing the weight in the areas that count, and then while trainning with him on my day off I reinjured my knee. That's only one example of trying to loose weight on my own for many years. As far as Bariatric surgery is concerned I did not think I was a candidate until my consiltation two weeks ago. I never thought about weight loss surgery as an option before. Like I said earlier, Im in pain most of the time and refuse to take weight loss drugs in order to acheive weight loss and have tried at other methods. I do agree with you about excuses to a point, and know that if I had the ability to work out like I used to, before my knee injury, I would. Thank you for being honest.

@independant24 Thank you for welcoming me to the forum, and thank you for your post.

bluemonkey2080

awesomejdad · September 2014

have you been to an endroconoligist? (no idea how to spell that) That is the kind of Doctor advice you need.

_HeartsOnFire_ · September 2014

BekaBooluvsu · September 2014

Hello! I will be honest with you. I've known several people (about 12) who got their stomach cut and stapled. Almost all 12 gained the weight back (along with losing their hair due to malnutrition, constant infections, getting sick frequently) because they did NOT change their eating. They went on eating huge portions of nothing but junk food. They stretched their stomach out and gained the weight back. The ones who didn't gain it back developed eating disorders in fear of being fat. I was a candidate for it but got denied because I wasn't fat enough. I'm glad now that I didn't get it because I'm a compulsive over-eater and I'm only now working on it.

Browse all your options but first I suggest you try MFP to eat moderately. You don't have to give up your favorite foods just adjust your day accordingly.

A couple of tips to get you started.
-buy a HRM, alot of MFP estimates of exercise are incorrect. Use the HRM during cardio exercise to get more of an accurate reading.
-buy a digital food scale. Weigh ALL your food (this has helped me a ton)
-Do exercise that works for you. Start out slow and slowly build time.

Just a note. I have a broken back so I'm limited to my recliner 90% of the time. I've lost 91# in 9 months from mostly the nutritional part of weight loss. I can only walk/stand for 20 minutes at a time. Don't feel bad if you can't exercise as much as everyone else. Remember that everyone's weight loss journey is different. There are alot of awesome veteran MFP that help newcomers so if you have a question, ask! At the end of the day, your life is in your hands, so do what you need to do for you! Big hugs and good luck on your journey.

_Terrapin_ · September 2014

Hi, I am 260 lbs and have a bad knee which keeps me from excersing. I tore my ACL 5 years ago, the day after my surgery my employer cancelled my insurance policy as I was not with the company long enough for full coverage. Then my past job the health insurance was too much for me to afford so I have gone with out coverage for two years, I did not receive PT for my knee and have had complications ever since. Long story short is Im now 260 lbs and have PCOS and have struggled with my weight my whole life. I was recently recommended by my primary for Bariatric surgery and Im wondering if anyone has had it the RNY or VSG I am not a candidate for the Lap Band b/c of my acid reflux and could help me to see if this is right for me. I am 5'1 and 34 years old, I have pain all the time in my knee, I want to loose this weight as it is unhealthy and making my every day to day difficult. I have done my research for the Bariatric and have reservations. I don't want to be heavy for the rest of my life and want to be happy with who I see in the mirror.

Thanks, Bluemonkey2080

Best of luck, see links above, and I'd say this: find a PT who can provide guidance for the knee. I have a PT who receives cases of beer at Christmas time(Santa?) for letting me 'pick his brain'. I have avoided surgery on knee issues thanks to the PT. Find one, ask questions, heel the knee. Best of luck.

awesomejdad · September 2014

If you can afford to do a weight loss surgery why can't you get your knee fixed instead? Just like others have said already, you can loose weight. PCOS does necessitate some specific diet changes you will need that are different then others but if you go to an endrocranoligist then all that will be explained to you.
Eat right and you will lose weight even with all your excuses. Patience is what you really need though. It's hard and it's a long journey but you can do it.

Rosie5151 · September 2014

I wish you could talk to my sister who just had the surgery done. I asked her, begged her to not do it. She said was her inspiration because I've lost 73 lbs.. on my own, hard work. Don't fool yourself that even with this surgery its still hard work. It is just a tool to help you get a jump start. YOU have to use the tool and use it right! She is one week and 5 days out of surgery and regrets it to this day. She is losing weight but its because she has no stomach left! All the classes and support groups she took in the year you have to do it she said did not help her at all. No one tells you all the crap that you go through after the surgery! Try on your own. take one minute at a time. If I can do this you can. If we all can do this here you can. Don't hurt your body. Do not undo what was given to you.. My sis took my hands after I complained to her that 73 lbs in a yr wasn't good enough.. her words to me were...
"Be happy with YOU!" " Be proud of YOU!" Do not change your body!

You got this...

grandmothercharlie · September 2014

I had looked into the sleeve and while trying to see if I could stick to the 1200 calorie a day diet and the exercise recommended for after surgery, I lost weight and have continued on the program. I no longer qualify. However, unlike some, I will not tell you to not do it. Rather than a random question on the boards, search bariatric surgery in Community Search. There are groups on MFP who have had surgery. Have been happy with surgery. I have friends on MFP who are happy, healthy, and look amazing after their surgeries. You can't tell the difference between them and my other MFP friends. One solution isn't for everyone, but, even with surgery, you must be committed to changing your lifestyle.

Patttience · September 2014

Don't do the surgery. I agree with the advice above to spend the money on your knee.

you don't have to exercise to lose weight. SEriously. You do not have to exercise to lose weight and often it does not actually increase your weight loss anyway. There is science that shows this. You have to do a lot of exercise to get a weightloss effect. All year i have been losing weight without exercise. This is the first time i've done it this way. In the past i've always exercise a lot.

now i know i do not have to. And because i am not relying on exercise, i am really confident now that i can keep the weight off forever, even though i am starting to do some walking. I know i can stop any exercise i start doing at any time and i will be alright. In the past i always regained when i stopped my intensive exercise.

Yes you will have to eat less but you do not have to exercise. Though exercise is good for health, its unnecessary for weightloss. But do get your knee fixed when you can. I would like to tell you also that i am eating daily 1400 calories and am close to goal. I got here never having had to go as low as 1200 a day. Its a mistake to cut your calories radically. Especially if you hope to do it for a long time. (fasting is another ratter i'll come to that later).

To lose weight in your situation, i would recommend: lowering your daily carb intake significantly. You don't have to go low carb a la atkins but there's no harm in doing it either or Paleo if you prefer. Both these diets will help with PCOS which seems to be partly weight related anyway.

Lowering your carb intake will help you control you appetite and because of that, dieting will be easier.

EAt only whole foods - fresh fruit and vegies, full cream dairy, give up sugar, honey and artificial sweeteners. Lose your taste for sweet foods. It can be done. I've done it. Others have too.

You can still have bread and pasta and such occasionally but learn how to eat legumes and lentils instead for the most part. EAt a lot more vegetables. Get plenty of protein. .8kg per kilogram of body weight per day.

I advise not overly overly restricting food choices so do learn to eat a wider range of whole foods. Includes nuts and seeds as you let go bread and rice as pasta as staples, so that you have lots of variety in your life. Don't snack on nuts though. Include them in your meals. Ditto go easy with cheese preferably include it in your meals so you can be satisfied with a smaller quantity. Become a good cook of nutritious foods.

Don't do low fat. Food is not yummy enough and it is a problem in its own right. I won't go into the whys and so on now. YOu can read about it elsewhere. RAther as you decrease carbs you will need to eat more fat (go about 40%) but you can no longer eat until you are full because fat foods takes up less space. Eat only until you are satisfied, eat less often. and quit snacking.

In fact consider taking up fasting. Try the 5:2 diet. I've been doing it for about 6 weeks. And since i'm now also doing 16:8, i feel i could just about become anorexic as i do not feel intense hunger at all. I think it must be because my body is burning fat for energy sometimes instead of only relying on carb energy. Anyway appetite reduction is a well known result of low carb diets and the popularity of fasting diets must also be at least partially attributed to appetite reduction.

When you do this diet you eat 500 calories two days a week. Most people do them separately but i find them easier to do together.

Check out the fast diet website. There's a book and a tv program (eat fast and live longer) that relates to the diet. But the website tells you how to do it. And the forum for tricky questions.

For you i do not think the fasting diet is necessary to start with but you may find it worth trying at some point along your journey. I think lowering carbs is an important thing to do.

But as with any diet, both on low carb and 5:2 you can get stuck at a plateau. The reasons are complex. And you have to learn how to tweak intelligently to find the way through. I believe PCOS makes weightloss a bit slower but don't let that hold you up. In fact thinking about that, might even make it true. Just weigh daily, write it down, be dispassionate. Just watch the scale and all its ups and downs.

Anyway don't do the surgery. Its bad for you teeth because of the post op vomiting that seems to happen with some people and you also have to take a lot of precaution with oral hygiene to avoid it. I think the surgery sounds easier than it actually is. I believe that dieting is easier from what i've been able to learn about the surgery and my own experience of dieting this year.

Whether you have surgery or not, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you have to change your diet permanently. You don't have it to do it all overnight but you should work towards really changing your whole diet away from whatever it is now to one that is primarily whole foods that are highly nutritious and where foods that cause hyper eating (fast foods and sugar foods and for some people pasta and bread) should be kept to a minimum.

Of course once you've really been able to retrain yourself, (a couple of years or so down the track) you may find you can eat small amounts of these other foods without risk of everything coming undone and ending up back where you started.

Also successful weightloss requires a good amount of psychological stress and emotional management. Prioritise your mental health. Get a councillor if you don't know how to deal with stress and disappointments without food. Read books on the psychology of dieting. Thinkg about it. cultivate your psychological awareness and develop useful tools and skills.

I've only just started exercise for my diet and i am 2kg away from goal - about 4 pounds. For exercise i am just walking and have hopes of doing some intensive exercise in brief spurts called the HIIT stuff for cardio fitness. Obviously you can't do that although down the track you can go swimming perhaps.

Anyway you can lose weight and if you are committed enough and go about it intelligently, you will get there. You don't need willpower you need determination and good strategies. Don't cut your calories severely. It usually backfires.

check out my diary for the sort of foods i eat.

Also eat more fibre. watch the tv show on you tube called Catalyst - gut reaction. Fibre is in fruit vegetables, lentils chickpeas, whole grain foods, nuts and seeds. Add fibre to your mfp counter. that way you can see your net carbs as well which is what counts in low carb. Increase your fibre slowly if you don't already eat much because it can cause a little tummy upset at first. That is if you are going to start eating psyllium or the like.

Send me a message if you have any questions. Good luck on your journey to a new slim healthy you.

Become a regular on forums. I have learnt a lot this year from my forum habit including trying out low carb just to see, and 5:2 dieting. And although i haven't needed a lot of support, on the occasions when i have needed i have had great support.

So best wishes and i am sorry you injured yourself last year. That happened to me once. I had taken up triathlon to help me prevent putting on weight when i quit smoking. I damaged my ligaments in my knee and had to quit. I have not taken it up again though i have been able to run again. But i know what a bugger it is when it happens like that.

New here need some advice

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