I've lost 100 pounds!!!

dew11252 · November 2022

So - about weight-loss surgery. Not my choice because 1) already had too many necessary surgeries, not looking for electives at this time. 2) have a few friends that went that route and only 1 had maintained the weight loss and adopted a healthy lifestyle. I'm at 289 - totally doable to lose by healthy methods - just need to DO it!

It's Monday - completed at 16:8 intermittent fast, completed a 20minute walk, marking off other 'tasks'. It's not just about the pounds - it's about taking back control of my life! And I'm gonna do it! You did it - so I know it can be done!

dew11252 · November 2022

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

dew11252 wrote: »

Wow!
I'm at 289 and trying to lose 50 lb before I see a doc for bilateral knee replacements. Had surgery scheduled in Jan this year but I canceled it. Hospitals overcrowded, calling in National Guard to assist, figured I didn't need to be there for elective surgery.

I am bookmarking your post so I can use it as encouragement. I won't do weight loss surgery - gotta do this on my own. Everything is me says I can do this - I just don't. Hmmm...

You can do this!! Find your BMR-Basal Metabolic Rate for starters, and go from there. So if it says that at 289 lbs. your body needs 2200 calories each day just to function at that weight, then you will need to eat less than that to start losing weight. (You will be creating a calorie deficit).

You can research more about it, but that's the starting point. Why? If a person just says, "Eat less and move more," yeah, that doesn't get specific enough. You might be eating 5000 calories a day right now, so eating a bit less isn't going to make a dent fast enough to get your body to respond to weight loss.

Track everything you eat so you actually know how many calories you are eating right now, and it will make more sense along with the BMR.

Lower the carbs, friend, lower the carbs. Look for hidden sugars in everything you eat.

Good luck! Good for you for wanting to avoid knee replacement surgery--it's one of the most difficult surgeries to get right. The knee is a complicated thing. (And a pro-tip: If you do need knee replacement surgery, I don't recommend you have them done both at once or in short succession, even if your surgeon is crazy enough to allow that to happen. You won't be able to walk, and if there are any complications on either knee, you could end up in worse shape than before. It's not pretty to see).

Find some buddies on here that have similar issues or that you can become friends with for support.

RE - knee surgery. Retired from medical field (X-ray tech) so I've seen the success and failures of knee surgery. Both parents had bilateral replacements (more than 20 years ago) and recovered will - but not for me. One friend had both done - 4 weeks apart. Another friend had both done - 6 weeks apart. My goal - - do the therapy, follow instruction, and have them done 2 months apart, or when I feel confident I can manage. I will definitely have help - but, I do live alone. I have the knowledge and the tools - just need to lose the weight, start now building strength - then

git 'er done!

mjcavey · November 2022

Great job! You can make it to your goal!!

cyclematt5045 · November 2022

Very impressive!

JaysFan82 · November 2022

Thank you so much!

kidprimo · November 2022

JaysFan82 wrote: »

At the start of January I went to a soccer game with some friends. I was so big I could barely make it up the stairs. My knees felt like they were gonna give out. I was getting winded showering. At my heaviest i was 388.6 pounds. My dad died of a heart attack at age 51 and the way I was going it was gonna take a miracle to hit even that. I had actually made an appointment with my family Doctor to look into weight loss surgery. I canceled at the last minute and decided to give it one more go. Started swimming since it was the only thing i could do. I was too big for exercise bikes. Im now running again! Feb.24 was the day i decided to make a change. Today I saw this number staring back at me: 288.4. I've lost 100 pounds. I can't believe it. I'm not done yet though. My goal weight is 230 so I've got a ways to go but it'll come.

I can't believe I did it.

BartBVanBockstaele · November 2022

Fit2btied2016 wrote: »

BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »

dew11252 wrote: »

I am bookmarking your post so I can use it as encouragement. I won't do weight loss surgery - gotta do this on my own. Everything is me says I can do this - I just don't. Hmmm...

Depending on how serious your condition is, you may want (or not) the surgery. That said, if you can afford (time- and health-wise) not to have the surgery, chances are you will be better off. Don't forget that bariatric surgery does not remove fat. It is merely a tool to help you lose weight by eating less than you need to stay alive. That means that even with the surgery, you are essentially doing this on your own anyway. On top of that, surgery is not risk-free and there are life-altering consequences.

I second this. 289 lbs starting weight and to lose 50 is an achievable and reasonable goal!! Many people do not realize that after bariatric surgery the stomach often ends up the size of a golf ball. There are many complications that can happen. The amount of food that one could eat after such a surgery is often measured in teaspoons and tablespoons or liquids. Tiny amounts. The risk of surgery itself is magnified by the difficulties in intubating and using anesthesia on larger persons, the increased risk of blood clots, and so on. It's not a picnic. The person having surgery will almost always have to do a radical very-low calorie "diet" anyway to lose weight rapidly before surgery to help reduce some of these risks.

The person would be better off to just go on that very-low calorie diet and not have the surgery in that sense. (We are talking 800 or 900 calories per day here--if a person finds eating below 1500 calories hard, say, they will find these low-calorie diets more difficult still. Very often it's actually easier to fast and not have any calories if a person is trying to break a carb addiction for example.

I hope they consider ditching all pop and sugar in coffee/tea and snacks as 3 easy ways to cut calories off the top. Bariatric surgery is extreme surgery, and many times it has to be redone. It takes a highly skilled surgeon and team, and the person needs to be well-informed of ALL options and risks and pros/cons before deciding on it or not. TV tends to glamorize it a bit or sluff over a lot of the risks.

I really hope the poster of this topic connects with some people that can be supportive for that original starting weight, or what would be most comfortable/easier to relate to, etc.

Walking is free and can be done in small increments of 10 minutes here, 10 there and so on. The small amounts of time will start to add up quickly, and the more a person walks, the easier it is and the better the knees will start to feel. The idea is to get huffing and puffing a bit.

There are knee braces that a person can buy to help support those joints to be able to move with less pain and to walk more. A physiotherapist or a medical supply store can help with their purchase and fit and give instructions.

Walking poles can help provide extra balance, confidence and stability and increase the calorie burn/exercise benefit by giving the arms more to do. A friend or family member or neighbour that is willing to go for walks can be very helpful and encouraging, or perhaps a dog that likes to go for walks (just be careful of larger dogs--they tend to pull when excited and can put a person off balance).

Just some ideas for you. You need to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses will be or how you are feeling at the moment so you can come up with a plan and break things down into little, smaller steps.

It's like making a quilt. You first need to decide what size quilt you are going to make. How about a baby quilt? What kind of pattern would you like to use? Flying geese? Nine-patch? A pieced picture from a child's coloring book? What kind of fabrics? Prints? Solids? What kind of quilting? Hand-quilted? Machine? Tied? Some of all of those? Are you going to use a rotary cutter to cut all the pieces, or cut them with scissors? And so on...

Say that you want to make the baby quilt for a little one expected in 9 months from now. How much time will you plan to work on your quilt each day, week, or month?

Losing weight is like making a quilt of new eating habits and lifestyle changes. You have to break everything down and then reassemble the parts into a new quilt.

***Make the quilt manageable, realistic, and the goals small until you get better at quilting (weight-loss) and things run more smoothly.***

And if you have never quilted, then try and fight something that you already know how to do well that you can use the process to help you break down the steps for weight loss. (Learning what calories you already eat, how to track your food, exercise, and so on, how to shop or cook differently, who can support you, encourage you...)

Hang in there! I wish you well :-) Let us know how you are doing once in awhile ;-)

I second this wholeheartedly.

Just think about it: if losing weight is so important that you are willing to have your anatomy reconfigured or partly removed, would it not make even more sense to just give up on some stuff that you ingest? It is very likely to save you time (less grocery shopping, preparing, washing dishes...), money (less expensive since you eat less), it is going to be less painful and there are most likely going to be fewer complications.

Surgery hurts, it *can* kill you and it occasionally does. It can also do worse than merely kill you. Have a good look at the statistics and consider this. While bariatric surgery is a lot safer now than it once was, if you are the unlucky one, 100% of you will be involved, not just 0.1%. Statistics are no longer important once you have taken the step. You are 100% of you. Medicine is a balancing act. Every single medical act powerful enough to provide benefits is also powerful enough to be detrimental. Much of the art of medicine is in balancing the benefits and disadvantages of (not) having a treatment. That is a lot of fun when discussing it on an abstract level, but it starts to feel rather differently when you are the one taking the risks for yourself. Don't forget that there is no "reversal" in biology, nothing can ever be undone. Repairs may be possible, but they too come with risks of their own.

It would be thoroughly unscientific to propose what I do as "the one and only or best practice", but this is what I do: I ask myself what is most dangerous: having a treatment or not having a treatment. If you are talking about tattooing a bat on your tummy, the answer is clear enough. The answer is not quite as black and white regarding bariatric surgery but your life and your quality of life are very much involved. Think about it seriously. Unless you are in some type of an emergency, going the diet route is likely (but not certainly) going to be your smartest bet.