A lot of questions...

Okay, first of all, I can eat ANYTHING. In never ever get sick... The only thing I have problems with is ice cream. I had that problem before surgery. Secondly, I am at a five month plateau! I have lost no more than 10 pounds in five months. I have a sneaking suspicion that I might have stretched my pouch opening (the outgoing one). I take my vitamins probably two or three at a time. All my bloodwork is normal and I feel fine, but I'm worried I won't lose anymore. My third question is how much exercise are we supposed to be doing a day? My surgeon says an hour, but I'm lucky to put in thirty minutes of high stress walking on the treadmill. My schedule is very hectic. Is there any suggestions on how I can continue to lose weight?

I am right there with you, except that I haven't lost a pound at all in 5 months. I don't really have an answer for you as I am going through this with you. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone on this one. I am thinking that I am eating to much, the wrong things, and at the wrong times. I will keep my eye on this just to see what everyone else thinks. Maybe they can helps us both. Good luck and I hope your weight lose starts back up for you. Toni

Hi Ladies- I am at a very slow (snail's) pace also right now. I started at 255.5 and am currently at 177.5. It is very discouraging. I have only lost 20 lbs since Oct 1,and at this rate it could be a real long time before I get to the Dr. goal for me of 135 lbs! I read about people *****ach the century mark so fast and I don't know what else to do to speed things up. I am positive that I am not over-eating or eating the wrong foods. Maybe like someone said in a previous post, we should do something drastically different for a few days to get the body out of it's lull? I know there are people out there whose goal is 175--but I am only 5'3" and I am still obese at this weight. Any ideas for growing another 5 inches??? LOL. Tootsie

Hi Jennifer, Ok, at the risk or being "flamed" or "insensitive"...I'll apologize right up front... 1) "I can eat ANYTHING and never get sick, except Ice Cream which got me sick b4 WLS"......... Because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD. I read into this you are eating things you KNOW aren't the best choices ...but, I could be wrong? 2) 5 month plateau --- If you are doing EXACTLY what you are suppose to, eating correctly, moderate exercise, drinking your water... then YES, this is a long plateau -- call you Dr & get checked out. However, if the answer is NO....then, it's probably just that, bad choices. As with any plateau... you MUST GET BACK TO THE BASICS. Protein, Protein, Protein first, then fruit/veggie, then min amts of complex carbs, some kind of exercise. 3) How much excercise are we suppose to get? You answered your own question.....by what your Dr told you. Is that reasonable?... to me I don't have the time for a hour a day. I am the worse at getting in regular exercise and only just recenly started taking Dance classes 2x a week, because I'll do that, where I won't go to the gym. ANY moderate exercise will help. Find a happy medium that works for you. Even "unplanned exercise"...taking stairs, parking farther away, etc. helps. Don't use the "my Dr said an hour a day" and I can't do that...as an excuse for not doing any at all. 4) Blood work fine you feel good. This is GREAT! one less thing to worry about... Worried you won't loose any more...Refer to #2 As you know, this is a tough journey. Some sail thru, others encounter every obstacle known and then some, this is definitely not easy. Please know that is mean in Love & Support --- been there, don't that got the T-shirt. I don't have all the answers, can only provide opionions & insight based on my own journey & experience. Wishing you continued success! Pam RNY 5/13/04 268/157 below goal & holding

I realize where you're coming from, but you're very wrong. 1.) I'm not eating anything that I want.. That's why I'm frustrated... If I was still eating like I was before surgery, then where would I have to complain? 2.) My Dr. has a bad habit of accusing me (much like you have) of not following all the rules. I can't go to him with questions like that... That's why I came to this site where I thought people were supposed to help you. To answer your implied question, all I eat is MEAT.. NOTHING else. So I'm def getting my protein in. 3.) I'm doing 30 minutes a day of exercise, which is way more than I imagine any "smaller person" does to keep in shape. It doesn't seem to be helping at all and I implemented it well over two months ago when I first stopped losing weight. So for you information, I am not doing an hour a day, but I'm certainly not using that as an excuse for not doing any. And might I just say, it sure is easy for people who start off at 268 to judge people that have a lot more to lose. I don't imagine you had such a hard time like I'm having because you have HALF the amount of weight to lose. So please don't judge me and just assume I'm being lazy and not eating right.

Jennifer, I think you might have read a little much into that last post. To be honest, when I read "I can eat anything, except ice cream" I came to the same conclusion. As you did not qualify this statement with anything about what you ARE or ARE NOT eating, I'm not sure how you can expect readers to come to any other conclusion. Please don't get mad when folks comment on what you write. If you want us to comment on what you THINK, then please put that into words. As far as it being "easy for people who start off at 268", that was simply immature and uncalled for. If you don't realize by now that this surgery and the rest of our lives following it are not "easy" for anyone, then you have bigger issues than ice-cream to deal with. Please think before you react, remember you ASKED for opinions. Thank you, -Perry

I don't think I should have to apoligize for my comments... Nor do I think I should be attacked once again in my own thread... If you have any useful and non-insulting advice, please post. I didn't qualify my statements, because I assumed that anyone would think I was doing as I was instructed if I were to post about not losing weight. I don't think my comment about "easy for people who start off at 268" was uncalled for either. I always thought this surgery was a way to get a person down to a healthy weight so that they COULD exercise. I thought you had to be well over weight to even be considered for the surgery. I didn't say it was EASY for the person to have the surgery, I said it was easy for her to get to goal weight. Which you have to admit, those first few pounds fall off. Frankly, the reason insurance doesn't support this surgery is because people who don't need the surgery have it done. For them it IS cosmetic surgery.. If I've offended anyone for stating my opinion, I apoligize. But just as you mentioned in your previous post, don't get mad when I comment on what OTHER people write. Again, if you have any USEFUL advice, I welcome it. But if its just criticism on my previous comments, please don't bother.

For the record, I realize that I wasn't real clear about my eating habits and exercise habits. I started off at 380 pounds and I'm down to 260 presently. I haven't lost any considerable amount of weight in 5 months. (Considerable being more than 10 pounds) Here is my typical daily schedule as far as eating and exercising. I've been going strictly by this for 3 months now. 30 minutes cardio high intensity (treadmill) with usually a 20 ounce bottle of water B: 1/2 cup total protein with 1/2 cup fat-free milk A 20 ounce bottle of water between breakfast and lunch L: Two slices of turkey with a slice of mozarella cheese (no bread) A 20 ounce bottle of water between lunch a dinner D: usually a piece of steak or chicken breast with light seasoning 1-2 20 ounce bottles of water between dinner and bedtime. Rarely I satisfy a sweet craving with a hershey kiss or some type of miniature. I also drink a diet coke or two throughout the day. Since I'm writing, I also wanted to add that I'm having edema problems in my legs. My surgeon said it was because I was overweight, but I never had those particular problems before surgery. He also said that adding more exercise would help, but since I started my everyday 30 minute intense cardio, it hasn't.

I'm not trying to attack you or anything like that. I actually do have some advice that may be of some help to you. I DO have to address something though before I start because something you said was very upsetting to me. About it being easier for people who start off at 268, or wherever and that it is cosmetic for those people I have to share where *I* am coming from. I didn't start out at 268... I started out at 228. I was 5' tall with a BMI of 43. Wow, some people might say. Just 43? Just 228? Well you know, it was killing me. Quite literally killing me. The diabetes, the sleep apnea, the joints falling to pieces, the heart trouble.... do I need to go on? Any BMI over 40 is morbidly obese.... and as we all have been trying to beat into people's heads in this society obesity is a disease, morbid obesity being a severe form of that. To compare one person's disease to another with the same disease is very unfair as we are all individuals and all react to our illnesses in different ways. I am sure there are people on this site that had a very long way to go but made it to their goal. And likewise a lot of people who didn't have as much to lose that never made goal. I just think that for ANYONE who is morbidly obese (assuming it is true that 95% of the population can only lose and maintain a 30lb weight loss with diet and exercise alone, which is what a doctor told me) that right now where we are in medical science this surgery seems to be the only "cure". I don't "have" to explain my reasons and justifications for having this surgery to you. I really don't care what you think of me personally honestly and if that means you think I didn't need this surgery then that's okay. But it does concern me that you might not give people a fair shake that could really use your support and friendship just because in your opinion they are clogging up the system and keeping people like you who "really needed" the surgery from getting the attention they deserve. Like I said, I am not trying to be antagonistic here... just trying to share my point of view with you. Maybe you'll think it over and change your mind, maybe just a little. Maybe you won't. As far as your problem goes, perhaps if you keep a daily log of what you are eating and the amounts (www.fitday.com is a good site for doing this) then the next time you go in and talk to your doctor you can show him and he might have to really face what's going on with you instead of taking the easy way out and questioning if you're following the rules. Maybe because you're just eating meat and not getting some other things your body has gone back into starvation mode. Be really careful with the carbonation. I was drinking some carbonated drinks for a while and started to realize I could eat a lot more than I was able to before. Scared me to death! I immediately stopped and even went back on a liquid diet for a while and then ate things I knew I couldn't handle as much of (like things that didn't sit well because of consistency) so I had to eat less. My pouch seemed to agree with me and has seemed to shrink back down. Luckily it can't get too awful big anyway because I had the fobi RNY which is bascially the same thing as a normal RNY only I have a band around my new pouch to minimize stretching. Still not taking any chances though. Went through far too much to get where I am. I am sorry you are frustrated. Don't take no for an answer though with your doctor. It is his job to follow up with you and make sure your body is doing it's part. You deserve that attention... he certainly got paid enough to give you some support when you feel the surgery isn't doing what it is supposed to. Good luck and keep us updated.

Dear Jennifer, Sorry to hear about your long plateau. I hope you can get the weight loss started again. I have read on this board that when your weight loss seems to have stopped that you should try 3 or 4 days of the liquid diet that we had to start out with. You know, the protein drinks, s/f jello, s/f popsicles, that kind of thing. It can't hurt to give it a try. Also, you might want to check with your surgeon about checking out your new pouch and make sure that you haven't stretched anything. As far as exercise, I think that as long as you are doing SOMETHING it shouldn't matter if you do a whole hour or not. I don't know about you, but before surgery I couldn't do ANY exercise. Now I am so much more active, but I don't do any "formal" exercising yet. I'm working on it, but I have a schedule from hell too. I'm also sorry that the responses to your post got you down, but sometimes people have a bad day or whatever. Try not to take it to heart too much, okay? These are just MY thoughts and I hope that you find something that works for you. Take care!!