What is different for you this time?

I was curious how you folks feel about losing weight this time around. I know we have all lost before but how is it different for you? For me I feel successful and I feel like it is forever. I am not keeping any clothes that are too big now. They go out to the charity right away 'cause I know they will never fit me again. How about you? I'd like to hear from you. Jane

Jane, After being told by my cardiologist flat out that he didnt think I would live another 2 years at 310 pounds, I knew this was serious business. This wasnt attempting to lose 20 pounds to wear a dress to a high school reunion. This was life or death. I put hours and hours into researching the wls and talking to many many people preop and post op. Every step of the way I felt that God was telling me.. This is the path you need to take.. This is the answer you have prayed for. So I feel so deeply that I have been given this second chance, this tool to change my life. So it is my responsibility to make it work. It is my job to not waste this gift that has been given to me. Its even more than feeling better and looking good. Its being alive to see my children grow and give me more grandchildren. Its being able to be among the living again and function like a normal human being. I just feel totally committed to working out, following my surgeons instructions and learning to love myself again. Hugs, Laura

Dear Laura, Your reply was so honest and sweet. The truthis my diabetes was so out of control that my doctor said the same thing. I really prayed hard for an answer as well and got it. My labs came back to day and my a1c was at 5 and my cholesteral was 148. So although the little perks are great, I totally agree that the health issues are the most important. God bless. Jane

I think what is different is I am not as happy about my weight loss, I know this sounds weird but I am still not totally convinced that this is the real thing and I keep waiting for the down turn and to start gaining again. Not sure when it will sink in that this is for real and I may actually be a "normal" weight person some day, you see I have ALWAYS been heavy even as a child. I guess I am being cautious about my happiness right now, but everyone around me is happy for me so that is good! Cary

Don't worry, Cary...you and I will get there together! I am somewhere between the eternal optimist and being guarded with my happiness. I know I'm doing this for the right reasons. I am definitely committed to doing everything I can do in order for this surgery to be successful (and it really already is). However, I'm not "feeling" it yet. I know it will hit me at some point. After all, I didn't have this surgery to let the tool go to waste....so I'm workin' it! I know the results will come.

I feel the same as you cary, I too have been heavy all of my life and have been on every diet there is and ive lost 20, 30, 40, even 50 pounds before so my weight loss hasnt really made a big difference yet. Dont get me wrong I am very grateful for this small success but am looking forward to the future when I can finally realize this is for real. candy

Actually, now that I am 7 weeks post-op, I think the weight that is comming off will stay off for good. However, I am VERY disappointed in the speed of the weight loss. I know I follow the plan, and yet I am behind "schedule" according to the ObesityHelp postop planner. http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/postopplanner.phtml I expected the weight loss to be very fast for the first couple of months and then slow down around the third month. That isn't exactly how it has gone. Quite frankly I think the weight loss this time is more permanent and I find myself "feeling" more committed to a healthy lifestyle. I find the reduced pounds provide positive reinforcement to the healthy life choices being made. Though prior to surgery it was "easy" to lose more weight than I am losing currently (within the last two weeks) the weight I lose now "feels" like it might be a permanant removal rather than something "lost" which will be "regained." Would do it again in a heartbeat.

Pat, I used that planner to get an idea of what to expect and the first month, I lost 6 lbs more than what it listed which is great. Then the next month, I lost only 8.5 lbs so now I'm 4 lbs "behind" the projection overall. My body is going to do what it is going to do. All I can do is follow the rules. Get my protein supplements, my meals, my vitamins, my fluids and exercise and see how it responds. I was within the same 1 lb range for 2 weeks. I was a tad impatient with it but the good thing was that I saw a change in clothing size. Within a week things definitely fit very differently. I'm happy with that part. I am a "lighter" weight surgical patient. I started at 276 with a goal of 160 but I had a number of comorbidities to get past. I had this surgery so that I wouldn't keep following my mother's legacy. She battled her weight, diabetes (which she pretty much denied she had), HBP, back problems and heart issues (family history of that). She died in September at age 71. Her death made me decide that I needed to head a different direction. Anyway, I lost 32 lbs prior to surgery (from mid-Feb to mid-May). I worked hard for that. And now I have lost 35.5 lbs since surgery. Slower than alot of folks and believe me I would love to see the fast loses that others have but I have to stop and realize that here I am already with under 50 lbs to my goal. I have parted with so much clothing already because I really believe that this weight loss is more permanent than ever. I had clothing dating back to the mid 80s. I'm not kidding. LOL! So parting with things is new to me. But I feel like I can get rid of the 2X and 3X clothing because I won't be back there again. It is going to take hard work not to gain yet again. Gotta work the tool. Kathy

Pat, I don't think that calculator is that accurate. I mean it doesn't factor in exercise or diet; it's just numbers. I have played around with that thing putting in different goals etc. and it just seems that there are too many variables missing for it to be accurate. I wish you all the best.

What's different for me this time is that it is not a little weight loss, but the very real hope/expectation that I will lose ALL the extra weight and be healthy for the first time since I was a small child. When I've lost weight in the past, its always been a few pounds here and there. Even when I worked at UPS loading trucks for several months, I was dropping weight, and it felt good, but I knew that I would still never get really healthy by doing that because I would have 3 Mickey D's burgers on the way home from my shift. But now? Now I have made pattern changes. I have made substance changes in terms of what I eat. I have started on a whole new way of living. And the weight is falling off and I have every hope and expectation that I will reach goal weight and live the rest of my life as a healthy person (at least from a food standpoint).