In response to acbbrown (Alison) - pre-op & newbies
Thanks! Maybe I will get lucky and have better luck with pills after surgery. I can't do the gummies - they are too much like candy and I've been known to eat them like candy (no bueno)...chewables might be good for me. Maybe I will have to wrap them in cheese like we did for the dogs. Obviously I will have to figure out a way to get them in...
Tracker starting weight = surgery weight
I'm only 8.5 months out but will chime in!
First of all, vets like Allison, Elina, USAF Wife, Frisco, Jo (INgirl, I think?) etc--they KNOW what they are talking about. I would seriously listen to their advice :)
1. As far as losing 80 in 8 months: like the others said, everyone's weight loss and journey is different. Many factors come into play: start weight (the heavier you begin with, the faster you will lose initially), age, gender, level of exercise, water intake, and following your surgeon's plan diligently. With that being said, I am 50 years old and lost 50 lbs by 3 months, 75 lbs by 5 months, and now at 8.5 months post op I have lost just under 108 lbs, ten lbs from goal.
2. I took iron daily until the constipation was just too horrible to bear. My labs have always been perfect so I stopped taking it unless future labs indicate that I need it. Postop take Colace (stool softener) every day. Like Alison said, it is the MOST painful constipated BMs you will ever have if you don't. Now that I take the colace, I no longer have problems. Otherwise your vites look fine.
4. Due to my excess weight, I had terrible lower back pain. I could not stand for more than 5-10 minutes without having to sit down. Having lost the weight, I have ZERO back pain. Now my boney butt on the other hand...never knew sitting could hurt your ass! lol BTW, I had a total knee replacement on March 29th (yes, 2 major surgeries in 6.5 months--I must need my head examined! lol) which also helped the back pain.
5. Ah...head hunger. I did not have any hunger at all for the first 6 months, which was great because I sailed right thru Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the holidays with no desire to cheat. In the last 2 months my hunger has come back. If I wait too long between meals, I will feel ravenous. Like Alison (and probably like a lot of us) carbs are my demon. I CANNOT have them in the house or I will eat them. And I'll eat a LOT of them. Once I start, forget it!! I do not buy them however my husband does. The way I deal with that is I have him hide them from me, because for me, out of sight, out of mind. Sounds childish, but hey, works for me.
6. I'm an RN and did extensive research on the surgery, my surgeon, etc. so I can't say that there were any surprises for me postop. I had a fantastic surgeon, was operated on at an amazing hospital and came home within 36 hours of surgery. I had no pain at all postop except for the night of surgery. I am blessed that I have never had a single complication.
I guess what I was not prepared for mentally was how as I lost weight, you become the object of intense scutiny from everyone. EVERYONE comments on the weight loss: "You look great," "You look too skinny" (love that one: I'm 5 ft 3.5 in and 153 lbs--hardly skinny by any standard) or they don't recognize you at all (that can be pretty funny lol). When I was fat, no one said a word. After surgery it's like you become public property and people can and will say anything they want.
Be prepared for some jealousy if you have overweight friends/family. I always was the "fat" one of the group. Now, ironically, I am the smallest. Some folks are not gonna be happy for you.
However, nothing feels as good as skinny does!!
7. Stalls...hmmm...the devil. Had my first one at 3 weeks (the famous 3 week stall). Just toughed it out and then the weight started coming off. I weigh every morning and record it. I have lost every week since then so that was my only experience. I log everything single thing I eat and drink on MFP and it keeps me accountable.
Sorry this was so longwinded--hope it helps~!
Marie
First of all, vets like Allison, Elina, USAF Wife, Frisco, Jo (INgirl, I think?) etc--they KNOW what they are talking about. I would seriously listen to their advice :)
1. As far as losing 80 in 8 months: like the others said, everyone's weight loss and journey is different. Many factors come into play: start weight (the heavier you begin with, the faster you will lose initially), age, gender, level of exercise, water intake, and following your surgeon's plan diligently. With that being said, I am 50 years old and lost 50 lbs by 3 months, 75 lbs by 5 months, and now at 8.5 months post op I have lost just under 108 lbs, ten lbs from goal.
2. I took iron daily until the constipation was just too horrible to bear. My labs have always been perfect so I stopped taking it unless future labs indicate that I need it. Postop take Colace (stool softener) every day. Like Alison said, it is the MOST painful constipated BMs you will ever have if you don't. Now that I take the colace, I no longer have problems. Otherwise your vites look fine.
4. Due to my excess weight, I had terrible lower back pain. I could not stand for more than 5-10 minutes without having to sit down. Having lost the weight, I have ZERO back pain. Now my boney butt on the other hand...never knew sitting could hurt your ass! lol BTW, I had a total knee replacement on March 29th (yes, 2 major surgeries in 6.5 months--I must need my head examined! lol) which also helped the back pain.
5. Ah...head hunger. I did not have any hunger at all for the first 6 months, which was great because I sailed right thru Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the holidays with no desire to cheat. In the last 2 months my hunger has come back. If I wait too long between meals, I will feel ravenous. Like Alison (and probably like a lot of us) carbs are my demon. I CANNOT have them in the house or I will eat them. And I'll eat a LOT of them. Once I start, forget it!! I do not buy them however my husband does. The way I deal with that is I have him hide them from me, because for me, out of sight, out of mind. Sounds childish, but hey, works for me.
6. I'm an RN and did extensive research on the surgery, my surgeon, etc. so I can't say that there were any surprises for me postop. I had a fantastic surgeon, was operated on at an amazing hospital and came home within 36 hours of surgery. I had no pain at all postop except for the night of surgery. I am blessed that I have never had a single complication.
I guess what I was not prepared for mentally was how as I lost weight, you become the object of intense scutiny from everyone. EVERYONE comments on the weight loss: "You look great," "You look too skinny" (love that one: I'm 5 ft 3.5 in and 153 lbs--hardly skinny by any standard) or they don't recognize you at all (that can be pretty funny lol). When I was fat, no one said a word. After surgery it's like you become public property and people can and will say anything they want.
Be prepared for some jealousy if you have overweight friends/family. I always was the "fat" one of the group. Now, ironically, I am the smallest. Some folks are not gonna be happy for you.
However, nothing feels as good as skinny does!!
7. Stalls...hmmm...the devil. Had my first one at 3 weeks (the famous 3 week stall). Just toughed it out and then the weight started coming off. I weigh every morning and record it. I have lost every week since then so that was my only experience. I log everything single thing I eat and drink on MFP and it keeps me accountable.
Sorry this was so longwinded--hope it helps~!
Marie
Age: 50 Ht: 5' 3.5" SW: 261 BMI: 45.5 CW: 119.4 BMI: 20.8 Goal in 9.5 months (23.6 lbs below goal) Total lost: 141.6 lbs Inches lost: 84.25"
Month one: 22.2 lbs; Month 2: 17.4 lbs; Month 3: 11 lbs; Month 4: 13 lbs; Month 5: 11.4
lbs; Month 6: 9.2 lbs; Month 7: 13.2 lbs;
Month 8: 9 lbs; Month 9: 10.2 lbs; Month 10: 3.6 lbs: Month 11: 7.6 lbs Month 12: 5.8 lbs 
Not a vet yet, but here's my answers:
1) Is it realistic to expect to be down about 80lbs after 8 months??
Depends, usually yes. I am trying to lose 113 pounds, and was down 80 pounds at 7 months, counting 10 pounds I lost pre-op. I was down 80 pounds post-op (not counting pre-op loss) at 9 months (i.e., now). I am not a particularly fast loser, nor especially low on the calories. If you only have 80 pounds to lose, total, you need to be very focused for that to happen, unless you are a guy, in which case, you will wake up from surgery already skinny. Just kidding, but guys lose faster, in general.
2 & 3) Vitamins and Minerals
All I can say is to follow your surgeon's directions for now (they are pretty typical) and then track your own labs.
4) Back pain
Yes. Not sure how old you are, or what you do for exercise. I do Pilates 3x a week, it's all strength training and flexibility. It made me feel 10 years younger and I started 4 years ago, way before I lost any weight.
5) Head Hunger
I am a compulsive overeater, of the binging type like acbrown (Alison). I have been in and out of Overeaters Anonymous for 26 years. It was the only thing besides surgery that helped me. It's sure not everybody's cup of tea, but I always try to mention it because it saved my life. I am have weird thoughts and behaviors around certain foods, and have to have lots of strategies in place because of it. I abstain from recreational sugar as a bottom line, and weigh-measure-record everything I eat. This is more important than anything else, without exception. Followed closely by 70+ g of protein. Everything else is optional, although I have other guidelines that I usually observe. What I learned in OA is that the easiest way to figure out why we eat compulsively is to stop doing it. Then we'll know!
6) What did I totally not expect?
I totally did not expect to feel so completely normal, on the inside. I do not have anywhere near the capacity I used to have, but otherwise I do not feel in any way different. I was nervous and scared that I would not be able to enjoy food, or would have reflux, or food would get "stuck" or something. I do not notice physically that I've had surgery as long as I eat my measured portions. I have overeaten and it is not pleasant. But other than that, I feel normal. This is kind of a two-edged sword because I was *extremely* careful early on to heal up properly, and it made me hyper-vigilant and aware. I can see how I could easily fall back into old eating patterns if not careful.
7) Handling Stalls
Accept them, and have lots of self-talk. First of all, I tell myself every day I don't control how much I weigh. I only am in charge of what I eat, and how much I exercise. The rest is up to my body, which is smarter than I am. I personally believe my stalls are necessary, either physically or psychologically. I lose weight quickly, then I panic, then hold on to the weight for a while, so my mind and body have time to catch up. As I approach "goal", I remind myself that I have a goal way of eating, not a goal weight, and this goal way of eating has to continue for the rest of my life, regardless of what the scale says. I might get frustrated or discouraged, but I still have to follow my bottom line plan because PEACE OF MIND around food is my only real goal.
Hope this helps.
:) Happy
53 yrs old, 5'6" HW: 293 ConsW: 273 SW: 263 CW: 206 
Just another post along the same lines... difference is I have a much larger stomach then the average poster on this site.
1) Is it realistic to expect to be down about 80lbs after 8 months?? I think it is. At five months out I lost 73 pounds post-op. Add in the preop loss of 26 and I am well above the 80. With that said, i do not have a specific goal by a specific date. Just prior to surgery, I set a goal of 100 pounds by 6 months. I realized about 2 months in that this may be counter productive, so that is no longer a goal. Instead, my goal is to not lose patience nor motivation to continue to work on it.
2) This is my vitamin regimen now. Any suggestions??
Costco brand multivitamin that has iron in it. Started out with the Bariatric Advantage chewable- much, much easier in the beginning. If they were not so expensive I would still be using them.
Fish oil 2x per day.
sublingual b12 1 or 2 x a week.
Calcium chews (carbonate) or citrate capsules
D3 chewable, 2000 IU a day.
This has worked well for me so far.
3) I should add Iron (not ferrous sulfate) and Vitamin C right??? I have iron in the multi, and do not do extra vitamin c unless I feel like I may be coming down with something.
4) I don't expect my back pain to disappear. But can I expect some relief once I have dropped excess weight?? It actually was worse in the beginning for me, but now much better.
5) How do each of you deal with head hunger??
I still need to work on this. I am a grazer and eat from boredom. The best 2 defenses against this for me is that it is CRITICAL that I keep junk food out of the house and work place. The second is to distract myself, preferably with exercise.
6) What is the one thing you wish you had been prepared for or you totally did not expect??? Head hunger was a bigger issue than I was expecting and will take longer to conquer than first imagined. I was entirely prepared for loose skin, but never thought about how insanely flabby I would look- not sure if that makes sense or not. Skin isn't bothering me, it is the way that I sag and jiggle now.
7) How do you handle stalls???
I am a stair step loser for sure. My resilence holds me for about 2 weeks, but I start to struggle by week three. I am still working on extending the resilence. Part of my issue is that I am now averaging daily 1000-1200 calories- too high, but struggling to get it down consistently.
I would add that exercise has helped tremendously. It was tough in the beginning so just set goals to move your mass as much as you can. Find a way that you enjoy compared to something you hate but may burn a ton more calories. It needs to be a long term mentality- not a burn bunch right now type thing.
Good luck :0)
1) Is it realistic to expect to be down about 80lbs after 8 months?? I think it is. At five months out I lost 73 pounds post-op. Add in the preop loss of 26 and I am well above the 80. With that said, i do not have a specific goal by a specific date. Just prior to surgery, I set a goal of 100 pounds by 6 months. I realized about 2 months in that this may be counter productive, so that is no longer a goal. Instead, my goal is to not lose patience nor motivation to continue to work on it.
2) This is my vitamin regimen now. Any suggestions??
Costco brand multivitamin that has iron in it. Started out with the Bariatric Advantage chewable- much, much easier in the beginning. If they were not so expensive I would still be using them.
Fish oil 2x per day.
sublingual b12 1 or 2 x a week.
Calcium chews (carbonate) or citrate capsules
D3 chewable, 2000 IU a day.
This has worked well for me so far.
3) I should add Iron (not ferrous sulfate) and Vitamin C right??? I have iron in the multi, and do not do extra vitamin c unless I feel like I may be coming down with something.
4) I don't expect my back pain to disappear. But can I expect some relief once I have dropped excess weight?? It actually was worse in the beginning for me, but now much better.
5) How do each of you deal with head hunger??
I still need to work on this. I am a grazer and eat from boredom. The best 2 defenses against this for me is that it is CRITICAL that I keep junk food out of the house and work place. The second is to distract myself, preferably with exercise.
6) What is the one thing you wish you had been prepared for or you totally did not expect??? Head hunger was a bigger issue than I was expecting and will take longer to conquer than first imagined. I was entirely prepared for loose skin, but never thought about how insanely flabby I would look- not sure if that makes sense or not. Skin isn't bothering me, it is the way that I sag and jiggle now.
7) How do you handle stalls???
I am a stair step loser for sure. My resilence holds me for about 2 weeks, but I start to struggle by week three. I am still working on extending the resilence. Part of my issue is that I am now averaging daily 1000-1200 calories- too high, but struggling to get it down consistently.
I would add that exercise has helped tremendously. It was tough in the beginning so just set goals to move your mass as much as you can. Find a way that you enjoy compared to something you hate but may burn a ton more calories. It needs to be a long term mentality- not a burn bunch right now type thing.
Good luck :0)
Surgeon: Chengelis Surgery on 12/19/2011 A little less carb eating compared to my weight loss phase loose sleever here!
1Mo: -21 2Mo: -16 3Mo: -12 4MO - 13 5MO: -11 6MO: -10 7MO: -10.3 8MO: -6 Goal in 8 months 4 days!! 6' 2'' EWL 103% Starting size 28 or 4x (tight) now size 12 or large, shoe size 12 w to 10.5 150+ pounds lost
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1) Is it realistic to expect to be down about 80lbs after 8 months??
absolutely, I am only 6 months post op and down 125 lbs...
2) This is my vitamin regimen now. Any suggestions??
High Potency Chewable Multi (Trader Joe's Brand)
Calcium Citrate 1500 mg daily (2 pills 3x daily)
B12 sublingul 1000 mcg daily
B50 complex 1x daily
D3 5000 iu (gel capsule) 1x daily
Biotin 1000mg 1x daily
Folic Acid 800mcg (400mcg 2x daily)
Chelated Zinc 50mg (25mg 2x daily)
You take way more vitamins than me, I do calcium citrate morning and afternoon, gummy multi morning and lunch, b12 1000mcg sublingual in the morning ,sometimes again in the afternoon (i call these my crack, I am seriously addicted!), biotin 5000mcg in the morning and iron in the morning (always been a touch anemic so the extra iron is good for me)
3) I should add Iron (not ferrous sulfate) and Vitamin C right???
see my answer on iron above and the c is in my multi
4) I don't expect my back pain to disappear. But can I expect some relief once I have dropped excess weight??
my back pain has eased up considerably in fact all my joints and feet, etc feel 1000 times better
5) How do each of you deal with head hunger??
I'm really not so sure I've had much of that....I hadn't even felt hunger in any form till I had to take a massive dose of steriods for pneumonia...I just eat because I know I have too...
6) What is the one thing you wish you had been prepared for or you totally did not expect???
I really didn't expect it to happen so quickly....and the transition into real foods wasn't great but I lived through it and learned alot about what my new tummy would and would not tolerate...
7) How do you handle stalls???
I try to not let them get to me, but they will and they do...just try switching things up...exercise more, cut back carbs, calories, up the protein....you will find the magic combo that works best for you.
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