I'm new to the whole weight loss and surgery thing any tips please?

I have heard of the weight lose options before. Such as exercise and a healthy balanced diet and surgery. But where do I start.

I have already visited a doctor in my local areas clinic. It a gundersens clinic. The doctor I spoke with did not know much about weight lose.

I was told to walk. Which is kind of a kind of slap yourself in the forehead kind of answer. But then you think what do I really need to do.

Current weight 359 2 months ago. Do not no if went up or down at all. I don't have a scale big enough to weigh myself. Shore maybe 30 or 40 dollars at walmart but then I don't even know if they will hold my weight.

So as far as I know age 26 gender female height 5'3" current weight 359. High risk of diabetes was told to schedule a "Hgb A1C" and that is non fasting and requested do to the last results. And I was told to do this 2 months ago.

Here's the problem I'm having with the appointment I had in the past. I ask what are the best things to help me lose weight. In stead of saying well I'm not a actual weight lose doctor you need to meet with someone else. I'm told walking works. 

Well ggggggg why didn't I think about that sooner. Well because I was to busy watching cartoons and TV while I was a kid and not vary fit since childhood. And the pounds just started piling on. So now I'm a adult and asking for help.

And all the help I'm getting is being told walk.

But there's more to it then that. There's keeping track of the things you eat plus knowing how healthy and un-healthy they are plus knowing how much walking works plus knowing if there's something physically wrong with you that might be hurt the choices you make.

After all you can't eat 10,000 calories and then walk 10 steps and except to lose 100 pounds over night. It just not work that way.

Shore there's books that you can buy that will have recipes in there for these great food like chicken recipes plus beef and so on. But if you have to spend over 30 dollars a book just for some recipes and then need to spend money on exercise dvds. Plus they actual food to cook plus worry about everything else like how many calories are burnt by walking 1 mile. And how many miles you can walk a day plus how many workouts you can do in a day plus how many calories you can lose by doing each exercise and then how many pounds you can lose in a week a month two weeks. Plus how long you need to stick to something to keep it a routine. If you have to worry about even little thing yeah I would kind of blow my freaking mind. 

I'm not good with keeping on track and keeping a schedule.

And then the doctor who told me to walk also tells me. There are also weight lose surgery's available to you also.

But to find out if you can actually get a surgery you need to talk to this doctor but shes only in town at this clinic once a week but we don't have opening for another 2 months. Plus she also visits the hospital you could see if she has a opening there soon. Or you can travel to lacrosse for a appointment there. Which is 80 miles round trip. 

Its like. How can I find out more information without talking to her. On I'm not shore if you can she specializes in this area.

So here's where I'm at I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I had heard before you can get the surgery you need to be put on a diet plan to lose so much weight on your own first. Um hello if I knew all the details of losing weight. Why would I be here looking to get surgery. 

That's why I'm asking for some help. On the forum. Will the surgeon actually set me up on a diet plan. Or are they going to say ok you want the surgery then lose 100 pounds or (?) LBS and then we will help you with the rest. 

Well if it was that easy I would not be here to begin with.

IS there any advice to getting information about surgery before a appointment is made. 

Please any advice would be great.

There is a resource tab on the top of the page... try going in there and reading some of the basics on WLS. If you can't get to a surgeon's seminar, some do have online seminars that go through some of the info. Depending on your insurance and your Doctor you might have a 6 month supervised weight loss.. I didn't have that, I was given a diet and told to lose 15-20 pounds before surgery. I was surprised I was able to do it, but I did. Exercise becomes easier once you start losing the weight. Call your Insurance company and get a list of bariatric WLS Surgeons. There maybe more available than your Doctor is aware of. Good Luck...

Hey Dawn!  I'm so impressed that you got so far ... good for you !  It took me WAY too many years to find my way here and eventually to  go to the surgeon and suffer through all the tests and FINALLY get a new life !  Its SO worth it though.  

Here's the good news - walking really WILL help you lose a LOT especially if you've been sedentary and its pretty easy and cost-free ( all you need is headphones for  your phone )  I would advise FIRST getting weighed by the surgeons office so every lb you lose on your own counts .  I ate a lot of chinese food the night before my weigh in too so I carried extra water weight ( my surgeon required me to lose 30 lbs too... it was HARD )

If hardheaded food-addicted  me  could do it you can too .. its totally worth it .  (((()))) hugs 

If you opt for weight loss surgery you will HAVE TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU EAT!!!!  Weight loss surgery is not magic.  You have to be willing to change EVERYTHING about the way you relate to food.  Surgery is only a tool to help you get the weight off rapidly by making your stomach smaller.  You will have to eat a high protein, low carb diet for the rest of your life in order to be successful.  You will have to measure your portion sizes out and then STOP eating.  Surgery will not prevent you from make poor food choices.  If you choose to eat crappy food, you will not succeed at weight loss surgery.

It's up to us to educate ourselves and follow the weight loss surgery rules.  We can not drink with our meals or for 30 minutes after we eat.  We can not eat processed carbs like pasta, bread, crackers, sugar, etc.  We have to limit starchy foods, so no potatoes or rice.  We have to eat meats (protein) first and, if there is room in out stomachs, a few bites of veggies.  We have to drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water daily.   We have to take double doses of vitamins for the rest of our lives.  We have to have blood work (labs) done every year to make sure we are getting the right amount of vitamins. If we don't follow the rules we will regain weight or become vitamin deficient.

If you are willing to do the hard work of following the rules and wrangling your personal food demons through therapy or support groups, you will succeed.  If you go into it thinking that the surgery will do all the work for you, you will fail.  Those are the facts.  Most people who are successful weight loss surgery patients will tell you it is not an easy journey, but it's worth the effort.

If you want to try on your own to lose weight, I would suggest that you eat mostly proteins ( meat) and veggies.  Limit your fruit to one serving per day and cut out all bread, crackers, chips, potatoes, rice, pasta, and sugary foods (cookies, cake, etc.)  If you do this and watch the portion size, you will begin to lose weight.

If you decide you are up to the challenge of weight loss surgery, this is a great site to get your questions answered.  There is a search function (little magnifying glass in the blue bar at the top of the screen.  Click on it and type in any question.  You may have to do a lot of reading, but it is important that you spend the time to educate yourself.

Good luck to you!

I need to print this.  Excellent post.

Excellent Post! I like the line "wrangling your personal food demons" so true. 

I know cutting out the sweets will be hard. But I can do it as far as eating them goes after all if you don't bring it into your house you don't need to eat it. The one problem with sweets is when I go shopping the only transportation is my sister and her boyfriend with there 2 kids 2-1/2 and a little over 3 years old. And when I get my cart I always have to take a kid with me. Its like dawndawn candy or dawndawn drink drink. And then its boxes of snack cakes and donuts and cookies. And then lots and lots of soda pop. Well I just bought 4 12 packs the other day and have not had 1 can or bottle or even a sip of soda in 2 days.

And today so far I have had flavored water and kiwi strawberry green tea from my local subway. So I have done pretty good so far in the last 2 days plus I have purchased 6 gallons of pure drinking water from my walmart also. So doing pretty good. 

And no candy ether but went pretty wild on the popcorn last night.Its the movie butter popz for 1 dollar a tub. 

But I really need to slow down on even the popcorn. I have a thing for the butter kind. 

Chips are not a problem I don't even eat chips. But I love peanuts and salty things. And of course sweet things. 

What I need to do is make a list of things I like and find a close match and switch. I love soda because of the zing I get from the flavor. So I bought Clear American Kiwi Strawberry flavored water and I love it. And its on sale I think because the bottles are only .50 cents each.

So if I can give up 1 thing and switch it with another I can get on a good start by my birthday hopefully. And that on 12/19.

If anyone knows of a site that has good ideas for calorie swaps and healthy swaps to lose weight I'm all ears.

Hungry Girl is a website about lower calorie food swaps  Some of the suggestions are really clever !  Personally unlike Ms. Batt ...  I ate LOTS of ( mostly fat free ) complex carbs before (and still now after )bariatric surgery .  Just for the record - overeating/costantly eating fat free carbs made me THICK but not an unattractive size...I ended up a size 12 or so ( no0w I'm a 2) .  I was also healthy relatively and able to exercise which really helped post surgery. 

I eat my popcorn air popped drizzled with a yummy fat free cheese sauce I make every few days and keep in the refrigerator .  I think I shared the recipe yesterday for that - takes five minutes to cook and then whenever I pop the corn I put  few tablespoons of the ( cold) sauce on it and mix it up .  I swear it tastes like cheese doodles ..  only you don't end up getting fatter .  All microwave popcorn even the so called "lite  versions are drowning in oil and quite fattening   sorry .  Of course ny popcorn is way better than chips .. but air popped popcorn is really high fiber and fat free and  is something a lot of people use post surgery a kind of a free weight-loss snack. 

Other good snacks are anything fresh - cucumber salad, tomato salad , pickles , greek salad .  I always watch the  dressings though - I like to use fat free blue cheese ranch or a low fat readymade tzaziki which is yogurt/dill/cucumber mixture about 3 grams fat for a 3 tablespoon serving . 

Celery sicks or baby carrots  are also great to dip into tzaziki or a home french onion dip made with fat free sour cream and green onion mix. You can also use hummus as a dip .

(((()))) You're on the right track congratulations Dawn!  I love your spirit and really enjoy reading your posts 

I'm just curious, was it the fat free high carb that made you thick or low carb high fat that did it. I don't get the "fat free carbs" in your statement.

I like popcorn too, & from what I've read here, it's not what a lot of people use post surgery! Air popped popcorn with nothing on it,for me, is not that appealing, fat gives flavor to something that already has a lot of carbs in it to begin with., Your suggestions for the sauce adds calories & more carbs, something that is generally avoided during weight loss. For you maybe eating something that tastes like cheese doodles won't make you fatter, I'm pretty sure for most other people it will. The idea to avoid fat like it was the plague, to me, added to the obesity epidemic, there are different kinds of fat you know.

For me, who was SMO, popcorn has & will always be, a luxury, & not something to have too often if I want to keep losing weight. There are plenty of other ways to get fiber.

I've never eaten low carb high fat simply  because my body just won't let me .  Different people have different metabolisms ; for instance my Mom who had a  Moor grandfather from northern Africa can eat LOT more fat than I can and not gain any weight . On the other hand she absolutely can't tolerate any unfermented dairy products .

I am genetically largely Northern European otherwise which means I can eat any dairy  but I have a proclivity to get fat very easy maybe because my ancestors struggled to grow enough food in very cold climates . Fat makes me fat ...  might as well APPLY it lol. 

My Mom and I both exercise lot and eat a lot of low fat carbs- but she eats meat 2 or 3 times a day and I eat that much meat in a  week ...she prefers salad and I prefer complex carbs and lightly cooked veggies .. different metabolisms  . Yet if you saw us side by side in bathing suits you would know we have the same body .. weird huh?  

My Mom and I both do a lot of strenuous competitive sports ..so we have to eat what makes our bodies perform optimally .  Interestingly they are different things ... 

 As far as fat free complex carbs go ... my personal opinion is that eating fat free has unfairly gotten a bad name through being generally misunderstood .  I think the makers of many highly profitable processed carby foods particularly baked goods had excellent incentive to trick consumers by tweaking  portion sizes to stay under the three grams of fat  per serving " mark" .  *****ads that there are 11 so called servings in a tiny box and adds up the fat ?  The truth is most " lowfat " processed foods are actually quite high fat ... maybe not quite as fattening as the original version but certainly  nothing that will aid a weight loss or weight maintenance diet .

I eat REALLY fat free foods largely unprocessed complex carbs like whole grains separated by two hours digestion time from fat/ protein meals .  It works for me ...