I WILL NOT BE A NORMAL WEIGHT .....

Hi All  I have also posted on the over 50s board then noticed this one ! Now I am 52 yrs of age and had a bmi of 52. something  My weight loss stopped 4 months ago ,and I lost 66 lbs  The original surgeon who did m y RNY told me that this was a satisfactory loss ,I didnt think it was so went and saw another surgeon this week to be told that I may need revision ,BUT I WOULD THEN ONLY LOSE ANOTHER 14LBS !!!!!!!!!!!! I was also told that the bigger the bmi then the less likely it was to achieve a normal weight . I would like to find out is this is true ? How many of you ladies have achieved a normal to normalish  weight ?  Now I am 5ft 3 was 298 to start out  I personally wouldnt mind being 168lbs    Ideally  154 lbs would be fantastic  but it looks like I am going to have to live with being 232 and am totally fed up with all this wls at the moment , have a large hanging stomach and no plastic surgeon will operate on my as I am still too heavy for surgery anyone else been in this situation ? Thanks  Susie xxx

WLS is considered successful if you lose eighty percent of your excess body weight.  Why does your surgeon think you have lost a satisfactory amount of weight?  Why does the second surgeon think you might need a revision?  Why does he think you would lose 14 more pounds after a revision?  Where did he get that magic number?  I assume you are following your plan of protein first, enough hydration and adequate activity.  Are you eating enough?  Please give us more information so we gave help more. Many people with a high BMI achieve goal or at least get in an average weight range.  I have about a 32 BMI now and will be having a lower body lift next month.  We do care.  Loris

ok here goes ...

I may need revision as I have been able to eat any foods .. since 6 weeks out ,I mean meats,fruit,potatoes,pasta etc without any problems or sickness obviously the longer out I get the more I can eat ,he thinks that my outlet may have stretched and is going to organise an endescopic enquiry,to see if things have stretched ...

I didnt think at the time to ask why I would only get off another 14lbs ..I could kick myself now for not asking !! but he did say that after 6 months our bodies are trying to get back to"normal" he reckoned that if I hadnt had the distal bypass I had ,that I would now be gaining weight !!!!!

As far as protein goes ...no I hardly eat much .... execise neither as have bad arthritis in my knees which can have me laid up for weeks on end ,when I am able , I do walk every day

Last week I had  a bad bout of the runs and since then have felt very nauseaous (sp) Lost 4lbs and now gained that back as well ...............I GIVE UP And the surgeons I have spoken to said that 50% ewl is a succes ......I dont think it is !!!

Susie, First of all congrats on the loss up to this point.  I am only going to state my opinion, I have no medical background so here it goes.  It sounds as if the surgeon might have screwed up and is trying to cover his tracks.  I do know that some of the goals that the surgeons and patients set are somewhat unrealistic.  Like you I am 52 but my bmi started at 69.  I lost 200 lbs since the beginning of my journey.  Also, like you I can eat almost everything, but I don't .  It would have been alot easier to have not had that knowledge or ability but that is the way it is.  I stayed on a 5 month stall which in part was my doing.  I am back to moving down again.  On my one year visit my surgeon point blank told me that my goal of 180 lbs. was unrealistic and that 220 would probably work better.  I am 5'8" and medium built but also have very long legs and arms.  I respect my surgeons word and have stopped looking at the number on the scale and going to aim towards health and mobility. 

I don't know what options that you have in the UK but look into and research before you do anything.  What does your family doctor think?  How do you feel?  What would happen if you only went to 200, would you be OK with that?  Will you need any reconstructive surgery as that will remove at least the 14 lbs.

Good luck to you.  Let us know how you make out.

 

Jeanne

Dear Susie, I started with a BMI just above 66.  I won't give my age :), but I'm middle aged if we assume that women live to be about 80.  I am 5'5".  My rny was mid November of 2005, so about a year before yours.  I have lost from 398 to 162.  I've had the tummy tuck, breast reduction, and arm lift.  My weight loss has pretty much stopped. The research I've read says the average weight loss with rny ranges from 40% to 70% of your excess weight.  Everyone is different; our bodies respond differently, etc.   But, from your reply to a previous poster, I have to wonder why you would start looking for a surgical option when you don't seem to have followed the basics of the post-op protocals already?  I don't know about the pre- and post-op support you have in the UK; maybe they don't explain the life-style changes required to be most successful. You say you don't eat that much protein, that you eat just about anything, and you don't exercise.  I understand about the knees--I'm pushing off replacements as long as possible.  But there are things I can do that don't hurt my knees (stationary recumbant bike and swimming are the ones I do).  And just because I can eat foods that I know aren't the best choices, I still have to choose not to (most of the time!).  More and more research is supporting the low carb diet as the most effective for weight loss and that is what we are suppossed to do anyway with the focus on eating protein. Again, I don't know what your surgeons led you to believe the surgery would accomplish.  It was made clear to me that this was a tool that I could use, but that it wasn't a magic fix.  I do know a person who thought that she would be able to eat anything post-op and not gain weight.  I see it more as now the surgery has allowed my body to function the way a "normal" person's would--so I get to worry about my weight like everyone else :)  But know I know that changing what I'm doing will have an effect.   It must be very frustrating to have gone through all of this and be so disappointed.  But I would encourage you to get back to the basics and prove your surgeons wrong. Best of luck, Sally

I'm 5'3" had a beginning weight of 374 and now weigh 182. My BMI was 66.3 and is now 32.2. I've lost 192 pounds in 14 months, but my weight loss had slowed down tremendously in the last month, to the point where I've only lost a couple pounds. I'm still not "normal", but I'm happy. Part of using this "tool" is changing your eating habits and I'm sorry but it doesn't sound like you have. I choose not to eat certain things like sweets, I know there is no reason for them in my diet. I have been blessed with a pouch that doesn't tolerate starches either.

HEY SUSIE,         IT IS SAD THAT YOU ARE GOING THRU ALL THIS AFTER WLS BUT I FEEL YOU HAVE BEEN STRAYED IN THE WRONG WAY... EITHER YOUR DR THERE DOESNT GIVE YOU THE WHOLE WLS DEAL TO LEARN OR HE JUST DIDNT DO HIS JOB. BUT FIRST OFF IT SEEMS YOU HAVENT FOLLOWED THE GOLDEN RULES OF WLS AS THEY SAY... PROTEIN IS A MUST! WATER IS A MUST! AND MOVING THE BODY IS A MUST! I KNOW YOU HAVE BAD KNEES AS YOU SAY BUT IM SURE THERES SOMETHING YOU CAN DO TO GET MOVING... AND THIS EATING ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING AND IT AGREES WITH YA IS A NONO... HECK, IM SURE THERES ALOT OF THINGS OUT THERE THAT WE ALL CAN TOLERATE BUT MAKE THE CHOICE NOT TO... AND FOR SURE DONT UNDERSTAND THE NUMBERS THAT THESE DRS ARE COMING UP WITH...I WAS 397LBS AT WLS AND TODAY AM 159. ONLY TEN OF THAT WAS LOST WITH PLASTIC SURGERY. WE HAVE SEEN ALOT OF OTHERS ON HERE LOSE ALOT AND SOME SLOWER. BUT I FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO GET BACK TO BASICS AND START OVER... I JUST DONT FEEL ITS A WLS BOOBOO... BUT THEN AGAIN... IM NO DR.I HOPE YOU CAN GET THE HELP YOU NEED AND DESERVE THOUGH..

HUGS MARGE

I'm very newly post-op (3.5 weeks), so I can't address the long-term issues. However, I'm 5'1" and started at 367. The day of surgery I weighed 334. I'm down to 308.

I eat only protein (no veggies allowed yet). I am allowed 2 meals a day, 6 hours apart. I must stop drinking liquids 30 minutes before my meals and not drink for 30 minutes after my meal. I exercise at least 30 minutes a day -- though the surgeon wants me to exercise 60 minutes EVERY SINGLE DAY, no excuses for missing a day of exercise. I drink 80 to 96 oz of water per day. Before surgery I was on 12 pills daily for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, GERD, migraine headaches, and joint pain. I was in such pain trying to walk that I needed prescription strength anti-inflammatory medications because Advil, Aleve, and Tylenol didn't touch it. One of the hardest things for me was stopping that anti-inflammatory medication one week before surgery. I hurt SO badly just trying to get around.

Now I can stand up for more than 2 minutes without having to sit down. In fact, I was so proud of myself -- I could stand up for 20 minutes with no problems to chat with a friend! I can walk. Now I don't say I can walk for 60 minutes straight through. However, I can walk for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, which is what I do. Then I go back and walk another 15 to 20 minutes. There is no shame in needing to break the exercise into three or four sessions. However, it has to be done.

I'd definitely check with your surgeon regarding a back to basics diet. While you may be ABLE to eat anything, it doesn't mean you SHOULD. While I haven't tested my pouch, and I don't intend to, there are a lot of foods that I would love to try again but I have resigned myself to not having until I'm at my goal or perhaps never. As soon as my open incisions heal so that I can get back into the water, I'll be at the pool. In the meantime, I'm walking -- even if it just means walking around inside my house or my office building because we're still having highs in the 90s here and my legs chafe so badly that I dislike doing a lot of walking outside in this heat.

Good luck with continuing to lose weight!

Susan