Six Month Update

Sorry I've been scarce... the stresses of the work situation have had me depressed and not engaged in my life. First, the WLS update. I bought a home scale today. I didn't know they made home scales in the 400 lb range these days - I always remember 300 being the max, so I was waiting. Anyway, in the almost-three-weeks since my last weigh in, I'm down 7.2 lbs, for a grand total of 103.2 lb in 27 weeks. I broke through 300 lbs, and I broke the century mark! This is also one of the nice scales with the body fat estimator - it tells me my body fat is 39.4%, so my lean mass (if I had ZERO fat - skin, muscle, bone and organs) is 178.4 lbs - which is why I think 175 may NOT be a reasonable target for me, unless I'm planning to LOSE a certain amount of muscle. With that amount of lean mass, at 20% body fat (high normal for a male my age), I'd be 214 lbs. Hell, if I never lose another pound from where I am right now, I have nothing to complain about. I haven't been in Twoterville since college. Work: I have accepted a job at New York Medical College/Westchester Medical Center, my alma mater. I'll be working the night shift, supervising the house staff and running the Rapid Response Team (aka the Code Team). I'll be starting that as soon as my privileges go through, and will be moving up to Westchester shortly thereafter (I have to save enough money to put a deposit on an apartment first). Question: Did anyone else find that they started to get sloppy about eating habits and vitamins in the 5th or 6th month post-op? I'm finding I can eat almost anything now (including small amounts of sweets, as many as three or four cookies), and I'm starting to develop grazing behaviours occasionally - over the course of four or five hours last night, I ate almost an entire bag of pretzels. I'm forgetting my vitamins (not to mention my blood pressure pill and antidepressant). Is it just fatigue with the lifestyle? Am I just backsliding? Any advice for getting back on track? (I'm still losing, of course, but I want to avoid the rebound...)

CONGRADUALTIONS !!!! You have had SOO many changes since the first of the year !! O.K. I will come clean....I am psych. nurse..And I know for a fact we are awful about taking care of ourselves.......BUT you are under a ton of stress right now.....YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR HEALTH FIRST !!!!! Everyone slips..(GOD knows I am sure I will) I am concerned that you could fall into a bad cycle of...forget your meds, vitamins....be anxious about all the changes...and fall back into old habits.......to deal with stress.....Try to be somewhere AWAY from the apt. during those Tough hours (at night) Any one with stress or depression seem to have there toughest times at night. Keep you brain occupied with ANYTHING you like to do that is not going to lead to eating....I wish you all the luck when you start your new job...and life..... Sean

The new job is night shift, so once I start, I won't be home at night. For now... I'm managing.

it's so good to see you Randy. I've missed you. I can't believe you are down that much already. That rocks! Congrats on the new job! Sorry I don't have any advice for you...I'm soooooooooooo new at this. Love ya Rachelle

Hi Randy, I found that at about month 7 I could eat anything and a lot more. That just continued to where I can now eat as much as I could pre-surgery. (Had my RNY in May 2005). I had a scope done and it shows that the connection between my pouch and intestines is too large allowing food to freely move from pouch to intestine as soon as I eat it. I never get full because of that, the food just pushes on through. I'm having a revision on 9/19/07 where they are going to bypass more intestine and make the connection between pouch and intestine tighter. I would like to lose another 100 pounds. I originally lost 160 pounds in the first 7 months, but nothing since. I have kept the 160 off though. Have you seen your doctor? Good Luck, Ed

I've still got restriction; I can only eat that much when I graze slowly. In fact, today, I had one small skewer of beef shish kabob (about 5 pieces, maybe 3 ounces), and it was too much, and I didn't feel well for an hour. I'd be satisfied with 160lbs - that would leave me at 240, which would be acceptable. I'd like to reach 200 (the surgeon wants me to get to 175).