I gained weight????

Hi again all my name is joe. I am still in pre-op phase of my journey.Yesterday i went to my Surgeon, Which by the way is not even going to do my surgery , and he said that i gained weight. Which is impossible because i have been very loyal to a better eating lifestyle and  ive even been substituting a meal or two with a protein shake. Im just very confused as to how i could have gained weight. What the heck??? If i dont lose the weight will i still be able to get the surgery??? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

many surgeons do require some weightloss........BUT many do not.  it really depends on how big you are and the size of your liver.  for me, I had to lose 60 pounds before surgery so my surgeon could operate on me laparoscopically.  Losing that weight, shrinks the liver in which they have to get past to get to your stomach.  If your liver is fatty then you stand a better chance of having it done as an OPEN procedure.  Also the dieting beforehand gets your brain wired for the big change that's to come.  however, make sure you're eating enough.  it's easy for your body to go into starvation mode and therefore hold on to everything you ingest and storing it as fat.

Thanks for the advice. I cannot wait to be on the otherside!!!

Hey Joe

I just finished my 6 month diet (as required by Cigna) and in preperation for surgery. At one point I was down 20 lbs, but managed to regain the 20 in the last month or two. I had completely altered my eating habits. ZERO fast food, very little eating out at all, proper meals - grilled chicken, lots more vegetables, very little sugar, no soda, almost no alcohol. I mean really dramatic changes. And yet here I am still weighing 370ish. I can complete relate.

I think I may have figured out a factor though. I have been completely sedentary the last 2-3 months. I am at the computer essentially ALL my waking hours. I'm working about 10 hours a day (writer), and then going to grad school at night (more writing). I need to move more. It's not about the buring calories part but about raising your metabolism and getting your hormonal system working properly

Thanks for the advice

Hi Joe,

Aetna required me to be on a 4 month supervised diet and see a nutritionist. I ended up gaining 30 lbs waiting to have the surgery during this time. I got to the heaviest I had ever been in my entire life and was pretty sure I would not get approved. Apparently I don't do well under stress. I was eating every meal as if it was my last.

I still got approved.

My nutritionist said they just wanted to see consistency and that they did not really expect me to lose much weight cause if I could have I would not need to have WLS.

Hope that helps.

Good luck!
Kevin

 I definatly was in the mindset of " I'm getting surgery so i can eat horrible for a little while"  I definatly dont do well under stress either lol!  Thanks for the advice,

I think that the whole mindset before surgery is that you "can NEVER have that again" and eat it till you don't like it!!

I know that I was in that boat!

I'm almost 2 years out, and am able to eat what I want.  However I keep the not so good choices to a very minimum (one or two bites, once a month, etc).

You do find after surgery that you are VERY mindful about what you eat, and feel guilty, but not like guilty if you are pre-op and on a "diet".

I hope that this makes sense!

Michael.

I totally agree with you. I am also quitting smoking which isnt helping any lol! I know after i get this surgery i will change my lifestyle forever, but im nervous until that point that i wont be able to dropped these few pounds and at least maintain my weight and i am worried that my dr will say no because i gained a few and cant get it back off. I mean hello, if i could lose weight by myself i wouldnt need this life changing surgery. Congrats on your success so far you look very sexy