help

Hi everyone, I have been on appetite suppresants, eating super healthy, and walking for a week and a half and I've lost from 0 to 1.5 lbs, depending on the day. I am extremely frustrated and feel like giving up all together. I am even tempted to order pizza or chinese for dinner. I feel like throwing in the towel and am not sure what to do. Help! Sabrina

Hi Sabrina, A week & a half really isn't enough time to evaluate your progress. After 52 weeks, that 1.5 pounds = a 78 pound loss. Are you comparing yourself to a WLS patient that probably eats 500 caloires a day & can lose 40 pounds in a month? That isn't a fair comparison and you're being much too harsh on yourself. Pizza & Chinese sounds good & it'll taste good, too. But, when you're done, how will you feel? Healthy habits are developed over time and the weight loss is secondary to that. As for weight fluctuations, I weigh between 166-169 on any given day. If I eat pizza or fast food, I can go over 170 from all of the fluid retention. Please don't throw in the towel. It's not a race. The slower you take it off, the less likely you are to put it back on. Keep exercising & eating healthy foods. I also hope that you're not restricting your caloric intake too much because that can aid in a poor outcome, too. Juli

Patience and everything Juli said. Make sure that you are getting enough calories and protein that can sometimes cause you not to lose. It takes time to get healthy your body is adjusting to this new lifestyle. We are here with you and believe me we are going the the exact same thing. It is a mind game our body plays on us so that we will give it what it wants. It holds on to fat for dear life.....LOL....Don't give up it will happen. The weight will come off and you will be healthier. Be encouraged! OOXXOOXX

Thank you so much you guys! J uli as soon as I read your response to my post you gave me such motivation I can't even explain it. Actually I could, I didn't order those fatty foods for dinner, instead I went to Macy's (a local department store) and walked my butt off. Now, I am back online to write back to you and thank you, and Alisha I find your message here to uplift me even more! Wow you guys. What a wonderful gift to have people like you on this website to be able to lean on. It really brings me joy to connect with people all across the country in such an intimate and supportive way. It means the world to me, as I'm sure it does for others. God bless!!!! xoxoxoxo, Sabrina

It is like a slow boat to CHINA! But, as we know, eating without any regard will pile it back on sooo fast. So that is NOT the right response, but oh so tempting... Glad you caught yourself today - trust me i feel that way, exactly. It gets disheartening. Juli said it best - a week and a half is not long. My body nearly always early on in a drastic change seems like it holds tighter to letting weight go. I read somewhere that is exactly how it is- you body does fight you. It's a big reason so many diets do fail - we can't wait that long!!!! Get stubborn, more stubborn than your body and WIN!!!!!

I was just lurking on this board, because I'm bored. Well anyway your profile sounded so much like I wrote it. So I just had to reply. I was a yo yo dieter for years and for the most part with diets, diet pills, etc., etc. I managed to keep the weight off for many years. Eventually my weight finally got up to 237 lbs. when I had enough of dieting and figured it was doing more harm to me than good. Of course eventually I got Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and High Cholesterol. So in a very quick decision I decided to get the lap band. By this time it was about my health, not my looks. I noticed in your blog you are considering weight loss surgery. This is mainly why I am responding to your post. My lap band surgery was 18 months ago and I am a size 4-6, 135 lbs. now. It has been a complete success and I am overjoyed with the results. I have maintained my weight 6 months. So mainly I wanted to wish you well in your journey for whatever you decide to do. I guess what really got to me was that I have a picture of me taken many years ago when I weighed about 125 lbs. It was at the beach and I had a top on to cover me also because I thought I was too fat. This last summer I had a picture taken of me in a bathing suit. It was so hard for me to have this picture taken, much less put on a bathing suit. Now when I look at this picture I am so proud of myself. I really look good. I am 65 years old. Best of luck to you.

Yes, yes, you have many good points in there. I got very serious about looking into WLS for all the reasons you stated above! I had not come up with diabetes and hi cholo, but given time, I would have. Even the new book - YOU on a diet says that intervention, which one option is WLS, is completely correct. I am glad to "meet" you - I am 50 and thought my chance for lap band had nearly passed me by. In my mind, if I don't have it by age 55, it will be gone. You give me hope. I'm on my last diet attempt. I may join you.

Ok, I know that this may be a very unpopular comment and it's not meant to offend but I feel like I must say this. First let me say that I am happy that wls has changed your life. However, I must say that nothing is a cure all. I have been coming to OH for sometime before I joined. I have seen many post about appetite suppresents and others post wls patients talking about OMG I just ate the whole pizza (forreal I have). Secondly, wls doens't seem to have consistent long term studies. By that I mean that those who had it many years ago all seem to be back at their original weight if not more. I was in walmart the other week talking to a lady who had gastric bypass i believe she said 20 yrs ago. You would have never known. I know many of you are probably thinking that the same methods are no longer in use. I would agree with you that they are not. but what does that say about the method in use today? Does that mean that everyone who has it now will be back at their obese weight in 10+ yrs? If the goal is to be healthy, why not take the neccessary steps to be healthy by learning about nutrition and portion control. I am aware that lapband is different. It takes more effort. The same principle still applies, nutrition education and portion control. ( I do feel that lapband is a "better" choice from what I know about some of the other options though) Third let me say that I believe mindset plays apart. The Bible tells us to speak those things that are not as though they were. If you believe you CANT live without wls, you may not. We have to believe that we can overcome obesity and that we can be successful longterm. Sabrina, sounds so discouraged, but I feel that a week is no time to an assestment. I dont think this is enough time for any of us to be bringing wls up as an option to her. My intent is not to down wls. There was a time in my life where I WANTED it. I had to realize that I wanted it more than i needed it. The whole time I was exploring it, the only thing I kept telling myself is that I'll be skinny by such and such time. Again my intent is simply to give my opinion. I support whichever choice she makes. For those of you who do not like my post and feel the need to "cyber attack" me, when you don't get a response, it's not cause you have intimadated, frightened, or defeated me, it's cause I'm not 12 years old (just joking, i love you guys!) Be Blessed

Amen! And that Amen isn't meant to attack WLS but to affirm what you just said, Cammy! I did what I had to do because I REFUSED to allow myself to have WLS. I ate myself to that weight & stopped exercising. My fault. No one force fed me. Once I changed my habits for the better, it worked. And, I developed lifelong, liveable habits. I'm not eating egg whites, cottage cheese & protein bars for the rest of my life. I eat real food in real quantities and from each food group, too! Imagine that. Each day on the main board you see post op's wanting appetite suppressants, weigh****chers, revisions, etc. They obviously didn't work with the tool they were given. Had they learned their lessons, they wouldn't be in trouble. And, I'm not on "my high horse" either. It's the truth. I've learned people can't handle the truth or just choose to deny it. Sabrina, you made my day today with your delightful post & I sincerely appreciate it. Once, shortly after joining, I was flamed by someone asking advice. I gave what was sound advice but boy, she didn't like it. Like I said, denial. I'm so happy that you're going to stick with it! Juli

However, I cannot completely discount the 25% success stats with wls compared to the 2-5% success weight loss success without it. My 6 friends here in my life daily who had wls would have never ever lost the amount of weight they lost - four of them have kept it off for five years. The other have just gotten done, so we'll see. You are right - that leaves 75% to fail WITH wls. I most firmly believe if a person's compulsion with food is not dealt with, there is no way wls can help. Those are the app suppressant/revision stories you read on these boards, of course. It's very important for all of us to really "get that" - it's not done and over with wls. The work is forever without learning about the basic problem. After year after year of trying to believe in the old fashioned way, it has let me down time and again. Some might say i have let me down, but only i know how hard i work at this for not too much results. I'm way past defending that. I still to this day get back on the horse, hoping this time will be different. I am just as like to not get wls, too. I don't see me putting back on the weight i've recenly lost and surpass that just to qualify, either. I'm just being realistic, i think to not rule it out, either. Actually, the very best thing would be a less invasive thing to come down the pike.