Just curious
I know I haven't even had my first appointment with my surgeon yet, but I'm looking down the long road to my RNY, and thinking about when this bypass will be 2,3 4 even 5 years old, or more. I'd like to hear from some OFF-ers who had their surgery 2 - 5 or more yrs. ago, and how they are doing.
Cathy
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Cathy
I am so so happy I had the surgery. It will be 5 years in July. I lost 177 pounds and went from misery to a fun life( even tho I do gripe sometimes) The second year I had 2 intestional obstructions and surgeries with in 3 months. That was scarey & rough, but all is well now. I do find now I have to take control of my eatting. All my life I have said if only I could get the weight off I know I could keep it off. Well the last year I have found I can eat most anything and the easiest things are things I should not eat so I put on weight .all of a sudden after Christmas I didn't have any clothes that fit. I am mad at myself but I have now gotten control back .. Not a DIET but a change in life eatting. I did have a 2 day slip..(biscotti, lots of them.) Already I have taken off about half of my regained weight but with stopping the sugar and white flour I find the cravings are gone. I would advise never ever try that first bite of sugar just to see if you will dump, after 18 months to 2 years, I stopped dumping.I don't want to go back to not being able to move and join with the family. Bad health, looking terrible. Hating warm weather because I would sweat like a pig and always have a red face. Now I have been taking snow hikes !! The winter before my surgery I fell outside and couldn't get up. I honestly thought I was going to freeze to death, it was below zero, finally a man in a tow truck , yes a TOW TRUCK saw me and stopped. No, no biscotti or grilled cheese is worth going back there. ..Just a few thoughts, I would do it again in a minute..only sooner..Blessings
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OMG Jean! Im so glad you responded! Im very very happy for y9ou that youve started down the right path again also! keep it up..the people here can support too...go to support meetings too Im sure that would be great. Im very confident that you can do it with the rest of us...Thank you so much for your reply!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Welcome Cathy,
We wonder what life will be like after WLS and KNOW what a life of continued obesity will do to us. It's that fear of the unknown that sets our minds a flutter.
I had WLS over 2 years ago after years of consideration. When my daughter complained that I had never taken my grandkids for a walk, it was time to get serious.
The best advice is follow the eating plan EXACTLY!! Take your supplements as directed, exercise, drink water and you will do very well.
Those are not always easy, there will be times of struggle and frustration when you hit a stall. In the end - oh yes indeed, it is all worth it.
You ought to see me bounce on a trampoline. Sure couldn't do that at 320 pounds. Heck, walking was a struggle then.
How am I doing? Living and loving life as never before.
Annette
We wonder what life will be like after WLS and KNOW what a life of continued obesity will do to us. It's that fear of the unknown that sets our minds a flutter.
I had WLS over 2 years ago after years of consideration. When my daughter complained that I had never taken my grandkids for a walk, it was time to get serious.
The best advice is follow the eating plan EXACTLY!! Take your supplements as directed, exercise, drink water and you will do very well.
Those are not always easy, there will be times of struggle and frustration when you hit a stall. In the end - oh yes indeed, it is all worth it.
You ought to see me bounce on a trampoline. Sure couldn't do that at 320 pounds. Heck, walking was a struggle then.
How am I doing? Living and loving life as never before.
Annette
I was a lucky one, I lost much more than the 50% of excess weight that is considered success, I mention that so you can do the math for yourself and look at a reasonable number, rather than being taken in by the few who make it to size 2 or smaller.. I never hit a "normal" BMI but I was only 10 pounds (or three inches) from one at my lowest weight.
I hit that lowest weight 18 months out and have gained 15-18 pounds back since then. I eat larger portions than I did for the first 18 months and I am less physically active. I have hit an equiilibrium, the upward creep has stopped, but I am heavier than I want to be.
I think this surgery simply resets us to a more normal place but it does not make it easy to stay there. We are now in the same place as most folks, weight maintenance will depend on diet and exercise. So, your body will be forced into starvation by the surgery and you will maintain health in the process by following your physician's program. When the loss stops, you will be in charge, just like you were before the surgery.
My surgeon and his program are excellent. I still have some of the head issues that make every day a struggle. I have prooven that I can gain weight by overeating healthy food. I must take all my supplements every day and that will be true for the rest of my life. I don't have to deal with high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes anymore. My heart problems were not resolved by surgery, nor should I have hoped for that.
I lost my butt and boobs first, and the sagging was truly horrid. I bought an electric razor because my arpits turned into arm-pleats. Even with aging skin, over the last year, things are snugging back up. My panni is not shrinking, The skin on my thighs and belly is ugly and not improving.
I hit that lowest weight 18 months out and have gained 15-18 pounds back since then. I eat larger portions than I did for the first 18 months and I am less physically active. I have hit an equiilibrium, the upward creep has stopped, but I am heavier than I want to be.
I think this surgery simply resets us to a more normal place but it does not make it easy to stay there. We are now in the same place as most folks, weight maintenance will depend on diet and exercise. So, your body will be forced into starvation by the surgery and you will maintain health in the process by following your physician's program. When the loss stops, you will be in charge, just like you were before the surgery.
My surgeon and his program are excellent. I still have some of the head issues that make every day a struggle. I have prooven that I can gain weight by overeating healthy food. I must take all my supplements every day and that will be true for the rest of my life. I don't have to deal with high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes anymore. My heart problems were not resolved by surgery, nor should I have hoped for that.
I lost my butt and boobs first, and the sagging was truly horrid. I bought an electric razor because my arpits turned into arm-pleats. Even with aging skin, over the last year, things are snugging back up. My panni is not shrinking, The skin on my thighs and belly is ugly and not improving.
I'm over 14 yrs out. Start was 262, now round about 100 (which is a bit under my average) and I'm 5'1". I had a very distal RNY. Pouch of RNY, intestinal arrangement of a DS, basically.
I was 44 when I had surgery, 59 today.
Like so many, I just wish I had done it sooner so I couldn't pay the price for my years morbidly obese AND I could've had those years in use, rather than being too sickly to do much.
I was one of the lucky ones in that my doc was way ahead of his time nutritionally, and we had more vites (and almost all were the correct forms) back i***** Far more detail than even the new ASMBS guidelines. So, I suffered fewer deficiencies than is customary for the olden days and thus was subject to fewer cravings. It was a good package. And I didn't know a thing on my own.
To which I'd add that my husband had his surgery in 1995, he was 46, and is 60 now. He lost 100%, and maintains about that now. Same doc, same program.
We have both had wt gains, both were sugar, both of us got off the sugar and got back to ou regular wts. It helps that we have each other and we attend several live support group. Nothing like EYES ON to help keep on track.
I do worry about being potentially in hospital care. I know that since most of the medical world can't grasp our nutritional needs NOW, when we can still speak for ourselves, there is NO hope that anyone will grasp it in another 15 years or so. Scary. However, without WLS, we'd have been long dead before we had to worry about wrinkles, gray hair, long term care insurance and all of that.
My ex died of his obesity in 1996, at age 49. He never lived to see his grandson (1998) or meet the wife of our youngest and their child (2003). He never lived to see BOTH DILs have WLS and turn their lives around. He missed ALL of that.
I was 44 when I had surgery, 59 today.
Like so many, I just wish I had done it sooner so I couldn't pay the price for my years morbidly obese AND I could've had those years in use, rather than being too sickly to do much.
I was one of the lucky ones in that my doc was way ahead of his time nutritionally, and we had more vites (and almost all were the correct forms) back i***** Far more detail than even the new ASMBS guidelines. So, I suffered fewer deficiencies than is customary for the olden days and thus was subject to fewer cravings. It was a good package. And I didn't know a thing on my own.
To which I'd add that my husband had his surgery in 1995, he was 46, and is 60 now. He lost 100%, and maintains about that now. Same doc, same program.
We have both had wt gains, both were sugar, both of us got off the sugar and got back to ou regular wts. It helps that we have each other and we attend several live support group. Nothing like EYES ON to help keep on track.
I do worry about being potentially in hospital care. I know that since most of the medical world can't grasp our nutritional needs NOW, when we can still speak for ourselves, there is NO hope that anyone will grasp it in another 15 years or so. Scary. However, without WLS, we'd have been long dead before we had to worry about wrinkles, gray hair, long term care insurance and all of that.
My ex died of his obesity in 1996, at age 49. He never lived to see his grandson (1998) or meet the wife of our youngest and their child (2003). He never lived to see BOTH DILs have WLS and turn their lives around. He missed ALL of that.
Michelle
RNY, distal, 10/5/94
P.S. My year + long absence has NOTHING to do with my WLS, or my type of WLS. See my profile.