Newbie with Questions
---Questions to those who have had the RBand surgery--
1-How was surgery and was your pain tolerable after surgery. I took a week off work so I hope thats enough..
2-Exercise---do you think this improves weight loss a lot???I'm just not comfortable getting in the gym yet :( Hopefully after surgery I can start....Im just too self-concious right now.
3-How much do you seem to be losing every week or every month? I can't seem to figure out how much I will lose...lol. I'm 5'6 295 so I'm trying to guess how much I will lose. I could always ask doc at next appt..
Thanks sooooo much. As you can imagine I'm filled with many emotions and questions....
Love OH---the support and understanding is amazing.
Question 1: In the hospital they keep you doped up on pain meds, this is good. Pain is tolerable. If they offer you pain meds, you should take them. Take them at home for at least two or three days. It really helps.
Question 2: I hate exercise, but I LOVE to walk. I started walking in the hospital and now I walk 2 to 3 miles a day. Some days I just walk around my neighborhood, somedays I drive to the park and walk the nature trails. I take my IPOD and just go. Walking is great exercise, anyone can do it. Also, I hear it helps with the gas that some people have following surgery. (Gas was never an issue for me.)
Question 3: My highest weight was 303 pounds. I am 5 ' 6" also. The week before surgery I weighed in at 296. Today I weighed in at 269. Tomorrow, 4/1/10, I will be exactly 4 weeks post op. That's a loss of 34 pounds total, but 27 in the past month. My doc told me that I am losing super fast compared to most people who have the Realize band. But, I am doing everything I was told, to a tee. I am strict with following my nutritionists guidelines. I drink at least 64 oz. of water everyday, I write down everything I eat and keep track of all the protein and calories. I take all my vitamins and supplements. I don't go over what is recommended. I get in all my protein and I have been walking everyday. I really think the walking has helped me lose as much as I have so far.
Best of luck to you on your journey. You are going to do great. If I were you I would start walking now. Start walking around the block and add 2 minutes each day. Eventually you'll be walking a mile and on your way to a good weight loss. Every bit you lose now is weight you don't have to lose later.
-Heather
1.) My surgery went VERY well. I had never had surgery before so I was terrified and had nothing to compare it to....so all in all....it was fine. I went back to work after 2 days. The gas pain was pretty bad for me though. So I took the pain meds ever 4 hrs, even if I didnt feel pain coming on. I took Gas-X strips like they were candy. But walking around was most important.
2.) I am 6weeks post op. I started exercising 2 weeks ago. I do hip hop aerobics, salsa dancing, and this walking DVD (sounds crazy I know, but it kicks my butt!) I dont mind going to the gym, but I need to save money in these hard times. I get my work out videos from Ross, they are like $5-6. They also have the resistance bands, weight, etc for much cheaper! I also get videos from Ebay. I like to do a different video every day so I trick my muscles up--and my interest.
3.) I weighed 298lbs and am 5'4. I have sinced lost 15lbs since surgery. I just received my first fill last week...so we will see how it goes from there. I did think I was losing weight slower than most...but my surgeon put me on solids only 2 days after surgery where most people are on liquids/mush for like a month.I am happy with my loss. It's an average of 2lbs/week. Perfect for me. I dont want to lose to fast and have excess skin. Which is why I am working out so hard as well.
I agree that you should start working out now...it will make your recovery even better! Good luck to you. Let me know if I can do anything for you!
-Nicole
My pain was never bad except on the ride home from the hospital. My surgery was out patient surgery. In the hospital I was fine but the ride home was very not good. Suggestion - take a pillow with you to the hospital so on the ride home you can put it across your stomach and minmize the bouncing around. I didn't do this - big mistake on my part.
Exercise is very important to me. I also have little stalls along the way at time and found that exercising really helps me get past them again and keep moving.
Good Luck.
on 3/31/10 4:32 pm
Exercise is key. I like the gym and am not afraid, not even to go to the "boys side" of the gym. But I did have to work up to it endurance wise. I am constantly adding more to keep me working hard and get a good workout. But also exersice doesn't have to mean the gym, there are a variety of things you can do that counts as physical activity...just get that booty moving. Sports, cleaning, chasing toddlers, walking, mowing the yard, gardening, WII, etc.
I have lost 51 pounds in 3 mo. I am 5'5 and started at 292. Suprisingly I didn't lose that much during the liquid and mushy phases, think my body freaked and held on to the weight..boy was that dissapointing. But once I started exersicing and eating more calories and normal foods I started losing more...and was happier. EXERSICE is key. I still have a long ways to go. My body seems to lose weight in phases. I lose a good chunk (5-7 pounds) in a week or two and then nothing for 2-3 weeks then repeat. Frustrating but I also do measurments and even during the times when the scale didn't go down my measurements always have. I have lost over 25 in in three months as well!
Begin Pre-Op diet at 292--End Pre-Op diet at 277
Post-Op weight 277
Goal weight 175
Goal 2 weight 150
In the hospital they gave me morphine which made me so sick...sweats and nausea. When I went home I only took liquid Tylenol. I had no pain, had I know I would have never accepted the morphine that was horrible.
I have the trampoline with the stabilizing bar sitting in my living room...I ordered it from Overstock.com for around $60. I jump and run in place while I'm watching TV...I really love it! I'm now at the point that I'm going to join the YMCA this weekend and do some water aerobics. The other members of the class are older and could care less what you look like!
Good luck on your journey!!!!
No longer a slave to hunger!
�Everyone is different so keep that in mind. �Don't compare yourself to others or try not too.�
1. �Pain after surgery depends. I of course had terrible pain. Was admitted overnight and sent home with 2 pain meds. Vicodin and morphine. �I was good after about a week and a half. � I also took off 6 weeks from work but I work as a CNA so there was no way of me going to work and lifting patients all day.�
2. �Exercise makes a difference. If you don't want to go to a gym or an't try and buy the Wii fit plus. I love it! �It's a lot of fun and you don't even realize your exercising. �You can even put in your meals and monitor it on the game. �LOVE IT!�
3. �Loosing again depends on the person. I loose very slowly. �I'm averaging about 1 lb a week. But I don't loose every week. �I've lost 25.6 lbs since surgery and I had mine November 12th.�
Just remember your doing this to be healthy and change your lifestyle for the rest of your life! �It takes time and patience to learn new routines. �Take it one day at a time and you'll get there. �Don't beat yourself up if you don't get there quickly or if you "slip" once in awhile. This is a learning process and last but not least. ENJOY every minute of the new YOU!�
OK .. here’s my 2 ¢..
(01) I was in no pain – or very little. The day OF the only discomfort I experienced was a feeling that I could only equate to when someone does a lot of sit-ups, and an inner chest pain (which I later realized was caused by the intubation). No other pain. The next day I still had the “sit-up discomfort", and chest irritation, but felt relatively normal. By the 2nd day after the operation, I was back to normal. If I wanted to I could have gone back to work, but I decided to stay home for two weeks because I had vacation time coming to me.
(02) Exercise is key. Here is what I suggest to people. The day after the operation run 1 mile. OK .. stop panicking. It’s April Fools day. Truthfully, the first day your home walk around your living room, dining room, bed room then relax. The next day do the same, but walk around twice. Third day, same but do it three times. Fourth day, if nice, take a walk outside. Just out the door, down the driveway, come back. The 5th Day another walk outside, and go ½ way down the block and come back. 6th day, walk outside, go ½ way down the block, turn around go the other ½ of the block; come home. 1 week go all the way down the block, turn around and go ½ down the other side, come back. 8th day, walk the complete block twice. Once you can do this, increase a ½ a block each day until you’re walking for about 30 minutes. .. Other things to do. When you park in the parking lot, park at the furthest part of the lot. No more closest spot !! Try walking up a few stairs. If you do a complete flight, great. Do small things, and over time you can do more.
(03) Don’t worry about the numbers. Some of us (me include) believe scales should be used only for fish or piano ... However, many others like to weight themselves regularly. They feel it helps keep them on track.
Many compare their lost to someone else’s, and get discouraged. The amount of weight lost is affected by many factors. Everyone loses weight at different rates. It has to do with age, gender, one’s weight, exercise, etc.. A 10 pound lost to one person could be as affected as a 40 pound lost to another. Think of it this way: If a 400-pound person loses 40 pounds; a 300-pound person loses 30 pounds, a 200-pound person loses 20 pounds, and a 100-pound person loses 10 pounds – the 400-pound person didn’t necessarily lose more weight than the others. All three lost 10% of their body weight.
And sometimes it is not the number of pounds that someone loses in a specified period of time that is important. Remember, if you are toning up muscle – your weight loss may seem to have slowed (or stopped), when in fact you are replacing fat with muscle. Muscle is heavier then fat. Someone weighing 200 pounds with a body fat percentage of 25 is carrying around 50 pounds of extra fat. That same person weighing 200 pounds with 10 percent body fat would be carrying only 20 pounds of fat. So it’s not the number that is important.
Remember there are other “scales" you can use to monitor your success: your constant hunger reduction (eliminated); reduced clothing size; increase energy; re-familiarizing yourself to body-parts unseen for years (errr… toes) ; “common" activity becoming easier (walking, climbing steps), just feeling good about yourself; sleeping better (reduced snoring); the mirror; better medical exam results (lower cholesterol and/or blood pressure); etc.
Tom
“Nothing I will ever eat will give me the feeling I get as when I lose weight” The views expressed are based on my own experiences - and should NOT BE FOLLOWED IN LIEU OF DOCTOR’S ADVICE/INSTRUCTIONS. Only your Doctor knows your condition, and make sure you talk to them before making any changes to your diet
As for me the pain was tolerable. I did the same day surgery so I went in at 6:30 and was home by 2pm. I used the pain meds the first day but after that I just dealt with it bc I felt too "high". Exercise definitely speeds up the weight loss. I was given the ok about 3 weeks out and just walked a mile (slow mile) on the treadmill and gradually uppped the speed.I also try to incorporate more exercise in my daily routine (walking up and down the steps at work, parking my car in the spot farthest from the building, etc).
Initially I was averaging about 8-9lbs per month but my weight loss has slowed down quite a bit. I'm doing about 5lbs a month now, which is still ok with me.
