Checking In!!! 8 Months Out and Still Going Strong!!!

WELL I KNOW THAT EVERYONE IS DOING WELL!

I am so excited to say that I made my goal weight at 5.5 months! I am currently 147 pounds! I am so thankful and grateful for each of you! 

To those who are struggling ... Stay focused and change your thought process and SUCCESS will come ... 

Smile and enjoy your journey !!!

My main issue I've had is my Vitamin D  deficiency. Any advice ??? 

How do you handle maintenance stage... I'm still losing and I want it to stop ... (Who would have thought I would ever say this)...

HELP ANYONE ?

Looking at your profile page, your BMI is 24.5 so I guess you are around 5'5" tall. I assume you like your curves which is why you want to stop since you can still lose a lot more and still be in the normal range.

For most of us, our bodies know when to stop losing and by year 3 many people have a bit of bounceback. You can add a bit back now, but that can be dangerous. Many people cannot stop once they do that. I did eat more from around 17 months to 24 months, then the honeymoon was over for me. I had to cut back by 1000 calories a day at that point to maintain my weight. (I had increased my calories to about 2800 to stop losing).

For the vitamin D, be sure you are taking dry D3. Vitalady sells megadoses and a lot of people here have success with that. I take 10,000 IU's a day and spend a lot of time in the sun. My D is in the high end of the normal range.

Side question, Laura-

Why dry D3 vs a sublingual drop? Just curious - I haven't heard that piece of info before! :)

I have never heard of sublingual Vit D, so don't know how that works, but we need dry D3 instead of the D3 in oil because we malabsorb oil (and thefore won't absorb much of it).

Be aware that many RNYers and DSers take VERY high doses of Vit D in order to keep their levels up (as in 50,000-100,000 units per wee****asionally even more)... So if your PCP or someone else who is not familiar with our re-routed intestines is the one telling you to adjust your Vit D intake by the same small amounts that they would recommend for non-ops (e.g., and extra 1000 units a day), the increase probably isn't enough for you to raise your levels. Vit D and iron seem to be teh two vitamins people most commonly have trouble regulating at first.

Lora

Hmm, perhaps I am assuming mine is sublingual but is actually an oil (since the directions on my D3 supplement say to put a drop under your tongue)!  Here's what I am taking.  I'm still pre-op so my labs are normal. Sounds like I should switch to a dry D3 instead?

As I said, I'm not familiar with the sublingual absorption, but I looked at your link and it says it is 1000 units per drop.  Even if you absorb all of that, if you end up being someone who needs 50,000 units per week (pretty common. and you may need much more), that means you will have to use 50 drops per week (as opposed to just taking one very small 50,000 unit Vit D capsule per week).

Just based on that alone, if it were me, I would get the dry capsules.  They come in much lower doses as well, of course.  How much you will need post-op will depend on your labs by the time you are 6 or 12 months out, so as long as your initial vitamin regimen follows the ASMBS standards, there is no point in buying anything special right now (because you don't want to over do it on the vitamins, either, since some can be toxic).

Lora

Thank you for the reply. After surgery my surgeon says 3000-5000 daily. I'll be sure to ask in my next appointment about my drops vs. taking a dry capsule! For now, pre-op the 1 drop says it's 250% of my daily dosage and I don't have malabsorption yet since I only have the lap-band. Will definitely find out more info now that I know RNY will have trouble with the oil!

I use sublingual D3 that I order from Vitacost.   I have two different ones that I use.  One is made by Twin Labs.  It is Bariatric Support D+K Dots in tangerine flavor.  It has 1000 IU per tablet.  The other one that I have is Michael's Naturopathic D3 5000 IU with vitamin K2. It is apricot flavor.  My levels were really good at my last blood draw in July.  I use the sublingual B-12 by Twin Labs as well.  I order a good bit of stuff from Vitacost. 

Yes ma'am your correct . I'm 5'4.5 LOL! I am actually curve-less !!! Knockers, Booty, everything evaporated lol! Seriously shapeless ... My doctor original goal weight chart for me was 162 ... Once I passed that it went down to 150 which is the tip top based on my height/weight proportion chart. I honestly said a minimum of 145. But we will see ... I'm really skin and bones ... But healthy and I'm thankful . 

I also am taking those so we will see what the doctor says next week. 

Thanks again !! 

If you follow your plan your body will quit losing when it is ready.  It is fine to be 10 or 20 or even 30 pounds lower than the weight that you want to maintain for life.

As Laura said, bounceback normally happens during year three.  It is a quick weight gain and can happen with no change in your plan.  That is because your body is smart enough to overcome the effect of the surgery and learns how to start absorbing calories again.  If you have no cushion for bounceback it can be devastating.

During year two after surgery many people look too skinny.  That all evens out and it is rare to see a person too skinny after three years.