6 months after...

Hey everyone,    I pretty much lurk on the LW board just about everyday, but figured I'd throw out a quick post to share the good news of my 6-month check up with my surgeon's office!

The stats:
Since surgery on May 24 I've lost 93 lbs!  
Since I started the whole journey (1 year ago), I've lost 123 lbs!
According to them I've lost 93% of my excess weight!
My BMI is 21.89  

Things I need to work on: 
This would have sounded silly to my just a couple months ago, and may sound that way to many, but they told me I needed to eat more.  I've been comfortably eating about 500-600 calories a day.  They want me up to 700 cals by adding a snack.  I'm actually good with this as I'd like to slow this train down and put the breaks on.    

I need to up my protein, water, and calcium.  I seem to to fine taking the other stuff, but the stuff that I have to do all through out the day seems to be an area I struggle with.   

I also seem to tire out a bit more right between week 3-4 after my B12 shot.  They said I should switch to every three weeks instead of every four for the B12 shot.  

I'm breathing funny (huh?): 
So this has been going on for a few weeks.  The surgeon's office didn't seem overly concerned, but wanted me to keep tabs on it and also thought by upping my calories it may help... anyway... does anyone have weird breathing problems?  Not like I'm going to keel over, but I've noticed myself just randomly trying to catch my breath, but normally when I'm not exercising.  It just kinda randomly occurs for maybe 30 seconds and then goes away.

I can almost "think" it away if that makes any sense.  They said that a lot of my calories are going to my critical organs (i.e. heart and brain) so it may be that I'm not getting enough for everything else.   Maybe it's a mental thing?  Seems to happen more when I'm sitting at my desk at work, and it didn't happen hardly at all while I was off over Thankgiving.  Sound like an anxiety thing?  Haven't had issues in the past, but the body is changing fast so it may be mad at me and asking for something that I don't know that it wants.    Anyway... that's probably my weirdest thing. 

Goofy Observations:
I have tendons in my hands and wrist.  Who would have thought. 

I have bones under all this skin and fat.  How crazy is that? :)

I have to wear my wedding ring on my right hand now (must be more muscular since I'm right handed).  It falls off my left hand.  Need to get it resized.



Overall... outside of my faith and getting married to my wife, this is one of the best decisions I've ever made.  Thanks to so many of you out there that have supported me both knowingly and unknowingly over these past months!!

Thanks for reading, 
John
     

Awesome Job!  Congrats!

Congrats on your sucess John!  I wish I could give you some insight into your breathing issues but I have no idea!  Maybe it's related to you caloric intake...low fat intake(our neurological system NEEDS fat to function properly) could be a "hiccup" in your nervous system......maybe it's a reaction to something you've eaten....hopefully it doesn't persist and you won't have to worry about it!  Who knows someone out here is or has gone through this as well and can shine some light for you!

I struggle with remembering my "over the day" vits as well.......I think it's easy to get caught up in your day and forget...... 

Don't you just love seeing that definition.......better to look like Michalangelos David than StayPUFFS marshmallow man........LOL

Thanks so much!  You know, I'm getting hardly any fat.  I'll grab a stick of butter when I get home... haha j/k... seriously though I'll see if adding a bit more fat helps with things.  Nice to see another MN person out there! :)  

I can't say I'd go for the stick of butter but maybe a pat every once in a while wouldn't kill ya......LOL  I feel bad I didn't even notice you were from MN........LOL  There are actually many of us from MN on the LW board.....I see you and Kathy know eachother almost intimately.....by proxy.....(surgeons hands)........LOL  I posted last week about having a MN LW get together sometime soon.  You should join us!

That would be great!!

Congratulations on reaching your goal, John.

John, great job.  I understand about the through the day stuff.  I ended up getting everything out in a small bowl on my computer desk so it reminds me through the day to take everything.

Congratulations on your success!!! I was still very low calorie at 6 months out, and finally upped them to a normal level. That caused me to lose weight again very fast for awhile...go figure.

John,  congrats on your many successes!!!  I am an NP, and am concernered about your breathing!!  Many times, the heart will go into an arrythmia and cause breathing issues.  Next time this happens, take your pulse and see if your heart is beat fast or irregularly. And consult your PCP.  Keep us posted.  Contrats again.

Jane