My 600 lb life -

I carry my weight pretty well, so at a BMI of 35.5 ish, I look like I'm overweight, but not like I'm legitimately obese. This means I'm getting all sorts of well intentioned flack from my friends and family - several of whom have insisted I watch this show.

I was snowed in the last couple of days (not literally, we dodged the big stuff - but snow days none the less!). I took advantage of this surprise free time by binge watching a couple seasons of 'My 600 lb Life'. The first season which follows the patients for several years seems to be the most helpful, but that could be because I am so worried about keeping the benefits long term!

My take away from what I've seen (season 1, 5 and part of 2) is that compliance is the key, and by compliance I mean measuring portion sizes to assure true calorie tracking. I'm not worried about slipping up because I'm eating a diet of fast food and sugary drinks - I've avoided those pitfalls most of my life. I'm worried about tripping up in small ways, like consistently having a little too much chicken breast, or allowing too many complex carbs back into my diet.

I'm scheduled for my RNY 3/29 and right now I'm struggling with "food funerals" but by this morning's weigh-in, I haven't gained any weight as I tend to keep my calories balanced out on average for the week. Last week I said goodbye to perogies (I'm from the Cleveland area - these are our staples). The week before it was a fish and chips, and the week before that it was this amazing roasted eggplant soup that sounds healthy but is made with heavy cream... and uhm... a few creme sticks from my favorite local donut shop. It sounds like I have a horrible diet but all of the above funerals are treats I allowed every couple of months, if that often. Fish and chips and perogies are something I don't even eat annually, the creme sticks show up three or four times a year for work birthdays, but the eggplant soup is something I have more often, probably monthly (just looked - ate that 10 times in 2016).

One thing I haven't seen on the show, is alcohol. Maybe they have that in the seasons I've missed, but I thought there would be patients who drank too many sugary mixed drinks. I think I will be able to resist all the typical temptations like fast food and Mac and Cheese, but I'll struggle more with red wine and margaritas. Currently I have margaritas monthly if that, but never? sob

As a lightweight, if you've watched My 600lb.. what are your thoughts?

I don't think you can eat to much chicken .....LOL.....well maybe if it's fried. If you eliminate your carbs after awhile you can pretty much have as much "Good" Protein as you want. I don't drink alcohol but I'm assuming your body might DUMP on it. I dumped really easy so I couldn't have more than 8 grams of sugar at a time. I still dump if I have to much sugar so that keeps me in check but you do learn to eat around that....that's probably bad but I'm being honest. It takes me all day to eat a small piece of cake. Giving up carbonation was the hardest for me. I really missed the burn of carbonation but the misery afterwards kept me on track.

I don'****ch the big looser etc. It is depressing for me. It makes me so sad. How many of those people really can keep up all the "work" they do on those shows and don't gain their weight back? I'm not an exerciser and I'm still not. That's one BIG mistake people make. If you already exercise and you enjoy it that's a good thing because you will probably continue once you get to goal BUT if exercise is not a part of your routine now I wouldn't go over board. As soon as you get to goal and stop exercising is when your scales will start moving up.

The last week before surgery "enjoy" your food. You will be forced after surgery to follow the rules and that's the time you make changes. I desperately wanted to share a huge piece of chocolate cake at a local restaurant with my daughters and it never happened and I had feelings of regret.

I live an active life (outside of my sedentary job) but I've always disliked exercise. My mom was a gym teacher, my sisters are all athletic, I was the "pokey little puppy" trailing well behind the pack on our regular family bike rides and hikes. Uhg. But to get some "built in" exercise I'm going to ride my bike to work this summer. I figure if I ride to work while the weather is not too bad, I can then switch to mornings on a stationary bike during inclement weather/winter.

I'm also toying with getting a puppy this spring for a walking/hiking companion. I lost my dog last week, and I can't quite imagine my life without a hound...

Getting a Dog and walking it might be a great idea!!! I always enjoyed riding bikes when I was young.....there wasn't much to do back then. I'm in my 60's now so I think it's a little to late for me to start but I did show my grandkids last summer that I could ride a bike and they were amazed!

My sweet mother in law passed away in 2010. We had been out of town when she went to the hospital. By the time we got there she was very sick. She hadn't been able to keep anything down in days and they suspected a blockage of some sort but were afraid to operate on a 92 year old woman. I took the surgeon aside and tried to explain that she wasn't a regular 90 year old, she was riding her bike every day, and had ridden it the morning she was hospitalized, because she thought it might help her feel better!

My MIL starting riding her bike again in her early seventies, and only VERY GRUDGINGLY started wearing a bike helmet because her husband tattled to their doctor when she didn't (it messed up her hair! LOL!). She rode it at least 30 minutes around their neighborhood, and out onto a local bike trail. My FIL would trail along behind her (he was 92 when she died), griping that she would be the death of him. He would insist we try riding both of their bikes because his was a five speed but he couldn't keep up with her on a standard bike. The fact that she was at least 100lbs lighter didn't seem to make him feel better :)

If I'm being honest, I don't understand the kind of obesity they suffer from. The vast majority of the cases they follow come from impoverished areas/families and the problem is not just quantity of food, but also quality. Daily fast food and meals consisting only of snacks. Generally the whole family is obese, the subject of the show just meets the criteria.

In addition I feel like they greatly over-dramatize people's reactions and I'd be surprised if they didn't also skew the time line. Many times they put someone on the scale supposedly 2 months post gastric bypass and they have gained/haven't lost. Having had VSG I can tell you, I am physically incapable of stopping my weight loss right now and I weigh less than 200lbs. If you're a 600lb person with a walnut for a stomach, you are going to lose.

As far as the alcohol goes, I bet it's a qualification for the show that they be non-drinkers, as you see they are never smokers either. I can't speak at all for RNY but I have a co-worker who is 2 1/2 years out from VSG and she drinks (a glass of wine here or there, etc).

I personally could care less about drinking, but like Roz I miss carbonation something fierce! I'm sure I'll try it again someday and it will hurt and maybe I won't miss it as much.

I agree, and I know it's all about creating an entertainment piece.

I was honestly appalled at how often the supporting family members were MO. I wish the physician had explicitly told them that if they STOPPED the enabling and SUPPORTED the patient, it would be obvious in their own weight loss. I wish he'd made the MO family/enablers weigh in with the patient.

My husband, with whom I'm currently separated (spell check just tried to replace "separated" with "exasperated" which is also true LOL!!!!) was never an enabler so much as a sabotager. He would buy and eat junk food in front of me, and he would always go through Fast food drive-through and get an extra fry for me when we were on road trips. I gave up fast food for a year, and the entire year he would do this (I resisted). Now that we're separated I can't help but notice the amount of fast food wrappers in his garbage can, and inside his car. I don't bother to say anything - it's the best part of the separation not having to feel like his behavior is somehow my responsibility!

I also keep wondering how they can possibly afford the foods that they eat? I know folks who are on SS disability and "food stamps" and they do not bring in enough income to buy several supersized Fast Food meals each day!

Dear HO,
I have just now read some of your posts and I hope your surgery goes well and is a success.
Now to the part you might not like .... It is you HO who is getting surgery and will be responsible for all that you take in. I have yet had anyone force me to smoke, drink or eat anything that I did't want or agree to do so. no one will stop you from doing those things either. My ex-wife and I were smokers and bar drinkers but when my son was born I stopped smoking and going to bars. She continued those behaviors and so now she is my ex.as she wanted a partner to do those things with. I still don't smoke and drink very little as I for some reason get very drunk very fast now. My ex wife's behavior on those points was not my responsibility but I chose not to live with it. Your husband may well feel that you were his partner in fast food, maybe he feels bad about himself as well. Or maybe you are totally correct about him. As my Pastor would say abou****ching those shows is that everyone loves seeing a train wreck and then tell everyone how bad it was and who was at fault and why.
Trying to figure out the train wreck you saw on TV or around town is folly... How those people afford to live like that is mere conjecture and probably creative in how it is achieved. Poor folks have cell phones too ...my son does and years ago had no job and a cell phone but yet he a decade later is still on my plan. WLS is a tool to use and how you use it will be on you and no one else. If you take control of it and own it then the worry about blame will go away I hope you will be a friend as I feel nothing but respect that you want to get control. My prayers are with you and yours and the start of your new way of life next week... Jeff

thanks Jeff!

Yes, absolutely I am in control of what I put into my mouth. And I put too many calories into my mouth or I wouldn't be MO like I am right now!

I was wrong to say my husband was sabotaging me. He really just wanted to see me indulge in something he KNOWS I really enjoy. In his mind, this ONE time won't hurt, and he can't see that every day ends up being a cheat day. On a very bad day, he might WANT me to cheat so he didn't feel some sort of guilt about his own choices (he is also overweight), but not in a cruel or even in a conscious way.

I was posting about "My 600-lb Life" on the Lightweights forum because I think that those of us who are closer to being overweight that we are to being EO have a lot of push-back about not being "fat enough" for WLS because often times the general public associates WLS with Extremely Obese persons not with those closer to the 'Obese' or the lower end of 'Morbidly Obese'.

thanks

Dear OH,
I am sorry I sounded like that .... I was just I guess wanting you to focus on you and your journey ahead. I too was not fat enough except for all the fat around my organs and eating whole large pizza's and the High BP and the CPAP machine and type 2 so when a DOCTOR tells me it is killing me I pay attention. I looked at all the WLS and also I qualified by BMI. Sure I got questions and "looks" but I want to live longer and the heck with their thoughts. Nearly 7 years out no one asks or looks at me anymore and I am happy happy happy! Some people are made to process food... my stomach was large and my small intestine was longer than normal. I could diet forever but every scrap of food was used and I ate a lot! WLS is a tool for you to get healthy and it usually works ...sure you can try to defeat it but why would you go through it? I try to stay above 175 and below 195 and I might crow about it but I have been successful. I still like food and eat the stuff I like but a little of this and some of that and I am done. Also I focus on other things as well... Grown kids need attention and visits .... a clean garage .... yard work.... Church...Friends.... chatting with the good people on this forum.... I look at your posts and know you want this to work and it wont always be easy but if you work the program follow your doctors and think about how important it is for you I know then you will do well. Your success will be your shield and your happiness will show in your love for others. WLS Lightweights forum is for me because I trust these folks completely for they are kind and gentle and they support me no matter how long I am away. I had a DS/BPD and most folks get a different WLS as DS is quite drastic in configuration so I don't share too much about my habits of eating and maintaining of protein and vitamins. As a matter of fact I had a bit of a custom job that my surgeon did on me that works so well the DS forum got mad at me about how I maintain. so here I am and I feel safe here....Jeff