18 Month Checkup

Today I had my 18 month checkup with both my Bariatric and Primary Doctors.

I weighed in at 203 pounds (with clothes on) with a body fat percentage of 16.1, BMI is 28.3

Doctor Nish said that I looked great and was doing well. He thought I definitely didn't need to loose any more weight.

I told him that there has been a couple of episodes when I overate and when I purged my food that it was more violent than in my loosing phase. Too the point where I felt that my stomach and diaphragm was cramping.

His response was "Don't do that". I couldn't help but laugh as it reminded me of that old doctors joke. He said you should avoid putting your self in that position as it's only going to cause you pain. He said if the pain lasted for a couple of hours and is persistent then call the office right away.

He then asked me if I was taking any NSAID drugs ie Advil. I told him no. He said even though the sleeve can tolerate occasional use, long term use can create ulcers. If I was going to use NSAIDS for a couple of days make sure you protect your stomach with Pepcid or Prilosec. It's more of a risk with RNY but there still a small risk with the Sleeve.

His PA does an exam before he does. His PA said that I should get an ultrasound to check for stones in the gallbladder. Dr. Nish said it wasn't necessary. Again something that they do more for the RNY. He said the RNY has a 40% chance of developing stones so they check the RNY patients via ultrasound as it's difficult to detect via the normal means through the mouth. He said with the sleeve they would wait for symptoms to appear and then use the normal detection method.

I asked Dr. Nish about Plastic surgery and he wrote me a letter that i I can send to my insurance company. I already had one consult that I really liked the surgeon. Heard great things about him from several members in my support group. He and my Primary Dr. went to med school together. I'm scheduled for another one next week.

Dr. Nish told me to come back in six months which will be my two year mark.

Visit with my Primary Doctor.

My Labs for the most part were excellent. The items that were low before such as Iron, B-1 and D are all in the normal range.

The only item that was shocking was my cholesterol. My year lab my total was 179 and I came off of Lipitor since I was at a low dosage at that point.

My 18 month Lab showed my cholesterol to be 260 (Ouch) HDL was good at 80 and the LDL is 167. My primary doctor wants me to go back on the lipitor. In the office I agreed. But I started to think more about it and I think the problem is related to my Diet.

I eat too many high cholesterol foods. My staple breakfast is One egg, Sausage and Cheese on a slice of Whole wheat English muffin. I constantly snack on cheese. I'm going to change my diet and repeat the test in three months.

sounds like all went well for you,,, thats great news

You could give the dietary changes 3-6 months, but if your values are still elevated, it would be time to go back on the Lipitor. Genetics are very powerful, but making some dietary changes may help.

 wow, good for you - I am admiring the body fat percentage   

I hope you can do better with cholesterol. have you considered eating oats?

Simple carbs are also notorious for exacerbating high cholesterol too Mike, I did not know if you had incorporated more of those in your diet or not.

I am glad to hear most all your labs were stellar my friend!  You have done a great job!

I'm really bad at the nutrtion stuff. If you have some healthy alturnatives to high cholestrol foods that wouldn't trigger my carb demons. I'd be extremely gratful if you could let me know

Thanks.

Like crackery things you mean?  Or bready stuff?  What are you wanting to sub and I bet we could find something that would be good!

Some triggers are just silly and have nothing to do with nutrition, like I made chili one day and then saw the jar of saurkraut and thought YES!  CHILIKRAUT!

And could not get it out of my mind until all of the chili or kraut was gone!  Crazy.  I had to dump the kraut. 

Weird! 

Tell us what you want to sub, Mikey.  I bet between all of our Bobs (big ol brains) we can find things for you! 

I guess I'm looking for a sample menu of what I can eat for Breakfast and Lunch while I'm at work.

Example would like to get rid of the Eggs, cheese and suasage.

Do you still want whites?  Or no whole eggs?  Are you looking for warm things, cold things?  Things to eat with your hands and do not have to use silverware and make a big to-do about?

I make a popeye pie thing that is egg (or egg whites you could use) spinach, ground flax, ground beef and cook it in a little container.  It takes 20 minutes for the cooking.  I also cook a bunch in batches and keep in the refrigerator or freeze.

Pikshur



I made fella some that were Denver Omlet things with diced ham, the egg (or you could use egg beatery things?), and cut up stoplight peppers.

Pikshur!



I eat a salad that is cooked thighs, a tablespoon of Frank's and 0.25 ounce of blue cheese - since blue is strong, you can get away with less and still taste it.

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So, riddle me those things. 

Totally eliminate cheese? or use a stronger cheese that you can flavor stuff with but 0.10 or 0.15 of an ounce.

Totally eliminate eggs, or are you okay with egg whites or the egg beaters?  (And do check out the egg beaters, especially the soutwestern ones, some folks love them, but the texture kind of throws me off somehow).

Do you want things that are finger foods/fast food/wraps, or do you not mind to have silverware?  Do you prefer warm or cold or just do not care?

Always more questions, me.  GAh.

Looking for stuff I can get on the go or have the work cafeteria make. Not oposed to anything I guess egg whites would be a good choice to lower cholestrol. Looking for tasty things that would fill me up as well.