Introduce Yourself!

I am pre-opt.  I have the support of my PCP, my GI doctor and I am learning as much as I can from researching the VSG and the DS.  Was leaning toward VSG, then toward DS, now back toward VSG.  I guess you can say I am a little wishy washy.  
Low carb diets have been the most successful for me in the last several years. Although, I always gained my weight back with some extra.  I am a volume eater, but I don't eat piles of bacon or fatty meats.  However, I love a good ribeye and baked potato.  

Just lurking around here, cause I think with either surgery I choose, I will have to watch the carbs.
 
  It seems that carbs are the culprits that can undermine any wls.

Hello Everyone!

The usual story: battled weight all of my life, the struggle increased as I aged and my joints weren't able to tolerate the over-exercise routine that kept the weight in check.
Hashimoto's in my 20's-complete failure, arthritis, that whole inflamatory thing.
 BPD DS 4 yrs ago. Now -95#, at 155 lbs, 5'8". Stable weight, but am sure that my joints would appreciate a few less pounds.
Paleolithic diet the new rage at the hospital that I work at.  Emily Deans Evolutionary Psychiatry is a great blog to follow. Gary Taubes Good Cal / Bad Cal. is a bit heavy reading, gaurenteed to put me to sleep every evening. Maybe I'll try Why We Get Fat first.
I used to consider myself as a Carb Queen with little interest in protein. Now,even though  carbs make me feel sick, I am still drawn to try them. But, small victories, I don't each much refined carb anymore.
Can't say that I'll "talk" much, but certainly am interested in this topic.
 Great new Subject Forum-----thanks!

Susan

Hello all,
 I am Denise and I started the Atkins diet way back when I was 13 years old. Some boy called me
a fat ass. That started the yo yo dieting. I did atkins all through high school and managed to stay at a normal weight until I had kids. Then it was a free for all, eat anything I wanted. Tried to do Atkin in between pregnancies but I wasl aready so big, it seemed impossible to take all of it off,

Got the lap band 4 years ago and went back to the ATkins way of life and lost all my weight. i started having band problems and had it removed and revised to the sleeve. The sleeve has been great.
I follow the atkins way simply because they say eat protein first. There's not much room after that to eat anything else.

I put a few lbs back on this last few months so I want to be very strict and take it off before it calls all their  friends to come and join them and the few lbs turns into 20 or 30.

Welcome Denise!  You'll find that there are all types of WLS (and non-WLS) folks here, so you fit right in either way!  


Just wanted to add ... omigosh, there is nothing like a boy calling a girl FAT to freak her out -- even for several years.  It's awful that we give teenage boys that much power over our lives (especially because most of the time, the epithet is completely wrong.)

Thanks WhackaDoodle for starting this group.  

My name is Linda and I'm from Michigan.  I had the Duodenal Switch 22 months ago at 320 pounds.  I have been stuck at about 180 pounds for the last year or so.  While a 140 pound loss is a miracle and I feel like a different person, I do get down on myself for not losing more weight.  I need to do a better job of restricting my carb intake.  One of my biggest downfalls is drinking my calories.  I love fruit juice.  I usually dilute it with water but I should cut it out completely.  I eat pretty only gluten free carbs since I am miserable if I eat gluten.  My belly bloats to the point that I can look 9 months pregnant and the pain is just awful.  

I travel nearly 100% of the time for my job and am often only at home on Saturdays so I pretty much eat every meal in a restaurant.  It sucks but I can't change this situation right now.  I'm trying to do the best that I can but I need to be more disciplined... especially about drinking my calories.  

 Finally back to introduce myself.  I will keep this short.  My high weight was in 2006/2007.  I was 355 lb.  From the time i was 19/20 my lowest weight was 195.  I was there for like 5 mins at a time.  Most of my life I spent around 250-275.

I lost from, 355 to 275 on low carb / atkins style diet.  After that the scale did not budge for a YEAR.  I got all kinds of testing and found I had high cortisol along with VERY high fasting insulin (DESPITE staying Low Carb!!!) so I tried some medicine and some other techniques to correct that for 6 more mos and they did not work.

That is when I scheduled my sleeve.  I am now 193.8.... YES, my lowest adult weight ever.  It is all due to having the sleeve and low carb TOGETHER.

And.... MY FASTING INSULIN IS NOW NORMAL!!!!!!  Thank God, my surgeon, and Dr. Atkins!

Hi,
I had my surgery in 2004 and never reached a weight goal, if  fact I started out at 328 and my lowest weight was 209. I am now at 235 and hate it. I had 9 pounds of skin removed with an extended TT. I have excessive skin on my thighs but will not have surgery to remove the excess skin.
 Working out is not a problem for me it is the grazing and eating bad carbs. I don't have any medical issues such as diabetes or hypertension. So I am here to get control of my eating and to gather information that can help me in my struggle.
Raven

Hey everyone! Love that there is now an Atkins group now!

I've always been a bit on the heavy side, my sophomore year of highschool I was diagnosed with hashimoto's thyroiditis and have since been on meds for this. Also diagnosed with PCOS, prediabetes, high cholesterol, depression all before the age of 23!! Anyhow, even though losing weight has been a tough battle due to being 'metabolically challenged', I finally got serious about getting healthy only after I had ballooned up to 296 lbs while in nursing school.  Because really, who wants a nurse taking care of you who doesn't even take care of themself?!!

I was on doctor supervised diets for nearly 4 years, as well as an avid food journalist and exerised 4 days a week alternating between aerobics and weight training.  I would initially lose around 20 lbs but instantly gain the weight back the moment my thryroid was being evil...this is also the time the doctor's have had to increase my dose. Anyhow, to make a long story short, I was actually advised by not one but 2 doctor's to look in to having RNY. They actually thought I would be a great candidate for the surgery. After a year and a half of research, I had RNY November 2009. I started out weighing 290 lbs, and today I am down to 165. I am 15 lbs away from my personal goal weight of 150 lbs.
For the first time EVER, my doctor has DECREASED my thyroid medicine dose, I am off ALL antidepression meds and my PCOS symptoms have decreased drastically!
What has helped me more than anything during this journey has been a high protein, low carb eating lifestyle..this is why I am Atkins advocate!
I think that many of our bodies really respond well to this type of eating.
Anyhow, I am hoping to reach my goal weight by May of this year.

Here's to a great new year everyone!! Cheers!!

Welcome aboard!!!


Many of us here did the diet rollercoaster thing ... I keep thinking about how I assiduously low-fat dieted my way up to 315, so I can relate!


Congratulations on such a significant weight loss!!!

hi my name is Linda went on my first "diet" at age 20, but it wasnt until after i had my 2nd child through a c-section that i actually really started to gain weight.

I do put alot of it down to the fact that i used to walk everywhere i wanted to go but after getting my drivers license that changed to driving everywhere.

I did lose 40 lbs on atkins a few years back but with the death of my father inlaw things soon fell to the way side and carbs came back as they had been prior.

my highest was 230 but 227 by the time i got to see my surgeon then down to 222 by the time i had surgery.  the lowest i got down to was 135 but christmas and new year saw the carbs creep back in and then  regain of 6-8 lbs.

I am trying to eat fairly low carb but because of bad constipation issues even with fiber pills, i have decided to add strawberries and blueberries to my greek yogurt and will look at adding raw broccilli, cauliflower and celery. when i next go grocery shopping.