It was 5 yrs ago this month I started the process of pre-surgical weight loss. I weighed in at 335 at the hospital that first day. 10 weeks later I was ready for surgery, having dropped 35 lbs and done all my psych and other work. I dropped 15 lbs the first month, and it kept going well for 9 months. At that point I was down 117 lbs total in a year, taking me to 218. Then my body began to rebel. I developed severe gastritis, post bariatric hypoglycemia and a tremor. It took 9 more months to complete all the testing and to finally get my gallbladder removed. By then the gastritis had become chronic and I will have it the rest of my life. The hypoglycemia is manageable now as well, it took about 18 months of work with my endocrinologist and dietician but I have a new way of eating, with very specific protein/fat/carb ratios. In other words I'm always having to think about food. The tremor is most likely due to my vagus nerve being damaged in surgery. I was one of the unlucky 5% who have had at least one major side effect from this surgery. It happens. Now, 5 yrs out I don't rail and rage about it any longer. I accept that the weight I gained back (35%-42lbs) is probably here to stay or at least that I'm going to have to work on getting it off VERY slowly, because each time I try too hard my metabolism gets even worse. When we lose quickly our metabolism drops and stays down forever. There are of course always exceptions to everything but most of us will end up with about 2/3 of our former metabolism. Mine, at my age, size, energy level...should be 1650 a day, now it's 1000 to maintain.
The good stuff. I did drop and keep off 75 lbs successfully. I do find it far easier to keep it off than I would have without the sleeve. Essentially at some point my body found it's setpoint and now I can maintain without much work at it. I wish it had chosen a lower set point but cie la vie.
My plan at this point is to try to not focus on my body so much. I'm going to try to eat more paleo style and hope that means I can drop 2 lbs a month and keep it off. If not, I'm done hating myself. If so, great. When I get down to 250 next spring I'll see a doc about all this skin and then be done, done, done. There comes a point where you expend so much energy worrying about what you look like on the outside that your inside suffers terribly.
some thoughts, although I suppose most might not see me as "successful", there are some things that work and some that do not.
First off - do your research about your surgeon!!! If they have not done at least several hundred of these surgeries, find someone else. I am sure my surgeon is better now than before, but my program was fairly new and my disability due to this surgery is because of it. Go for the most experienced surgeon you can afford, and read reviews, etc. This is your gastrointestinal system you are talking about here. It's worth taking the time to get the right, experienced, doctor. If you have things like a hiatal hernia or gallbladder issues, see if they will fix them during surgery because chances are excellent you will need additional surgery otherwise. Oh and if you do not have your gallbladder removed, ask for the med to help keep it clear while you are losing weight!!!
Bullet points...re food
1. Do Not Rush getting to solids, heal well and then move on to the next step. Take. Your. Time.
2. Do not eat salad for a long time, as in perhaps 9 months. Seriously, it stretches out your stomach and irritates it. I stopped gaining weight again when I stopped eating salads.
3. If you have ever had a sugar addiction... if at all possible, never drink alcohol again and stay away from sweet food -even fruit- as much as possible. People with sugar addiction very often become alcoholics after this surgery, it's addiction transference (not me, I still sadly go straight for the plain old sugar, it's a battle)
4. Just because you CAN eat it, doesn't mean you should... (slider foods)
5. If you do have a trigger food, get it out of the house and keep it out, period. If you have family that just has to have ice cream, make them go out to get it.
6. There is nothing wrong with having a good protein smoothie or protein coffee every morning for the rest of your life. It will seriously help you keep the weight off.
7. Avoid, if at all possible, artificial sweeteners. Even more evidence has come up recently stating that using them for only ONE week makes you pre-diabetic. They are evil. If you have to have sweets, go for plain old sugar or better maple sugar (lower GI).
8. 95% of you WILL gain weight back. Do not be afraid of this. It is normal. So, if you end up a bit smaller than you wanted you will most likely bounce back up again, and if you hit your goal you may end up slightly over it. Average is about 15% regain. That 5% who don't? They probably run miles a day or never dieted a day in their lives prior to this and didn't damage their metabolisms, or they are just the lucky ones and their metabolisms are still good. So, yes, you will gain back. If that's happening to you stop hating yourself! Now. This minute. Remember how much weight you had before and when you are all done be happy with having dropped as much as you did...and move on.
9. If you can afford it, or can get your insurance to pay for it, get skin surgery within about 6 months after you are done losing weight. I truly believe that if I had, I would be much happier and healthier now. Your body is most likely not going to be what you hope if you are dropping more than about 50 lbs (and chances are you are or you would not be here)
The whole point of this process, this huge life change, is to be happy (right?). So accept what happens and do that, be happy.
I ultimately dropped 75 lbs and I had a faulty surgery with life long complications... If you don't have either of those things, you can and will do even better. Just remember to please love yourself along the way!
Sending along hope that you all find what you want within yourself during this process, which is far more emotional than physical as it turns out.
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