Fat Is A State Of Mind And My Mind Is Skinny

Name: Beth K.
Username: kesleea1
Location: Finksburg, MD, USA
Member Since: 5/5/2008
BMI: 37.4
Post Op
Surgery Type: VSG (05/15/08)
Surgeon: Alex Gandsas, M.D., F.A.C.S.

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10-6-08 Uploaded on 10/6/08 4:39 pm	345 plus Uploaded on 10/6/08 3:45 pm
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Goals

Gain a healthier "Me", free of diabetes, high blood pressure and constant pain.

Category: Diabetes

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in progress,

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achieved this

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Surgeon Testimonial

Alex Gandsas, M.D., F.A.C.S.
These are my opinions and my opinions only. My first impression of Dr. Gandsas was his youthful appearance. I thought how much experience could this man have?? I had quite a bit to learn. My cardiologist recommended him because his secretary underwent the gastric bypass operation and lost over 100 lbs. He sung Dr. Gandsas' praises and pushed and pushed me to do it too. He pushed me for about two years! Over about 4 months and only twice meeting with Dr. Gandsas my impression only slightly changed. I still thought he looked too young but he was confident; very confident in his ability and likable in his personality to me. His visits in the hospital were pretty quick and factual so his bedside manner didn't leave me with any warm fuzzy but again he appeared confident. I am glad he was because I wasn't.

The office staff was pretty nice. There were a few that could have been a little nicer and not so quick to speak. In other words their listening abilities might need a little work. Again this is my experience only. The ones that were nice though were not just nice but wonderful! They listened, they offerd help, they made me feel comfortable. I clung to them. Most of the team had undergone some type of weightloss surgery.

I guess I least liked the way he made me feel like part of a production line product. That might sound harsh but that is how I felt. I didn't feel like an individual with feelings but a product amongst a million other products that needed to be shoved through the process. Yep that is how I felt. It could have been so much worse I am sure.

I guess future patients should know as much as possible about him. They should research him completely and be ok with a non feeling type approach. He is quick, confident, knowledgable, and I believe thorough.

Aftercare is a given. They want you back at one month, three months, six months, nice months and one year to talk about your blood work at each interval. They check every vitamin your body uses. This is good stuff here.

His team addressed the risks of surgery and they did it by addressing questions in the seminars and in the nutrition classes that were required components of the surgery. He went over it with me very briefly right at the pre op appt two days prior to my surgery. He wrote down his statistics on a piece of paper and said there ya go. It was factual but again I got a kinda of cold feeling from it.

I rate him pretty high based on his confidence level. His surgical competence, in my humble opinion, is probably better than his bedside manner. I am very happy with the surgery overall and I took responsibility for the risks associated with it based on the research I had done prior to the surgery itself. I knew I couldn't hold him responsible if something went wrong. Following all of the rules was priceless to me. My life, afterall, was on the line.

Hospital Reviews

(Baltimore, MD) - Sinai Hospital Baltimore

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My VSG Journey

The New Me In Progress
Only I really know.... :-)

211 Nov 19 2008
on November 19, 2008 9:04 am

Well the low carb works as long as I can keep my mouth shut at night and my fingers out of the peanut butter.

I lost 12 lbs in 12 days..feels like atkins alright...squeezing every drop of water out of my system.

So some things that have helped this stall:

Phentermine
Atkins program
Cymbalta

stress eating is something I will need to deal with forever..I might as well accept it and go with it rather than have a perpetual fight with myself for the rest of my life.

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219 11/10/08
on November 10, 2008 6:06 am

Well I finally got enough nerve up to kick the dark ghirardelli chocolate to the curb. Even though I was only eating 3 squares a day I wasn't losing but ever so slowly. I have been keeping my carbs below 40 and the weight has been coming off steadily since last Monday. I reached 80 lbs yesterday and hope to reach 81 by tomorrow. That is how fast it is coming off again. About a lb every other day. I am happy.

Oh I can definitely tell the difference in my energy levels. I don't have it in me to exercise. When I was doing my vegetarian/vegan thing I had energy to burn but the scale was moving too slow for my liking. So my plan is to get the weight close to goal and then go back to my veggie lifestyle. I also think I was eating too much healthy fat and too much tofu. the tofu has been said to mimic estrogen. So..well it is in the past for now.

I am back to the weight loss race. :-)

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Oct 31 223
on October 31, 2008 11:22 am

You wanna talk slow loser? I win that title...

Not sure what is happenin to my metabolism but it has slowed wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy down...

So I am trying to not "snack" throughout the day and get actual protein in combination with fibrous veggies..

for lunch today I had a lean cuisine salmon with basil wheat orzo pasta and spinach...so I got my protein and my veggie...

I had a southbeach breakfast...

So I got my protein up with my veggies...(though it was hard I ate the whole south beach thingie for breakfast and I wasn't hungry through lunch)

I ate almost the whole lean cuisine for lunch but couldn't do it all and so far so good. We will see if it gets me through dinner.

One step at a time...whatever it takes...I am gonna get there..

going out for Halloween tonight takin my little one trick or treating so that will be my time for exercise...and I will get in my sauna tonight...

we will see what the scale says tomorrow...but my clothes are fitting better...

again whatever it takes...

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225 finding what is working for me
on October 10, 2008 6:01 am

Ok fine tuning this program hasn't been easy...

It isnt like the DS board who just eat anything high fat and go to the bathroom to get rid of it...

I was eating too much healthy fat and that was stalling me I believe.

For the last couple of days I have cut back on the healthy fats.

I have also done something I really didn't want to do but since it is working and I will consider it only temporary I will continue to do it. I am eating a little chicken in the day and an organic boiled egg about every other day. This protein takes so long to digest it, in fact, does keep me more full and longer...I am not hungry near as much as I was with the salads, veggies, and green drink all day. I can definitely tell the difference between how I feel(more acidic) than when I was eating veggies only(more alkaline) I am a tad more sluggish and once in a while I can feel a twinge of acid. I know it is coming from the chicken and eggs. Not to mention what it is doing to my cholesterol but when I get the weight off and get to goal I will go back to no animal meat whatsoever...and hopefully my smart body will repair itself.

No sugar whatsoever unless it is stevia or sucralose will my body take in and let me lose with so that is over and done with.

I am very happy to see that the scale started moving again!!!!

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One night of not eating sugar before bed
on October 7, 2008 10:08 am

One night down..another night for me

no self sabotage anymore...

one night at a time...

I can do this!

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