Lloyd S.

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Weight: 313; BMI: 47.59
It’s now nine months since my surgery on 20 Dec 06. I have lost only 5 pounds this last month. Since the surgery, I have lost 156 pounds and I have lost 189 pounds since July 06. I set a goal for 12 pounds this month, so I didn’t do as well as I had wanted. I had two weeks where I hadn’t lost any weight and in the last few days, I gained two pounds! I’ve noticed in the last few days a dramatic decrease in the amount of bathroom visits, so I guess I need to up the fat intake, that or try the Krispy Kreme plateau buster.

I had my checkup with Dr Teel two days ago and overall he was pleased with my progress. The big downer was that he thinks I have a hernia developing. I noticed it too about a week ago; I hoped I wouldn’t have developed it so soon. Now I’m going to have to scrape together the money to pay for a tummy tuck at the same time. Hopefully the hernia doesn’t get constricted before I’m ready.

I also stopped by the new bariatric ward at Miami Valley Hospital. Wow, what a difference from the previous unit. Very, very nice. They went from a 7 bed unit to a 14 bed unit and it is now on the same floor as the doctor’s office and the surgical suite. The rooms are pretty cool too, with a nice décor and flat panel TVs. I ran into Debra Anderson, the program manager for the weight loss center. She is a former high school classmate and DSer. She was commenting on the fact that I needed new pants. She said that they are a little too baggy. I also ran into Deb Thompson, the nutritionist, she gave me a new vitamin schedule and a sample of the calcium citrate chew by Bariatric Advantage. It was cinnamon flavored and it was really good.

My main goal for this next month is to increase my exercise, I need set aside the time to walk, bike and swim. I want to lose at least 12 pounds this next month, more if I can manage it. I want to lose a good amount of weight before I have my next surgery.

Weight: 318; BMI: 48.35

It’s now eight months since my surgery on 20 Dec 06.  I have lost 14 pounds this last month.  I think that this was a good month of weight loss. Since the surgery, I have lost 151 pounds and I have lost 184 pounds since July 06.  I set a goal for 15 pounds this month, so I came close.

 

The last three weeks have been incredibly busy at work and at home.  I had a business trip three weeks ago to a conference in Annapolis, MD.  I had fun at the conference; most of the people there hadn’t seen me in a year, so it was a big shock to them seeing me down almost 200 pounds. 

We decided to take the family and spend a day in DC.  It was miserably hot.   For the first time I wore out my wife and kids.  We walked all day and I felt fresh at the end.  The DS rocks!  One other WoW moment for me was on the way home, we stopped at Sideling Hill Cut on I-68 in Maryland.  I don’t know how many steps there are on the climb up to the observation point, but you get a sense in the photo in my photo section.  If you look at the right about a third the way up you can see where a fence line is and people standing.  A year ago, I would have DIED making the trek up there.  Now, I barely got winded.

 

My goals again for the month are to exercise more, keep up with the protein, vitamins and water.  I want to lose at least 12 pounds this next month. I think that would be realistic.

Weight: 332; BMI: 50.47
Today, it is officially seven months since my surgery on 20 Dec 06.  I have lost 10 pounds this last month.  This is the least amount I have lost in one month since the surgery.  Since the surgery, I have lost 137 pounds and I have lost 170 pounds since I had a weigh-in at the hospital’s WLS seminar.  I was really wanted to lose 18 pounds this month, which meant that I would have lost over 5% for the month.  But instead, I lost just over 2.9% for this month.  I’ll take it!

 The only real setback I had this month was that I had to continue taking Prilosec.  I had hoped to get off of it at the six month point, but I really had some nasty acid reflux.  So after a week of that, I had enough.  I talked with Dr Teel and he said I should take it for a while until I lose another hundred pounds.  At least he has confidence in me losing that much.

The WoWs are a little fewer, but when they come they are more fun.  I ran into a few former co-workers this last month and all of them did double takes.  I had more than one not recognize me at first.  That’s kinda cool.

My goals for the month are to exercise more, keep up with the protein, vitamins and water.  I want to lose 15 pounds this next month, which would be awesome.

Weight: 335; BMI:50.9
Well, I went in for my latest check-in with Dr. Teel.  I'm down 30 pounds since he saw me last May.  He said I'm doing fine and I had some questions for him about my plateaus and whether water could be an influeance, ie not getting enough.  He said that water shouldn't be the cause, but that almost all patients go through periods of plateaus.  He said not to worry, just keep up doing what I've been doing.  I did get a little concerned when he read on my survey form (I have to fill out one every time I go in) that I'm having about 3 to 6 BMs a day.  He said he was concerned that if I was having too many due to diarrhea that he might prescribe "Tincture of Opium".  That got my attention.
I know from a friend that has Crohn's that it is some heavy duty medicine.  I shook my head NO!  I said it's not that bad and that I only have diarrhea when I eat some really fatty stuff or have too much roughage.  
Then we talked about Prilosec, I went off of it after six months and I started to have acid reflux pretty bad.  I told him I started taking it again on 5 July and it went away.  He told me, well you may need to take it until you lose another 100 pounds.  Great, at least he thinks I'm going to keep losing. 
Not so great, that I have to keep up with the Prilosec.  Oh well, not too bad overall.

Weight: 342; BMI:52
Today, it is officially six months since my surgery on 20 Dec 06. It seems like it was years ago, but also just yesterday. I have lost 127 pounds since surgery, which means I've lost close to 5 pounds a week.
That is just amazing to me. What is great is that I really have never felt starved. There have been more times that I've had to remember that I needed to eat. I didn't lose as much weight this month as I thought I would, only 12.5 pounds. I had a couple of plateaus and I attribute this to being able to eat more and really not exercising like I should. I slipped back into some old bad habits. The worst being, sitting in front of the computer in the evening when I should be working around the house or going outside and playing with my girls. I did go out and play a lousy game of golf last weekend, my second time this year and I have ridden my bicycle a few times. I just need to do more. I did have a couple of episodes of clumsiness. I fell off the deck a couple weeks back and earlier this week I tripped over my own feet and fell in the house. Neither time did I get hurt too badly; it's just that I need to be more careful, my balance seems to be off with all the weight loss.

On the bright side, I went through my closet and dresser last night and bagged up the clothes that are too big for me now. I will be dropping them off at Goodwill at lunch today. I also dug out some of my skinny clothes. I found stuff that I never could wear before and clothes that I haven't fit in for years. It felt great.

My goals for the next month are to lose 18 pounds. I need to exercise more, eat more protein, take my vitamins regularly, and HAVE FUN!

Weight: 354.5  BMI:53.9 
I’ve lost 114.5 pounds since the surgery with 23.5 pound of that this month.  I had a major stall at the beginning of the month, for two weeks I lost 3 pounds.  Then I got a nasty head cold and I dropped 14 pounds in a week.  
Earlier in the month I did have a nasty little incident.  My wife made some fresh spaghetti sauce and pasta, but made a little too much for me.  I wasn't watching what I was doing, talking at the table and eating and loving the food.  Well, I got the "OK, that’s enough" signal from my stomach, but I was too busy and eating too fast.  Next thing I know, I realize, OOPS, I've eaten way too much.  I stopped eating and talking and just closed my eyes, hoping that I could just relax and let it just settle my stomach.  I broke out in a cold sweat and within a minute I was off to the bathroom.  For me, it wasn't just a simple burp up or frothing.  I had a full fledge puke.  I'd say that about half of the dinner came back up. (Sorry about being so graphic) It was the first and only time.  It didn't feel good and I don't want to ever have that happen again.  If this is what Bulimia is like, I have a new sympathy for them.  Within about a half hour I was feeling good and there were no bad after-effects, other than the memory of it.  It hasn't turned me off to my wife's pasta either.  I'm just a little more careful on what gets put on my plate now.

Overall, I’m progressing very well. 

Had my fourth checkup since the surgery yesterday with Dr. Teel.  I weighed in at 364 pounds.  He said I'm doing very well.  He looked at my labs and said they looked pretty good.  He checked me for a hernia and said, "hopefully you get one so that we can do a tummy tuck too".  I'm kinda hoping I don't.  I think I will need the TT, but the idea of another hernia is not something I'm looking forward to having.  He asked if I was having any problems, really the only problem right now is a nasty cold.  I'm finally getting over it today.  Since the surgery, I've been out sick twice and both times they kicked my butt. 

One of my goals is (was) to "sit in a restaurant booth".  Well, I did it today!
We took our girls to a skating/birthday party and they have a small eating area with booths, ONLY BOOTHS.  I hate booths. You know the hardwood, Formica covered, bolted to the floor type.  My wife and I split a soft pretzel and she goes and sits down in the booth.  I just stand there looking at the bench seat.  For years now I couldn't fit, not even close.  She says, "Try it!"  I stand there looking at the bench and in my head, I'm saying, "No Way."  First, I won't fit. Second, if I do fit in, I will be crammed in so tight, we'll have to get the Jaws of Life to get me out.  To please the wife, I try, all so tentatively to sit on the bench.  And what do you know, I could sit there.  I didn't have a lot of room, but I didn't feel like the table was trying to perform the Heimlich on me.  I actually had to get up and sit down a couple of times to prove to myself it was true. Definitely made my day.

Well, I finally made 100 pounds lost since my surgery on 20 Dec 07.  Wow.  I did it in 132 days.  I can't believe how fast it has happend.  All those years of dieting and failing.  I hope this continues for another 100 pounds, but even if I don't lose another, it was well worth it.

Today is four months out from my DS surgery.  It’s really not that long ago, but it seems like it happened years ago.  I’ve lost 91 pounds since surgery and I’m starting to gain my life back.  I played golf yesterday afternoon for the first time in years.  The last time I played a round my golf shoes barely fit.  Now I could easily bend over and tie them and they felt loose.  I didn’t realize how long it had been, until I found an old, half-full Mountain Dew bottle in my golf bag with an expiration date of Aug 2003.  I hadn’t played in about four years!  I remember that last time, because I couldn’t finish the round.  I was so tired and my back and knees hurt so bad that I had to stop.  What a change, I felt great after the round last night.  Today my knees are a little stiff, which I expected, since WLS doesn’t cure osteoarthritis.  Now it wasn’t all perfect, my golf game still sucked, but at least I wasn’t at work.

 

My weight loss for the last few weeks has slowed down a lot from what it was.  I’m definitely eating more and the food tastes better.  My clothes are getting baggy and I’m running out of my old “thinner” clothes.   I can’t wait to be able to buy my clothes from a regular store.  One day I might even be able to buy some from a fancy mall store.

 

Goals for the next month:

Ride my new bike at least 2 times per week

Swim at least once a week

Get over 100 pounds lost

Keep up with my vitamins and eating right

Have a girl flirt with me (just checking to see if you read this far)