5 Months and 1/2 way to goal

Hey everyone, Ok so it's been 5 months since surgery....drum roll please....... I'm 1/2 way to goal. I lost 18 lbs for month 5 and I'm down to 321. I started the process at 492, i lost 20 lbs preop and on the day of surgery i weighed 472. Today i'm down a total of 151 lbs since surgery (171 total). My goal weight is 172. For those of you who are preop and reading this post...the DS is an awesome surgery...unlike the myth that all DSers suffer from terrible uncontrolable gas and DHR, i do not suffer from either of those things. Actually if anything I had a bigger gas problem before I had surgery. At almost 500 lbs I could clear the room with stinky gas....today I don't have that problem. As for DHR, I haven't had it since 7 weeks out, and I have less bowel movements then when i was 500 lbs. As for eating...i really don't track myself daily on fitday anymore. I'm just not OCD...and a bit lazy...lol. Although i do enter my food intake in once in a while just so that i make sure i'm on track. Yesterday i ate like a pig, I ate everything from pizza, to a whole thing of popcorn at the movies, to german chocolate cake, M&Ms, and doritos at night...i took in about 2300 calories...1/2 of those are from fat, 168 grams of carbs and 85 grams of protein. I have to say ...I'm not suffering in terms of eating thats for sure. (for the record this was an indulgence day..normally I don't do cake and doritios, popcorn and pizza all in the same day...i'll usually do one or the other). Thank God for leading me to my surgeon and through this process. scott PS i will be posting this on several other forums so you don't have to bother rereading this again

Scott, Why can folks with DS eat so much more than those of us with gastric bypass? Do you have any issues with nutrition absorbtion like we do? I have to admit I don't know much about it. I don't think that surgery is done in Salt Lake, because as I was researching it, it wasn't an option. You have lost in 6 months what I've lost in 13 months! That is phenomenal! I'm very happy for you!!!! Lori 384/235.5/199

Hey Lori, Don't forget I had a lot more to lose when I started (about 100 lbs more) that is part of the reason that i've lost weight faster then you. I'm actually a month ahead of schedule. I wanted to be at 50 percent of my excess weight by 6 months, and I'm there at 5...so thats very cool. As for the eating. I can eat more because I have a bigger stomach. It starts off at about 6 to 8 oz...and will expand over time. I don't have a pouch, I have a stomach...and a fully functional pyloric valve (the valve that regulates food being released into the intestines)....therefore DSers don't have dumping (hence the reason on a day like yesterday I could go carb crazy..and not worry about it...I don't normally eat that much sugar and white flour in a day.....ok i confess i do it about once a week. As for malabsorbtion, we actually malabsorb a bit more then RNYers. Which is the reason we can have a bigger stomach. For example DSers on average malabsorb 80 percent of the fat they eat.....thats one of the reasons I eat such a high fat diet....it's a "free" food. On the negative side of that, just like a RNYer I have made a life long commitment by having this surgery to take suppliments everyday. There are advantages and disadvantages for every surgery...my first sugeon actually went over the DS with me, and at the time it sounded great...but he wasn't experienced at it (thank God i didn't ask him to do it on me..lol), so he convinced me to have the RNY. I was scheduled for the RNY, and I cancelled the surgery because i knew it wasn't "right" for me. I went a year trying to do it on my own, only to end up 40 lbs heavier. I went back to the surgeon and restarted the process to get the RNY, just before they scheduled it, I went to another surgeon for a 2nd opinion, and he did the RNY and DS, and we talked about why the DS would be a good surgery choice for me. After thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of both surgeries, I decided the DS was the best surgery for me. You are right, there are fewer surgeons who are skilled to perform the DS, it is a more expensive surgery because it takes about another hour in the OR then the RNY. My insurance paid for everything, I didn't actually end up paying anything for the surgery. You've lost close to 80 percent of your excess body weight ...so your not doing too bad with the RNY....congradulations on your success!!!! scott

Scott, Thanks for taking the time to educate me. I do appreciate it! Keep up the great work! Lori

Congratulations on your weight loss!! Jamie