Two week post-op checkup...and a little disheartened

Congratulations on your success!  You are an inspiration

Mine doesn't put a number to it. He wants to see our health get better, our comorbidities to improve or go away, and for us to feel better.

Funny my surgeon said something similar to me. The morning of my surgery 1-23-2012 I weighed in at 286 lbs. After seeing him 1 week out I asked the same thing and he told me he saw me only losing about 100 lbs and leveling out around 180 i****old him I wanted to get to at least 150 lbs. He said I probably would not get there and that would be too much for me and I would look too thin. Then he agreed to 165 lbs. Well I am now at 164 lbs and look just fine and I am still hoping to make my goal of 150 lbs, but being I feel great how I look now I am in no rush and if I get there great and if not I am fine with that as well. I do not look sickly and do not think I will losing another 14 lbs. I have been much smaller than 150 in my lifetime.

If you have a personal goal then go for it - you know what weight makes u comfortable. I am also 5' 4

Thanks for sharing! Your experience is encouraging.

PhillyGirl said,
" At 2 years out, I almost forget that I had the surgery. I eat more normally and the life adjustments I made along the way are just who I am now - no stress, no anger, no hard work. They just are part of me now."
That describes what I want exactly. It would be great if that came along with a number I'd like!
Thanks all, for your posts.

Do what you are told and it will.  And, you won't care about the number - you'll just feel good and know you made a great decision for yourself. 

Don't get me wrong - I do watch the number and weigh myself about every other day.  As soon as I see anything creeping back ****ep myself between 166-171), I really start to go back to basics.

I have an advantage, I think, that some of you won't THINK is an advantage....I am an insulin-dependent diabetic on an insulin pump.  Anytime I plan to eat ANYTHING with calories, I have to take the following steps:

1.  Test my blood sugar

2.  Count the carbs accurately in what I am about to eat

3.  Put that number into my pump so that it can calculate how much insulin I will need to cover it

4.  Decide what percentage of that insulin I'm taking up front and how much I'm pushing back in a delayed dose.

5.  administer that dose and then wait for about 10-15 minutes to even eat what I'd planned to eat.

That gives me tremendous accountability on my carbs and forces me to eat intentionally.  Do I eat treats on occasion?  Yes, I do.  But I know that I'll need a high dose of insulin to cover it and that insulin promotes weight gain.  And, if I've had a day with a lot of insulin, it will show in my weight.  So, all of this acts as my accountability system to keep myself on track. 

I gained 100 pounds when I first went on insulin and I had the surgery to get that off.  I got about 88 pounds of it off and I know that, as long as I live, I will need to take insulin and that will always set me up for weight gain.  But, I still feel blessed because, without being a Type 1 diabetic, I could and likely would not eat intentionally or count carbs.  And that really helps me.

I think you can achieve whatever goal you set just be mindful of what you eat and drink, work out you can do it 

 50 lbs already is amazing!   Hang in there - you'll lose the weight...  

Good job you are doing great!

This topic riles me up and ****** me off. If you are someone who is happy with their weight, including your current health, read no further.

IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH YOUR CURRENT WEIGHT...... Ignore these false boundaries. If I accepted them I would be perfectly happy at 300 lbs. lost 180 gained 40 back landed at 296 ish. By all rights I was healthier and frankly a success. Except I was not happy, I was still obese and I still was above the surgery goal. I feel much of what is said and published is to put a softer face on the situation. Yes from a surgery point of view losing 140lbs of excess weight was a success, but I needed more personally.

I find that some people, including myself, use this as an excuse to accept their situation. That the stats rule and " it is what it is". I'll buy that when I actually follow my surgeons instructions on diet and exercise for 3 years post op. Lets see where to plan actually leads. I will bet everything that if I follow the rules I will continue to lose weight to my real bottom. I've lost the regain, beat my surgery goal 240ish, 200 lbs total loss, lean mass is now equal to or greater than fat mass. I like those stats a lot better. I going for at leat another 20.

Again if you are happy where you land fine, but if you are not I urge you to reject the average stats and join me to become "above average".

Chrispy

Thanks Chrispy!

I've been discussing this with my husband and he keeps saying, "why don't you just set realistic expectations"?  My response to him was, I've never set realistic expectations for myself, they are always high, and I always achieve them.  So why should I start lowering my expectations now?  I keep trying to focus on the main reason I chose this path - which was to get healthy.  But I'm not going to stop until I achieve that goal - whether that means I land where my surgeon thinks I will (200 lbs), where my PCP would like to see me (150 lbs) or my own personal goals (125-135 lbs).  Since I'm only less than a month post surgery, I know there is a long road ahead of me.  So all I can do is stay focused, work my plan, exercise, and see how my body reacts.