Robin D.
I have basically two hobbies, first one being a dedicated Darryl Worley fan and the second one being to take as many photo's as I can during my many travels to see him in concert.
Well I had my 3 week post op doctors appointment Monday the 13th and all is fine. Everything seems to be going great and I'm satisfied with what weight loss I have achieved thus far. I mean between the pre and post-surgery diets I have managed to lose over 30 lbs in approximately 6 weeks. That sure beats my Weight Watcher attempt last year. It took me 6 months just to lose 17 lbs. My official pre-surgery weight was at 340 the day before surgery. At my 3 week post op appointment I was down to 323.
Had my 3 month post op doctor’s appointment Monday the 22nd and all my blood work is fine. My doctor feels I need to step up my exercise since I am currently looking at a 62% weight loss which means I’d still be around 207 after all this is done. This is probably my last chance at losing a significant amount of weight over these next three months so I’ll have to kick it up a few notches and try and lose at least another 50 lbs before August 21st, 65 would be better but we’ll see how it goes. If I can lose 42 that would bring me up to the 70% range which means I’d be left weighing 190. If I really do great and lose around 60 lbs in the next three months, I’d be at 80% and that means I’d be left weighing around 169 which would be even better. I think I can kick it up since we opened the pool this week. That gives me another avenue for exercise, doing water aerobics 5 nights a week and using the treadmill the other two nights for 40-60 minutes. If only I could attend a few concerts. That always helps me lose weight since I’m practically dancing around for 2 solid hours (and then there is the standing around 4 hours before the show).
June 26th 2006
All I can say is even though the actual pounds being lost seems to have slowed down, the actual inches being lost continues. Over the past 4 weeks I may have only lost 14 lbs but I know that I’ve lost 3 inche in my waist (actually what I call my gut which is a little higher then my waist – the largest part of my middle section). I am totally thrilled with my results thus far. I don’t know of any other way to lose 88 lbs in 5 months. I’m shooting for losing 119 lbs (total pounds including the 19 preop weight loss) when I return to my surgeon on the 21st of August. That means I have 7 weeks to lose 21 lbs (28 would be better), yes I know that is hoping I don’t hit any stalls and means I need to average 3 lbs each week (5 would be better). I believe another reason I have slowed down on my weight loss is the increase in exercise that I’ve started. Since I returned from vacation on the 13th of June I have managed to exercise in the pool all but 2 nights (for anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours each night). I can see a definite difference in my entire body slimming down but the pounds seem to not reflect the inches. But that’s okay I hear that the pounds will eventually catch up with the inches. I’ve gone from size 6X (that was the largest I’d buy even though some of them were tight) to a 2X (and even some of the 2X are lose). My BMI has gone down from 65.6 “super obese” to 49.5 which is just “extremely obese”. That’s one notch down and 2 more to go. I’m not going to shoot for being normal (I never was normal unless you go back to when I was 6 years old). Personally if I get down to 162 lbs I will be on the high end of “overweight”. The last time I weighed that low was 31 years ago after having lost 60+ lbs on weight watchers (when I hired on with Bendix). I’ve done nothing but gain/lose, gain some more/lose and so on ever since then. I don’t know what my highest weight was (I know it was higher then that on the 27th of Jan but because my scale topped out at 350 I just don’t know what it was during the last year). The first time I seen Dr. Kligman I weighed 349 (Nov 2005 – I then proceeded to gain 10 lbs over Dec/Jan). But once the nutritionist gave me the preop diet (not until the 3rd of February) I decided to start my diet on the 6th. So from the 6th to the 20th when I seen Dr. Kligman again I had lost 19lbs (and he thought I had only lost 9). He was happy that I had lost the 9 lbs and said if I gained any before surgery he’d cancel me (he forgot I was having surgery the next day). I’ve noticed that a lot of WLS patients that lose prior to surgery don’t seem to lose as much during that first 6 months. Either way, I am very happy with my results thus far and will continue to exercise over the summer to lose as much as I can while the pool is open. I’m not sure what I can do after we close the pool. Maybe by then I’ll be low enough to consider joining a gym (just can’t bring my self to exercise in public).
July 31st 2006:
I tell you it’s definitely getting slower (the weight loss that is). I do still seem to be losing inches (not as much as before but it’s still going down). I can’t complain since most have hit 3 or even 4 plateaus by now and this is my first. It could also be that because of the exercising that I’m building some lean muscle which does weigh more and should eventually even itself out with some more pounds coming off later in the month. No problem, I’m still happy with everything so far.
August 7th 2006:
I finally got to meet up with the Maryland group that try to meet once a month yesterday. It was nice to be able to see in person those I’ve been posting to on the message board. Mo even had a couple photos taken and they turned out pretty nice. Maybe one of the OH experts that I met Sunday will be able to get the photo’s put up on one of our profiles. I’ve got two more weeks till my 6 month appointment (and it winds up being exactly on my 6 month anniversary). I don’t think I’m going to hit any of the goals I really wanted to but maybe I should be looking more at just trying to keep it moving and not worry so much about the pounds. I plan on taking measurements Sunday the 20th and will post a total inches lost (last time I checked I had lost a total of 66 inches and that was back on the 17th of July. I think I’ve lost another 7 inches since then. Sometimes I think more about the inches lost rather then the pounds lost especially since I’m more active now then I was the first three months. I still manage to do water aerobics at least 5 times a week (sometimes 6 or more if I get in the pool twice a day on the weekends). Last week I wound up walking around the pool for two hours (I was on a cell phone talking with a friend) after doing my normal pre-work out 20 minutes. That’s where I jog around the pool 15 times in each direction. I still don’t know what I’m going to do once we close the pool in October (yes I plan on keeping it open till sometime in October). So long as the weather doesn’t get to freezing I’ll probably be in the pool every evening for at least 30-40 minutes during the month of October. As long as I don’t have any artic cold winds I’ll be okay. I’m even considering getting a heater for the pool, it all depends on which winds up being cheaper – the heater versus joining a gym.
Well I had my 6 month appointment. All is doing just fine. My bloodwork was great (no problems) and I think Dr. Kligman may have been surprised with what I've lost these past three months. According to the "scale" I should have lost 22 lbs over the past 3 months and I've lost over 34 (close to 35). I never was "normal". I compared my scale at home with the doctor's office and it seems to be right on track. I don't like visiting the doctor on Tues/Wed's because for some reason those two days of the week are when I weigh the most. I can't figure out why it works that way but oh well at least I don't lose any sleep over it. Today (Friday) I checked my weight and it said 248 3/4, which is what I would have loved to have seen on Tuesday. I'm okay with how things are going. I've set myself a couple mini goals. I'd love to be under 200 by New Years and if not by then, then by my birthday 2/7 or at least by my anniversary appointment on the 19th of February. I think Dr. Kligman would rather I do something other the water aerobics so next week while I'm away on travel I may try and hit the gym at the hotel and see how it goes.
Oct 16th:
Well this is the first week that I didn't lose any weight. I'm okay with that since l've joined Golds Gym and am hoping that this will help me to continue losing more weight. I'm still shooting to lose another 35 lbs before my one year anniversary the 21st of Feb 2007.
Another week of no weight loss. I think joining this gym has my system all out of wack. It's taken three weeks to lose 2 lbs and I really don't see a difference in inches either. My clothes are feeling like there's more room (especially the pants in the butt area), but since I don't measure that particlar area I have no indication of any inches lost. I think I need to add additional water and or protein at least that is what I'm going to shoot for. I'll add at least one extra glass a day and 10-15 more grams of protein. I don't want to do too many different things.
I've got 5 weeks till my one year anniversary and hope that I can somehow manage to lose some extra pounds. I know I'm still doing okay because the inches are still coming off. This last month I may have only lost 2 lbs, but I've lost around 6 inches. It seems the more I work out the less I lose. I think I will concentrate on protein and water these next few weeks and see what happens. Even if I don't lose any more weight, I've averaged close to 12 lbs a month since Feb 5 th of 2005. I'm happy but would love to lose the next 24 lbs (at least before summer). Then I will have the summer to work on the final 50 lbs (pool exercises seem to be the only ones that worked for me). This weekend is when I collect the inches data and will post the totals inches lost. Not very comfortable with putting all the little intimate details out her yet. Who knows, maybe I'll tell all. We'll see! If I don't this weekend, I will let the cat out of the bag after my anniversary appointment for sure. To me that would be what would show the most drastic changes within a year.
I had my 1 year anniversary meeting with Dr. Kligman on Monday the 26th of February. He didn't holler but did say that he thinks I might only lose another 10-15 lbs as a result of WLS. I told him I was shooting for at least another 20 gone by Sept. I think I can do that because once I open the pool up the 1st of May, my exercise will increase. I usually weigh 10 lbs heavier in the winter as a norm. So he requested I come back for a weigh in only in six months. Which I more then happily will comply. On their scale I weighed in at 220 (is 218 buck naked at home which is what I use for this web site and even verified the home scale reading of 220 with clothes). So I've lost over 140 lbs since 2/5/2006 (that is when I started my pre-op diet). Since surgery I've lost 120 lbs (according to Dr. Kligman's scale fully clothed). I'm happy that I've done so well. Yes I would like to have lost another 20-30 lbs, but at least I'm headed in the right direction now. Prior to surgery I averaged a gain of 15-20 lbs over the past 5 years and couldn't afford to continue that way. This truly has been one amazing journey for me and am so glad I went with Dr. Kligman and his staff. They all provide 100% and then some of what you need to suceed.
Inches Lost at -141 lbs and 12 months post op:
Neck -3”
Arms -5”
Wrist -1.5”
Underbreast -15.0”
Breast -17”
Gut -18”
Waist -18”
Hips -20.5”
Thighs -8.0”
Califs -2.5”
Total: -108.75”
See you next month!
