RE: Am I through losing at 14 mo. post?

[Guest guest]

It is always so inspiring to hear from people who have made up their minds to

commit to a lifestyle change like this. So many of us (myself being at the top

of the list) don't seem to realize or forget how much effort is really needed on

our parts to maintain/further weight loss after the " honeymoon period " is over.

Bravo to you!

Am I through losing at 14 mo. post?

Let me tell you about my own experience. I had a proximal open rny in Oct of

2000. My highest weight was 278, and I weighed 254 on my day of surgery as

my surgeon requires his patients to lose 10% of their excess weight previous

to surgery, and then a post op liquid diet for the first 3 weeks, followed by

a week of puree and a week of soft food. Even with this diet, I only lost 11

pounds the first month. My weight loss continued to be very very slow and

discouraging the entire first year, and at 11 months post op, I weighed 198

pounds, and had only lost 80 pounds. Now, granted, I pushed my luck far too

often. I didn't listed to people who warned me about eating junk foods,

because I let myself had small quantities in the beginning... and the weight

loss continued... slowly, but continued nonetheless. At the 11 month mark,

my loss completely halted. With my height of 5'4 " , I was still moderately

obese. I felt sorry for myself, feeling like a failure for about a year...

and then went to a group function for OSSGMN, support group of MN... and saw

so many post ops who I saw as pre-ops only months before, and many were

smaller than me. I felt so disappointed... and jealous. SO, I made up my

mind that I hadn't had this surgery just to out-eat it... and that I wanted a

healthy body, period. So I cut out all sugars, refined starches, potatoes,

rice, pasta, bread... and went through a withdrawl like nothing you've ever

seen before. I was moody, emotional... a real witch for about 2 days. Then

it got easier. I don't consider myself on a diet, this is my lifestyle. I

still eat this way, and am prepared to do so for the rest of my life. I

periodically have a bite of dessert, but I've been off of the other things

for so long that they don't even appeal to me. I have created substitutions

for just about all of those things. I buy keto-spaghetti... atkins bread,

use keto crumbs if I bread meats, eat atkins chocolate... even have mashed

cauliflower with sour cream and butter instead of potatoes, or chopped

cauliflower in mock potato salad... and its good! I've been eating this way

now for over a year, and regardless of my continued weight loss now, I feel

SO much better... more energetic, and far more healthy. Today, I weigh about

155 pounds... and wear a size 8 or 10. A loss of another 40+ pounds, just

because I committed myself to my health... which is really just resolving

what I began with my rny. This is of course, my advice to everyone who has

plateau problems... I'm not a medical professional, so obviously... a doctors

advice takes precedence over my own, but this has worked fabulously for me!

Good luck

sarah s

minneapolis