Men suck!!

[southernlady]

I feel ya....it's damned frustrating! That's what drove me to the revision. At first my hubby didn't understand...he assumed I would be like him. He insisted it was a simple matter of calori's in, calories out. I explained it to him and then went "back to basics"....he either saw or I showed/told him everything I put in my mouth for several weeks. Pretty much 700-800 calories a day...all protein and some complex carbs in the form of green veggies. All except one day where I had a few bloody Mary's. At the end of that experiment, I had gained two lbs. he said ok, I'm convinced. Your metabolism is broken and you need the surgery.

Totally understand...and glad he saw it...

Back when both my husband and I were trying to get surgery, one of the steps we had to do was a food log for a month. We had almost identical meals, as most of it was at home...except I left off many of the carbs he had. He lost 5 lbs that month, I gained three. The dietician we were seeing at the time told me I wasn't eating ENOUGH carbs...and this one seemed to understand that I was doing my best to control carbs due to my insulin pump.

This was for his surgeon who I was also WANTING to use. MY insurance company said yes to the DS but no to the surgeon as he wasn't in state. And we FORTUNATELY had a DS surgeon, several actually in state. But most either were not in network OR they refused to do a DS on a lightweight. I got lucky with Dr. Boyce in that he was willing to do the DS on a lightweight.

 

[Munchkin]

Obesity is a disease, not a character flaw!

And anyone who spouts the old calories in calories out thing should be flogged.

Post DS I was asked to participate in a study at the U of Minnesota on metabolism. It started with the body fat measurement using displacement in a tank of water. Next were BMR studies in a dark quiet room breathing thru this device that looked a bit like a respirator. Lots of questionnaires too.

The scientists concluded that post DS and considering my activity level, I should be eating @ 4000 calories per day to maintain and less to lose. I laughed at them and their study. Even when I directed their attention to my food logs(everything I ate had to be weighed for 8 weeks) and explained if what they had just told me was true I should weigh in at about 56lbs right now.

CAN I eat 4K calories a day? Hell yes. And even post DS, if I even come close to that I gain weight. Even the folks who believe obesity is a disease have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept of superabsorbers. It flies in the face of their logic. They want A + B = C.

What the study proved to me was my metabolism was terribly damaged and I would survive the nuclear holocaust. Then add in the fact that even with a 75cm cc I have never had a single deficiency. Even with a DS, my body still gets more than it needs. Dammit!

I am almost 60 years old and my entire life has been a diet. I hate to even think about what my life(if I was still alive) would be today if I hadn't had the surgery.

 

[star0210]

@Munchkin do you think that has affected your loss post DS? Were you a virgin DS'er?
My issues with that do make me wonder if it's even possible to get to goal.

 

[robs477]

@Munchkin do you think that has affected your loss post DS? Were you a virgin DS'er?
My issues with that do make me wonder if it's even possible to get to goal.

That’s EXACTLY what I’m worried about too..So, if I already GAIN weight if I go over 800 calories per day and cant loose unless I go under 100, how is the DS going to help me, especially since my Dr. wants to leave my CC at 150?

 

[robs477]

Obesity is a disease, not a character flaw!

And anyone who spouts the old calories in calories out thing should be flogged.

Post DS I was asked to participate in a study at the U of Minnesota on metabolism. It started with the body fat measurement using displacement in a tank of water. Next were BMR studies in a dark quiet room breathing thru this device that looked a bit like a respirator. Lots of questionnaires too.

The scientists concluded that post DS and considering my activity level, I should be eating @ 4000 calories per day to maintain and less to lose. I laughed at them and their study. Even when I directed their attention to my food logs(everything I ate had to be weighed for 8 weeks) and explained if what they had just told me was true I should weigh in at about 56lbs right now.

CAN I eat 4K calories a day? Hell yes. And even post DS, if I even come close to that I gain weight. Even the folks who believe obesity is a disease have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concept of superabsorbers. It flies in the face of their logic. They want A + B = C.

What the study proved to me was my metabolism was terribly damaged and I would survive the nuclear holocaust. Then add in the fact that even with a 75cm cc I have never had a single deficiency. Even with a DS, my body still gets more than it needs. Dammit!

I am almost 60 years old and my entire life has been a diet. I hate to even think about what my life(if I was still alive) would be today if I hadn't had the surgery.

Wow, my story is similar. I begged Baylor College of medicine to study me as a Lab rat because no one believed me, and this was about 20 yrs ago!!! I volunteered to take 3 weeks off work vacation and be “Locked up” in their controlled environment to prove what I was saying. I will tell you why they don’t believe us. It’s because a “super absorber” violates the very fundamental laws of Thermodynamics. A calorie is a measurement, a unit of potential energy that is available to be expended or stored. 3500 calories = 1 lb either gained or lost, i.e., excess or deficit. Someone my size has to eat 3,000+ calories a day to maintain, (allegedly)…LOL…LOL…LOL. At 800 calories, puts mean in a 2,200 caloric deficit per day. Per this mathematical constant which is non-negotiable according to the Laws of science and math that they go by, I should be losing about .50 - .75lbs a day. So, I, you, we, must be either lying or just in denial. Been fighting this **** my whole life! And, I’m an Engineer so I thoroughly understand why they think that, especially if they have normal metabolisms. That’s when I tell them that they don’t know **** or have a clue how the human endocrine system works. When they can explain to me how a whale can be 98% fat and all they eat is plankton and fish or why a bear can hibernate for 7 months or why an elephant can be so fat from eating just grass, then maybe we’ll be in the infancy stages of really understanding all this. Until then, just shut the **** up! I I actually told that to two endocrines before!

 

[Munchkin]

Wow, my story is similar. I begged Baylor College of medicine to study me as a Lab rat because no one believed me, and this was about 20 yrs ago!!! I volunteered to take 3 weeks off work vacation and be “Locked up” in their controlled environment to prove what I was saying. I will tell you why they don’t believe us. It’s because a “super absorber” violates the very fundamental laws of Thermodynamics. A calorie is a measurement, a unit of potential energy that is available to be expended or stored. 3500 calories = 1 lb either gained or lost, i.e., excess or deficit. Someone my size has to eat 3,000+ calories a day to maintain, (allegedly)…LOL…LOL…LOL. At 800 calories, puts mean in a 2,200 caloric deficit per day. Per this mathematical constant which is non-negotiable according to the Laws of science and math that they go by, I should be losing about .50 - .75lbs a day. So, I, you, we, must be either lying or just in denial. Been fighting this **** my whole life! And, I’m an Engineer so I thoroughly understand why they think that, especially if they have normal metabolisms. That’s when I tell them that they don’t know **** or have a clue how the human endocrine system works. When they can explain to me how a whale can be 98% fat and all they eat is plankton and fish or why a bear can hibernate for 7 months or why an elephant can be so fat from eating just grass, then maybe we’ll be in the infancy stages of really understanding all this. Until then, just shut the **** up! I I actually told that to two endocrines before!

I was a fellow at Baylor! I had 2 labs in the medical center. Know it well.

 

[Munchkin]

For the folks worried about reaching goal...

I always give the same advice. Just lose the weight. Do not eat carbs till you are 10% below goal. You will have the rest of your life to experiment with carbs. Don't waste your best chance to lose. Then if you sail to goal effortlessly, great. But if you are one of those who doesn't lose well you can ditch the guilt because you know you did the best you could!

My DS story is pretty dismal. Went to my preop appointment and found out I weighed over 350(that's as high as the scale went). Got my surgery date and it was 2 YEARS in the future. I was so angry with my self that I went on a diet...again. And stayed on it for 2 years. I got holidays and birthdays off. Other than that, I ate the same thing every day. 2 cans water pack tuna and 2 cups of dry raw spinach. Once in a while I had a chicken breast instead of the tuna. Once a week I got a handful of baby carrots. When my surgery date rolled around, I was down to 251. So when I had the surgery, I was a lightweight.

The first 6 months, I lost slowly down to 198 and that's it. It stopped completely. I was beside myself. I waited out what everyone told me was a stall but nothing happened. I was done. The only secret weapon I had left was exercise. I started walking 5 miles a day. It took too long. So I started running a little and walking a little. And in a couple months I was running 5 miles a day/30 miles a week. I finally started losing again. And all this time I was very low carb. When I started running, I went down to less than 10 carbs a day. I ate plain meat and eggs. That's it.

I tortured myself down to the 160's. My BMI was still fat. ONE time, just once, I wore a pair of size 6 jeans. And it wasn't a muffin top....it was a veritable explosion of loose skin spilling over like a waterfall. It was too hot to run 5 miles a day in Vegas so I started swimming. But nothing else worked and I started gaining. And I'm still gaining. I am trying really hard to get pissed off enough to do another diet. I know what I have to do. Meat, eggs, and plain tea. Simple. And I have to figure out some kind of hi energy workout that I can do when it's 110 degrees outside.

In retrospect, everything I did was a mistake. When I got that surgery date, I should have just gone to Spain and self paid. I used a well respected surgeon who was about 70 miles away from my home. I didn't learn till much later he had a reputation for a kinder/gentler DS that also tended to leave people still fat. I never heard about many of his patients losing too much or having deficiencies either. And I wasn't in the operating room so I didn't see him measure my CC. It's supposedly 75. I could have afforded to go to Spain and I kick myself for just waiting it out.

May I have some cheese with that whine please?

 

[Munchkin]

@Munchkin do you think that has affected your loss post DS? Were you a virgin DS'er?
My issues with that do make me wonder if it's even possible to get to goal.

I was a virgin...albeit a damaged one!

 

[robs477]

I was a fellow at Baylor! I had 2 labs in the medical center. Know it well.

Yeah, at the time, Baylor was the best of the best, and they still don't know didly about the Human endocrine system.

 

[robs477]

For the folks worried about reaching goal...

I always give the same advice. Just lose the weight. Do not eat carbs till you are 10% below goal. You will have the rest of your life to experiment with carbs. Don't waste your best chance to lose. Then if you sail to goal effortlessly, great. But if you are one of those who doesn't lose well you can ditch the guilt because you know you did the best you could!

My DS story is pretty dismal. Went to my preop appointment and found out I weighed over 350(that's as high as the scale went). Got my surgery date and it was 2 YEARS in the future. I was so angry with my self that I went on a diet...again. And stayed on it for 2 years. I got holidays and birthdays off. Other than that, I ate the same thing every day. 2 cans water pack tuna and 2 cups of dry raw spinach. Once in a while I had a chicken breast instead of the tuna. Once a week I got a handful of baby carrots. When my surgery date rolled around, I was down to 251. So when I had the surgery, I was a lightweight.

The first 6 months, I lost slowly down to 198 and that's it. It stopped completely. I was beside myself. I waited out what everyone told me was a stall but nothing happened. I was done. The only secret weapon I had left was exercise. I started walking 5 miles a day. It took too long. So I started running a little and walking a little. And in a couple months I was running 5 miles a day/30 miles a week. I finally started losing again. And all this time I was very low carb. When I started running, I went down to less than 10 carbs a day. I ate plain meat and eggs. That's it.

I tortured myself down to the 160's. My BMI was still fat. ONE time, just once, I wore a pair of size 6 jeans. And it wasn't a muffin top....it was a veritable explosion of loose skin spilling over like a waterfall. It was too hot to run 5 miles a day in Vegas so I started swimming. But nothing else worked and I started gaining. And I'm still gaining. I am trying really hard to get pissed off enough to do another diet. I know what I have to do. Meat, eggs, and plain tea. Simple. And I have to figure out some kind of hi energy workout that I can do when it's 110 degrees outside.

In retrospect, everything I did was a mistake. When I got that surgery date, I should have just gone to Spain and self paid. I used a well respected surgeon who was about 70 miles away from my home. I didn't learn till much later he had a reputation for a kinder/gentler DS that also tended to leave people still fat. I never heard about many of his patients losing too much or having deficiencies either. And I wasn't in the operating room so I didn't see him measure my CC. It's supposedly 75. I could have afforded to go to Spain and I kick myself for just waiting it out.

May I have some cheese with that whine please?

Holy Crap!,
Well, that's re-assuring...NOT...LOL!! Yup, some variation of that scenario will be me, I'm sure! I mean, how can it not? If to maintain and not gain presently, I do 800 calories per day, using DS math that equates to let’s say 400 calories a day, but, I really can’t lose unless I go less than 200 a day which means 400 post DS if I want to loose, so, it should still be very difficult to loose weight, based on my potentially hopeful flawed powers of observation and deductive reasoning!! The main benefit for me or any super absorber I think will be when we get to the “maintain” part which should allow me to go up to 1600 per day, equivalent to 800 now??
Also of note, IMHO, I think a significant amount of the post DSS original weight loss is from all the temporary hormonal and endocrine changes mostly from the VSG which kind of does a reset on your metabolism and also because your too sick to eat, thus the infamous 18 month window to lose. So, absolutely, I’m not expecting really huge significant differences either, but, it will help me be imprisoned in my own body less is the way I look at it! And compared to living for 35 yrs in complete deprivation, a 40 - 50% caloric intake increase during the maintenance part from where I’m at now will make me feel almost like a normal person..LOL

 

[Munchkin]

Holy Crap!,
Well, that's re-assuring...NOT...LOL!! Yup, some variation of that scenario will be me, I'm sure! I mean, how can it not? If to maintain and not gain presently, I do 800 calories per day, using DS math that equates to let’s say 400 calories a day, but, I really can’t lose unless I go less than 200 a day which means 400 post DS if I want to loose, so, it should still be very difficult to loose weight, based on my potentially hopeful flawed powers of observation and deductive reasoning!! The main benefit for me or any super absorber I think will be when we get to the “maintain” part which should allow me to go up to 1600 per day, equivalent to 800 now??
Also of note, IMHO, I think a significant amount of the post DSS original weight loss is from all the temporary hormonal and endocrine changes mostly from the VSG which kind of does a reset on your metabolism and also because your too sick to eat, thus the infamous 18 month window to lose. So, absolutely, I’m not expecting really huge significant differences either, but, it will help me be imprisoned in my own body less is the way I look at it! And compared to living for 35 yrs in complete deprivation, a 40 - 50% caloric intake increase during the maintenance part from where I’m at now will make me feel almost like a normal person..LOL

People like you and me are the reason for my weight loss advice. Make the best possible use of the time. Lose as much as you can. I agree some of the folks with stunning weight loss are the ones who have a difficult time with the surgery and develop some complications. But I, of course, was never sickly at all after surgery. I had no food restrictions and I was eating steak 10 days out. I have still never thrown up. My only challenge was eating VERY slowly.

Quite a few people do get a break that can be described as a metabolism reset, sort of. Hope for this! And don't forget the 'Man Factor'.

To put what I said into perspective, I'm an old bag. And I LOOK normal. But most women my age are overweight. I look better than a lot of them too. I do have great legs! What the DS did for me was make me quasi normal. I can look OK if I diet all the time. And that's what most women in my age group would say!

Last night's dinner: 12OZ NY Strip and green beans with bacon. And a Diet Coke. I took my french fries home for the dogs.

 

[robs477]

People like you and me are the reason for my weight loss advice. Make the best possible use of the time. Lose as much as you can. I agree some of the folks with stunning weight loss are the ones who have a difficult time with the surgery and develop some complications. But I, of course, was never sickly at all after surgery. I had no food restrictions and I was eating steak 10 days out. I have still never thrown up. My only challenge was eating VERY slowly.

Quite a few people do get a break that can be described as a metabolism reset, sort of. Hope for this! And don't forget the 'Man Factor'.

To put what I said into perspective, I'm an old bag. And I LOOK normal. But most women my age are overweight. I look better than a lot of them too. I do have great legs! What the DS did for me was make me quasi normal. I can look OK if I diet all the time. And that's what most women in my age group would say!

Last night's dinner: 12OZ NY Strip and green beans with bacon. And a Diet Coke. I took my french fries home for the dogs.

It really is good for me to hear your realistic “other end of the spectrum perspective”! I already know/knew I’m not going to be one of those record losers or anything like that, even with the “man” factor, but, I’m also realistic with my expectations and would be happy with losing just 100 lbs to 240 which would put me in a better healthier spot than I am, and, I think that’s very doable, so, I’m good with it, has to be better than the prison I’m in now! And, at our age, I don’t give a rat’s ass if I don’t see a 6-pack when I look in the mirror. If I wanna see one of those, I’ll look in the fridge

 

[star0210]

For the folks worried about reaching goal...

I always give the same advice. Just lose the weight. Do not eat carbs till you are 10% below goal. You will have the rest of your life to experiment with carbs. Don't waste your best chance to lose. Then if you sail to goal effortlessly, great. But if you are one of those who doesn't lose well you can ditch the guilt because you know you did the best you could!

My DS story is pretty dismal. Went to my preop appointment and found out I weighed over 350(that's as high as the scale went). Got my surgery date and it was 2 YEARS in the future. I was so angry with my self that I went on a diet...again. And stayed on it for 2 years. I got holidays and birthdays off. Other than that, I ate the same thing every day. 2 cans water pack tuna and 2 cups of dry raw spinach. Once in a while I had a chicken breast instead of the tuna. Once a week I got a handful of baby carrots. When my surgery date rolled around, I was down to 251. So when I had the surgery, I was a lightweight.

The first 6 months, I lost slowly down to 198 and that's it. It stopped completely. I was beside myself. I waited out what everyone told me was a stall but nothing happened. I was done. The only secret weapon I had left was exercise. I started walking 5 miles a day. It took too long. So I started running a little and walking a little. And in a couple months I was running 5 miles a day/30 miles a week. I finally started losing again. And all this time I was very low carb. When I started running, I went down to less than 10 carbs a day. I ate plain meat and eggs. That's it.

I tortured myself down to the 160's. My BMI was still fat. ONE time, just once, I wore a pair of size 6 jeans. And it wasn't a muffin top....it was a veritable explosion of loose skin spilling over like a waterfall. It was too hot to run 5 miles a day in Vegas so I started swimming. But nothing else worked and I started gaining. And I'm still gaining. I am trying really hard to get pissed off enough to do another diet. I know what I have to do. Meat, eggs, and plain tea. Simple. And I have to figure out some kind of hi energy workout that I can do when it's 110 degrees outside.

In retrospect, everything I did was a mistake. When I got that surgery date, I should have just gone to Spain and self paid. I used a well respected surgeon who was about 70 miles away from my home. I didn't learn till much later he had a reputation for a kinder/gentler DS that also tended to leave people still fat. I never heard about many of his patients losing too much or having deficiencies either. And I wasn't in the operating room so I didn't see him measure my CC. It's supposedly 75. I could have afforded to go to Spain and I kick myself for just waiting it out.

May I have some cheese with that whine please?

That really sucks donkey ass...and it makes my heart hurt for you. Nobody should have to live like that or go through what you went through. It's really just not fair.

Just curious...have you ever considered getting a re-sleeve and your cc length verified while they were at it?

 

[star0210]

People like you and me are the reason for my weight loss advice. Make the best possible use of the time. Lose as much as you can. I agree some of the folks with stunning weight loss are the ones who have a difficult time with the surgery and develop some complications. But I, of course, was never sickly at all after surgery. I had no food restrictions and I was eating steak 10 days out. I have still never thrown up. My only challenge was eating VERY slowly.

Quite a few people do get a break that can be described as a metabolism reset, sort of. Hope for this! And don't forget the 'Man Factor'.

To put what I said into perspective, I'm an old bag. And I LOOK normal. But most women my age are overweight. I look better than a lot of them too. I do have great legs! What the DS did for me was make me quasi normal. I can look OK if I diet all the time. And that's what most women in my age group would say!

Last night's dinner: 12OZ NY Strip and green beans with bacon. And a Diet Coke. I took my french fries home for the dogs.

I'm like you there...no complications...no issues. I have never thrown up or been nauseated. No foods ever caused me issues with my VSG. So far this time around...same thing.
I'm sick to death of this early post op diet....I want some damned MEAT! lol

 

[Munchkin]

That really sucks donkey ass...and it makes my heart hurt for you. Nobody should have to live like that or go through what you went through. It's really just not fair.

Just curious...have you ever considered getting a re-sleeve and your cc length verified while they were at it?

I'd do it in a heartbeat if I could afford health insurance! Death of a spouse can take you from comfortable retirement to poor in a New York minute! But I manage!