Bariatric Surgery

[submarinesailor]

OUTSTANDING Lee!!!!!!!!!!! 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[LeeB]

45 more days will make one year since I started this journey. I'm hoping to be at my goal by then. After that the real work starts of keeping it off and making it a permanent lifestyle change. To say there aren't temptations would be a lie. My meal last night came with a lovely looking order of crisp lightly browned french fries. I didn't eat nary a one. Haven't had taters or any kind of grain since I started.

[Ron Scott]

Well done!

[doctorb]

Impressive, Lee.  Congrats and keep at it!

[thecfarm]

A very good job!!!!!

[SLawyer Dave]

Congrats, keep it up.

[customsawyer]

Well done Sir.

[Ed_K]

  8) Way to get er done  8).

[bobby s]

Amazing!  You da man!

[LeeB]

One year into it now. I've lost 120 lbs so far. Only 5 more to go meet my personal goal.

[OneWithWood]

My hat is off to you, Lee.  Your perseverance is admirable.

[sprucebunny]

Congratulations , Lee for sticking to it  8)

You are no longer carrying around the weight of a small person !!

[Ed_K]

 Congratulations, Lee.

[LeeB]

Seem to be stuck at 225. I guess I can be satisfied with that if it won't go down any further. Now for the real challenge. To keep it there.

[Brucer]

There is only one way to keep it there ... keep your diet the same as it is now, and do the same amount of physical activity as you do now.

Sorry, you probably didn't want to hear that, but it's true :(.

[LeeB]

Already fully understood Bruce. If you go back to what you were doing before you will go back to same old weight.

[Magicman]

Considering your height and frame Lee, that might be your "normal" weight.  Getting plenty of exercise and keeping those muscles properly toned should be your present goal.  Oh, and Congratulations!

[Brucer]

That's great, Lee!

I know quite a few people who think that once they've got their weight down (usually with a crash diet), they can back off a bit and do some of the things they were doing before.

[LeeB]

Bruce,
I went into this from the beginning knowing full well that it was going to have to be a lifestyle change and not just a 'diet'. As the title of the thread says, my fist question was about bariatric surgery. After some research I realized that the surgery would take a drastic lifestyle change to be successful so I figured why not just make the change and do it without surgery. My challenge now is to find the right combination to be able move from weight loss to a stable weight. I'm doing that by slowly introducing some foods back into my diet that I had left out. Still no complex or refined carbs and no intention of ever going that route again. I've worked hard to get where I am now and have no intention of giving this up.

[Brucer]

This is where you have to really, really careful. You said you seem to be stuck at 225. That means you aren't losing weight any longer. And that means your current lifestyle is designed to keep your weight at 225.

I've seen a lot of "diet" examples that talk about the "energy balance". Food adds energy to your body; physical activity (which includes breathing and heartbeat) uses energy.

• When the two are equal, your weight stays the same.
• When you take in more energy than you expend, the excess energy is stored in your body, usually as fat.
• When you take in less energy than you expend your body uses up stored energy to make up the difference.

I'm sure you've read all this.

What I haven't seen in diet guides is an explanation of how a reduced body weight affects your energy expenditure. It depends both on the amount of physical activity and on your body surface area.

• When you've changed your lifestyle so your energy intake is less than your energy expenditure, your weight will go down.
• As your weight goes down your body surface area will go down.
• As your surface area goes down your energy expenditure will slowly decrease for the same amount of physical activity.
• Eventually you will reach a weight where your energy expenditure matches your energy intake. It sounds like that's where you are right now.
  

And, yes, I've been through this.

[LeeB]

I'm still living pretty much paycheck to paycheck on this energy balance job.  :D Have remained at +/- 225 for several months now. I drop a few pounds under and then go a couple over but on average stay right here. I've experimented some with adding a few foods back to my diet but not many. I'm pretty happy with what I eat and only occasionally get a hankering for something I gave up. Fried shrimp is a tough one that I miss. Maybe a little further down the road I might try a treat like that every now and then but for now I'm kinda like a reformed alki in that I'm afraid if I start I won't stop. My self control right now stems from fear of loosing control. Overall though, I'm happy and certainly much more healthy.

[Roxie]

And keeping it there is the hardest part of any weight loss program.  Good for you!!   8)

[sprucebunny]

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you're maintaining  8)

[Ed_K]

 Good for you  8) . And your right about self control, 18 yrs the end of this month and if I drank a beer I'd be inside a 30 pack of natural ice by morning  :( .

[samandothers]

Lee just read this thread.  Great job!  WOW! Congrats on the positive journey and results.  I hope you can get your daughter on board some day.