Hello, everyone...this is the first time I've posted here and I am so desperate for support and perhaps the chance of finding someone else out there who has experienced what I have, that I figured I might as well try and put my experience out there....I apologize for the length of the post.....
Exactly one year ago today I had sleeve gastric bypass surgery...I weighed 290 preop with a BMI of 45 (I was 40 y.o.) and within 6 days when the staples came out I had lost 24.6 pounds so I thought things would be great for overall weight loss and I was excited and ready to start my new phase of my life.....at 2 months out, I had lost a total of 30 pounds (including the previous 24 which were obviously fluid),for a net loss of 6 real pounds.....I immediately emailed the doctor to say that I thought something might be wrong, but they said to be patient...and I have been.
Never in my life have I tried so hard for something, because I was determined that I was not going to waste the $$ that I used for the surgery (my inheritance from my grandmother)--my insurance would not pay-- so to honor my "investment in myself" I have faithfully watched every single bite I put in mouth, kept a food journal of everything and sent it to the dietician and trainer every 3 days for review and feedback, completely changed my eating habits (I didn't even have birthday cake at my own birthday this year), worked out 6 times a week for an hour a day every week for the past 50 weeks, had a standing appointment with a personal trainer every week for strength training, went to accupuncture for 4 weeks (for stress relief and digestion regulation), went to a hypnotherapist (to keep my head in the right place), and was supervised by 3 different dieticians/nutritionists (each coordinated with the other), a psychiatrist, and another general practician..Oh, and I weighed and measured everything (I'm pretty sure the restaurants I frequented were surprised to see me pull out my portable scale to weigh things they brought me!!!) I didn't want anyone to come back to me and say I had not tried or done what I was supposed to......had I done all this 10 years ago, I would never have gotten fat!!
Anyways, I am weighed in every week at the gym by the trainer and the weight just barely came off in the fall, and in January I stopped losing weight completely--I
have not lost an ounce in 6 months...and I'm eating no more than 1400 calories a day (although usually much less) and getting 80 g protein AND working out every day for at least an hour at a heart rate of 100-125 or more with intervals....though I am no doctor, I have a basic understanding of the principles of weight loss--fewer calories consumed and more calories burned results in weight loss, right?????? So if I'm eating 900 or 1300 or 1400 calories a day, and burning (as measured by a calorie monitor called the bodybug) more than 400 calories each session while exercising, plus the daily activity calorie burns by just living, I technically should lose weight, right???? So why in the world would I have not lost a single ounce in 6 months and a year after surgery only have lost a total of 35 pounds????? I've had my thyroid and every other bloodtest run and all results are "normal" (whatever that means). And I even thought maybe it was because I was in the 'storage' mode for a little while,so we changed diet combinations, changed exercise types and durations, etc. But even anorexics continue to lose weight over time, even when their bodies are desperately hanging onto the weight, but no, not mine.
It seems as if I am defeating the laws of thermodynamics and every principle the various dietetic associations and the exercise science communities abide by! I have not cheated on the diet (for the first time in my life), I have done everything the SGB doctor told me to do (supplements, protein, meds,etc.) and it doesn't matter.....because the whole reason I did this was to lose weight (I didn't have high blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol pre-op)--it was to get thinner which would also result in overall health (I had been discriminated against and had a job offer rescinded after they met me in person). To make matters worse, the person who had surgery the same day as me has lost--get this-- 168 pounds to date (1 year)-- and she started out only 20 pounds heavier than me....By her own admission, she hasn't done a single exercise nor watched what she ate--she eats anything she wants..the other night I went to dinner with her and while I was eating 1/2 cup plain strawberries and a 1/4 plain sweet potato with a 4 oz lean piece of chicken breast, she had chicken pot with cream sauce and cabbage ..... AAAAAKKKKKK! She is losing on average about 14 pounds a month now.
So, I went to the annual checkup on Monday and the doctor could have cared less...I begged for an answer as to what was happening and why this was happening and what could I do differently or could he do a revision.....and the answer was "patience--we'll see where you are in 3 years from now" and "maybe increase your amount of exercise"....HUH????...Then the PA said that, according to a conference she went to that had a 'formula' for bariatric patients, she calculated that I should be eating about 2600-2900 calories A DAY...... WHAT????????? I didn't eat that much preop!
I have never in all my life felt so depressed and crazy...I DID what I was supposed to and paid my money to have the surgery, plus all the gym costs, supplements, proteins, training--close to $30,000 (and I'm unemployed, so that is a huge number), but I don't get anywhere near the results...the docs said I was quite possibly
"the most compliant patient they have ever had in their practice with regards to the records keeping and dedication to doing what I was supposed to" but no one is even the least bit interested in figuring out why I wouldn't be losing weight like everyone else.....
On the boards I read, people are losing weight hand-over-fist and aren't doing much different than what they had preop.....and to be 'dismissed' by the docs because 99% of their other patients are 'successful' and I'm an outlier, so I don't matter any more, makes me feel absolutely worthless.
And of course there are the people who knew I had the surgery and ask "what happened???" because I am obviously still severely obese (I am 1 point below being "morbidly obese" on the BMI chart-- woo hooo)....or the one child who quite innocently asked after I explained in my son's class where I volunteer that exercise was important to help you feel better and keep your body healthy and maintain a healthy weight and I shared that I exercised every day, to which he replied "then why are you still fat???" (yeah, that really happened).
These days I just don't want to ever count calories,, eat smartly or exercise any more--why bother when I have nothing to show for it??? I can't say that I failed because I tried SO hard, but I feel like my body failed me..and no one can (or will) explain to me why I am "different". I had an upper GI test the other day and the pouch is perfectly sized/not stretched and the bypass is 6 feet. I would love it if some doctor somewhere would have the curiosity to want to investigate and solve a medical mystery and take me on as a guinea pig patient and see what could be done to help me realize the results I was promised if I "did my part" and ate right and exercised regularly. Obviously something is going on that most people don't have happen...and I want to know why. And I figure I'm not THAT special that no one else in the world has experienced this, so I would think that the bariatric community would want to figure it out too so that they could understand what correlation between variables would affect weight loss from surgery and how to control for it (i.e. no underlying medical conditions like diabetes, maybe a person needs bigger bypass or something like that).
So, I have looked everywhere on the boards to find out if there is anyone else out there who had a similar experience (no matter the type procedure) to see if there is some common denominator which would have made Gastric Bypass "not work" assuming the person did follow the 'rules'...I am going crazy because I just don't understand. If you have had this happen to you, please reach out to me....I would love to chat and just have
someone understand what it really feels like....because it's absolutely horrible.
And those of you who
are losing weight after surgery, count your lucky stars that your body cooperated and celebrate each and every ounce you lose and don't take it for granted!
HELP! I'm going crazy--Had SGB a year ago--looking for others like me
: Hang in there.
