Q for Jiffypop: how did you lose the first 100 pounds?
I want to ask a question and I hope I'm not getting too personal or asking something that's out of line. I sometimes come into this part of the forum to help myself get a better understanding of what goes into WLS since the question often comes up when people ask me what I did to lose weight. For me, it seemed like the more difficult road to take for this journey.
Jiffypop - I read your posts with great interest, as you always have words of wisdom that inform, encourage, and instruct. I see by your signature that you lost almost 100 pounds in 5 months prior to having surgery. That rate of loss seems so fantastic that I always wonder why you didn't continue with that strategy and avoid the difficulty of surgery and the post op diet limitations. Do you mind my asking this? Perhaps you have the answer somewhere else in a previous post, and I apologize for asking if it's already been answered. I'd love to hear what you have to say. I know it will be enlightening.
I admire the fact that for over 10 years you have been working at maintaining a huge weight loss. I hope that I can look back 10 years from now and say the same about myself.
Hi Lin - as you see, I made your post its own thread - I didn't want to distract folks from answering KateB's Q. Also, I know quite a few people wonder about this. The answer IS somewhere on this forum - several times - but it always gets buried. If I knew I could find it, I'd bump it up for you, but since I KNOW it's buried - here's the deal.
Between roughly 1998 and 2001, I was going steadily downhill. I'd developed a stress-related heart arrhythmia that docs chose to ignore [it's your weight! it's your weight!]. I deteriorated to the point that I was practically bedridden, and in August 2001, the weekend before my scheduled first appt with the bariatric surgeon, I collapsed. The ambulance took me to the hospital, where my oxygen sats were in the 70s [normal is 99-100]. I was diagnosed with Pickwickian syndrome, a condition in which there's not enough oxygen getting to the body.
When they finally figured out how to weigh me, I weighed more than 500 pounds. They kept me on 24-hour oxygen and an 800 calorie diet, and i STILL gained weight.
Until, that is, the screaming match between my doc and the dietician. DOC: she's cheating! that's why she's not losing. DIETICIAN: she's retaining water - give her a diuretic!
Believe it or not, the dietician won. The first dose of diuretic had me lose 7 liters of fluid [yes- i asked], which translates into more than 14 pounds. OVERNIGHT.
I spent 5 weeks in the hospital and 3 weeks in a nursing home, learning how to walk. I was discharged to the nursing home after losing about 25 pounds and was still unable to walk more than a few feet at a time, tethered to an oxygen concentrator.
In the nursing home, we concentrated on teaching me to walk and increasing my endurance. They didn't have a scale that went high enough to weigh me. When I left, I could walk about 25 feet at a time, dragging the oxygen tank. I felt like I'd lost weight, but I had no idea how much.
So, I was discharged. As I continued to recover, I'd walk to the bottom of the driveway [40 steps - I counted them!] and back. then sat on the front steps for at least 1/2 hour, did the walk again, then took a 2-hour nap. And I was dragging the oxygen tank, too.
A few weeks after discharge, I went to see the bariatric surgeon. HE had a scale that would weigh me - I'd lost 88 pounds at that point. I thought his scale was wrong! it had only been 3 months since I'd been admitted to the hospital! how could I have lost more than 80 pounds in 3 months?????
he had no answers. But he DID say that I wasn't healthy enough to withstand the surgery. I had to get clearance from EVERYONE: the cardiologist, the pulmonologist, the PCP, the psychiatrist, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting. So, the round of doc visits started.
I asked every single one of them why I'd lost so much weight in such a short amount of time, with virtually no change in eating [and please note, before going into the hospital, I was eating 4-5 servings of fruit/veg a day, low fat, no added sugar, high quality carbs, protein].
The only person who came up with an answer was the pulmonologist. He said that because i had no oxygen going through my system beforehand, I had no metabolism. but now that I had oxygent [either supplemental or because I could now move], i had a metabolism.
So, my health kept improving, and at my December visit to the surgeon, I'd lost a few more pounds, was no longer on oxygen, and could walk about 1/2 mile at a time. He scheduled the surgery, and I continued to lose a few more pounds.
All in all, NOT the best way to lose weight! not a single diet worked for me, nor was a diet EVER going to work for me again.
Thanks, dragonstar. But i don't view myself as an inspiration. it's more of a lesson in 'don't do what i did!' Don't let yourself get to the point of collapse. If a doc isn't helping you, find another doc. All sorts of things that i DID NOT do as part of taking care of myself. One of the reasons I'm a moderator at 3FC is because i NEVER want to see anyone get into such dire straits.
my counselor used to say that you can be both shining example and a horrible warning, that it's a choice that make daily!! hehehehehe You are both Jiff! What not to do and what TO do. Thanks you for being you and being here!
Thank you so much for answering my question. You are a shining star and an example for all of us - in both directions! I find I get a lot of encouragement reading some of the posts in this section of the forum, though I feel like an intruder since I really can't say I know what any of you have gone through. I know several people who failed completely at keeping the weight off after having a bypass that it makes me very skeptical of whether or not it's worth the struggle of going through an elective surgery. I see by the great number in here that have been successful, though, that I need to understand that every case is different as is every person, and there are many people who have been successful. Thanks again for the insight.
thanks, Lin. surgery is a very difficult decision, and that's why we have rules about posting in this particular section of 3FC. No one in here chose this road for beauty or because it was easy - <although Jilly will say that her DS makes weight control easy>. Many of us chose it to save our lives, others to deal with serious medical issues, and others to help manage illnesses in early stages.
people who succeed at this realize that this isn't easy - that there is no simple, one-size-fits-all answer, that they'll have to follow certain rules.
my observation [and it's only that - not a judgement or in any way scientific] is that people who regain all their weight and then some start their post-surgery life trying to figure out how to outsmart the surgery, instead of pouring their energy into figuring out how to live - and live well - WITH the surgery.
Jiffy - You are absolutely correct - and not just about those who have surgery, I think. We all have to get our heads on straight or no "diet plan" will work, surgery included. The 2 people I always think of who failed completely are best friends who are also roommates - 2 adult women who are divorced and whose kids are grown and out of the house who decided to live together to save on expenses. One had surgery and then the other a year or so later. I would have thought a built in support group would have helped, but they did exactly what you described. They outsmarted their bodies and the benefits of the surgery at every turn because they didn't want to give up anything they liked in the past.
But I guess the same can be said about anyone who goes off plan for extended periods - eating, drinking, drugs, etc. - after getting their act together for years. It happens. We're human. Again, thanks for the insight.
thanks, Lin. surgery is a very difficult decision, and that's why we have rules about posting in this particular section of 3FC. No one in here chose this road for beauty or because it was easy - <although Jilly will say that her DS makes weight control easy>. Many of us chose it to save our lives, others to deal with serious medical issues, and others to help manage illnesses in early stages.
people who succeed at this realize that this isn't easy - that there is no simple, one-size-fits-all answer, that they'll have to follow certain rules.
my observation [and it's only that - not a judgement or in any way scientific] is that people who regain all their weight and then some start their post-surgery life trying to figure out how to outsmart the surgery, instead of pouring their energy into figuring out how to live - and live well - WITH the surgery.
Q for Jiffypop: how did you lose the first 100 pounds?
