Tag: <span>Progress</span>

It’s close to 2 years since my Gastric Bypass surgery, and my initial weight loss after surgery was over 40kg (about six and a half stones). However, over the last year I’ve put nearly 9kg (nearly one and a half stones) of that back on!

My current progress

Looking at it one way, it’s good news – because I’ve only put on 9kg in a year, which is significantly less than I would have gained without the surgery. Without the surgery to limit what I can eat, I could have easily gained the full 40kg (and probably more) back within the year.

However, I’m not happy that I’m gaining weight again. I don’t mind a gain of one or two kilos, but 9kg is a lot. It has an impact upon my health, and my ability to live life to the full. It also means that I now have to buy bigger clothes again – having gone from 2XL to 3XL shirts.

The good news is that I’m still under the care of the bariatric team at St Vincent’s Private Hospital, and I’m due to have my 2-year follow-up visit in a few weeks. At this point of the journey the bariatric team would be looking to discharge me from their care, but I think I will have one last ask from them before I depart.

I want to see whether there’s any drugs out there that can help me lose a bit more weight – to at least take off the 9kg that I’ve regained. I know that there’s one or two options out there, and I also know that they’re hard to find and also quite expensive, but I want to give them a go.

I guess I’ll see what the doctors say.

Surgery Weight

It’s exactly one year ago today that I went into St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Dublin to get my Gastric Bypass surgery.

It’s been a strange year, what with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s also been a great year in terms of prioritising my health.

My weight loss surgery was never about being slim, because I’m not. I’m still obese. But having lost over 40 kg of weight, I’m a lot more healthy than I was before. And I’ve significantly reduced the risk of life-altering (or indeed life-ending) diseases. And that’s much more important to me!

My obesity disease is under control. I’ve lost weight, and I’ve not immediately put it all back on again, which would happen every time I stopped dieting. The surgery has been an invaluable tool to help me stop overeating, which is great. Even though I have pretty-much reverted to the same diet I had before the surgery, I’m not gaining weight!

And even if I don’t lose any more weight, I’ll still be delighted with the outcome.

I would totally recommend it to anyone that struggles with their weight. In the past I totally fitted the stereotype of a yo-yo dieter. I was use a calorie-counting app, or go to a slimming club, and I would lose 30kg / 5 stones / 70 lbs over the course of 6 months – but then sometime would happen, I would stop using the app or going to the club, old habits would return, and all of the weight I lost (and often more) would return.

However getting the bariatric surgery has helped break that recurring cycle of loss and gain. This time, it’s going to help me keep the weight off!

My Story Surgery

Today marks the 8-month anniversary since my gastric bypass surgery, so I thought I’d give a quick update.

Since surgery I’ve lost a total of 41 kg so far – that’s nearly 6 and a half stones, or 90 lbs. I’m delighted with the progress so far, and am continuing to lose weight – albeit more slowly than in the first 6 months.

My BMI has also dropped below 35, so I’m officially not ‘morbidly’ obese any more!

Food

I’m eating normally now, and there aren’t any foods that I can’t tolerate. I’ve also not experienced dumping at all. I asked the dietician about it, and she said that I’d definitely know if I had it. So I guess I’m lucky to avoid it.

My tolerance for all foods means that I have to be careful not to slip into old habits and buy lots of sugary and fatty treats. I physically can’t consume as much food as I used to – because of my smaller stomach – but I’m sure I could do a lot of damage to my weight loss if I’m not careful.

I’m currently not tracking what I eat, which is potentially risky, but I want to see if I can make my eating more normal – without the obsessive tracking of calories and protein. I want to get used to the ‘new normal’ of eating.

Clothes

My clothing sizes have definitely dropped. My jeans have gone down from a 42 inch waist to 36 inches, and my shirts have gone from 4XL to 2XL. So I’m finally able to dip into the half of the wardrobe that previously held the ‘too small’ clothes. I have some items that have never been worn and still have the tags on them, so it’s like going on a shopping trip, but everything is free!

Exercise

As I’ve talked about before, I’m trying to exercise at least once a day. Not just for my physical fitness, but for my mental health as well. I’ve found that a walk or cycle is a great way to clear the head, and earn some Active Zone Minutes on my Fitbit!

I also had an appointment a couple of weeks ago with an Exercise Physiologist at Medfit Proactive Healthcare to get assessed for some strength training to help with my upper body strength and condition. I wanted to work with a specialist who has good experience of obese people and bariatric patients in particular, as I’ve had a bad experience with a personal trainer in the past who didn’t make any allowance for my body size and weaknesses.

Anyway, I now have an exercise plan to do at home, until the gyms open at least. Although I’m having trouble finding somewhere that sells dumb-bells, as they seem to be sold out everywhere!

My Story Surgery

I met with my bariatric dietician today to check how I’m doing. And thankfully it was mostly good news.

My blood tests came back fine, and my diet is good. I’m eating enough protein, and getting enough vitamins and minerals. I’m also pretty much on track with my weight loss.

Since surgery I’ve lost nearly 37 kg (nearly 6 stone), which amounts to about a 22% loss overall. The bariatric team expect people who have had a gastric bypass to lose 25-30% of they body weight overall, so I’ll hopefully continue to lose some more over the coming months.

My weight loss has definitely slowed down recently, and some weeks I’ve even gaining weight, but the overall direction is still down!

Building muscle

We talked about the amount of exercise I’m doing – which is mainly restricted to walking and cycling – and it was suggested that I try to incorporate some resistance and weight training to help build muscle.

My hospital has a partnership with a company called Medfit, who offer personalised physio-led exercise programmes. I think it would be good for me to go to a specialist physio, as I’ve had some bad advice in the past from personal trainers in the gym which have led to me injuring myself.

Hopefully if I can start building some muscle – particularly in my upper body – then it will help boost my metabolism and maybe even help tone up some of my loosening skin!

Regular bowel movements

We also talked about my bowel movements. At the moment I’m having one about every other day, or maybe 3 times a week, and apparently it should be a bit more regular.

I already have a reasonable amount of fibre in my diet, but we’re going to try incorporating some linseed, which apparently will help move things along!

Diet Surgery

It’s exactly 26 weeks (or six months) today since I had my gastric bypass. And my progress so far has been fantastic!

I’ve lost nearly 37 kg (nearly 6 stones) in weight, and have dropped a couple of clothing sizes – from 4XL to 2XL. But I suppose the most important thing for me is that my health has improved.

New found love of execise

The pain I used to feel when moving around or exercising has all but gone. In fact, I now actively seek out opportunities to exercise, sometimes even twice a day. I love the goal of trying to get at least 30 active zone minutes every day on my Fitbit.

My only problem now is that my body is so used to me walking that my heart rate doesn’t get high enough – even when I walk as fast as I can – to get the active zone minutes. So I have to actively seek out steps or hills to climb – or switch to cycling – to get the heart rate up!

I never thought I’d be so keen to exercise!

I’m even contemplating joining a gym once the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and they re-open. I think I need to do something to exercise and tone my upper body. Perhaps maybe do some weights or resistance training and build up a bit of muscle.

Food addicition tamed

One important thing that the surgery has done is to place a blocker in front of my urges to binge eat. The smaller stomach pouch means that I physically can’t eat mountains of food.

In fact, we ordered in a takeaway last night, and I was full before we’d even finished the shared starter! I could only manage a bite of my main course before I had to stop eating. That’s great, because it forces me to moderate my eating. It makes me stop, whereas before I would have continued eating and eating.

The surgery has helped break my obsession with eating. I don’t get the same cravings for food. I still enjoy eating, but I don’t feel the compulsion to overeat or to seek out fatty or sugery foods! And I don’t think about food half as much as I used to in the past.

My Story Surgery

I had my first weekly weight gain today since my gastric bypass surgery 6 months ago in August.

The gain was only 0.6 kg (just over 1 lb) so it’s not huge. And from experience of losing weight in the past, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.

I’ve found that my body weight fluctuates up and down on different days all the time. And that’s not because I’ve eaten more or less on a certain day, or exercised more or less. I think it’s just how the body works sometimes. It’s probably down to the amount of fluid in the body. But I’m not sure whether – as a man – I can make any claims about fluid retention!

I try to take a longer-term view on my weight loss. As long as the long-term trend is for my weight to be going down then I’m happy. Although, having said that, it’s hard not to be a little bit disappointed when I jump on the scales for my weekly weigh-in and find that I’ve gone up.

I didn’t do anything different this week in terms of what I ate. We did make homemade pizzas last weekend, but they were still quite healthy. I’ve also been tracking all my food in MyFitnessPal so I know that I’ve only been having between 1,400 and 1,800 calories a day.

Surgery Weight