Weight Loss thread....

[Wrightwing]

Last year on my birthday (June 7) I decided I was going to lose the weight. I weighed 278 with a 44 inch waist. I set a goal of 75 pounds in a year. Today I weight 203 and have a 38 inch waist. Whether you choose, Atkins, WW, SB or any other "diet" it needs to be a new Way of Eating. Pick a plan and stick with it, if you fall off, get right back on & you will succeed.

I lost a co-worker in 2003 to gastric bypass, so that should always be a last resort.

Good luck to you all.

[TexasComputerDude]

have any of yall considered having lapband? I may be having that this summer if my insurance decides to cover it.

I have gone from 1.5 2 liters of coke per day to none. I guess thats a whole lot o calories lol.

so far in the past 9 months I've lost 50lbs, gained back 30lbs in the last 2 months, and lost 5lbs in the past couple days. I got off my diet when some gang bangers shot my little brother (ok he's 22) in the chest with a shotgun from around 15 yards, which incidentally lead me here and 100% made me stop screwing around at applying for my CHL. He's a lucky man to have survived. I took the class 3 weeks after he was shot.

I have had the lapband surgery. And so far it has not worked for me. In fact I am just about what my pre-surgery weight was. I lost between 40 and 50 in the first 6 months after surgery. But have gained back between 35 and 40 in the last year or so. I am at 18 months since surgery. Part of my problem is that I did not listen to what all the doctor told me before hand.
If you are going to do the surgery, then do everything that the doctor tells you to do and when they tell you to do it. Check in your area for a support group of other people that have had the lapband, so that you can talk to them about it.
I need to go in and have another fill. The fills hurt, at least for me they do. I have had 3 and passed out during all 3 of them. That why I have not had more.

PM me if you have any questions about the lapband.

will do, thanks alot. pain has never bothered me really so I'm sure I can handle the needles. I'm the psycho type that likes to watch lol.

[TexasComputerDude]

have any of yall considered having lapband? I may be having that this summer if my insurance decides to cover it.

I have gone from 1.5 2 liters of coke per day to none. I guess thats a whole lot o calories lol.

so far in the past 9 months I've lost 50lbs, gained back 30lbs in the last 2 months, and lost 5lbs in the past couple days. I got off my diet when some gang bangers shot my little brother (ok he's 22) in the chest with a shotgun from around 15 yards, which incidentally lead me here and 100% made me stop screwing around at applying for my CHL. He's a lucky man to have survived. I took the class 3 weeks after he was shot.

Sorry to hear about your brother.


As far as lapband goes, im not into it. It requires a lifestyle change to work right and if im going to commit to my lifestyle change then i might as well loose it naturally.

Well, I've tried my best to lose weight naturally. I did lose 50lbs but I hit a wall. I don't know what happened but no matter what I tried I couldn't lose another pound after that. I stoped drinking diet cokes and started drinking nothing but water and I doubled my exercise routine.

I feel like the lapband can help me because I have no sense of being full. idk, I've got some new pills from the doctor that I hate taking but I'll see how well they work. I've also got an appointment for some kind of weekly weight loss injection.

I just know I need to do it fast because i am almost out of college and I need to step up my battleplans for the future. Girls are so dang picky these days lol and I need all the help I can get finding a quality girl to marry. Employers are almost as picky as well. lol.

[melkor41]

Try fiber capsules. They give the feeling of full quite well.

[chewy555]

Sorry to hear about your brother.


As far as lapband goes, im not into it. It requires a lifestyle change to work right and if im going to commit to my lifestyle change then i might as well loose it naturally.

Well, I've tried my best to lose weight naturally. I did lose 50lbs but I hit a wall. I don't know what happened but no matter what I tried I couldn't lose another pound after that. I stoped drinking diet cokes and started drinking nothing but water and I doubled my exercise routine.

I feel like the lapband can help me because I have no sense of being full. idk, I've got some new pills from the doctor that I hate taking but I'll see how well they work. I've also got an appointment for some kind of weekly weight loss injection.

I just know I need to do it fast because i am almost out of college and I need to step up my battleplans for the future. Girls are so dang picky these days lol and I need all the help I can get finding a quality girl to marry. Employers are almost as picky as well. lol.

I would say that if on your diet you hit a wall, and then you changed your diet up and you were still at that wall. Then a lapband should help you to get past that wall. If you use it as a tool for getting passed the wall.
As in my case looking back, I dont think that I was ready for this tool of a lapband. And in some ways I am not sure that I am even ready today for this tool.

[dukesean]

Try fiber capsules. They give the feeling of full quite well.

agreed. TexasComputerDude, try adding a lot of fiber to your diet. Eat high fiber cereals, high fiber snacks, they will all help you feel full without getting surgery. IMHO surgery should always be a last option - healthier eating habits should come first.

[KC5AV]

I stepped on the scale this morning. I'd hit a plateau a couple of weeks ago. It was pleasant to note that I'd lost another 5 pounds... for a total of 30. I still need to lose another 10 or 15.

[melkor41]

something to keep in mind with walls as well... measure your body.. not just your gut... measure your calves, your thighs, your chest in all 3 areas, your arms, etc... .a lot of times when your body hits a wall.. your measurements starts adjusting for the better.... There was a peroid when i didnt loose a single lb in a month, but lost 2 inches off my waist and 2 off each thigh.

[TexasComputerDude]

At my Weight Watcher's class, there are 3 or 4 folks there who have had lapband or gastric bypass surgery. The official position of our class leader is that WW wants to support people who make this decision as a last resort, but that the surgery is not a substitute for the lifestyle change that is necessary to making the surgery work. My wife's cousin, and a close family friend have both had the bypass surgery. For one of them, it was successful; for the other it wasn't. The reason is that one used the surgery as an opportunity to change the way she regarded food and its place in her life; and the other took the surgery as permission to eat whatever she wanted. Guess which one has kept the weight off, and which one has gained a significant amount of her weight back?

In August of 2004, I had back surgery to remove a disc and fuse two vertebrae. I was in the hospital for only 5 days (they had booked the room for me for 7 days, so I actually went home 2 days early), and my roommate at the time was in for gastric bypass. He had already been there for a week or so when I checked in, and when I left, he was still there. He suffered horribly. When you are so obese that bypass surgery is necessary to saving your life, you are also so obese that surgery and its recovery are terribly hard on the body, and fraught with risks.

2 weeks ago, our WW meeting was very emotional because, within a couple of days of one another, our class leader lost one of the women in another class she leads, a young woman in her late 20s with a 2 year old child who had the bypass surgery because she wanted to live long and healthy for her child, and who died on the operating table; and another couple of women in the class lost a close friend of theirs to gastric bypass surgery, who died of complications a few days after the operation. This stuff is dangerous, and the decision to go ahead with it should be taken only after sober reflection and a realistic self-assessment. Too often in our society, we tend to see surgery as the quick fix, and we are either emotionally or psychologically beyond where we can see the possibility of successfully turning our lives around without it.

The guy who always sits behind me at my WW class had lapband surgery. It has taken him several years to lose 50 pounds, during which time other people in the class have lost 100 or more pounds without the surgery. This guy only recently got his weight loss back on track, and he is now losing a steady pound or so each week. Ditto for the guy who always sits 3 chairs over to his left. The difference? They both stopped thinking of the lapband as the solution and lifestyle change as just an adjunct to the solution, and both started thinking instead of the lapband as just an adjunct to their primary goal of lifestyle change.

My point in all this is, if you really believe that you cannot lose weight without surgical assistance, and you have already tried everything else, then do what you have to do. Just be aware that one of the solutions is downright dangerous, and neither surgical solution will be successful unless you make the commitment to changing the way you view food, and changing the way you live your life. I don't mean to keep plugging Weight Watchers here, but the whole point of it is NOT to diet, but to change your life. Diets won't work if you don't change your life. Surgery won't work if you don't change your life. None of that stuff is worth a cup of warm spit if you aren't willing to make some fundamental changes to the way you regard food and exercise.

Losing weight is not easy. It can really become an uphill battle if your families and friends are not on board with you in your effort. But there is a lot of satisfaction in success. I'm very proud of the 40 pounds I've lost since the first of the year. And, for what it's worth, I'm very proud of all the other "losers" out there. Way to go, and keep up the good work. But please, exercise wisdom and judgment in how you approach it.

Sorry for the rant, but this topic is one that is close to my heart, and it is so, so important.

yea, surgery is dangerous. If the new diet along with the tips from the various posters turn out I won't have it.

[TexasComputerDude]

something to keep in mind with walls as well... measure your body.. not just your gut... measure your calves, your thighs, your chest in all 3 areas, your arms, etc... .a lot of times when your body hits a wall.. your measurements starts adjusting for the better.... There was a peroid when i didnt loose a single lb in a month, but lost 2 inches off my waist and 2 off each thigh.

I never thought to do that. thanks for the tip.

[melkor41]

Started yesterday on getting in full fighting shape again. every 30 minutes the alarm clock on my phone goes off and i have to do 15 situps and 15 pushups. Next week it will be 20, then 25 the following, then 30, etc. I found out my 10 year HS reunion is in august so I have until then to drop some lbs and gain some muscle mass. Cooked a bunch of food sunday for the week that will hopefully last me until friday as I am now compleatly and totaly broke. Found out friday that my roommate is moving out and he cant pay this months rent. He had it in his head that we pay rent for the month coming, not the month past. so he felt it wasnt neccessary to pay me his half of the rent due on the 1st, and did not give me any warning so I could make other financial arrangements. So my trip down to PSC for the NRA instructor training had to be canceled at the last moment. It has just given me a source of anger that has helped me stay focused these last few days.

261.5

going to cut off all but 2 snacks a day. even healthy snacks add up.

Got me some distilled water going to do a 1 week purge to flush out sodium and other nasty stuff.

My new goal is to wear my old 1x martial arts school shirt to my reunion. It goes on now... but i look horrible. Going to try to drop as much as possible or fill it with muscle. I dont mind showing through a shirt as long as its muscle and not gut.

[melkor41]

lol been humming "gonna fly now" all night.

I am sore as heck... but i feel oddly great. I started walking around the apartment by lifting my knees all the way to my chest with every step. Its a great workout, but if anyone saw me it would look like i was a member of the ministry of silly walks.

I havent lost anymore weight, but the belt went down to the last notch... gotta go belt shopping again!

[TexasComputerDude]

lol been humming "gonna fly now" all night.

I am sore as heck... but i feel oddly great. I started walking around the apartment by lifting my knees all the way to my chest with every step. Its a great workout, but if anyone saw me it would look like i was a member of the ministry of silly walks.

I havent lost anymore weight, but the belt went down to the last notch... gotta go belt shopping again!

congratulations! haha I had thought about doing that but I would prob. end up shaking my house apart.

[melkor41]

261, and my energy is going up... yay me!
I cheated yesterday.... they had a ton of pizza brought in for a training class and there were left overs and i caved in and had one.. just one... im glad at that.. i usualy eat 5 or 6 peices..
going out of town this weekend to electra to tend to my grandparents graves. A lot of manual labor that should burn a few calories...

I was dissapointed to hear that the DQ is closed... where are all the old men going to sit and drink 5c coffee all day???? I was informed that they did build a sonic so there is at least one restraunt there now. It has a sit in and eat area. Gotta love small texas oil towns. I am going to try to find a land broker out there and see what the prices for acerage are going for, Looking for someplace to hunt/camp on the cheap.

[dukesean]

261, and my energy is going up... yay me!
I cheated yesterday.... they had a ton of pizza brought in for a training class and there were left overs and i caved in and had one.. just one... im glad at that.. i usualy eat 5 or 6 peices..

Good job! I don't think it's a good idea to completely deprive yourself of delicious foods like pizza, it's just portion control that you've got to watch out for

In college our sports nutritionist came and gave several talks to our team. Recognizing that you can't get college students to NOT eat pizza altogether, she was more focused on getting us to make better decisions (ie, ask for light cheese, don't eat the whole pizza)

She had absolutely no success in her mission to get us to drink less beer, however.