The latest PhotoHunt category from tnchick.com is “Skinny” which can be interpreted as one sees fit. This week, I am featuring myself. Although I don’t qualify as “skinny” per se, I do qualify as skinnier. Let me explain.
On March 2, 2006 I underwent a surgical procedure called Roux-N-Y gastric bypass or Roux-N-Y gastrojejunal bypass. The stomach is divided into a small upper part and a large lower part. The small upper part of the stomach now acts as a new stomach. This part of the stomach is also called the stomach pouch or gastric pouch. Usual size of the gastric pouch is 1 to 2 ounces after surgery. The size of an average stomach is equal to the size of a person’s head, or 6 cups, and the size of the stomach pouch after gastric bypass is equal to the size of a person’s thumb. About one-third of the small intestine is bypassed, and 2″ length of intestine is connected from the small stomach pouch to the rest of the intestines. The lower part of the stomach and its intestine will no longer be used. Roughly two-thirds of the small intestine is still used for digestion and absorption of food after food passes from the small stomach pouch into the small intestine.
My surgery was performed laparoscopically by Dr. Eliot Sieloff, one of the premier bariatric surgeons in the United States. He made 5 small incisions on my belly, all less than an inch in length, to perform this surgery. This made post-surgery discomfort very minimal (my only major pain was when I accidentally rolled onto one of the incisions while I was asleep — that’ll wake you up in a hurry). Before the surgery I weighed over 420 pounds (I say “over” because the scale only went up to 420) and I wore size 64 pants (and those were kinda tight in the waist on me) and a 4-5XL shirt. By the spring of 2007 I had lost a massive amount of weight as you can see in the photograph below.
I need to update the “before and after” graphic I made to reflect my current condition. I am now down to 245 pounds which is only about 25 pounds away from what I weighed in high school. I now wear a size 44-46 pair of pants (depending upon the cut) and an XL-XXL shirt (also depending on the cut). More often than not, XXL shirts are pretty baggy on me but I can’t afford to start buying more clothes so I put up with “baggy” for the time being. My waist is actually below 44 inches but due to saggy skin and fat roll below the waist, I still have to wear 44-46 size pants. Thus far, I have lost over 175 pounds (that’s Paris Hilton, all her luggage AND her little dog Toto, too).
In the grand scheme of things, I’m really not skinny, but compared to what I was in the spring of 2006, I definitely am skinner.
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Rosemary’s Thoughts, 123beta, Right Truth, Adam’s Blog, Shadowscope, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Cao’s Blog, Big Dog’s Weblog, Conservative Cat, Adeline and Hazel, Pursuing Holiness, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie is Wired, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, Stix, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, Celebrity Smack, The Pink Flamingo, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor. Also a big thank you to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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I’ve lost even MORE since the “after” picture was taken.
Okay, I admit I have a paranoid streak a mile wide and 2 miles long when it comes to my ongoing weight loss battles so it comes as no surprise to all who know me that I was fearful recently that I’ve gained weight. So today I walked…yes, walked…all the way to the Publix grocery store and used their scale to see how much I weigh. Now the last two times I used their scale the results have been fairly accurate — the first time was dead-on and the second was only 3 pounds different from the official scale at my surgeon’s office at the hospital. The last time I was there I weighed in at about 265.
So how much did I weigh today?
According to the Publix scale — 249 pounds.
Yes, I have BROKEN the 250 barrier.
I was expecting, at best, to be at 260-ish. NEVER in my wildest dreams did I expect 249!
I didn’t believe it at first either.
So I stepped on two more times.
249 each time.
Wow! I’ve now lost almost 170 pounds in a year and three months.
I’m only 29 pounds away from what I weighed in HIGH SCHOOL!!!!
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Carl Pre-surgery (left) and today (right). How cool is that?!?
On March 2nd, 2006 I was wheeled into an operating room at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital to have roux-n-y gastric bypass surgery performed by Dr. Elliot Sieloff. Today I am over 160 pounds lighter. I have gone from wearing a fairly snug 64 inch pants to 44 inch shorts (which fit a tad loose — I may be able to fit into a size 42 fairly soon). From a 5XL shirt to an XL shirt. Folks, I ain’t been able to fit into a 44 inch pair of shorts or pants since I was a freshman in college! I’m shooting to lose about 70-80 more pounds. Hopefully my wife and I can find good jobs with health insurance that will cover gastric bypass surgery so she can have it performed and lose weight with me (I was the test guinea pig).
A very warm north Florida welcome to readers from Stop The ACLU, Church And State, MoreWhat, Leaning Straight Up, Jo’s Café, Pirate’s Cove, The Bullwinkle Blog, Woman Honor Thyself, The Yankee Sailor, stickNstein, A Blog For All, MacBros’ Place, The Dumb Ox Daily News, Third World County, The Random Yak, The Uncooperative Blogger, Wake Up America, Webloggin’, Phastidio, Demediacraticnation, Outside The Beltway, Adam’s Blog, 123beta, The Crazy Rants Of Samantha Burns, Cao’s Blog, Blue Star Chronicles.
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I was walking in the neighborhood with my wife and got to thinking how much has changed for me physically since my gastric bypass surgery back in March of 2006. I’ve lost over 160 pounds so far (according to my most recent official weigh-in — it’s hard to realize that I’ve enough weight to make a whole person) and plan on losing at least 60-65 more pounds. I was up to almost 420 pounds and couldn’t walk more than a few dozen yards before my back would be screaming in pain and sweat would be cascading down the back of my neck. Now I routinely do a brisk walk of a mile around the block fairly easily and although my muscles know they have been through a nice exercise, I’m not in pain and after a short rest I could probably walk some more (and on some days, I do). My heat tolerance is a lot better. And I now can shop off the rack (mostly at Wal-Mart — that’s about all we can afford at the moment).
Now once my wife and I find fulltime jobs with benefits, we hope to get the surgery for her as well so she can lose the weight and we can take nice long walks together (yeah, I’m a hopeless romantic). I may post before and after pictures for the fun of it.
A great welcome to readers from 123beta, Woman Honor Thyself, the Bullwinkle Blog, the Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns.
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I still haven’t gone by my surgeon’s office to weigh myself on the “official” scale, but a clear sign I’m still losing weight is apparent. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, my wife and I went to Dillard’s in one of the local malls to see if they might have some clothes on clearance. Sure enough there were several racks in and near the big & tall men’s section with clothes marked 75% off in addition to the reduced price. I picked up several pairs of brand name shorts for about $5 apiece. Each pair were size 50’s which at the time fit me but were a bit snug. Today it was warm enough for me to wear a pair of those shorts and I put on one of the size 50’s and darnit if they ain’t loose on me already! So I figure I must be down to about a 48 inch waist if not a bit smaller. I’m such a loser!
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Today I received a pair of carpenter shorts that are size 52. I got a great deal on them via ebay but wasn’t sure at the time if I could fit into them well. But I took the chance anyway. Well, I am very pleased to report that not only can I fit in them, but they already are a bit loose in the waist and the seat on me. So I definitely am down to (and most likely below) a 52 inch waist in pants. This from an all-time high of 64 inches (and they were a bit tight on me just before my surgery). Out-freakin’-standing!
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Today I had to get some blood work done (I hate doing that due to my phobia of needles) and pee in a cup for my family physician. Since I was near by my surgeon’s office, I stopped by to use their scale to weigh myself. And I finally did it. I broke the 300 barrier. I am now down to 295. I’m congratulating myself right now with a treat. Some nice watermelon I picked up at the grocery store. At least I’m eating healthier.
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I went to my normal family physician this afternoon and was weighed. I am now down to 302 pounds which comes out to 115 pounds lost so far. I’m shooting for another 100 pounds to lose. Plus my blood pressure is down to 130/70. WOO-HOO!
The bad news from the visit is that my doctor wants me to get some blood work done. Now that probably sounds pretty minor to you, but I have a big…no I mean HUGE…MASSIVE…FREAKIN’ GI-NORMOUS lifelong phobia of needles. Can’t handle them. I don’t know why I have this fear and I get royally ticked off at myself for being such a baby about it. But I can’t help it. This phobia is
GIGANTIC!
I wish I could find a psychologist or psychiatrist that is covered by my insurance who might be able to help me overcome this irrational fear. It’s not a pain thing. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. It’s something in my head that causes a massive panic whenever I have to get blood work done or have an injection. My parents told me on numerous occassions that I have had this all my life and there isn’t a traumatic experience that started it. I remember when I was a little kid, it took several hospital orderlies to hold me down just to get a shot in the butt. Today I can’t even look at hypodermics on TV without getting all weirded out.
And it sure ain’t gettin’ any better the older I get.
Crap!
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I returned earlier this afternoon from my appointment with my surgeon and according to the official weight scale, I have now lost over 100 pounds. About 107 to be closer to exact. I now weight in at 311 pounds. I am excited to have met and beat the century mark but that is tempered just a microscopic bit because in the back of my mind I was hoping to be below 300. However that’s just around the corner. Also Dr. Sieloff mentioned that normally folks don’t lose 100 pounds until after the six month mark. I did it in FOUR! How freakin’ cool is THAT? He is very pleased with my progress and warned me once again to watch out to not allow my old eating habits to creep back around the edges. So far that’s NOT been a problem. I’m eating healthier than I have ever done before with more fruits and veggies than meats, little fried stuff and absolutely NO junk food like chips and soda. I told Dr. Sieloff that I was wondering if he did a little brain surgery while I wasn’t looking because it just seems so natural to be eating so much healthier. He wants me to keep eating three meals a day at regular intervals which, for the most part, I have been doing. And I haven’t done much in-between-meals snacking. However when I have, it’s been with healthy snacks like veggies.
I am stoked, folks!
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I used to be a steak-n-potatoes kind of man. Give me a nicely grilled ribeye, medium rare, with a side order of a baked potato and bread and I was a very happy camper. That was then.
This is now. After my surgery and after my surgeon cleared me to eat most anything I wanted, beef suddenly dropped very low in my cravings list. If I am going to eat something meaty, it tends to be either chicken or seafood. But what’s interesting is that of all things, I’d rather have vegetables.
Vegetables???
Yep, veggies. For some unknown reason, I now would rather have the bulk of my meals composes of vegetables. Squash, zucchini, spinach, green beans, field peas, etc. I never hated vegetables (except asparagus - I despise asparagus) but now I love ‘em. And most of my meals have very little meat. It still feels strange but it also feels natural somehow. Now there’s little to no chance of me becoming a vegetarian. I still love chicken thighs and all sorts of seafood but my cravings have turned more towards non-meats and non-dairy. It’s a mystery to me.
I spoke to my surgeon’s nurse on the phone recently and mentioned this to her in passing and she responded that the majority of past patients who have had gastric bypass surgery have the same change in cravings. She told me that it’s a common phenomena and that there are all sorts of theories why this occurs. Well, I’m not really interested in finding out why, I’m just glad that not only am I eating much less quantity, I am eating much healthier due to this mysterious change in my cravings.
My upcoming appointment with my surgeon is a little over a week away. I will report afterwards on how much I have lost since my March 2nd surgery. It was 90 pounds lost when I last weighed in and that was over a month ago so I am certain I’ve broken the 100 pounds lost barrier. I wonder if I’ve managed to get below 300 pounds by now. In the words of Stan Lee, “Stay tuned true believers!”
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For whatever it’s worth, I got weighed today at my Doctor’s office and I seem to be missing sixty pounds. I apparently misplaced these sixty pounds sometime between when I had my gastric bypass surgery on March 2nd and now. If anyone happens to run across these misplaced sixty pounds, do whatever you want with ‘em…I don’t want them back.
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I don’t have a huge amount of time to give a detailed update but here’s the straight skinny: I had my second followup with my surgeon and rather than the anticipated 4-8 pound loss, I actually lost 15 more pounds for a grand total of 36 pounds since the surgery back on March 2nd. Good news all around. He was very pleased with my results. More news as it happens. Or soon thereafter.
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This is my last weekend of recovery (as ordered by my doctor following the surgery) before I have my second followup and report back to work. It’s going to be strange going back to work because they will have moved into a new building and I will be using new equipment. So basically I will be doing much of the same things as before but with new methods. I’m kind of anxious about that. Excited, but anxious at the same time.
Anyway Monday morning before I report to work, I have my second followup with my surgeon. He cautioned me not to me overly optimistic on subsequent weight loss following the initial 21-pound loss after only one week. He told me to expect about a 4-8 pound loss but I’ve been ahead of the curve on just about everything else so far so maybe I’ve exceeded that by a couple of pounds. I’ll definitely post the Monday morning results.
On a related note, my wife and I ran some errands this afternoon (she has Friday’s off teaching this semester) which took about 4 hours. I thought my stamina would be close to 100% but boy was I wrong! By the time we finished with the main errands and were planning on getting dinner, I was completely tuckered out. We were planning on going out to eat together for the first time since the surgery but decided to cancel that. We ended up going through a Zaxby’s drive-thru where she got a chicken club sandwich and I got some mild BBQ wings (and I only ate about half). We went home and watched Dr. Who on the Sci-Fi Network (yeah, I love science fiction and Dr. Who is one of my favorites - it’s funny…when we both were in college and dating each other, we’d watch Dr. Who together and now we’re watching new episodes over 20 years later). Well, I shouldn’t be surprised that I got pooped…my surgeon told me it would wax and wane. I think I’ll ask him Monday when it will stop and become more stable.
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It’s too early due to my surgery, but due to it being St. Patrick’s Day and some cooking segments I caught on TV highlighting it, I’ve been craving some good home-cooked corned beef. I’ll skip the cabbage however.
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Not much going on. Some days I feel great and have a good amount of energy to start the day and then there are some days I feel like I’m moving through a fog. And even the days that start off with a good amount of energy get slower after I do some fairly normal stuff. I’ve had a couple of instances of “dumping syndrome” which were pretty unpleasant. I won’t go into details but suffice to say I’m not repeating what I ate for a good while.
Today I seem to be a bit on the tired side and will probably go take a nap after this entry. It makes me sound like a much older man and it certainly feels like it. My wife puts it well when she says “you know you’re getting older when your favorite three-letter word is ‘nap’.” So true.
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