12-31-2008 - 1pm to 2pm

Well, when I worked out on Sunday, shortly thereafter my legs hurt from running 2 miles and working out! So I decided to take 2 days off to relax my legs before I kicked it in high gear again. It's been awhile since I have worked out like that so my muscles are not use to working out like that. So anyway, I will post my results here as usual today. I'm planning to work out between 1pm and 2pm then from 6pm to 7pm.

Today 12-28-2008 I decided to start my work out again! I am NOT pleased to say that I now weigh 286 Lbs. It is VERY easy to get side tracked with stress and daily life activities. But You have to be dedicated and determined to change your life and do what will make you happy. Everyday, I will workout twice a day doing various exercises and eating healthy. I will post my workout details here and my weight progress. I will begin today!






12-28-2008 - 1pm to 2pm

As a treatment for severe obesity, bariatric weight loss surgery's popularity is growing. When diet and exercise fail the more than 60 million Americans considered obese, surgery, for some, can literally be lifesaving.

But it isn't for everyone. While generally safe, bariatric weight loss surgery (also called weight loss surgery) has risks. And losing weight after bariatric surgery is far from automatic; it takes commitment to lifelong changes in eating patterns and lifestyle.

According to the National Institutes of Health, weight loss surgery might be a choice for you if you meet the first or second of the following criteria and criteria three, four, and five:

Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery: Are You a Candidate?

1. A body mass index (BMI) greater than 40.

For example, your BMI is greater than 40 if you are:

• Five feet six inches tall and weigh more than 248 pounds,
• Five feet nine inches tall and weigh more than 270 pounds, or
• Six feet tall and weigh more than 295 pounds.

You can calculate your body mass index using a BMI calculator on WebMD.

2. Your BMI is greater than 35, and you have obesity-related health problems that may improve with weight loss.

Obstructive sleep apnea, severe arthritis, and diabetes are several conditions that may benefit from even a small weight loss. Weight loss surgery can dramatically reverse these health problems when caused by obesity.

3. You can demonstrate that traditional weight loss programs like diet and exercise haven't worked.

It's by far preferable to lose weight without surgery's risks. Weight loss surgery should be considered a last resort after traditional methods fail. Some centers may require you to show you have made serious efforts to lose weight.

4. You are ready to commit to permanent lifestyle changes after surgery.

Weight loss surgery is no quick fix. Ideally, surgery is only the beginning of a new healthy lifestyle.

5. You understand the risks and benefits of bariatric weight loss surgery.

As with any surgical procedure, it's essential to be well-informed before considering weight loss surgery -- knowing and accepting the risks as well as the benefits.

Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery: Benefits

The primary benefit of weight loss surgery is easy to understand: weight loss!

• Gastric bypass surgery causes an average loss of 61% of excess weight.
• Gastric banding surgery causes slightly less -- an average of 47% of excess weight lost.

Improvements in general health are also common. Obesity-related medical conditions usually improve or even go away after weight loss surgery, including:

• Diabetes
• Severe arthritis
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• High blood pressure

About 95% of people report improved quality of life after weight loss surgery. Some studies also suggest people live longer after weight loss surgery, compared to equally obese people who do not have surgery.

Find out if you're a candidate for this weight-loss surgery.

It's always best to lose weight through a healthy diet and regular physical activity. But if you're among those who have tried and can't lose the excess weight that's causing your health problems, weight-loss (bariatric) surgery may be an option.

Gastric bypass surgery — one type of bariatric surgery — changes the anatomy of your digestive system to limit the amount of food you can eat and digest. Weight loss is achieved by restricting the amount of food that your stomach can hold and by reducing the amount of calories that are absorbed.

Gastric bypass surgery isn't for everyone, however. It's a major procedure that poses significant risks and side effects and requires permanent changes in your lifestyle. An extensive and careful screening process determines whether you're a candidate for this surgery.

Gastric bypass surgery criteria

Generally, gastric bypass surgery is reserved for people who are unable to achieve or maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise, are severely overweight, and who have health problems as a result. Gastric bypass surgery may be considered if:

• Your body mass index (BMI) is 40 or higher (extreme obesity)

• Your BMI is 35 to 39.9 (obesity), and you have a serious weight-related health problem, such as diabetes or high blood pressure

Gastric bypass surgery doesn't replace the need for following a healthy diet and regular physical activity program. In fact, the success of the surgery depends in part on your commitment to following the guidelines given to you about diet and exercise. As you consider weight-loss surgery, make sure that you make every effort to exercise more, change your eating habits and adjust any other lifestyle factors that have contributed to your excess weight.

The gastric bypass diet outlines what you can eat and how much after gastric bypass surgery. Find out ways to establish new eating habits for successful weight loss.

What you eat, how you eat and how much you eat changes after gastric bypass surgery — surgery that alters the anatomy of your digestive system to promote weight loss.

With your stomach pouch reduced to the size of a walnut or small egg and portions of your small intestine bypassed, you'll need to follow a specific diet after gastric bypass surgery. A registered dietitian can assist you in creating this gastric bypass diet, which includes what type and how much food to eat with each meal and the required consistency and texture of the food. Closely following your gastric bypass diet promotes healthier weight loss and better nutrition.

After surgery: The first three months

You won't be allowed to eat for one to two days after the surgery. Then you consume specific foods according to a diet progression. The purpose of the gastric bypass diet progression is to help in the healing process, minimize stress on surgical sites and allow time for your body to adapt to the new eating patterns.

The following are common phases in the gastric bypass diet progression:

• Liquids — foods and fluids that are liquid or semiliquid at room temperature and contain mostly water, such as broth, juice, milk, strained cream soup and cooked cereal. In most cases, you stay on a liquid diet for one to two days.
• Pureed foods — foods with a consistency of a smooth paste or a thick liquid. Pureed foods contain no distinct pieces. The pureed diet is generally followed for three to four weeks, or as recommended by your dietitian or doctor.
• Soft foods — foods that are tender and easy to chew, such as ground or finely diced meats, canned or soft, fresh fruit, and cooked vegetables. You usually eat soft foods for eight weeks before progressing to eating foods of regular consistency with firmer texture as recommended by your dietitian or doctor.

During the diet progression, you eat many small meals a day and sip liquids slowly throughout the day (not with meals). You might first start with six small meals a day, then progress to four meals and finally, when following a regular diet, decrease to three meals a day. Typically, each meal includes protein-rich foods, such as lean meat, low-fat dairy products (yogurt, cheese) or eggs. Protein is important for maintaining and repairing your body after surgery.

How quickly you move from one step to the next depends on how fast your body adjusts to the change in eating patterns and the texture and consistency of food. People usually start eating regular foods with a firmer texture three months after surgery, but it can occur sooner.

Lifelong changes: New eating habits

The changes in your digestive system restrict how much you can eat and drink with each meal. To avoid problems and to ensure you're getting nutrients you need, closely follow these guidelines:

• Eat small amounts. Just after surgery, your stomach holds only about 1 ounce of food. Though your stomach stretches over time to hold more food, by the end of three months, you may be able to eat 1 to 1 1/2 cups of food with each meal. Eating too much food not only adds more calories than you need but also may cause pain, nausea and vomiting. Make sure you eat only the recommended amounts and stop eating before you feel full.
• Eat and drink slowly. Eating or drinking too quickly may cause dumping syndrome — when foods and liquids enter your small intestine rapidly and in larger amounts than normal, causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and sweating. To prevent dumping syndrome, choose foods and liquids low in fat and sugar, eat and drink slowly, and wait 30 minutes before or after each meal to drink liquids. Take at least 30 minutes to eat your meals and 30 to 60 minutes to drink 1 cup of liquid. Avoid foods high in fat and sugar, such as regular soda, candy and candy bars, and ice cream.
• Chew food thoroughly. The new opening that leads from your stomach into your intestine is very small, and larger pieces of food can block the opening. Blockages prevent food from leaving your stomach and could cause vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain. Take small bites of food and chew them to a pureed consistency before swallowing. If you can't chew the food thoroughly, don't swallow it.
• Drink liquids between meals. Drinking liquids with your meals can cause pain, nausea and vomiting as well as dumping syndrome. Also, drinking too much liquid at or around mealtime can leave you feeling overly full and prevent you from eating enough nutrient-rich foods. Expect to drink at least 6 to 8 cups (48 to 64 ounces) of fluids a day to prevent dehydration.
• Try new foods one at a time. After surgery, certain foods may cause nausea, pain, vomiting or may block the opening of the stomach. The ability to tolerate foods varies from person to person. Try one new food at a time and chew thoroughly before swallowing. If a food causes discomfort, don't eat it. As time passes, you may be able to eat this food. Foods and liquids that commonly cause discomfort include meat, bread, pasta, rice, raw vegetables, milk and carbonated beverages. Food textures not tolerated well include dry, sticky or stringy foods.
• Take recommended vitamin and mineral supplements. After surgery, your body has difficulty absorbing certain nutrients because most of your stomach and part of your small intestine are bypassed. To prevent a vitamin or mineral deficiency, take vitamin and mineral supplements regularly. These generally include a multivitamin-multimineral, calcium, iron, vitamin B-12 and vitamin D. Talk to your health care provider about recommended vitamin and mineral supplements following gastric bypass surgery.

Weight loss and weight gain

Within the first two years following surgery, you can expect to lose 50 percent to 60 percent of your excess weight, if you follow the dietary and exercise recommendations. If you continue to follow these recommendations, you can keep most of that weight off long term.

People who regain weight after gastric bypass surgery usually are consuming too many high-calorie foods and beverages and don't exercise enough. And rather than eating three meals a day and perhaps a planned healthy snack, some people engage in a grazing-type eating pattern — eating food all day long. Grazing often leads to consuming too many calories, which causes weight gain.

Successful weight management requires the following healthy habits:

• Limit or avoid high-sugar, high-fat foods, which provide many calories but few nutrients.
• Minimize unplanned snacking or frequent grazing, which increases calorie intake.
• Exercise regularly.
• Take the recommended vitamin and mineral supplements.
• Attend regular follow-up appointments with your health care provider to review your symptoms and progress and to make sure you don't have any vitamin or mineral deficiencies.

If you aren't losing weight or are regaining weight after surgery, see your doctor. He or she can help assess your eating behaviors and exercise habits and help you confront and overcome any weight-loss obstacles.

Though weight-loss surgery helps you shed the pounds, its success depends on your willingness to adopt lifelong healthy-eating and exercise habits. What you eat and how you eat changes after surgery, but the benefits of weight loss and your improved health are well worth these efforts.

Though it's the most commonly used, gastric bypass is just one kind of weight-loss surgery. Other types include:

LAP-BAND adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). The surgeon uses an inflatable band to partition the stomach into two parts by wrapping the band around the upper part of your stomach. Pulling it tight like a belt, the surgeon creates a tiny channel between the two pouches. The band keeps the opening from expanding and is designed to stay in place indefinitely. It can be adjusted or surgically removed if necessary. LAGB is gaining popularity because it's a simpler procedure and has a lower complication rate when compared with more-involved procedures. However, LAGB causes less weight loss and a slower rate of weight loss than does the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. This surgery isn't recommended for people who have certain medical conditions, such as Crohn's disease, large hiatal hernias or a history of gastric ulcers.
Vertical banded gastroplasty. This operation, also referred to as stomach stapling, divides the stomach into two parts — limiting space for food and forcing you to eat less. There is no bypass. Using a surgical stapler, the surgeon divides your stomach into upper and lower sections. The upper pouch is small and empties into the lower pouch — the rest of your stomach. Partly because it doesn't lead to adequate long-term weight loss, this weight-loss surgery has fallen out of favor.
Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. In this procedure, the surgeon removes about 80 percent of the stomach. The valve that releases food to the small intestine is left along with a limited portion of the small intestine that normally connects to the stomach (duodenum). The surgery bypasses the majority of the intestine by connecting the end portion of the intestine to the duodenum near the stomach. This weight-loss surgery offers sustained weight loss, but it presents a greater risk of malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies and requires close monitoring. It's generally used for people who have a body mass index greater than 50.

As with any major surgery, gastric bypass carries risks such as bleeding, infection and an adverse reaction to the anesthesia. Possible risks specific to this surgery include:

Death. A risk of death has been associated with gastric bypass surgery. It has generally been reported to be one death per 200 to 300 surgeries. Higher risks have been reported amongst Medicare recipients. The risk varies depending on age, general health and other medical conditions. Talk to your doctor about the exact level of risk gastric bypass surgery may pose for you.

Blood clots in the legs. Blood clots in the legs are more likely to occur in very overweight people. Blood clots can be dangerous. In some cases, they travel to the lungs and lodge in the lungs' arteries causing a pulmonary embolism — a serious condition that damages lung tissue and can lead to death. Walking and using leg wraps that apply intermittent pressure to the leg can help reduce this risk of blood clots in the legs. Smoking has been shown to increase the risk of clotting in people undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Quitting smoking is strongly recommended.

Leaking at one of the staple lines in the stomach. This severe postoperative problem is treated with antibiotics. Many cases heal with time. Often, however, the leak can be serious enough to require emergency surgery.

Incision hernia. An incision hernia is a weakness in the incision. This is more likely to occur if you have an open procedure and a large abdominal incision. This usually requires surgical repair, depending on the symptoms and the extent of the hernia.

Narrowing of the opening between the stomach and small intestine. This rare complication may require either an outpatient procedure — in which a tube is passed through your mouth to widen (dilate) the narrowed opening — or a corrective surgery.
Dumping syndrome. This is a condition where stomach contents move too quickly through the small intestine, causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and sweating. It's frequently experienced after eating sweets or high-fat foods.
Other potential complications of gastric bypass surgery include:

Vitamin and mineral deficiency (iron deficiency anemia, vitamin B-12 deficiency and vitamin D deficiency)
Dehydration
Gallstones
Bleeding stomach ulcer
Intolerance to certain foods
Kidney stones
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) related to excessive insulin production

Within the first two years of surgery, you can expect to lose 50 percent to 60 percent of your excess weight. If you closely follow dietary and exercise recommendations, you can keep most of that weight off long term.

In addition to dramatic weight loss, gastric bypass surgery may improve or resolve the following conditions associated with obesity:

You won't be allowed to eat for one to three days after the surgery so that your stomach can heal. Then, you'll follow a specific progression of your diet for about 12 weeks. The progression begins with liquids only, proceeds to pureed and soft foods, and finally to regular foods.

With your stomach pouch reduced to the size of a walnut, you'll need to eat very small meals during the day. In the first six months after surgery, eating too much or too fast may cause vomiting or an intense pain under your breastbone. The amount you can eat gradually increases, but you won't be able to return to your old eating habits.

You may experience one or more of the following changes as your body reacts to the rapid weight loss in the first three to six months:

In gastric bypass (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) the surgeon creates a small pouch at the top of your stomach and adds a bypass around a segment of your stomach and small intestine.

The surgeon staples your stomach across the top, sealing it off from the rest of your stomach. The resulting pouch is about the size of a walnut and can hold only about an ounce of food. The pouch is physically separated from the rest of the stomach. Then, the surgeon cuts the small intestine and sews part of it directly onto the pouch.

This connection redirects the food, bypassing most of your stomach and the first section of your small intestine, the duodenum (doo-o-DEE-num). Food enters directly into the second section of your small intestine, the jejunum (jay-JOO-num), limiting your ability to absorb calories. Even though food never enters the lower part of your stomach, the stomach stays healthy and continues to secrete digestive juices to mix with food in your small intestine.

Some surgeons perform this operation by using a laparoscope — a small, tubular instrument with a camera attached — through short incisions in the abdomen (laparoscopic gastric bypass). The tiny camera on the tip of the scope allows the surgeon to see inside your abdomen.

Compared with traditional "open" gastric bypass, the laparoscopic technique usually shortens your hospital stay and leads to a quicker recovery. Fewer wound-related problems also occur. Not everyone is a candidate for laparoscopic gastric bypass, however. Talk to your doctor about whether this approach is appropriate for you.

Find out what to expect, including the benefits and risks, if you choose to have gastric bypass surgery.


Weight-loss (bariatric) surgery changes the anatomy of your digestive system to limit the amount of food you can eat and digest. The surgery aids in weight loss and lowers your risk of medical problems associated with obesity.

Gastric bypass is the favored bariatric surgery in the United States. Surgeons prefer this surgery because it's safer and has fewer complications than other available weight-loss surgeries. It can provide long-term, consistent weight loss if accompanied with ongoing behavior changes.

Gastric bypass isn't for everyone with obesity, however. It's a major procedure that poses significant risks and side effects and requires permanent changes in your lifestyle. Before deciding to go forward with the surgery, it's important to understand what's involved and what lifestyle changes you must make. In large part, the success of the surgery is up to you.

Well,
It is that time again, Christmas and New Years. My new Years Resolution this year is to get back on track of eating healthy, loosing more weight and to quit smoking. Yes, I went back to smoking. I have to blame it on the amount of stress I was under going through a rough divorce. But now that things are better and everything is back on track with my life, I want to loose about 30 more pounds, become a Bariatric Nurse and help those who wish to get the surgery done.

It is very easy to get off track. Giving that a double cheese burger is only a dollar and it's quick to get when your on the run. I still can only eat a small amount. I eat slow because it takes a bit of time to digest the food I eat. For an example: I can eat only 1 piece of pizza within a 30 minute period of time. After 30 minutes have passed, I can eat another and so on and so forth. My issue i'm dealing with now is, when I do eat and get that full sensation, 30 to 45 minutes later, I feel like i'm hungry again and that is something that I will have to work on this upcoming year.

I will begin to work out again like I was doing before. I just had to get my life straight and now that it is, I am ready to begin eating healthy and going back to my daily excercices. I am still very active, I enjoy life. I have not gained much, maybe 10 lbs. at the most so I would say I did not get off track to far like I have seen in many cases before.

So, good luck with your New Years Resolution and have a wonderful Christmas!!

You may want to read through my blog and get a better understanding from a bariatric outpatient person. I will be posting more and more when I have time to to better info others of the good things of the surgery and the bad things of it.

But you should make your own decisions. If your ready to change your life for good, then you should consider it. It's an extremely tough road to travel. You will feel depressed, pain, excitement, joy, inspiration and much more feelings and thoughts through your everyday life.

Some people say it's the easy way out. Well, I only have one thing to say to those people, F--- You buddy! The bypass or lap band is only a tool. It is only effective if you use it properly which means to exercise and follow a good daily diet. If you don't, then your wasting your money and time. But if your apart of that 1% of American people who have the money to just throw around, then go for it. But make sure you throw some my way!

Anyway, like I stated above, It's allot harder then people think. Take it from me, one who has been there and done that and bought the tee shirt.

People tell me that I am an inspiration. That I showed then the correct direction to take in their new journey. It feels good to know that I inspired someone in this world.

Well,