i am fat

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Pic one 14 months ago at 24st. Pic two last week at 13.5st.

Grats! That's some dedication. How tall are you Luke? If you're OK with letting people know that is. :) Should help others give a rough guage on the difference is. A lot of people are size/height/shape blind unfortunately, but some measurements help provide clearer idea on things.
 
Soldato
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Thanks. I'm 6'1".
Whilst I'd love to say I did it through diet, exercise and sheer determination I'd be lying. I had a gastric bypass last April. It hasn't been the easiest journey but I'm certainly glad I've done it.
 
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I'm bang on 6ft and weigh about 17st 4lbs - Or 110KG in new money.

I don't carry the weight too badly as I'm quite heavily built and broad, but I didn't truly realise the scale of the problem until I shaved off my manly beard and revealed my super fat face! :eek:

I've always been fairly large, hovering between 15 and 17.5 stone for the past 7 or 8 years, I went from 17.5 down to 15, now back up to almost 17.5 again...

Starting to eat more healthily now and I've cut out alcohol. I think ideally I want to be around 12 stone but I have stretch marks from the weight on my belly etc, was wondering what peoples experiences are with loose skin and so on after losing a decent amount of weight?
 
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Well done to all who have made good progress.

For me I always find like I lose a bit of weight each summer but as soon as the dark nights come back in it goes back.

Cycling is my thing and luckily despite a lot of the time thinking "oh I have to go out on the bike later" as soon as I am out on it I love it.

I started only around 5 weeks ago this year and can usually stretch this out till around the end of October. Sure you can go out after that and I have good lights but sometimes it gets so cold it is not really a good idea. I have tried the gym a couple of times but I find it so boring.

This year I have been back on the bike a bit sooner than I usually do so I hope to shift enough so that when winter comes I can manage with a bit of jogging instead.

My job is mainly office based and for lunch there is a van that comes round, before I would buy a sandwich, can of coke, crisps and maybe a cake for afterwards, now I just get a sandwich. With the biking it is going well so far, in around 5 weeks I am down almost 18 pounds and I have really made an effort with the biking doing around 23 miles a day. Last week I hit my own personal goal of over 1000km a month. Along with watching what I eat at work more I do find making chicken and lettuce wraps works well. I am sure the wrap is not great for you but compared to putting it in a bread roll it has to work out better I figure.

Stick at it :)
 
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Alternatively, have a girl break your heart and you'll lose your appetite to the point where the weight will just fall off. Of course you'll be ****ing miserable at the same time, but hey, you can't have everything.
YMMV, but when my marriage broke up, it was the opposite - comfort-eating and, perhaps more worryingly from a lifestyle perspective, comfort-drinking, were all I was interested in. Precisely because I was, as you put it, "****ing miserable". Discovering exercise and a healthier diet (as the possessor of a healthy appetite and a love of beer/wine, I'd never claim to be a dietary saint) were, for me, part of the "getting over it" process.

Following the thread now - being 50 this year, a semi-regular gym-goer and desperately trying to hold back middle-age spread - this seems like the equivalent of the Relationships thread for those of us that love our food a bit too much!
 
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Thanks. I'm 6'1".
Whilst I'd love to say I did it through diet, exercise and sheer determination I'd be lying. I had a gastric bypass last April. It hasn't been the easiest journey but I'm certainly glad I've done it.
has gastric bypass meant you eat less now? silly q as that is what its 'used' for but just wanted to see. also any side effects etc?
 
Soldato
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has gastric bypass meant you eat less now? silly q as that is what its 'used' for but just wanted to see. also any side effects etc?
Not a silly question at all. I eat less for a few reasons. The first is that I don't feel hungry, that sensation isn't there any more. I have to remind myself to eat or I realise at a point that I'm feeling ill through not eating regularly enough. Conversely I don't get overfull sensations. I no longer have a stomach, I have a small pouch (around 150ml). If I overeat the food backs up and I know about it when I feel it in my throat - a horrible sensation! The positive to this is that because I have no stomach, any food I vomit is not mixed with acids and therefore tastes the same on the way back up! Another reason for reduced food intake is "dumping syndrome". If I take in too much food, particularly fatty or sugary foods my body can't deal with it. I get symptoms such as the sweats, nausea, dizzyness, chest pain and other symptoms often associated with a heart attack. Having had this a couple of times I actively avoid it!
I still get echoes of past food behaviour such as walking to the fridge and looking within then realising I'm not actually hungry. This is long term behaviour that I am slowly reprogramming.

It's not a magic wand, but having acute consequences to bad food habits has been the stick I needed to make changes.
 
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Although not feeling hunger sounds great to me these days, the rest of it doesn't sound that pleasant :( Can I ask, as I know nothing about gastric bypass's, was there a medical reason you needed it, or was it almost 'choice' to enable weight loss? As I'm sure with everyone's questions, if it's too personal, I understand :)
 
Soldato
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I'm happy to give info.

About 5 years ago I was diagnosed type 2 diabetic. Managed with tablets, but increasing numbers of tablets as time went on. Also my blood pressure was high and my GP wanted me to start ramipril and simvastatin to manage this and also my cholesterol. My liver function was reported to be impaired through fat rather than alcohol. I also had quite bad psoriasis which was also attributed to my size.
I had tried most diets and ultimately suffered with a lack of willpower in sustaining any lifestyle change. Undecided I wanted the surgery and spoke to others who had been through it.
I got my GP to refer me to a weight loss service in my area that would have the authority to refer me to the bariatric team. I spent 6 months in their programme when they wound up with no notice due to lack of funding. Back to my GP who knew nothing about it. It took my GP 3 months and multiple calls, messages and ultimately me booking a face to face appointment for him to refer me to a council run weight management programme. This was a 3 month process and I was told initially that if I met their requirements at the end of the course I would be referred. On completing the course I was told they had also lost their funding and I would need to start yet another programme. At this point I lost my rag and left.

Things ticked over for a while with no progress and my weight continued to increase until a diabetes review. Even on tablets my diabetes was uncontrolled and the gp wanted to try insulin.
This was the point I knew I was going to have the surgery one way or another. I researched loads of services and realised the coat of having it done in the UK was prohibitive for me. I was looking at around £12k. I then looked abroad and found lots of options but the only one I liked the look of and got positive feelings for was in Riga,.Latvia. I spoke to their UK based rep and was happy with all the info I got.
I booked it and 3 weeks later flew out and had the surgery. Fantastic experience from start to finish. I don't believe I could have had better care in the UK.

As as a result of the surgery I no longer require any diabetes treatment, my liver function has returned to normal, my blood pressure is great, my cholesterol is great and things are vastly better with my energy levels and general health. The psoriasis has gone too.
 
Soldato
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Must be a huge relief!

A couple of questions if I may... you say you basically don't have a stomach and the food backs-up... how much food does that take exactly? Can you get through a normal/healthy portion of, I dunno, spaghetti bolognaise or something without encountering those problems you mentioned? Do you have to take supplements or anything to make sure you're actually nutritionally okay?
 
Soldato
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I can just about manage a kids portion of pasta dishes. Toast has gone from 2-3 slices to 1.
I find just the taste of nice stuff satisfies me, for example I can make a chocolate bar last 2 or 3 sittings.
I have to take daily multivits, calcium supplements and have 3 monthly vitamin B12 injections. A small price to pay in my book!
 
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Though i don't know loads about it, i feel that in a thread asking for weight loss tips it is important to stress that a gastric bypass is often a last resort and is major surgery.

I am glad that Luke's surgery went well and you have recovered and adjusted to life after it. Many others find it hard to adjust and face a number of long term post surgery problems.

What i am trying to say is, it is often misconceived as just a solution to being overweight but but rather to immediately treat serious health problems such as unmanageable diabetes. A solution to being overweight is managing your intake, something you quite clearly have to do post surgery.

Is there anything you have to avoid or be careful of Luke?

I imagine no stomach acid means you have to be careful how/what you eat.
 
Soldato
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Cheese is actually ok. Things I struggle with (well, avoid now) are the obviously fatty things. Belly pork used to be a favourite but I can't abide it any more. Turkey just clogs and won't go down, I have to bring that back up. Strangely chicken is ok despite a very similar consistency.
Most things I can eat, albeit in moderation.
As I said earlier, this procedure has forced me to follow sensible rating habits due to the consequences of not following them. In a way the procedure is a substitute for the will power I lacked that would have achieved similar results.
This has not been a quick fix or easy option, it is life changing in many ways. It is restrictive forever, and the initial few months were very hard work with moving from thin liquids only through to eventual solids.
I still get it wrong from time to time and end up needing to lie flat in bed for 20 minutes whilst the nausea etc recedes.
I do chew more thoroughly than I used to. If I wolf something down I'd struggle to pass it down.
I also cannot drink liquids whilst I'm eating. It is either before or 20 minutes after.
If I drink after swallowing food it congeals into a plug which then has to be vomited back up.
 
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