Jayjay wrote:
On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 07:33:44 -0500, "Jamie Johnson"
wrote:

has anyone on here had gastric bypass surgery? or can anyone refer me to a
site where I could get unbiased information on the surgery?

You'll find that GB surgeries are not well received here. The bottom
line is, yes, you get the surgery, but you MUST alter your lifestyle
and eating habits in order to lose weight.

It's not that GB surgeries are bad, it's that GB surgeries are needless in
the end. We know how to lose fat and can tell you. So, do you want to
know how to lose fat? I'm going to presume yes and tell you. :-)

The first thing to do is to figure out what specifically you are
doing wrong. That means logging everything you eat - morsals and snacks -
for a little while without changing your diet. A great tool for this is
www.fitday.com.

After logging for a while take a good look at your portion sizes. It
will probably be obvious what you should cut out: bakery goods and soda
should be LONG gone. But besides calorie levels, but pay special
attention to the carb/protein/fat ratios. If you are anything above 60%
carbs you need to really take a good close look at that.

You need exercise.

At 400 pounds you're going to have to plan exercise carefully. If I were
you I'd go to www.collagevideo.com and look over some exercise videos for
people who are mobility impaired. There's a whole series called "sit and
be fit" that are only about 22 minutes long. You can also do water
aerobics - those classes are filled with people with physical
limitations. My YMCA has a "personal fitness" program for people who are
not comfortable in gyms with a separate workout room with curtains on the
windows and fit people aren't allowed inside. It's big with cardio rehab
people - I see people in there with wheel chairs and oxygen tanks, too.

You have one thing going for you: you've got a bunch of muscle! You've
been hauling around 400 pounds - you've got quads to die for! So use that
to your advantage. Join a weight-lifting class or start doing Nautilus or
join Curves for Women or just get some dumbbells and the book "8 Minutes
in the Morning" and start to pump iron. It's a great way to get a
low-impact workout in - it's not as good for your heart as a cardio
routine, but it's just as good for fat loss. (BTW, my YMCA also has a
class for beginning weight-lifters that tends to be filled with senior
citizens. When I took it I was one of only two people under 40 (I know
this because the other "young" woman turned 40 while we were in the
class.) Lifting weights isn't for sweaty young men anymo it's a HUGE
benefit to you as an older woman. It's also a great way to start to
counteract insulin resistance.

It's entirely possible to reach the age of 57 without figuring out the
basic maintenance required for a human body, but you CAN learn. You
probably need to know more about healthy versus unhealthy fats and
carbs. Are you eating four or five meals a day? You ought to be. Are
you getting enough protein and nutrients? You ought to be.

If I were you I'd do some reading. A good book that's out recently is
Walter Willet's, "Eat, Drink & Be Healthy" that's a nice overview of the
current thinking on nutritional wellness. It's a rapidly evolving arena
and my advice for you is to get empowered to help yourself.

My other piece of advice is to stay here and tell us more. We're a
supportive bunch with a remarkable ability to lose fat and keep it off via
lifestyle changes. There are probably 20 of us here who've lost over 50
pounds - and many more who got things under control before they had 50
pounds to lose. I find this place to be both empowering and supportive.

Wendy