Growing up slim and at 6'4 190lbs I was skinny as a flag pole as several other family members do until I joined the Army. The Army taught me how to eat and I had to since I had almost no fat on my frame, I needed the energy. I loved the outdoors used to workout like a fiend while I was in service for 4 years until 1996. I left the army but the eating habits stayed. As I occupied a desk I only had my outdoor activities and back then I didn't mind the break from the forced early morning workouts at a busy gym. Weight slowly creaped up as well as my height as I grew to 6'7 supporting on average up to 300lbs. Then in 2011 my injuries in the Army started to creep up on me as I started to have difficulty walking. I spent a year and a half through rehab and cortisone injections into my knees and heels. During that time my weight shot up to 435 and I went through the VA's pre bariatric program at the time and pulled out after a friend got me into powerlifting while working around being more gentile to the knees and feet. At the same time I watched a documentary called "The Perfect Human Diet." At the time for me it was great. I cleansed myself of the addiction to sugars and easily regulating my intake of anything that converted to sugar in the body (Starches). While making simple, easy satisfying meals, I was eating far below the calories of a power lifter. I was making immense gains in the gym by nearly doubling the weight I was lifting every two to three weeks and lost 150lbs in 3 months at the age of 41.
Unfortunately, I moved for a job and fell off the wagon in both diet and exercise mostly due to my hectic new job working 12-14hr days 6 months of my work year. Despite this I met a gorgeous slim woman 10yrs my younger that saw past the weight and we were married 3 years ago. She got me back into the gym and the weight started to come off again until I dislocated my knee cap. The prognosis was not good as degeneration in both knees are setting in. I've known since high school bad knees were in my future but I did not know they would progress so quickly. At about the same time I required my gallbladder to be removed. Several months later one of the incisions herniated but thankfully did not strangulate an intestine. Then about a month later Covid hit and I started to pack on the weight again. At this time I went back to the VA. I expressed my concerns, While I want to be alive to give my wife the child we both want, I do not want to be miserable and eat like a bird like I see some of my friends who have had bariatric surgery. I love to cook a variety of foods from German to SE Asia and Spanish along with smoking meat, fish and veggies on my Traeger. I got into cooking foods I would normally go sit down in a restaurant for and pay good money for food that was either too salty, buttery or sugary for me. I can thank quitting smoking in 2009 to the increased sensitivity in my taste buds for that. (Though I still love a good cigar about once a month) That said, I previously worked at a hospital and sat in on amputations from diabetes and saw 2 people I grew up with die after missing an injection and the next one killed them. So the motivation was there to get this done.
I spent the time, going through the classes again. Sat down with the surgeon and the decision was made. Both of us agreed on a Duodenal switch with the roux en y procedure performed via robot. Thinking long term would be the best for keeping weight off and decreased sensitivity of foods. I went to all water on 6/23, weighed in at 492 on day of surgery on the 25th. I got out of surgery and put in my hospital room about 6pm and I went to sleep about 9pm to wake up at 2am, wide awake. I called the nurses and got up by myself while they hovered around me to use the restroom for the first time. I then proceeded to walk around the ward with my escort while bumping into an old classmate I had not seen for 30yrs as she was the RN in charge. I then laid in bed for a couple hours watching TV until falling back to sleep sometime after 4am. Got up the next morning and went for another walk, saw my surgeon as he checked my abdomen drain. I told him honestly I felt better than when I had my gallbladder removed and sent home same day. I'm not big into needing pain killers as I skipped a few scheduled shots until I need them. I felt alert and spent most of my day watching tv and only slept maybe 8-10hrs the next night.
Second morning in the hospital was pretty much the same. Saw the surgeons PA on the drain and condition, Had a slight acid reflux during the night and a couple swigs of warm mint caffeine free tea did the trick. Drain was removed and bandaged up. Surgeon came back and looked me over and my charts and asked if I wanted to go home the next day. I think getting poked with a needle every 2 hours helps immensely in influencing the decision to break out. I showered that night and the next morning before putting on my clothes and picking up my discharge papers and walking escorted through the hospital out to my ride. I was not yet released off my clear liquid diet until my 1 week follow up on June 4th. No problem, but i found at home that I really did not care for the taste of sipping broths and opted for simply my pills, vitamins and MIO vitamin water additive. I kept my hydration up and oddly enough I felt alert and still only slept 8-10hrs a day. However, I didn't have much gas in the tank to exercise as I discovered I would pull up a chair to cook my wife her breakfast. The day before I went into my follow-up I changed the air filter on my wifes car and a couple other minor things. I was sweating by the end like I had been working out for an hour.
At the follow-up the next morning I weighed in at 464! It was also discovered some concern around my abdominal hernia that there was some slight swelling and inflammation so a CT Scan was ordered. I went in the following day and had the CT Scan performed and the next day on the 4th we reviewed. All was well, going to monitor for a year at which time they will do a tummy tuck of the excess skin. I had also lost another 4 lbs since my last weigh in. The Dr said I looked very surprising in relation to others having bariatric and said I seemed more like a month out. In discussion of finding things to try and eat most everything was geared toward people who had either the Roux En Y procedure or the Duodenal Switch procedure but not both. The Surgeon and his PA both encouraged me to not only move to phase two but advised it's going to be an experiment and to even try solids stating I will probably progress much faster. An hour later I went to the nutritionist who upon seeing me immediately said I looked much better than most. We sat down and talked about what I had planned for food and my supplement to which she was in all agreement. I cant say anything negative about my surgical team as even though my next follow-up is not until the 22nd, we have been communicating via online and text directly to and from my surgeon. I only found I had one bout of acid reflux during the night but I found I did not have my mouth guard in when sleeping. I sleep with a cpap and a resmed P-10 which is only a nasal pillow (I love it) and I wear a mouth bite guard to promote keeping my mouth closed and protect my teeth from grinding. Without the guard my mouth opens and creates an open channel to the stomach with my cpap blowing now my airway.
My first solid food experiment was just a couple lightly fried pieces of Spam. Went down easy and so that evening I fried 3 jumbo shrimp in garlic and butter with the shell on, peeled the shell and took them in small bites. no problem. Did the same the following day. Then Nepalese Coconut Korma Shrimp in a mild curry. Again no problem, Greek Gyros Meat in tzatziki sauce, Sliced roast beef. All the while I am having a protein shake sometime in the first half of my day and the later. I prefer the Orgain as I used that when I was lifting and found it even back then was the easiest on my digestive system, was all natural and the vanilla bean and chocolate/ Chocolate peanut butters tasted great. I use the unflavored to sprinkle in a sugar free Jello Pudding and do not even notice it. So with that I'm easily keeping my protein between 70-100 a day. Yesterday was my first day of adding some veggies in the mix. For lunch I had about half a serving of Dinty Moore Beef stew to test the mushy veggies. It went down easy so for the evening I went to a sit down restaurant with friends, Ordered a Ground Buffalo Steak with onion and mushrooms sauté on top with broccoli. I managed half the steak with mushrooms and a couple slices of the carnalized onion, I chewed the top off a broccoli and had a sugar free fudge pop for desert when I got home. all went down easy and today I certainly feel more strength. The weird thing is to top it off, is I sip water or caffeine free unsweetened tea all through the meal without any need to rush to the bathroom during or even later. As well as things are going I'm still being cautious as I use a baby spoon and fork at home. This morning I had scrambled eggs with Rotel diced tomatoes and peppers. Today I'm going to finish off that steak and little broccoli, but I whipped up some unagi (Sweet Japanese eel sauce) that I am going to try on a little bit of fish for lunch. Tomorrow I will try some Thai Lemongrass paste on baked fish and a chute off asparagus. I hope that soon I can smoke some fish and veggies on the smoker and progress to some tender Texas style brisket, ribs and pork butt by the end of summer.
So far I am happy with my decision. Portion size is under control and I seem to be quickly progressing toward a normal diet currently loosing approx 1 1/2 to 2lbs a day. The need for proper nutrients, hydration has me going back to "the perfect human diet" and I'm loving it so far. I look in the mirror and notice my face is already much narrower and the wife has commented she can see the muscle in my legs much more noticeably now. I'm just wishing now I would have taken some before photos.
Unfortunately, I moved for a job and fell off the wagon in both diet and exercise mostly due to my hectic new job working 12-14hr days 6 months of my work year. Despite this I met a gorgeous slim woman 10yrs my younger that saw past the weight and we were married 3 years ago. She got me back into the gym and the weight started to come off again until I dislocated my knee cap. The prognosis was not good as degeneration in both knees are setting in. I've known since high school bad knees were in my future but I did not know they would progress so quickly. At about the same time I required my gallbladder to be removed. Several months later one of the incisions herniated but thankfully did not strangulate an intestine. Then about a month later Covid hit and I started to pack on the weight again. At this time I went back to the VA. I expressed my concerns, While I want to be alive to give my wife the child we both want, I do not want to be miserable and eat like a bird like I see some of my friends who have had bariatric surgery. I love to cook a variety of foods from German to SE Asia and Spanish along with smoking meat, fish and veggies on my Traeger. I got into cooking foods I would normally go sit down in a restaurant for and pay good money for food that was either too salty, buttery or sugary for me. I can thank quitting smoking in 2009 to the increased sensitivity in my taste buds for that. (Though I still love a good cigar about once a month) That said, I previously worked at a hospital and sat in on amputations from diabetes and saw 2 people I grew up with die after missing an injection and the next one killed them. So the motivation was there to get this done.
I spent the time, going through the classes again. Sat down with the surgeon and the decision was made. Both of us agreed on a Duodenal switch with the roux en y procedure performed via robot. Thinking long term would be the best for keeping weight off and decreased sensitivity of foods. I went to all water on 6/23, weighed in at 492 on day of surgery on the 25th. I got out of surgery and put in my hospital room about 6pm and I went to sleep about 9pm to wake up at 2am, wide awake. I called the nurses and got up by myself while they hovered around me to use the restroom for the first time. I then proceeded to walk around the ward with my escort while bumping into an old classmate I had not seen for 30yrs as she was the RN in charge. I then laid in bed for a couple hours watching TV until falling back to sleep sometime after 4am. Got up the next morning and went for another walk, saw my surgeon as he checked my abdomen drain. I told him honestly I felt better than when I had my gallbladder removed and sent home same day. I'm not big into needing pain killers as I skipped a few scheduled shots until I need them. I felt alert and spent most of my day watching tv and only slept maybe 8-10hrs the next night.
Second morning in the hospital was pretty much the same. Saw the surgeons PA on the drain and condition, Had a slight acid reflux during the night and a couple swigs of warm mint caffeine free tea did the trick. Drain was removed and bandaged up. Surgeon came back and looked me over and my charts and asked if I wanted to go home the next day. I think getting poked with a needle every 2 hours helps immensely in influencing the decision to break out. I showered that night and the next morning before putting on my clothes and picking up my discharge papers and walking escorted through the hospital out to my ride. I was not yet released off my clear liquid diet until my 1 week follow up on June 4th. No problem, but i found at home that I really did not care for the taste of sipping broths and opted for simply my pills, vitamins and MIO vitamin water additive. I kept my hydration up and oddly enough I felt alert and still only slept 8-10hrs a day. However, I didn't have much gas in the tank to exercise as I discovered I would pull up a chair to cook my wife her breakfast. The day before I went into my follow-up I changed the air filter on my wifes car and a couple other minor things. I was sweating by the end like I had been working out for an hour.
At the follow-up the next morning I weighed in at 464! It was also discovered some concern around my abdominal hernia that there was some slight swelling and inflammation so a CT Scan was ordered. I went in the following day and had the CT Scan performed and the next day on the 4th we reviewed. All was well, going to monitor for a year at which time they will do a tummy tuck of the excess skin. I had also lost another 4 lbs since my last weigh in. The Dr said I looked very surprising in relation to others having bariatric and said I seemed more like a month out. In discussion of finding things to try and eat most everything was geared toward people who had either the Roux En Y procedure or the Duodenal Switch procedure but not both. The Surgeon and his PA both encouraged me to not only move to phase two but advised it's going to be an experiment and to even try solids stating I will probably progress much faster. An hour later I went to the nutritionist who upon seeing me immediately said I looked much better than most. We sat down and talked about what I had planned for food and my supplement to which she was in all agreement. I cant say anything negative about my surgical team as even though my next follow-up is not until the 22nd, we have been communicating via online and text directly to and from my surgeon. I only found I had one bout of acid reflux during the night but I found I did not have my mouth guard in when sleeping. I sleep with a cpap and a resmed P-10 which is only a nasal pillow (I love it) and I wear a mouth bite guard to promote keeping my mouth closed and protect my teeth from grinding. Without the guard my mouth opens and creates an open channel to the stomach with my cpap blowing now my airway.
My first solid food experiment was just a couple lightly fried pieces of Spam. Went down easy and so that evening I fried 3 jumbo shrimp in garlic and butter with the shell on, peeled the shell and took them in small bites. no problem. Did the same the following day. Then Nepalese Coconut Korma Shrimp in a mild curry. Again no problem, Greek Gyros Meat in tzatziki sauce, Sliced roast beef. All the while I am having a protein shake sometime in the first half of my day and the later. I prefer the Orgain as I used that when I was lifting and found it even back then was the easiest on my digestive system, was all natural and the vanilla bean and chocolate/ Chocolate peanut butters tasted great. I use the unflavored to sprinkle in a sugar free Jello Pudding and do not even notice it. So with that I'm easily keeping my protein between 70-100 a day. Yesterday was my first day of adding some veggies in the mix. For lunch I had about half a serving of Dinty Moore Beef stew to test the mushy veggies. It went down easy so for the evening I went to a sit down restaurant with friends, Ordered a Ground Buffalo Steak with onion and mushrooms sauté on top with broccoli. I managed half the steak with mushrooms and a couple slices of the carnalized onion, I chewed the top off a broccoli and had a sugar free fudge pop for desert when I got home. all went down easy and today I certainly feel more strength. The weird thing is to top it off, is I sip water or caffeine free unsweetened tea all through the meal without any need to rush to the bathroom during or even later. As well as things are going I'm still being cautious as I use a baby spoon and fork at home. This morning I had scrambled eggs with Rotel diced tomatoes and peppers. Today I'm going to finish off that steak and little broccoli, but I whipped up some unagi (Sweet Japanese eel sauce) that I am going to try on a little bit of fish for lunch. Tomorrow I will try some Thai Lemongrass paste on baked fish and a chute off asparagus. I hope that soon I can smoke some fish and veggies on the smoker and progress to some tender Texas style brisket, ribs and pork butt by the end of summer.
So far I am happy with my decision. Portion size is under control and I seem to be quickly progressing toward a normal diet currently loosing approx 1 1/2 to 2lbs a day. The need for proper nutrients, hydration has me going back to "the perfect human diet" and I'm loving it so far. I look in the mirror and notice my face is already much narrower and the wife has commented she can see the muscle in my legs much more noticeably now. I'm just wishing now I would have taken some before photos.
