Checking In
It has been ahile since I stopped in to give a report, but I hit another milestone today.. I weighed in this AM and I am now officially down 100 Pounds since the begining of my journey. Feeling better and looking forward to each and every day… I do notice the loss has started to slow somewhat but, I think it may be that I have been gaining more muscle mass and the fat loss is not quite as drastic as it once was. Since the muscle weighs more than the fat I am hoping this is what is going on… but I am not that worried… still eating on the right schedule and trying to stick to the right foods. Hope everyone out there that is considering or has had a bariatric weightloss proceedure will make sure you find a good program with lots of education and support.
Brief overview…
Since I lost all of the conversations and information entered I will give everyone a brief overview of how and why BariatricPatientCenter.com came into being.
During my pre surgical education classes and support groups meetings it was recommended that we all start journaling our lives as they pertained to food.
I am not a reader or a writer, but I am somewhat of a computer/techie type “nerd” so I decided to take it to the web and just make my journal a website and use it as a tool not only for myself, but others who have or were considering having a bariatric weight loss proceedure.
Thus the birth of this website/blog.
I hope to be able to continue to grow and make progress in my weightloss journey and I enjoy talking to others who have their own thoughts and ideas on the subject.
I will leave you with a little snapshot of my journey… I began researching WLS(Weight Loss Surgery) about 4-5 years ago… went to some seminars and presentations… got info and tried to qualify for surgery through my insurance at the time.. after much time and effort compiling information and submitting forms and documents my insurance company at the time denied my request.
I was very disheartened and the notion of being able to have the proceedure basically evaporated for me at that time… over the next 4-5 years the weight grew and the co-morbidities continued to compound… I decided I was going to give it one more try and went to my family doctor with my plea for help. We were able to compile enough data and present it to the insurance company (a different one from the previous attempt). This time we were successful in gaining approval. I had my psychological evaluation, attended the prescribed support and behavior modification groups and had my consultations with my surgeon.
I had a gastric bypass on 12-14-09, a date that will be forever etched into my brain and my life. I won’t say there weren’t some hard times post surgery, but there was nothing that happened that I was not informed of during the classes and meetings I participated in prior to surgery so it made it a little easier.
I began this journey at an all time high weight of 375lbs. and as of this writing today I can proudly say I have lost a total of 90lbs. and have a current weight of 285lbs. and dropping.
Please feel free to exchange communications and information on this site. I want everyone who is considering taking this step to be able to do so with their eyes open and with all of the information at hand.
Sincerely,
Brent Vander Weil
Patient of Dr. Keith Volstedt
Midlands Clinic
Dakota Dunes, SD
http://www.midlandsclinic.com/weight-loss-surgery-services.php
Beginning again
Well… I guess I am all about new beginnings these days… Not just having a gastric bypass, but it turns out the database for this blog became damaged and I had not realized it before I ran the backup… so the backup was also damaged.
The basic end to this is that I lost everything and had to start over… again…
SO let me welcome you to the new Bariatric Patient Center 2.0 and I am sorry that you have to create a new user profile!
I will be rebuilding and shuffling things around a little over the next few weeks, so please be patient and feel free to offer any comments or even criticisms that will help the blog be a top resource for bariatric weight loss patients.