122 replies to this topic

[LindaLB]

Great job Ruben. Keep up the good work.
Linda

[Jackal]

Keep up the good work Ruben and get that body movin!!

[Jackal]

Ruben, where are you?

[BigMan]

Ruben, where are you?

Hi Jackal,

Thanks for keeping tabs on me.

Last week I weighed in and gained 1.5 lbs.
Today I weighed in and lost 1 lb.

I been on the road for the last 2 weeks so it has been hard for me to eat at regular schedules (which has been a major reason for my weight gain). I'm still watching what I have been eating but been eating out most of the last 2 weeks. I usually have a grilled chicken sandwich with mushrooms for dinner and a salad.

JC is calling nutrition dept for me tomorrow.

Ruben

[Jackal]

Made it through the 4th of July weekend!!! How are you doing Rubin?

[Jackal]

Made it through the 4th of July weekend!!! How are you doing Rubin?

[BigMan]

Made it through the 4th of July weekend!!! How are you doing Rubin?

Good for you Jackal! I weighed in this morning and lost another 2.5 lbs. this week.

Some big news...
On another note, I finally found a local bariatric doctor and did a physical. This is something I haven't done for almost 20 years because I didn't want to hear what they were going to tell me. Even more so, I didn't want to go to a regular physician that doesn't understand obesity. I always felt it would be a waste of time going to a regular physician because all they are going to tell me is that I am morbidly obese and I need a gastric bypass.

Last year I did some research and found a local "so called" bariatric doctor that did some quick tests and took my money without giving me the full report. I got discouraged and never went back to him due to the fact he kept giving me the run around and telling me my blood got lost and he didn't get a lab report. I tried getting my $300 back but the guy disappeared so I just gave up.

For the past 5 years, I have been driving by this building here that says medical weight loss. I never stopped in there to see what they were about because I thought it was another scam place. Well anyway, I spoke to a neighbor of mine about this place and she mentioned her friend went there and lost 440 pounds in 4 years following a plan they had. So I decided to stop by and check them out for the main purpose of talking to a bariatric doctor about my condition and getting a check up.

So I made an appointment and went in on Tuesday. They did an EKG, blood pressure and drew 3 viles of blood to do a full panel lab test. The results from the lab came in today. Everything was pretty much right in the middle meaning I am very healthy. My cholesterol is normal, sugar is normal everything else was good. My EKG was perfect, blood pressure is fine etc.

However, this is the big However, my Thyroid is very low. It is lower than the lowest limit. Free T4 is suppose to be within .89 - 1.76 and mine is a .84 ng/dl. The doctor was explaining that a .89 is very low and I am lower. So he prescribed me some Armour Thyroid medication (32.5 mg) and told me to take 1 pill every morning and don't eat for a half hour.

I did some research on the Armour and it is suppose to be the best thyroid medication currently on the market. If anyone here is on thyroid medication, I would love to hear your feedback. Does this now mean I am going to start dropping weight more rapidly? The doctor said the medication takes 1 month before it begins to work.

My brother Inlaw has the complete opposite condition. He has a hyper thyroid condition and the guy loses allot of weight if he doesn't take his medication. He use to be a heavy guy until he got this condition, then I saw him a few months later and he was thin like Nicole Richie. Now that he is on his meds, he is at a normal weight. But once he stops taking them, the weight drops allot.

I think this thyroid problem I have is a big reason why my weight is not coming off as fast as it should be. I eat pretty good and I have been sticking to my plan. I would of thought the weight would of came off a little quicker and this maybe explains it.

Thanks for reading!

Ruben

[Munchkin]

Hi Ruben,

I'm coming back to JC for my fourth?? time. Fifth? I don't know. I've been reading your story on here. Just wanted to say HI! You are awesome and such an inspiration. That's great that you are in good health. I do believe that once your thyroid is regulated, you will be dropping weight faster. Though your average is pretty good. I read that you are averaging 1% per week. That's awesome!

You know? I get tired of everybody pushing the gastric bypass surgery. There are so many ways that don't involve permanent reconstruction of your body. I don't want to sound like I'm judging anybody who has had it. But look at all of us on here. WE ARE DOING THIS!

So anyway, I just wanted to comment after stalking this thread for a few days. You rock!

[Knievel]

Ruben,
Congratulations! I am happy for you! It seems you have found a good, healthy lifestyle choice for yourself with JC. I am just about to finish my 2nd week on the program. I am also following it to a "T." I have a lot of weight to lose, too. When I was younger, I starved myself thin. As I got older, I made some bad lifestyle choices that continued the "stay thin or die" routine. Now that I have a family, I want to do this right. JC seems to be working for me, too.

I am excited to hear how your journey goes, Ruben.

Good luck this week!

K

[Jackal]

Good job Rubin!!!

Every pounds counts. Even though I was perfect on my diet, this week I didn't lose, but I feel great and I am working out. Taking care of yourself is the goal. Glad to hear that you might get some help with losing.

At 315 pounds I went to the doctor, he told me that I was the healthest Morbidly Obese person he had every met. I thought I might have diabetes, but I didn't, just tight shoes ..that is when I started JC.

You keep checking in, and keep that body movin! What do you do for exercise? It is important to start thinking of putting on some muscle. That will help to burn more calories.

Have a great weekend and hope to hear from you soon.

Jackie

[marthaann]

Good job Rubin!!!

Every pounds counts. Even though I was perfect on my diet, this week I didn't lose, but I feel great and I am working out. Taking care of yourself is the goal. Glad to hear that you might get some help with losing.

At 315 pounds I went to the doctor, he told me that I was the healthest Morbidly Obese person he had every met. I thought I might have diabetes, but I didn't, just tight shoes ..that is when I started JC.

You keep checking in, and keep that body movin! What do you do for exercise? It is important to start thinking of putting on some muscle. That will help to burn more calories.

Have a great weekend and hope to hear from you soon.

Jackie

You are all an inspiration to me. I have been fighting with the same 10 lbs for the past 6 weeks.. lose 4, gain 2, lose 1 gain 4. It is so frustrating. I really want to have 100 lbs off by August 15th, I am at 87 now so it is reachable if just I can get off this current Merry Go Round!!
I have recently started exercising..I am walking in the local mall. I am up to 1 1/2 miles now and hope to keep increasing this. I actually advertized on this site for a walking buddy and one person answered and we are now together for exercising. Praise God cuz I sure wasn't doing it alone. I have also ordered a swimsuit and plan to get into the water aerobics at the gym I belong to.
Rueben, like u I am feeling my skin getting very loose. I am hoping that the exercise will help it. My underarms and tummy are very loose and saggy. I see plastic surgery in my future but wonder if Medicare will pay for it...lol
Jackie, I looked at your blog...you are marvelous. So beautiful. All the exercise has really helped u it looks like. Wanna move to Michigan and become my personal trainer??? lol I got a notice that our Animal Shelter is having a run/walk a thon to raise money for their needs. I am actually thinking of entering the walking part. It is 5K...how far is that?? What a blast it would be to actually participate and even finish a "marathon"...no one in my family would ever believe I could do this in my lifetime.
Continue down the road toward a healthier you everyone. I am so glad this site is here. It has really helped me.
Take care and God Bless.
Marthaann

[Jackal]

You are so cute....5 K is about 2.5 miles?? I am quessing. Start out slow, walk fast, add in some sprints/jogs, get an ipod..I can't workout without one. Every journey starts out with taking that first step. Just do it!! Go get yourself a trainer, it's not as scary as it seems. Get someone who will push you...pay attention...use common sense, if something hurts, stop! Get books, there are so many out there on running..educate yourself.

You can do this, One Day AT A Time!

[THE Cheekdog]

hi ruben! first i want to say congrats for taking a step in the right direction and for making yourself so aware of what you're putting in your body. the other thing i want to say is that i know how disappointing a loss of 1.8 is when you're used to losing a little more each week. what keeps me going when i lose .4 or something like that is to think to myself "that's .4 i'll never see again!" i also channel my inner seuss and tell myself that a loss is a loss, no matter how small. you'll get there!!!

cheekdog

[Jackal]

Ruben, where are you, come out, come out, where ever you are......

[beachbum01085]

Hi Everyone ...

Ruben, I had gastric bypass 5yrs ago and my weight gain is what brought me to JC. I lost 100lbs with the bypass but then the "loss" stopped and slowly I began gaining. I admit that I self-sabotaged by eating wrong. I found ways to eat what I shouldn't. So, I gained back 50lbs. BUT, I have to say the surgery probably saved my life. My medical conditions were getting VERY bad and if I hadn't had surgery I probably wouldn't have made it another 18 months. I made the decision to try JC after (1) looking at my before surgery pictures and being scared to death of finding that unhappy unhealthy person again; and, (2) I tried that 'other programs' food which is absolutely AWFUL. I read many blogs and decided I had nothing to lose (except pounds) by giving this a try .. so I started my journey once again to be healthy and confident.

Well, my 3rd week finished and my WI went much better than expected .. work played havoc with meal planning (as did lack of sleep) as well as a popcorn binge at the movies! I couldn't walk past the popcorn and got a LARGE bag with extra butter .. bad bad me!! After 1/2 the bag was gone, I got up and trashed it. I knew I'd keep eating if I didn't. The scale was kind to me today (3.4lb loss), but I did some restricting during the week. A chatroom visitor listened to me vent about the popcorn binge and did some checking and estimated that the binge was about 875 calories. OK, this shocked me into reality .. what had I done and how was I going to try and correct/fix/balance this situation????? I didn't skip meals, although that was the original plan, but I left out desserts this week. I figured something had to go to achieve some kind of balance. I MISSED MY CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!! A new week officially starts tomorrow; and I was told I get measured at the next WI. OK, I can handle that. I'm walking a couple times a week and try to ride my bike 4miles 3x/week. My body hs started telling me when it's hungry and I'm finding I'm not satisfied if I limit my veggies. I recall my craving used to be Doritos .. now, it's veggies?!?!?!?! *LOL* Who am I kidding .. if I grab a bad they'd be history and I know that. I'm feeling good and pround that I'm making smarter choices.

I know this needs to be a life-change and it's not going to happen overnight. But, supporting each other on this journey ... cheering at each accomplishment and encouraging when we feel discouraged ... makes it doable; you know you're not alone and no one here is a stranger to any of the feelings that are mentioned. Ruben, I'm here if you want to talk about the surgery.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

[BigMan]

Hi Beachbum,

Thanks for your post about the surgery and your feedback.

I've been doing allot of research about thyroid after my visit to the well known Metabolism Dr. KENNETH WOLINER, MD. This is a real good read about thyroid and weight loss by the Doctor I visited... http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/woliner.htm

Dr Woliner has upped me to 8 grains of Armour Thyroid. I've been on the larger dose for a couple weeks now and he informed me it would take 4 - 6 weeks for the medication to kick in. He also informed me that my adrenaline levels are off due to my pupils not closing during a flashlight test he performed. So we are testing for adrenaline now as well. He started me on some multivitamin packs and some protein bars that are the best tasting bars I've ever ate

I have been stuck in weight going up and down on my JC diet and got discouraged. I was following the diet very well and after my initial lost of weight the first few weeks the weight has been coming off and then going back on. My doctor said that dieting will not work for me until my thyroid level gets regulated. This is a big reason from what I understand why millions of people in the US can't lose weight. I read that there is 30+ million people with thyroid conditions in the US and most people are misdiagnosed for thyroid.

I suggest if you are having problems losing weight, go see a metabolism doctor and get a real thyroid test done so at least you know where your levels are at. A regular family doctor usually only tests your TSH level for thyroid which is why most people are misdiagnosed. The TSH level test is not accurate and you need to be tested for your Free T3 and Free T4 levels to see where you stand.

I haven't been eating much Jenny food for the last couple weeks. But I think the pills are beginning to work because I cheated this week and ate a couple pizzas and some prime rib and lost 4.5 lbs at todays weigh in.

So I am even more motivated to get this weight off now that I know my thyroid will be functioning properly soon. Hopefully my adrenaline gets resolved soon too so I can be fully functioning.

Thanks for reading!
Ruben

[Jackal]

Good work Rubin. Keep up on the eating plan, it will pay off now that you are getting the medical attention you need..keep posting want to hear how you are doing!!

[BigMan]

Good work Rubin. Keep up on the eating plan, it will pay off now that you are getting the medical attention you need..keep posting want to hear how you are doing!!

Thanks Jackal! The sad thing is I wished my family doctor caught this 20 years ago.
The excess weight has really limited allot of things I've could of done in the last 10 plus years.

Ruben

[Jackal]

You are not alone in your feelings. I feel the same way about myself. I wasted a lifetime being obese, 45 years worth. But today is the first day of the rest of our lives, and we have so much to look forward to. I am doing things today at 49 that I could not do at 20...so I had to wait to be a sexy grandma ..Just do it Rubin, you will love yourself for it, my whole world opened up to me.

[beachbum01085]

Jackal is right Ruben ... we ALL have those "lost years" feelings. I didn't start living until after my bypass. I started feeling healthy and could do (and wanted to do) more. I understand about the thyroid issue. My doctor sent me for a radioactive exray to test my thyroid .. it was a few years back, and if i recall it was borderline .. so, it's something I need to watch.

Don't give up and try not to give in to self-sabotage. I know easier said than done. If you do give in to temptation, make it a conscious choice and set limits on quantity. I do that each time I've gone to the movies .. I can't (ok, I choose not to) say "No" to movie theater popcorn (w/ extra butter) .. so I get it .. fist time it was a large and I ate half the bag; 2nd time it was a small and I ate every morsel; next time, maybe 1/2 of the small bag?? Ok, maybe that won't happen for a few more movie trips, but you get the idea!! *smiles*

Keep posting Ruben ... you'll definitely find support and encouragement here!!