Hi everyone, I'm having bottom surgery with Dr. McGinn on February 7th. I have wrapped up most of the things I need to take care of with her office to ensure that my surgery happens. My main remaining concern is the weight limit. Dr. McGinn requires a BMI of lower than 28 to qualify for surgery. I am below a BMI of 28, but my weight has been rising rapidly for some reason. I am 5' 9", and 6 months ago my BMI was around 165lbs. I was weighed again about two months ago, and my BMI had jumped to 179lbs. I started running a few times a week to stay under the limit, but the next time I was weighed I was 183lbs. Even though I have been running a few nights a week and I'd swear that it looks like I've lost weight, I am now 184.5lbs. I think at this point I must be gaining muscle, but at the very least I am pretty sure I'm not gaining fat. I am really trying to stay below 190lbs (the cutoff), but I am surprised by how hard it suddenly is. It seems like every time I weigh myself I am heavier; I have never weighed this much in my entire life.

I have recently switched from running twice a week to running every other night. I really think I have to limit it to that so that I don't hurt myself. I have also been paying close attention to what I eat, and trying not to eat any junk food, desserts, or even unnecessary calories.

The strange thing is that I don't really think I look that heavy. I definitely have some chub, but I am not outrageously overweight.

Right now I basically have to, at the very least, keep my weight from going up much more in the next 9 weeks. Ideally, I would really like to lose at least 3lbs before surgery.

Does anyone have suggestions on what I can do?

Make sure your scale is correct.

I have not worked out since September. I had FFS in September and GCS with McGinn in November. I will begin back exercising and training with my trainer in January. My trainer said to me you can not fix a poor diet with exercise. I have not gained any weight.

When I go back to work Friday I will restart my step work to gradually get back to 32 flights in the morning.

Congratulations in GCS The reason the BMI limit is there is because fat is a bad supplier of blood. GCS requires a good blood supply in order to heal.

Dr. McGinn has spent a lot of time with me and making sure my GCS has a good outcome. I could not have asked for a better surgeon.

Quote from: Rachel Lynn on December 06, 2016, 06:32:51 PM
My trainer said to me you can not fix a poor diet with exercise.

This is the key.  Keeping your weight down is mostly about controlling your diet.

The biggest culprit in most bad diets are beverages.  Soda, alcohol, and even fruit juices like orange juice and apple juice have too much sugar and calories.  Personally, I only drink water and 0% milk.  I never drink anything else. 

You need to get serious about managing your weight and start counting your calories.  Use a calorie counter app such as MyFitnessPal and literally write down EVERYTHING you put into your mouth - both food and drinks.  You will be surprised at just how many calories you are consuming each day.  Once you see the numbers in front of you, you'll understand exactly what you need to change.

Gaining and losing weight is not some mysterious process.  It's completely scientific and all about the numbers.  Count the calories you're eating and drinking each day.  Do the math.  That's all there is to it.

If your about to undergo GCS in a few months and since you'll be asked to stop HRT before surgery  anyways, why not try lowering your dosage a bit bc estrogen in itself makes losing weight alot harder, if its not too stressing for you? Dont cut your anti androgens though!
Being a nutritionist, its so true that diet is everything, choosing foods that help burn fat opposed to carbohydrates which are all hidden sugars, pasta , bread ect.. of course junk food !  best wishes that you'll reach your goal!  [emoji177]Julie


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before i started my transition i lost 50 lbs strictly on diet

if your snacking stick to veggies and a little bit of fruit, some is good but too much can be bad
stay away from bread and pasta, drink alot of water and if you want to drink soda stick to diet (even tho aspartame is terrible for you) and for the odd drink i found whiskey to have the least amount of calories

for breakfast high protien like eggs, also if your in a rush just a scoop of peanut butter on your way out the door

but also too keep from relapsing let yourself have the odd thing that is terrible for you, at the end of the day being healthy includes enjoying yourself and most bee food helps with that

also dont forget if your working out your building muscle and that will make you seem heavier then you are, so just relax watch what you eat a little more and everything will be ok

on a side note good luck on feb 7th, mine is with brassard on the 8th lol

Wow, my BMI is 32...my dr doesn't seem to concerned about it (GCS is in a month). 

Something I remember is, "Losing weight begins in the kitchen; getting in shape begins with movement."

Or something like that.

Quote from: Rachel Lynn on December 06, 2016, 06:32:51 PM
Make sure your scale is correct.

I have not worked out since September. I had FFS in September and GCS with McGinn in November. I will begin back exercising and training with my trainer in January. My trainer said to me you can not fix a poor diet with exercise. I have not gained any weight.

When I go back to work Friday I will restart my step work to gradually get back to 32 flights in the morning.

Congratulations in GCS The reason the BMI limit is there is because fat is a bad supplier of blood. GCS requires a good blood supply in order to heal.

Dr. McGinn has spent a lot of time with me and making sure my GCS has a good outcome. I could not have asked for a better surgeon.

Hi Rachel,

You can't work out post FFS because of the GCS but if it wasn't for that do you know how soon you'd have resumed working out following FFS? Dr Sutin told me a month so I just wondered if that tallies with your thoughts? xx

I've managed fairly dramatic rate of weight loss, for extended periods of time, by severely restricting my calorie intake. Basically not that far off staving myself. I didn't exercise, mainly because I could barely move sometimes.

It was easy to consistently lose between 2lbs to 5lbs a week, but I managed over 7lbs than on a few weeks.

I wouldn't do it very close to the surgery as its probably not safe.

I prefer to take weight off with aerobic exercise, preference for periods of more than an hour which will burn fat faster than anything else you can do.

Then focus on a diet of veggies for nutrition, healthy fats and proteins.

Lots of rock climbing and several triathlons later this has worked well for me.

I found the GI diet worked for me: basically slow burning calories and I lost several stone back in the day, but all the diets work on the basis of restricting your calorie intake.

Then I took up running in earnest. You still have to watch your calories when doing that: some people eat more and gain, or remain the same, weight.

I'm trying to focus more now on the quality and healthiness of what I'm eating.

As others have said, I wouldn't push it close to surgery. You need your strength. In the same way we taper training down for marathons I would do the same for big surgery. It's like a marathon on your body and, in the case of FFS, 100x worse and I say that as someone who ran 2h45 at the London marathon two years ago

xx

just go raw fruit and vegetable diet, you will probably lose ten pounds in the first two weeks as it cleans out your colon, then your body will probably start moving towards a bmi of 22 or so over the next month or two,

i did it and went from(6'1") 190 to 160-165 over a personal 30 day try out for it, now im a stable 155-160,

the only tips i can give are, cheat days or cheating the diet makes it harder to keep doing it, and apples are the best way to increase sodium if your on spironolactone, and i eat carrots for protein

if you stick to it you will never be able to eat enough food to gain weight and the majority of weight loss is the abdominal area