Proud of myself....

[Elbysmom2004]

My 14 day average is showing 7.3 hours and in the past week I have lost 12 pounds. I'm not 'dieting' just a lot more active to the point that my legs hurt and even my tummy muscles were sore this morning. I'm not constantly snacking anymore and I'm feeling better. I still have a lot more weight to loose but I have tried everything including slim fast, weight watchers, and going to the gym everyday for a year and not loosing a pound. Maybe I won't need gastric bypass afterall??? I hope not. I know I won't have that kind of weight loss every week but it's still really cool to have lost even 1 pound. Anyone else experience weight loss after getting CPAP?

[BleepingBeauty]

My 14 day average is showing 7.3 hours and in the past week I have lost 12 pounds.

Congrats!

Anyone else experience weight loss after getting CPAP?

I wish I could say I have, but I'm gaining weight (which I can ill afford to do). I have to say that my therapy has NOT been effective, though, and I'm sure that's the reason I'm struggling with this. I'm eating better than I ever have before, and I'm exercising when I have enough energy to do so. I'm waiting on a new sleep study to be approved by my insurance. Once that's done and I start receiving the right therapy, I'm hopeful that my energy level will increase and my weight loss will begin.

Best of luck with continued successful therapy and weight-loss.

[dieselgal]

I wish I could say I have lost weight on CPAP but I have actually gained weight too. My one concern with your post is that you say you lost 12 lbs in a week! To me that is way over the top for any where near normal weight loss. Normal weight loss on a diet is considered good if you lose 10 lbs in a month. Are you sure your number is right? If so and that continues I would have myself checked out.
In any case congrats on the weight loss.

[momadams]

I lost 10 pounds rapidly in the beginning; turns out that aerophagia was killing my appetite.
Once that improved I returned to normal patterns.
Shari

[dieselgal]

Unfortunately my aerophagia doesn't affect me that way. Sometimes though I get such a bloated feeling in my upper stomach it drives me crazy. Makes me feel like I am an over filled balloon.

[Elbysmom2004]

Those numbers are right. According to my surgeon who is doing the surgery. I had an appt with him and he weighed me. At that weigh in I was a certain weight. I'm not telling what that weight was but when I went for my diet eval by the dietician (in the same office) she weighed me using the same scale and it said 12 lbs lighter. Of course she asked me all kinds of questions and I answered them but she broke it down by saying that it takes 3,500 cals to = 1 lb. She said minus the cals from the snacking and minus the cals from the excersize (hourly nightly walks with dogs and children) and everything else added into it plus loose some water weight and that was possible. I have to increase my fluids and continue to increase my excersize (because that will help me in the long run especially with hanging skin) and I'm good to go. Looks like I will have it some time in Sept. or Oct. I would love to get down small enough to be able to have the Lap Band and not the Bypass or even nothing at all. I know I took my daughter to Six Flags 2 days in a row and walked around the park 4 times yesterday and 3 times today while climbing in and out of rides. Also loading and unloading my daughter from rides.

I ended up where my thighs hurt so bad that if I have to climb another set of stairs I'm going to scream. It feels really really really good though. It's a different kind of pain. I used to be on the swim team in High School and was only 125 lbs and I used to love when my workouts would have my body shaking afterwards if I tried to get up off of the couch. Get up in the morning and do it all over again. I can't wait to be in much better health and at a 'normal' weight.

[kebsa]

Congratulations on the weight loss! 12 pounds is a lot in one week and certainly is not sustainable in the long term to be healthy but it can be fluid loss in the early stages of weight loss- I have not experienced weightloss from xpap but i can see how if you feel more rested and have more energy and can do more, even if it is incidental activity throughout the day it will lead to weight loss

i am considerably overweight but at one stage was in the super obese range, i lost 140 pounds in just over a year mainly due to fear (its a great motivator!) I have MS, i am an amputee and an electric wheelchair user- I had stacked on lots of weight due to physical activity and steroid medications used for MS flares. One morning i woke to find that i could not move or feel my remaining leg- it was the start of an MS relapse, i suddenly realized that while obesity shortens life it can rob you of your independance long before it kills you! i live alone and without that leg working i could not even transfer from chair to chair and i was too darn big to expect others to lift me! Thankfully my leg improved enough to be usable fairly quickly but then i focused on doing what i could to lose weight- i calorie count, use a food diary and then add as much incidental activity as i can- i can't do an excercise regieme as such because of my MS but i could do things like using a hand cycle for lots of short periods during the day, using small weights and doing some arm excercises everytime the ads came on if i was watching TV.

unfortunately after multiple admissions to hospital last year (i spent over half the year in hospital thanks to the MS) i regained some of what i had lost but i am back on track now and still doing what i can to add little bits of activity where ever i can- fatigue is a major part of MS so the benefits in terms of energy levels with cpap is not quite so evident as it could be but there has been some improvement

keep in with whatever you are doing, but i would suggest that you find yourself a support group of people with similar levels of weight to lose, it makes a big difference- I found a group just like that, where most of us had 100 to 150 pounds to lose- that can be daunting and just walking into the average weightloss group where people have maybe 20 pounds to lose, is disheartening but the group i found was different, they really could understand all the issues that go with be overweight- they are like family to me now and when i have a backslide and regain weight thery are there to make sure i do not give up

good luck with your weightloss and getting healthier

[Elbysmom2004]

Thank you so much for your support and encouragment. Loosing weight is tough. Being in the morbidly obese group is not fun. Especially when they tell you that your BMI puts you at obese but your co-morbidities puts you at morbidly obese group. It took me 5 yrs of fertility treatment to get pg and I lost my little boy at 5 1/2 months pg. I gained 60 lbs and didn't loose one pound after I lost him. Went into depression (which my ex-husband couldn't figure out why I was depressed) and gained another 40 lbs in 4 months. So in 9 almost 10 months I gained 100 lbs Got pg with an ectopic. Lost that baby then got pg with my twins. They have MAJOR health problems and I was married to an abusive jerk. Added to more weight gain. Wasn't until I got rid of him that I found true happiness and realized what I did to my body. So here I am....I found support on another site for my obesity so enough of that. I just wanted to say good luck with your MS; you will be in my thoughts and prayers. My neighbor was just diagnosed with MS and its tough but if you have the right attitude.

One thing I have learned over the past almost 4 yrs is that if you have the right attitude you can accomplish anything. My son taught me that. He has 4 different lung conditions and everytime I take him to the dr for wheezing or anything they learned (and the ER learned) that you cannot judge him off of how he is acting. Several times he was hooked up to a 4 hour long albuterol treatment and they could hear him laughing from his room all the way to the desk. When my kids fall while learning something new they get up, dust off and try again.

Thats how I'm looking at my CPAP therapy also. I love the whole sleep thing but I HATE having to put the mask on everynight. I awoke at 1am last night and realized that once again I forgot to put it on. I forced myself to lean over and get the darned thing and put it on. I HATE having the redness on my nose and I HATE having to take the extra time each day to take care of the machine but like I said I LOVE the sleep.

[dieselgal]

Yes, Congratulations and keep up the good work. Keep us informed on the progress.

[MaryC]

Thank you, Elbysmom2004 and kebsa, for telling your personal and very difficult stories.
Your problems sound much more severe than what I am going through, but I do appreciate your sharing what you had to do to change your lives.

Elbysmom2004, congrats on your quick progress! - I have at least 70 lbs to lose, I've gained a bit more weight this year and thought that as soon as I got on CPAP I might lose a few pounds. I haven't made much progress with not feeling tired nor with the weight loss. Maybe the suggestion of a local support group is good. I am averaging close to 4 hours with my CPAP after just having it about 2 months.

kebsa, I cannot imagine what you have gone though, but it sounds just quite tough to have MS. I am happy that you have lost weight. I haven't had significant health problems other than sleep apnea, and I do want to get better to prolong my life and just be happier.

I also tend to think progress is a continuous line of improvement, when in fact it is not, things ebb and flow, people try to get back on track, it is more like a zig-zag, at least for me it is, so far.

[TXLadybug]

I'm so pleased for you! I understand how stepping on the scales and even seeing a 1 or 2 lb loss makes you feel encouraged that you must be doing something right somewhere. It's so difficult to get the metabolism going in the right direction. Seems even harder for women in certain age ranges. I did lose 9 lbs in 1 week, but I have to confess.... I had a sudden problem with edema, had to go to the Dr. and get diuretic. So, all 9 lbs were first water weight gained. I did actually lose 2 "real" lbs after that though.

Keep doing whatever it is that's working for you as long as you stay healthy as possible. Sounds like your plate is full.

[mb]

Regarding the aerophagia , if it is what I think, maybe what would cure the bloated stomach feeling, is Simethicone. I occasionally swallow air (not cpap related), and it helps me feel better. Go to Walmart or a drug store and look for it along side the antacid tablets. There are tablets called "gas relief", and often they are partly antacid/ partly simethicone. I prefer to buy "pure" simethicone. It can be gotten in gellcap form or tablet. The tablets are chewable, and I believe would work quicker than an encapsulated. Most I recall are about 60-80 mg. A couple of these and the bloated feeling goes away. Only side effect with me, is that the gas gets captured, but then needs to go out the other end, the next day. (that doesn't bother me).

Mike