New to CPAP, and I'm fat.

Oh honey! Before you go letting anybody mess with your internal organs PLEASE, for goodness sake, find out what's going on to cause you to crave all those sweets and gain weight. You need a really good thyroid workup. Not the standard one where they test TSH and T4 and say you're "normal" unless your TSH is really high (the lab standards say 5 is normal, knowledgeable endocrinologists say 2!). You need to be tested for thyroid antibodies (Hashimoto's disease) and your Free T4, Free T3, and rT3 measured. Most doctors do NOT do these tests.

Please do some good research before you agree to any bariatric procedure. Understand what they will do, what the side effects are (often downplayed, they are usually SERIOUS), and what you will be able to eat after surgery (do you really want to eat that way the rest of your life? Most people don't succeed and gain the weight back, but they won't tell you that). You should ask these questions online from people who have had the same procedure because you must understand that the bariatric clinic is selling a product and they are going to make it sound all rosy and wonderful. Ask about things like reflux, heartburn, diarrhea.

Then please, please, please, do yourself a favor and look into either the low carb high fat diet (good place to look is here: http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf) or the Paleo diet: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definiti ... NAC95--see also Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint. Seriously. You can't say you've tried everything if you haven't given those approaches a chance. Some bariatric procedures require you to be on a pretty low carb diet for life anyway, so why not try it without the surgery? The surgery will still be there if this doesn't work for you.

CPAP may help, but it can't work alone. I gained weight, because CPAP helped reduce my nighttime GERD reflux. So I could eat more with less discomfort. Not a great help for my weight at all.

Vegan is obviously not working for you. You don't have to eat meat if you're ethically opposed to it, but other protein sources like eggs, dairy, fish or seafood, and nuts are available. Fat is used to provide essential nutrients for health (did you know there are essential nutrients in fat? Did you know you can't absorb all that great vitamin A,D, E, and K in your veggies without fat???). Fat also provides satiety so you're not craving junk foods. And the foundation of these approaches is still vegetables, whole, organic, clean foods. But NO vegan oreos, NO Fritos. The good part is that if you get these carbs out of your system (along with high glycemic fruits, fructose and other sugars, and excessive starch) your cravings will go AWAY and you won't want vegan oreos and fritos. Truly. I promise.

I've lost 60 lbs this way, and feel 1000% better. It's been almost 2 years now. I have more to lose, but I'm never going back!

Vegan for ethical reasons. I can't bring myself to eat animal foods.

Hi SisterB

Welcome! I'm brand new here too. They've been very helpful for me, nice people. I'm still in the learning process and experimentation phase and I need to lose approx. 75 lbs.

First of all, congrats on getting diagnosed and using your machine. I'm 61, was diagnosed several months ago, and have had so much energy since getting my machine that I feel 41. Before this, I felt every one of those 61 years. For a variety of reasons, I had been gradually putting on weight without having the energy to take it off. Now I do.

I decided to start with a weight management program at my local hospital in lieu of bariatric surgery because I wanted to learn how to eat right so that I could live a longer and healthier life. I chose this approach because I wanted weekly checks with nurses and dieticians as well as lab analyses monthly and I also wanted to ensure that once I took this weight off, I could keep it off. So, I'm learning about nutrition. I'm learning that I won't be able to eat bread for the rest of my life, and that I can only eat around 1200 calories a day - which means lots of exercise. Right now I'm on the first phase of this plan, and in two weeks have lost 7.8 lbs. I'm drinking beverages for the first phase of this diet, which is a ketogenic diet. That means I'm burning fat, not glucose. I have to drink half my body weight in water daily. It's working, and I already feel great having only lost 7.8 lbs. Imagine how much better I'm going to feel after I lose 100 pounds.

From what I've read of your situation, you might benefit greatly from this kind of plan, although you won't be able to exercise heavily until you stop the ketogenic part of the diet. In order to get into the program, I had to have a physical, EKG and blood work to determine that I didn't have some other underlying problem that would prevent me from losing weight. I didn't want surgery, just wanted to learn how to eat right as I took off the weight. I figure that if a doctor, nurses, dieticians, and therapist were on my team, I'd have to be successful. I'm also relieved to know that my health is much better now. My bp dropped 20 points in two weeks. Not bad. Yes, I still have a long road ahead of me, but I know I can do it. At least check into what kind of programs your local hospitals have, programs that don't include bariatric surgery.

Welcome!

You need to find a weight loss approach that works for your body and your life. Investigate some lifestyle changes before undergoing major surgery.

Start by scheduling a complete workup with your doctor. While you are waiting for the test results to come back, keep a journal. Eat normally, but track everything you eat and drink, what time, how you were feeling when you ate. That is going to give you a good idea of areas that you need to improve on. Consult a nutritionist who will work with you and develop a plan that works for your body and your life.

I used to be vegan, I was the crunchy type that sprouted my own seeds, prepared meals with little to no processing. But I knew other vegans who couldn't/didn't cook and ate processed/ packaged crap. Processed crap is processed crap, whether it vegan or not.

Fortunately you can learn everything along the path of bariatric surgery, but not actually have to commit to it. It's a six-month process. I'll be meeting with nutritionists, physical therapists and psychologists, as well as with a surgeon at the end of the journey.

I think that meeting with the psych will be edifying.

SisterBenedict wrote:Vegan for ethical reasons. I can't bring myself to eat animal foods.

You may want to read this:

http://www.truthaboutabs.com/vegan-conf ... blems.html

As a vegan you are missing out on a lot of nutrients that humans need to stay healthy and intelligent. You may killing the most important animal in your life = your body and mind.

Welcome to the forum Sister B!

If you wouldn't mind sharing, I'd appreciate knowing what snazzy bed pillow you use. Thanks!

The Seventh Day Adventists have decades of nutritional research behind them.
If I were to go vegan, I would start collecting Adventist cookbooks.

SisterBenedict wrote:I am looking into bariatric surgery but I am frankly scared about that.

Hi,

I started on CPAP about 5 years ago, and started on weight loss about 2-1/2 years ago. My body weight was about double what it should be, and I had zero muscle tone. Due to asthma, I had a hard time walking a flight of stairs. CPAP got me part of the way there--it helped me regain my optimism and gave me just enough energy that I knew I wanted to do better. Finding a doctor who was willing to try innovative new treatments for asthma was the 2nd key to the puzzle. Once I was able to breathe again, I was able to start exercising. That lead to losing the first 20 lbs. I was so excited about this small victory that I started a program at a hospital weight loss clinic. I am down 154 lbs. I'm looking to run my first half marathon in 2 weeks. For me, this is nothing short of amazing given that a flight of stairs would put me down for 30 minutes only 3 years ago.

What you want to do is possible. What I have learned along the way is that I needed help and advice from a variety of professionals. I also learned that I needed a life altering motivator (cardiac doctor said change or die young) and I had to change just about everything about my life. If you are not at that point, it is hard to keep up the commitment that is required for a year or two to reach your goals.

I would avoid the surgery unless you have no other option. The surgery can be a real mess. In order to be successful long term, you have to adopt a post-surgical diet. If you have to diet anyway, you might as well do the diet now and skip the messy surgery. The only real benefit to the surgery is if you absolutely have to drop 100 lbs in a few months, are willing to deal with the collateral damage, and are willing to risk not being able to adopt the long term diet that prevents you from gaining it all back.

Since you already work out, I'd first suggest getting a metabolic test such as the New Leaf assessment. Many clubs and YMCAs do this. It will tell you (1) exactly how many calories you burn each day, which will let you know exactly what you can eat, and (2) it will give you your heart rate zones where you burn the most fat. This will tell you exactly what intensity to work out at for fat burn. The heart rate for maximum fat burn is surprisingly low, and many people push themselves to too high of a heart rate. That only serves to burn carbs, and that just makes you hungry.

Next, get a full work up by a weight loss doctor. Find one who will do the full battery of blood tests. Third, do a body composition scan. This will identify where you have excess fat so you know where to put extra focus when you are exercising. Finally, check with your insurance plan to see if they have any wellness programs. I have Blue Cross, and they have a program in MN called CanDo, which gave me access to a dietician and counselor for 6 months for just a one-time $20 co-pay. Blue Cross also covered all of my visits to the weight loss clinic.

Good luck...I know you can do it!

-john-

Also welcome. I have not seen it mentioned in other posts...i only scanned thru each one....keep up with your daytime sleepiness and how your are reacting to the cpap pressure. As you loose weight, your pressure needs will change. Generally, for each 20 pounds lost your cpap pressure will decrease by 1 CWP. Tell your doctor if you start feeling overwelmed by the pressure or your stomach acking or feeling bloated or waking alot.

Vegan for ethical reasons. I can't bring myself to eat animal foods.

Wow, one of the questions you really need answered if you have bariatric surgery is how you will EVER get enough protein if you remain vegan. Right now you can get enough by eating a significant volume of grains, legumes, and nuts but you volume of intake will be severely restricted after bariatric surgery. I can't imagine a lifetime of liquid protein supplements to get sufficient protein, and I imagine it would take a significant period of time each day to get enough protein supplement in.

I look at it this way.

Apnea can make you tend to gain weight. However, "curing" the apnea won't take the pounds off, but it might make it easier. There are also plenty of non-apneacs who get fat.

Read and understand Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. Even if you don't "do Atkins," it gives you some good ideas why certain foods will make you fatter than others. Also why a vegan diet won't necessarily help you lose weight. And why our current politically correct ideas about diet may vary greatly from what actually works.

I'll also recommend to be careful to not let a weight loss or health diet become your religion. Far too many people are "worshiping" their particular diet and refuse to consider that there might be anything wrong with their diet, and even try to proselytize others.

Note I'm not talking about being vegan for moral reasons. That's fine. Just don't get hung up on Guru Joe's Haptopractic Vegan Diet plan or for that matter on Billy Bob's All Bacon Low Carb Diet.

I agree - it'll be hard to stay vegan and do low-carb, but I believe in the low carb for losing weight. Current thinking also says that many people who work out tend to eat more after doing so without realizing it (all that 02 makes you hungry), plus your body can respond to exercise in a kind of backlash - protecting itself from 'starvation', and sometimes a slightly more relaxed approach to fitness might be necessary - cutting back on the frequency and/or length of workouts. I'd want to talk to not just the bariatric advisor but even an endocrinologist to explore more about your entire routine (and I don't just mean exercise).

My BMI is 41.Some of the value of BMI is inflated due to the fact that even when I was skinny, I had a big sized neck. but yes, I too am fat.

Over the past few years, I have cut out all kinds of bad food and still put on weight.

It's taken 4-5 months of CPAP therapy,but my energy level is definitely increasing. I find myself getting antsy and feel the need to be more active. The household to-do list is seeing activity it hasn't seen in years.

LOL

I denied having OSA for years, but it's now becoming apparent that my sleep apnea was partially to blame for the increase in my weight & loss of energy.

Dave