[MrsKB]

So, I have been trying to loose weight for about three years, which is when i had my second child. Instead of loosing weight i have only managd to stress myself out more and gain another 40 lbs from when i started. It is so frustrating. I have tricare prime and i dont weigh enough for them to help me except for nutrition classes. Which do to the fact that i have tried every diet imaginable, I know wont work. I have tried no fat no sugar no carbs 1200 calories and so forth and so on. I have also tried countless weightloss pills including alli and other name brand drugs. At this point i now take ephedrine, which i know is bad for my health but it has atleast put a halt to the weight gain. I dont like taking pills to maintain a weight and honestly i know i dont eat nearly enough so its not my intake. I still eat healthy and i still only take in somewhere from 800 to 1200 calories a day. When i stooped eating sugars i did loose a few lbs but my body crashed and i had to have a diabetes test done and i was told by the doctor that my body needs sugar to function normally and that i am now a borderline diabetic. So i have decided that my only option is weightloss surgery. But due to the fact that tricare wont pay and my pcm wont help, (and yes i have changed pcms a few times, but they still wont) I am going to have to find an affordable option for me. The problem is that without consultations i cant find a price range for surgeries in my area. So please if you live in washington state or one of the surrounding states could you tell me what surgery youve had and roughly how much it cost you?
Also if you have any other ideas that you think might work im open to suggestions. I really really want to loose this weight and i could really really use your help. After my first child I lost all the weight i wanted to by working out but do to some body malfunctions, the level of exercise required is not possible for me. I do try to walk sometimes and I most definately do not just sit around. Please please help me!

[luckylocke]

Has any doctor been able to see why you can't loose weight on a 800-1200 calorie diet? I can't believe that gaining 40lbs on that amount of calories is normal. Before you go looking at surgery perhaps you should find out what is going with your body. have they done any tests on you? Thyroid or some other type of problem? Just a thought.

It must me so frustrating to be trying so hard and not seeing any results.

[clancythecamper]

Yeah, that's my first thought too. A nut might help you pinpoint nutritionally what's going on and your pcm should be able to do labs, etc to rule out other issues. What are Tricare's rules if you have co-morbities? It stinks to think you have to develop other issues for them to kick in a help~!~~~ wishing you well~~~

[Thor]

Some people here use programs such as Fitday.com to track their caloric and other intakes. I just popped on it to see how many calories it says our body burns daily with 8 hours of sleep and 16 hours of rest and inactivity just to get a minimum of calories a person should burn daily. I did not adjust for any height or weight differences between myself and you.

It said that almost 2000 calories would be burned. With that said I would suggest that you get a true picture of your intakes and calories. Us pouchies and more so the newbies measure everything and read all labels for content and serving size. If that all checks out, you must have something going on that you and your doctors need to figure out.

Pre-surgery my biggest downfall with weight gain was portion control and food choice. Those are both two big ones to overcome and before my new lifestyle I never realized how they were affecting my health.

Wls is a tool and if paying out of pocket can be very expensive. Some people can get approved if they have co-morbidity issues such as diabetes, sleep apnea, very high blood pressure to name a few. Definitely get your doctors to explore all possibilities of the weight gain if your caloric intake is as low as you believe. Because even if you have no physical activity, and since you are a mom we know that you are chasing the little one around, you should still not be gaining. Try Fitday it is easy to use or maybe your Nut. has something like it.

Good Luck

Thor

[DocSanae]

Welcome to the board, thank you for joining us.
I hope we can help you figure out what's best for you.
(((((HUGS)))) May your journey go well.

First off, at your height and weight, you aren't eligible for weight loss surgery because you don't meet the NIH criteria.
If your calorie count is correct, then,
1) You may have undiscovered medcial issues--most likely endocrinal or hormonal--that prevents you from losing weight reasonably.
2) Due to your repeated dieting, your metabolism rate may have become very low, which will make it very difficult to lose. You may need to have your basal metabolim rate analysed to make sure if this is not the case.

Have you been under medical supervision throughout your dealings with your weight? If not, or if it's only been sporadic and in consistent, then I think you should find a dr who will check you out thoroughly and help you figure out what's up with your system, and help you figure out what's the best option for you.

Also, you need to understand that the caloric intake even with weight loss surgery is going to be pretty close to what you say is for you now. That means, restricting intake through surgery may not work in your case, so it's all the more important to have a dr who's familiar with the above issues in order to figure out what the best course is.

[MrsKB]

Thank you all for your kind responses. I do know that is very abnormal for a person my height and weight to gain weight on a 1200 or less calorie diet. I do know my exact calorie intake per day because i measure everything i intake. In a day i eat one meal which i have to force down because i am never hungry. And no I have never been anorexic. I do know that the cause of this habit is due to only being able to eat sporadically as a teenager, When I only ate when I went to school and then only lunches. Now at this point in my life I wake up and have maybe two cups of coffee and dinner. Where I usually eat about half a cup of pasta or rice and maybe a 4 to 8 oz portion of fish or chicken. I did try to speed up my metabolism once by eating very small portions three times a day. I did that for 4 months and managed to put on 20+ lbs. Which was exactly the opposite of what I wanted. I also spend my days running after a three year old boy and an almost seven year old girl. I get up at 6am everymorning and go to sleep at about 3am every night. I know my lack of sleep isnt healthy either. The problem with talking to my doctors is when i mention the fact that I cant lose weight no matter what and instead keep gaining weight they shrug there shoulders and say there is mothing we can do for you except allow you to atend nutrion classes. Which I would do willingly except for the fact that I have two kids that I cant take with me and My husband is over seas now. Even if the class would allow me to bring them, the children, exspecially the boy, would not sit still or be quiet and I would miss most of what the nut. would be saying. I have an appointment this friday to once again try to address my weight gain with the doctor. I have a new PCM and I am hoping maybe he will listen to me and run tests like you say. But the fact of it is I have noticed a trend with the army medical system. When it comes to weight and also most other issues they just say we cant help you. Or they send you from doctor to doctor until you finally give up. When I went in because of my sugar problem the doctor sent me for a blood glucose level test. It was a four hour test and by the end of it i felt horrible. I got a call from the doctor to come in and he sat me down and said, "well maam, you do have a low glucose level but its not low enough that i am willing to worry about it. Do you have to skip that meal that your skipping?" I just looked at him and said so there is nothing I can do about getting so shakey and he proceeded to tell me no except eat more. THen he told me that he would much rather focus on me quitting smoking. Now I know smoking is a bad habit, but its the only one i have. And I enjoy it. I said thanks and left the office. The doctors at madigan are rude and just dont really care. I have several other odd health problems but they never really help with those either. Yes they send me around for tests and what not but at the end they either dont know whats causing my problems or they say, well maam the surgery is to intusive and we would rather not do it until its absolutely needed. I have a type of arthritus inside my spinal column and they told me that as it gets worse to keep them informed. The side effects include numbness or loss of function in every part of your body. Every time i go to the doctor they ask me if I have started experiancing incontanance. For those of you who dont know what that is, its when you loose control over you urinary and bowel movents. Its bad enough that I know this symptom is coming someday but to remind me of it every time. Like I wouldnt say something if it was happening. At 26 it is very rare for me to have this and they tell me that until its really needed they wont preform the surgery. Oh well. That is why I am considering going outside my insurance and medical network to find a private weightloss doctor or whatever.

[Perfesser]

Sounds like the docs at Madigan haven't gotten any better since I was stationed there just after Viet Nam ended. My wife hated going there because of the way they treated an enlisted man's wife. Good luck!!

CT