ANA Discussion Forum
Archive => Archives => Topic started by: Patti UT on August 13, 2006, 01:32:51 pm
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OK, now I know I'm going out on a limb here talking about my weight. Us females don't like to talk about this. But having been a very active female before AN surgery, ie: hiking, mountian biking, skiing, snowshoeing, swimming, regualr vigorous aerobic exercise. Being in my mid 40's it was already getting harder to keep my weight in check regardless of my activity, but since the surgery and basically not doing anything for weveral months. Now almost 2 yrs later I am back to moderate hikes and walking, some swimming, and some weight training. and of course the balance exercises that really are not a "work out". I don't eat any differently, but have put on enough weight since the surgery that I am totally bummed about it. Any kind of repitious movement gets me spinning and sick to my stomach and I can't do very much of that kind of exercise. Anyone else experience weight gain after?? I initially lost a bunch right after surgery but it came back with a vengance and then some. HELP! maybe a personal trainer is in order
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Patti I had lost 40 pounds before I got sick...I'm still stuck with the extra weight and an extra 10 pounds that no matter what I do will not go away >:( I've been told it's due to the hormone imbalance from surgery but another doctor told me I'm not trying hard enough to lose the weight. It's so frustrating!
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Hmmm, so nothing to with the chocolate then......
Best regards
Tony
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Actually panic and tragedy completely kill my appetite. So, while I was waiting and worrying for the diagnosis I lost 10 pounds and then post surgery and with the inability to really taste my food and my facial paralysis making eating difficult I have lost another 5 and it keeps slowly coming off, even with a much reduced activity level.
Since eating was a great pleasure of mine and worrying makes me sick, this hasn't been a pleasant weight loss but I guess I will take it. Would rather be fat, happy and never had a tumor, though.
Amy
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I gained about 20 lbs post surgery.  I lost about 15 lbs in the hospital but gained it back.  Now I have strech marks on the inside of my thighs.  Ewwwwww.... :(  They said i gained weight because of the steroids they gave me to reduce the swelling of the brain.
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Patti UT:
I can understand why you're bummed out over your weight gain, post-AN surgery, especially as a physically active person.
Ironically, I had just the opposite experience. Prior to my diagnosis and subsequent surgery, I had been losing weight; just over 30 pounds within 6 months,...and believe me, I wasn't trying, although I was about 25 pounds over my 'ideal' weight range before my appetite diminished and the pounds began to simply drop off. In fact, one of the motivations for my initial doctor visit was my 'mysterious' weight loss and diminished appetite. My Primary Physician only wanted an MRI scan to check my sinuses, hoping to find a reason for my loss of taste (and related loss of appetite) but, instead, he found a large, almost-intimidating (4.5 cm) AN tumor. A hospital nurse told me that this happens a lot. Doctors have patients that present with symptoms that appear to be one thing but a CAT or MRI scan shows something entirely different, such as, in my case, an AN. A really big AN, at that.
Since the (successful) AN surgery, my appetite has returned and I'm eating as much as I ever did - and throughly enjoying it (don't hate me). Pre-op, I had some CAT-scans done that inncluded my stomach, and everything was 'perfectly normal'. A few weeks after my AN surgery, I consulted a gastroenterologist who looked at the CAT-scan report that involved my stomach and intestinal tract and he stated there was nothing he could see in the report that indicated any abnormalities. He also mentioned that some of the prior weight loss 'may' have been stress-related, which made sense. What made even more sense was when my neurosurgeon informed me that the AN tumor he removed had involved some of the nerves that effect the tongue and so, it must have had a negative impact on my sense of taste, likely causing the decrease in my appetite and subsequent loss of weight. I still have a slight touch of numbness on one side of my tongue - but my appetite has not been negatively effected - at all. I have gained a few pounds but am well within my normal weight range for my height and build. I've always had a 'high metabolism rate' which appears to have returned after deserting me for some years. I now weigh about what I weighed 25 years ago, when I was a lad of 38. I'm fairly active and I walk as much as possible but other than that, I do little 'formal' exercise and I eat pretty much what I please, as always.
I know that all this doesn't directly address your specific situation, and I trust some other posters will do that for you, but I wanted to point out that we are all individuals and, for better or worse, there is little pattern to our experiences with AN.
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Weight when I went to St John with Dr Love year before surgery--114. Formerly super active sailor, hiker, kayaker, runner.
Weight now--135 and won't budge. I joined a gym and didn't feel comfortable there, so I got a personal trainer--had to put that on hold for arm surgery and plan on getting back to it this week or next. A gym is a difficult place for a person with a vestibular disorder and SSD--especially if they blast the music and crowd the machines too close together. The treadmill is the single most beneficial tool for blancce retraining and weight loss--we don't have room for one what with all the large strange art projects going on here. We had a weight loss thread a while back, but there was too much chocolate going around!
Capt Deb 8)
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I was always 125lbs till i was 21 then after my surgrey its been 165lbs to 180lbs I hate it, I tell every one I want the AN back so it can eat all the fat away lol
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I did lose weight after my AN surgery, but put some back on and stuggling to take it off. I know that in order for me to be successful, I need to really up the exercise, but somedays I am too wonky headed to do anything :(  My doctor claims my failure to lose weight is due to the fact that I am older and menopausal. Geez, I am glad it's not the chocolate :o
Cheryl
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A word of wisdom from an old dieter: Look up the recommended daily allowance of fats you need for your height, bone structure, and age. I'll bet the number is somewhere near 30-35 grams per day. Now get a chart at the store or online and look up the fats you are taking in for every thing you put in you mouth for a week. You will be so surprised that your fat consumption is far far more than you require. You know where the extra fats go, don't you? As for chocolate! Should we ask Deb's parrott to remind you?
I have finally conquered the recalcitrant edipoise tissue game. Don't worry about calories, count fat grams. Don't cut out too many, your hair will fall out. :P But you can recover quite well with the RDA of fats which include high quality proteins.