In This Issue

* Research Article: The New Food Pyramid
* Vices After Surgery
* Only One More Week for the Mother’s Day Special
* Recipe: Baked Fish in Orange Sauce  
* Success Story: Jill and Jeff Miksch

Many patients have questions regarding drinking and smoking following surgery.  Here are some points to consider:

Alcohol gets into your blood stream much faster following weight loss surgery, so you feel the effects right away. If you have ever taken a chance and had a drink and then driven, you will not be able to do that following surgery. As the years go by, you will feel the effects less and less so that you will be able to have a very small drink whenever you like as long as your weight is stable.

Alcohol is viewed as empty calories, something you should try to avoid for the first year.  After you have reached your goal weight, then you will be able to figure a drink into your normal diet.  It is unrealistic to think that we will never drink for the rest of our lives.  Having a social drink now and then after reaching goal is part of many people’s lives. If you suffer from dumping, you will need to be very careful about sweet drinks such as margueritas or daiquiris. They can be brutal. But a small glass of dry white wine will eventually probably be no problem.

Smoking is another matter. Smoking before and right after surgery is very dangerous. Being morbidly obese we generally have problems with respiration as it is.  Smoking compounds that problem.  You want your lungs to be as clear as possible as you are wheeled into the operating room. Smoking also inhibits healing. And even if you have had your surgery laparoscopically, you will still have healing to do. Additionally smoking will irritate your new pouch and can make you very prone to ulcers, 

Most surgeons won’t operate if you smoke.  And you can’t trick them.  It shows up in blood tests.

Fish is very easy to digest, goes down well, is low in calorie and high in protein. What more can you ask?

4 (6 ounce) white fish filets
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 Tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 Tablespoon orange zest

Preheat oven to 375º. Arrange the fish filets in a shallow baking dish which has been sprayed with a little Pam. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over fish. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the fish is opaque. Spoon the sauce over the fish and serve with fresh steamed vegetables and a little brown rice.

Makes 4 servings

Nutritional information per serving:
Calories 223
Carbohydrates 2.5
Protein 41 grams

If you have a recipe that you would like to share in future issues of this newsletter, please send it to me at Barbara@WLScenter.com

Hi Barbara! My husband Jeff and I saw you speak when you came to Sioux City last year! You asked for success stories and I combined ours and included photos! Below is our story ...

Hello, my name is Jill Miksch and my husband is Jeff Miksch. I am 33 years old and Jeff is 36 years old. We have been married 2 ½ years and have two children, Christopher who is 8 years old and Charlie who is 2 years old.

I’m telling our stories together because we have gone through this entire process together. Like most overweight people, we have been heavy since childhood. I was one of the biggest girls in my class. I was taller than most of the boys by 4^th grade. I was a size 16/18 by my senior year. Jeff was one of the biggest kids in his class, also, wearing a size 50 pants by his senior year.

My weight went up and down during most of my 20s. I would try diet after diet (like everyone else who is reading this) and either fail to lose or lose a bit only to gain it back once I “quit” dieting. Jeff’s 20’s were very similar to mine, trying to lose weight only to gain it back plus more.

Jeff and I met New Year’s Eve 2001. During 2000, I had lost 52 pounds and gotten down to 249 pounds. I was wearing a size 20 and feeling pretty good. By the time I met Jeff, I was up to a size 22 and weighing 270. When I met Jeff, I was a little surprised by his size – we had been talking for a month before we met and I knew he was overweight. I just didn’t know he was a 400+ pound man. I would complain that men never looked past MY size and I felt I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t give Jeff a chance despite his size. (Plus don’t we women always think we can change a man??? It crossed my mind that I could help him lose the weight.)

Jeff and I married in September of 2002. We had Charlie in April of 2003. I now weighed 289 pounds. Nursing Charlie was very tough for me, but I stuck it out for 7 months. I was RAVENOUS during that time and successfully put myself over the 300-pound mark. I decided to try Weight Watchers again because I was successful with it in 2000. I even got Jeff to join with me. We both lost a modest amount, a drop in the bucket compared to what we needed to lose. We gave up and decided eating DQ Blizzards daily was more fun.

I had heard of gastric bypass surgery through articles and TV programs. My mom is a good one for cutting out articles she thinks I need to read and with our weight problems; she would make sure I got all the weight loss surgery ones. I wanted Jeff to consider the surgery, but he never pursued it. With having 2 children, I was becoming more and more afraid of Jeff dying before he was 45 due to his size.

In April of 2004, I found out about a couple in our town that had gastric bypass surgery and how great it had been for them. I called the woman and asked who her surgeon was and some general questions. I called the surgeon and signed up for the next information session he was having. I was tired of the back pain and knee pain and heartburn and lack of energy and everything else that comes with being morbidly obese. I told Jeff that I was going to look into the surgery with or without him. He said to sign him up, too. (And I breathed a sigh of relief!!)

I think Jeff had an eye opener at the first meeting. His BMI wasn’t even on the chart. He was classified as severely morbidly obese, weighing 440 pounds at 6’2” with a BMI of 58. I weighed in at 310 at 6’0” with a BMI of 42.

We decided that Jeff should go first. Jeff had laproscopic Roux-en-Y on July 6th, 2004. His first 24 hours were tough, although he does not remember them, but he recovered very quickly with minimal pain. In fact, we went camping 10 days after his surgery!

I went three weeks later. I had my laproscopic Roux-en-Y on July 27^th, 2004. I, on the other hand, did not recover as quickly and took about 5 weeks to feel better. There is NO WAY in the world I would have been able to go camping 10 days after my surgery!! That just goes to show how different the surgery is for each person.

But it has worked and worked well!! At almost 10 months out, Jeff has lost an amazing 205 pounds and dropped from a size 66 pants to a size 40!! I am down 114 pounds and have gone from a size 26/28 to a size 12/14!! We both feel fantastic! Jeff is hoping to lose 20 more pounds and I would like to lose 10 more. When we come up on our year in July, we will start the plastic surgery process. Jeff has much more loose skin than I do, so he’ll get to go first again!

Would we do it again? Absolutely! Our surgeon, our hospital and our bariatric program have worked together to help us be successful and we plan on keeping it that way! The surgery is NOT the magic cure-all for obesity and we have to work daily to make the right choices to keep the weight off. But one look at our before and after pictures and I think, “It’s worth it!”

Jill Miksch
jilliebean29@yahoo.com

Before	After

I love good news.  If you have good news, a success story to share, or inspiration, please send it to me at Barbara@WLScenter.com so that I can include it in future issues.