My name is Lee Rodgers. I am a lowcarber. I am also the owner of the first site
dedicated to supporting other lowcarb dieters online. This page started out to be a
one paragraph intro but has morphed into a kind of Blog of my continuing journey.
That should not surprise me considering that The Lowcarb Retreat started as my
personal bookmarks page of things that I found while browsing the web.
In the beginning the online lowcarb community was so small that just
about everyone knew everyone else because there was only the alt.support.diet
newsgroup and The Lowcarb Retreat. The popularity of lowcarb has blossomed
and now there are quite literally hundreds of websites, message boards, chat groups
and commercial entities dedicated to the lowcarb lifestyle. So, I felt it was time to
write something of an introduction about myself. Plus I got tired of trying to remember
things and then repeating the same stuff over and over as I met new dieters. Let me
say from the outset that I am no ones lowcarb guru, specialist or some kind of great
success. I am just a fat guy who reads books and does the best I can to stay healthy
while losing a few pounds along the way.
I started lowcarbing in the summer of 1994. At the time we estimated my weight
between 625-650# but we were not able to find a scale for an accurate measure until
I'd already lost significant poundage. According to the laundry room scale in the
basement of the Santa Teresa Kaiser Hospital I was a whopping 600 pounds in my stocking
feet. At the time I felt on top of the world because I had lost enough girth to wear jeans
again. Sweatpants and sweat shirts make an interesting fashion statement, but jeans
are nice. Enough items on a list of health problems had diminished to a degree that
walking to the scale was possible without gasping like a fish out of water.
By the end of 1994 I was at 580# and feeling like a million bucks. To celebrate I
bought a commercial treadmill and soon learned to hate it as I huffed and puffed to
better fitness. Thanks to Atkins eating and phen-fen I was joyously down to 505 pounds
by the end of 1995. I rewarded myself with a protective weight cage so I could lift heavy
Olympic weights without a spotter and without fear of squashing myself under the small
automobile sized plates I enjoy pushing around.
Before the (in my opinion) short sighted Fen-Redux removal I had drugged, lowcarbed
and exercised myself down to a low of 450 pounds. I felt myself closer than ever to being
released from this prison of fat that held me in captivity. While in college at California State
University, Fullerton I had maintained myself in relatively good condition while weighing 325
pounds. Here is a photo of me at age 24 when I weighed 325 pounds.
Even at 450 pounds I felt so good and so alive that there were times I forgot just how much
older and heavier I was. Unfortunately I allowed my impatience and enthusiasm to get the better
of me. I pushed too hard. The weight bearing joints of my hips, knees and ankles were not
forgiving and I found myself reduced to hobbling around on crutches and walking with a cane,
again! Drat it all.
Sadly, I then allowed several major challenges to derail my recovery progress completely.
It is an old familiar story, repeated by untold millions of morbidly obese people everywhere.
After a monumental struggle to lose fat and regain cardiovascular health "something happened"
The weight slowly and inexorably crept back on and one morning the scale reads 500 pounds.
Then before I knew it there on the dial was 525 pounds ataring back at me. Then in what seemed
like an instant 525 pounds was blinking on the digital dial mocking all of the work and effort
over the course of so many years. Oh WOE Oh WOE* why hast though forsaken me? Lowcarb
oldtimers saw me through the death of Maxdog http://www.lowcarb.org/photos/maxflwr.gif
who I loved more than anything or anyone with the exception of my wife. Oldies on the original
lowcarb mailing list also witnessed my great Spring fruitfest and the memorable fruit uprising
when I cut down a Bing Cherry tree in a valiant effort to overcome the forces of temptation so
relentlessly pursuing me.during the great cherry war. I gained control of the navel orange demons
so that the orange trees were spared the fate which befell their stone fruit brothers.
With a lot of whoosh wishes, chicken and flaxseed oil I was holding my own at 499 pounds.
Then several losses in rapid succession took their toll. My grandmother, my favorite aunt,
one of my brothers and my step-father all passed so closely together that there was no time to
mourn one loss before it was time to rush to the hospital one last time or attend another funeral.
During this same period of time my wife was supporting her best friend as she went through
treatment for terminal ovarian cancer.
So from January 1997 until sometime around Nov-Dec 1999 I used lowcarb techniques to
keep from gaining. My health seemed to be improving while eating several feedlots full of beef
and a whole ranch full of pork. Then boom, allergies launch a surprise attack. First it was
shellfish. No more crab, lobster, oysters, scallops or other delicacies from the
deep. Then, to top it all off my medication, a calcium channel blocker turned on me and the
reaction resulted in "tons" of edema that just would not leave. This won me a delightfully swollen
"Michelin Man" appearance and the inability to walk or do much of anything except moan in pain
and rail at the seeming inequities and unfairness of life. All of that was prelude to an avalanche
of deteriorating health.
After fighting the good fight of diet and exercise for almost six years, during which time I won
a few and lost a few more, I found myself flat on my back once more. After the meds were
changed my blood pressure started to settle down and hover around 130/80. So once again
I set out to drain the swamp. I spent most of 2000 re-learning how to walk and striving to
overcome the pity parties which had become such a constant companion. I had given up
control of the Atkins-New mailing list so I began the Sipping Oil Message Board (now called
The Lowcarb Retreat message board) sometime near the end of the year 2000. The software
crashed and burned. We reloaded and started again on a new server with a new host.
The point I am trying to make is that after almost three years of fending off the grim reaper
I finally felt strong enough to demand my gold coin back from the boatman and get back into the
game.
Not getting on a scale and going by a flawed memory led me to the
delusion that I had been happily maintaining at 475# for two and a half years.
No such luck. A new digital beauty informed me that I weighed 575#
at the beginning of June 2002 and my notes confirmed that the old beam
scale had logged me in at 575# early in the year 2000. So I had to reset
my stats to 650/575/230. After doing a week of Induction in June 2002 I kicked
it down to 650/565/230. I give thanks to God that I am still here to give it
one more go at doing it right. Quite frankly I enjoyed maintenance and am
not in any great hurry to do battle full time again. This time I am not pushing
nor am I getting antsy and impatient. I eat well and stay satisfied. I nurture
my health and feel great. I do water aerobic exercises and a light weight lifting
program. God willing and the river don't rise, the rest will follow all in its own
sweet time.
March 1, 2004
When I wrote the paragraphs above I didn't know that even greater challenges
were coming my way. Healthwise, everything seemed to fall apart towards the end of
2002. A long story, less long. My doctor strongly suggested that I have surgery
or else he believed I would have a "major" incident very soon. I had read about
the RNY bariatric surgery and did not like what I heard. So I went looking for an
alternative. I happened upon a website http://www.obesityhelp.com/
and it was there I found a link to research on a procedure called the
biliary pancreatic diversion/duodenal switch. It described
the surgery I had visioned as how it ought to be done.
As luck would have it the surgeon (Dr. Robert Rabkin) who perfected the technique
of using tiny laparoscopic incisions to do the procedure has
his office in San Francisco.
On November 4th 2003 I entered the operating room at a lifetime high weight of
657 pounds. I could walk no more than two or three steps and had been sentenced to a
wheelchair bound existence.
My blood pressure was off the scale again so before he would perform the
surgery Dr. Rabkin insisted I see a cardiologist (Dr. Leslie Campbell)
so that she could bring the blood pressure down to a safer level. At the same time she
scheduled me for a Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE): This test requires that the
transducer be inserted down the throat into the esophagus (the swallowing tube that connects
the mouth to the stomach.) Because the esophagus is located close to the heart,
clear images of the heart structures can be obtained without the interference of
the lungs and chest. At the same time I had a Dobutamine or adenosine stress
echocardiogram: This is another form of stress echocardiogram. However, instead
of exercising to stress the heart, the stress is obtained by giving a drug that
stimulates the heart and makes it "think" it is exercising. The test is used to
evaluate your heart and valve function when you are unable to exercise on a
treadmill or stationary bike. The test is also used to determine how well your
heart tolerates activity, determine your likelihood of having coronary artery
disease (blocked arteries), and evaluate the effectiveness of your cardiac
treatment plan.
I have a VERY sensitive throat and the drugs did not do much to numb my
"gag reflex". The best description of the procedure to me was as if I had
swallowed a police flashlight and it was rotating in my throat. It was not
a pleasant experience. However, I got through it and my bpd/ds was scheduled.
I survived the TEE. My surgery was a success. And in one year I
have dropped 242 pounds. I can now walk wherever I wish to go. I can climb
stairs. I can live again. It is annoying when people who have never
bothered to research the various bariatric surgeries try to speak about the WLS
as if they have a clue. Uninformed opinionated jerks who know all there is to know
about "the surgery" but don't even realize just how many variations on the theme
are available to morbid obese individuals. WLS is a life saver. It is not a magic
bullet and it sure in hell is not "the easy way out". WLS is a valuable tool in
the fight against morbid obesity. Lives are being saved and changed in fantastic
ways. There are risks for sure. But super morbid obesity carries risks that are
in my opinion far greater than the reported risks of bariatric surgery. After
fighting the battle of the bulge for so long I do wish I had enlisted this tool
sooner rather than later. Maybe it would have helped me to avoid some of the
co-morbidities of super morbid obesity.
November 9, 2004
I think it is amazing that people who have never done any research into bariatric
surgery can know so much and speak so loudly against it. It seems, the more ignorant
an individual is the more indignant and hostile they are when the subject comes up in
conversation. It is ironic that the most acidic barbs come from others who are extremely
overweight if not morbidly obese themselves. What is their motivation? Why are they
so afraid to click on a few links are read something about what it is they are attacking
so eloquently? There are several kinds of bariatric weightloss surgery and it grates on
my nerves when some talks about "the surgery" as if there is only one standardized method
being used. To me it speaks volumes about their ignorance.
Duodenal Switch Information Zone
June 6, 2006
This site seems to be morphing into my BLOG. BLOG is short for weblog (A journal that is
frequently updated and intended for general public consumption).
As a former FFID (Fat Folk In Denial) I am keenly aware when I spot a morbidly obese
individual vainly struggling against the demon of fat while caught firmly in the mire of
being a FFID. Unfortunately the defense mechanism is so strongly entrenched in most of
us FFID that nothing short of a death sentence will gain our attention and motivate us to
make the necessary changes to save ourselves.
We FFID always have a plausible reason for why we cannot or will not stay on an eating plan.
Playing a passive aggressive yes-but game with themselves and others is a favortie pastime of FFID.
Mr. A why don't you try XYZ? Yes, I think that is a good idea, but that won't work
for me because of (fill in the blank).
We FFID have a planned escape (failure) route mapped out to explain why we cannot stay
on plan and have a practiced excuse-explanation-good reason why we must not be held accountable
for our actions. We're allergic, sensitive, or warned by a doctor-lawyer-brother-sister-
newspaper-voice in the head-whatever to do something different. And since we do not want to
follow a sensible plan anyway the proffered escape clause is grabbed and used as a shield against
any criticism as we march jubilantly into failure.
FFID seem to resist mightily against reading the entire book associated with their plan. They
adhere firmly to their failed interpretation of the plan while announcing loudly to anyone who will
listen that "the plan" doesn't work for them. Nevermind that they refuse to make the changes necessary
to succeed. Use dairy as a condiment? Never! Eat more green leafy and cruciferous vegetables? No way!
There is something wrong with each vegetable on the 10% carbohydrate vegetable list in DANDR.
A FFID will meticulously weigh a serving of greens while piling on a ton of cheese and
salad dressing. Well, they are lowcarb aren't they? Hello FFID! No one is going to get fat eating
green leafy and cruciferous vegetables. It is the junk that you pile and pour over the greens that
help to keep you fat.
A FFID will bend your ears for hours over how they feel but can't spare five minutes
to tell you what they are doing. A FFID can take all day to explain and excuse their failures
but can't give up 10 minutes to weigh and measure their atual food consumption.
A FFID is the first to claim starvation mode while not bothering to mention that they failed to
remiain on their eating plan for more than three days in succession.
Be aware! A FFID can be an emotional vampire that will suck your emotions dry as they drag
you into their fantasy world of delusion and failure. Also be alerted to the fact that other FFID
will appear out of no where to support a FFID whom you expose to the light of scrutiny and
accountability. Their shared sense of denial seems to create a comfortable community where mutual
enabling is an acceptable behavior. Anyone who chooses to hold a FFID subjectively accountable is
seen as hostile. FFID typify "misery loves company" and try to convert susceptible individuals into
becoming more like them. Be careful out there. Until next time. Eat your vegetables!
February 10, 2007
Wow it has been over six months since I've written an update. Maybe I'll get back in a few days
to share a few thoughts.
* WOE = Way Of Eating
Hebrews
10:36 For ye have need of PATIENCE, that, after ye have done the will
of God, ye might receive the PROMISE.
10:38 Now the just shall live by FAITH...
11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen.
Lee Rodgers
657/315/230
lrodgers@lowcarb.org
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