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Slightly off topic, but important to me. As a morbidly obese woman I had some pretty serious confidence gaps. For many years I was a single mom. I did have the confidence to get myself through nursing school, raise my two kids on my own, and make a good career for myself. However, outside of work my confidence and feelings about myself were pretty lacking. It was honestly hard to see all of my friends partnered, doing all the “couple” things. I spent a lot of time alone at home reading and watching tv. I self medicated with crappy food. Eight years ago some of that changed. I met a guy who I thought would be my partner for life. He and I had many adventures together, and as I became happier I started taking better care of myself. However, I think that baseline low level of confidence in myself allowed me to ignore some red flags. I allowed him to keep me in a place of not fully embracing my health. I allowed him to treat me in ways that I should not have, and I should have left sooner. I was still held back by my years of poor self esteem and not truly seeing my value. I’ve been working in therapy to change that. My marriage has ended. I made a big move both physically and mentally. I left my long time job and moved from Seattle to Portland. I bought my first home-which at 52 felt like an insurmountable task. I’ve been renovating my kitchen. Seems simple, but every time I make these big decisions for myself and successfully execute them my confidence grows. A long time desire of mine has been to travel to Europe. I always held off not sure enough of myself to take this on without a partner. Well today I took the plunge. I booked myself a trip in May! In my heart I’d still like a partner to do these things with, but I’m now at a place where I don’t NEED one to accomplish things I want to do. Although it’s more complex than just dropping the weight, that is a huge part of it. Moving through the world in a “normal” sized body has been a big piece of gaining confidence to make big moves, and to not accept behavior from people that I never should have.

Update: got my sleeve today (Feb 17th). Moderate post op pain but doing better than expected. Surgeon said it went perfectly. Yay! No nausea or vomiting but worried that I will after I stop getting Zofran in my IV. So far I've had ice chips, a small cup of black tea and 2 jello cups. Not a bad start. Still getting all of my fluids by IV and because of my liver I am staying for 3 days in hospital for monitoring. I'm so excited that I got to have this surgery and grateful for the new liver program that made it possible. Sent from my SM-N986W using BariatricPal mobile app

Hey Guys! So I have a date (again), it's March 8th - meaning my 2 week "liquid" diet will start Feb 22. The short month of February makes me feel like I've been granted a shortcut somehow! Who else has a date for March??

I was sleeved about 7 years ago. looking for old and new friends. Is there still a chat? Anyone out there want to chat for a few?

Hey! I'm 4 days post op and trying to imagine whay pureed food is gonna feel like. I'm a vegetarian. I'm liking the idea of fat free refried beans with salsa but im also terrified to eat food again. I don't want to throw up or anything. Can anyone suggest vegetarian safe pureed foods for their new stomachs? So far I'm thinking refried beans, egg Salad pureed, hummus, tomato soup, red pepper soup, pureed broccoli cheddar, Silken tofu pudding....I would add protein powder to some of these too.. What else sounds good or worked for you? Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

I looked into going to Miami, FL (Dr. Alex Earle) because of cost but when I took into account all the additional expenses needed for travel (airfares, lodging, food, Uber/taxi) plus my husband was not thrilled once he did research on the possible complications (necrosis, DVT, infection, seroma, hematoma), I went to a local surgeon. TT: $10,700 Lipo (knees, thighs, saddle bags, flanks): $5,600 Even though it was more than I had estimated ($15k), I'm glad I went with a local surgeon because I did have a couple of minor complications (small hematoma and a suture knot that needed to be trimmed).

Congratulations and good luck on round 2!

Awesome! I think I am going to give them a go. I have always had a vitamin D deficiency and after taking 600 UI/day it has only gone up 2pts. in 3 months. I'm gonna touch base with my doctor to see if it would be a good fit and find out if maybe I am not absorbing them internally as well as I could be. Thank you so much for the insight.

I’m 3 weeks post op and so depressed. I’m craving a double cheeseburger from McDonald’s. But can’t even eat because I get so nauseous. This sucks. How can I control my mind from wanting all these bad things?!!😭😭😭 I’m so mad and just want to cry. What did I do to myself.

5’2” female. At the 6 month mark, I was at 97 lbs lost. But this includes ~12 lbs lost during my 2 week pre-op diet, so really it was more like 85 lbs lost in the first 6 months immediately after surgery. FYI, during weight loss phase i went with volume and calories measures way to monitor intake (cuz there is a huge diff between 1oz of steak and 1oz of salad or 1oz of almonds in terms of “eat-ability” AND calories) With that said, at my 6 month mark, I was averaging about 700-ish calories a day, with each “meal” coming up to no more than 1 cup in volume (if I remember correctly). I use the term “meal” loosely as I was (and sorta still am) a grazer. But I’ve read enough on here to learn that my experience differs from many (and is similar to some). I have also learned that while everyone loses at their own pace and implements their own strategies, we all end up in the same place eventually so long as we stick with our plan and make adjustments as necessary. Good Luck! ❤️ P.S. I am 3+ years out now and have maintained below goal weight the entire time. I average about 1800 cals a day with moderate exercise. …. Though, full disclosure, I was 2lbs outside my “happy weight range” a couple days ago, which has since been lost (a couple good poops did it, I think, lol…that and I cut down on the copious amounts of Xmas chocolates I’ve been porking on). This morning I was 119 lbs even, but I feel better when I’m closer to the lower end of my happy weight range so am gonna shoot for 115 and see if I can get back down there without too much discomfort, ha!….we shall see.