ashleyc

It is easy to cheat, I pigged out over weekend but didn't gain any weight but did a lot of sight seeing walking. I don't subscribe to the "we can never have that again" mentality. Geez an occasional ice cream or chocolate chip cookie is not going to do us in. And if you do eat a small bag of popcorn at the movies as I did over the weekend it will not kill the weight loss, just do it a lot.

On this day in 2010, I was revised from Lap Band to Sleeve by Dr. Aceves.

Life's good. I'm happy.

More comments to come later, but for starters, here's some photos detailing the last year of my journey (First 50 Lbs. was pre-op):

Are you ready to kick start the program here? EVERYONE IS INVITED!!! Pre Operative, Post Operative, Struggling, Doing Awesome and want some extra motivation, AGAIN everyone is invited to do this!!!

This is NOT A weight loss challenge. However if you follow these simple rules, chances are very good it will show up on your scale. So... the rules are as follows:

( PS, if you have Facebook, click here: https://www.facebook...207363012649554 )

30 Day Challenge RULES:

Timeline:
Begins Sunrise Sunday July 24th, 2011
Ends Sunrise Tuesday August 23rd, 2011

Eating:
No Potatoes
No Rice
No Breads
No Cereals

No pastas

No Candy
No Pastries
Maximum 5 Servings of Fruit per day
Unlimited Servings of Veggies per day
Minimum 60g of Protein per day
Minimum 64oz Water per day

Exercise:
Minimum 30 Minutes, 5x per week


OK, THAT'S IT!!! READY... SET... GO!!!!!!!
:welcome:

I ate 4 meals per day, no snacking in between. Each meal had to consist of 15gr of Protein.
I made each meal last 20 minutes, no sipping/drinking with meals at this stage. You might not feel restriction because the nerves have been cut off, severed, and stapled so your full signal might not happen for several months. I didn't ever "feel" restriction because I was advised to measure my portions and not eat anymore than that portion. So, I underate my sleeve capacity and still do not eat until full or stuffed feeling very often even at 2 years out. It keeps my calories in check and helps me maintain my weight.
Are you weighing or actually measuring your food with measuring cups? I always measured with cups because my stomach doesn't recognize weight of foods, it holds by volume.
As for being hungry, are you taking Prilosec, Nexium, Prevacid or some other PPI(proton pump inhibitor)? If not, you could be experiencing false hunger due to acid overproduction. I had the same thing happen, went on Prilosec 20mg once a day, and my hunger was resolved.
If the food is extremely mushy, or saucy, you won't feel great restriction as those foods are pretty "slider" foods and go through quickly. If you are taking longer than 20-30 minutes to eat, the food is moving out as you are eating so you won't feel full.
Make sure you're drinking plenty of clear fluids, and also it really depends on what you are eating during the mushy phase. Carby foods definitely can increase hunger.
All of this takes time, and once you get to more solid consistency foods, the more restriction you'll feel.

If it were me, I would go ahead and do my surgery.

OMG I am so over the top that I can hardly think about anything else!!! I am READY!!! Just added a post to by YouTube Channel too, it's really exciting!!!

I'm really excited to be starting life anew. I start the pre-op diet tomorrow and while I kind of dread it, I really am looking forward to it. I did my shopping today so I'll be ready!

Doing a jazzy happy dance for you! Congratulations!!!

Thought I would give y'all an update and impression of how things went etc. I had my sleeve on Tuesday, June 14th about 2:30 pm. The surgery itself went fine and took about 45 minutes. I was in recovery about an hour and a half when my family came in and they put me in a room.
The first night was fine and controlled with morphine through the IV. I started walking bit by bit around the halls. I was more sore than expected, but it was tolerable with meds.
Before I got discharged the next day, they started me on fluids...one oz every 10 to 15 minutes. Also, they took out the drain which was very little pain.
When I got home, I used pain meds at least to sleep until day 6. I had some nausea but had meds for it. Each day it seems I get a little better. I am still on fluids only and I was lucky...getting Fluid down had not been a problem.
I'm on about 40 to 60 grams of Protein now and 60 to 80 oz. of fluid pretty easily. I work from home but still have some burning sensation (nerves regeneration) on my skin and in my abs on the left side. I have low back pain too if I stand up for more than 20 to 30 minutes or sit up in a straight chair. I'm doing phone calls...easy meals etc for my family. I still have help for the three kids (under 7). I can drive and bend down but I am still pretty sore. Feels like I did 3000 crunches. Lol!! I do have diarrhea about twice a day (and expected to with the liquid diet) plus some fun rumblings in my tummy and pretty disgusting gas at times. I think I started walking enough not to have too bad of gas pain though. Thank you Lord!!
I had lost 17 pounds on 2 wk preop diet and have lost 14 pounds since surgery. Total of 31 pounds!! 25% of what I need to lose!! I am not tummy hungry but am still head hungry. Since my calories aren't much...200 to 400 total per day, I run out of steam easily and nap.
I can now lie flat in bed and get up out of our quick sand of a memory foam bed. Lol. I spent the first 6 days in the recliner.
I'm looking forward to getting to the gym and can see how I will be back to "normal" soon. Excited and happy but it is emotional at times. Thankful that the good Lord has given me a way to beat this addiction and that He has brought me through with flying colors. I had the added fears of having Chrons disease, so I am super grateful!
My biggest surprise? The low back pain...since I'm a physical therapist by degree...I get it, but am surprised at how much that has bugged me. I would not change a thing though and I would do it over in a heart beat!!!
Thanks to all who share on this board. You all prepared me well, and I hope to give back to others now.
Happy journey to all of you!!!
Joan

You do know there are only two kind of liars, them that say they don't and them that say they are going to quit !

I am 7 months post op, down 106 pound from the beginning of my weight loss journey. I have not seen my PCP since I weighed 238 pounds, I have been going to him for over 20 years and he was really pushing for me to have lap band. I never told him I decided to have vsg and I seen his nurse practitioner pre surgery so he has NO IDEA I had this done or about the weight loss, I think he is going to fall over!
Stand by for details of visit...................................................

I was sleeved yesterday. I am feeling a lot better than I thought I would. Just sore in the tummy. Yesterday was rest/sleep day. By mid afternoon, I was up walking in the hall. Walked all the way around the hall this morning at 3:00 a.m. I got rid of some extra stuff including the NG tube. That was not bad but was glad to get rid of it.
I get to go home in the morning. I am ready. Sipping apple juice and ice chips. No nausea or vomiting. This is suppose to get better everyday and I feel very fortunate/blessed to have had it as easy as I have. I have a 2 1/2 hour ride tomorrow and that might be a little rough, but I will be home and will rest then.
Thanks for all the good wishes and prayers during this time. Keep is up.
Neanie

You look amazing!! Way to go!!

WOW, 6 months since surgery!! Where has the time gone? It's been a FABLOUS, WONDERFUL, CRAZY 6 months that is for sure! First I must say that I feel WONDERFUL! I haven't felt this good in a really long time. Not only is my weight and health doing so well it just seems that everything in life is falling right inline where it should be. We close on our house in less then two weeks and then my husband will finally be joining me here in MD (hes in NY finishing up the school year) and I LOVE my job (although I'm a little bored! LOL)!
So in the past 6 months I have learned a lot about my sleeve and my "new" self! I am still a work in progess and I'm sure I will be for a long time but at least I am really working on myself. I still have bad days when it comes to my feelings and food but I have learned so much of how I used food as a tool for my emotions and how I CAN'T do that!
I have started (with the help of an AMAZING friend) to change my "style" as well! It's time for it to be more suited to my personality and WEIGHT of course! LOL I've always been that girl that would just hide behind my clothes. Nothing would be form fitting, everything would hang on me, I wouldn't leave the house without my "hold me ins" on! LOL NOW, I'm buying clothes that FIT me, ones the "hug" my body and there are NO MORE "hold me's"! LOL
I have gone from a size 24 bottoms to a size 12 and a 2X top to a L!!! WOOHOOO!!! I know I am still loosing weight and I'm sure my size will move again but I swear even if it doesn't I'M HAPPY at this size!!!
I have my appt. with the new surgeon (since I moved away from my surgeon) next week so hopefully he'll put in for some labs so I can see where I'm at but I bet everything is going to come back just fine since I feel so Great!!
I can't say it enough, this is one of the BEST Thing I have EVER done in my life!!!!!!!

Personally, I had never had Greek Yogurt before my surgery. I looked at the Protein when I was on the mushy part of my diet and said "I gotta try this." I love it now, especially with fruit. It's a regular part of my morning Breakfast.
By the way, Epicurious just a taste testing and I pretty much agree with their results.
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/everydaycooking/tastetests/greekyogurttastetest

Greek yogurt tastes like vomit...unless you sweeten it. Stevia and sugar free vanilla syrup works great. I tried so many times to like it and hated it until I learned this!

As of this morning I have lost 101 pounds! I was going to make the 100 pound announcement but the scale unstuck and blew by it! I am so FREAKIN happy I can't tell you! I am going to go shopping!
:Banane30:

I think my main focus is always my pictures. I can pick myself apart like no other!

I did notice though I was at Kohl's the other day and I had to analyze (I'm an Analyst by day... lol) what I was doing. I picked out some cute capris that were on sale. I chose sizes from 10's going all the way up to 16's!! I don't know why I did that. I know I'm not a 16 anymore... *sigh* I just didn't want to be disappointed if what I brought into the fitting room were all too small.

Well I did at least start from the smallest I had. The 10's didn't buckle but I was a bit shocked that I could even get them on that much. I don't know why because I do have a pair of 10's at home that I can get on (not comfortably though!) So I tried on the 12's and of course they fit perfectly. I was even more shocked at this. I just find it hard for me to imagine fitting 12's where not only 7 months ago I was wearing 22/24's!! I didn't even need to think about trying on the 14's or 16's.

Then I decided to go look for some new tops. Funny, I felt weird about doing this but for the first time in 20 years I ventured over into the Junior section. Their tops are always way more stylish/cute than the Misses. I find Misses to carry some cute stuff but a lot of it just look like Women's size clothes to me - and I'm so over that!!! LOL

I felt weird in that section though. I kept wondering if people were looking at me like "what's that fat girl doing over here?" I would scan a little bit just to see, and no one was even paying any attention to me what so ever. So yeah, my brain still needs to catch up.

Here's one other thing I've noticed. I'll sometimes glance at the Women's clothing and be amazed at how humongous they look to me now! Like sheets of clothing! I always feel sad to knowing I used to buy those sizes, then instantly happy again that I don't... LOL

I can totally relate too with Deb that seeing other large folks out in the world now, and how I perceive them. They all really do look very large, much larger now than when I was large too. If that makes any sense at all...

Congratulations on your weight loss and having so little weight left to reach goal!
I think you are happy yet do not see yourself as thin yet...yes I said it, the THIN you. Okay, I admit I still grab the wrong sizes too and like Dansha have even been in the plus size clothing browsing until I take one out and hold it up against me and then that moment of "wait, I need to be somewhere else" happens. Casually I stroll over the the "normal" section. I pull out the size I am now 4 or 6 and think, I am gonna bust this zipper or flash back to those moments of barely sqeezing into a size 18 uncomfortably with the end of the day red marks across my waist from wearing too tight pants.So, agreed, this is normal.
We were all overwieght for so long, new habits take a while to become pattern in daily lives. Right?

Of course... You're steering your wheel!!

Hi everyone,

I remember when I was thinking about having sleeve surgery, I sat back and read all these posts, until I felt comfortable enough to join in and ask my million questions. I had such great support and wonderful people who helped me along my weight loss journey. I always promised I would pay it forward. So I am here 2 1/2 years after my "sleeve" surgery. I had the most amazing experience. I am now 65 years old and thought that maybe I was too old to do this. Boy, was I wrong. I picked Dr. Aceves to do my surgery. That was the best choice I could have ever made. I happend to work with a good friend who had Dr. Aceves for her doctor and had WLS with him. She made me do lots of research and take some time to make up my mind. It took me 6 months to make this choice. What an amazing journey I have had. I started out at 225 pounds and lost a total of 105 pounds. I now weight 120 lbs and have maintained that weight loss. I now know I will always be able to maintain it. I am never on a diet, but made a life style change that will last forever.

My goal is to help and support people who are just not qutie sure if they want this surgery, or if they have questions and are scared to ask anyone. I am here to listen to you, talk about your fears and help and support you in any way I can help you. You deserve to have it ALL, and there really is a way. If diet and exercise were all it took, and it worked then some of us would not need to have WLS. Most of us have lost it and gained it back many time in our lives. I believe it took more strength to have this surgery than anything I had ever done. But, I knew it had to be ALL about me and NO one else. I had earned the right to do this for myself. Life is wonderful, and I have NO regrets what so ever. My husband fell in love with me when I was fat and so now he loves me just as much when I am healthy and thin. He has even lost weight because of how we both eat--healthy. I have had great support from him all the way though my weight loss journey. So if you are just sitting there and reading this and not sure what you want to do talk to me. I will be honest and tell you the good and the bad side of all this. It takes work on your part and effort. This is NO mircle cure and you have to have your head in the right place and want this more than you want anything else in life. This is your tool to get to the goal you want. It takes making good food choices, and some exercise on your part too. I used to be the person who "hated" exercise....now I honestly look forward to it 5 or 6 days a week. My choice of exercise is pretty easy, I walk. So please feel free to ask questions, say what you are thinking. There isn't anything that we can't talk about.

Take care,
Suzanne Sleeved 10/21/2008 Dr. Aceves
:rolleyes:

When I first came home from my doctor talking about having WLS my husband was shocked- definitely. The surgery sounded extreme to him- and he ws scared of the possible complications. However, after I went to my first visit with the surgeon and I told my husband the surgeon could see me ending up in a wheelchair followed by an early death- that was all it took for my husband to climb on board and back me up.
It has been hard for him because the more I delve in to this and read all the stories here, and on You Tube, the more my lifelong pain has started to come out- causing things to be more emotional than usual around here! He has put up with all of it.
I realized just how much he supports me today when he came home from costco with a Magic Bullet kit including all kinds of attachments to help me during my purees and mushies.
What a sweetheart!

juice, and well, I'm not being as "strict" with my intake as I was a few months ago. They wanted me to gain about 10lbs this first trimester, and it's not going to happen. I'm still keeping things in check, but I'm not totally freaking over the gain either. It's more the physical changes that are a little difficult to manage mentally, but it's getting better.

My belly finally popped this last week, and it took a lot for me to agree to being photographed. This was taken yesterday for an early Easter celebration with some of our friends and their families. I knew I wouldn't be able to wear this dress again in the near future so I decided to go ahead and overdress for the occasion just so I could wear it at least once. I still have quite a bit of bloating, but my stomach is finally starting to get that "hard baby bump" feel instead of just flabbiness and some excess skin. Oh, and my boobs have gone up an entire cup size WOOT WOOT. WE've moved from calf length socks with pebbles in them to ankle socks with half lemons ! ! !

People, especially strangers, feel as if they have a right to touch me. I've already ordered the 'do not touch the BUMP' shirt for me to wear because I have issues with strangers touching me.

I have my 12 week check up with the high risk ob on Friday, and then another appt with my regular ob on the 25th, so I'll give more a "medical" update after those appointments. I'll have double appointments until I'm released from the high risk ob so I'll try to consolidate the updates. Thus far, I've had zero issues with food, or calorie intake, I have had 2 cases of severe reflux even though I'm still on Nexium. Those episodes were enough for me to know that I'm perfectly content staying on my Nexium post-op. I was miserable for hours.

Cheers everyone ! ! !

Thank you! Got it now, i hit you up too!
x

In every response in every thread there is the small + - , in the lower right corner. If you click on one or the other (positive or negative), I think that changes your reputation score. I just clicked on + in your thread and it changed to 1.