SKCUNNINGHAM

Being WAY smaller than my husband's ex-wife (saw her at a family party). :-) (evil smile)

The hunger I felt early on was really acid. When I felt hunger, I would take a GASX strip, let it dissolve, and drink either warm tea or broth. I also took Famotadine (Pepcid) morning and evening and Prilosec before bed. Now at 10 months out, I only take Pepcid in the am and occasional prilosec at night if I've eaten spicy food.
The hint about drinking all your fluids to keep from feeling hungry is a good one. Warm stuff worked better for me than cold.
Your stomach (sleeved or not) takes 20 minutes to register to your brain you are full. Spread out your eating over 20 minutes - I don't care if it is 4 bites of plain yogurt.
I support your desire to work with a professional on your emotional issues with eating. If you can't find a shrink, look for a counselor or a hypnotist. I have had great results working with one to get control of my addictions to food. Like someone else on this forum says, "they operated on our stomachs, not our brains". There is also a shrink that works with the support group I go to. I am going to schedule an appointment with him to work with me one on one.
Even though I have lost most of the weight I intend to lose, now comes the part that makes me nervous - keeping it off. This is where I have failed before. That is why I am really focusing on working on my brain to fix the problems there.
Good luck.

Being WAY smaller than my husband's ex-wife (saw her at a family party). :-) (evil smile)

I guess my shape stayed basically the same. I am a short (5'4") broad shouldered, small breasted (at my highest weight, I barely fit a D - now I barely fit a C) woman with a relatively thick waist, small hipps, and and the FLATTEST butt around. Other than my droopy skin on my thighs (which kind of look like they are melting) I have nice muscles in my thighs and calves. When I stand with my legs together, I have the triangle opening at the top of my thighs and then two diamond openings lower down.
Take that same shape and spread 100 pounds of fat over it, and that is what I was before. I am hoping the skin on my thighs responds to exercise - in a year - if the skin hasn't snapped back, it may get snipped - I don't like the wicked witch melting look. OregonDaisy is right - exercise with weights throughout to minimize droopy skin - I didn't do this and wish I had.
Not only do you lose the fat pad in your "lady area", but you will no longer have the issue of having to move a belly out of the way to find the promised land. :-) Much more fun!

Five - the largest on my left side where the stomach was pulled through. One was on the right side where the drain was. There was one close to my navel and two in the center higher than my navel.
It is interesting as I have shrunk, the incisions are moving closer together on my stomach. A good visual of how my skin is shrinking as I shrink.

I don't have to worry about birth control, I have had a hysterectomy years ago. BUT, I do warn you your hormone levels are not going to be the same while you are rapidly losing weight. Fat cells store estrogren, and when they release the estrogen into your bloodstream, wierd hormonal stuff can happen. It made me have a couple of crazy puberty-like months.
So I would recommend getting on birth control and making sure you are consistent and diligent in following the requirements to ensure you don't get pregnant unexepectedly.
Good Luck!

Coops, I'm in too. I really want to get to goal.

Attached is a picture showing my beginning jean size (26W) and my current jeans size (10P). I saw a similar picture to this on the forum and thought I would do one, too.
There is 108 pounds difference in weight.
My waist has dropped from 46.5" to 32". (still TOO BIG)
My hips have dropped from 48" to 36".
I think I will leave these hanging on the back of the door for inspiration.

I can both my legs in one leg of the old jeans - but they have such a taper, it is hard to stand up. I will get my husband to snap a picture that way and post it.

Being WAY smaller than my husband's ex-wife (saw her at a family party). :-) (evil smile)

Being WAY smaller than my husband's ex-wife (saw her at a family party). :-) (evil smile)

You look wonderful! Congratulations - you inspire me to get these last 10 pounds off. What an amazing job you have done.
Well done!

If you are worried you have damaged your sleeve, go to the doctor and have him do a leak test. STOP EATING SOLID FOODS. PERIOD. It is too early for you to do that. You could get things caught in your staple line and possibly cause an infection or leak. Yes, you have a line of staples the length of your stomach. While that line of staples is healing, you need to be on liquids, then full liquids, then mushies. Nothing you mentioned you are taking bites of is OK. You need to be drinking Protein Drinks and clear fluids. Maybe some SF Jello, or maybe yogurt. Ask your doctor. When I would get hungry(which was acid), I would take a GASX strip and drink either warm broth or warm tea. I would drink my Protein drinks and calorie free liquids (Propel, etc). I was prescribed FAMOTIDINE (pepcid) morning and evening and I took a prilosec in the evening. Don't mean to be harsh - I am just worried you are going to hurt yourself. Please take care and let us know how you are doing. Good Luck!

Not only is it fun to need smaller size underwear, the style options in smaller sizes are so varied. I have been buying a couple of pairs in a few styles as I have been shrinking - to see what style I like. It has been so many years since I was concerned wtih that kind of thing!
BTW - no thongs for me - on my feet or elsewhere. :-)

I'm in - Actually - this is going to be my BIRTHDAY GOAL. I am one of those unfortunate people whose birthday is right at Christmas (12/29). By 12/29 - I want to weigh 140 on the doctor's scale.
Screen Name SKCUNNINGHAM Starting Weight 153
Goal Weight 140
Pounds to go - 13
Not as much as some of you are striving for - but realistic, I think, for me.
That will leave me a mear five pounds to go to get to my Final (I think) Goal!
Happy Holidays and I good luck on your goals.

Ok so I went to this party last night and saw a group of women I haven't seen in awhile. One has not seen me at all since my weight loss. She didn't speak to me at first and I was kinda upset b/c we had a falling out when I was considering surgery more than 1 1/2 ago and haven't spoken since. Then she came up to me and said she didn't know who I was until she asked and that I look great. She is a big girl like I was and told me she's jealous and was going to look into the surgery for herself. Lol. But said it in a nice way!! The second girl I saw hates me now!! She's not very big but has put on some weight and I used to be so much bigger than her! She wouldn't talk to me and gave me the fakest smile and laugh I've ever heard. Can't stand people like her!! And the last has seen me as she works at Walmart which I frequent but has never mentioned my weight loss before. She told me I looked good but I took the "easy" way out. I put the biggest smile on my face and said yep I did and 150 lbs later I feel great. Easys awesome!! Lol! She is also obese. Now I know this isn't easy but heck if that's what you want to think go ahead. It was a hell of a lot EASIER than being hungry all the time and doing good for a week before getting so hungry I ate everything in the house. It amazes me how different these womens reactions were!! The first one pleasantly surprised me as I was upset we had fought about the surgery. The woman with the chip on her shoulder pisses me off because she always used to moan about losing weight and how thin she used to be. Can't other people get healthy too?? Or do you have the monoply on that? And the last cracked me up with her ignorance. And how she gave me a compliment and then boom there's the catcher "easy way out" do you walk when u can drive? Do u sew your own clothes when you can go to the store? Do u churn cream into butter??? Didn't think so. I am happy with my weight loss and the sleeve has given me back my life. Actually ya know what?? It has given me a life. I was never thin, never healthy, never happy. And if I can help one person who believes its hopeless like I did I will gladly take the insults!!!

When I want to keep my hands busy, I give myself a manicure. I get cuticle cream, a couple of types of files, nail clippers, etc and give myself the works. I even have one of those paraffin dip vessels and really treat myself.
Something else you could do?
Organize old pictures into albums.
Write an old fashioned letter with pen and paper to someone you love
Address a card and enclose a note to someone either celebrating something or enduring something (this could be birthday, new baby, promotion, sympathy, or just a "thinking of you" card)
Give yourself a pedicure
Put a deep conditioner on your hair and cover it with warm towels
Give yourself a facial
Plan a home improvement project - even if you really don't need it or can't afford it, no one says you can't dream and plan it. Get some design magazines or check the internet.
Polish your leather shoes
Organize your clothes by sizes. Get your three boxes ready - Keep, Donate and Throw Away
Bring one drawer at a time into the TV room and clean and organize your drawers. Get new shelf paper and line all of the drawers with shelf paper.
Find an organization you support and find out if they need volunteers to do things for them that you could do at home (stuff envelopes, etc).
Check with your local child protective services office or homeless shelter and see if they need baby blankets. If you knit or crochet, work on blankets for a good cause.

There are a lot of positive things you can do with your hands - pamper yourself, improve yourself, keep in contact with someone you love, help somebody in need, Lots of things to do besides EAT.
Good Luck.
Sharon

I chose the sleeve over the other two procedures because I thought it gave me the best shot at leading a normal life. No foreign object in me (like the band) to cause problems later - no rerouting of my internal plumbing (like the bypass) and no dumping syndrome. I travel for my work, and thought living with a bypass and having to travel would be awful.
I loved sweets pre-sleeve. Now, if I want a sweet, I get one-two bites and I am satisfied. During my Christmas celebrations, I had two bites of pecan pie and gave the last bite on the plate to my husband. I couldn't eat a third bite - it was too sweet and rich. Later in the day, I had a tiny morsel of fudge (1/2" square) and gave the rest of the piece to my husband. Tasted wonderful - but couldn't handle more than a taste.
The sleeve is the right choice for me. I love the lack of appetite and the fact that I get full with just small amounts of food. Having a small stomach is wonderful. And, with the sleeve, I don't worry about what problems may be lurking in the part of the stomach that is closed off. I know too many people that have regained weight with the bypass, or never successfully lost it with the band.
The sleeve is not a "magic bullet" - you have to follow the guidelines on how to be successfull with it.It is posible to cheat your sleeve and gain weight. And, they operate on our stomachs, not our heads - so you will need to address whatever demons you have in your head that caused you to abuse food - we all have to do this.
Good luck on your decision.

I am 107 pounds down since last Christmas. This inspired me to schedule a family photo shoot for last Saturday with my husband, son, daughter in law and 2 granddaughters. I would never have done that previously. And yesterday, at the family gathering of my extended family (siblings, mom, etc.) I wasn't hiding from camera-holding relatives. In fact, in the group shot, my husband grabbed me around the waist and placed me more prominently in front of him. He said -"you don't need to try to hide in the photo this year - you are skinny".
The food at the celebrations wasn't a problem at all. I ate until my sleeve was full then stopped.It tasted wonderful, but I didn't want to just gorge like previous holidays. I had three bites of a sweet in mid afternoon. Wasn't tempted to over-eat at all. I was having way to much fun playing on the floor with the kids and talking to the adults.

Congratulations on getting to this point. All your hard work has definately paid off. I am happy for you!
Enjoy the holidays.
Sharon
BTW - that picture of you in the red dress is stunning! we may need to start a thread for LRD along with the LBD's!

When I want to keep my hands busy, I give myself a manicure. I get cuticle cream, a couple of types of files, nail clippers, etc and give myself the works. I even have one of those paraffin dip vessels and really treat myself.
Something else you could do?
Organize old pictures into albums.
Write an old fashioned letter with pen and paper to someone you love
Address a card and enclose a note to someone either celebrating something or enduring something (this could be birthday, new baby, promotion, sympathy, or just a "thinking of you" card)
Give yourself a pedicure
Put a deep conditioner on your hair and cover it with warm towels
Give yourself a facial
Plan a home improvement project - even if you really don't need it or can't afford it, no one says you can't dream and plan it. Get some design magazines or check the internet.
Polish your leather shoes
Organize your clothes by sizes. Get your three boxes ready - Keep, Donate and Throw Away
Bring one drawer at a time into the TV room and clean and organize your drawers. Get new shelf paper and line all of the drawers with shelf paper.
Find an organization you support and find out if they need volunteers to do things for them that you could do at home (stuff envelopes, etc).
Check with your local child protective services office or homeless shelter and see if they need baby blankets. If you knit or crochet, work on blankets for a good cause.

There are a lot of positive things you can do with your hands - pamper yourself, improve yourself, keep in contact with someone you love, help somebody in need, Lots of things to do besides EAT.
Good Luck.
Sharon

I get lots of questions regarding how to get back on track. This journey is tough, and one thing I've learned is that I'm not perfect - but if I'm going to move past that I have to figure out how to forgive myself. For me, the main factor in my obesity was my inability to overcome this. So I would give up and gain all my weight back, and even more. I cannot do this to myself!!! I have to pick myself back up and keep it moving. I didn't go through 2 torturous painful weight loss surgeries to just keep giving up. Heck no!!!
So, along my Sleeve Journey, when I noticed I wasn't doing well and needed to get back on track this is what I did:
The BASICS BOOTCAMP:
For 5 STRICT DAYS I will eat only...
Proteins: Seafoods, Poultry and eggs, Dairies, nuts/seeds including Peanut Butter.< /strong>
Veggies: Green only.
Fruits: None.
Breads/Cereals/Other Carbs: None.
Fluids: One gallon of Water (128 oz.)
Protein Drinks (RTD or Powder).
Avoid: Sugar and Sodium
Once the 5 days are over, I am pretty much over the Sugar Carb Demon. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate carbs! I do need them to live a healthy life and since I workout a lot it is important I have them. However, I need GOOD carbs. Whole grains, fruits, veggies... But I don't need processed sugars. White carbs, in cereals, breads, rice... etc.
Lots will do the 5 day pouch test. liquids only is simply from being threatened with my life (post op) or if I'm just feeling sick and to let my Sleevie rest. That's it.
Good luck everyone! This journey is tough, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. Xoxo

I am normally full of advice and quite positive about things but right now I am really frustrated with myself.
I weighed myself the Monday after Thanksgiving and I was 215. Today is almost two full weeks later and I am still 215. There were a couple of times during the last two weeks that the scale read as high as 222. I weigh in the mornings in my birthday suit (after I potty). I know it is a stall and it will pass but of course, I have been stressing over it.
In the past, I would get to a certain point in my weightloss and then subconciously self-sabotage. I realized a few days ago that I was doing this by topping off, snacking, drinking full fruit juice, drinking while eating to make the food pass through faster so I could eat again sooner, etc. I usually am pretty good when I recognize a bad behavior in that I will take steps to stop what I am doing. This time seems to be different. I know I am not doing things right and I still don't stop. A few minutes ago, I made myself a snack of shaved chicken, a laughing cow wedge, and a hard boiled egg. I was not hungry because I ate a meal an hour before. I ate it quick so that I could get it all in before my sleeve protested and then drank some fruit juice to ensure that it digested quickly. I know better. I know that I am going against what I am supposed to be doing but yet I don't stop.
What is wrong with me? I know I have an addiction to food and I will battle with that for the rest of my life but geesh! This is sad. I get angry with myself because I am screaming in my head to stop, put the fork down, throw it away, and still I eat it. I have also started eating things that I know I should limit. I had three oreos after dinner last night. THREE! I felt miserable both physically and emotionally but it didn't matter. An hour later I was snacking again.
I think that the stall has worked on me in a bad way. I feel like this is it even though I really know better. The kitchen is the thruway in our house so to get to the family room from the front door, you have to go thru the kitchen and to go to the bedrooms, again thru the kitchen. I am having a ton of trouble walking through and not thinking about what I could grab a bite of. I guess my mind thinks "Well, I tried, this didn't work either." and then I try to make the statement true.
I need to find a support group in my area and find a counselor that specializes in WLS patients. If anyone has any advice, please share. Am I alone in doing this type of thing? Anyone else fight with themselves and lose?
Thanks for reading and I'm sorry for the long post.

MeMe- I am glad you are home from your ordeal. I bet after you get over this, you will feel 100% better, and finally start getting to use your sleeve like the rest of us do.
God must think A LOT of you - he has certainly given you some big challenges to overcome.
I wish you the best in your recovery.
Sharon

Hello VST community.
150 lbs GONE in 206 days since I started my pe-op diet
118 lbs gone in 179 days since VSG
Under 300 lbs for the first time in over 20 years
Over 1/3 of ME is gone.
I can buy cheap clothes at Wal-Mart and second hand stores instead of expensive Big and Tall shops
I can actually fit in places: public bus, port-a-potty etc.
Females actually talk to me (ex wife is mad at me for losing weight)
I guess you can tell I am pretty dog gone happy
Why do stalls alway occur right before a major milestone?
Lots of info and support from this board helped make it happen.
Thank you.
FM (not done yet)