Stephanie

I have to agree with you on saying female problems. Sometimes once you say that either someone just gives you the oh I understand or they want to tell you a story to try to explain they can relate. Stephanie - I'm definitely going to use the diet specifics you gave because I have a lot of nosy ppl at my job and it's none of their business about my decision. My husband and I thought about this for a few years because my arthritis has been so bad I've been getting injections and have really bad moments where I can hardly walk. I'm tired because I can't even go to the gym like I use to. This isn't the easy way out at all and it's a very personal decision. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App I know many people just come out and tell what went on but this to me anyway is extremely personal. Someone did approach me (at church of all places) and quite loudly said, "I heard you had weight loss surgery!" I just looked at her and said, "REALLY? Who told you that?" She kind of sputtered at that point and moved away saying she didn't want to break a confidence. I just looked at her with a smile and said that's as good as anything else I've heard. She was obviously guessing and trying to make me spill the Beans by saying it at church. I don't think most people will get into your business but some will and you have to be prepared for those people. One of the things I said when asked about my losing weight was, "well, you know I was in the hospital for a bit, after that "scare" I knew I had to lose weight and my Drs insisted that for my future health it was imperative. So I set my mind to it and I am doing it with my Drs supervision" Then you can go on to tell them your strict diet plan and that you weigh in every month at the Drs office. etc. Sometimes by the time you have talked their ear off on diet, exercise etc they are sorry they even asked. Yes, sometimes I feel like I'm lying but then again I don't feel badly lying to people who are gossip mongers, just nosy etc. I am doing something very personal and it's no one else business. Do what you have to do for YOU. No one else has a say so in what you do for YOU. It's just that personal. If you want to tell the world be my guest but if you choose to keep it your secret then it's up to you how you handle it.

I like to fall back on the standard...."I'm having female problems" . When asked what kind of female problems by well meaning female relatives I just said, "It's very personal". That is usually enough to halt all additional conversation. Later you will be asked how did you do it? How did you lose all that weight. My standard answer was, "it was a lot of dedication to my health, diet and Dr's orders. I would also add that I followed a low carb, high Protein diet. If people wanted specifics I would just say well, no more than 40 carbs a day, at least 70 grams of protein, 70-100 ounces of Water daily and under 1000 calories. You have to just skirt around the edges if you don't want to advertise the fact that you had surgery for weight loss. It's NO ONES BUSINESS but yours and your mate. Some people are very open about it but others know that the type of friends or family they have will look down on it as "taking the easy way out". I'm here to tell you there is nothing EASY about major surgery...

I heard all that 5 years ago and it's still a hot topic. I just think if people want to do that to their body then let them. In 6 months they will have lost 5lbs and their drs will be ticked off and they will be in tears wondering why. I stayed on my diet program 100% until I was 1 year out and was getting too thin. BUT (big but here) I slowly started eating a bite of bread here, some ice cream there and about 2 years ago I started gaining again so here I am re-affirming my intentions to get that 25 lbs off before it brings 10 more friends and so on. I've gone up a size and that was all it took for me to realize I needed to get back on plan. If you don't start out on plan you will never get the weight off to even know how great you can look..

I joined a gym, I swim laps 3 times a week, then I bicycle ride (stationary) and use the varied road program (up hill, down hill) and I do 5 miles in 30 minutes. I also occasionally do Water arobics but the program at my gym isn't good. It's mostly old ladies (like me) and they just stand around and chat so if you really want the work out you have to weave yourself in and out of them because they won't move. I also use the steam room afterwards to help loosen the muscles. At home well, we have a farm so there is always something to do but I like using my WII and just do some dancing and/or some of the sports games that aren't too hard. I like to mix things up, it's better for your muscles and you also don't get as bored with the workout.

Good Job! Keep up the great work, you might not get a stall for a long time, I didn't. I didn't have a stall until about 5 months out and it was only for a week but if you keep measuring you will see that you still lose inches during the stall. I wouldn't worry about that now though just keep on doing what your doing and you will be on your way to the winners bench!

Mcnaira44 I don't know if you use a tracking system or not but I find it very very useful. I use FatSecret.com only because it has a lot of other info, recipes etc that I like. I have a sleeve and used the tracking system to put my I days food intake in the morning. What I like is that it has almost every food, every food company and even will tally up your own recipe . I keep my carbs at 40 or under for the day, my calories at 750 or under, and my Protein at 70 or over. This way you can pretty much eat the food you want to eat but you know when you have reached your limit for the day. I often have to re-think my meal item and sometimes come up with a different plan. Today I wanted to include a desert apple into my evening snack. I had thought of apple dumplings but they have pie crust so I recalculated it and came up with a way to use diet soda boiled down to a syrup, peeled and cut up apples that I will cook in the diet soda syrup and add some pumpkin pie seasoning. I will eat a 1/2 cup full and I will still be within my limits and in fact a bit under . I couldn't have figured that out without the tracking system. I would always be over eating what I should by guessing. I also always include a muscle milk Protein shake either for breakfast or mid day. (20 g protein, 130 calories, 5 grams carbs and less than 1 gram sugar). I have gained about 20 lbs in the last couple years because I wasn't watching my intake...not tracking my food. Back at it and in just a couple days I am down 4 lbs.

You are gonna do great Sweetpea! I can see from your picture you are also quite beautiful and young. You're doing this at the right time in your life and can look forward to a beautiful future.

Are you truly hungry? Analyze it, think about it. If you had a sleeve, the part of your stomach where the hunger hormone is manufactured is removed. You shouldn't feel hunger for maybe 6 months. I had what I called "Head hunger" I WANTED to eat but when I thought about it I really didn't feel a hunger pain ...I just wanted to eat. It helped me when I cooked some green Beans of the canned variety and put some garlic powder and a bit of salt and pepper and then pureed them in my blender. I could only eat about 2 tablespoons but it felt like I was eating something wonderful. I also made pureed deviled eggs and oh golly they were good. Some times its just good to feel something hot or warm in your mouth like you did before.

I love happy endings! Keep up the great work!

I took 1 cheese stick and split it into 4 pieces and rolled each piece in a deli thin piece of ham, I also took a hard boiled egg cut into quarters and a sugar free Jello cup . It was literally more than I could eat for about 6 months. I tried to eat a piece of egg and 1 of the roll ups every 2 hours.

In 2010 my husband and I were getting ready to go on the first vacation we have had in 20 years. We were taking care of some last minute errands on a Saturday afternoon and were going to leave on Monday. An elderly man turn off a side road in front of us causing our car to spin and roll into a ditch. It took them about 30 minutes to extract me from the passenger seat and my husband from the drivers seat. It was difficult due to my weight at almost 300lbs. Then they put me in the ambulance and was going to put my husband in the same one but they couldn't fit him next to me because of my size. They decided to airlift me to a trauma hospital because I had a head injury and I barely fit in the patient "tube" . I was so humiliated and embarrassed. That was in June of 2010 and I had my surgery in March of 2011. I can tell you of many other issues like not making a flight connection because the connecting flight was on the other side of the airport and I couldn't get there in the 45 minute time, seat belts that wouldn't fit, knee pain, chairs that broke, being embarrassed about ordering food even though I was hungry, running into old boyfriends and trying to pretend I didn't recognize them, not wanting to undress in front of my husband, I could go on and on but we've all been there. Now even though I have gained a few pounds (20) and am working them off again I am still not "fat" and people tell me I don't need to worry... But once you have been large and lost it, you worry about it. The picture I have included are my husband and I 2 weeks before my surgery and 9 months later...

I had my sleeve on March 15, 2011. I am 5'8.5 and was 283lbs. I also have liver disease (auto-immune in nature) and may at some point need a liver transplant as there is no cure for this disease. I knew I could not have the transplant (should I need one) being overweight (actually more than overweight..being obese.) So I went from 283 to 175 in one year. I lost an average of 10 lbs per month with a few stalls of 3 weeks at a time . I meticulously kept track of all my calories, Proteins, carbs etc on Fat Secret. I pre-planned my meals etc etc. My husband didn't like the me at 175 and I was a bit on the thin side thru the trunk with my ribs and chest wall really sticking out as well as my hips. I had no butt or boobs anymore. Just pieces of skin hanging down. However I felt pretty good and still couldn't believe I could fit into the clothes that were my size. I got to the point that I was starting to get embarrassed about the no butt and buying a bra was horrible because I couldn't find one that fit correctly. My boobs were flat and wrinkled and I had to stuff them in the cup then the cup would cave in on top and if I bent over my boobs would fall out of the cups..talk about embarrassing. I decided to gain about 10 lbs to see if at 185 I would look better which I did a bit. But the problem was those 10 lbs brought 10 friends then those 10 friends brought 5 more. Now I am struggling to remember how I took the weight off in the first place and wondering where do I begin? I would be happy to hear what is working you all...it would be so great if I could get down 10-15 lbs by the first of the year. BTW I am 64 and since losing weight I have incurred a serious back issue making it difficult to exercise. I was swimming laps 3 times a week and riding a bike 5miles in 30 minutes on changing terrain (uphill/flat/downhill) 3 times a week. The Dr won't do the back shots anymore because I'm a bleeder so not sure what I'm going to do now. Thank you all for listening and I am anxious to hear your advice!

I don't know if it's harder or not but I found that after about the 8 month point my weight loss slowed down a lot. I was at about 80 lbs lost by then and my goal was 110 lbs. It then slowed down substancially and has taken me a few months to lose the remaining 31 lbs. So at this point I am about 12 3/4 months and am one pound below my goal but my Dr has said I should lose maybe another 10 lbs. I am not worried about it, I don't really care if it takes another 6 months to lose it because I am comfortable with my weight at this point. I have often been told that the honeymoon period is the first 6 months and I think that is probably true, you will lose the weight the fastest at that point then it comes off a bit slower.

I'm going to be very frank here. I have heard that people who have bypass surgery or DS have terrible bm/flatulance smells that are so terrible that the smell won't leave the room and will follow you around. Is that also true for VS? Just want to know every part of what may happen on this journey, I don't like surprises of this nature.... Thanks, Stephanie

Thank you for your answers. I am assuming that with the VS it's "routine bms" . I have been told the other types of surgeries cause a terrible odor for a year or longer. Mostly due to the food sitting in the bowels rather than the stomach. They say its so bad that they have to use a bio spray that is used in the hospital and even that doesn't work for some people, they have to get charcole underwear liners. I was so horrified to hear this that I was seriously thinking maybe this is not something that I would do. I'm so relieved to hear with VS this isn't the rule. Thank you all so much, this forum is so valuable. Stephanie

I feel for you. I was a Comm Center Dispatcher, 911, Jail Central etc. There are some very interesting personalities in that line of work. Nuff said about that. I personally choose not to tell anyone but my husband, one son and an ex daughter in law that I am close to. My church family while they are wonderful people, most would believe that prayer would resolve it. They don't know how many hours of prayer I have prayed for a healthy, slender body. On the same note perhaps my hours of prayer have brought me to the decision of WLS. Anyway for me, it is indeed a very personal journey and I have no doubt I will be able to come up with some sort of excuses for big dinners and family holidays etc. Stephanie

I have not had the surgery yet so I cannot say what will or might happen. However I have viewed hours of You Tube - Vertical Sleeve posters videos and I have not seen one yet that the poster said they have not lost all weight. I would be interested in the comments of those who have had the VGS for a year or longer too. I am still in the process of deciding which to choose, the replies could be the deciding factors. Stephanie