Neese

Congrats to you! Lookin good!

Firstly....... You looked beautiful on your wedding day. Congrats on doing something you wanted to do after losing weight...... great NSV.

you look great!!! Keep up the wonderful work!!!

You were a gorgeous bride. You look incredible today. Congratulations on the weight loss. You must've busted your booty these last 3 month. You deserve a nice dinn... Instead, spend the night a home and just enjoy each other :-)

and I am over 3 months out from surgery (jan 31st). i tried on my wedding dress last night for shits and giggles.. (pictures attached)




my wedding dress was a size 24, snug obviously, and i fit into a size 16 in lane bryant over the weekend (pictures attached). this lifted my spirits (: i ALSO finally put on Facebook a full body picture and the amount of weight i had lost. i kept telling myself i was going to do it when i reached x amount of weight and i finally just did it. it felt good!!


happy sleeving, sleevettes!

and I am over 3 months out from surgery (jan 31st). i tried on my wedding dress last night for shits and giggles.. (pictures attached)




my wedding dress was a size 24, snug obviously, and i fit into a size 16 in lane bryant over the weekend (pictures attached). this lifted my spirits (: i ALSO finally put on Facebook a full body picture and the amount of weight i had lost. i kept telling myself i was going to do it when i reached x amount of weight and i finally just did it. it felt good!!


happy sleeving, sleevettes!

Just think, soon, all of our Facebooks will be full body shots

Just think, soon, all of our Facebooks will be full body shots

Just think, soon, all of our Facebooks will be full body shots

(: great job

That's amazing! Im so happy for you pat yourself on the back you're incredible!

Have lost 39 total 29 since surg. Feeling good! Looking ALOT better. 30 more to go yayyyyyy
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I got on the scale today and it said: 179.8.
I'm making this announcement because I want people to know that so far, my year-long experiment with sleeve eating has not been a failure. If you've ever read my posts before, you know that I am not dieting with the sleeve. I am not lowcarbing. My calories are not at starvation level and they have not been since I got my surgery last April. My actually surgery was March 29, but I mostly count it as April 1 just to round everything out.
Okay so the thing is, there is research out there that says that people typically lose sixty percent of their weight in the first year and that's all you get. There is research that says that you will "stretch" your sleeve after six months or so, lose your "honeymoon" with your sleeve, stop losing and get stuck. There are surgeons who say you *have to* be on a lowcarb diet of 800 calories for the rest of your life or you won't lose the weight, and they say that you need to exercise like a demon *while* you're eating that 800 and you have to stay like that forever or you'll get fat again.
I want to tell you that in my experience this is not true.
What I want to tell you is that I got the sleeve because I was 46 and SO FAT -- I weighed 289 -- and I was at the end of my rope. I had dieted before and gotten the weight off only to regain it and the way I did that is pretty much to follow all the instructions above. Eating 800 lowcarb calories a day will get you to goal weight, there is no doubt,but in my opinion that's just no way to live and it's impossible to sustain. It also creates such intense anxiety about eating and your body and your food that it creates a horrible unending complex about fat, and feeding yourself, that the cure is worse than the disease.
I got my surgery in March. I was *severely* depressed and the reason I was depressed primarily was because I WAS SO FAT. I really hated myself. But I decided that the fat was emotional mostly and so what I was going to do was this. I was going to lose weight without dieting by having a surgeon remove eighty five percent of my stomach. And knowing that was taken care of and I had done the most *extreme* thing I could possibly do to solve my weight problem, I was going to let it come off naturally, eat normally and not push myself or punish myself because obsessing over my weight has basically been my career since I was 13 years old.
I had this thought once when I was watching Oprah Winfrey. All that woman ever talked about was her weight. All she ever did was look at the scale. Every time she lost fifty pounds it made the freakin national news and when she gained the weight back she made this weird confession and apology to everyone in the world. So obviously she was obsessed but what I really thought was holy crap, really? Imagine what Oprah could have accomplished with her life if she was not spending seventy five percent of her time obsessing over her pants size. Imagine what *I* could do if this was NO LONGER A PROBLEM for me and when I say NO LONGER A PROBLEM I mean I NEVER HAVE TO THINK OR WORRY ABOUT IT AGAIN.
So really....I was looking for more than weight loss. I wanted to be healed. Completely.
So the weight has come off really slow. In August of last year, I weighed 237. In November, I weighed 222. In January, 209. On April 1, my surgiversary, I weighed about 190. I've gone on vacation, I've drunk numerous glasses of wine, I've eaten cake and Pasta and carbs, I've avoided cardio really for the most part -- but my calories are *naturally* way under what I would need to sustain these weights and so....slowly....it's coming off. And it's still coming off and it has now been *over* a year.
I think I'm going to hit goal eventually. This will be without dieting, without worrying about the "honeymoon period", and without forcing myself to do ninety hours of cardio a week. And when I get there there's not going to be some freakout/rebound where I now have to figure out what "maintenance" is and be on the verge of shooting myself in the head because I had a piece of birthday cake or a piece of gum with sugar in it.
So this is what I want to say:
If you're just starting this project ( I refuse to say journey -- UGH) then realize that patience is required. Plan on a year *or more*. Even if you believe the honeymoon thing you're not going to drop all your weight *inside* your "honeymoon" so think about it...what are you going to do when it's over? Because you're still going to have to lose a lot of weight and you're going to have to sustain whatever you're doing for the rest of your life. It's frustrating that such an extreme solution is not instantaneous, but it is NOT, so prepare yourself. You're going to be working on this for at least a year. A year is a long time and you can't just not be alive for a year while you get thin. I didn't have that year to waste and you don't either.
If you're just starting this project, consider what you want your life to be as a thin person. Not a "formerly fat" person. Not a constantly dieting, obsessed person. This is what you'll be free of when it's done, so prepare by starting now and living your life.
And finally: Prepare for the idea that you may not lose all your weight in the first year. But remember this post by me and realize that you *will* very likely get exactly where you are going by the end of the second one and forget all that stuff about first years and honeymoons. This is not magic, it's science. It's mechanics. The mechanism that uses energy that is your body will continuously be operating at a deficit *even after* the honeymoon, *even after* the first year, and that means you *will* get there. You *have to*.
This requires patience, and then more patience. That's really the *only* think you need going into this. The rest, I really promise you -- will take care of itself.

Awww my husband is going to do the same..his quote "if this is your biggest challenge Then I'm with you every step of the way" it's such a blessing to have amazing and supportive hubby!! We are Blessed!

I am one of the first people to rag on her hubby when he is being a jerk but i just wanted to say that my DH has decided to do the two week pre op with me. He will be drinking shakes and having sugarvfree approved Snacks. He wants to see how much he can lose and wants to see how hard it really is. He already admits he knows he is weaker. So sweet! I think it will be great for us to walk together a little bit on this journey.

I'm so excited! I had a NSV this morming when I zipped up my boots. I've always had to scrunch down my knee high boots so I could get them zipped up over my rather voluptuous calves but today . . . I zipped from ankle to knee in one smooth, unscrunched action! Yee Haw!

It really is the best thing ... for both of you.

I can no longer hold the car steering wheel In place with my belly! There's about 2" in between now :)

Yep, you F***** up royally. So what. Get the cornbread and the oreo Cookies out of the house. I take joy in throwing them away now. That's my pleasure. If they're not around you will not be tempted. I would also check out LilMissDiva's Basic Bootcamp in the food and nutrition section and stay on that program for about 3 to 5 days to get the sweet tooth in check. Time to pull up your boot straps and get back to the basics. You can do this, you've done a great job so far! Keep Rockin that Sleeve.

Ok, first thing, do not beat yourself up about this. You are DOWN 32 lbs, obviously you are doing something right. We are going to have slip-ups so just look forward, not back. What is done is done. When you fall off the horse get up, dust yourself off and get back on! Best of luck to you

I think we need to pin a topic on the three week stall I didn't have the stall, but a lot of people do. Someone posts something about it everyday it is ok because I posted crap the first month without looking it up in the search function, but seriously this should be pinned lol omg how many more posts can I write!

This phenomenon actually has a name. It is called body dismorphia and is perfectly normal. It takes a while for your brain to catch up to your body post op. It could take quite a few years. You are so used to seeing something specific in the mirror, it is what your brain expects. The person who suggested that you hold two pictures side by side is right, it will help, but it will still take you a little while to see yourself as anything but the "fat girl" that you are used to seeing in the mirror. Congrats on doing so great with your surgery!!

I think it is great you are reaching out. I figure it is never too late to get back on track!!!
A thought would be to start with doing the 5 day pouch test - google it for details.
This is supposed to help you feel like you have some restriction again.
I might also suggest that you start using a tool like myfitnesspal.com and journal EVERYTHING - no exceptions. Target for at least 60 g of Protein and less then 50-60G of carbs. That is not super restrictive but is low enough it will keep the sweets out. There are different ideas of how many calories you should have but it seems like most people are getting around 800 or so during the active weight loss phase. I work out alot, so do sometimes eat more, but 1000 is a pretty big day for me.
I suggest that you not belabor the past, since you can't change it, but each day think about what you will do this day, this week and look forward to much success!

Even though these overweight people should be informed it is not our job - i don't think anyone could/should go up to a stranger and start this kind of conversation. No matter how true, and how well intentioned you are.
I think you PHP should bring the subject up. I heard it said that they are afraid to. I feel this is ridiculous that your dr. can't talk to there patient about there health - thats what he's there for, to help you in all physical ways. So obesity is right up there.
I went to the dr. frequently do to many health issues that of course were not helped by my excess weight. He would say periodically that i need to lose weight, but then he would drop it. One day i came into his office and asked him what his opinion was on me getting WLS. All of a sudden - the door was open and we had a great long discussion.
kathy

That's crazy! And you know the reality is that she will NEVER lose weight without surgery - especially since it sounds like she's in too much pain to exercise. That's really too bad.
And to chime in, yes, I've definitely pondered coming up to people and telling them about the surgery. But like everyone else here, I've resisted. Imagine if some stranger came up to you back when you were big - I know I would've, at the very least, thought they were totally nuts to approach someone like that.