longer-life

Thank you for the encouragement everyone! I'm glad to report that my appointment was excellent! My labs came back so good that my surgeon wanted the information about the Vitamins that I take so he could recommend them, and also told me to completely skip my 6 month post-op appointment because he didn't feel the need to keep an eye one me. I weighed in at 98 lbs lost since I started, which meant 63 since surgery. This morning I weighed in at 106 lbs down, so as of today I've lost 71 lbs since surgery! Some weeks I lose a lot, others I don't lose at all, but I'm still going down and I'm so happy I decided to change my life!

Hi BB's
I have not been on the forum in about a week as I was traveling for work. It was nice to get online and see this post refreshed. My experience started shaky with my complication and second surgery but through it all, except a fleeting moment alone at 3am in the ER before surgery to remove my abscess, NO REGRETS.
I was able to see co-workers I have not seen in 6 months. One sweet woman put her hands over her mouth and said the only words she had to describe me was "beautiful". Oh my....I was wearing a 18/20 sweater with a size 18 skirt. The last time I was atthat location, I wore a size 26 jacket and 24 pant. I have to say it made me feel so great.
I generally just eat the usuals chicken, shrimp, tuna, eggs, steak on occasion, then veggies and occasionally Peanut Butter toast for Breakfast. I tend to stay away from white flour foods, mainly because I just don't care for them any longer. I get min 64 oz of Protein in daily, my hair is falling out but really more like a heavier shedding not bad, I try and most days get in at least 64 oz of water/crystal lite and exercise 4-6 days a week.
I was sleeved on November 1, lost 28 lbs pre-op. I do not see the scale moving like it did but, friends if I never lost another pound, I feel so much better physically and mentally now, it would be ok.
Celebrate your accomplishments now and let's give the process a chance. Longerlife thanks for always staying positive and glad things are going well you and all of our banana Babes.

It's an unfortunate reality that the scale isn't going to go down every single day. Sometimes, it even goes up!
Everyone experiences this. The faster you get rid of the expectation to lose weight every time you step on the scale, the happier you'll be. It's a long journey to goal and the scale is an important part of the journey, even if it's an evil contraption that can ruin our entire day within seconds!
Stalls are normal - some last a week, some last months. Just keep doing the right things and you will get to goal. You aren't going to fail, you didn't waste your time or money and there's no reason to regret surgery.
~Cheri

Very nice!!!

Omg! I just got the call this morning from my surgeons office that the denial decision was OVERTURNED!!! guess my letter worked rather well! lol I am so nervous right now! My surgery is scheduled for March 8th!! Yikes!!

Yes it does! If you get denied keep fighting. I am proof that you can win.

I have been lactose intolerant for about 20 years. Lactaid brand ( and maybe others) sell lactose free yogurt, cottage cheese, milk, ice cream & probably other products I can't remember right now. They are sold in all major supermarkets. Cabot brand has lactose free cheeses. Also sold at Walmart and major supermarkets.
My nutritionist recommended that my Protein be " whey ISOLATE" and it has worked great. I have purchased some at GNC and the powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury brand online . They are everywhere .At Starbucks is the only time I ask for soy. Hope this helps.

I hit a few Patches where I was so frustrated it was making me nuts. I stalled out for about nine weeks twice. I really thought I'd be at goal in nine months. I got down to 165 pounds, yes, about that size 12 and I was just..burned out.
It's hard because we spend all that time pre-op and post-op daydreaming about being at goal, being thin, being able to do the things we couldn't do as seriously overweight people. And it's frustrating and disheartening to see that we still have SO far to go, to watch other people reach goal much more quickly and to have to readjust our expectations.
The reality is that you'll get past this hump. You will lose more weight if you keep trying. I fell off a bit for about four weeks while stranded in the 160s. I didn't gain anything but I stopped trying to lose. I had to get to the point where I realized I was still a success and that a year earlier I would have daydreamed about being a size 12, not whining that I wasn't as small as I wanted to be!
It stinks but the closer you get to goal the longer it takes for those last pounds to fall off, too. It took me six months to lose the last 20 pounds. Once they came off I quit trying to get smaller immediately and went right into maintenance, even though I had previously entertained the idea of dropping my goal down ten more pounds. It's a hard journey!
You only have forty pounds left, though, and you've lost that more than twice over since surgery! Keep on going. It's too late to beat yourself up for letting yourself get heavy in the first place. You did something to change it, and you still have the power to do it. I've said it about half a dozen times in the past few days, but there is NO magic window of weight loss with this surgery. Your sleeve is getting close to it's final size and unless you put a lot of effort into it that thing isn't getting much bigger. It's still restricting you. The rest is up to you - making those good food choices and doing the right things, even when it's boring and feels like you're not getting anywhere on the scale. I never would have made goal if I hadn't kept on trying. There were weeks where I didn't see any change in weight at all, so if I had allowed myself to get discouraged and quit I'd still be in those twelves.
Chin up. Keep going!
~Cheri

I admit that I expected to lose weight faster, but at the same time I am not disappointed. I think almost everyone is farther along than I am at almost 6 weeks post op, but for the first time in my life I am accepting my body and the pace it wants to go.
When I think back to the slow climb to my highest weight, I remember how much I hated my body all the way from my current goal weight to where I ended before surgery. I can now see all the time I wasted on it and have promised myself that I will embrace and enjoy every weight and every size as I take this journey and be proud of every inch and ounce of progress. I am headed toward the destination and no longer feel like I am hopelessly out of control with my eating. That alone is an amazing relief.

MONDAY AT 11AM MY STENT COMES OUT!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!

I am sorry this is not what you want to hear but I was never able to stop myself from thinking about it and I couldn't make time fly. :arf: So I let myself be obsessed :biggrin: and I read old and new threads on this website for many hours a day (the positive AND negative posts). I wrote a list of things I wanted to accomplish on my journey, a list of reasons why I was doing the surgery, saved recipes for Protein shakes, broths & other foods, ordered Protein Shakes samples, wrote a list of questions for my nutritionist & surgeon, asked questions, organized my closet by size, dreamed about the clothing I wanted to buy, increased my Water intake, read my surgeons "manual", organized my life so I could have some down time after surgery etc.
I hope this helps. :smile1: ( I am STILL obsessed!)

ROFL I won't tell! :tongue2:

I too have heard this. But it is, sadly, usually the truth. Medical professionals are not saying it to be mean. Being overweight causes lots of strain on our bodies. It can cause back and knee pain, heart pain and palpitations and much more. It can also decrease your immune system strength causing you to get sick more often and for longer.
Sometimes they may seem harsh or hasty because of how often they see people that just don't care. We, obviously, are doing something about it and care about our health but many overweight people don't care. My uncle had been told hundreds of times that if he didn't lose weight he was going to have a heart attack and he just kept eating. He died instead of trying to get healthier.
Maybe next time you go see a doctor you should start out with "I am getting VSG surgery because I want to get healthier...." I do and it seems to help.

Wow! I have had this same issue with some doctors. I remember once I went in because one of the horses at the barn that I was at (not my own horse) had kicked me in the knee. I waited for the swelling and bruising to go down and probably two weeks later my knee is still really bothering me. So, I go in to see a PCP and all I manage to get out is, "So, my knee hurts...." Before I can even get to the part about the horse this doc starts going on about how fat I am and how I'm always going to have knee trouble as long as I'm fat and when I lose about 100lbs it will all go away and I'll be healed!
I just sat there looking at her. Finally after she shut up because I had been staring at her for so long. I managed to say, "Actually, I got kicked by a horse AND I'm pretty sure no matter how much I weigh that was always gonna hurt." Then I got up and walked out. I don't know if I made my point, but it made me feel better.

I am sorry this is not what you want to hear but I was never able to stop myself from thinking about it and I couldn't make time fly. :arf: So I let myself be obsessed :biggrin: and I read old and new threads on this website for many hours a day (the positive AND negative posts). I wrote a list of things I wanted to accomplish on my journey, a list of reasons why I was doing the surgery, saved recipes for Protein shakes, broths & other foods, ordered Protein Shakes samples, wrote a list of questions for my nutritionist & surgeon, asked questions, organized my closet by size, dreamed about the clothing I wanted to buy, increased my Water intake, read my surgeons "manual", organized my life so I could have some down time after surgery etc.
I hope this helps. :smile1: ( I am STILL obsessed!)

I agree with everyone else... Your sleeve isn't ready.for so much starch. Protein first, veggies/fruit next, and if there's any room left a little bit of something else.
So, this may be a silly question but, pastas and potatoes and chips other similarly unhealthy foods are what got most of us into the positions we're in, so why after we've all been given an amazing opportunity and a 2nd chance to have a different type of life, would you go back to the things that got you here in the first place? I realize it's hard, we all realize it's hard, and we're all going through the same thing, but we all just underwent MAJOR surgery because we were tired of being unhealthy and overweight and everything else that goes along being that way. We have all made conscious decisions to change our lives and our lifestyles to facilitate change. Your sleeve is a tool, not a cure, and if you aren't using your tool wisely you may as well have not even gotten it.
We're all here for you, rooting for you and cheering you on, giving answers to questions you may think are silly, so please, use us! We want you to be successful! If nothing else we all have at least one thing in common, our sleeves, and that makes us like a brotherhood.
Hang in there friend, we're here for you!

Congrats!!! Currently on ceramic braces, they come off December 6th and I will be a whole new me! This year is our year family!!!!! :Banane59:

Congratulations to all!!!!!! :Banane57:

LOL! I love the "working on me stuff" too. I plan on getting acrylic nails & keratin hair treatment in the next few months. I bought Shapewear recently. Good luck with the Invisalign.

I am so going to try this .. Ground beef/turkey is such an easy staple, I really want to be able to eat it!

Hi,
I was referring to your not being able to hold food down. I noticed that you are eating fruit cups. I was suggesting just dropping back to liquids. Holding liquids down would be better than eating more solid food and bringing it back up. I went through stomach flu recently, retching and diarrhea for days. I definitely had to drop back. Just now getting back into mushies.
I don't mean to minimize the serious nature of your situation. I am just trying to be helpful in one small part of it.

I brew the coffee into a measuring cup and add one ice cube, bringing it down from scalding hot to something more manageable. Then I pour it into my shaker cup (I use one with a wire ball) and add my Protein powder and usually a little cold Creamer, too. I shake it all up, taking a break to pop the lid of the shaker cup halfway through so it won't explode on me. No clumps, no fuss! Nice hot coffee, too. If you're someone that needs to drink scalding hot lava coffee it won't work for you, but I never touch my coffee until I won't burn myself, anyway. :smile1:
~Cheri

I understand how you feel. I anticipated losing weight at a faster pace myself, but I am trying to focus on the positive aspect which is that every pound I lose will stay off forever.
All I can do is follow the rules and let my body release weight at the pace it wants to.

My impression is that you deceive yourself on a number of levels. All of us fat people do it. The most basic truth I ever told myself was "There is no way I will lose 100 pounds and keep it off without this surgery." I have lost 85 since July 2011. Your anecdotal comments about people in your family who are fat but still alive are a rationalization for not taking the step you know you need to take. And if you think you are "in the driver's seat" with your eating being your master, you need to think again. I know this sounds harsh, for which I apologize, but it is no service or help to you to encourage you to continue in self decpetion. You cannot lose the weight as much and as permanently as you should, or you would have done so. And as we ALL know, health is only a portion of our pain. Do you really like being treated by society like a person a little lower than a criminal? If you can honestly tell yourself that none of the fat hatred you are surrounded with every day hurts you, then by all means, yo-yo for the rest of your life. As for myself, I am overjoyed to have been sleeved, and HATED being fat every second (though really like myself in general) And I do NOT believe for a minute you'd be happy at 175 for the rest of your life. There are NO guarantees in this life, but the previous commenter, talking about this surgery having been done for decades for other medical reasons, is absolutely correct. The first few weeks post surg are not particularly easy, but I urge you to go with the sleeve if you can do it. And at the very LEAST, take a long cold look at what you are telling yourself about your problem with food. All the best...

Thank you LilMissDiva for your encouragment and the time it took you to respond to my cry for help. It was so wholehearted. I haven't gotten on any support sites for about 6 months and stopped logging my food intake around the same time. I used fitnesspal when I did log.
Your encouragment has helped me get in the right frame of mind and I'm going to take my first step tomorrow by logging in my food intake. I agree that I need to do some kind of low carb diet to break my carb addition and give me the reset I need.
I still want to drop 20-30 pounds, any idea what my calorie intake should be? I don't excersise but I'm going to start doing something even if means just walking around the block with my 5 year old. I live in Florida so the weather is always good.
Thank you again for your help.