minniekitty

I'm 23, and had the surgery done last August. I definitely had the same fears as you. I too am young and don't have any of the comorbidities that older people suffer with. I never had any major surgery (wisdom tooth extraction doesn't really count, does it? lol). I started out as a normal sized kid, but then quickly became overweight to obese around 8-10 years old. I had been fat ever since. VSG was my first major surgery, and hopefully will be my last for at least awhile. Comorbidities like diabetes and high blood pressure all run in my family, and I want to stay healthy. I see that your surgery is 5 days away. You'll be so happy you got it done. I am. I started this weight loss journey at 225 lbs, and now 7 months later I weigh 149.7 lbs. Do I regret it at all? No! I would never have gotten under 150 lbs in my life were it not for VSG. You can do this. Recovery is difficult, but it's all worth it in the end. If you want to message me, I would gladly talk to you about this to relieve any fears you may have

I've lost 4.6 more lbs. I can make it to goal, I know it! SN: Kala SW: 154.3 GW: 145 CW: 149.7 lbs to lose: 4.7

I'm so close to goal... I need to do this! I've been cheating a little more than I should recently (I'll pass on the greasy junk foods... but chocolate is... my downfall...) I must reach goal by Easter. Success is within reach!!!! SN: Kala SW: 154.3 GW: 145 CW: 154.3 lbs to lose: 9.3

I'm only 6 months post-op, but here are my stats so far. Sleeved August 12, 2011 5'4", Surgery Weight: 221.75 lbs 3 months post-op: 181.4 lbs 6 months post-op: 154.3 lbs

I reached my Valentine's day goal. I'll keep an eye out for the next challenge. Good luck, everyone! SN: Kala SW: 169.3 GW: 160 CW: 159.4 Pounds to lose: GOAL REACHED

I get random cravings every once in awhile. It's just weird, because since being sleeved I don't really think about food that much. But, sometimes I'll just think "Ooh, this food sounds good. I want to eat it NOW." The cravings usually aren't triggered by anything, either. I do enjoy different foods than I used to, too. I can understand wanting spicy food or food with a lot of seasoning that add flavor. Really greasy food or food high in starchy carbs make me sick now.

WTG! I really like the third picture. You look so happy. You were beautiful before, but you're positively glowing now . I like seeing how much our faces change as we get thinner.

Fitting into smaller clothes makes me so happy! Congrats on your NSV! And at 8 weeks, too? Wow, you're making great progress

I could have sworn I updated this at least once since I joined. I guess I didn't. I'm a little under one pound away from my Valentine's day goal. My weight loss has been really fast lately. Maybe I'm losing a little faster than is healthy for a lower weight (not that I'm complaining). I'll probably reach my goal before Valentine's day. I started this challenge at 169.3 lbs on December 28. Now I'm 160.9 lbs. SN: Kala SW: 169.3 GW: 160 CW: 160.9 Pounds to lose: 0.9

I'm so in on this! I was really successful during the Christmas Challenge. I hope I'll be just as successful this time around . I am tempted to make my goal weight the Valentine's day challenge, but I was realistic for the Christmas challenge and I'll be realistic this time around too. I should expect to lose weight much slower now than I did in the beginning. SN: Kala SW: 169.3 GW: 160 CW: 169.3 pounds to lose: 9.3 EDIT: I'm going to make my goal a little lower. Why not? I'm changing it from 164 to 160

I remember having a lot of bottled water available while I was down in Mexico for my sleeve. No worries

I've lost over 50 lbs, and not many people have commented on my weight loss either. I suppose it's not a big deal, but it's always nice to hear that you're looking good! I'm sure the weight loss is noticeable, but many people just don't want to be intrusive. Weight is a sensitive subject (especially for women, unfortunately), and maybe they don't want to risk being offensive. Maybe they're all talking about how great we look behind our backs

I had my gastric sleeve surgery on August 12, and so far I've lost 52.6 lbs!

I love being able to fit into old clothes! I have a huge pile in my closet full of clothes I "outgrew". WTG on this awesome NSV!!!

Congrats!

You look gorgeous! Congrats on hitting Onederland!

I feel so strange going out to eat. I'm so used to finishing an entire entree and still being hungry. Now I eat a few bites and don't even want to see/smell the food afterwards. It's so much easier to get the food "to go" so I don't have to worry about people "wondering". I'm significantly lighter than I was before surgery, but I still feel like the fat girl that people assume eats tons of food.

Oh, I felt like I was starving on my post-op liquid diet. It's the "head hunger" messing with us. The cravings do get better once you can physically eat actual food again. I was sooo happy when I could eat mushies and then real food once again. It might not just be head hunger- we're so limited on calories at first post-op that there's likely some physical hunger mixed in with that. It does get better, I promise. PPI's also seem to help many people here with their physical hunger. It's the head hunger that's the hardest to cope with. We lived our lives eating so much food, that it's difficult to reset our minds to our new eating habits.

I cheated on Thanksgiving (and the day after) too. My mom made this divine pumpkin roll, and I had to have a slice--with whipped cream! With my family, Thanksgiving is a day long even with a buffet of subs, dips, chips, and Desserts before the actual Thanksgiving feast! I can't physically eat as much as I used to be able to (like everyone else here!), but I definitely "ate around my sleeve" by grazing. I feel guilty because I know better. I know that it's easy to gain back the weight if I don't watch myself. I just completely let go. And, it showed on the scale. I stalled- didn't gain any weight (luckily), but I didn't lose either. The important thing is to stop and get back on track. It's all too easy to slip back into old habits (which is why I cheated the day after on leftovers). We indulged on a holiday, but we learned from our mistakes. We can do this :smile1:

The scale will move. You're doing everything right. Stalls happen, unfortunately. How many calories/day are you getting? Not enough calories can cause stalls too since our bodies go into starvation mode.

I was scared of the sleeve too at first, which is why I originally wanted to get the band. But, I wanted to avoid any future surgeries if possible. Pretty much everyone who has the band will have it taken out due to failure to lose weight, erosion, or slipping. I didn't want to go through weight loss surgery only to fail. The band can work, but it requires A LOT of discipline and luck. I started with a lower BMI too, and a more "invasive" surgery can seem scarier. The first month post-op was hell for me, but now I'm so much thinner and happier at 3 months post-op. Never would I think I could lose 40+ lbs in 3 months, but I did and I'm still losing :smile1:. In the end, it's your decision. This is a sleeve discussion board, so obviously we're all going to be biased towards the sleeve. You may want to ask on the Obesity Help forums and Lap-Band Talk too.

I also was told that carbonation was forbidden. I really doubt it expands the stomach. But, pre-sleeve I used to chug 5-6 cans of diet soda a day (which allowed me to eat more food). It's probably a good idea for me to NOT go back to that habit. Moderation, moderation, moderation...

These are all great suggestions! I also have wondered about what I'm going to do for Thanksgiving. In the past, I used to eat soooo much. Now it's physically impossible for me to indulge (good thing!).

During my first few weeks post-op, I HATED food commercials. I avoided TV altogether, because of those evil food commercials with the yummy food in slow motion. I had a hard time at first, too. The best thing you can do is just remember why you had the surgery, which you're doing. The first month is the hardest, but it does get better as you adapt to your new stomach and eating habits. It was also a huge shock for me. Chewing gum and eating Jello helped during the liquids phase for me. Maybe try watching DVDs instead of cable for awhile, only because those food commercials really do mess with your head. Once you get into the mushy food phase, you'll feel soooo much better.

I am 3 months post-op and my hair loss has started. I was kind of hoping I'd be the lucky one to not suffer from it, because I already have very fine/thin hair. Tomorrow I'm splurging and getting a nice haircut, dye, and collagen hair treatment. It's a reward for my 42 lb weight loss and an attempt to salvage my hair. Dying my hair darker makes it appear thicker. I also hope that by cutting it shorter, it will be less likely to fall out because it will weigh less. It'll also help with volume. The collagen hair treatment also will help with my damaged hair and hopefully make it healthier (i.e. less likely to fall out). I'm taking 1000 mcg of Biotin daily. I am going to look into MSM too. Hair loss may not be preventable, but I'm still going to do all I can save it. My aunt had the sleeve two years ago, and she got bald spots from her fast weight loss. That scares me . It's grown back at least...