LindaS

I broke my stall by 3lbs!!! CW:170 w/ 40 lbs until I reach my GW!!!

I haven't had any issues since surgery. I didn't even vomit in the hospital. I love my sleeve and am happy with my decision.
Surgeries have risks. Not having the surgery also comes with risks. My dad had a chance to have weight-loss surgery and freaked out and didn't go through with it. Because of his decision not to have surgery, he spent most of his life sitting on our couch and hearing about my life second-hand instead of being there. His health deteriorated, and during the last 5 years of his life, he was in the hospital more than out of it. I wish he would have went through with the surgery. If he had, my dad might still be around today.

i suspect that this will be me also... However, I want someone to tell me to stop... I want someone to tell me that I did this... I made this happen... Ive taken this ride to complete this... I want someone to ask me "What are you getting out of being scared right now?" I want someone to say "No matter what I say right now, it wont make you feel better because you are choosing to not feel better"
What I want to say to you is this... Choose to feel better and know that you have gotten where you are on purpose and its up to you to choose Life from here on... as we continue through this journey we are choosing life... because we matter and we know it... we have chosen the opposite for a long time... and finally we got it... so, go get it!!!! Your there... I cant wait for someone to tell me all of this... and then I cant wait to do it despite the fear of the day before...

I haven't had any issues since surgery. I didn't even vomit in the hospital. I love my sleeve and am happy with my decision.
Surgeries have risks. Not having the surgery also comes with risks. My dad had a chance to have weight-loss surgery and freaked out and didn't go through with it. Because of his decision not to have surgery, he spent most of his life sitting on our couch and hearing about my life second-hand instead of being there. His health deteriorated, and during the last 5 years of his life, he was in the hospital more than out of it. I wish he would have went through with the surgery. If he had, my dad might still be around today.

I haven't had any issues since surgery. I didn't even vomit in the hospital. I love my sleeve and am happy with my decision.
Surgeries have risks. Not having the surgery also comes with risks. My dad had a chance to have weight-loss surgery and freaked out and didn't go through with it. Because of his decision not to have surgery, he spent most of his life sitting on our couch and hearing about my life second-hand instead of being there. His health deteriorated, and during the last 5 years of his life, he was in the hospital more than out of it. I wish he would have went through with the surgery. If he had, my dad might still be around today.

How does this time compare to other times you've tried to lose weight?
How many pounds lost are you averaging in a week? 4.5 pounds a week.
That's awesome. Don't get discouraged -- find other things to compare your loss to.

I haven't had any issues since surgery. I didn't even vomit in the hospital. I love my sleeve and am happy with my decision.
Surgeries have risks. Not having the surgery also comes with risks. My dad had a chance to have weight-loss surgery and freaked out and didn't go through with it. Because of his decision not to have surgery, he spent most of his life sitting on our couch and hearing about my life second-hand instead of being there. His health deteriorated, and during the last 5 years of his life, he was in the hospital more than out of it. I wish he would have went through with the surgery. If he had, my dad might still be around today.

Let me put this in perspective for you. If you have surgery, there is a risk of complications, both on the table and afterwards (stricture, leaks). That risk is very low, less than 1%. If you don't have surgery and continue to remain obese and probably gain even more weight, there is a 100% chance that you will eventually have complications from obesity, even more so than you already have. Almost every obese person has issues with self-image, walking, being out of breath while trying to do the simplest tasks that require physical exertion, not to mention inability to find clothes that look/feel good on the obese body. Eventually, eating badly will clog our arteries, lead to any combination of: asthma, arthritis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, pneumonia, heart failure, blood clots (from inactivity), varicose veins, etc. So, when it comes down to it, it's LESS risky to have WLS than it is to remain obese. Dr. Oz said something that has stuck with me: "If you're 100 pounds overweight...it's like having cancer. You'd operate to remove a cancer, so why wouldn't you have WLS". At 18 +months out, I've had resolution of all my comorbidities, lost over 120 pounds, and I'm living a wonderful life that I couldn't have predicted pre-op. WLS changed and saved my life and I think it will do the same for you. Good luck on your journey!

I am proud to report I didn't not cheat at all. No alcohol or food!

I was looking through some old pictures of mine, and then some others on here. The "befores". I noticed the strained smiles and pain in the eyes. We were all hurting so much. That is one of the big gifts of the sleeve. Freedom from that pain when a camera is pointed your way, or your spouse sees you naked with the lights on, or your last pair of pants don't fit. Why did that pain send me running to food? It did. Than the guilt and self incriminations! I am still in the loosing phase, but somewhere during my loss that voice got nixed. I don't even mind my husband seeing me with the lights on! I want a ticker for that! Or maybe a parade.

Stress? Nerves? Body going into shock from lack of carbs? Too much dog meat?
Relax...you're gonna do great. When you come out of surgery all these little troubles are going to disappear. You're going to have all new troubles that will make these pale in comparison.
Uh...I mean....everything will be rainbows and unicorns.

Went to a family function tonight.... WOW, everyone noticed my weight loss! I have not seen them since Christmas... had my sleeve Jan 8 and down 47 lbs:).. I also bought a new pair of jeans for tonight, because my others were falling off.... went from a 18 to size 14!! Next, step will be NORMAL SIZES!! YES...

I remember thinking, "I don't need surgery. I can do this on my own." It was when I was being pushed back into my room AFTER my surgery. Obviously, the drugs were messing with my mind. :-)
I tried to lose weight on my own, and I couldn't. I was slowly gaining MORE weight despite my efforts, and I was starting to have side effects of my weight that I didn't even realize until I lost weight. For instance, before I lost weight, I would see something under the kitchen table and ask my kids to pick it up. After I lost weight, I picked it up. The effort to pick it up before losing weight made it so it wasn't even an option for me, and I didn't realize that. There were hundreds of little things like this before I lost weight.
The surgery went well for me. I haven't had any issues. I am happy with my body, and I have been pretty much from the time I went under 200 pounds (I am 5'7.5" tall). Still, I don't ever want to be 180 pounds again even though my all-time high was 255.
I was nervous before the surgery, but I was also excited. I wanted to be skinny NOW. It changed my mind. I had my surgery in August. A month later, I was at the beach, and I wasn't hiding my body. I had only lost 25 pounds or so, but I knew I would never be that big again, and it made me so confident with where I was at, and I was happy with that.

I am drinking coffee -- at least a cup a day and sometimes up to three. Two is probably my normal amount.
I don't usually have a problem with it as long as I don't drink too much without eating.

I put the insides of a taco in a bowl and add a couple of tortilla chips broken up. I can eat about 3 to 4 ounces of this. It is mostly Protein. If I don't have a couple of chips, I will break up part of a hard taco shell that is about the same amount.

I can eat anything, but some things don't feel good after I eat them.
For instance, I tend to avoid eating breads and potatoes because I don't like the way I feel after I eat them (bloated and full and uncomfortable). I can eat a couple of fries or a couple of spoonfuls of potatoes, but I don't eat more than that. Usually, I don't even want that.
Some foods cause me to have diarrhea, but I usually get it if I drink too much coffee without eating.
I can eat sweet stuff, but I usually only have a bite or two. I've been able to have a bite of cheesecake, for instance.
If I eat foods high in Protein, I don't have as much room for other things.

Darn, you guys are making me feel good!
I might have to contact the members of my old rock band, The Spyders, and get the band back together!
We might have to rename it though, ....The Spyder Veins?

Not a rant...

Here I am with Peter Noone, lead singer for Herman's Hermits. He is one year older than me, 65, he's a rock singer,(notorious for hard living), and he looks younger. Granted, he didn't balloon up to 330+ pounds and then lose it in a year, get treated for prostate cancer, and he has a ton of make-up on, but..dang!
The biggest difference is the turkey neck..gobble, gobble.
I am glad my wife loves me whether my neck flaps in the wind or not. I have no desire to blimp it out again with fat globules. Surgery is out of the question at this time. I just have to lay low at Thanksgiving.

I had surgery August 2011, and I am still losing. It is slow, but it is happening. I am at the point that I'm not sure if I still want to continue losing because as I lose now, I am seeing more loose skin.
Thanks, Iggy, for the link. My results were: BMI 27.16 BMR 1532.1 Waist to Hip Ratio 0.73 Body Fat Percentage 27.48
This is a little different than what I get other places. The BMI and body fat percentage is showing higher, and the BMR is slightly lower than what I see on my scale that has the electric pulse, but the difference really isn't that great.
I am not too worried about the BMI saying I'm overweight. I don't necessarily agree with that.

Before surgery, I bought a wedding band set from Avon that I could wear when my wedding band was resized. I haven't had my rings sized yet (they need it, but I hate giving them up to do it), and I don't like the idea of not wearing something on my finger. The temporary band set was only about $20.

Just sitting on the ball improves core muscles. You can replace your desk chair with an exercise ball. The constant movement that you have to do while sitting on one helps strengthen your core muscles.
I sit on the ball when doing my arm exercises. It requires my core muscles to work out while I do my arm exercises.
There are also video tapes and YouTube videos showing various exercises to do while on an exercise ball.

Just one addition -- I did arm workouts while sitting on an exercise ball, which helps tone your core as well.
I started lifting 3 pound weights and worked up to 5 pound. I don't lift a lot, but I lift.It made a difference.
I started doing 15 lifts 2 times (total 30). I did about 6 different arm moves and rotated through each of them 2 times. So that would be 30 times for each of the six moves.
I know Lissa keeps/kept weights readily available, and she would do something like 100 lifts a day.
I did seated bicep curls, tricep press, kickbacks, sidearm raise, shoulder press and front arm raise. All of these were done sitting.
It has been a while since I've done these. I should probably do it again. Lately, I've been using 3-pound weights while doing Zumba toning.

I am 17 months out and still losing. :-) It is definitely not a race.
I've lost 83 pounds overall, and I am planning to lose 100 pounds.
August 2011: 25.5 pounds (sleeved Aug. 9, 2011)
September 2011: 14.5 pounds
October 2011: 9 pounds
November 2011: 6 pounds
December 2011: 3 pounds
January 2012: 6 pounds
February 2012: 6 pounds
March 2012: 0 pounds
April 2012: 0 pounds
May 2012: 3 pounds
June 2012: 0 pounds
July 2012: 0 pounds
August 2012: 0 pounds
September 2012: 5 pounds
October 2012: 0 pounds
November 2012: 3.2 pounds
December 2012: 4 pounds

I haven't lost any weight in January "officially." I gained some weight around the holidays, and I've lost it again.
I also went down to a size 10 in jeans in January, which isn't reflected in my weight loss and stayed true even when my weight went up a few pounds. To me, this means I am losing inches and gaining muscle tone as well as losing weight overall. This is good.

Companies advertise to sell food period. It is their right. Frankly, cigarettes are legal and there is no good Constitutional reason why they cannot advertise. If a picture forces you to eat to obesity, I suggest that you work on your impulses.
Ban this, ban that, censor this, censor that, save THE CHILDREN!!!!!
Imagine! - the government telling people what they can or cannot say -- what they can and cannot eat.
Turn off the TV.
P.S. Ban smells.

I certainly
That's pretty absurd to come to that conclusion. Not so free if you turn over all of your freedoms to the government in the name of security.
I'd certainly rather live here, but I want to keep it free of socialism and any form of totalitarianism.
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty, to purchase a little Temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"--Benjamin Franklin.