LindaS

I now weight less than my husband! My girlfriends said even my shoulders are smaller!

I can sit cross cross apple sauce (Indian style) during story time again. When I was heavier it made my hip sit in the joint crooked and now it doesn't.

I feel like I eat normally when I go out to eat with people. Most would not know I was sleeved. I am 21 months out from my surgery.
I eat slow, and I take things home. If my meal comes with something that I don't eat, I order it anyway. For instance, I don't tend to eat potatoes or bread, but I still get the bread and potatoes that come with my meal. I might take a bite or two of potatoes. I just box it up and my kids will usually end up eating it.
The first few times you go out, try to look at the menu first. This helps you figure out what to order. I started out just getting the Soups and/or chili. I now tend to order chicken and/or hamburgers. I don't eat the Buns.< /p>
I have gone to a restaurant where the food was pretty much all fried (a bar menu). In that case, I will get chicken strips and try to peel off most of the breading.
For the most part, people don't pay attention to how you eat.
One thing I do though is that I will stop eating after I've had what I gauge as a couple of ounces of food. I wait 2 or 3 minutes before taking another bite. This lets me figure out if I'm full yet. I think this has saved me numerous times from getting too uncomfortable.
I do drink before dinner, and I will have sips during. I am usually too full to drink after dinner though. Even if I don't drink it, I still order something. If nothing else, I order Water with lemon.
If you don't make a big deal out of what you are ordering and eating, most people won't notice.

Who are deese mutts? I'll send Luca...

We love to see before and afters, but i am bow wanting to hear about NSV's. we get so focused on the scales we lose sight of other victories. So tell me, what was you best NSV?
I'll go first.
I am pre-op but have 2 NSV's with my diet now
1. I can put my socks on without grunting
2. My engagement ring fits again!
Your turn....
????

I have a very different way of thinking than most people that are overweight or have loose skin. Even at my highest weight I still wore a bikini to public pools and beaches. I've always had the frame of mind that "if you don't like what you see then quit looking at it"! I never let my weight be my "excuse" for not living. I was the one that I'm sure many people looked at and said "she must not have a friend to tell her not to wear that" or "she shouldn't be wearing a bikini with all that going on" BUT I am a sun worshipper and never let anyone's opinion stop me from enjoying the things I wanted to do. I look around me and see that everyone has faults and nobody is perfect. I've yet to see anyone that didn't have their own issues of some sort. I am not without embarrassment or insecurities or inhibitions it's just that I look past them and try my hardest to ignore them. Now that we all have had the VSG and working to try to look physically better it's imperative to work on our minds and thoughts too. GO AHEAD AND PUT THAT BATHINGSUIT ON! You look FABULOUS just the way you are!

Have you thought about seeing a therapist or psychologist? Sounds like a few things are going on.
it seems like you are grieving the loss of food, and there is some cross addiction taking place.
It is very difficult to transition into a new life where food isn't the center of things. Like for mother's day, maybe you could focus on an activity to do together (zoo, museum, sporting event..) instead of the food?
Problem is, its too late for you to turn back, you are stuck with your sleeve, It is hard but I hope you would reconsider... don't give up but make the best of your situation.
How far out are you? I really think it does get better with time. Please consider seeing a mental health professional soon, I think it would be very helpful.

Great news this morning--MY financing WAS APPROVED!!!

As you can probably tell by how long I’ve been a member here, I’ve been considering VSG for a long time. My husband has never exactly been on-board with it; he’s naturally very thin, and can eat whatever he wants without gaining any substantial weight. Since he’s never really been willing to hear me out on VSG, I’ve tried everything else under the sun to try and get my weight under control. In 2011 I did Medifast. Over the year, I managed to lose 100 pounds. Over the next year and a half, I managed to gain back every last pound.
I talked to my husband last night again about VSG, and he was not terribly supportive of the idea (as usual). He doesn’t like the idea of me having surgery, and he is also of the opinion this is somehow taking the easy way out and I should be able to just do this on my own. He feels like I “quit” on Medifast, and that we wasted money because I gained it all back. I tried to explain to him that it’s not losing weight that’s the problem…it’s keeping it off. I’ve tried and tried, and I *can’t* stay a normal weight. I am just not able.
I’m not a snacker, and I don’t eat a bunch of junk food. I’m a vegetarian (15 years), don’t have high cholesterol, etc. My problem is the speed and quantity at which I eat. If my husband and I are having pizza, I will be on my 4th slice by the time he’s finishing his first. I literally inhale my food. I don’t chew, I don’t wait for it to cool, and I eat so quickly and so voluminously that I feel ill. I’ve tried to consciously slow down, but even my “slow” is fast to most people. And I don’t know the meaning of the word “full.”
Through all my research, it seems like VSG would be the best option for me because it would force me to slow down (lest I get sick!), and I physically won’t be able to hold as much food. I know you can “eat around” the sleeve, but like I said I’m not a big snacker or junk food eater so I don’t worry about that so much. I feel like the sleeve would be a good tool to help me control my portions and give me that sense of when to stop that I’m *supposed* to have.
Since my husband feels like I “quit” at Medifast, he thinks I’m going to “quit” on the sleeve. He thinks I’ll just gain it all back, and we’ll have “wasted” all that money. I know he wants to be supportive and he wants me to have something that works, but he just doesn’t know what it’s like to have a problem with food. It’s impossible to understand if you haven’t been there. But he raises a good point, and one I feel is fair to ask—how IS this different from Medifast or anything else I’ve tried? Will it just end up being another “waste of money”? How will this help me succeed where other plans haven’t?
Please, any insight you can provide would be so appreciated. I just want to be healthy again.

I'm a year out, and I had been stalling for months. I couldn't figure out why. After a lot of effort and no results, I decided to do something different. I read some articles that said the calorie count reported on a food label can be off by as much as 20 percent. That shocked me, but it got me thinking that maybe my calorie count was wrong.
And I think I was right in that. To be more accurate, I bought a food scale in August (I wanted it for my birthday),and I bought a lot of tiny bowls. I even bought a tiny casserole type bowl that can go in the oven and has a lid. All of this helped me get a better handle on my portions and calories.
The biggest thing that shocked me? I thought my full fat cheese snack was 1 ounce and turns out I was eating 3 ounces. scales can help..

I'm a store clerk at a little convenience store. It's not a sit down job but I do spend a lot of time just standing behind the counter.. I've been sneaking in squats and lunges between customers. I also go out of my way to stock shelves when it's really slow even when they don't really need it...
I also do laps around the store with whatever I can think of to add intensity... Yes I've been caught more than once by customers while doing a lap around the store with "high knees" or "running grapevine" *shrug* nothing embarrassing about trying to be more active!

I got my hair cut at gene Juarez today at the mall. First time spending that much on a haircut. I got the popular cut like Aaron Eerkhart (sp?) as president on "Olympus has fallen." It is for my WLS Center photoshoot tomorrow. Anyways, I am getting checked out left and right walking down the mall, even with my wife at my side. I don't know whether to enjoy this or not, but secretly liking it. Boosts my ego a little. Lol. Not used to it, but hey, not too bad. Don't know if it is all haircut or partly from all the strength training over last 2 months. Either way, it is all good...

I have been in you shoes.
My highest starting weight was 255. I am 5feet 7, so that put me around a 40BMI. On the 9 month pre-op plan I lost 55lbs. My family REALLY tried to discourage me from surgery saying that my weight loss was evidence I could do it myself.
The thing is, I have lost weight before, many, many, many times. I have said b4 that I was a great dieter, sucky maintainer, and super regainer (plus more). I knew I had to do something different this time, or I would just end up repeating my old patterns. (Remember that saying about Insanity: doing the same thing over & over and expecting a different outcome).
Upon much reflection / prayer/ counseling, I decided to think of the pre-op weight loss as part of my recovery & beginning of a new life. I had surgery at 198, at a 33 BMI. Many (family included) would call me a crazy person for having WLS at that BMI. But, I know myself and know my history. I have since come to terms with the fact that WLS was simply a last chance scenario for me.
My point is only you know you. I'm certain in time you will make the best choice for you.

I was 255 when I had surgery. I am 5'7, so my BMI was right around yours. Almost everyone told me that I was too small to need weight loss surgery. They said I didn't need to, that I wasn't fat, and I could do it on my own. They loved me like I was and why would I want surgery?
I knew I was obese, but those around me didn't see it.
It wasn't until after I started losing weight and family members went back and saw pictures of what I used to look like that they realized how big I was before. But most don't remember how big I was unless I remind them, and I do.
I saved my fat clothes from my "before" picture and put them on to compare how far I've come. I'm going to add that picture here. I am now 172, which is a loss of 83 pounds.

I am 16 months post-op.
1) is it a totally different life style? It isn't totally different, but I have made changes. I have a job that requires me to sit at a computer for big chunks of the day. I recently changed my desk to a stand-up desk in order to help myself move more. I work out (and make time for working out), which is something I didn't do in the past. The rest is pretty much the same.
Do you go out to eat and just eat less, or totally avoid it? ,
I do still go out to eat, and it is something we do pretty frequently both pre and post op. I just make good choice and don't feel compelled to eat everything.
Do you eat differently from the rest of the family?
Yes and no. I can eat the same things my family eats, but I eat much smaller portions. But just because I can doesn't mean I do. I tend to modify my meals. For instance, if my family has spaghetti, I just eat the meat sauce and only a few noodles. If they have pizza, I might eat the toppings off one piece and then have something with Protein in it.
I am still in the weight-loss stage, so I am still drinking Protein drinks for some of my meals. I usually do this when I am working or my family is gone. I sometimes just have a bite or two of something like potatoes.
My eating isn't strange enough that people comment on it when we go out to eat.
Can you do everything physically that you did before?
I can and actually I can do so much MORE than I did before. This summer, we went on a very physical vacation, and I was able to do all of it including a very steep, hilly four-mile hike that I wouldn't have been able to do before my surgery. I was also easily able to go up into a lighthouse, and I think I would have had trouble fitting in the tight spaces before my surgery.
Has your life changed drastically in any way?
No. I am still happily married, employed and mother of four kids.
2) how has your life changed mentally?
Before my surgery, I had this voice in my head that constantly brought me down mentally. It would be the voice that told me I was fat and couldn't do this or that or would notice my butt overflowing the chair I was sitting in and that my waist band was cutting into my belly and how big my thighs were and how hard it was to bend over to pick something up off the floor. I would hear myself breathing heavily when climbing stairs and dreaded seeing someone at that point that expected me to talk too.
After my surgery, the voice in my head shut up. I don't have the negative self talk constantly in my head, and I am happier because of it. I'm quicker to smile and laugh and am not afraid to try something because I'm worried I won't fit.
Of course, the obvious, looking and feeling better. Anything else? I'm more flexible, which can be handy in certain rooms of the house.
Has it been worth it?
Yes!

None of my clothes fit! But this time I'm happy about it. It used to be that none of them fit because they were too small now they are too big! These to piles are just from my dresser. The closet is next! I've gone from a 22 to a 14 and even a few 12 in 5 1/2 months but im not done yet. Ive been shopping but I don't want to by to much because im hoping to get to a comfortable 10 or maybe even an 8. I have NEVER been a single digit so that
doesn't even seem possible but I will just keep plugging along.
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My surgeon has allowed straws since the beginning. They do not stretch your stomach nor do carbonated drinks. If you have excess air in there, you burp.

Olivia23 - great question. I absolutely STILL have restriction when it comes to dense Protein (chicken, especially, but beef, pork, salmon, even meatless Protein, like veggie/soy burgers/sausage, etc.) I have never been one to "test" my limits when it comes to post-sleeve eating. I have an *almost* un-natural fear of throwing up and I can say that in the last 2.5 years I have NOT thrown up. Not even once. Not even in the post-anethesia fog that sometimes can make people regurg. So I'm in the camp that tends to underfill my sleeve. When it comes to meals I generally do NOT eat any more than 3-4 oz of meat. I don't care what kind of meat it is (4oz of meat is my high limit.) If it is a meal (vs. a snack) I will include an oz of veggies and maybe an oz or less of carbs (I try to choose whole grain, brown rice, sweet potato, etc.) but overall I do restrict most carbs from my daily diet. If I'm really trying to lose I need >30g carbs, and if I'm "generous" with my carbs I will average >100g daily. So a typical meal for me never more than 5-6 oz of food TOTAL.
I eat about 1,200 calories a day. I definitely find that I have to MEASURE and ACCOUNT for my calories or it's incredibly easy to EAT MORE than what I need. I didn't go and have 80% of my stomach removed so that I could end up eating the same amount of food that I did BEFORE surgery, so I have to remember that, otherwise yes, it would be easy to eat more. You can out-eat any WLS any day any time. Sure, probably not in the first few months after surgery when your stomach is swollen, pissed off and you are terrified of a leak, but after you heal, you could graze your way through the day and eat probably every 20 minutes or so and get in enough calories to equal a pretty big eating day.
I have to say that for the most part I feel so lucky to eat small amounts of food. I do not feel like I'm starving all the time or that I NEED to eat more. I sometimes sit around and get angry that I can't eat more than 1,200-1,400 calories a day WITHOUT gaining, but then again this was the trade off for having surgery. Learning to live with less was an ultimate goal. So then I realize that I'm doing just fine and get over it and move on.
I hope that answers your question and if not please holler!

I had saved my clothes from my "before" picture, and I tried them on last weekend and took pictures. I showed the results to my father-in-law, and he pointed to the picture on the left (the before) and said, "that was you?" I said, yes. "I don't remember that," he said.
My MIL had surgery last October. My granddaughter had been born in September. The other day my FIL was showing someone a picture of my granddaughter that he had on his phone. My MIL was holding the baby shortly after the baby's birth. The person who looked at the photo asked who the woman was holding the baby. The person couldn't believe it was my MIL and how much weight she'd lost.

Congratulations on 2.5 years! I love how your poses got more sassy as time progressed.