Lissa

Oh, don't be so hard on yourself! You look lovely to me and you WILL see the results very quickly! I took a picture of myself when I was goofing around one night and sent it to my bestie. She pointed out the changes in my face and neck to me. I had thought that the weight loss wasn't showing, but it really was obvious when you looked at my pre-op and post-op pictures.

Calling yourself names isn't productive. Try just patting yourself on the back and being positive, even though it's hard. You WILL get there and it will happen much sooner than you think!

I have what I call "hungry days". On those days I'm especially careful to log everything I eat, but I eat what I like as long as I meet my goals. I recently met up with someone who had surgery the day after our meet-up. I let her scroll through My Fitness Pal app and she laughed when she saw that I had a canolli one day. I'm not recommending that as regular food, but I wanted it and it was delicious...and I probably won't eat another for a year! Even on that day, I was under my calorie goal and I made sure I exercised and did my cardio.

Love your post, even if it is "only" your thought process. You are very well-written and articulate. I don't do as well on internet forums, although I can write formally when it is necessary.

I would definitely consider taking a bit more time than you think you will need. No one is irreplaceable, and the boss' will appreciate you more for having time to miss you.

Good luck on your journey!!

I had a small piece of stitch sticking out and my doctor told me to just pull that with tweezers. I think the internal ones are supposed to be dissolving stitches, but they sometimes work to the surface instead. My little piece looked like a tiny black hair and came out with no pain or fuss.

WOW! I see that your head is all over the place, and that's scary for you, I bet. Don't worry. It's normal to be a little freaked out at this point. All that other stuff, and you, like me, have a LOT of other stuff going through your head, is just spam from your brain. Mine had me convinced I'd die during surgery. @@ at myself.

This is a huge step, but SO worth it. I'd do it all over again, just to get where Im at... and I'll be thrilled once I make it to goal, too. You will succeed because you actually recognize your issues and are working at them.

Good luck!!!

You can fall into bad habits again. The surgery doesnt fix our head issues with food. It just keeps us from eating too much food at a sitting. Now soup is actually more liquid than anything else, so it can go through very quickly. Just because you drank 8 ounces of soup does NOT mean that you'll be able to eat huge amounts of food.

You said that you basically failed to plan and ended up taking in more/wrong food. You already know that you're going to have to plan better from here on out. I assume you're on clear liquids since soup is freaking you out, so make sure you prepare things that are allowed at this stage and take them with you. Later, it's a good idea to keep a couple of protein shakes handy and/or carry a protein bar at all times. I do lots of driving, so I make sure I always have a protein bar in my purse. That way I don't stop and eat somewhere that doesn't have good food choices for me.

BTW, you are NOT a bad girl. You're in a learning process right now and it does take some time! Good luck!

LOL, Enerfina! Yes, I'm such a party girl! I hadn't been out before the bachelorette party in probably 2 years. I do have a big circle of friends, though. We just don't spend a lot of time drinking.

I had my first drink (diet coke and rum over ice) at 4.5 months out. I felt a little tipsier than I would have felt from one drink before, but I've never been a big drinker. Several weeks ago, I attended a bachelorette party where I drank 8 drinks over the course of about 7 hours, along with several glasses of water to combat the diuretic effects. I felt buzzed for a bit, then sobered up REALLY fast. I'm sure my liver hated me, but I had no adverse effects. No weight gain, no hangover and we had a blast. I did dance all night, so maybe that affected my alcohol absorption.

First of all, 42 pounds is amazing! And the fact that you were dehydrated tells me that you may not be drinking enough water. I work to get 64 oz of water in a day. If you are kicking it on the elliptical machine, you may be building muscle, which weighs more than fat. That's AWESOME and wonderful, because muscle burns more fat.

Don't get discouraged. Concentrate on getting in the protein and water each day and keep working out. You will lose weight. For now, look for the non-scale victories: Are your clothes getting looser? Are your measurements showing that you are getting smaller? If those two things are happening, then you're doing this right. If not, then you may need to adjust your eating, but I'm betting that you are doing fine!

Good luck!

LOL, Nicole! Isn't that ironic? I wouldn't tell him about your WLS until things get more serious. For a casual date, all he needs to know is that you have a great personality and beautiful eyes. If things get more involved, then you might need to tell him a bit more.

Good luck!!

I've learned a lot from reading the "What do you eat" threads. One of my tricks is to cut up my food immediately and push it around my plate. That keeps the "don't you like it" folks from driving me nuts. I also try to order the smallest menu item I can that is sleeve friendly. MegInNoLa gives some great advice about eating out in business situations. She talks about ordering shrimp cocktail or soup as an entree. Those might not work for you if you have food allergies, but she seems to be able to navigate those possibly tense business lunches with grace and style. I personally have a hard time with that because I'm so much of an "in your face" person.

You're doing great, though... and that's what counts!

STBMe, Do you eat slowly? If you give yourself about a minute between bites, it will soon become easier to tell when you're full. Even though my surgeon says to concentrate only on eating during a meal, I try to take a bit, then chew while I do something else like read a page of a book, make a post on a message board, or play a game on the phone. For me, this works to keep me from over-filling my sleeve. HTH

Oh, and I just realized that you're not even a month out, so you're probably still on mushies! That's a little tougher to figure out. My Nut just said to measure food during the early stages of the diet. I would measure out between 2 and 3 oz of food and that's all I would eat. Usually I couldn't finish "all" of that!

Good luck!!

I tell anyone who asks about my weight loss how I did it. BUT, I have a different personality than many. I'm not intimidated by many people and I have no problem standing up for myself. At one time, my "level" was sleeve evangelist. I think that's a perfect title for me. I find myself wanting to tell obese strangers about my surgery and success so far!

I could have written some parts of your story! I'll add my feeble prayers to the list. All I can say is good luck on your journey and stand up for yourself. Your PCP sounds like a control freak to me.

Let your surgeon's office know what you have told us. Perhaps that will help to get you in for surgery faster.

Believe me, if VSG is in God's plan for you, it WILL happen, no matter what obstacles you are facing in your life. Mine did, and I certainly had no idea how it was going to occur.

What you say doesn't have to be profound, just honest and from the heart. You WILL get there. It WILL happen. We're keeping a spot warm on the loser's bench for you!

Good luck!!

It's normal to have some fear pre-op. I know I did, but you need to weigh the risks for you. Weighing 300 pounds is taking away your quality of life, and it 100% poses HUGE risks for your health. There's a 1 in 1000 chance of major complications with this surgery, IIRC.

You need to weigh one against the other and decide what you want to do. I'd rather have some loose skin, that I can have removed if I wish, versus carrying 170 extra pounds that I can't have removed.

Good luck with your journey!!

It's really frustrating trying to get through the process. Then, suddenly, you're having to do all the pre-op stuff all at once. I had 3 weeks before surgery where it seemed like I did nothing but run to a different doc every day! Of course, I had tons of co-morbidities to get clearances on, but it was very frustrating.

It sounds like you're getting really close. Just try to have patience with the process and it will be here before you know it!

Good luck!!

Be sure to enjoy the "Dang, I messed up!" look in his eye when you nonchalantly smile, say hi, and walk right on past him.