Paola

Congrats!!! You are awesome, you always have a word of wisdom for everyone.

Thank you people!

Last Sunday I saw one of my mom's good friends, he had not seen me since January of 2011, and I must have been around 360-370 lbs back then. When he saw me he stared at me for a few seconds and told me I was skinny! Never has anyone ever called me skinny, skinny and Paola have never been used in the same sentence. What an awesome feeling! Granted, I am no way near done, but its awesome when you efforts are acknowledged.

Thank you Jesus! For I know that without him this would not be possible!

I love my sleeve!!

I had the drain for a week, I agree with you it didn't hurt when they took it out. I remember the Dr's helper said take a deep breathe, but it was out by the time I took that breathe, all I felt was a slight suction.

You look amazing!!

Thank you

Agreed! Great job!!

Beautiful! Great job!!!

Thanks

um yeah, there's a little difference...

May I call you a whackadoodee? (that's my husband's and my term for when our thinking is a little off)

You may

Wow...you look fantastic ! Great job! You are right our minds are a terrible place of old photos ...

Wow, this is truly a transformation with more to come! Good job! You have really worked hard to get here and it shows! CONGRATS!

You can not only see your fantastic outside transformation, but you seem to exude confidence in the latter pic! Great job!

You look absolutely wonderful. Congrats to you. I agree our eyes and minds take a while to catch up to where we are and where we were and sometimes makes us doubt ourselves because we are so busy thinking about where we want to be.

Be proud in your accomplishment, you look great and I agree, I love that dress!

Thank you all!!!

Gotta love sisters!!!! You look good and I love that dress. Where'd you get it? Very cute. I want one. Oh, yeah this is about you. You great!!!

How inspiring! And that dress is adorable - where did you get it??

You look great! You've got a great sister to help you see how your hard work has paid off. Totally agree on the cute dress too.

Thank you all . I got the dress from Ross.

I was wondering about you a couple of days ago! Thanks for the update and you do look FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!!! I have been busy now that I am working again, but even though I don't post much I still read alot.

Oh you really do look awesome! Any you smile says so much about how you are feeling!

Wow! You've got an hour glass figure! Congrats!!!

Thanks so much ladies

Did you know our minds can play nasty tricks on us? For a few weeks now every time I saw myself in the mirror I kept seeing myself like I was when I was almost 400 pounds. Even though I have lost over 100 pounds I couldn't see the weight loss. And that is an awful feeling, in my head I was thinking no matter what I do I can't get rid of this fat. I had not voiced my concerns because everyone at my house, and my extended family are always complimenting me on the weight loss, and I guess I didn't want them to think I was crazy, or fishing for more compliments.

However, this morning I just blurted it out to my sister, what did she do? She showed me this picture of me when I was almost at my highest weight, and it is so true that a picture is worth more than a thousand words. I couldn't believe that was me. I felt such awe at all I have accomplished. I think it takes our minds a while to catch up with the reality of the weight loss. I also learned that sometimes we shouldn't keep things inside, we should talk, even if it sounds crazy to us. I am not where I want to be yet, but I am so close I can taste it! And no mind games are going to distract me from my accomplishments anymore.

Here is the picture my sister showed me.

Here is a picture from the beginning of June, 2012

I think there might be something wrong with my knees. Since last week my knees, more so my right knee, has been bothering me. They don't hurt, but they don't feel normal. I am hoping its because I have been doing my stationary bicycle almost everyday for the past few weeks for 1 hour. This week I am taking a break, hopefully it will get better.

I am afraid if I go to the doctor they will tell me there's something wrong with them and I can't do exercise. I still have 100 pounds to loose. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? If so, what did you do?

BTW if you are dehydrated, your blood gets thicker and can cause your blood pressure to go lower. If you think you are dehydrated, then drink some gatorade and Water and take a shower to replenish. If your extremely dehydrated, then go to your PcP and get replenished with an IV. I now drink G2 Gatorade diluted with Water and I'm using a straw which helps me drink more fluids. I was told by my surgeon to not use straws so I'm hoping that I will be fine with the straw.

I don't think I am dehydrated, I have this water bottle that takes 28 oz, I drink a minimum of 2 of those a day, plus my Protein shake. I must say though, that I don't really start drinking much water until noon, its like when I am home I am not awake enough to drink until noon; The few days I work I do drink alot more in the mornings. My surgeon never said anything about a straw, so even though I have read that some doctors say no to them, my bottle has one and I love it. I just don't know how not to gulp water, and the straw makes it easier.

@ ShouldBlittler and Dorrie: I was on ketosis for months before the surgery and I would never feel the buzz, I don't know if the surgery changed the side effects of ketosis for me. I don't actually know if I am in ketosis because this month I started eating more carbs, I will check that next time I go to the bathroom.

@Traceyc: Next time it happens I will get my blood pressure measured, thanks for the article!

Thank you all for the input!

I am almost 3 and a half months out, but I still get this buzz in my head when I get up from a chair. This doesn't happen every time I get up, or everyday, but the days it happen it happens a couple times a day. Usually it happens 3-4 days in a week. When I get up I will walk a few steps, feel the buzz, walk a few more steps, and its gone. Has anyone experienced this before? I don't consider it to be dizziness, more like static in my head for a few seconds.

Welcome back! Newbies like me need seasoned losers like you to keep us inspired. Your pictures are amazing. Keep up the awesome work - You're beautiful!

Thank you, but I must tell you I still consider myself a newbie

*Big HUG* We have met the enemy and it is us! I have found that even only 2 months post-op I can manage to eat a LOT of calories. So, as I already knew, feeling hunger really has nothing to do with why I eat. I love food! I love the taste first of all, and then I love the texture and temperature. Eating is a very pleasurable past time. The VSG has made me very aware of my relationship with food. Awareness of a problem is always the first step to finding a solution. We are aware!

Being hungry isn't my problem either, truthfully there are very few times when I ever feel hungry. I just like food, and I like eating, I thought I was over food but I still need to work on that. Because my hair is falling at an alarming rate, and my hair is my one true vanity, nothing but Protein is passing through these lips. I love this sleeve, because it has stopped me from gaining weight during my weeks of madness, I have never been so happy about getting full so quickly. Thanks to the sleeve the damage to my weight loss was minimal.

Now I just keep repeating to myself that food is not the boss of me. I remember telling my mom once that food is an addiction, and it is. In my opinion it is the hardest addiction, because you can't quit food. You can quit smoking, drugs, alcohol, but you can't quit food. But like you said, I am aware, and I know that with my faith and my will, I will succeed.

After months of model behavior I fell off the wagon for a few weeks. I ate too many carbs, I stopped tracking my food, I even stopped coming by the forum. This has happened before, for some reason there is a point were I grow tired of the same foods, or I don't think I am losing weight fast enough, and I end up self sabotaging myself. I have continued to lose weight, but much slower than before, I think that is because no matter what I ate I never stopped doing 1 hr exercise almost everyday. My eating carbs reduced the amount of Protein I ate and that in turn means that every time I run my fingers through my hair some always comes out. So now I know that my actions have consequences, I have to take better care of myself, and I will.

The good news is that I have recognized my self sabotage and I refuse to throw in the towel. I am very close to the smallest I have ever been as an adult (245), and I am going to get to my goal weight (150)!

Now that that is off my chest I feel much better

I have been wanting one of those home gyms with weights for a long time, but while shopping for it I came across these resistance type machines that work your whole body. So now I am torn, I don't know which one I should get. Please help! What I really want is to tone up because I am so jiggly right now.

This is the resistance machine

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Weider-Total-Body-Works-5000/12343189

This is the home gym with weights

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Weider-2980-214-lb-Stack-Home-Gym/11993386?findingMethod=rr

I had my first eating out experience this week and it was great. I got the daily special with everything since I knew I was going to have to pay the whole price anyways. The special had a mountain of rice, plantains, and meat. I ate about half the meat and everything else went to a to go box, all I kept thinking was I am not going to have to cook for my mom when I get home, she is having this box. The waitress didn't ask any questions, but even if she had asked I would have simply said I am full.

Thanks for your words! I am feeling much better today. My sister and I were joking around this morning, talking about how I was gonna cook plain meals, no more jazzing them up =P (she is trying to lose weight too).

I am back home, cooking almost every day after not cooking for 8 months. Now that I am cooking my own food I find it harder to stick to my diet plan. I tend to taste my food too much, and that is not good because I am trying to stay in ketosis. I don't know if it is because I missed my own cooking, but I keep tasting stuff, stuff like Pasta, and other carbs that I want to avoid. For me eating stuff that is not low in carbs is bad, even if its just a little, because I find myself liking the carbs more and eating more of them. I also noticed that I have been eating more, I still eat too fast and I eat more than I should, and then I'll feel too full. To avoid the too full sensation I have started to really pay attention to my body, and when I feel like I am about to be full I will give my plate to my sister and tell her to eat it or throw it. It is a good thing that I don't serve myself much or I would feel guilty about giving it to my sister. I am a little disappointed in myself, and appalled that I was falling off the wagon and I wasn't even noticing, but now that I have noticed I am holding onto that wagon tighter than before.

I have been thinking about getting a daily activity tracker like fitbit, or the body bugg. I like to do aerobics and stationary bicycle rather than walking. If you have one of the ones I mentioned, or another one, why did you chose it?

Thank you all! It was an exciting night, I literally had to get all the suitcases in that closet out, and a sandwich bed before I could get to that suitcase. It was funny, because I had such a mess around me and my mom eyes went kinda wild for a second when she saw the mess. When I was putting stuff on she stayed and watched me, and when I was done she was like, "Are you done? I was having fun watching you."

It was just awesome!