gramaof4

YAY!!! Congratulations!!!

LOL - congrats!!

Dear MrsTeacher,
I loved reading your story! And I can SO relate to just where you are! I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I was the only one in my family who was overweight. My Dad would sometimes get a little heavy, but as a (former) Marine, he always had the dicipline to "make it right". He would "bear down" and adjust his eating habits, and before you knew it, he was slim and trim again! I never had this kind of will power or whatever you want to call it. (At one time, I was engaged to a Naval officer, and he wanted me to join up also. I was a nurse and could go in as an officer. But I couldn't meet weight requirement, and eventually we broke up. I think my being unable to join the Navy was a big factor in our breakup!)
I would go to Weight Watchers (my favorite weight loss solution) and lose 40-50 pounds, and get bored, or lose my motivation, or whatever, and quit. Soon I would have gained 50 or 60 pounds back. Before I knew it, I weighed in at 258!
I started investigating weight loss surgeries several years ago, when my cousin had WLS. He is a surgeon and after his surgery, decided to specialize in Weight Loss Surgery.
(Unfortunately our insurance would not cover $0.01 of the cost of WLS, so I ending up going to Mexico also and having the surgery there and paying for it myself. Steve [my cousin] offered to do the surgery for free, but I would still have to cover the anesthsia and hospital charges myself, which he said would run close to $20,000!!! So I knew Mexico was for me.)
He lost all his excess weight and has been very successful about keeping it off. I finally made a decision to do it myself. (This web site has been a huge encouragement to me, helped me make my decision, choose a surgeon, etc.)
I am now almost 9 months post op. I have lost around 100 pounds (depending on the day, some days it is 98 lbs, others it is 101 lbs). I know I look and feel SO much better.
Yesterday my husband and I decided to take my Mom out for Sunday dinner. She is 91 and still very healthy. She plays the organ every Sunday for church, leads Bible study at the local nursing home each week, holds a sing along for the nursing home residents weekly, etc. Very active. I worked all night Saturday night, so couldn't get to her church until it was over. I went in as they were dismissing to let her know we were there. I stopped to say "hello" to several of the members who I remembered from when I was a teenager and attended church there. I actually had one of them ask me for some ID! He didn't believe I was who I said I was! He told me he "knew Kathleen" and she was much heavier than the person standing in front of him! Wow! What a great feeling! I was so thrilled!
I have to say, my WLS was THE BEST decision I have ever made for my health and well being! I am off of my BP medicine, my blood sugar medicine, my cholesterol meds, my anti-inflammatories and my allergy meds (I don't know what is up with that one! Why being fat made my allergies so bad? Who knows?)
So keep telling yourself you are choosing to be healthier and happier. It was THe BEST decision for me! And keep posting so we all know how you are doing! Best wishes for a successful surgery!!!
Kathy D (alias Helen the Cat)

You're doing much better than most others. I struggled to get half that in a day for the first whole month. LOL

64 oz. only a week after surgery. wow good for you. I am six weeks post op and can barely manage 24-30 oz. per day.

"I'm not breaking up with you, because I still need you to live"
Hahaha! I was drinking tea when I read that and almost had an accident! Very funny!

LOL! That is hilarious! And I can tell you that for me, being almost 5 weeks out, food just doesn't have the same appeal to me anymore. I've been out to eat 3-4 times now and things that I used to love just taste "ok" to me now, and I have no desire to pig out on them anymore. I've heard other people say that as well but I never believed it would be that way for ME, but it is and I'm grateful!

I also had my surgery on March 16th in Miami, by Dr. Jacobs, another incredible surgeon. Have lost 4 lbs already but having major constipation (guess because we are not really eating much). I am super excited to be on this journey and family and friends who were a bit skepticle, are starting to understand that this is only "a tool" and that it will take focus and dedication to loose this weight. We got this!!

Congrats! I too notice the negative point of view toward WLS, and I will admit to thinking like that at one time, until I started doing my own research, and I learned that the pov that wls was the "easy way" out was is a HUGE misconception!

Take your time. It took me a lot longer to tolerate food than a lot of folks, but it's all okay now. Just do what you can, when you can. No hurry, and no pressure to stick to someone else's timeline. It's your body; listen to it and do what's right for you. Congratulations on your surgery! :-)

One of the things that always helps me when I see a cookie or piece of cake( which are my weaknesses!) I think to my self that I know what they taste like, and for whatever reason, I lose the "need" to eat it.

You are a strong woman G4! You are capable of anything you set your mind to!!!
My little guys love their sweets but also have the ability to walk away from half a cookie if they are full (something I never learned or ignored in my life.....) so now I'm trying to make a game of it. I am buying cookies and sweets that kids enjoy in moderation and keeping them on the counter which is something I've never been able to do because I work from home and would eat them all before the kids got home from school. I'm testing myself and my resolve in this. I'm making it a game of the better the cookie the more my "exercise" of self control. Not sure how long it will last but for now I've got my mind wrapped around that.
We're all in this together, you are not alone, keep that in mind.
I miss seeing you and your bright smilin face!!

Stay Focused you can do it!!! They should be helping u not making it difficult for you!

I agree!

So true...I have lost 26 lbs. in the past 14 days since surgery...my feet and ankles (yes I did say ankles not Kankles) my feet fit in my shoes, and my knees feel way better. I climbed 3 flights of stairs yesterday instead of using the elevator.....wow unbelievable!
I use perkecet 7.5/500 for pain of the knees in the past....maybe you could get a script from your local doc....until surgery is over.

Wow girls, I am so with you...I have been using perkecet for knee/back pain for the past 2 yrs....finally made the decision to be sleeved on 2/27/12 and as of today I am down 26 l.b.s and have not used a perk for over a week...even just 26 lbs makes a huge difference on the knees....walking still pains my hips, last night I went to a community play production and climbed 3 flights of stairs to the theatre.
I am ready to start shrinking, glad to have you ladies join the losers bench!

I say this with love. First of all, you have just gotten out of a major surgery... your stomach was ripped out less than 3 weeks ago. Think on this. If someone had their leg amputated, would you expect them to be able to run a race in 3 weeks with a prosthetic?
You have written the answers down in your post on how to break your stall. You are smart. shake it up.
at only 300 cals a day...Up your calories. Double calories, you body is in serious starvation mode. It is trying to heal and needs energy.
I am getting in my water, my protein and some exercise. How can you be getting all of your protein at 300 calories a day? How many grams of protein...be honest. What kind of protein, whey or isolate or ? Are you eating any carbs? How many a day?
I am jumping on the scale every few days (I know I know too often) Divorce the scale. Stay off the scale for a week, no cheating. Think of this as WW and if scale does not move "skip" a weekly weight in. Yyu are beating yourself up with this pattern. Stop it.
makes me feel like a big fat f-ing failure. ARGH - stop talking to yourself like this. You can do this, you did not gain the weight in 2 months, nor will you lose it in 2 months.
press on and try to keep the faith that this will work. Yep, keep smiling, you will lose the weight.
Or what if you are one of the "slow" losers? We will find this out in 5 months, not 3 weeks or 4 weeks.
There are some slow losers on this site. COOP & PamelaAM to name a couple. Look up their posts. They struggle often, but guess what? They keep on plan and the scale moves, not as often as others or they would like, but it does move. I will be here to celebrate your loss, whether it be a pound or an ounce.
Either way - the scale has moved in the right direction. Give yourself the grace of time and patience. Start being kind to yourself and take better care of yourself.

Everybody is on a new journey. Yes, I have difficulties with seeing the new me in the mirror. But I will be damned if I am not going to give myself credit for all the hard work I have been through. Learning to eat and trying to figure out if I'm getting enough calories, proteins and water is awfully stressful. My eyes are alot bigger than my stomach is and I'm working on patting myself on my back and moving forward. I like all the positive comments I get about my weight loss which really surprises me. I learned to say thank you very much.....LOL
Keep up the hard work and indulge yourself in something pleasureable......

I think I will comment from two different perspectives...if I may. <BR><BR>First from the man perspective. Maybe he is scared...maybe he's worried that once you lose the weight, you won't want to be with him any more. or you start getting more attention from other guys and start looking at the greener pasture...so to speak. I would think that he would do well with some reassurance from you that even after you lose weight, even after you start getting the added attention from others, that you still love him and that will not change. <BR><BR>Ok perspective 2. I'll call this the Man perspective #2 or the child perspective (since there is not a whole lot of difference sometimes). Have you ever had a child act out because they are wanting attention? and any attention, even bad attention is better than no attention in their eyes. Maybe, in his eyes, you have been spending so much time and attention leading up to this surgery that he is feeling left out. Maybe a night out, just the two of you, once a week would help him appreciate the time you spend together more.<BR><BR>Anyway, just a couple of thoughts from a guy who has no idea what you or your husband are going through. Take them for what they are worth. Just remember, they were free.<IMG class=bbc_emoticon alt= src="http://cdn.verticalsleevetalk.com/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif">

I was also sleeved on the 27th of Feb. in Mexico by Dr. Aceves....he and his team were fabulous...gave us written instruction as to what to eat and when...at 10 days I am just today getting to dring cloudy beverages...man what I would do for an egg!
Keep it up, you can do it!...your body knows what it can tollerate and when...I smushed a carrot the other dayin my soup and let a tiny bit go down...seemed fine! but know not to push the envelope...follow the dr. orders. Even if I take to big of drink of water...I sometimes feel I must breate in deep to help it pass thru.
Good Luck

Holly,
Thank you for a great post, and lots of great insight for me to "chew" on! I too have been on the weight loss "roller coaster" most of my life. And I too have experienced relatives (in-laws, friends, family, etc) who wouldn't say a word if I was loosing, but were the first to say something when I gained a couple of pounds.
I remember once when I was visiting my in-laws. I was five months pregnant with our third child. My Father-in-Law's sister was visiting. She was a real looker, a knock out for her age (50ish). And had three model perfect looking daughters about my age. I was always so envious of her and her girls. I SO wanted to look that good!
I hadn't seen any of them for a while, and she made a BIG deal out of the fact that I had put on "a few pounds". I didn't know what to say! I mean, I thought everyone in the family knew I was pregnant. We had had a really hard time conceiving the first time, and then when we got pregnant two more times (in the space of two years!) everyone inthe family was talking about how fertile I was, and how "didn't we know what was causing this?" (I'm a labor & delivery nurse, so everyone thought it was SO funny when I kept ending up pregnant every year!)
At that time, I was 5' 7" and a fairly slim 160 pounds. And for Pete's sake, I was five months pregnant. My doctor had already told me he was worried, as I had only gained three pounds with the pregnancy, and he was concerned about the baby not getting the nutrition it needed (in those days we didn't know sex of the baby).
I had been fighting constant nausea throughout the pregnancy, and couldn't eat without throwing up, so I just didn't eat, cause I hate to throw up! And here she is telling me how fat I looked!
I was devastated, and finally just left and went home, crying my eyes out! What really frosted me was no one in my husband's family stood up and said "well, Kathy IS pregnant and has to gain a little to take care of the baby." or something to that effect!
For years I resented everyone associated with that incident! And it ate me up! Everytime I thought about it, I ate something, sometimes a LOT of somethings! I was going to show her (them)!
I finally prayed for the ability to forgive her (and everyone else) for her remarks, and after years of harboring a grudge against her was able to forgive her, for my own sake. (Unfortunately, she was dying by this time, and I couldn't go to her and tell her how hurt I had been and that I had forgiven her.)
What I want to know, is why can't we all just love each other for what we are? Why are we so critical of how each other looks, how much they weigh, what they wear, etc?
Now that I have had WLS, and am fighting the war, I hope successfully, I am trying to remember all the comments that have hurt me, all the looks I received when I was fatter, all the incidents that caused me pain, and am REALLY trying to forgive each and every person involved. I want to be free of the hurt feelings I have carried around for years and years. I feel that when I remember or experience an event that causes me pain about how I look, I tend to think "I'm going to show them..." and I eat to "show them". I want to be free of this hurtful, harmful behaviour!
I want to love and accept each and every person who comes into my life just the way they are! And I want to know that I have done everything within MY power to re-affirm each person's self esteem, thereby re-affirming my own self esteem! And hopefully, as I make progress in my mission, I won't feel the need to turn to food for comfort (or revenge) anymore. I want to be able to stand tall and free and accept myself along with everyone else!

I have two words for you honey "quiet resolve".
Focus on you right now, get healthy and get in touch with your goals of having fun with those kiddies. You are 110% worth it!! All I know is that I've met you and if anyone is capable and strong enough to handle this treatment physically and mentally - it's you. When you are feeling good about your self you might make other decisions about the role that he plays in your life however not is not the time. Just make sure that you don't carry the heaviness of his statements on your back, you don't need that and I know you and you are strong enough to just brush it off while taking note of it. Folks always say not to make too many big decisions all at one (ie job loss, divorce, death etc I would put WLS right up there as well).
Take the good that he has to give and brush off the bad not letting it affect you and you'll be fine.
Love ya,
Lisa

I just read that in disbelief. Why is your husband so unsupportive? You drove 103 miles while he slept? I am so mad right now! You know, some men have great insecurities. My ex use to tell me that no one would love me like he does...I use to smile on the inside, because it only meant he was insecure, though he was very convinced I wouldn't leave...until I did. I know it's hard when you are married, but you may seriously want to consider whether its a healthy relationship for you to be in. I can just see him trying to sabotage your weight loss by bringing around unhealthy foods.
You are doing this for you, please continue and know that we are here to support you. You can do this!!

I have a feeling, your blog is good therapy for you. Keep it up.

I think the ugliest chunk of fat that you need to lose is your husband.
This journey is difficult enough WITH family support.
Keep a stiff upper lip. It sounds like you're tough enough to handle it if you have this long. Best of luck.