fitbottomedgirl

Thanks so much Diva!! You're comment is so sweet and extremely comforting! You are a serious inspiration to me, and I love reading your posts/comments! Talk soon!

Best of luck tomorrow! I hope your surgery and recovery go smoothly!

That's awesome! Congrats on the incredible weight loss!! It must feel great for people to notice after all your hard work. I haven't had my surgery yet (2 more days!) but I can't wait to start seeing a difference. Keep us updated!

Congrats! Wishing you a smooth recovery!!

Sleeve buddy! March 15th can't come soon enough! I agree, it has been a whirlwind of emotions these last couple of weeks. I only have to do a pre-op liquid diet the day before my surgery, so I don't have to bad at all. How about you? 6 more days!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to start a thread to introduce myself, but also to hear from other members who might be new to VSG and updates on the progress of those "veteran sleevers". I'd love to hear from all of you! It's such great inspiration to hear your stories, especially since we're all in our twenties. I am 22 yrs old and scheduled for my surgery on March 15th. (8 more days!) I'm super excited, but of course nervous about the potential for complications. It's been a whirlwind of emotions - as I'm sure you've all experienced. I love knowing that others have been in my exact shoes headed toward a healthier life! I weigh 276 lbs now and have a goal weight of 160. It's really hard to image I will ever get down to that size because I've been huge my whole life. Regardless, I'm hella excited for the possibility to finally have control over my biggest and most public problem: my weight. Looking forward to hearing for you

Incredible!! You go girl!

Incredible!! You go girl!

Incredible!! You go girl!

So happy to hear your surgery went smoothly! Wishing you a very speedy recovery-- hopefully it'll continue at the spin free rate you're going now! Keep us updated!!

I only told my immediate family: mom and two older brothers, since I live with them and knew they'd be a great support system. As for the excuse for losing weight I'll tell to my other family and friends, I plan on telling them that I'm seeing a nutritionist and started a work out regime-- it's all true.. I just don't find it necessary for everyone to know. My biggest fear is my brothers slipping.. I told them I'd disown them if they did! Hehe

Best of luck to all of you having your surgeries this week!! My prayers are with you for a smooth surgery and speedy recovery!

Back tracking a bit—I was approved on February 10, 2012 which made it a one week wait to hear back from my insurance company. I have scheduled my surgery date for March 15, 2012! Equally excited and nervous. Now, I am preparing myself and my home for post-surgery.

This leads me to family goals. I’m inadvertently very close to my immediate family, (mom and 2 brothers), mainly because we all still live together under the same roof. We often drive each other crazy, but have come to an agreement to change our bad eating habits and start being active. As a family, we’d like to take part in a race (walk or run) for a cause. It’s an idea that will not only help us meet our physical goals but also raise money and awareness for an organization. We’re thinking the Avon Walk for breast cancer in October for my grandma and aunt who are survivors. I’d like to do one for heart disease, which has affected my family greatly. Another family goal is to celebrate big occasions, holidays, and birthdays in other ways than just a sit down dinner with a tremendous amount of food. This Easter I would like for my entire family to help out a local soup kitchen. We are so blessed in our lives and should share our good fortune with others. Another idea is do some sort of activity, like walk over the Brooklyn Bridge or visit the Natural History Museum. Yes, we have to eat, but we don’t need to be stationary the whole day. Also, healthier choices can be put on the menu during family meals when dinner is inevitable. Sugar plum fairies will no longer be invited to our Christmas festivities. Change is a process, and family traditions will probably be the hardest to evolve into healthier forms of celebration. I know it’ll be worth the effort!

Family: During winter break, I spoke seriously with my mom about considering the option of surgery. It’s not that I needed her permission since I am an adult (even though I’ll always be her baby), but I will always want my mom’s approval on anything I do in life. Heck, I needed her to ok my bedroom paint color before I could decide! She’s never stood in my way with anything I really wanted if she felt it was sensible and appropriate. She was initially weary (still is) but has become my greatest supporter from the very beginning. She knows how badly I want/need this tool to live my life properly. I was a little worried about telling my brothers because they are big-mouths But I know they could be a great source of support. My oldest brother is thin and never had to struggle with his weight, whereas my middle brother had yo-yo’d a bit while he was in college and undergoing a lot of stress in his life. He is at a healthy weight now, but I know he would like to be more active. He has become very interested in my journey since the beginning and has pledge to be apart of the healthy eating in our house. I’m shocked to see how involved he has become in my progress, and I couldn’t be happier. I haven’t told my older brother because he hasn’t been home recently, but I plan to eventually. I truly hope that my weight loss journey will become a family-lifestyle change that will prolong our time together. Friends: I love my friends like family, and we are motley crew of personalities. Yet, I never spoke to my friends about my weight, even with those who have struggled with their own weight. I just never felt compelled to go in depth about my issue, though we would sometimes workout together or share low-fat recipes. Maybe we will begin to share our war stories, but I don’t feel the need to explain to them my reasoning behind going through with the surgery.

My age and stage-in-life is one of my biggest motivations for me to start living a healthy lifestyle. I hope my bad habits, like overeating and laziness, will be easier to break if I start now, rather than wait. I want to really start enjoying my 20s and stop being held back by my weight. At my heaviest, I was 298 about 2 yrs ago and have yo-yo’d from that to my lowest at 255 (when I was abroad). Now I am around 281. Health: Another motivation is my health and the health of my family. As of now I have no co-morbidties, but with a BMI of 44 they are bound to creep up on me. My family history consists of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer: unfortunately, the lives of my loved ones were taken too soon because of weight issues. My dad passed away from a heart attack when I was 7 yrs old. He is a big motivator looking down from heaven. He is a great reason why I want my family to change our eating habits and activity level. Since I still live at home with my mom and one of my brothers, it means so much that they are ready to support me by changing and living healthier too. We have already made family goals, like run/walk a race for a charity next fall together and instead of celebrating birthdays with food, we will do something instead. At dinner, we’ve cut out ice tea (filled with sugar) and traded it to diet tea and water. We’ve stopped eating white bread and never bring whole milk into the house. I think these are great steps to prepare our kitchen for life after surgery. Energy: I have been chubby since birth, but my mom made sure I was active: I did swim team, dance, gymnastics, T-ball, basketball, and lacrosse. It didn’t help my weight problem, but it kept me actively running around. Since high school, I have stopped any form of activity other than some gym memberships, here and there. Now, I get winded walking around campus and feel like I’m going to die trekking up flights of stairs to get to class. I’m ready to be active and finally have energy.

Goal weight @ 5’7’’ = 160lbs I chose this number because to have a healthy BMI I would need to be around 150lbs. I read somewhere that in order to not feel like a failure if I don’t hit that number, I should raise it a little so as to not set myself up to fail. Therefore, if I go pass 160lbs then I’ll be thrilled! But I honestly want to keep some of my curves. I’ve kind of become accustomed to them—just not so much of them!

Seminar: I first heard about WLS (specifically vertical sleeve) in October 2011 from my mom's co-worker who had it done over the summer and having wonderful success with weight loss. In December, I attended a seminar at the same program he attended where I learned about the different types of options and met the medical team of the program. began researching through the internet for more medical info, personal blogs and vlogs on Youtube, and anything I could find about WLS. Consultation: My consultation with the doctor was a bit abrupt because he was distracted with his little son in the office. (I just hope he’s not distracted when he’s operating!!) He apologized for the craziness that was this appointment and spoke with me and my mom briefly about how the surgery would enable me to take full advantage of the opportunities in life. I was already set on having the procedure, but my mom needed a little more convincing. So she searched for as much medical information on the surgeon as possible. She was very impressed with his credentials and how long he had been working in bariatrics. Nutritionist: I had a meeting with my nutritionist over the phone for about an hour. We went over my current diet, how to make smarter food choices, the specific diet I will be on after the surgery, and the list of vitamins I will be taking. She was fantastic and speaking to her assured me I was doing the right think within the right program! Insurance: It took me about 2 weeks to get together all information I needed to send to my insurance to get approval for the surgery. I collected: a letter from my past nutritionist with the dates I attended and daily food logs; Weight Watchers receipts and points logs; past gym memberships; and weight charts since I was in grade school. Psychologist: My psych evaluation was quick and painless. He had me fill out a questionnaire about different emotions I was feeling at that time. For the most part, I answered very positive because that’s just how I felt in general. I told him that if I had taken this assessment back when I was a senior in high school and had initially thought of WLS, the answers might have been different and a little more negative. At that point in my life, I wanted it for all the superficial reasons because I was very worried I wouldn’t be accepted or make any friends in college. Now, after looking back, I have matured greatly and know that I want to go through the surgery for the chance of a brighter future. I couldn’t be happier with my experience in college and am totally more optimistic about where I’m headed in life. Now, I just want my lifestyle to reflect that. He said I was psychologically sound for the surgery. As of now, I wait to hear back from my insurance company. Finger crossed!

Let me introduce myself.. Hi there! You have stumbled upon my blog about my experience with vertical sleeve surgery. If you stick with me, I promise to have frequent status updates, funny anecdotes, and pure honesty about my journey from thick to thin, flabby to fit, hot mess to hot stuff! I'm a 22 year old New Yorker with a lot to lose! I’m a senior in a college in the Bronx with only three more months until graduation: super excited (even without a job lined up for afterwards). I know I shouldn't rush it, but I can't wait to get out into the real world. I've been blessed to go to a great school, travel/study abroad each year, and work hard to earn everything I have. I want to keep this blog as journal to remember the steps I’ve taken to change my unhealthy life and be able to look back on how far I’ve come. I want to share my story with others who may be thinking about starting their own journey to a healthy and happy life. What will be included: my weekly happenings, weight loss goals, healthy diet change- ups, fun exercise ideas, family love, one furry dog, and tons of funs!

Hi March Sleevers! I'm really happy I found this site, especially this group! My surgery is March 15th and I couldn't be more excited! I'm definitely a little nervous, but as I get closer and closer, my outlook about my future just gets brighter. Looking forward to be going through this journey with all of you!!