AshleyIrene

You will both do fine! You get back to "normal" really quickly so don't worry. . .I'm 3 years out and doing well. . .

I had mine on March 26th. I too am feeling stronger everday I am down about 18lb.

Well Im three weeks in and things are getting alot better. I've been on soft foods crawfish, salmon, shrimp mostly with greens or spinach no carbs. I've lost 20lbs so far surgery date 3/14/2012 seemed to take for ever I was worried I wouldnt loose the typical 30lbs in the first month which is my goal. Im cool with others eating around me now. Dr says I can start working out next week so can't wait to start that and really get the ball to rolling. I have to admit I still haves pain in the site area but, Dr says that's normal. So far I feel this is one of the best decisions I've made in a long while and, Im excited for my journey ahead!! =0)

At my heaviest, 337. Day of surgery, 306. This morning, 202. This pic is at 206, but it's close enough. :-)
(And don't ask me why I was wearing that sleeveless white shirt at 300+ pounds--I have no idea.)

okay Diva, only because you asked.... the 2nd pic is a bad cell phone camera!! LOL.. Here goes...
(380) (341)

smileygirl
Awww girlfriend if this were the worst problem we faced....
Knock your socks off and have 2 spoonfulls of those yummy mashed potatoes, no it will not hurt your sleeve, and i promise no one will call the cops
kathy

Yeah I was thinking the same thing about the hard liquor. I might just become a major wine connoisseur after I get sleeved lol

I started about 3 months post op and drink about 5 drinks a week....margaritas, malibu and gatorade,sangria, you name it. I use to drink jack and coke or redbull with vodka but now I can't drink anything carbonated because it makes my stomach feel really upset. This weekend the kids have 3 days weekend and I am flying solo and moving soon cross country. I wont be surprised if my check liver light comes on . The only difference now is I am a complete light weight. My tolerance from before to now is ridiculous. I can't even drive after one drink so I have to make sure I aint going anywhere if I drink.

I never realized how different people see me until the other day. I'm 13 months out, down 100lbs and have run a half marathon since surgery. I have now seen 2 promotions in work and am reaching out to friends I haven't seen in ages. I have energy to spare! I'm working a 12 hour shift tomoro, then heading over to my parents to be a grunt worker while they declutter to move. I see all this and I think, " well yes, I did this over time and I am proud". My aunt doesn't see me alot, but we are Facebook friends. I saw her the other day and she was talking about how well I'm doing and how inpiring I have become. Inspiring??? Me??? It turns out there was a family discussion about me and how much I have changed since surgery. They can't believe my attitude and the fact that I wear colour now ( I used to be a plain white t kinda girl). I guess I never realized! It's amazing what this surgery gave me. Not only the will to live, but the will to succeed!!

I've been craving sweets for two days so instead of eating something sweet, I'm eating SF popsicles instead. I've had like 5 already tonight!

Congrats! That's great, how exciting!!

Let's share some personal truths about the process here.
At 9 weeks post-op, I have found one thing to be consistently true: I have to take a total no-BS approach to this process or I won't be successful in the long-term. After a very long night of thinking of my past, my present, and my future, after confronting all the habits that got me into this place, I realized that to be successful I need to be CONSTANTLY DILIGENT about sweets, Snacks, sneaks, and lies.
Sweets: It's possible that sugar really was the glue that held me together through all I've been through over the years. I love sweets. I still love sweets. I think about chocolate chip Cookies for way too many moments each day. Unfortunately, it won't take too many sweets to add on hundreds of calories each day. One McDonald's cookie is 160 calories! So... my sweets... you have to go. But wait! I'm supposed to have 4 calcium chews a day! Those are like Starbursts and make nice treats! However... this means I'm still in the habit of popping sweets all day. From now on, I'll be chewing those with my Protein Drinks. It's a slippery slope from popping Calcium chews to popping real candy, so the habit itself has to go.
Snacks: My nutritionist gave me a meal and Protein plan. Unfortunately, I have always been a huge fan of what I call "boredom grazing." Passing the fridge? Maybe there's something interesting in there! Just returned from shopping? Must be time for a snack! Going through a drive-through for a drink? A small fry order wouldn't hurt much. Sigh... If I have to avoid the whole main floor until I break this habit, I will do so.
Sneaks: I'm not going to have a snack. I'm just going to have an olive. I'm done eating dinner, and I'm full, but I think I can squeeze one more bite in as I put the food away. I stuck my "to go" box in the fridge after returning from dinner, but I'll just have another bite or two before going to bed. Need I say more?
Lies: Oh, boy... the lies I told myself as I got to this point. "I'll eat what I want on vacation but lose it as soon as I get back."; "This looks like about a 100 calorie serving..."; and, oh, yeah... "I'll start tomorrow." What's my current lie??? "This is about a quarter of a cup serving. Ok, I'm being really good, so I'll MEASURE that quarter of a cup... yeah, that's a quarter cup, but I'm just going to heap a couple of mashed carrots on top of that cup, because those won't really hurt." These lies hurt no one but me. If I'm going to succeed, I must demand TOTAL HONESTY from myself.
So my solution is now to track every single bite of what I eat--even one measly olive--and analyze what I've done each day, to do my best at all times, to be as plan compliant as possible, and to get right back on track the moment I notice I've gone astray.
I am determined to succeed.
I am detetermined to change.
I am determined to get my life back again. One habit at a time. Every day. Forever.

I really only told my family and my two closest friends. I mean, I'll tell people who ask me, but I won't outright exclaim to the world that I had surgery. It's my business. I didn't announce it on my Facebook or tell all my coworkers. Only person at work that really knows is one of my managers. What I hate is when someone who knows talks behind my back to other people about it. They'll comment on my weight loss and then that person will be like, "Yeah, but it's only because she had surgery." If you're really curious, just ask me! I won't feed you bullcrap about how I'm doing it with "just exercise and eating right." No need to depreciate what I went through by saying I took the "easy way out" by having surgery, or that I "didn't really have to work for it."

alot of people think that we have choose the easy way by having sleeve
they dont feel our pain , our struggle

I am proud of my decision but for me it is a private matter. I do not care to share it with people because frankly I do not feel it is any of their business. It is a private struggle for me because most of the people in my family are not over weight and they do not understand what I have gone through. It is like a non smoker saying to smokers you could just quit if you really wanted to. Addiction is not that easy to just quit. This is the same scenario but with food. I just do not want to hear the comments and the remarks like I had to cheat to lose weight. I want to be proud of myself without defending it all the time. I hope this makes sense.