KatieOkieDokie

I was sleeved three and half months ago. I have lost 54 lbs, this is with a month stall during my second month. I am 6 lbs from being under 300 lbs! This was one of my major goals! I cannot lie at first I had my moments when I regretted my decision. But now I am so thankful!! I still have a long way to go but I know I can do it!
Also I'm having some issues with my head telling me I can't do things (walk etc.). I'm working on that! Oh I am finally able to shop at regular stores, and not just online. However, I am having some issues finding clothes because I am too short! Now I cry in the changing rooms because all the jeans are too long on me. Too bad I can't have surgery to stretch my legs..lol

I was sleeved three and half months ago. I have lost 54 lbs, this is with a month stall during my second month. I am 6 lbs from being under 300 lbs! This was one of my major goals! I cannot lie at first I had my moments when I regretted my decision. But now I am so thankful!! I still have a long way to go but I know I can do it!
Also I'm having some issues with my head telling me I can't do things (walk etc.). I'm working on that! Oh I am finally able to shop at regular stores, and not just online. However, I am having some issues finding clothes because I am too short! Now I cry in the changing rooms because all the jeans are too long on me. Too bad I can't have surgery to stretch my legs..lol

I hope I can do this on here. I have started a new group on Facebook for those of us who live in Ohio. I figured there we can come together and talk, give advice, ask for advice, show off our pictures, or just discuss life in general! I have seen a lot of people on message boards, and thought that this would be a better way to get to know each other better!! If you are interested in joining the link is in my siggy, or you can send me your e-mail on here!

I was sleeved April 8th, and have lost around 30 lbs, I am in a stall now. Haven't lost anything for about a month. I'm trying not to get discouraged lol. I lost around 100 pounds before surgery so I should expect a stall! I have been able to tolerate everything I've tried. I don't eat bread, pasta's. or anything like that. Not because of my stomach but because I feel wiped out after I do. I have been gluten free for so long my body doesn't like it anymore! That's a good thing!! I have gone out to eat a couple of times, but I make wise choices.
What I have noticed that's changed the most is how i feel. I feel amazing! There was a time I could hardly walk without being in pain, and out of breath. It was a struggle. Going to stores I would always get a shopping cart, even if I was going to buy one or two things, or nothing at all. Just because I needed it to lean on, or should I say over. Heck if there wasn't a close parking space I wouldn't even go in to the store. Now I park a good distance, I walk through the store with no cart (unless I need it lol) I feel no pain, I'm not out of breath! I swim laps for an hour a day, and I do Water weights for an hour. I should start doing regular weights but I love being in the water..lol. I don't want to miss any Water time

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

I am driving my self crazy thinking I won't loose that much. But you show me its possible. Way to go.

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

I knew it was time for a major change when I found myself feeling as though I was watching the world go on around because I couldn't get up and move! I'm 32 years old, I live at home with my parents who support me..I do not have a job (who would want to hire someone who can't stand for more than a few seconds to minutes at a time..believe me I tried, I've had several interviews). I dropped out of nursing school right before clinical started because I knew I couldn't do the physical side of the job. I was basically watching my life slip away right before my eyes. I'm tired of being in pain, and I'm in pain every single day..if it's my back, hips, knees, feet and ankle to skin rashes. I'm always tired, and worn out. I'm carrying myself plus two other people on my body! Fearing my heart is going to go give out on me. I don't want to have to take medication for the rest of my life.
I really just want to start my life, to have one of my own! To be able to walk without being in pain, or out of breath or dreading it. To play with my nephews instead of just watching them from a chair. To go to Kings Island and ride the rides. To go to a concert and not worry about not having a place to sit because I won't fit. Or a local show and know I can go up close to the stage and stand and not be in pain. To go swimming and not have to wear regular clothes into the swimming pool, trying to pass them off as swimming clothes because I can't find any to fit me. The list goes on and on.
I haven't had the surgery yet. I am self pay, no insurance (I have no job), and I can't get financing (no job) I really wish my parents would help out some because the surgery would be life changing for me. They know this. But they feel trapped money wise too. I'm praying that something happens, a door opens, and I get some help. I never thought having surgery would be a dream of mine, and something I want so bad. But this is... because I know it will offer me life.

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made.
I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so.
About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done.
Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting.
Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me.
I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame!
The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why.
I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever.
I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did.
So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around.
Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean.
So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

I guess I'll jump in here, even though I haven't been sleeved yet (I will be in April) I had to be put on a diet to lower my BMI. I started at 422 and I'm now down to 368 since Nov.12, 2012. So the first pic was taken Nov 12, and the after was taken this morning. I hope you don't mine me posting since I haven't been sleeved yet.

I just hit my first stall (I am two months out today)! I have lost or gained but I've lost an inch around my waist this week! And my energy levels have sky rocketed! Hopefully the scale will start to move again.. until then I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.. oh except I'm adding swimming to my workout routine on Monday.. mostly because I should have been a fish instead of a human

WeeWers hi there - i see you are an "oldie" but a goodie too!!!!!
I'm also a young at heart "29" year young lady
hmmmm - how do i explain that to my 38 yr young daughter and grand-kids???
I keep mentally telling me myself that age is just a #
we are both 59 - but i venture to say you are also 29 at heart!!!!
ok, 'nough of pleasantries
good words of wisdom coming from "above" posts, and the new posts i'm sure that will follow
stalls happen to all of us
the knowledge of that doesn't help you though
changing this, upping that (Water, et al) will help a stall
IMO by the time the your stall finely breaks, it could be with the benefit or this or that change
or it could have coincidentally finally broke at the same time you've been working on changes
the stall could just have finally run its course
the most important thing i will say about those terrible stalls, you gotta "grin and bear it" like all of us
"this too shall pass"
I'm a eternal optimistic that things will work out
good luck
kathy

"GOD Grant Me Patience - Just Hurry Up About It!!!!"

Katie i'm so sorry you feel bummed out and discouraged, and physically not feeling great either
am i reading correctly that you lost 70 lbs pre-op????
OMG thats great
as Arts correctly stated, 32 lbs in 6 weeks is wonderful
I'm afraid many many people here think that they are gonna have WLS on "friday" and wake up monday morning losing 100 lbs
not gonna happen
but i think you really do know that - you, like everyone else, just want the weight gone yesterday!!!
Water is very very important!!!!
not getting enough Water in, possibly being totally dehydrated??? sure you will feel weak!!!!
gotta force the fluids
having blood pressure problems - meds off???
that will cause you to feel weak
IMO thats the issue that needs to be fixed
glad you have already seen a dr, hopefully he can figure out the prob
continue to be pro-active with the doc til he figures out what to do with your meds
tell him about the gas issues
by not feeling well, not eating or drinking - thats gonna make you feel weak!!!!!
gotta force yourself to eat and drink to help yourself
do everything very slowly - sipping - taking extra small bites - taking long breaks between forkfuls
you will mentally feel better as soon as the physical stuff gradually improves
then you won't feel down about your weight situation
please remember - you are doing great!!!!!
just losing another 2 lb - holy moly girlfriend - you are on the right road to success!!!!
take care
feel better
good luck
kathy

What ^^ he said. Just keep trying. My doctor said that sometimes exercise is easier if you break it up. So walk for ten minutes three times a day. Even if you have to work up to walking that long, any walking is better than no walking. It'll also help with the gas you're feeling. And not having the weight just fall off of you gives your skin time to get used to your new shape. The slower you lose, the less extra skin you'll have to worry about. Keep in contact with your doctor's office. Maybe they can hook you up to a bag of IV fluids...or two...to help you get to feeling better. Being dehydrated can definitely make you feel week and nauseated. Also try eating sugar free Popsicles. It's not like drinking Water, but it's considered a hydrating Fluid (at my doctor's office it is). In the beginning when I was having issues getting my Water in, I was eating a box of popsicles a day. Maybe not the best thing, but it was helping me to get fluids in and made me think I was eating something. I wish there was something I could say to make things easier...just keep trucking. You'll get there.