BlessedBeyondMeasure2012

I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to make my goal (a week ago my weight had gone up a little and I didn't think there was any way I would may my 225 goal) BUT this morning I was at 223!!! Now my goal is to be under 200 by Christmas Happy Labor Day everyone!!!

Congrats!!! You give me hope that I can reach my goal! I started out a little heavier than you, I'm down about 105 pounds but the scale has STOPPED moving. I am 5 months out and frustrated (more with myself). I haven't been doing the things that I know I should consistently lately but am back on track as of this week. Seeing that you have made your goal in a year gives me hope that I can at least come close before my year is up! Thanks for sharing!!!

You look great! You don't look like a little old man and I actually think you look younger than before. It is hard for people to see us going through so many changes. They get used to seeing us big and when we start losing it looks to them like we are a lot smaller than what we actually are. I go through this on a daily basis. People call me "skinny" every day, and let me tell you, I am FAR from skinny. I am still wearing an 18/20 in pants but for some reason, people who knew me before surgery see me as smaller than this. I keep telling myself that if someone who didn't know me before saw me they would still see an overwight woman with plenty of weight to lose. People that see you, ones that didn't know you before, see you as a healthy and fit guy, not someone who is big or overweight. I think sometimes as much as our view of ourselves is skewed, the people that knew us before also have skewed views of us. Keep your head up, you are doing and have done amazing!

So today has been a rough day and we haven't even hit 1 PM yet. This morning, instead of having my normal 3 turkey sausage links for Breakfast (100 cal, 13 gm protein) I decided to have a ham, egg and cheese croissant with only 1/2 the croissant from our local donut shop. I have done well lately and have been seeing the scale move which has made me really happy. I have been craving one of these croissants which I haven't had since before surgery so I figured this morning I would stop and get one and then do REALLY good for the rest of the day. I don't mean skipping meals, just getting the most out of what I would eat for the rest of the day. Anyway, things got hectic at work and I didn't get in a morning snack, by 11 I was so stinkin hungry and with no end in site for lunch I grabbed what was easiest and closest, 1/2 a donut... and then the other half. I haven't eaten a donut since well before surgery. Then the boss went out and bought hamburgers and fries from Burger King for lunch. I ate mine with only half the bun, and only one fry but still, not my good planned lunch that I was counting on. He also bought me a chocolate shake and I can't remember how long its been since I had one of those. One drink of it and I knew if I kept going I would feel bad because of all the sugar. It went down the drain. I haven't had a drink out of a straw since surgery and I even drank the drink of the chocolate shake through the stupid straw. I know better. I know better than all of it. I'm disappointed in myself that I let myself fall off the wagon like I did. I'm a food-a-holic, I have to watch myself just like an alcoholic does. I feel like I have failed miserably today. I also feel like I missed the good feeling of the "drunk" and went straight to the hungover feeling. None of what I ate made me feel better. In fact I kinda feel gross right now. I know it is a lesson in learning. I've been really proud of myself with how well I have done over the past 5 months. I thought I was getting to the point where battling these food demons was getting to be second nature and it wasn't so hard anymore. I don't want to do anything to screw this up. I don't want to start gaining back what I've lost... I've worked too hard. Nothing about this journey has been easy but I have been living it. I've been making it and making it work for me. I just feel really defeated. I told my sister about all of this (she is in the process of getting approval for the sleeve) and told her that tomorrow would be better. I can't wait until tomorrow, starting from this minute the rest of today has to be better. Sorry for the vent/whine. Praying for a better rest of today and for better decision making...

I was sleeved 3/25/13 and started out as a 46DDD/F. Today, I am 106 pounds down and a 40/42 DDD/DD. My boobs are way less full than they used to be and sometimes I think I still need that third D just to have room for the skin lol

I call them "my fat girl camera tricks" lol! This double chin is slowly going away but not nearly as fast as I'd like it to even with 105 pounds gone!

I was off for two weeks. I could have gone back after a week but I was also on mternity leave and I had two weeks left of it after I had surgery. It was nice to be back to eating some regular food when I came back to work. I was off of full liquids by then. Anyway, I would take two weeks and then ask for help with the lifting. I think you'll be good.

You can search the site for A Walk with Irene and it will pull it up for you. I couldn't find it just by looking either.

I had 4 plus one drain site that is more noticiable than the rest. I had none in my belly button. I am almost 5 months out and all of the scars are fading nicely. I had my gall bladder taken out so now I have 4 more incisions from that. I had a different surgeon and he didn't use any of my previous incisions. 6 months ago I had no scars on my belly, now I have 9. Buckshot sounds like as good a story to me as any! LOL!

Do any of y'all use Kaiser insurance? My sister is in the process and lives outside of Denver and was trying to get some reviews on surgeons there.

Thanks kb88! I appreciate the info!

My sister is looking into VSG and has Kaiser insurance. She lives outside of Denver. Now I have no clue how Kaiser works but does anyone have any experience with any surgeons there? She is nervous but excited and I'm just curious for her. Thanks for the help!

So I just had my gall bladder taken out two weeks ago. I went in having pain, they put me in the hospital that day and took it out the next. It wasn't making me sick, just hurting. The ER doc told me that it was only going to get worse until I got it out. Apparently the stones I had were small which made them more likely to get in one of the ducts and cause an obstruction. The best treatment would be to get it out. There is a medication called Actigall that can help with it if there is a reason that they aren't going ahead with getting it out. Talk to your regular PCP. Yes doing low fat and relatively bland will help but you need to get it out of there. I didn't realize that losing a lot of weight can put you at risk for gall stones, then there are the 4 F's (fat, forty, fertile, female -- and I fall into all but the forty catagory) that put you at an increased risk. Apparently I was just asking for my gall bladder to go crazy!

I hope it gets better for you! Don't forget... breathe in, breathe out, repeat. This too shall pass...

I'm a Shreveport girl. Dr. Merriman did my sleeve on 3/25/13. Having great results so far, no regrets!

Me too! I broke mine yesterday and I'm so sad! Hopefully we will both be able to replace them soon!

So yesterday morning, after I weighed I was moving my scale back to it's normal spot on our bath mat (I have to move it to the tile to weigh) and I dropped it on it's corner. Not it was a really nice scale, the Aria by fitbit, and it shattered. I am so sad! I almost felt lost this morning without it! I've always been a daily weigher when I'm in weight loss mode, now no scale. This is gonna be tough lol!

When I started talking about having the sleeve done my sister also started talking about it. She is over weight and has been for most of her adult life just like myself. She is 5 years older than I am but is about 5 inches shorter. She has been my little big sister for many years. Well, she has had a couple of c-sections, laproscopic gall bladder surgery and a robotic hysterectomy and was concerned that she may have adhesions that would cause problems for a sleeve surgery. She talked herself out of the surgery and out of looking into it anymore than what she already had, which wasn't much but still. Well, I've now lost 102 pounds and she has gained about 20 in that same amount of time. She asked me this weekend if I thought she would be crazy to have it done. I was so excited! I have been wanting to encourage her to have the surgery but knew she was afraid to. She talked with her husband and he is supportive too! My prayer for her is that if she is supposed to have it done that God will put her infront of the right surgeon. She lives away from me so will be using someone other than the surgeon that did mine. I am so excited for her and that we could be doing this together. She is one of my best friends and is one of my biggest encouragers. I can't wait for the opportunity to be the same for her!

TOSS THE BOX!!! I had the same problem. It is still hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that I have gotten rid of clothes that were too big that used to be my 'I'll get into those someday" clothes. I am almost through all of those and am fixing to be in uncharted waters, or at least I haven't been in them in years. You won't need them again. Ever. Get rid of them and make some room for the new stuff that will be finding it's way in!

Thanks y'all!

I had a different surgon do my gall bladder surgery. I was hoping that he would use some of the same incisions as my VSG surgeon but nope. I'm thinking that buckshot sounds like as good of an excuse as any lol

I had surgery on 3/25/13 but lost 30-25 pounds in the month before that. I've lost a total of 101 pounds as of this morning. I had my gall bladder taken out on Monday but other than that, I've had no problems/complications. I have really got to get some pictures linked in here to show some progress. My weight loss has really slowed down over the past month but seems like it has picked up since my gall bladder came out. Hopefully it will continue on down. I'd love to be below 200 by Christmas. I guess we will just have to wait and see how it goes!

That was originally my plan but a month before I was scheduled for surgery last year I found out I was pregnant. I had my sleeve done while I was off on maternity leave and haven't looked back. I just had to have my gall bladder taken out on Monday but otherwise, I've had no problems.

You look great! Keep up the good work pretty lady!

The Extra dessert gum is great! I love the lemon pie one!