readyfor50

I had surgery Jan 7 2012. I Have lost 24 pounds. I know that's a great loss but this week as been very slow. Doing everything I should be doing.

I saw my endocrinologist today and she pronounced me CURED of my type 2 diabetes as a result of my sleeve surgery!
My A1C was 8.1 last fall. I had my surgery Dec. 18. My A1C today (Jan. 31) was 6.5. I have not needed any insulin or Metformin since my surgery. For this reason, my doctor said she considers me cured.
The relief is overwhelming!

Hello everyone! I wanted to share a couple recipes with you all. I posted a new recipe on my blog for Mexican spiced shrimp with black refried Beans.
There's also a link to my food blog which has a recipe for Indian Spiced Shrimp with Yogurt, garlic and cilantro dipping sauce--very VSG friendly!
You can check them out HERE.
I hope you like them! Just because we had weight loss surgery should not mean that we need to eat bland "diet" foods. I strongly feel that if we're happy with what we're eating, we're more likely to eat less, and continue losing our excess weight. I'm, personally, more likely to be satisfied with something I enjoy, rather than eating something I have to choke down...that still leaves me yearning for flavor.
I'm hoping to come up with all sorts of real food VSG friendly recipes in the near future.

Thank you...I was doing it on my iPad and it doesn't show goals. Found it on my laptop.

Hi I just had my band removed and sleeved 9 days ago. I feel fantastic! I hated my band nothing but problems. I have lost 12 pounds and feel great. My recommendation would be to make sure your surgeon is skilled in revision. Good luck.

I'm feeling particularly good about my progress so I thought I'd post an updated progression pic.

Starting the 2013 new year off right. I stepped on the scale this morning and lost another 2 lbs since Sunday which puts me at 60 lbs lost! I am 11 days post op and have gone from 445 on 11/23 (start of pre op diet) to 385 on 1/1, 60 lbs in 40 days!! Hello new life!
I am overwhelmed at the responses that I have gotten in this thread, especially the ones that said that my story has inspired them! I am so humbled, thank you! I am seriously changing my entire opinion of this surgery after this thread. Let me tell you a sad story. A few days ago, about 7 days post op, my wife asked me if I would do it all over again. I told her no. She asked why? "You have had such an ideal experience." I said "yeah, I was VERY LUCKY." There are tons of people that have complications based on what I saw on the sleeve site. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't have taken such a big risk, after all, we have a three year old son. I also WOULD NOT recommend this surgery I told her. I couldn't live with myself if I advised someone to go through this and something bad happened to them. That is SERIOUSLY what I thought.
After seeing this thread, there are A LOT of success stories out there. I will say what a lot of other people said and say that this surgery DOES change your life for the better. If you are as heavy as I was you WILL NOT live a long life. Period. How many 6' 3" 445 lb old people do you see walking this Earth? I don't see many that's for sure. If you are considering VSG surgery, JUST DO IT! Don't think about it and procrastinate like I did for two years. JUST DO IT! I wasted two years drinking and eating when I could have been rolling around in the grass, wrestling with my son. Believe me, we WILL be doing that this summer! 2013 is going to be my best year ever!

I have been on this site for a while now reading, commenting, and chatting; but I never really told my story. So here goes.....

I have ALWAYS been heavy. I can remember going to weight watchers when I was 8 years old. Eating cottage cheese and liver and onions! (what every eight year old wants to eat) I was on and off diets my whole childhood. When I was 13 I went into a Children's Hospital weight study. I lost over 155 lbs! I was down to 135!!! The smallest I have EVER been. It was a Protein diet I ate 17 grams of protein a day and that is IT!! No carbs, no dairy, no fat, only green veggies. After being on that diet for over a year my kidneys started shutting down and I was breaking bones left and right. I had to get off that program and I started a weight watchers style program thru Children's Hospital and gained all the weight back plus more by the time I graduated high school. In college I yoyo dieted losing 20- 65lbs. Getting to the highest I have ever weighed 411lbs. Then I was introduces to the Adkins diet. My mom and I both went on it I lost over 100lbs I met my husband who just so happened to be on the Adkins diet also. We dated for 3 years going on and off the Adkins diet losing and gaining weight... After we were married I discovered my passion for cooking and baking welllll...... 11 years later my husband is at his max weight of 309lbs and I was slowly climbing back to my max weight. I have wanted to have the surgery but my insurance company will not cover it and honestly my husband was not a big fan of me getting it done. So after the insurance company said no and we found out the cash price I just let it sit on the back burner. Then my husband went to the doctors with me and heard the doctor tell me I am going to die if I keep up this weight (390) with my family history. It was light a light bulb went off in my husband’s head. Then my husband started having chest pains and trouble walking because of the weight he gained. So I talked my husband into going to a local doctor’s seminar on the sleeve and we did and he was SOLD!!! Not only did he want me to have surgery now he wants it also!!! We thought about how we were going to pay for it even thought about taking out a second mortgage, but I had a friend tell me about Mexico. So I started researching, while I was researching Mexico my husband business partner is from the country of Jordan and his brother and brother in law are doctors so he offered to find out how much it would cost to get it done in Jordan. My husband came home and told me about Jordan so I started researching it also. We looked into airfare it was very pricey and a VERY VERY VERY long flight and we were not sure if we would be able to fly back after surgery in the given time we had off of work. So I told my husband about Mexico. I emailed alighterme.com and by the end of the end of the day Ronda called me and emailed me everything I needed. In October we made or deposits and bought our plane tickets. We started drinking Protein shakes twice a day and eating a low carb dinner. We stayed on this until Christmas. Christmas we did eat but I have to tell you it was a fraction of what we would have eaten last year. I weighed myself the day before Christmas and I was down to 366 my husband 287. Today we decided to take our before pictures and OMG!!! I usually dress very well for my weight but for my before picture I put on a tight tank top with a pair of leggings so NOTHING can hide!! I looked at that picture and asked my husband am I really this big? I never take full body photos, I know I am fat but I will be honest I did not realize I was this large! We started our pre op diet today again and I am hoping to be less than 350 before my surgery February 8th with Dr. Lopez! I cannot wait to start my journey to the NEW me!!

My two yorkies were seriously emotionally scared by my unexpected absence after my complication. They stuck to me like clue and if I head for the door they come unclued! Doggies can make one feel so loved.
What do you call a happy lassie?
A jolly collie!!

I have really been going back and forth as whether to post here or not. I guess I am sort of a "forum person" in my hobbies and areas of interest, but I have to be honest, I have avoided posting on this site or even looking at it for a couple of reasons. I found this site only a few days before my surgery but when I found it I found more negativity and frightened people then I found inspiration. Actually, I have gone here and gotten the (bleep) scared out of me by a few posters, every time I see their posts I get knots in my stomach. The main poster that does that to me has a screen name that starts with the letter "i". Everybody is terrified of leaks and all the negatives of this surgery and I just haven't been able to relate to many of the topics. Below I will share some of the basics of my journey so far.
First off, I am a 35 year old male who is 6 feet 3 inches tall. I wasn't fat my whole life, I actually weighed 218 when I was 19 years old. That was pretty close to a "perfect" weight for me. I got into a business where the guys I worked with partied, ate, and drank to excess. Over the years I ballooned to 445 lbs which is where I have been for the past 2-3 years. In 2010 I was considering the lap band but chickened out. I was back on in 2011 but chickened out again. In 2012 I HAD to make a decision because I was put on Metformin for borderline diabetes and Lisinopril for borderline blood pressure as well. That was it. I started again with the nutritionist appointments and made an appt. to see my surgeon who is located downtown Chicago a few miles from my house. My first appt. with him was in early October 2012 and he suggested a VSG instead of the lap band because of the large amount of weight I wanted to lose. I left thinking about it and did the rest of my pre op requirements such as upper GI, psyche, EKG, etc. I saw my surgeon again on November 14th, 2012 and we decided on the VSG (which I really didn't know a lot about). We set surgery for December 21st, 2012.
Because I am a big fella, my surgeon put me on a 28 day pre op liquid only diet (to shrink my liver and loosen my skin) which I started on November 23rd, 2012 (the day after Thanksgiving). The first few days were tough but I have very strong will power and stuck to it, following the requirements to the letter. I didn't cheat even once. Again, not even once. After about 12 days it was smooth sailing and I just plugged away and kept up the exercise plan that I had been doing for over a year which was just walking 1.5 miles, three times per week at my local YMCA. I didn't weigh myself even once the entire plan and weighed myself the morning of surgery. To my astonishment I lost a staggering 49 lbs!!!!I I couldn't even believe it, to be honest with you I began to sob like a little girl! I went from 445 to 396. I was just so shocked. My surgeon told me that I broke his practice record which was previously 45 lbs for a pre op diet. Again, I LOST 49 LBS IN 28 DAYS!!!
On the morning of December 21st, 2012 I was ready for surgery at a major hospital downtown Chicago. I arrived, valet parked, checked in, and was laying on the table prepped for surgery within 1 hour just waiting for the anesthesiologist. I was in surgery about an hour and a half later and the surgery took 2 1/2 hours. I am going to cut the details of my hospital stay down so readers aren't sitting here all day reading. Any questions just ask me. I wanted to leave the hospital the next evening but my surgeon said that he wouldn't allow me to break two records and that I should stay another night. Quick recap, I was checked into my room after surgery at 6pm Friday night and was discharged from the hospital at 11am Sunday morning, less then 48 hours after entering my room.
Upon arriving home I checked my weight, expecting to have lost a few lbs, and actually gained back 2 lbs due to all the fluids that were pumped into me. I was back up to 398. My recovery went ok I think, I was in a lot of pain along my largest incision which is about 3+ inches wide. I was on Tramadol which sucks. It took me 9 days to finish the 25 pills that I was prescribed since I was skipping doses. I was home on Sunday morning and by Wednesday morning I was off to the YMCA where I walked only one lap around the track. I limped around and talked to my friends there before going home. I was back at the YMCA on Friday and actually walked 5 laps (a half mile). I finally weighed myself on Friday, one week after surgery, and I was down from 398 to 391. I weighed myself again on Sunday afternoon and I lost another 4 lbs from Friday to Sunday, 9 lbs in 9 days, ending up at 387 lbs, 58 lbs down in 38 days.
So that's basically that. It's been over 10 days now since surgery and I am feeling like a million bucks. Here are the "scary" parts. I am using the term scary because after reading this site I would have thought I was going to die from this surgery. I HAVE NOT been nauseous even for one second since surgery. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOT thrown up, or even gagged for that matter, not even once. I AM ABLE to drink 60ozs of Fluid per day. I just started puree on Saturday, 8 days out, and it's been perfect. I had 4 ozs of low fat cottage cheese (which I LOVE) today as well as only one Protein Shake, a bowl of Tomato Soup, and plenty of Water. I AM NOT hungry, EVER. I just eat to live, that's it. Today I feel the best that I have felt since surgery. Every day gets better. My goal is to lose 220 lbs, 100 in three months from the start of my pre op diet on November 23rd. I WILL do it.
I know I left out a bunch so fire away (or ask any questions that you want).

I'm post op and that's what I drink immediately for the day. I get my 40 grams of Protein in immediately. You have to sample a few flavors to find one tolerable.
It is considered a clear liquid.

This really amazes me.. I've read about and talked w others about it but now that's it happening to me it seems unreal.. I had surgery nov 27th so I'm 1 week and almost 2days out and I've already lost 16lbs.. I just cannot believe it.. I'm so excited!! My highest weight was 264 day of surgery I weighed 241 current weight is 225.. :-)

All along my ultimate goal was to wear skinny jeans (and not look like a stuffed sausage) with a pair of tall boots. One could dream, right? Well, I bought the tall boots a few weeks ago thinking and hoping that soon I would find a pair of jeans that might just fit inside them.
Tonight I decided to give it a go. I took a size 14 and a size 12 back (with the boots in hand). Size 14...way too big. Size 12...still too big! What in the world?!
Who walked out with a size 10 pair of skinny jeans that look amazing in my tall boots?!? That would be MEEEE!!!!
There is no food on this earth that tastes as good as this victory!!!

I just thought I would pop on here and give you guys an update. I know that a lot of people stop posting once they reach goal or get about a year out, etc. but newbies and others what to know how it is to be sleeved this far out and what is going on at that point, so I thought I would continue to post monthly at least. I started out at 234 in August of 2011. Its been 14 months today and I am under my goal by 2 pounds. I have lost 101 pounds so far. I had been maintaining for five weeks but dropped another two pounds this weekend. I am going to have plastic surgery in 6 short weeks- so excited. I am having my arms done, my thighs done and a lower body lift that includes a Tummy Tuck. I have some lose skin issues and I want my body to be as good as it can be for 44 years old! I have worked hard to achieve this and it saddens me that I have lose skin. Admittedly, I didn't exercise as much as I could have and I am not sure how much good it would have done anyway.
I am very happy with my results and I hope to maintain this loss for the rest of my life. I can eat more now, that is for sure, but not a whole lot more. I was eating about 6 to 8 bites of things for most of the year, at a meal but now I am up to about 12 bites. Translation....about a half cup during the year and now about a cup at a meal. If its meat, not even that much. I still dont eat rice, Pasta, bread. Its too hard on my sleeve. I do eat potatoes occasionally but only a few small bites. I mostly eat meat and cheese, a bite or two of veggies. I eat whole wheat crackers with my cheese but only two of them. I also eat Peanut Butter on mini vanilla wafers for snack. I cant hold many so that is good. Potato chips are sliders for me so I only eat them occasionally. I am pretty set in my routine and I love it! I eat what I like and it works for me. Good luck everyone with their own personal journeys! Please feel free to message me or respond to this thread if you have questions or you think I might be able to help you in any way. I want to be present for those behind me, just as the veterans helped me with my journey. I am including a new comparison pic in this post.

A few things that I learned:
I was told the surgery doesn't hurt. Whoever told me that lied! A lot of people feel great, I was not so lucky. I had a lot of pain (possibly from the gas) and dry heaved most of the night. By the next afternoon I was feel better, but, boy, it sucked!
The barium swallow/leak test is HORRIBLE! It tastes horrible, makes you sick and can give you the runs! Where I had mine done, you got a sugar free popsicle afterward...it will be the best popsicle you have ever had.
Your stomach will make noises you never knew it could
You will belch like a man (especially when you eat a little too much)...I could out burp anyone!
I never had trouble EVER with Constipation before surgery, now it is a battle even almost 2 years out. Not sugar coating it, it can be very painful and I had an episode that I would say was almost worse then the night after my surgery.
Chewing gum can cause pain...I never even thought of this. I can chew gum now, but a few months out, the air that I swallowed while chewing really hurt. I had to spit my gum out the first time I tried and didn't chew it again for a long time.
Head Hunger is a b***h...the sleeve is not a magic cure and the further out you get, the more difficult it can get. Make sure that you make the changes early on so they are habit later on. By the time you will be able to eat more and tolerate more, you will have a good base of habits to lean on.
A lot of people's tastes change, but don't be surprised if they don't. chocolate still tastes just as good to me now as it did before.
I forgot to ad this earlier...like someone else said, Water doesn't taste good or sit good with me. I have no idea why, it just doesn't. For the most part, I drink sugar free drinks. I know they are not as good as just drinking water, but I still get in all my fluids.
You CAN still have hunger, especially the further out you get. But let me reassure you that it is NOT the same as before surgery...it is not as intense, and for me, anyway, it takes many hours of not eating to even start to feel hungry (and don't get actual physical hunger confused with head hunger/cravings/emotional eating...they are not the same...learn the difference)
You will become more obsessed with the scale then you ever have been in your life. Try not to let it rule you, you will have stalls, your weight will fluctuate.
As a woman, I have noticed things about my body and weight that I never paid attention to when I was heavier...because who notices 1-2 lbs when you are 260lbs. When I ovulate, I gain 2-4lbs and bloat. When I have my period (sorry guys) I also bloat and gain weight. And I really notice it, my belly feels bigger.
Your brain might have trouble keeping up with your weight loss...it is sometimes difficult to see the changes yourself, but others will notice. So many people say "I really can't see the change", but, trust me, your getting skinnier!!
Everyone loses at different rates, try not to compare
Set realistic goals...if you set goals that are virtually unattainable, you will never be happy. Try to go by the clothes you wear and how you feel, not the number on the scale.

I know my list is long and a lot of different things, but they are all things that I have either learned along the way, or have struggled with and still do some days! Oh, one last thing, it is most likely going to be the best thing you have ever done for yourself, you will not regret it, and you will be happier than ever...pretty good outcome and worth the ride!

now, how are you feeling?
what are you doing now that you weren't doing then??
i had my surgery in June on the 6th. thus far am 53 pounds off and (hopefully more--i only weigh once a month so dont know what the pound loss is today) but i have lost about 6 sizes. (trouble with being short and wide as i am tall) :wub:
i feel so much better. i am more mobile and i am loving life again. and i am loving me again.
what i am doing now that i wasnt? going into stores without being embarrassed and now i am able to walk through them without fearing i will die of heart attack.
love my band and i love my plication (no fills yet).
what about you?

So... I stole this idea from the August board.... I love knowing everyone's date!!
Just give a yell if you need added!!
**readyforchange** 9/4
Kathy_a22 9/4
Iv2nurse 9/4
Goalseeker 9/4
Juliemarie777 9/4
YumaCuen 9/6
Kaytlyn Allen 9/6
Kristinsmom 9/6
Joyband 9/6
Five71202 9/7
Kykhinkle 910
Twinskins 9/10
Kasper23 9/10
Hls50 9/11
Goingforit 9/11
Ready for 50 9/12
Banderama 9/14
Jazz70 9/14
Aferreira14 9/17
Tiggergramma 9/21
Corgimom 9/24
Millsy 9/25
RhondaMarie 9/26
Prinxs 9/27
Andwhatrea 9/28
Nacol
Straughn
MGP713
Cindroo
Maddysgram

I'm September 12th.

I haven't had the band with plication, but a member called CArolinagirl has. I'll ask her to pop in on this thread. I know her weight loss has been super, with no fills since her surgery in early June. She'll give you more details.

I had banded plication in late May. I got my first fill in late June. 2nd fill will happen next week. I think this next fill will really help me start losing at a quicker pace.

Forgot to answer: I've had 4 fills total. I've plateaued since march/april. Struggling for every ounce of loss now, but I'm getting really close to goal so I expected it. still frustrating, though.
I have days/weeks when I'm very hungry, then days and weeks when I'm not or my band is too tight to actually eat substantially. When I'm on a hungry streak I just make sure I follow no carb and eat until I'm not hungry. I try not to eat until I'm "full", just until I'm not hungry anymore. I find it's easier to do that if I start with very small portions - like 3 oz of meat instead of 6. 1 piece of cheese instead of 2. I'm still visual, I want to see a clean plate.
Any more questions, I'm happy to help.

I had lap band with plication about 3 months ago and I have lost 37 pounds since then. I am so glad I got the plication I have only had one fill and it was at my 6 week appt. I only have .5 cc in my band and I don't feel like I need another fill yet. I'm losing at a great pace and my meals keep me satisfied. :-) i love my lap band with plication

Went this weekend for a few thinks and decided to try the regular department
To my surprise I was able to fit into a regular size 16 pants (no 16x,no stretch waistband) and normal 16 with a zipper and a button….also fit in a extra large shirt (it did have a little stretch but I am not going to complain) ……………I have been unhappy in the large department for the last 5 years or so
I remember in the early 90 shopping in the big department and being happy …the shorted the skirt and the low the top the better…but not for a very long time

Was tempted to buy a lot of stuff but it’s almost the end of summer and I think I will save the money for fall clothes….in the regular department….still smiling about that….would never have happened this time without the band

So happy I just had to share