Jouselle

Please enjoy these pictures. I hope they will lift your spirits! And there is more than appearance in these victories. My hubby's back and knee pain is reduced greatly. My acid reflux is almost gone. Hubby and I lived through this and regret nothing. It's worth living without pastries. It's worth walking past the Baskin Robbins, and it gets easier. It'll be hard, but stick with it. Everything gets better.

I'll probably have to do this myself sometimes. I don't weigh myself every day though. We need to get a better scale. Ours is cheap. >.<

Source: Can't stop losing!

Source: What nine months and 152.5 lbs down looks like. I wanna look at this later when I'm losing my mind.

Source: The pre-op diet is NOT a punishment ... it's an opportunity.

My psych told me that even after being sleeved I can still gain back everything I lose. She said its my behavior habits and eating the wrong foods that will not make me successful after the surgery. We need to change our lifestyles beginning with our minds. Nothing like putting your body through all this pain and stress thinking the sleeve works on its own and then gain the weight back. The sleeve will help you in the beginning and it will restrict the portions you eat however in time as you learn what foods can stay down ..that's when the bad behaviors kick in and your back to point zero again. My Dr said a girl ate mashed potatoes and gravy and after 7 weeks she gained 15 pounds again..that's where the idea of "quick fix" comes Along and people misjudge us. Its a challenge and hardwork and is not an easy fix..just a tool to help us. Best of luck to all of us.. Saving this' date=' it's a good point.[/color'] Source: What was your breaking point?

I don't really trust my scale anymore. I'll probably poke the doctor's office monthly and ask them if I can use their scale real quick. I hope they won't mind...

Wow, that's quite a Christmas present!

Funny, I started with the blog here and decided to move it out to Blogger.

Source: What Real Women Look Like Keeping for prosperity!

Source: Coloring hair Saving this for later.

Grats! That's fantastic. *thumbs up*

I've done it too. I've cried in my cubicle. I'm not at that job anymore. But decorating your cubicle could help! Like one of those glowy color-changing lights you can get at Ikea or those earthy-happy stores at the mall. Bright and friendly artwork is good too! Also, you can get one of those natural light lamps, that will help. Good luck!

Woohoo! You go girl!

Sounds great! I'm glad you were able to get out and see people again.

Source: Too Small

Thank you very much for posting this. It's very reassuring.

I've moved my blog to http://jobeesroad.blogspot.com/. I hope you'll check it out!

It's by NIVEA and suppose to firm and tighten skin. Source: Excess skin postop Grabbing this for future reference.

Well, it's been a whole week since that fateful appointment with the surgeon last Monday, and even though I haven't done perfectly, I have managed to make some changes. I dropped soda like a rock. I'm proud of that. I got a bottle of water with ounce measurements on it and I'm up to drinking all the water I need to. I've cut my carb intake in half, I think. Burgers without buns, breakfast without toast, things like that. But, I still have some hurdles to jump. Drop carbs completely. Drop sweets completely. Count calories and stay under 1200. So, I'm not perfect, but I could be worse. I'm not gonna weigh myself every day or every week. That will make me nuts and my scale's not that accurate anyway. I got it at Wal-mart, after all. So, I'll update my weight each month, when I visit the doctor and use their vastly superior scale.

You go girl! I'm so impressed!

Once upon a time, I was an egg. 8 months later, I was born, yay! 5 lbs. I was so cute. A few years later, I was a kid. I wasn't as big kid yet, but I saw my really big Mom, and really big aunts, and put two and two together. When I grew up, I was going to be fat. Fast forward to High school. I was at 160 lbs. I thought this was fat. I thought this was my fate, and did my best to accept it. I didn't think I was ugly, because I still had pretty good success dating. I was a resolved and proud BBW. At the time, my younger sister wasn't far behind. I just thought it was something to be accepted. It was in our genes. Onto College years. I was a starving artist with no car, so I got down to a nice 140 lbs. Too bad I didn't appreciate it, because I had a roommate with body image issues that rubbed off on me. In pictures, I see that I looked amazing, but I didn't feel amazing then. In fact, I was in such a bad place mentally, I had to leave college early and take medications. Then, I moved back home from college. Yes, home to Mom's and Sister's cooking. Combining good food with different mental medications, I went up to 170. I thought, "Okay, this must be me fat now. I'm gonna be okay with this, accept it and be proud to be different." Then, I got a job in a cubicle. The money was great, but my weight was not. I got up to 210 lbs. I was very upset. I busted past 200. But I was in a very committed relationship, which helped me accept it. My fiance was wonderful to me, and called me beautiful every day. Notice I said fiance? That's right, a wedding was coming up. And we were both quite overweight, so we counded calories for the months leading up to the wedding. He lost 25 lbs, I lost 10, but it was something. It was just enough to make me feel beautiful again for our wedding. The year following our wedding, things went to hell. My mental illness got incredibly worse, what I thought was just a couple stomach bugs due to stress turned out to be a full-blown permanent problem, adding more medication to my list. I went through tests after tests, and they found nothing. So they blamed my weight. Then I had another medical scare, a bump was found and they had to do a biopsy on it. And, since I missed so much work because of all the medical crap, I lost my job. Back to my parents' house. Back to 210 lbs. Back to misery. Then, my husband met a guy at work who had the Lap-Band surgery a year ago and lost 100 lbs. He learned that the guy was very happy, and that the same health care we had paid for it almost in full. My hubby brought this information to me and asked me if we should do this together. The only time I ever said yes faster in my life is when he proposed to me. I didn't pause, I didn't mull it over. I wanted it more than anything. So we made our first trip to TrueResults. The people there are very nice, and very informative. Sadly, I was 2 BMI points under what qualified according to our health insurance. I had to gain 16 lbs. I thought it would be fun. I started by having an extra treat here and there. But I wasn't gaining the weight fast enough. Eventually I was eating candy and fast food every day, drinking more soda than I could stand, and I will hate Twix for the rest of my life now. But after 6 weeks, we went back, and my BMI read 40.7. I did it. But then my mother suggested we see other doctors too and learn more about things. Around this time, I started walking every day with my mother and sister. My husband and I went to a few other doctors and found one who was less nice and harder truth. And instead of gaining weight, they want us to lose weight before the surgery. We were given a strict diet and careful directions to follow. This was good, because I ended up gaining more weight and was up to a 41 BMI. And that is where my journey began...

I don't blame you for being disappointed. Unfortunately, stupid insurance makes us all jump through crazy hoops before we can get the help we need. :\