jessiquoi

You are not selfish, I just think its unrealistic to change everyone elses eating options. I feel it may be more difficult for you with those tempting foods around but its not fair to say they can't have it because you choose wls. You and me too just have to discipline ourselves and make changes that are good for us. You can do it! Stay strong and remember there are tons of us out here going through this too! Best of luck to you!

But Tisa you are NOT alone in this...you have US! Your road will be more challenging without their support but you will succeed in spite of it... Keep up the good work!

Down 142 pounds since surgery dec 2013!! So happy!!! 62 pounds until personal goal weight!!! 94 pounds until Dr's goal weight!!! Was at a stall for about 2 weeks off and on!! Last week down 12 pounds!! I work out 3 times a week for 2 hrs!! Doing a bootcamp and just trying to stay away from sweets my downfall!!! Went from a size 30/32 to a size 18/20 ( I'm very tall ).. Just overall happy!! Thanking god everyday I have had no set backs or illnesses from surgery
SW 438
HW 454
CW 312

First of all, everything you feel is valid. They're your feelings, and nobody can invalidate them. Of course you are nervous before surgery. There are very few people who wouldn't be.
Speaking for myself only, I have had those same thoughts, plus some more about complications, people's reactions... the list goes on. Like you, I also backed out of going forward with this once. You are not alone with your feelings.
You made the decision when you were in a rational state of mind, not a pre-surgery jitters state of mind, so try to remember that, and remember your reasons for going forward. It may help if you write down all the reasons you decided that WLS was right for you, and all your fears. Everything seems clearer when you put it on paper or say them out loud. You may already feel better just by posting here this morning!
I see this is one of your first posts. I would recommend finding other people on the site that are due to be sleeved this next week like you. It will make you feel much better to share the experience with people who are in the same place as you. You will be able to compare experiences, which will reassure you that you're not alone.
Best of luck!!! I hope to be where you are in a few months.

I am required to lose 5% (14lbs) during a 3-month period with the nutritionist before they will submit to insurance.

Just went through my closet...I can fit into size 12!!! So excited! My 16s were tight on me when I started!! I'm a happy girl

Today marks my 1 year since having the gastric sleeve surgery . I couldn't be happier with my progress . I'm officially down 120 lbs since surgery , 150 overall , with about 30 to go . I no longer have high blood pressure or sleep apnea and feel great .

What a LONG, strange trip this is that I'm on. I was sleeved on 11/27/12 at 418 pounds. I am now at 298. That's 120 pounds down & about 120 more to go. Being under 300 pounds is monumental for me, though. I honestly wasn't sure that it was ever going to happen.
I am obviously not one of those uber success stories that took off all their weight in one year & I am learning to be okay with that,
My experience was that for the for 6 months after my vsg it was like the weight melted off. 100 lbs. in 6 months. I thought that I would be to my goal weight in no time. Then it was like I hit a wall. Now if you look at my other posts you will see that I struggled. Struggled with getting in Protein. Struggled with avoiding carbs. Struggled with exercise. Struggled with what a drastically different lifestyle being sleeved is. I even gained back about 10 pounds. I did not do "everything right".
It took me about a year to really revamp my lifestyle and find out what works for me to lose weight but feel balanced. I have now losing consistently at about 2 lbs a week for the past 12 weeks. It appears that I have found my groove. I have no doubt that I will get to my goal weight. It might not be as quickly as other people have, but I will still get there.
It might be literally 3 years after my surgery before I get to goal, but so what? Even if I was not still losing weight, the weight that I have lost already has changed my life. My health has improved dramatically. I actually went hiking last weekend! I'm going camping in a month. That's something that I've missed doing for years.
Getting sleeved is not a magic bullet. Losing weight is still hard. I still struggle with my self-esteem. I truly miss eating the way I used to, and sometimes I literally feel sad that I can't eat more. I still don't like exercising. I have come to see it as a necessary evil. I might never like exercising, This is just the truth.
I'm getting married at the end of September. After we got engaged in January, I spent months beating myself up that I am still so heavy. I thought if only I had tried harder then I could have been a thin, beautiful bride. That may be true. It may not be. What is true is that I am certainly more ready to walk down an aisle in front of 100 people now than I was at 418 pounds.
I have not given up. I am still moving and look forward to someday posting that I'm at my goal. I hope that this post is helpful to someone. You might be considering surgery. Maybe you're newly sleeved. Maybe you're where I was 6 months ago...gained back 10 lbs & not moving. You can do it! I can do it! Just don't give up.
Here are a couple before & after shots at this stage.
   

It's done! The procedure went great, and I have nothing but good to say about the surgeon and all his staff. From the folks at the surgical center to the office staff, everyone has been wonderful. Day 1 post op was not too bad, but I still had a lot of the surgical meds on board. Day two post op was probably the roughest, but I found as long as I stayed on top of the pain medication, and continued to walk every three hours and try to keep drinking as much as I could tolerate, it made things much better.
Yesterday was day 3 post op, and it was exhausting. A two hour car ride is to be avoided if at all possible! Unfortunately, I could not. The incisions are all healing well and are beginning to itch like crazy!
As for food and diet - so far, not too bad until I got the kids home from their aunt's house. Why yes, I'd love to finish your toast, or have some pretzels with you, or eat some yogurt. Arggghhh! And this is just the beginning. Unfortunately my very Italian grandfather loved us with food from the start and if you didn't eat, he felt unloved, so you ate. Also, food has been my friend. When I am alone, I have used it to soothe those feelings, when I am happy I have used it to Celebrate. When I am sad, I have used it to hide from those feelings. Now, it's simply not an option.
I have been sober from drugs and alcohol for sixteen years and now it's time to take it a step further. I am under no delusions, and my eyes are wide open, and I am ready. With God, the support of my friends and family and some hard work, I can totally do this! Weighed in at the doctor's office yesterday before I left and I was down six pounds! Sounds like a good start to me.
More to come!

Just started this journey. I hope to get sleeved in November. Did information session two weeks ago. Started nutrition classes last month. Meet with intake counselor next week and then the surgeon,

Down 50lbs and feeling great! My mom is also a WLS patient. She's down 175lbs and is such an inspiration to me!

Hi all--
My first posting! I just got my insurance approval and medical clearance this week to get sleeved on July 28! I started my journey in mid-January (I hate New Year's resolutions ) at about 305 lbs at 5'8". I'd packed on over 135lbs over the last 10 years...yeesh! I was pre-diabetic, high cholesterol, severe sleep apnea, high blood pressure, on three medications, and just physically miserable. Walking around the block was a chore. So in mid-January I started back at the gym and eating better.
I started the 3-month bariatric nutrition program and counseling in March, both of which were wonderful. It's now two weeks until my surgery and I'm down to 245lbs on my own and it feels great! I feel like I'm half way there. The sleeve will be the perfect long-term guard rail for my eating. I'm so excited!
Since January I've changed my overall habits incredibly:
Quit caffeine Quit smoking! Yay! 20-year addiction...I'm now 3 months quit. Cut carbs (~30/day or less now) Quit almost all processed foods Quit diet sodas Switched to lower-fat Proteins Started exercising 4-5 days per week (strength + cardio) Dropped net calories to 1700 per day then down to 1300 per day, tracking on MyFitnessPal I really didn't want to attempt all the lifestyle changes post-surgery because I thought it would be too much change, too fast. So I basically changed habits over the last six months and it's really helped my resolve tremendously.
So just wanted to say hello and I've enjoyed reading the forums here for months now. And I can't wait to get sleeved!

I told myself the same thing your friend told you, last year after my "first" first appointment with the surgeon last August. I walked out of his office so depressed about having to lose weight before the surgery, and so afraid that I wouldn't be able to. I said to myself, if I can lose what he wants me to lose pre-op, then I can lose it all.
Fast forward to this year, when I am admitting one more time (and the last time) that I can't lose and maintain weight effectively on my own. I need the surgery to help me get my health back. You made the decision to get the surgery for your reasons, and I'm sure you thought it all out and discussed it with your health care team. Instead of taking the question personally, try to think of yourself as an advocate who can help educate the uneducated. That's really the problem, they just don't understand. Or, you can tell them to take a flying leap.
I'm not sure whether I'm going to tell people or not yet, but I've been practicing two replies in my mind that I found on this site.
For people who want to know why I'll be out for work, what kind of surgery I had, why am I losing weight so fast: "Thank you, it's so sweet of you to be concerned! It's nothing serious." Repeat ad nauseum.
For people who want to know why I'm having WLS instead of "eating better and exercising": "My doctors all agree the surgery is medically required for me."
Or stuff like that. Practice them in your mind, it does help. And first step is believing it all yourself.

Thank you for thinking of me. Anna hang in there. My team of doctors told me I was going to have my spleen removed and my stomach. I had a drain for my abcsess and a feeding tube through my nose. I was told this.month Iwould have surgery. Head oof the dr team said when henconsulted with bariatric surgeons they told him good luck with this case because it was so unusual. The leak was right at oseophugus. There was a fistula between spleen and stomach leak which means they were feeding off each other which would make it difficult to heal for one or the other. So my abcsess shrunk, fistula is gone and my Drain was removed. By miracle of God my leak was healed andnthat was just on Friday. My nose feed tube was supposed come oit monday but it was bothering me for the past 2nd weeks so bad. Yesterday I started gagging. Went to emerge and its out. Yesterday was my birthday and it was the best gift ever.
With that said it was a bumpy road. My stomach and maybe my spleen are staying put.
Anna I thought for sure my destiny was to have RNY to fix this problem and here I am. Please hang in there. Trust the process.

please don't let my leak affect you! yes there are risks definitely but honestly, as much as i come on here and whine and cry and am depressed, understand this is me at my worst. and as bad as it sounds there are much worse things that could happen like co morbities with obesity. those build up and last a lot longer than a leak and do damage to your body. listen to rk. she is a wonderful example of someone who needed surgery. to save her life.
this is a temporary thing some of us have to go through. i will start helping/supporting others once i'm healed and this is over. i would do the surgery again... honestly.
chances are you have nothing to worry about, but if you are paying attention to your body and educating yourself with what symptoms to look out for, you will do great, leak or no leak. and come here for support if you have questions, and keep up a good comraderie with your surgeon, and have back up medical care that understands what you did where you live.
having complications doesn't mean your life will always be in danger. especially if you use your sixth sense and listen to your body..
my motto is this... 'if i have never felt this pain before i head to the ER'. believe it or not it saved me a lot of grief because i came in before my abcesses caused problems. my doc was able to clean them out before they spread and made me sick.
i think all of us who have had problems have done things like that. and if you don't think you know your body, if you do go through these types of things you sure learn fast how your body works!
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR DECISION.

Thanks, test went well, it was very quick, went in at @ 6am was home by 9am. The test it self and re over was about 45 minutes

Good luck! I'm nervous about this one too, I've never had one before. I'm scheduled to have this and the colonoscopy (another first) at the same time, at the end of next month. Let us know how it goes!

I guess I did not update you all. My spleen abcsesshad a fistula going to a leak which is like a port that keeps passing Fluid back and forth. This was preventing any healing. Having a feeding tube through my nose and stomach going directly to my intestine has helped. I was not to have any Fluid going through my mouth for 2 months so there would be no passage of fluid from stomach to abcess. eventually fistula closed up, abcess decresased in size and my drain from absess was removed or should I say I accedently yanked it out (ouch) and they decided not to put it back. My leak has sealed on my birthday March 29 I had my nose tube removed. I shocked all my doctors. Today I still have an abcess in my slpeen which is domant and it is 2.5 cm in size, I have CT scan every 6 months. It is causing me to be tired but I am healthy otherwise except I am loosing a lot of hair. I went down to 136 pounds and now I am up to 151. I still am eating more then I should but its getting better. This weoght has been stabilized for 2 months so I may be at my comfort weight. I had surgery before I moved to a smaller house and with a move and reno I am under pressure. It will be over soon .

I am so sorry, but your venting made me laugh..So many things that we all experienced and the buyers remorse shining through your complaints.
Hold on kid it is going to get better. I promise you. Life is going to start to hand you some pretty cool experiences called NSV. And then you will say I am so glad I did this.
Mean while it takes time to get used to all the changes and rules..of our new life style. But it will become very manageable for you as well as routine very soon.
Take the time to really enjoy exploring new foods that would be interesting to try. And then for sure you will have conversations about food.
The whole reason you had this surgery in the first place was because of your addiction to the chemical reaction in your brain and lack of self control while enjoying the chemical reaction in your brain. But if you learn to make good, nutritional choices and make them tasty. There will be lots to talk about and you will be helping your body as well.
I am never hungry either and have not been hungry all along...If i did not have Reactive Hypoglycemia I probably would not eat as often as I do and then I would be smaller then I am now......
Trust me girl it will all come together and you are going to be so proud of yourself!!!!!!!

Well I will be making the 7 hour trip there and back two times in two weeks. When I got home before I talked to them all I wanted was to eat carbs but I didn't. I went walking and ate what I was supposed to and now I am glad I did. Still not happy about 2 14hour drives in 2 weeks but it is what it is. Thanks for helping me over the bump

So lately I've been doing a lot of work on getting in line with my PA's guidelines for diet and also getting into a good exercise routine. I've been weighing everyday hoping to see the fruits of my labors. I've been really getting frustrated the last few days because I seem to be on this cycle where the number goes down one day, then up a couple pounds and it takes another couple days to get to a 'new low.' It's small enough that it could just be normal fluctuations/scale error, but today I could feel myself getting the bad attitude that typically leads me into the "whatever, its not working anyways" type of food/activity choices. But then I realized- THIS IS HOW IT IS GOING TO BE- even after surgery. I'm not going to lose everyday, I'll hit stalls that are extended, it's just part of the process. I read on here all the time people saying just follow the plan, the weight will drop if you stick to the plan. So today, I'm finding a lot of comfort in that thought and I'm just going to get on with the day. I'm so thankful for this forum

Thank you for sharing, I knew it would be a hard journey but I did not expect it to be so for these reasons! I am feeling a bit better, it's just a change of venue, right? . Will try to get it sorted today.

Hi all! Tomorrow will be five weeks. I was sleeved June 5th in TJ by dr Corvala. No problems at all. I'm down 38 lbs and four jean sizes. The striped shirt is two days before surgery, tight 24 jeans. The blue shirt is yesterday in 16w jeans. I'm thrilled with my sleeve! So glad I didn't chicken out!

So I just finished my 3rd twelve hour shift as a nurse (since my surgery)
And I am so not tired!
I was able to come home and play with my kids
Instead of hitting the bed!
Sooo happy about that
Surgery date May 6th
SW 240
Current weight 200
Living my life again!

My step-daughter is in Baltimore County...we could have a get together sometime!