LilMissDiva Irene

Awww thank you!

You look great!! Healthy!! To answer your question: Only you know that answer. No one here, and no one else can tell you what is right for your body. I'm stopping short of the (IMO - not for me) BMI charts. I'm fine, I'm healthy and I'm happy. I won't live my life being unhappy anymore - and losing 20 more Lbs or whatever isn't going to do that. I MYSELF make the rules on my happiness... not some red, yellow and green chart some guy made a decade ago. I'll leave that to Bell Peppers... yeah, I like those. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Patrice... first let me say I'm so sorry to hear about your loss, as well as your daughters. Big big ((((hugs))))!!!!! I've always felt a kinship with you and I feel very sad to hear about all of this. I want to tell you this - and I have to emphasize it, so forgive me. YOU!!! ARE!!! NOT!!! ALONE!!! Girl, do you have any idea how much I've struggled for the past decade with my weight? My first WLS was a total, miserable, EPIC FAIL!!! I was also over 300 Lbs at one point... and with the lap band got myself all the way down to 227 Lbs. Yes, I still remember the exact weight because when I started going back up that number started being illuminated in my head like a GIANT NEON SIGN! Well all that is over and done with, but not before gaining nearly every pound back that I'd lost with my band. I got back up to within 2 Lbs of my surgery weight. Sooo sad!!! I had to fix it though. Me and no one else. I did revise to the sleeve and I made a huge promise to myself that I WON'T do that again! I had to get myself together the best way I knew how, and that's exactly what I did. That said, if it weren't for the sleeve I don't care how many promises I've made to myself... I'd still be fat today. You my friend have such a WONDERFUL tool inside you. Use it!!! Look at it this way, if you didn't have your sleeve - how much weight do you think you could have gained in your time of grief? And yes, it's ok to grieve for the man who you have your precious child with. But... you said so yourself, he died from a preventable disease. Don't let that be you... your daughter has no one else now. She's counting on you to use that tool you have and get back to being healthy and being the Mom she deserves. Your future husband deserves you to be the best Wife you can be. YOU DESERVE to be the best of any woman you can be!!! It's time to start really considering all the reason TO GET BACK ON TRACK rather than any reasons to keep going down the road you are going. I say all of this out of nothing but wanting the best for you! Because THAT is what YOU deserve. Things to do: Get back to the gym. Starting now... eat the sleever way. Protein first, veggies second. 60g Protein per day and no less than 64 oz fluids per day. Never forget ALL the reasons YOU SHOULD keep doing #1 and #2. I'm here for you. I can't say I know what you're going through, but I sincerely sympathize. I care!!! But I also want you to succeed, because I KNOW YOU CAN! Question is, don't you? I hope so.

Thanks Kelly! Hi everyone, here are the Social Groups for California: SoCal: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/groups/show/2-socal-vsg-support-group/ NorCal: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/groups/show/3-norcal-vsg-support-group/

Will do!! :

Well I've tried several time to get dates settled in, but nothing worked out. I have some things coming up in the next few months but after I might make up a set schedule. All are welcome to attend, and would love it if anyone showed! More info to come at a later date. Most likely I'll make it in the Vacaville area or around there, so it's not too far from our Bay Area friends!

Either way, I wish you well on your journey! Keep us updated!

Well that sounds good! Your surgeon sounds great. Yes, its true band to sleeve revisions risk for leaks does increase by about 2-3%. I was very lucky in my revision that my only complication was some pretty bad nausea (vomited as well but only once) and my pain was pretty bad. Tiffykins did experience a leak with her revision from band to sleeve. But today, she is BETTER than OK!! Really I haven't heard many other revision stories here that were note worthy. It is my hope that everything will turn out fine, which I'm sure everything will. Like you said, even though the complication risk is elevated, it's still single digits. Its very normal though to feel a little worry while going through this. I was NOT immune to that! But, I was so ready to do it!!!

You WILL!!! The sleeve saved me in so many ways, and it will do the same for you. You're already in the right mindset with wanting to workout and following the "sleever" diet - you surely will be here too. *hugs*

Follow it up with... "and then what"? and when they ask... "what do you mean"? Say... "so I lose all my excess weight. How do I keep it off"? The simple fact is anyone who is not heavy enough to need WLS will never know what it's like to be one of "us". I'm always going to be a Super Obese person on the inside, because I "get it". They never will. Or you can simply just not respond at all and tell them they just don't understand.

Yes! I have bad arthritis in both knees. So bad I was within weeks of a scheduled first knee surgery when I hurriedly decided to have my sleeve surgery instead. I cancelled my knee surgery and wanted to wait to see what happens with my weight loss. Why? Because it was that I was carrying around so much weight I ended up where I was with my knees!!! I REALLY didn't want to have to deal with only having one usable leg and being as heavy as I was. I was nearly back up to 300 Lbs!!! That probably would have been the most miserable time of my life. Well, here I am today (literally this morning at 4AM getting ready for my workout). My knees are in really good shape and have not yet needed to reschedule my knee surgeries. The arthritis will never go away, but - I have saved hundreds of pounds of pressure on them, and likely years worth of time before really needing them. THANK YOU SLEEVE!!!! I can run a 5K without issue, I can walk, climb stairs, get on my knees and search under the bed, and all sorts of things I now take for granted!

I really don't think you have much to be worried about. 50 revisions is good and since he is well rounded in the sleeve itself, I'd say he is relatively of good experience. My only advice would be to ask him point blank if he's had any major problems with any band to sleeve surgeries. He sounds like he's honest about everything, so I don't think he'd want to with hold any information from you. Good luck!

WOW!!!!!!! You're in the CENTURY CLUB!!!! Welcome!!! You're doing fabulous, keep up the good work!

Definitely agree, it could be the iron as well.

Your plan is working! I say don't mess with it. *hugs* I did have to bump mine up slightly because if I went lower my body also stalled. For me the 50g - 60g total or less works perfect.

Usually pain in line with an incision is internal adhesions. I get this from a really old surgery and I'm even a decade out. It's not constant though, once in a while. Have you kept tabs on what you ate before these episodes occured? I'm only asking because I get similar symptoms after I eat too much sugar. Even when it's around 20g... for it has to be all at once too. I hope you both find out what the issue is... that's no way to be.

GREAT NSV!!! There's a first time for everything! Enjoying the ride is all that matters...

Encore!!! Quite possibly one of the BEST posts I've ever read.

Some of us (myself included) get this little fun side effect from surgery. I see you are about 3 months out. My advice would be to have your surgeon or primary doctor pull your blood panels. Do a thorough check on all of your Vitamin levels, especially Vit D3 and B12. Even though you are taking your Vitamins daily, our sleeves have a hard time processing some in particular. You may need to be analyzed and given other options of vitamin consumption. Good luck!

Yes this is true. I'd originally lost 50 Lbs with my band and I was able to see the port bump. Not to mention the constant pain I was in, in the port area. Me and the band just didn't mesh. The band is now gone, and in place I have a sleeve. I've lost all the weight I've wanted to lose and my life is so much better for it!!! I love love love my sleeve, and wish I'd gotten it first! That said, hindsight is 20/20.

During my weight loss phase I did count carbs for the most part. I was one (still am) that exercised quite a bit so I allowed myself double what most everyone else seems to consume. I tried not to go over 60g total carbs per day. I wasn't always perfect and maybe it helped maybe it didn't. I lost on the stair step method where I'd lose weight for a few weeks, then stall for a few weeks. It's perfectly normal to do this, so I never really stressed on it. Everyone's different and every one individual just needs to find the zone where they lose the most / fastest. IMO, there are no right or wrong answers. As long as it's working to its full effect, who cares what anyone else thinks about YOUR diet? Sometimes you have to play around with the numbers, and just when something is working - it will suddenly stop. Then you have to change it up some. Low carbing it is not unhealthy. Some people have medical reasons to eat this way, such as my very own Mother. She is diabetic and she really has to watch all her carbs and sugars. Since working together on this she's been able to lose about 35 lbs. She was never able to do this before... so what's the right answer? Good luck to all, and just remember - everyone's journey is their own. If you follow the basic WLS diet, which is consume your Protein first, then veggies and perhaps a few bites of carbs, you should be ok.

Towrd the end of my liquids, I think within a day or so I decided to buy me some egg drop chinese soup. I pureed it as much as I could and it seemed to work out okay. Try that first, because really its still a liquid - just not too thick. I have to tell you, that was the best tasting soup ever!!!

Yay Ellie CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW TUMMY!!! Rest, sip and walk - and heal well!!!

Well, I'm not AA but I'm mixed Mexican/Filipina - so maybe I can help out some folks that might read this. IMO I really did great with my curves. I was able to do some toning workouts that scultped my body along during weight loss mode. I don't know about anyone else, but this was a really big deal to me. I NEVER wanted to get too thin. I'm not saying its bad, I just don't think for my frame I look good like that. I look my best on the little bit bigger side (not fat, just 'thicker' ya know?). The only problems I ended up with is I lost a WHOLE LOT of weight up top but while I still needed to lose some on bottom. My boobs totally shriveled up! I was a 42D before surgery and ended up a 34B/C. Trust me, the boobs were flattened pancakes, so even the B/C looked wrinkly and bad. I got a straight up breast augmentation to "re-fill" them. I did it for me, because I felt really self conscious about my boobs. I loved my boobs before they shriveled up! Well, thank goodness for PS because I once again feel much more proportionate and sexy!! I do still feel like my thighs are too big, but to avoid much more weight loss on top right now, I'm just going to have my thighs lipo'd. Once that's over and done with (next month) I'm going to 100% completely finish product! And still with all the lovely curves of a sexy woman! My skin held up really great too. I know ethnicity plays some role in this, so I think most here will end up ok. Be blessed and enjoy the journey! It's really all worth it in the end, no matter what the outcome is. Because #1 your health will improve drastically and #2, well if there are any imperfections, there's nothing a little proper clothing or PS won't fix.

How did your surgery go? Uneventful I hope! Please check in when you get the chance.