LilMissDiva Irene

Here is my response to those thinking about Band Vs. Sleeve: This is me at my highest weight of 330 Lbs before any surgeries: This is me 2.5 YEARS after my Lap Band Surgery: This is me a few weeks ago now, 10.5 MONTHS post op revision to VSG: Now ultimately the decision is all yours. I'm just sharing how I've done and having been on both sides of the fence. Good luck with whatever you decide!!

A few things to keep in mind are: a) Doing this will only sabotage any weight you might have already lost pre-op and set you back further to your ultimate goal. b ) You WILL be able to eat anything you want post op, just less of it. You shouldn't try to during weight loss mode, but once that's complete you will get to enjoy all your favorites again. c) You WILL have cravings for all your foods again in time. Squashing these cravings before going into surgery is a good idea. Carb cravings can get overwhelming, so by not eating them as much or simply sticking to good healthy carbs, you will keep these cravings under control. d) Enjoy yourself for a little while, but my best suggestion is to really focus as much as you can for at least the few weeks leading into surgery. Not only will you lose a few pounds, but you will also ensure going in as healthy as you can. Help the Surgeon to help YOU!! Best of luck in the leading days! This journey is NOT easy at all... but the rewards of doing right by yourself will far outweigh the sacrifices you will make right now and during weight loss mode.

I love crab legs!! I can eat a lot of crab, and it goes down well for me. Its got tons of Protein and just makes my day... LOL I don't add any butter or anything like that. I like to boil with some season salt and I'm good to go. Enjoy!!

This was my Surgery Day thread... I had surgery on 9/15/10 by the Awesome Dr. Aceves. If you're trying to find out more information about him or get some kind of an idea on what to expect, please read on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That�s right!! Next Wednesday is the big day for me! I�m soooo excited I can hardly stand it! This past 5 weeks has absolutely flown by. I�m still thinking of things I�m going to need� it�s like a never ending story. I'm so glad I decided to start sooner rather than later. I would�ve felt truly overwhelmed this coming weekend. Thank you all so very much for all your support!! This is the best support website on the WWW� no lie. I�m fortunate! So I�ll post my pre-op stuff here and post-op to avoid making new threads for every little thing (unless it's major!). I also won�t dig too much into my past � only that I was banded on 2/11/08 and its going to be removed in the process. All the very best to anyone being sleeved around this time too! Ok, and everyone else too� I mean, I don�t want to leave anyone out. Make your dreams reality!!! Source: I'm being SLEEVED on Sept. 15, 2010 by Dr. Aceves!!

That is my Sleeversary!!! Wishing you an awesome, and smooth recovery. Wishin ALL OF YOU the same! You won't be sorry you switched. Everything you're hearing right now is the absolute truth. I am a real patient of Dr. Aceves and went through it all. In fact, I'm going to go out and find my surgery day thread and blog it. I encourage you all to read through it if you have time. It's a long one.

Yayyy!!! WCG your day has finally arrived!!! Well wishes and a speedy recovery for you. You have done excellent already with your pre-op weight loss, I have no doubts you will kick butt literally in your post ops. Please check in when you feel up to it so we know how you're doing!!! :boxing:

I want to sincerely thank all of you for the support you all have given me in this past 11 months. You all have been so willing to give of yourselves and your journies, and I think it goes a long way to say that. So many here are reading under cover, needing that boost of adrenaline and confidence, but are too shy to make posts or ask questions. We are more far reaching than all the stars in the sky... twinkle on SLEEVERS!!! I can't believe I'm so close to one year out! It's so amazing and but one year ago today I was setting up my surgery with the Awesome Dr. Aceves and hoping and praying for a safe and successful outcome. Well, both were secured and here I am today feeling amazing and full of life and energy - AND LIVING MY DREAMS!!! ETA: I am NOT being paid to say that either... LOL *hugs*

For my first two weeks I was lucky to get in 300 calories per day. Around 2 months out I was around 5-600 calories per day. Right around 4-6 months it went up to about 6-800 calories. Now I get in around 9-1100 calories per day. I easily burn off 1000 or more per day. I'm usually always in the negative, however my weight loss has slowed to about 4-5 Lbs per month in the last 2 months. No problem for me, I've hit all my goals I set out for myself, now I'm pretty much just living my life and taking any victory that may come along. They are all bonuses at this point. Best wishes in your journey!!

Wow!!!!!! You look totally amazing!!!!! You do look fantastic in that outfit

I'm always going up and down a few pounds. I would find it odd that anyone would *never* fluctuate. Especially a woman...

So here I am… over 11 months post op now. My Sleeversary is on the 15th of every month, and my next one will be ONE FULL YEAR!! When I decided to get revised from Lap Band to sleeve, I had gone from my low of 227 Lbs all the way back up to 281 Lbs. I was only 2 Lbs. away from reaching my Lap Band surgery day weight of 283. That was not a good time for me. I was quite literally depressed. It’s not easy making a decision like this… let alone a second one. How was I ever going to get myself back on track to get to where I’d wanted to find myself? One thing I needed to ask myself was – is my heart in it? Yes, no doubt about that. I have a lot of friends who still follow me from my Lap Band days, and they’ve seen me struggle like no others. They would tell you, I was always fighting, trying, starting over, crying, rejoicing and everything else that goes along with a lot of weight loss and gains over the long years of obesity struggles. So, my Lap Band and I just didn’t get along. We were enemies before we even met. We were never destined to get to the Promised Land together. It is what it is though, no need crying over spilled milk. All we can do is go our separate ways and in my quest to find happiness, like so many other failed relationships out there, continue my search for “the one”. Well, here I am today, not even a year later after finding “the one” and I’ve hit all of my major goals already. Some I never ever dreamed of hitting, and one in particular was one that I just placed on myself to see if I could do it… and I did. My major goals were first and foremost getting lower than my Lap Band weight. That was such an awesome day for me. I’d prayed and prayed so many times to do this with my band and that elusive 227 Lbs forever haunted me. I felt really good at that weight, and look at me now!! That was nearly 50 Lbs ago now!! It’s still hard to imagine as I look back and reflect. I’m far beyond that at this point, and really seems like a dream come true. My second major goal was to weigh less than my darling husband. Wow, what an excellent day that was for me to yell at him with joy and dance around saying I finally did it… he’s finally the man of the house!! LOL I’m not really sure if most understand this, but in my world, I should never weigh more than him. I felt so unladylike and especially out doing him by more than 120 Lbs even. Granted he’s not a really big guy. We are about the same height but still… he IS a man. He SHOULD weigh more than me… and now he does. In fact we have a good 25 Lbs between us now. Oh happy happy joy joy!! My third and ULTIMATE goal I’d set for myself was to fit into some cute Size 8 Levi’s that I had. I bought them right around the time I had my surgery, or not long after. I had this particular cut and brand jeans that I just love and I’d often as a larger woman still wearing Women’s Sizes often go over and look at them… daydreaming. They looked so itty bitty to me then, and I never dreamed I could actually make it there. When I bought them I felt a little embarrassed because I knew the clerk would see the size and I also knew the clerk would probably laugh at me buying such a small size. Well, I went to a guy clerk after imagining this in hopes for the chance they wouldn’t notice. I’m not sure if he did or not, I just bought them and ran out!! Hahaa!! I’m so glad I did though!! I kept them hanging up on my wall, looking at them and imagining myself in them someday. Well right around 205-208 Lbs, I was finally able to squeeze into those suckers!!! I was in total amazement, and yes I even cried a little bit. It was such an awesome time for me! It was truly truly a spectacular moment. One I will NEVER FORGET!!!! Ok, so imagine my surprise at being able to get them on and not even having reached Onederland yet. I figured I’d fit them around 190… and that was even wishful thinking. So, since I’d really only had several actual real scale related goals and the most major one being Onederland I had to keep pushing forward. I decided then to make my new goal Size 4 Levi’s of the same cut and style. Wow, when I bought those jeans I about died. They look so small I can’t even describe the angst I felt. I really hate making myself goals that I don’t feel confident I’ll make. The reason is simple… if I don’t make it, I will be left feeling like a failure. I’m a super strict perfectionist. I’m really tough on myself if I don’t end in success, and I think that has a lot to do with my weight issues…stemmed from the past. Anyway, I kept pressing on. I think it was about a few weeks later that I hit my most favorite goal to date. ONEDERLAND!!! OMG I can’t express to you how amazing this goal was for me. I haven’t seen the One’s prior to this for over 20 years. I fought so hard for it too. My scale was going to C-block me (sorry for the language folks but it’s true!!) as much as it could before letting me get there. My scale has always hated me. It still does. It will NEVER let me have what I want when I want it. I’ll also never ever be 125 Lbs. There’s just no way in the world… that said… it was nice to me for that split second. I was happy. Case closed… LOL At this point I’m beginning to believe that my journey though not complete yet, is a total success. It was around that time that I started to enjoy my weight loss journey, and started to recognize my fluctuations and just going with them and being patient about them. It was also around this time that a few others of my notable goals were met. I’d finally run an entire 5K event, and did quite well. Now I can run a 5K without issue and really go for 3.5-5 Miles 4-5 days per week without fail. I’ve also gotten my waist size to less than 32”, which according the the Health World is ideal for a Woman to have, as anything more we are predisposed to diseases such as Diabetes, etc. My panels are all excellent, save for my iron, which is not out of the norm for me. My blood pressure is completely controlled and I never have any problems with it anymore and do not need additional medications for it. There are countless others, but these are my most notable. Oh, and did I mention I was able to get those Size 4’s on? Yeah, I did. There’s a picture of me wearing them in my Signature line. Yayyy!!! So… where do I go from here? Well, I can tell you this, I’ve never had any kind of real actual Scale goal to reach. I have no idea where I want to land at. I can tell you this though; I’m completely satisfied with me right now. Size 4 is pretty small. I’m getting my breasts augmented next Thursday. Ladies, I can honestly tell you, a lot of us (not all!! Everyone’s different) are going to lose the boobs. I held mine really good (Full D Cup) all the way up until I hit Onederland. It was about overnight that they just deflated, like as if you would poke a tiny hole in a large balloon. *Whoosh!!* Gone… so I’m having them “re-instated” so to speak, heehee I will likely come out a full DD or maybe even a DDD. Wow… LMAO!! Like I said, go BIG or go home!! I’m also getting liposuction on my thighs and knee areas. I find that normal size clothing doesn’t give extra room for those of us with thicker thighs. I’m always stuck having to wear a larger size than I need to compensate and left with a baggy bum and waist area. It’s really frustrating. So, I’m going to get those areas addressed. Not only that, it will really accelerate my running with more comfort. In closing, I just want to say that in reality I am at goal. My brain still needs to catch up however. I’m going through a full fledged surgery and a few other procedures, so my brain is on overload right now. I’m not going to deal with the struggles of “maintenance” until I’m completely healed up and fully back onto some kind of workout routine. I think it would be foolish of me to try to up my carbs and calories right now, especially not being able to compensate by any type of calorie burn. This was really weighing (no pun intended) heavily on me and making me feel out of control. Oh, did I mention I’m a control freak too??? Hahaa!! Anyway, if you’re still with me, as I know this is in an incredibly long read, I want to just say that I don’t regret one moment of my sleeve experience. I did right after as the first month is quite hellish, but now? NO WAY!!! It truly has saved my life, and has given me what I’ve dreamed to have for so many years. Also, no pictures in this update... I want this to be about my long journey more than anything else. Be blessed!!!! Source: My 11th Month Sleeversary Update

So here I am… over 11 months post op now. My Sleeversary is on the 15th of every month, and my next one will be ONE FULL YEAR!! When I decided to get revised from Lap Band to sleeve, I had gone from my low of 227 Lbs all the way back up to 281 Lbs. I was only 2 Lbs. away from reaching my Lap Band surgery day weight of 283. That was not a good time for me. I was quite literally depressed. It’s not easy making a decision like this… let alone a second one. How was I ever going to get myself back on track to get to where I’d wanted to find myself? One thing I needed to ask myself was – is my heart in it? Yes, no doubt about that. I have a lot of friends who still follow me from my Lap Band days, and they’ve seen me struggle like no others. They would tell you, I was always fighting, trying, starting over, crying, rejoicing and everything else that goes along with a lot of weight loss and gains over the long years of obesity struggles. So, my Lap Band and I just didn’t get along. We were enemies before we even met. We were never destined to get to the Promised Land together. It is what it is though, no need crying over spilled milk. All we can do is go our separate ways and in my Quest to find happiness, like so many other failed relationships out there, continue my search for “the one”. Well, here I am today, not even a year later after finding “the one” and I’ve hit all of my major goals already. Some I never ever dreamed of hitting, and one in particular was one that I just placed on myself to see if I could do it… and I did. My major goals were first and foremost getting lower than my Lap Band weight. That was such an awesome day for me. I’d prayed and prayed so many times to do this with my band and that elusive 227 Lbs forever haunted me. I felt really good at that weight, and look at me now!! That was nearly 50 Lbs ago now!! It’s still hard to imagine as I look back and reflect. I’m far beyond that at this point, and really seems like a dream come true. My second major goal was to weigh less than my darling husband. Wow, what an excellent day that was for me to yell at him with joy and dance around saying I finally did it… he’s finally the man of the house!! LOL I’m not really sure if most understand this, but in my world, I should never weigh more than him. I felt so unladylike and especially out doing him by more than 120 Lbs even. Granted he’s not a really big guy. We are about the same height but still… he IS a man. He SHOULD weigh more than me… and now he does. In fact we have a good 25 Lbs between us now. Oh happy happy joy joy!! My third and ULTIMATE goal I’d set for myself was to fit into some cute Size 8 Levi’s that I had. I bought them right around the time I had my surgery, or not long after. I had this particular cut and brand jeans that I just love and I’d often as a larger woman still wearing Women’s Sizes often go over and look at them… daydreaming. They looked so itty bitty to me then, and I never dreamed I could actually make it there. When I bought them I felt a little embarrassed because I knew the clerk would see the size and I also knew the clerk would probably laugh at me buying such a small size. Well, I went to a guy clerk after imagining this in hopes for the chance they wouldn’t notice. I’m not sure if he did or not, I just bought them and ran out!! Hahaa!! I’m so glad I did though!! I kept them hanging up on my wall, looking at them and imagining myself in them someday. Well right around 205-208 Lbs, I was finally able to squeeze into those suckers!!! I was in total amazement, and yes I even cried a little bit. It was such an awesome time for me! It was truly truly a spectacular moment. One I will NEVER FORGET!!!! Ok, so imagine my surprise at being able to get them on and not even having reached Onederland yet. I figured I’d fit them around 190… and that was even wishful thinking. So, since I’d really only had several actual real scale related goals and the most major one being Onederland I had to keep pushing forward. I decided then to make my new goal Size 4 Levi’s of the same cut and style. Wow, when I bought those jeans I about died. They look so small I can’t even describe the angst I felt. I really hate making myself goals that I don’t feel confident I’ll make. The reason is simple… if I don’t make it, I will be left feeling like a failure. I’m a super strict perfectionist. I’m really tough on myself if I don’t end in success, and I think that has a lot to do with my weight issues…stemmed from the past. Anyway, I kept pressing on. I think it was about a few weeks later that I hit my most favorite goal to date. ONEDERLAND!!! OMG I can’t express to you how amazing this goal was for me. I haven’t seen the One’s prior to this for over 20 years. I fought so hard for it too. My scale was going to C-block me (sorry for the language folks but it’s true!!) as much as it could before letting me get there. My scale has always hated me. It still does. It will NEVER let me have what I want when I want it. I’ll also never ever be 125 Lbs. There’s just no way in the world… that said… it was nice to me for that split second. I was happy. Case closed… LOL At this point I’m beginning to believe that my journey though not complete yet, is a total success. It was around that time that I started to enjoy my weight loss journey, and started to recognize my fluctuations and just going with them and being patient about them. It was also around this time that a few others of my notable goals were met. I’d finally run an entire 5K event, and did quite well. Now I can run a 5K without issue and really go for 3.5-5 Miles 4-5 days per week without fail. I’ve also gotten my waist size to less than 32”, which according the the Health World is ideal for a Woman to have, as anything more we are predisposed to diseases such as Diabetes, etc. My panels are all excellent, save for my Iron, which is not out of the norm for me. My blood pressure is completely controlled and I never have any problems with it anymore and do not need additional medications for it. There are countless others, but these are my most notable. Oh, and did I mention I was able to get those Size 4’s on? Yeah, I did. There’s a picture of me wearing them in my Signature line. Yayyy!!! So… where do I go from here? Well, I can tell you this, I’ve never had any kind of real actual Scale goal to reach. I have no idea where I want to land at. I can tell you this though; I’m completely satisfied with me right now. Size 4 is pretty small. I’m getting my breasts augmented next Thursday. Ladies, I can honestly tell you, a lot of us (not all!! Everyone’s different) are going to lose the boobs. I held mine really good (Full D Cup) all the way up until I hit Onederland. It was about overnight that they just deflated, like as if you would poke a tiny hole in a large balloon. *Whoosh!!* Gone… so I’m having them “re-instated” so to speak, heehee I will likely come out a full DD or maybe even a DDD. Wow… LMAO!! Like I said, go BIG or go home!! I’m also getting liposuction on my thighs and knee areas. I find that normal size clothing doesn’t give extra room for those of us with thicker thighs. I’m always stuck having to wear a larger size than I need to compensate and left with a baggy bum and waist area. It’s really frustrating. So, I’m going to get those areas addressed. Not only that, it will really accelerate my running with more comfort. In closing, I just want to say that in reality I am at goal. My brain still needs to catch up however. I’m going through a full fledged surgery and a few other procedures, so my brain is on overload right now. I’m not going to deal with the struggles of “maintenance” until I’m completely healed up and fully back onto some kind of workout routine. I think it would be foolish of me to try to up my carbs and calories right now, especially not being able to compensate by any type of calorie burn. This was really weighing (no pun intended) heavily on me and making me feel out of control. Oh, did I mention I’m a control freak too??? Hahaa!! Anyway, if you’re still with me, as I know this is in an incredibly long read, I want to just say that I don’t regret one moment of my sleeve experience. I did right after as the first month is quite hellish, but now? NO WAY!!! It truly has saved my life, and has given me what I’ve dreamed to have for so many years. Also, no pictures in this update... I want this to be about my long journey more than anything else. Be blessed!!!!

I believe they would. From what I know Dr. Aceves minimum is <30BMI so you should still be good to go. I dieted for 2 weeks instead of 1 per his instructions. I'm glad I did! That brought me to 9 Lbs closer to goal and only helped in my recovery process going in already free of the carb demons.

You SHOULD feel sexy because you ARE!!! I mean that in the most heterosexual way of course... Congrats you're really rockin your sleeve!!

Hey Leslie, I know I've said this a million times but... CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm soooo happy for you!!! I wish you much success in the future... now it's on to maintenance - which so far doesn't seem as easy as it sounds. *hugs*

Fantastic CONGRATS TO YOU!!!!

Can't wait!!!! You should post it in the guys pic thread too.

These are all great responses!!!! We have to let our inner sexy out! Also, we shouldn't wait to lose weight to feel this way. There are so many different factors that go into confidence and feeling sexy. This has nothing to do with being skinny. My husband reminds me of this all the time, as he says he was ALWAYS attracted to me. Before weight loss and even more now as I get more and more confident in myself.

Everyone, lets keep it civil. Name calling is against the terms of service you agreed to when signing up here. Here is a link: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules If you have any personal issues with anyone here, please take it to PM. Otherwise stay on topic and remain respectful.

Awesome!! I was beginning to think no one thought anything sexy of themselves. Ya know, there's not one thing wrong with it. Anyway, I totally agree with you that is very sexy on a guy. You're rockin it!!!

Yeah really! But I'm leaving it for that one daring guy we got here.

Wowww!!! You look MAHVELOUS!!!

Oh both... you will definitely see it AND FEEL IT!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! You are an amazing success and you surely deserve all the attention you're getting!! ...and yeah the shopping is the best part of all of this. Cheers!!

Hello Natz and welcome to the rest of your life!!! Well, my only suggestion is to hold on to your hat because this is quite a ride! Take a look around, and even check out our hospitals & surgeons forums. We have a LOT of Kaiser patients here who I'm sure can assist you as you fly through those hoops. Best wishes!!