jamey

Thanks again to everyone, your encouraging words made me feel so good today! On days I feel discouraged (pms is still a killer head hunger time for me) this board always puts me back on track. It is such a blessing to have so many people who are cheering you on and there when you struggle. Douceur72 good luck on your upcoming surgery and your goal seems very realistic to me. One of my favorite days was when my BMI went out of obese and into just overweight, it had been so long since I wasn't obese. Kristina, you WILL be sharing your success story on here and I can't wait to read it!

Your story rings a bell here! It's wonderful your husband is behind you, support is critical! You'll find plenty here. Best wishes for a perfect surgery and quick recovery! Start saving up for some new smaller clothes and skates!

It will get better I promise. This will be a distant memory soon and you will get to the place where you know it was the best gift you ever gave yourself. The morphine allergy was a tough break. I went home early (day2) because i couldnt get good rest at the hospital because my room was right across from the nurses station. Losing the morphine definitely made a negative difference in the pain relief (morphine vs vicodin). I'm sorry you are hurting. Just try and find a comfortable position. Mine was propped up on pillows. I had every pillow in the house and slept that way for a couple of days. The day they took the drain tube out everything changed.the docs didn't seem to think it was related but I KNOW it made a big difference in my comfort.

You do look great and you Might as well get used to those compliments as they are going to keep on coming! It's easy to be hard on ourselves. Whenever you feel you can't tell a difference take a picture. They will always show the reality of how far you have come. I would feel like I couldn't see a difference and my hubby would put my before photo up and snap a new one. It never failed to show results and helped with my head image matching my body image...

Wow!! You look beautiful and a medium in six months- that's impressive! I'm reassessing my original goal also. I was going to lose 27 more but I am actually just going to shoot for a size 10 (I'm a 12 now). You look absolutely amazing, congratulations on your success and hard work.

You are totally rocking your sleeve!! Isn't it wonderful!

Thank you sleeve sisters! You made my day!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I am in a size 12 now and the goal is a loose fitting size 10. I am going more for size than a number. I am not very good at going to the support group, but I have found this site has so much more. Thanks for being here!

Thanks, can't wait to get to that 100 pound goal! It has been creeping off the past couple of months!

Hello everyone, it's been awhile. Just wanted to post my latest photo. Things have been going great for me. I am now down 95 pounds since my surgery in May 2010. My life has completely changed. I have so much energy now. I am working out at a gym (no longer ashamed of my body, it might sag, but I am PROUD!). My back pain is almost non-existent and my migraines are now manageable. The best part is my relationship with husband and my daughters. They treat me differently, not because they love me more slimmer, but because I am different. This board has been there to see me through good times and bad times, both when I was "stalking" and posting. Thanks everyone. And to anyone who is thinking of having the surgery, do it! I never thought 9 months ago I would be almost 100 lbs lighter and now here I am, only 5 pounds away. The biggest compliment I have had was from the team at UCSD. I sent them my after photo last month and they asked if I could be on their UCSD lapband patient success page (even though I had the sleeve). It made me so happy because it meant I actually had done what I set out to do. Cried most of the afternoon, but tear of joy!

Hello everyone, it's been awhile. Just wanted to post my latest photo. Things have been going great for me. I am now down 95 pounds since my surgery in May 2010. My life has completely changed. I have so much energy now. I am working out at a gym (no longer ashamed of my body, it might sag, but I am PROUD!). My back pain is almost non-existent and my migraines are now manageable. The best part is my relationship with husband and my daughters. They treat me differently, not because they love me more slimmer, but because I am different. This board has been there to see me through good times and bad times, both when I was "stalking" and posting. Thanks everyone. And to anyone who is thinking of having the surgery, do it! I never thought 9 months ago I would be almost 100 lbs lighter and now here I am, only 5 pounds away. The biggest compliment I have had was from the team at UCSD. I sent them my after photo last month and they asked if I could be on their UCSD lapband patient success page (even though I had the sleeve). It made me so happy because it meant I actually had done what I set out to do. Cried most of the afternoon, but tear of joy!

Wow, wow, wow. You are such an amazing inspiration to everyone on this board. You are a wealth of information and have helped me so many times with your posts on here. Thanks for being there!

You look amazing and 20 years younger....gotta love it. Thanks for the inspiration

Thanks so much Blaqbeary, Yep, they are on the fridge. The main reason is that what I see in the mirror is not matching what I see in the pics. When I look in the mirror, it seems like I haven't lost that much, but when I see the before and after I see the 75 lbs gone. It is so funny, before I would see myself in pictures and it felt like I was bigger than I looked in the mirror. Take lots and lots of photos on your journey, and put them up everywhere. They help tell the truth even when your head is messing with you! Love and light to your path in November, you will love your new tool!

Tommorow is my four month sleeve-iversary and I have lost 75 pounds. I am still fairly new at everything, but it has been great so far. I am consistently losing and have found food choices easy now that the hunger is gone. I am currently losing some hair but I am told it is temporary and for me a small price to pay for finally having control over food. I love that there are no malabsorption issues with the sleeve, that was one thing that kept me away from the gastric bypass. I would do it again in a heartbeat. My life has changed completely for the positive.

Jolanda you pose a very interesting question. I guess I never really linked the two before but I am definitely on the carb bandwagon regarding hormonal cravings. I know they say you can become addicted to the carb rush but I have never considered the initial root cause being linked to hormones......I think I will look into that and see if anyone has researched it.

I am not sure if you have gone to "The World According to Eggface" yet, but her site has some tasty recipes and info. You can look at past issues too for more..

You read my mind. I was almost in tears when I got my PMS cravings convinced that for some unknown reason my sleeve had quit working. I am glad I am not alone.. I guess the one good thing will be that with the weight loss vs the water weight I am not gaining and when it was over I lost again. Whew.

Feel no guilt, it sounds like you are totally on the right track and have your head in the right place for making some healthy substitutions. Lots of protein there and those are the good carbs, not the sugar carbs. So good for you at four weeks out!!!

Postive thoughts, prayers, love and light all comin' your way!

Yippeeee! That is great, congratulations! You are gonna love it!

Poor baby, I am sorry. I totally relate, I experienced ALOT of initial pain and was also unprepared because I read about some of the folks who were out doing stuff on the third or fourth day. My pain seemed to feel like my stomach (or what was left of it) was having muscle spasms but when they took my drain out I felt so much better- one week out. I know another patient who had a similar experience when her drain was removed. Do you still have yours in? I totally agree with the others in not hesitating to call your surgeon, mine switched my pain meds and it did help some. Also do try to vary your sleeping positions. I started sleeping in a sort of sitting up position on a couple of pillows the first week, and while I might not have slept as well, it did help the pain alot. Don't feel down, it will get better and be a distant memory soon.

:willy_nilly:The beef sticks did work, thank you so much. I have added those to my STAPLES list! CK, too funny, they should offer a 2 for 1 price so that would really get rid of our cravings!

Donna, I totally relate to the lack of energy. I am only recently getting back to my old self and my surgery was May 4. As far as motivation, I find it right here. I get on every morning and focus on success stories, unless there is a particular issue and then there is almost always a thread on it. It really helps me keep focused through the rest of the day. Knowing there are so many other people who have made this choice and reading how they are doing it helps me when I get weary. Also compare some before and after photos along the way. I still look so heavy to myself in the mirror but when I look at photos I see the difference. I still feel so obese on the inside but the pictures show what is really going on. Hang in there, lifestyle changes are hard but now you have the sleeve to help! And the egg breakfasts really do help the hunger ALOT. You said you got through the day and it looks like you had quite a bit of solid Protein. Did you notice if it helped with the hunger?