Raine

You have a serious eating disorder and this must be taken seriolusly. You went from one extreme to the other. My recomendation is to seek counceling immediately. You need to find a happy medium and become happy with yourself not with what others are thinking...you are too big...you are too small. It sounds to me like you need to find you and figure out the root cause of why you are choosing to hurt yourself. I wish you luck on better mental health.

The pre-op diet in my opinion was the hardest part of this whole journey. They are asking obese people basically to go cold turkey and that is hard. I don't know what your doctors specific diet is for you but mine was just a liquid diet for 2 weeks and making sure I got a minimum of 60 grams of Protein. What I did was drink all day long. At any given time I had a minimum of 4 different beverages on my desk. I would mix it up for the different flavors but my thought was as long as I keep drinking my stomach would stay full and I wouldn't be as hungry. To give you an idea of what and how much I drank here was an average day. Keep in mind that this is after I tried multiple Protein drinks and settled on the Atkins. Morning when waking up: 2 big cups of coffee, (I know I had to give it up post surgery, but I didn't until then) Through out the day: Coffee, Diet Snapple drinks, Welches diet peach drinks, V8's, 2 Atkins Protein shakes mixed with a cup of skim milk. Each Atkins has 15 grams of protein and with the milk it added 8 more grams. When I got home: Tomato Soup, cream of brocolli soup (strained), I had other Soups too but those were my favorite. Sometimes I would even get a beef and country vegtable and just have the gravey, 2 Atkins protein shakes w/skim milk, SF jello's, SF ice pops I would also keep a thing of the chicken and beef bullion cubes on my desk and at home for whenever I felt I needed a savory flavor and just added it to super hot Water, some pepper and stirred it till it disolved. Another thing I did was ice because I missed chewing so much. Thank goodness my teeth are rock solid and cold does not bother them. I also heard that chewing gum makes you hungry because it gets the juices in your stomach going in anticipation of food. Don't know if this is actually true or not, so I just didn't do it. Like I said I don't know what your doc's specific diet is or if its just to be on liquids, but this is how I got through the 2 weeks. I lost 13lbs in those 2 weeks too. Hope this helps! You can do this, its hard but the ends justify the means and you will come out on top in the end. Good luck on your journey!

2 more down, 8 more to go! SN: Raine Starting Wt: 176 Current: 173 Goal: 165 Lbs to Goal: 8 18 more to my surgeons goal, so close I can almost touch it! I'm hoping to get there by January and then my personal goal of 140-145 by April 27, my 1 year anniversary. My all time highest weight has been 280+, that would mean that from highest to goal 140+ lbs. Sometimes it just blows my freaking mind. I'm in a size 10, and I see glimpses of me as skinny! My brain is actually starting to catch up. One thing I realized and do not do anymore is wearing clothes that are too tight, or even a little bit tight. I did that a couple of weeks ago and the whole day I was misreble, because it made me feel fat and I never ever want to feel that way ever again.

So when I wear certain types of shirts I have to wear a body shaper, compression type garment. The one I use is like a long tank top with the boobs cut out LOL. Well I bought it about 3 months ago and today I put it on because the shirt I was wearing was a thinish material and shows all the stuff you don't want showing lol. So I put my shaper on, and it still fits but it doesn't shape anymore, lol, it just fits like a regular undershirt. Made me smile.

Job well done! You look like a completely different person! Congratulations.

I used the chantix but like someone said before it has its side effects. Unfortunately, I went back to smoking. My sister used the e-cig, if you can, get one! I will help. Good Luck.

Go out and buy yourself a couple of pieces of clothes that fit you perfectly. Even if you are not at goal or are just part of the way there. It is a feel good thing to do. I know we walk around in our "fat" clothes because there is no doubt that we are going to lose more weight and eventually just have to buy more, but here is the thing, sometimes you just need to hear that you are doing a great job. People will notice even if you are wearing your loose baggy clothes but it is so much more apparent when you dress in stuff that actually fits. Remember a couple of days ago I broke down and had no choice but to buy some pants? Well this week I have been wearing them and you know what, I can't tell you how many people asked if I was losing weight, or said how great I looked, or came up to me and sincerely asked me how I was doing it and if I had tips for them. It made me feel great to be noticed for my hard work, I know this is easy for some, but for some it is still hard work even with our wonderful tool the sleeve. What made me feel even better was telling an aquaintance at work who is obese how I truly lost the weight. She asked me a million questions about my research on the different procedures out there and how and when I realized I had to do this. So a my little piece of advise is as you lose weight, buy yourself something to wear that fits and looks good. Go to a thrift store, go to the sales racks or where ever. It will make you feel good and you just might help someone along the way too.

Ditto on everything everyone said! Great job.

Awesome job!

I am hoping that it doesn't happen to me. I am going to NY during spring break and going to see one of my oldest friends. A month ago she made a really catty comment and it really bothered me. I told her about my how much I was down to and she said she had to get a move on because I weigh less than her now and we can't have that. She was always the tall thin blonde and me the short fat brunette. I hope it was that I inspired her to get on track rather than her thinking that I have to always be the "fat" friend. We have been friends for 25 years and when I see her it will tell me what she truly thinks. I'm praying for the best, but I fear the worst. We shall see. Either way, if it is not what I want from her then she is out, I will not have that negativity in my life and will cut it out like a cancer. Everything I am doing I am doing to better me, my health and my life and I will not let anyone hinder that process.

congratulations! its only going to get better!

OMG that is great! Feels wonderful to be able to do things without thinking about how we will manage them, they just come naturally! Congratulations, great NSV.

Oh, Apple, I am so happy for you This has got to be one of my favorite NSV's

There is nothing more frustrating! I know. But you will get through this and anytime you need to vent just get in here and do it! Good Luck!

Don't you just love it when that happens??? Great NSV!

Well done indeed. You look fantastic. I know what you mean about seeing the "old" you sometimes. It still happens to me too.

You look wonderful! Keep up the great work.

My thoughts are with you, I had stage 1 cervical cancer 14 years ago and have been in remission ever since. You will get through this and we will be here to lend support and encouragement for when ever you need it. Best of luck.

Welcome to the losers bench Sounds like you are doing everything right, keep up the good work. Good luck on your journey.

I hear you on all that! I mixed things up a little bit and besides being happier with my eating routine, I am losing weight again which is what I wanted. I am strict during the week, which is easy because I'm so busy and in order to eat I have to go out to get it. Usually I don't have the time. I have a Protein bar in the morning, a salad w/protein for lunch, what ever protein and veg hubby makes for dinner and usually almonds or grapes for a night time snack. I get my salads from different places and change the protein in it each day, chicken, tuna, turkey, ham etc. On the weekend, I am a little more laxed. I allow myself those carbs that I want. I have a regular lunch with my family on Saturday's and I found this great chip that is popped LOL 20 of those bad boys are only 120 calories. So like I said I allow myself some room to live during the weekends. I still do my workouts, walking if I cant get to the gym or dojo. Other than this week, for the past 3 weeks I have lost. And I have been losing inches in the process so to me that is still losing. I bought size 10 pants this weekend that fit perfectly, I don't think they would have fit this way last week .

When I started researching I won't lie, I thought about doing a malabsorption procedure because of my high triglycerides. After talking to my surgeon and discussing all of the ins and outs we both decided on the sleeve. When I told him what about the triglycerides, he said with the new diet and the weight loss I could probably manage that with one pill 2x a day. If that is not the case then we will revisit. I researched some more and ultimately decided on the sleeved. Like mose the throught of rearanging my plumbing wasn't apealing but I was at a loss as to how to get my numbers down. The band was OUT of the question, because the idea of having a foreign object that I had to constantly maintain and the possibility of all the complications later on down the line was not appealing. I know how to eat healthy, I've done it a million times, but if you eat too much, well its too much. My surgeon was right, I now manage my triglyceride numbers with 1 pill 2x a day. If I could go back and do a different procedure I wouldn't. The sleeve was the best option for me.

awesome job girl! and I LOVE those shoes!!!

It makes it all so much better when you enjoy what you are doing! Congratulations grasshopper!

Great job Mike! Keep it up with everything your doing. A tip I have with the protein drinks is put ice in it. It takes so long for us to drink it in the beginning that it gets warm and tastes like crap LOL keep it iced and it will stay cold and it also adds a little extra fluid.

You know what that just told me? It told me that you are going to be a HUGE success at this. You fought it and won. Congratulations!