Aussiegirl

Thanks Sue That punching bag takes alot of flack from me hehe. It is great to get out frustration every now and then The one thing that has come home with me since posting this, due to a few other things going on, is that while I may be drawing to an end of my physical journey..my emotional journey and changes still have a way to go. I am generally pretty happy and healthy..but there are certain people who are negative influences on my life, and got into my life when I wasnt neither happy or healthy, and I have to be ready to let them go to really finally move forward, but that is the hard part..leaving people that wanted to know when I was the other person but are now not good for me. I expect more from people in my life, the same way I expect more from myself...sorry kind of a took a segway on that...

Oh no...i will try again and see if it works..here is the link:

Hi All, I havent been here for a while but thought I would come back in and share some things with you all. I am now 15 months post op and living a normal life. Ihave lost close to 160 pounds and while I am still classified as overweight for my height, I couldnt be happier with my body and shape...I have the curves I always wanted...now just to clear up the skin issues. I look great in clothes And it feels good to be able to say that. None of this didnt come without hard work and committment, the surgery is just a tool, the rest is pure determination. My friends recently did a video of my journey and the changes, motivations for doing it..a bit of a doco so to speak. I wanted to share it with you all. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Op0j3KfVsdc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Maybe it is some motivation for you, maybe you see yourself in it...but it is my story for now....

Thanks all Hopefully my story can give you some inspiration as those that went before me kept me inspired to keep going.

Thanks Lila, Dean, Gigi, Kate

Thanks Teddy bear:)

Hi All, Sleever84 - I liked that for the weight loss, not the dumping. It is pretty normal while you are learning how much your body can handle and what foods sit well. I wanted to share a video some good friends and workmates of mine did on my journey, the last year and a half. It is long but is the story of my journey. Hopefully the link works. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Op0j3KfVsdc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Its weird, for the first time in my life it is the first year I am not making a resolution to loose weight. Next years resoltuions will probably be something like this: - Maintain my weight - Get even fitter (including running 5km straight) - Tone up - Date (lots)..or find a right guy - Go somewhere I havent been before - Make sure I get lots and lots of hugs from my nephews

I spoke to a plastic surgeon about that, I met him socially so not a clinical assessment but spoke to him about needing to get skin removed in that area and thinking I should wait til I was sure I wasnt going to have kids. He suggested that I could still get a pannilectomy done and a tummy tuck after I was sure about the kids...just my 2c

Hi All again It is great to see you all doing so well. It so good to come in hear and see such posts, size 16s, going into overweight range...we are all rocking our sleeves.So many positive changes to Celebrate this silly season. Just to add my 2c worth to the weight right post surgery. It is also common that bloating and all the fluids they put in you in hospital add to your weight. I came home 3 kgs heavier than I was pre-surgery after 3 days in hospital, however these and more came off pretty quickly in the next week or so. This week my trainer asked me to keep a food diary, I laughed him, such a silly time to do a food diary especially since most my calories are liquid calories. But it is good to keep me in check, so far given the amount of parties and eatting being done, I am surprised to see I have lost another 1.5kgs especially since I am not even remotely trying. It is so nice to go into the new year not worrying about getting the weight off and the burden of it all...not sure what my new years resolutions will be this year. I have also started dating...we'll see if anything comes out of it, but atleast I am confident enough to get out there and meet guys now.

Keloff, the sleeve can be a strange mistress on what it can accept foodwise. Somedays it can be super tolerant and others days a complete pain in the butt I notice tho (close your eyes guys or skip to the next paragraph) at that time of month i can eat a significant amount more than usual. Also crackers generally crunch down to nothing. At a year and a bit the amount my stomach can handle is significantly more, I need to be more aware of what I am eatting. I am not whether it has stretched but the capacity is more. Swift Kate, Yay!!!! Keep us updated how you go. I am sure you will do great and put that band behind you

Lila, thanks, it can get painful but not consistently just comes in bouts. I kinda expected it to happen so not so surprised by it. My body took a huge hit over the last year...the hair failling out and now gallstones are just kinda part of the process. Besides you can barely see my original incisions now, so will need some new scars (*joke*) Mimz, hope it all went well for you today.

Lila, it is quite common. It is empty looking for food..I still get it sometimes. In other news, guess I have moved into the next phase, have been diagnosed with gallstones and will be getting my gallbladder removed the first week of Jan, could not face missing out on Christmas events Apparently gallstones are quite common with people who lost significant amounts of weight quickly, so I guess it was only a matter of time. One way to loose another 100gms or so

Thanks The challenge is now that I have done it to maintain it...which is actually harder than I thought it was going to be, before I had a goal, a direction so to speak. Now it is like driving on a long highway, sometimes you want to vere off or are too tired, trying to watch that old habits dont sneak back in too much. Congrats on thinking about having the baby, that is a big step, even if it is not the first. But you may as well try ...nothing ventured nothing gained so to speak...good luck Lila, looking good. I think it was 4 months before people noticed and felt i guess comfortable enough to say something or tell me how good/different I was looking...they will figure it out soon enough And as the guys said before, the smaller the size the less distance between them..took me forever to get out of my 26'ers., then they started getting closer together. Tip - Buy like a few specific pieces that fit at each sizeand rotate in/out the other stuff, so you dont always feel like your clothes are always too big...even if it was my favourite purchase..$8 kmart jeans. I never bought things that werent on sale or less than $10..otherwise my clothes bill would have been a big a my once food bill lol

Thanks Dean Coming from a size 26/28 a 12/14 is awesome...I always wanted to more Marilyn-esque than Kate Moss...and now I am

Welcome Deb and Dean, good luck for your surgeries. Ozeedonkee, glad you are recovering well. Lila, look at you all back at work. remember one day at a time and listen to your body regarding fatigue, I think it is pretty normal to have fatigue when you return to work. Shell, you look awesome in the new pic I have decided to take some time out from trying to looose weight, tho realistically I have probably have been for the last 2 months. I am sitting around 78-79kgs and feel comfortable at this weight for now, this puts me in 28 BMI, and nice and curvy, size 12 bottoms and 14 tops. I am curvy and happy I may choose to try loose the last 5 kgs I want, tho most of the excess will then be skin. I am looking to maintaiin now and definitely stay under 80kgs

OMG that just made me almost spit out my drink hilarious...and just a slight bit frightening lol. So glad to hear you cleared to go back to work, i would have gone stir crazy. Just be ware of exhaustion, i had it my first week back to work, where i was fatigued by the end of the day. Good luck!!

Oh the Christmas parties have begun....help lol. I have been asked to share my story at my department Christmas party. I am a little concerned about this but also look forward to sharing the story and also dispelling some of the rumours and assumptions on how I have done this. Some people are quite concerned to talk to me, or stare like I have grown 2 heads. It will be interesting, I will share the video with you guys once it is done

Sue, you are looking great, I hope you are also feeling great. Give yourself some credit for the hard work and changes you have had to make over the last few months. Your body will get there. Kelloff, great to hear from you, sounds like you are doing great. Got to love a Christmas season. Last year I was 2-3 months post op when Christmas came around with all the fun events. I remember having 3 course meals, and eatting like 2-3 bites of each meal, having them spaced out meant I got to enjoy a bit of each. I was able to enjoy the season without over indulging by listening to my stomach which I am sure I had done My christmas food list was turkey, pork crackling and pudding. I am sure it will be similar this year with prawns added in. Oh and a few glasses of bubbles

It is weird how our sleeves are. Some days mine is really tolerant and can fit in what feels like so much food and other days it is bird sized meals. As a female there are specific days that my stomach seems to be regular size again, but most the time the food is slider food I am consuming, so more goes in. With relation to the binging and loosing weight, often our bodies do that , i think there is an article on this site about that, it is fairly normal for dieting as well. Our bodies often go into starvation mode as they call it and then we eat more calories than normal and all of a sudden it is like woohoo I dont need to hold onto every calorie consumed and we loose weight....no to say we should binge eat all the time, that is for me atleast how I got into this situation in the first place. Just my 2c

You probably ate too much too quickly. It could be dumping but it is less common on our surgery. I cant say i have ever really dumped. I have had this on a number of occasions, it aint fun, eat time cause I either ate too much or too quickly. It usually subsides in about 1/2 an hour. If it is due to eatting too much, your body is just working jard to process and should relieve itself once enough has been processed. Each time I kick myself for doing what I know I should not. If it continues for longer then definitely check in with a doctor.

Probably a bit late but all the best ozeedonkee, see you on the flip side. Look forward to hearing about a successful surgery

Kelli, that is great to hear. I hope she continues to recover Lila, so good to hear you are doing well. I am sure no one envies you your journey. How great is it to have cheese and crackers...it becomes the simple pleasures. They are still one of my favourite Snacks. We are getting such a big group of aussies now, it is so good to see. I am back home in Aus, recovering from the last minute back injury thanks to my new found love of zip lining...I love doing all these adventure things that previously my weight prevented me from doing. I am moving into the maintenance phase now, after loosing 72kgs now I am ready to just maintain for a while. While potentially there is another 3-4kgs i could loose, I figure if they come off, it will be a by product rather than an effort. I am noticing that I am able to eat even more now, and it feels like alot. Still comparisons to other people with normal stomachs it is smaller, but to me it feels like a lot. For example for lunch I just had 3/4 of a wholemeal chicken salad sandwich. I am more aware of what I am putting in my mouth, as I can eat alot more of the bad foods now, for example cake, popcorn, chips. I have not been able to stomach chocolate too much since surgery and that seems to have stayed the same, but cake is still a weakness. Good luck to everyone with their upcoming surgeries, look forward to hearing your journey.