Aussiegirl

I am 16/17 months out and am the same. Regular periods every 24 days lasting about 3 days (some months really heavy sometimes really weak). I still have facial hair but it is less and takes longer to come back. Have lost over 170 pounds and feel a whole lot better about everything.

SwiftKate, not sure how long the driving took. I am pretty sure by 2 weeks you are ok. Have they taken the bandages off? I would think it would be OK to swim, if you are worried you could put the waterproof bandages on before swimming. Good luck with the barbie. I would go with the feeling queasy after the op and see if people notice. Most people dont notince.

Kelli, reading through the posts I was going to suggest that maybe you are even under eatting which can also cause stalls. But I see you have already got there. Sometimes to mix up a stall, I would allow myself a day or two of cheat food, or change up the exercise routine. Your body tends to get into a rythm and sometimes you need to shake it up to move a stall along. You are doing awesome tho, give it time it will change. Puppyphat, so sorry to hear you are back in the hospital. I hope you can recover quickly enough.My thoughts are with you. SwiftKate, hope you are continuing to recover well from your surgery Kalimom, you will be going to the hottest part of the country eh. We welcome you back..if you find your way in Sydney, feel free to look us up. KellBell, welcome, hope we can be of help your journey. There are some great helpful people in here Hi to everyone else!!! As for me, after 2 weeks sitting on my butt and generally feeling bad for myself (eatting badly) I get my cast off tommorow and hope to be able to get back into some exercise regime again...bring on the moon boot. And thankfully it to date hasnt had too much impact on my weight (ie didnt put any on woohoo)

Ya'll have accents but I like em I love the Southern accent and the texan cowboy the best hehe

OTR I wish that was true Spent 10 weeks in Sept/Oct last year travelling the US, bit of attention not too much. Will be back in Feb in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and then NYC. Lets hope there is more attention then I do like the US and the accents over there too

I love this forum.. The emotional side of the transformation is the hardest. I saw a girl I have been working with for 10 years for the first time in a year (she has been on maternity leave) and she was actually in tears seeing me. She has seen the pictures on Facebook and the like but hadnt actually seen me. I dont think I ever really had any concept of how big I was, until I see pictures. Same as now I dont see how small I have become. My journey has been well document, one of my friends even made a video/documentary of the changes. Everyone seems to find me inspirational. I struggle to feel that about myself. I felt like it was a necessity for my life, I wanted to be happier. While I struggle to understand the skinny me, the fat me hoped that being skinny would solve all my problems. I struggle with that, as it doesnt. I am the same person just in a more socially acceptable body. I used my weight to hide who I was, it was my excuse cause I was scared to let people see the real me. Now I dont have that shield around me and it is hard to letpeople see me, the real me. I thought it would be easier to attract the opposite sex, seriously I thought I would be in a relationship by now, but nope, it is probably easier to have a random hook up but to find someone real just aint that easy apparently no matter what size you are...Letting someone love me is the last step in my journey...

I am almost 16 months out and lost 170 pounds. Yes I do still see the fat girl in the mirror, mainly due to the excess skin. I am hoping to get it removed and then see a better person in the mirror. Clothed I feel normal but without clothes I see the "fat". I do know that the size of clothes I am buying are small..but takes a while for the brain to catch up. I dont get mad cause I cant eat as much, really dont miss the quantity. No more than normal on the mood swings Energy levels are generally alot higher..especially when I am working out as well

I had a harder tiime with my gallbladder surgery...however this could have been because I also had surgery on a broken ankle at the same time...2 for 1 special lol...In hindsight not the smartest move...had the worst gas pains cause I couldnt get up and walk it out, and then they put on crutches and that is all ouchie as they cut up my core..

16 months out Breakfast, usually 2-3 scopes greek yoghurt with 1/2 cup muesli/cereal Lunch: about 2/3 a sandwich or 1 sushi roll or small salad.... dinner, small piece of meat, some salad with a bit of carb...tonight for example 1/2 a low cooked lamb shank, small spinach and sweet potatoe salad and 3-4 grapes Now days I feel like I eat alot

PuppyPhat, here is my 2 c for what it is worth. At a BMI of 21 you are at the lower end of average weight..going much more is risking being under weight which has risks as much as being overweight...clinical assessment aside. Are you happy where you are? Where does your ideal weight come from? I think you look good as you are. When you get back to gyms and good work outs that will help with tone, and may also cause slight weight increase ( muscle weighing more than fat), something that you need to mentally prepare for. The thing about the sleeve is that it is a tool that a. Helps you loose weight and b. Helps you maintain weight. What we have during the first few months is a window that means that have the opportunity to loose weight, feel good about ourselves and change our relationship to food and exercise. What we need to do once we get near goal is trust the tool and trust that we have made the changes we need to continue with healthy lifestyles. I have found that now I am no longer actively trying to loose weight, I can put weight on by not being vigilant with diet or exercise put on 2 kgs over Christmas but lost them and a few more in a few days before the ankle injury by being smarter in my choices. At the end of the day family and friends mean well but we are the only ones who can say we are happy with what we see in the mirror... Hope this doesn't come off too preachy...just my 2 c

I agree with Dean, as long as you are happy and feel it is the best, the doctors goals are great to have to keep us focussed but we need to be happy with what we do. Is there anything you feel you would do different? Pre-surgery would you have beeen able to loose that amount? In saying that Congrats, it feels great to see the numbers moving.

Hi All, Thanks for all the kind words. I am at home recovering at the moment. In hindsight, having the gallbladder removed at the same time as the ankle surgery probably was not the best idea. The best thing for getting rid of the gas for the gall bladder is walking, yet I can not walk. To use the crutches to keep me off my ankle, I need to use my core for support which is all cut up, so a bit of a catch 22 but I am getting better Whether this is good news bad news, somehow managed to weigh myself this morning and with the cast on I have lost 74kgs. Now just hope that it stays that way seeing as I wont be able to exercise like I have been til now...interesting times ahead. It has been a reminder of what the recovery is like post surgery..biggest tip I have for you soon to be sleevers is get up and walk around, the gas build up sucks majorly. Hi to the newbies SueSue and KristyP. Good luck Swiftkate, good work with the pre-op diet.

Sleever84, I would watch it but it is not uncommon to have some discomfort for a few weeks after surgery, my doctor said it was 6 weeks before we were fully healed. Sarah, it may be as most have said that it was a step too far. I found early on I could get ill, not throw up( post op I barely get that but get nauseas and the slimmies) when I ate things that were not the best for me, ie cake, chocolates, pies, higher fat things because my body did not know how to process them and therefor rejected them...just my 2 c. Speaking of throwing up, I had a bad episode of nausea last night, which ended with me passed out on my bathroom floor....with a broken ankle...apparently I broke it in the fall. Now I am in hospital waiting for surgery to put a plate in and also remove my gall bladder (a few days early)....here's hoping everything will go ok tomorrow....soooo annoyed at the moment..

Hi Curvy girl, I started out at around 330 (so close enough). I have been sleeved for 15 months and now hover around the 170-172 mark. I am 5'6ft. I got to about the 180 mark by the time i got to my one year anniversary, so 150 pounds in a year. How did I do it? Alot of hard work and committment. I did work out pretty intensely from when I was given the go ahead to resume exercise, usually about 2 times a day on weekdays and then 1 a day on the weekends. Seems like a alot, one was a gym session and then I would walk/run the 5 km home from work. I also tried to incorporate walking in as often as possible, replaced lifts with stairs etc. I ate/eat carbs. It was always my intention to eat as I was planning to continue to healthy amounts of everything so that I dont feel the need to binge eat. I eat junk food on occasion but moderate it and am thankful for the sleeve because it does limit my capacity, tho now that capacity feels alot more. Definitely drinking lots of Water, but mixed it up with other things. I also drink alcohol and low cal soft drink on occasion, tho dont reccommend either of those too early on. Neither my doctor or my endocronologist ever set me a goal weight. Initially I did think I would be happy with my weight around 180, having never been this small before. I have been happy at this weight, however still loose a bit. Both the doctors are hugely impressed with my change and are both happy if I never loose another kg as long I maintain it and am healthy and happy. I still continue to loose about 2 pounds a month without really trying, between being on an extended vacation and the christmas period celebrations I have not been exercising as much as I did and eatting more than I did..we will what happens in the next month getting back to basics. Now the majority of my "extra weight" is in excess skin. I never wanted to be stick skinny, my goal was always to be healthy and curvy..I definitely feel that I am that now. It is good to have goals but I believe you will know when you are happy with what you see and feel, the numbers are only one part of the whole journey. I know it is easy to say, if I can do it, you can do it too. Hope this has helped you.

Have a great time guys, wish I was up there too

Way to go Lila, looks like a great New Years Eve you have planned. Swift kate, not long now, you will soon be rocking the sleeve!! I am going to go back on the Optifast til my gall bladder surgery so I give the doctor the most amount of room to move about, so if you need support, yell this way. Well starting New Years day, also a way to detox myself from all the bad things I have been eating for the last few weeks. So my new years resolutions have been made: - Maintain my weight, maybe loose a few more Kgs to give me a bit more leeway from my max weight. - Get my arms and apron fixed (surgically, am over looking at the both of them, and think it makes me still think I am fat, even tho I am NOT!) not getting a TT as I havent decided about kids - Find love, with a decent man (fingers crossed, but I am open to it so that is a start) - Travel more, this year plans so far include New Orleans (Mardi gras), New York, Morocco, Spain and Hungary, and possibly a few more.... - Obviously earn more money to pay for all of the above - See my nephews more - Clear out the junk in my life - Focus on building my career up, maybe a new job. What is your goals/resolutions? Bring on 2013, where I take the new healthy me and show the world who I am May you all have a prosperous and successful and most of all healthy year too!

Happy post christmas tidings all. Lila that is great being able to shop in the normal clothes!! I dont know how you all do it, I still walk into thos stores and feel like a fraud even tho I can buy almost anything in most stores now. I bought size 12 jeans (wtf)yesterday, but still dont believe it..tho not sure they fit great, fit legs perfectly but the damn apron looks awful on top. Definitely resolution for the new year is to get my arms and apron chopped off, especially as my weight has pretty much stablised now....tho yes I did put on weight over Christmas (eek), like a 1kg, so am working hard to get it off. Havent gone over my upper limit but still edging closer.

Swift Kate, it is probably nerves and also this time of year is not conducive to healthy or smart eatting. Dont sweat it too much, food guilt isnt good, and in my case just makes me eat more. Way to go on avoiding chocolate!!! I wish I coulod be that good at the moment. Your date is coming up soon, just focus on the same rules for eatting now as you will need to post op which should also help...lean Protein first, then veggies..then carbs etc. You will do great, 9 days is nothing. I will be heading out to my folks place for Christmas with my 3 beautiful nephews so likely wont be back on for a few days. Whatever stage of the journey you are on, enjoy your Christmas, enjoy the people you get to spend it with... Merry Christmas!!!!!

Count me in

Dean, I love Newtown I live in Pyrmont so it is not too far away. You pretty much summed up my experience of guys in Sydney, gay or unavailable (married, ltr etc)..the few that are out there just want to sleep with you, no strings attached..and I am worth some strings Lila, congrats, it is awesome to meet goals~!! You will get there before you know it.

Dean, I am in Sydney Damn, cause I am definitely not adverse to going out with cops...infact they are on my preferred list, cops, firemen, medics, lawyers (good ones), doctors.. I could be persuaded to visit Brisbane for the right guy, lord knows that Sydney is kinda empty of good guys.

AussieLady, I embeded the video in the following topic http://www.verticals...52-nsv-changes/..hopefully you can view it there Shell - WAY to go *insert happy dance*...you look awesome. Thank you all for your feedback and comments, especially about the video and the negative people. I know I have to walk away from this person, but he was my biggest supporter over the last year, being there encouraging me for almost every challenge I set myself. But he lies to me, about things that are not worth it, so how can I believe what he says about me...his actions and words dont aline and it just does my head in. Talking to him about it only leads to more lies..anyway I will find a way to put some distance be healthy mind and spirit. New Year...finally New ME!! BTW I am open to be set up if anyone know and nice elligible single men hahaha:)

Thanks Dean...while I know in my heart that it isn't healthy I am scared to leave for his sake as much as mine.just sick of lies...just need to man up.. Sue, it is my work gym so no cute guys..well none available tho anyone that knows and good available guys let me know