mom2five

Thank you! I feel the best I've felt in many years!

I had my VSG on January 23, 2013 and at that time I weighed 274 pounds. I am 5 feet tall.

This past year has been one hell of a year! I reached my goal of 125 pounds on December 23, 2013. And since then, I've continued to lose. I now weigh 116 pounds. I'm still within the normal weight range for my height, but I'm trying to stop losing weight now. I like having a little bit of a cushion in case I start gaining...but I still have a hard time eating enough to get enough calories to stop losing. I'm working on it though!

Here are the pics!

My son and I can both fit in that outfit now.

Me now, weighing 116 and wearing size small tops and size 4 pants. Before, weighing 274 and wearing size 3X tops and size 24 jeans.

Pics taken one year apart

I took this pic when I reached my goal of 125.

I was working out the first 7 months but I've been lazy lately. I really need to get back into it though.

What do I appreciate most? hmmm... being able to move around better and fit in chairs, and shave my legs, and breathe better. There are so many things, but those are the biggest ones, I think.

It's the best thing I've ever done for myself!

Thank you everybody for the encouraging comments! I am truly enjoying the process! Can't wait to get to goal! Love y'all!

A.mazz.ing!!! I love that you posted your height as well. That helps keep things in perspective. Did you work out a lot? How old are you ? You look very young! Hopefully time will catch up with your sagging and tighten up.

I'm 40. Thanks for saying I look young! I feel like 40 is old, but I don't feel old. I hope my sagging tightens up too... I really don't want to have surgery for it because people say it is really painful.

I started working out as soon as the doctor released me for exercise. I do the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds workout videos. I started with the 1 mile walk and it was hard to finish...now I've worked my way up to 4 miles with jogging and weights included. I exercise 4 to 5 times a week. I really think the exercise sped up my weight loss a lot. I notice that if I take a break, the loss slows down. But, sometimes we all need a break!

Congrats on your loss so far!

I also use an app called body tracker. I really like it. It allows you to add a progress picture for each time you do your measurements so that you can compare. It's a pretty awesome app.

I will be 6 months out tomorrow as well. I have loose skin too... it's not too bad yet, and I hope it doesn't get really awful but I do have it and I don't like it.

I think it is just stretched skin. Some people's skin seems to go right back to normal when they lose weight and other people's skin seems to stay stretched out. I think it has to do with age, genetics, and how long you were overweight having the skin stretched out. I don't think we produce more skin cells.. it just gets all stretched out.

Congrats on almost being at goal!!

I'm glad you are ok! I've also learned the hard way. I'm 6 months out too and wasn't taking my Vitamins for a while... I started having some problems too that went away a few days after starting back on my vitamins. They are important. I've increased my Protein too.

My doctor said to keep the Protein high..that is the biggest factor. I have had problems keeping my Protein up, so I did start losing hair around 3 months. I am almost 6 months now and I have noticed that my hair has almost stopped falling out. I'm so happy. It looked kind of bad for a few weeks but I'm noticing some regrowth now and I'm using Pantene Volume Shampoo and conditioner for fine hair and it seems to be helping my hair to seem fuller.

I've been taking Biotin too, lately. I heard that it won't keep your hair from falling out but it will help with regrowth.

Another thing, never stop taking your Vitamins. I didn't take mine for about 3 months and that probably contributed to the hair falling out. I starting feeling like crap too.

I wish you the best of luck... losing hair is temporary though. The hair will come back relatively quickly and you will be thinner and healthier. So, to me, it's a pretty good trade out. :-)

Congratulations! I totally relate! This is a wonderful journey!

I have been allowed Decaf coffee from the time I came home from the hospital. I am allowed one cup per day of regular coffee if I want it (and I do!) I've been eating small salads since about a month out. And when I say small, I mean only a bite or two. I just took it slow to see if anything hurt me. Nothing has so far. I'm supposed to have Protein first, so salad is not a big part of my diet, but I have craved it a lot and when I do, I have a couple bites. My sleeve is really small and even at almost 6 months, I'm unable to eat more than an ounce to and ounce and a half anyway.

I have hypothyroidism and I was sleeved on January 23, 2013. I've lost 98 lbs so far. I have 52 lbs to go. I really don't think it will be a waste of your time. It's been the best thing I've ever done for myself.

I drink it all the time! Love it! I didn't drink it early on, but I just hadn't found it yet! Love diet Snapple too!

Thanks for all the great comments! To all of you who are just starting, hang in there! The beginning is a little bit rough, but don't let that get you down...it does get better and you will lose the weight! Just follow your doctor's plan as closely as you can! :-)

You look awesome!! Great job!

Oh, I forgot to answer the question about meal planning. I don't really do that. I should. I have every intention to but I'm a procrastinator and I leave everything to the last minute. I wish I could be like those people who prepare their meals on Sunday and freeze them...but I never do.

I just try to make sure that I have things available that I can eat. I make sure we have plenty of beef Jerky, cheese, lean meats, eggs, tuna, chicken, cheese, yogurt, etc. so that when it's time for me to eat, I have good choices.

Lately, I've been eating Pork rinds as a snack. The BBQ ones that I buy have 80 calories, 8 grams of Protein, and 0 carbs per 1/2 ounce serving....and I can eat the whole serving...so, to me, that's a great snack and it satisfies my craving for chips, and crunch!

... I was wondering, even at 5 months out are you still full on only 600 calories per day?

Also, how much exercise and what types? Just curious.

You do look great! What are you doing for exercise? I hear yeah about the Protein. I'm doing Protein Bars to

Can you share the type of workouts you do?

How much pre planning do you do for your meals?

First of all, thank you all for all the compliments. It really blew me away to see all the comments on this post! I want to say that I don't think I have done anything more/different than anyone else. If you look at percentages, I probably haven't lost any faster than anyone else.

600 calories do fill me up...actually about 400 calories will fill me up but if I have a Protein shake, I get about 600 calories... it's hard for me to choke those things down though.. yuck. I try to make them taste better, but even then, I feel so full before I'm done with it... But it is getting easier. I'm not keeping my calories that low on purpose. I just cannot eat much at a time. Sometimes I will get out a portion of food thinking I will eat it all but I never can. Even if I try.

I love to do Leslie Sansone's workout videos. She has the "Walk Away the Pounds" series. That's all I do. When the doctor cleared me for exercise, I started doing the One Mile walk. It was hard at first because I wasn't used to moving around that much, but slowly I worked my way up, and now I do the 4 Mile fast walk. There are 2 4 Mile workouts that I do. One uses weights and the other one doesn't but it has intervals where you jog. The first time I did the workout that has jogging intervals, I was in tears because I would've never thought I'd ever be able to jog! It is so exciting to experience the changes that are taking place!

I still can't wrap my brain around all these changes... Losing 94 pounds in 5 months is mind blowing! But, for all of you pre-ops or new post-ops, remember, I was YOU just 5 months ago... looking at pics and wondering if I'll ever lose the weight... hoping I'll be successful... and if I can do it, you definitely can! You just have to follow your doctor's advice.

I'm working on my food issues in my head. I think that is the biggest part. Before surgery, we eat for all sorts of reasons, and rarely do we eat because of real hunger (because we don't allow ourselves to get empty). But we have to learn to think of food as fuel, not fun. (I think I borrowed that line from Banded Wendy on YouTube) Something I have been battling is late night eating. That has always been my worst thing. Eating just because I'm watching TV or whatever. But, I do fight it and for the most part, I am doing pretty good with it. Another thing is emotional eating! When I was about 2 months out, my husband and I had an argument and I went in the kitchen and got a bag of chips, a candy bar, and a coke!! I took it to my bed and I ate 3 chips, one bite of the candy bar and I took a drink of that coke! I felt like I was going to die...or puke... I didn't puke but I really regretted trying to eat my feelings! I was so frustrated that I couldn't do that anymore! It was a dumb thing to do, but I was working through my mental battle with food. I have not eaten chips, candy bars, or tried a sip of coke since then. Believe me, the carbonation was not friendly to my sleeve. Plus the fact that I was eating and drinking at the same time. UGH! Anyway, we have to learn to stop turning to food for comfort, or something to do when we are bored. And if we keep working on this mental battle, I think we can all be successful at losing and keeping off the weight.

I think something else that really keeps me motivated is watching YouTube videos on weight loss surgery. There is a whole community of people on there who have had various weight loss surgeries and they post videos weekly. It really helps to watch others and see the struggles and successes they go through. It helps prepare me and inspire me! I highly recommend that, if you aren't already doing it. Just go to YouTube and search Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, or VSG, or WLS... I learn a lot of stuff even from people who've been banded or had the bypass. We have differences, but a lot of it is the same.

Again, I appreciate all the comments, compliments, and questions. Thank you all!

Oh yeah, yep I really do have 5 kids. They are all my biological kids too... as you can see from the before picture, I gained a lot of weight during pregnancy and after my kids were born. I'm working on losing 20 years worth of baby weight! LOL

So do you feel with not getting all your proetein in, have you lost a lot of hair?

Yes, I have lost some hair and my doctor said it's because of the lack of Protein. I hate Protein shakes, but it's no excuse... I really should do better on that.

DAMN!!!

Woohoo!

You look great! Lovely tummy and thighs!!

What's your few tips u felt truly made a diff fir you?

Sent from my iPhone using VST

I don't think I am more successful than others. My sleeve seems to be pretty small. I can only eat about an ounce or a little more at a time. I keep my calories pretty low...about 600 per day and I keep my carbs under 20 if I can... I don't do well with my Protein though. I never get enough...I don't recommend that though.

I do exercise almost every day. I think that really has helped with the weight loss.

Wow! Thank you all for your comments! They make me feel so good!

Thank you! I do feel great. I still have some to lose, but I am enjoying the process! You will do great!

I chickened out after I posted this and tried to remove the pic. LOL