RJ'S/beginning

As you loss your weight. All the toxins that were stored in your body will start to come out. I know it is not a pretty thing but it is cleaning your system as you lose weight. Layer after layer will detoxify as you lose the weight.... Just keep up the good work and in the end......You will be as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside......Our bodies take care of us even when we don't even have an idea of what is happening to us......All good!

Your going to feel like a spring chicken as we say...You will be able to move around so much better when they fix your knee.....you just wait..It will be awesome! Keep your spirits up okay..50 % of the journey is a good attitude the other 50 hard work! you got this!

you look so happy.....nice photo...although, your puppy in the first photo does not care a wit about anything..Too cute!!! Congrats girl!

Please you have to remember this is not a race....okay.....Just keep on track and you will in the end win your goal.....We have hick-cups in along the road but we will get there..I promise! Me well like you problems but none that aren't fixable...Just going to take some time....At least I no longer have the drain and they told me that I am finally up on all my Vitamins and stuff... I am tired most of the time right now too. Your tired because of the deficiencies in your body....Just keep trucking kiddo it is always worth the hard work right!

Spent last night in the hospital..but the results were I am doing good ..So it appears I am getting better after all!

absolutely hun...Otherwise they would give you pills to pick it up..but when you are deficient they give you injections..Hope you are doing well?!

Everyone has to come to the realization that we are who we are at some point. If you cannot find happiness within yourself at this point you will never be happy... If you can't Celebrate where your body is now..Healthier and in great shape and you feel great...what was the point of all the work you have done to get where you are today... It is the common thinking that it is never enough until we look more like models that have no shape at all. No breasts, and bones sticking out everywhere. Is that what you want for yourself. To no longer look like a woman. To say ' is this the best it is gonna get' implies that you are not happy with you, and who you have become. 75 lbs gone and muscled now..... Take 75 lbs of butter and place them on the table next to you and look at what you have done. Where you are.Take a look at the before and after pictures and celebrate the wonderful success of your journey.. Your body may decide to lose more but live as much as you can where you are now and let your body do the deciding. Just stay on the program and do not detour and you will reach the right place for you...Whether it is this year or next year...This is not a race, it is a journey!

I loved planking..I felt so strong and like I could take on the world when I did them...I could hold up to 2 minutes and more...now since the new leak, abscess and drain...Have not been able to do any exercise in 2 months..Sure miss it!!!!!!!!!!

I started at 380 and in less then 2 years hit my goal....The more you have to lose the faster it usually comes off in the honeymoon period....Weight Loss Surgery is like comparing apples to apples..Each has the main basics..Each are successful.... Just do what you want to do for yourself..This is your life not theirs!

I not only followed it to the letter once but twice. My first surgery was cancelled. And emergency I heard...So when I was rescheduled I drank these disgusting shakes for another 2 weeks.. I first 4 days were killers, but after that....it felt a little better. No one said it was easy. And it is for a purpose. To shrink your liver so that the clap can hold it easier. There was a time when someone had to hold it up by hand. But now as things progress and everything does. There is a clamp. It holds the liver up and out of the way so that they can get to your stomach beneath easier... To me it was worth it. got me ready for the journey that came after!

Fish, liked it a little but it is the second love of my life~

I had the same experience a few weeks ago. My hubby even gasped when they brought the little cotton dress out..i stared at him in fear..It fit with room to spare...i love NSV of my own and love hearing others ...WTG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats! Where I live they have made huge brown ones for the fluffy people and I tell you I could swim in those ones. so I have no idea who decided on using 25 yards of material for those..So glad I am not wearing them now!

Actually after a while when your body begins to use every bit of water you ingest you will not urinate so often. I found that to be so when i was not sleeved. They always had trouble getting my bladder full enough to take tests...lol But now i find water tastes mostly bad..And it is quite the drag to get it in....So i finally bought some flavors for it and it seems to have helped......I used to love water with a passion.... I am so sorry for all of your troubles..i can't imagine the pain of a spouse being so ill...I have no idea how i would handle it. I think i like it much better that I am always having health issues.... go figure... My best to you and don't be a stranger...We are here and I am here for you...PM me anytime hun! I have a big ear.....

Thank you so much!

Thank you for the reminder and the talent in which you presented it...I will think twice before deciding I drank enough liquids at 32 oz.... Hope to hear from you again....Your a hoot!

That's right..kicking ass for what you need to make your health and happiness better is a go. I admire your spirit! Keep on swimming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Worked up is an issue but it is founded. Get some Diavol or Rolaids ( some kind of antacid ) and take a couple of those every few hours. If the problem does not settle in a day or so. I would contact my surgeon. Also I am sure that KFC is not the choice for you. It has taken a toll on your system. Nothing wrong with it once in a while I do have it myself. But I think your sleeve is saying no way to it! It is always a good idea to check in with your team if the problem persists...okay!

Michelangelo was considered the greatest artist of his day. Even now he is considered to be one of the supreme artists of all time. His works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence. His creations in every field during his life time was prodigious. The sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that have survived to this day is also part of his legacy. He is the most documented artist of the 16th century. He could take a piece of stone, say marble, look at it, study it and see what lay inside that piece of rock. He saw beauty in it and worked until that beauty was exposed. He would chip away at the stone little by little shaping it, molding it, working every angle of the rock to make sure that what he saw inside would come to life at his hands. He stood back and looked at his progress and wondered if he was getting the results he knew was inside. He measured, considered and chipped away until the piece was perfect in his mind. Did he expect to find the beauty within the stone in two months? Or even a year? Maybe! Most likely not as his work was calculated and loved as he proceeded to get the most out of the marble that he was working with. His love and artistry has lasted down through the centuries and has awed many of us to this day. Some who dabble in the arts would long to be a fraction of the greatness attributed to Michel Angelo. He worked at it until it was the beautiful piece that he intended it to be. Did he give up! No! Did he question his thoughts and his fortitude to complete the work? Most likely. But without his hard work and seeing his art through to a finish, he would not have been the man everyone considers to be the ultimate artist of all time. Are we like Michelangelo's in our journey to find the beauty within the shell that we are chipping away at bit by bit. Shaping and forming and rebuilding until we have the desired results needed to say our work is complete. Or do we continue to chip and chip away at ourselves with negative talk or expectations of more then what we can find in ourselves? Do we want to go far beyond what is possible and put ourselves in a position where we will never be content and happy about who we have become. Or who we are meant to be for that matter. Do we long to look like we did at sixteen and therefore set ourselves up for failure! What is the goal here? Is it working to get healthy and improve our lives and well being! Yes most definitely!!! We need to see ourselves as we are meant to be. Not what society dictates as normal today. Stick thin and then some! There is so much fat shaming out there and sadly it is accepted by many! If we buy into this thinking we will believe that our body type is not 'correct'. Therefore we may never see our true wonderful selves. The sacrifices we have made to change our lives such as changed personal and family relationships, even financial sacrifices. Not to mention the courage required to even take this step. Why should we allow society to dictate to us what we should look like. When we decided to have weight loss surgery our goals were to lose the excess weight so that we could become more active and live a better, more fulfilled life. While some of us end up ten or even twenty pounds below what was expected there is another group that have gone well beyond this. Some have traveled this journey and have not taken care to find who they are inside. They have gone beyond what was suggested by their surgeon and nutritionist. Their health has suffered because they did not see the beauty of who they were inside the outside coating. New addictions surfaced by following a rigid former failed diet along with the pressure of wanting to be like others we have seen in movies, magazines, friends or even relatives. Some of us have pushed ourselves to the brink of unhealthiness. Some keep carving and chipping away until there is nothing left to work with and the desired finish is not met. Going beyond what was necessary, to see just how small we can be or weigh can become the central point of our existence. Would it be possible to maintain this new life style? In most cases no. Setting ourselves up to fail again is not the answer to long lasting health benefits. Being balanced in everything will bring us good health. Not to mention the ability to do all the things we listed on that piece of paper stuck to the refrigerator or the goal weight we put down here in our profiles. When deep inside we thought we would never ever get to that goal. Right!? Learning to retrain our brains to see food as a form of nourishment, rather then a reward or a comfort for troubled times. We must learn the best way to feed our bodies so that we will reach our proper weight level resulting in sound health. So where does it end? When will we see ourselves as successful? When will we be able to say, “I finally got here and now I can maintenance it and enjoy the fruits of my labors.” When will it be okay to say, “I am happy with myself and proud of all I have accomplished?” We deserve to say it. We deserve to live it. We need to learn to enjoy the new us and look forward to what life has to offer us. So we can grab it, run with it and live it to the limit! When Michelangelo grew older he started to feel and see his mortality. That was when he sculpted the Rondanini Pieta. This was likely his last sculpture. It was never to be completed because Michelangelo carved it until there was not enough stone left. The legs and a detached arm remain from a previous stage of the work. As it is, the sculpture has an abstracted quality, in keeping with the 20th-century concepts of sculpture. So, may we never over sculpt our body's, suffering the results of it going far beyond who we were meant to be. Believing that there would never be a size that is right for us. We must find a place of contentment. Most of all we must see the beauty within ourselves as we travel this life as a successful weight loss surgery patient.

Oh I remember being sooooooooooooooooo excited to finally get the sleeve. i had been dormant for so long and I was not living at all.....It meant everything to me and still does! It's a miracle tool that has breathed life back into me....All the best!

I really hate that happening and so hope for a new leaf on life. to take what you already know and loved about cooking and making it healthier and delicious. And then posting the recipes on here for us to get.. Please relook at cooking..Find new things to try and new ways of fixing them..Explore and become a master at this game of true healthy eating.... Take your time to shop and buy the best....you can do it so you won't get tired or bored.... Come on just keep swimming!

Fabulous...just fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!

The only reason i came clean about having WLS is because my plan to come home from the hospital in 3 days and start dieting and exercising but it was not to be.. After a 5.5 month stay and complications I became known around my area and at other hospitals. so it was not an option for me to keep it quiet any longer. So now I am taking it another direction..i am planning on kicking butts for them to get on board with WLS in my area and try to help those who struggle with the issue and the choices out there....I believe that now I shall shout it from the roof top and if there are dumb questions, well so be it..I don't have to answer them... We have an epidemic in our society and a war against big companies who make money off of those who try so hard like you to get somewhere that this is the choice you have made.. I know the pain but you are looking out for you and your family..Head up girl and walk straight...It is going to be a rocky ride..But so worth it!!!

I watched all the videos including the procedure many times....Was fascinated by the entire idea and could not wait to get it done... Most people I believe are like you and tread softly and worry about everything that is a possible problem. I think it is better to feel fear and worry.... My story is long and complicated with a lot of complications because I thought I knew it all and had it in the bag.. I think the more you think about it and the more you study it, the more real it becomes and you begin to feel how much work is really involved to get to the place you want to be... and you get there without saying WHAT????????

You sound adorable! Congrats on the new and emerging you!

Almost 2 years out and I cannot eat roast beef, pork, chicken breast, Tuna, fried eggs and oatmeal hates me. I have had allergies before to certain food but now the list has gotten longer. I don't care though because I have some new favorites and they are great! I can eat a scrambled egg though..go figure....I eat a lot more fish and cheese now and nuts.....