Keepgoing247

Me and my wife just returned from a 7 day cruise and had a great time. Was totally excited when we both weighed in when got home yesterday to find out we only gained 1 pound each. Ate very well on the boat and did plenty of drinking and had dessert at dinner every night. hopefully the photos will attach to this. It felt great to just get away and have a good time. First time since surgery i have gone more than 1 day without scale.< /p>
The picture with the southenmost point in the US is in Key West the top picture was two years ago. My wife is about 10 months and I am 16 months post-op.

She's probably just very excited about her weight loss and doesn't realize that she's being inconsiderate. Maybe you could address the issue tactfully and say something like, "I'm so happy that you've had such quick success, but I too, am happy with my decision and my success so far. Your support means so much to me." She'll probably get the picture and realize she's not been a good friend. Unfortunately, sometimes we start to feel powerful and judgemental of others and forget how we struggled before. I'd give it a try and if she doesn't change her tune, you might need to see less of her.

Well, I made it. One year!! So happy with my results. I'm the best version of myself.

Congratulations on your new life! I have a son who is 3. He is reason I decided to get healthy. I had given up on being anything other than morbidly obese. Then as I was watching him becoming more active I realized that I wanted to be able to keep up with him and not just always watch from the sidelines.
You are doing fantastic. Keep up the good work.

I had to share. Oscar Mayer P3 Portable Protein Pack. It's a small serving of meat, cheese and nuts, packaged kind of like a Lunchable. Perfect size, 13 grams of protein. FYI - Target's cartwheel app has a coupon for 50% off, combined with a manufacturers coupon that's stuck on the package makes these little treats about $.40/each! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cartwheel-by-target/id659563061?mt=8

Thanks for the supportive words! I meet with my surgeon tomorrow and I hoping to get more information then!

Ok. I will be the very first person to admit I have struggled with my weight loss and motivation post op. I have lost weight and I am happy I got the sleeve, no doubt about that. But I have had issues with controlling my head hunger and staying the course, not eating slider foods. ( which I can and have) I do try to stick with plan for the most part, but some days it is simply easier than others. I am trying a new zen approach in my thinking and I hope it works for me. Rather than being down on myself continually I have decided to be happy I am where I am. I could still weigh 316 lbs. I still could be unable to do many things I now can do. I could be in constant pain from the stress the weight was putting on my joints. But I am not these things. What I am is 77lbs down from my highest weight. I am able to do so much more than I had been doing. My joints do not cause me constant pain. And I do eat so much better than I had been. Maybe I won't reach my goal weight in a year as I had hoped, or maybe I will. I will continue to live my life and try to be thankful for the good and learn to process the negative in a healthier way. That all being said I did something this weekend that has me very happy. I was able to take my 5yr old to several community parks and play for hours. I was able to interact with her too, not just find the closest place to sit down. I climbed up on a jungle gym set at one park and went down a slide!! Granted my rear got a little wedged at the bottom where the slide narrowed, but I still did it! And the bigger accomplishment was going up "the Mound". There is an Adena Indian burial mound located in my hometown. If I'm not mistaken the tallest point on the mound is 65'. What I do know is there are 116 steps to the top look out point. I decided we were going to try it, and I made it!!! I haven't been to the top since I was in my teens, and my daughter has never been. It was awesome. I was so proud of myself for being able to do this. It was something I had told myself before I would do again someday, and I did it! I wish the day had been a little nicer because the view is awesome on a sunny day. But to me it looked darn good as I sat there marveling at my accomplishment. Oh it won't be the last time we go up. It is great exercise for sure. Yeah, I had to take breaks to stop and catch my breath but I didn't stop. And the most fabulous part came after as we continued to hit different community parks to play. I didn't stop! That climb was just one of the things I did, not the only thing. I was able to keep going. Sure I was a little stiff afterward but heck , that stiff achey feel was a norm every day I was so grossly overweight. I lived with it daily. Now it is just a by product of a little extra exertion and it felt great! Needless to say I am more motivated to try other things. As the weather breaks my daughter and I are going to find a lot of other things we can get outside and do. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

I think there is more worry and doubt in our minds during the qualifying waiting stage than the actual surgery. Are we gonna be approved? Are we gonna prove we can lose weight before surgery? Are we gonna gain weight? I don't care if I get approved? I've always failed at losing and this is no different. What if I don't change after surgery. I enjoy the food too much and don't want to give it up. I'm fooling myself ! !
I couldn't get my mind into the process and it just didn't seem real to me. I continued to eat as I always had. I even gained a few pounds and made excuses as to why when I went to the monthly PCP appointments. I felt guilty constantly thinking I should be trying to get used to the eating habits or I'd be in big trouble later. But at the same time it felt like I was being asked to kill my best friend and I wanted to cherish whatever time was left. So I ate. Not just normally. I went out of my way to re-visit my favorites to get in a farewell, so to speak. And while savoring those delectable dishes, my mind was reinforcing the thought I would never get used to "rabbit" food. During those moments I reveled in the pleasure of food and the thought of some undesirable WLS was the last thing on my mind.
The months passed. I continued going to appointments to keep up appearances of my big deception. And as delays set in and additional tests were required, it just made it more likely that probably nothing was gonna change. I wasn't sure if I cared or not. Either way, why bother to try to adjust to some unnecessary weight loss requirement if the surgery wasn't gonna happen anyway. Hmmm, did I really think that or was I trying to subconsciously sabotage the process. Who knows.
Out of the blue, the "call". Your approved......now pick a surgery date! After hanging up the phone, nervous anticipation sets in. It's real and the surgery doesn't even make me flinch. The life style change afterwards does. Can I really do this? I should have been getting used to this for the last 8 months. Damn, this is gonna be 10 times harder now. Two weeks. Are you kidding me. Pre-op diet tomorrow? Cold turkey? This is just too soon.
Breathe..........think about the skinny you. Think about not dying from a heart attack. Whatever, just get on board, cause your life changes in two weeks.
OK, panic is over. I've been on the pre-op for two weeks and it wasn't so bad. I really can do this. Surgery is tomorrow and I'm anxious to feel the pounds coming off and see me changing.
Wow, that was fast. Surgery is over. Not as bad as I was prepared for. The post-op stages seem game-like. Drink this now. Walk. Now you can eat blended stuff. Not bad. Learn about nutrition. Choose the good stuff for the tiny stomach. Easy pesy.
And I'm losing. I am doing it and really losing. Alot. It is gonna work and it appears I can adjust. And most importantly, life moves on and I adapt and change. Who would've believed it ? The food choices are fine. The nutrition requirements are fine. I'm satisfied and I don't feel I'm missing any foods from my pre-op life. My mind is set on the future and my goals and whatever doubts I had pre-op are distant memories of a past life.
Message: Don't sweat the waiting period!

Hello everyone. I am a daily reader on this site but I rarely submit any posts. Today I am deciding to share my progress. I had my surgery on 9/16. I started my 2 week liquid diet on 9/3 with a weight of 312. Day of surgery I was 296. As of today I am down to 236. Here are some pics of my progress..

      

Sleeved! Hi everyone...just wanted to give you an update from my hospital bed around midnight in Boca Raton, Florida. I just had my first spin around the halls about 12 hours post-op and I'm feeling pretty good.
Not gonna lie, as soon as I was in recovery and woke up, had terrible pain. They hadn't hooked up the precious magic button yet, but once that was done, all was well. I slept on and off until 5:00 pm and then was moved into my room. To be honest, I don't remember a thing. The last thing I said to the Anesthesiologist was "I hope y'all do a great job" and I was out!
I'm in no real pain, as mentioned previously--the button is magic. I do have a terrible sore throat, but I hope that gets better with time. Have been sleeping on and off and at this point, only ice chips. I'm so thankful for all the posts from other folks that have had the surgery, as it really helped me to be prepared.
Mouth is extremely dry, but it helps to add the ice chip and hold it. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT forget some type of Chapstick or Vaseline for your lips. I brought along my baby purse-size tub of Vaseline and it's been my saving grace.
The staff and nurses at Northwest Medical Center has been very gracious and helpful. My male nurse has already given me his number--of course, it's his employee ID number, but hey, it's still a number, right?!?
I'll try to post an update on day #2, but so far so good. Thanks to everyone again, I've appreciated reading your comments and suggestions, they have really helped.
BTW, I lost 19.1 pounds on the 2 week pre-op diet. Woohoo! As you know by now, every surgeon is different, and mine recommended the all Liquid Protein shake diet. I used Premier Protein, both chocolate and vanilla (sometimes mixed with PB2--love that!) and at night, I would heat the chocolate in the microwave and have a nice hot cocoa before going to bed. Lots of chicken/beef broth, Water and Crystal Light. There were a few days where I indulged in a piece of chicken, always grilled, and lots of veggies, and I have to say that really helped. I also had scrambled eggs and one day, a can of tuna with low-fat mayo. There were no issues with the "shrinking liver" and it made the diet more tolerable. Let's keep this between us though, ok?!?
I wish you all the best on your journey and for those already there, I appreciate your words of wisdom. Take care.
Karin

Good luck, I wish my parents would have helped me like that. I can remember being overweight at 14 and desperately trying to loose weight, asked my parents for help they said it's just puppy fat don't be silly. Both of my parents were and still are Obese in fact after my father died 6 years ago it was listed a contributing cause of death on his death certificate. Now here I am 36 years later after gaining and loosing over 140 pounds 4 times finally getting something done.
I have 3 kids all of whom are not overweight which I am thankful for, but would do it for them in a heartbeat.

I go to see my PCP March 21st I'll see what she says then - I don't feel like she will be supportive but it is what it is....if she isn't supportive after I recover I think it may be time to find a new PCP. I wish medicine in grow US would be a bit more flexible and understanding.

Texas, you're lucky. I've seen more than one person on these boards say that their PCP wouldn't support them if they went to Mexico for the surgery. Thank GOD, mine is so supportive he's talking (joking) about going with me! But I'm pretty sure that she should be able to get release papers from her surgeon.

I was raised a vegetarian and am quickly going back to that lifestyle. I much prefer the taste and have found my food to have more Protein, less fat and calories than meat. Here is my nutritional breakdown from MFP for today. Not one bite of meat.

Congratulations!!!! Way to go.

I was raised a vegetarian and am quickly going back to that lifestyle. I much prefer the taste and have found my food to have more Protein, less fat and calories than meat. Here is my nutritional breakdown from MFP for today. Not one bite of meat.

I have always been camera shy for many reasons, mostly due to my weight. This little collage shows me 8 days prior to surgery, the second is 1 month post op and the last is this my 5 month post op picture (this week) .
I can't believe the changes in myself in only 5 months. The old me would NEVER post pictures of myself. While I haven't lost any pounds in the last 2 weeks , I have dropped another pant size, going from 20 down to 12 so far. I love my sleeve, it's been life changing for me.

Sw:268
Cw: 210
So happy to finally be seeing results! I'm down from a size 22 jeans to a loose 16. Tops from plus size 2x to a regular xl! I feel so good that it seems unreal most days!
The 1st pic is day of surgery, I'm on the right. I did this with my best friend.

You should probably talk to your PCP about after care when you return home. He/she should be able to provide the form for you.

Oh my goodness (OMG). I had a wonderful non-scale victory (NSV) this past week. I flew on an airline for the first time since surgery. Last flight was one year ago and I suffered mucho embarrassment when I required a seat belt extender for each leg of my flight. Once, I had to request it while sitting next to my tall, ex-model coworker whose eyes nearly popped out of her head when she realized that I could not buckle my seat belt without the extender. This flight I had seat belt room-to-spare on every plane and every different style belt. Yippee! This has been the best NSV yet. I feel like a "normal" person again. I hadn't even realized that I previously did not!

You look great!
Wife and I decided long ago that we would be as annoying as we want to be as far as dressing young. If it bugs young people..too bad. We wear what we like.
Grey Panthers!

I'm 5 weeks out and have three boys ages 11, 6, and 1. It has been challenging for me and I'm exhausted! I work and am in the last 3 months of school! Crazy life. Hopefully we can motivate each other!

My surgery is on March 10th and it coming up quick. But also way to slow. Looking for some other mama's that are busy as heck that are gonna do this thing and work our butts off.

I had surgery sept 6,2013! Feel good. Bottom pic is before I conversed from lap band to sleeve!

I, too, hit onederland for 5 minutes. For some reason, that benchmark is a bloomin' hard one to go past.
My goal is 175 to be 'normal' (20lbs to lose for BMI 24.8) , I'd have to lose another 13.5lbs on top of that to get to BMI 23.5. My current fat percentage at BMI 28.3 is 38.12%. It is depressing. For my prides sake though, I do want a normal BMI for the first time, in like, ever...
I think this is going to be a long hard slog.. And there was my nutritionist telling me I'd lose more quickly, because I was taller.
Bunkem!