Oliver's Mom

Down 62 lbs......only 11 to go!!

oops! it was 63!! Even better

Down 62 lbs......only 11 to go!!

I went to work for my nephew who has a Deck and Dock business here in Tampa, Florida. He needed help packing Water retainers in 2 backyards. The job consisted of a dump truck dropping a huge mound of dirt in the driveway, the dirt being shoveled into heavy wheel barrows and wheeled to the backyard and dumped into the form, and then tamped down with a heavy tamper....all day.
I worked 6-7 hours a day, Monday- Wednesday with 2 guys in their 20's in 93 degree humid Florida air. My young fellow workers complained the whole time and took frequent breaks, even took off to McDonalds to "go to the bathroom". Old Gman just kept plodding along only stopping for Water and a Peanut Butter sandwich. I told them stories of my long life and had great fun with them.
It's been a year and a half since my surgery. I have lost 85 pounds since then, 115 all together. Before the surgery I could barely walk up the stairs. I have been working out for the last year, stepping up the intensity every chance I could. I didn't know if I could do this job, working out is quite different from working all day in blazing hot sunlight and stifling humidity.
I stood the test. I am 64.

Hahahah, I was just telling my husband last night that I MUST have a breast lift/reduction because I can't stand that when I'm not wearing a bra, sometimes when I move there's a 'slapping' sound!!!!
I'll make an appointment with a plastics doc soon, then I'll know how much to save in the next 6 or 7 months.
Nice to know I'm not the only one - you made me feel normal with your posting! Thanks

Now that I am 8 months out and have lost a significant amount of weight I have a new problem. Flippity floppity girl parts. My boobs actually make a flapping sound if I run or jump with out a bra on. I can literally fold them in half! And the hooha has been known to make the flapping sound a few times as well.
Everything is so sagging. It'd be sad if it wasn't so funny.
anybody else?

The only positive I've found so far is that a mammogram is a piece of cake now! The tech didn't need to work too hard to press 'em down when they are already like deflated balloons in the first place!

I will be a month post op tomorrow and don't eat regular food. Personally, I love my life and my family and friends love me. I don't need to play Russian roulette with my newly sleeved tummy for a few bites of food that won't mean a darned thing to me an hour after (unless I am writhing in pain). I got this surgery to bring myself back down to a healthy weight and I am old enough (and intelligent enough) to follow my doctor's orders.
That said, do what you will and enjoy! Pass me a soda and some buffalo wings, please.

I was sleeved December 3rd, 2012. It's 5 months today!! I am 59 yo - and only 16 lbs from goal!! You can do it, just follow your medical team's plan. You might hit stalls, but keep to the plan and the weight comes off. Good luck

Congrats!!! My trainer says that the plank (prone hold) is the very best exercise for your abs, and without putting your back at risk like crunches can!
I look forward to the day I can hold for that long- I have a shoulder issue that I'm doing PT for right now and can only hold for 60-75 seconds. But 3 minutes is kick-ass!!

I was sleeved December 3rd, 2012. It's 5 months today!! I am 59 yo - and only 16 lbs from goal!! You can do it, just follow your medical team's plan. You might hit stalls, but keep to the plan and the weight comes off. Good luck

Just my opinion, but I think you ARE setting a great example for your children. You will be eating differently and cooking differently for your family, you will be exercising, drinking Water - all of these things are good examples for your children. They are seeing you address a situation with your weight, your health and gaining control.
I don't know who this person is in your life, but you don't owe an explanation to anyone (IMHO) you're an adult, I would guess that you made this decision with great thought.
Be proud girl, you doing something good for yourself.

Congrats!!! My trainer says that the plank (prone hold) is the very best exercise for your abs, and without putting your back at risk like crunches can!
I look forward to the day I can hold for that long- I have a shoulder issue that I'm doing PT for right now and can only hold for 60-75 seconds. But 3 minutes is kick-ass!!

Sounds like the 2 bosses cultivated an atmosphere of bullying if the employees act that way too. Just seeing you will be 'revenge' enough - you won't need to say anything AND you'll feel like the winner if you don't get entangled with the low life individuals they appear to be.
Hold you head high, strut your stuff and smile the biggest smile as you see the looks on their faces.

Sounds like the 2 bosses cultivated an atmosphere of bullying if the employees act that way too. Just seeing you will be 'revenge' enough - you won't need to say anything AND you'll feel like the winner if you don't get entangled with the low life individuals they appear to be.
Hold you head high, strut your stuff and smile the biggest smile as you see the looks on their faces.

I remember when i started getting serious about this whole sleeve thing, I became obsessed with it. I read every forum, tried to read every study, every whisper of info about my surgeon - EVERYTHING. It was on mind mind pretty much constantly. In the end, I made peace with finding the "just right" surgeon for me and was able to put it all in his hands - i was still scared as crap, but I was no longer questioning what size bougie should be used or how he should oversew the incision line.
I had kinda forgotten that but now that I am zeroing in on plastics, my obsession is renewed...lol
I am completely committed, I understand what needs to happen and how to be successful but it is like every surgeon has some little variation on their recommendation and I belabor it as though I am the one going to be performing the surgery myself. Since I haven't gone to medical school or done a residency, I am thinking I really should leave the technical decisions to the surgeons - it worked pretty well for me with the sleeve. For the love of heaven, what i am doing to myself?
I have had people tell me that it means I am not ready. I don't think that is really true - I think it is part of my mental illness process that i need to go through to be ready. Over the last 2 months I have cycled through so many different things - worried about this or that. I think I have settled on the ultimate things to be worried about and am focusing on rational fears now...lol. Right now, I know I have picked a GREAT surgeon who has been doing it forever and who has great results. I am worried about how much freaking money it is going to cost and I don't like needing 3 surgeries. Those are rational things for a patient to think about - I have moved away from obsessing on their surgical approach. I haven't made the final committment to her and so I am checking out a few last minute options due to those concerns but i know that even staying with her, I have made a good choice from the "A" list.
I am also super excited. I dream of the day I can wear sleeveless dresses. I dream of the day I have boobs again (lost em over the last 10-20#). Can you imagine being able to do pushups and not being afraid to look down at tummy and thighs...lol? How about wearing dresses without needing pantyhose to keep the knees from being wrinkled?
My surgery will be staged over multiple ones so I don;t get all that at once, but I see the ultimate goal. Not perfection, but a normal body where my hard work and level of fitness will be more visible - at least to me.
Over the last several months my level of "focus' on my body image and dismorphia has improved ALOT. I feel pretty normal in clothes most of the time. I no longer feel hugely fat, I think I see myself correctly which is that I look like I have body fat where I don't because loose skin looks pretty fat. I feel happy with being at my goal weight and with my level of fitness - that has improved alot. I have hope that someday the plastics will just be a distant memory too and I won't be thinking about my body so much.

Hahahah, I think we've all done that. Start off slow so you don't discourage yourself, build up your time and the amount of exercising you do. :-)

Alright, enough procrastinating...time to go use the gym membership I've been paying for and not using for (mumbled, under my breath) at least two years. Time to stop the mental masturbation about the workout plans I concoct and how good I'll feel and actually go DO!!
I can do this, I've done it before and know that the first weeks are tough, but then it gets to the point where it feels weird NOT to exercise.
Okay...shoes are on, off I go

Just my opinion, but I think you ARE setting a great example for your children. You will be eating differently and cooking differently for your family, you will be exercising, drinking Water - all of these things are good examples for your children. They are seeing you address a situation with your weight, your health and gaining control.
I don't know who this person is in your life, but you don't owe an explanation to anyone (IMHO) you're an adult, I would guess that you made this decision with great thought.
Be proud girl, you doing something good for yourself.

Just my opinion, but I think you ARE setting a great example for your children. You will be eating differently and cooking differently for your family, you will be exercising, drinking Water - all of these things are good examples for your children. They are seeing you address a situation with your weight, your health and gaining control.
I don't know who this person is in your life, but you don't owe an explanation to anyone (IMHO) you're an adult, I would guess that you made this decision with great thought.
Be proud girl, you doing something good for yourself.

Just my opinion, but I think you ARE setting a great example for your children. You will be eating differently and cooking differently for your family, you will be exercising, drinking Water - all of these things are good examples for your children. They are seeing you address a situation with your weight, your health and gaining control.
I don't know who this person is in your life, but you don't owe an explanation to anyone (IMHO) you're an adult, I would guess that you made this decision with great thought.
Be proud girl, you doing something good for yourself.

Just my opinion, but I think you ARE setting a great example for your children. You will be eating differently and cooking differently for your family, you will be exercising, drinking Water - all of these things are good examples for your children. They are seeing you address a situation with your weight, your health and gaining control.
I don't know who this person is in your life, but you don't owe an explanation to anyone (IMHO) you're an adult, I would guess that you made this decision with great thought.
Be proud girl, you doing something good for yourself.

Just my opinion, but I think you ARE setting a great example for your children. You will be eating differently and cooking differently for your family, you will be exercising, drinking Water - all of these things are good examples for your children. They are seeing you address a situation with your weight, your health and gaining control.
I don't know who this person is in your life, but you don't owe an explanation to anyone (IMHO) you're an adult, I would guess that you made this decision with great thought.
Be proud girl, you doing something good for yourself.

Just my opinion, but I think you ARE setting a great example for your children. You will be eating differently and cooking differently for your family, you will be exercising, drinking Water - all of these things are good examples for your children. They are seeing you address a situation with your weight, your health and gaining control.
I don't know who this person is in your life, but you don't owe an explanation to anyone (IMHO) you're an adult, I would guess that you made this decision with great thought.
Be proud girl, you doing something good for yourself.

Wow, you look G R E A T!!! Love to see such success from someone's dedication & hard work. Keep it up.