Flup

You look WONDERFUL!

Have you ever watched the Biggest Loser? If you havent you would be happy to know that there are contestants on that show that will eat 1200 calories a day and burn upwards of 10,000 calories a day and by the end of the week for some reason or another will have lost 1, maybe 2 poiunds and in MANY cases will have gained a pound or two as well when they should have lost 10+ pounds mathmatically.
You weren't sold a scam. Your body will do what your body does in time.

Hi June sleevers!
Since I am not on Facebook, I can't join in but wanted to share some of the health benefits I have achieved! I know we all enjoy our new clothes and thinner shapes but the internal changes are really why we did this, right?
So, I was sleeved on June 19, am down 55 lbs, feel great, lab work showed a 9 point drop in BMI, triglycerides cut in half since pre op and total cholesterol down 45 points! All numbers going in the right direction!! Yay!

First of all muscle does not weigh more than fat, it weighs exactly the same, but it is more dense and smoother. And sore muscles are muscles that have been worked which means torn so they are rebuilding and that creates swelling ie, Fluid retention. For awhile as you increase your muscle mass but before the fat loss starts, you may show a higher weight for awhile, but then the increased muscle mass will jump start your fat loss and it'll be groovy. Good job on exercising!!

Back to basics seems like a good place to start!

After surgery very little can be eaten due to swelling. From that point to a year a doubling in capacity would be true. I do believe my ego has doubled, though.

Have you made any other changes with the way you treat your body besides dietary changes? Because I think you have to find a way to love and appreciate your body and weight loss alone might not be the key for you. When you look in the mirror you're still seeing your low body image and not what's really there.
I'm definitely still fat (you're really not but that's not the point) but when I look in the mirror or think about my body now, that's not my focus at all. For me, I made some other changes in the way I treat my body that made a difference in how I feel and how I see myself. I work out a lot more now, six days a week. And not just to speed weight loss but to make my body stronger and up endurance. And my body is stronger! I can dance for a long time and run and jump. My God I even tried to twerk the other day (in the privacy of my own home, and I fell over anyway but I did try). My legs have gotten bigger and my gut still flops about. I set up my trampoline in front of the mirror and let my gut hang free the other day. At first it was uncomfortable looking, then funny, then I was proud to see it fly! The point is I am really liking what my body does for me and I love being able to feel the changes.
Another way to learn to appreciate the body is through fashion and dressing it up. Experimenting more with makeup, shoes, clothes, accessories, hair. The body can really make a fashion statement and the smaller we get the more access we have to great, inexpensive stuff that can really make us into walking works of art. I am not a fashion maven and you may already be, but that's another angle. I love the way my legs look and I wear hot pants and dresses because I just like looking at them so much (sorry if vain). My legs are still big especially since they're more muscular and I could look at my thigh jiggle "fat" or I could love the way I look in tights. I can choose the latter.
ANOTHER avenue for increased body appreciation: taking care of all those niggling health problems and concerns that maybe got short shrift when you were bigger. It's all about taking care of yourself, emphasis on "care". Self-care is something so many big people neglect and often because we're told our bodies are wrong and worthless and doctors often focus on the fat. I'm not arguing whether fat is healthy or not, but you're in a better position to get quality healthcare once you lose weight and you've lost a heckuva lot. The better you feel health-wise, whether you had serious illnesses or were generally ok, the more you can appreciate your body. This can be head to toe. Migraines been bothering you, allergies, old injuries, teeth need a checkup, is it time for reading glasses and what's with that pop in the right knee? Whatever it is give it some proper attention.

Thank god I don't weigh as much as the NFL players this year! I hated hearing how the announcers would say they were 6'4 and weighed 245 and they were like built like brick houses....man I cringed at myself every time..not this year baby! getting down to what the cheerleaders weigh now..lol..not quite but never give up on your dreams...:

Went to the recycling centre today. They have huge metal bins for you to put clothes in for recycling. There's a chute door high up and you reach up and pull down. It's pretty stiff and you need to really pull down on the handle with two hands to get it open and stuff the clothes in.
I have done this on many occasions in the past. As a short person, I jump up to catch the handle, then use my weight to bring it down. Not done it for a couple of months though. Today, l jumped, grabbed the handle and pulled, And pulled. But i just ended up hanging there. Eventually, i jumped, grabbed and it came down. Then went straight back up at speed with me hanging on for grim death...
It actually went beyond where it usually sits, so I was literally left swinging in the wind.The man who came to help me down could barely keep a straight face. He then opened the chute and I threw my stuff in. His suggestion as he walked away? "You need to put on a bit of weight before a wee thing like you tries that again..." I could have kissed him :-)))) It's the things you could never have dreamed of happening that make being sleeved a joy every day.

As of this morning I am officially down 50 pounds!!!

I think plenty of people miss food, but doubt many miss being fat.

I'm a big fan of ordering off the appetizers menu nowadays. But I agree that restaurants are overfeeding us with fat, sugar and salt because that's how they keep customers coming. It's an addictive combination and they know it.

This is awesome news!!

First 2 days were very painful but after that I was fine. Yes, I would absolutely endure that pain again!

Here I am the night before surgery, and then 3 months later!
I see the biggest difference in my stomach and my back. I have a long way to go, but I know I'll get there.

Here I am the night before surgery, and then 3 months later!
I see the biggest difference in my stomach and my back. I have a long way to go, but I know I'll get there.

Here I am the night before surgery, and then 3 months later!
I see the biggest difference in my stomach and my back. I have a long way to go, but I know I'll get there.

Here I am the night before surgery, and then 3 months later!
I see the biggest difference in my stomach and my back. I have a long way to go, but I know I'll get there.

Today is my 36th birthday and for the first time in 30 years I am not overweight. I started my WLS journey 1-1-12 (surgery 2-14-12) and since then I have lost an entire person. I started at 335# and a size 28. Today I am 160# and a size 8. I am 20# below my surgical goal. It is a very shocking transformation and I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I am less than half the weight I started out at and wear about 1/4 the size clothes. Mindboggling. I don't even recognize myself, let alone people that haven't seen me in awhile. I don't plan to try to lose any more because I am getting way too bony. I am in the process of trying to have plastic surgery though. I believe when that is done I will be a size 6..possibly even a 4/6. Unbelievable. I am a large framed woman and never would have believed it was possible for me to be this small. A 16 was my goal because it was the smallest I could ever remember being.

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Here I am the night before surgery, and then 3 months later!
I see the biggest difference in my stomach and my back. I have a long way to go, but I know I'll get there.

Here I am the night before surgery, and then 3 months later!
I see the biggest difference in my stomach and my back. I have a long way to go, but I know I'll get there.

I wanted a permanent change.
I didn't want a foreign object left in my body.
I didn't want my intestines changed.

It's crazy.. When I was at my heaviest I would day dream about the day that I would finally be "skinny". I would day dream about all sorts of crazy things.. Some miracle pill that I could take and within days loose all my weight. Perhaps just magically wake up and it would all be gone. Or I even day dreamed as far as thinking.. even if a virus took over me so I was so sick, then I would loose all my weight. I realize that it was all ridiculous. They were but simple dreams that I never thought I would have. Eating was a poison for me. A bad habit. And it's not even that I would gorge myself or eat a plethora of food items per day. It was what I ate. Because I loved the taste of certain foods. And I couldn't help myself. I lacked the motivation to do what I needed to do. Eating right was something that I was never good at. I would do good for awhile but then would fall right back into the same habits. And the progress was slow and the results were slow and that would always dampen my urge to be healthy. I continued to grow and grow and it was hard to comprehend at the time how large I had actually become. I knew that I was extremely over weight, but it really doesn't hit you until you have something to compare it to. I just assumed that I would always be heavy and that would just lead to always day dreaming about a "better" me. I would dream about what I would look like, how many more activities I would be able to participate in, the clothes I would be able to shop for, the athletic activities I could do with my kids... but to me, they were just pipe dreams.. something unobtainable.
It got to the point where I could hardly fit into a roller coaster. I remember going atop the stratosphere to hop on a ride. I don't remember the name, but it shoots you straight up into the sky, high above the city. When I sat on the ride, the harness that comes down over you, would not fit. I remember my ass having to try and squeeze into the seat. And I couldn't get the harness down. It was embarrassing and I had to be moved to the "fat" person chair. Even as I am writing this I feel ashamed and horrified that I could possibly let myself get that far. It was difficult moving around and keeping up with my active family. I never wanted to do anything. That meant I was going to be hot, sweaty and miserable. I was depressed, I hated what I had let myself become. I felt as if I had no self worth and was just disgusted at my body.

Now I can say that I am extremely happy with myself. It has definitely been a long road and journey and continues to be so. I still have to make the right eating choices and exercise. I can happily say that yesterday was the first time I have ran since being.. well I don't even remember the last time I ran. But it truly was amazing. I was able to do it and go for awhile until I started to breath a little bit more heavily, but I was able to continue still! And it felt great after, I am excited and happy and can't wait for even more results.

As of this morning I am officially down 50 pounds!!!