TBodmer71

Thanks Everyone for the positive feedback. Here is a little update........I went to JC Penneys and tried on way too many pairs of jeans. I ended up buying 2 pair of size 12 Long regular straight leg. I did fit into the size 10 relaxed fit but they did not have any in the long. I was so excited I left my dressing room and shared my exciting news with a bunch of strangers. Woohoo! for me! OMG.....a size 12!

I lost 23 lbs from Jan. 2013 to August of 2013. My bariatric team required that I lose a minimum of 10 lbs before I would be scheduled for surgery. I lost an additional 15 lbs during my 2 week pre-op liquid diet. I was sleeved on August 26th, 2013. I have just reached my surgeons goal for me which was 70% of my excess body weight. I started at 289lbs and I am now 200lbs. I am hoping to reach my personal goal of 160 by my 1 year anniversary. Did losing weight before surgery help? I would like to think that it did. I gave myself a head start. I had a better understanding of what I can, can't and shouldn't eat. Maybe its not the way everybody else approached this but it worked for me.

I have to agree with the earlier posts......I wasn't "STARVING" after about the 3rd or 4th day. I was drinking at least 3 Protein shakes a day and that on the most part kept the hunger at bay. I was allowed low cal. yogurt, no sugar added apple sauce, sugar free Jello and pudding, cream of chicken Soup etc. along with my liquids. I used these items as my actual meals. By following the 2 week pre-op diet it really made me well prepared for post-op because I had to be on the same diet for 4 more week after surgery too. Best of luck to you. Wishing you a speedy 2 weeks, a safe and trouble free surgery, a pain free quick recovery and long term sleeved success.

Statistics show that people will lose and average of 60% of their excess body weight. Regardless of whether or not someone reaches a "healthy" weight (a bmi of 18.5 to 24.9), it is still healthier for them to lose some weight. Just 10 lbs can help blood pressure, joint pain, type 2 diabetes. So, if someone is 300 lbs and their "healthy weight" is 125 lbs, then is it still beneficial for them to lose 100 lbs.

I just traded in my 2004 Sportster 3 days before Christmas. I bought her brand new off the showroom floor 2 days after getting my MC license. Here it is nearly 10 years later and my husband and I had gone to the HD dealership because we were supposed to be looking for a new leather coat for me for Christmas. My 3W (3X womens) Harley leather is now way too big for me. When we got to the dealership my hubby tells me that I can have any bike I want and it will be my Christmas present. I got a 2011 fully loaded fatboy. Woohoo! LUCKY ME! It's been weeks and I still can't wipe the grin off my face. I just hope spring gets here fast. I am up here in New England and I probably won't be able to take her out of the Garage at least for a few more months.....ARGH! But she sure is pretty to look at in the garage.

Woohoo 4 U!. You're looking great. Keep rockin' that sleeve.

I am also stuck with wearing shapers. If you are looking for quality shapers without a huge price tag I found a bunch at a Maidenform outlet on clearance for only $9.99 each. The non clearance ones are also on sale at 40% off. Woohoo! I just replaced all of my old ones with newer snugger ones. My one fear is how hot it is going to be this summer wearing a second skin.

Hi everyone, I am disappointed with myself. Dec. 23rd I weighed 204.8. I had set a goal of 200 for New Years. Then I sabotaged myself. I started eating chocolate, Cookies, pringles, etc.......Everything that I had avoided for months. I started grazing after dinner and eating everything I shouldn't. The scale started to creep up and I got mad at myself even more. I had gotten back up to 207.4 I realized I wasn't as focused. I wasn't filling out my food diary everyday. I wasn't stepping on the scale every morning. I wasn't paying attention to what I was consuming and I stopped working out. I even stopped wearing my pedometer. In just 2 weeks I had completely gone back to my old habits. Then it dawned on me. I must get back on the horse. This was not a true "stall". This was me not doing what I am supposed to do. I am now (3 days and counting) turning it around. I have been tracking my food intake focusing on Proteins first, wearing my pedometer, using my treadmill, weights and bands. As of this morning I have re-lost what I had gained plus .2lbs. I am now down to 204.6 I started this journey at 289. I have come a long way. I do not want to go back to where I was. I still have a ways to go. My goal is 160 lbs. I will meet my goal, I will exercise, I will watch what I eat, I will log in my food diary daily, I will take a minimum of 10,000 steps everyday.

Woohoo! My husband was dead set against me having weight loss surgery. During the months prior to surgery my husband was mad, angry, mean and even threatened me with divorce if I went through with it. Today he is my biggest advocate. He comments all the time about what a great job I am doing. I am 4 months out and down a total of 85 lbs of which 46lbs is post-op. I am hoping to hit onederland for New Years (4 more pounds to go). Saturday morning I was on my local Harley-Davidson web-sight looking for a new leather coat for this spring because my 3W coat is now way too big. While I was there I happened to browse the bikes they had in stock. I mentioned to my hubby about one of them later that morning and he suggested we go take a look. When we go to the dealership I looked at the one that I had mentioned and wasn't quite as happy with it as I thought I would be. So to my surprise my husband said that I work so hard at everything that I deserve anything I want. I was like a kid in a candy store. I must have sat on 25 bikes. I found a fully dressed (saddle bags and fairing) fatboy. OMG....I am in love. She is being delivered today or tomorrow! When we went to dinner at the in-laws yesterday he was bragging out how good I am going to look sitting on the bike. Oh and I also got a new coat. It is an XL.

My bike was delivered by Harley at 3 pm this afternoon.

Compute your lean body weight if you’re female.(What your body weighs with no fat) Your lean body weight is equal to (0.732 x total weight) - (0.157 x waist measurement) – (0.249 x hip measurement) + (0.434 x forearm measurement) + (wrist measurement / 3.14) + 8.987. In this example, you weigh 143 pounds and have a waist measurement of 28 inches. Your hip measurement is 39 inches, your forearm measurement is 10 inches, and your wrist measurement is 6.5 inches. You have a lean body weight of (0.732 x 143) - (0.157 x 28) – (0.249 x 39) + (0.434 x 10) + (6.5 / 3.14) + 8.987 = 106 pounds. The final answer is what your body weighs with no fat calculated in. If you want to know what your weight would be at 15% multiply your lean body weight by 1.15. multiply by 1.25 for 25%, 1.30 for 30%, 1.40 for 40% etc. I am a large framed 5'8" female. My lean body weight per this calculation is 147.63. If I multiply that by 1.25 my goal weight of 25% fat is 184.

I really don't know all of the reasons my husband finally came around but I know some of them. First off we are both very opinionated people. He a little more so. It was his opinion that all I needed to do was eat less and exercise. Like I never though or tried that before. He was scared of the possible complications. He heard a lot of stories from some of his co-workers about the complications that someone they knew or heard about had. He also heard a lot of horror stories about the by-pass which he wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell him the sleeve was different. He listened to others about how everyone they knew that has weightloss surgery failed and they gained all the weight back. But instead if listening to his wife like he should have he was driving himself "nuts" about it. Seriously he even threatened me with divorce if I went through with it. As the months went buy while I was jumping through hoops for my insurance to cover the procedure I had lost some weight and this just fueled his fire even more. His thought was that since I proved I could do it without surgery there was no reason what-so-ever for me to continue pursuing the idea. Finally after about 7 months of his bad attitude every time the subject came up I finally had to put him in his place. (with me yelling at him of course) I pointed out to him that as his wife I have supported him in his decisions whether or not I agreed with them. As my husband it is his responsibility to have my back and not force me to follow his "rules". I was not married into a dictatorship! From then 'til my surgery he was still a little up-tight about it but not nearly as bad as he was. Then at the end of August I had the surgery and all went well. Then a lot of his stress about the possible complications went away. His mood became a lot better. I am now 4 months out and my husband compliments me all the time about my looks and my perseverance through it all.

November 26th was my 3 month mark. I have lost 43 lbs since surgery. I had lost 38 lbs prior to surgery. My starting weight was 289. My current weight is 208. Yup 81 lbs gone for good.

I am 5'8" and my starting weight was 289. I was sleeved on 8/26/13. I currently weigh 208. My surgeons goal for me is 200lbs. My personal goal is 160. I am hoping to hit 199 for New Years. I am still losing between 2.5 and 3.5 lbs a week. If I can keep this pace by spring I'll hit goal. I really do not want to get below 160 because of my large frame less than that I start to look gaunt.

Congrats to you!..I can fully understand. I was sleeved on Aug. 26th of this year. I wore 24W bottoms and 3x tops. I now proudly wear size 14 bottoms and xl tops. Two weeks ago I went to the mall and stopped at Christopher and Banks thinking some day I'll fit into their clothes (they don't sell plus size). I walked out of there with a pair of jeans, a shirt and a jacket that all fit. I couldn't believe it. I haven't been a size 14 in over 10 years.

I too lost my second chin and gained a turkey gobbler. I guess this will be one more thing to discuss with the plastic surgeon later on. My OMG moment was the other night while lying in bed I realized my hip bone was sticking out. OMG, OMG, I have hip bones. Never thought I'd see them again. But here they are. Woohoo!

I stepped out my door on August 26, 2013. I have gone from barely able to walk a slow mile on my treadmill. I can now walk 4 miles at 3.5 mph. The one thing I never thought I'd be able to say is......I can now run at 4.5 mph for a total of 2 minutes. I am trying ever-so-slowly to work that up to a half hour run. Good Luck to you on this journey. Although their is no finish line at the end of this marathon, I wish you find great health and more energy along the way.

As of this morning I am down 70 lbs. Woohoo! I started this journey last November when I inquired about weightloss surgery with my pcp. At that time my weight was 289 lbs. I got my referral to my bariatrics team (Dr Gould in Manchester, NH). I went to the info seminar in Dec of 2012. From that point on I started walking with a pedometer and watching what I ate. After jumping through many hoops and waiting for what seemed like forever I was finally sleeved on Aug. 26th. I weighed 266 when I started the pre-op diet. The day of surgery I weighed 251. Three days later I weighed 259. It's been 10 weeks since my surgery and I am now down to 219 lbs. I am really hoping, trying and working towards hitting the 200 lb mark for New Years. But my next goal is actually 215 lbs. That is the weight I was when I met my husband. I am hoping that I will hit that goal sometime next week. I would also like to thank the many wonderful people on this sight that have be a great support for me through out this journey so far.

I am only 2 month post-op but I have been dropping lbs since the start of this journey since last november. I am down a total of 69lbs. I have been buying clothes since day 1 (shoes too). I like to reward my hardwork with "retail therapy". I have not spent a lot because I am a coupon / clearance sale master. My tips for finding low priced quality items.... Shop at JC Penneys and combine the $10 off rewards coupon with the $10 off a $25 purchase. You end up paying $5 for $25 worth. That ends up being a lot because they've had a lot on clearance for $1.97. I also shop at Thredup.com This is a great website that sells top name brand, gently used clothing. Shipping is free with a purchase over $50.00. I have found some really great items at yard sales for pennies on the dollar. Keep an eye out for coupons in the mail. So far this week I have received $15 off a $15 purchase at Lane Bryant, Two $10 off a $10 purchase at Bob's, a $10 off at Kohls, and JC penneys of course has once again sent me the double combo of $10 off that will be combined with their other coupon of $10 off a $25 purchase. One added benefit to all this weight loss. I have been able to donate hundreds of pounds of clothing to local non-profit agencies. If you do this don't forget to ask for a receipt and take pictures of the items being donated (for tax purposes). Weight-loss and a tax break....who could ask for more?

I know this sounds awful but......My husband in the past has commented on my butt as being a shelf. Well the other day while bent over he said he could no longer call it a shelf-a$$. He said my shelf was gone. Thank goodness I I have become shelf-less. He is clueless how to make a compliment towards anyone including me. Believe it or not this was supposed to be a compliment. Keep in mind this was coming from a man that would introduce me to his friends, family and co-workers as his large Scottish wife and didn't think that there was anything wrong with the word "large".

Woohoo! Wish I had that kind of scale. Keep up the good work.

Yes, I did. Come to find out my blood pressure was plummeting. 82/52 was one reading I got at the docs. They were worried that they have to send me to the hosp. via ambulance. They let me sit their for a while and it came back up to my normal of 110/70. By the second week it stopped happening and none of the doctors could give me a reason why it happened.

Woohoo 4 U! Congrats. Keep rockin' your sleeve. Great job.

I am about an hour north of Boston, in Southern New Hampshire. I also went to a center of excellence. My insurance covered all but $1300. The actual total billed to the insurance was also $23,000. My insurance and bariatric surgeon made me jump through hoops for 8 months prior to surgery. During that time I did a lot of research, learning, and testing. I feel I was probably a lot more prepared for surgery than those that choose self-pay here in the US or MX and are able to schedule surgery within weeks.

Wow....what a transformation. You've gone from beautiful to absolutely gorgeous. Congrats!