Teachamy

I am on my way to the hospital. Surgery is at 11:00. Please send positive vibes/prayers/strength!
Amy

Love this! I have surgery on Wed., and it is helpful to read your reflections. Never trust a fart. Got it!

Thanks for the update! I am getting anxious for Wednesday, but I am ready.

So very sorry. A saga indeed!

Im so happy the surgery went well, I had to stay an extra day because my heartrate was elevated but after monitoring and catscan was able to go home. I am so thankful that i had so many well wishes and prayors. Who ever is questioning wether to go through it please stay positve and close your eyes and do it. Just one more week and its off to puree. Its funny how my mind can't beleive im not hungry at all lol this is so amazing.

If you want to track your food on MFP but hate seeing that little red warning about being in starvation mode, just never click the complete button. That warning bugs me too. There ought to be a way to dismiss it so you only see it once. Hey MFP I am following the guidance of health care professionals who actually know me, not the instructions of a faceless computer server somewhere! STFU!

Love this! I have surgery on Wed., and it is helpful to read your reflections. Never trust a fart. Got it!

Awesome news!

Awesome work! Beauty!

Hi Marfar
Here is something I posted about stomach stretching back on November 4th. I hope this helps.
http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/286386-will-my-stomach-stretch-interesting-information/
Bonnie

Me, me, me! I don't think I have ever worn so many layers, day and night, lol. However, having gone from a sweating blob to a cool skinny mini, I know which one I prefer....

I was waiting for someone to point that out to me! My post was simply to show that this is hard work, these are the things we have to deal with, it's not all weight loss and wonderful feeling. She wanted to know my reality, this is what it is. I wanted to be brutally honest because people who want to know about surgery need to be prepared for all elements, this whole thing has a very important mental element.
Now let me be clear. I wake up and make the decisions I do because I am blessed to have this opportunity, and I understand how important my hard work is. Do I regret it, hell no I do not. This was the best decision for me completely, but it doesn't mean I can't be mad, angry, disappointed in myself for letting it get this far.
And that is what working with a professional has made me realize.

To answer your first question in the heading, no I am not happy I have the sleeve. Before people get upset by that, my meaning is I am mad and sad it had to come to this. I am mad that I can't control my weight on my own, can't control myself to eat normal portions. I am mad that I have to eat liquids only right now, that my stomach is sore, that I can't sleep very well at night. I am mad that when I sit down to dinner, I want so badly to eat what everyone else is having, I want TACO BELL. I know I sound whiny, but this is the truth. Every single day I have to wake up and make the decision to do what I can to make the best choices for myself. The surgery will help me to lose weight, but it doesn't fix why I eat or the fact that I want to eat SO BAD. Those things are right in my face every day since surgery and I have to deal with them. Cry at the dinner table like a 2 year old because I can't eat chicken and mashed potatoes. I mean I am 28 years old crying over food!!!! I am fortunate I was able to do this surgery, and I am thankful for the people who lift me up every single day to feel better. The sleeve will allow me to reach a weight goal. But one thing about the sleeve people don't realize until after you have the surgery...you have to deal with why you are obese and overweight. Those problems don't go away as the weight comes off, they only become more blinding. I am sorry to sound like a debbie downer tonight, but I am dealing with this stuff right now and it isn't fun! I wish you all of the best in your sleeve, and please don't let me scare you, that is not my purpose. I just wish I understood better the non weight loss part of this before hand. I wouldn't have changed getting the surgery, but I would have started to work on some of this stuff!

OMG floating? I'm scared... If I take a bath it's bubble baths at night with candles so I've not been scared yet....
But, never, NEVER bend over naked in front of a mirror so you see a side view, while putting on lotion, trust me I've scared the crap out of myself doing that!

Hello Everyone! I am new to this forum, although I have been reading everyone's very informative and inspirational posts for many months now! As my gastric sleeve journey is about to take off, I thought I should finally introduce myself to the group as I hope to post here throughout my journey...
About me... I am what you would consider a gastric sleeve 'lightweight', although I have never thought of myself as "light" in the past 10 years! I am 5'2" female and 210 lbs, making my BMI 38.2. I am a self-pay patient as my BMI is "too low" (under 40) for insurance coverage. I am "pre-diabetic", have borderline high blood pressure, and ahve a strong family prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure. I want this surgery for my health.
I used to be very fit. I was never an overweight child, but the pounds started creeping on when I went to college. Faced with buffets at the college diner and 24 hour pizza places, I gorged myself and the pounds slowly packed on. Eating became about "fun" and not nutrition, and I was tempted by sweets, fast foods, fried stuff.... I used to be very conscious about nutrition and have a wealth of information in my head about calories/protein/fiber of different foods. Somehow I am lacking the ability to translate that knowledge into my habits and hoping the sleeve will give me that missing tool I need.
Fast forward 10 years later and I have never been able to "control" my weight. I have gained and lost 60+ pounds twice. My highest weight was 230 just after delivering my son... a weight that puts me at morbidly obese. Over the years, I have tried all sorts of diets--- phentermine prescribed by doctor (twice), weight watchers, Atkins, medifast, slimfast, other physician controlled diets.... only to lose weight and have it come back. I am sure you are all familiar with this. I am looking forward to this surgery to get me back into a healthy range where I belong, and to give me a tool to help me eat nutritiously, and not purely for taste.
My sleeve journey so far... I am planning to be sleeved my Dr. Tiffany Jessee at Suncoast Bariatrics in Tampa, FL. She has excellent reviews and very high patient satisfaction scores/very low complication rate. I met her at her informational session and am very confident in her. I have already attended the info session, nutritional counseling, and psych eval. Next up is my surgical consultation (next week), endoscopy and then pre-op diet. I am aiming to be sleeved n January.
My support system is primarily my husband. He is amazingly supportive. He, too, needs to lose 30lbs or so, and I hope that with my smaller portion sizes and healthy choices (as I am the cook for us), this will also help his health. I also want to use these boards for support and plan to attend support group meetings. I realy don't want to tell anyone else in my lifea bout this surgery... I think they may hve a negative attidue about this and I am trying to surround myself with motivation and positive attitudes so I have the best chance at success here.
I am really hoping I can get through the next few months fine (pre op diet, surgery and initial recovery phase) and get to a point where I dont ahve to think about the sleeve all the time and my choices are my "new normal". Thats what I am really hoping for out of this surgery.
Does anyone have a similar circumstance to mine and want to stay in touch? (e.g., sleeved at the same time; similar starting stats; location in FL)?
Good luck to all on your sleeve journey.... I can't wait to be on the other side and on the losers bench!

Called me a success today!!
I'm not at my goal but I guess I made some kind of goal for him because he said I'm good, that I look great to him!
my blood work is awesome (Well except that damn iron) I'm a success in his eyes
I know it's kindly corny, but it felt good.
I wanted a certain number going in there today and I didn't hit it and I have been down a bit about it..
It's a stupid number as was pointed out to me (thanks m2g) this morning and I'm going to take the victory lap for now and just keep trying to Work on myself.
Shameless selfie

I am currently smaller than I have been in at least 15 years. I can't remember what I weighed when I started college but I'm pretty sure that I haven't been this close to 200 since high school. My goal was to be 197 on Christmas. That will put me 9 months out from surgery and I will have lost 100 pounds since surgery. AND I think I can make it. I was lucky that I lost some weight before surgery so I've currently lost right at 129 pounds total and I am so thankful that I had a sleeve done. It has been one of the best decisions I've EVER made and I have no regrets (of course other than the typical "that I didn't have it done sooner" ). I have always been happy with who I am. Who I am amounts to more than how much of me there is but I have a whole new outlook on life. I feel better so I feel better about myself. I have always been someone who smiles all the time but now I seriously catch myself with achy cheeks because I am smiling so much. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have this surgery. I am thankful for all the support I have at home but from this forum as well. I can't wait to be able to post my W-ONDERLAND picture of my scale in a couple of weeks!!!

For some reason (maybe it's my background in international relations) but I find it strikingly funny/ironic that the remains of my stomach will be a permanent resident of the sovereign nation of Mexico.
I know Medical Tourism isn't new and I'm sure I could battle the red-tape here in Estados Unidos to try and help with my first-world obesity (thanks, Nixon for all the corn syrup!) but I am not a patient patient.
I've lived in the US, UK, and Australia, and I can't wait to experience the Mexico healthcare system. Somehow I feel badly about our immigration policy given that I'll be leaving behind 75% of my stomach to return to my capitalistic lifestyle back north of the border.
There's something really strange to me that there is such scarcity of good, real food. I just moved back to the US from a year in Oz and while I was a bit aghast at some of the culinary offerings down under I am struck by the pervasiveness of processed, synthetic, chemical, and genetically-modified foodstuffs that have invaded our food system.
Why aren't we angrier about these issues? If competition is supposed to force the optimal outcome why do we have substandard food as the norm in the United States?
I'm grateful I've kept my portion sizes to AUS standards and I'm grateful I have the opportunity to make a huge change in my life including elective surgery and an amazing health club for continued life improvement. I actually took a job in Colorado to ensure that I was in a healthy environment and had access to organic foods. I rented an apartment right near a great health club and I have a job that allows me time to get surgery and time to go work out. I am lucky, I am fortunate, and it's time I take advantage of it all.
At the end of the day I'm left thinking: this all shouldn't be so complicated.
No one knows how to eat properly because we've been fed misinformation all our lives.
Time to get simple I s'pose.

For those of you that don't know me, My name is Laura and I have a food addiction.
My addiction it is being managed through the sleeve and hard work, at the moment...
I have/had a food addiction yes, but I also have an addictive obsessive personality..
For the last year plus my life has been about the sleeve. It is my focus from the moment I wake until the moment I sleep.. My "social time" is spent here with others that live the same life now as me. They "get it", well most of them anyway.... There is commonality here and that is huge to me. After all, my food is taken away how else will "I fill the hole"?
Along with my time here, I spend time working on the mechanics of my sleeve life. I plan my liquids, I take great care to get them in. Time meals to come 1/2 hour after finishing a round of liquids. Try and start my liquids up an hour, if I can, after my meals. My meals are thought out to the extent that they are Protein and veg. These are the "rules" I live by.
In the beginning I have referred to the Water schedule as a full time job. And in a way after all this time my eating drinking schedule is still like a full time job. Or at the least a very choreographed dance I do....
If my day includes activities out of the "norm" it can disrupt my dance....
This past weekend life, and I should say one the more challenging parts of it "got in the way" of my sleeved life. It made me realize the road to hell truly can be paved with the best intentions.. My real life and my sleeved life collided with a force strong enough to knock my sleeved life off its axis a bit. I simply could not spend my time dealing with the all important dance of food and liquids and the support of friends..
Did I eat this past four days? Yes. Did I eat enough? To much? Protein? Trigger foods? Timed just right? I honestly don't know and didn't much care.
Did I drink my fluids?
No, that I can guarantee not. Unless you count take away coffees and chi tea.
In fact several days I'd notice that it was afternoon already and not a drop of water had past my lips.
All or nothing... The life of an addict.
But this does not work, it is not realistic if you want to succeed in the sleeved life and life combined. You need balance. I'm not good at balance I realized that this weekend. I am a one trick pony, a one hit wonder.. I will spend my next year trying to find balance.

My opinion is that what you are feeling right now is pretty normal. It takes awhile. You have only been eating regular foods for a couple months. It was hard then. But hang in there, you will get to the point where it won't bother you in the least. You'll be able to eat most anything but you won't want a bunch of it and you will enjoy your food even more.
I find for myself, I can eat anything but don't really want to eat a lot. I still love to eat and every once in a while I wish I could eat more but those episodes are fewer and further between.
Hang in there, it does get easier. One of the motivations for me is I wake up every morning and before I get out of bed, I for lack of a better word, start feeling myself up! lol! I feel hip bones, curves, not bulges. Who knew I had hip bones? I even feel my boobies, they are getting smaller by the day! ( I want small ones) The changes in my body are enough to bound me out of bed and do my best to make good decisions!
Sorry if the feeling myself up is TMI but I would bet just about anything I'm not the only sleeved who does that.

Me too. Giant monkey on my back.

I feel ya. I think those of us with young children are the most afraid. I am very anxious too!

I just tried to order PB2 on their website, but it didn't work! (They don't sell it in stores here in New England.)
I'll try Amazon!

i have no idea about how many calories i eat in a day but i def. dont think its more than 1000 but who knows. i hope that everything goes wonderful with you!!!

This has to be my biggest achievement so far in my life going from 393 pounds April of last year to getting on the scale naked !! Weighing 201.9 pounds so close just had to share my excite with everyone and new sleevers trust me anything is possible