free2live

That's a pretty easy date to remember breakmyelbows!

Sorry your experience is starting off badly, but you will be well taken care of at OCC. The entire staff is very helpful, as is everyone at the Marriott. The others are right about the border crossing. You never know if it will be 20 minutes or 2 hours. And sometimes they will close it for many hours for no particular reason. But you're right, having to wait 2 hours while going to another country for a scary surgery must have been very stressful on you.
Ironically, my return trip with Joel (the OCC driver) was exactly opposite. There was one person in the group (my sister, actually) whose flight was a lot earlier than the rest of us. We would have never made it on time if there had been any delays at the border. So while we were doing our final checkup with Dr. So, Joel ran out and obtained a medical pass which let us skip the border lines and get through in 15 minutes. In fact, we were so early that I was able to get on another flight and get home 2 hours sooner than normal. In addition, another companion forgot his leather jacket in the lobby so Joel returned to OCC after dropping us off at the airport and brought it back to him before his flight left.
Anyways, try to get a good night's sleep and Good luck tomorrow!

Seems like about 75% of people who post here are perfect. They eat 60gms of Protein, veggies and barely any carbs at all. They drink the allotment of Water, they exercise 60 mins a day 6x a week. They never, ever eat pizza, burgers, sandwiches, or tacos. All they eat is grilled fish, grilled chicken, and maybe an occasional steak (when they're being BAD).
They count all carbs, calories, and fat grams. They measure and weight everything. chocolate shall never pass their lips. They comment on the reason that ur in a stall is becuz ur not being "perfect" and counting everything. Maybe u ate 4 oz of fish when u should have only had 3 oz.
If everyone here is so perfect and no one ever eats "junk", then why did they need wls in the first place? If they were so proficient in weighing, measuring, and counting, why have major surgery to limit their amount of intake? They judge those who eat an occasional piece of pizza, saying they will always be fat if they continue on the path of gluttony.
I have now lost almost 100 lbs, wth 11 to go to goal. I have not counted, measured, or weighed anything. I use my over $20,000 tool to guide my eating, telling me when I've had enuf. I've heard that I will never be able to keep it off, eating whatever I want, not "dieting" forever. I had wls so I'd never have to diet again. I wouldn't have had major surgery if I wanted to continue dieting. Now don't get me wrong. I don't eat unlimted amounts of burgers, tacos, pizza, and Cookies. I eat very little. The beauty of the point of my $20,000 tool.
So those of u who eat perfectly, exercise all the time, and have all the answers: kudos to u. A lot of work and ucomfortableness to not use ur pricey tool. I write this while eating 6 (yes, 6 WHOLE eggs) white chocolate Cadbury mini eggs. Gasp. If I do (occasionally) count my calories it's always under 1,000. I mean how many calories can u eat by listening to ur egg size tummy?
Now, if someday I start gaining because of my "irresponsibility" then I may start counting calories or weighing my food. But until then, I think I will trust my tiny tummy to tell me when I've had enuf.
Anyone else tired of perfect people?

Ok, I'm in my 20's, ht of 4'11", with a starting weight wt of 240.
Current weight= 135.
I've never had children. I exercise religiously. I moisturize and exfoliate my skin daily. I do my best with Water intake and all that. I also wear compressions during exercising.
I must say, I look damn good........... In clothing.
Underneath, I'm a total mess of loose skin, saggy boobs, and hanging belly.
But I can deal with that better than the extra 105lbs. I do plan on having cosmetic surgery in the future, but until then, I'll just tuck in the hanging flaps , cover the bat wings, and roll up the boobs.

Just happened to see this post and I just came across this the other day and bought a 3 pack at either SAMs, or BJ's and it was great!

I have UHC choice plus and had to go through Bariatric Resource. They basically have everything ready to go. Once my surgeon submitted to them I got the call either the following day or 2 days later. They were very fast, neither the surgeons office or I could believe how quick the approval went. I didn't have to go through a 6 month supervised diet though, they told me my only requirement for surgery is the requirement the surgeon had, of course I had to meet the BMI requirements though.

I'm a slower loser as well, my surgery was 5/21 and I'm down 35 lbs. I've had a couple of stalls where its been weeks bouncing up and down within the same couple of pounds. Just happy that its going down and since I'm older, early 50's, it might be a blessing so it gives my body time to catch up with the loss. I don't want to deflate to quickly, lol.

I have UHC choice plus and had to go through Bariatric Resource. They basically have everything ready to go. Once my surgeon submitted to them I got the call either the following day or 2 days later. They were very fast, neither the surgeons office or I could believe how quick the approval went. I didn't have to go through a 6 month supervised diet though, they told me my only requirement for surgery is the requirement the surgeon had, of course I had to meet the BMI requirements though.

Lately I've seen a TON of posts about lucky sleevers that drop 100 pounds in six months.
Congrats to them and to their loss. And I would never, ever begrudge anyone the right to crow about a fantastic success. It's part of why we're all here, to share the ups and downs of this surgery!
But frequently, these posts are followed by folks that feel frustrated because they aren't losing at the same pace. All too often, we forget that everyone loses at a different pace. It's easy to lose sight of the real goal (long term maintenance) in the face of the scale goals we set for ourselves. And it's also easy to forget that this isn't a race and that there's no special prize waiting at the end for reaching goal more quickly.
I would like to contribute my loss pattern so that people can see that there is more than one way to achieve a goal. Being successful is about reaching your personal goals, overcoming your personal food demons and maintaining your weight loss for life. It's not about hitting goal in nine months.
I encourage everyone else with a slow loss story to contribute their successes here as well. It's hard to research this surgery and find only the stories about extremes - people completely thrilled with surgery or people that regret every minute of life post op. The same goes for loss. When people search out stories on this, it's too easy to only find rapid loss or stall posts but nothing showing the more realistic and moderate journey many of us take. The sleeve is a permanent tool that does not have a special window of easy weight loss. There is no reason to feel discouraged when you haven't reached goal at one year out, or even two. There is nothing preventing you (short of your own body's natural stopping point) from achieving or re-achieving goal at any point post op.
I lost 60 pounds in the first five months after my surgery.
And I slowly lost 32 pounds over the next seven months.
It took me another five months to shed the final 15 pounds to my goal.
I lost 107 pounds over the course of 17 months. I stalled twice for nine weeks each time. I had months where I only lost one pound. I regularly experienced a gain of three pounds around my cycle, and often only lost weight in the last week to ten days of the month, after sitting at the same weight for nearly three weeks.
I am a success, and at 2.5 years out (and currently pregnant) I still have good, healthy eating habits and maintained my weight loss quite easily. Even 30 weeks pregnant, I am still wearing a size 6/small (in maternity clothes, of course) regardless of how I feel about my expanding body!
I learned what was important on this journey and am in better health today (not just physically, but mentally and emotionally), than I have ever experienced as an adult.
Good luck to those currently on their journey, and I encourage everyone to share their stories here so that newly sleeved folks can see that slow vs. fast loss doesn't really matter in the end.
~Cheri

Sleeved on May 21. Highest weight (preop appt) 231. Day of Surgery 226...today I entered onederland :-) I had to share here where people understand, my family justs looks at me like I am nuts!!!!

I don't know if I'm the only one who gets EXTREMELY annoyed when reading complaints about alleged "stalls". *sigh* sometimes I feel empathy for folks but most times I feel extreme aggravation. Listen folks...we aren't gonna lose weight every day or every week for that matter. If that was the case we would lose 365 lbs in a year! This surgery was not intended to be a "quick fix". I personally don't believe in "stalls". Have I experienced weeks of no loss??? SURE! What did I do to "break my stall"? NOTHING!!! Im 8 month's out and still follow my doctors orders and exercise...REGULARLY. That's it...that's all! When the numbers don't move I don't give into fear...I simply "stay the course". I really get dissappointed when I read about folks being taking on an emotional roller coaster by the scale. If you are eating what you're suppose to be eating and exercising like you're suppose too...YOU WILL LOSE!!!! This is not a race...its a lifelong journey. Our main goal should be to optimize our health and live better lives..not chasing a number on a scale or a size. We have to have the mindsets of those who've lost weight and maintain healthy lifestyles without surgery! I hope I don't sound harsh or judgemental...that's not my intention. I just want to encourage those who are feeling down about the "sta lls" or "slow loss" not to give up! I send my "cyber love" to all of you!

Finally passed my stall and 3 more pounds down. Thanks everyone for the support!!!

Mine is Tuesday morning too. I have to be at the hospital at 5:15 for surgery at 7:15 and I was thinking, I sure hope my surgeon is a morning person....my husband's surgery is right after mine. Maybe he should go first

I slept on my tummy the second night.

I slept in my recliner for the first two weeks - I'm a side sleeper and I found laying down to be very uncomfortable. Everyone is different though...

I have tried several different ways my best is on my side with a pillow between my knees. Hope this can help you.

Our month is almost here.... It almost feels like clicking up the track of the roller coaster and you're just getting ready to go over the top, no stopping now, things are going to happen fast. Really exicited and ready to do this. My pre-op appointment is 5/6, then starts the diet!