Indigo1991

Wowee, looking amazing! Congratulations on all your hard work !

You may feel weak and weird as you aren't getting in enough fluids. The Protein is less important at this stage, you must get more liquids in or you will dehydrate, if you aren't already. Check the colour of your urine - it should be almost clear or slightly yellow. If its darker, then you may be dehydrated. Make a timetable of when to drink liquids and when to take in protein. It might sound ridiculous and you may feel like all you are doing is drinking but, trust me, it works and will be worth it. Your stomach is still swollen so it is harder to drink but you need to do it, sipping and over the course of the day. Hope that helps - but if in doubt, talk to your doc sooner than later....

Get back on your plan and stay calm! Every plan is different and surgeons have their own reasons why they have you on their plan. My surgeon had me eat right up to surgery - no liquid diet - eating only chicken, fish, yog, milk and practically no carbs and all in tiny portions. The diet is to shrink your liver but it is also to teach you to live on less. Liquid diet is really useful as post op that's what you are on in the first few weeks and it is difficult. But please stop beating yourself up. You put your finger on it when you said that the battle is with your mind. And if you have figured that out now, well done! Get back on track and don't look back. Good luck, you know why you need to do this, just keep that front of mind until the op.

Haven't done resolutions for a few years, got so depressed failing every time! So what I did this year was to get a book and on page 1, I wrote down all the things I felt were wrong with my life and numbered them. On page 2, I wrote down the solutions to each problem - and amazingly, there were answers, I just hadn't wanted to face them. Each month this year, I did an update on each one. I have started to tackle every single thing I wrote in the first week of January - I have completed some (9 things) and (4) are works in progress. On page 3, I wrote down what were the barriers to me succeeding - and in almost every case, it came back to me!!! I was finding excuses to not do things, so I started to make "yes" my default word not "no". What a difference that's made to life this year. I have been places and done things - sometimes through gritted teeth and with real fear in my heart - but I did them and made myself so proud (from losing 82lbs to making significant career changes to getting naked with a hot guy to going to concerts/cinema on my own). I also saw that I needed to let my friends in more, that I was almost obsessional about not being vulnerable. That's transformed my life, I hadn't realised how many wanted to help me but that I had put up so many barriers they couldn't get over them. Now I know how much I am loved, liked and needed just for being me :-)))) So on page 4, I wrote down all the good things about myself that I wanted to build on. And I have spent this year trying to do that... Bit of a long response but doing this really has changed so much in my life. Doing it again this new year although I'm not sure 2014 is going to be as dramatic as this year! Happy new year when it comes x

Lol, I know, seems a ridiculous thing to say to you after all you have been through - but it will come. Just get yourself ready :-) If you told me three years and four months ago I would feel the way I do today, I wouldn't have laughed, I would have sighed and gone back to bed. I was on my knees and couldn't see a way out or a way ahead. Every day, despite not really believing it to begin with I used to wake up and chant "this too will pass". Gradually, day by day, degree by degree, little things changed, which built into bigger things and the scales started to tip back in my favour. Life's still not perfect but I cam cope with it now - and I am happy, which throws a different light on everything. So I can see where you are and just offer a little reassurance that your life isn't fixed, it can move forward - and I know it will x

We all have our "right time" - and you will know when yours comes along, RJ You deserve better and it will come.... X

My doc said to me this week that I was brave to have the surgery - and that I was to be applauded for saving my own life :-)))))

Lol, we all make mistakes... As long as we learn, which it sounds like you have! You are still pretty early in your sleeve, so better to exercise caution when you have something new. As you found out, even the smallest taste can have immediate consequences. I wasn't allowed anything solid until I was six weeks out and even then, it took me until I was about 12 weeks to feel confident about eating a lot of things. Congratulations on your great weight loss, what an amazing start for you... Good luck in 2014 :-)

Lynzi, relax, until you are back on solids, you don't really feel the full effect of your sleeve - trust me, you will :-) in a few weeks time you may even be posting about how little you can eat compared to before, lol. You haven't wasted anything but you need to be patient. Your stomach is likely to still be numb from surgery so be careful, you may not feel anything if you put too much in. So stick to the plan you got from your surgeon, the time will pass and you will lose weight - and eat less!!!! Merry Christmas

What a transformation, you look amazing - and even younger! Merry Christmas and here's to an even more successful 2014!

Miss Mac, congratulations on joining the sleeved side. Hope you and Bossy Bess have a good recovery and much success! Merry Christmas :-) x

Since April, I have chucked out 24 bin bags of clothes. I did it as I went and just haven't stopped to think - if it didn't fit any more, out it went. I have dropped 6 sizes, now a UK 10/12 and for the first time in my life I have a wardrobe full of clothes that fit. None for the future, none from the past. Pretty cathartic and strangely calming lol!

Merry Christmas Mokee, I hope you, your husband and boys have a very peaceful and happy time. X

Tropical Lover, had the consultation and surgeon was actually shocked at how bad m boobs are without my bra! I could see him looking at me with my clothes in and wondering what my problem was.... He immediately changed his mind when he saw me without the underwear, lol! I am planning to have the surgery, trying to get the timing right. Probably will leave it to my summer hols and use the time then. Have lost volume since I posted, now a 32G but they ain't looking any better :-)))) But now looking at all the other saggy bits and wondering if I am brave enough to deal with them...

Congratulations, you look amazing! Thanks for sticking around the site, have read your posts since being sleeved and on many occasions, your calm comments and insight have helped more than you may realise. Merry Christmas and here's to a good new year x

Chris1142, good on you, life is for living and at 71 you still have lots left to do! I can only speak for me but I have no regrets. Easy option? No. Effective? Yes. Life-changing - oh yes! Like you, I have fought my weight for most of my life - so I keep taking sneaky looks at myself as I can't believe it's me. My health has improved beyond all recognition from April this year. And I am so happy at the way life is going and the feeling that this is it, I have found the way to keep me fit and healthy for the rest of my life. No one else is doing it for me, I am doing it for myself. All good wishes for Feb, keep posting so we know how you do! x

Yes, we sleevers have a bit of an advantage with our sleeve - but only if we choose to exercise that advantage. Which is where LL's "doing it on our own" comes in. Being sleeved doesn't automatically guarantee weight loss - it is not the magic bullet to resolve weight issues because like every weight loss option, we can wreck it. If our heads aren't with the programme, we can eat round our sleeves with ease irrespective of restriction. For me, my sleeve has worked because I made it so. It could have been otherwise but I have worked hard to be successful. For that, I am taking the credit ????

My only issue was I struggled getting in and out of bed for the first few days and slept propped up at night - was helped into bed by my son. But didn't really need any help during the day. Just made sure you have supplies in for the first week and take it easy. Good luck!

RJ, you know how much I admire you and the way you have coped - and continue to cope - with what has happened over the last year. But you can't see yourself the way I think the rest of us see you - you are still strong and determined. But that's now tempered with experiences that you didn't expect and shouldn't have had to go through. Physically, you have been through the mill. Thats tough enough but the hurt of finding out that the people you thought were friends really weren't, that would have shaken each of us to the core. You question whether you will get over that and the other things that have happened. Simple answer is - you will. You're not the same person and that's ok. In time, this new post-wls life will become exciting. You can now choose how to live today and tomorrow, not how you lived in the past. You will make new friends, who you will trust and love because not everyone is out to betray you. As your health improves, you will want to get your little self out there and meet new people. Trust me, it's weird but it happens when you least expect it. Have had so much sh1t in recent years (luckily no near death experiences tho), didn't have a big enough shovel. So when I couldn't shovel any more, I decided to leave the crap behind and stop beating myself up by raking it over. Painful, difficult but by persevering, I am making progress, having fun - and surprising myself by being happier than I could ever have imagined. This WLS has a lot to answer for, making folk happy :-))))) The people who did what they did to you aren't worthy of having you as a friend. It is their loss, our gain. And I promise your life will blossom, just give it a chance and a bit more time xx

LL, only thing you missed out was who the body double was that went in and had major surgery on your behalf - oh, sorry, was that actually you ???? Yup, think it might have been... People can say whatever they like about being sleeved but it ain't the easy option - and we do it on our own, every sip, every mouthful, ever mile walked.... Ps my body sounds just like yours but add a few more wrinkles

BTB, great pic!

CristyRNY, check out my post "Got naked, nobody died of shame".... Might give you hope!!! You're not the only one on the site to have experienced this lack of confidence, but many are overcoming it. I am 8 months out, I was where you are (although I am way older) but my sleeve has transformed me and my life beyond recognition. To the extent I got naked last weekend for the first time in years with some I have lusted over for years and can t believe it .... Hence, my post! Don't lose hope, you are just at the beginning ....

Going with the flow is good :-) I didn't sleep well for the first couple of weeks but every day it gets better. I was propped up in bed and that helped until I could lie down properly. Others use recliners or pillows to support their scar areas or to lie on their sides. Maybe try some of those suggestions to see if that helps. Congratulations and good luck with your new sleeve....

CGJ - love it !!!! Actions speak way louder than words....hope it all stays good for you.

It's very common, happens to most folks. And brace yourself, it won't be the last stall you have, lasting from days to weeks. Just trust in your sleeve and stick to the plan, the weight will come off. It won't always come off steadily, I described my weight loss as steps and stairs, nothing for a few weeks, then a drop. Don't get disheartened, this is normal. And one piece of advice - it's hard not to, but please don't compare your weight loss to others. It happens differently for each of us and remember, it's a marathon not a sprint. I have been a slow loser but I am almost there - and it was worth every stall that drove me nuts on the way there !!!!