Firëfly

I had a new one (to me) yesterday. I ran into a guy I used to work with and he moved his hands in a kind of hourglass shape and said in his cute British accent, " You're... You... it looks...well, there's less of you, isn't there?"
Yup.

the worst is from one of my customers, an old Korean lady.."oh, you lose weight, you not so fat like before.. before you was SOOOOOOOOOOO FAAAAAAAT" (complete with hand gestures to illustrate exactly how fat I was.
The best was from my Aunt who is extremely weight conscious. I figured she wouldn't even say anything since I'm still 244 pounds which is unthinkable in her book.. But she absolutely gushed about how great I look and she said that if I continued to lose weight that would be great, but even if I never lost another pound I look fantastic.. then I proceeded to get phone calls from my cousins who called me because my aunt had gone straight home and called them and gushed about how "thin" I was and how great I looked.

Thanks so much for sharing this, Suzanne! I have also chosen Dr. Aceves, and I'm a self-pay. I've been investigating weight loss surgery for almost 20 years, so I knew when I found Dr. Aceves, I felt good about his practice and outcomes. But today, I started to have my doubts. Am I crazy for going to Mexico? No, I'm not, it's an informed decision in which I feel extremely confident. But those doubts can creep in!
My surgery date is November 21, and I can't wait!

Hi Everyone,
I am celebrating year 5 of having a very successful weight loss surgery! I was 63 when I had sleeve surgery done, so it is never too late to have weight loss surgery!!!!
This was very best choice I have ever made in my life. I had my Weight Loss Surgery in Oct 2008. After a lot of investigating and considering all the doctors and places I could have my surgery. I made the choice to have Dr. Aceves in Mexicalli Mexico do my surgery. I was a self-pay, and believe me I really checked out every option there was. I was an older person and I really took my time to figure out what was best for me. I talked to a lot of different people who had already had weight loss surgery about who their doctors were.
It wasn’t something I rushed into. It took me about 6 months before I knew for sure that I was going to the right place for me. I also made the choice to have VGS aka the sleeve. I lost of total of 105 pounds and it took me 14 months to do this. Was it easy, yes and no? The 1st month was the hardest month I had to do. After that it just kept getting better and easier each month. It is NOT a magical cure. It is my tool to allow me to use to reach my goal. The big question you are thinking is have I maintained my weight loss goal? The answer is YES, I fluctuate between 5 to 7 pounds sometimes. I still eat healthy, make sure I get enough Protein and stay away from too many carbs. It accurately is a lifestyle change NOT a diet. It is easy for me to live like this and eat like this for the rest of my life. I have some really delicious meals and I never feel deprived at all. Do I eat deserts, yes and it is made healthy and is extremely good. Do I eat deserts every day; the answer is no. I love all the lifestyle changes I have made in my life and it will always work for me.
I was the person who hated to exercise. Now I do something every day. Last Sept, I thought I would just see if I could walk 7 days a week for a month and I did just that. Well that became a good habit and I walked EVERY DAY for one YEAR without missing a day. Yes, I walked outside when it was raining or not nice weather—I am always coming back home, so I will get dry if I get wet while walking. I walked between 3 ½ miles to 4 miles a day. Five years ago, I could have never walked that much. Find some type of exercise that you like and it will be easier to do. Start out slow and then add to it. You don’t have to do it 7 days a week, but do something at least 3 or 5 times a week.
I want you to know that you too can become successful at weight loss. I am 68 now and life is so different for me. If you are thinking about having weight loss surgery, I am living proof that it does work and you can do it too.
Suzanne Beaty
Sleeved Oct 21, 2008

Had started exercising in the pool at the gym this past week and was feeling really good.... until I got on the scale. I had only lost 1 lb. This morning, I tried on 3 pairs of jeans that have been hanging in my closet because it's been over a year since I could get into them. They fit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My wonderful husband reminded me it's not always about the scale.
I'm so happy and so lucky!

Yay, congrats! Sometimes we get so fixated on the scale that we forget that there are other ways to measure our progress when the scales are being stubborn.

My skin cleared up and started becoming what it should have been all along. In fact, I'm getting ready to cancel my Proactive account and upcoming mailings because I don't need it anymore and it never really did help compared to what it should.

Isopure and many SF puddings contain sucralose (otherwise known as Splenda) or other sugar alcohols that can make you have diarrhea or other gastro problems because your body has a hard time breaking those additives down. I thought I was lactose intolerant too and it was "liquids in, liquids out" until I realized it wasn't the milk or the Protein -- it was the artificial sweeteners that was causing the problem.

Tomorrow is my official one year anniversary. This time last year I was so scared and excited about the surgery that was to happen the next morning. I remember the 1 hour drive to the hospital. I was so sick, miserable, and huge at that time and I knew I had to do this to get my life back. I knew that when I went through the surgery room doors, there would be no turning back.
When I awoke, I had pain and thought to myself "what in the world have I done". I was so thirsty and had so much stuff hooked to me. I had a pain pump catheter that was dispensing pain meds straight to my new tummy. By the afternoon, I was walking around and the next morning, I was ready to come home. I was suppose to stay one more day but I wanted to leave and so I did. When I got home... OH my goodness, I was in such pain!! Once I got my meds, I was fine though.
Recovery went slow for me but I didn't have any major complications. Thank the good Lord! I would do it again and I'm so glad that God helped me through this and I had faith to just trust Him.
As of today, I am down 120 pounds and am 20 pounds from goal. I started at a size 24/26 and am now a 10/12. The jeans I have on in the pic are 10's but they are so tight!! LOL
To all the new people that are thinking about having the sleeve. Just know that it is all worth it but it isn't easy. At least for me it wasn't. Now I'm working on the last 20 pounds and it is so hard to get the scale to move. I know that I will make it though. It may take 6 more months, but it will happen.
I'm so grateful for this forum. Thanks to all of you that always post wonderful compliments on my post!! It has been a great journey and I'm so thankful!

Excuse me while I rant: what is this nonsense about "losing weight the natural way?" Every pound I have lost has been lost through my hard work. The surgery didn't remove any weight ( well other than about 2 lbs of my stomach). It's not like they hooked up a vacuum and sucked out the weight.
My weight was lost by sticking to a 2&1/2 week complete liquid pre-op diet. It was done by following my doctor's post-op diet (mostly) to the letter. It was sweated off in daily exercise sessions. It was lost by resisting the urges to indulge in slider foods, wheat and sugar.
What is "the natural way?" Is it taking dangerous prescription drugs (been there)? Is it reading 100s of diet books? Is it numerous counseling, and weight loss group sessions? Is it starting a new diet every Monday morning, then admitting failure by Tuesday? Is it yoyo dieting, losing 10 lbs, then regaining 20; losing 30, regaining 40, and on and on?
VSG is a TOOL. Like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem is a tool. No one looks down their noses at those tools. Why do we put up with people looking down their noses at our tool?
End of rant . . . well, for now.

Isopure and many SF puddings contain sucralose (otherwise known as Splenda) or other sugar alcohols that can make you have diarrhea or other gastro problems because your body has a hard time breaking those additives down. I thought I was lactose intolerant too and it was "liquids in, liquids out" until I realized it wasn't the milk or the Protein -- it was the artificial sweeteners that was causing the problem.

I would definitely push for a HIDA scan if the pain doesn't go away. I had to go through all those tests before my doctor would do the scan -- all tests came back okay -- but the HIDA showed 0% functioning and only then was my gallbladder removed. I had no stones.

My first week post op I learned a very valuable lesson: Never trust a fart.< /p>

Isopure and many SF puddings contain sucralose (otherwise known as Splenda) or other sugar alcohols that can make you have diarrhea or other gastro problems because your body has a hard time breaking those additives down. I thought I was lactose intolerant too and it was "liquids in, liquids out" until I realized it wasn't the milk or the Protein -- it was the artificial sweeteners that was causing the problem.

Just take things slow and remember that you may be able to eat more of some foods and less of others. I know at 5 1/2 weeks out eggs still sit heavy on my stomach while other foods, like turkey and cheese, don't seem to bother me as much. Everybody is different so give yourself time to eat a little bit and see how your body handles it before you eat much more. (((hugs)))

I'm going to make this one of my NSV -- to throw out perfectly fine food and not look back. I couldn't have done that -- I would have been feeding it to the dogs or something on the place (surely the raccoons would have liked that, right?).
It's been enough for now that I'm okay with leaving a bite or two on the plate and then handing it over to my older cat if it's something he really likes to finish off. Since moving to more solid food I've been eating more and more fish and he loves it.
I remember being in the kitchen one night and couldn't eat more than 2-3 bites of salmon. I didn't want to put it back in the fridge so I fed it to Alex. It was a little unsettling watching him eat that and realizing that my cat can now eat more food than me.

Yay for you!!! I do the same thing!! I didn't go buy one, but I use a salad plate or when I was early out, I even used a little bread and butter plate!! A lot of this is in our minds!! I also eat with a seafood fork here at the house, almost all the time. I have a little one cup Martha Stewart bowl that holds ONE cup if full to the very top. I can eat out of this too some times. I too use to have the 'clean your plate' syndrome. A terrible disease, isn't it? I made it a POINT to start leaving a bite or two on my plate in the beginning, and I still do it pretty often. I don't know if you were at the support group where I told about a very exciting non scale victory......we made home made pizza, just the two of us to eat it, but it sounded good. I ate my little portion, one small slice and half of another. My husband ate 4 pieces and knowing how high in calories pizza is.....I put the left overs, 3.5 pieces, in baggies in the frig for Curt to take in his lunch. He saw me and said he did not want to take it, he didn't need it. So I opened the frig and did something that I've NEVER done in my life, I threw perfectly good pizza in the trash. I know this sounds crazy, but it was a real life changing, ah ha, moment for me!!! Throwing it away felt better than the darn thing tasted!!! I wanted to shout it from the roof tops!! Our way of thinking DOES change.....but it takes a while and many times, it still doesn't come naturally, but boy does it feel good! I still have the clean plate thing lurking, but I fight it!

The bad thing is....my husband has a clean plate syndrome for me! So when I am finished and cannot eat another bite he feels that it is his responsibility to eat my leftovers! SO, he began to gain weight while I was losing weight. We eventually got this worked out and he is on a diet and exercise regimen and losing weight but when he isnt thinking, he still goes for those last few bites on my plate. haha I am good with leaving them there because when I am done, I am done! I dont want to feel bad for eating one bite too many.

When I eat out, I do ask for a to-go box when they bring the meal out. That way I'm not tempted to keep eating more than I should because the taste is so good. It also keeps the waiter from wondering why you only ate a few spoonfuls and have stopped eating the rest = it's not because the food was bad but because you are full. It avoids that problem.

Yep, I did. And was not happy with it. I began at 496lbs and am 5'10". I never imagined I would ever come close to 250, let alone where I am now. I was very fortunate and was down to 200lb at one year post op. I became so fixated on getting to a "normal" BMI, which for me would be 174lbs, that I just kept doing the things I had been to lose. I got down to 177. Woo Hoo me, right? Nope. I felt like crap, my joints hurt when jarred (like jumping down from a ladder) and I did not like how I looked, my face was way too thin for my comfort. My body fat was less than 9% which, per my DR was too low. So for the first time in my life I made a conscientious decision to gain weight. (How crazy is that!) I am now living my life in the weight range between 185 and 195 with a body fat between 12-14%. I feel great, look relatively good and can do all the activities at the level I want at this weight range. Can one lose too much? I believe they can. I do think that each individual needs to make the determination of their ideal weight range is based on their lifestyle and it should not be based on charts or what is "normal".

When i first started this journey i thought ok im 300 pounds now i think getting down to 180 would be good right? I still feel this way. The problem is i feel really skinny and people think that im about 150 or 160 pounds at the moment. Im not complaining because i feel better than ever.
Here's where the issue lies..... 7 months ago i was 300 pounds and i was about a 50 in the waist today i am 184 pounds and a 34 in the waist. I still have a couple of months before i get to my year. Im more than sure ill end up around 160 170. If i look like im about 160 now and im 180 what will i look like at 160 when i really do weigh 160?
Any body out there ever been worried about losing to much weight? Or actually lost more weight than anticipated? Dont get me wrong this is not me complaining or confessing regrets i love the new me i actually have muscles and abs! lol ....i just never wanted to be the skinny guy.

When I eat out, I do ask for a to-go box when they bring the meal out. That way I'm not tempted to keep eating more than I should because the taste is so good. It also keeps the waiter from wondering why you only ate a few spoonfuls and have stopped eating the rest = it's not because the food was bad but because you are full. It avoids that problem.

While I'm in a similar boat as ladylaura, my NUT and doctor also told me to listen to my body...sounds like you're doing exactly that! If you're not ready, you're not ready. Caution is a great thing

Many people go through the motions of having food funerals and this kind of sounds like one. I know I had a few myself so I can't say you are being bad. One thing that I can say is please understand this isn't the last time that you will be enjoy one of these. Yes, you'll never be able to eat as much in one sitting but you will probably be able to eat a little of everything you love next year at the next reunion. The surgery is not the end of everything -- it's just changing you to be more healthy and make better choices in your everyday life.