mrs.petethecat

If you can bring a small pillow to put between you and the arm of the seat. Some people use it to put between the seat belt and your incisions. I flew from San Diego to Tampa with a plane change in Denver. There was a LONG walk to change gates. Make sure you allow plenty of time if you have gate changes.
Best wishes to you!

I am always in a hurry in the morning and don't make time for Breakfast before I leave. I decided I want to eat some kashi Cereal which fills me longer but I always forget milk and don't want a whole half gallon for the office as I am in and out of my office (work in 2 locations, sometimes from home and travel for weeks at a time outside of the country). While hunting for a small container to bring a days worth of milk in, I found my old breast pump milk containers with lids for breast milk! Holds 6 ounces and it's perfect but it may completely freak out my coworkers to see breast milk containers filled with almond milk in the fridge! The upside is, no one will steal my milk

It felt great!! I posted a while back about my girl leaving me after 10 yrs because of my weight loss. Well in the state of Texas we were married and so I had to get a divorce. An actual divorce. She left the state and I had to do it alone and yes it was awkward but I did it. It wasn't something I really wanted under my belt but it is what it is. I am now at 160 and I feel great and I am ready to move on. So thanks to my friends on here for your support

Tomorrow is my one year anniversary.....August 2, 2012.....my 40th birthday! I am so happy to say that 365 days later I am maintaining my weight loss of 60 lbs, which I lost after 6 months. I am a size 4/6 and run about 40 miles a week and am planning a 15 mile run tomorrow for my 41st bday and my one year anniversary. This was the best decision I could have ever made. Dr. Garcia is wonderful and I would do the surgery again in a heartbeat if I needed to. For those questioning the surgery, the location or the doctor know that you are making the right decision! To think last year at this time my husband and I were sitting in the Marriott Tijuana waiting for the big day!

....to buy her Protein Shake mix for post op and the 70 year old lady that asked if i needed help, I tell her I'm looking for the section where they have to Vitamins and Protein shake mix, so she walks me to the back and shows me!!
She proceeds to ask me when my surgery is etc...and we chit chat for a min and she looks straight at me and says "honey you don't need that surgery, you look good like you are.....well thank you sweetheart, that was kind if you, but at 250 POUNDS I LOOK ANYTHING BUT GOOD!!!!!
So sweet of her and her 90 lbs. soaking wet body, but I thank I will go on with the surgery:)
Kim
8/8/13 is my day:)

I had surgery with Dr.Lopez on 6/17/13. He and his team were great! I booked through A Lighter Me and was well taken care of. I found them all to be very thorough with each of four doctors going over my history before surgery. Very happy with the outcome...33lbs in 6 weeks. May not be as much as some peop0le, but for me ( typically a very slow loser) this is great. Could not ave done it on my own! Good luck to you. Any questions email me.

My story is a little similar to Fiddleman's. I was a chunky , awkward kid and i paid for it in elementary and middle school. Our high school had so many kids from that came from so many other schools that it was easy to hide. I went into college and found myself at 5'9" and 238lbs. This was in the 80s when having a Members Only jacket was a must but there was not one to be found at my size. Something snapped and I started starving myself living mostly on Slim Fast power shakes and walking every day. i managed to get down to 175lbs and I was finally thin. I experienced things that I had never experienced before (like catching girls checking me out and looking me over) and things didn't always go the way i thought they would as a slim person (just because you're slim doesn't mean EVERY girl you find attractive will think the same of you). Life was good and being that weight allowed me to go into the Air Force. This is where I began to pay for the mistake of starving myself. When they say "three square meals" they weren't kidding. I was the only person to GAIN weight in basic training and the slim sexy 31 waist jeans I went in with would not fit me afterwards. It was a struggle with weight until I got out of the air force. There was no struggle then as there was no one to get on me about being fat. Up and up the weight went until 15 or so years later i find myself on the higher end of 300lbs. My wife suggested i get weight loss surgery but i wanted to try it on my own first and actually was able to lose 50 lbs. 5 more years of up and down until this year when i'm at 416lbs, I'm diabetic, I have gerd, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea. i succumbed to my wife and met with my surgeon in January of this year for the first time.

Fat, thin, fat, thin, fat, thin, fat, fatter, fattest...

I do not think I was ever thin. Maybe for like 10 minutes after I was born. Seriously, most of my early life was chubby. I remember getting picked on or bullied in elementary school. Middle school was the worst bullying and actually was the start of my dieting career and head issues (depression and anxiety). I tried everything back then. My first real success was in 7th grade and I was able to diet and run off 70 lb. This was pretty substantial and my parents paid me 2 dollars a lb. I felt pretty good at the end of summer. Weight slowly crept up in high school and through college, but I did have my ups and downs. My first real weight loss success came back in 2005 when Atkins was popular. I lost 100 lb on it and thought eating high fat, as in egg and sausage (no bisquit) from MCD for breakfast and a triple hamburger with cheese (no bun) from Wendy's was actually pretty good. I excelled at low carb dieting. I then gained it all back plus some over a couple years. My next success was WW in 2007. I lost 90 lb and loved getting all the rewards and losing 5 lbs a week. I then got lazy after 6 months and reverted back to junk and sugar. I did Atkins all the time after that but could never get it started again. I did south beach, hypnosis ( what a waste of money) and a dozen other diet attempts. Fast forward to 2012 and I had the sleeve. It has been 12 months since surgery and I reached goal about at month 7. The weight has stayed off and I have been focused on being fit and eating well. So yes, I have 35 some years experience with being fat and probably 30 years of some diet or another. It is pretty sad how being fat has made my personal life miserable. I feel like so many years of my life were lost to the sickness of obesity. Time to make up for lost time! I am now very fit at healthy BMI and dedicated to health, fitness and vitality for myself. I want to help others if they ask for advice on VST, family or people I run into out and about. Every day continues to be a good experience and has meaning.

I was chunky in jr. high, slimmed down summer before high school. Maintained a 36-28-36 figure through graduation. Then I got raped and packed on the pounds (subconsciously thinking that would keep me "safe"). Hit 165 (I'm 5'1.5"), then got married at 19 (again thinking i would be "safe") and had 3 kids in rapid succession, never losing baby weight between pregnancies and suffering pretty severe postpartum deppression. I found myself at 25, weighing 250, divorced and going back to school. Now I'm 33, my demons have been slayed, and I'm ready to let go of the last vestiges of the trauma in my life -- all this fat! Hoping for a September surgery date!

If you gotta have it, get the stuff here with lots o' Protein in it! Http://www.bariatricchoice.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/106452/

I went through some tough times on this topic myself. In the end I concluded that I saw myself pretty harshly - more so then others see me. I looked at my face in the mirror, and i felt so old looking. Yet, I constantly get unsolicited feedback about how young I look (I am 49).
I think that losing massive weight is emotionally traumatic in some ways. It is a very good thing, but it is a real shocker and for some of us, some feelings of self doubt and perhaps even self loathing surface. I would advise everyone to try to focus on the positive and to realize that with time it really does get better.
I lost 150# - nearly half my body weight - so there is no denying i need plastic surgery to have anything like a "normal" body however - I am not that bad! I look pretty ok in clothes. i look like a normal healthy woman. Out of clothes, well, I don't look good but i sure as heck look better then when I was morbidly obese. Although my face at times looks drawn and old by my eyes - according to people around me I look way younger... i have heard repeatedly that losing weight took 15 years off my looks. I am thinking that is good, since I think it added 15 years to my life!

I look way better dressed than I do naked! My face isn't, but I was 31 when I had surgery so it has bounced back well, just a little waddle under my chin that I am sure only I notice. I have bad arms, stomach and thighs and plan on getting some work done when I have the money to do so. I had read on another thread, I look 25 dressed and 75 naked, but I will take it!! Its not like I will be walking around naked anytime soon!

I do see my face as deflated. Lol I don't like it and i am contemplating a face lift but not sure if I want to put out all the money for it. I am at an age where I too am almost 60. Such tough decisions to make. Lol. My stomach looks like a deflated muffin, skin on my thighs is loose. And I can reach back and grab a big fold of skin. but I look really good in cloths.

I look deflated but I am! With more than 100 lbs. less of me, I do see baggy skin. Also, I'm closer to 60 than 50, so some of it is just age. Honestly, if I were in my 30s, I would consider plastic surgery, but at this point it is not worth it for me.
I've looked at lots of pictures of people who have had plastics after WLS, and I am lucky that my skin has fared as well as it has. You will not see me in a bikini or short shorts or skirts and those cute little bras from Victoria's Secret don't look good on me, but I don't need to wear compression garments to wear a snug top and nothing hangs over in a fold anywhere.
It has gotten better over the last year (I've been at goal for 15 months).
Lynda
Lynda

I see so many questions on this forum and remember all the questions I had pre op and especially post op...so I thought I would try too compile some information in one spot....here's hoping it helps someone and someone finds it useful....
1. Don't freak out when you can barely sip anything immediately after surgery.....I could barely drink a little medicine cup in the hospital...some can drink more....I just couldn't.....I can hardly remember the feeling in my stomach but I struggled and struggled, in fact I stayed an extra night in the hospital due to this and continues to struggle when I went home. It got better day by day...for me milk was easier.
2. On the same subject of drinking...water hits the stomach a bit hard in the beginning due to its density as my nutritionist explained to me....if you mix it with g2 or crystal light you will feel a difference. At about 3 months I started plain Water and now at more than 6 months post op it's no problem at all.
3. I don't feel very full on pureed foods..what's up? Wait till you get to semi solid or pure protein.....it's so different...even at 6 months out I feel incredible restriction when I eat a Boca burger.
4. Don't freak out when you come home from the hospital and all you do is feel sad, melancholy and cry yourself through the morning...for a couple of weeks I was mourning food. I missed my food friend pizza and chips, my love Pasta and I broke up and I didn't think I could live without any of them....I stopped crying at....probably 2 weeks....once I transition to pureed and ate the famous ricotta bake. Somehow I began feeling somewhat like my old self..
5. I am still kind of in 4. Will I ever be able to eat a piece of pizza again??????
Yes...of course you can...eventually you can..I could eat a slice and probably be very satisfied but now I don't want to....I find myself making healthier choices but I did make that cauliflower crust pizza and it was pretty good. I ate one small slice. It wasn't exactly like a traditional piece of pizza...but it was good! And I knew it was healthy.
6 . O.mg..I left the hospital weighing more than I did pre op. I figure it's all the fluids they pump used up with..
7. I haven't lost a lb in weeks...what's up with that????? I've been watching the rhythms of my weight loss...and I can clearly see I stay at number for two, three weeks and then I drop 5 or 6 lbs in a few days. It cycles this way and I don't freak anymore.
Feel free to add folks....

So, saying that the way these folks are living and eating will lead them to failure? My diet, during the most weight I've lost phase wasn't on point at all. I ate whatever I wanted when I was reintroduced to solid foods. I've had ice cream, candy, etc in very small portions and have lost 115 pounds in October, 90 of that since Feb when I had my surgery. I do think commenting on how other people work their sleeve and saying they'll fail is a bit over board. Just like now, I cyclical Keto diet, meaning I have 12 days of minimal carbs, and then 36 hours of 2 days I eat high GI carbs, which 90% of you on here would freak out and say I'm going to fail. I do what works for me, and that's all anyone can and should do. There's no cookie cutter program. I think over analyzing the diet aspect and freaking out over macro's leads to eventual failure, especially as a larger person who has struggled with weight loss all of their lives.
The way I see if, there are 2 boats, both going to the same place. One is the strict, I only eat wholesome healthy foods, and the other is the I don't want to "diet" my entire life and I'm going to still enjoy food but on a much smaller scale. Now, every once in a while, some do jump over board and swim back to the shore which can and has lead to failure, sure it happens, but not everyone who enjoys food from time to time is going to fail on this journey.
Many people had dealt with judgement their entire lives. And someone who's been sleeved coming in saying "I'm concerned" is the same as judgement to them, regardless of how you saw it or what you were trying to do. It could have gone either way. You could have been more sensitive to their diet and feelings, or they could have just understood that you're concerned for their general health and only want what's best for them, and they should know what works for them and let it slide. I know what I eat isn't always the cleanest most best thing for me out there, but no major stalls, bodyfat% has dropped every month (not BMI, but DEXA scanned), and each week when I step on the scale I see a lower number.

My wife makes "constructive" criticism comments to me and of course I argue about them. Time passes and I quietly consider what she said which most of the time was right. I try to change without her noticing to save face. This has been going on for many years without let up so I would wager she notices.

Mindful, Congrats on being open and giving your opinion. I rather fall in the same opinion as you. I also know that a lot of the people that return to his/her old eating habits will gain his/her weight back too. So I choose to eat healthy 90% of the time. They will cause an uproar because they struggle with the choices they make. It is important that someone does challenge them because that gives them something to think about. If they get upset and attack you, remind yourself that you were honest and upfront and on the right page to getting a healthier you. So congrats on healthier thinking!

So help me out, someone! I was just seriously railed against in another support forum for people who were sleeved in July of this year. The reason being, I expressed my concern about all of the comments from people who were already eating Hershey kisses, filet o fish (McDonald's), frozen yogurt, and Cookies.< /p>
Maybe I am the one missing the boat here, but that seems like very risky behavior to me. Even only if eating half the fried fish filet or only one cookie, this seems like an addict who only snorts one line of coke.
The people were very upset with me for pointing this out and expressing my concern (even though I didn't name anyone in particular). They said that they won't live their lives "counting calories" and "not enjoying their lives".
Am I missing something? I am counting every calorie of everything I eat! I am trying to analyze my behavior so I can compare it to what I was doing before surgery and learn from it.
Am I doing something wrong? Should I be happy that I can only eat 1/2 a large order of fries??? That seems crazy to me, but maybe I am being too strict and setting myself up for failure.
Someone, please help!

I never forward anything that tries to emotionaly manipulate me into forwarding no matter how much I agree with the content. I am not a cyber puppet.
Amazing how bent out of shape people get at religious expression. In no way does the post do anyone any harm. Unless someone is trying to behead you let it go.

Oh! Just wanted to add....I had Dr. Lopez as well and you are in good hands!

I got a cheap flyer in the mail one day selling miracle bath fat puller. Apparently, you put this stuff in the bath Water and it pulls the fat out of your body, 20-30 pounds in 20 minutes. It had a drawn picture of a fat body-before, and a skinny body-after. I guess you'd have to call a plumber afterward to unclog your fat clogged drain. I was amazed to think that some people would actually believe this malarky.
People fill in the gaps in their knowledge with imagination. Politicians count on it. They insinuate and let you do rest in your mind. Facts are secondary to effect.
If you feel so inclined you may destroy their ignorance with fact. Be aware that some folks prefer imagination regardless of it's proximity to reality.

Very few people in my life know I had this surgery, this is why! I was out with a friend who did know about my surgery and she actually said to me I wish I was lucky enough to have that surgery so I could just sit on the couch, eat whatever I want and still just have weight fall off me! Apparently she think I sit at home all day a weight just magically falls off my body! Yes, I will say during the first few months it kinda felt like that, expect for the eating part because i still cant tolerate many food and most likely never will. I have lost over 100 pounds. However after I lost my first 40 pounds I stalled majorly, which thankfully is when I started coming on here and getting advice and encouragement. However to kick up my weight loss I joined a gym, which I go to 5 days a week and work my butt off, I count every calorie (except during my vacation:-/) I have worked very hard at switching my whole family to a REAL FOOD diet, almost no processed foods in our house. To be honest I have been working at this lifestyle to make it work best for me, that's not even taking into account all the mental aspects of dealing with my old food habits and food addiction and getting to the root of those issues so I don't repeat my history. I couldn't believe she said that, it made me wonder how many people really believe this lie and it made me so mad. Fortunately it was just the two of us and I was able to take some time to let her know that it's not that easy. Has this ever happened to any of you? How did you handle it? It made me so mad, but it also made me wonder if I made the right decision not telling people, part of me is glad because I'm less likely to end up in that same situation, however the part of me thinks if I did let people know it would open me up to being able to have these honest real conversation with people. Any ways guess I just wanted to get that off my chest.

WOW, Congrats on your success! DIning out should be as fun for you as it was before surgery. I think we might be more sensitive to "what folks think" when they may not be thinking anything at all. I was a waitress for 15 years all through high school/ college and then some and I don't ever recall having an opinion on how much someone ate unless they had a complaint. It's vacation, go enjoy! If someone forms an uneducated opinion on what you are or are not eating, ignore them. I can understand being bothered if this was happening at your favorite restaurant and you see the servers all the time, but try not to let random people ruin your good time. You are working too hard to let ignorance trouble you. Enjoy your vacation and continued success to you!!