slvrsax

Not telling them might wind up driving a bigger wedge than the weight loss.
I don't know the intricacies of your relationship with your friends, but I can relate a personal experience. One of my oldest friends had surgery many years ago, and it DID cause some strife in our friendship. I was proud of her, and admired her success - honestly, I even understood that she needed to bring new friends into her life who could do the things she wanted to do.
What I DIDN'T understand was why she couldn't remember what it was like to weigh 400 pounds and not be able to do things. Why she got upset or frustrated with me when I wouldn't do something with her because I couldn't keep up / walk that hill / fit / come in under the weight limit / afford the outfit, etc. Why we'd go places and start out walking together, then she'd start outpacing me and get pissy when I fell behind and she had to stop for me to catch up. Why she couldn't understand when I'd get upset when she insisted on sitting in the center row at the movie theater, right between people, forcing me to sit sideways on one cheek to avoid spilling onto the people next to us.
You can't control their reactions to your success, but if you want to do your part to maintain your relationship with them, just don't forget where you came from - respect where they are and what they can do, and that it's okay that they aren't in the same place that you are.
And congratulations - it looks like you're doing a great job so far

The picture is showing a little funny, it looks stretched. Attached is another, it shows my before, this was taken back in June at 88 lbs lost.

An update.
Below is a studio picture from the dance studio I work out at. I'm the second over from the right next to the pregnant lady. I started at 280, 9 months later (as of today) I am 177. What a journey this has been! I'm not done yet. I have a formal event I need a full length dress for, I can find things in my size and I'm not the biggest size! Hopefully the picture will show.

I really didn't think I'd do it. My goal was -88. I've been hovering right around -98-99 for awhile but wasn't trying to lose anymore. Then I went on a carb binge (ice cream, bread, muffins, chips, chocolate, Cookies, potatoes and LOTS of alcohol) while traveling to visit family and attend a conference and gained 4 pounds. I was totally OK with it, since I was still below goal. But after just 10 days back to my normal eating routine, I lost that 4 pounds plus 1 extra to hit the magic number 100.
I'm not real big on the scale numbers, but this one does feel kinda cool

Slvsax, congrats! Can't wait to see pics of your sparkly dress!
My stats...surgery 12/20/13. High weight was 238. As of today I am 138 - down an even 100 pounds. (12 pounds under goal). I'm in size 7 jeans and medium tops. I refuse to buy any more clothes, so I'm really trying to load on the calories, yet still eat healthy. It's harder than it sounds
PS did I mention how much I love my sleeve?!

Jenjo, you really do look fantastic You have come so far! I totally relate to what you're saying. I'm 10 months out as of yesterday. I am THRILLED to be where I'm at but I don't want to be done yet! I feel like I have to work much harder now for ANY loss and I'm not sure how to jump start it again. I am also around a size 12 but still feel "big" because of the skin flap below my belly button. My cardio is done in a dance studio. I compare myself to the other ladies (all younger and smaller) and that is just never good. I just shouldn't even go there, comparing myself to others is just dangerous territory.
Just this morning I was telling myself "Sherri, its time to re-group and get this going again!" I'd like to lose another 10 by my year anniversary.
Truly - you look great!

I haven't posted here in a long while! I started at 280, was 262 on day of surgery. Today I'm 175. I'm exercising a lot, eating well probably 90% of the time. I haven't lost anything in a month so today I started tracking my intake again because I'd stopped. Night time snacking and weekend "relaxing" are my weaknesses. I'm having my gall bladder out on November 20. I'm having some mild symptoms but no attacks.
Here are the things motivating me to keep up the good fight!
1. Finishing the year strong and getting as much off as I can for my 1 year pix/stats. I'm bummed because I'm having surgery on 11/20 and won't be able to exercise for a whole month! I've put off my surgery because I'm on a roll with exercise and don't want to stop
2. Getting into a size 12 sparkly blue formal I've rented for a fancy party on 11/15 (Have the same dress in black on stand by but I really want to wear the blue)
3. Holiday party season, I want to wear a short dress!
4. Reflecting on maintenance and what that might look like long term.
I'm in a size 14, sometimes a 12. My dress size seems high for my weight! I'm 5'8 and 175. I swear if it weren't for my extra belly skin I'd be in a solid 12

I haven't posted here in a long while! I started at 280, was 262 on day of surgery. Today I'm 175. I'm exercising a lot, eating well probably 90% of the time. I haven't lost anything in a month so today I started tracking my intake again because I'd stopped. Night time snacking and weekend "relaxing" are my weaknesses. I'm having my gall bladder out on November 20. I'm having some mild symptoms but no attacks.
Here are the things motivating me to keep up the good fight!
1. Finishing the year strong and getting as much off as I can for my 1 year pix/stats. I'm bummed because I'm having surgery on 11/20 and won't be able to exercise for a whole month! I've put off my surgery because I'm on a roll with exercise and don't want to stop
2. Getting into a size 12 sparkly blue formal I've rented for a fancy party on 11/15 (Have the same dress in black on stand by but I really want to wear the blue)
3. Holiday party season, I want to wear a short dress!
4. Reflecting on maintenance and what that might look like long term.
I'm in a size 14, sometimes a 12. My dress size seems high for my weight! I'm 5'8 and 175. I swear if it weren't for my extra belly skin I'd be in a solid 12

I haven't posted here in a long while! I started at 280, was 262 on day of surgery. Today I'm 175. I'm exercising a lot, eating well probably 90% of the time. I haven't lost anything in a month so today I started tracking my intake again because I'd stopped. Night time snacking and weekend "relaxing" are my weaknesses. I'm having my gall bladder out on November 20. I'm having some mild symptoms but no attacks.
Here are the things motivating me to keep up the good fight!
1. Finishing the year strong and getting as much off as I can for my 1 year pix/stats. I'm bummed because I'm having surgery on 11/20 and won't be able to exercise for a whole month! I've put off my surgery because I'm on a roll with exercise and don't want to stop
2. Getting into a size 12 sparkly blue formal I've rented for a fancy party on 11/15 (Have the same dress in black on stand by but I really want to wear the blue)
3. Holiday party season, I want to wear a short dress!
4. Reflecting on maintenance and what that might look like long term.
I'm in a size 14, sometimes a 12. My dress size seems high for my weight! I'm 5'8 and 175. I swear if it weren't for my extra belly skin I'd be in a solid 12

I haven't posted here in a long while! I started at 280, was 262 on day of surgery. Today I'm 175. I'm exercising a lot, eating well probably 90% of the time. I haven't lost anything in a month so today I started tracking my intake again because I'd stopped. Night time snacking and weekend "relaxing" are my weaknesses. I'm having my gall bladder out on November 20. I'm having some mild symptoms but no attacks.
Here are the things motivating me to keep up the good fight!
1. Finishing the year strong and getting as much off as I can for my 1 year pix/stats. I'm bummed because I'm having surgery on 11/20 and won't be able to exercise for a whole month! I've put off my surgery because I'm on a roll with exercise and don't want to stop
2. Getting into a size 12 sparkly blue formal I've rented for a fancy party on 11/15 (Have the same dress in black on stand by but I really want to wear the blue)
3. Holiday party season, I want to wear a short dress!
4. Reflecting on maintenance and what that might look like long term.
I'm in a size 14, sometimes a 12. My dress size seems high for my weight! I'm 5'8 and 175. I swear if it weren't for my extra belly skin I'd be in a solid 12

So this is going to piss off a lot of people. But I call BS on everyone that says they are a "private person" or "its nobody else's business" when trying to justify why they don't admit to having WLS. Saying you had your gall bladder removed or a hernia repaired or any other number of fake surgeries instead of WLS is "sharing" a personal health issue, just not the one you actually had. If you needed a knee or hip replacement, would you fib and say you sprained something to explain your brace and/or crutches? Do you hide your need for insulin if you have diabetes? Do you all wear contacts instead of glasses so people don't know you have bad vision? How about if you needed your appendix removed? A kidney transplant? Can you seriously say you would come up with a "story" to cover up the fact you needed these surgeries?
What are you all afraid of? Why are you ashamed? This was a huge commitment for all of us. Why aren't you willing to stand up and defend your convictions by being honest about your decision to have surgery? Some people claim they don't want to hear negative feedback. Well how is the social stigma of obesity and WLS ever going to be overcome unless those negative people hear and see all of our success stories for themselves. Every time I am asked about my weight loss I see it as an opportunity to educate. Maybe next time the subject is brought up, that person can say "I know someone that had VSG and she looks and feels great! Why don't you give her a call".
I don't mean to offend, I just don't think "privacy" is the whole reason why WLS isn't admitted to and talked about openly.

An update.
Below is a studio picture from the dance studio I work out at. I'm the second over from the right next to the pregnant lady. I started at 280, 9 months later (as of today) I am 177. What a journey this has been! I'm not done yet. I have a formal event I need a full length dress for, I can find things in my size and I'm not the biggest size! Hopefully the picture will show.

Fyi: ive lost 2.5 lbs of the amt Ive gained. I stopped drinking alcohol and nightime snacking. I guess it makes a bigger difference than I once thought. I hafta force myself to "top off" with my dinner, eatong to the point of being full so Im not hungry again before bedtime. Probly not a great idea but once I have a snack (healthy or not) its over. I will eat all nite
On my way back from the dark side...

I too am stuck on a plateau .I have been 187-189 forever.I can wear smaller pants than tops due to my body shape. Although I have lost over 100 lbs., I sometimes still feel huge. It is hard because I should know I won't transform into a petite girl. My shoulders are broad and even if I lose 40 more lbs. I will never been teeny tiny. I am trying to focus on my cardio and workouts but sometimes I feel like a big old Amazon, surrounded by friends and family that are size 2's. I have to limit my weigh ins to once a week or I get super down for the whole day. Also, I have learned to really find clothing styles that flatter my body. The right cut and style for body type can make you feel and look slimmer. Don't be so hard on yourself. You look beautiful!

I am going to challenge you.. not to in any way invalidate your feelings or experiences, but rather to give you "food for thought".. so please take it in the way intended.
Can you really eat as much as you used to? Are you really as hungry as you used to be? Do you think that you can continue to lose weight (and more importantly maintain your losses!)? Could you have accomplished any of this without the sleeve?
I have lost over 160#. I started at 308... and my dream, my measure of success was to get under 200# and actually maintain it. At 5'5"; still obese. I got to about 190 and sure enough... my weight loss slowed to a crawl. At about 8-9 months post op, I was losing around 2# a MONTH!
I met with my nutritionalist and she pointed out the single worst thing I was doing food wise that created my problem.. i was eating Protein bars like candy. crap. One more thing got banned from the house. Essentially, Protein Bars had become my new junk food and they are really high carb!
I also faced my own inner feelings. I had lost about 120-125# and people gave me so many compliments, I felt so good, I could physically do things so much easier... but I still had a nice comfy protective layer of fat. I frankly looked matronly, in spite of my friends saying how good I looked, i looked like a typical overweight middle age woman. hmmm. Did I really really want to lose more? Was this good enough? Was I fearful of trying to get all the way to a normal /slim weight?
I had to face my own inner decision - much like the original decision to get WLS. What do i want to make of this? How can I leverage this tool to the fullest?
I got hardcore again. I went back to basics and pushed pushed pushed, Water, Vitamins, ate low carb again, worked out... etc. Frankly, that first about 14 months post op (except for the little Detour I just talked about) I didn't do alot of fun stuff like vacations, dinner parties and cocktail hours. I focused on losing weight.
Guess what, when I refoced, reduced carbs, my hunger decreased and my weight loss accelerated back to the 9-12# a month until I got to my ultimate goal in Feb 2013.
I am now maintaining under my goal weight and it is still work. (it is easier than staying under 300# was for me preop, but it is still work). It is my lot in life. Guess what, it is the struggle most women over 40 engage in to stay trim. It sucks. My best friend packed on about 35# over the last year or two and she is hungry all the time.. just to lose a pound a week she has to really work it.
Anyway, in truth, i would have been okay if I had maintained at 190.. beats the crap out of 300+ and gaining.. but I am very glad that I took the plunge and continued on as I love my body and health at a normal BMI, but the reality of the WLS situation is that it is not a guaranteed easy ride to skinny-ville.

Surgery was Feb 4th, 2014. I've lost 103 lbs. I am still "Obese." I've gone from a 24W to a 14P (sometimes 12) in dress size so far. I came off High Blood Pressure medication. My resting pulse rate went from 100 to 70 on average. I fit in seats everywhere I go. I walk and bike ride quite a bit, usually 4x per week. I have a lot of energy. I see a therapist. I try to stay positive.
And...
I still feel like I am batting the daily demons. You know the ones: the demons that enjoy grazing, that don't drink 64 oz of Water every day, that enjoy carbs and occassional sweets, that track daily intake a little too sporadically, that constantly suggest, "Go ahead, you can get away with eating that."
I hate these demons. These are the same creatures I battled before surgery. Somehow I hoped it would be different or that the magic honeymoon period would have lasted longer. There are days I feel like I really haven't had surgery at all.
It's funny, because I remember doing my pre-op research and really focusing on the enormity of my decision. All the literature which said, "Gastric Sleeve is forever, completely irreversible, a major decision." No one EVER said, "Oh, by the way, despite having 75% of your stomach removed - 9 months from now you will feel extraordinarily normal and your appetite will return in similar force to what it always was and you will be able to eat quite a bit of most everything and you will have to engage in the daily battle to maintain a lifestyle diet, and you will have to restrict yourself with will power and a hundred mental tricks EVERY DAY."
Sigh.
I am switching into sleever veteran status and I am very afraid. I am afraid that I will not be able to lose to a point where I am no longer listed as "Obese." I am afraid that I am back-sliding with my habits. I am afraid that I don't really have it in me to do the very difficult ongoing forever work that is now required of me. I'm afraid that my "tool" will lose it's effectiveness. And ultimately, I am afraid of failure.
And that is my confession.

Folks who elect to have surgery in the US have bad experiences too, they just don't make the news. Just sayin'

First photo taken August 2013 Second photo taken August 2014 Day of my surgery - October 21 2013 SW - 304lbs CW - 167 lbs GW - 140lbs
Oh & here
Pic one was a week before my surgery ( Oct 2013)
Pic two was yesterday

I knew that exercise would be the hardest part of this journey because I HATED exercise, so I started looking for something "tolerable" 2 months before surgery. I really do believe it helped with healing post surgery. I had a blood clot 21 years ago and knew I was susceptible to another, exercise helped my circulation and probably aided my recovery. I was doing 2-3 hours of Zumba a week for 2 months pre-surgery. Doesn't sound like much but it was all I could handle at 280 lbs.
Fast forward 9 months, I LOVE exercise now! I take Zumba classes 4 days a week plus strength training. I can relate to what Bandista says, that I can't believe I'm the same person. I am quite irritated that I have to miss my class tonight for a work related dinner, since when do I prefer exercise to eating? Miraculous I tell ya!

I knew that exercise would be the hardest part of this journey because I HATED exercise, so I started looking for something "tolerable" 2 months before surgery. I really do believe it helped with healing post surgery. I had a blood clot 21 years ago and knew I was susceptible to another, exercise helped my circulation and probably aided my recovery. I was doing 2-3 hours of Zumba a week for 2 months pre-surgery. Doesn't sound like much but it was all I could handle at 280 lbs.
Fast forward 9 months, I LOVE exercise now! I take Zumba classes 4 days a week plus strength training. I can relate to what Bandista says, that I can't believe I'm the same person. I am quite irritated that I have to miss my class tonight for a work related dinner, since when do I prefer exercise to eating? Miraculous I tell ya!

I'm so glad I got myself into a routine beforehand so I had something to step into right after surgery. Kicked my body into healing mode and made the whole recovery process so much better. Had to talk myself into it but after faking liking exercise for months then one day the magic happened and I thrive on it now. Can't believe I'm the same person!

I wish i had this lol, i am struggling in the complete opposite. My bf always wants it and i have no interest at all....i mean zero...i never really did, but now its completely dead it feels like

Depends on what state you live in....I am self employed and pay for an individual health insurance plan. It specifically excludes WLS. In fact, once Obamacare kicked in, it is impossible to purchase an individual plan in my state that includes WLS. My new "affordable" care plan costs more and covers less than the old plan. But that's a whole other rant......
So I researched the hell out of the procedure and surgeons...both local and in Mexico. I went with the most qualified ones I found and felt the safest with, Dr. Ariel Ortiz and Dr. Martinez at OCC in TJ. I used the money I had been saving for two years for a down payment on a new truck. VSG was the best money I ever spent and I happily drive my 15 year old truck everyday.
If you really want this surgery, you should keep your options open, and make it happen.

Hands down Dr Ariel Ortiz Center of Excelence

I had my surgery with Dr. Almanza and have had very good results. I did research and I have followed up with my doctor at home. I did not have to wait 6 months, go through months of testing (they did blood test and EKG), or pay a ton out of pocket. So glad I did mine there. All surgeons have complications at one time if they practice long enough - no matter where they practice. Just sayin'.