Georgiagirl27

Hi everyone I am 3 years post op VSG and never showed anyone my before and after. I have decided I love this community and should not be shy to show my success and progress because I know it motivated me to see others post these, and I hope it helps my fellow WLS friends ❤️. Instagram: smallbird_vsg
Before surgery 260lbs after 140lbs lost 120lbs

The face that she is only 19 speaks volumes.
As the owner of a 17 year old drama queen, I'd say she often looks for things to "get political" about. I daresay this girl hasn't matured much passed that point.

I dug up some old images of me in the past 2 years. The first is before I got seriously motivated about weight loss (10/2013). I was probably around 520lbs, maybe higher. (Highest ever recorded is 585.) Then, in late March 2014, diabetes made me realize that I had to do something about my lifestyle and weight. I started seriously trying to lose weight (again...other times I gained back plus some) and weight loss surgery. On 4/1/2014, I was 515lbs. Then, I had surgery on 9/15/2014 @ 415lbs. Yesterday was my 1 year surgiversary at 233lbs.

6 months out tomorrow. Down 88 pounds 20 pounds to goal.

Last summer vs early this September. 7 months post op

Okay, I lost 160+ due to sleeve and honestly considerably more than that from my lifetime high and I had kids and old stretch marks so I don't run around in a bikini as a matter of course..haha.. i burn too easily. Post plastics though I have been seen seen in a bikini a few times. I would look alot better if I had the "long" thigh lift since I still have skin on my thighs.
My advice though is to not get too hung up on goals like that. Many many women look wonderful and yet feel too low confidence to wear a bikini. Plenty who have never been obese don't even have it as a goal - so don't be too hard on yourself.
I am in the black and white top with black bottoms

on the collage - mistake on date, the before picture was from 2011.

From a guys point of view you ladies are investing too much identity in you curves. You are all achieving fantastic losses and there are trade offs but you are who you are inside and give yourselves some great attaboy a over what's happening to your life first and if the looks are still critical do a little reshaping after that loss. The biggest successes in your lives are what you are doing now. Congratulations to all of you

So I am headed to Vegas next week with my hubby and I thought, you know what....I want a more-sexy, less-mom bikini for this trip. SO I went out on a limb and ordered one from Victoria's Secret that I would normally never, ever think about wearing, let alone, buy, let alone post a picture of me in it.
But then today I was looking back through some old beach vacation pictures and I couldn't find one single picture of myself in a bathing suit or with my kids at all. Through 4 summers worth of pictures that I got through, I found ONE. One single picture and I'm trying desperately to hide behind my kids. It made me so incredibly sad because I remember so clearly what that was like. Can I just say, it is freaking amazing and freeing to be able to feel good in my skin and not feel the need to pull a kid in front of me when the camera is around.
Here is the ONE single picture I could find, along with the quick snapshot of the new bikini for Vegas. :-) (Don't mind my scar sheets from my TT sticking out...this wasn't a picture I intended to share), as well as one snapped this summer at the beach. I also did a side-by-side comparison of myself in basically the same "at the beach with my daughter's" pose. Just thought I'd put this out there for anyone on the fence about the journey or the process. It works if you stick to it!!!!!
*** PS be kind. I know that I am not perfect. I still have saggy legs and arms. It's a work in process!***

Here is my before shot and after shot. My one year mark is this Friday, March 7th. I have lost over 100 pounds. I was a size 22, now I'm down to a size 2,3. I feel great. I work out almost every day and I thank God every day for this surgery.

I have chosen to make this surgery, and the way I live my life now, a total lifestyle change. Meaning, I will eat/drink this way for the rest of my life in order to maintain my weight loss and not regain everything 5 years down the road. For me, that means all things in moderation. I lost 70 lbs several years ago, eating no carbs, drinking no alcohol, basically starving myself, and of course - it was not sustainable, and I wound up at 323 lbs. I am determined not to make that same mistake again.
Unless you are a nun or have decided to give up your social life entirely, it's kind of ridiculous to think that you will NEVER EVER touch alcohol (or French fries, or a cupcake, or whatever) again. A healthy relationship with food is about making good choices as much as possible, indulging occasionally, and being active.
That being said: OP, when I have a beverage I generally have a small glass of wine; but since that has been ruled out, my suggestions are....
Vodka with lime juice and a splash of simple Syrup
Vodka with light cranberry juice (sometimes the bar has it, sometimes not)
Or, my favorite, a Bloody Mary ???? vodka and v8, basically
I am 9 months out and 120 lbs down, and still dropping. I eat carbs and drink wine occasionally, as a treat. Has that made my weight loss slower? Maybe. Is this lifestyle something I can keep up the rest of my life? Absolutely.

I don't cheat. I am a grown up. I make choices. Sometimes my choices are bad, most often my choices are good. Either way, I am accountable and responsible. I truly despise the word "cheat".

I don't think anyone here that is seriously wanting to lose weight has the mindset that "just one is okay", whether that is about food, alcohol, drugs, or whatever vice one may have. With that being said, the vast majority of those having bariatric surgery had to jump through several hoops for insurance to approve them. One of those hoops were a psychological evaluation. I won't get into the medical criteria for alcohol addiction, but I think @@Roxie Malone can tell the difference between having a social drink vs drinking alcohol everyday because one cannot stop.
Lastly, no one will be 100% perfect with their diet. It's not possible. Can you honestly say that you will never eat a piece of pizza ever again? I know I can't and I won't. The key is moderation.

I use a straw all the time and it hasn't bothered me . I had surgery 18 months ago and I'm maintaining a 100 pound weight loss.

I definitely did NOT cut out carbs to lose all my excess weight. (I'm now 6 pounds below goal.)
Carbs aren't just sweets and breads. Carbs are in milk, yogurt, fruit, green and other colored veggies, whole grain foods, etc. Carbs are necessary for high energy and good nutrition.
I don't understand why people think life after WLS means no carbs or even low carb. I think there's a terrible lack of education about which foods contain carbs and which carb-laden foods are much healthier for us than others.
Now on maintenance, I average around 100 grams of Protein a day and 150-200 grams of carbs a day. But I don't eat slider foods (Cookies, chips, crackers, Desserts, sweets, pastas) often at all. Yes, I have them occasionally, but they're not an everyday item on my menu.

Some of you know me well as I have been around a long time... but for back story I was pretty hopeless about losing weight and especially maintaining it when I began this sleeve journey. I had "failed" with the lapband in an epic way and by the time I revised to the sleeve I was well over 300# (although down from my lifetime recorded high of 332# while banded). I was super morbidly obese and spent a lot of years there. I felt aged beyond my years and besides feeling physically miserable, I was certainly NOT an object of attention from the opposite gender. Hell, i never even had a chubby chaser interested in me.
(I did have a serious relationship, I have never been a loner, but my point is I have always been one to focus on intelligence and personality, not looks or body)
Because of my active lifestyle, I have mostly had slender friends even when I was obese. I never went out for girls night with them, never went dancing, I felt like I didn't belong in those settings. So, after losing a bunch of weight, I had plastics and am now maintaining. I social with lots of people now and feel like i fit in many places, but am still sometimes surprised at my own preconceived notions.
Currently, I am about 5# over my goal and about 25# over my lowest weight - I am 3.5 years post sleeve so this is frankly pretty typical. It can get a little discouraging as I am having a heck of a time re-losing this weight. I am fine at my current size, but i was finer thinner haha... so it is still something I want. You know how your state of mind is when your favorite jeans are too tight.... that is where i am!
Okay, now my NSV Story!
I went out to the racetrack on the 3rd for a big girls day of races and fireworks. I went with 3 very attractive ladies who are all naturally very trim. They range from tiny cute as a pixie (Which also makes her look really young) to that tall blond skinny model look (two of those, one fairly boyish looking the other more curvy - both very very attractive). Anyway, all 4 of us are unloading the cooler, doing stuff getting ready to go in. I was applying sunscreen. this really really really attractive man - probably about 40 (we are all about 50) walks by and looks right at me and smiles and says "need any help with that?". All of us freeze as it processes... he is talking to ME! What? I smiled at him as he walked away (it was only later I thought I should have said "YES") and one of the ladies said "this is going to be a good day".
I don't spend alot of time comparing myself to others, I really don't. But after a lifetime of obesity, super morbid obesity - you never expect to be the one in your group of attractive friends to get the notice.
Looks don't actually matter that much - one of the ironies i have learned in this journey, but it still felt good and my friends were all very happy for me too... That also makes me feel good that they are so pleased with my successes.

I would say your feelings are normal. I had briefly considered lapband about a year before I had the sleeve, although I dismissed it as probably being too expensive since I had to pay out of pocket. I also had this idiot boyfriend a few years ago who had said to me "if I could give you the money for lapband, I would totally pay for your surgery". I wasn't even fat enough to qualify for it then! When I did research the sleeve, as a byproduct of looking at lapband again, I went to the training session where the doctors talk to interested people, and 3 weeks later I was in the OR. I didn't give myself time to change my mind.
As for the long lasting effects you are worried about, well, I drink with every meal and I drink diet soda every day. I am doing just fine. Those are more suggestions than requirements. You shouldn't drink with meals because it washes your food down faster so you may eat more, which if you're paying attention to portions shouldn't be an issue. They advise against soda in the long term because they don't want you getting your calories from it. Short term I avoided soda because I didn't want the caffeine and fizz to mess up my sutures, but two months out, I was right back to my diet pepsi habit. In terms of nausea, I am someone who is unlucky in the sense that I get dumping syndrome and a whole lot of foods make me barf. If you average out the times I have puked, it is probably at least 3 times a week since I've had the sleeve. I can't go out to dinner and eat anything I'm not familiar with because it literally comes spewing right back up my throat (cute, right?). I can't eat sugar often because for some reason it makes my heart beat fast, gives me a hot flash, and makes my skin red.
All of that being said, I would still get the sleeve again everyday, and most of my puking and dumping symptoms are very rare. Only you can make the decision for you, but I have not regretted my choice at all.

Now that's interesting that your doc says carbonation is okay! I really wish these bariatric surgeons would all be consistent with their rules. I think it would make things so much less confusing for folks.

My BMI was 35 when I had my surgery. I weighed 230 and I'm 5'8. I was about a size 16/18. I lost 23 pounds my first month and each month after that I lost around 10 pounds. I reached my goal in ten months. I weigh 130 and my BMI is 20. I am below my goal weight and have maintained this weight for seven months. I know everyone is different but maybe you will be one of the lucky ones and will lose quickly . The most important thing to me was not how quickly I lost weight just that I had a steady weight loss. Watching the scale move downward each week is the best feeling in the world !!!

Hi, I've had issues with throwing up often. Seems like just about anything can make me throw up. Fried food, spicy food, anything too rich, eating too fast, not chewing enough and on and on. Doctor says it could resolve itself after I'm a year out from surgery. But I've talked to someone else who it didn't resolve so I'm not sure if it will ever go away. I pretty much hate throwing up more than anything else I can imagine. The only thing I regret is not getting the surgery sooner. I've never felt so in control of my eating and weight.
I have a friend from my surgeon's office who had a leak early on and was in the hospital for her first few months post op and couldn't eat anything for most of that time. She doesn't have any regrets. Even I think I would have regrets if I had to go through what she did. But we're both close to our goal weight now so that sure helps.

Hi Everyone,
I was sleeved in December, and am down 90 lb. (from 301 to 211). I am a teacher and off for the summer, and decided to clean out my closet. Well, I've packed away bags and bags of clothes, but I'm having a really hard time actually letting go of them. Every time I've lost weight in the past, I've ended up needing to buy the bigger clothes again. All I'm seeing is thousands of dollars in those bags... I am committed to sticking with this way of life long term, but something in me is making this really, really difficult. Anyone else feel like this?

4 days ago I got back from a 10 day trip to Europe. It was an educational tour with my daughter. Part of the price of the trip was Breakfast and dinner everyday, so I had very little control over what food was available to me. Even so, I felt like I did pretty well with my eating. When I got home and weighed myself, I was pleased to discover that I lost 4 lbs! This was probably in large part because we walked 5-10 miles everyday.
Anyway, since I've been home, I've really been struggling with hunger, but I'm sure it's head hunger. I end up grazing all day long, and we all know what kind of trouble that can lead to. I am a teacher, so I'm on summer break. Any tips on battling these old eating habits that have crept up on me?

I get frustrated by it sometimes too, but I try to be empathetic. Lord knows if I ate perfectly all the time and always did what I am "supposed" to do, I would never have needed WLS in the first place. People in glass houses and all that....
However, I do believe that when you are seriously committed to WLS you should do your absolute best (not be perfect, mind you, just put in the effort). There is a lot of money on the line for one thing. Whether you are self-pay or not, the cost of this surgery is not insignificant. People who have their insurance pay for the procedure shouldn't take it for granted. After all, you presumably pay for your insurance or your employer does, so it's indirectly costing you or your coworkers in the long run.
But, more importantly, we are talking about serious health risks associated with not sticking to the plan. Eating off-plan on your pre-op diet means your liver might be an issue for your surgeon when they are trying to perform your surgery. Eating off-plan post-op can lead to leaks or tears along your staple line, food getting stuck, or all sorts of potential LIFE THREATENING scenarios. And even if you just aren't working to get all your Protein and Water in, that can have serious health consequences for you.
SO if you commit to having this surgery, you should commit to doing your absolute best to make the most of it. No one is going to be perfect 100% of the time and I definitely don't encourage people to go off-plan, but I do think people need to have the capacity to forgive themselves and move on when they slip up. Beating yourself up isn't going to accomplish a whole lot either. You have to find a balance. You can't make excuses and let old habits creep back in, but you can't live a life of deprivation and misery and self-punishment either.

I'm a bit different to some on here - my general approach is to watch my calorie intake (I try to keep it below 1000 most days, or up to 1200 one or two days a week). Within that limit, as long as I am thinking about what I eat, I allow myself anything.
That includes bread - not just a bite, and quite regularly. It includes potatoes (though even though I used to love potatoes, they have less appeal for me now), chocolate, crisps, popcorn etc - as long as I stay within my daily calories. This means that if I make bad choices - loading up on empty calories - then I will be hungry later on. I avoid that - but I don't have any set rules.
My biggest ambition with this is to be able to be disciplined with the food I love. For me, cutting something out completely isn't sustainable - I know that I will fall off that wagon. Stepping off a wagon in a controlled way always hurts less than falling off it at 100mph.

I prefer to read the postings from those like yourself who have had the sleeve for awhile and has success as well as failures instead of those that just had the surgery.

So I'm a pretty regular poster on the "general discussion" board since before my surgery in 2013. I still need support to maintain my weight loss as much as those who are actively losing. I still struggle everyday to work with my new "tool", I still struggle to make the right choices, and I struggle to keep myself in line. I join the holiday challenges to get me to goal and to keep me accountable to maintain. But more than once I've gotten snarky comments there like I don't have a right to be tracking my weight there. And sometimes when I post responses in other threads about struggles etc I feel like I get some snarky comments there as well. Like maybe once you reach goal or a certain point people don't really want to hear about struggles, or think that you don't need support? IDK......
I mean people on on the pre- and post- surgery forum seem more than happy to get feedback, so I don't get that vibe there, but I guess I just am disappointed because we all need support in this journey, no matter if we are 100 pounds from goal or at goal.
Oh well Does anyone else ever get that vibe??