PhotoLover8

My name is Kristen...and I am totally a food addict. It took me forever to figure that out. I eat because I love, love, love food. I am not an emotional eater. I am not eating to hide myself. I just love food so much, and I experience "high's" from food consumption, just as a drug addict would. I also work in software development. I work from home for a company on the east coast as a SQA engineer...and I also have a photography business.
I am 39 years old, and as long as I could remember I have struggled with my weight. For me there wasn't a moment where I became fat, like having a baby or something...no, I have just always struggled with my weight. I have yo-yo'd with diets and weight gain all of my adult life. So last May, my mom had a heart attack. She has always been successful managing her weight, and it happened to her. So I knew it was time to change.
I started my VSG journey in October of 2012. I was sleeved on 1/28. For the most part, I have had very little complications. Immediately after surgery, my hearts started having a lot of PVC's (irregular heart beats), so I got the whole cardio package in the hospital. I have always had PVC's, but I guess they didn't occur in the surgery, and started pretty crazy in recovery. I am still working at getting released from the cardiologist, but I am thankful that they are taking it so seriously. I was sleeved in Topeka, KS! Recovery has been pretty good since then. I am down 42 lbs at 4 weeks out. However, that includes my pre-op diet.
I am married with two children. My kids are 18 & 20. Daughter is 20 and getting married in the fall. She is a junior in college and studying to become a HS English teacher. Son is 18, and a freshman in college, not sure what he wants to do. My husband is the best person I have ever met in my life. We have been married over 21 years, so if you do the math - we got married at 18. Ran off and eloped 3 days before he left for basic in USAF! Pre-op, I truly had a lot of self confidence. At one of my dr's visits, my Dr. was talking about my daughter;s wedding and she said something like "You are going to look so much better then!". My reply was "I look pretty dang good now!" I am not really that conceited, but I do hate the idea that people think they were hideous when they were overweight. But then again, my husband tells m everyday how beautiful I am...so he would never allow me to feel ugly. He has been so supportive of me getting the sleeve, too...frequently telling me how proud of me he is. My husband and I coach a competitive fastpitch 18U team in NE KS. We love our players and their families. This is our 5th year. Both of us have a tremendous heart for children/teens. We have invested much of our life into the youth ministry.
My personality, I am always upbeat and happy. It is a choice I make everyday. I used to be pretty negative. Then I realized I was the one with the problem, not the rest of the world. So now I choose happiness. I choose laughter and often times silliness. Life is way too short to be miserable. I have already offended a couple on here with my sense of humor, I suspect that I probably will offend someone else. So I apologize in advance and will try to be on my best behavior. I stress "try".
The last few weeks of my life have been really hard, so my theories on happiness have been challenged hardcore. One of our softball players was in a car accident and broke her neck. Because of her circumstances, my husband and I think of this young lady as our own. She frequently stays with us, and we pick up a large portion of her softball expenses. When it was time for college recruiting, we took her on all of her college visits....so watching her go through what she did...I truly felt like it was my own kid. While she was in the hospital, my son received some devestating news. His football career is over. He was recruited by over 100 schools his junior and senior years in HS. Several D1's were in that mix. He took an illegal hit to his right knee in a game in his senior year...3 surgeries later it is somewhat fixed. Test results on his left knee shows a 4th surgery is in the future, so as a family we made the decision that football was finished. Knees are something you need a lot longer that a college football career. My daughter pitched in college and made the decision to retire after her sophmore season, because of health issues...that was hard...but she at least got to play in college and experience that. My son signed for a college, but never stepped on the field.
Then after all of this...we are dealing with the impending/looming sequestration. If congress doesn't agree on something by Friday, my husband will soon lose his job. He has been an air traffic controller for 21 years, and he will lose his livlihood. There will not be any other ATC jobs if this happens. The tower he works at is scheduled to close as part of the Dept. of Transp. cuts.
In all of this, we will make it. We are blessed...am hoping for things to chill out a bit, though. This is who I am...I look forward to getting to know some good support friends on here.
God bless,
Kristen

I started my journey in October 2012, I was finally sleeved on May 22nd 2013 I am officially down 75lbs!! I will have some comparison photos tomorrow. But recently I started Shaun T's Insanity and omg that is a work out but I am loving the soreness feeling because I know I'm working muscles that haven't been used in a long time. My stats are HW 315 SW 300 CW 240 GW 140. I have 100lbs to go to get to my goal!

Surgery date 1/21/13 starting at 299 Cw at 185 my goal weight at 7 months 114 pound lost .. Now that I'm here and looking great I think imma go for another 10 pounds I really want to try 20 to be at normal bmi but I'm afraid imma be too small but I just wanna so to the new sleevers hold on you'll get there

So, I seem to be on a mini stall right at my three month post op mark which seems to be a trend around these parts. I have been losing and gaining the same pound for the last ten days, and my loss for the last 30 days is "only" about 8 pounds. My clothes are getting a wee bit looser but nothing significant. This slow loss certainly isn't what I signed up for when I chose to have WLS because I just knew I was going to be one of those people who loses 20-30 pounds a month, blah blah blah. I've lost more than this on WWs the gazillion times I've done that program. GEEZ LOUISE!!!
That said, I am having HUGE mental NSV each and every day!!
I am still tracking my food every day even though my efforts aren't being rewarded on the scale.
I am still finishing up my 10k steps every day.
I am still excited to get on the scale every morning (yes, I am one of THOSE) and I love the number I see even when it goes up .2 or .4 from the day before.
And best of all? I can't quit!!! I am no longer able to use my stall as an excuse to eat everything in the fridge. My day is no longer being planned around stopping at my favorite restaurant for those yummy onion rings or most excellent fajitas. I no longer feel the need to plan out each meal in excruciating detail only to blow it all with an unplanned stop for ice cream. (And y'all know THAT deal, once you've blown it for the day, you might as well "start over" tomorrow. Or Monday.)
This restriction thing is the BOMB DIGGITY!! I know it won't last forever but I do know it's teaching me to eat the right food first and it's getting me out of the habit of living to eat. I love my sleeve. I know I am still a "honey-mooner" and I don't care!! I am not living for the future, I am living for the now, and I am going to enjoy every single minute of this journey because I want to.
Another really cool revelation? (This was something my 15 year old pointed out to me yesterday. Love that girl!!!) We were at a consignment shop yesterday picking out some items to get me through the fall. I made a large stack of tops and with each selection, I would hold it up and ask my kids if I liked this one. (This one? This one?) Finally, my daughter looked at me, told me to PLEASE REALIZE that I am no longer severely limited in my choices because of my size and reminded me that I no longer had to settle on clothes just because they met two criteria - they fit and they weren't hideous. (And OH LORD, as I cleaned out my closet last week, I noted that I missed on that last bit of criteria many times.)
The choices I have now are UH-MAY-ZING!!!! Not only can I shop at almost any store, but I actually have to look at the items and figure out what size I am. I might be an XL, I might be a large and kick me in the junk and call me a cheese doodle, but I bought two tops in MEDIUM yesterday. WHUCK!?!?! Granted they were cardigans, but who the funk cares, they were beautiful and they were MEDIUM!!!
Oh my good gawd, ladies and gents. I am in heaven. I seriously am.

I can't believe that it has been a month since surgery. After the first two days of post-op hell due to nausea from anesthesia and pain medicine, I would have never believed that I would feel as great as I do right now! As each day passes, I understand my sleeve more and more. I learn something new every day about how to make this a successful journey. I have lost a total of 32 lbs...24 post-op and 8 from the pre-surgery diet (I only did a week of it..barely). But, when I logged back into myfitnesspal after months of not using it, I realize that my weight back in November was 276...So, I guess with the pre-op diet and surgeryI have actually lost a total of 36 lbs! I was in a stall for over a week...as my surgiversary present to myself, when I got on the scale this morning, I lost 1 lb since yesterday! Hopefully, this means that I will start losing weight again. I feel good...I'm now eating about 4oz/meal and I can see the difference in my body from the weight loss.
I think that my greatest tool right now is myfitnesspal. I started using it again a few days ago and it really helped get a clear picture of what I'm doing with this sleeve. It keeps me accountable for my choices. I saw that I was getting a little high on the carb count and have decided to tweak what I'm eating...not deprive myself at all..just make better choices. I'm excited for things to come! I hope everyone is doing well and thank you for all the support and wealth information that is offered through this forum! I will post some pictures at the end of this month...

Today marked my 6 month anniversary, I am proud to say that I am 100 pounds lighter than when I started this journey! I feel amazing and I am looking forward to the challenge of getting those last 15 pounds off. This surgery gave me a new start in life and I am loving it! I have gone from a size 22 to a solid size 8 and sometimes a size 6, size 2XL scrubs to a size Medium. I love my sleeve! Thanks for all of the support everyone!

I've been waiting to hit onederland so I could post my scale pic! haha, well I did it! I'm so thrilled it is unbelievable! I seriously can't remember when I weighed this much, it's been at least 11 years! I beat my surgeons goal of weighing under 200lbs by 6 months post op! Im 5 and a half months post op! My highest weight:302 on January 11th of this year!! Pre-op weight was 296 on February 4th, and day of surgery (Feb 13th) I was 285lbs. I'm doing it friends and with all this losing comes a lot of gaining. I've gained a whole lot of positive self esteem and confidence. It hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows though, I've really begun to dig into the deeper parts of me and have done some self discovery. Still a work in progress and I'm happy to say I always will be. I'm content with where I'm at and I'm excited with where I'm going. Both in the physical and psychological sense. I'm a new me! Yay for me, I love me, I am awesome!

Hope all goes well, you are in our prayers, you'll do great.

Congrats to you as well! you are almost there! you are going to be just fine and surgery will be a breeze. You are off to a great start and it will only get better from here. I wish you luck tomorrow and if you need tips or anything, let me know. I'll be more than glad to help.

Hey Guys,
Here are my stats:
Age: 22
Pre-op weight- 383lbs ( highest weight ever recorded)
Day of surgery (May 3rd 2013) after 1 week liquid diet- 373lbs.
July 25th 2013- 320lbs.
i can truthfully and honestly say that this surgery saved my life. Not to say that i couldn't have lost the weight alone, i just wouldn't have done as well. The journey hasn't been easy AT ALL however, it's been a learning process and its getting better and easier each and everyday. I am so happy that i had this surgery and forever grateful to my mom for believing in this and paying for surgery for me.
The pic i attached below is a side by side picture of me last November and of me today. I can't begin to tell you how embarrassed and ashamed i am for letting myself go so much that i didn't even notice how big i was and how horrendous i looked in that outfit. It's really hard to see and even harder to digest. All i can say is that i am NEVER going back there and it can only get better from here.
I feel like i'm already a VSG success story and i'm not even halfway there yet.
To those who watch youtube VSG videos, i've been recording my progress so if you're interested, you can watch my latest video:

Thank you for this post! I'm having surgery in the morning and there are some things on this list I never thought about. A big help!

As a general rule, people that do a pre-op diet experience less loss their first month.
Your surgeon should know this.
This means that in roughly seven weeks you have shed 40 pounds. That is not slow loss by any measure. You're losing nearly six pounds a week if you average things out. I lost nearly six pounds a month when I average it out.
My advice? Your surgeon might be experienced but is clearly not a good source of support. There is no need to panic or be concerned or feel like a failure. You have a higher start weight so you have a long road ahead of you. Trust me when I say that if you continue to do the right things you will shed an enormous amount of weight. Look to the boards - we have a few folks that have shed well in excess of 150 pounds and some of them took nearly two years to do it.
Loss is loss - be thankful for it at any rate and please, don't let your surgeon's insensitivity get you down. There is absolutely no need to fiddle with your diet or increase exercise more than you're ready to at this juncture.
Everyone stalls along this journey - many of us more than once and for extended periods. Remember that a stall is three weeks with zero movement. More than five pounds a week is a shock to the body. You don't get to control your rate of loss, only what you put in your mouth and how much you move.
You're doing fine, keep it up. Keep in mind that hormones play a part for the ladies, too, and I even gain a few pounds each month, so be prepared for that if it happens.
~Cheri