Montereygrl

last evening I put in a mile and today almost 2. Small improvements daily.

Just wanted to share an awesome NSV I experienced last Friday (9/27) at Disneyland.
To start, the basics: At my heaviest I was over 300 lbs. I was 302 lbs as of July 26th of this year, lost about 20 lbs on the pre-op diet, and was sleeved on 8/19. My current weight is 249.
I decided to attend Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland on opening night, September 27th. It's a fun family event where there is special entertainment, fireworks, trick-or-treating for kids, etc. Also, it's the only time of the year that adult guests are permitted to enter the park in costume!
The thought of being in costume made me pretty apprehensive, because I hadn't dressed up for Halloween since 2005. Dressing up for Halloween, for me, always meant the possibility of more fat shaming. I didn't want people to look at me and think that I was the "fat version" of whatever I as trying to be. So I never dressed up. This year, with my new attitude and weight loss, I plunged into the lost art of creating the perfect costume. It had to be Disney (natch)...it had to be relatively easy...it had to be completely fabulous. There was only one obvious answer: Mary Poppins.
On the evening of the party, I put the whole outfit on for the first time, and was really pleased with how it turned out. After meeting up with a friend inside the park, I noticed a Disneyland employee standing (quite literally) right next to us, watching us. Just standing there. No talking. It was very awkward. When I turned to the cast member and asked if I could help her with something, she hit me with the following:
"Um, yeah, I was just wondering, you have a great costume, and I was wondering if you'd like to be in our Halloween parade tonight. I've been on the lookout for some of the best costumes of the night, and yours is really fantastic."
Wait. WHAT?!?!
I was shocked. Of course, I agreed, and was scheduled to be in the parade at 10:30pm that night. The best part, though, was the realization that here I had been scared to dress up for Halloween for the past 7 years. Afraid of how I would look. Ashamed of my body and the thought of being a laughing stock. And once I finally faced that fear, and embraced a costume, not only did I feel great, but I was chosen out of hundreds of people to be one of nine people in a parade cavalcade in my most favorite place on Earth. Now that's pretty cool.
Needless to say, being a part of the parade was an absolute blast. I felt like a celebrity. We got to see the backstage area and watch the dancers prepare and the floats get ready. We were driven along the parade route in an antique fire truck, with a place of honor right before the grand finale float. The cast member in charge of wrangling all of us told us that Disneyland hadn't asked guests to be part of a parade in over 10 years. Even cooler.
Just a reminder that breaking out of your comfort zone can have some pretty amazing results...and I couldn't be happier with the change in my attitude, confidence, and of course, with my sleeve in general.

Well, I made it back from Dallas safe and sound. I managed 1.82 miles today to put me at 16.74 miles total. I WILL break 20 tomorrow!

Today was a 2 mile walk/run. I think that brings my total to 7 so far. May not reach 100, but at least I am moving everyday!

last evening I put in a mile and today almost 2. Small improvements daily.

last evening I put in a mile and today almost 2. Small improvements daily.

I All, I was writing an email to my friend who is about to have surgery about some tips and things that helped me and I thought some of you might like the advise too, so here it is ...
www.Mybariatricpantry.com sample packs
- A great website where you can buy everything from Vitamins, to Protein shakes and best of all are their SAMPLE PACKS. They have sample packs for everything protein! Soups, drinks, mixes, puddings, bars, pastas. The sample packs were really great.
www.BariatricFoodie.com and www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.com are both great for recipes and good food choices. They both even have recipes for how to make ice cream out of your Protein Shakes.
I had a really hard time with Isopure. I called it a isopuke it was so disgusting to me. However they told us that we can also use Nektar. It is a powder that you mix with Water and they have some great flavors. www.mybariatricpantry.com has a variety pack of Nektar flavors. I highly suggest you order it before surgery.
Find a coffee bean and tea leaf that has the good little pieces of ice. They are really great and saved my life while on the clear liquid stage When all I wanted to do was chew something, crunching the ice really hit the spot. Also if you put a little bit of ice in a bowl and add a tiny tiny drop of Crystal light and mix it together it's like a snow cone and taste really good and refreshing.
I thought the Protein Soups were pretty gross and I got really tired of chicken Soup very quickly and one night had my mom pick up some tortilla Soup from California pizza Kitchen. It was amazing! You have to strain out the big chunks but once you do the flavor is really good and I lived on that for a while.
Buy a body pillow. I borrowed my cousin's pregnancy pillow that was a giant U that went from one foot all the way up around my head on down to my other foot. It was a lifesaver when trying to sleep on my back. It let me sleep on my side while still protecting my stomach and made the nights much better. They also have a version of it at skymall but the long ones that you can get at bed bath and beyond are good too.
Our doc doesn't really believe in putting anything on the scars to help them heal but I put Neosporin on them every night just to be safe and they are healing nicely. I also just started putting Vitamin E oil on them.
I also found it very helpful to buy 4oz tupperware, I got about 15 of them and store everything in them. Also some small 4 oz bowls and baby silverware was really the best.
I think that's it. Feel free to bug me anytime with any questions. Good luck and keep me posted!!
- Jen, Sleeved 8/29

My shirt isn't tight on me.. Woot lol

Maybe try the 2-ingredient pancakes first...it's banana and Protein powder...not quite sure of the link...if I find it, i'll come back and post.

Yes it is!!!

I kinda was there too. But go on line and look up all the healthy fall Soups.
I went today to get powdered pnut butter Protein so I can add to my shakes and Change up the flavors. Don't get discouraged. We are all in theis together.
And if you can find the thread on here for my dirty little secret, it is funny and factual about what we are all going through

I'm 2.4 weeks sleeved, and have done 12 blocks at a time around my neighborhood. I've had some problems with weakness but I'm in, although late and not sure i can hit 100 I will try Needing to keep motivated, my 1 yr goal is a half marathon, my short term is a 2 mile fun run on Thanksgiving.
Most people call me Phay or Phae, short for my name Phaedra.

I'm 2.4 weeks sleeved, and have done 12 blocks at a time around my neighborhood. I've had some problems with weakness but I'm in, although late and not sure i can hit 100 I will try Needing to keep motivated, my 1 yr goal is a half marathon, my short term is a 2 mile fun run on Thanksgiving.
Most people call me Phay or Phae, short for my name Phaedra.

I'm 2.4 weeks sleeved, and have done 12 blocks at a time around my neighborhood. I've had some problems with weakness but I'm in, although late and not sure i can hit 100 I will try Needing to keep motivated, my 1 yr goal is a half marathon, my short term is a 2 mile fun run on Thanksgiving.
Most people call me Phay or Phae, short for my name Phaedra.

I'm 2.4 weeks sleeved, and have done 12 blocks at a time around my neighborhood. I've had some problems with weakness but I'm in, although late and not sure i can hit 100 I will try Needing to keep motivated, my 1 yr goal is a half marathon, my short term is a 2 mile fun run on Thanksgiving.
Most people call me Phay or Phae, short for my name Phaedra.

I'm 2.4 weeks sleeved, and have done 12 blocks at a time around my neighborhood. I've had some problems with weakness but I'm in, although late and not sure i can hit 100 I will try Needing to keep motivated, my 1 yr goal is a half marathon, my short term is a 2 mile fun run on Thanksgiving.
Most people call me Phay or Phae, short for my name Phaedra.

Have you guys thought of creating a beginner's thread with a 50 mile threshold? I don't know if it would be redundant or motivating? I can imagine a few people out there wouldn't want to sign up for 100 right away, but 50 is easier to contemplate for someone who hasn't been active for a long time.
Thoughts?

Sorry it took so long to respond but everything went great! She has had very little pain and I just got home from the hospital where she was asleep like a cute little baby! There was a delay getting her into surgery for some reason so she didn't even go back til 11:30am. The Dr. was very happy with her surgery and her progress so far. I have no doubt she will be up and at it as soon as possible. Thanks for asking.

Tonight.. I am drinking hard liquor. I make no apologies for it and given the week I've had, it is entirely warranted. Empty calories and all. So there!

Yes, I can say I came to know croissants very well during our 2 weeks in Paris last month - and pain au chocolat and palmiers and various other little treats.
Butter is healthy, right?

Hey fellow sleevers I went today for my two weeks post op. And I lost 22.5lbs I am so happy I feel better with each day. I have to make this change for the better. I am too young to carry around all this weight. But thank God I am on the road to be a healthier Me!!! Good luck everyone

Went to my 1 month post appointment Tuesday. Heeling fine and getting my energy back.
I'm down 15 lbs post op (total of 44lbs since starting my 6 month diet). Very excited that I've dropped 2 pant sizes and 1 shirt size since surgery.
Height: 5' 4'' HW: 256 SW: 227 CW: 216

I go to my forts follow up PostOp appointment later today. I hope to have good news! The dermabond on the inscriptions is slowly coming off. Only one is a lil irritated. I know I've lost weight. My clothes are already getting loose. A lot of the swelling has gone down now too. :-). Have a great day everyone!!!

I'm just 3 weeks and struggling to get my calories in with my Protein and liquid.< /p>

I was cleared for weight-lifting after 6 weeks, but am still working on stamina for high-endurance efforts like HIIT or 20+ miles cycling. It's tough getting in enough fuel.