jbrown

Melinda..I'll keepu in my prayers.. With the positive ness we read on the website..it makes me less scared and more hopeful.

My name is Melinda and I'm currently 282, I'm 37. About 17 years ago, i stopped having periods. I had terrible acne, and facial hair IN MY 20'S! As time went on I gained over 100 pounds and was diagnosed with pcos. I feel sad because I allowed my health to go from bad to worst. I currently take 3 pills for bp, cholesterol medicine, nexium, and anxiety medication. In 2009, I went through the entire gastric bypass workup, then got scared. I adopted a baby a year ago, and I can't even play with him or walk. People always say I don't look 282, BUT I FEEL IT. I CARRY MY WEIGHT IN MY MIDSECTION. 2 WEEKS AGO I DECIDED I WANT TO LIVE! I WANT TO WALK UP STEPS WITHOUT WHEEZING, I WANT TO PUT ON JEANS WITHOUT SWEATING, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY I WANT TOO SEE MY BABY GROW UP. IM CURRENTLY IN THE BEGINNING STAGES OF GETTING SLEEVED AND IM SCARED, BUT IM PRAYING AND SOLICITING SUPPORT. DR LEON KATZ IS MY DR, AND MY SURGERY WILL BE DONE AT CROZER CHESTER MEDICAL CENTER, HE'S A GREAT DR. SO PLEASE PRAY FOR ME, AND PLEASE SHARE! SHARE! SHARE! ESPECIALLY MY PCOS CYSTERS!!! GOD BLESS YOU ALL ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Well I'm about to load up and head to the hospital! Surgery at 9:15am. I know God promise is to never leave me nor forsake me:) very assuring!!! Keep me in your prayers! Blessings to everyone on this journey:)

I am new to the sleeved community and new to the site, but I feel like sharing this story. I have had to take off from work a few times to do different procedures in relation to the surgery. A few hours here, a day there...I felt compelled to tell her what was going on so she would know why I was taking 2 hours off tomorrow (for the heart test) and why I had to leave early next thursday (for dietician meeting). I also wanted to give her a heads up that I would be taking 2-3 weeks off in a month or so.
So I took a breath and told her...she spends 15 minutes telling me about the 17 day diet and how it helped her to lose 21 pounds 2 years ago and how it could help me. She was not being aggressive, she was trying to be supportive I guess, but she did not understand why I would do such a crazy, insane thing. Surgery just seemed so extreme to her. She kept asking why I couldn't just eat less. I started explaining my reasons to her, but realized I was starting to feel silly...I started asking my self (internally) why am I doing this? Maybe she is right? Maybe I am I being too extreme? Am I too lazy to stay on the right track?
I had to tell my mom and husband who were not immediately on board, but for some reason this was different. She is the first real "naysayer" that I need to tell that I had not told. The next is one of my closest, most skinniest friends (size 0-2) who has made comments in the past about how bad it is to have WLS surgery. After that it is my sister who is going to be really worried and, quite frankly just as judgmental. Oye....I am not looking forward to those conversations.
Anywayz, I can deal with it really, I just felt like sharing. Have any of you had this experience? How do you all deal with the skinny b***** judgement?

Relax honey!! First and foremost congrats on your baby!! 20 lbs gain isn't the end of your journey. Go back to basics of Water meat Protein and most important EXERCISE!! The lbs will melt away. Strap Beck to your chest and walk it off!! Good luck and enjoy mommyhood!

You mentioned trying to go back to liquids and softs. That will actually make it harder to stay satiated for any length of time. They will pass through your sleeve faster than solids. I would think that you're far enough out that you are not going to get back the restriction you had shortly after surgery. But you can still go back to good basic nutrition. High quality Protein, good produce, healthy fats, and complex carbs. Your metabolism has likely been significantly adversely impacted by consuming a restricted number of calories during your pregnancy. My advice would be to find a health professional that is experienced with treating people with eating disorders like anorexia. The goal would be to refeed your body so that your metabolism can be repaired so that your body can respond appropriately to your efforts to lose weight.
Best of luck to you. You can and will still be successful, your path there might just be slightly different than the average person. I know you can do it!

Perhaps your anxiety is causing your body to react in this way. I know everyone is different etc. but there should at least be a handful of things you could choose to eat on a menu? Fish options? Vegetarian options? Sometimes I even order the cheese and biscuits which are a dessert option and I have mainly the cheese... If you're not so anxious you will find yourself relaxing and enjoying a meal more. When I had my band, I used to be terribly anxious and almost without fail, I'd walk in a restaurant, and even the first mouthful of Soup would have me vomiting in the bathroom. Eating out can still be a very pleasurable experience. I'm off to meet a friend at an Italian restaurant this afternoon.. I'm having roasted monkfish and prawns on a bed of sweet potato mash. Yes I'll only probably manage half the portion or less and a mouthful of mash, but I'm still out enjoying myself.. It can be done

aww thanks you guys. I do have anxiety about food. I'm anxious over having to think about it so much. How's my stomach feeling? Can I eat that? and the biggie...what do I want...oh gosh that question seriously gets to me. My recipes are limited right now...mostly because my stomach and brain are on the fritz Thanks for letting me have my internet screaming hitting head on desk moment lol

So I hv ben introduced to veggie chips. ..cn u say card board..no flavor but dammit they will do...lil

You make a valid point. I thought the very same thing but, I also thought will I be the same person after surgery? I will have way more confidence and hold my head just a little bit higher. Some people are just that shallow they can't see past our weight. Screw them. When you find the right person it won't matter anymore.

we all understand and we all are here for you. it is my prayer this will improve for you.

So I am a Lane Bryant girl by necessity and I haven't been there in a while because I had clothes in my closet that were smaller from on my way UP. So I walk in and they know me there and the sales lady says "wow ! Look at you getting all skinny! You look great!" I was in shock I guess because I have been losing slow so I guess I didn't realize the impact. I am almost 3 months out and have lost 25 pounds since surgery and 35 since preop. That s slow compared to a lot of others but I feel like as long as I keep losing ill be fine. To top off the whole visit to Lane Bryant, I need work pants and and 18 looked great! My 22's were falling off so I thought I old need a 20 but nope! It's an 18 and not tight at all I was pushing a 28 when I was at my highest so I have lost 10 sizes. One word...Unbelievable!..... So if you are undecided on whether you want to take the leap of faith, I tell you that NOTHING has worked for me. Even the lap band along with every diet you can imagine. This is working and I feel great. I can exercise without feeling like I am going to die. I can eat healthy and be ok with it. Life is great and I love my sleeve

I weighted 242 pounds and lost down to 175... and then gained it back in less than 6 months. Stress I guess. I noticed that it was getting harder and harder to walk and then my knee started to hurt all of a sudden. Really bad.
I went to a doctor someone recommended. He did a CAT scan and said it was a bone bruise and it would get better. I went the next month and he still said the same thing even though it wasn't getting better. Finally I asked him to give me something for pain and he gave me a prescription for darvocet for one month. My friends said he wasn't doing anything for me and I should go to another doctor. I went to another doctor who acted like I was some kind of drug addict for changing doctors. But he gave me another prescription for darvocet. A few days later I forgot to take the darvocet and went to work and couldn't get up from my chair to go to the bathroom. I called my doctor and he was on vacation. I went to his backup doctor who actually diagnosed my arthritis but gave me arthritis medicine, how about that, a brace and a steroid shot. He told me if I didn't lose weight I would need knee replacement surgery in 5 years.
Now, I had a doctor recommend WLS for me years before. But that was when most of the people you heard about getting WLS were over 300 lbs and I only weighed about 220. But now smaller people were getting it and I was facing a choice of knee replacement surgery or WLS. And then the wife of a friend of mine had gastric bypass surgery and lost 170 pounds. My friend kept at
me to get it before it was too late.
Then in April of last year, I met my beautiful new granddaughter Desiray. And I want to take her to the park and the beach - museums and festivals. Bike riding and swimming. And I want to move to Central America when I retire and be another grandma doing zip lines in Costa Rica with my granddaughter.
Plus, the process has gotten me diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, sleep Apnea and something called Hypertension-Related Heart Disease, without Heart Failure

Finding out that I'm bigger than my mother and that I was at risk for diabetes

I walked by a mirror in a store and didn't recognize myself. It wasn't me I didn't look that big. Anyway I did some research for about a week around the end of July and had my surgery August 9th in Mexico.

I woke up one morning and realized my life wasn't going anyway. My boyfriend/ child's father started cheating and had no interest in me anymore. Co workers suggesting better eating habits for me as if they were my mate. I've learned to avoid shopping with friends and family because I hate what I look like in dressing room mirrors. I'm ready to live and stop living in a shell like a turtle.

Mine was my daughter , I had my 2 nd child when I was 38, I'm 39 now , and I want to be there for her, I want to be able to be active for her and my son . I am nearing 40 and I had this great need that I wanted to make a major change in my life, I want to be the grandma that zip lines :-) not wheelchair bound because of her weight .

I took my then 10 year old daughter to a Water park that had a lake that you could kayak or canoe. She was insistant that we each get a kayak. I told her I wasn't gonna fit in one but she persisted. I wedged by butt in one and it immediately sunk in the sand and got stuck. The kid working the area had to push me out and as soon as he did it tipped over. I then got in a canoe and rowed away. There were a lot of people in line watching and it was mortifying. I am 5'7" and was about 250 at the time. I knew that day I had to do something. There were also a couple of water slides with weight limits that I was slightly over. I can't wait to go back and do it all this time.

Mine wasn't related to an event, or a trigger weight, or anything like that. I was just tired of being fat. And tired of saying, "If I can't do it on my own by this time next year..."
I guess what I'm saying was that it was a slow process, rather than an event.
I think it was more outside events (e.g. getting a recommendation for a surgeon, realizing it could be done, realizing...) Keep in mind this was 2005 when the only WLS you really heard of was RNY and it was far from mainstream knowledge.

Father passed away at age 63 of massive heart attack. He was not obese and only had hyperlipidemia (controlled with med). He also ate healthy and exercised daily.
There are other reasons for me, but none that matter nearly as much as that one.

Joe...I have a similar list

Went to a concert to see my favorite artist and could not fit into the seat properly and so had to squeeze in sort of sideways and was in pain all evening.
Standing in line for a ride at Universal Studios with my grandson and not being able to even get on the ride - he rode alone and I had to wait at the exit
Seeing a picture of myself as I really was - at the end of my rope
Huffing and puffing when walking, even from the parking lot to my office right accross the street
Never feeling full - no matter how much I ate.

Thank God I found out that I qualified for WLS with Kaiser, I had been praying for a way to change my life and the option presented itself. I am so pleased with how much better I feel and look!!!

Mine was an inspirtation. A friend of mine (and past diet buddy) ran the NY Marathon. She had been around the same weight as I was and had bypass surgery about four years ago. I had always marveled at her weight loss, and even met with her several times to discuss the surgery. I kept thinking I would try to do it on my own, rather than undergo something so drastic. Well now, here I was at my highest weight ever, feeling tired, disgusting and miserable, and there she was running a MARATHON!! That was when I decided I had put my life on hold long enough and immediately started steps to get the surgery. It took me nine months from that decision to the actual proceedure, but now I am finally on my way to being a happy healthy person like she is. I do not really see the NY marathon in my future (I hate to run and always have, even when I was thin) but who knows. Either way, I know now that the future now looks bright for me and I will have my own "marathon" moments as a new, healthier, lighter me!

everything especially loosing 60 pounds only to put back on 80 over the next year and a half.... then when I heard about the Sleeve, I knew it was for me. A couple years of looking into bypass and not being able to do that to myself. Talked to Sleevers and researched it and was ready to go.... while waiting the 6 months for surgery a 4yr old asked, "Why are your legs so big?" that sealed the deal for me.

My 14 year old son has been running cross country for the last 2 years. There are 1000 other reasons I wanted this surgery, but, the thought of me being able to go running with my son, still is something that drives me to push harder.

Hurting a lot and listening to my knees sounding like rice krispies every time I sat down.
That and going to the drive in movies and feeling the camping chair slowly bend closer to the ground until it wouldn't close up any more.
We wanted to go to Six Flags before school starts but I got so depressed thinking about walking, riding and just sitting while everyone had fun, we decided to cancel. And that depressed me even more. We cancelled a mini vacation because of my weight.
Been toying with the idea of WLS, but I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired, you know?