prsist1869

Depending on the area in which you live, you may be able to buy work clothes, suits and shoes at Goodwill. There are also consignment shops, but that may be more expensive. Also, if you'll look for sales on your city's FB page, you may also be able to find really good deals. My mother in law had a lot of Ann Taylor, Donna Karen, etc. suits she put on the city FB page - she was practically giving them away, just to clean out her closet.

I can't answer for the vets further out, but I hit my 6 month 9/1. I have consistently lost 2-3 lbs a week. I have about 70 lbs more to lose before I'm content. I will also admit (keep you comments to yourself... you know who you are lol) that I have worked out a handful of times since surgery. I will also say that since my loss hasn't been so drastic all at once, that my body has adjusted quite nicely and I don't have a lot of sagging skin. I'm going to have to have my arms done but knew going into it I would. They were bad before, they really flap in the wind now haha. I've been very pleased to this point, and don't regret my decision to have the surgery at all. I am at the point where I'm not completely exhausted and drained, and plan on starting to exercise in Nov when the gym around the block opens. I think starting out with so much to lose, it really put my body into shock. For the first 4 months I would come home so exhausted I couldn't cat h my breath. Now that my Protein intake is great and I eat some carbs everyday (not many, whole grain only) it's really improved everything. By birthday is in two weeks, and losing 100 lbs is the best gift I could have ever given myself. Ok, the new SUV when I hit 50 lbs wasn't too shabby either

The pic on the left was taken 9/22/12. I was at my highest weight. Two months later, I went to my weight loss seminar to start my journey.
The pic on the right was taken 9/28/13. I had surgery almost 5 months ago, on 5/2/13.
From my highest weight, I've lost 116 lbs.
I feel like a new, different, better, happier version of myself.
I never aspired to be a size 2. Or hell, a size 12.
My goal for this surgery has never been a certain weight or a certain size.
I just wanted to have more confidence. To see myself the way I wanted to see myself. To feel cute. To feel beautiful again (because I've always known I'm beautiful! At any size!)
So although I'm still overweight and still need to lose more than 100lbs, I can't tell you how great I already feel. Yes, I'll keep working on me. Yes, I'm excited to see exactly what I can do with this body. I am motivated and looking forward to seeing where I'll be in another year.
But most importantly, for me, I'm ENJOYING MY LIFE. And for me, if I don't lose another single pound, I will have had all the success I could have dreamed of from this surgery. People are taking notice how damn fly I am. It's about time!!
I'm trying to prepare myself for the big changes... cuz I know more are around the corner. Life just gets better and better and better!!!

I was taking capsules starting on the first day after surgery.. The nurses and I were all fed up with my IV and veins and got the doctor to agree to let me have all my meds orally. I started taking my Vitamins in capsule form about a week after surgery but was told to wait two weeks before starting the Calcium since that was a larger pill and in tablet form. I'm currently 6 months out and take a "vitamin meal" of about 10 pills twice daily. I just toss the whole handful of pills (including a few large gel caps and tablets)in my mouth at once and drink a sip of Water. Never had a problem.

I'm 7 months out and haven't given a lot of thought to goal weight, my surgeon never gave me a number. I started at 304 and my CW is 203.5, I guess around 170 would be good. I stopped counting and logging about 8 weeks ago I continue to loose a pound or two a week, I haven't had a stall. I eat clean and exercise 5 or 6 days a week. Am I in maintenance? I don't know I'll just continue fat, dumb and happy until I stop loosing then evaluate where I am and decide then what to do next...

Stop when you feel you're happy with yourself...you can only answer what weight is best for you.

I am one of those that gets pretty obsessive about numbers and statistics - I still have every graph, chart, booklet, and document from every weight loss attempt I have attempted (the Weight Watchers Collection is like the Smithsonian lol).
I originally had set 130 as my goal - then revised it to 140. That goal weight puts me in the healthy BMI range (we all know how inaccurate these are - yet still they are widely used.) I am 49 next month and I am 5'3".
Our bodies are all so vastly different - I now wear a size 8 in pants but also can wriggle my rump into a 2 if there is at least 1% spandex in the material (this is when my husband starts following me around the house leering at me and telling me how 'sexy" my pants are...this makes me think maybe I should not wear them in public rofl!) I have friends who I think look smaller than I do and they wear a bigger size from the same store - go figure. So I have decided that clothing number sizes are not something I am going to get in a tizzy about...heck I wore a 3-5X on top less than 2 years ago.
I want to get to 140 and see how I feel. I have heard bariatric surgeons say that a BMI of 22 is ideal for a woman (whatever that means) - I know I will want that 140 to be the top end of a bounce range - which means I will most likely want to drop below that number to maintain that healthy BMI.
My doctors and nutritionists never set a goal weight for me - the goal has always been to resolve co-morbidities - and that happened at 9 months post. At my year one checkup I was already considered a spectacular success with an 80% EWL...but I will not be happy unless I go all the way. I have never achieved goal weight in my life and I am going to do it this time, and maintain it.
I feel good - I don't feel obsessed, just determined and positive to do the things I need to do to achieve what I want. I can see how far I have come, which has taken a long time to be able to see (I never liked looking - it was too painful), I can see it now and I am almost there

So I am 5 lbs from goal. Well, to clarify, an initial goal that, 100 lbs ago seemed like an incredible dream. It is still about 14-15 lbs above the top of a healthy BMI (I am 5'4 and the goal is 160). My thinking in picking this weight was 1) I thought I might be happy at that weight; 2) it seems like a higher goal weight might be easier to maintain and 3) my doctor was/is happy with this goal. What I figured I would do, ultimately, was get to 160 and then focus on reducing BF% rather than a number on the scale (which would probably result in a little more weight loss). Now that I am so close, I am wanting to revise that number down. Like maybe I want to go down to a "normal" BMI. I am also afraid that I might never be happy with my weight and always afraid of regain. It's like I am afraid of maintenance- it's got to be harder than this and I am already struggling from time to time (I am terrible about getting exercise in and am feeling hungry often now. You could say my sleeve is fully healed and happy.) I have always given the advice to others with the same question- you should make your goal weight where you feel most comfortable and where you are not afflicted with any co-morbidities. It makes a lot of sense, but what if you are never comfortable? I am free of my pre-surgery co-morbidities (DM & hypertension), so there's that. This probably should have been a blog post because at this point I'm rambling...LOL I need some insight- really tired of obsessing about my weight and food and and and...

Tomorrow is my pre op.... Whoop whoop!!!

Well said - couldn't agree more - There isn't a person alive that could either guilt or talk me out of it. I know that some opposition is borne out of concern and love but oh boy until they are in my skin they simply will not know what it's like. I told only one friend who I knew would not oppose it and of course my husband but no one else. Then there are the friends who are utterly clueless - I was out with a group of pals a couple of months ago - we all got chatting about weight as a few of them are pretty husky too so I put my two cents worth in and said how I couldn't find anything to wear for today because I'm so bloody fat, to which one of my friends replied loudly - "but you're happy though aren;t you" - I was mortified !! how on earth can this otherwise well educated woman actually think that I am happy like this ?? - good grief, nothing fits me, I ache all over, I'm miserable and yet this seems to have completely gone over her head so I can only imagine what her reaction would have been had I chosen to announce that I was having wls in Mexico soon !! - no I choose to keep it quiet. !!

I was sleeved on 9/3. I'm 41 and my surgery weight was also 263. I was 290 in may so I lost quite a bit pre-op. post op I've lost 23 pounds but nothing for 5 days. Trying to walk 5 miles a day. Have hit that goal 5 of the last 7 days. Feeling optimistic!!

Ladies, I volunteer! I don't know how good I'll be, but my surgery date was May 13, 2013 and I'm an email junkie
I have lost 55 lbs since surgery. I have my weigh in numbers from the 2, 4, and 6 week check-ins at the doctor. But I want to tell you, like you'll hear until you want to scream, everyone is different.
We had major surgery! They yanked out part of our body! You're healing! Follow your doctor's advice about your diet phases (they sound slightly different than mine), and put the scale away! Only weigh once a week. Remember that as you heal you're only getting in a minimum number of calories just because of swelling and stuff. So you lose a lot, and then your body starts hoarding everything, and then you adjust and start losing again. So it's a bit wonky at first. The weight will come off. It has to!
Our surgeon's office had a In-Body body composition scale, and it could spit out what your resting metabolic rate is, which is how many calories it takes for your body to function. So, at my pre-op weight of 268 and 5'10" tall, my resting rate was 2100 calories. At my 3 month appointment (around 220 lbs, I think), It was still around 1800-2000 calories. (my numbers are at home) So since I'm only getting around 1000-1200 calories a day, I'm losing weight. It's not fast, but it's still losing.
And I say it's not fast, but I'm apparantly still on "bypass rate" in terms of my average weight loss. I did lose a lot pre-op, which put me in good shape for post-op recovery and getting back to the gym. But don't rush going back to the gym. Walking and sipping are the initial things to do, until you're back at full calories (the new "full", about 1000 / day) so that you don't pass out (which I came close to doing until I remembered about the major surgery!).
Keep hydrated. Keep getting your Protein. Because you want to lose fat and not muscle. Things will happen, but we didn't get overweight overnight, so we won't get thin overnight either.
As I said, I volunteer to help. I'm on the board generally at lunch, but send me a private message if you want my email address for outside of here...
Good luck!

It's an intensely personal decision. I didn't tell my family or friends because it's not about them, it's about me. It's about me being better, feeling better and looking better. This will affect every aspect of my life and I'm damn well worth it. I don't know if I'll be one of the lucky ones who have little or no complications, but in the long run, anything I do for myself to live is worth it. I don't want to die and if I don't do this (for me), I'll either die from co-morbidities or wind up in and out of the hospital with one illness after another.
Bottom line - you have to decide what it is you want for your life. Not what your family or friends want for you. What's going to make you happy? Healthy? Confident? Content? This is all about you - no one else. It's not just about losing weight. That's my wooden nickels worth
Take care and I hope you find peace whatever you choose to do.

From a 18/20 to a 10/12! I bought a gorgeous Kelly green dress today in a 10. I am so stoked. I moved a little in my stall....thank goodness! Started keeping a food journal again. I am getting in about 1000-1200 calories, 80 grams of Proteins, 20-30 net carbs per day, 20-30 grams of fat. Working out. Snacks are Ostrim Snacks and Quest Bars. Surgery was end of February. I am so happy I did this. I cannot believe i am down 76lbs.

I think a lot of people have second thoughts, it's normal, having WLS is a huge personal decision. Some are fortunate to have an amazing support system, others come here and we give you all the support and help we can based on our own experiences. Honestly, I tried the six month doctor supervised diet three or four times before I finally said enough is enough. I have got to do this for me, I was tired of being tired, overweight and sitting on the sideline of my life. I had my surgery on July 24, 2013 and the morning after, I still questioned "what the heck have I done?!" Fast forward to today, two months later and WOW!! I'm 46 lbs lighter, my clothes are 1-2 sizes smaller, I'm off all my meds (I WAS a diabetic) and I feel better than I have in a long time. I have no regrets, except that I didn't do it sooner! I have had NO complications, didn't take the first drop of pain meds post surgery and love to brag about my accomplishments since surgery. As long as you listen to your doctor and nutritionist, you will do fine. I wish you the best!

It is normal to be nervous, but in the end it will be worth it. Remember this is just a tool to help you. You will still have to work at it. I say do it!!!

Yes it's super hard if you don't have the support of family or friends or both. But you will see a lot of us have chosen not to share our choice with friends or family because we know the response might not be supportive. But wls is such a deeply personal choice and anyone not going through it cannot begin to understand what it means to us. You do have a lot of support here, have you for some sleeve buddies who are having surgery the same time ? that always is really helpful and find a local group from this forum and you can meet up every month and have a chat and share stories !! where are you having surgery ??

Thank you guys! Feels refreshing to get all this encouragement...my family doesnt support me in this decision, so its hard! Im sure theyll b on board after its done (they would have no other choice) but damn it's hard....

Most of us have these thoughts, but you need to trust all the reasons why you chose to start down this path.
Plus trust the research you completed regarding the procedure and the surgeon.
It scary and you'll be nervous until the day of surgery.
I was sleeved on August 26th this year and it's been an amazing ride so far.
Good luck to you both!!

I had my surgery 4 days ago and I was feeling exactly the same way on my surgery day. It is normal. This is the best gift u can give yourself. Just think of the weeks to come. How much better you will feel. Hang in there. It gets better.

I think it is perfectly normal to have second thoughts. I surely did. I have to tell you though having the VSG was the best thing I could have ever done. Yes, I wondered why in the world I did it and what in the world had I done to myself several times at the beginning but WOW what a difference a year makes!!!! I am over 100 pounds down, run a 5k, not just once but 3 days a WEEK!!! I am feeling much much better and love having a new lease on life! Yes, take this next step seriously, but also know that everyone feels this way. Hope you feel better about it soon! No matter what you decide, do something!

I wish I were in both of your shoes and my surgery was just mere days away instead of 3 months away,I would think long and hard why I chose to have surgery in the first place, without surgery how do you function in life are you happy the way you are, do you suffer from cormobilities ,the choice is yours alone your the only one that has to live with your decision . Good luck.

I had the same thoughts...and almost cancelled the morning of the surgery. I did pretty well on the pre-op diet and I thought if I just kept doing that I would keep losing weight...but then I realized that I had lost weight many times over the years only to gain it back plus some. This was the opportunity to help me keep it off for a change. I ended up having the surgery and was one of the fortunate ones who had absolutely no problems, very little pain, and can eat anything. I still get hungry (I am 3.5 months out) but am able to control what I eat much more easily. I have lost 60 pounds and feel like I have a new lease on life. I exercise now and participate in so much more and my self esteem has soared. This decision is a personal one, and yes there are risks...but the risks of not doing it far outweighed the risks of doing it for me. I was pretty much guaranteed high blood pressure, diabetes and my joints were already starting to bother me...last weekend I ran my first 5k. I know you read a lot of horror stories online and wanted to give you a positive one to think about...but again, you have to do what is best for you...