magtart

Deja vu all over again is a phrase attributed to Yogi Berra when he witnessed Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hit back-to-back home runs.
Amandaraeleo beat me to it.

I guess I'm the camel because it is my back that is breaking. I just turned 59 and my back is in such bad shape I can hardly move around anymore. I have spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, and arthritis in my spine. I have already had two cervical surgeries with fusion and cadaver bone implant and one lumbar surgery. I now have two more herniated discs in my lumbar spine,. I know I would not be suffering like this if I were 100 lbs. lighter. I am also on two blood pressure meds.
I have been fat all my life and it is time to make a change if I want to see my son get married and make me a grandchild. Yesterday was my 59th birthday and I just went for it. I started the process. Can't wait!

The only time I have ever been afraid of surgery was shortly after my husband passed away and I had to have spinal fusion. I was terrified of leaving our 8 year old son alone. Everything went fine, no problems. Since then I have had 2 more spinal surgeries lasting more than 7 hours and nothing happened.
I have no fear of the VSG surgery. It seems like a piece of cake after what I have already been through.

Bless his heart! He just loves you and wants the best for you. I wish I still had my mom or dad alive to worry about me.

I had my first appointment with the surgeon today. Tomorrow is my appointment with the NUT, and 10/28 is my appointment with the psychologist.

Bless his heart! He just loves you and wants the best for you. I wish I still had my mom or dad alive to worry about me.

Had my surgery yesterday around 5. Did my leak test this morning. All is fine. I was given Gatorade this afternoon. It tasted sooo good after having fasted for so long for the surgery. Looking forward to starting the rest of my journey. Next post will be a long one detailing my experience here in Mexico for those who have not yet been through this.

I'm a newbie post op too.
::hugs::
We gotta stick together others just don't get it.
Hopefully you'll feel better after they fill you up-don't weigh for a bit so you can work out the extra Water weight.
I know I once cried off 11# in one week!
Hope you feel better.
allons-y

I started this journey in size 26 and got my tummy stuffed into size 16 jeans this weekend!! I know that's really 5 sizes but 10 just sounds so much better!! My surgery was June 28 and it seemed to take forever to go from 3X to 2X but, like everybody says, the sizes go down faster as they get a little smaller. I know I can't wear 16s in everything but was thrilled to fit into these jeans (I had gotten a great deal on them from ebay, just figuring if they didn't fit now they should later). Happy, happy dance!!

I noticed I could start eating more at about 2 months, I went from eating 1 or 2 tablespoons every 15 minutes to eating 1/2 cup in 15 minutes. Then agian at month 9 I could eat 3/4 to 1 1/2 cups per meal depending on the density of the food.

SW 280 CW 191 GW 150. Starting to feel a lot better!!!

Urgh just when I thought I found a funny, non-judgemental thread on here.....

I have been walking the treadmill since the day after my surgery and recommend it to anyone who needs a simple way to get your exercise. Many doctors will tell you that walking is the best and most effective form of exercise. Also good for people with knee and hip problems that many overweight people have.
I like the tread mill for a number of reasons. First, if you simply go out walking in your community, you will find that you stop to talk to friends and neighbors along the way. After you've been out for an hour, you think you had an hour of exercise. Not so. On the treadmill you have no such distractions. If you walk around your community, it's real easy to skip your exercise because it's too cold, too hot, too dark, raining, etc. Not so on the treadmill. The treadmill can give you a way to measure your speed, time and calories burned. Not so with walking the community. And best of all, your can pass the time by watching TV, listening to your MP3 player or reading a book. I prefer reading on my tablet with the Kindle app. Time flies when you can get into a good e-book, and the tablet is so much easier to handle because you don't have to hold it, just sit it on the treadmill and flip pages with a stroke.
Treadmill has been very effective for me. I lost all my weight (102 lbs) in six months and have gained only 3-5 lbs back in the succeeding year. If I find myself floating outside that 3-5 lbs limit, I go back to my high Protein, low carb diet until I get back in line again. I do it 5-6 days a week for one hour at 4mph with varying elevations. Works great and I feel great!

I just want to take a minute to throw out a general thank you to all that are willing to share photos (particularly the gritty, unclothed, saggy skin photos). I think that most of us are going to face some really serious sagging skin and feel just as body conscious, or even worse, than we did about our weight. Seeing that we aren't the only ones that have to deal with this undesirable side effect really helps the negative self-talk where we feel like we're defective or have destroyed our bodies. We don't have to feel like we must be the only one that has skin this saggy, yada, yada, yada.
Heartfelt thanks for being so brave!

Hey support fam
I am doing good so far no major pain. I have been walking a lot. It has been hard to get Water down. My incision areas itch and is a little sore. I have no desire for good or to drink anything.
During pre op every time I saw food commercials I would feel so hungry. Now I see good commercials and I frown it appears I have broken up with food right now & liquids and I are trying to develop a relationship ????????????????

I stumbled upon a pretty tasty treat when I combined 1/2 cup Fage 2% Greek yogurt with 1/4 scoop of Syntrax Cappuccino Protein Powder. The tangyness of the Greek yogurt paired perfectly against the Cappuccino Protein powder and actually made it taste like creamy mascarpone cheese. Topped with a sprinkle of cocoa powder, it makes a pretty delicious Breakfast.

I'm 59 and have my first appointment with my surgeon tomorrow. I'll let you know!

Two years and counting.
It’s been two years since my gastric sleeve surgery. I honestly can’t believe it’s been that long. I’m going to ramble here a bit, but hope you will indulge me on my second birthday
Weight:
I’m hovering right at 180 right now. Down to 177 some days and up to 182 some days. That’s a reasonable range for me and represents about a 240 lb loss. I met with a plastic surgeon who think I’ll lose about 25 lbs of skin during my lower body lift. That would put me in the 155 – 160 range which is solidly in the normal BMI range for my height. In fact, the surgeon said I shouldn’t lose further so that there would be enough subcutaneous fat to make the contours of my body right once I’ve had plastics. So this is where I want to sit for now. I’ve maintained at this weight level since April 20th this year.
Health:
So far so good. I am due to have my vitals checked out but I feel quite well. I seem to be doing well with blood pressure and blood sugars and that’s great. I thought my gout was completely resolved but I have had one flare up. So I’ll have to watch that one. However, I don’t see feel that there is anything that I would hesitate to take on limited by my health for my age. A few weeks ago I had some landscaping rock that needed to be moved quickly. I moved over three yards of rock in a four hour period. I expected to pay for that the next day… however I didn’t. WOW that’s a big change for someone that had a hard time climbing a flight of stairs two years ago. When we say this is life changing….. it is LIFE CHANGING!!!
Lifestyle:
Oh boy… this is the second biggest reason I did this after my health and it has filled the bill in full. Amongst the things I have done since surgery: SCUBA advanced certification and several dives; amusement parks and Water parks (with my nephews and my close friend Jennifer from the boards); Intercontinental travel to the Canary Islands, Europe and India; horseback riding; sailing; walking hours and hours whenever I want; feeling closer to my wife and feeling equal to my friends; less job anxiety and fear of changing jobs if I want… That was a lot of activity and a lot of satisfaction. Additionally, I have developed a bit of a cross addiction to clothes. I expected that to be honest and I’m pretty happy with it. I’m wearing mediums and smalls (mostly smalls) and 32-34 inch waist in my pants. Way down from 5x shirts and 62 (labeled… really much larger pants). I lost a shoe size as well. I love walking into any store (Ralph Lauren this weekend) and just buying stuff and having it work. I’m holding off on the big ticket items (suits specifically) until I have my lower body lift (hopefully in February or March). I can’t wait. So far I have been thrilled with the low cost of clothes and I’m now moving from quantity to quality. In total, I’ve donated more than 15 big bags of clothes over the course of my journey. I’m acting as mentor to some others having surgery and I’m appreciative of my mentors and friends too. I remain in contact and am continuing to work the support system here and at my hospital. I’m so so happy with this aspect of my weight loss. My relationship with my wife is good and she is now planning to have the surgery as well. I won’t say that there haven’t been some tense times. These kinds of lifestyle changes don’t come without complications but I am so looking forward to her joining me after the surgery. She has mentioned, gulp, skydiving… we’ll see.
Relationship with Food:
Overall – pretty happy here. I do miss quantity eating sometimes. - especially when I have something really good sitting right in front of me. So the only quantity item that I eat is lite popcorn. Otherwise, small portions of really good food. Carbs are still not the center of my world as they were before surgery. I focus on Protein rich foods with other items sprinkled in to add variety. I’ve probably had 10 Desserts (just two or three bites) in the past couple of years. That’s no longer compelling to me. That blows my mind as I was a dessert junky before. I probably rely on Protein Bars more than I should, but I’ll take that over my old eating habits. I don’t track as much as I used to but I have a set of habits that keep me on track. I have standby meals that I know by heart (I’m looking at you Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Omelets with egg beaters) and I repeat these meals to keep my intake in check. The sleeve is great for preventing over eating as long as I treat it right and put food into it in the right order. Many thanks to Frisco, Elina, Kairk, and many many others for helping me keep the focus on intake and helping my sleeve work for me.
The Road Ahead:
More of the same please! Maintenance is my biggest fear and I’m going to work hard to keep on top of it. I’ll also have to step up my mentor game as my wife has her sleeve surgery. I’m anxious to have my plastic surgery but honestly a bit worried about whether I’ll ever be completely happy with my body… I went from way to fat – to – way too much extra skin – and now anticipating – now have big scar… So I may have to get help for that. However there is no doubt and I mean NO DOUBT that this has been the greatest decision I’ve made for my health and wellbeing in my entire adult life. It’s the gift that gives every single day. Good luck to everyone and may your journey be as fruitful as mine has been.

This is Deuxdad the night after we rescued her from our back yard on July 4th. I'm guessing she was approx. 4 weeks old.

This is Deuxdad the night after we rescued her from our back yard on July 4th. I'm guessing she was approx. 4 weeks old.

Strained broth-based Soup?

Only regret is that I didn't do it sooner!
When I stopped to be honest with myself - I wasn't going to "seriously diet one more time." Sure, I could have...and I probably would have, eventually, gained that weight back (again). C'est la vie. I can donate a portion of my stomach to the HazMat container if it means I can get healthy, once and for all!

OMG!! I'm almost in Onederland, and I didn't even know it!! Thanks for letting me know.

To each his/her own. Personally, I tell anyone who asks -- and people are really starting to notice now. Think I will have a button made up that says, "Why yes, I had weight loss surgery." Then I am going to hand out cards that show a picture of the VSG and a description, because if one more person asks me if I had a lapband I'm going to lose it!
This is so different for me. I've been dieting for 40 years. And in the past I've always kept diets to myself because I always knew that I would regain the weight as fast as I lost it. I was always on my way up or down. So, now I am committed to succeed, and owning up to the surgery is part of that commitment. Plus I think the more people that learn about VSG surgery, the less stigma there will be about weight loss surgery in general.
This is my opinion. You have to do what is comfortable for you.
Good luck on your journey. It's going to be amazing!

Huh?