blondiebabs

Listen to music, take a warm bath, or pet an animal to help with anxiety.... For insomnia try not to nap during the day, limit caffeine to morning hours, limit stimuli before bed, and try to develop a bedtime routine of some sort. When you do the same things each night it triggers your brain that it is time to sleep. Sorry you're struggling... hope you feel better soon!

Same here. Depression PLUS insomnia and terrible, terrible anxiety.
Admittedly, I take medications because for the time being it is the catalyst that helps me gain control.
But at the end of the day I try to keep in mind that when its all said and done is it better to be happy or better to be sad? Once I understood what happy really meant, I choose happy and I find I stress a lot less.
I am an agnostic but there is a saying that goes something like, "no weapon forged against thee shall prosper" (Isaiah, I think.) I use that as a mantra when anxiety kicks in. I guess that's CBT? Anyway, the weapons are anxiety and stress and depression so I try to picture myself using a Jedi mind trick to make those weapons benign.

For me, breathing slowly and deeply helps.
For insomnia, stop looking at TV or computer screens for 2 hours before going to bed, sit in bed and read for a little while to slow down.

I was literally just thinking about this today. I've been lucky to generally look younger than I am and I think that is about to come to an abrupt stop. heh

I started seeing a psychologist a few weeks before I started this journey, when I was just in the pondering the idea of surgery. It has been very helpful. I have several anxieties/fears surrounding it and it's nice to kind of have a bouncing board to help me work through them. Not sure how I'll handle food issues, not sure how I'll handle being a thin adult since I've never been a thin adult, and the fears of failing and succeeding as well. =)

Hi I had my surgery back in May 2014. Just wondering how you guys are doing and if you will like to share any pictures and how you guys are doing.
I'm doing great I work out 3 to 4 days a week for at least an hour. I have a full time job and two kids n a hubby and I'm still attending college so sometimes is hard. I do have a very supported husband and mom so that's a big help.
HW:267lbs
SW:252lbs
CW:183lbs
I'm actually very proud of my so far outcome and my goal is 147lbs by my birthday April 28.
Attached are some Before and After pictures

I'm soooo excited! It's been 4 days since my surgery and I've already lost 16lbs!!! I've been walking a bunch but am a little hesitant about what other exercises I should do so early post op. I don't want to tear/injure anything but I also don't want a whole lot of loose skin as I realize I'm losing quite rapidly and want to get the jump on things. Any suggestions?

@@allyray I recently did a side-by-side picture because I couldn't really see any difference in myself when I looked in the mirror. After looking at the photo, not only could I see the difference, but I had people tell me that I look 10-20 years younger. I thought exactly the same things about myself that you are, but quickly learned I was wrong.

You tell me! I'm an old lady, too.

I was watching a vid on youtube last night and the person used the Stevia flavor drops to create her own flavors with the greek yogurt like rootbeer flavor and vanilla flavor to make it like a rootbeer float flavor. I checked them out on Amazon and there are an impressive amount of flavors.

I was watching a vid on youtube last night and the person used the Stevia flavor drops to create her own flavors with the greek yogurt like rootbeer flavor and vanilla flavor to make it like a rootbeer float flavor. I checked them out on Amazon and there are an impressive amount of flavors.

I never used anything. I can barely even see my scars. But my uncle swears by coconut oil. He even used it on old scars from a knee surgery several years ago and they faded significantly.

Girl you got this!!!!!! I'm hoping for a Feb surgery date too :-) please keep us updated on your progress...

I'm 69 years old.
I look MUCH younger now than I did 65 pounds ago.
Needless to say, I worried about looking older. But it just hasn't worked out that way at all.

I've seen so many pictures of different people and most look a lot younger.

I'm 55 years old and down 103 lbs. Since I no longer fill out my wrinkles, in the mirror I look older, but people tell me I don't. If that's true, I can chalk it up to tons of Protein and fluids helping to keep my skin elastic. You can look at my gallery and judge for yourself. Either way, it's soooo worth it!!!

I bought some sugar free Torani syrups because I've seen it suggested a lot, I haven't tried it in yogurt yet but they are good in plain Protein powder. But in the past I have flavored the yogurt with extracts as well and it is good, you can find a lot of flavors usually on the baking aisle, orange, lemon, mint, vanilla, coffee. I hit them up when they are on bogo haha.

LIpstickLady,
True. Some may not need counseling. I know I needed it to deal with issues related to becoming morbidly obese.
I've been working on transforming my negative thought patterns for over ten years. I tried everything short of surgery during that time.
Kathleen

And I think I would have took off running..lol Not the first thing I want to hear

I,m concerned with what people will say they can be so rude, I,m doing this for me which is out of the ordinary. I,m always taking care of others. well the 19th is my date and pre op 4 days I,ve lost 8 lbs so feeling good with myself, but scared as hell with that big lifestyle change too !! I,m a beer and burger camping gal

I think most of us are talking pre-op, and I would think that taking whatever measures are necessary to become accustomed to something unfamiliar would be a good thing. Especially for people who aren't even in the pre-op diet stage and are just trying to learn how to choke down those nasty farty proteins!
I do have the Premier premade drinks in Choc and vanilla, but I prefer thicker shakes made with ice at this stage. Obviously that's all likely to change post-op! But I think they're also good to carry around with you--in your purse or whatever.
Keep going! You're doing great!

Yes it can, they went over it in my initial seminar. I did a google search and this is the first website that popped up about it, and there are a ton more. Just search "stretched sleeve after vsg" http://obesitycoverage.com/weight-loss-surgeries/gastric-sleeve/gastric-sleeve-will-my-stomach-stretch
Its basically the same way people stretch out their stomachs in the first place. I was reading somewhere, I don't know if it was here or somewhere else, a woman's story that in her surgery the surgeon said that her original stomach was the size of a football. Stretching can happen!

Yes it is ok!! I asked mine on the first consult, I also asked him how many of these surgeries he's done, and he was happy to answer my questions. I'd say if they acted offended or didn't want to answer that, then maybe that isn't the surgeon you want. I know I don't want someone cutting on me who has a bad attitude.

I can only speak from my own experience. I can definitely eat more now at almost two years post-op. Can I eat as much as I used to? No way! Does this mean that I've stretched my sleeve? I don't know but I guess it's possible since the stomach tissue is very elastic. I am still thrilled with the results of my surgery but at this point it's up to me to maintain my weight loss. I can't eat the same volume that I used to but I can eat too many calories and gain weight.

@@joatsaint I was going to suggest Clusie as well. Her vids are great.
@@samantha1458 there are so many other great vloggers on youtube, just search "VSG" or "Sleeve", "Weight Loss Surgery" "WLS" etc, and you will find plenty of people of all age ranges, some just starting their journey, and I really love some who've vlogged their journey for years.