stephh

This is so exciting!!!!! Can't wait for the 13th! Let's all keep up w each other. I have severe anemia so I have to take ridiculous amounts of Iron
But I'm doing what I gotta do!

I'm not the 13th, but is the 14th close enough??? I would do really bad things for some Mexican food right now, but I guess that's why I'm in this situation! Have you come up with any good ideas for broth?
Good luck on Monday!

Woohoo I am on the 13th as well! I am ending my day 3 of the full Liquid Protein diet. Yesterday was tough. Today I was hungry but not moody and weak. So much better!!

Hi Marielbx, I'm with u on the 13th. Like you, getting really excited! I've had to do a 2 week liquid diet; I think yesterday was hardest for me, I was just hungry ALL day!! I got through it though, and today hasn't been that bad. Can't believe it's getting soooo close now! Good luck to you, I'll be thinking about you.

Hi everyone!
My surgery is on 10/13. I have gone to all my appointments and fine everything required for surgery.
I'm feeling superrrr excited and can't wait till Monday.
Ps. This pre-op diet SUCKS, but I'm sticking to it 100%.
What's your story?

I took pictures every 10 pounds, wrote my weight down each morning in a calendar, tracked my progress on MyFitnessPal, and have kept a spreadsheet of my measurements. In the past when I lost weight it helped me to have pictures of what I looked like at every size. I'm now down to the lowest I was in any of my other previous pictures, so when I woke up this morning and had somehow gained 3 pounds overnight despite eating perfectly yesterday, I think about how almost 100 pounds ago I would have given anything to look the way I looked in the pictures where I weighed what I do now. Keeping track of everything helps to put it all in perspective later on down the road.

I did an 8 day preop diet. Lost 11 lbs. Just sleeved 12hpurs ago. Feeling pretty good

This list was created by @chellede
The link can be found in her signature I believe.
The thread can be found as follows...
Gastric Sleeve Surgery (GSS) Forum
Basics for GSS Beginners
PRE-Operation GSS Questions & Answers
Newbie looking for Oct Sleevers!
Here is the original post but it has been updated a few times since.
Okay you awesome sleevers ! Here's a list of everyone who posted their surgery date and their location. Lots of people on the same days ! If any of the data is a mistake, let me know. We can also tag those we haven't heard from on the 1st or 2nd and see how they are doing.
I know a lot of us are nervous, excited, and scared.. and also happy for spelmanite10 for the surgery on the 1st ! We are all in this together ! We have a good group of people here.
10/1 - spelmanite10
10/1 - EndlezzPozzibilities - North Carolina
10/1 - joyful0402
10/1 - Pennyface
10/1 - trisey
10/1 - genniexfresh
10/1 - JenW~79 - Texas
10/1 - Lin1738
10/1 - kmuecke
10/1 - tardis76 - Massachusets
10/1 - Me on the list - Texas
10/2 - jmsgal - Chicago
10/2 - kccat3594 - New York
10/3 - jazzymom17 - Virginia
10/3 - unkowns
10/3 - BigMAlways - Massachusetts
10/4 - nikkydizzle - lives in Africa / surgery in England
10/6 - lisam495 -
10/6 - ljbobcat - Tiawana
10/6 - kelew39 - Louisiana
10/6 - Tee's new life - New York
10/6 - Queenz_Cece
10/6 - orrio82 - New York
10/6 - Sleeveme61 - California
10/6 - It_only_gets_better - California
10/6 - itsjessica - California
10/6 - robga999
10/6 - FilthAngel86
10/7 - AmyinNC - North Carolina
10/7 - Dana875 - North Carolina
10/7 - Biz
10/8 - Peekboo - Virginia
10/8 - leenieceymic1
10/8 - mwill68 - New Jersey
10/8 - larissanicole - New York
10/8 - Sistersuz - Florida
10/8 - Kcameron1 - Australia
10/8 - pbake01 - Ohio
10/8 - Pulelehua - Oklahoma
10/9 - marcasla - Washington
10/9 - stephaniegencs
10/9 - Disneymomx2
10/10 - 4EverChang'nSpy - Texas
10/10 - naan
10/10 - mnmlst
10/10 - akflatt1986 - Kentucky
10/12 - kim74951 - Oklahoma
10/13 - Livelaughlove2014 - Tijuana
10/13 - babybearsmum - Texas (from OK)
10/13 - friejenn - Idaho
10/13 - BP'sMamaG - South Carolina
10/14 - Marielbx
10/14 - lovelytrl - Louisiana
10/14 - chellede - Texas
10/14 - shmeyers - Indiana
10/14 - Angie413
10/14 - fosho1976 - Ohio
10/14 - jab315 - New York
10/14 - Kpar909956 - Tennessee
10/15 - shrinkingjill - Pennsylvania
10/15 - catinthehat
10/15 - apeters9284 - Texas
10/15 - groomergirl - Texas
10/15 - Samiuah Octavia Garnes
10/15 - OnePhatWhoDat - Tennesse
10/16 - ToMissKA - Australia
10/16 - athomas125 - South Carolina
10/17 - Kathy812 - Illinois
10/17 - sportymommy95
10/20 - laynie427 - Colorado
10/20 - Smiling Panda - New Jersey
10/20 - Kya Wolf - North Carolina
10/21 - FireWife678 - Iowa
10/21 - krimrod
10/21 - manibeaux - Mexico
10/22 - Vsglady - Maryland
10/22 - Monasongbird_38 - Georgia
10/23 - Jen - a work in progress - Wisconscin
10/24 - librarianlk - Alaska
10/25 - tiffin-scott
10/27 - kelliebell1973 - Mexico
10/28 - pink1028 - New York
10/28 - readyforitnow - North Carolina
10/28 - sschoch
10/29 - Lazy_Lilly
10/29 - Skinnyme45
10/29 - reeny
10/29 - Stephanie Kandace - New York
Waiting for Date
JerzyTomato74 - New Jersey
jessiquoi - Maryland
paigecoop -
Gendy - Iowa
lindalue - Minnesota
hogman - New Jersey
CherokeeGirl - Arizona
zcortes21 - Delaware
veronicalynnnnnnn
RedDirtRoads
Soontobeskinny2014
downsizingdarby
dogloverlosingit - Iowa
candicanec - Maryland
poginut
Changed to November
happymama2014 - California

I've now reached 110 pounds lost! That is more than my sister weighs haha I go around saying "I lost a Sammy" lmao And my mom keeps saying "Half-a-Hana" lol The feeling is incredible. I'm buying size 10 outfits, medium dresses... I'm working out and running a lot and just generally enjoying life so much more than before.



This past weekend I went up to NY for a family wedding. I hadn't seen a number of these people in a long, long time and the response was overwhelming. Some people cried, they were so happy for me and my success and my good health. I felt and looked incredible. It was just an incredible weekend. Below are a couple of before photos and the last photo is a small collage from the wedding!



November 2012





June 2013





May 2014 (4 weeks post-op)





September 12, 2014





September 27, 2014 (5 months post-op, 110 pounds lost)





HW (recorded): 301

SW (4/21/14): 271

CW (9/27/14): 191

32 years old

5'5"

Be patient. Abdominal fat is very resilient and will be the last place you will probably lose weight. I don't know your stats, but if you're like most of us, you have a problematic abdominal region. First comes an increased waist size, then a lower tummy pudge. The muffin comes next followed by upper abdominal protusion. If the body continues to gain weight, that protusion turns into a hanging pannicula.
As you lose weight, the retraction of your abdomen will happen in a reverse order (for most people anyway). You will need to lose a good bit of your weight before the hanging belly (if you have one!) begins to pull back up to some degree. Once it pulls up, then you will start noticing it beginning to retract in and have a visibly smaller size, and certainly in clothing.
It must come up before it can go back in!

Today is my big day... Super excited!!!

OMG Monday is right around the corner. So Excited... Got to clean out the cupboards, fridge and freezer.... Set up my gym down stairs.... Get ready to donate my first batch of clothes. This is all I can think about. Good Luck everyone, I will be posting on Monday and there after. I will be posting pictures, if you want to follow my success.

@@donna1470
what is 3 more months out of a lifetime??
well worh the wait
"God Grant Me Patience, Just Hurry Up About It"
use those three months wisely
lose as much weight as you can
work up to drinking 64 oz of Water a day
practice not drinking while you eat
after you eat don't drink for 45-60 minutes
eat in moderation
don't drink any soda
just the tip of the iceberg of rules you must follow for the rest of you life with the sleeve
you are on your way to a healthier, happier, longer life
enjoy the ride ride
good luck
kathy

Me too...October 14!

I'm scheduled for RNY on 10/14/14.

Good luck with your two week liquid diet! And good luck with your surgery =)

Yay for you!!! That's why I picked a Monday too; so I wouldn't be gone from work for over a week (hopefully). I actually told my co workers because I eat lunch with them everyday. I haven't hit the food funeral stage yet. My last weigh in for insurance is Friday, so I'm being careful! Hopefully I won't have any after that either. I only have to do a one day liquid diet before.

Got my date yesterday-October 13!

Hi all,
I mentioned the benefits of mindful eating in another thread and VSGAnn suggested I start a thread. I'm far from an expert on this, and honestly don't practice it as it should be, but I think the exploration of it has really helped me, so wanted to go ahead and start this - and invite others who may practice it chime in with their input and experience. I did a workshop about mindful eating in the months before my surgery. So sharing what I learned.
So mindful eating is really just about slowing down and paying much closer attention to the whole process of eating than we normally do. We all know the problems of mindless eating - how easy it is to finish a whole pint of ice cream, large bag of chips, etc. while watching TV. But even when eating at the table in a more traditional way so much of our eating is still pretty mindless. And we let external cues, rather than our own bodies, determine what we eat and how much.
Some of the basic tenets of mindful eating (again, not an expert so may be leaving things out - all are welcome to add/correct what I'm including!):
Before eating, check in with yourself and really think about what is your body wants to eat; sometimes we're just on autopilot and reach for the usual things, but when we listen we realize that we actually are craving something different Don't judge yourself for what you're craving; trust your body to tell you what it needs This one was REALLY hard for me, and I have not perfected it, but I do think it's really important; most of us have spent years dieting or "cheating" on diets and it's all just disconnected us from listening to what we actually need This one is also hard to align with the guidelines post surgery - like focusing on Protein, but to a somewhat limited extent it can still be done Before eating a meal, pause and think about the meal you're about to eat - where did all the ingredients come from? Who prepared it? And so onFor me, this helps me feel so thankful for the abundance of foods available to me; I often marvel at the range of spices and flavors in each of my meals that come from all over the world, or the fresh ingredients that made their way from country farms to my NYC apartment; and I am more aware of the animals that gave their lives for my sake than I used to be (still a carnivore, but more conscious about not wasting meat) Eat one bite at a time, putting your fork down between bites and think about the whole sensation - how the food feels in your mouth, the flavors that hit different parts of your tongue, how the flavors change as you start to chewIn the workshop I did we did a few guided meditations with food, for example eating just one raisin at a time and contemplating each stage of eating - holding the raisin in our mouths, chewing (for a while) and then finally swallowing; then doing the same with a 2nd raisin and noticing how the experience is slightly different with the 2nd bite vs the first; I highly recommend this! It was amazing how delicious one raisin could taste when you pay attention (and I'm not someone who thought I liked raisins). Also interesting how much less intense each bite is vs the first; after the first bite we tend to go into autopilot mode and just shovel it in without thought After each bite check in with yourself and consider how your hunger, satiety and fullness has changed Satiety is probably the hardest of these; I tend to think of it as - if someone took this food away right now how would that feel? If I would feel that I needed to get something else to eat than I'm not satisfied; if that feels like it wouldn't be so bad, and that what I've eaten will keep me going for 2-3 hours than most likely I'm just about satisfied In terms of fullness, paying attention helps you recognize the early signs of fullness; especially for us WLS people it's important not to eat to point of too full. There are always signals before that; we just have to get used to recognizing them There are mindful meditations that you can do - for just 10 minutes a day; this isn't about eating, but just about learning how to listen to your body signals - there's an app called mindfullness with a good 10-15 minute meditation (I think it's 2-3 dollars) Full disclosure: I did these during the workshop I was in, but have not continued; but I think it's helpful for someone who wants to embrace this process to do the work of strengthening your mindfulness muscles Mindfullness is not easy! We're programmed to rush. It's almost ridiculous how frustrating it can be to hold a raisin in your mouth for a minute without chewing it, but again - a great thing to do for yourself to build this skill - it really feels like taking care of yourself in a deeper way, and we all deserve to give ourselves that attention and care I did this workshop in the months before my surgery and I really think it's helped me since surgery. As I mentioned above I don't practice perfectly, but having worked to be more conscious in my eating for a while, now that awareness is more innate. I am much better about checking in with myself about what i'm craving. If I start eating something that's not satisfying I stop and get something different (when possible). If I want a little more than I planned to eat I get more. If I'm satisfied before I clean my plate I stop. I track what i eat, and focus on Protein and veggies, but I don't stop myself from eating more some days when I am just hungrier - or force myself to eat more on days when I'm not too hungry. And if I crave something sweet - I eat something sweet.
Overall I think this has helped me feel satisfied with the smaller meals we eat post surgery. Even though they're small I still think about each meal and make sure that it's yummy and satisfying. I've seen people post about how eating is so much less pleasurable since surgery and I don't relate. I enjoy food as much or more, but I think the mindfullness has helped with that a lot.
Hope this is helpful to some! Look forward to hearing if anyone else has tried this approach. Feel free to ask me any questions and I'll do my best to answer.
-Susan/Suse

Here's a 2 months out picture. 1st picture pre-op. 2nd picture 1 month, 3rd picture 2 months! Not a huge difference between month 1 and 2, but there is a difference, AND I'm at 40 lbs down!!! Life is good, friends.

Congratulations!!!! I am taking 6 weeks because I just want to. Lol.

A lot happened today, I had my final surgical clearance with my surgeon. He confirmed I have Hiatal hernea that will require a repair while doing my VSG. Also stated I had H Plyorie infection and would be on antibiotic regiment for 14 days. My insurance sent my notice I was APPROVED!!! Then I got my SURGERY DATE October 20, 2014!!!!!!
One happy camper...

They are checking me out of the hospital as I write this. I'll say more once I get a little more energy. I certainly do not feel like doing the waltz or going on a shopping spree but I don't fee wretched. And I never once said or thought that I made the wrong choice. This is just the hard part. Now I just need to follow instructions and I will be fierce!

@easymac63, we're sleeve twins! This will also be my first surgery but I'm looking forward to it. Wishing you all much success!

I do a lot of lurking here - not a lot of writing - but I just got my date yesterday and its October 14! I'm so excited and a little bit nervous. I feel like I've spent so long preparing for this that I know what to expect, but also I've never had surgery before so I couldn't possibly know what to expect. I just hope I don't have buyers remorse afterwards!
Also, how long are you guys planning on being out of work? Im giving myself up to 2 weeks and hoping I dont need that much.