twittymilk

When you can fit all the "new" shoes in your closet that couldn't fit your fat feet before. I did not expect my feet to get smaller and it is a wonderful surprise

When you can fit all the "new" shoes in your closet that couldn't fit your fat feet before. I did not expect my feet to get smaller and it is a wonderful surprise

When you can fit all the "new" shoes in your closet that couldn't fit your fat feet before. I did not expect my feet to get smaller and it is a wonderful surprise

When you can fit all the "new" shoes in your closet that couldn't fit your fat feet before. I did not expect my feet to get smaller and it is a wonderful surprise

Here is a good article about the 3500 calorie myth.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/28/why-the-most-popular-rule-of-weight-loss-is-completely-wrong/?tid=sm_fb

It's absolutely gross. The chalk like after taste is the worst.

And this is why we grow a massive garden and donate fruits and vegetables every year.

My family income level dropped quite a bit since my husband passed away. My job as a public school reading teacher doesn't help make up for that loss of income much, of course. My income is just a tad over the limit to receive government assistance, so I decided to let my insecurities go and make a trip to the local food bank.
I wasn't hoping to receive food to help my dietary needs, since I don't eat that much. It was more to help fill my son's never ending stomach. Getting milk, eggs, and bread for free was actually my purpose in going this one time.
Let me begin by saying that everyone there was extremely friendly and the process was quite easy. The place was packed and it was over an hour wait, which I didn't mind. Most of the people waiting were mothers with many small rowdy children. I'm quite aware of the stereotype correlating poor people with obesity. Looking around at the very overweight moms and kids, I could see why others might make that assumption.
When they called my name to get my food, I was ecstatic about the number of bags of food they were bringing to my car. I only have one kid and he is quite spoiled. His only comment about getting free food was: "It better be doughnuts and pizza because I hardly ever get that anymore." I told him not to count on it, but it ended up I was wrong.
Here is a list of foods that were contained in the five bags and four boxes:
7 Kings Size Peanut Butter Twix candy Bars
7 Bags of mini-Butterfinger pieces
3 bags of mini Reese's cups
2 six count boxes of Crispy Crème doughnuts
1 bag of 48 unbaked chocolate chip Cookies
1 bottle of light corn Syrup
1 bottle of dark corn syrup
1 canister of salt
1 bag of frozen Black pepper seasoned French fries
1 bag of frozen Barbecue flavored French fries
3 boxes of cereal: chocolate crispies, honey bunches of oats
Baked goods: chocolate muffins, marble cake, pound cake, waffles, chocolate covered brownies, lemon streusel cakes, long loaf of French bread, 6 birthday cupcakes, red velvet cake
3 large unbaked pepporoni pizza's from Wal-Mart
Little Debbie Snacks (zebra cakes, moon pies)
2 large canisters of Wrigley's gum
10 cans of raviolis
2 boxes of saltines
1 box of wheat thins
1 box with 12 small canisters of cheese its
7 small snack bags of teddy grahams
box of Kashi granola bars
box of peanut butter/chocolate power bars
canned goods: green Beans, Peanut Butter, cranberry sauce, creamed corn, mixed vegetables
box of 6 angus beef burgers
deer sausage
banana popsicles
chocolate fudge pops
4 rolls of TP
paper towels
box of spaghetti noodles
3 boxes of hamburger helper
bag of frozen cranberries
pancake mix
cornmeal mix
1 canister of chocolate milk powder
3 boxes of pink lemonade cake mixes
2 boxes of muffin mix (blueberry/cornbread)
1 quart of whole milk
6 large eggs
I'm not going to complain about this food. In fact, I am happy that I got what I hoped, which was the bread, eggs, and milk. I've already given much of the baked goods away because my son doesn't need it. We have enough income to buy healthier food in place of it. But what about the families who don't? I keep thinking about those mothers at the pantry with all their small children. They must HAVE to eat all this food, including the junk because they have no choice. This makes me sad. However, I am thankful that at least they have something to fill their stomach.
My neighbor did inform me that not all pantries give out the same kind of food. Some pantries actually have fresh produce donated by the farmers market. I'll actually have to keep this in mind in case we get into a rut again. My salary has gone up this school year and I've started my own after school tutoring service, so I think we are going to be financially set for awhile. Once we get ahead, I plan on donating some healthy food to the same food bank I just visited.

I made a weight tracker thing that's similar. It's on a painted canvas. There's two of them but this is what the first part looks like . But I think I will make a vision board next!!!

Single digit pant/jean size
Sky dive
Run a marathon

I was never ever an athlete of any type. Four weeks out I started couch to 5k and yoga 3-4 times a week. 10 months out I ran my first half marathon. A year out my body fat had dropped to 18%. 18 months out I ran my first full marathon. I have done a dozen half marathons several relays and triathlons and countless 5 and 10K's. I am currently 20 months out and did a triathlon this morning. If I can do that at age 46 anyone can!

Single digit pant/jean size
Sky dive
Run a marathon

Your undies start drooping in the rear like a baby in desperate need of a diaper change!

I am officially 9 months into my post op journey, and if you would have told me this time last year that I would be down from a size 20 to a size 6, I would have laughed in your face.
For everyone who is struggling with this decision, or is losing weight at a slow pace, keep your head up and let your new sleeve work for you. Don't over think things. If you slip up or fall down, pick yourself up, brush your shoulders off, and keep on truckin'.
I will not lie and say that this journey is easy, because it is very, very, hard. But believe me, if you work with your sleeve, and let your sleeve work for you, you too will find yourself in complete awe of where you'll be 9 months out from your surgery.
I wish everyone true happiness and success in their journeys, and if you are fortunate enough to find people here in the forums that will be as honest and upfront with you as some of those people that I have encountered have been with me, I promise your journey will be made just a little bit easier.
Thank you @@Alex Brecher for creating a forum for all of us to share, encourage, and uplift each other along this path.

Sorry for the cross-posting. I put this in the general forum then thought, wait a minute! This is a success story...lol. So here I am too.
Today marks 2 years since my surgery. I never, ever would have thought I would be in the 120s when I started this journey. It has- and I have- surpassed my wildest expectations.
I remember vividly the exact day I decided I had to do whatever it took to lose weight & be healthy. I was at Hershey Park with my then-6th grader daughter on a class field trip. I love parks, and since I didn't have the littles, I was excited to ride the roller coasters with my daughter. So we came to the first one, I squeeeeezed myself into the seat & to get the lap bar down the attendant had to step on it to push it past my huge stomach. I was mortified and my daughter felt terrible for me. I was nearly in tears; in my minds eye, I was no where near that big. I didn't ride another ride the rest of the day & swore at that point I would not let my weight hold me back from experiencing life with my family one more day. It HAD TO change.
Don't you worry. Since then I've OWNED that park!! In fact, the next time I went back was not only to ride every freaking roller coaster in that park, but also to run a 1/2 marathon through the park just over a year later. Take THAT!!! Lol.
Anyway, these 2 years have been amazing. I've learned that my body is capable of so much more than I gave it credit for. I've learned I absolute can accomplish even the most seemingly unreachable goals. I've learned that I could not achieve long-term success without overcoming my eating disorder. I've learned that I deserve good things.
So, it's definitely NOT about the numbers, but I feel like I would be leaving out something someone following this might really want to know if I didn't include them so.... I started my journey at 278.4 pounds & 2 years later I am at 128 pounds. That's a loss of 150 pounds :-). What an amazing journey it's been!!! I even rocked my first bikini ever this year! Ha!  

I am stunned that anyone would think a public site on the internet would somehow be private!
A quick poll: How many of you found out about this site in the first place by Googling something related to WLS?
I know I did. And I'm SO grateful I found it! If it was private, I shudder to think how much knowledge and real peoples' experience I would not have access to!

The best thing I've learned through this whole process is to LISTEN to my own body. It's going to do what it wants. I can go with the flow or pay the consequences. I've learned to appreciate what an awesoms machine this body is and it knows what it's doing whether I want to admit it or not.

Single digit pant/jean size
Sky dive
Run a marathon

Single digit pant/jean size
Sky dive
Run a marathon

Once I reach goal I am going on a shopping spree at Neiman Marcus.
Skydiving
African Safari

Single digit pant/jean size
Sky dive
Run a marathon

This time last summer I was sitting at the beach with my family and friends discussing the fears/doubts/hopes that we all felt about my decision to undergo VSG that coming September. I could never had imagined then what a wild ride id thrust myself upon and where id be now.
As my one year anniversary approaches (9-8-14) I think of how far I've come as a person, The self-esteem I feel now and the power within myself that I never knew I had is overwhelming. This time last year I had a few goals for myself going into surgery...
1. Don't Die-- I assure you now I didn't!
2. Don't Cheat, Not even once!--I'm human, and somehow then I guess I thought I'd come out perfect after surgery didn't happen.
3. Get To Your Goal Weight.-- My goal weight at the time was 170 and I thought that was good enough as I didn't have any high hopes for myself.
As of today I have lost 96lbs from the 255lb uncomfortable person I was to 159lb person who is comfortable with herself and willing to do more in life, Who puts herself out there and is thriving. It's Amazing to me that I could ever be where I am. And like a lot of others out there, I wish I had given myself this gift sooner!

At one year out I have lost a grand total of 152lb excited can't even explain how I feel

As of this week's weigh-in (Wednesday) I hit one of my major goals of 200 lbs lost since my highest weight.
Here are my stats:
HW: 491 (2.5 months prior to surgery)
SW: 422
CW: 290.5
Total loss: 200.5!!
I'm really exited to have hit this milestone. This month (and last month) has been my slowest rate of loss since surgery and it's been very frustrating for me (even though I'm thankfully not in a stall!), so it was good to make this goal this week! I'm still about 135 from my ultimate goal and my surgeon's ultimate goal for me. It's just crazy to think that I ORIGINALLY had about 335 lbs to lose and now I "only" (haha) have 135 to lose! It's been almost 11 months since my highest weight and I've come so far. It's mind-boggling to me.
So, I don't know if anyone else has done this, but I totally threw a party this weekend to Celebrate my accomplishment and invited all my friends/loved ones. I also happen to be moving (about an hour away) this week so I guess technically it was a farewell to my fat party and just a general farewell party! Haha.
Definitely something worth celebrating. This is the first proper party I've thrown since surgery, and it went really well. Just as an NSV I feel like parties have historically been very food-centric for me. Snacking the entire time, always going back for more. But this was different. I thought it would be tempting to keep snacking on small amounts and that I would over-eat, but I absolutely did not. This really is a new me!
Oh! And I made a really yummy cheesy riced cauliflower dish (made the recipe up myself) that everybody loved! So that's always a plus!

If you take Milk of Magnesia tonight, you will go way before your trip in the AM.