Need4Change

Would like to offer a good idea to do with all those use cloths we can't fit into any more and feel good . I donate all my cloths to the women shelters. Most of these women leave behind everything they own. Plus size women don't receive many donation because as plus size women we don't shop much. This is something I'm doing now and it very much in need for these women. Please find the location near you and know women will be grateful. They can use every day cloths to dress cloths for job interviews.

I was sleeved in July and have lost around 32 pounds--enough so some of my clothes are too big. I have closets and closets full of clothes in every size from 12 to 20. In recent years, the 20s were tight but I refused to buy new clothes and so I bought a lot of fairly ugly, stretchy clothes.
Today I got rid of: all clothes that are too big (not that many); lots of clothes that are just sort of frumpy and clearly the product of my trying to hide in clothes; any summer clothes that currently fit. The latter was my absolute confidence that by the next time it is time to wear summer clothes (9 months from now) the clothes that fit now will be too big, so it's not worth packing and storing them for the winter.
This felt like an act of liberation--a sense of total confidence that I can do this. I kept only clothes that: 1) are beautiful; and 2) fit me now or are too small. I got rid of seven bags of clothes. It felt great.
I love this sleeve. I am a slow loser, and that's ok. I know I will get there, and it feels great. I don't need loads of huge, stretchy clothes that are unattractive.

I barely made the cut off at 36. I was under the impression that most surgeons (in the U.S.) wouldn't perform surgery under 35. I am thinking that you're likely part of a very small group of BMI'ers. Are you in the states?

I make little baked egg omelettes with low fat cheese and mushrooms. I cook them in silicone muffin tins and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
I usually add a splash of 2% milk, a dash of cream of tartar and a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper. You can add any diced meats or vegetables as desired.
You can also refrigerate and reheat for 45 seconds in the microwave. My whole family loves them.

Yes...FAT holds a lot of hormones and if you are releasing the fat, your period may get out of whack. I've had my period TWICE since 8/17. GOOD TIMES. The good news is it wasn't as HEAVY as it used to be. It's pretty normal and it should regulate itself soon. For more information search for it under the post-op topics, there are a lot of threads about it.
GOOD LUCK!

Try to relax a little about all these intense and scary thoughts and feelings you are having. Really, they ARE normal for some people and nothing to feel odd about. But right now, please consider that your thoughts are lying to you. You have several stages of new eating to go through while your stomach heals and your body and brain adjust. Stuff you have never come close to experiencing in your entire life. But does that mean you are doomed for life???? NO!! You must have patience and follow your program. Remember you DID just have MAJOR SURGERY. You can CHOOSE to feel sorry for yourself for awhile. And that is ok if that is what you absolutely need to do. (Ask yourself though--is it REALLY?) But please remember that you have to be good to yourself to be successful long-term with WLS. YOU made the decision for WLS. Wishing you didn't is very unproductive thinking and takes away from your precious energy that you soooo need to build that POSITIVE ENERGY and POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND SELF-TALK to view your decision as a FUN ADVENTURE, full of possibilities instead of a lifetime of regret. You have a lot of work to do down the road in learning your new lifestyle and eating habits. You knew this was going to be HARD WORK before you signed on the dotted line. I respectfully must disagree with you--if you could have done it "on your own" you would have done it a long time ago.
I had my surgery one day earlier than you four years ago on 4/26/11. You are probably not ready to hear, must less believe this right now, but my lifestyle and eating is totally normal. I don't think of myself as a freak compared to other "normal" people who haven't had WLS. I eat 3 meals a day and 2 healthy Snacks. The quantity of my meals is very close to what I ate before surgery. Breakfast is often a 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup fresh fruit, 1/4 cup All-bran, made into a pretty parfait! Most sleevers by one year can eat an average of 1 to 1-1/2 cups of food per meal. For dinner that would equal about 4-6 oz of some kind of meat Protein, and 2 servings of veggies and/or complex carb. I dine out with friends (although I choose to keep restraunt eating to a minimum because I like to eat the most nutritious meals that I can and those are the ones we prepare at home).
You will learn to not "hate what you did to yourself" because who wants to live their life feeling that emotion? We want to LOVE life. You are way too young to regret ANY decisions you make. You honor yourself, trust yourself, and live in the present, not yesterday. We cannot change yesterday no matter how hard we try and cry!!!
I wish you peace...

Vitamins are an adjunct and tyou can look at my tickers to see im a little over 5 1/2 months out and down 137 pounds. It took a good month on solid food before i really felt comfortable with my eating. 3 bites is wayyy too little. my day goes like this and has for quite a while, Breakfast 1 egg scrambled with 3 pieces of turkey bacon or two turkey sausages ( i recommend the Johnsonville pre-cooked turkey sausage links, they are awesome and you cant tell they are turkey..really!. ) then about 3 hours later i have a greek yogurt, the dannon low cal sugar free stuff, then 2 hous later i have my lunch either some veggies or a Protein shake with some Peanut Butter ( all natural no sugar type, or use PB2, or fruit or a mix of both) and then 2 hours later a snack usually carrots and so oil and vinegar salad dresssing as a dip kinda thing although there are some great lite salad dessings, just watch the fat and sugar content. but also can have some apple slices maybe, or the like, dinner is chicken fish, beef or pork or turkey, i love indian food type chicken, but ground beef still not having a great amount of luck with steak, or ground beef patties with cheese ( yes a cheeseburger without the bun) you can wrap in lettuce or use a very low fat low cal. no sugar lw carb bread type.
I like the josephs lo carb pita and wraps, very low carbs, and i have about 5 ounces of meat and sometimes a little less than that and some veg or a small side salad, i also like having a salad if im in a hurry with some tuna, and hard boiled i egg in it, or some Protein meat in it. Are my portions small, yep , smaller than i ate before, oh yeah, too small to enjoy, no.
sometimes i wish I could eat more, but i cannot begin to tell you the changes my body has gone through.
You ll get there just dont rush, enjoy the losing.

You need some psychological healthcare. Simply sounds to me like you weren't ready for this and jumped into it way too fast. Too many people don't really think about the consequences of what this surgery means. See a counselor or psychiatrist. You have made some HUGE misstatements. You say you can never eat a healthy portion? and you've done so well, knowing what a healthy portion is, in the past? Healthy is a lot smaller than you think it is, otherwise you would not have been obese to begin with. This surgery takes the fun out of food, with good reason.
food is what you live ON , not what you live FOR.
This may sound like I am uncaring but I care a lot more than many might think. This surgery saved my life, no even more than that, it has given me a life to spend with my wife and friends.
A whole new world has opened before me, and it can for you too.
That life does not include being addicted to, and to run my life around, food.
Think about it, and go talk to someone.

Thanks to God, my surgeon, nurses, nutritionist, and my family for the blessings and support. In just 5 short months, my life has changed forever. No more medicine, no more pain, no more thinking about dying over thinking about living!

Anyone reading this that is considering surgery, feel free to reach out to me privately if you have questions or need support. Nothing about this surgery was easy and it was not anything I ever planned for, but by the grace of God and my team, I am a new man, father, and husband because of it!

I have been depressed the last two weeks because I got hurt at work and couldn't go to the gym, but I was sure to monitor myself and stay on track, and I didn't deviate from any other things I do, so in a week or so I hit 288lbs that is exactly -100lbs, then I only have 93lbs or so to goal weight!!!! And Monday I go back to the gym ......
#putmeincoach
#eyeontheprize

I also had a c-section and consider that recovery to be more painful than my sleeve. It helps that there isn't a newborn to care for, in addition to other post-partum "stuff" (sparing the gory details for those that have not given birth).
I would liken the pain of recovery closely to that of gall bladder removal, minus all of the eating restrictions. The weakness that follows the sleeve I would liken to recovering from a rough flu. That drained, weak, need fluids - kind of exhaustion.

Hi! I am about 2 and 1/2 weeks out. I recently went through a break up of my own. I decided when it was over that I was going to start taking care of ME and focusing on me (hence the screen name). I did not do the surgery to meet someone else's narrow expectations, but rather for my health. Around the same time of the breakup I went to visit my 87 year old dad in the hospital which was further motivating for me not to wind up in the same place. I decided then and there I was going to take care of myself and my own health now that I didn't have to care for the other person's health issues. I started going to weekly therapy and after about 4 weeks of that I decided that weight loss surgery was the way to go, and THE BEST THING I COULD DO to take care of myself.
While you may feel now that the marriage ended because of the weight gain, do not be surprised if what you find is that you gained the weight because of a marriage that did not meet your needs. My mom even made a snarky but true comment to me that if I was "really" happy that I would be losing not gaining weight (when I was in the relationship). One of the things I am working on this year is getting my needs met without being in a relationship and then at some point seeing if there is someone who fits into the life I choose, rather than twisting myself into a pretzel to fit into someone else's life. And in all honesty, I'm sick of being such a martyr. It was exhausting. Now that I'm off the sugar and caffeine rollercoaster, I have a lot more energy too.
At the beginning of my journey I felt resentful that I had to go through this surgery "alone" when I had "been there" for him through many health issues of his own. My sister came to stay with me during the week of surgery, and my neighbors have been great looking after my pets when I was in the hospital, and helping me carry in "groceries" ie liquids that I could not lift post-op. Everyone I work with who knows has also been extremely supportive. Honestly, I have never felt so loved and cared for in my life, and want to know why? Because I am loving and caring for MYSELF. At the moment I could not be happier that I was liberated from that relationship (don't get me wrong, I licked my wounds for a while first).
In addition to therapy, I also come here to bariatric pal to hear others stories, I spent a lot of time on you tube following sleevers Clusie and Kstar, and I attend support groups and OA. What else I have learned? I am not alone. You also are not alone.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. Take care of yourself the way you wanted your husband to take care of you, and you will be amazed at the results INSIDE and OUT.
I recently have been reminiscing about those Whitney Houston lyrics from all those years ago about the greatest love of all:
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows If I fail, if I succeed At least I'll live as I believe No matter what they take from me They can't take away my dignity Because the greatest love of all Is happening to me I found the greatest love of all Inside of me The greatest love of all Is easy to achieve Learning to love yourself It is the greatest love of all I wish you peace, joy, happiness and love throughout your journey!

I also had a c-section and consider that recovery to be more painful than my sleeve. It helps that there isn't a newborn to care for, in addition to other post-partum "stuff" (sparing the gory details for those that have not given birth).
I would liken the pain of recovery closely to that of gall bladder removal, minus all of the eating restrictions. The weakness that follows the sleeve I would liken to recovering from a rough flu. That drained, weak, need fluids - kind of exhaustion.

I was sleeved on 8/17 and had my first post-op today. Everything is going well and I have lost 18lbs since my surgery date. I'm thrilled with the loss. I purposely didn't weigh myself until I went to see the doctor today. I will probably weigh once a week from now on. I don't want the scale to be my only measurement of success. I got the go ahead for exercise today and I'm back walking. So thrilled to be advancing the diet a little and adding some new foods.
Hope everyone else is doing well. Since 4/1 with the pre-op I am down 52 pounds!
???????????? this is how I feel today!

98% of us have had the "What have I done??" days. Usually, they are early out from surgery when we are sore, tired, grumpy, and HUNGRY. Our lives are turned upside down, and it's a chore to just get in our fluids and protien at first. We just can't IMAGINE how our lives will ever be normal again.
But guess what? Just like with anything else, time passes and normalcy happens. At least our NEW normal. You know, the one where food no longer has the power over us, we no longer need medications for diabetes, blood pressure, aching joints, our clothes are smaller and our weight is going down on a consistent basis. The new normal where we finally are starting to feel more attractive and confident in our own skin, and you actually get tired of all the compliments of how wonderful you look. The new normal where the future finally looks bright, because you know your weight and dependence on food will no longer make you feel ashamed and guilty.
The picture is so much bigger than a couple moments of regret. It's the rest of your life!

I ate it post op and did just fine. I guess it might depend on the thickness and consistency of the egg. My local restaurant makes the egg as thin as I would imagine it could be. It's a very wispy texture and doesn't need to be chewed, as it slides right through with the broth.

Substituting a piece of lettuce as a tortilla is quite delicious. I love to eat Thai chicken lettuce wraps and look forward to using lettuce in place of all types of bread (buns, tortillas, etc).

Substituting a piece of lettuce as a tortilla is quite delicious. I love to eat Thai chicken lettuce wraps and look forward to using lettuce in place of all types of bread (buns, tortillas, etc).

Substituting a piece of lettuce as a tortilla is quite delicious. I love to eat Thai chicken lettuce wraps and look forward to using lettuce in place of all types of bread (buns, tortillas, etc).

Substituting a piece of lettuce as a tortilla is quite delicious. I love to eat Thai chicken lettuce wraps and look forward to using lettuce in place of all types of bread (buns, tortillas, etc).

I was 467 at surgery and am currently 112 pounds down since Feb 9th.

Thanks everyone! I passed my swallow and leak test and I am tolerating Water and juice well, so I get dinner. Yay me! I am imagining broth and Jello. Still only minimal pain. I have a drain, but it will be removed before discharge tomorrow. So glad it's done!
Congrats again to everyone else!

Thanks everyone! I passed my swallow and leak test and I am tolerating Water and juice well, so I get dinner. Yay me! I am imagining broth and Jello. Still only minimal pain. I have a drain, but it will be removed before discharge tomorrow. So glad it's done!
Congrats again to everyone else!

Best of luck to you!
I am all hooked up and waiting on the doctor. See you on the other side!

I've been done for several hours. Woke up with minor pain and seriously dry mouth. Other than that, I am great.

I hope everyone else is just as good, if not better.