milda_vsg

Aaaah, 8 months down the line I can finally see a difference! I look rough as balls due to me still getting over a cold, but that ain't stopping me from enjoying my 'before' and 'during'! 118lbs lost from my highest, 89 since the day of surgery. Best way to start the new year in a long time!

Aaaah, 8 months down the line I can finally see a difference! I look rough as balls due to me still getting over a cold, but that ain't stopping me from enjoying my 'before' and 'during'! 118lbs lost from my highest, 89 since the day of surgery. Best way to start the new year in a long time!

Aaaah, 8 months down the line I can finally see a difference! I look rough as balls due to me still getting over a cold, but that ain't stopping me from enjoying my 'before' and 'during'! 118lbs lost from my highest, 89 since the day of surgery. Best way to start the new year in a long time!

Aaaah, 8 months down the line I can finally see a difference! I look rough as balls due to me still getting over a cold, but that ain't stopping me from enjoying my 'before' and 'during'! 118lbs lost from my highest, 89 since the day of surgery. Best way to start the new year in a long time!

So this person followed me on Instagram. I found it quite funny, thought people in this forum would appreciate it.

ohh boy Do I ever know this issue. I have never had issues with being cold. Now I am freezing my butt off. I use to wear shorts and tank tops in the snow without issue. Now I am brrrr all the time.. Can't wait for summer... Maybe I won't struggle with the heat anymore that would be nice!! I think it's time to actually buy real winter clothes isntead of the few pieces of winter clothing I have... ( that are too big of course) LOL

lookie here! I have a neck! one thing about being heavy that bothered me was my neck. :-) and I'm just getting started. probably not the most flattering picture, sorry for the view up me nose........... but what's that amongst friends? I am so excited.

Thanks

Hey guys just wanted to stop by and say hey... I have been a gym rat the past month and previous to that work had been crazy and like everyone else after sleeve life has become more active and my Internet habits have become less... So here's the scoop:
I'm down 177lbs ... What?? That's a normal size man! 3 more lbs and I will have lost my husband (back in high school at least)... I did a side by side of me about 3 years ago with my then 3 year old daughter at my best friends wedding and 3 months after my second child's birth... The other was just a few weeks ago at my son's 3rd birthday party....
Cheers and how are you doing??

So this person followed me on Instagram. I found it quite funny, thought people in this forum would appreciate it.

So this person followed me on Instagram. I found it quite funny, thought people in this forum would appreciate it.

Both my husband and I are atheists. Living in an area where a lot of people are religious and conservative about it, I've just started telling people that I belong to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and that I've been Touched by His Noodly Appendage. It usually makes questioners stare, and then start laughing...and totally deflects tension, especially if I get into my routine about carb addiction.
Now I'm going to be a healthy atheist! And with no help from, or credit given to, a non-existent deity, either.

Having the surgery is a major decision to have in the first place. If we could lose weight on our own, we would. Hell, not like we didn't try. I distinctly remember telling my mum when I was around 17, that I will 'someday lose the weight'. And I tried. But all said and done, it is now 10 years later and I'm at my heaviest. So yeah. Like KristenVSG2014, I want to make sure I enjoy my 30s, and hopefully I'm gonna get this surgery done before or around my 28th in April. Fingers crossed.

Today I'm wearing jeans for the first time since about 1999. They are a pair of misses size 22 that I had in a box in my garage. A pulled them out of the garage around Christmas I think. At that time I couldn't pull them all the way up. Then a few weeks later, I could pull them all the way up but not button/zip them. Then I could button/zip, but not breathe at the same time.
Today I'm wearing them to work (doctor is out in surgery so we have no patients, so it's casual), and they are comfortably buttoned/zipped. I don't care if they are out of date (they are very faded) and kind of look like mom jeans. I'M WEARING SIZE 22 JEANS!!!!

It's going really well! I weigh myself weekly in Sundays and as if this morning I'm down a total of 54.6#! I've been taking pictures along the way which has helped keep me motivated!

I don't hear a deep groaning sound from my scale when I weigh myself (it was either the scale or my stomach was too big for me to notice I was stepping on my dog by accident).

I hit my goal weight of 160 today! I still want to lose another 5 lbs so I'll have a bounce range.
Before:
  
After:

when you fly economy and dont order belt extender

Having the surgery is a major decision to have in the first place. If we could lose weight on our own, we would. Hell, not like we didn't try. I distinctly remember telling my mum when I was around 17, that I will 'someday lose the weight'. And I tried. But all said and done, it is now 10 years later and I'm at my heaviest. So yeah. Like KristenVSG2014, I want to make sure I enjoy my 30s, and hopefully I'm gonna get this surgery done before or around my 28th in April. Fingers crossed.

You know, if people lose the weight on their own, then power to them. Awesome. It takes commitment and sacrifice and dedication. I truly admire that. Unfortunately, not always, but in most cases those people gain it back. How many times do we see on this forum statements like: "I lost a 100 pounds and gained all back, and then some." They get stuck in that yo-yo dieting--a life of gaining and losing. Which is horrible for our bodies, metabolism and quality of life. Again, for those who take it off, completely change their life style and keep it off, I am in awe of them and super proud of their accomplishment.
However, for many of us that isn't the case. We tried and failed, tried and failed, and we tried and failed again. It is hard to erase a lifetime of habits, even if you're in your twenties. I wish I had taken this step in my twenties. To feel the quality of life that I now feel. The surgery was like a reset: a reset to my metabolism, my taste buds, the quantity I could eat. With that reset, I was better able to unlearn old ugly habits, pick up new healthy habits, and thus change my lifestyle. In essence, the sleeve gave me the opportunity to control the QUANTITY of food I intake. While I--me, myself and I, NOT the sleeve--taught myself QUALITY: the quality of eating a diverse array of healthy foods, the quality of eating small meals every 3 hours, the quality of exercising and activating my body for better performance and endurance. All of those things I DID. NOT the sleeve. The sleeve was the "tool" that got me there.
We do not and should not EVER apologize for that. Not one prescription or method works for all. The "natural" way did not work for us and our very lives, our livelihoods,our quality of life suffered for it. So, let them say they lost it the natural way. Let them compliment themselves or others. Agree with them, because that is awesome and it deserves to be acknowledged. But NEVER forget that our way was just as tedious--if not, more so because of the drastic change and toll the sleeve takes on our lives and body. NEVER forget that the sleeve may have been a jump start, but everything else in between is YOU. It is US. It is our efforts, our trials, our failures, our successes. We did that. Not the sleeve.
So, pick your head up sweetie. Because everyone of us here, knows better. Your efforts are validated. Your journey is validated. Your decision is validated. Don't let ANYONE knock you down.
...okay, stepping off my soap box.

With two minor exceptions, I can eat anything I want. I.E., it will not make me throw up, feel queasy, break out in hives, etc. The truth is that unless I stick to a high Protein, low carb way of eating FOREVER I will gain back the weight that I lost. "Just choose to eat smaller quantities" or "eat what you want in moderation" is not a concept that works for me. Why it doesn't work is irrelevant and I try not to worry about it -- I just have to deal with the fact that it doesn't work (for me) period, full stop, end of sentence.

Ladies! Do we need to get the Water hose to break this up? Please get down off of your hind legs and take a deep breath.
Are we all hear to share, support, listen and learn? Even if we do not always agree with another's opinion, aren't we at the same time "learning" that we really DO believe in our own beliefs and the reasons why we do (or eat) what we do?
I am a dairy farmer's daughter, so of course I eat red meat (I can and have slaughtered animals myself--such is the circle of life on a farm). I'm sure there are vegetarians who own leather shoes ,wallets, purses, or gloves, wear silk garments, have had sutures made of animal gut, or even had a flu shot--all of which comes from slaughtered animals. Yes, I loved cream in my coffee and butter on my home made bread. I am also severely allergic to all legumes--especially anything soy. Try balancing all of that with a successful post sleeve diet. But ya know what? I thoroughly enjoy reading how other's are coping with their up bringing, their day to day diet pre surgery, and how they are or are planning to adapt those eating habits for the "new life" of post bariatric surgery.
Our minds should never be soo closed that there is no room for a new idea or thought. It may not prove to be right for you, but one can never be over informed.
Be kind, patient, listen, absorb whatever will benefit you, and store the rest in the archives of your mind for a later discussion.
Diversity is what this country is all about. We are all free to speak as we wish, worship as we wish, go where we wish and even eat what we wish---as long as we do no harm. I think that is a pretty good mantra to live by.

For as much as people complain about "chemicals" and "toxins" in their food, they are awfully quick to buy into another set of meaningless dietary buzzwords like "natural" and "clean," trading one ideology for another. People are also so quick to dismiss doctors who underwent 11-14 years of education/training/residency, and dieticians/scientists who devote their lives to the art and practice of nutrition as "Western Medicine" ignorants and corporate fatcats. You are free to make your own choices, but "instinct" and "intuition" doesn't mean you somehow possess secret, ancient knowledge beyond the scope of the medical profession.
Doctors advocate Protein, which comes in the form of Protein shakes (not dead animal flesh, I couldn't start feasting on adorable, defenseless animals until two months out). High Protein can be done on non-meats, however they often require a higher quantity of consumption (which puts stress/stretch on sleeves), and the cost/inconvenience/familiarity/cultural preference often has people going with a grilled chicken breast over a complicated veggie casserole that often contains more starch/carbs than it does protein. A meat-heavy diet is not doctors failing to understand the basic tenets of veganism; it is a matter of function and convenience, because those are the most effective ways of maintaining a long-term plan. In a range of studies, 75%-84% of vegans/vegetarians return to eating meat, so doctors are reluctant or resistant to advocating it to patients who are already experiencing extreme stress and an upheaval of life.
Wanna go vegetarian? Wanna go full vegan? Find that you function well deviating from the typical post-OP plan? Awesome. More power to you. But don't come in here peddling ideological beliefs and anecdotes in food/medicine as legitimate science or die-hard fact. "Healthy" food companies are just as quick to capitalize on your fears (and typically spend big money to put out misleading news articles and pseudo-science articles to take your money).
Next time you go to Whole Foods, check out the box of the next Natural Organic Non-GMO* product. Pay strict attention to the asterisk. It is usually accompanied by a disclaimer that there is no benefit to consumption as measurable/detectable by scientific study.
As a nurse with a strong background in nutrition, it's great that patients are empowered and invested in their own health. But fact isn't something you "believe" in. It exists regardless of what you think or not. So please think twice before you advocate for belief versus well-supported science and trash an entire profession as people that just don't understand your high and mighty, esoteric plane of consciousness.
And with that, I'm going to go eat some more salami.

@@BackToBeautiful I finally found a few horrible before pictures on the left. And new me on right And my daughter and I before a midnight run , we're pretty much twins now lol!!!! And yes I cut my hair off last week.

Work in progress, 174lbs down