Gracey

Liza - do I read your siggy correctly? Have you lost 122 lbs since April? If so, OMG I am so jealous!!!

Glad to know that being skinny through an eating disorder is more acceptable than being heavy! Sigh.
As other have said, my favorite comeback is, "I can always lose weight; but ugly is forever." Or "I can always lose weight; you don't seem to be able to grow hair."

@MyJourneyBegins: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! 100 Lbs lost is a MAJOR DEAL!!! Enjoy it by celebrating with something nice for yourself!!

@splashdancer: IMO, I'd rather have loose skin than carry around the weight of a whole extra person. You can always cover the loose skin if it bothers you enough, however - you cannot cover up all the extra pounds. Nope, you have to wear that and its out there for everyone to see. I have some loose skin, and I'm sure it will even get worse the smaller I get, but by golly I'm here and I'm happier than I've ever been!!!

Hello everyone,

After stalling at 98 lbs down I have finally hit 100 pounds lost. I am so excited. I started out at 282 and weighed in at 182.9 this morning. I am 22 weeks out from surgery. I have gone from:

24 Pants to 12-14 pants
3X shirt to a Large shirt
45.5 BMI to a 29.4 BMI

Love my sleeve!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May I say, you look pretty hot.

Winning!!!!

Thanks guys! I feel great too. As a matter of fact I haven't felt this good in over a decade. The sleeve has saved my life.

You are soooo BEAUTIFUL!! And such an inspiration to us all!
Go Diva!
Kelly

Tiff, thank you for being such an inspiration and voice of reason on this board. And thank you for this update and the wonderful pics. It seems like looking at 'family' pics to see your progress. It is so nice of you to share this most personal journey with us.
I still love looking at your before and after pics even though I have seen them before, they just make it all worthwhile to look at them each time.
BTW, my favorite is the one with the gun in the background. I freakin' love it. And you make the cutest pregnant lady ever!!

You are doing so AWESOME!!
Congrats to you Diva!! You are such a great inspiration to us all!
Hugs,
Kelly

Hellooo!!! So this morning I decided it's time to do some measurements. I don't do this on any kind of regular basis and it turns out I do this about once a month. I don't usually see a whole lot of changes month to month but the grand totals are really incredible now! I've lost an ENTIRE HUMAN BEING in weight... I mean the inches came from somewhere right??? WOW!!!! I can't even believe it as I type this...

I measure my entire body; my neck, bust, waist, hips, upper and fore arm, wrist, thigh, calf and ankle. I only started my measurement records when I was around 300 Lbs. I'd already lost a good 30 lbs at that point so I really don't know my exact inches lost and never will. Anyway in totals I've lost 58" off my entire body!! Wow!!! I'm down nearly 140 Lbs from my peak so I've lost the weight of an entire person!!! WOWOWWOWWWW!!!

My female dimensions right now are 36-32-42!! That 42 inch hip is not the lenth, majority of that is booty. I'd like to still lose some of that to at least get it into the 30's. I'd love to be 36-28-38. I'd be super comfy there I'm sure. I'm sooo close!! Of course I know that will make my bust smaller (not a 36 but more a 34) but hey - we can't have it all right??? LOL And that can be fixed once I get the boobage puffed back up. My ribcage is a 34 and honestly my ribs stick out so I don't know how much more I can lose there... it's weird to be this close! My mind really is taking it's time getting used to my new reflection in the mirror.

At 300 Lbs my measurements were 44-45-56.

Anyway here's the very best part of all of this. The healthy waist measurement for a woman is 32" or less!!! My waist is IN THE HEALTHY RANGE FOR A WOMAN!!! Whhohooooo!!!! This is an AWESOME victory for me!! I knew I was close but wasn't keeping exact tabs, so I decided to look it up and come to find out - I AM THERE NOW!!!! Doing the happy dance!!

Today is a happy day for me. I just keep working my sleeve, and it keeps working for me. I LOVE MY SLEEVE!!! It truly has saved my life, and every single day I get closer and closer to my goals. I sooo close and I can hardly stand it!!! I'm within inches of my final goal. Now if I get to 165 Lbs and haven't hit my inches goals I think I'll keep trying to lose more. But I'm thinking it would be pretty close, or if I hit my inches before my weight then I'll not try to lose anymore.

Cheers to all on this most successful tool!!!! Newbies be warned... you have all this to look forward too.

So since I am going to NJ this week, I thought I would clean out my closet of clothes that don't fit and bring them to my sisters. Holy Cow Batman!!! I had a lot of stuff ranging from size 14 to 18. Good thing is my sisters ( I have 4 sisters ) range from 14 to size 18 . Ok, so that being said, I was thinking what the heck am I going to do about clothes. Then in the back of my closet was a big plastic bin. About 6 or 7 years ago, I lost about 60-70 lbs (from start of my journey last June I am down a total of 64lbs, 59 if you put back the damn Water weight I am holding LOL) and of course a month or two after I reached that point the yo-yo went back up. I know all of you guys have been through this and knows what it feels like . In this bin was all of those clothes I bought pants a size 12 and a couple of pairs of 10's that still had the tags on, I bought because I was so sure I was going to reach that and shirts from L to XL. My work clothes are pretty standard, button up shirts in various colors and black, grey or brown slacks. So all of these didn't go out of style so to speak. Tadaaaa!!! I have a whole new wardrobe again, and my closet is full again LOL. I totally forgot about those clothes. I just saved a TON of money LOL.

Hi Glouc, congrats you're rockin !!!

The answer is, yes your stall is VERY normal. Most folks will experience a stall of sorts at or around the 3rd week out from surgery. Sometimes this stall will last a few weeks. My only advice is to bite the bullet and wait it out. Keep doing your Water and getting your nutrients in. You're doing fine!

Other than that once your weight starts coming off again you will see how fast it does. Hang in there my friend!!!

Gracey,
How did the appointment go?
I'm logging back in to announce progress - and a stall - and to see if it's "normal". I was losing steadily up until 5 days ago and I'm plataueing (sp?) I knew it was to be expected, but I'm a little bummed it happened so soon. I was at 266 when I had the band removed on May 13 and now I'm at 241. I'm in shock at how quickly it came off, but I'm scared at the stall.
What can I do to trigger more weight loss? I'm in the liquid/mushy stage now, and I'm thinking that the change from all liquids confused my stomach! LOL

Hi. I had surgery on April 12 and Im getting married March 17...i am terrified that I'll not have my hair. I finally had to just decide what i wanted more...my long red hair or my butt in a size 10 (or smaller) wedding dress. Hair can be fixed...added to, act..but a size 18 booted is just THERE! LOL. Smaller butt won!
Seriously though, its temporary and will grow back. Hopefully my butt won't!

WOW - could you be anymore rude? Did I say it was a quick fix? Do you know me? NO
Leave the nasty comments to yourself.

I think the entire world should all have shaved heads!! That would put us on equal playing fields!
Carolyn

Hi!
I am pretty new here, too, as I am approacing my 2 week sleeve-a-versary. I wish I could guarantee you and me that this would be the answer, but the proof for me is yet to be seen. Your Band story is very similar to mine...I was hungry most of the time and would eat the "wrong" things in order to satisfy my hunger...healthy foods just didn't stay down. So far, I am very happy to have my band out and my tummy trimmed down. Recovering nicely.
I am sure that you will receive many replies from this group as they were nothing but warm and helpful to me as I prepared for my revision. As I move through my recovery, I'll keep you posted on how things go. Wish me luck!
Cheers~
Barb

Hi, I'm new here. Had my band for 5 years before removal 2 weeks ago. Lost 50lbs at first, then nothing. I'm hungry all the time.... Fullness was never achieved with the band. A couple bites of healthy food didn't give a full sensation, just pain or vomiting if I tried to eat more. It did not take me long to figure out how to 'graze' to satisfy my hunger. After a diagnosis of severe reflux, the band filler was removed and I gained back all the weight. Now I'm looking to have the sleeve but I'm terrified of making another mistake.... Will this 'tool' really help me with appetite/hunger?

I never had any complications from the band, unless you call not being able to eat a lot of healthy things because they would get stuck a complication. I also could never find the sweet spot, and I got real good at eating fattening slider foods to get around it if it felt too tight. I just hated food constantly getting stuck (and yes, I chewed like crazy), not being able to eat salads and fruits like grapes and oranges, and the feeling of the port bumping my ribcage. One of the most embarrassing things I dealt with was running out of a restaurant in downtown Santa Fe after a fancy meal and basically throwing up out in a dark alleyway. The bathroom was full and I didn't want to have to do it in front of people.
Getting all that plastic out of my body was so freeing. Living with the sleeve is completely effortless. I love it and would recommend it to anyone not happy with their band. Fills, schmills - who needs them???
In Texas there are plenty of surgeons experienced in revisions. I was also self-pay, so I know this is not a decision to take lightly. Good luck!

So I have read most of the responses on here and I am just in the beggining of making the decision as to whether or not I would even consider switching from the band to VSG. I was incredibly successful with the band for about 2 years. I lost 110 pounds in 9.5 months, ran a marathon, and had 2 tummy tucks. However, I was completely unfilled just before the last Tummy Tuck and I have been unsuccessful in reaching any sort of restriction since then. The fills/unfills are killing me especially since I lived 7 hours away from my doctor and that drive also included a trip over mountain passes. I never really thought about my band being an issue for me, but now that I think about it I have never had the ability to maintain a fill. I have either been too tight or too loose. However, I was a self pay with the band ($17000) and would be a self pay with the VSG. I am just so apprehensive because maybe it isn't the band...maybe it is me. For those of you who didn't have medical complications (slippage, flipped port, erosion) do you feel that the VSG makes life easier? Obviously for those with the medical complications...life is much better now!! I know that food is always going to be an issue in my life, but my band is so fickle. One day I can out eat my husband and the next day every bite makes me feel like I'm going to hurl. Is the sleeve the same????
I moved to Texas in October and so now the ability to go and see my band dr. is completely removed. I did find a doc that will do fills so I am going to give this another shot. Hopefully they will be able to get a fill level that will work for me. If not...I will be seriously considering VSG. My husband seems to be more okay with this than I am. I just think that I am failing the band and myself...My food choices have not been the greatest and exercise is very difficult for me right now. Most of it is due to being depressed about the 50 pounds I have gained back. I know that I will have to take the weightloss much slower than I did with the band because I did experience some health problems due to the rapid weight loss. I want to just be healthy and if that means that I am not a size 4 I am okay with that. All I want is to get the life back that I had when my band was working...not sure that VSG will be any better. Sorry for rambling...I'm just kind of at the same panic level I was when I opted for the band.

Thanks for all your replies. I was so nervous going into this and was so glad to have found that others had had the revision with hardly any complications. It's been a year so I hope that I'm perfectly healed on the inside.
Nina, yeah, mine was a full slip and also a nighmare. Had to be taken to the ER by ambulance where I was questioned as to why I didn't drive down to where my surgeon was. I can't imagine having to make that 1 hour drive, I was in so much pain and couldn't keep my head off the floor. After 7 hours of crying and carrying on in the ER, I was finally given the surgery to remove the band. They admitted that I wouldn't have made it had this gone on much longer, my stomach was hemorrhaging.
I met with the nutritionist yesterday and whispered that she liked the sleeve much better than the band. I hate that the dr's aren't up front about the more complications that come from the band. However, at the time I got that, the sleeve wasn't being offered by my surgeon nor was my insurance covering it. Almost 3 years later, and my insurance changing, my surgeon performs the sleeve, yay!
I can't wait to be on the other side, again.
Best wishes,
Mary

Hmmm....and they say our bands are reversible. What a joke. I hope I don't have any issues with scar tissue. I will ask my doctor at my final pre-op appointment. Scary stuff! So glad to be getting rid of this band soon.

Barb, congrats on the 2 lbs, you're doing great. I think it's wise to do the measuring tape and/or trying smaller sizes of clothes to measure our success and not get caught up in the scale and pounds as much. That is my plan also. I have seen so many people get so upset and even depressed over the scale not moving at all or fast enough. While I can totally relate and understand, I just have too much weight to lose and a long journey and I don't want the scale to control my emotions, yanno? That is exactly what would sabotage me pre-surgery when I dieted, and would cause me to just say, well forget it, I'm just gonna eat that ______ if depriving myself isn't gonna make me lose weight. So I am trying to go into this with a different plan. It will be a lot harder to just give up on eating healthy now, thanks to the sleeve
Will you let me know which of the unflavored Protein powders you like the best between the Unjury and the Bariatric Advantage? I want to get one but would like to hear a comparison review between the two.
Thanks!!!

Forgot to add that I have an appointment with a surgeon tomorrow about revising. Woot!