Kat410

Hello to everyone (pre/post, band/vsg/rny)!
Had my sleeve done in Philadelphia on March 2, 2017. It was done at Temple University Hospital by Dr. Michael Edwards. I've been fortunate enough not to have experienced any problems/complications. It is now 4 months & 4 days after my surgery; I'm happy to say I'm down 50 pounds! I began this journey back in June 2016 and weighed 220 pounds.....today I weigh 170.0 pounds!!!
YEA ME!!! (Still have more to lose, but YEA ME!!!!!)
Sent from my SM-G935P using BariatricPal mobile app

How do you know it didn't work for you when You had surgery 2 months ago and are not even fully healed? Get back to us in a year.

I am just over a month out and already there is a lot that has changed. Mostly I am just experiencing *change*, which I usually find difficult.
On Sunday I cleaned out my closets. I have six garbage bags of clothes, most of which is business attire that no longer fits me. I have a small selection of clothes that were either too small for me prior to WLS or are stretchy and can move across sizes. Given that after the initial 15 lb post surgery drop, I am averaging 5 lbs a week, dealing with buying clothes that wont fit me in 3 weeks seems like a hassle.

I no longer think about food from the viewpoint of "what am I going to eat". I still think about food, but it's more like the same way I think about going to Paris. I miss some of the things I loved - really good bread with butter, pizza and a great burger. But missing these foods is more like a series of passing thoughts. I barely have an appetite and when I am hungry, I am fully satiated after about 2 oz of a dense Protein.
I find I have a lot of attention on my wellbeing - managing my liquids, protein intake, what I'm going to wear, looking for openings to walk and move where this was not the case before. I have a very demanding job and work on average 70 hours a week (and was back to work 1 week after surgery) and to some degree I have not yet adjusted to managing my weight loss journey with my career and this will come with practice.
Like many others, the NSV are really the best part. I live at the top of the hill and before surgery I needed to stop halfway up. Last night after a 14 hour workday, I hopped out of an uber at midnight and walked 3 blocks up the hill at the same pace I walk down the hill with no shortness of breath. The quality of my sleep has improved (although, I find I am needing more of it and I suspect that is temporary and probably due the fact that I am barely cracking 700 cals/day). I have no more swelling in my ankles and wrists. My seasonal allergies have been reduced by about half (I suspect because I am not eating wheat, processed foods, etc.).
Since surgery I have avoided or declined a lot of social things - for no other reason that it supported my management of my diet and having no alcohol in this initial phase. I will need to train my friends to engage in other things - walks, going to the park, etc.
I have worries about loose skin - I have no way to predict this. I have phenomenal skin for my age (I am 50), but I am 50 and will be loosing a lot of weight. The only question for me is how bad will it be. But I will deal with that when it is time to deal with that.

I have no question that this was the best decision I have ever made - and I won't say that it is always easy. If my goal was to loose a bunch of weight, that would be easy. However, my goal is to reclaim my health and there will be nothing easy about that. Fortunately, I can be tough and patient and take the long view of things. There are things I am considering - I may permanently give up alcohol since I don't miss it. I am considering transitioning to veganism. That is not something I would have considered in the past.
I do Celebrate the small victories - but I don't spend a lot of time doing that. Mostly I am planning the next step, the next goal and how I am going to achieve that. When the scale moves, I just enter it into my spreadsheet where I am tracking weightloss.
That said, I am coming to the conclusion of what everyone has been saying here - the surgery is a tool and if used as a tool - without question life will change for the better.

I am just over a month out and already there is a lot that has changed. Mostly I am just experiencing *change*, which I usually find difficult.
On Sunday I cleaned out my closets. I have six garbage bags of clothes, most of which is business attire that no longer fits me. I have a small selection of clothes that were either too small for me prior to WLS or are stretchy and can move across sizes. Given that after the initial 15 lb post surgery drop, I am averaging 5 lbs a week, dealing with buying clothes that wont fit me in 3 weeks seems like a hassle.

I no longer think about food from the viewpoint of "what am I going to eat". I still think about food, but it's more like the same way I think about going to Paris. I miss some of the things I loved - really good bread with butter, pizza and a great burger. But missing these foods is more like a series of passing thoughts. I barely have an appetite and when I am hungry, I am fully satiated after about 2 oz of a dense Protein.
I find I have a lot of attention on my wellbeing - managing my liquids, protein intake, what I'm going to wear, looking for openings to walk and move where this was not the case before. I have a very demanding job and work on average 70 hours a week (and was back to work 1 week after surgery) and to some degree I have not yet adjusted to managing my weight loss journey with my career and this will come with practice.
Like many others, the NSV are really the best part. I live at the top of the hill and before surgery I needed to stop halfway up. Last night after a 14 hour workday, I hopped out of an uber at midnight and walked 3 blocks up the hill at the same pace I walk down the hill with no shortness of breath. The quality of my sleep has improved (although, I find I am needing more of it and I suspect that is temporary and probably due the fact that I am barely cracking 700 cals/day). I have no more swelling in my ankles and wrists. My seasonal allergies have been reduced by about half (I suspect because I am not eating wheat, processed foods, etc.).
Since surgery I have avoided or declined a lot of social things - for no other reason that it supported my management of my diet and having no alcohol in this initial phase. I will need to train my friends to engage in other things - walks, going to the park, etc.
I have worries about loose skin - I have no way to predict this. I have phenomenal skin for my age (I am 50), but I am 50 and will be loosing a lot of weight. The only question for me is how bad will it be. But I will deal with that when it is time to deal with that.

I have no question that this was the best decision I have ever made - and I won't say that it is always easy. If my goal was to loose a bunch of weight, that would be easy. However, my goal is to reclaim my health and there will be nothing easy about that. Fortunately, I can be tough and patient and take the long view of things. There are things I am considering - I may permanently give up alcohol since I don't miss it. I am considering transitioning to veganism. That is not something I would have considered in the past.
I do Celebrate the small victories - but I don't spend a lot of time doing that. Mostly I am planning the next step, the next goal and how I am going to achieve that. When the scale moves, I just enter it into my spreadsheet where I am tracking weightloss.
That said, I am coming to the conclusion of what everyone has been saying here - the surgery is a tool and if used as a tool - without question life will change for the better.

I am just over a month out and already there is a lot that has changed. Mostly I am just experiencing *change*, which I usually find difficult.
On Sunday I cleaned out my closets. I have six garbage bags of clothes, most of which is business attire that no longer fits me. I have a small selection of clothes that were either too small for me prior to WLS or are stretchy and can move across sizes. Given that after the initial 15 lb post surgery drop, I am averaging 5 lbs a week, dealing with buying clothes that wont fit me in 3 weeks seems like a hassle.

I no longer think about food from the viewpoint of "what am I going to eat". I still think about food, but it's more like the same way I think about going to Paris. I miss some of the things I loved - really good bread with butter, pizza and a great burger. But missing these foods is more like a series of passing thoughts. I barely have an appetite and when I am hungry, I am fully satiated after about 2 oz of a dense Protein.
I find I have a lot of attention on my wellbeing - managing my liquids, protein intake, what I'm going to wear, looking for openings to walk and move where this was not the case before. I have a very demanding job and work on average 70 hours a week (and was back to work 1 week after surgery) and to some degree I have not yet adjusted to managing my weight loss journey with my career and this will come with practice.
Like many others, the NSV are really the best part. I live at the top of the hill and before surgery I needed to stop halfway up. Last night after a 14 hour workday, I hopped out of an uber at midnight and walked 3 blocks up the hill at the same pace I walk down the hill with no shortness of breath. The quality of my sleep has improved (although, I find I am needing more of it and I suspect that is temporary and probably due the fact that I am barely cracking 700 cals/day). I have no more swelling in my ankles and wrists. My seasonal allergies have been reduced by about half (I suspect because I am not eating wheat, processed foods, etc.).
Since surgery I have avoided or declined a lot of social things - for no other reason that it supported my management of my diet and having no alcohol in this initial phase. I will need to train my friends to engage in other things - walks, going to the park, etc.
I have worries about loose skin - I have no way to predict this. I have phenomenal skin for my age (I am 50), but I am 50 and will be loosing a lot of weight. The only question for me is how bad will it be. But I will deal with that when it is time to deal with that.

I have no question that this was the best decision I have ever made - and I won't say that it is always easy. If my goal was to loose a bunch of weight, that would be easy. However, my goal is to reclaim my health and there will be nothing easy about that. Fortunately, I can be tough and patient and take the long view of things. There are things I am considering - I may permanently give up alcohol since I don't miss it. I am considering transitioning to veganism. That is not something I would have considered in the past.
I do Celebrate the small victories - but I don't spend a lot of time doing that. Mostly I am planning the next step, the next goal and how I am going to achieve that. When the scale moves, I just enter it into my spreadsheet where I am tracking weightloss.
That said, I am coming to the conclusion of what everyone has been saying here - the surgery is a tool and if used as a tool - without question life will change for the better.

I have a few NSVs to celebrate:
1. I walked past a mirror and did a double take. For the first time in many many years my first thought was "wow! You are actually really pretty!" Instead of the usual "ugh so fat" or "you look okay today but you are still fat" I'm going to be conceited today and say I am pretty [emoji23]
2. I went to a jewelry stand with my friend who is pretty skinny and we have the same ring size! I now wear a size 8 ring when just a year ago it was a size 14! That made me feel really skinny!
3. This is a scale victory but I'm at the point where I've actually lost more weight than I weigh right now! I am down 279 pounds and I weigh 261! I started at 540!
I am just feeling awesome today!

I had a sudden change in life when I decided, in one day, to go to Dr. Thomas and begin my journey for a Gastric Sleeve. I was excited and nervous and had no idea what I was getting into at the time. We discussed my options and decided on the Gastric Bypass to achieve my goals. I spoke to my wife and we watched hours of videos on surgeries and blogs, WebMD, etc. to learn about these procedures. None of the side effects were worse than not being able to play with my boys (10 and 12), mow the yard, be intimate with my wife, and just feel "normal" when going out.
On Feb 7th, 2017, I had my gastric sleeve. I was at 412 lbs., and was scared I would never wake up. I did, and then went through 3 days, as many of you have, in a lot of pain. I had two tubes hanging out of me and couldn't walk very far for about a week. Then, things got better, I got one tube out after the first week and didn't care I had only lost 3 lbs. lol.
After the first 4 weeks, the feeding tube was removed and I was able to begin taking longer walks with the wife. we started at a 1/4 mile and it was hard for me. By the end of that 2nd month, we were walking 2 miles a day, 4 times a week. (which we still do today).
I am almost 5 months post-op and I am down 115 lbs. We just spent 4 days in Gatlinburg, TN in the mountains and we walked and played laser tag, rode coasters, and did things I would never have done 5 months before. I am just over halfway to my goal, but my life has already changed so much. I am so thankful to those who have helped me and continue to be my support team through this process, especially my wife and kids, who help make my meals, try new foods and exercises with me, and amaze me everyday with their support and love.

Thanks for the replies - firstly, I do think I am pursuing this for the "right reasons" - it's been really useful to engage with this - from looking at what I want to accomplish and recognizing that a lot of my anxiety is really nothing else than dealing with something that is new and unfamiliar to me.

So I will be acting in spite of the nerves and pursuing what I want - strength, well being and vitality.
Best wishes everyone!

Speaking for myself - to manage this as a permanent change, I must use the scale. What I have been dealing with is rehabilitating my relationship to the scale.
To effectively manage the disease (obesity) that I have, I must deal rigorously what the facts - calorie intake, Protein intake, the quality of the nutrients and most fundamentally my weight.
In my job I use statistics rigorously to deal with my performance and the performance of my team. This is no different. I weigh myself daily at the same time (after I pee and brush my teeth). I record what it says - no drama, this morning 296 is just what it says.
I have lost weight many times in my life - losing weight has never been my problem. I have discovered that certain things impede weight loss for me (insufficient Water intake, processed foods of any kind, carbohydrates, insufficient fat in my diet). I am at the beginning of my VSG journey, so I will see if that still applies and rigorously tracking weight and food/water intake will give me access to tweaking my diet in the future. Every time I have lost weight in the past I hit a point where the hunger, cravings, etc. begin to rage and I did not control them. I believe VSG will help me manage that.
I suspect that the people who are effective at long term weight loss/management learn from trial and error what works best for their body. There are people who do better on lower fats and people who do better on higher fats. Our basal metabolism differs. There are things that may trigger Fluid retention or weight gain. But tweaking and discovering what is going to work and be effective (as with anything in life) requires a powerful and empowering relationship to the facts.

So my recommendation is different from others - don't resist the scale. Reform your relationship to the scale. Get what the scale says as nothing other than a fact and then look at what's happening with your diet, is there anything to tweak and most importantly, look at trends and patterns not day by day. The day to day probably doesn't tell us much. We are in this for the long haul.
I used to avoid the scale - now I bring discipline to recording daily what is happening. It doesn't mean I always like it :-)

Speaking for myself - to manage this as a permanent change, I must use the scale. What I have been dealing with is rehabilitating my relationship to the scale.
To effectively manage the disease (obesity) that I have, I must deal rigorously what the facts - calorie intake, Protein intake, the quality of the nutrients and most fundamentally my weight.
In my job I use statistics rigorously to deal with my performance and the performance of my team. This is no different. I weigh myself daily at the same time (after I pee and brush my teeth). I record what it says - no drama, this morning 296 is just what it says.
I have lost weight many times in my life - losing weight has never been my problem. I have discovered that certain things impede weight loss for me (insufficient Water intake, processed foods of any kind, carbohydrates, insufficient fat in my diet). I am at the beginning of my VSG journey, so I will see if that still applies and rigorously tracking weight and food/water intake will give me access to tweaking my diet in the future. Every time I have lost weight in the past I hit a point where the hunger, cravings, etc. begin to rage and I did not control them. I believe VSG will help me manage that.
I suspect that the people who are effective at long term weight loss/management learn from trial and error what works best for their body. There are people who do better on lower fats and people who do better on higher fats. Our basal metabolism differs. There are things that may trigger Fluid retention or weight gain. But tweaking and discovering what is going to work and be effective (as with anything in life) requires a powerful and empowering relationship to the facts.

So my recommendation is different from others - don't resist the scale. Reform your relationship to the scale. Get what the scale says as nothing other than a fact and then look at what's happening with your diet, is there anything to tweak and most importantly, look at trends and patterns not day by day. The day to day probably doesn't tell us much. We are in this for the long haul.
I used to avoid the scale - now I bring discipline to recording daily what is happening. It doesn't mean I always like it :-)

Speaking for myself - to manage this as a permanent change, I must use the scale. What I have been dealing with is rehabilitating my relationship to the scale.
To effectively manage the disease (obesity) that I have, I must deal rigorously what the facts - calorie intake, Protein intake, the quality of the nutrients and most fundamentally my weight.
In my job I use statistics rigorously to deal with my performance and the performance of my team. This is no different. I weigh myself daily at the same time (after I pee and brush my teeth). I record what it says - no drama, this morning 296 is just what it says.
I have lost weight many times in my life - losing weight has never been my problem. I have discovered that certain things impede weight loss for me (insufficient Water intake, processed foods of any kind, carbohydrates, insufficient fat in my diet). I am at the beginning of my VSG journey, so I will see if that still applies and rigorously tracking weight and food/water intake will give me access to tweaking my diet in the future. Every time I have lost weight in the past I hit a point where the hunger, cravings, etc. begin to rage and I did not control them. I believe VSG will help me manage that.
I suspect that the people who are effective at long term weight loss/management learn from trial and error what works best for their body. There are people who do better on lower fats and people who do better on higher fats. Our basal metabolism differs. There are things that may trigger Fluid retention or weight gain. But tweaking and discovering what is going to work and be effective (as with anything in life) requires a powerful and empowering relationship to the facts.

So my recommendation is different from others - don't resist the scale. Reform your relationship to the scale. Get what the scale says as nothing other than a fact and then look at what's happening with your diet, is there anything to tweak and most importantly, look at trends and patterns not day by day. The day to day probably doesn't tell us much. We are in this for the long haul.
I used to avoid the scale - now I bring discipline to recording daily what is happening. It doesn't mean I always like it :-)

8 months post-surgery, 150lbs+ lost, and celebrating life this summer, I finally bought the car I've wanted since I was a fat, poor, 18 year old... a Miata.

My "excuse" is that my son is getting his permit in December and I really want him to learn to drive a stick (our other cars are autos). Miata's are now very cheap used cars, though deeply impractical in the most delicious way possible. We're stoked.
What have you done to

Thanks for the replies - firstly, I do think I am pursuing this for the "right reasons" - it's been really useful to engage with this - from looking at what I want to accomplish and recognizing that a lot of my anxiety is really nothing else than dealing with something that is new and unfamiliar to me.

So I will be acting in spite of the nerves and pursuing what I want - strength, well being and vitality.
Best wishes everyone!

Sleeved on 5/26. I don't know what to say except the best thing is to suck it up when you are awake and move as much as you can. Walking, standing, get yourself out of bed. Then sleep for an hour then wake up and do it again. First three days I slept off and on about 16 hours a day. Sleep is a miracle for healing. Trust yourself and it will get better. Today I just got home from a 25 block walk and museum visit and going back to work tomorrow. My body is still getting used to the very low calorie intake I have been on since I started my preop diet. It took most of us years to get fat and will take time to get healthy. Love and strength to you!

Thank you all for the reality check, honesty, and frankness. Well said and solid advice. I didn't want to die of obesity and I do NOT want to die from poor choices! Onward and upward henceforth!

Absolutely. You are so right. I have virtually no support at all--single mom, etc. But this is not the time for pity party. Lesson learned and onward bound! Typing this as I walk in the park. Brand new day, brand new page, brand new opportunity to succeed! Thanks!

Congratulations ! And great work!

Today I had an "ah-ha" moment. It took 4 years, but I think I get it! It was triggered by this before photo popping up in my Facebook memories from 5 years ago, (coupled with my most recent post-op photo taken last week, down 120 pounds since surgery in 2013). (attached below)
....And then reading the following quote on a friend's post:
"Maybe the journey isn't so much about becoming anything. Maybe it's about unbecoming everything that isn't you so you can be who you were in the first place."
I've struggled for years since losing the weight after surgery with questions of "is this the 'real' me, or am I just pretending and the 'real' 'fat' me will resurface sooner or later?" "Can people really change long-term?" It felt like the obese, sad, self-hating "me" was a monster waiting just below the surface to re-emerge. Give enough time and the right circumstances, the "real me" monster will rear it's head and I'll find myself back at nearly 300 pounds.
Guys! I get it now! It's not about change. It's not about the "sticking power" of change. It's not about willpower or determination. It's not even about counting carbs, Protein, calories, and ounces of Water. Sure those are tools that help. But it's not about that.
It's about doing the hard emotional work to figure out why I was hiding myself behind 150 excess pounds. It was about allowing myself to have a voice and using it. It was about demanding self-respect and respect from others. It was about leaving behind, painfully as it was in some cases, the toxic people in my life who emotionally damaged me. It was about processing the feelings that I didn't allow myself to feel for 18 years.
Once I realized this, once I did this work, I could little by little shed the layers that hid who I was. I don't hate myself anymore. I'm not even angry at myself for letting myself get to be 300 pounds like I was when my journey started. I realize now that I was coping. I was doing the best I knew how to do at the time. I look at that person in the "before" picture below and I feel compassion because I know she did her best.
I'm able now to let go the "fear" - and trust me, it's a literal fear - of that "real me" monster re-emerging from just below the surface. I can let it go because I realize, this is the real me. It was actually opposite. It was all the hiding I was doing under the emotional eating and the 150 excess pounds that was hiding the "real me."
So I have to on some level disagree with those who say this is a process of change. Sure, you have to change your behavioral choices with food and exercise or none of this will work. But for me it was not "becoming a new person" or "changing" who I am as a person. For me it was about simply allowing myself to feel and allowing myself to return home to who I was before I was hurt and who the universe intends me to be.
Feel free to check out my blog linked in my signature for more of my journey!

Sleeved on 5/26. I don't know what to say except the best thing is to suck it up when you are awake and move as much as you can. Walking, standing, get yourself out of bed. Then sleep for an hour then wake up and do it again. First three days I slept off and on about 16 hours a day. Sleep is a miracle for healing. Trust yourself and it will get better. Today I just got home from a 25 block walk and museum visit and going back to work tomorrow. My body is still getting used to the very low calorie intake I have been on since I started my preop diet. It took most of us years to get fat and will take time to get healthy. Love and strength to you!

This is very counterproductive behavior. Watch porn instead of food, unless food is your porn in which case seek psychiatric help! Seriously though, don't do this to yourself!

I've gained 70lbs back from being in bed 8 weeks and sometimes even longer if there were complications. I got do depressed I wouldn't eat all I would drink is 1 dr.pepper a day from sonic, my husband would bring it to me before he went to work and the dr. Said that's why I gained back some of the weight over 10 years time. So now I'm trying to lose the weight.
Sent from my XT1093 using the BariatricPal App

Hi everyone: I'm Liz. I am one week out from my procedure. I had my follow up visit today and proudly learned that I'm already down ten pounds. Well, my tummy is still swollen and protrudes more than normal. Does anyone know when the swelling goes down? Any tips?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using BariatricPal mobile app

Did mine may 26th in Cancun with Dr Perez. Great experience and glad I was so fully educated before going. Felt great and was moving right after anesthesia wore off. No pain Meds required.

Yes! It is extremely important. My go to is Orgain Organic plant based Protein powder. Readily available and tastes great!