sleevedshereen

@hillnicole34 Ugh I know my sister said the easy way out. Recovery from surgery is not easy! Doing the liquid diet is not easy! After surgery, watching what you eat and being restricted and can only eat a few bites and not enjoy a meal like before is NOT easy! People who haven't struggled with weight or food addiction don't know just how much of a struggle it has been that led you to the decision to get this surgery. Ugh sorry you're going through that. Not having support from your significant other sucks.

Hi guys, I had surgery on 7/14. My highest weight was 228 and I am now 193. In total I've lost 35 lbs.

I need to be better about what I am putting in my body. I need to eat better even though I can't eat much.

Looks like you are all doing amazingly. Here's my progress pic so far. I wish I took more before photos...I didn't take any, this is just one I have that someone took.

The beginning is the roughest. I don't miss it at all. I was miserable after surgery. It was really tough for me. It took me like 3 weeks before I was finally feeling normal again. One month til I was like back to myself completely i'd say. My pain was mostly from my incisions. I couldn't stand up straight and I had to hold my abdomen for a solid 3 weeks to feel support and able to do things. I drank 1-2 Protein Shakes a day, the rest was broth in a coffee mug but I mainly drank Vitamin Water zero and diet snapple to keep me going and sugar free popsicles were my treat. I have gotten so used to vitamin water zero and diet snapple that the regular ones taste sooo sweet now and I don't like them as much.

You get stronger and stronger each day! Good luck! Walk the gas pain off. I didn't really experience that kind of pain...just literal physical pain from surgery.

There's going to be days where you cry in regret but once recovery passes, and you start losing weight, you will be so happy!

I had the same NSV. I always wear leggings because my body is curvy and i'm short so it's hard to find jeans for myself. But also, since I had gained a lot of weight, I did not want to know what size my pants actually were so I never went to go buy jeans. But since I've been losing weight, I was feeling more confident and decided to go buy a pair of jeans. I had one pair before surgery and I was a size 18. I went to Old Navy maybe 2 weeks ago and I was a size 14 (stretchy jeans but still...) lol then I saw a pair of white slacks I bought from Express a couple years ago (size 12) and I thought, let's see how these fit so I know when I might fit into a size twelve soon...they zipped up and buttoned, a little tight but they actually fit. I dropped 3 pant sizes and I'll be 3 months post op on the 14th of this month. How awesome are we?

Yikes, my incisions did not look that red around them....you should call your doctor. I did experience similar stuff though only a week out...felt this like burning and pulling pain, could barely sit up and down and laying down and getting up was terrible...it felt like I was pulling stitches too. Just take it easy and be as gentle as possible when moving but you should reach out to your surgeon's office and ask if that redness around the incision site is normal...I had glue not stitches on the outside and it just looked like tiny scabs where the incisions were...

I had incision pain til like a good month after surgery. Two weeks post op I held my niece who's 18 lbs and I felt pain like inside...I thought I pulled an incision or something internally but it ended up being fine after resting and not lifting anything! Lesson learned for me. I would just rest and not do any lifting. If you are really concerned that something may be seriously wrong, you should call your surgeon

@OutsideMatchInside lol my dog is 13-14 and has arthritis in his hips...he can barely walk up the curb now a days. I wish he were able to walk with me.

@OutsideMatchInside I'm still healing? How long is the healing process? lol I had no idea. I guess it will get boring, but I'd rather be bored of maintaining weight loss and dealing with plateaus then feel the way I felt before surgery. I just need to try to do things that involve me being a little more active and maybe I'll actually enjoy it, who knows lol

@OutsideMatchInside lol people say that if they were in LA they would be doing all these things, but when you have LA traffic and it takes you an hour and a half to get to work and then you work a 10 hour day, and then you have another hour and a half drive back home, thats 12-13 hours out of your day gone. Then, you get home, eat dinner and wind down to sleep just to do it again the next day. On the weekends, I have to study and do homework since I work full time and am a student full time.

While on the weekends I am only 20 minutes from the beach... I find the beach dirty and gross. I don't enjoy the beach especially since I'm fair skinned and also still dealing with body issues. Also, sharks and sand up your crack. I hate the salt Water. I'm more of a lake kind of girl.

My family has a lake house and I kayak and water ski but that is a 2 hour drive and can't do that all the time.

LA isn't as glamorous or convenient as people think it is, honestly.

When I drive as much as I do every day, the LAST thing I want to do is drive 20-30 minutes away just to get sunburned and have sand all over my car lol.

As for my weight loss, just because I'm lazy, doesn't mean I'm not eating healthier or keeping up with eating healthy Snacks vs. fast food or junk food. I can be lazy laying down in bed, but instead of chips and soda, I have string cheese or beef Jerky and Vitamin water zero lol

@Introversion There's a hiking trail near my house that leads all the way to Topanga Canyon (santa monica mountains) but it can be kind of scary by myself honestly...it's super desolate and no cell service...also, it's hard to get my boyfriend to come on hikes with me, especially now that football season has started lol. Him and I have such busy and opposite schedules so Sundays are really our only day to do something together and hiking is the last thing he wants to do.

Thank you guys though!

Hi Everyone!

So I was thinking today, woah, without going out to eat all the time, and since I can't eat much...food is not a hobby lol.

Then I thought, what do I do that's considered a hobby? And then I had another thought of "Oh my God I'm such a loser! I HAVE NO HOBBIES?"

I'm always doing what everyone else wants to do and just going with the flow to make others happy but what am I doing to make myself happy?

Getting my nails done and shopping are not hobbies lol. Any ideas?

I used to love DIYing stuff and fixing things up but then I started hoarding things and spending wayyyy too much just to refurbish things as a hobby lol

I'm also the type of person that is extremely lazy and bad at sticking to things so things like knitting and hiking or spinning classes sound super unappealing.

I was thinking about a dance class, but by the time I get home from work its like 7pm and it's just not realistic.

I'm 25 and live in Los Angeles. Any ideas for hobbies? Tell me what you all do as hobbies to keep busy and stay happy. Any suggestions are welcomed! lol

@ornament17 aww thank you!!

On 9/29/2017 at 10:07 AM, TooneyNinosMom said:

You are really looking great. Keep up the good work as you are doing an awesome job.

I think I am still scared to take pictures of myself as the reflection in the mirror is still the same to me. I'll post someday.

I see small differences but I'm learning to love myself as my body is morphing into what it's looking like. When I was this weight maybe a year ago, I HATED myself, and now...i'm like oh hey look at you, putting effort into the way I dress and feel. I have never been this confident at this weight ever in my life and I'm like, OK you are rocking 192 lol. It's just different this time around.

I do regret really not taking any before photos right before surgery though. This before photo was a picture that was taken of me that I was soooo embarrassed of, so I'm using this as a before photo. lol

On 9/29/2017 at 6:03 PM, Nessy76 said:

Wow! You look great! Our starting weights are very close so it's quite inspirational to see such a dramatic difference in a couple months...

Thank you so much, that means a lot.

On 9/29/2017 at 1:15 PM, Avaboo said:

You look great! I just got sleeved 1 weeks ago today and my starting weight was the same as yours do you have any issues with loose skin??? Do you exercise?

Hi there, thank you so much.

I don't have any issues with loose skin yet. I don't workout right now. My plan is to lose the weight first and then tone. I think that I would get discouraged if I started to gain muscle and it added weight to the scale...idk that might be stupid but I'm waiting til I drop a substantial amount of weight before I start toning up.

Yes this happens. I suffered from insomnia the first few weeks. Here's why:

When there isn’t a sufficient level of available glucose (sugar)— which is what the body uses for its main source of fuel — and glycogen levels are depleted, blood sugar and insulin are lowered and the body looks for an alternative source of fuel: in this case, fat.

This process can happen when a person fasting, after prolonged exercise, during starvation, or when eating a low-carb, ketogenic diet (or in our case, had surgery and are now not eating much)

And when the body begins breaking down fats for energy like this, a process known as beta-oxidation, ketones are formed for use as fuel for the body and brain. This is known as ketosis.

When we go into ketosis, it's basically giving our body energy, hense the insomnia, and why I could not freaking sleep for the life of me the first few weeks til my body adjusted.

Progress pic 2 and a half months out. 35 lbs down. i've dropped 2 pant sizes and even though I have a ways to go...The girl in the pic before surgery was sad, embarrassed, insecure...but now my confidence is climbing up again and I'm learning to love myself as I'm losing the weight. I've found that I'm not hiding. I put effort into how I present myself because I'm not worried about having to shop now. I'm so happy with my progress and how I'm practicing self love instead of self sabotage. This was yesterday and I was really feelin myself before I left for work. When you feel good about yourself, and love yourself, you have this light that shines and man people have been noticing the difference too. Hope you're all doing well on your journeys!

@GotProlactinoma wow thanks for that. I really need to be better about cooking and packing food rather then resorting to buying ready made food. I'm going through so much right now so I fee like most of the time, I have no will to do anything. I have just given up on everything and it breaks my heart. I don't want to feel this way. I want to shake my body and say WAKE UP DON"T GIVE UP WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST LETTING EVERYTHING AROUND YOU GO TO SH*T?? but I can't seem to snap out of this depressed zombie phase. I'm going to do what you said though. I think that will really help.

7 of those lbs I lost were from my cleanse the day before surgery so technically I've only lost 25 lbs since surgery so we're in the same boat boo xo lol

@trying4me I love that. I will start adopting that when I feel like i want to eat everything and anything.

@Sosewsue61 Thank you for the comment! I will try doing that!

@Joann454 Thanks for the kind words! I'm definitely going to be better this week. You're definitely right, keep pushing forward and don't beat myself up about last week, just get back on track!

@Walter.SobchakYeah I was sleeved July 14th. 2 months ago...

I don't have a support group and I don't see a counselor or therapist. I'm just not ready to open up this vault of repressed emotions because I'm afraid of how low and dark it can get. I Just can't seek help. I've made appointments to see a therapist and cancel. I just can't do it.

I want to cry. I'm so disappointed I am falling back into old habits. This morning, I had a Protein Bar and I'm drinking Water. I WILL NOT get a kid's sized meal or have fast food and I'm giving up soda. I can't go back to old ways. I slipped up but time to get back to my goal. I don't ever want to go back to feeling the way I did before, I was miserable. I want to cry just writing this...

I'm so ashamed of myself. Over the last week and a half I have been going through a lot of ****.

My emotional eating habit is terrible. I've been eating fast food and drinking soda. I'm sabotaging myself but the problem is I'm so f**king addicted to fast food and soda I keep saying "i'll give it up tomorrow" I've been saying that for a week and a half now.

I'm stressed, emotional, feeling a little depressed, my anxiety is through the roof and I can't stop myself from driving to a fast food drive thru on my lunch break or going to the food court at the mall on my lunch break or having a soda before dinner.

What the hell is wrong with me?? I'm struggling so bad. I know I can't eat as much as I used to but the fact that I'm falling into these old habits and can't get a hold of myself is terrifying.

I just needed to share this and reach out. I'm just struggling. I feel overwhelmed and can't handle anything so I just give up and eat...

When I had my endoscopy, they gave me propofol and I had the same anesthesiologist for both endoscopy and my gastric sleeve so when she was about to knock me out for my surgery, I said "is this the michael jackson drug? You better wake me up" and then when I woke up in the OR my gown had fallen down a little and the OR room door opened and the anesthesiologist was like wait fix her gown and since I was high from the meds I said "I know I have nice tits but come on guys" lol I made everyone in the OR laugh but pretty awkward saying that to strangers I guess...lol

@jmar23 Thank youu!!

I've lost 32 lbs since surgery. The 14th makes 2 months post op. I think i'm doing pretty well. I was super frustrated and stuck in a 3 week stall at the time I wrote that. It's slowly coming off. I don't have a nutritionist but I do know I need to be better about getting more Protein in and drinking more fluids and walking. @cuzzy623

@Walter.Sobchak LOL happy wife, happy life! Good to hear you didn't die! LOL JK