cmaule

Success! 🤣

I know everyone’s experience is different, but I felt like sharing mine. For over 20 years of being morbidly obese and trying different diets only one thing seemed consistent as I looked back over my history in considering starting the “sleeve” journey. It was this- without exception that the biggest discourager, hinderance and ultimate enemy of all my attempts had been that darned scale. When I knew I had sacrificed, sweat and did everything I was supposed to it was the negative influence of the scale that thwarted my efforts- every time. I took it’s word that I was a failure. Sooooo, when I pulled the trigger on the “sleeve” journey I made it clear that the scale would not be going on this trip with me! Of course my doctors use it, but only as one of the tools to measure my progress. But I have refused to use it! Rather I lean on the other tools my bariatric team has given me, nutritional goals, accountability tools, exercise goals, Vitamins and supplements etc, I treat these things like a prescription for my health, ergo if I follow them and they don’t “work” I just ask my team to revise my “prescription”. But the scale is subject to me and not me to it this way. I don’t mean to come of like it’s been easy and some days I thought “if I haven’t lost........” But only weighing in at monthly and sometimes bi monthly has taken the pressure off, stopped the mental stress and helped me to make the priority changing my habits regardless of what the scale says. That being said- you got this- if you are ready for the change don’t listen to no stupid scale!

I'm not at the point of wanting photos with my body in yet... but I can see the change in my face (I'm 40kg down... so about 90 pounds).... The first photo is on my birthday about 6 months pre op... almost at my heaviest. And the second now, sick in bed, but almost 1 year post op. (BTW Anyone found a solution to saggy jowls and neck skin???)

So... My pregnancy body is starting to disappear
146 months later

My heaviest in 2007 (260lbs) to yesterday in my oversized onesie (131lbs). I have a mild cold so I’m just “messy hair” lounging for a couple days. Retired life!

I don't know if that is really something to brag about but my last gastroscopy came back fine without any signs of inflammation in the stomach or esophagitis. The little scar I have down there has also healed well as it seems.
Ok, maybe it is something to brag about because after years of having "inflammation" I did some dietary changes and of course I don't have proof that this caused the healing but it would be a big coincidence since there was no changes in medication.

I'll kick it off.
Me at my smartest vs me at my cutest lol

Loving this thread and the responses!

Okay so this is kinda getting personal, but I’m gonna share here because I’m thinking there are others here with me that might have this issue.

As part of this procedure, my insurance company set me up with a therapist that I have phone calls with for 45 mins every other week.
I’ve been with her now since November and she is a 32 year bypass veteran.

When I hit my “stall” in week 3 and the scale didn’t move for almost 2 weeks, she didn’t tell me I was being silly in worrying, and didn’t make me feel selfish for complaining that I’d lost almost 2 pounds daily and then stopped cold. She also didn’t berate me for not believing in the science behind the procedure.

What she did instead was to empathize with my feelings that I was going to be the only person who “failed” bariatric surgery while follwing all instructions to a tee.
She understood what kind of psychological damage my body has done to me by never wanting to lose weight easily and by giving me breast cancer at the age of 40. She understood my feelings of distrust during years of infertility and repeated miscarriages in my 20’s and how when I finally did have that second baby, that my body rewarded me with gestational diabetes and 80 pounds that I carried around ( lots of yo-yo dieting in the intervening 22 years) to this day. 

Her response was “ you’re afraid of being judged negatively because your body has repeatedly shown itself to be untrustworthy and because it ‘betrays’ you all of the time. Who in your position wouldn’t have these fears, my dear?”

Well that was pretty profound because after thinking hard about it, the hard truth is I really can’t trust my body to “ do the right thing” so when a mini stall happens, or I don’t lose what I think I should those feelings of “ omg, here we go yet again” creep back like some kind of PTSD.

None of us should ever need to apologize for those feelings because they are REAL and we’ve all been scarred at one point or another or else we wouldn’t be here.

I will continue to have optimism and follow instructions to the best of my ability, but I will also continue to keep looking over my shoulder and keep an eye out for future betrayals like a jilted lover does with the one who keeps cheating on her over and over and over again

Hi Marchers! I’m 1 week post-op today and feeling great! So far I’m down 14lbs in 1 week which is unbelievable! I’m off of all pain meds including Tylenol. I’m tolerating Water, Decaf coffee, Protein Shakes, SF pudding & Jello, broth, cream Soup (strained) and even very soupy grits. As of day 3 it’s been pretty easy getting all of my 64oz of fluids. I basically just sip all day. I’m nervous only because I HAVENT encountered anything that made me feel too full or sick since day 2 post-op. I have another week of this above “liquid diet” then I get 2 weeks of soft/puréed food. My energy levels are higher each day. I even did 10000 steps on 3/9 without really trying. Good luck to all of the pre-op & post op folks out there! Follow your doctor/nurse’s orders and I’m sure you’ll all do great also!

Hi Marchers! I’m 1 week post-op today and feeling great! So far I’m down 14lbs in 1 week which is unbelievable! I’m off of all pain meds including Tylenol. I’m tolerating Water, Decaf coffee, Protein Shakes, SF pudding & Jello, broth, cream Soup (strained) and even very soupy grits. As of day 3 it’s been pretty easy getting all of my 64oz of fluids. I basically just sip all day. I’m nervous only because I HAVENT encountered anything that made me feel too full or sick since day 2 post-op. I have another week of this above “liquid diet” then I get 2 weeks of soft/puréed food. My energy levels are higher each day. I even did 10000 steps on 3/9 without really trying. Good luck to all of the pre-op & post op folks out there! Follow your doctor/nurse’s orders and I’m sure you’ll all do great also!

Hi Marchers! I’m 1 week post-op today and feeling great! So far I’m down 14lbs in 1 week which is unbelievable! I’m off of all pain meds including Tylenol. I’m tolerating Water, Decaf coffee, Protein Shakes, SF pudding & Jello, broth, cream Soup (strained) and even very soupy grits. As of day 3 it’s been pretty easy getting all of my 64oz of fluids. I basically just sip all day. I’m nervous only because I HAVENT encountered anything that made me feel too full or sick since day 2 post-op. I have another week of this above “liquid diet” then I get 2 weeks of soft/puréed food. My energy levels are higher each day. I even did 10000 steps on 3/9 without really trying. Good luck to all of the pre-op & post op folks out there! Follow your doctor/nurse’s orders and I’m sure you’ll all do great also!

Hi Marchers! I’m 1 week post-op today and feeling great! So far I’m down 14lbs in 1 week which is unbelievable! I’m off of all pain meds including Tylenol. I’m tolerating Water, Decaf coffee, Protein Shakes, SF pudding & Jello, broth, cream Soup (strained) and even very soupy grits. As of day 3 it’s been pretty easy getting all of my 64oz of fluids. I basically just sip all day. I’m nervous only because I HAVENT encountered anything that made me feel too full or sick since day 2 post-op. I have another week of this above “liquid diet” then I get 2 weeks of soft/puréed food. My energy levels are higher each day. I even did 10000 steps on 3/9 without really trying. Good luck to all of the pre-op & post op folks out there! Follow your doctor/nurse’s orders and I’m sure you’ll all do great also!

Last night was up peeing every hour. At airport now On my way! Home.

3 Days postop from bypass and feeling good. Got up this morning started a load of laundry and made my son and granddaughter Breakfast. I am still going to take it easy throughout the day but feel like I could do more.

Cher, so far so good. Still in the Hospital but being discharged in a couple hours. No issues so far. Gas pain isn’t as bad as I though. Pain in general is not as bad as I imagined but I am on serious nerve block drugs so I’ll report back when they wear off! 😁. Now I move on to the changing my whole mindset portion of this adventure. Feeling a little nervous about that but I know it’s just me being over anxious.

How are the March 4th’ers doing? I am okay, home now, pain is there but that’s to be expected.

Hi - I had my sleeve done on 3/4. I had one night in the hospital and I’ve been home since yesterday afternoon. It’s going well so far. The gas/chest pains really sucked right after surgery but I was up walking around 3hrs after surgery so I guess that helped. I slept a lot in the hospital and just sipped the tiny cups of Water and tried to walk a lap every few hours. The pain the 2nd day was less chest and more incision pain but nothing close to the C-section pain that I had. So now at home I’m managing the pain well, trying to walk often and sit upright a lot and I’m sipping my water and Protein Shakes slowly but pretty constantly. I learned my lesson quickly when I tried to drink too much water the first day. I’m feeling good both mentally and physically!

Hi - I had my sleeve done on 3/4. I had one night in the hospital and I’ve been home since yesterday afternoon. It’s going well so far. The gas/chest pains really sucked right after surgery but I was up walking around 3hrs after surgery so I guess that helped. I slept a lot in the hospital and just sipped the tiny cups of Water and tried to walk a lap every few hours. The pain the 2nd day was less chest and more incision pain but nothing close to the C-section pain that I had. So now at home I’m managing the pain well, trying to walk often and sit upright a lot and I’m sipping my water and Protein Shakes slowly but pretty constantly. I learned my lesson quickly when I tried to drink too much water the first day. I’m feeling good both mentally and physically!

Hi - I had my sleeve done on 3/4. I had one night in the hospital and I’ve been home since yesterday afternoon. It’s going well so far. The gas/chest pains really sucked right after surgery but I was up walking around 3hrs after surgery so I guess that helped. I slept a lot in the hospital and just sipped the tiny cups of Water and tried to walk a lap every few hours. The pain the 2nd day was less chest and more incision pain but nothing close to the C-section pain that I had. So now at home I’m managing the pain well, trying to walk often and sit upright a lot and I’m sipping my water and Protein Shakes slowly but pretty constantly. I learned my lesson quickly when I tried to drink too much water the first day. I’m feeling good both mentally and physically!

Hi - This is my first post here but I’m thrilled to be joining this group with a VSG date of 3/4!! Today is day 8 of my 14 day liver cleanse diet which is mostly Protein Shakes, unlimited veggies and 1 small no-carb, low fat meal. I’m SO excited for next Monday! I’ve been struggling to get this surgery date approved by insurance (Aetna) since June. It’s been a LONG road so far and I’m psyched for the challenges ahead. 😊

My favorite always and still is Premier Protein, I especially like liked their Peaches and Cream and Caramel, Wal-Mart where I usually shop, in their one stupidity deleted almost all flavors but vanilla and chocolate, BORING! I have also liked Muscle Milks flavors. I have been on shakes since Hector was a pup, and after 5 months Hector (my imaginary 🐕) is nearly grown up but my tummy isn't. I could get my flavors off of Wal-Mart.com, buy them at Sams Club(23 miles north) or costco in Columbus(48 miles SE) but nary a one in Mount Vernon where I live. I haven't checked out GNC, we have one in Knox Village Square, only excuse I have is they might be expensive, today I used my on-line coupon from Ensure, they have a strawberry Protein Plus, not as much protein as Premier Protein but calories are too bad, and Joy Joy they have strawberry, I'll let you know if I like it. Claricey, I am a patient-type birdie with a slightly wounded digestion now, I have ulcerations in my jejunem, the second section of small intestine used for bypasses, don't worry, it is NOT that commin, so I am fed basically 12 hours a night on Total Parenteral Feeding through a vein in my upper left arm, been that way for 2 months the 29th. This gives my GI system less stress, had a follow-up endoscopy, have them every 2-4 weeks, they are seeing improvement, were able to stretch my stomal stricture where my pouch and intestine connect slightly, maybe a couple more attempts and I can expand my diet further along, I am allowed either a shake or Soup once a day, but my major calories are"piped in". Really not THAT BAD, gotten used to it, I would not probably not starved to death from inability to digest my Proteins correctly and malnourishment, alas there is TOO MUCH of me for that to happen, but I ran a strong risk of it affecting my ❤ and that would have been "curtains" for me. So I am very grateful for the intervention, and that my Surgeon Dr Bradley J Needleman and his partner(who does my endoscopies( Dr Sabrena Noria that they knew just what to do. I'll make it through, just a little bumpy now. But you do have to be odd to be #1, so I try to be upbeat with what I Have.😝🌈🍀

Hi - This is my first post here but I’m thrilled to be joining this group with a VSG date of 3/4!! Today is day 8 of my 14 day liver cleanse diet which is mostly Protein Shakes, unlimited veggies and 1 small no-carb, low fat meal. I’m SO excited for next Monday! I’ve been struggling to get this surgery date approved by insurance (Aetna) since June. It’s been a LONG road so far and I’m psyched for the challenges ahead. 😊

My birthday...that’s a good day 😉