lisafrommassachusetts

So, I haven't really told many people about my surgery. A few close friends know, my mom, and my sister. I tell my mom everything so she knows, but out of my few close friends, only one was really supportive--everyone else was a bit hesitant. They all struggle with their weight, including my sister. So I don't like sharing my victories as they all start feeling bad about themselves. But today was huge and I want to share with someone other than my amazing and supportive mom. I laid down today to do sit-ups and I could actually see and feel my ribs starting to show through. I thought it was too good to be true so I videoed myself and lo and behold, I could see them quite prominently. I haven't seen them since 2015/2016. I am so excited! I can't see them standing up, obviously, but man was it a surprise laying down. Just really happy! I also tried on a shirt that was too tight before and now it is baggy.
Anyway, that was my NSV. Thanks for listening!

It’s so good to hear from everyone! I am so so glad that I was able to get the surgery when I did! I am doing so good and feel so amazing! So far, I’m down 130. I have 10 more to go to get to my personal goal. My surgery weight was 277 and I am now 147. At 5’1, I’m still not at the considered “healthy” weight, so I want to keep going. I will say that for the first 6 months, I struggled badly with dehydration and very low Iron. My surgeon told me that that is probably the reason why I lost so much in the beginning. It’s definitely a lot tougher now. The scale has not moved for me in a month. But I’m still going!

I can’ wait to catch up on everyone and see how everyone has been doing.

Hi Shanto. My surgerversary was yesterday. I was 266 at surgery and now 180. I am 5’7” with a goal of 155. So 25 pounds to go as well. I too am so glad I was able to have my surgery before COVID hit. I know I need to increase my exercise to keep my weight loss going.

Today is one of those days where I am so happy with the outcome of not one, but two bariatric surgeries. I had a gastric sleeve in 2014 and most recently a gastric bypass in October 2020. I found the 2013 picture in my Google photos and figured it was time for a comparison photo! This is the first time I've worn jeans, with a shirt tucked in and a belt, since 2015. I bought the belt in 2018 and yesterday my husband had to cut off 7 inches!!

I agree with NovaLuna. Statistical average for sleeve is about 65% of your excess weight, so that's where most people end up, but some of us can and do go well beyond that. It'll take a lot of commitment on your part, though - but it can be done if you put in the work.

61 here (will be 62 in March) and 280 lbs (266 day of surgery after two week pre-op diet). Came home yesterday (surgery was Wednesday the 20th) after gastric sleeve surgery. Sipping my gatorade zero and just finished some cream of wheat. So far so good.

same story as most of us, yo-yo diets, and ultimately depression and discouragement and a dawning realization of the crushing price to be paid if I didn't do something. No regrets.

I had my surgery on Nov. 2, 2020 at 67 years old. I also think it was the best decision I have made. When I started the process last May I weighed 291 lbs and every day I felt the burden of that weight, not only physically, but also mentally. How was I going to lose that weight? What would life be like if I decided to just give up and stay obese? It was at the back of my mind all of the time, although I just didn’t realize how much it was weighing on me until I had the surgery. Post op, I knew that if I followed the diet and stayed active, I could and would lose the weight and it was so liberating! I have stopped my type 2 diabetic meds, cut my antidepressant dose in half, and will stop my blood pressure medication soon. I wish I had known about the gastric sleeve earlier, but I’m glad I finally did it, knowing there is a healthier, happier life for me now.

I had my sleeve done on 12/16/2020. I will be 66 in April of this year....probably one of the best decisions I have ever made! Only wish I had done it sooner! No problems, no issues....never missed a beat! It's made me more conscious of what foods I purchase by reading labels and getting more exercise each day.

I just had mine this past Wednesday ... I was terrified! And I'm a retired high school teacher (in other words I'm hard to scare haha). Sleepless nights the week before, no partner allowed in the hospital, waiting in that cold pre-op waiting room ... But the feeling of relief during the recovery in my hospital room was enormous.

It's not a trivial thing and it requires a lot of fortitude and determination ... which we all know a LOT about as that's what we've been told our whole damn life that we needed more of to succeed at controlling our weight (and which leads to our loss of self-esteem and depression which we use food to control yada yada yada).

Hang in there and message me if you like.

The first picture is from when I started the program. I had my surgery on Aug 24, 2020. The second picture is my 4 month post op. I am down 55lbs. I feel amazing I am so glad I did it. In total I have lost 85lbs since the first picture was taken.

I had my rny on july 23 2020 I'm down 95 pounds my goal is to be 130 I'm 190 right now

Sent from my SM-A205U using BariatricPal mobile app

Starting weight over 220 (not sure I wouldn’t get on a scale but estimate that) RNY July 2020, current weight 138. Wearing size small/medium and 6/8 bottoms. In the before I was wearing 18 shorts and XXL tops. I feel so amazing and so happy with the results!!

HW on the left; 5lbs to my goal weight on the right. A little over a year for this transformation. Will never go back! So thankful!!

I finally broke that stall! I weighed in at 187.2 yesterday! Woohoooo!!

Welcome and Good Luck! I had my surgery in February; I am 61. I have lost a little over 70 pounds so far, and it is an unequivocal joy to me. I have been walking with my husband through the woods and on many trails; I am feeling so much younger and have so much more energy; I am enjoying buying clothes for the first time in years. I was very lucky in so far as my overall health before the surgery, in spite of obesity and yo-yo dieting, but I honestly did not know how TIRED I was from lugging around so much extra weight. Here is a list of things I don't dread anymore: stairs, booths, airplane seats (if we can ever fly again), walking around the block, tying my shoes! My knees ache less, my back aches less, I am wearing high heel boots occasionally, my resting heart rate is at 52. My husband, who is my biggest supporter and fan, jokes that he does not have to do the laundry anymore, because carrying the baskets from the 2nd floor to the basement is easy for me now! Go for it, you won't regret it.

I had my first "learning experience" yesterday. I frequently make a big pan of roasted vegetables (mini potatoes, sweet peppers, onion, mushrooms) for a side dish. I had successfully eaten small amounts prior. However, yesterday's veggies were not as well-cooked. I thought I was taking small bites and chewing well. The joke was on me! I should have stopped at the first twinge of discomfort but I thought it would pass and continued to have more. All of the sudden, I felt excruciating pain between my shoulder blades and it felt like I couldn't get a full breath. Nothing I did made me feel better and I was really getting concerned. After a few minutes, I vomited. That relieved most of the pain. Within an hour, the pain was completely gone. Vomiting showed me (literally) that I had not chewed my food as well as I thought and definitely had eaten too fast. Lesson learned and I realize I had gotten too big for my britches 🤪

2 weeks pre-op vs. today (2+ years post wls)

Here you go.

Everyone looks so great. Congrats on your success.
I lost 31kg in 6 months which was my goal & a further 11kg in the last 13 months. The first pxt was about 6 months before surgery - can’t believe I was that big. The second was last week.
It’s a big decision to change how your body functions so your worries are understandable. Having surgery was the best decision I ever made. My journey was pretty smooth. A couple of little hiccups (low blood pressure, a little hyperglycaemia) all manageable & all things I’d experienced in the past when I had been slim. Certainly nothing that makes me regret my decision.
Good luck on your journey.

first picture was me before I started my six-month supervised diet (2014). I think I was at my highest weight ever. Second picture (from 2017) is of me when I was two years out of surgery (this was before I had my skin removal surgery, though...I had that in Aug 2018 and March 2019). Last one was of me on my 60th birthday (last year). I've put on some weight since the 2017 picture - but excess skin is gone!

See that’s where it gets confusing- My NUT now has me eating 1500-1600 calories because the scale wouldn’t budge for a couple months. She said because I work out (spinning and strength training) so much that I should increase my calories in order to given my body fuel. She’d recommended I get an InBody scan and I found out I have a higher amount of muscle then average for my height/weight so she based it off that. It’s weird but the thing is IT WORKED. The scale is going down again (well at first it still wasn’t moving). It’s slow movement but it’s consistent again. I’m also mixing up my strength training by seeing a personal trainer once a week which I just started Saturday so I hope that helps too. The calorie count makes me happy because it’s nice to know I don’t have to eat so few calories at least. Anyhoo, good luck - do what works (and is healthy and sustainable) because it gets so tricky now!! For reference I’m 5’6” and now 155lbs.

I’ve also been stuck in a stall. Only down 3 lbs since the beginning of November, and they were hard to lose. I’m eating around 1000 cals a day now, but also exercising every day. Some days Hiit, some days strength training. So I assume I’m gaining muscle and that’s why the scale hasn’t gone down. I’ve lost almost 110 now, but still have 50 to go to reach my first goal (175). I’d like to get down to 145ish, but I haven’t been that weight since I was 14/15, so I’m not sure how realistic that goal is. Glad to hear everyone is still doing well!

You lost 100 pounds....and gained a dog!😁

I am 10 months out and find I need to have quick, easy high Protein meals about. I like to cook, so I will do more involved stuff on the week-ends, but here are a few go-to items for me:
1. Frozen Turkey Meatballs (with a red sauce, with canned beef gravy, with mozzarella on a bed of lettuce)
2. Bag of frozen shrimp (shrimp salad for lunch with a bag of kibo high protein chips, on a salad, with cocktail sauce as a snack, with turkey sausage, cauliflower rice and cajun spice for "jambalaya").
3. Make ahead ground turkey with LOTs of taco seasoning...night I make it we have tacos for dinner (I have the kibo chips, family has taco shells) then for a couple of lunches I have shredded lettuce, corn and taco meat
4. Turkey sausage chili with red Beans and TONS of veggies and extra chili seasoning; great for these winter evenings, and I have it for lunches all week; I use Sargento 4 cheese Mexican shredded cheese with this
5. Beef barley soup; I make it on the week-end and have it all week. Delicious and filling.
6. I keep kirkland chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars on hand for when I'm craving sweet
7. Siggi Yogurt -- I love the kind with Almond Butter as an add-in; they can be hard to find so I'll have vanilla Siggi and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Almond or Sunflower butter. Delicious and high in protein.

Thanks for all the positive feedback and support. Its great to know that I'm not alone either. That is one thing that weighs heavy on my food issues....I feel so alone. My husband is disabled and sleeps different hours and long hours than I do. Being alone is really hard for me. I am disabled also, but I have trouble sleeping, so have many hours to myself. I have crafts to do when my hands don't hurt to much, and I have a treadmill that I am just starting to use. My left knee needs to be replaced, but I have 20 more lbs to lose before they will do that.
I am a very positive person and don't dwell on the negatives very often, so when I do they are twice as heavy on me. I know that God is with me and I can get through anything in His time. I wanted to let this out and get on with my losing the lbs. It really helps to put things down on paper instead of holding them inside.
Thanks again for your responses....lots of good ideas and suggestions!!!