groovygal

I had surgery on 11/10/20, but started my weight loss efforts on 7/5/20. If you’ve been here a while I’m sure you’ve seen me lurking about the forums.
Stats: SW 339. CW: 165. I am a 5’10 woman in her 40s. I work full time and have young children. My current BMI is 23, I started off with it closer to 50.

I knew it was going to take me a while to hit goal- I had 174 lbs to lose. I did all the calculators pre-op that said I would be lucky to get under 200 lbs, but I decided that just wasn’t going to apply to me (haha). My plan was to focus on fruits, vegetables, and healthy Proteins while ramping up exercise. I eliminated Cookies, pastries, and candy but that’s about it. I don’t do low carb, because that isn’t how I’m planning on living the rest of my life. I focus on calorie reduction, which sounds like oh if that’s so easy why did you need surgery? Well cutting calories is possible if you aren’t hungry all the time no matter how much you eat, and if you can fill up on the healthy things without it being like flash paper into a volcano. I honestly did need the surgery, and I’m not going to pretend it did the work for me, but it gave me the help for the work I wanted to be able to do.

Six days a week I do a split between running and rowing for a half hour. I’m going to run in a 5k this spring, which has been a dream of mine for years. I exercise on my lunch break every day.

Yes, I have some loose skin. It’s nowhere as bad as people make it out to be. I am not exactly planning on running around in a bikini so it’s not like it limits my life at all. It’s not visible in my clothes, not even tight fitting ones. I might get it removed some day, but if I don’t I’ll still be happy.

This weight loss has been the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me. Life is difficult when you are morbidly obese. It’s difficult physically, emotionally, and socially. This weight loss hasn’t fixed every problem in my life, but I didn’t expect for it to. It fixed my weight related problems, and I had a lot of them.

This surgery can be life changing, but it’s not a magic bullet. You still have to make huge life changes. But if you feel sabotaged you your own constant hunger, cravings, and binges, this can really be the tool you use to dig yourself out of the seemingly insurmountable weight you need to lose.

This isn’t a finish line for me. I am still working on hopefully losing another 15 lbs, and I’m never going back to my old eating habits. I know I signed up for a lifelong change, otherwise I’ll be right back where I started. But finally hitting goal was a nice early Christmas present to myself. Sorry for the essay, but I don’t really have anyone in real life to share with who gets it!

As the title says!

I live in a super small town and did not broadcast I had WLS, the rumor was I had some crazy disease for the longest time, I sure hope I wasn't dying. After the compliments came the sympathy casseroles ......lol.

now most people have gotten the message that I am not dying nor do I have a strange disease or cancer, I am just healthy !!!
Gotta love it!

I am down 45-46lbs. We were at the pool yesterday ( shirt still on) and people are saying wow you look good! I really wasn't expecting that yet but I guess it has started. Questions like what are you doing?...Answer---Not eating much and not drinking alcohol which is true. I have the right tool to get this done!

This post is really for the folks who are considering the sleeve, wondering if it will "work" for them, if they should take the leap...
This post is for the folks who just returned home from surgery or are several weeks out..the people who are starting to feel discouraged...didn't realize it would be so "hard".
And, this post is for the folks that have a bit to go before they reach that goal they set thinking the weight they REALLY want to be is unattainable!
First, the sleeve alone will not "work" for you unless you are willing to WORK with it! It's a tool not a cure. And, yes, it is often hard, especially in the beginning when you are creating new, successful solutions to combat old habits that got you where you used to be stuck. But, the very best things in life come from pushing through the hard moments. If you give up before you get to the top of the mountain, you don't get to enjoy the beautiful view. Trust me, it's spectacular when you get here. DO NOT GIVE UP!
Now, about that goal weight...if you are anything like me, you've lost and gained so many times you've become used to failure. You almost expect it. So maybe you set your goal weight at a number that seemed pretty reasonable. Attainable, even, right? And, perhaps, you told yourself that if you got anywhere near it, you'd be happy because, for goodness sake, it's soooo much better than where you started! It's a definite win! I did that. I let my pre-sleeve experience shape my goal. But that wasn't the number I truly wanted. Initially, I just didn't believe that I could ever get back to my teenage and 20's modeling weight. I mean, I'm a woman in my 50's! That could never happen, right?! So, I shot for 5 pounds over the top of the weight chart for my height.
Guess what happened as I was working my way down the scale, working my program, building strong/healthy eating habits, changing my relationship with food? I hit that goal! Then I shattered it! Then I continued on, logging every morsel of food I put in my body, every darn day!
I'm not even a full year out of surgery. But by working with my sleeve and using this tool to it's fullest potential, I weigh LESS than I did as a slim teenager! I'm 2 sizes smaller than my busiest period as a model in my 20's!
This tool requires sacrifice. But, you are only sacrificing the things that were dragging your body down in the first place. In fact, I look at it as finally showing ourselves the respect we've deserved all along.
You are so worth it. You absolutely deserve be healthy. Life is so much easier mentally and physically when you shed the weight that you are carrying.
It becomes easier every single day! Then the months fly by and it becomes routine. All of a sudden you realize your whole life is brighter, healthier, EASIER!
I put everything into getting where I am right now. I truly believe if you give it everything, the sleeve will give you your life back!
You absolutely deserve this! You are absolutely worth this! Don't let anyone make you feel/think differently!!!!
PS....Log everything every day! That's a game changer. Load an app (I use LOSEIT). Log everything. Never stop logging!
Love to all!

First off, let me say that you should always listen to your doctor and nutritionist...rather than crazy people on the internet, myself included.
But here's my rant today. And for what it's worth....this is just MY feelings on this nonsense. I'm no expert.

Ya'll need to eat. Not overeat. But also NOT UNDER-EAT. Eat healthy food you enjoy.
I know how it happens. Your weight loss gets sluggish and stuck and you think OMG, this isn't working, I'm Failing at this! You start to panic.
And what does a lifelong self-destructive dieter DO when they start to panic? They go exteme.
They go...ok, my doctor said it was ok to eat this much.....so I'm gonna try to eat HALF of that to speed up my weight loss!
I'm going to work harder than anyone! I'm going to eat less! I'm going to force this weight off of my body...because this is my last chance and I'm freaking out and I can't fail at this, so I NEED to do better and cut back!
Only, here's the thing. You don't need to cut back. You need to stay the course, nourish your healing body, have good energy to boost your metabolism and lose weight sensibly.
Why do people do VLCDs? (very low calorie diets....1000 or less calories a day)....they do them because they show results in a hurry.
And there is nothing people like better than a lower number on the scale...regardless of how they're achieving it. Or how harmfully they are achieving it.
When you eat less than 1000 calories a day, did you know you lose more muscle than fat...even if you are eating tons of protien grams?
When you lose muscle, you slow your metabolism, endanger your organs that have muscle (heart anyone?), and decrease your bone density. None of this is a good idea.
And when you're eating starvation level calories, your body tries like hell to keep you from dying....by, you guessed it, slowing your metabolism even further.
And the carb thing...can we talk about that a minute? You DO want to avoid carbs that are metabolized to sugar really fast, like sugary foods and refined white flour items because they can cause your pancrease to over-react and send too much insulin and you'll end up with rebound hunger....but other carbs, particularly ones that have good Fiber content to slow the sugar can also have good protien content...and they don't do the rebound hunger thing. They give you great available energy.
Why do we lose so much weight so rapidly when we do Keto? We don't really....but the first five pounds is so quick and shocking that it MUST work! (except you're not losing fat, you're losing the Water that your liver stores extra glucose in.....and you've stripped your liver of its emergency reserve of energy. And yeah...you can make the sugar you need from other things through gluconeogenesis....but it takes amino acids that your body is typically harvesting from your muscles.) Don't do that thing where you lose the five pounds eating keto....then eat a few carbs and go OMG, look at the weight I've gained!....and go keto again and lose the same five pounds of water. It's an illusion. (Not saying keto people can't lose weight...they do lose weight fast...but they also have about five pounds in lost water from glucose storage, no emergency stores, and their bodies may be consuming their muscles)
Food for thought (literally!) Guess what organ runs exclusively on sugar? Pure glucose. Your brain. Your brain burns over 300 calories of glucose every day. At just 2% of our body weight....our brains burn about 20% of the calories we use each day! The CPU needs fuel.

Lots of people lose weight rapidly with Very Low Calorie Diets after bariatric surgery. They have these amazing results that other people notice and are in awe of. They lose to goal eating very little and feel very accomplished about their self discipline and their amazing fast results.
And then guess what happens?
At goal...they are still people who have never learned how to eat sustainably for life. All they know is starvation and self deprivation. And starvation doesn't work long term.
Please learn to eat sustainable amounts of calories. Do it early so you don't fudge your metabolism into starvation level calorie requirements.
One of the best ways to have a robust metabolism...is to do exercise every day. It doesn't have to be the gym or something you find tedious. Do things you enjoy....but keep moving.
It's hard to build your robust metabolism.....when you're too tired to do anything but go to work and go to bed...because you're starving yourself.
Please eat. Don't overeat. But eat. Learn to eat right, not starve. Starving is not the cure and in many cases sets the stage for significant regain.
Do it right, even it it's slower than other people. Do it sustainably. Learn to coexist with food, not avoid it. (easier said than done)
Don't get discouraged by small losses. Just keep losing to goal with small sensible tweeks. You don't have to suffer extremes to have success.
Learning to control your diet moderately...is the best skill to have when facing a lifetime of sustaining a significant weight loss.

This end my rant.
Totally ok if you think I'm nuts/wrong/whatever. Take what you like and leave the rest.
Peace and best wishes to everyone on this crazy road.

The picture on the right is a picture of me from October 2020 and the picture on the left is from today. Im about 3.5 weeks post-op and already feeling so much better ☺️

Yes, I baked this myself. I am not a baker, but we have two other couples we do rotating dinner parties with, and we are hosting in May. I need to come up with something for dessert that screams SPRING (I like getting all seasonal when it is my turn), so I am testing recipes. I tried a strawberry cake thingy a couple of weeks ago that did not come out.
This one is a contender, but I would add more berries and mix some into the batter. I think a should have taken it out of the oven sooner too, as the texture towards the center is “creamier” and looks more like the recipe pics. I only baked for about 60 minutes vs the 70 in the recipe, but the edges were a bit dry...probably a high altitude thing. I love the not over sweet flavor. It would be luscious with some whipped cream and maybe a sweeter raspberry sauce for serving. Or ice cream and raspberry sauce. Hmmmm...🤔🧐
Planning to give most of the rest of it away. My parents will like this😊😊

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/267595/ricotta-berry-cake/

I had my surgery Feb 18th. It was a struggle for first 3 weeks, but now that I can enjoy some food it has become easier. I am down 32 lbs.
I like to make my own chicken broth, has so much more flavor than cans. Yes, I know it has more fat & calories, but you need something in your stomach to make it happy. I do also have Bryers non fat fudge bars..this soothes my stomach.
Water: at first I was sipping small amounts as directed. I am able to drink large amounts as long as there is no food to push it down and stretch stomach. I verified with my Dr. So basically I flavor my Water with sugar free crystal light, lemonade country time and can easily drink 8-12 oz in 30 minutes if I wanted to.
I am now eating sautéed soft fish with spinach. It digest well when your at 5 weeks. Poke is a good one too cuz it will digest, Cottage cheese, scrambled eggs topped with tsp of non fat Greek yogurt.
You can do it. It will be worth your suffering.

🤗

Had my 2 week post-op appointment today with my surgeon. All is well, healing nicely- although I CANNOT WAIT to be done with liquids. Still on liquids (2 weeks pre-op and 3 weeks post-op) Next week I can start a few things like mashed avocado, eggs & cottage cheese. Hooray! How are you doing fellow Marchers?

@Rosie_flips I was nervous to have it done outpatient, but honestly it has gone really smoothly. My surgical team set me up with IV hydration at my house the day after surgery, thank god because that first 24-48 hrs I was really struggling to get fluids in. I ended up scheduling another hydration appointment with that nurse the next day just to be proactive, and I think that was a good decision because the next day when I woke up I felt I had really turned a corner (day 3 post op)
They also were very proactive with nausea meds and I never had any nausea that I can remember. Apparently I vomited in post-op but I don't remember.
Here's how my outpatient surgery went-
Checked into the hospital @3p Pre-op stuff 3-5p Surgery at 5:30p Post-Op 6:30p ish to 10:30p ish. They kept me several hours with IV fluids, got me up and walking, tried to get me to pee, but I couldn't. Discharged with orders to come back to the hospital if I hadn't peed in 6 hours. which didn't end up being an issue. Home and in bed by 11:30p. I didn't think I would be able to sleep in my bed, but I did just fine, propped up on pillows a bit. Hope this helps with anyone who is looking at having outpatient surgery. My insurance required it due to COVID, and I was nervous- but 8 days post op I'm doing really well.

Thank you. It is definitely trending that way.got out of surgery around noon on Monday and it's around 48 hours now. I'm able to drink Water pretty regularly now.
Definitely alot of mental challenges. Listening to your body , giving yourself time to recover and being patient most of all I would say help.
Still a road ahead but glad I did it now and held off a few years ago trying to everything on my own and go back to work in a couple weeks. For background I'm a physical therapist and there is no way I would have been able to pull that off like I had planned.

Greatful for my wife who has been ultra supportive and taken on a lot to allow me to finally get this done.

Hello everyone. New to the Forum. 39 yo male.
I had gastric sleeve surgery yesterday March 29th and am home today. Not as bad as I thought. Swallowing is still a real shock to the system. Even with just Water. I used to chug water and this is a definite challenge.
Presurgery weight was 329. I'm 5'10. I had lost 45 pounds dating back to october before the surgery including 2 week liquid diet . Looking forward to these new challenges and the opportunities they bring.

HI All!! 23 days post op and doing really well! Moved into soft foods and have had fish, cottage cheese, and some steamed veggies. Still not feeling hungry which is a good thing, but I've realized that it doesn't really give me a chance to feel full. I haven't really tried pushing it to the limit as I don't want to get sick or hurt myself so I'm just sticking to 4oz portions, eating slowly, and chewing!
How's everyone else doing today?

Thanks for the details @groovygal! I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. My surgery is at 9 am and the say to expect to be discharged around 7pm. Were you able to drink at all that first day, or was it all IV fluids?

Every so often I feel torn on these forums about my role and what I should say.
On the one hand, I'm a veteran now....and have had success with this whole undertaking that I feel pretty proud of. There are a lot of struggles and things that I can comment about with some hard earned observations and experiences. I can be all.....mentory...and have good mentor-ish things to say to newbies.
Sometimes I feel a responsibility to *provide a good example* and only say things that are in harmony with the bariatric sages...and play the proper acolyte to the Bariatric Authority.
But here's the part where I feel torn.
I also want to tell the truth. I want to be the kind of poster I really enjoyed reading when I was first looking into this crazy ride.
I want to be unvanished, raw and HONEST. Because I value that in people. I value that risk. I value those stories....because sometimes people really need those stories. Even if they're terrible advice and provide a terrible example! Sometimes just knowing someone else....occasionally has a horrible day and eats the entire pack of four Yasso bars....helps you to live your life and forgive yourself.
I want to say: Yes, I drink diet soda. I know it's probably unwise and I also know there's hype about it that's untrue....AND....I know a lot of you drink it, too. And some of you drink real soda.....and will probably rot in hell for it. LOLOLOL
Ya'll won't admit it....but I've seen ya. I've peeked in those windows and I know you do all sorts of awful stuff. You eat peanut M&Ms and drink soda and beer and buy the occasional McDonald's kid's meal and can of Pringles. At Christmas, you cheat. You eat stuff you shouldn't. You ate Halloween candy. Ok, it was just a couple of pieces...but it made you happy.
We're not perfect. We screw up. We make questionable choices. Sometimes regularly. We STILL have unhealthy food moments. We're works in progress.
Can we talk about it as adults...knowing it's a crap example...but also knowing that it's human?
We still do weird assed extreme things in realtion to food.
How many calories in two almonds and one dried cherry? I HAVE TO WRITE IT DOWN.
How many grams of protien in one pint of donated blood? How many calories do I lose when I menstruate? I had a cold and blew my nose ten times and the internet says snot is made of protien...do I have to up my protien?
I once heard a lady on one of these boards say....she had her flinstone chewable multi vitamin....for dessert after her meal. And it was delicious. 😳
Is it wrong to admit I wanted to slap her?
I'll admit it...I ate a S'more about two weeks after I had surgery. I remember it as the most exquisite thing I've ever eaten...and I nibbled that one little square of heaven all night in front of the fireplace with the Christmas lights on. Licked it, actually. Down to a stump. LOL.
And Yes, ..a part of me is still screaming at myself.....You had a freaking S'more right after your surgery???? What the actual H*ll???!!! What were you thinking? (I lived...crap, I even lost weight to goal...but I commited this food crime. Guilty.)
Sometimes I think we lose our humanity in this environment....because as some folks have noticed, there's a competative thing. Some weird ick factor of needing the best score...the tiniest dinner...the least daily calories. "I'm going to get down to my original weight of 9 pounds 3 ounces if it kills me. Could someone please eat the other half of my lentil? It's too much for me."
And then I think....crap, maybe these folks really ARE as together as they seem and I'm just nutty and disordered and still fighting through this mess everyday three years out...isn't normal...
But then I look at the number of folks who wash out...and think......nope. MOST of us are struggling and screw up. MOST of us continue to screw up and figure it out.
Would be fun to do the research to put an actual number on it....
But I'd bet at least 90% of us...have secrets they would never disclose in a forum like this about one screw up or another.
I think we need a Confession thread. Where correction is not allowed. Where worry and concern (and abject horror) are forbidden to be expressed. Where we can just let that other lost soul know....yep, I licked a S'more, too....you're not alone.
All sins can be forgiven. Tomorrow is always a new day.

My daughter came home today and she told me I should try on some of her dresses from her college formal days. Never, ever, ever did I expect them to fit. I feel pretty good after I looked at these photos. Of course, I've got the whole "bat wings" going on, but I'm not going to stress over the details. Just wanted to share my joy of the moment!

I make my own cheesy sauce that is great with Pasta or veggies like broccoli. I do not use the processed products, as I don't think they taste that good, they are expensive, and I try not to use processed food products as a rule.
To make a cheesy like sauce, I soak cashews for 30 to 60 minutes in hot Water. Then I put them in the blender with a cooked yellow potato, soy milk, a small avocado, and sometimes some tofu.. Add a good amount of nutritional yeast and some miso paste, pepper to taste. Blend until smooth. The avocado taste does NOT come through, but the fat makes it "creamier."
I will admit that the Beyond Beef burgers are pretty tasty. I might have one of those once a month or so, but not often. My Protein comes from a wide variety of legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, tofu, tempeh, soy milk/yogurt or Nancy's Oatmilk yogurt which is pretty high in protein. I easily get 60 grams a day. Sometimes I will add a half scoop of Protein Powder to a smoothie or yogurt bowl.

I admire people for their commitment to WFPB. I'm not exactly a junk food plant based eater but I eat way too much fake meat/fish, also Protein powders (at least lately).
ETA: Do you eat cashew based cheeses, btw?

My naturopath recommended Garth Davis as a resource, but I’m struggling with the idea of being 100% plant-based. We buy organic/grass fed meat from small farms and I’m okay with it - we are not huge meat eaters anyways. Anyone strive for a balance? I’m starting my pre-op diet in a week and I ordered Pirq and Iconic, one is plant based Protein Drink and the other is grass fed.

I hit 50# weight loss ( pre-op and post-op). I am getting closer to Wonderland! Gastric Sleeve is making the difference and making this seem doable and I feel in control for once.
HW 264 ( 10/30/20)
SW 235 ( 2/24/21)
CW 214 ( 3/27/21)
GW 130 ( TBD)

I made a Protein shamrock shake this morning.
1 bottle Fairlife nutrition plan vanilla, a handful of ice, mint extract.
Tastes so good but made a huge serving!

Hey! Sipping just like you. No complaints , no pain feeling great actually 10lbs down week 1 post op so I’m excited about that.

@Rosie_flips I was nervous to have it done outpatient, but honestly it has gone really smoothly. My surgical team set me up with IV hydration at my house the day after surgery, thank god because that first 24-48 hrs I was really struggling to get fluids in. I ended up scheduling another hydration appointment with that nurse the next day just to be proactive, and I think that was a good decision because the next day when I woke up I felt I had really turned a corner (day 3 post op)
They also were very proactive with nausea meds and I never had any nausea that I can remember. Apparently I vomited in post-op but I don't remember.
Here's how my outpatient surgery went-
Checked into the hospital @3p Pre-op stuff 3-5p Surgery at 5:30p Post-Op 6:30p ish to 10:30p ish. They kept me several hours with IV fluids, got me up and walking, tried to get me to pee, but I couldn't. Discharged with orders to come back to the hospital if I hadn't peed in 6 hours. which didn't end up being an issue. Home and in bed by 11:30p. I didn't think I would be able to sleep in my bed, but I did just fine, propped up on pillows a bit. Hope this helps with anyone who is looking at having outpatient surgery. My insurance required it due to COVID, and I was nervous- but 8 days post op I'm doing really well.

I hope you’re resting well! If you have the capacity/want to would you be able to share a bit about what your experience was like as an outpatient? My clinic also does the sleeve as an outpatient procedure as standard.