Maisey

56 y/o. RNY 12/14/20. Down 115 lbs.

First, congrats on your surgery.
Secondly, it’s quite common for emotions to be a bit up & down. You’ve just had pretty major life changing surgery. Plus you’re unable to turn to food as a source of comfort now if you were someone who turned to food in the past when you were feeling emotionally unsettled.
Thirdly, we all heal differently. Some people are able to get back to work & their usual routine more quickly than others. I returned to work after 4 weeks & struggled: tiredness, sluggish thought processes, etc. A friend went back after a week & was fine. Maybe you could return to work in a part-time capacity to begin or do some work from home like prepping for future trips, reply to emails, complete paperwork, review docs, etc. & see how you go.
Give yourself permission to take it easy for a little while as you recover. You will get back to your old life. Well not exactly your old life. An improved version.

I got a breast lift and implants this week! I’m so excited! Before I got fat I had no boobs. I was like a 34A. When I gained weight I carried a lot of fat in my breasts. I went up to a 44G. Losing 110 certainly deflated them. I had no volume on top at all. I got Gummy bears. 375ml on left and 275 on the right trying to even them out. So far it looks like they are pretty evenly sized now. I still have a lot of swelling. The incisions are so itchy. Can’t wait to go bra shopping in a few weeks!

I literally posted about this a couple weeks ago. I was worried that with surging covid cases, they would shut down the elective surgeries again. My surgery was scheduled for tomorrow. This morning about 10 am, the nurses called me to give me instructions for pre-surgery. Then they called me at noon to tell me they were canceling me.

The worst part is that my husband lost his job, and I’m losing my insurance. This isn’t going to happen for me. I’m devastated. I’ve been crying since they told me. I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do now. I’ve been on liquids for a week. I just feel like.... I have jumped through every one of the hoops for this insurance. I waited months the first time the hospitals were shut down. Finally got a consult. Finally got a date. Made it to THE DAY BEFORE.... I just don’t even know.

UPDATE:
Just wanted to give a quick update on the inches I lost. So, I took my measurements today and since the beginning of May I have lost a total of 29.8 inches!!! The breakdown looks like this:
May to June I lost: 16.8 inches
June to July I lost: 5.3 inches
July to August I lost: 7.7 inches
Some of the biggest inches lost were.............
5 inches off my hips
3 in my breasts
7 in my stomach
I also contacted my surgeon's office and asked about the ProCare branch One A Day Multi-Vitamin. I read about it here and was curious if my office would say it fit or not into my program/dietary needs. Looking at the nutritional values I was also curious about not having to take the extra B1, B12, Calcium and Iron. All supplements I buy and take as extras right now as the Flintstones chewables don't provide enough.
My office said that it looked good and that I also would NOT have to take extra B1, B12, Iron (I got the Multivitamin with 45 mg of iron) or Calcium as it provides more than enough! So that's great to hear. My hope was to eventually be taking less meds/supplements/vitamins and now I am. I will have my first post surgery blood work drawn at the end of the month, beginning of next month and see how I fare in that department. Fingers crossed there is a great improvement.

I hit the next goal!

Down 101 lbs. 5 months post sleeve, 1 week post Gall Bladder removal ( Cholecystectomy).

HW 264
SW 235
CW 163
GW 130-145

I noticed today that I actually weigh 5 lbs. less than the wild lie that has been listed on my driver's license for the past 25 years! 🤣🤩 I guess it qualifies as a NSV.

I noticed today that I actually weigh 5 lbs. less than the wild lie that has been listed on my driver's license for the past 25 years! 🤣🤩 I guess it qualifies as a NSV.

I admit I am having similar issues. My goal was reached and surpassed so fast, so early and so easily I have this mentality that “I’m good for life.” I hope I am and I’ve been maintaining well for a few months now. But to be honest I could be thinner. My wife and mom (seriously I’m 47 and still her baby) got worried I was too thin…. Damned if I do damned if I don’t scenario… so they’ve been conspiring (out of love and concern) to feed me more, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a voluntary participant in this game of theirs. But I know I need to be very careful. The “bonus m&ms” to keep calorie count high but food volume low can very very easily become a significant problem. I’m ready to sit down and reevaluate my food choices and make sure maintenance doesn’t turn into regain, because I know once it starts it’s so much harder to reverse the trend.

This is an outstanding post and will no doubt be helpful for many people (including myself). thank you for becoming one of the wise old timers by sticking around and sharing your experiences.

First I want to say thank you to so many of the veteran posters on here. I hope you gals and guys know how much your experiences and feedback have helped me and I suspect many others. There's just such a fantastic mix of people and experiences - It's great knowing you aren't alone in this journey.

The first few months after surgery were easy. The weight was simply falling off, there wasn't anything I couldn't eat or drink - And better yet, I couldn't overeat because of the restriction. I felt fantastic most of the time, had all sorts of NSV's and loved my new life. From August until January I lost almost 50lbs - I was so close to Wonderland I could taste it. THEN reality struck - Suddenly I was one of those "slow losers" - It took almost 2 months to lose 13lbs. UGH, I WAS going to be one of those slow losers. OK, fine, I'm 52 and it is what it is, right? From January until May, I "only" lost 33lbs. Again, every week/month I told myself that I would lose the weight, I was just in some sort of a stall and things would magically pick up. Well, they didn't, I would lose 2-3 lbs and then I would gain 2-3 lbs. Again, "it's normal" I told myself.

Fast forward to a week ago - I jumped on here for some motivation (reading stories, etc.) and I took a hard look at what I was doing. Basically, I was being lazy - I was eating whatever I wanted and justifying it by saying "I only eat small portions" - Well, yeah, that was true...BUT I was grazing, I was drinking too much alcohol, and I wasn't tracking. I honetly have no idea how many calories I was consuming (especially on weekends with family and friends). I played mind games with myself and said "As long as I'm not gaining, I'm doing things right." - Well, that was a giant load of (@*$.

This past Tuesday (after a weekend of Mimosa's, Crown Royal, and some really great BBQ), I woke up to a 5lb gain (BTW, yes I realize some of that was Water retention). WAKE UP CALL. 5lbs? Seriously - Time to go back to basics before that's a 10lb gain. For the first time in MONTHS, I tracked every thing I tracked everything that went into my mouth (water, food, etc) - I did 3 days of liquid - In two days, those 5lbs were off. Rather than what I've done in the past, I didn't stop there - I continued tracking, I continued being cognizant of what and when I was eating. I said "no" to many things that I thought I wanted. I lost 6.8lbs from Tuesday to Sunday. What? I'm NOT a slow loser - I'm a LAZY loser.

Folks, for many of us, it's EASY in the first few months, it's EASY to convince ourselves that we're doing OK, it's EASY to compare ourselves to others, it's EASY to ignore signs that you're falling into bad habits, and it's EASY to get lazy. In reality, it's HARD to stick to your plan when you're feeling fantastic and patting yourself on the back for losing so much weight. I'm choosing to be thankful that this happened now rather than 2-3 years into it. I'm glad that reality smacked me in the face and forced me to face the fact that i wasn't doing what I needed to do. Right now it was EASY to get back on track before I let it get out of control. For those of you experiencing the same - Buckle up buttercup, start tracking, weigh yourself often if you need to, and take a good look and when and why you're losing weight and when and why you aren't.

Again, a very special thank you to you old timers for always keeping things real and giving out such fantastic advice.

I noticed today that I actually weigh 5 lbs. less than the wild lie that has been listed on my driver's license for the past 25 years! 🤣🤩 I guess it qualifies as a NSV.

I felt AWFUL for about 6 weeks after surgery (SADI-s). I was fatigued, depressed, nauseated…I was regretting my decision too. When you feel so awful, it’s REALLY hard to understand that you won’t feel that way forever. You start thinking that this will be your new normal. It won’t be. It really won’t.

Everyone heals differently and your recovery journey is your own. Also, healing is not linear. Some days are good. Some days are rough. That’s okay. Take things one day at a time. Do your best to hydrate and don’t even worry about exercise right now. Just heal.

I noticed today that I actually weigh 5 lbs. less than the wild lie that has been listed on my driver's license for the past 25 years! 🤣🤩 I guess it qualifies as a NSV.

Your weight mgmt. program will want you to be in good health prior to an elective surgery. Diabetes that is not well-controlled will lead to poor healing.

116 lbs. ago you were probably desperate to be where you are now. Don't lose sight of what you have accomplished.

Your weight mgmt. program will want you to be in good health prior to an elective surgery. Diabetes that is not well-controlled will lead to poor healing.

I noticed today that I actually weigh 5 lbs. less than the wild lie that has been listed on my driver's license for the past 25 years! 🤣🤩 I guess it qualifies as a NSV.

116 lbs. ago you were probably desperate to be where you are now. Don't lose sight of what you have accomplished.

116 lbs. ago you were probably desperate to be where you are now. Don't lose sight of what you have accomplished.

116 lbs. ago you were probably desperate to be where you are now. Don't lose sight of what you have accomplished.

I was given sugar free popsicles, sugar free Jello, Protein Shakes and broth.

116 lbs. ago you were probably desperate to be where you are now. Don't lose sight of what you have accomplished.

Ok ready to post my final before and after photos. Before is around 350lbs, 3 or 4xl shirt. My highest ever confirmed weight was 356 and this was very close to that date in 2014. The other is today, wearing a size medium shirt. Surgery was June 12, 2020, weight 334lbs, 6’4” BMI 40. I hit this weight (193) about 10 months post op and have been maintaining fairly evenly since (up a couple down a couple etc). For anyone on the fence about surgery, do your research but don’t let the scary stories you read here overwhelm you or give you a false sense of their frequency. Yes, bad things can and do happen in any endeavor. No one has a crystal ball, but the statistics of health issues from being obese and the statistics of coming through gastric surgery safely and enjoying positive results speak for themselves. I never dreamed I would feel this good again. I didn’t even think I was that fat…. Just a “big guy.” Looking back at old photos I’m mortified. Looking forward I’m so optimistic and full of life and joy. I feel like this is the “me” that has always been in there, hiding, hoping, waiting to come out. What “you” do you have inside longing to come out and face the world?

I noticed today that I actually weigh 5 lbs. less than the wild lie that has been listed on my driver's license for the past 25 years! 🤣🤩 I guess it qualifies as a NSV.