NtvTxn

My first goal was to wear a size 8 - I am SURE you can imagine how I felt the first time I slipped into a size 6 and then a size 4!!!!!!!!! The first time a sales lady said something about how tiny I was.....I giggled inside and wanted to ask "Are you seriously talking to ME????" I had NO health issues, I fought to maintain 228 and knew as I got older, it would be more difficult. I also knew that eventually there could be health issues, if nothing else, bad knees, but in all honesty, vanity was my motivation to get this surgery and I am not ashamed of that and I would do it again!!!! It is fun to shop, it is fun to not be the biggest girl in the room....and occasionally be the smallest. My life is totally different, I love it!!

I'm going to ditto what others have said that you will be able to eat about anything you ate prior to being sleeved. Although, your taste buds are likely to change and the things that you loved before probably won't be the same once you are able to eat them. Some people (like myself) become lactose intolerant although that seems to be improving as time passes.
Please remember that while in time you will be able to eat whatever you want (in smaller moderations), that you will need to focus on your Proteins first, veggies second, etc if you want to maximize your new tool. Treating yourself occasionally is not a bad thing, but depending on where you are at in your journey, understand that depending on how much you eat, will affect the speed of your weight loss and possibly contribute to stalls. Also, if they are your trigger foods that could lead to craving other non-protein/ unhealthy choices, then you are only asking for trouble. Try to wait as long as possible before you start "checking" to see what you can have if its not on your plan. You are in the honeymoon stage and you want to take advantage of that time as much as possible.

I'm with you. My goal size is 6 . I'd be happy at 8 but secretly I really want to be a 6

I have been going to a WLS surgery support group and every meeting someone says something along the lines of, "well it is not like I am trying to be a size 6 or anything, I just want to be healthier." So am I alone in that I DO wanna be a size 6--or 4--or 2? I want to be the one that is expected to sit in the middle of the backseat because I am so small. I want to wear tiny little jeans and have the option of dressing trashy and still looking hot. I have been big my whole life and I want to be the little one. Don't get me wrong, any move towards health and any weight loss is a good thing. I know better than to measure success vs. failure by getting into a size that seems almost unreal to me now. However, is it OK if I WANT it? Like really,really want it? I know me well enough to know that I will Celebrate every pound lost and every step I make towards a healthier me. However, if the truth were told, at the top of the list of reasons that I am willing to allow someone to cut one of my internal organs into pieces and yank part of it out of my body through a slit in my stomach, go through the risks of surgery, and have my eating habits forever changed is because I am SICK OF BEING FAT and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to slip into a pair of jeans whose size is one single, solitary number. In this group everyone is like, "oh, I just want to reach a healthier me, looking better is just a little extra." Can I call BS on that? I mean like big heaping, steaming bull $#!%.... I know this post may make me seem shallow, but I have never seen anyone jump up and down over seeing their cholesterol go down 10 points. However, be in the vicinity when a former fatty slips on a size small top and size 6 jeans for the first time and you will see some celebrating going on. They will be taking pictures and calling their friends to share the news. You might see a little dance or hear an "oh HELL YEAH". Ever see anyone act like that over that hospital lab report? I am not trying to minimize the awesome health benefits of losing what is basically another person made up of fat that I am carrying around. I know my friend of fat will eventually kill me if I don't leave her behind. I am looking forward to improved health, mobility, and energy levels--sure...but do I really have to pretend that I wouldn't have the surgery if I knew that my overall health wouldn't really improve and all I had to look forward to is being smaller?

lol...oh my gosh! You are funny. I had my sleeve on June 11th and am down 45 pounds since my post-op weigh in on June 1st. My main concern was the excess skin. I know my insurance doesn't cover the cost of removing it. I am turning 45 in a few months and have young looking skin with no wrinkles. I am just praying this means my skin is elastic and will hold up well. When I went to a support group meeting, I brought this topic up. A woman in her 60's stood up and said I want to show you something. She took off her blazer, having just a tank top on. She swung those bat wings all over the place and said that she is keeping them and has grown to accept them. She had gone to a plastic surgeon to discuss having the excess skin removed. They told her that it would be about $8,000 and leave a thick scar from her wrists to her armpits. She decided that paying that much money to have an ugly scar left on her arms wasn't worth it. She told us that she now buys tops with Lycra in them because they hold it all in. If the choice was to have the bat wings or the weight, I am sure we would all embrace the bat wings.

I'm going to be brutally honest here. I was in traffic court yesterday and there were these two very large women. One had a cane and the other a walker. They were in their 30s-40s. They had to sit down in the seats and they could only manage to turn sideways and somewhat sit on the edge of the seats. One young man in his 20s didn't even really fit through the gate to go see the commissioner.
I was considering my life and how it has changed dramatically in only 6 months. This past week I reached the summit of a 10,000 ft. peak.. Seven months ago, you couldn't get me to walk down the street. I was even starting to avoid friend's parties.
I wasn't rude and didn't stare, but I started looking at these people who have so much life ahead of them. Out in line 1 out of 10 people were probably morbidly or super morbidly obese.
I thanked God for my blessings and just went to work.
Man, I want to tell everyone about this. Eggface is going to be on Ricki Lake, but we need more info out there.

I wont miss wearing a sweater over my top to work on the hottest days of the year because I'm fat and it hides my stomach.
I wont miss having to buy x-large and wearing a tankini.
I wont miss all those oversized tops in my closet .
I look forward too a whole new wardrobe. I look forward to going for a regular massage and not being the fat girl. I look forward to being sexy again for my husband and leaving the lights on. I look forward to a whole new life
Thanks UT Gal for starting this link!

Just had a minor emergency in my neighborhood. I pulled on a pair of jeans and ran out to help. It wasn't until later that I realized I was comfortably wearing jeans from my "too tight" pile. Great feeling!

So I finally told my husband about the surgery (my date is Oct. 8). After I explained it, his response was "so they take OUT your stomach but leave the fat? That makes no sense at all!". When I stopped laughing I explained it again...

Six weeks out here and days where I hit 600 calories are considered celebration worthy. At this point I cannot even imagine eating 1000 calories a day.

Never, not one. Things will look up, I'm sure of it. It's like Christmas morning when you slip into a pair of jeans a size of two smaller. I went from wearing 18's and 20's to 4's and 6's. When I got to single digit sizes....my first pair of 8's.....I was practically orgasmic!!!!! There is nothing like it! You'll be thrilled, I wanted to go shout it to everybody else in The Gap!!! LoL

Totally understand that. My weakness is cake and ice cream. I've been around it and can turn it down due to sheer motivation, but what if I still love it? I know this surgery isn't a fix all and suddenly you're fixed from all the bad habits you had with the fatty food, but was hoping my sleeve would set some "off limits" signs for me.

I'm with you, Star! Nothing has bothered my sleeve, but like you, I haven't tried bread, Desserts or Pasta and i'm not missing it a bit. I did have a couple of small spoonfuls of Israeli Cous Cous and it tasted good! But, i concentrate on Protein. Tonight was Korean Style Short Ribs, grilled with an heirloom cherry Tomato salad and one stalk of brocollini. It was delicious and filled me up perfectly! My issue is getting in the 800 calories my NUT wants me to get in while still eating so little really. I'm at about 1/2 cup food each meal and cannot get in more and i eat five small meals a day! I'm still only consuming around 600 calories most days and that's with a RTD protein shake! I'm 8 weeks out tomorrow. How many calories are you getting in? I think we are eating the way we should and I'm not ready to test the waters with any fried food or sweets. It's just not worth it to me!

OK, so it's been a while and I am close to 40 lbs down now :-) The one thing that was my "Achilles Heel" prior to the surgery was rice and I am not a big fan of it any more. I can eat anything! I just don't desire much of anything bad. No heartburn, still haven't had the stuffed feeling and the only time I vomited was when I had a but of food poisoning. Other than that, if I wasn't so open about my surgery, no one would know. People just think I am watching my calories- which, is true... I just have Sleeven to help me :-D

So I'm almost 3 months out. Down 60 pounds including pre-op, and all along I was told that there would be times when a new food would bother me. I've not yet allowed myself a cheat meaning bread, burgers, anything breaded or fried. But I've not had one moment where I've felt sick or known I couldn't eat anything. 2-3 oz of anything and I'm still fine. Mind you it's all been protein(eggs, nuts, chicken, shrimp). I'm not sure if this is a blessing or a curse. What happens when I want to try something sweet, or fried?

To be honest Lacie, I'm really kinda torn here. My first instinct is to say 170+- does sound a bit on the high side for a lady at 5'6". But after seeing your pic I really gotta say that you look good.
Either way, looking where you've come from, there is no way in he!! that you should consider yourself a failure. You've come so far, and even if you decided to simply maintain what you've already done, you are so much better off than you were. I know I'm not being much help here. I really do believe 150 @ 5'6" is very attainable, but if you are comfortable in your skin right now, that's what really matters.

Oh my!!!!! You look friggen FANTASTIC!!!!
Yeah, my surgeon says I should be at 110 pounds. I told him that when I was 110 pounds, I was emaciated and wearing a size 0 and didn't he think that was excessive? He said, that's just what the insurance charts say.
Whatever. I'm going for 130 and as you can see by my ticker, it is with range of normal, healthy weight. I mean, what's wrong with a size 4-6?
Hell, I could live with me now fine because my labwork is great and my BP is great and my endurance is great. I can do almost anything. Still, I want to get into that goal I set for myself. It's not unreasonable.

I am finally wearing my dream jeans. Now I'm a guy, but we care about clothes, too! At least I do. I wear destroyed (holes already in them when I bought them) from Old Navy in size... 33 waist! I was a size 46 waist a year ago. I haven't worn this size since the 1980s. Every day is a surreal experience looking in the mirror and thinking, "Is that thin guy really me?" I never want to wake up from this dream! Ever!

Thanks for the encouragement yall. It is a dream that I never even allowed myself because of my weight. Right out of High School I wanted to join the military but there was no possible way since I was so obese the wouldn't even talk to me.
Now that I have a daughter I don't think the military would fit my lifestyle but if I could get into the police that would just be so awesome. I am going to keep going and work out as much as possible working on weight resistance and cardio workouts. Will keep yall updated.

Kathy,
You'd love the carrot cake with cream cheese icing at this Outta The Oven bakery!!! My husband and I have gotten ONE cupcake and will share it.....a time or two. Not often, they are too good, so I KNOW they are bad!!! I'll take about a third and let him have the rest.
There are things I can have in the house that aren't tempting, but things that are, have to go. I think it will be this way for me forever. That is fine, just so I have the will power to toss whatever it is!!!
stacy

Well, it will be 2 years in October, anyway!. I've maintaned the same weight for over a year now (155 lbs) and really have no issues at all anymore. The only thing I've noticed that's different is that for the first year I could have gone with no food at all - I never cared if I ate ever again. Now I'm hungry alllll the time - or at least every 2 hours or so.
However, with that said. Still 4-5 bites of "whatever" completely satisfy me. And my lifestyle is so freaking active that I'm constantly burning calories. August in particular is active because I participate in a fund-raiser Hike-A-Thon and so far this month I've hiked over 50 miles with over 10,000' in elevation gains.
I feel like a success story. Right now I'm scheduled for my skin removal surgery on September 10th. Doing my thighs, stomach, and lifting up the girls back where they belong (but not "enhancing"). If I get some kind of teaching job this fall, though, I'll have to reschedule.
Best Wishes,
Soup-a-Woman
edited to say: I started at 305 lbs, so I've lost and kept off 150 lbs.

Yeah, I've lost like 15 on BMI, gone from like 97 to 83 or something last time I checked.
Yeah, will probably be awhile till I mentally see the changes, but physically I can do a lot more, I have less nerve issues in my right arm (fat pinching nerves causing thoracic outlet), and I'm wearing 8x instead of 10x pants.
I'm excited for the next 100 cause that will put me back to where I could do a whole lot more stuff, and be more active, and just enjoy life more. For so long I haven't been living much, cause I plan everything based on 'will there be some place for me to sit -where I can fit comfortable?', and it will be nice to wear nicer clothes again, right now I can only fit into stretchy pants.
I was 450 when I met my wife in 2005, we got married 2 months later, and between 2005 and 2011 I ballooned to 699 pounds. So excited to be in the 500s again, and I'm pretty sure I can get to 400s by November which would be totally awesome. I might be riding roller coasters, before this time next year!
Anxious and excited--wish I could skip forward a few months and already be there though..
I absolutely LOVE my sleeve cause even on days where I don't eat the most healthy stuff ie pizza or wings -I eat 2-3 wings max, or 2 squares of a thin crust INSTEAD of the whole damn thing, or 15 wings, I just don't have room for it, and a couple small bites really satisfies me..--it's amazing to be satisfied on so little...and Breakfast and lunch is always healthy Protein stuff, have never been over 1000 calories since surgery, and lately been walking a lot more --and easier and swimming.

patrick
from movie - "Hello Dolly" sung by Carol Channing" - for you youngins that might not know
Hello Patrick, well hello Patrick its so nice to see you back, where you belong, your looking swell Patrick, I can. tell Patrick. your still..........
congrats at this early stage - you are doing wonderfully
100 lbs down - not too shabby
For someone to start a new post entirely concerning your where abouts - you are loved
keep posting what is going on - ok
take care

I can see a difference - congrats to you! Keep up the great work!

The first pic is from my highest weight - 699 in Feb, 2011.
The other is before I started my surgery journey I was 670.
The other is at 602 - a month out.
Honestly, I don't see much difference myself... but I feel quite a bit better. The next hundred will be the best!