determined1

Thank you, I do have the arm bats going on, but have noticed my skin is tightening up slowly prolly cuz my age (44) at least its tightening tho..~I started in size 22-24W!! I'll have to dig up some old photos (hardly any of me fat, I used to run from the camera ;P lol Believe me, I used to read and reread the success stories on here and think, it seems so unreal to me, now I'm living it.!! for your encouragement...

Thank you, I do have the arm bats going on, but have noticed my skin is tightening up slowly prolly cuz my age (44) at least its tightening tho..~I started in size 22-24W!! I'll have to dig up some old photos (hardly any of me fat, I used to run from the camera ;P lol

(((((thanks for all those compliments guys xoxoxo)))))

To answer that great question and this is just me so others may be different.. I went into this knowing this was going to be lifelong, I didnt want ANY old habits to sneak in so I took it as slow as I could. But to answer your question, in March (6 mos out) seemed about the time that my body let me know that what I was doing I could do without the logging and I trusted myself and my sleeve to 'try' other foods. I am a very 'routine' person so I may try something new once a month. I never did go back and drink milk ( i cook with it but i dont drink it), I rarely have red meats, my sleeve just doesnt like it much. I drink alot of coffee (i know, i know).. and my Water consumption has went down since I quit the whole logging thing. Your 'obsession' will gradually go as you start to get to know the new you & ur sleeve (hope that makes sense!) lol... I still eat Protein first, and if I have any room left I'l eat veggies. once in awhile, I may have a bite of ice cream & I'm done. I never leave hungry or think about food. I can honestly say, I am eating to live and not living to eat.. Hope this helps.. PM me if you have any other questions.. Good luck to you all~~ It will happen, you're year will be here soon~ trust me!!!

I remember last year, flooding my brain with information about lap band & the sleeve. I didnt feel comfy with my intestines being moved so that was out. After very throuough research, I decided to go with the sleeve. I cannot tell you how happy I am, Sept 9th will be my year. I was terrified but looking back now, its the best thing I did for myself. I wake up every morning so happy,, happy that I can fit into normal size clothing, happy I'm not unhealthy, happy I'm not the fattest in any room at any given time and just mentally happy.. The year FLEW by, I cannot believe my year is almost here. I have lost 98 pounds and have about 20 more to goal. Size 8 are starting to get baggy on me now...SIZE 8!!! Sometimes I'm amazed and hve to run to bathroom to check my clothes size to make sure- people calling me skinny...SKINNY really? ME? I would have never guessed in short of a year I would be here. And I cannot even say I exercised all that much as I was in a car accident which left me with 3 bulging discs in my back and 2 in my neck and on pain meds which constapate me!! I will get to goal! If your debating on this surgery DO IT!!!!! Do it for yourself! I've alwaysstruggled with weight, I let my sleeve work and it does work. Dont get me wrong, you have to work WITH your sleeve, and the weight will come off. This is my first official pic Ive posted on here, Ive promised myself to do this, so here it is.... This site ROCKS, not really the site but the people here...love you guys..

thanks guys, as always, your input has helped me..

So I had surgery Sept 9th, 2010, couldnt wait to have it and I'm so happy I did... Today I'm only 34 lbs away from goal, WOW writing that I STILL cannot believe I'm that close. My problem is that I dont see that in the mirror, meaning, I still see the fat me. I used to be a size 20-22W, today I went to Kohls and couldnt believe I am now a comfy size 10! SIZE 10!! that is AMAZING I know, never in my wildest dreams......but I just dont see it in the mirror, what I see is the size 20 me, even when I shop, I go right to the plus size dept. Is this normal? Thanks for your input!!

yes congrats!!

OMG This is me a year ago!! Check my previous posts from last year. My story is Jan 2010 had ablasion to stop bleeding, didnt work, so went in to 'take a look' (lap) & found out I had endometriosis~ all the while I was waiting to make a date for my sleeve! Dr. couldnt do the hysterectomy during the 'take a look' procedure b/c she needed a robot (devinci machine) to do it lap.. Well again had to post pone my sleeve til I took care of this and the robot wasnt avail til last day of june, so waited to make surgery date til this was completed. well on june 30, 2010 had hyster BUT because my endometriosis was so bad the robot didnt work and they had to do it OPEN- finally made my sleeve date on sept 9, 2010 and everything went very well. I feel great! good luck and all i remember is everything happens for a reason.

congrats!!! thats awesome!!

yep, I'm on week 23, red meat does the same thing to me to this day!!! Cant stand eating it, it makes me sick~ to me, its a small price to pay for the happiness my sleeve has brought;)

DItto what everyone else said!! No regrets, wish I would have done it sooner, I love my sleeve!! Good luck on your decision.

sounds great, but too many carbs for me

trying to fight the saggy skin myself with weight training. I take a 1 hour long class (2 times a week) at the local Y, its called 'bodypump' you work your whole body with weights as a class. I LOVE IT! I actually think I'm becoming addicted to it. I love how my body is transforming, and it seems like my 'saggy' skin is less. Now, on the other days of the week, I take Zumba for cardio...So yep, I will fight the saggy part of this process with all my might;)

Here's ALOT of recipes!! mmmm.... http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/VSG/3729375/Make-your-own-Protein-bars/ and http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/VSG/4311410/Protein-bar-recipes/