BlackBerryJuice

That's cuz they are hungry and we are (generally) not!

I first started seriously considering it in May 2010. By mid-June, I had booked my surgery for an August date.

I still have the same basic body shape after losing all the weight. I've always had heavy thighs and needed to take in pants in the waist, and it's remained the same.

People totally treat you differently when you are not obese! I honestly can't recall the last time someone was rude or mean to me since I've lost weight. When I was obese, it happened more often than I care to remember.

No one's ever said anything like that to me, thankfully. Actually, I think there's a proper term for that - "concern trolling." People who are really bitter and jealous and try to express that in passive-aggressive ways. The funniest thing I've heard lately about my weight was when I mentioned having eaten a whole bunch of Cookies at work....one of the older nurses said, "But you are such a skinny little thing, that sure doesn't show!" If only she knew!

Wow, awesome! I've already tossed all of my really big clothes, I don't think there's a single clothing item bigger than a size 8 left in my closet. Otherwise I would've loved to try this!

So true. I could've gotten this surgery here in town for appx. 2.5x the price, but the Dr. would've only done about 2 dozen VSGs. And then I'd probably end up having a resident do the actual operation, anyway, with the surgeon just standing by. And don't forget that part of the reason that Dr. Aceves (and other Drs in Mexico) are cheaper is because their overhead is way lower - they pay less in malpractice insurance, rent, OR fees, and staff salaries, so part of the savings are passed on to you, the patient.

I'm 14 months out and maintaining my weight. Today, I had: 1 thick slice of banana chocolate chip bread 1 grande Starbucks coffee with half-and-half and splenda 1 Protein shake Cappuccino and 2 cornmeal pancakes with shredded pork (about 3 inches in diameter each) about 3/4 cup mac'n'cheese half an order of banana cream pie (about 3/4 cup) 1 bottle beer coconut rice (~1/2 cup) and mixed vegetable/mushroom stir-fry in oyster 'shroom sauce (~3/4 cup) 1 glass of mixed veggie/fruit juice I don't know if I'm gonna eat anything else today as it's getting late, but if I do, I'll have an apple

Haha, priceless!

I remember that after 5 months or so my weightloss slowed down so much that I honestly thought it was done - I was about 155 lbs, so all in all it wouldn't be too disappointing if that was it, but I still wanted to lose a few lbs. But I realized that if I stayed away from the scale for a while, I'd actually notice the pounds lost. I continued to lose slowly, about 3-5 lbs a month for a few months after, even though at the time I felt like I was done losing. Even in the last few months, I've lost no weight, but my clothes fit looser - must be my skin tightening up. Also, I think this would be a good time to amp up your workouts. Pilates is alright, but it's hardly the best for weightloss/firming up. You are not getting much more than you would out of a half-hour stroll. I'd take up weightlifting, running, or bootcamp-style workouts if you want to see quick results.

I've been going to CrossFit 1-3x/week for about 2 months now - usually twice a week. I got passes for 20 classes to 2 different studios through Groupon, I'm nearing the end of my classes with the first studio. I like it a lot, I enjoy intense workouts that are more about short bursts of energy rather than endurance (e.g. running). I think I'll keep it up after my Groupon discount passes are over. It's pretty brutal though, I always go to the Saturday morning class and then I'm basically a vegetable for the rest of the day. Today my boyfriend commented that my arms hang half-bent in front of my body - took me a second to realize I have to forcibly straighten my arms thanks to the 200 ring rows I did earlier this morning.

Same here.

LOL, that's gotta be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How about, "Just pretend you had a quadruple bypass and you'll snap right out of that heart failure"?

Wow!!!!! If you have yet to be sleeved and are reading this.....take as many pix at your before weight as possible, trust me, it feels awesome to compare your end results to where you were before the surgery!

I'm glad to hear that most people feel they'd be encouraged by that information, as long as it was presented in a non-pushy manner. I did get a PM from a person who felt that it was not the best idea, but I expected that there'd be some difference of opinion on this matter, and to be honest, I actually expected more negative opinions. I definitely made a point of reiterating several times that while I made the choice to go to Mexico, she should really pursue an organized program with lots of evaluations and support before she'd move on to any sort of WLS (which she's joining soon). I mostly felt compelled to share because she said her main reason for being iffy about WLS was that when she did some research online, she saw the long list of "forbidden foods" and the liquid post-op diet and thought she'd be deprived and starving for the rest of her life. I told her that she'd likely have less hunger and she'd be able to reintroduce small amounts of her favorite foods later on without causing herself much grief, and that seemed to help assuage some of these fears.

OK, so I've heard a few times that health professionals should use discretion when bringing up their own health issues with patients, because you don't want to overstep professional boundaries by oversharing personal details or making it look as if you think you understand your patients better than you really do.....but today I just couldn't help but share my VSG experience with a patient I saw for some other issues. I left it up to her to bring up her weight, so when she did, I took advantage of the opportunity and discussed her weightloss efforts in more detail. There was a long history of failure and frustration in that regard. After talking about non-surgical interventions, I asked her for her opinion on WLS and she said she's researched it and felt hesitant about it for a number of reasons, but it was obvious that she was quite open-minded and would probably benefit from seeing others who've had WLS and have been successful. I was a bit iffy about it, but as she was young, and yet severely obese and really overwhelmed and frustrated with her many health problems, I opened up to her about my VSG experience and told her that this is something she may want to consider in the future. Thankfully, she seemed to take kindly to my sharing my WLS story and I really hope that maybe in a year or two I'll run into her again and she will have taken advantage of VSG and improved her health. My supervisor came in to see her after and she brought it up with my supervisor, as well; luckily, my supervisor said she's in support of WLS for patients like her and it seemed to alleviate some of her concerns now that she had another person tell her something positive about WLS. Hesitant as I was to share it, I felt very emotional telling her about it and, embarrassingly enough, even cried a bit because I felt so empathetic towards her struggles, but it felt quite cathartic to use my experience to potentially improve someone's health and quality of life. But then I wonder if I should keep it a one-time event. How do you think you'd have felt a year or two ago if your doctor or some other healthcare provider shared this with you?

Awesome! I have a similar situation with my hospital ID - my "before" from 2 years ago looks about 20 years older and nothing like my current pic.

Sorry to hear about your mom. It's good that you were able to prevent the same thing happening to you - I'm sure she's happy for you now.

My preferred method of exercise these days are bootcamp and crossfit classes. There's generally a good mix of resistance training, bodyweight exercises, and high-intensity cardio, and you'll hit all major muscle groups and be totally exhausted before the end of the hour. It also forces you to push yourself harder than you would on your own, and it takes the guesswork out of planning your workouts. I've subscribed to a ton of these group-buy websites (Groupon, Livingsocial, Dealfind, etc), because they often offer discounts for either a month of unlimited classes or a pass for X number of classes for very little. E.g. I recently got a pass for 20 CrossFit classes (must be done within 90 days) for only $30.

I understand why your gut reaction may be to pause before taking her advice, but I think we should remember that just because someone is thin doesn't mean they eat well. Tons of thin people eat junk (or don't think twice about what they eat, period) and stay thin because they either have a fast metabolism, overexercise, or do cocaine. Also, just because someone is fat doesn't mean they don't know what they SHOULD be eating. If anything, I think a fat nutritionist would have an easier time understanding where you are coming from in terms of struggling with portion control, sweets, etc. That said, if you actually dislike her PERSONALITY, then by all means, switch to someone else. But don't discredit her just because she's big.

My mother saw me last winter at 150-155 and then again this summer at 135-140. This time, she told me I actually looked better and healthier than back in the winter; she said that in the winter, I looked haggard and my face was emaciated - even though I weighed at least 15 lbs more! It's quite possible that maybe we DO look more tired and sick while we are rapidly losing weight.

1-5. Only happens if there's a combination of eating junk food more than half the time, daily boozin', and complete lack of physical activity. The second I start paying even a little bit of attention to what I eat and work out once, everything comes off. You know how they say, "You did not put on this weight in 2 weeks, it won't come off in 2 weeks, either"? Well, last time I gained, I put on 3 lbs in a month, and it was gone in 2 days! Gotta love this ol' sleeve!

Hasn't been a problem, thankfully. None of my friends are obese, by the way, which might make a difference.

Before: Tops - XL or 16 Bottoms - XL or 18 Undies - 8 Bra - 38DD spilling over (so probably more like 38DDD) Ring: 7-8 After: Tops - S-M, 4-8 (depending on brand - a "skinny" brand like Anthropologie puts me at M whereas a "vanity" brand like Gap puts me at XS-S) Bottoms - S-M, 4-8 (Gap is a 2, lol) Undies - S or 5 Bra - 32D Ring - 5.5 Shoe size unchanged, although my feet are a little less wide now

Amen, sister!