ILKrista

Just want to add some encouragement. It really does get easier once you are on solid foods. I'm over 6 months out & I really can eat like a 'normal' person, just much smaller portions. Once you are on solids, you will feel like a regular human being again. Good luck!

I noticed a lot of hair loss at about 3 months out. It lasted until about month 6. Now I feel like I lose about what I lost a day before the surgery. I also take biotin daily... not sure of the dosage. I'm not sure if it is what stopped the hairloss or if it is just the cycle of hair growth, but to be safe, I'm sticking with the biotin still.

I gained 5 pounds the first week... I was pumped with fluids from the surgery. I didn't really start seeing real weightloss until after week 3.

Do you cook this on low or high?

I feel the same way! I never treated myself to nice things because I never felt like I deserved them. I love facials & I hadn't had one for over 8 years. Now I try to do a facial every other month & something smaller on the off months. I love the idea of treating myself to a trip when I hit my final goal... but realistically I think the big treat for me when I hit goal will be getting some reconstructive plastic surgery to get rid of the loose skin & put everything else back where it belongs. Krista

I'm curious what others do to reward themselves for their successes now. Before my surgery, I rewarded myself for things with fast food and junk food. I went to the gym & exercised? Good job, lets go to Portillos/Culvers/Burger King/etc. Since my surgery, I have been trying to reward myself with things other than food. I Celebrate a good month of eating healthy & going to the gym by treating myself to a facial or massage or something like that. My friends think this is such a waste of money to spend $100 a month on a treat like that, but I figure I realistically probably spent close to that on fast food before the surgery & I know I spent a lot more than that a month on cigarettes. So, I'm saving money Does anyone else do anything to reward themselves for a job well done? What are you doing? Krista

I feel really sad when I see people who are really heavy. Sad for them because I know how horrible I felt at their size & how crappy the world treats you when you are that big. Also sad for myself because even though I know I am not that size anymore, alot of the time I still feel morbidly obese and carry around those feelings of guilt and shame. At the same time, I have a group of friends all of whom are morbidly obese & it is very frustrating to me that none of them seem to want to do anything about their weight. They all know about my surgery, but if anything, I think it has inspired them to gain weight not lose it. I feel bad because they are my friends & there are times when I look at them and think, "You are 30 years old, live with your parents, never had a boyfriend, & weigh over 300 pounds... Is this really the life you want? If not, why the hell are you stuffing your face with a double cheeseburger & fries?" I always feel guilty for these feelings because I know that many times you are eating for reasons that have nothing to do with hunger & I used to do the same thing. Krista

I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle. I was just looking at pictures of my at my heaviest & I thought... I never looked like that. Then I saw a recent picture & couldn't recognize that as me either. I find that I have no idea when I look at other people who I am about the same size as. I can't judge just how big I still am. It is very strange.

It is really hard for me to believe that it has now been 6 months since I had my surgery, but here is is, August 23. When I got sleeved on Feb 23, I was so worried that I wouldn't survive the surgery & that even if I did, I would end up failing with it just as I had with ever other diet I'd ever been on. I saw how successful others had been & was inspired by all the information they shared about their experiences, but I just couldn't let myself believe it would work for me. Well, 6 months later, I am still a work in progress, but it is definitely working. Most of the time I consider myself to be an average loser. Certainly, I am not one of the people who is losing 20-30 lbs a month. But I've been very consistent in my weightloss so far & it has really started to add up. The stalls are frustrating, but I just do my best to keep working through them. I try to eat low carb, high Protein, but I am not super strict about it. I might have tuna on crackers or the occasional beer. For the most part I do low carb, high protein, with a few cheats every now and then. I am militant about going to the gym. I started off walking & have slowly worked myself up to jogging 20 minutes straight. I go the the gym religiously 3-4 times a week where I do at least 30 min of cardio & weights. I also try to work in a zumba class once a week. I don't know what else to say other than that it really can work if you are willing to work it. It has not always been easy, and there have definitely times when I wish I hadn't had the surgery (usually when I am craving a huge cheeseburger or bread or something & I know I can't eat that with my little stomach). Those moments pass quickly & 98% of the time I am thrilled that I had the procedure. I am happy with my results & hope that at the 1 year mark I will have reached my goal. I am including some pictures because I know how motivating it was for me to see the progress people had made. So as embarrassing as it is to post my heavy pictures, here they are.

LOL. I need to print this out & pass it to about half of my friends. Seriously, why are you so concerned about my weight! I've been friends with some of these people for years & I never obsessed about their weight or the fact that they were thinner than me. I just want to tell them that there is a new world order & they better get used to it because I'm NEVER going to go back to being the fat friend.

I have the same issue. First all, I never dated when I was over 200 pounds... to embarrassed about my body. Once I got below 190, I joined a singles group & now that I am in the 160s, I find that I actually have men hit on me. It really kind of freaks me out, but in a good way, I suppose. While I'm excited about dating, I find that I really have a hard time imagining getting serious because of how much loose skin I have. I keep thinking maybe I should wait to start dating until after I've had plastic surgery... but that could be years. I just have to trust that if it is someone who really cares about me, they won't care that I have loose skin... and if they do, then I definitely shouldn't be having sex with them anyway.

I've found that people will surprise you. I had some friends I didn't think would be supportive who turned out to be my biggest cheerleaders. And the friend who took me to the hospital as my support person has basically pitted herself against me in a weightloss competition. In fact, she has directly told me that she doesn't want me to weigh less than her. Now that I do, I feel like she does what she can to embarrass me by alluding to the surgery. When I am at the singles group we both joined, she likes to drop in little hints that I did something to lose weight & they should ask me about it. Why even bring it up... they only know me as the thinner me. Bring up the weightloss is not her place. I agree with the person who said jealousy can do terrible things to a friendship. But at least now you know & you know who your real friends are.

My landlord saw me 2 weeks after surgery and commented that it didn't look like it had worked. I really wanted to strangle him. Just focus on what you need to do & ignore anyone sending negative energy your way. This is a point in your life where you need to be selfish & focused on yourself. Follow the rules & you will lose weight. I think it was a month or 2 before people started commenting. I've finally reached the point where people who barely know me (I work in a public library) are coming up and commenting. So it will happen... just not days after surgery!

Fun idea! Mine are: Trying on clothes (I hit Goodwill every Sunday to do this)! Flirting - I'm not married & haven't really dated in the past 10 years because I was so embarassed by my weight, so flirting has been really fun. Going out - I finally had the courage to join a meetup group & make some new friends. Going out has been great. Before I was practically homebound with the exception of going to work. Planning trips- I love to travel but haven't done much in the past few years because flying when fat is no fun & traveling when everything exhausts you sucks. So I am planning future trips to the places I really want to go. Ummm... flirting again ? I can't think of another one.

I don't know if I would say I hate food, but for the most part, I feel apathetic about it. I don't really experience hunger & if I let myself get distracted, I could easily only eat once or twice a day. I have to remind myself that I must eat 6 times to get the needed calories, protein, etc. The biggest thing that keeps me eating is that I'm losing a lot of hair & I'm afraid if I don't eat right, I'll lose a ton more. However, if you are actually feeling afraid to eat, I would consider going to talk to a psychologist. Because we have eating issues already, we are at a considerably higher risk of developing an eating disorder. Best of luck to you!

I know we all wish that we could 30 lbs a month, but for most of us, that is not realistic. I was kind of disappointed a few months after surgery because I really never lost more than 10 pounds a month. I lose about 2 lbs a week... but after 5 months, that has added up to a lot of weight. As long as you are losing, you are doing great. Keep going and you'll be where you want to be before you know it!

I will have to check this out. You are looking great! It is so motivating to know that it really is possible to make such huge changes to you physical appearance as you have.

I have Kefir yogurt nearly everyday for breakfast. I like it because I can pour it in a coffee cup and drink it on my way to work. I buy the regular, lowfat type. Maybe I will try the plain with sugar free jello powder. I haven't had a problem with weightloss by eating the regular. Anyway, I highly recommend the Kefir.

Hello ladies, I hoping someone here has some experience in getting rid of this. I have darker skin on my inner thighs from the years of them rubbing together. Now that I am losing weight... and have a pool party to go to... I would love to know if anyone knows a way to get rid of this or to make it lighter. It is soooo ugly! Thanks!

ELECTIVE! I would strongly disagree. If you told him you had a slight heart murmur that would kill you sometime in the next 15 years, would that be considered elective? Let's face it... the word MORBID in morbidly obese refers to the fact that being that heavy is slowly killing you. You don't see many morbidly obese people in their 60s & 70s because they are DEAD. I think you have a strong case for arguing that this is NOT elective! This is something that can potentially save your life. Just because it isn't emergency surgery doesn't mean that it is elective. Not to get too heated, but it really ticks me off when people try to imply that it is any less valid of a surgery that it would be to have an ulcer or tumor removed. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for your response Tiffykins. I'm trying not to get too caught up in numbers because they don't really say much about how your body is looking, depending on muscle mass. I suppose I should try to hit the doctor's goal before I start worrying about if I should go lower or not. I am curious, how tall are you? In my mind, 125-130 is about where I should be (I'm 5'2"). Thanks!

According to my doctor, it really doesn't matter what exercise you do, as long as you get your heartrate to it's target zone. For me that is between 135-160. I'm not sure how he calculated this. When I first started exercising, walking on hill was enough. Now I have to jog a few minutes & then walk a minute. The doctor also really promotes interval training with different speeds of walking/jogging to maximize the calorie burning.

Ever since surgery, I can't tolerate protein shakes at all... probably because I had to drink them 6 times a day for the 2 weeks prior to surgery. Now, when I want something with protein that I can drink in the car, I have the Kefir drinkable yogurt. It has about 11-12 grams of protein, I think.

Hmmm... So, I saw the surgeon for a follow up visit yesterday. During the visit he mentioned that my 'Ideal' weight would be 125, but they didn't want me to hit that. They want me at about 150, which would still leave me in the overweight bmi range. His reasoning for this is that it is very hard for people to reach their ideal weight and many end up with eating disorders trying to get there, or they do extreme dieting and then end up regaining some of what they lost. Instead, he wants me to stop losing weight when I'm still 25 lbs overweight. Now, I weighed 150 in high school & I was pretty chunky looking. I feel like I didn't go through the pain of surgery & I'm not going to the gym 4 days a week so I can still end up being fat looking. I just don't think I'm going to be satisfied if I stop losing weight at the point he is telling me I should. I'm curious what others would do... would you follow the dr.s advice? Or, ignore it & get to a healthy weight? If you made it to your ideal weight, do you feel like you got there in a healthy way and does maintaining that weight seem difficult?

I was sleeved the week before you & I feel your pain with the hair loss. Mine started right around 3 months out and still continues. I do feel like I'm not losing as much each day, but it is still a lot more than I normally would. I am taking biotin every day & using the Nioxin shampoo (you can buy it from ULTA, I believe). I'm hoping people are right about the 3 month cycle & that in a another month or so I will start to see some regrowth. I told myself before surgery that I was okay with losing some hair, but when it really starts happening, it is TRAUMATIC! I just tell myself, that if nothing else, I am going to be one damn hot bald woman.