1sunnuri

Would love to get rid of one of my chins!! Definitely considering it.

Hee hee! Well, it might become a little "nerdy" with the shorts!

This is an oldie but a goodie. I still smile when flying and not have to ask for a seat belt extender

Well, since this is the Vet's Forum, the farther you get out from surgery the harder it is to find those NSV (they typically hit when you are less than a year post-op for many of us!)
So Georgia, I love that you started this.
My most recent NSV of memory was this. A gal that I only know from the gym (see her regularly about 3-4x a week), she is tall and slender and beautiful. Super-nice girl. So she texted me right before Christmas saying "do you happen to have an ugly Christmas sweater I can borrow, I have a party to attend and don't have one to wear." Unfortunately I don't own any ugly Christmas sweaters (seems to be quite the rage to have parties and contests surrounding the "ugly" Christmas sweater) but anyway, more importantly, she thought we must be in the same "SIZE RANGE!" Wow. What a nice compliment to be "normal enough" to be able to trade clothes!

Bought a pair of regular boots (not wide-calf) for the first time in my life! My feet are thinner too.
My mom gave me a cashmere coat she doesn't wear anymore and a turtleneck top. I can wear them and never could have imagined in one million years that I would fit into my mom's cloths!

I have been called "athletic" by a couple of people recently. somehow that description of me just thrills me - a word I never imagined I would hear used to describe me for the first time in my life at age 49.

I was sleeved August 12th 2013, HW 242 SW 229 and CW 164. I am 5 foot tall and type II diabetic. With in two weeks of surgery my Doctor had taken me off all my meds. This surgery and Dr. Illan saved my life. I was sceptical at first like everyone else but talked to former patients of his who gave him glowing references. Dr. Illan and his staff do go above and beyond..my experience was everything they say it is. I just returned with my neice a couple of weeks ago who had the surgery as well. She is doing fantastic. I would not have taken her or recommended her go to him if I didnt feel confident in his skill as a surgeon or the care she received.

Hi Sherry!
I was looking at Dr Illan's website and don't see information on their fee schedules and/or total costs in Mexico. Is there a different site to look at to see this?
I have insurance through CIGNA and bariatric surgery is not an "exclusion" but it's not a "rider" that my employer has on its plan, so I'm not certain what this means to me. I don't know if it's a definite "NO" or if it could be appealed.
Trying to look at other options but need some help getting info.
Thanks in advance for any info you may have & by the way - you look fantastic!

Illan with Baja Bariatrics? YES Would I go back to Mexico to be sleeved? YES! Am I happy with my decision? YES!
Dr. Illan is a very talented surgeon and his WHOLE team is amazing! I took a family member back in January to be sleeved and would recommend his team to anyone. While in Tijuana I met other patients from different doctors and noticed they didn't have someone there checking in to make sure their spouse/friend/family member had eaten or was ok. When out shopping with Omar I ran into the same people who had to take a cab and had no idea what to do or where to shop. The Baja Bariatric team goes OVER & BEYOND anything you can even think of during your stay. I've lost 101 lbs thus far and am beyond thrilled with my surgery and support I have received from Baja Bariatrics

Been there have done all the above. Jealousy is still not beyond me recently had a severe case of it "like the flu" but it only took me a short time to come back to reality. It was a new relationship early in my journey and his job requires him to interact with lots of women. I became jealous. .then I came to my senses and realized that I am a hell of a woman and if I'm not enough for him than its his lose. I also realized I was giving him power over my emotions. I took my power back..lol life is just to damn short to waste time on such an ugly emotion.

I am not yet sleeved but have been trying to work through some eating and self-destructive issues I have had for many years prior to the surgery so that I keep these behaviors from sabotaging my weight loss. I am not saying that it won't creep in at times just as you experienced. The truth is many of us got fat due to other factors and may have used food to self-medicate that pain. You take food away and there the pain still is and it is absolutely normal to try and find some way to self-medicate to ease that pain again through whatever means, shopping, gambling, drinking or drugs.
We aren't used to dealing with the pain and feelings and not having something to insulate us from that means we have to feel it, experience the pain and try and work through where it is coming from to heal that part of ourselves. I am specifically worried about how my marriage will weather through this. My husband is also overweight and tends to use alcohol as a crutch. When we don't have eating out or grabbing a beer or two together in common I am not sure what we will do. I talked to him about this last weekend and he is saying all the right supportive things but I am still concerned it may open up underlying issues that will have to be addressed.
I am hoping I find stress relief through exercise. I have never been a consistent exerciser but expecting a life filled with self-confidence issues, abusive relationships and passive/aggressive behavior to magically be all better because I am thin is not realistic.
YearningToBeThin, I hope you seek out someone to talk to that can help you put things in perspective. You are not alone. So many people struggle but keep it in. We just wear our struggles on the outside.;o)

When I was younger..I felt like that. but as I got older I began to realize that he was still here so he must want to be here. He has been with me through every nightmare and pain and happiness I have felt for 36 years. Actually 38 years.
Then one day I thought if he strays then that will be his choice because I would stay with him if he lost an arm or had a stroke...So it all became his choice and mine to go on...
Then I stopped thinking about it and enjoyed the time we had and have together and decided what I would be able to take and what would cause us to break up....
Then i thought..Well if someone wants him they can have him...And that's where I stand today on the matter!!!!!
Maybe it is because I am 55 and don't take bull anymore....

I know that for me, my wl affects my exterior portion of me. My DH is loving the visual he has now but I still have to work hard on my inside thoughts and behaviors. I had/have to a lot of work on me (mentally). Marriage is the hardest thing to keep going and needs constant work. From a professional point of view. There is a break down in communication between the 2 of you and perhaps a little bit of counseling can help you reconnect. A safe place where both of you can express yourself and feel safe at the same time.....It's an adjustment in more ways than one.

I know most of us seriously contemplate plastics such as breastlift n Tummy Tuck but what about face work? I never thought I would b one to consider it but since losing weight my under chin area is seriously sagging. Does it tighten up any after awhile? Im 49 going on 50 soon. I know I'm ok with everything else concerning my face..I think its a blessing to grow older but without the excess skin under the chin.

Love me some Team Illan...

Love me some Team Illan...

My experience with Dr illan mirrors all of the above. As a matter of fact I will b returning jan 13th with a loved one to have her surgery with Dr.Illan. Another sister sleever is taking her daughter a week after. You will not b disappointed if u choose Dr. Illan n his team.

I so totally agree. Dr. Illans team is the best. Every question answered and everyone is taken care of. It was an awesome experience.

My experience with Dr illan mirrors all of the above. As a matter of fact I will b returning jan 13th with a loved one to have her surgery with Dr.Illan. Another sister sleever is taking her daughter a week after. You will not b disappointed if u choose Dr. Illan n his team.

I will b there with a loved one the 13-17..a friend will b there the following week with her daughter dr. Illan. Great choice of surgeons. ..he was mine.

Isn't it comforting to know that you made a great choice and can live your life with a supportive, caring spouse as interested in your well being as his own. Having a life long connection is meaningful. And I can feel the happiness in your words. I can relate. My wife of 34 years is perfect for me.
Congratulations to both of you!

My hubby and I fell in love before we met. He was a moderator on a computer related (geeky) website, which also had a blogging section in the forums. Months after my first husband passed away I started blogging about my life raising our young son alone. Hubby started reading my blog everyday and eventually PM'd me on the site to ask if I wanted to chat sometime. It turns out his wife had just passed away and my blog helped him cope with his grief. We finally met a year or so later and have been together ever since.

Hi guys. I asked my husband to write something for my blog. Like a "WLS from a spouse's point of view" sort of thing. I will preface this by saying, my husband is my rock and I love him to pieces (sure, some days I want to push him off a cliff, but...).
This is what he sent me - I wanted to share with this audience because we all have loved ones that drive us crazy at times. I think sometimes we open up in a different way when we put pen to paper as opposed to speaking to one another. What would your spouse or significant other write if you asked them to? I was surprised by what I read here...
The wife recently asked me to write a little something for her blog. Not much on writing more than witty quips in response to my friends Facebook posts, my first response was a “oh sure” and then to politely ignore the request. It’s a tactic that works I’d say 75% of the time. I was hoping that she would be so excited (or distraught) about weight loss/lack of weight loss/not pooping/pooping/someone else pooping or not pooping, she’d forget that she asked. So a week passed and then I get a, “So I’d really like you to write a post for my blog. You know, from the spouses point of view.” I thought I was home free with her focus on the stall. Guess not.

My wife's weight has never really been an issue for me. We met over the phone and had a 3000-mile long distance relationship before the Internet and unlimited phone service. We worked in the same industry and developed a relationship over months of hours-long, bank-account-crushing phone calls. We have always said that if we had come across each other in a bar or other typical meeting place, we wouldn’t have been each other’s type, physically. Since we fell in love before we ever met, we got what we got. Which by the way, I was pretty happy with upon our first meeting. So when she informed me of her thoughts on surgery I tried hard to keep the slack jawed WTF look off my face as much as I could. I initially thought, “Your going to cut out most of your stomach just to lose a few pounds. What?” What I didn’t realize is that it wasn’t a few pounds. Much like your surprise when someone comments on how much your child has grown because they only see him once a year, I hadn’t noticed she had gained a hundred pounds since we first met. She had always just been my wife, my best friend, the person I would spend a long wonderful life with. My attachment to her has always been so much more than physical, and when I look at her I still see that 25-year-old girl I fell in love with. So when she told me how much she weighed I thought, “Holy shit, when did that happen.”

My blessing of the surgery wasn’t without hesitation. I know what obesity does to a body over time and have witnessed it first hand in my father and mother-in-law. The breaking down of joints, the insulin injections, heart issues and on and on…I know, preaching to the choir. But what if something happens during surgery and I lose the love of my life? What if our boy loses his mother? The mere thoughts made my heart hurt. How would I ever cope if something tragic actually happened? But you can’t live life on the basis that something bad MIGHT happen. Its what kept my mother from fully experiencing life and I always hated that. I wanted to have the healthiest wife possible as we get older. I wanted her to be comfortable in her skin. I wanted her to wear clothes she likes, not just the ones that hide the most. I wanted her to not feel awkward around others. I’ve never really struggled with weight. Sure I could lose more than a few pounds, but it falls off with little effort. I don’t fully understand the angst that the weight causes my wife but I know she isn’t as happy as she could be because of it. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal. You gotta make the most of it. So I agreed, reluctantly.

After coming to grips with the minimal risk involved and nervously waiting for good news from the operating room, it’s been a pretty easy journey for me. I’ve had to do very little except listen. Listen about the surgery, shakes, stalls, pooping, not pooping and then pooping again. My wife is hard-core about obtaining information off the internet. So much so, she once gave her GP a tutorial on thyroid testing and the latest acceptable ranges for each test, which came as news to her doctor. Still not sure why we had to pay for that office visit. So nothing came as a surprise. It made my life easier knowing that if anything came up post op that might freak me out, she had the stats on how many patients experienced the same thing, why it happened, how long it will likely last, and what the next day, week, month has in store. Easy for me, but I know it hasn’t been easy for her and that each day brings a new challenge. I am so grateful for what she is willing to put herself through for a healthier future with our son and me. Recently she’s been in the dreaded stall, but it’s subsided, and she has a little pep in her step. I love the gleam in her eye when the scale tells her what she wants to hear. I love how she gleefully shows off how crappy her clothes fit. Mostly I love that each day she seems to feel more comfortable in her skin and happier with herself. What more can you really ask for?

Yesterday, I hit 140lbs for the first time in many years - and because I am still there today, I am claiming it as hitting my target, lol! I have now revised it down by another 5lbs but I think that those will go when I have my cosmetics done in 2014.
So I have achieved what I set out to do on 26 April when I was sleeved. Pre and post op, I have lost 83.5lbs, a number I used to look at and never really believe I could lose that. At 5'2", with two comorbidities and others looming, my sleeve was really my last throw of the dice to sort a life long problem and restore my health.
But I am surprised that I am not doing the wildly happy dance or calling up everyone I know to tell them. So i've been thinking - why not?
Partly, it's because I have had the compliments on the way about my weight loss and don't feel like stating the bleedin' obvious in case it sets off everyone on the "ooh, don't lose any more" commentary (which has started). (Maybe I don't want someone to unwittingly do down what I have achieved with a careless comment...)
Partly, it's because it's really the beginning not the end of this journey - now I have to maintain.
Partly it's because my doctor told me last week that I was to be applauded for saving my own life. That was quite a statement that drove home to me the significance of what I have done.
But the biggest reason why I think I am not leaping around is that I did this for me - and for me alone. No one told me to, for the first time in my life I was selfish, paid for the surgery without discussing it with anyone and put me first.
So I know inside what I have achieved because I know the pain, pleasure and the crazy roller coaster ride I have gone through to get here. I know of the doubts, the fear and tears on the way. I know the highs and the lows, the dark days - and the good days. Of the support and friendship on this site that kept my head above the Water even if the people responding didn't realise the good they were doing. My thanks to each and every one of you.
I have been fully present every step of the way, I haven't run away, I have lived it and I don't think anyone who hasn't been sleeved can fully appreciate this journey. For the first time in my life, I am going to do something different - I am going to give myself a pat on the back, mean it and accept it graciously.
Well done Jacqui, you are a success, the rest of your life lies ahead - and there are now no excuses for not living it to the full :-))))))
Here's to a an amazing 2014 for us all x

I will b there with a loved one the 13-17..a friend will b there the following week with her daughter dr. Illan. Great choice of surgeons. ..he was mine.