Brooklyn732

Interestingly enough, I'm the same. I always look in the mirror and see a sexy dude!! LOL. It wasn't until August of this year when I hit my all time high that I actually saw a fat dude. I've never had issues with ladies of any size. They've all found me attractive/charming (if I do say so myself...LOL). And unfortunately that led me to beleive that I was just fine as I was and that I didn't need to change. When I saw that scale read 340lbs I nearly flipped (not that it was physically possible for me to do...)!! Now that I'm down to 298 I think I got my sexy back but once I take those "before" pics and compare them to my "after" pics, I'm sure I'll realize how much I was just fooling myself. Don't get me wrong, its great to have self-esteem, but I didn't do myself any justice by being so disillusioned and letting myself get so big. Great thread, thanks for starting it!!

Ummm, I'm still 5'9 so I KNOW I wasn't talking about height! :D Nuff said. LOL

Well I don't know about YOU ladies, but I saw on Oprah that for every 30lbs a man loses he gains an inch back!! LMAO!! I'm down almost 45lbs pre-op so I've got an inch and a half back! I checked!! HAHAHAHA Uh oh! Christina is gonna yell at me again! LOL Please don't take any offense! I'm just kidding. I'm hoping that someone who is having a bad day of recovery will at least get a smile out of this.

Now here's where I totally disagree. As a support group, we shuold NOT be telling her it's gonna be ok and it will get better!! I am not yet sleeved but one thing I've realized even before I've taken the leap to be sleeved is that my relationship with food HAS to change. I cannot live to eat...I have to eat to live. The food I eat will be what is necessary for me to sustain my health and my weight loss. The satisfaction and pleasure I got from eating a fatty, bad-for-me meal MUST be replaced. I have to get that satisfaction from my family, my kids, my career, my healthy life. I'm PRAYING that being sleeved will make me not enjoy food anymore, because enjoying food as much as I do now led me to being morbidly obese and needing surgery to fix it. We need to stop telling people that it will get better and it will be ok. IT SHOULDN'T!!

I AM too much!! I get that a lot!! That's why they call me Big Daddy!! LOL

Wow. So sorry to hear this. Hang in there. You were the first person to welcome me here so I want to return the favor by showing you some love. What's important here is that you are committed to making this journey work no matter what. If you've already started cutting bad habits out of your life, then keep doing it. If you have increased your proteins and changed what your meals look like then keep doing that. If you've started walking or exercising, then keep doing that. Don't give up. You can do it. And use your sister as a support system and be one to her too. Good luck to you. I'm sure as hell gonna keep you in my prayers. And hey, look at it this way, the end of the year is coming up and most companies start their open enrollment for insurance carriers. Do some research and see which carriers cover the sleeve and maybe you can switch to them.

Hey from what some ladies tell me...3/4" makes a world of difference! LMAO!! I just say I'm 5'9 now. It hurts to have lost an inch.

We do it for the ladies!!!! So just appreciate it and say thanks! LOL.

Well there is no other way to label this but...irony. I finally went to a "fat people" meeting. LOL. Just kidding. I went to a support group and seminar on the same night. WOW. They opened my eyes completely and unfortunately I must also say it has changed my mind. I no longer feel like the band is the right thing for me and I have decided that I am going to get the sleeve instead. For the entire time I've been a member of this board I've gotten some reallly great info and I've been honored to read and share all of your stories. I wish every one of you all the best. I will be praying for you bandsters and soon-to-be bandsters. I feel like this is the best decision for me in my weight loss journey. I'm ready to take the next step and I pray that this is the right decision for me, though I really feel it is. Good luck and goodbye. And I hope I can stop in every so often and share more Protein Shake ideas or steal a few. lol. (Btw if anyone wants to know about cauliflower pizza, please email me its amazing!! ...lol) Peace!!:smile:

You gotta!! lol. I have 2, 6, and 13 yr olds. If I can get them ALL to love it, I am sure you will too. I put turkey saugage crumbles and turkey pepperoni on it with skim mozarella. But you can do veggie if it suits you. And there's also a recipe for cauliflower "breadsticks" made the same way but without the toppings. YUMMY!! And last night I used the leftover "riced" cauliflower and made "fried rice" with a little low sodium teriyaki sauce and some Gardein (fake) beef tips. WOWZERS. It was good. I still love food but I've changed my relationship. I love these meals I make because right now (pre-op) I only have one meal a day. The other meals are Protein Drinks. Even if I had to do that for the next six months I would do it gladly. Goign forward even after the sleeve, at least one of my meals will always be a Protein shake. And a greek ygurt will always be a snack. Food can't beat me. i won't let it.

How could I think that the infamous Betsy didn't already have this awesome recipe?? LOL. Thanks for the kind words. And I'm gonna be coming here to read all your advice and tips too. You're the best!! I haven't been here long but I value the info and advice I get here. And you guys are much better at sharing info than they are in the sleeve talk board. But they'll get there. lol.

Thanks dude. I'm gonna come in here just to catch your humor. It's fun to read some of your posts.

That thing is a GODSEND!! LOL! I love mine. I use it for everything. I make all my shakes in it. When I make my shakes, I like to add bananas and ice or frozen strawberries and blueberries. I also throw a couple Wasa flats into it with some seasoning and make my own "breadcrumbs" for coating fish or chicken. Last week I threw in a small Haas avocado with some green salsa and some hot peppers and some seasoning and made my own version of guacamole that was amazing! I put a couple tablespoons on top of some steamed cauliflower and it was heavenly. I took leftover rotisserie chicken threw it in my bullet with some lite mayo and a teaspoon of relish and made my own chicken salad. I recently tried to substitute mayo for plain greek yogurt. I had to add extra seasoning to get the taste right, but it was yummy. Can you tell that I love my bullet?? LOL. I can't wait to be sleeved. I want to try so many more things. I am actually looking forward to mushies because I see it as a challenge to me and my creativity with my bullet. I saw a commercial for a suped up version of the bullet that juices and does all types of other stuff. I am gonna look into that immediately. lol.

LOL!! I just experienced the SAME thing!! All my life I've been telling people I'm 5'10. Any paperwork I fill out it's always 5'10. Then when the NUT measured me to calculate my BMI she told me I was 5'8 3/4"!!! I was shocked! I had her measure me twice! I was dumbfounded. I thought about it all day that day and then I slowly came to a realization. When I was in my late teens and early twenties and I was free and single, I would always tell the ladies I was 5'10 because I thought they would be more attracted to taller men. I told that lie so much that I actually made myself beleive I was 5'10!! LOL. It was a deflating realization but I guess it had to happen. And it increased my BMI too!! Damn it! LOL. There's no upside to this revelation.

I am pre-op and I have been searching for threads where people talk about their stories. I have only found a couple. I'm sure there are more out there but I haven't found them. But I was thinking that something as important as that should have it's own thread and it should be a sticky so that you don't have to try to keyword search for them. I would LOVE for those who have been sleeved to tell us their story about the days that led up to surgery, the actual surgery day, and day 1 post op. But I would love to hear the details. For example, did you have to take a diuretic before surgery? I've heard that some surgeons want u to do that. What happens right after surgery (that you can remember)? How do they do the leak test and what is that like? What is the best thing to do to minimize the pain? I hear walking works as soon as possible post surgery. And I'm sure I can ask a ton more questions. I am sorry if this has come up before but I have had no success with my searches and I am sooo curious. In the lapbandtalk board there is a thread dedicated to just people telling their stories and I really got a lot of info from there (and it helped me decide on the sleeve...lol) Hope to hear from you sleevers soon! And I hope to be one of you soon so I can add my own story to this thread!

I was touched by this story because I can somewhat identify. I am a well educated man and when it comes to my success in my career, I have always made great decisions. But when it comes to food I have always sabotaged myself. I found out I had high blood pressure about 3 years ago because I had severe headaches and nausea. I remember the day I went to the Dr and felt like I was going to pass out. She gave me meds immediately and told me if I didn’t come in to the office that day I probably could have had a stroke. Would you believe I took the meds then went right across the street from the office and got some Taco Bell?? I was, no am STILL, addicted to fast food. I love all kinds. If I saw a commercial for a new burger or meal, I had to get it the next day. I’ve gotten my kids hooked on fast food. I used to bring home some form of fast food almost every day of the week. And when I would bring it home I would get an extra meal for myself to eat in the car on the way home. I used to smoke weed heavily just so I could have the munchies which would allow me to eat more. I was wayyyy out of control. I’ve dieted before in the past and they always worked. Then I would find a reason to sabotage myself. And then I would be out of control again and balloon back up past where I was. I got to the point where I am now on 3 different BP meds and still can’t control my BP. I am predisposed for Diabetes because my dad and all grandparents had it and I am the only one of my siblings who is overweight. My legs and feet started to swell and I couldn’t fit my shoes. I couldn’t fit into my work clothes and had to buy all new dress shirts and pants for work. I could feel myself stop breathing when I slept. Then one day I had enough. I was asking my kids what they wanted from Mickey D’s and my 6yr old said, “Why don’t we have some salad Dad?” I was shocked and embarrassed that my young man seemed to have more sense than me and that moment. We made a really great salad together and we now have salad every night. I’ve been on this pre-op diet and as I said today in a different post, I am down 42lbs and I can’t WAIT for my surgery in December. Your story makes is really clear that this surgery is not the panacea some people think it is. You have to be mentally ready to take this journey and no one can (or should) try to make you take it if you’re not ready. Not even yourself. I am sure you will get to that point where you will make the changes you need to make. Hopefully it’s not too late when you do. Good Luck!!

I think at your rate you're gonna need small girl vits...lol Keep it up!

My wife is extremely supportive of my decision, and she is the only one who will ever know. I would love to talk to my kids about it but they are very likely to say something to others about it because that's what kids do. I love my parents and siblings to death and I know they would be supportive, but I still don't want to tell anyone else. My wife disagrees and she thinks its silly that I don't want to tell. She's really close with my parents and I've asked her not to tell them because sometimes she has conversations with them about me when I'm not around. She's been worried about my weight for years so she is happy that I am losing on my pre-op and she is excited about what the results will be post-op. Like someone said before, it is a very personal decision and telling people may have impacts that some of us just don't want to face. But I also agree that you have to tell someone.

I made this last night and it was AMAZING!!! The wife and kids loved it. The kids didn't even know it was cauliflower. They were shocked when I told them. The said, "You didn't BUY this?" Even my 2-year old who doesn't eat anything loved it!! I topped mine with turkey sausage crumbles and and turkey pepperoni and skim mozzarella. I want to make it again tonight!! It was a hit!

You ROCK!! Grreat job! Keep it up. I can't wait to get sleeved and be able to give updates like that.

Has anyone tried it? All I can say is WOW!! It is THE best meat substitute ever!! Its soy protein but you can't tell it's not meat! I had the beef tips last night and they were amazing. There is a crispy mandarin orange chicken that is super. Go to their website it will tell you which supermarkets carry it. I think Whole Foods all over carries it but it's also in my local supermarket. You get at least 19gr of protein per serving and less than 5g of fat (most are around 2g). And I haven't seen any of them more than 160cal. Please tell me I'm not the only one!!

That's what I'm hoping! I hope now that I've gotten below 300, I will NEVER see it again!! No let me rephrase that...Now that I'm below 300, I KNOW I will never see it again!!

WOW!! What an inspirational post! As someone who is pre-op and was gung ho about the band and recently changed directions to the sleeve, you've just made me realize why that is the right thing for me. I've been kickin ass with my pre-op diet and I'm hoping to get sleeved in Dec. My high was 340 (in August of this year) and I weighed myself yesterday and I was sooo happy to see it say 298.6. I can't wait to be able to get down to 200 and be able to be more active. The stamina and energy are definitely areas I want to regain, though I still consider myself a stud in the bed (LOL)!! Thanks again for the inspiration. I know this is the right thing for me. What are your typical meals like? I am definitely a Protein shake in the morning kinda guy and I love greek yogurt. What do your dinners look like?

So I just wanted to introduce myself. I am a man in my early 30’s living in NJ. I have been overweight for my entire adult life. I am 5’9 and when I was in HS I was 177lbs and played football and wrestled and baseball. I was in great shape and lifted weights and felt great. Then I went to college and the lbs started packing on. After college when I entered the working world, I lived the life of a decent paid young person in the business worlds. Restaurants and traveling and living it up and kept on ballooning. Now through marriage and kids and greater responsibilities at work I reached my maximum weight ever in August of 2010 of 340lbs. I was so shocked at the number but not shocked because of how I felt. My ankles were swelling and my blood pressure was always high (even with the 3 meds I’m taking) and I was not fitting into my 3XL clothes. That was the lowest point of my life. I have always had a tremendous amount of confidence and always felt like the sexiest big daddy I knew (lol) but when I saw that scale I was floored. I had been looking into WLS and was convinced that I wanted the Band. I got all my clearances done except for the seminar because I had this stupid complex about being seen going to a “fat people” meeting. Well I got over that and went to the seminar and I am now convinced that the Band isn’t for me and that I want to do the sleeve. There was a band patient and a sleeve patient there and I spoke to both. I know what I want to do now. This all happened last night so I found out about this site and decided to join today. This weekend I am going to be on here all day and night reading people’s stories and making sure this is really the right decision for me. Since the day I saw that scale in August, I committed myself to my weight loss, regardless of which WLS I choose. Today, 2 months later, I’ve lost 39lbs by getting my Proteins, drinking my shakes, and eating sensibly. No matter what I chose to do, I am going to be healthy. Sorry for being long winded. I just wanted to share a part of my story. I am going to be doing my research and I am hoping for a December surgery date (I have a tentative 12/20 date). It will be my early Christmas present to myself. If there is anyone in here from NJ (especially Central NJ) I definitely want to hear from you. I would love to hear from everyone. Big Daddy (soon to be Slim Daddy…J)