Hi all - I don't have my sleeve yet, but I'm heading that way, as soon as I can solidify financing with crappy credit (compliments of my ex). I'm glad to see a forum dedicated specifically to VSG, as I'm not really a fan of the "my surgery is better'n yours" mentality that can happen in a few other forums. The only place I've never seen flaming is at Bariatrictv.com (I highly recommend the podcasts as they are funny and informative)

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and that I'm glad to find this place, even if the person who sent me the PM on OH is a "deleted profile".

Now I'm editing because I realized I have forgotten to give my story

I'm a PRE-pre-op living in NC. I began thinking about WLS several years ago, but have been trying to get surgery since January of this year. I spent years before that telling myself "it's a cop-out" or "the easy way out" or "what's wrong with you, no willpower?" In short, I was ashamed of even thinking about that option. In my family, you just had to "tough it out."

But that was then, this is now. I have battled my weight nearly all my life. I was not overweight as a child or teen. I didn't have a weight problem, but I already had an EATING problem. I was just active enough then that it didn't pile onto my thighs. I also used dexatrim, other diet pills, and street speed (yep, that desperate) to lose weight and keep it off as a teenager. Then, at age 19, I had a baby and got married, and that eating problem became apparent.

My husband was emotionally distant, so I ate. I had post-partum depression, so I ate. I ate when sad, angry, happy, etc. It's no wonder considering my entire extended family were Foodies. My father owned great restaurants, and was an amazing cook, as were my stepmother and my mother, so no matter where I was, all activities revolved around food. Even funerals had tables just groaning with comfort foods like barbecue ribs, prime rib, cheesy potatoes with salty bacon, you name it. I associated food from small childhood with joy. So when I wanted to feel joy, I ate. I'm still a foodie, and love to cook, though I try to make healthier choices in what I cook these days.

I've been on every diet I know about, including Atkins, Carbohydrate Addicts, Protein Power, Weight Watchers, Volumetrics, and the list goes on. I read every diet book I could get my hands on - Stop the Insanity, Atkins, French Women Don't Get Fat, even Dr. Phil's stuff, and I don't even like that guy

And I discovered something - every single one of them worked. All of them had good things to say, and I lost weight on all of them. Problem was, I would lose anywhere from 10 to 60 lbs, and then gain it all back plus more. I lost a bunch about 11 years into my marriage after stepping on the scale and crying for days that I was 320 lbs. Then, I found out why my husband was emotionally distant - turned out, he was gay and faking it all those years. I was bowled over, and I started smoking again, AND eating everything in sight. We stuck it out for 10 more years (don't ask LOL), and I just vascillated. I didn't get back over 300 lbs again, but since then I have remained in the 250 to 280 range. I'm 283 right now.

I got separated in 2006, divorced in 2007, and started losing weight again. Guess what? Nope, I didn't keep it off. It's not what I don't KNOW. I work in mental health, I accept the issues, I've worked on the issues, I know what to eat and I'm good at eating what I'm SUPPOSED to - but I eat too much of everything. I LOVE FOOD. All kinds, from healthy to non-healthy. And, just like the skin, if you stretch the stomach out far enough, it's not going to "spring back" into shape once you stop filling it so full. So when on a diet, I feel like i"m starving all the time. I rarely feel full, unless I've stuffed myself to the point I want to take off my pants and put on a robe.

I just turned 43 years old, and I want the second half of my life to be NOT constantly losing, then gaining, then losing, then gaining. I want to be healthy, and be able to run and bike again, like I did way back when. I want to be able to play a game of tennis and not wonder if those chuckling people outside the fence are laughing at the fat chick playing tennis.

Someone did say something to me once. He yelled out of the back of a pickup (and there was a CROWD of people there waiting for the annual town parade), "What are you looking at, you fat b**ch?" Me being me (already a chick with an attitude), I yelled back a line from a movie I'd remembered: "I thought it was my mother's old douchebag, but that's in Indiana!" People laughed. I put my sunglasses down over my eyes and smiled, but I was hiding the tears.

I'm done feeling like I somehow don't DESERVE this, or that this is how I"m MEANT to be. I have become a confident, self-sufficient woman. I have great friends. But in this one area, I need a tool to help me. I need something that is going to make me sick if I shovel food in fast instead of savoring every bite, so I welcome dumping or feeling sick if I eat one bite too much. But I need it soon, because the second half of my life has just GOT to go better for me than the first. And I don't want to spend it struggling with food.

So, hi.

Edited June 15, 200917 yr by Kristopia
forgot my story

Exactly! :biggrin0: I think, after talking to so many people and looking at the research, the word "tool" is a very important one. Those people who consider WLS just a tool to assist them in reaching their goals, along with healthy diet and exercise, stand to have more success in the long run than those who expect it to be the end all and be all without the diet and exercise. I can have this tool and still not lose weight - by drinking high calorie shakes that pass right through, or continuing in bad habits of eating pastries or candy, or drinking drinks that are high sugar.

VSG is a fabulous tool - and I can't wait to get it - but it is a TOOL that we combine with the things we already know, but struggle with doing because it can be discouraging. I'm SO looking forward to the help

Kristopia and Java, I am with you too. Diet and exercise always works for me. I lost a lot of weight on Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. Its the maintaining that I've never been able to do. I'm hoping the sleeve will be a tool to help me when the whole maintaining thing comes back into play 100lbs lighter from now :-).

I lost a lot of weight on Jenny Craig too however was sicker than a dog the entire time I was on it and come to find out I was allergic to the preservatives in their food - so I said great, I can be thin and sick or fat and healthy. So no more Jenny Craig -- although I am a lifetime member ... woo hoo.

I've lost quite a bit of weight on Weight Watchers too ... however, I find too many ways of "justifying" my choices and end up gaining it back eventually.

I figure over the past 26 years I've probably lost and regained "myself" several times.

I know how to eat healthier now that I ever have and that is why I decided to go forward with the sleeve as a tool to help me get the weight off and keep it off. I have no visions of it being the "magic" answer to my weight coming off and know I have a lot of work in front of me.

Hey, I'm a lifetime member of Jenny Craig, too! Not that it did me a bit of good.

I hate the word "tool" though. It has other conotations for me. But I can't think of a better word. It really is a helper and doesn't do all the work so "tool" is accurate. But I just think "he's such a tool" when I here it! :confused1:

Hey, I'm a lifetime member of Jenny Craig, too! Not that it did me a bit of good.

I hate the word "tool" though. It has other conotations for me. But I can't think of a better word. It really is a helper and doesn't do all the work so "tool" is accurate. But I just think "he's such a tool" when I here it! :laugh0:

Okay then ... the synonym dictionary says:

synonyms

tool (n.)

aid, apparatus, appliance, cock, contrivance, creature, device, dick, gadget, implement, instrument, machine, pecker, peter, prick, puppet, putz, shaft, tools, utensil

tool (n.) (figurative)

instrument (figurative)

I think maybe aid or device? even instrument... definitely not any of the ones that start with a "p" ... :eek:

Should we put it up for a vote?

LOL MacMadame - I'm totally going to think of that now every time I hear "tool"

Dr. Aceves is F.A.C.P. certified. That was very important to me. I like all of my doctors to be certified.

I vote for cock! (Just kidding.)

I vote for cock! (Just kidding.)

ROFLMAO ... you might get some funny looks if you say you've got a great cock for weight loss ... don't you think?

LOL - fun word, and one I like a lot - but yeah, might get me in trouble at work to say I'm "working my cock" instead of "working my tool"

**snicker**

I am going with aide. It's a great aide in helping with weight loss. I love never being hungry. I eat because I watch the clock and think oh it's time to eat. I am sure if I wanted to, I could go 24 hours and not eat anything.

I drink the Protein drinks because my hair fell out when my husband died, and it fell out when I had band surgery. Now I had surgery and a death in the family, so I am freaked that I am going to lose more hair when it's still not recovered from band surgery.

I am going with aide. It's a great aide in helping with weight loss. I love never being hungry. I eat because I watch the clock and think oh it's time to eat. I am sure if I wanted to, I could go 24 hours and not eat anything.

I drink the Protein drinks because my hair fell out when my husband died, and it fell out when I had band surgery. Now I had surgery and a death in the family, so I am freaked that I am going to lose more hair when it's still not recovered from band surgery.

WOW Denise you have been through a lot in your life ... I hope all the bad is behind you and nothing but great things in store for you.

Do you take any Vitamins?

oh yeah, I shove everything I can think of down my throat. Dr. Aceves recommended

zinc so I added that to all the other stuff. I take a mulit vitamin, b complex, biotin, chewable calcium citrate, ground flax seed, and a bunch of other supplement that I have to take for interstitial cystitis.

oh yeah, I shove everything I can think of down my throat. Dr. Aceves recommended

zinc so I added that to all the other stuff. I take a mulit Vitamin, b complex, Biotin, chewable calcium citrate, ground flax seed, and a bunch of other supplement that I have to take for interstitial cystitis.

Good lord, after taking all of that how do you have any room for anything else?

Before the surgery I was taking coq10, flaxseed, EsterC and magnesium (which I DEFINITELY do not need right now). I quit taking them all before surgery; however, I would like to get back on them eventually ... it's good to know that is possible.

I take Bariatric fusion Vitamins at present (chewables) - I haven't had my surgery yet, but I pre-ordered them back when I thought insurance would only pay for RNY. They're really good for incorporating everything in there, including zinc and Biotin, but I'm not a fan of the taste - taste like fruit flavored tums to me. Anyway, it calls for chewing 4 per day, but I'm only taking two, as I'm pre-op and I don't want to overload on Iron.

I do think it is incredibly important for those of us who have weight loss surgery, even VSG without the malabsorption, to get good vitamins in.

But I might not get the bariatric fusion again - bleh!

I take Bariatric fusion Vitamins at present (chewables) - I haven't had my surgery yet, but I pre-ordered them back when I thought insurance would only pay for RNY. They're really good for incorporating everything in there, including zinc and Biotin, but I'm not a fan of the taste - taste like fruit flavored tums to me. Anyway, it calls for chewing 4 per day, but I'm only taking two, as I'm pre-op and I don't want to overload on Iron.

I do think it is incredibly important for those of us who have weight loss surgery, even VSG without the malabsorption, to get good vitamins in.

But I might not get the bariatric fusion again - bleh!

Smart girl - I never even thought of that. I did buy some liquid vitamins; however Dr. A told me to wait until I'm on solid foods to start back with the vitamins.