Hey everyone!!! IT'S FEEL GOOD FRIDAY!!! It's been a long time, but it's time to get back to positivity and seeing the forest for the trees.

Tell me, what is that one thing that you are SO PROUD you can do now that you've lost some weight with your VSG, that you were unable to do before?

For me, I'd say its all internal. I have found a voice within me I never knew existed. I feel like I constantly have to express how wonderful WLS is - it has given so many their lives back. Giving encouragement and always reminding everyone living the day to day with it that though perhaps your one moment may not be the greatest, don't forget the positives you are living because of it.

HAPPY FEEL GOOD FRIDAY Y'ALL!!!!!

I think mine is finally having come out of my shell. Before, I would dread any kind of social interaction. I stayed home as much as possible. When I did have to attend an "event" of some sort, I always tried to fade into the background and not be noticed as much as possible. I felt the only thing people noticed about me was I was the biggest girl in the room. Now, I am more out there, I look forward to social outings and making new friends. I am no longer afraid to just walk up to a group of people and join in on the conversation. Living is fun!

I'm still a long way from goal, but I'm beginning to be able to look in the mirror and be pleased with what I see instead of feeling ashamed. And being single, I'm starting to realize how important that is in how others see me.

Putting a smile on my husband's face when he sees me. And he was not real supportive of me having the surgery at first.

Walking!!! That's my biggest accomplishment since surgery, so far! Before surgery, I could barely waddly my fat boo-tay from the house to the car. Walking around a store exhausted me! I started walking up and down my hallway, then around the end of my building, and then on the treadmill. I'm still slowly increasing my distance, but I walked the length of the mall and back a week or so ago and I wasn't tired!!

That's amazing to me!! I keep looking for the NSVs, but being able to walk some distance is my favorite thing so far! (Looking better doesn't hurt either!)

This is an awesome topic...I love it.....I have a couple, first it is the fashionista in me has come out, When i was bigger I would try to wear heels and by the end of the day I could not wait to throw them across the room...Now I wear heels evryday to work and I even go shopping after work in them, lol my mom said just yesterday, "now you are just showing off." Lol it's not that, it is just, now I can do it and do it comfortably.

Second...I feel like I match now. The person I am on the inside(in my head) matches who I am on the outside. I am the wife and mother I always thought I was on the inside. Now there is now photo that shows me as really being obese. I match inside and out. LOLOLOL I hope that made sense.

Happy Friday everyone.

Amen to all these... being obese is tough on our souls AND our soles... LOL We have so much to be proud of!!!

I don't feel like I am running towards diabetes. Both my mother and my father have it now, and I am so glad that if I keep the weight loss up. I won't ever have to face it.

What a great topic!! I have two....the first one is the fact that I have SO much more energy!! I'm not so exhausted at the end of the day and I actually get bored or restless if I'm sitting around for too long! The other is I love that I'm able to get on the floor and play with my 3yr old....and then I'm able to get back UP! lol My sleeve and my losses have allowed me to be a better, more involved mommy!!

Oh I forgot one...The ladies will most likely feel me on this one. I can put on my bra without clasping in in front of me first and then turning it around my body while it is still clasped.

I can actually clasp my bra by reaching my hands behind my back. Woohoo!! My husband brought this to my attention the other day...I was doing it the clasp in front way and he was like why are you clasping your bra like that, why don't you just hook it behind you, that way you won't have to spin it around? I actually stopped mid way through turning it and thought about it.

I realized that I had learned to do it that way when I was big and could not reach behind my back to hook it...but I can do it the regular way now. Huh funny how somethings we do out of a fat friendly habit and forget we can do it like our normal,skinny counter parts.

I have a couple--First, I can rehearse and perform with my choir without getting all hot and sweaty. I'm a conductor, and let's just say that pre-surgery, the after-concert congratulations were HORRIBLE for me, as I was completely soaking wet, felt dreadfully unfeminine, and just was embarrassed by the whole thing. Now, not only can I work in comfort, I can wear cute conductor clothes (yay!) and dressy heels without any problem! It's wonderful to be able to project a professional, calm, feminine appearance while working, especially since I am in a high people-intense profession, what with large groups of people onstage and in the audience.

Second, I don't feel like I take up all the room in a hallway or a crowded space. Before, I felt so "in the way," always feeling like I was HUGE (because I'm really tall AND I was really fat)--I tended to avoid parties, avoid gatherings where people would be standing or sitting in close spaces, and I just self-isolated socially because I hated feeling like I was taking up all the available space. I still tend to stay to the sides of rooms out of habit, but I'm not always conscious of it any more like I used to be. Like someone above said, I feel like my outside is finally starting to match my inside--and I like it!!!! I caught sight of my reflection in a window yesterday and was PLEASED with how I look. It's been DECADES since that happened. I'm wearing high-school-size clothing (14's, thank you very much, from a tight 26/28!) and enjoy dressing now.

I think that's the deal--bottom line, I'm just happier with how I look and I'm less stressed out about it. What a relief!!! LOVE MY SLEEVE!!

Oh I forgot one...The ladies will most likely feel me on this one. I can put on my bra without clasping in in front of me first and then turning it around my body while it is still clasped.

I can actually clasp my bra by reaching my hands behind my back. Woohoo!! My husband brought this to my attention the other day...I was doing it the clasp in front way and he was like why are you clasping your bra like that, why don't you just hook it behind you, that way you won't have to spin it around? I actually stopped mid way through turning it and thought about it.

I realized that I had learned to do it that way when I was big and could not reach behind my back to hook it...but I can do it the regular way now. Huh funny how somethings we do out of a fat friendly habit and forget we can do it like our normal,skinny counter parts.

That is very interesting! I've never considered clasping from the back... I'll have to give it a try.

I can hardly wait!!!!!

Great topic and some wonderful answers!

The first thing I "CAN DO" is I have stopped feeling like a failure. I am a blessed woman with a loving family, successful in my career and doing OK financially. But I have always felt like a failure because I could not control my weight. That miserable feeling of being a failure is gone. I have a paperweight on my desk - a three dimensional rectangle that has inscribed on it "What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?" I feel that way now - there is nothing I can't do and be successful doing.

Anything. Literally. I now know post-VSG that I can do anything I want. In the past week alone I have completed a 10 mile run, an hour long feisty yoga class, run a few intense business meetings and gone on vacation feeling NORMAL. I feel a little invincible these days and I'm not even at goal yet.

Wow, what an amazing group of people we have here, I love reading all these wonderful accomplishments and seeing how much better we are all feeling about ourselves!