Feeling good and when I took a photo this week in the same outfit I wore at my highest weight, I looked closely and saw a 'hole' in the top of my legs......where they no longer touch!!!

I never thought I would see the day.......I'm running a mile in 14 minutes; feeling good and still posting my story and photos on my Sunday blog. Like others, my BEFORE and AFTER photos are pretty drastic......I just posted the same outfit one on this week's blog.

Thank you for all the support this forum has given me........so happy.

Congratulations - what an awesome feeling! I gain strength every day from stories like yours. I am scheduled to be sleeved in July. Can't wait! Thanks for posting!

Methinks we are all "drastic" people. Achieving goals previously thought to be impossible must be the best! Congrats.

Good for you!!!! July is just around the corner.....if you have not taken a look at my blog, please do. It was because of someone else's blog that I decided to do this for myself. You might want to read www.queenofcrop.com/about first and then just go through each week when you can.

Keep us posted on your progress.....it's an amazing journey!

Queen of Crop

www.queenofcrop.com

Congratulations - what an awesome feeling! I gain strength every day from stories like yours. I am scheduled to be sleeved in July. Can't wait! Thanks for posting!

Clever double entendre. Happy things are going well. I do enjoy your blog page. I am anxious today and not sure i can follow thru with surgery on the 19TH. In spite of constant research and inquiries, I feel unsure about what post sleeve life will be like. Could be control issue.....the unknown, perhaps reading about some folks that don't stop feeling queasy, or never eating a normal portions again, or regain, or reflux, or getting smashed and slurring words from one cup of wine, or becoming chronically fatigued or vitamin deficient? Maybe from reading a post this am from a gal who is 5 days out and beside herself with reget wondering what she has done to her body. Perhaps reading about the struggles of maintenance of people that need to be militant about exercising 5 days a week and about every bite they eat, that will never be me, might as well be honest. With a bmi of 35, I am on the cusp in terms of being eligible. Wish I felt better. So tired of feeling ambivilant and fearful. I have failed to lose the 80 on my own. I can lose a little but then fall off the wagon and regain in an instant. How did I get into this predicament?, feels like there is no favorable solution. Perhaps my head is not on straight right now.

Hi Piper! Not sure why this post is underlining every letter I type, but can't seem to undo it, so let's live with it and go on to more important things.....First, I want you to know that your post could have been written by me!!! Same here, I had a low BMI, figured I should be able to do it on my own, yadayadayada.....and the fact is, for me anyway, I couldn't or I wouldn't or I didn't. At age 58, I made the decision and have never regretted one single second of it. Everyone has to do what is best for them, but if you re-read your post, you are concerned:

• that you will have to exercise 5 days a week (hmmm, if you want to lose it without the surgery, you will have to do the same thing; with the surgery, it's much easier because you can move a lot more.).
  
• that you will feel queasy.....yes you do at first, last a few months. Small price to pay and some people feel just fine. When you see your body changing so quickly, you don't even focus on that.
  
• that you can't eat normal portions? Well, if we were eating normal portions in the first place, we wouldn't be here.....how about eating what ever you want and not feeling guilty about it. Sure you eat much smaller portions, but I think because you are at a lower BMI, you probably won't have the head hunger that others might have because of binging or out of control emotional eating.
  
• that you can't drink wine? I have a glass or two each week with a nice dinner. It's divine.
  
• that you will become fatiqued? Having an extra 80 lbs will tire you out a lot more! Trust me.
  
• that you will become Vitamin deficient? You'll get your blood work done 2-3 times a year; at this point, mine is textbook perfect; no more high cholesterol, no more high blood pressure; those were before the surgery!
  
• that you were discouraged reading about a woman who was 5 days post op? Have you read all the thousands of posts from people who feel they have gotten a new lease on life, that they feel healthy and normal for the first time in their life?
  

Everyone has to do what is best for them and only you can make that decision. But I had 83 lbs to lose and I am on the last 18 right now; so we are similar in that way. The thought of how I felt so deprived when I was heavy, feeling guilty about everything I ate, being the fattest person in the room, and starting to have health problems; makes me so grateful and thankful every day that there was this solution. It wasn't Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, or Slim Fast or joining a gym.

We have all felt like you do; we truly have. We have been where you are. It's down right depressing. The few inconveniences you go through with this surgery are nothing compared to the rewards.

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that you are not alone in this; and that I personally feel you have a very exciting journey ahead. I do think it is probably the best solution for people like us, but only you can decide if this is the right time for you.

You look fabulous my dear and the happiness is on your face!

Thank you. You are following the yellow brick road of logic that brought me to the option of wls in the first place; in hopes of feeling healthier, more active, better about traveling with my hubby, less antisocial, more comfy around folks, less self conscious, less back pain from herniated disc etc... I am letting fear of the unknown take over. It is so hard not to be in control, take a leap of faith, trust and believe in a positive outcome. I have a lot of respect for folks that have had this elective surgery.

You look lovely and more importantly, happy. As I said, I enjoy your blog and have found it inspiring. I have declined to travel with my hubby many times over the years due to my weight, dumb, I know...I hope to accompany him to Rome in september. However, before I considered wls I told him I would not be able to go. So silly to allow 80 pounds to stand in the way, silly not to have the fortitude to adhere to a diet on my own.

At 44, I'd like to think this surgery can help with these weight related self confidence issues. I hope I can cope with the post sleeve life of three bites and your pushing food around your plate trying to appear as though you are eating. Guess I will have to be more conversational.

Thank you very much.

"it is so hard to not be in control"

Is any one of us really in control? I don't bellieve so. If we were, we wouldn't be overweight.

I think you are smart for thinkiing this thru carefully. You don't sound like you are ready to change your life. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled with my sleeve. I am down 79 lbs in 6 months. It just sounds like you would rather stay the same with the weight induced issues you have now than to take an educated chance on a life changing opportunity. I don't mean to sound harsh, just honest.

I do have a few new issues since the sleeve. I don't like taking pills and I must. I have had to figure out how to better manage my reflux (and I have). I do now want to exercise because my feet and knees and back don't hurt so badly now. And then theres all the new clothes I have to buy (what a shame, JK), not being ashamed to go out or travel and so forth.

Queen of Crop, sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread. And congrats on your fabulous progress! I love following your success especially since our surgery dates are so close (I was sleeved Oct 17, 2011) . I just had to respond that we humans perceiving it is US who are in control..... I don't think so. That's precisely why the sleeve is such a heavenly tool for us!

Leah

You look great! Congrats on your progress so far.

Thanks everyone; including mamasez. Just to emphasize a little more for Piper about what mamasez on the control thing.....wow; I feel SO much more in control now than I ever did at 223 lbs......that was careening down a freeway at high speed with no seat belt.......it was scary, miserable, depressing and I couldn't figure out how to stop;.....now, life is a sweet walk (or run!) in the park......I am very much in control of my life now......