Welcome everyone! I am so glad to finally have some members. This group was started so I could find people who were in similiar position as myself. I noticed most people were either in low 200's or lower. It's wonderful to know we're not alone! In this group I would like to share each other's stories and support each other through the hard times. With that being said, let me introduce myself. My name is Brandy and I am 37 (for the next four days at least). I am a single mother of a four year old named Abigail. I have been heavy most of my life. I was only about 40 lbs overweight when I finished high school but once I entered the work field the weight started piling on. I gained a great deal after the pregnancy. While I was pregnant I gained the normal 26lbs but after almost two years and a bad breakup the pounds really started packing on. So here I am today over 300 lbs and making the hard decision to have surgery. I am excited and crazy nervous at the same time. I hope all are well and I can't wait to read your stories as well.

Hello. My journey began in February of this year. 317 lbs is the largest I have been in my entire life and I was not happy about it. I am presently in pre-op and am now down to 307. My surgery date is Sept. 23rd and it can not get here fast enough!! Good luck ladies and keep me updated on your process. I would love to celebrate everyone in their process.

ladies-try water zumba! it rocks and doesn't hurt your knees at all!

hi everyone! i thought i already did an introduction, but i can't find it. so here goes.

i'm jackie. i'm 42 yrs old. i live in michigan. i have a surgery date for june 11, 2013! that is the day before my birthday, so what a great present to myself, huh?

i started the weight loss process in january at 398 and i am now at 379. my goal is to weigh 180, which is what i graduated high school at. i am soooooooo excited and nervous at the same time.

10 days until surgery and today i start the pre-op diet. lean chicken, 1/2% milk, some eggs & yogurt and vegetables until they come out my ears!

everyone please friend me on here and on facebook. i'm jackie sue redmond. i am on there ALL the time.

smiles for everyone!

hi everyone! i thought i already did an introduction, but i can't find it. so here goes.

i'm jackie. i'm 42 yrs old. i live in michigan. i have a surgery date for june 11, 2013! that is the day before my birthday, so what a great present to myself, huh?

i started the weight loss process in january at 398 and i am now at 379. my goal is to weigh 180, which is what i graduated high school at. i am soooooooo excited and nervous at the same time.

10 days until surgery and today i start the pre-op diet. lean chicken, 1/2% milk, some eggs & yogurt and vegetables until they come out my ears!

everyone please friend me on here and on facebook. i'm jackie sue redmond. i am on there ALL the time.

smiles for everyone!

Jackie I am a Michigander also! Hi Neighbor! How is your Pre-op diet going so far?

Hi all,

Not sure how active this forum is.

I have surgery on July 10.

I am over 450 lbs, and love that there is a group with higher starting weights on here.

I am mentally struggling with the thought of whether I can really do this after the surgery. food has been my best friend and crutch for so long, that I do not know life without it. I spent my entire 20's as a shut in due to weight and depression. The last 10 years I have been breaking out of that isolation, but the weight is well....a major weight holding me back. Everything revolves around it and I am so done with that. I want a life for goodness sake. Not just an endless buffet of food and misery!

Thanks for the forum, and all of your shares. I value your experiences and your courage.

Many blessings,

Michelle

Hi all,

Not sure how active this forum is.

I have surgery on July 10.

I am over 450 lbs, and love that there is a group with higher starting weights on here.

I am mentally struggling with the thought of whether I can really do this after the surgery. food has been my best friend and crutch for so long, that I do not know life without it. I spent my entire 20's as a shut in due to weight and depression. The last 10 years I have been breaking out of that isolation, but the weight is well....a major weight holding me back. Everything revolves around it and I am so done with that. I want a life for goodness sake. Not just an endless buffet of food and misery!

Thanks for the forum, and all of your shares. I value your experiences and your courage.

Many blessings,

Michelle

Hi Michelle, I can really relate to your concerns. I have been disabled for several years now and was not sure how my life would change with surgery, but knew that I needed it to. I was isolated, with no friends or social life. I was consumed with my food addiction. I was sleeved 3/25/13 and have lost 49 lbs so far. I have a long way to go, but I can tell I am beginning to feel better. I am no longer consumed with what I will be eating. My tastes have changed and I am really hopeful that my life will begin to change as the weight comes off and I can move a little better. Don't be afraid.

Hi all,

Not sure how active this forum is.

I have surgery on July 10.

I am over 450 lbs, and love that there is a group with higher starting weights on here.

I am mentally struggling with the thought of whether I can really do this after the surgery. food has been my best friend and crutch for so long, that I do not know life without it. I spent my entire 20's as a shut in due to weight and depression. The last 10 years I have been breaking out of that isolation, but the weight is well....a major weight holding me back. Everything revolves around it and I am so done with that. I want a life for goodness sake. Not just an endless buffet of food and misery!

Thanks for the forum, and all of your shares. I value your experiences and your courage.

Many blessings,

Michelle

Hi Michelle,

My sleeve date was June 11th so I haven't been on the other side for very long. I am a food lover, not for the sake of eating but the sake of taste and variety. I must say after getting through 3 weeks of post operation liquid diet that my food relationship has changed some. First of all I don't persistently think of food like I used to. Food used to haunt me, I'd be full lying in bed and some tasty treat on my mind keeping me from sleeping.

Now I am limited to a 3oz meal, which can be a little frustrating since you have to get quite a bit of Protein in your diet. However you eat a lot more little meals and they can be very enjoyable, You just eat slower and take smaller bites. If you are on a food budget like me you can Celebrate eating higher quality meals since you are purchasing so much less.

There is a chinese buffet down the street from me and they sell by the pound. I went in and had mongolian bbq made up with beef, mushrooms, onion, cabbage and some brocoli. Some chicken on a stick, chicken curry, and indian curry. It came to 1.5 pounds.... that's 7 meals for me al for $6.50,

So don't worry that you might lose your "foods" they are part of life. You can still enjoy food after a sleeve you just learn what are higher priority choices for nutrition and get the joy of eating a very small amount and being full.... plus the lack of hunger all the time.

I wish you luck in your surgery.

j,

Hi

Thank you for the feedback.

I am out of hospital now, and resting in the hotel room.

At times I am getting strong chest pains, but they think those are occurring due to the gas they pumped into me.

Tired, wrung out and on two different anti nausea drugs and one liquid pain killer

Have a great weekend and thanks or the support!

If there is anyone on here who I have not personally welcomed to the group, I sincerely apologize. Took some time off from it all. If anyone has read my story you will know that I am still waiting on a surgery date. Even if I wind up not being able to get the surgery I figure at least I could read all of your success stories and they can motivate me to try to do it on my own. Again, for those of you I have not welcomed to the group, WELCOME!! Good luck on your journeys and remember share, share, share. Nothing is worse than following someone and then all of a sudden they quit sharing. I was following two ladies on You Tube and they just stopped posting. It broke my heart because they were so interesting to watch. I did find a group on there that post every day of the week. They have a different blogger for every day of the week and they are always posting. So keep talking and sharing even if you don't think anyone is listening because there are those of us out here who do watch or read what you have to say and it helps! LOL, sorry I rant sometimes. Anyway, I will post any new developments in my journey but as of right now I am still waiting. :/

NSV: Starting out at 350 lbs looking at my pre-op diet and thinking how am I going to do this? Dieting is not my strong point and I have to go on a liquid diet? My surgery is next Tuesday and this morning the scale reads 307!! I have to admit the first few days were not fun, but I feel like I scored!

I had my surgery on the 3rd in Tijuana Mexico and I returned home to Oklahoma Friday night. I had a couple of NSV's just starting my trip out to San Diego. I was really concerned about taking a flight since I have never been on a large plane before. My father had a little Cessna when I was a little girl. 1) I was scared that the seat belt would not fit me and 2) I was afraid I would be air sick. I was so relieved that the set belt buckled on the first try and then I took to the air like a pro. I turned out being so comfy flying through the air above the clouds. I am so glad to be back home getting to know my new stomach and learning what it can tolerate. I am learning to take sips. Why is that such a challenge? I am taking this new life one day at a time. Was it worth it? Yes, Absolutely!

Hi Everyone

I am new here. I am Pre-Op and I started my journey just about 2 mos ago. I went to see my PCP and told him I have had enough and that I wanted to meet to the Surgeon he had been telling me about for the last 2 yrs. Within less than 3 weeks I was meeting with the surgeon and his clinical staff. I had done a lot of research on the VSG the internet and had read the book "Everything Post Weight Loss Surgery". Side not alot of good information, I am now reading "The Big Book on Gastric Sleeve" ... Everything you need to know to lose weight and live well with the VSG. It contains information for making the descission, pre-op, post-op and even receipes. I have completed about 50% of my surgeon and insurance's requirements. I feel every time I come out of a nutrition class or seminar I find something new, even if it's just a little bit of information I didn't have previously,

I want to wish everyone a successful journey to a healthy new you. I really am looking forward to the day can do something I haven't been able to do in 30+ years, (ie, go on a roller coaster, horse back ride and most of all fly on a plane and not feel embarasses that my butt doesn't fit in the seat and that I had to ask for an extention for the seat belt) and most of all taking a walk without becoming short of breath.

Well now that I have chewed off your ears, I will bid you a good evening and hope to talk to you soon,

I weigh 330 lbs and I am scheduled to be sleeved on 02/10/2014. I am nervous but ready to change my life. I went to see my family MD yesterday and was told that not only do I weight a whopping 330 - I seem to have shrunk. I'm only 5'5" and I've been telling people for years I'm 5'7". Doh! :-)

I just joined this site and I'm hoping there's lots of activity here. I tried a different site and it seemes pretty quiet. Anyway! I'm starting off around 325 and 5'7. I have tried in the past a few times to qualify for insurance to cover my WLS, but no deal. So, now that I'm on Medicaid (Utah), I finally have a chance. I don't know which procedures they cover.

I'm worried about gaining some back if I'm not careful, and also about sagging skin.Anyway. Hope to chat soon.

Hi everyone. I joined the group a while back, but I don't remember if I ever actually posted here! I am 44 years old, live in the Chicago area, am married and have two kids (almost 12 and almost 16).

My highest weight was around 400 when my son was born in 2002 (not sure if that counts because it was pregnancy related). Right now my weight is about 350.

I started the process for getting WLS back in August. I'm almost finished jumping through all the hoops--I just have one more medically supervised weight loss session left at the beginning of March, and a required support group meeting (which I am attending tonight.) Once I finish those things, they can put in for insurance approval and I will get my surgery date (which will probably be the beginning of April). At that point I begin 4 weeks of a Liquid Protein diet with nothing else but raw vegetables. I am happy for the raw vegetables--I see that others have not even gotten those!

Anyway, just wanted to say hello.