Hi Y'all,

I was sleeved on 12/17 literally 3days before my husband was deployed. We have three children and I have been left to fend for myself. Everyone tells me I am loosing weight, but to be honest with y'all I am deadly mortified that I don't. You see my weight issues have been there my entires life. My grandmother put me on a diet when I was 4 yrs old and since then it's been a downward spiral.

My husband has been very supportive (as much as he can). Everyday I wake up stressing that I am not loosing weight. I find myself staring at myself in the mirror looking at my body trying to see one bit of change. I finally saw that many of you share openly and decided to participate in conversation instead of just sitting back.

I look forward to hearing from y'all.

Congrats on your sleeve. Dealing with body image is important and it's a struggle for almost all of the women here, I think. We get used to viewing ourselves a certain way and it's not easy to change that or to get used to the changes in the way other people treat us.

You will most assuredly look different in nine months, no question. I'm sure your husband will be surprised! My husband (also military) went TDY for several weeks right after I had my surgery and I was on my own with two year old twins. He was only gone a few weeks but when he got back he noticed a big difference. I didn't really see it because I was looking in the mirror every day. For him (and for everyone else that you don't see every day) the changes hit all at once and it does seem more drastic to them. My husband went on to our next assignment when I was less than two years out (I hit goal around 17 months) and it was amazing how much I changed in the three months we were apart. I lost two pant sizes and to him, I went from an average-sized girl to a skinny girl. It took me another four or five months to actually see myself that way, though.

I understand not having/wanting a great deal of help. Just be sure that if things do get challenging that you ask for it, because there is definitely a support system in place for the spouses. I, personally, did not tell many people about my surgery, so asking for help afterward wasn't something I wanted to do, anyway.

As for liquids, you really need to have a glass of drink near you at all times. If you're cleared to use a straw, you will get more liquids in using one. I never had any issues with using a straw but some doctors don't want their patients to use them for a while. If you're between meals, you should be sipping. Try room temp liquids as opposed to very cold ones. In the first few months they go down more easily. I had a problem with plain Water, of all things, but mixing in fruit drops or flavor of some sort made it possible to keep everything down.

Congrats on staying away from the scale. Too many freshly sleeved folks hop on the scale over and over again during the first six weeks post op, and then get frustrated when they see a very normal gain from the IV or a slower loss than they expected. Just allow your body to adjust and at some point later on, start to weigh more regularly to stay accountable. You cannot ever predict how your body will lose in any particular month and being a slave to the scale will drive you crazy.

Best of luck,

~Cheri

Thank you Cheri!!! Your message made me feel better thank you.

Cheri is right. I can't drink ice cold water so I fill a few water bottles and let them get to room temperature I really like the mio drops because they came in lots of flavors and a little bit goes a log way. I have my bottle next to me all the time and do my best to sip sip sip. I'm not sure where you live and if I was close I would come help you myself! Good luck. You will be awesome at this process

fawife having a hubby deployed and going through this on your own was huge! I hope you realized how brave and how much courage that must of taken...it takes a strong person to make such a choice and keep the home fires burning while hubby is away...be strong and thank you for being 1/2 of the military that never gets recognized.

I know this is late but thank you for this message it gives me so much strength .

Keep your head up... This is not a race... Remember for 3-6 months you will be swollen.... It will come off... Also I agree with dealing with deployment and surgery... Get to a physcologist ASAP! Save your self some headache... Journal your feelings about food, deployment, diets, children everything... Just start writing don't think about what your going to say and it will come out you will feel better...

Keep us posted!

I was graciously reminded by some vets here ( when I had my day of obsessing over the scale) that even though I may not see the scale moving, I am losing inches. Measure yourself once a week or so and keep a chart. You will see a difference even if the numbers aren't moving. Then trust that the numbers will move. Follow your plan, get support when you need and visit your sleeve-mates here as mush as you like to vent, for support and reminders that you are doing great and will succeed!

Keeping you and your husband in my prayers for safe passage on both your journeys.

Hi there I am six weeks post op now and doing 100% better. My psychiatrist had to increase my meds because my body wasn't absorbing them. I have since lost 30lbs and 39 inches. Not much but enough to start noticing. Thanks for all the advice!