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Hello everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and say hi. I'm new to this forum. I did do a little bit of browsing before deciding to post. I have to say that I love the wealth of information that is shared. There is so much valuable information here! I can't wait to hear more about people's experiences and also share some of mine.

Anyways, I just wanted to introduce myself a bit. In less than a weeks time I will be 30, I live in Houston, Texas. I have always been overweight all my life. My mom says that every since I turned 1 year of age and she took me off the formula, I've been overweight. Always been bigger, taller, fatter, etc than most while I was growing up. I never thought that in my life I would ever be thin or even be at a healthy size. Once I reached adulthood, I just kind of gave up on the notion of being a healthier size. Instead, I decided to love who I was. Sure, i still got depressed and hated myself on those bad days, but for the most part I did truly love myself as a big woman. I accepted it. At times I would decide that I need to do something, I'd lose ten lbs here, twenty lbs there. I even managed to lose 40lbs with weight watchers, which was the most I have ever done! But ofcourse, not only would I lose but eventually I'd gain it all back, plus more. It seemed like each year I gained between 20-30lbs a year!

I finally reached to the point I was too unhappy with myself. I was missing out on too many things that I wanted to do. I was 28 years old and I had reached my max of 465lbs, I often ask myself, how could I have let myself gain so much weight? In the following year, I hadn't really changed my eating habits but I did become a bit more active.. not much.

Being around 450-460, I started losing a lot of confidence in myself. My unhappiness became more unbearable. Didn't help that at 27/28 I had been diagnosed with borderline diabetes and eventually was put on high blood pressure meds. I didn't want to be sick.

When I was 21 I had tried to get wls with the doctor's of Big Medicine (but ofcourse, back then, there was no such thing as a show called Big Medicine until years later when I turned on the tv and voila.. the doctors I consulted with were on TV lol), but that was put to a halt because I didn't have the funds, nor did my parents and there was no guarantee that the insurance would cover. Well there went that idea. When I finally got insurance on my own when I got a "real job" after graduation in 2008/2009, I thought I'd give it a try again. Only this time come to find out, my insurance had an exclusion for any kind of wls. That was such a bummer. Finally for this year, my company changed insurance companies. I was so happy to learn that they did in fact cover wls, provided I did the 6 month diet and I turned in all paperwork needed.

In Feb of this year, I went for my first consult with the surgeon. I was happy yet at the same time I was a bit discouraged. On that day, I weighed in at 454 and I am 5ft6.5 tall. The surgeon said that along with all the testing and clearances from doctors I had to lose 70lbs. That was just so hard to hear.. but I was determined. By the end of the six months diet program program and my preop appt I had lost exactly 100lbs!!!

My surgery date was on November 5th! I had waited a while for a date.. that next thing you know... it was here and now I am three weeks post op!

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Such an inspiring story. Thanks for sharing. Good luck!

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Such an inspiring story. Thanks for sharing. Good luck!

Thank you, kimmyk :)

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Welcome and thanks so much for sharing your story. OH my you have been on a journey and still going. I am just so happy to read everything you wrote, I hope you are healing well and that things just get better and better and better. Big Hugs to you. Again Welcome and Thank You

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Wow.... you are doing so well... keep up the good work :)

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Hello everyone!

I just wanted to pop in and say hi. I'm new to this forum. I did do a little bit of browsing before deciding to post. I have to say that I love the wealth of information that is shared. There is so much valuable information here! I can't wait to hear more about people's experiences and also share some of mine.

Anyways' date=' I just wanted to introduce myself a bit. In less than a weeks time I will be 30, I live in Houston, Texas. I have always been overweight all my life. My mom says that every since I turned 1 year of age and she took me off the formula, I've been overweight. Always been bigger, taller, fatter, etc than most while I was growing up. I never thought that in my life I would ever be thin or even be at a healthy size. Once I reached adulthood, I just kind of gave up on the notion of being a healthier size. Instead, I decided to love who I was. Sure, i still got depressed and hated myself on those bad days, but for the most part I did truly love myself as a big woman. I accepted it. At times I would decide that I need to do something, I'd lose ten lbs here, twenty lbs there. I even managed to lose 40lbs with weight watchers, which was the most I have ever done! But ofcourse, not only would I lose but eventually I'd gain it all back, plus more. It seemed like each year I gained between 20-30lbs a year!

I finally reached to the point I was too unhappy with myself. I was missing out on too many things that I wanted to do. I was 28 years old and I had reached my max of 465lbs, I often ask myself, how could I have let myself gain so much weight? In the following year, I hadn't really changed my eating habits but I did become a bit more active.. not much.

Being around 450-460, I started losing a lot of confidence in myself. My unhappiness became more unbearable. Didn't help that at 27/28 I had been diagnosed with borderline diabetes and eventually was put on high blood pressure meds. I didn't want to be sick.

When I was 21 I had tried to get wls with the doctor's of Big Medicine (but ofcourse, back then, there was no such thing as a show called Big Medicine until years later when I turned on the tv and voila.. the doctors I consulted with were on TV lol), but that was put to a halt because I didn't have the funds, nor did my parents and there was no guarantee that the insurance would cover. Well there went that idea. When I finally got insurance on my own when I got a "real job" after graduation in 2008/2009, I thought I'd give it a try again. Only this time come to find out, my insurance had an exclusion for any kind of wls. That was such a bummer. Finally for this year, my company changed insurance companies. I was so happy to learn that they did in fact cover wls, provided I did the 6 month diet and I turned in all paperwork needed.

In Feb of this year, I went for my first consult with the surgeon. I was happy yet at the same time I was a bit discouraged. On that day, I weighed in at 454 and I am 5ft6.5 tall. The surgeon said that along with all the testing and clearances from doctors I had to lose 70lbs. That was just so hard to hear.. but I was determined. By the end of the six months diet program program and my preop appt I had lost exactly 100lbs!!!

My surgery date was on November 5th! I had waited a while for a date.. that next thing you know... it was here and now I am three weeks post op![/quote']

Eli- welcome to the forum! What part of Houston do you live at and who was your surgeon?

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Thank you, Misty. I'm over here close to the Heights area. My surgery was with Dr Sherman.

Have you had surgery yet?

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Hi Eli. I just turned 30 myself and a lot of my story sounds similar. My surgery doesn't have a date yet but will be in January. I have 14 lbs left to loose to meet that 10%. You did an amazing job pre op... Where you excersising? What type did you do? That is where I seem to fail every time!!

You are doing amazing. And being so close in age and weight, I feel connected to you.

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Welcome to the boards glad your here!!

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Thank you' date=' Misty. I'm over here close to the Heights area. My surgery was with Dr Sherman.

Have you had surgery yet?[/quote']

Hi Eli, I live in Katy and my surgeon will be Dr. Robert Davis of The Davis Clinic and TLC's 'Big Medicine'. I'm still pre-op and hoping to have surgery in January pending cardiac clearance & blood work. How was your surgery and how are you doing? This forum is fantastic and I'm glad you've joined! Good to see a Houstonian on here.

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Welcome to the boards glad your here!!

Thank you for the welcome, kristy :) Im very glad I found my way over here.

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Hi Eli. I just turned 30 myself and a lot of my story sounds similar. My surgery doesn't have a date yet but will be in January. I have 14 lbs left to loose to meet that 10%. You did an amazing job pre op... Where you excersising? What type did you do? That is where I seem to fail every time!!

You are doing amazing. And being so close in age and weight' date=' I feel connected to you.[/quote']

I will be 30 on Monday, and im not loking forward to it lol. :P Honestly, the first three months I didnt exercise. I worked a lot from 60 to 70 hours a week, so I was always tired, especially mentally. Just the change of food kicked started my weight loss. After the weight loss slowed down a bit, I decided to buy me a cheap stride cycle and I did that atleast 5 mins a day... that was all I coukd do. The more weight came off, the more i was able to move. I got bold tans decided to try Zumba. I figured out I have two left feet lol. I tried my best even tho to keep up no matter how much of a fool I looked. I never did the full hour tho, just half an hour and I would take atleast one break... one song. Oh and I only did it two to three times a week.

And thank you... just keep your faith you are almost there. I know how hard it is... trust me. Let me know if you have any more questions. IM happy to help.

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Hi Eli' date=' I live in Katy and my surgeon will be Dr. Robert Davis of The Davis Clinic and TLC's 'Big Medicine'. I'm still pre-op and hoping to have surgery in January pending cardiac clearance & blood work. How was your surgery and how are you doing? This forum is fantastic and I'm glad you've joined! Good to see a Houstonian on here.[/quote']

Surgery went well....and as for me.., Im doing okay. Im still trying to get the hang of it and still cant believe what i have done. Lol Thank you for making me feel welcomed :) So have they given you a date yet?

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • KimBaxleyWilson

      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • bellaamey

      https://alluniqueguide.com/java-burn-coffee-reviews/
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