Good evening, all! I thought I would take the advice of @@LuminousLife and journal my story for therapeutic reasons. I have chosen to only tell my husband, mom, and 2 best friends (from different states) and I figured since I've been getting support for months here from all of you, I could maybe assist others!

I will first give a little bit of my background. I am 27 years old, married with no children (yet)! I am not on any medications, blood pressure and cholesterol, etc are all great... I just need to lose weight! (About 125 lbs to be exact.) I officially started this journey back in August, however had been researching my options for about a year before that.

I was sleeved this morning at 9am and my surgeon said everything went perfectly! Honestly, I had been expecting the worst... Gas pains, stomach soreness, not being able to pee, etc... I have had NONE of that. Knock on wood, other than a dry mouth, I feel so blessed to have today go as well as it did. I got to my room at about 11am (I believe) and I felt sick to my stomach for about an hour and kept falling asleep. At about 2pm, I noticed I already felt way better. I've been taking advantage of sleeping when I want (I literally did not sleep all last night bc I got sick from this stupid tofu Soup I ate for lunch. Gross.) I've been using my spirometer when I can and been taking laps around the Bariatric unit every two hours, each time feeling better and better! Any questions/comments are greatly welcomed!

Edited March 23, 201412 yr by dreamscometrue

You look amazing!!! Congratulations on your success!!!!

Amazing. U look so good. Can't wait to start my journey. Getting impatient. Almost starting to feel depressed with this weight weighing me down.

Great journal!!! You have done a great job with your weight loss. I really enjoy reading your journal and hope that you continue writing. I have been sleeve since Dec. 2012 and I'm almost at my weight goal. I get so many compliments and I just don't know how to react sometimes. Just like you I keep the surgery between my two teenager daughters and hubby. It our little secret☺️! Keep up the great job!!!

You get the gold star reward for doing a great job in your weight loss and journaling. I have been sleeve since Dec 2012 and still losing weight. I have not reach my goal weight but i just need to lose about 10lbs. You are so right about how your sleeve is a tool to help you lose weight. Keep up the hard work!!!

Great journal!!! You have done a great job with your weight loss. I really enjoy reading your journal and hope that you continue writing. I have been sleeve since Dec. 2012 and I'm almost at my weight goal. I get so many compliments and I just don't know how to react sometimes. Just like you I keep the surgery between my two teenager daughters and hubby. It our little secret☺️! Keep up the great job!!!

Thank you so much! That means so much coming from a person like you who has gone through this journey for much longer than myself! You will get that last 10 lbs off in no time. I'm curious, what do your meals consist of at this stage? Do you still stay away from bread, rice, Pasta, etc..? If you were to order a steak, how many ounces would you say you could eat in one sitting?

I will definitely continue to get on here and give updates as long as people are still enjoying reading my journal! Plus, I think it will be such a neat thing on this December 17th (1 year anniversary of surgery and goal date) to go back and read my entire journey. I honestly have not gone back at all to read any of my posts. Also, I wrote myself a letter (not sure if I wrote about that in my journal or not..) and I have not read that, nor do I plan on reading it until December 17th of this year.

I just wanted to give a quick update/document for myself… Today, I updated my ticker and I officially have lost more than now than I need to lose to hit my goal… I've lost 64.6 lbs and only (ha) have 63 more lbs to lose to hit my goal of 150 lbs! Today has been quite an exciting day! I went shopping… in actual stores and not online… and was able to buy a pair of skinny jeans in size 14, a dress in size 14, and a few shirts in size Large… Pretty impressed since I was used to shopping online for dresses and pants in size 20/22 and shirts that were XXL! After I shopped, I went into Earth Fare (like Whole Foods) and as I was walking out with a cantelope, avocado, protein bars and Skinny Pop popcorn, I realized how natural this lifestyle has become for me. Of course I crave bread occasionally, but now I crave sashimi more. Straight up protein. I say it all the time, but this surgery is the best thing I've ever done for myself. Simply amazing. I hope to anyone reading this, that you are experiencing this same happiness!

Edited March 23, 201412 yr by dreamscometrue

I just wanted to give a quick update/document for myself… Today, I updated my ticker and I officially have lost more than now than I need to lose to hit my goal… I've lost 64.6 lbs and only (ha) have 63 more lbs to lose to hit my goal of 150 lbs! Today has been quite an exciting day! I went shopping… in actual stores and not online… and was able to buy a pair of skinny jeans in size 14, a dress in size 14, and a few shirts in size Large… Pretty impressed since I was used to shopping online for dresses and pants in size 20/22 and shirts that were XXL! After I shopped, I went into Earth Fare (like Whole Foods) and as I was walking out with a cantelope, avocado, protein bars and Skinny Pop popcorn, I realized how natural this lifestyle has become for me. Of course I crave bread occasionally, but now I crave sashimi more. Straight up protein. I say it all the time, but this surgery is the best thing I've ever done for myself. Simply amazing. I hope to anyone reading this, that you are experiencing this same happiness!

I've joined recently and have liked posts of others and made comments here and there, but really just addicted to reading as much as I can to learn as much as I can. However I think you have demonstrated how worthwhile it might be to journal my own journey, especially from your previous post. I truly think I might give it at shot ( if I can work out how to start one! Lol) like you say I can reflect on it during any stage and maybe after I'm 1 year or more down track inspire someone like you have......

Currently my meals consist of a Protein shake (body fortress super advanced whet isolated) vanilla cream with coffee and two tablespoons of hazelnut creamer for Breakfast. For lunch I normally eat about 200-300 calories. I eat chicken, tuna creations, shrimp or steak. I normally like to get green veggies like broccoli, asparagus, or salad. My favor dressing for salad is Bolthouse Caesar yogurt dressing. My protein portions that I can eat for chicken or steak are about 4-6 oz. I normally have to eat steak very slow and small pieces or I will get full in about four bits. For dinner,I normally have chicken or tilapia (easy to cook) or a salad with grill veggies. I love eating lettuce wrap with chicken or pork. I tried tacos and substitute the corn shell with lettuce. Very good!!!

Regarding your question about Pasta, bread and grains. I can eat one slice of bread and half of a biscuit. I can eat about four bits of pasta. For pizza I can eat about one small slide of thin crust pizza and about half of pizza if it's pan. Being Hispanic it seemed that every dish consisted of rice. My family now eats brown rice and I can eat about four tablespoons of brown rice. However, I can eat couscous, and quinoa. I can also eat half of sweet potato baked or baked potaoes.

I can't drink any kind of carbonated drinks. Regarding sweets I try not to eat much sweets because it is full of empty calories (sugar and no protein). However, I have tried ice cream cone from McDonald and I could eat about half and then it made me sick. I tried dark chocolate and it also made me sick. I just stick to hot chocolate protein mix and that is good.

Veggies/fruit- I can eat very little carrots and watermelon or melon I just can't eat they make me sick. My sleeve likes any kind of berry and apple or pear.

let me know if you have any questions.

Dreamscometrue- I love hearing about your journey and reading your post. You inspire me when I have doubts on the surgery. I hope my surgery and recovery can go as well as yours.

Currently my meals consist of a protein shake (body fortress super advanced whet isolated) vanilla cream with coffee and two tablespoons of hazelnut creamer for breakfast. For lunch I normally eat about 200-300 calories. I eat chicken, tuna creations, shrimp or steak. I normally like to get green veggies like broccoli, asparagus, or salad. My favor dressing for salad is Bolthouse Caesar yogurt dressing. My protein portions that I can eat for chicken or steak are about 4-6 oz. I normally have to eat steak very slow and small pieces or I will get full in about four bits. For dinner,I normally have chicken or tilapia (easy to cook) or a salad with grill veggies. I love eating lettuce wrap with chicken or pork. I tried tacos and substitute the corn shell with lettuce. Very good!!! Regarding your question about pasta, bread and grains. I can eat one slice of bread and half of a biscuit. I can eat about four bits of pasta. For pizza I can eat about one small slide of thin crust pizza and about half of pizza if it's pan. Being Hispanic it seemed that every dish consisted of rice. My family now eats brown rice and I can eat about four tablespoons of brown rice. However, I can eat couscous, and quinoa. I can also eat half of sweet potato baked or baked potaoes. I can't drink any kind of carbonated drinks. Regarding sweets I try not to eat much sweets because it is full of empty calories (sugar and no protein). However, I have tried ice cream cone from McDonald and I could eat about half and then it made me sick. I tried dark chocolate and it also made me sick. I just stick to hot chocolate protein mix and that is good. Veggies/fruit- I can eat very little carrots and watermelon or melon I just can't eat they make me sick. My sleeve likes any kind of berry and apple or pear. let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to give specific examples of exactly what you can eat!!! Just another reason why I love journaling because I will always be able to come back and reference your post. You've also inspired me to make tacos tomorrow night for dinner with lettuce wraps instead. Sounds delish! I don't know what it is about I've cream, but I throw it up every time and I've only taken a max of 3 bites. I'm venturing into cantelope tonight so I hope that I don't get sick off of that. Oh, and I'm glad you gave me a head's up on the pizza because I haven't tried it yet, but there are several events coming up where pizza is the only option. Note to self- don't try and eat that in front of people! It would be pretty obvious, ha! If I think of other questions, I'll send them your way!

Hey everybody! I just wanted to give a quick 4 month check in since today is the big day! I'm down 72 lbs! In 4 months!!!! I'm so happy with my results and I just had my doctor's appointment a few days ago and they all seemed very pleased and kinda shocked with my numbers! I hadn't been to the doctor since my 1 month post op so I was excited to go! I was supposed to meet with the dietician at 2 and then my surgeon at 2:30, but I learned that apparently I don't get to see my doctor again until 18 months!! I think that's a little crazy but whatever. A few things: I'm horrible about taking my vitamins (ugh, I know...), I've stopped protein shakes and probably need to still get one in a day, and my hair is coming out like crazy!! I knew I should expect it; but HOLY CRAP! Not good at all! Also, I don't measure my food (because I know I don't eat too much) but I decided to tonight just to see. I couldn't even eat 2 oz of pulled pork ... About one bite short of 2 oz. I still can't get over it! Oh, and I no longer enjoy going out to eat with people (unless it's my husband or mom because those two know about my surgery) .... That would be the only downside to this entire surgery, and yes it's because I chose not to tell people and I still am so so so glad I didn't! I watch how other people get talked about behind their backs for having WLS and I don't need to worry about that crap! (Good for you if you never care one bit about what people think about you!) ha! Anyway, heading to bed and getting ready for a big weekend of seeing my husband's family who haven't seen me since Christmas so it should be interesting!!! Happy Easter, everyone!

Hi Dreamscometrue... Thank you for sharing your journey. I love reading your journal. I am a newbie. I have my first consultation on Tuesday.. Hopefully this process will move along quickly! I know it's been awhile since you have given an update, but how are you doing?