Two Year Surgiversary

[want2bthin 93]

Beans, no carbs for the first six month - even nuts. What do I eat today? Anything I want.... just still small quantities. And I do have to admit that I should not eat as much sugar as I do now but I'm having no trouble maintaining so really just am keeping an eye on it and will absolutely return to my post op diet if needed.

What could/should I have done better? Absolutely #1 would be I should have done some strength training and exercised more. The loose skin is much worse than I expected it would be - so to those who feel they are losing slowly consider it a benefit that your skin won't be as saggy. I look like an 80 year old woman underneath (I'm 54). To be honest my tummy is the best of the 3 saggy areas - tummy, thighs and arms. My arms are by far the worst; I had larger than usual upper arms all of my life - inherited from generations on my mothers side. When I consider plastic surgery that is really the only part I definitely want to address. My tummy is always covered; my thighs are most of the time; when I wear a bathing suit I still wear shorts over it - which is what I did when I was heavy so no change there. I also should have done a better job of consistently using skin firming cream - I think it would have helped more. My favorite is Jergen's Skin Firming - it does a nice job and costs no more than any other lotion - and even less than most.

What do I feel I did right? I was absolutely faithful in sticking to my surgeon's post op diet. Having failed at the Lapband I was overly determined to succeed. I never want to feel the way I felt as a failed Lapband patient again - seriously! I did make sure that I exercised regularly while the weight was coming off. I used a Fitbit - I tracked my food every day on MyFitnessPal. Those were both invaluable tools. I came to coin my 'eating plan' that worked best for me as the '40/60/100' plan. What I found was that if I ate less than 40 carbs a day, 60g+ of Protein and drank 100oz+ of Water, I lost consistently every week.

I regularly read these forums as well as obesityhelp.com. I have met many new friends here - mostly virtual but even some in person. One has really become a very close friend which has been great. Another started a separate Facebook group for those of us who had surgery from January through March 2012 and it is just an incredible group of women (and one man) across a wide range of ages, though mostly younger than me - and we have become so close and been there for each other. The great thing was that as we were coming down we were going through the same stages of the post op diet and the associated challenges, successes, emotions, etc. I would highly encourage others to start or belong to a similar group after you have your surgery.

Well I really need to wrap this up now so I don't start putting people to sleep.....

To those of you embarking on this journey - I wish you much success. If you are still trying to choose which surgery you should have it goes without saying that I absolutely 100% recommend VSG and already had Lapband so learn from my experience.

To those of you who just had surgery - hang in there - the first four weeks were the worst. It really does get better... and better and better. Stick to your Dr.'s orders. Do not test foods you know you shouldn't eat to see if you can eat them - that was one of the major mistakes that I made with the Lapband.

To those of you farther out and struggling - go back to your roots - try your post op diet again - or my 40/60/100 plan for a week... hopefully it will give you the jumpstart you need.

And to the many people in this group (well really from the old verticalsleevetalk.com group) who encouraged me and led by their example - please accept my sincere THANKS!!! for sharing your experience and encouraging me throughout my journey.

Susie (2.0

• 4

Band2Sleever, kazzygal, Denisepr and 1 other reacted to this

[cherbear33 288]

Congratulations on your journey & with maintaining! !! You have been so blessed & have done a fantastic job!!!

[tipp2 1]

I'm in the middle of choosing a surgery and your story was so helpful and encouraging thank you so much

[Shells_Almost_There 357]

Very inspirational - thanks for coming back and posting!

[Chelenka 827]

Suzie 2.0! Thanks so much for your post! You are AWESOME!!!!

[NothingUpMySleeve 244]

What a great story! You look tiny!

[tahtah 2]

I absolutely enjoyed your entry and it came at a good time. I jotted down helpful thoughts and tips you shared. My surgery is next Monday, 3/24. I am happy, scared, nervous, excited, and sad a little too. So many emotions, and so much hard work to do. Truly though, I am looking forward to this journey.

Thanks again for the wonderful post. I was a breath of fresh air.

-Tasha

[butterfyeffect 257]

Wow! What an inspiration you are!! And what a really fantastic idea to save the clothes I wear my "before" pictures in, so I can wear them again for my "after" pictures. I can't wait!