I'm scheduled for the sleeve procedure October 6th. I'm nervous, and excited at the same time. I have wanted this for a long time and now that it's happening, I feel that it seems too good to be true. I can't imagine myself weighing under 200 lbs! Did anyone else have issues with this? Tell me I'm normal lol

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Hi.

Just read your post. If you've been heavy all your life of course it's normal. You not being able to picture yourself thin. I lost 96 pounds 4 years ago, naturally, I was at my all time low of 149. I would walk by a mirror and think that can't be me. I have since gained back 60. I had sleeve surgery Monday the 15th. Can't wait to get it back. You will do great.

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I have been heavy since graduating high school. Then after having my daughter in 2013, I was diagnosed with lupus and was on prednisone everyday for 2 years. That's when I really ballooned up. I didn't weigh what I do now when I was 9 mths pregnant!! I can't wait, just nervous!!!

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You're normal !!

I still have a hard time believing that I'm no longer fat, I look in the mirror and don't recognize myself.. When I run into people and they call me skinny or little I have to look at them like their crazy!!

But it's a great feeling , one you will love .. Good luck to you!!

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I'm experiencing it too. It's hard to look in the mirror and realize that it's really me in this skin.

Never thought I'd get here, can't believe that I am but enjoying every minute!!

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I'm about a month short of being 3- years post-op, and while I have adjusted to the fact that I feel like I'm fairly average sized, periodically someone who never knew me as being fat will call me small, which makes me laugh a little on the inside. I'm still not small by any means, but sometimes even now, I forget I'm not still the fat girl.

Then I go shopping and all of the clothing fits and I feel much better, haha.

@@AvaFern I would be willing to bet you are actually small!

My start weight was 330 and I achieved my goal of 200 and still saw a fat person in the mirror... Strange how the mind works sometimes... You're very normal and you'll do great!

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Thanks everyone! I'm glad I'm not alone!!

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I had the lap band years ago, lost a lot of weight, got down to a 22-23 BMI.... and even then i couldn't imagine myself small!! It took a good 2 years for my brain to realise i was slim! Even when people comment that i was tiny, i didn't believe i was truly that slim.

I remember just before i was sleeved, i saw this girl with a really nice body who was a similar build to mine , i had said to my friend, i would love one day to get that slim, my friend said... uh, you were thinner than her!

So even when my brain caught up, obviously i still thought i was bigger than i was.

Yep. Totally. I lost 100 pounds and am in a size I haven't been since school. I still have a hard time believing it and that I could get even smaller. It's so hard to wrap my brain around

I'm with you I been big my whole life and can't even start to picture me being smaller

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I had the lap band years ago, lost a lot of weight, got down to a 22-23 BMI.... and even then i couldn't imagine myself small!! It took a good 2 years for my brain to realise i was slim! Even when people comment that i was tiny, i didn't believe i was truly that slim.

I remember just before i was sleeved, i saw this girl with a really nice body who was a similar build to mine , i had said to my friend, i would love one day to get that slim, my friend said... uh, you were thinner than her!

So even when my brain caught up, obviously i still thought i was bigger than i was.

Hi AussieGirl - what happened with the lap band? You had sleeve surgery so just wondering why the band didn't work?

I did before I had the surgery, even though I had lost 80 something pounds before my surgery which was almost a month ago. I've lost 20 pounds post op in three weeks and 2 days which makes an over a hundred pound weight loss and NOW after surgery my brain is able to see my losses very well but I think that's due to the weight dropping quickly.

I had the lap band years ago, lost a lot of weight, got down to a 22-23 BMI.... and even then i couldn't imagine myself small!! It took a good 2 years for my brain to realise i was slim! Even when people comment that i was tiny, i didn't believe i was truly that slim.

I remember just before i was sleeved, i saw this girl with a really nice body who was a similar build to mine , i had said to my friend, i would love one day to get that slim, my friend said... uh, you were thinner than her!

So even when my brain caught up, obviously i still thought i was bigger than i was.

Hi AussieGirl - what happened with the lap band? You had sleeve surgery so just wondering why the band didn't work?

I had the lap band and it failed after a few years, it kept playing up, everything would get stuck, even Water.. i started getting really bad pain near the port site.. i had port replacement and a band change and it was still causing issues, so i asked them to take it out... i couldn't live with the pain any longer as well as starving because nothing would stay down.

I waited 12 months.. and during that time i gained weight, even though i was eating well and exercising, i had my metabolism tested and because of the complications i had reset my metabolism to a low point, so the doctor suggested that i get the sleeve to enable me to stay at that lower rate without being hungry... basically i can not go above 800 calories for life without gaining.

It sucks.. and i might never get back down to my original weight... but i am finally losing... i am a slow loser, but i am hoping ill get there eventually.

This is why i always advise people to increase their calories and not to starve themselves, because it can really screw up your metabolism.

I had the lap band years ago, lost a lot of weight, got down to a 22-23 BMI.... and even then i couldn't imagine myself small!! It took a good 2 years for my brain to realise i was slim! Even when people comment that i was tiny, i didn't believe i was truly that slim.

I remember just before i was sleeved, i saw this girl with a really nice body who was a similar build to mine , i had said to my friend, i would love one day to get that slim, my friend said... uh, you were thinner than her!

So even when my brain caught up, obviously i still thought i was bigger than i was.

Hi AussieGirl - what happened with the lap band? You had sleeve surgery so just wondering why the band didn't work?

I had the lap band and it failed after a few years, it kept playing up, everything would get stuck, even Water.. i started getting really bad pain near the port site.. i had port replacement and a band change and it was still causing issues, so i asked them to take it out... i couldn't live with the pain any longer as well as starving because nothing would stay down.

I waited 12 months.. and during that time i gained weight, even though i was eating well and exercising, i had my metabolism tested and because of the complications i had reset my metabolism to a low point, so the doctor suggested that i get the sleeve to enable me to stay at that lower rate without being hungry... basically i can not go above 800 calories for life without gaining.

It sucks.. and i might never get back down to my original weight... but i am finally losing... i am a slow loser, but i am hoping ill get there eventually.

This is why i always advise people to increase their calories and not to starve themselves, because it can really screw up your metabolism.

That sucks - I keep hearing of people on here having to get revisions to sleeve. I don't think I could deal with the lapband, simply because of the maintenance on it, and the port. Then again, the sleeve is permanent - no going back. I'm about 90% there when it comes to getting used to that idea - I too am a slow loser. Always was and in fact the ONLY way in my life that I could keep my weight down at all, was to work out 6-7 days a week, most days 2+ hours at high intensity, and eat 1200-1400 calories, even with all that exercise. If I stopped for a day or two for some reason - lbs were coming back on - that quickly. And once you marry and have kids, there just is not the time to maintain that kind of rigorous schedule obviously. I could eat better than I do, eat regularly cause I don't, diet AGAIN - but I just will not go through that again and then gain it all back again +extra. So I've put on more weight. Maybe it was you in here that said to keep increasing your calories after the sleeve to a point where you can top off at 1200-1400 cals per day? Otherwise you're stuck at low cals forever. It's encouraging to hear that you're losing again though!