Brand new member, brand new sleeve!

[Hammer_Down 631]

Hello all!

None of you know who I am, but I know many of you from obsessively reading your posts, trials and success stories for the past several months. I'd like to thank everyone who puts themselves out there to the broader public to educate us about this procedure and many of the bumps in the road.

Like many of you, I have struggled with my weight for most of my life, starting in adolescence. Despite assurances from my friends and family that I looked fine, and that I wasn't really fat (just a little fat, I guess) I was never at a weight where I felt truly confident in my own skin. More importantly, I never truly felt that I was fulfilling my physical capabilities. I excelled at sports when I was younger, but I could recognize even then that my weight was holding me back from taking it to the next level.

Jump ahead 15 years (I am 32 now) and my "normal" fluctuations of weight went from about 20 lbs (I stayed between 185-205 for most of a decade) to more like 60lbs (getting as high as 250, doing Keto for 2 years and getting down to 150, only to gradually start gaining back to 250. I work as a long haul truck driver, and although I don't indulge myself at most truck stops, the sheer lack of physical activity is certainly part of my weight issue now.

After maintaining this new (disappointing) weight, I decided it was time to avail myself of every tool in the box. During a very drunken conversation with an old friend, she said that I she couldn't lose her excess 120lbs by her birthday, she was just "gonna get the gastric surgery". This sent me searching for more information, and one of the sites I found was this one.

Never one to say or do things I don't mean, I ended up researching the process with my mind set on making it happen. Unfortunately, in my part of Canada, the wait is very long (more than 5 years, start to finish) and at a BMI of 36, there was no hope I would be approved. I could never afford $20000USD+ to have it done south of the border, so I contacted A Lighter Me and got the ball rolling.

I just had my surgery last week, I am 6 days post-op and just got back home today. I feel prepared for some of the challenges coming my way, and hope that I can be of some help to someone else who is out there, reading this and trying to decide what to do.

Thanks for reading!

[tapgirl 37]

Hi, I relate to your story and wish you luck now you are 6 days out I am getting sleeved this coming Saturday. It is indeed a commitment to a better and healthier life.

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[pixiesleeve 55]

8 mo out and it deffinately feels good to be healthy.

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[teedsg 250]

Congratulations! Glad you're doing well!

[Hammer_Down 631]

Thanks for the well wishes.

I am very happy with my success so far, down 44lbs in 49 days.

I am only home once every 7 days, so there is no way I can do daily weighs and get hung up if I haven't lost a lb here or a lb there. That helps eliminate a common source of stress I read a lot about on here.

I keep bracing myself for the inevitable stalls that will happen. I am following a modified post op plan that is truly ketogenic, and hopeful that will help me build muscle and lose fat as it has in the past.

[adriant 109]

Congratulations, keep with the programme that you have been given. If you have a stall day drop back a few days on you programme, it does get easier and watch the new you appear. Bust of luck.

Sent from my HTC 10 using the BariatricPal App

[Hammer_Down 631]

Congratulations, keep with the programme that you have been given. If you have a stall day drop back a few days on you programme, it does get easier and watch the new you appear. Bust of luck.

Sent from my HTC 10 using the BariatricPal App

I should say that everything I eat is approved on my plan, but I do not eat everything my plan approves.

I stayed away from sugar free substitute food, frankenfoods, juices and sports drinks of all kinds. Basically, if I can't pronounce and define the ingredients on the label - I'm not eating it.

Over the years I spent countless hours turning every can of vegetables or sauces around and reading the labels, and I finally accept that Condiments and salad dressings are a lost cause.

It means my food choices are pretty limited, but the point of trying to forge a new relationship with food for me is breaking my attachments to food.