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So very excited and wanted to share my good news. Pre-Op appointment went great, passed the written test that my Dr. gives, lost the weight she required me to lose. Sooooooo, on December 12, 2012 at 12 noon I will be sleeved.

Hello fellow sleevers, I hope this blog finds you all well. I am almost 7 weeks out since my leak was confirmed to have healed. Yay. I should get clearance from my surgeon soon to start going to the gym which I think will help with my over fitness (or more to the point, lack thereof). Generally things continue to improve. I still struggle (some days more than others) with a faintly sick feeling and a gurgling in my tummy. This usually means I am not eating quite enough or regularly enough. The less I eat at a meal, the more frequently I have to eat - and that depends on the day. So this blog is about the stupid things I have done, repeatedly, since going back on normal foods. In no particular order (I decided not to rank my stupidity as these are all, quite frankly, ridiculous) are: Drinking soft drinks (soda): Okay so this is mostly my several attempts to drink soda water. I've had a little lemonade and coke but it's so sweet I only did this a few times before deciding it wasn't worth it. What I have been slower in giving up is soda water (sparkling water). I keep stupidly thinking something would change and it would be okay to drink soda water but I've finally realised (after several uncomfortable and frankly painful experiences) that I should leave it well enough alone. Duh. Eating Bread (of any kind): So being the genius that I am, I decided to try bread. I always feel kinda ill afterwards. And yet I continued to try it. White, multigrain, soft grains, wholemeal, sourdough...always left with the same feeling of discomfort and just generally a bit yuck. Thank goodness I have finally decided to LEAVE IT ALONE. Eggs: Oh little eggies, how I loved you before surgery. I could have eaten half a dozen of you little buggers preferably poached, although I wasn't all that choosy. Now you have turned on me and make me very VERY ill. I no longer try to come to some kind of understanding with you...sometimes when you love something, you must set it free. Bye little eggies...you will be missed. Milk: Another before surgery love. Now, to highlight my stupidity, I need to give a teensy bit of background - I am Lactose Intolerant. Have been for years. And depsite this, I would guzzle a 750mL Iced Coffee three times a day. Yes I'd get the runs. Yes, I'd feel pretty darn sick. But I'd still do it. Post-surgery, I am lucky to be able to have the lactose free milk on my cereal for breakfast. Milk (of any kind) makes me sick. As does icecream which is just wrong. No more yummy iced coffee's or frappe's. Gone for good... Although it is taking me a while to work out what my sleeve needs, I feel I am making progress. It's slow. But I am learning to listen to what my body is telling me. Quick weight update - I am 40 kg down from my surgery weight And this Monday (03.12.12) is offically 3 months since the initial surgery date. I am really happy with my weight loss so far and hope to lose another 5kg before Christmas. Hope this finds you all well, sleevers! Talk soon, Lila

Finally, my insurance approved my surgery! Pre-Op diet starts Wednesday December 5, 2012 and surgery date is schedules December 17, 2012. Im very excited, but also super nervous and maybe just a little scared. Im not scared or nervous for the surgery. I know this will all go very good, but i'm afraid once I start losing weight that I am not going to know what to with myself. Will I even know how to act as my body changes? My starting weight when I made the decision to look in to lap band was 240lbs, the most I have ever been in my life. I am 25 years old and finally realized I was tired of living my life the way I was. After the month diet for insurance purposes I lost 20 lbs and now weigh 216 lbs. I am hoping i lose the 16lbs during the pre-op diet so i am that much closer to my goal weight 135. I can't wait!

Be careful in your selection do not choose too young and take only such as have been reared in a good moral atmosphere. Some wives insist on keeping husbands in a pickle, while others put them in hot water. This only makes them sour, hard, and sometimes bitter. Even poor varieties may be made sweet and good by garnishing them with patience, well-sweetened with smiles and flavored with kisses to taste. Keep warm in a steady fire of domestic devotion and serve with peaches and cream. When thus preserved, they will keep for years. This is from Carla Emery’s book The Encyclopedia of Country Living.

OK, so I'm 26 days post op, and I'm finding that I can't eat very much before I feel full, and I don't have much of an appetite either! I think I must be going through another healing stage, or something? Water goes down great, but anything else I try to eat, I can only eat like one egg with cheese, or a small amount of soup. Did anybody else go through this at about a month out? Also my weight has slowed down too! I was losing 1 pound a DAY for the first two weeks, now it's like I'm staying the same. I know I'm not suppose to weigh everyday, but I'm so anxious to get my weight off! My husband's Christmas party for his shop is on the 15th, and I want to be down as much as possible. I can't wait until I'm like 6 months out, so I'll be passed all these food issues, or at least I hope I will. I have Celiac, so I have that to deal with too. I have to stay away from anything with gluten in it, or man do I get sick!

I have been doing my reading, research, and starting to stock "My Cupboard". I am mostly packed for the hospital. I have cleaned out my whole wardrobe of "ugly" clothes and put aside my "too small" clothes for later. I am still really EXCITED about the surgery. I am also emotional! Everything that is a distraction in my life is wearing on my nerves. I am finally taking the time to take care of myself and I resent all the petty stuff that is distracting me. I just want to be relaxed and focused. Even working out I feel frustrated. At first I loved working out but the more I am "pushed" out of my comfort zone...ie until I am going to vomit. The more I don't want to be around them. So, I am going to try a couple of sessions at the gym by myself. I am hoping that this moodiness is just PMS and nerves. Ughhh.

So last week (week of Thanksgiving) was a crazy week because I went home to Arkansas to spend time with family... First off it was super fun...My daugther is having my first glam-baby and I got a chance to see my glam-baby on the ultrasound. We also had the baby shower the Saturday following Thanksgiving and it was fab as well..Okay I could go on and on about that because I am so happy but that is for another blog.. Well it was the first time any of my family had seen me since surgery and only my mom and daughter knew I had surgery...For the most part everyone had good things to say...My aunt and cousin jokingly called me a "crackhead" or a "cancer patient" as they said I was so small...They aint seen small yet...I got more pounds to lose before hitting my goal...As many of us VSG folk probably was, I was nervous about how I would be around so much food...good southern homemade food....Not to mention all the eateries that are my "have" to go to list when I am home...Admittedly, I did eat more carbs and sweets overall than I have eaten on any day since surgery. However, it was in such small quantity that I did not beat myself up about it. Instead, I just was more conscious about my calorie burn. I do not recall if I mentioned previously but I renewed my subscription to the bodybugg again. I am amazed of how much more efficient my body has become on a reduced calorie diet and less weight. Before the surgery and without any exercise I would burn 2500 calories a day doing just normal activity. Now, I am at 2000 calories a day...While in Arkansas I made sure to hit 2500 mark so I could burn off the extra calories I took on by indulging in cake and dips. In the end I only lost 0.8lbs te week of Thanksgiving. It is actually more than I had on my projected weight loss chart. I said I would lose nothing so I count it as a victory. Things have bounced back this week and I lost 2lbs. I am happy with that but I would like to get my weekly loss up to about 3lbs a week. I am going to get back on my workout regime as I fell all the way off these past 3 weeks. If I am to be running ( I mean running...now walking) a half marathon on June 1st, I need to be in the full swing of daily running like yesterday... And for the not so good...I have had some awesome victories since having my sleeve...My best NSV when I was in Arkansas is I wore my daughter size Large Monkey Suit (Onesie). I have wanted one of those for about two years but could not find one big enough...Well now I can wear a Junior Large...I also bought a Junior Large pair of Yoga pants from Kohls during after Thanskgiving sale...Another big moment...I wish I would have taken a pic with them on because even I must say I think I looked "skinny"..a relative term indeed but it was a skinny moment for me...And the oh girl you are gorgeous...girl you fine comments are coming...oh how I love my sleeve...I guess the best part is not the comments themselves but I actually feel pretty again... But oh back to the bad...My hair has started coming out in chunks...It is so thin...I am wearing hair make-up every day to color in my sides and I have to wear full and half wigs as my hair is so thin in the front. I have been wanting to cut it short anyway but I wanted to do that on my own time...Now entire otherwise healthy strings are hair is just all over the bathroom floor and sink with the slightest comb or brushing...I keep telling myself my doctor has said there are no bald weight loss patients...It will come back and I guess the good thing is when it comes back all the relaxer will be off and I can go naturally curly and short as I wanted to do anyways... I have an Ormin body fat monitor and previous to surgery it said my body fat (bf) was very high about 40.8%..I notice a couple of weeks ago, it now simply says high and now I am 34% bf. That and with some inspiration from my sleeve buddy I decided my next big goal was to get to a healthy bf and bmi. For my height that is 164lbs for a healthy BMI...Hopefully, with the workouts the bf comes on down as well...In the meantime, my interim goal is to be 175lb by Christmas...Gotta put in work to make it happen. I am posting some swim suit progress shots against my better judgement given this is the internet..but I want to give an honest reflection of me...Its hard to hide the flab in a two piece... Beware the photos are horrible but they are becoming less horrible as the months pass. Excuse the blur in the photo and that the distance the photos were taken were not exactly the same but I still think they reflect the 45lb weight loss... Until next week all.... HW 232 & SW 227 (VSG 08/17/12 & 5'8) LW 188.8 Week 14 Weight - 188.2 CW 186.2 [Total Weight Loss 43.2lbs] GW 155 [31.2lbs until Goal]

On June 1,2010 I had the Gastric Sleeve done down 60 lbs and then BAM!!!!! Galbladder had to be removed and had infection issues, then had a knee injury that after months of medical care still required sugery. After enduring all of that I had to deal with the fact that my window to lose more weight was closed. Despite my efforts my yo yo weight loss and gain started all over again. Down 10lbs up 10lbs. Feeling like a TOTAL failure I finally agreed to the Gactric Bypass. Surgery is 6 days away and I keep going from completly calm to a nervous wreack. I'm going to document every step of this journey. Didn't do it for the first one and it is hard for me to see any weight loss that I had. This time around I'm going to be kinder to myself and see my journey step by step. I wish everyone who is on this path the best of luck and a speedy recovery.

Well I'm now 3 weeks post-op, and I went in to my nutritional appointment at my sleeve doctor's office this morning. I now get to add eggs, cottage cheese, low fat cheeses, fish, canned chicken, tuna fish, beans(like black beans, kidney beans, soy beans) I can also have chili, and soups with beans now! It seems so great to be able to have more variety of things to eat! I was so sick of protein shakes, yogurt, and the few other things I could only have for the passed 5 weeks! At least at Christmas time I will get even more choices by then too. I have been feeling better day by day, and my 5 incisions are almost completely healed now as well. I have lost a total of 69 pounds now since last April 2012 when I started my weight loss journey, and I have lost 15 more pounds since my sleeve surgery 3 weeks ago. I'm running out of clothes that fit me, because most are way to big for me now! What a great feeling to have clothes that a TO BIG! LOL I actually had to give my little sister some of my old clothes, because she wears 26 W like I use to wear. I'm now in a size 20 W, and it won't be long I'll be in a size 18 W. I'm hoping I will wear an 18 by my husband's shop Christmas party December 15TH, and get me a new outfit to wear to the Christmas party. Last Christmas I went to the shop party wearing a size 26/28 W, 3 piece black pant suit. I was so self conscience the whole time at the party that I couldn't really enjoy myself. I looked around and thought, "I'm probably the fattest one here"! I couldn't wait to leave the party that night! This year I'm hoping my weight loss will help my self esteem, and I can enjoy myself with my husband this year. I have to get me an outfit that I feel good in, pretty, and allot thinner in. :wub: Better, healthier, thinner days are a head of me now, and I can't wait!

Soooooooooooooooo close to my first goal weight!!! I'm only 3.4 lbs away! But I'm soooooo happy to still be going down in weight! Sometimes I fear getting out of bed to weigh myself, afraid I might be disappointed like I did in my previous fat kid life, but this sleeve has changed me so much. I see the scale going down, and I'm just so incredibly thankful. Even though I'm not dropping big numbers, every little bit counts, and I'd rather be going down than up!! Tomorrow marks my 3 month surgi-versary and I will be taking my monthly photo's in my bikini like I've done every previous month and I'm nervous. I hate that bikini right now- it's still not my friend. But I know that with progress there are pains, and I need to document this journey as thoroughly as possible so that when I reach where I'm going, I can look back and say never again. So everyone stay tuned! Tomorrow there will be 3 month surgi-versary pictures! Height: 5'9 Highest (Surgery) Weight: 216 1st Primary Goal Weight: 169 2nd Optimal Goal Weight: 145 Sleeve Journey: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 8/17/12- PreOp/Surgery Day w/Pics Posted in Blog Week 1 (8/24): 204.8 (-11.2) Week 2 (8/31): 200.6 (-4.2) Week 3 (9/7): 196.8 (-3.8) Week 4 (9/14): 193.5 (-3.3) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 9/17/12- 1 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-22.5 lbs) Week 5 (9/21): 191.6 (-1.9) Week 6 (9/28): 190.1 (-1.5) Week 7 (10/5): 187.0 (-3.1) Week 8 (10/12): 181.9 (-5.1) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> 10/17/12- 2 Month Anniversary w/Pics Posted in Blog (-11.6 lbs) Week 9 (10/19): 181.4 (-.5) Week 10 (10/26): 177.9 (-3.5) Week 11 (11/02): 176.8 (-1.1) Week 12 (11/09): 174.7 (-2.1) Week 13 (11/16): 173.3 (-1.4)