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Your awsome girl.... Its no wonder I always liked that game

Start taking pictures of yourself in the same outfit every month...then you can compare side to side...and you will see the differences for sure. 70lbs is a lot of weight! I do agree with Melissa also...if this continues seek help. Those thoughts can lead to depression and then to other things. I see a psychologist monthly (because I was a binge eater). I love going actually...good insight, someone to talk to etc. And it is always the case....where you see yourself every day so it is hard to see the changes...where as someone who might see you once a week...the changes are more prominent to them. But you have done awesome!!!

This is my personal blog, not a community thread, I can say what I like here.

Wow, those are a lot of questions, lol! I will try and answer some of them for you about how my experience went (and how my life is 10 months later). Basically, your surgeon will schedule you once they know how they're going to get paid. So either through insurance approval coming through or you figuring out how to pay a lump sum. Then, at some point before surgery you will go on the pre-op liquid diet. I was really worried about this but it was actually amazingly easy. I really enjoyed the way my body felt on the liquid diet. Very light and bouncy! When you go to the hospital on surgery day you will be taken to pre-op and scrubbed and gowned and at some point they will give you an injection to help you relax. At this point you're not going to care whats going on around you! Then they wheel you into surgery and put a drug into your IV and before you can count to 3 you're out like a light and then waking up in post-op. Post-op anesthesia recovery is different for everyone but I get really cold, get the shakes, and a bit queasy. I've had surgery before and have had that reaction so I let them know before hand and they had lots of warm blanquets and medicine for me. I'm not going to lie, you had surgery so you will have some sort of discomfort but I personally didn't find it to be that bad. Plus I was hooked up to a pain pump for 2 days and found that it managed my discomfort easily. As for worrying about your husband and his meals, I would recommend just cooking a bunch of stuff for him and putting it in the freezer so he can just reheat it. I know that after I was back on solid food I really just kind of stuck to eggs, cheese and tuna fish for awhile because I wasn't interested in food. My stomach was also VERY picky about what it would tolerate and it was definitely a trial figuring it out. I still can't eat some foods that my doctor recommended (yogurt) and that I used to love. It's strange but my taste buds have definitely changed! It is hard to get used to drinking because at first you really have to sip constantly throughout the day, even if you dont want to. I swear my water bottle was glued to my hand for the first few months. Now, 10 months later I can drink bigger amounts so it makes it easier. I still can't gulp water like I used to, but I can actually drink like a regular person. My weight loss was very, very fast for the first six months and then it slowed down which, for me, was good both mentally and physically. I had, and have, a bit of loose skin that will show up when I drop weight quickly in a small amount of time (Ex: 10 lbs in one week during a nasty case of pneumonia) but it has tightened back up every time for me. I haven't had buyers remorse at all, nor have a grieved for what I've given up. Yeah, it was a huge change and sometimes it was hard to deal with mentally but I've always kept in mind that I've gained much more than I've lost (no pun intended). I now run, yoga, kickbox, climb, zipline, ride fair rides, date and do a variety of other 'normal' activities...which means more to me than being able to eat a cheeseburger and fries. I've also kept one pair of my old size 24 jeans and whenever I get down during a stall I just slip those bad boys on and laugh that I now can fit both legs into ONE of the jean legs. You just have to look on the bright side! Plus, and to be honest...once the surgery is done, it's done and there is really no going back. Regretting something that you can't change is a recipe for having a miserable life. I just made sure that all my mental ducks were in a row before I went under the knife and that I had a good support system in place for when I did get stressed out. Everyone is different but I wouldn't trade the life that I live now for anything, and would go through it all again if I had to. Hopefully this helped some, and good luck with your journey!

Grace you do a great job on this board. There are just so many people here that just can't handle or accept what is the truth. Its hard to change ways that have become so ingrained that to them they see only see normal. Their view of "support" on this board and many others is some type of absolution. They want to be socially accepted for their failures without having to face the hard reality that they can't make the changes needed for success. From my time here, I've seen a lot of people that haven't reconciled their relationship with food and why they are the way they are. They come here and want easy-peasy, warm and fuzzy and if I screw up, well I'm still a great person. I think that you pulling back the covers and exposing this the way you do is what is needed on this board. This is serious stuff and you can't go through the process and not make significant lifestyle changes and expect to be successful. There seems to be a fair amount of mental preparation in this process that gets completely overlooked. I see that every day I visit here, with the questions about alcohol, eating a week after surgery and the general complaints about the pre-op diets ,people simply aren't ready or are unwilling to commit to the changes they need to be successful. Of course people will fail at this, mess up, eat what they shouldn't and so on, we all do, but coming here to gain absolution seems just asinine. Support comes in all sizes and forms. For those that get upset when they hear something that might be unpleasant, or isn't what they wanted to hear is equally foolish. I urge to you keep up the good work, you are doing a lot of good. I know that you might have to get the Kevlar socks out every now and again, but what you are doing is part of the whole process of support, the good the bad, the truth and the fluff. To the poster that wanted you go off can create your own rant group, well...If you do, I would be the first one to sign up. At least I can tell the difference from what is real and what isn't. Hang tough Grace!

Oh and I meant to say - some people just don't want to hear the truth and that's some of the mentality that probably got them to the weight where they needed surgery to correct it.

thanks for the rant, I am one month out and yesterday I made a mistake, my first ever mistake, I cried so hard last night, I was ashamed of my self. I panicked . I now understand that I am human, it IS possible to make a mistake and it's up to me to check my self or wreck my self... me and nobody else.. my mistake you ask? I smoked a boston butt for my husband, took it off the grill and picked off the fatty crispy skin and ate it... I felt soooooooo sick and soooooooooooo sorry... NEVER AGAIN. a new day, a new dawn, and I'm feeling gooood

It's probably best to just keep it moving and never look back, you seem smart, you'll do fine. I am a married lady but my hubster wasn't really 100% on board with this surgery and I was mostly on my own, he hasn't given me a lot of support with this other than obvious things like picking me up, taking me to appointments and whatnot and I'm sure a lovely lady like yourself has a friend or two you can count on for a ride should you need it. Emotionally, this site has been really helpful for me, I get to talk to other people who relate on a deeper level. I love my husband and in some ways we are really close, but his weight problem is not NEARLY as severe as mine, and I think the man just doesnt get it. So, not to make it about me or anything, but I just say this to let you know, even though it doesnt always appear this way, I lot of us are far more isolated than it appears.

Thank you for the summary of your visit. This was very helpful. My weight loss has stalled as well. I have bargained with myself to put the scale away for now. Now I just need to do it.

Well stated! I like the analogy about food commercials. You are so right! Love your soap box!