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I can cross my legs while sitting. I stood up at church to pray, bowed my head and realized that all I could see was my boobs....no belly sticking out further than my boobs! The steering wheel can be lowered while I drive. I walked 3/4 of a mile today without panting and thinking I was having a heart attack. I make still look like Shamu but I am feeling like Flipper!

Hi Everyone, I am watching Dr. Oz right now and the show's subject is Toxic Love. Very interesting about what loved ones do to each other when they have health issues. Dieting together, a mother telling her daughter, you're fat etc. and cooking the wrong foods. Right now is a couple and the wife wears an insulin pump and the husband cooks all the wrong foods. The therapist is trying to help all the people. Great show. I know of people like that, that make and feed the wrong foods to the diabetic, the WLS person, like all of us etc. Who is the the toxic person in your life? Mine is ME!!!!!!

I wasn't expecting to write any type of entry for week two, but this week has a big impact on my thought process. Losing 22lbs in week 1 was amazing. I felt great! On top of the world! Ready to jump-start my new life! ...And then, it stopped. On day #7 the scale stopped moving. Now, I've researched this surgery soooo much and knew this was very likely. It seems many people have a stall around week 2-3. I thought I was prepared for this strange phenomena... But I was wrong. I had so many doubts this week. Would I ever lose the weight? Am I doing everything I'm supposed to do? Did I just have surgery to lose 22lbs? It was a terrible week. And then I realized... This is completely normal. Not only not losing weight is normal, but also all these feeling are normal as well. It's easy to get discouraged when things don't go your way. It's easy to get angry or sad... But that's what this journey is about- it's about a fight to a better you. A physically better you AND an emotionally better you. It's about strength, determination, and learning. To all you who are discouraged and down this week, pick up the pieces and keep on keeping on. This is all part of your story- the ups AND the downs. There are many times we will feel this way, down and depressed, but we just have to pick ourselves up, dust off, sip some water, and walk it off.

Happy Independence Day to all my American followers! Ah, another holiday brimming with awesome BBQs, cold beer and delectable desserts. A regular fat ass nightmare. And it's on a Thursday. Which means 4 days of ducking and dodging hot dogs, hamburgers, fries and ice cream. Not to mention Al. C. Hall. (That's alcohol for you new readers.) He's always the first to be invited to every party. After all, a party without Al is really more of a church meeting. I will have to be extra cautious this week. We can't have Johnny taking a dive off the food truck. (That's the fat ass version of the wagon.) Today's rant answers the "when did you know" question. I have touched on this in the past, but maybe you're ready for a clearer understanding. For years now, I have been asked "when did you first notice you were over weight"? It's on every medical history you fill out for any doctor and always asked by the over-active metabolism crowd. Here's my best answer. Had I the capacity of cognitive thinking, I would have noticed at age 6 months or so when mom had to move me in to the "chubby baby" size diapers. Unfortunately I was too distracted at the time by the creepy stuffed bear that kept staring at me and that horrendous mobile thing constantly twirling above my head playing the same song over and over again. I was too traumatized to realize I was busting out of my skinny diapers. If only I could have read the "New Chubby Baby Size" blurb on the diaper box. Who knows? Maybe I would have started on low cal Gerber's. In blissful denial, I moved into my early childhood. We all know I had to wear man size cub scout pants with three feet cut off the legs. And yes, we know I was further traumatized when my ass knocked over the stacked milk cartons in grammar school. I talked about those incidents in earlier posts. But there were other signs that my blissful denial refused to let me see. As I grew older (and wider), I used to try on shirts with the "HUSKY" tag on the sleeve. I always got mad when they took the that tag off. I thought it was a cool logo. Like the alligator or the swoosh. I could never fit in the shirts with the little penguin. I should have known then I had an issue. Another sign I should have picked up on was my inability to comfortably fit in the normal child desk provided to me by my school. Remember the desk with the attached chair with the top that hinged open forward? Every other kid had no problem lifting that lid and getting to their books and supplies. My expanding ass and belly prevented me from using this desk as designed. I had to carefully slide off the chair, open the lid and then carefully slide back in. In hindsight, I think I should have took the hint. There were other signs that I ignored along my pudgy path. One of the last glowing signs I remember came when I went to join the pee wee football league. I showed up at the designated time with all the proper paperwork and was ready to start my football career. Unfortunately, there was a weigh in and I failed. I was rejected by the pee wee football team because I was too "husky". WTF? How can a guy be too fat to play football? Bottom line is they were afraid I would smush the little kids when I jumped on the tackle pile. I ended up playing for a fat ass kid's league three towns over. Another hint missed. I didn't just wake up one day and discover I had an elephant size ass and a hippo's stomach. I've know since my bottle sucking days that I was well above average in the girth department. Obviously I should have started getting serious about weight loss then. I may have been able to avoid going to Uncle Vito's Big & Tall for my prom tuxedo. See ya soon. P.S My official Fitbit scale says I have dropped 35 pounds of blubber since April 9th. 50 more to go. Reprinted from my blog. Stop on by for a chuckle. http://thedeconstruc...y.blogspot.com/

I had a pretty rough night last night and a rough morning this morning. I haven't been able to sleep well the past two nights due to pain and I don't even know what. I will sleep for maybe 4 hours and then wake up, wide awake for no reason or wake up with port pain. I took my dog for a 20 minute slow walk yesterday, ran some errands in the car and I think I just overdid it. It felt good to be out and about, but yesterday evening and this morning I was paying for it. I Have spent the day today with my bottle of lortab, dog, and a good book. Had my first post-op appointment with my surgeon this morning. He said everything looks good. My port was not damaged and it did not flip due to my coughing spell, so that was great news. I still can't go back to seeing patients ft until next week, and I'm a little bummed by that. I'm mentally ready to be back at work, but physically just can't do it yet. I'll go back and see my surgeon in 4 weeks for a check-up and my first fill. On a happier note, I found a delicious low fat/low calorie organic soup called Pacific Cream of Tomato! It has 100 calories, 2 grams of fat and 5 grams of protein in 1 cup. I had it for both lunch and dinner today. I was able to get in 68g of protein so far today, which I think is a personal best since surgery.

So I'm reading about dumping syndrome and is that for the 1st few months and year or is that some con that will forever stay with us?? And is that just from sugar? I'm regretting this sleeve that I just got 2 weeks ago because I donor want to experience that!!!

Its the next to the last day in June. Come Monday it will be July! The count down begins. Wednesday is pre-op testing. The 22nd is Sleeve day! Ready: Since 2004 I've been ready to do something about my weight and have been trying hard to get it together. This decision is the best on for me. So I'm ready! Set: the surgery date is set, pre-op testing date is set, mindset is right, life style is going to settle into one that will allow me to set loose the wild child I am. I can go and fit into places, do things I've been to embarrassed to do because of my size, I get it live! Go! Moving forward to a healthier life, long life God willing. I'm so happy I could cry at times. Its the strength I have found in making the changes. I stopped eating bread, I stopped drinking coffee and tea, I do have decafe around but have not touched it. I've never smoked. I've cleaned out my cabinets of foods I know I must avoid, it's nice being able to give the food stuffs to people that can use it. I've donated clothes that I know I can't wear, won't wear and shouldn't wear lol. I'll spend today packing, I'm moving next weekend into a new apartment. So July is truly a new me month. I admit, I'm getting nervous. But my sister that is supporting me in my decision is coming to visit, it will be nice to have family going in and coming out of this procedure. Thank you to everyone that posts and comments on this site, pro or con. The experiences shared have helped a lot. Continued success to everyone on their journeys. Karen