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Great job! Very motivating!

Surgery was July22, 2013; recovery time four weeks. No major problem other than morphine is not my friend. The weight is coming off at a rate I can enjoy. Any faster and I'd have to go to work in a sack. Lol the slow weight loss allows me to purchase a few new clothes. All of my 22-20 size pants don't fit and I can assume my skirts won't either. I don't get upset if the scale does not move. I just look in the mirror and can see the difference in the inches I've lost. Best advise, follow the program outlined by your doctor, go to all follow up appointments, ask when and how often you will need blood work done. Continue to get your fluids in everyday. Take your vitamins and supplements, they are very important. Eat protein first. When you are unsure, ask your doctor. We are all different so the way your doctor may have trained and performed the procedure will be different and the instructions you follow will be different from someone else. That does not make it wrong, just different. Join a support group that is up lifting, I don't stay on this one much any more due to some bad vibes of folks and I've had to block them. I do check in from time to time because there are good people asking great questions and need help. Have more than one support outlet. Lastly don't judge. How and why we became over weight is personal. How we opt to lose the weight is personal. When you start to judge, please stand in front of the mirror to ensure you include yourself in the mix. If anything play it forward, be a good mentor and friend. There are some out there that will truly benefit from it. Stay true to the journey. Karen

The problem with a stall is not just the lack of weight loss at a time you expect the weight to be peeling off–although that would be bad enough. The problem with a stall is that it comes with baggage. All those times when you thought you’d found the “perfect” diet. All those times when there were hundreds of others boasting of their success with something that you were now trying. All those times that you were filled with hope that THIS was the thing that was going to work. All those times that you failed. We’ve been stuck at the same weight for 11 days, and it’s very difficult to focus on the now, instead of trying to think of what this means for the future. If I focus on the now, it tells me that my body is changing, my clothes fit differently, and even at 25 lbs, people see and comment on the difference all the time. If I try to project for the future and imagine that this is the way it will always be, then I focus on the fact that this could be another thing at which others have succeeded, but at which I seem doomed to fail. Which of us has not believed, both before and after the surgery, that we would be the ones who would be the exception to the rule? That we would be that medical marvel that simply could not lose the weight despite doing everything we were told? That we would be that singular failure while others around us kept posting their amazing before and after pictures? And that’s the problem with a stall. Even knowing what we do, that every day is a different adventure when sleeved, that recovery, weight loss, and changes happen seemingly overnight, we still believe that this is the time, and we are the one that will fail. A very egocentric world-view if truth be told, but justifiable given our histories. So if you thought this journey was just about eating your protein and drinking your water and not challenging your sleeve, I’ve got news for you my friend. It’s about battling your inner demons, about having faith in the unknown, and about believing that we are not that special after all. And in that normalcy and mediocrity is perhaps where salvation lies. (Follow my journey and my recipes at www.sleevers.wordpress.com)

I am shocked to learn my insurance approved the surgery. Now at 52 I am so excited to start my journey. Not sure of date yet. I just wanted to thank everybody for all the great information and confidence to do this.

Made Sourdough Waffles for the family this morning, they were so light and smelled so good that I knew with enough butter and syrup they would be a slider food for sure. two small bites later and NOPE. Fed the sewage system and will have a shake before Church.

My story, wow that's a broad statement. For the most part pretty normal. Great family, great childhood, normal height weight proportion up until the day I got married. Had two kids before I was 22 and everything went south from there. Started to gain a pound or two here and there and the next thing you know 100 pounds later..... Well, you all get the picture. From then on it was one diet after another. Oh I lost a ton of weight but I also gained a ton back. I had a loving husband who loved me for me and a family of the same but the funny thing was I didn't love me. Was my family enablers? Yes but only in a loving concerned way. Funny thing was I have 4 siblings all of whom had no weight issues along with my parents. Why was I the lucky one or should I say unlucky. Oh and did I mention I am 100% Italian? So let's fast forward a few years because this could get long remember I started gaining the weight around the age of 22 I am now 53. 2012 was the darkest year of my life. My youngest son, my baby (although he was 29) passed away from an industrial accident. He was a commercial diver working a job in the Gulf of Mexico when on a normal routine dive something went tragically wrong. To hear those words that your son was in a fatal accident will always stab me like a knife and to this day I don't like to repeat them. But I did because it is an important part of why I am going through this journey today. The first year after Brad's death was actually the only time I never focused on weight, weight loss or anything even remotely pertaining to weight. After all I lost my son what else mattered? Except for the fact that I still had a husband, another son, a granddaughter and my loving family all,of whom tried to reach out to me. And as the grief got worse the weight did too. Remember I told you a while back I was 100% Italian well anyone who knows what that means knows that our families mean everything especially our children. I did take the advice of my doctor and joined a grief group. Thank God for that because the people I met made me feel I wasn't going through this alone and the more we became bonded through our grief the more I felt the fog start to lift. It saved my life because the tunnel I was going down just kept getting darker but after I joined this wonderful group of lifetime friends I was starting to see the light at the end of that tunnel as the cliche says. So I don't remember gaining the next 50 pounds (ha ha) but now I was 150 lbs overweight. 165 pounds heavier than the day I said "I do". Although my husband, god bless him, still thought I was the bees knees. Ok time to get back on the diet go round. However this time I didn't have the energy. While watching my favorite soap opera "young and the restless" one day a commercial came on talking about an less invasive procedure called the Lapsleeve that could be performed on an out patient basis. Out came the laptop and the inquires were made. My grief counselor made me promise though I would wait a year just to make sure my emotional well being was healed. I took her advise but didn't wait to long past the one year mark to make my first appt. Puget Sound Surgical Center in Edmonds, WA was my choice. The minute I met the staff and Dr Billing I knew this was the place for me. Well weighing in at a whopping 301 I figured it wasn't the worst they ever saw. After blood draws, nutrition classes, psych evaluations I was finally approved. June 27 was the day. The two week pre op diet I stuck to like glue. However the day before I was to start it I chowed down on every favorite thing I could get my hands on. Something by the way they highly do not recommend. June 27, very nervous, very typical but the staff and dr's put me fast at ease. Surgery went well and was very surprised how well I felt those first 48 hrs. Unfortunately, that didn't last long.

Well, first of all, I can't believe it's been 4 months already. I'm really loving my sleeve. I'm down -41 lbs. since pre-op diet. Went from size 16 to very loose size 12 pants. Have already cleaned out my closet once, but soon I'll have to get rid of the 12's too. So happy about that. Also, went from XL shirts to M. Lessons learned ... I don't have a great metabolism. I have to exercise (and do so about 3 times a week) and watch my carbs to lose weight, and even then it's pretty slow progress. As soon as I just watch calories, I don't lose. I don't gain either, which I'll keep in mind for maintenance phase. I can eat just about anything, so I really have to chose to eat the right things. Only things that give me a little trouble if I eat too fast and don't chew enough are: salmon, thick cuts of beef, dense bread. I don't eat bread anymore, but I did try it once or twice. I also have to space out my supplements. If I take too many at a time, I get the slimees. I have about 29 lbs. to go for my initial goal of 140. I will reevaluate how I feel/look at that time, and may lower my weight goal... who knows. I would highly recommend that all new sleeves look at this surgery as an opportunity to start over and live a healthy lifestyle. If we were to keep our old ways, the results might not be as permanent as you think. Sure, you will lose a whole bunch at first because you just can't consume as much as before... but, even amount of food you can consume will change. It's those permanent (and healthy) changes that will help us get to goal and stay there. I don't know.. just my thoughts. Not lecturing or anything... really just self-reflecting. I really don't want to ever be in the morbidly obese or obese range again. I already feel so much better physically and mentally, and still have a ways to go.

Wonderful story, thanks for sharing a NSV!

these sound amazing!!! love anything thai like....im actually still in liquids only 10 days out...and was so happy when I found swansons thai broth... it smells amazing. a little too spicey on its own, but when I mixed it with the strained out cream of chicken mushroom soup I had in the fridge it tasted almost exactally like the broth of the thai soups I love...will totally be trying this recipe when able! thanks for posting!