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Surgery was September 9th and I’m 60 lbs down!!! I’m still heavy but I feel so good about myself!! Will insert a before and after. Also want to see others before and after!!

So yesterday was my first initial consult with the surgeon, Dr. Amit Taggar with Florida Surgical Weight Loss Center. I'm currently 5'5, 256 with high cholesterol. I am so ready to have this surgery so that I can stop the medication train before it gets too outta hand. I was planning on a late January to early February surgery due to Aetna only required 3 months with a Nutritionist. Boy was I in for a surprise. My surgeon informed me that Aetna now requires 6 months supervised visits with the Nutritionist and that the plan changed this month. WTH?!!?! Oh well.. I can see this is going to be the longest 6 months of my life. During this time, I will focus on losing weight and exchanging bad eating habits for good ones. Thanks for reading

Congratulations!! You are a definite inspiration to me and many others on this site.

Congratulations!!![emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122] Wow! Well done! You look absolutely fabulous [emoji322][emoji322][emoji322][emoji322] Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

B-Side Question: How do we feel about a back to basics /no exercise component November challenge? (It would be diet centric, mostly cleaning up habits, carefully tracking, mindful practices & recentering lifestyle before the holiday season hits)

Thank you @Orchids&Dragons I need to avoid slider foods because those calories can sneak in..Or at least just stay verrrry aware, lol.

Thanks for posting this! I'm planning on taking 1-2 weeks off work, but am hoping to be able to drive my kids to their activities, even if it means just pulling up and dropping them off without getting out of the car!

I'm thinking maybe my kitchen has too many gadgets. Here's a run down of different gadgets: Food processor: It really blends and chops well. I've used it to puree vegetables and meat for recipes and it would do very well with puree stage, but unless you are blending/chopping in bulk or get a small capacity food processor, this is probably not the best choice. Besides, it's big and bulky and I hate cleaning all the different parts in the lid. Magic Bullet: It does well with protein shakes and anything with liquid. I think I have even used it to grind spices to a fine powder. It blends to puree consistency well and mine had 2 sizes of cups (4oz and 8 oz) that are easily portable. It's compact and easy to clean. I had some trouble with the silicone gasket coming off during blending. It would wind around the blade and/or get chopped up a bit. I eventually solved this, but not before I lost several to the blade and had to order spares. It's easy to clean, but all those darn cups were a pain to store. I suppose that if someone didn't have other options (like the others mentioned) and was making a new purchase for their bariatric diet transitions, I would recommend purchasing The Magic Bullet or something similar like the Nutribullet or Ninja bullet. Stick blender: It does well with protein shakes and puddings, etc (even if you put ice cubes in it). It CAN puree, but it takes a little longer than some of the others. I primarily used this during my transitions after having the sleeve because of the convenience. It's easy to store, use, and clean. Vitamix: to me, this is the KING of blenders. I bought it when I was on a smoothie kick and boy does it do well with frozen fruits and vegetables. It turned everything I threw in there into a smooth, delicious concoction. They say that if you leave it run long enough it will warm your food into soup, although I never tried it. Cons: it is heavy and bulky. It's not HARD to clean per se, but those blades are sharp and I have to be careful when wiping it out to avoid the blade. The blending container is also big, probably not best for someone making small portions. Besides, it's rather expensive. There are other, similar blenders that would do just as well at a lower cost.

Its hard to believe that this kind of surgery has been around this long already. Yes I had this done 45 years ago in Traverse City at Munson Hospital. Back then it was an open surgery they staple the stomach and create a small pouch then it is bypassed to the jejunum. While they were doing this surgery back then all the organs were removed and cleaned out. You stayed in the hospital for 2 weeks or so, much different then how it is done now adays. I have maintained the weight loss over the years, however, there was a few years when I had put on up to 40 pounds and just started slowly getting it back off once I realized what I was doing.

What a journey it has been. I am 4 years post VSG. When I decided to have surgery it was out of medical necessity. I was at a point where I was almost non-functional. Although I work in a busy industry, I would spend most of my work days parked behind a desk because I could hardly move or breathe. I had multiple health co-morbidities including PCOS, insulin resistance, weight-induced asthma, heart valve prolapse, GERD, Barrett's, fatty liver, hypertension, and more. I always SWORE I 'wouldn't be that patient that regained'. In fact, I was actually one of my surgeon's most successful patients for some time. I was the prized patient, I followed every rule, instruction and diet point to the T. I lost a lot of my initial weight very quickly. After my initial weight loss I was feeling good, changed careers, moved and set about having a new life. But then I had a devastating loss in my life, and several life changes followed. I had some significant regain and had health problems again start to surface. I spent a lot of time online asking for help and researching all of the ''reset' options. What it took me a while to realize was this: I KNEW what to do. I just had not come to the place where I was 100% committed to doing it. Thankfully, last fall I got some really unfortunate health news. I say thankfully because it was THE thing I needed to kick me in the pants and get me back on track. I have been completely focused since that day and have successfully lost all of my regain and am now within 20 lbs of my ultimate goal. I am looking forward to having my plastics done at that point and will feel like my long 4 year journey has been fulfilled. I will always identify as a WLS patient, that part never goes away. I still have great restriction with my sleeve and since getting back on track, I find that my restriction is improved. I feel great and wanted to offer my story because I know that most of the members on the forum are newer than me, and hopefully my story will inspire you or spark some questions.