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5 years ago today I had my VSG. The last 5 years has been full of ups and downs, but overall my life is so greatly improved. I’m typing this while sitting on a plane, I’ve got a good 16” of extra space on my seatbelt. No more extenders for me! I’ve gotten in to cycling, can ride my road or mountain bike for miles. I can shop in any store and pick super cute clothes. I can wear high heels again. I got rid of my CPAP and BP meds. I’m no longer pre-diabetic. While I was one of the statistical divorces post WLS, I now have a wonderful supportive guy in my life. I’m happy & healthy and so glad I made the decision to have WLS!

I've been struggling to keep up with the diet so I thought I would try to focus on all the things that I hope to accomplish from the surgery so that I can remind myself what better times I have to come. Not just big things like better health but also the smaller things that I think are just as important. 1st: Sleep! I want to lose enough weight to sleep well. I don't have sleep apnoea yet, but my doctor says I'm at risk because of my weight and even without the sleep apnoea, it's still really hard to get comfortable and lying on my back definitely affects my breathing and my spine. 2nd: Activity! I ride my bike everywhere and I enjoy it, but I would love to do other things without pain in my knees. I go to concerts a lot and usually need to stand because no one sits at rock concerts (unless it was like when I went to see the Scorpions last month when the average age of music fan was 56 so it was all seats). Standing for a long time hurts and then I can't enjoy the concert as much as I was hoping. Maybe be able to lose the ebike and get an "acoustic" bike. 3rd: Fashion! Being able to shop at cheaper stores. Plus size clothes comes with a plus size price tag. Years ago, (teenage years) I bought a t-shirt that was a size 16. They had the same t-shirt in the "plus size section" (also a size 16 and the exact same size) and it was £2 extra for the same amount of fabric. And as someone with a more alternative sense of fashion, not a lot of plus size clothes have skulls and flames and vampires and things like that. They tend to make plus size clothes with puppies and kitties and cutesy things. There's nothing cutesy about me.

@NeonRaven8919Exactly! @AmberFLHe‘s currently on the platform, unsure if the weight loss train is the train he wants at the moment @JennyBeezRomanncy-love-stuff? What’s that then? LOL! @SleeveToBypass2023All my stats are up to date right now. Don’t know which surgery as I haven’t had my appointment with the surgeon yet (NHS - it’s never a rush 🙄) I had thought sleeve initially but, after my first group education session, I’m now thinking bypass, purely because of reducing the hunger hormones which isn’t a factor with the sleeve. However, I will listen to what the medical professionals recommend and make my decision from that. So, I had the conversation with hubby last night and got a lot of things cleared up. It’s not just the WLS that’s concerning him but some other things too like me having knee surgery and not needing him anymore, especially as he has his own disability which cannot be addressed with surgery. He thinks he will be holding me back and I deserve better etc etc. I truly understand where he’s coming from but we’ve been together 22 years, married for 17. His accident happened when we’d been together a couple of years and back surgery made it much worse. We’ve dealt with horrible shitty ex-wives, massively entitled kids, redundancy, depression, illness, disabilities etc. If we can come through all of that and not want to stab one another then I will take that as a win 🤣😂 Life throws things at us when we least expect it, both good and bad. I think we’re OK for now, thankfully, so I can stop eyeing up the pillows in bed, thinking of ways to smother him 😈 Physio was cancelled today due to staff illness. They had a bit of a panic trying to find an appointment for me as I’m supposed to have physio 10-14 days after the steroid injection. As it stands, they found me an appointment for next Monday which will be 19 days afterwards so I will have to see if that’s acceptable. I’m not stressing though as I’m doing the circulation booster and knee programme every day so hopefully that will have a positive impact.

I don't think they do either, my partner is supportive and told me his attraction for me has not left. I asked if he preferred me heavier and he didn't say a peep. I followed up with, well I am not changing, because this is the new me and our kids deserve a mom who is healthy, not a mom who is 300lbs with a climbing weight and cannot keep up with them. He agreed, he just said its different. He met me heavier so me NOW is super new. We had to have a very very long talk, and its continuous but we have been working through it. I think the first 3-4months were the hardest, I lost weight really quick and it was a really big shock to everyone but especially him who touches me and all the things. Intimacy lacked for a bit, So I would agree that keeping that transparency is so important, also being selfish is important too right now.

Same dress!!!!

I will say that everyone around me told me the same thing. I told them EFF IT! yes I can lose the weight, I have dieted since I was 12, lost 100lbs only to gain it back, lost 60lbs gained it back, and the pattern continued. I also got the "oh you will just gain it back in 5yrs" I FINALLY decided that what I was doing was not working! I needed an extra tool! Ozempic, Wegovy and those meds were not for me and I did not like how I would have to rely on them and they were hard to get plus PRICEY! I am 35 now and I made the decision to do this right before my birthday. I was 297lbs, hard to wake up, couldn't walk without getting winded, couldn't play with my kids, hated myself for my inability to live life and be that wife and mother that my family deserved. I decided to make the appt and did not tell my family (minus my hubby) that I was going into surgery and here I am 6.5 ish months later, down 130lbs, exercising 1hr a day 6days a week, playing with my kids and having energy to spend time with the hubby, my life is SOOOOO much better. My only regret is not doing this sooner!!! Now my best friend is now sleeved and is having tremendous results! My mom (who was my skeptic) is now talking to her doctor about the bypass. This is the not the easy way out, this is a tool to help us live! I think you should what is good for YOU not for everyone else and don't listen to the haters! They aren't living a day in your life. They don't know the pain, the struggles and the worries you have. Best of luck!! ❤️

This whole thing is a science! LOL I am a worker-outer? a gym rat? a gym go-er? well you know what I mean. I work out lol I lift 4 days a week, 1 day only cardio and 1 day F45. I eat anywhere from 1300-1600 calories a day. Depending on the day. One days I do not work out I eat less around 1200 cal. I am only 6.5m out and have hit my goal weight, but there are days where I get scared that I am eating too much. From what I have learned in my very short journey is that our body needs the food in order to grow our muscles, and give us energy for our workouts. Your body will balance out, you will notice your body change now too. I noticed that when I allowed myself more calories my legs and booty got thicker which I have been trying to achieve for months but it wasn't happening lol Just track everything and if you find yourself eating A LOT of not great things then you can look back and see why there is a gain. P.S I eat a "bad thing" everyday, I am not super restrictive and deprive myself. I have learned that everything in moderation in order for me to keep this as a life long thing. Tracking has really helped me stay accountable!

I've started a collection of things in my pantry that I know I like. Chicken bone broth from a couple different places (HEB and one I found on Amazon), Fairlife shakes, Gatorade Zero, Protein20 water. I bought my vitamins and calcium chews my office wanted me to have and put them on an Amazon subscription. I'm actually getting more nervous as I get closer. My algorithm has started showing me "I regret my VSG surgery" content and it makes me doubt my decision. I have to remind myself that my immediate support group, the people I see everyday that have had this surgery are THRIVING.

I don't want to worry you unnecessarily, but the diarrhea thing is real! I basically have not had a solid poop in four years. WARNING, discussion of poop ahead, highlight if you want to read it: It ranges from slightly softer than normal to pea soup texture, depending on what I have eaten recently. If I've eaten anything with a lot of fat, there will also be separated oily...gunk...coming out too. Farting has increased as well. From my understanding, your body does not have the chance to fully digest all the food you eat since it "skips" 2/3 of your small intestine. Water, fat, and gas that would normally be re-absorbed during the digestive process makes it all the way through. But, it doesn't really bother me. You know how if you have diarrhea because you're sick or have food poisoning you also feel crampy and nauseated? And you have to stay on the toilet for a long time? It's not like that, at least for me. I poop a normal amount and it's not urgent or painful, it's just runny. Sometimes I notice undigested food more than before surgery. I remember the smell being pretty bad immediately after surgery. In addition to regular stinky poop smell it almost smelled rotten and chemical-like. That doesn't happen any more unless I eat something REALLY stupid (vacation - many sugary cocktails. . . I regret nothing!) Usually it just stinks the normal amount 🙂 END OF POOP TALK

I don't remember any specific food that gave me trouble. The advice I got was to try regular foods one at a time slowly so you can see how your body reacts. I have heard people say that they used to love food X but now it makes them sick or they lost their taste for it but that didn't happen to me. I had kind of a weird experience with salads an other raw vegetables - they went straight through me with hardly any digestion. Seriously, the toilet looked like I just overturned a bowl of salad into it. It didn't make me sick or anything, it was just strange. I was never a big salad eater to begin with but now I don't bother at all. During the thick liquids/soft solid stages I remember being frustrated at the limited options. I wasn't going to puree food in a blender or anything like that so I stuck to foods that were naturally the right texture. I ate a lot of scrambled eggs and yogurt during the soft solids stage. Two Good was my go-to brand of yogurt and I still eat it pretty often. It is low carb and they have several flavors. I'd also eat instant mashed potatoes thinned with broth or milks but that is a lot of carbs so maybe wasn't the best idea. I ate mostly soup during the thick liquids stage. Any cream of _____ soup should work OK. If there are chunks of meat or vegetables in it, you can strain them out. Split pea and tomato soup work too although I have never liked tomato soup. You can thin them with extra broth if it is too thick and strain or puree if it includes pieces of solid food. You'll feel a lot of restriction immediately after your surgery. The difference between feeling comfortably full and ready to vomit can be just one bite. You'll get a feel for it but you may mess up a couple times before that. The restriction lessens with time but I still cannot eat anywhere near as much as I could before the surgery. Sometime I catch myself thinking that I could eat a normal sized portion of food but I end up stopping 1/3-1/2 of the way through.