M2G

I have a 34, oversewn but not necessarily to make it "smaller" as I have heard some descriptions although it may take a smidge off the size...it was more as a second line of defense against leaks. I think it is important to note that the pens/markers shown are not the "final" size of your new sleeve. It is rather the size of the tool used to make the measurements in order to make the new-sized tummy. I hope that makes sense, maybe someone else can come along and explain it better, but at least I wanted to toss that out there so that people are not confused.

I am sorry that you are feeling like your life sucks. You have gotten some great advice here and my suggestion is to not give up. Do not just accept that nothing 'medical' is wrong. I think you need definitely some more opinions, (and sounds like you are getting to that very soon.) Also I do not suffer from depression so I can't even say that I know what that is like. I'm sure you are trying a combination of medication and therapy and if you are not, then that is something that seems like it would help tremendously. I am sorry you are suffering and I wish I knew what to say. There are a lot of great people on this forum who care about one another, and I just wanted to extend my condolences. Please keep posting and let us know what happens for you. I will keep you in my thoughts...

I agree with ilegal! Everyone has fear, the whatifs, the unknown, and this is major surgery, not just a cosmetic touch-up. It is very hard to admit that we need help, and that we can't do it with diet and exercise alone (as just about every doctor or nutritionist will tell you, eat less, move more = lose weight.) Aaaah, if it were only that simple. This is a HUGE committment, you can't decide later that you wish you hadn't been sleeved. You cannot turn back the clock and you must learn to live within the limits that your tool provides you. It is scary and deserves a lot of thinking before jumping in. That being said I would not change a single second of my pre-op, surgery, or post-op. I was mentally ready for the challenges of dealing with food in a different way, and I am thrilled with my results. As I tell everyone I was not sick before (no co-morbidities, I exercised regularly for the last 7 years, obesity was the only ding in my health record and I've been obese or morbidly so (BMI = 44) for about 2 decades. I had tried numerous diets to find that I could lose the weight but not keep it off. I tried crazy liquid diets, zero carb/zero sugar diets, prescription pills (Meridia), and the "healthy" way of dieting, WW, South Beach, Fat Burning Ratio diet, you name it I've done it. For the first time in my life I feel like a have a FOREVER tool that will always help me control my portions. I LOVE eating small portions and being satisfied with LESS FOOD. Love it. It is so freeing. The hard part is I still have to decide what goes in my mouth. Will it be grilled chicken or chocolate? I decide. I choose to make wise choices because otherwise I did the surgery for nothing. I will succeed with this tool and I will not fail. Do your research!!! So really it is not your family's decision, or your husbands, or your parents or siblings or friends. That is great that they all love you enough to tell you what they think. But in the end this is YOUR life, YOUR body and YOUR decision. Best of luck in making your decision!

LOVE this post. I especially like the above quoted line. So true. We did not gain weight overnight and we realistically know that it won't melt off overnight, but sometimes being patient is the hardest thing to do. It took me 6 months of jumping through the insurance "hoops" before I was approved for WLS. At the time I found out it would take that long it was just heartache. But I soldiered on day by day and finally MY turn arrived. Now I'm 6 months post-op so it has been a year (actually over a year) since I first picked up the phone to make that call. That call was forming in my mind for several years but failed diet after failed diet had just about defeated me when I finally got the courage to make that call. I can tell you that even the first 6 months post-op are not the easiest, but you take it day by day. And those days start to add up. My original goal was to lose 100lbs by my one year surgiversary. At the time that I made that goal, I had no idea if I would be a fast loser, a slower loser, an even pace (losing something every week) or a lose a few, stall a few...type of loser. So I just kind of tossed that into the wind as a goal in mind. Turns out I'm a slower loser who stalls often (I simply do not lose weight every week) and now that I know that I have peace. Because I don't freak out everytime the scale stays still for a few weeks. I used to question "is this it, did I just have surgery to lose ___xxx amount of weight and now I'm done?" I think those kinds of thoughts are fairly normal because you just don't know what to expect. Now that 6 months have passed and I'm down -62lbs, I am feeling like I may or may not achieve the goal of -100lbs by my one year. We'll see. If I use math, to acheive this goal it becomes easy to say "I only have to lose -6lbs per month to get to my -100lbs" BUT...I know that may not happen for me. I lost exactly -2lbs in Feb. and -5lbs in Apr. but lost -10lbs in Jan. and -7lbs in March. So who knows what the future holds. But if you are talking ONE year from right NOW, of course I would be 18 months post-op and ideally at goal. I hear that the weight comes off even slower as you approach goal and I can't think of anything much slower than -2lbs a month...lol. This is a work in progress, and I love the day by day quote because it is so true!

Wow!!! 136 gone. WONDERFUL! Congrats!

Congratulations!!! That is awesome!

Great post! And so true. A positive mental attitude will help you no matter what challenges you will face in life. You are also right that this isn't easy, and you hit the nail on the head with "the pounds don't just melt away" without our committment to watching what we eat and moving our bodies. As for life after the sleeve, I agree with Myori, I love eating small portions. It is so freeing. It's amazing to look around and see what portion sizes are considered "normal" and how people who haven't been surgically altered eat SO much food. I love being satisfied with less. LOVE IT!

Updating ... not much but every pound gets me closer!!! SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Mommy2Girls.....215.................213............197............16

Congratulations for searching until you found someone you are comfortable with...(and kudos for giving WW another shot, even though I was the one who said you couldn't pay me enough to try another lousy diet...lol...hey, you gave it one more try and that is what matters!!) Best of luck to you with your surgery, and you are so right about a new life! I always tell people I wasn't sick before (no co-morbidities, health issues, I exercised regularly, obesity was the only ding in my health) and I feel amazing now! I hope everything works out perfect for you!

Glad that is done and yes it does sound like a blessing in disguise. That is great that your sleeve looks wonderful. I had my gallbladder taken out about 12 years ago when I did all liquid diet Medifast (remember when Oprah did Optifast...well my results were like hers, lose the weight, only to regain it back, except I lost my gallbladder along the way.) So when I did the sleeve last year I was like whew, one more thing I don't have to worry about. lol. Hope your recovery is going well!

Congratulations on your surgiversary and your wonderful success! I was giggling about the red lights vs. number of sleevers in town. I live in a major metropolitan area and my surgeon just started doing sleeves within the last year or so, and so for 2010, he did 19 sleeves (myself being one of them) and I actually know 4 of those 19. Small world, huh!

Congratulations on your one year surgiversary, and for being such a great success story! Looking great!!!

Congratulations on your 2 year surgiversary! Thanks for sharing your wisdom and insight here, as it is always appreciated!

Aaaah, I wish I knew the magic formula that works for some people! For me, I do actually have to limit my carbs. I can eat healthy carbs and not gain weight, but it brings my weight loss efforts to a screeching halt. Sadly. I figure if I have to give up most carbs for a year or two, so I can get to goal, it will be a worthy reason. I do eat some carbs though. I will portion out pretzels, or tortilla chips as part of my meal, but then that will be it for my carb of the day. Most of my carbs come from my veggies and my yogurt, etc. My surgeon is just BIG on NO shakes AFTER 6 WEEKS (post-op) and about 2 months ago I started having my one shake a day again. I start my day with a shake that is very low carb and nets me 30g Protein, so it is well worth it to me. I think they harp on the no-shakes thing because they do not fill you up and satisfy you (but I don't have hunger so it almost doesn't matter to me) but it helps push me on the protein for the day. I do not understand people who say they eat 3 meals a day...OMG, I can't do that and still reach my protein goals. I eat like 6 (small of course) meals a day!!! So for instance today, I have had: Premier Protein Shake 3oz of egg beaters with a tablespoon of cheese and a tbsp of bacon bits thrown in 2oz of ground beef, with 7 grams of tortilla chips and another tbsp of cheese melted on top (my own sort of taco if you will) and when I logged everything to check I'm already at 69g of protein and only 17g carbs. I will probably end up with over 100g of protein for the day because I will eat another snack around 3pm (sometimes a Protein Bar or apples and cheese or turkey and cheese, etc.) and then a dinner (probably chicken breast) and usually something like yogurt or ricotta cheese after dinner. So if you take away the shake and don't count that as a meal, by the end of the day I will have eaten 5 times today. Even though I don't have hunger, I find that eating every 2-3 hours keeps me humming along and helps me reach those protein goals. I also do about 72oz of Water daily, with the occassional extra water thrown in. 72 is my minimum, but some days I am able to get in more. I also have not had a single drink (alcoholic or carbonated) since being sleeved, I am planning on drinking again after I hit my one year mark but I wasn't a big drinker to begin with so it hasn't been hard for me. I hope this helps to answer your question...sort of rambling, sorry about that!

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shopping is a perfect way to celebrate!!!! Way to go Myori!

Okay, well this does have to do a *little* bit with the scale but not the one that measures pounds.... I have lost -10 points off my BMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Went from 44.4 to 34.4 ...wahoo! :bananajump:

Hear Hear Sleeve Sista! Mine new ones are a pretty fair mix of gray and brown...but as long as they stay attached then I'm happy!

Coops, I also admire your strength and coming here when people are posting about losing 100+lbs in a few short months, it is soooooooooo hard NOT to compare. I know that negative self talk well, as I have used it every SINGLE TIME I've ever been on any type of diet. Even with the sleeve it is hard to soldier on when you feel like you are not getting anywhere. Please, I hope this is not offense, or taken the wrong way, but have you considered changing your goal to a higher weight? And I know you want to lose more, and that may well happen, but what about switching more to maintenance, at least for a while? (I know you are probably thinking...this stall may as well be maintenance...) BUT hear me out. If you "allow" yourself to call this maintenance instead of being in the losing phase, maybe that inner voice won't be so loud or condescending? And after you have been able to maintain for a while, then maybe you can find that you do indeed have the strength to try and get those last pesky lbs off. I think at some point our bodies sort of "rebel" against the weight loss and maybe this is the weight your body is happy at. Every single time I've stalled (meaning being stuck for 2 weeks or more) and it has happened OFTEN, I *always* ask myself "If a magic genie appeared and told me that THIS was my FINAL weight, and that there was NO WAY I would ever lose any more weight...would I be happy?" And I always have to answer yes. I'm soooooooooo much better off than being morbidly obese. So this may not be the end of the line for you but sounds like you need to have a little game change and then re-evaluate and go from there. Big hugs! No one ever promised this would be easy.

:laugh:

You look GREAT!!! Congrats on your loss so far and here's to reaching goal soon! :martini_shaken:

How far out are you? I will sneak in a water bottle and a protein bar for my treat!

Sooooo happy for you to take this trip! I can't wait for pictures and I totally agree that being on vacation you should indulge in a bite or two of something that you would not normally eat! Have fun, live it up and come back to tell us all about how much better life is living in a smaller body! Woo hoo!

CONGRATS on getting under 200! That is awesome!

Finally wore a pair of size 14 jeans that I bought from Target a few weeks ago...and someone told me they were baggy! :jaw: At least I only paid $9.98 on clearance for them! :thumb:

Beautiful dress, beautiful smile! Keep rocking that sleeve!