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Rarely do I miss eating the amount I used to be able to. It's only been a couple of times since Memorial Day that those thoughts have crossed my mind. Coincidence it happened to be Memorial Day & 4th of July during our bbqs? LOL Nope.. not coincidence. Summer bbqs = fajitas & Shiner!! We had a lot of different goodies laid out for both bbqs and I did have a passing thought of "Damn.. I miss my stomach" but then I looked at the size of my rump compared to the size of a girlfriends rump who had unhinged her jaw (ala coneheads) and was inhaling it all... ya that got that thought right out of my mind. Our rumps used to be comparable in size pre-op. In all honesty, I didn't have miss the desire to chew in the beginning. I was on clears for 5 days and full liquids for 2 weeks. That was really a drop in the bucket because at that point I still felt pretty tore up from the surgery. Once I hit purees, I was chewing. I also never did the chew & spit either. I was so terrified of doing something that'd ruin my stomach/staple line that it kept me pretty honest. Not to mention the constant reward of serious losing was all the positive praise I needed to keep on the straight & narrow. I was nervous about a lot of the same things too pre-op. It really does get easier once you're on the other side of it. My only advice? Don't watch much tv for the first few months. When I was in the hospital doped up, I watched a Top Chef marathon without a problem but as soon as I got home? I was so angry and HIGHLY annoyed that just about every other commercial was a food commercial. It doesn't bother me so much now but in the beginning? I was about ready to throw things at the TV every time I saw a McDonalds, Whataburger, or ANY sort of food commercial. THAT was the hardest part for me just out of surgery. Good luck yall!

Ok Im insane for even considering posting pics but here I am... LOL I hit 100 lbs (on the nose) down today. My husband took the before pics the night before my surgery. I hadn't looked at them until today. It was QUITE a wake up call to me. I've still got about another 50 lbs to go. It depends on how I feel I look when I get there. I'm aiming for a size 10. My "after" picture was taken when I wanted to see what the dress I ordered for my brother in laws wedding looked like (we did away with mirrors in our house years ago. I guess it's time to get some full length mirrors huh?)

Thanks for all the sweet words yall My brother in law's wedding is in 3 weeks. Get this yall... I had my MIL measure me before I ordered my dress. It came in and it was pretty big!! I think since my loss has kind of slowed, I can take it this weekend to get it in line for alterations and be ok. Here's to hoping right? LOL I may still end up looking like I'm playing dress up.

It IS too big on me! And my mother in law measured me the day I ordered the damned thing. Yesterday morning I called around to see where I could get it altered within a decent amount of time. One of the cleaners said they had a 2-3 day turn around time. I explained to him the WLS and trying to cut it down to the wire on the alteration. I'm going to take it in probably a week & a half before the wedding and hope I don't end up with the Alice in Wonderland effect. And trying it on didnt even involve the Spanx which I've yet to buy. I did get some sheer hose with the black seams up the back to tart things up a bit

haha you know I'm not quite sure who that skinny b***h is in that other picture i gotta tell you though.. this was the first time I looked at the pre op picture. Talk about a serious wake up call. I still saw myself as the basketball with hair up until I saw the side by side. I now see what everyone's been talking about. I never thought I'd hit 100 lbs down... ever.

I hear you. It's funny how something like this makes us see our friends/loved ones in a new light huh?

She may or may not end up supporting you know what I mean? That's something you need to ready yourself for. I've actually had a few friends drop off the face of the planet when I told them I was having surgery. It was their own...selfishness?... I guess you could say of no longer being secure that *I* was the fattest one in our crowd. Now, about your friend.. has she ever had a serious weight problem? Like more than 20-30 pounds or a little post-baby weight or something? A lot of people who've never battled their weight as badly as we have have NO CLUE what it's like. Or.. if she's heavy as well, she's probably thinking of her own fears. I had one friend who's a very heavy woman tell me I was NUTS for doing this because she couldn't imagine cutting out a part of her body to lose weight and couldn't imagine "not being able to eat or drink whatever she wants" anymore. Umm.. that's why we're BOTH in this situation lol. I wouldn't worry about what your friend thinks. This is all about you, your health bills for the rest of your life and the REST OF YOUR LIFE in general. If she can get over herself and realize you're doing this to save your life (imo, saving your life can mean more than just your mortality.. it can mean your quality of life and happiness as well) then great. She's a true friend who just needs time to accept it. If she' cant? Well bugger on her. One of my "friends" who fell off the face of the earth was asked by my husband to "babysit me" the 2 days after I came home from the surgery. First day she shows up with McDonald's Breakfast and eats in front of me. Second day she's going on and on and on about missing breakfast at the fast food places until I had to tell her to STFU please. We really haven't seen her since. Bugger on her and her own jealousy/insecurity. It's hard to take seeing people you've considered close friends in this new light and I'm struggling with it myself with that particular friend. Your good friends will support you (even if it takes them a little while to come around to the idea) and the people who really aren't your good friends will out themselves in time.

LOL It was a freaky moment and it's even freakier that I remember that feeling.. that clawing feeling... and then nothing.. just waking up in recovery with crap strapped to my face and feeling like I'd been steamrolled. They kept me nice & drugged while I was in the hospital. I walked as often as I could. I was begging them to let me get up asap. I was stiff & sore and bloated but I wasn't in pain. Funny bit that didn't make it into my blog post. There was a girl having the surgery same day as me. Funny enough, I remembered going to jr high with her. She got wheeled in after me and I swear she was wailing like a banshee. At one point when one of the nurses was tending to me I whispered to her "was i that bad??" lol she whispered back "no you were a good girl". Also funnily enough as well.. one of the male nurses in recovery? I'd worked with years before at pizza Hut. small small world.

That is so funny because my husband HAS done the same thing too. I had a few old bras that were literally needing to be tied like bikini tops to keep them on. He made me take one off and took the scissors to it so I wouldn't fish it out of the trash. LOL I haven't wanted to buy anything at all because I loathe spending the money on things I'm just going to shrink out of. I did ask a male friend of mine what size his wife wore (I figure we're about the same size right now) because I had to order some items for my brother in law's upcoming wedding. I wanted to be sure they'd get SOME use. But other than that? I'm probably not going to buy much else except for stretchy pants for home (I work from home) and cheap bras/underwear only when they're as saggy as they have been lately.

ok so the link didn't work: I survived Vertical Sleeve Gastrecomy and all I got was… well **** I didn’t even get a shirt WTF I was sleeved Jan 25 2011 at the MHH. My SIL picked me up that morning and off we went. We ended up waiting until close to noon to finally be taken back. I was taken back and introduced to my “bartender” a guy I happened to embarrass a few days before at my registration. (See aside at the bottom of this post for back story) Shortly after they put me under. The worst part of this whole ordeal was being intubated and I think this is purely unique. I remember freaking the flip out when they were putting the tube in. I remember trying to “claw” my way back to consciousness because I felt this blind panic like I.Was.Going.To.DIE because I couldn’t breathe. I remember buzzing voices too like they were trying to communicate to each other to do something. Apparently someone (I suspect Romulus my bartender) gave me some “b***h be cool” juice and all was well. Next thing I remember is coming out of my sleep with an annoying thing on my face and more buzzing in my ear. Why are there f**king bees in the hospital? I kept telling the bees to get that thing off my face it’s f**king annoying. The eagle had landed in the recovery room. I stayed there for several hours. I finally was able to get that annoying mask taken off and replaced with a canula. I dozed off again and the canula had fallen out so they eventually took it off. I got them to let me sit in the recliner next to my bed. When they bent that bed back completely straight.. omfg I thought they were cutting my ass in half it hurt something awful. It was close to 7-ish I think when I finally saw BB through the glass. He wasn’t allowed in there but I got to see him when they wheeled me to a room shortly after. LOL I remember asking what time it was and saying “oooo I can still catch glee!!” So my night nurse was cool. Nothing to report except she kept waking me up every hour or so to give me shots of stuff. The 2 day nurses from the next day I dubbed (secretly) Harold & Kumar. Harold was cool.. Kumar not so much. I gave him **** on purpose. LOL You know, all of this from getting my room until BB coming to pick me up is a big blur. I vaguely remember sleeping A LOT.. watching the Bravo marathon of Top Chef (I know, I know.. the irony) and I BELIEVE Real Housewives of Atlanta. I don’t remember much until right before I was being released and the night nurse who had relieved Harold & Kumar came in to give me my “shots for the road”. One was in my STOMACH. W…T…F….over. She said “ya you’ve been stuck a lot here”. I’m seriously like W…T…F…OVER!!! I look over at BB like “stop HER” and he’s looking like he’s gonna puke…. So I get my shot in my stomach and all my other shots too. By now I feel like a rabies patient. They kept me good & doped up though so thumbs up to MHH. I’m finally released and home by like 11pm. Yep that damn long. It could’ve been longer had the dr not come to see me at 5ish. BB frogmarched me up the stairs once we got home and that was my jail cell for the next 2 days. BB is one very protective mother hen and he’s taken to calling himself The General. LOL I think he’s enjoying it. Tonight I’ll call him General Bear just to see what his reaction is. So Thursday and Friday, our friend Badger came by to baby sit me. I slept most of the time. I demanded my release from my jail cell Friday night which was SO nice. Saturday I lounged around with my big furry babies (and BB who could easily fall under that description ) and watched TV. Sunday we went to see my parents and his mom came over later that evening. I’m finally getting back to normal I think. I have my appointment on Wednesday to get my staples/stitches/whatever they are removed. I’m no longer narcoleptic girl and falling asleep every 30 mins. Things are definitely on an upswing. I’ve lost 22 pounds since the night before my surgery. Granted, that WAS after my wonderful foray into the magical world of magnesium citrate but I’m not gonna even THINK about that anymore lol. aside: They were discussing whether or not to give me another chest xray. Ex smoker.. quit Halloween… plenty young… so no need. This “bartender” (my anesthesiologist) asks me “so were you heavy?” Now… I wasn’t paying attention. I was zoned out texting on my phone. I look up at him with the “are ya stupid?” look comPLETE with eyebrow (my forest friends KNOW when The Lady In The Tutti Fruity Hat raises that eyebrow, no good can follow)… look down at myself and say “um ya I’m having the surgery aren’t I?” LOL This poor guy turns red and starts laughing and I realize he was asking me if I was a heavy SMOKER. He said something about his mama beating him for sounding rude. He was a good ol boy from Louisiana. LOL Anytime I saw him I teased him… “stillllll heavy”. I did that on the table when he came into the surgery room. I don’t think he’s ever going to forget about that

You know mine has slowed down too. I wonder if there IS a correlation or if it's just flat dumb (un)luck?

The night before I got sleeved I was 314. I was sleeved back late January of this year. Right now, I'm hovering at a steady 97 pound weight loss (so pretty close to 100). I've got about 67-77 more to go. We'll see how I feel I look when I get there. Anyhow, since I'm still losing, I can't speak for maintenance/keeping it off yet. I think saggy skin is just one of the necessary evils of this truthfully. Just yesterday I was noticing the skin on my inner thigh & around my lower stomach was loose enough for my to grab and it feels like bread dough! EWWWIE!! LOL Duct tape doesn't sound like a bad idea but I think I may just end up living in Spanx for awhile. I actually had that thought last night in the shower. That I ought to buy several pair and just live in them for the next several months. Won't be too bad once summer's done. LOL I may need the extra layer considering I've lost so much insulation!

Yep and not just human evolution but the evolution of food in the last century. Its full of so much crap now that it hardly resembles food and practically served out in a feedbag or trough. I find it interesting to watch old movies and pay attention to what they eat. 1 cookie after school & a glass of milk? *my* cookie Snacks? Between 5 & 10 pre-op. I know lots of people trying to lose weight & really screwing themselves up with all the crazy things they're doing.

That's a GREAT way to put it in a way he may understand. That's exactly true. My husband didn't want me to have the surgery for a lot of the reasons people have mentioned. He was terrified of something happening to me because he lost his father in 98 in a hospital. Whatever his personal feelings though, he was supportive and I'm very fortunate he swallowed his feelings and kept them inside. Now, he's thrilled I chose to have the surgery and will crow to people that it saved my life. I'm sure he's talking about in more ways than the mortality issue come to think of it. This surgery is not an easy fix. It doesn't do the work for us and bugger on anyone who thinks that. There's a whole lot of rollercoaster riding that goes along with this just like the highs & lows of losing weight "the old fashioned way". This IS losing weight the old fashioned way but just with the assistance of something to help make it possible. In the beginning, many of us are terrified to do something wrong to hurt our new tummies and we're rewarded with serious weight loss. After that, the good habits are formed and we've seen the progress a lot of us needed to see to keep up with it. I have to admit, personally speaking, I feel like i've had an exorcism of the demon in my belly that used to override my brain & good sense when I was dieting before. The compulsion I guess you could say. My brain is in control now. If any one of us had the serious self control we required to do it "the old fashioned way" with a full capacity belly, i doubt many of us would've needed the surgery in the first place. That's the way I look at it for myself. I couldn't handle the "responsibility" of a full capacity tummy and ended up 314 pounds. I had to lose all my tummy privileges in order to get back on track with my weight & life. Maybe your husband will come around after the fact and see how great you're doing and how much better your life together will be. Some spouses don't come around and that's very sad. I wish you all the luck and hope your husband does begin to see clearly that this isn't about him... it's about you.

I've been getting an itch to bake so I've been looking at ways to make low carb treats. I came across information on Almond Flour where they've said it's a good low carb/high Protein alternative to flour. Has anyone tried using almond flour or do you have a better alternative? I'm also thinking of doing these low carb items as a dry run for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season. See what works and what needs to be tweaked. Also, what's the difference in all the carbs listed on nutrition labels? I've seen labels that say X carbs on the label but over to the side it says something like 4 net carbs or 4 digestible carbs. A carb is a carb isn't it? I've been pretty black & white with my carb counting and not paying attention to net/digestible/etc. So can someone explain to me what all of these other carb labels mean for us? Thanks in advance!

It sounds like a pain in the butt to try to count that stuff? LOL I'm horrible in math as it is so that's why I've stuck to a carb is a carb is a carb. I feel safer that way. I had the same problem as you Tiffy. I justified the not eating junk food just a lot of GOOD food. You basically just confirmed what I'd been thinking. That it's entirely too much trouble to try to think of those carby shades of gray. Thank you!

coffee was one of my pre-op concerns. I'm a huge coffee drinker. I didn't do coffee until... about 3 months out? Even then I was drinking one coffee mug daily of the 50/50 half caf stuff. I don't remember a brand but I think it might've been Folgers? My husband would fix his coffee in the morning before work and then fix the coffee pot so mine was ready to brew when I got up. On the weekends it was kind of hard waiting "in line" for the coffee pot so I guess within the last month, he's been telling me it was my coffee and he was drinking mine but he was gradually weaning me over to regular coffee. I honestly couldn't tell a difference. When he finally started weaning me was when I got cleared for red meat & alcohol by my doctor so he figured full caff coffee would've been fine too. I had 0 problems. I'm finally back on regular coffee, thank the gods, and all's well. I have my coffee with 2 equal packets and 2 tsp of powdered creamer. I kind of feel sad whenever I pass the cold cases at the grocery store and see the new flavors of liquid creamers which I used to love. But whatever right? I've got my coffee after doing without for several months.

The other day I would've maimed someone for an icee. I ended up making my own. It was fairly passable and it did the trick of curbing my craving: 1 packet of SF to go mix in drink powder (I used fruit punch.. didn't realize I had cherry until yesterday) half a 16.9 bottle of Water about 3-4 cups of ice all in the blender. Like I said, it was barely an icee but it definitely curbed my craving for one which I guess was a craving for "sweet fruity" and the texture of the crushed ice. I drank on it all day and as the ice melted, it didn't taste watered down at all because I only used half the bottle of water to make up for the ice.

I'm not so sure about VSG/migraines, but (and this may be a silly simple question) have you had your eyes checked recently? Before I had my lasik surgery 10 years ago, I had DAILY migraines that were horrible! Even though I was at the eye doctor constantly and I knew my glasses prescription was fairly up to date (I had to ditch the contacts for like a month or so pre-op) it didn't matter. I still had them. Hope you find relief from your migraines. I know how miserable of a bear non stop constant migraines can be.

I'm with Rootman. I tend to drink right up until it's time to eat. When I'm fixing dinner, I've got my cup of whatever. I used to seriously suck back drinks when I ate pre-sleeve. Now, I'll have a few sips if I need or want them and I'm fine. If I take too big a drink (or too much) I'm overly full. I swear, at least with my body, the no eating/drinking together has more to do with my personal comfort and NOT eating enough in protein/nutrition etc because there's already liquid there rather than it pushing the food out if that makes sense.

I'd hit a slow down period the last few weeks..not quite a stall but just the weight taking it's sweet time exiting the building. This week though I've been dropping a pound or so nearly every day again. It just so happens that every night this week my husband & I have had... well fun if you catch what I mean. I'm wondering if anyone has experienced this...? Do yall think that's had anything to do with the constant dropping again? I've never been one to believe that burns mega calories and all of that people like to cling to. LOL If it's happening because of that, I'm all for it!!! Anyhow, I was just curious about other peoples experience with this. BTW, I've hit 95 pounds and broken into the 2-teens. OK, so what's onederland? 100 pounds LOST or breaking 199? I've been wondering about that for awhile and since I'm pretty close to both, I figured I'd ask!

I didn't make myself clear which is entirely possible as early as I posted that. I said I never was one to buy into sex = calories burned.Ever. What I was getting at was over the last few days my daily loss has been what it was at about 2 months ago. I was wondering if it was coincidence or if anyone else has had that happen. I've been on the scenic weight loss route and for the scale to talk to me like it has this week has been crazy and nothings different from last week...except constant sex. That's the only thing different. This is almost like reentering the honeymoon phase again. I don't think the loss is related to me feeling better about myself lol. If that's all it took I'd be teensy by now.

I've finally hit 75 lbs down. It's been slow going this last month but I finally did it. I've officially hit my halfway marker. Well, halfway give or take 10-20 lbs depending on how I feel I look best once I get there. I'm shooting for 150 as a visable goal but like I said, it could be more or less. The day before my surgery (1/25) I was 314.8 and I've finally hit 239.8. I'm within about 15 lbs of weighing what I did when my husband & I started dating. My BMI was 50.8. That's insane. I still don't see the loss on me. I still feel like Zucherman's Famous Pig. Had I gone to the livestock show, I feel like I would've accidently won the blue ribbon. I've gone from a 28 to a 20/22 (by Old Navy standards). My husband cut one of my old bras right down the middle so I wouldn't fish it out of the trash. It ws entirely too big in the band. He said I would've had to tie it like a bikini top to do any good. I wish the loss would come a little quicker like it used to. I have to admit I'm getting frustrated at the SLOW loss but this time last year? I probably would've been gaining slowly every week as I'm losing slowly every week now. I've got to keep that in mind. I still haven't looked at the picture my husband took of me the night before the surgery. I think this weekend I'll stand for another picture and finally take a look at the old one. Maybe. What bothers me is people I haven't seen since pre-surgery haven't had the "hitting the roof" reaction I'd hoped for. 75 lbs isn't circus peanuts. It makes me wonder if I'm RIGHT in not seeing much of a difference or what. *shrug*

All of my old Disney shirts that used to fit me like sausage casings are fitting now! I have one of all the Disney Dogs I believe from Disney Tales (rip). That shirt used to look like.. Hulk Smash! on me. I wore it Saturday and my husband noticed it's actually baggy on me now! I'm a little sad about all my WDW Sweatpants that I'll have to give up but I'm hanging onto my hoodies! I don't care if they fit me like trashbags! LOL To be thin - I KNOW what you're talking about! Congrats at 72! I was antsy as all get out at that mark.. waiting for 75 to hit already. LOL I'm fully willing to admit I'm being vain & glory seeking! The amount of weight we're all losing is deserving of it! It'd be nice and kind of... affirming if people would actually notice in a genuinely happy manner. We've gone through hello & back to get here. Half of the people I've run into are heavy to begin with and the husband & I think it's jealousy. One friend this past weekend tried to tell me she was a 20/22 and K&I both looked at each other like... BS because that's where I'm at now. These are the friends who we always had near Roman feasts with and just unhinged the jaw and sucked it all back together. Plus they're gaining as well. There are friends we haven't seen since I was in the hospital. The other side of the coin, like my thin brother in law, is probably unsure of what to say. I don't think he wants to really gush and make me feel bad but at this point I don't think it'd make me feel bad because I'm not there anymore. I need to hear it. So I'm coming to the conclusion people are either A- being shady or B- not wanting to make too big of a deal out of it to keep me from feeling uncomfortable. I've also come to the realization the only ones I can count on to give me that affirmation (because I can't SEE it myself because I see myself DAILY) is my husband and my parents. I don't think anyone else is really as emotionally invested as those 3 people plus myself. As far as the personal questions go, you know that doesn't bother me one bit. I'm a tell all kind of person and I haven't met a question I haven't been able to answer head on or felt uncomfortable answering. I was more uncomfortable in my own skin at 314 (and EVERYONE knowing it) than being much smaller and answering too personal questions.

Thanks guys! MissBliss - I took the opportunity to buy a new one yesterday LOL so nyah on him! Shanny- I know it's not a race and I know slow & steady WINS the race... I just got so used to seeing 5 lbs a week go and now it seems like frozen dogpoop moving uphill in a snowstorm slow. LOL The few days during the week when the scale doesn't move puts me in a grumpy mood. Even a few ounces would make me happy! LOL Disney- Thank you. It is a ton of weight in 4 months isn't it. By my calculations (and my calculations are NEVER to be trusted) I should be about 150 by then if my loss keeps going at this rate. I can't wait to get to WDW and be able to buy whatever I want. I'm so going to hit TrenD too. I have my eye on the monorail spiel tshirt too! Beadingnurse- I know... lol intellectually it makes sense but dammit! I've cut out part of my stomach and dropped an insane amount of weight! LOL You'd think I'd get more of a reaction than "hey you look good" (my brother in law) or a shady side eye (friends) to no comment at all (friends). What drives me nuts is since my husband started his new job late December, he's dropped a TON of weight naturally and he's still eating like normal. I mean a TON! Our friends always end up fawning over how much he's lost! I'm like "uh hello!!!" It drives him nuts too. My other brother in law is getting married in September so that's something. There will definitely be pictures taken there. I've also got a mental NSV too. His fiancee invited MIL & I to the shower up in Houston. Pre surgery? I wouldn't have considered going. No way in monkey hello. Now? I don't mind... I'll go. I'm not so embarassed over myself and not hiding out like a hermit with a tamale hanging out of my mouth anymore. I might post some pictures soon. I need to see if I cant find the cord to my camera.