Forensikchic

After surgery, my tastes changed and I did NOT like sweet things very much. I found the lemonade crystal light packet for Water bottles way too TART/SWEET if that is possible. I could not drink it at all. I learned that if I didnt put the whole packet in the bottle.. . just a little more than half, it was perfect! I like the MIO water flavors too because you can squeeze in as much you need to get it right for your tastes. Try that for on the go!

Weight before surgery: 234 Date of surgery: 8/11/2011 Current Weight: 139 Goal weight for oct 31st: 134 My goal is to be under 135 for this challenge. It is my personal goal. I met my surgeons goal at one year post op visit. I am having plastics done in November and I want to be under 135 for that and stable there. I hope to lose this last 5 pounds before Halloween and maintain it until surgery. Its very hard when you get to the end to lose any more weight. I am going to do the bootcamp and get rid of the carb monster once again. I did this a few months ago and it worked and I lost another 7 pounds but then starting eating carbs and stalled again. At least I know how much I can eat and maintain now. I just need to dig my heals in and shed the last 5 pounds before I go into maintenance. This challenge is cool to me because it was the first one I participated in last year and I have never made a single one of them but tried them all! I want this last one to be the one I actually achieve! I can do this!

SW-145 CW- 139.2 GW-135 Well, I didnt do well this time. I had lost down to 137.4 but it came back with aunt flow yesterday. So, my final weigh in was 139.2. I lost 6 pounds during the challenge instead of 10. I am still 5 pounds from my personal goal of 134 and 100 pounds lost. I am going to Diva's boot camp and see if I cant drop some and lose the carb monster and finally make that goal. I need to start into maintenance soon because I am having plastics in November and I need to be stabilized at the weight I want to be instead of settling for my doctors goal of 139. Ultimately, I want to be between 125 and 130 after plastics, for the rest of my life. I think its doable but not easy. I will set up shop on the Halloween challenge! See you there!

I was lounging on my living room floor when my husband noticed how flat my stomach is and that my pelvic bones and rib cage now stick up! I am 2.4 pounds from my personal goal and have already met my surgeons Ideal weight goal. Just thought I would share my nsv from yesterday! Here is one taken the morning of my surgery for comparison too... 234 to 137, size 20 to size 4/6. Woohooo!!!!

Actually, I have quite a bit of loose skin on my inner and outer thighs. The extra skin on my belly is just laying on the floor on the sides..lol If I get up on all fours, it hangs in the middle. I am having a lower body lift and an inner thigh lift, arm lift in November. I look fine in my clothes and laying flat on my back but when I stand up, it hangs. Its not HORRIBLE but it does need to be fixed. I didnt work this hard to do it halfass so I am going to get the skin removed. I could opt not to, its not that bad really. The only exercise I really did was walking. I walked almost every day for 2 or 3 miles. I worked up to that of course starting before my surgery. My dr. made me walk everyday before surgery too. Now, I am working on my core. I am doing planks because they work your arms and your back and abs. I want my core to be very strong so I can recuperate from plastic surgery better. I want a real six pack when they cut away the extra skin that is hiding it! lol. My daughter and I have a healthy little competition going on who can hold the planks the longest. She is winning because we just started, but I intend to prevail! (she is a 14 year old gymnast so I set my sights high).

You can totally do this Christine...It was hard for me to grasp too. I kept yoyoing, losing the same few pounds and gaining it back and then some, for years. That programs us to think we cant do it. You have to trust the process. Expect the stalls, dont get discouraged. Eat your Protein first! That's all you have to do! I did get frustrated at times because I was still doubtful it would work. At some point, everyone thinks its not working for me and what am I doing wrong.. its just the process and the stalls are to be expected as your body adjusts. Just remember that and keep doing what you are supposed too.. ie, eat protein first. You can be whatever size you set out to be. Don't sell yourself short of your dreams! It does slow down at the end. I have lost 1 pound so far this month. That's okay because I know I am very close to my goal and its going to be slow the last few pounds but I am trusting that I am still in losing mode and I will keep on doing what I am doing until I don't lose anymore and then I will be in maintenance.

Hey Star... I was born and raised in Mississippi and lived in bama for 12 years! I just moved to texas a few years back. Where are you from?

SW-145 CW- 137.4 GW-135 I lost some weight this week! YAY! I lost what I had gained PLUS almost another pound! I have about 2.4 pounds to go.. Wonder if I can make that happen before Monday???? I am sure going to try to. Have a great last week of the challenge ladies and gents!

SW-145 CW- 140.2 GW-135 I gained another pound this week! I am very bloated and just fat feeling... I have not ate my best the past two weeks so I am going to start tracking again and lowering my carbs, one more time. I am only 5 pounds from goal, where I was 3 pounds from goal... I am going backward but I am hoping its just temporary.. I have not eaten super bad or anything. I just let my carbs come back up to normal and I realize now that having those carbs up there around 60-80 makes me gain or maintain.. I have to have them super low to lose any weight now that I am this thin. Wish me luck! I have two weeks and I am going for Gold!

SW-145 CW- 139.2 GW-135 Its TOM and I gained a pound. I am not changing my ticker in hopes I am back down next week. Getting this goal is really hard at the end of the journey. I have been this weight up and down for two weeks now. I sure hope I drop again soon. My personal goal and labor day goal is 135 and I sure would like to reach it and stay there!

I had the VSG with Dr. Duperier August 8, 2011. I had a GREAT experience! My surgery was performed at Foundation Hospital. All the staff there are wonderful and caring. I have lost 96 pounds and am now my ideal weight. Its such a great feeling to know I was in very good hands....... Having said that, my sister chose Dr. Alvarez in Mx and I went with her for support. We both had a GREAT experience there as well. DR. A. was awesome and I would highly recommend him as well. They treated us both like queens. We wanted for nothing. She has had a great outcome as well. She is only 2 months post op right now but has lost 60 pounds so far. Soooo.... long story short, I would recommend either of them with equal enthusiasm. Good luck with your decision!

Hi. I am looking for buddies that are in the San Antonio area. I moved here from Alabama two years ago. I was sleeved August 8th by Dr. Duperier. I am doing okay so far. I am on soft foods this week and then on to normal food. I cant eat very much at a sitting but its going ok. I had a set back two weeks ago with a kidney stone. I am feeling much better now just cant wait to get the stent out! Let me know if anyone wants to buddy up with me for the journey! I have no friends here and I am private about my surgery so it would really help if I had a buddy! Thanks!

On the drinking..... At first, you will have to take tiny sips. The esophogus will be swollen near the stomach and it wont allow much liquid in there. So you sip tiny sips over and over. If you sip too fast or too much, it will run over like a funnel. You dont want that. We are all encouraged to drink as much as possible. You will be sipping your ass off for the first few weeks. As the swelling subsides, you will be able to drink bigger swallows and more often. You will return to normal eventually but you wont be guzzling 20 oz's at a time anymore. I can take about 6 big swallows at a time now and then I have to wait for that to go down and then I can drink some more. I think you will find that most people are not big drinkers so they have a hard time getting that much Water in. You wont have a problem with it it doesnt sound like. We are encouraged not to drink when we eat so we dont eat too much or drink too much with it and overload the sleeve. YOu have to drink so you will probably have to take a sip then a bite then a sip and it may just take you a little longer to get your Protein in, as you will get so full so fast if you drink at the same time. I am sure you will manage just fine though. There are actually people here on this board who never stopped drinking and eating at the same time and they did just fine. We are all trying to get our fluids in and its a chore for most of us because we just dont drink that much! I got the clearance from DR. D to start shopping for a PS. He said I was ready and he thought it wise to get the surgery in about 3 months and so that is what I did. I was so happy to get his blessing to have the surgery. He suggested a few surgeons here, too. He gave me a list. I am sorry you have these extra problems but I know Dr. D. will steer you right. It may be a blessing in disguise you being so thirsty, as you need to be drinking water to avoid dehydration and constipation.. a very common problem from eating all that protein.

I am scheduled for plastics on November 20th. I am so excited about it! I know there are good docs in san antonio but they dont seem to have the experience I want in a surgery in weight loss patients.. we are sagging where normal people dont so I want that expertise. You will love Dr. D. and DR. Englehart is even better.. He assists in these surgeries and just came on board with BMI full time. He assisted with mine last year and I love him! I have only been to the ER at methodist specialty and transplant hospital. I had a kidney stone and they have equipment there. That was two weeks after my VSG. You can definately get to 138 if you want to! I didnt think it possible either but you can! Just eat your Protein first always. Thats what I did. I am bad with my Water though and I need to improve on that. I walked a lot after surgery to help myself heal and you feel so much better if you walk, I promise!!!! I did some zumba here and there and walked.. thats all I have really done. I did a few circuits but not much in the way of weight training. I just stuck to the protein first and low carb. When I dont eat low carb, I dont lose. I went though about two months maintaining and finally started really watching the snacking and carbs and I lost 7 pounds last month...even this far out! YOu can do this too!!!!!

I like BMI too. I hardly have to go there so I have not experience clinic days. I was a self pay and had surgery a week after the seminar. I only went twice before surgery and then followed up at a week, then three months, 6 months and a year. I just had my one year surgiversary. DR. D. did my sleeve on August 8, 2011. I had a great result and I am at his goal at one year. I was 234 when I started and I am now 138. I have not gotten a group together but I do go to the monthly support group at BMI. I met a friend there and we walk together on Tuesdays. She is getting ready to walk the half marathon in November. We are up to 6 miles!!! I cant believe I can actually walk 6 miles at a time now. I wish you the best of luck! Are you having the surgery at Foundation or another hospital? I had mine at Foundation and the staff there were wonderful, especially Wyatt!

Im booked with Dr. Saucedo in Monterrey in November! So excited! I comparison shopped around san antonio and couldnt find another surgeon with as much experience and his price is all inclusive, with hotel, hospital and all. Its about 4k dollars cheaper than here and these docs here do not have a lot of experience with massive weight loss patients. I cant wait to see my results! I will post pics when I get back in December!

SW-145 CW- 138.2 GW-135 I lost another 1.5 pounds this week. I had a great one year surgiversary follow up with my dr and made his goal of my ideal weight at 138. I keep inching up and down a pound so we will see what the next few weeks bring. I hope I make my personal goal by Labor day!

I am 5'4 and I started at 234. You will see in the video that two weeks after surgery, I had a kidney stone that nearly killed me! I was in the hospital for a week near death, kidneys were blocked by a huge stone. I had a second surgery on my left kidney and a stent placed. Notice the extremely swollen face! I emerged from that hospital stay bigger than I started on my preop liquid diet at 236. It was like starting over at three weeks out from surgery. I was very sad about that. I stuck to Protein first, tried hard to get liquids in for fear of another stone, mostly, and just took it one day at a time. I tracked my intake so I could be sure I was getting as much protein as possible for the first few months especially. I never really got the 70 grams until much later in the journey, though I did try. I could not eat but a few bites at a time. I have great restriction. I had a bunch of plateaus along the way. You can see in my signature there were months where I hardly lost.. 3 pounds per month for some of them. I thought it was close to over for me in June/July because I really didnt lose much and I would gain that back and lose it again. I kicked it in high gear these last three weeks, lowered my carbs to 30 and it took an extra 7-8 pounds and I acheived my goal of making goal by one year. I am going to continue at about 50-60 gr of carbs for the next few months in hopes of reaching 125 by November so I can have plastic surgery. I want to have a lower body lift and I want to be below goal so I have some room to bounce back 10 pounds. My dr. says we will bounce back about 10 over the next couple of years so need to go below goal alittle so we can maintain the weight we want ultimately. That is my plan. You can do this. Just take it one day at a time and dont let the scale control your emotions. The stalls are a necessary part of the journey. Your body must stop and wait every so often, like having rest time, in between drops in weight. Its normal and it doesnt mean you are done or this wont work for you or you will be a slow loser. It means you are doing it right and you must have faith. Eat your protein first always and that is all you really need to remember. If you do that, you wont have room for junk and chips and crap and the weight will fall off, trust me. Enjoy the journey and keep the faith! best wishes, Tammi