CowgirlJane

Washington State Weight Loss Surgery Support Group Support groups are very important to weight loss surgery success. They can help you flourish on your journey to complete wellness. This group is welcome to pre- and post-surgical patients. This an opportunity to meet others who are on the same path, educate and support each other through sharing ideas and tips, social & fitness activities and educational speakers. Together we have a wealth of information and using support groups as a tool along with your surgery you can increase your success in achieving maintenance and overall wellbeing. Join us and get inspired! WHERE: Lyons Den Café WHEN: Sunday, November 16, 2014 10415 Beardslee Blvd, Bothell, WA 98011 (425) 892-8954 TIME: 3:00 PM Finally, it is happening for the Seattle and the outlying areas! Please pass this information to anyone you think would be interested in attending this initial meeting. For questions, contact hosts Kay Feather at kayfeather304@gmail.com or Michelle L. at lotus_mimi@yahoo.com If you are unable to make this meeting but are interested in staying in touch about future meetings, please contact us.

Kelly and Florinda, somebody is finally organizing a meeting in our area. It is located in Bothell on a Sunday afternoon.. thought it would be nice for a few vets to show up. I wonder what happened to FiddleMan and his wife? Maybe I am remembering wrong, but I think he is a local and i never see his posts anymore. Anyway, details are in the WA Sleevers forum

I wouldn't get surgery for being 40# overweight either there are awesome 2 year (expensive but so is WLS) geared to true lifestyle changes that I think are better. I in fact wanted to do that but they told me I was too high BMI to be a good candidate and recommended sleeve! I was over 50 BMI at the time.

If you view from laptop you can see my signature and profile pix. My lifetime high was 332, I started preop diet at 308. I am maintaining at about 145#. My sleeve was Dec 11, 2011. A complete transformation.

For me it has been important to shift away from "recreational" eating. My friends are all active and fit. Doesn't mean we don't enjoy going out for a nice meal but it is way down on the priority list. I won't date a foodie, I don't go out to big dinners that my meetup pals host. I go dance and other active things. If I do "eat big" I follow it with strct (read hungry) days to balance it out. Thin women my age have to do that or they get fat. I am almost 3 years out and have my struggles for sure, but I think " lifestyle change" needed is more drastic than I understood pre-op.

Yeah Denise I met him in a parking lot. We went on a dancing date Friday and saw him for a bit Sunday after my ride. It's just a date or two not a relationship nothing physical. I gave up on the online dating because I just keep meeting people with issues. I used to think I couldn't date any other way but I have figured this out now so conducting a new social experiment. I like this much better so far. I wouldn't date at all if Steven were really available but he really isn't. I am undecided what to do there but I am fine not heartbroken. Has Bill become less needy since getting a job etc.?

Today I was cleaning my garage and came across some old jeans and shorts. It shocked me how big they were. I had forgotten I guess how far I've come. I held them up one by one and marveled that they ever fit me. I was pretty sure I had found clothes from my very heaviest - 330 ish and size 28W to 32W or 3x to 4x range. I checked tag number 1...size 20W. Checked the next...sure enough they were all 20w to 22w. It hit me like a ton of bricks to realize why these were forgotten in garage was because they were WAY to small when I moved to this house. I spent a few minutes feeling sad for the woman who would have considered 20w pretty damn good clothing size/fairly trim. Then I emotionally moved on to gratefulness that I have attained a normal weight and size. I am surprised how much this event shook me up.

I don't know what happened. .. I did experiment with my make up. ..but tonight when I went out with the meet up dancing to live music all the men were interested. Several of the me young ones wanted to buy me drunks etc which I declined. A young guy just at the place asked me to dance over and over. It was fun. Now if I could just figure out why I was suddenly so appealing. .ha. Had a bit of a misunderstanding with steven. We were supposedly starting up, I didn't really want to keep dating others etc. I did quit the whole online thing but steven went off the rails, over the edge and cut himself off from me. We haven't actually dated since the big decision to start up again . Say a a month ago so I just decided to "move on". Anyway we had a big tiff because I didn't understand what the heck was going on. We worked it out but I told him this is not working. .no blame just not working. I can't have someone in my life who stresses me out and who is so high drama. Wish I didn't still carry a flame for him....and I am certainly going to keep dating but very casually. ..not getting involved with one guy until I know him way better. I have made that mistake. ..zeroing in way too fast (ie not dating others) and then am disappointed.

Swizzly are you feeling better? Last you posted you were in a dark place. Had an awesome date last night. I think he wanted to see me again tonight but he didn't ask directly and I decided I am better off not diving in too fast so doing something else. Also i don't know how to play stupid dating games but I hear you don't wanna be too available. .make em work for your attention a bit at the beginning. I hate that crap but apparently there is a rule book I never read..m

Your reply is interesting because the longer I am in maintenance the more I think about trying to change to living the life I want. Obesity was the "elephant in the room" and now that's in control I am peeling away alot of other layers I want to change. I at times have a twinge of regret I am so old but mostly I am grateful that I have this chance.

T he problem for me is not the calories in those little choices it's that eating that way makes me hungry! It's a carb craving cycle. If I eat clean my hunger is quite manageable but when on the carb crazy train I want to eat alot more often than normal.

Well date was fun! dinner and talk then dancing. I wound up in skinny jeans because I just decided that it fit the setting better and rain was forecast ,(though it was dry) and we planned to walk from place to place. We didn't like the band at the blues place so mostly were at a dive bar that had a heavy metal cover band..loud! I was better dressed than 98 percent even in my jeans so it was a good call. We hit it off but I realized that part of it is that he reminds me of someone I still carry a little flame for. Anyway, good start! I am in the mindset to not "miss" opportunities if someone appeals to me and is expressing interest. That was the big deal for me - how to meet people more "organically" and have it actually lead to a date or social event. I am pleased how this turned out so I feel like that is the better path for me over online dating.

RJ, i am sorry you are going through this misery. I have a bad memory, so I don't recall why you are having such physical discomfort 2 years post op. Physical discomfort is such a hard thing to live with - i still have alot of body pain but it was much worse when i was obese. I feel so blessed that I haven't really had any serious problems ... or minor ones frankly. Here is what I will say. Even if we KNOW that losing weight wont make us happy, there is still an emotional journey. I KNEW my life would still be same ole, but what i didn't really think about was that I would have to deal with same ole without my food and obesity to "numb me". It was a rude awakening... I am almost 3 years post op and feel like I am finally... becoming more "settled". I have been happy, since i feel so much better, but that emotional noise has quieted so much. Here is the dirty little secret. Looking good/better is wonderful, but it doesn't make you happy. The unhappiest woman I ever met was a bombshell, with a charming personality.... think Marilyn Monroe... I think when you have always been obese you fantasize about some sort of "better place". It is partially true - I am happier because I live a better, more active life; but ... I still have to get up everyday and put one foot in front of the other...

I have been wondering about laura ven. Did she just decide she was wasting too much time on the internet? I always thought she'd come back. I am a wee nervous about my date tomorrow.

I think it would be so fun, but as a single woman... I feel kinda silly or odd about it. I mean, i don't really have an audience for them.

I met this guy 2 weeks ago in a strip mall/grocery store parking lot. He had his boat on a trailer... I had my horse IN a trailer. I was wearing jeans, boots, and had helmet hair after my ride. He was in shorts and a t shirt. We have talked alot since, but haven't met up since. I really want to show off my girly girl side, but, the little town we are going to - the dance places range from a fun saloon down to a biker bar..ha. I loved all your comments, still thinking... So, I am not getting hopes up but I admit I am really interested in this guy. A little part of me thinks it doesn't matter if i am dressed way wrong for the setting, I wanna get his attention and show off the womanly side of me.

Well, I am over 2 weeks off my meds (nearly 3 I think) and doing pretty well. I had a few occasions of feeling a little off, but coped with it and quickly it passed. I still feel like i am overeating, but i weighed 146 this morning... so hanging out at approx same weight... even though i would rather weigh 140..haha! My tummy feels big..lol... but my jeans fit fine. i use no stretch jeans and a scale as my "measure" but my tummy still feels poochie. I have been having problems with bacterial vaginosis that seems hard to get rid of. It isn't horrible, but annoying. not currently in a sexual relationship (darn it!) so no big impact but i sure wish i could cure it. Back to having probiotics, using boric acid inserts etc. Work is really stressful right now.

No More prone to diarrea now - but not chronic.

i don't wear low cut tops... and all my skirts are just a couple of inches about the knee... any longer and I look frumpy, any shorter and it looks like i am trying to dress like a teen. My favorite "going out dress" has a very fitted bodice but is actually high necked and sleeveless. It shows off your figure, in a fairly "covered up" way. The main thing is I feel like it is the "trying to hard" thing... Personally, I think we should dress up and look fabulous all the time..haha!

There are negative sides of WLS, but at somepoint, saving your life becomes more important. i don't have chronic diarea, but i am more prone to it than I used to be. Does not interfere with life though. I do take Vitamins. I have been maintaining a massive weight loss since Feb 2013 and continue to have to "work at it" or i will regain. I think you would be better served with a doc with amore "balanced view" of pros and cons.

Hi Dorrie, for me the main thing is accountability and not letting a small blip turn into a big regain. Normal people battle with a few pounds they just don't let it turn into a few hundred! You are in good company... you know what to do...go back to basics, water, protein,veggies...eat clean, stay active.

I pretty much avoided alcohol during weight loss phase but had some red wine at a celebration about 4 months out....burned! Now I am almost 3 years out. If I drink on an empty stomach it hits me hard. It's like the booze goes directly into the boodstream! I don't recall being so sensitive when banded. The sleeve creates metabolic change. If I eat first I can have 1-2drinks with no issue. Just be careful with it.

Lisa I am so sorry for what you are going through. I am not sure if you are in grief counseling but my feeling is that working through emotional pain while you await the revision would help. I am sure you know this but coffee is terrible for you when you are having esophagus issues. You are using/abusing it instead of eating properly. Last spring I went through an emotional downturn and couldn't eat comfortably. I was scared I had a sleeve "issue" but what happened was that I stopped eating, lost my appetite, felt horrible from poor eating, felt too ill to eat..and of course felt even worse from too little food/too low carbs. . Well, as soon as I started addressing the emotional issue and then eating food like a prescription I felt alot better. Over time both my mental and physical health improved and I felt good again. My appetite came back! I know this doesn't fix the GERD etc. But maybe you can start feeling better in the meantime by cutting the coffee and eating clean healthy food. I have suffered painful losses too and haven't been the best at taking care of myself. I bet our departed loved ones would want us to though. I wonder if you would get more responses on the revision in the bypass forums?

Ha... I had to do hand to hand combat with each of the last say 30-40 pounds so it wasn't really relevant for me! I have heard that people start adding back more calorie dense food like nuts or increase carbs etc. For most of us, maintance is an ongoing topic of vigiliance to keep from regaining, not having a problem with losing too much. What I will say is that undereating, just like overeating, is a self fullfilling "habit". If you chronically undereat your hunger seems to reduce and people get in that "cycle". That happened to me for a bit due to a life event situation and I really learned that appetite is a complex thing. I would often not feel good, and not eat, but the reason i didn't feel good was because I wasn't eating enough... The solution was to make myself eat like a prescription and sure enough, over time my appetite ROARED back..haha!

a magical land....