KatieOkieDokie

After surgery I weighed myself every week. Then I started to obsess over it and start to weigh myself every day. That got way to out of hand and I relied too much on that number. So I weighed myself once a month for a long time. Then I hit under 300 and couldn't believe that I weighed that much! I was shocked. I hadn't weighed under 300 lbs since high school! So I started to weigh every day again. More to see a number under 300!! That was probably two months ago! I still weigh every day. And every day I am shocked by the number even if I don't lose. I'm still shocked. It's like I don't believe I've lost this much, and weigh less than 300 lbs! lol. Also you will have stalls! They SUCK! Are no fun. Don't get discouraged. Instead of checking your weight..measure yourself. Every time that I have stalled I've dropped inches like crazy! I was so confused during my first stall because I wasn't losing any weight but my clothes was still getting smaller. They tell you you'll stall, but they don't tell you (at least they didn't me) that when I stall I'll still lose inches. lol.

I will admit that i cheated. I was on a four week pre-opt diet and Easter was at the start of my last week of the diet. I didn't eat during the dinner..I watched everyone else. However, after they all went out to do the egg hunt I took a few bites of green Beans, and ham. Then a few days later I took a bite of Pasta, and ate a piece of bread. I had a harder time after surgery though. I was so tired of only liquids.

Yes! When I was heavier inserting a tampon was awful. I could never insert it far enough, and it hurt. It does get much easier as you lose! As for flow. I had actually stopped having a period. When I had surgery I had not had a period for probably a year, and actually did not get a period until I was about 7 months out from surgery. When I was having a period before surgery it was light, and only lasted about 3 days. Now I flood like crazy and last about a week. I'm hoping it's because my body is adjusting to the weight loss, and the fact I hadn't had a period for a year and half!

Yes usually when I go from a sitting to standing. Mostly if I'm sitting on the ground though. I do not have random dizzy spells though.

The first hook ups are always the worst, at least for me it was. It was really hard for me to separate my emotions from the physical. And really with a hook up most of the time it's just physical. And I honestly I think I made myself believe that I felt something for him just because we hooked up. Even though really I didn't. So make sure deep down that this guy is someone who you want to take it further than what you have now. And like others have stated. You can't make something happen, that's not meant. No matter how hard we try. Think of how many unhappy people we'd have if everybody got everything they wanted. Sometimes what we think would make us happy, really won't. The best thing to do is be honest with yourself, and when the time is right be honest with him. Letting him know how you feel. Either he will agree with you, or not agree with you.

It is also possible that you are experiencing spotting associated with ovulating. Which is pretty common. I don't always spot, but I have before in the past.

I have a pattern it seems. I'll lose 7 to 10 lbs a week, then lose nothing for a week or two, then I'll lose like 2 to 3 lbs and then 7 to 10. Never fails. Doesn't make it any less frustrating though!! When I'm not losing I keep track of how many inches I lose. Cause i always notice it there Sometimes your body has to adjust to the loss. When it does this it tends to hold onto to Water making it look as though you are not losing, or maybe even gaining. Eventually you'll rid that water and drop! At least that's what I do. I always know when I'm about drop weight I have to pee a lot!

I have gone from a 58 G to a 40G. I would really like to lose them!! Well at least some of them!

As of today I am now down 168 lbs! And my BMI has gone from 72 to 48!! I can now buy my bra's from Victory Secret! I have NEVER been able to do that. Not even in high school! And the way I feel is AMAZING!! The first picture was taken around this time last year, the middle I'm not really sure. I believe it's on the picture. And the last is from about a month ago!

Yay!! Congrats! What website did you use?

Oh I know how you are feeling! I started at 450, or plus. I a really actually don't know know how much I weighed. When I first started to diet I was too big to be weighed on any scales I had, or my dr. office had. So I just say 450. By the time I had my first appointment with my surgeon I weighed 422 so I had lost over what I estimate as around 30 lbs (that took 7 months). My surgeon then let me know that he would not perform surgery until I lost another 75 lbs. I felt so defeated. Even though I understood why he wanted me to lose I still thought it was silly. I mean I had to lose weight to have weight loss surgery? Really? I left feeling very defeated, and down. LIke it was never going to happen. I mean it took me 7 months to lose 30 lbs. I now have to lose that two more times, and then 15 after that! I thought it would take me a good year and half. However, that day I also met with a nutritionist who put me on a high Protein, low carb diet. I was very restricted on what I could and could eat and drink! But it worked. I lost 30 lbs the first month! And within 3 months I was ready for surgery! I have now lost almost 170 lbs in a year! This time last year I would have never thought I would have lost 75 lbs, not alone almost a hundred pounds more than that! You can do it. It may be hard, but it's VERY doable!.

Hello!! My name is Katie. I am 33 years old and on April 8, 2013 I was sleeved at JourneyLIte of Cincinnati by Dr. Trace Curry. But that was not the start of my journey. My journey began two years earlier. When I realized that if I didn't do something, make some changes I was not going to make it to 40. Something, most likely my heart would give out on me. Changes needed to be made. I have been heavy since I was around 10 years old. The combination of puberty, and eating way too much added up. By the time I was 13 I was well over 200 lbs. So my weight is something that I have struggled with for a very long time. Things just got worse as I got older. I moved from the city where I walked every where, to the country where walking to your local store, or library was not doable. I became lazy even more so. About a year ago I started to notice that the things that use to be easy for me to do was no longer easy. Walking was a pain literally, both on my knees, ankles and back, along with struggling to breath. Walking from the couch to the bathroom wiped me out. At one point in my life I loved going out. I would go to local band shows, and concerts. I went to fairs, and festivals. But I was starting to tread those things I once loved to do. I started saying "no" when people invited me out because I knew there would be walking that needed to be done, and I just couldn't do it. I mean walking from my door to the car was hard. There was NO way I could walk three blocks to a concert hall! I found myself sitting down. Giving up. And gaining more and more. I even found things like swimming which I love to do dreadful because of the walk from the chair to the pool! Two summers ago I found myself sitting down and watching the world go around me. That's when I decided something needed to be done. Then my cousin had lap band surgery through the the same surgeon. I started to talk to her, and start my research on the different types of weight loss surgery. At the time I was really looking into by pass, simply because I had never heard of the sleeve. I did a lot of research, but eventually gave up. Mainly because I knew I could not afford the surgery. I didn't have a job, I couldn't work because physically stand to work. And I'm not going to get a job in an office! I knew that. So I gave up. Stopped researching. In my mind it was just a dream of mine that would never happen. I just decided to live the way I had been. I didn't even try dieting. Then on New Years Eve of 2011 I found myself sitting alone. All because I couldn't go anywhere. I was sad, I was depressed and I was tired of missing out on my life. So I decided to sit down and talk to my mom about it. I know she had seen me start to fall, and seen that I was getting pretty. At this time I didn't even know how much I weighed, I only knew that I had to weigh at least 450 if not more! There was no scale that would read my weight, I was too heavy. She supported my Quest for WLS. And thought it was a wonderful idea! I was so happy that she was supportive that I quickly made a post on Facebook vaguely announcing my happiness. About 5 mins later my friend Cat called me wanting to know about the update. So I told her. Turns out that she herself was doing the same thing. However, she was looking into the sleeve, which I had never heard of. So she explained it to me, and gave me some websites to visit After visiting these websites and doing my research I then decided that the sleeve was probably a better option for me. I tried everything to raise money. Online fundraisers (got 5 dollars) I tried and tried but it never went anywhere. I even tried to get on disability. Which I was denied, of course. Of course I found out that I had type two diabetes, and VERY high blood pressure, and started my wonderful drug therapy for both. All this time I couldn't find out how much I really weighed because no scales would register my weight. Finally my aunt had an idea. She works in a factory that makes big paper felts. I had to go to where she works to weigh myself on the scales that weigh 1000 lb felts. This was in Feb. of 2012. I weighed 450 lbs. I decided then that I had to make changes before surgery. That's a lot of weight to carry around on a 5'4 frame! The next few months nothing was really done. I would try, cry, pray. But nothing. I had no way to pay. And with every day that passed the more and more it seemed as though it wasn't going to happen. Then in October I had an accident in the bath tub. We do not have a shower, so I have to take a bath. I wasn't able to get out of the bath tub, because I could not pull myself up. I was too heavy! There was no home to help me either. I ended up having to basically flop myself out of the tub onto the floor, and in doing this, I slipped and hit my head. I didn't get knocked out, thank God. But once I was out of the tub, I still couldn't stand up. I had to crawl to my couch and take the cushion off and sit myself on the couch to get up. This was embarrassing even though no one was home, no one seen me. It still happened, it still hurt. I told my mom what happened the next morning. She then told my dad. That broke my dad's heart. He then decided that yeah something needs to be done. So he made the decision to take a loan from his 401K to pay for my surgery. This delighted my heart! Many think it's crazy that I would be happy to have surgery, but those of us whose had it knows why. I quickly made the phone call and set up an appointment with Dr. Curry. I knew I wanted to go to him, I had done my research on him too. My first appointment was Nov. 8, 2012. I was so excited. The appointment went pretty well. Not as scary as I thought it would be. But I did find out that since my BMI was over 60 (Mine was 72 I believe) I HAD to lose 75 lbs before he would do the surgery. I HAD to lose 60 before he would even schedule my surgery. But his team is awesome, and I was a assigned a nutritionist who put me on a low carb, high Protein diet. At the office I weighed 422 lbs, so I had lost .28 lbs since Feb. I left the office feeling happy because I knew the surgery would get done, but discouraged because I had to lose close to 100 lbs before having surgery and I just knew it would take forever. I was wrong. I lost 30 lbs the first month of my new diet, and met my 60 lbs loss by March of this year. They scheduled my appointment for April 8 (5 months after my first Dr. visit to the day). And I started my 4 week pre-opt diet. Now I didn't lose like everyone else. I lost a total of 4 lbs during my pre-opt diet. I was so scared that he wouldn't do the surgery. But he did. So on April 8th, I was sleeved. Amazingly I was rather calm, and at peace before surgery. I guess I was REALLY calm and at ease after I got my meds for surgery. Singing, dancing, acting a fool. I don't remember. I don't remember much about that day. I got to go home the same day as well. But recovery wasn't what I expected it to be. I guess I thought I would bounce right back, have all this energy. lol. Crazy girl. I was very blessed on the fact that I didn't have any pain afterward, and I had no throwing up or anything like that. My second day was the worse for me. That's because I was so sleepy, and tired I didn't want to be bothered and my mom was constantly waking me up and telling me to drink drink drink walk walk walk. I just wanted to be left alone. But my energy levels were really zapped and remained that way until about three weeks ago. I didn't feel like doing anything but sit around. Things have gotten MUCH better. I have stalled in my weight loss. I lost 30 lbs the first month, and maybe 10 the second and nothing since. However I am losing inches. I work out daily (swim for an hour, and do weights for an hour). I was able to buy bathing suits this year, and not have to wear my regular clothes swimming. I actually bought two swimming suits in two different sizes. The bigger suit is too big for me! I can walk and not get out of breath, and or feel pain!! I have may days of discouragement when I see the scale isn't doing anything, but I'm trying to get away from that thought and believe that my success lays in those numbers! There has been times I thought maybe I should have gotten the bypass, but that's only because so far I have been able to tolerate anything I have eaten. There are some things I haven't tried such as chocolate, or anything with process sugar, and gluten. I haven't had either in months and really don't want. I have tired pizza I am guilty. However, I didn't like the way it tastes, I also don't like Breakfast foods anymore?? Not even the thought of breakfast makes me happy. It use to be my favorite meal. I'm really trying to eat clean. So..so far so good! I am only three months out, well will be on July 8th. I'm praying my scale starts to move again, but either way I am so happy with what I have been giving so far!! Here are some pics of my progress. I started taking pictures in Dec. before my surgery. So the first pictures are from then, after I lost 30 lbs. And the last was taken about a week ago. In total, since Feb. 2012 I have lost around 120 lbs I believe! I wish I had pictures from back then!

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It has almost been a year since I started to lose weight! It's been 7 months since I last posted on here. Since then I have had surgery which was on April 8th! So here are pictures from Feb till now.

So how is everyone doing?

I had to lose 60 lbs before my surgeon would schedule me for surgery, and then another 15 lbs before he would perform the surgery. For a total of 75 lbs. I was about in tears when he told me that. I thought that the mountain was WAY to high for me to climb, and it would take me forever to lose 75 lbs. I met with my nutritionist that same day and she put me on a low carb, high protein, 1,000 calorie a day diet. I still felt hopeless. That was Nov.8, 2012. I had surgery on April 8, 2013. I lost close to 75 lbs in 5 months. I lost more before surgery, than I have since having surgery. It's very doable! He did explain to me why I had to lose that much weight before surgery and like proudgrammy said one main reason was to shrink my liver. Part of your liver lies on top of our stomachs and they have to lift it to get to your stomach. My surgeon actually commented on how nice my liver looked! lol. I was like "OK". How do you respond to "you have a really nice looking liver"?

Yay!! That's an awesome feeling isn't it? What bands played?

I thought I would have all this energy right after surgery too, sadly I did not. To be honest with you it probably took 3 months for me to get the energy I expected to have after surgery.

I'm 5'4. Starting weight at surgery? 360 Weight lost? I'm at 305 so that's 55 lbs Months since sleeve? 5 months (April 8 2013) I actually gained 15 lbs after surgery, then once I lost that 15 lbs I stalled for a month! My weight loss would be much more if that hadn't happened!

I was sleeved three and half months ago. I have lost 54 lbs, this is with a month stall during my second month. I am 6 lbs from being under 300 lbs! This was one of my major goals! I cannot lie at first I had my moments when I regretted my decision. But now I am so thankful!! I still have a long way to go but I know I can do it! Also I'm having some issues with my head telling me I can't do things (walk etc.). I'm working on that! Oh I am finally able to shop at regular stores, and not just online. However, I am having some issues finding clothes because I am too short! Now I cry in the changing rooms because all the jeans are too long on me. Too bad I can't have surgery to stretch my legs..lol

I have found that I now hate bread of any kind since surgery. Before I started my journey I loved all kinds of breads, and french toast was my fav. breakfast but now the thought of it makes me sick..lol.. I'm VERY happy I hate it!