BlessedBeyondMeasure2012

I totally agree with you. I'll be three months out tomorrow and it seems like I've been waiting forever to take my comparison pics tonight!

Where is everybody??? July 4 is less than 2 weeks away!

It will all work out and this headache will be a thing of the past before you know it. Keep your head up and keep chugging forward. You will get your surgery and be glad you did. I know right now all this seems crazy but it will all be worth it! Good luck! And don't for get to take a deep breath... breathe in, breathe out, repeat over and over again!!!

My tummy makes lots of noises a lot. It tends to make more noises when I eat spicy foods. My 5 year old thinks its too funny to lay his head on my belly after supper

So I'm doing low carb high protein like most folks on here. My question is when you are doing low carb do you count total carbs or net carbs? I know that when you count the fiber the net carbs are lower. Before surgery I was a big fiber eater but now I don't get many carbs therefore not much in the form of fiber. I try to make sure that if I am getting carbs that they have some fiber in them as well. I don't eat bread or pasta. I have found that carb balance whole wheat tortillias are pretty good (13 carbs, 10 gm fiber = 3 net carbs). Most of my carbs come from those tortillias (I don't eat more than one a day) and fruits (minimal) and veggies. Just wondering how the vets do it

Thanks yall. Gonna throw these tortillias out!

The word diet has DIE in it. This sleeve journey, for all of us, has to be lived. It has to be a lifestyle change with new habits. You have to LIVE-IT every day. A diet is temporary and is miserable (at least all of them I have ever been on have been). This new live-it as I am calling it is for good, for the rest of my life. Its for a better me. It's for a better life. It's not miserable at all. I love my sleeve. I still have a long way to go but the only way I am going to get there is by living it, not by dieting. Here's to this live-it!

I started at a size 26/28 and this weekend I picked up a pair of size 20 jeans that I bought right after surgery at a resale store. I held them up and I thought there was no way they would come even half way up my thighs. BUT they did! I wore them around all day on Sunday just because I could The other night my husband and I were laying in bed fixing to go to sleep. He had his hand on my side and sald all of a sudden, "Hey! You know what? You have ribs!" In the entire time we have been together he has never been able to feel my ribs! I told him yep, and I have hip bones too lol!

Several years ago I asked my dad what he wanted for Father's Day. He told me that he wanted me to lose 50 pounds. Now he wasn't mean about it or ugly in any way, he just wanted me to be healthy. I've dieted off and on since then but never lost as much as 50 pounds at one time or even anywhere close to Father's Day. This year for Father's Day I was able to tell him that I've lost just over 80 pounds since the end of February. He cried when I told him, then he laughed! He told me that my overall health was the most important thing to him first off, but #2 just how much plastic surgery was I going to need to keep me from flapping in the wind?!? LOL! That, Daddy, is yet to be determined!

So my signature was getting too long for all the info in it so I'm just going to put it in a blog and I will update it as needed. I'm not using my highest weight as my starting weight because my highest weight was actually the day I went in the hospital to deliver our daughter. My starting weight is my highest weight less her birth weight. 2/23/13 Highest weight 342.2 (332.4 not counting baby girl's birth weight) 3/12/13 Start of preop diet 309.7 (-22.7) 3/25/13 Surgery day 297.7 (-12) Total lost before surgery 34.7 4/1/13 1 week post op 286.6 (-10.9) 4/8/13 2 weeks post op 281.5 (-5.1) 4/15/13 3 weeks post op 281.4 (-0.1) 4/22/13 4 weeks post op 279.8 (-1.6) Lost in the first 4 weeks 17.7, since starting preop diet 29.7 4/29/13 5 weeks post op 273.0 (-6.8) 5/6/13 6 weeks post op 269.2 (-3.8) 5/14/13 7 weeks post op 270.6 (+1.4) 5/20/13 8 weeks post op 264.7 (-5.9) Lost in the 2nd 4 weeks 15.1, since surgery 32.8, since starting preop diet 44.8 5/27/13 9 weeks post op 260.7 (-4) 6/3/13 10 weeks post op 257.7 (-3) 6/10/13 11 weeks post op 255.3 (-2.4) 6/17/13 12 weeks post op 248.7 (-6.6) Lost in the 3rd 4 weeks 16, since surgery 48.8, since starting preop diet 64.8 6/24/13 13 weeks post op (3 months out tomorrow) post op 247.3 (-1.5) 7/1/13 14 weeks post op 243.1 (-4.2) 7/8/13 15 weeks post op 241.4 (-1.7) 7/15/13 16 weeks post op 238 (-3.4) Lost in the 4th 4 weeks 10.8, since surgery 59.6, since starting preop 75.6 7/22/13 17 weeks post op 235.8 (-2.2) 7/29/13 18 weeks post op 237.7 (+1.9) 8/5/13 19 weeks post op 235.2 (-2.5) had my gall bladder removed this day 8/12/13 20 weeks post op 230.4 (-4.8) Lost in the 5th 4 weeks 7.6, since surgery 67.2, since starting preop 83.2 I hit 100 pounds total gone on 8/11/13!!! 8/19/13 21 weeks post op 226.9 (-3.5) 8/26/13 22 weeks post op 227.1 (+0.2) 9/2/13 23 weeks post op 223 (-4.1) 9/9/13 24 weeks post op 222.8 (-0.8) Lost in the 6th 4 weeks 7.6, since surgery 74.8, since starting preop 90.8 9/16/13 25 weeks post op 220.7 (-2.1) 9/23/13 26 weeks post op 219.1 (-1.6) 9/30/13 27 weeks post op 222 (+2.9) 10/7/13 28 weeks post op 217.3 (-4.1) Lost in the 7th 4 weeks 4.9, since surgery 79.7, since starting preop 95.7 10/14/13 29 weeks post op 217.8 (+0.5) 10/21/13 30 weeks post op 213.8 (-4.0) 10/28/13 31 weeks post op 212.4 (-1.4) 11/4/13 32 weeks post op 212.7 (+0.3) Lost in the 8th 4 weeks 5.1, since surgery 84.8, since starting preop 100.8 11/11/13 33 weeks post op 213.9 (+1.2) 11/18/13 34 weeks post op 210.2 (-3.7) 11/25/13 35 weeks post op 209.1 (-1.1) 12/2/13 36 weeks post op 207.4 (-1.7) Lost in the 9th 4 weeks 5.3, since surgery 90.1, since starting preop 106.1 12/9/13 37 weeks post op 204.2 (-3.2)

He may think he has a whole new wife! You look great!

I started out in a 26/28 and I'm in a 20/22 now (honestly the 22's are too big but I haven't had the time to replace them) and I actually have a pair of 18's that I got on, buttoned and zipped yesterday. They are tight and I'm not fixing to wear them in public but I GOT THEM ON!!! I was telling my husband last night that even already it seems strange to look at my "new" clothes and at how much smaller they look. I seriously was only in a 22 for about 3 weeks and I've been in 20's for about a week and some of them are already getting baggy. I wore a pair of 20's on Monday that I pulled the tags off of on Monday. They had been hanging in my closet for a couple of years, I found them when on one of my previous diets for like $5 at Lane Bryant so I bought them knowing I'd "get into them one day". Anyway, I had a lady tell me on Monday, the day I wore them for the first time, that I needed to go shopping for some new pants cause those were too big. I very rarely buy anything that I can wear right now because I am going through it so quickly. I buy things a size or two too small if I find a SUPER good sale. I also shop at resale stores and Goodwill and, like you said, you can find some great stuff there. I know you are excited but trust me, the time will come when you are buying clothes way more often than you ever imagined! I have a HUGE bag of clothes to sell at the resale store tomorrow from before surgery and you will have one of those before you know it too!

At fast food resturants I tend to get grilled chicken sandwhiches and take the bun off or order it with no bun. At sit down places I get either grilled chicken or fish and a side of steamed veggies. Occasionally I'll get a sweet potato as a side and eat just a few bites after I have finished what of everything else I can eat. I don't do fried foods and I stay away from carb (except the occasional few bites of sweet potato) and bread.

YUCK! I love fish, lots of different kinds of fish but not so much this one. I can't seem to find a way to make it taste any other way other than fishy (I know it's fish but even different kinds of seasonings don't help this one!). Blah.

When I went back for my two week post op I asked the NP if sex was okay. Her response was, "You mean you're not already?" I had just been to my OBGYN that same day for my 6 weeks post partum visit and was released from him. As far as the sleeve surgery went, I don't think I had any restrictions as far as sex goes, probably no sex swing though

It's the dreaded 3 week stall. I had a stall at 10 days out that lasted for 2 1/2 weeks and I had another stall a few weeks after that. Since then some weeks I lose faster than others. It will come off, you just have to get adjusted. Stalls happen, it sucks, but they do. It seems like when the scale stalls for me, my clothes start getting looser and people start noticing my drop in weight. I dropped a pant size in my first stall, and have dropped two more since but both when the scale really had slowed down moving. Measure yourself and see your body changing in inches not just in the numbers on the scale.

Apparently you didn't get the memo that horizontal stripes are not supposed to be flattering cause that dress is SUPER CUTE!!! You look great!

I had a very small amount today for the first time (I'm 11 weeks out today). It didn't give me any trouble but it isn't something that I have often because of all the sugar and carbs. I try to stick mainly with super low carbs. I LOVE me some ketchup but I won't let myself give in and have any of that just yet either.

I really like True Lemon Lemonade. It is nice and tart too. I use all kind of water add ins and then Vitamin water, propel zero, powerade zero to get all my fluids in. I also count my morning cup of decaf coffee (with half and half and SF Torani syrup) as "liquids" too. If it is caffiene free, has no sugar and only a few calories in it my NUT told me it counts!

You can see in my signature how my weight loss has progressed. When I hit 3 months I will be posting actual comparison pics (I still don't see much of a physical difference when I look in the mirror but more and more people are starting to notice). I'm sure there is a difference, I started out in a 26-28 pant and today I am wearing COMFORTABLE size 20's. I got on the scale this morning and it had moved as well as being able to wear smaller britches so I figured I'd do so face shots for comparison and I felt like this was too good not to share on a Friday. I'm coming along, I have a long way to go, but getting there everyday and couldn't be doing it without my sleeve!

Thanks y'all! Hathery, I use this AMAZING stuff called LiLash on my lashes almost everyday. I started using it sometime mid February. I wasn't sure how much it was working and then all of a sudden BANG I had these crazy long eyelashes. They are real, growing straight out of my eye lids. And then I use "They're Real" mascara that makes it really obvious how long they are! I'm too cheap to pay for the eyelash extensions, not to mention I don't have time for all that mess, but this way works for me Thanks for noticing!

I got to start on soft foods (Mostly eggs, cheese and refried beans) when I was two weeks out. I gradually added more and more every two weeks. My doc has a slow advancement of foods. I still have instructions on when to add certain foods out to 12 weeks. Most people are released to eat a "normal" diet at 6 weeks post op. It all depends on your doc/NUT. What do they have to say?

Lol! Oh sure it is!