BlessedBeyondMeasure2012

I have a Vegetti and I love it! I love to spiralize zucchini, toss it in a little olive oil with salt, black pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Sautee for just a couple of minutes and it is great as a side dish or topped with other yummies! Its super easy to use. I got it at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $15 I think

I've been contemplating as well. Thank you for this info. One more added to my pros list too!!

Woo hoo!!! Today is my one year surgery-versary and I don't think I could be any happier! I am down 141 pounds total and around 106 or so from my surgery one year ago today. This has been one of the best decisions of my life and I would do it all over again tomorrow if I needed to. My surgery was such a success that my sister followed suit and had a sleeve done in November of this last year. She is doing great as well. It is REALLY STRANGE to me for someone to call me "skinny". I've had many people tell me that I've lost enough and really should stop losing but I am technically still obese and I refuse to stay obese! I still have a little ways to go and I know this is going to take more work to get off but it will be so worth it! To any newbies out there, work your sleeve and it will work for you. Do what you are supposed to and it will do what it is supposed to! The first picture here was sometime November or December 2012, the second one was about 2 weeks ago. It's the most recent that I have The second set of pics is just of me in that dress, cause I thought it was pretty flattering!! (I acatually got told that I have amazing calves when I was wearing my heels in this dress and I can say that was an absolute first!!)

I love my fitbit as it keeps me motivated to get all my steps in, I have an Aria scale that I use to track my weight (it and my fitbit sync to my iphone through the fitbit app and they give me lots of useful info), food scale and measuring spoons. I use more measuring spoons than I do measuring cups as I weigh everything. Right after surgery a shot glass was really handy for getting my fluids in. I could put an ounce in at a time and I knew I had a certain amount of time to get that Fluid in. The shot glass was the perfect size and it was nice to drink out of something glass and not plastic. I also bought some ramikins to use instead of full size bowls and some smaller 1/2 cup (I think) rubbermaid containers. Helped out tremendously with not eating too much. Good luck!!!

I lost most of the weight I've lost so far by the 6 month mark. I started at 332, I was 297 the morning of surgery, at my 6 month mark I was 220.8, and this morning I was 191.4 (I'll be a year out tomorrow). You can keep losing but it does get harder. Part of what gets harder for me is now I am able to eat anything, and now I have to CHOOSE to eat what I am supposed to. Keep working, you are doing great! The weight loss doesn't have to stop at 6 months

Tomorrow is my 1 year surgery-versary and I'm like BeBe. I can't eat near what I did before surgery in one sitting. Take for instance this weekend, my husband and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Before, I would have ordered 12 regular wings, fries, maybe we would have shared an appetizer and then probably gone for ice cream after (MY WORD that sounds horrible now), anyway, I ordered my 12 wings because I like to have more than just one sauce, but those 12 wings fed me for 3 different meals. With no sides, appetizers or Desserts. What I eat now is more like what I should have been eating before. There is a limit to everything that I can eat (except wavy Lays potato chips but I SHOULDN'T be eating them anyway) but I haven't found anything that I can not eat. You have to listen to your body and advance the amount you can eat when it is ready. I have not once been sick and haven't thrown up since surgery. There have been a few times, within about the first 4 months after surgery when I was still learing what full felt like that I thought I was going to be sick because I over ate or drank too soon after eating. Things will get more normal but you will also get a new normal and that's a good thing. I'd do this all over again tomorrow if I needed to. I'm down 140 pounds and am thrilled about the changes that have come about because of my sleeve.

I'm fighting old demons tonight. I want to eat! My supper tastes good!! But my tummy is super right tonight and no more needs to go in. I am so thankful for my sleeve right now so that I can't just keep eating because knowing me from my previous life, I would have if I could. It's been a rough day and food can no longer be my comfort. I think ill just go snuggle with my hot hubby!

I haven't has PS yet but Holly Wall in Shreveport is amazing. She is who I will be seeing in the future. I know several folks she has worked in and my sister used to work for her. She does great work. Where in Louisiana are you?

Way to go!!! You look great and I'm sure after you get all healed up from you LBL you will look even better! Congratulations on your success

I'M SO COLD!!! Last winter not only was I 100+ pounds more than I am now but I was also pregnant. I carried my little heater in my belly and froze EVERYBODY out at work. I wear a coat at work because I need pockets all the time. Even with my sleeves pushed up back then I was hot. Coat or no coat, I was sweating at any given time. I don't think I used the heater at work at all last winter. I have a nurse that works with me and last winter would seriously wear 3 layers of clothes when she worked on my hall. Now I'm the one freezing. I wear at least one coat everyday and usually layers under it. I wore two pairs of pants and three tops this past weekend when I had to do some work out in my nonheated garage. I usually change clothes as soon as I get home and put on at least two shirts and fuzzy PJ pants and fuzzy house shoes. I sleep in a t-shirt and PJ pants which I have NEVER done before. I used to sleep in spaghetti strap tops or tanks and would still get hot. Even my husband lets me cuddle with him now I'm almost 9 months out and it doesn't seem to be doing anything but getting worse. I've lost so much insulation. I have this nifty scale that tells me what my % body fat it. When I started losing weight I started at 55% body fat (171 pounds of fat). As of this morning I was around 43% body fat (and only 83 pounds of body fat). I have stinkin lost 90 pounds of FAT! Of insulation! No wonder I'm cold! I'll take being cold all time time though, I can always add more layers. When you are hot, you can only take so much off before you get arrested!!

I am currently smaller than I have been in at least 15 years. I can't remember what I weighed when I started college but I'm pretty sure that I haven't been this close to 200 since high school. My goal was to be 197 on Christmas. That will put me 9 months out from surgery and I will have lost 100 pounds since surgery. AND I think I can make it. I was lucky that I lost some weight before surgery so I've currently lost right at 129 pounds total and I am so thankful that I had a sleeve done. It has been one of the best decisions I've EVER made and I have no regrets (of course other than the typical "that I didn't have it done sooner" ). I have always been happy with who I am. Who I am amounts to more than how much of me there is but I have a whole new outlook on life. I feel better so I feel better about myself. I have always been someone who smiles all the time but now I seriously catch myself with achy cheeks because I am smiling so much. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have this surgery. I am thankful for all the support I have at home but from this forum as well. I can't wait to be able to post my W-ONDERLAND picture of my scale in a couple of weeks!!!

What a great song! Ha ha ha! Yes mam, it is gonna be a GREAT Christmas!

I want to be contagious too!!! I loved reading your post I could not have said this better myself. I don't know what to do when people can't stopping about how much weight I have lost or how good I look. The compliments are so nice but it has been so long since I have gotten compliments like that that I don't know how to take them. I don't like being the center of attention. I also feel like everything that I am doing is for my family but when I'm out exercising in the evenings after I get home from work I actually feel guilty that I'm not in the house sitting on the couch doing nothing with my family. I feel guilty that my husband has the kids for another half hour to hour without my help. I know taking care of me helps them in the long run it just that... balance.

So I had a rough weekend. I got to add soft food to my diet on Friday. One would think that after three weeks of not eating any "real" food that it would be great, and it was! I got up on Saturday and I was up a pound from where I was Friday morning. Now, I know that my body is saying "Hey! I finally got some food, I need to hang on to it cause I don't know when I'll get the next round," and that is why the scales haven't been really nice this weekend. I still am bouncing around the same stupid half pound since Friday and its just frustrating. In my "previous life" I would have been irritated and just eaten something that I shouldn't have to justify the increase on the scales. Now, I didn't do anything or eat anything I shouldn't have but, boy, did I have a battle with head hunger all weekend. One of my favorite places to eat used to be Moe's, my husband has never really cared for it and I think that we have eaten there together just once in the past 5 years. Yesterday I had to run across town and what does he ask me to bring him back for supper?? MOE'S!! i couldn't believe it and it just plain made me mad when I had to go in there and order his burrito. I wanted one so bad but instead, I ordered his just like he asked (with absolutely nothing that could be considered healthy on it) and brought it home to him. I fixed my supper and was satisfied with it. My dad used to say that it didn't matter if you got full off of black eyed peas or steak and potatoes either way you were still full. That is very true, steak and potatoes just taste much better, as would have Moe's last night. Anyway, I needed something to take my mind off of the negative and I figured I'd list the NSV's that I could think of to lift my spirits a little 1. I can get my wedding rings on again, I haven't been able to wear them individually since last June and it has probably been more than a year since I have been able to get both of them on at the same time. 2. I already have a pair of pants that are too big and I can no longer wear (at least my husband refuses to be seen in public with me if I do!) 3. Its easier to shave my arm pits cause they aren't so full. 4. I can bend over to paint my own toe nails again! 5. The seatbelt in my husbands truck doesn't lock just because I'm trying to put it on and pulled it out a little too far anymore. I can actually bend down and pick my purse up from the floorboard and it doesn't lock! 6. I can put on and tie my shoes with almost no effort. 7. I have bad breath. (Okay so maybe that one isn't so exciting but apparently when you are breaking down fat you get ketosis which causes halitosis aka bad breath. I must be doing good breaking it down cause even my 5 year old tells me my breath is stinky! LOL!) I know there are more but these are all I can think of right now. I'm going to keep working at it and keep working my tool. I know that I did the right thing and I know that I'll be able to eat more normally again some day. I did this for my kids and they are going to have a more amazing mom because of it.

WOO HOO!!! Way to go!!! I'm am super pumped for you And you are so right, 200 gone would be pretty great to see!

Just an update, I too had stopped getting notifications. I'm at 83.4 miles MTD of 125. If I keep averaging just over 4 miles a day I can do it!!!

You look amazing girl!!! Keep it up!!!

I'm from up in Shreveport but any time we can spend down south always has something to do with food ha ha! You are right, our food is better than anywhere else in the country!!

So I've finally caught up, took me 3 days to do it but here I am. No questions about it, I'm an addict. Not just to sugar and carbs but to food. FOOD still tastes good to me on a daily basis. I haven't given my sleeve anything that it didn't tolerate just fine. As I have gotten further out it has become harder to stay on track because now I don't have this list of like 4 foods that it is okay for me to eat. I actually have to choose to eat what I should, and for the most part, I do. I have days that I fall off the wagon, but each day is a new day. I get up, brush myself off and start again. I am from Louiaiana. Not just from the south but from one of the most obese states in our country. You know there are "starving kids in China" so we don't throw food away, or at least that's what we were told growing up. My grandmother was a feeder. Everyday after school (after finishing off a big grab bag of flaming hot cheetos and a large icee) she would have cookies or cake or fried chicken fixed and just hanging around. We got to eat what ever, when ever we wanted. This was all before the age of 13. It didn't stop. When I was in my early teens my parents did a dieting program through our church and lost weight. I didn't lose weight. I ate what they ate but I ate as much as I wanted. When I was a junior or senior in high school, I went through the program with them and lost 30 pounds. When I started college my freshman 15 turned into my sophomore 60 and stuck around for my senior 70. I seriously gained around 80 pounds in my 4 years of college. I lost some while working on my second degree but then got pregnant just before I graduated. When I went in to have my son I was 286 pounds (I had gained somewhere between 50-80 pounds during my pregnancy). I lost about 20 after I had him but within 4 months put it back on. Fast forward 5 years and I can't get pregnant. We think it's because of my weight gain (I'm now about 320) so I decide to go for a sleeve. A month before my sleeve was scheduled to be done, I find out I'm pregnant. And you know what, I was SAD!!! I wanted this surgery. I wanted to be healthy for my pregnancy but here I was super morbidly obese and pregnant. Gross. I only gained 23 pounds during my second pregnancy and the baby weighed almost 10 pounds so not too bad. That weight came off pretty quick and then I was sleeved when the baby was 4 weeks old. It was the best decision I have ever made. I have learned a lot already. I know that I have limited will power. My will power stops when I take a bite of anything. I can resist any food all day long until I take one bite and then it is all over. I can't stop myself. Carbs are a nightmare. If I start the day off with them, I'm hungry all day and wanting to eat. Same goes for sugar. But it isn't just those. Like Cheri, it fried goodness, burgers, savory, spicy, chips and salsa, FOOD! I have eaten out of bordom, I ate when I was happy and when I was sad. Something good happened, "Oh, lets celebrate! Where do you want to go eat?" Something bad happened, "Oh, bless your heart. What can I get you to eat?" It was never ending. I haven't been a big food sneaker but there were times that I did. I could, and probably still can but have not tried, to polish off a pint of ice cream in a single sitting. I never ate a whole pizza but I sure could eat half a large by myself. I was the one who finished my husbands food, and the kid's. I was the same as someone before who would go to McD's and get a large value meal and get chicken nuggets to go with it. I was out of control. Now I am not a slave to food. I don't think about it all the time. I enjoy it but it does not rule my life. I have an amazing support system and my hubby is happy to finish my left overs So much has changed about me in the last 8 months, on the inside and the outside. I am liking this new person I am becoming. I used to tell people that people liked me for the same reasons they like Santa Claus, cause I was fat and jolly! I'm still jolly. My joy is dependent on far more than the weight I carry or my circumstances but people are going to have to find a new reason to like me!

Because I'm way behind and I'm catching up... Boy have I missed out the last couple of days! GG, I get the loosing/losing thing but whats wrong with nauseous/nauseated? Are they not both correct terms? I'm so confused I SO was wondering about your irregardless phrase! I'm so glad it was intentional! I can be a grammer nerd even though I'm sure I make some of big mistakes