Izuri

I had a hiatal hernia repair done at the same time. My recovery was pretty uneventful. It may be partly her age or if she has comorbidities to her obesity or a number of other factors. I will keep her in my thoughts, I hope she feel better soon!

Do it! Throw the scale out the window, you'll thank yourself =p Our bodies do strange things - sometimes they hold Water, sometimes they don't hold water and just want to be a pain in the butt. You will lose this plus some and the more you look at the scale the more you're gonna drive yourself crazy - I know because I did the same thing. Maybe skip a week or two of weighing and just focus on how you feel? You'll get there, it will come off, hang in there!

All of us have that oh my gosh turning point that really opens our eyes. It's incredible how much of what is going on we just don't want to really be aware of up until that point. I think you're making a great choice for your health and when you are bounding up those stairs in a few months you will deserve every second of proudness from it. I am a nursing student and I can tell you that it made a huge difference in how well I can take care of my patients. I really feel more able to help with ADLs and ambulate and stuff. Good luck =) I hope everything goes great.

You can get all your Protein in from foods, like others said. But I have trouble getting in enough, so I still really like my protein supplements, especially since I'm really bad about getting in breakfast. If I drink an Isopure zero carb every morning I know I'm starting off my day with some good protein to work off of. So it's nice to have them as back up sometimes for those days you just don't feel like it. The uncomfortable sensations do go away. It just takes time for your body to adjust. It is still really easy for me to hit that past full point accidentally, but I never have any discomfort drinking anymore.

Yay!!! The day is finally almost here. Good luck, I'm sure it will go awesome =) Try to get some rest tonight (Though I know that's difficult the day before).

I have been swamped with school this semester, so I haven't been on the forums yet, but I just wanted to share a new picture now that I'm finally down over 100 pounds. I have about 35 left to lose, and I'm hoping in the next couple months I'll be able to amp up my working out so I can get those pounds off. I have never felt better =) The first picture is presurgery, then two of me down 76.2, then one of me down about 117. I'm currently at 205, down from 325 to start. Sorry for all the mess in the background of the most recent - My boyfriend had a bunch of laundry that we finally got through last weekend! Hope everyone has been doing well!

I have a lot of loose skin, but you can't see it because of the sweater/the picture is a bit dark. I have bat wings,I really have a bunch of skin hanging around my stomach/lower gut area, and without a good bra my boobs are very low. I am hoping for plastic surgery once I hit goal and have been there for a year or two. It's still better than the fat though =) Besides, with a good shirt, no one is the wiser.

Thanks =) And yes! The laundry is all taken care of. After this photo I made him get a dresser (He only had some shelves in the closet that weren't big enough) and we put it together, cleaned everything, and got him all organized. I just liked this picture of me, I took a few others, but they didn't come out as well so I said screw it, I'll stick with this one anyway.

You look awesome! What an incredible transformation =)

You look like a new person! Absolutely incredible, you look amazing!

It's been interesting looking back over my entries on this blog along with the journal that I keep intermittently on my computer. I think that it's chronicled not only the weight loss side of my journey, but a portion on my journey through my mental illness in relationship to my weight. I started seeing a therapist last week. I probably should have sooner, and for anyone who has any kind of mental health disorder and is thinking about/having/had the surgery and even some of those who don't have a mental health disorder, it is something I would definitely recommend. I have struggled with my mental health since I was a teenager and it has huge ties to my weight, so it's definitely relevant for me to have new issues as well as old issues cropping up as I continue to lose weight. It's funny because before surgery I reminded myself a number of times that weight loss was not a catch all for solving many of the problems that I have. Weight loss is just that - a loss of weight to increase my health. I am now at 233 (lowest I have seen is 232) and still losing steadily, although much slower than before. Some days I feel like my entire life has changed, others I feel like I'm still left standing in the same place. Half of the time I cannot see the weight loss in the mirror. I can see it in the pictures, I hear it from the people around me, but there's this mental disconnect between that and the person I see in the mirror. I fit into smaller pants and my measurements shrink, but my waist still looks the same size (though one side of my stomach is bigger than the other, apparently I have some scar tissue or something holding my left side at a little bit larger around the stomach). I think this is one of my biggest struggles in regards to motivation. So now that I'm approximately five months out, I'd like to take a minute for myself to outline what I think are the good and the bad that I've experienced from this surgery and from my journey over the past five months. Good: - Moving down from size 28 tight pants to size 22 slightly tight pants - Hearing my coworker tell me today that I look like half of the person I used to be and that I now have a baby face - Being told by my boyfriend that from the back waist up I look like I was never heavy to begin with, supposedly I now have a thin frame - Having my mom notice that you can see my cheek bones - Not being out of breath when trying to keep up with my classmates - Having my smaller scrubs be too big and baggy - Having my boyfriend be able to wrap his arms almost all the way around me (like almost back to himself) - Having a boyfriend who is amazing (Yes, I attribute meeting him to the confidence I gained after surgery) - Being able to walk up flights of stairs without being winded - Being able to shave my legs without feeling like I'm doing some weird acrobatics - Every time I realize something new fits - Being able to sit next to someone on a bus and not feel like they are crossing their fingers I don't sit next to them - Having a ton of extra length on my seatbelt - Realizing I have collar bones and bones in my shoulders - Being able to see the bones/tendons in my hands - Having my rings fit every finger - Feeling like people look at me instead of through me - Not feeling like the largest person in every room - Hitting the high end of projected weight loss by my doctor and still continuing to lose - Not seeing a 3 on the beginning number of the scale - Having lost something like 20% body fat according to my scale - Not having to clear my plate out of anxiety at social settings - Being cold at night instead of sweating my butt off (I prefer blankets to fans) - Not feeling like the first thing people see is my weight - Feeling comfortable enough in my body to have sex with the lights on and no covers - Being able to reach my toes without doing weird bending manuvers - Being able to paint my toenails - The relief of not being at imminent risk of diabetes at 25 - Being able to fit in the bathroom stall and not always having to seek out the handicapped one - The periods of increased confidence - Feeling like I am moving on in my life Bad: - Hormonal imbalances - increases in mood swings, neediness, clingyness, irritability - Saggy skin - Lack of motivation to: Work out, take vitamins, get in protein - I struggle daily to fight my noncompliance - Fatigue (Probably related in part to intermittent compliance with vitamins and protein) - Anxiety related to the possibility of ever gaining the weight back - Alcoholism could easily become a problem - I have to stay away from it completely - Dealing with feelings rather than being able to turn to food for comfort So the goods obviously outweigh the bads by far. And many of the downsides are either related to mental health issues that were already present and have started to reoccur or lack of compliance with my plan. I have tried to start schedules for myself and that's one of the things I will be working on with my therapist. I have always had issues with compliance - and the biggest thing I need to do is make sure that I get all of my medicines and vitamins in, because I feel 110% better when I do. So my New Years resolutions will include: - Setting a day out every month to increase my compliance through scheduling, setting short term goals, and recognizing where my weaknesses have been - Increasing my exercise - Tracking my protein - Not allowing myself to justify that bad foods are ok because I can only have 2 bites anyway (2 bites four times a week still adds up) That was kind of long and rambley. Anyway, I hope that it helps others who might be looking into this and have some of the same mental health issues to maybe understand what it's like on the other side so that maybe they can prepare a little better and be able to manage some of the barriers to health better than I have.

Life has been crazy lately. With everything going on, I feel like I'm struggling just to keep my head above water, though part of that is my fault. I don't enjoy the holiday season. It's not that I mind Christmas or Thanksgiving and being with family - it's nice to see them. But I don't like the stress that the holiday season brings along with it. The stress of finals, the stress of having no money and wanting to get the people I love nice gifts, the stress of work, the stress of not having time off, the stress of hearing the same five to ten Christmas songs over and over everywhere I go. I want to be in the spirit of the season. I would love to spend a bunch of time shopping and get the people on my list some really neat things. I just can't afford it. I can't work full time because of school, and I can barely afford gas money to get to see my boyfriend on the weekends. And then right after the holiday season comes car insurance time. I just wish I had a bit of extra cash so that I could stop freaking out about money. I have not been losing weight as consistently as before. I hit a couple of weeks of plateau where I thought maybe weight loss was done. I haven't gotten to working out as much as I'd have liked. I have been walking a lot more though. This week I had a bit of a nice drop though and have now fallen into the 230's, weighing in at 239.6 - what a great number to see. That means I'm just over 15 pounds away from 100 lost and I'm a little over four months out from surgery. My boyfriend told me that he can really see the weight loss now. If you're looking at my back above my hips/butt, I actually look a normal weight. I wish my body would let me lose more from my lower abdomen and hips. I suppose it will come eventually. Well, I didn't start this entry with the idea of complaining the whole way through, so I'm gonna head off and try and be more positive. Mostly I just wanted to document my weight and my feelings, especially since they took away my outside ticker so I've lost my graph that recorded all my weights. I will have to figure out how to set one up on my computer in excel or something. I know Alex said they'd work on it, but I am missing out on recording a number of weights while I wait for them to fix the tickers on this site. I hope everyone is doing well!

I wish so bad that you had an "easy" gastric sleeve too. It is crazy the number of issues that you have had since you had the surgery and through them all you have always maintained your calm and composure. It is okay to be mad - what is happening, it's not right, you have been dealt a number of unlucky cards. But what I see time and again is that you are strong. After that time that you need to mourn your previous life and all of the awful experiences, you will be able to get back up and move forward. And if you need help, or just someone to vent to, I'm here for you. If you wanna just yell and scream, you are welcome to send me the angriest message about it all - just get it out and get it off your chest. And I'm so sorry about your husband's job. I'm glad to hear though that you at least have a little bit of time to get things situated with the severance pay. ((((((HUG))))) You are in my thoughts and prayers and I cannot wait until things turn around for you.

So far 3 weeks around the 3 week out marker. At about 4 months out now and some weeks I have slow or very low loss, but haven't hit another complete stall for more than a week or so yet.

I weigh every day when I'm home. I didn't take almost any pictures until about 50 pounds down. I kinda wish I had. If I could go back and do it again I think I would take pictures about every 15 pounds and at every month milestone.

Yes, anxiety can manifest itself in stomach symptoms. I know that when I'm very anxious I have a similar issue. My anxiety also happens often in the morning before work or school, so I just use protein drinks to get me through since they're easier.

What a great pic! You look amazing! =)

Do you measure your blood pressure? If you haven't, try measuring it when you lay down vs when you sit/stand up. It sounds to me a little like orthostatic hypotension (BP drop when you move from laying down to sitting/standing) just from the description you gave. It could also be anemia like you mentioned. I was very anemic when I was a teenager and it has most of the same symptoms of orthostatic hypotension - dizziness, light headed, etc. Are the insides of your eyelids pale? The beds of your nails? Are you paler than normal in general? Anyway, I'd definitely talk to your doctor, which it sounds like you're gonna do. Until then - be real careful every time you stand up. Feel better!

Scotty, You can do this! You made a mistake and you did the right thing - You admitted it and came for help. Today is a new day, and that means that the choices you made yesterday are history now, move on and make today the tone for how you're gonna do from now on. Are you charting on My Fitness Pal? It's a great tool and helped me endlessly at the beginning. If you are having trouble - put up signs, pictures, that remind you of why you're doing this. Make a list of all the reasons you wanna lose weight and post it on the fridge. Print out a picture of the size your stomach is so that when you go reach for that big sandwich you remember that you're stuffing into something the size (or smaller than) a banana. You don't wanna hurt yourself over a burger. And when you wanna eat and you know you shouldn't - come here. Answers as many posts as you can. Drink a big glass of water while you do it. Encourage people and you'll see that your attitude will start to wear off on yourself. Those all helped me when I have had trouble. Take advantage of this time right now, it's the crucial period to make good decisions and new healthy habits.

I'm just gonna echo the others a little. You started at a lower BMI, which influences your weight loss rate. While 29 pounds was an 8% weight loss for me from my starting weight of 325, it's a 14% weight loss for you. You have lost 14% of your starting body weight in 7 weeks. That's awesome! The less you have to lose, the slower it goes. Hang in there - and enjoy that new number on the scale =) It will keep going down!

Congratulations!!! I'm glad to hear that you're doing well. It's great that you're up and moving about, keep it up!

This is knowledge I have gained from here, reading long term members posts and many questions about it. I am by no means an expert, but my take on it is that since the stretchy part of your stomach is removed it is pretty difficult to significantly stretch your stomach. That doesn't mean impossible, but you would have to be eating large quantities often. One account of stretching came from a woman who was eating constantly. She would eat until she couldn't and then wait half an hour and then do the same thing again. If you have eating behaviors like this, or attempt to return to your previous eating quantities, it is possible to stretch your stomach some. I can tell you that I have eaten til I was full, I have eaten until I was overfull. I still have head hunger and struggle with food issues. But those times have been less than I can count on one hand, and I still have great restriction. I would say that as long as you are listening to your body and not intentionally pushing it, that you are not at risk for stretching aside from the normal small amount that comes from just regular eating.

I tried pizza a couple of months out. Occasionally my family will order it and I was craving some so bad for the first few months and everyone seemed to be having it all the time! But when I tried it I realized a couple things....1. It tasted different - it was much greasier and after chewing like 20x it starts to taste/have a gross consistency 2. The bread on it just did not sit well - it would feel like it got stuck right above my stomach and be a lump 3. I couldn't eat almost any of it anyway - two bites of pizza is totally not satisfying to me. And we are talking about pizza I used to LOVE pre-op. So it's not that I just ordered a crappy pizza or something. I've tried it a couple times since then because I keep thinking that it's the pizza I used to love, but I just don't like it anymore. I never thought I'd say it, but I think I'm over pizza, at least for the time being. That being said, I haven't tried homemade pizza on flatbread or anything. That's on my to-do list. If you do end up trying it, make sure you wait until you're on full foods and be prepared for it to possibly be different.

Thank you everyone for all the compliments! It's nice to hear that the difference is really visible to others too =)

I took a couple new pictures today and thought I would share. I found some old pre-surgery pictures on my computer today and felt like I wanted to see where I was in comparison. Pre-surgery (Highest recorded weight: 325) Shortly post-surgery (Approx: 320) Approx 2 months out (50 pounds down) Almost 4 months out (76.2 pounds down) The last 2 are from today. They aren't the best pictures as I had just gotten up from a nap, but I really think it shows a big difference from where I started. I am so thankful for my VSG! =)