LilMissDiva Irene

Hey Pam, that is great!!! Congratulations on all your success so far - as you are doing really really AWESOME!!! Thank you for sharing your story with us, you are so inspirational to many of us! And look at you! You are nearly half-way to goal -- ROCK ON!

It definitely all comes down to genetics, length of time of obesity, age, etc etc... maybe even just some kind of good luck. I would surely not put off having WLS in fear of having loose skin. The longer you wait the older you get and the longer your skin stays stretched out - it only worsens the loose skin after the fact. There is no law saying you have to get PS done, even if its semi bad... so if it's not so bad then you can just live with it. It can always be covered up. You can't cover up being obese!! Trust me, I tried... I also know that the further out time goes from your weight loss your skin can kind of "snap back" a little bit too. And yes, doing some toning will help your skin by filling out the excess and I believe also helps the skin stick to muscles more. My skin always looks best when I'm making sure I'm toning my muscles.

Hi Brownbear, Well unfortunately I've not heard of this before. I hope someone can chime in with some info to help ease your mind. I hope everything turns out ok, and that it's actually not a big deal... Hugs to you!

Hi Blessed, I would definitely talk something like this over with my surgeon prior to moving on to the next step. I know there have been many here who call and ask if it's ok to move to the next stage earlier than what is written on the guidelines. Be careful, your stomach staple line is still healing - you don't want to jeopardize your health for a few bites of potatoes. I'm not saying you did hurt it, it's just best to run this by your Surgeon *before* doing it. I hope this helps.

All the best to you this afternoon!!! Hugs!!!

I have had both since surgery, and both still do make me really full and really fast. I can only eat a handful of tortilla chips before getting stuffed - then there is no room left for anything else worth eating! Also, the tortilla, I pretty much eat out all the insides first and once that's done I'll eat a bite or two of the tortilla and I'm done. I do eat low carb, but not as low as most on this site. I do workout a lot and eating nearly no carbs leaves me with zero energy. This surgery kind of forces the low carb though because your tummy can only fit so much. Not only that, the white carbs make my stomach feel kind of weird. It makes me *not* to want to eat them. Even fruit - so the sugar has to be limited for me. I'm not all that sure how common this is...

Hey there Mark! Welcome to VST!!! It's nice to have you here! This new tool is going to be a big learning curve, but once you figure it out and you see how fast the weight is dropping and how soon you reach a new smaller size, you will be ever so thankful! It will make you *want* to stick to the smaller portion sizes and pay attention to your full signal. Not only that, it's just NO FUN to be too full. It's really unpleasant... All the best to you in your new journey!!! I'm sure you AND your daughter will love the new you!

Well, I did indulge some on Christmas. My sleeve is still super tight so I was only able to eat a few bites here and there. I snuck on the scale yesterday and it shows I've lost, so I guess it didn't hurt any - however that probably means I could've lost more had I not eaten all that junk. Oh well, Christmas only comes once a year and for once I felt semi-normal. For me, that keeps my stress level down and as long as I'm not stressing, I'm losing. I love me sleeve!!!

You may very well be out in Recovery right now. Hope all is well with you - and check in when you're feeling up to it... AND... CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! :party4:

Sure what it sounds like! That is great, thanks for the information Anna! I will get my proofs in order to take to the tax guy...

Hi Sarah!! Wow, what can I say – you are really doing an amazing job here!! You are very inspiring. I’ll tell you what though; I sincerely appreciate your candor. You keep it real and you explain that even though you are losing really great, it’s really hard sometimes. Congrats on reaching Twoterville! It sounds like you are going to move right through it. Good for you!! I believe too you will reach the Century Club sooner than you set for your goal. At least I’m hoping for you! Even if you didn’t though, you are doing such a great job, you should feel nothing but proud of how much you have already accomplished. I do understand your feeling too about losing weight. It was like a cocoon to me, and food was my shelter too. I have noticed that since I can’t eat to satisfy my feelings rather than only physical hunger, I find that I am much more moody. My husband agrees, but I think eventually I’ll settle down and become more normal. At least I hope so! I also go through the whole thing where I look in the mirror and still see the old “fatter” me. Seeing as I’ve lost nearly 100 Lbs from my heaviest, there’s no way that’s true, but it is what I see in the mirror. I am overly critical of myself in my photos too. I literally have to place the photo side by side to see any make up from where I was. It is a very classic signal from those suffering from eating disorders, which I too suffered from. I have to be very careful with myself. There are many different ways in which folks have to strive to have a healthy relationship with food and self. Though I never forcibly made myself vomit (and only because I dread this more than most other things) I would still do many other things to rid myself of too much food. It’s not easy to admit, but I think just doing this is the first step to correcting this behavior. Weighing daily or even more is also an obsessive behavior that I have to be careful of as well. I actually put my scale in the garage where I know I won’t sneak on it in the morning. It’s too cold!! I don’t know what I’ll do once the freezing weather is over though… LOL All the best to you Susan! May you continue on your journey of success and becoming a better you!!!

I had my sleeve revision done by Dr. Aceves in Mexicali. My PCP knows all about it and she is very open to helping me along post op. She did a panel for me, which everything looked great and wants me to come in every few months to weigh in. However, I am still going to get the big check ups with Dr. Aceves. I am going to see him on January 8th for an upper GI to see how everything is going in there. It doesn't hurt to talk to your regular Dr. though, and it really should be advisable. They should know everything about your medical history. HTH!

Hello Sasi, thanks for the update! It sounds like you have been really busy in the last weeks I remember having to go through many boring classes and sessions when I went through insurance with my band. However in the long run and once you are on the other side, you will find that you are thankful to have gone through them. They can be super helpful when you're first starting out, and even longer down the road. I'm even thankful now that I had a band even. I learned SO MUCH with it!! It is helping me now to have the utmost success with my sleeve. All the best in the upcoming weeks!!

Hi Dayle, Wow, I'm very sorry to hear you had a rough time in the hospital. I would say Congrats on the loss but the road to it was more suffering - so I'll just leave it at that. I do hope you get to feeling better fast, and that you can get to be happy for your new sleeve. Get plenty of rest and follow your Dr.s orders, and I'm positive for you that you will get well soon. Hang in there!!

Yay Becca! I hope your leak test goes well and that you continue on the easy track back to full recovery! Thanks for checking in, and yes I'm super glad you got your broken (literally) band out. That just could *not* be good having the jagged edge tubing rolling around your insides like that. Hugs to you!!

What you are experiencing is VERY normal. I went through it before my banding, as well as countless others before their surgeries. I didn't really indulge as much pre-sleeve though. The band if anything taught me a great deal of life lessons, even though I did lose and gained all my weight back. It taught me truly that getting WLS is NOT a death sentence when it comes to food. You will absolutely still be able to eventually enjoy all your favorite foods again. Just not nearly in the same quantity. And that is OK too, because once that happens you will see it's not about QUANTITY anymore - but about QUALITY. The few tiny bites of your delectable will give you the same (if not more) satisfaction than it did when you used to scarf it all down in a few minutes time. Be good to yourself and remember, the weight you can lose pre surgery is only going to get you closer to your finish line once you are sleeved. We're all in this together, and throught it all - the most valuable lesson you are soon to learn is that we need to get a real "healthy" relationship with food. It's never to early to start.

Hi there onediva! All the best on your new journey!! Welcome to the club, and soon you will see that you have every reason in the world to be on top of the moon! As far as supplements, if you are in the majority you will discover that your taste will change after surgery. It's the most bizarre thing. One suggestion I could give you is that you should get the "samples" online of many different types. That way you will find out what your liking is. What you like now probably won't be the same once you have your surgery. I really enjoyed the unjury after surgery - so that might be a sample you'd like to try. All the best!!!

Wow Sarah!!! You are truly phenomal!! Good on you for accepting that we live in a real world, where it is OK to enjoy the Holidays with our families. Except, with a tiny sleeve, it's just not all that easy to eat even tantamount to what we would have pre-sleeve. Then once Christmas is over, IT'S OVER! Time to get back to losing and doing the right things. I am super happy for you!! I'm sure your family truly meant their compliments. You have lost a lot of weight already, and I'm positive they notice. Just roll with it lady, and enjoy your moment. You have gone through a lot to get to where you are, and being proud of that makes the journey all the more enjoyable! Congratulations to you on all of your success to date - and may you continue!!

THANK YOU ALL!!! You all are so sweet!! Hey s4m, that would be great to be able to say you lost 100 Lbs!! I'm with you for support, I definitely know you can do it! Becca, today is your big day - wishing you well and a speedy recovery! You will soon see, the sleeve is where it's at!! You won't be sorry at all that you did this (at least after you get through your first month... ) Julia, Kimmes - I'm so glad I'm not recognizable from before... ugh! I did not feel good about me or at all back then. I really think I could have been quite depressed, and now I've been feeling so high on life. It is ABSOLUTELY the best thing I've ever done for myself!! I'd do it again a million times over! Thank you!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hopefully I will be able to start posting some great scale numbers soon! However, I think my body is shrinking much more than the scale is letting on. I know I've already posted this several times, but I just feel so incredible about it. This weekend I was doing my monthly clothing fitting. I have so many clothes that I've hung on to over the many years going up and down in sizes. Well I have some clothes going way back to about 1990. I tried on a pair of pants that I haven't worn since I was about 18 years old. That was the time I started to gain massive amounts of weight. They are a size 14, and when I picked them up they looked so tiny. I was curious to see how well they might already be fitting on me. I did try to put them on several times over the years and at one point I couldn't even get them up above my huge knees. Well... I was able to fit them well above my thighs and rear. I couldn't believe it!! It reached around to around my belly button but couldn't get the button. So, I'm actually almost there!!! I felt like a kid in High School again!!! That is quite possibly the best I've felt about my weight loss yet... like I said - this is the MOST FUN I've had while losing weight! Not only that I was able to lay to rest about 8 pairs of pants for being too big now. There are even some 18's in that pile... Wow!!! I was able to move about 5 pair pants into my "fitting" side too. Life's soooo great!!! To all those newly sleeved... it WILL happen!! You just have to be patient with yourself and your sleeve. Once you are healed and the weight loss starts happening, you will see - this REALLY DOES WORK!!! And for it to be the Holidays and I'm STILL losing??? You can't beat that!!!

Cherice, as always - WAY TO GO!!! ie, I think it's a normal human behavior. You know, its Christmas - and I'm sure any other day you are on target. So you had a cookie, no big deal. The big deal is where you go from there. Do you continue to eat the cookies every day, or do you move on from enjoying Christmas to getting back on track? Don't even worry about that!! I also just did some purges in my closet. I'm fitting more and more clothes now in mine. It's just amazing!!! Once a month I go through all my clothes I couldn't quite fit last month, and even though I don't feel I've lost a whole lot lately my body seems to be shrinking a lot. I fit size 18 a bit large now, and 16's fit perfect. I'm starting to break into some of my 14's even. I've had a size 14 that I haven't fitted in for over 20 years!!!! I can now get them over my hips and butt, but I still can't quite button them so I'm getting there!!! It's just awesome!!!