NY Lou

you are glowing in your pics! you look fantastic and it looks like your healthy living is rubbing off on your man too. great job to both of you. keep it up and keep smiling!

fantastic! such a big difference already in how you look and it will only keep getting better. you look great, so keep it up and work that sleeve!

very inspirational pic. your after pic looks like the much younger son of your before pic. definitely looking 10 or more years younger, great job!

thanks to everyone for the kind words. I only want to give back to this forum because before I had the surgery it was everyone else posting that gave me the inspiration to continue forward with this journey. to catered1, I definitely have loose skin around my stomach that would look much better with surgery, but Im waiting for my weight to stay the same for at least 4-5 months before I look into it. will I do it? im not sure, it depends if I can get insurance to medically cover it or if I have to go the self pay route. either way, I haven't given it much thought yet. take care.

as someone who is 10.5 months out of surgery, my best advice to you is to start doing something, anything. make it a habit to exercise a few days a week. I started out by walking for 20 minutes 4x a week. but the most important thing is to start and to make time to do it. its easy to make excuses, but you should be able to at least walk a little and that's all it takes to start. once you make exercising a habit, it will develop into something youll look forward to. im now training for my first 26.2 mile marathon after having already run a few 13.1 mile half marathons. this from a 50 year old who couldn't walk for more than 20 minutes when I first had surgery. and I never ran ever! what has gotten me to this point...not making excuses as to why I cant exercise, so make the decision to help yourself and start something today! good luck.

I always felt big until about 8 months after surgery when I had lost 110 lbs. even though people were saying I lost too much weight and should stop, I never felt like I was thin. now my weight has stayed the same for a little over 2 months and for some unknown reason, now I feel thinner and don't see that fat guy anymore in my head. again, I don't know what caused the change in my thought process, but it took me about 8 months to get over the "fat me" that I saw in my head. maybe its just seeing myself long enough at a lower weight for my mind to finally accept it?

you are so naturally pretty. looking great now and keep up the good work because it will only keep getting better!

I wrote this in another post, but Im going to copy/paste it here because it applies. my advice to you is stop concentrating so much on the numbers and just concentrate on making the right decisions and following the plan. eat right, find time to exercise when you can and in time the numbers will be there for you. this is not a short race, its a long marathon. trust that the plan will work and later on down the road youll look back and ask yourself "what was I worried about?" good luck.

shrimp or crab legs are some of my favorite foods. they are super high in Protein and very low in calories. my sleeve handles either one with no problem, but I am 10.5 months out of surgery. in the first month or two I tried them and they didn't go down my sleeve so well, but now, I eat them often.

ive tried over 10 different brands of Protein. my new favorite is body fortress chocolate whey isolate. at 130 calories and 30g of protein along with the best tasting chocolate from all the ones ive tried, its my fav. and only $20 at amazon. give it a try as it mixes well and really has a great chocolate taste.

any good Protein bar is a good alternative to an unhealthy snack with no nutritional value. I love to eat a Protein Bar as a snack when im outside or even as a snack in between meals. for less than 200 calories im getting a good amount of Vitamins and protein and actually eating something that I think tastes good too. there are a lot worse things you could be eating so enjoy them if you like them.

my advice to you is stop concentrating so much on the numbers and just concentrate on making the right decisions and following the plan. eat right, find time to exercise and in time the numbers will be there for you. this is not a short race, its a long marathon. trust that the plan will work and later on down the road youll look back and ask yourself "what was I worried about?" good luck.

ive been lucky and haven't hit any plateaus from surgery date until 8 months later. after losing about 110 lbs in 8 months I have now been inbetween 181-185 lbs for a little over 2 months straight. I don't think this is a plateau, I think its where my body weight is going to stay. I say this because I still eat right and exercise 4x a week, but my weight stays inbetween 181-185 no matter what I do. but im not complaining as im satisfied where Im at, but I think this is my final permanent weight.

almost one year out, my favs are shrimp, crab legs, greek yogurt, cheese sticks, pistachios and edamame seeds. all are high protein foods too, so that's a bonus.

im 10.5 months out and have lost over 100 lbs. today I weigh 184.5 lbs and ive been inbetween 181-185 for the last 2 months so I think this is the weight im going to stay at and im ok with this. to answer your question, I can eat about 6oz to 8oz of food at each meal. this fills me up and leaves me very satisfied. if the food is dense, like steak or Pasta, its more near the 6oz. if I eat salad and softer foods then I can eat about 8oz. on rare occasions if I add in a soft desert like a greek yogurt or some no sugar added ice cream as a treat, I probably have eaten 10oz. hope this info helps, but im sure if you ask 10 people this question youll get at least 5-6 different answers.

at my highest weight i weighed 323 pounds, that was back in 2004. before i started my sleeve journey i weighed 292 lbs in jan of this year. I was sleeved about 8.5 months ago on march 19. 4 weeks ago I entered Onederland weighing in at 199. today I weigh 192. after training for months, I ran my first 13.1 mile half marathon yesterday. I did it in 2 hours 15 minutes 10 seconds, which comes out to a 10 minute 18 second per mile average or 5.84 mph. getting the sleeve has saved my life. but I can honestly say that its the life style changes ive made, such as eating right and exercising that has truly enabled me to get down to the 192 I am today. when I eat, I can comfortably hold about 8 oz of food. that seems like a lot, but if I make the right choices of what im eating, then eating 8 oz is fine. I never thought I would be where im at today after being around 300 lbs for the last 20 years of my life. if I can do it, you can too. I used to read success stories in this forum and only dream that one day it could be me too. i doubted myself and said good things like these success stories just don't happen to people like me - i was wrong, it can and does happen to anyone who is willing to make the necessary changes in their life. so if youre the way i used to be and youre overweight and you think you cannot be a success story, know that you can if you really want it and youre willing to do the work. its never too late and yes, you too can be a success story. just remember it doesn't happen overnight, but its a fight worth taking on. good luck to each and everyone of you.

at my highest weight i weighed 323 pounds, that was back in 2004. before i started my sleeve journey i weighed 292 lbs in jan of this year. I was sleeved about 8.5 months ago on march 19. 4 weeks ago I entered Onederland weighing in at 199. today I weigh 192. after training for months, I ran my first 13.1 mile half marathon yesterday. I did it in 2 hours 15 minutes 10 seconds, which comes out to a 10 minute 18 second per mile average or 5.84 mph. getting the sleeve has saved my life. but I can honestly say that its the life style changes ive made, such as eating right and exercising that has truly enabled me to get down to the 192 I am today. when I eat, I can comfortably hold about 8 oz of food. that seems like a lot, but if I make the right choices of what im eating, then eating 8 oz is fine. I never thought I would be where im at today after being around 300 lbs for the last 20 years of my life. if I can do it, you can too. I used to read success stories in this forum and only dream that one day it could be me too. i doubted myself and said good things like these success stories just don't happen to people like me - i was wrong, it can and does happen to anyone who is willing to make the necessary changes in their life. so if youre the way i used to be and youre overweight and you think you cannot be a success story, know that you can if you really want it and youre willing to do the work. its never too late and yes, you too can be a success story. just remember it doesn't happen overnight, but its a fight worth taking on. good luck to each and everyone of you.

Posted June 16, 2010 - 6:48 PM hi everyone! i have read so much in this forum and want to say thankyou to every single poster! ive learned so much and sincerely appreciate verticalsleevetalk.com. im a 47 year old male living in brooklyn, new york. i currently weigh 305 lbs and have been overweight all my life. ive been hovering around the 300-315 mark for about 10 years. before that i hoovered around 280-300 for the prior 10 years. my high weight was 323, which was in 2004. the most ive lost dieting and exercising was about 40lbs on a few occasions, but i always put it back on. in 2004 i decided to have wls and was going to have gastric bypass done. after being approved by my insurance, i went to the hospital and was put in scrubs for the operation. then i was told by the nurse that the doctor had a family emergency and had to leave the hospital immediately. so my surgery was rescheduled for 4 weeks later. during these 4 weeks i ate plenty and went on a "goodbye to food" tour! this tour took me to all my favorite buffets and i ate like it was my last meal, even though i knew i shouldnt be doing that. then i again went to the hosptial and was put in scrubs and before my surgery the doctor said he couldnt operate because my sugar level was unexpectedly through the roof. i begged him to go through with it, but he said he couldnt and i needed to lose some weight and not do what i did by gaining weight and eating everything before surgery. so it was again cancelled. now i was determined to lose weight before i went back in 6 weeks for the eventual operation. in those 6 weeks i ate perfectly and lost 30 lbs. the day came and i went in a 3rd time to the hospital. again i was put in scrubs and this time all the tests, including my sugar were normal. but the doctor was surprised that i was able to lose 30lbs in 6 weeks. he sat me down and said the operation was a serious one and if i was able to lose 30lbs in 6 weeks, maybe i should give losing weight on my own another try. he convinced me to not have the operation. so i actually went on to lose a total of 89lbs in 7 months and got my weight down to 234 and felt great. i was actually running on a treadmill for a few miles non-stop and was in the best shape of my life. a year later i was again at 310lbs. i never considered wls surgery again because i honestly in my heart didnt want the bypass portion done. and im thankful that even though i was in the operating room 3 different times, i never had the bypass done. later in life i researched the lapband as it became popular, but again i didnt want the band either due to all the complications of it. only a few months ago i discovered the option of the sleeve, and it seemed like exactly what ive been waiting for. a tool to limit my intake, with no bypass and nothing permanently inside of me that needed followup adjustments. so im now in the process of going through everything i need to do before my dr. submits for approval to my insurance. the only thing left is the psych evaluation, which im in the process of completing and ill have it done shortly. then i meet with my dr. again on june 30th for the final time and he will submit everything to hopefully get approved. so thats my story. its seems that bypass just wasnt for me. and ironically back in 2004 i was all for it. now today, i wouldnt do a bypass ever. im thankful it never got done and i believe it wasnt meant to be. especially being in the operatiing room in scrubs 3x! i do have one fear/question that ill post in a separate thread in the post op forum as i believe that is where it should go. again, thank you to everyone who has ever posted in this forum. you do not know how much it helps, even the people like me who only read and never posted before. best of luck to everyone on their journey. UPDATE AUGUST 6 2013: back in 2010 after completing all the steps and requirements with dr. mcginty, I was denied by my insurance as the sleeve was considered experimental by them. they did offer me the gastric bypass or the lap band, but I refused both as I was only willing to have the sleeve done. so dr. mcginty said he believed that in a few years all insurance companies would be approving the sleeve as readily as they were approving the gastric bypass and lap band. and he was right! in jan 2013 I found out that my insurance now did cover the sleeve and I went back to dr. mcginty. I went through all the steps again and in march 2013 I finally got sleeved! today, august 5, 2013 I have been sleeved 4.5 months. in jan I weighed 291.5 lbs. today I weight 210 lbs. I lost 18 lbs before surgery and 63.5 lbs since surgery. this is the lightest ive been in 25 years and my goal is to reach 180. im finally on my way after waiting 9 years! so don't ever give up! the sleeve was meant to be for me...it just took me 9 years to get it done!

to meemee - not sure what video you saw on youtube, but it definitely wasn't me!

again I thank everyone for their positive comments, theyre all appreciated. im also glad to see that my post has helped some of you realize that sometimes the journey takes time, but don't ever give up. the one most important thing ive learned is that this sleeve is just one part of the whole program. don't think that just getting the sleeve is the answer to your weight loss, its not! you MUST make other lifestyle changes, especially what foods you put into your mouth! and slowly start to incorporate exercise into your life, even if you never exercised before you can start by simply walking. throw all your excuses that you've made your entire life out the window because if youre going to do something as life changing as getting a sleeve, the time for excuses is over! I wish all of you, both pre-surgery and post-surgery much success!

this forum and its members have been a blessing. during the past few years when I wasnt able to get sleeved, it was the posts in these forums that allowed me to not give up and not settle for gastric bypass or the lap band. I was determined to get the sleeve, even though my insurance approved me for either gastric bypass or the lap band years ago. it took me 9 years to finally get sleeved...this weight loss journey started for me in 2004 and finally in 2013 it happened. its been a long journey, but finally Im heading in the right direction. so I thank everyone who has ever posted in these forums because it was all of you that kept me going and didnt allow me to give up. if interested, read my story by clicking the link below in my signature file.

ok, I just figured out how to add pics.

thanks everyone for all the kind words, theyre sincerely appreciated. I wasn't really expecting anyone to read my post, so im quite surprised at the replies. I don't know how to add pics to this post, so I uploaded a few pics on my profile page that show my highest weight ever in 2004, my weight in jan of this year when I started this journey again and my weight now. its nice to look at your own pics and feel a sense of accomplishment after so many failures. its been a long time coming and I have no intention of ever going back...ps - if someone can tell me how to add a pic within my post it would be appreciated.