jamey

Hello everyone, it's been awhile. Just wanted to post my latest photo. Things have been going great for me. I am now down 95 pounds since my surgery in May 2010. My life has completely changed. I have so much energy now. I am working out at a gym (no longer ashamed of my body, it might sag, but I am PROUD!). My back pain is almost non-existent and my migraines are now manageable. The best part is my relationship with husband and my daughters. They treat me differently, not because they love me more slimmer, but because I am different. This board has been there to see me through good times and bad times, both when I was "stalking" and posting. Thanks everyone. And to anyone who is thinking of having the surgery, do it! I never thought 9 months ago I would be almost 100 lbs lighter and now here I am, only 5 pounds away. The biggest compliment I have had was from the team at UCSD. I sent them my after photo last month and they asked if I could be on their UCSD lapband patient success page (even though I had the sleeve). It made me so happy because it meant I actually had done what I set out to do. Cried most of the afternoon, but tear of joy!

Thanks again to everyone, your encouraging words made me feel so good today! On days I feel discouraged (pms is still a killer head hunger time for me) this board always puts me back on track. It is such a blessing to have so many people who are cheering you on and there when you struggle. Douceur72 good luck on your upcoming surgery and your goal seems very realistic to me. One of my favorite days was when my BMI went out of obese and into just overweight, it had been so long since I wasn't obese. Kristina, you WILL be sharing your success story on here and I can't wait to read it!

Your story rings a bell here! It's wonderful your husband is behind you, support is critical! You'll find plenty here. Best wishes for a perfect surgery and quick recovery! Start saving up for some new smaller clothes and skates!

It will get better I promise. This will be a distant memory soon and you will get to the place where you know it was the best gift you ever gave yourself. The morphine allergy was a tough break. I went home early (day2) because i couldnt get good rest at the hospital because my room was right across from the nurses station. Losing the morphine definitely made a negative difference in the pain relief (morphine vs vicodin). I'm sorry you are hurting. Just try and find a comfortable position. Mine was propped up on pillows. I had every pillow in the house and slept that way for a couple of days. The day they took the drain tube out everything changed.the docs didn't seem to think it was related but I KNOW it made a big difference in my comfort.

You do look great and you Might as well get used to those compliments as they are going to keep on coming! It's easy to be hard on ourselves. Whenever you feel you can't tell a difference take a picture. They will always show the reality of how far you have come. I would feel like I couldn't see a difference and my hubby would put my before photo up and snap a new one. It never failed to show results and helped with my head image matching my body image...

Wow!! You look beautiful and a medium in six months- that's impressive! I'm reassessing my original goal also. I was going to lose 27 more but I am actually just going to shoot for a size 10 (I'm a 12 now). You look absolutely amazing, congratulations on your success and hard work.

You are totally rocking your sleeve!! Isn't it wonderful!

Thank you sleeve sisters! You made my day!

Thanks for the kind words everyone! I am in a size 12 now and the goal is a loose fitting size 10. I am going more for size than a number. I am not very good at going to the support group, but I have found this site has so much more. Thanks for being here!

Hello everyone, it's been awhile. Just wanted to post my latest photo. Things have been going great for me. I am now down 95 pounds since my surgery in May 2010. My life has completely changed. I have so much energy now. I am working out at a gym (no longer ashamed of my body, it might sag, but I am PROUD!). My back pain is almost non-existent and my migraines are now manageable. The best part is my relationship with husband and my daughters. They treat me differently, not because they love me more slimmer, but because I am different. This board has been there to see me through good times and bad times, both when I was "stalking" and posting. Thanks everyone. And to anyone who is thinking of having the surgery, do it! I never thought 9 months ago I would be almost 100 lbs lighter and now here I am, only 5 pounds away. The biggest compliment I have had was from the team at UCSD. I sent them my after photo last month and they asked if I could be on their UCSD lapband patient success page (even though I had the sleeve). It made me so happy because it meant I actually had done what I set out to do. Cried most of the afternoon, but tear of joy!

Thanks, can't wait to get to that 100 pound goal! It has been creeping off the past couple of months!

Sponge Bob, I love it! I used to call it my ass shelf because you could have put a figurine on it and it wouldn't have fallen off. My Back Fat Betty is gone now too!

My favorite one so far...bought panties at Victoria's Secret, size L not even XL! I thought I would never be able to buy anything there, and to not have to buy the largest was one of the best feelings I have ever had.

Wow, wow, wow. You are such an amazing inspiration to everyone on this board. You are a wealth of information and have helped me so many times with your posts on here. Thanks for being there!

You look amazing and 20 years younger....gotta love it. Thanks for the inspiration

Just wanted to take a moment and say thank you to all who participate on this board. It has helped me more than anything else whenever I needed information or just plain support. I had my surgery on May 4, 2010 and have lost 70 pounds (62 post op). I never imagined this could happen for me. I remember right before I had my surgery I had just resigned myself to a life of obesity after 20 years of failed diets. Then I heard about VSG and came to this board. The rest as they say is history. Well, not quite, yet. I still have 40 pounds to go, but I KNOW I can do it. I have found it to be so easy as long as I follow the cardinal rule: Protein first, veggies second and if there is room for anything else.....haha, like there is ever room for anything else. Well thanks for listening, and thanks for being there! Feel free to look at my before and three months after photos. Wow, now I never thought I would allow anyone to see pictures LOL

Thanks so much Blaqbeary, Yep, they are on the fridge. The main reason is that what I see in the mirror is not matching what I see in the pics. When I look in the mirror, it seems like I haven't lost that much, but when I see the before and after I see the 75 lbs gone. It is so funny, before I would see myself in pictures and it felt like I was bigger than I looked in the mirror. Take lots and lots of photos on your journey, and put them up everywhere. They help tell the truth even when your head is messing with you! Love and light to your path in November, you will love your new tool!

For the first time since surgery (May 4, 2010) I seem to be experiencing PMS cravings. You know the ones, you just want to eat and eat and eat. I am not even hungry really, I just want to eat. It is freaking me out a bit because I hardly ever experience hunger, but I suppose they took the hunge hormone and not the other ones! When I go to eat my meal, I find I fill up very quickly but then an hour later my head and mouth just want to eat. Is anyone else experiencing this? Does anyone know of a supplement or herb that might help?

Tommorow is my four month sleeve-iversary and I have lost 75 pounds. I am still fairly new at everything, but it has been great so far. I am consistently losing and have found food choices easy now that the hunger is gone. I am currently losing some hair but I am told it is temporary and for me a small price to pay for finally having control over food. I love that there are no malabsorption issues with the sleeve, that was one thing that kept me away from the gastric bypass. I would do it again in a heartbeat. My life has changed completely for the positive.

Jolanda you pose a very interesting question. I guess I never really linked the two before but I am definitely on the carb bandwagon regarding hormonal cravings. I know they say you can become addicted to the carb rush but I have never considered the initial root cause being linked to hormones......I think I will look into that and see if anyone has researched it.