Felicia

You look amazing congratulations!!!

I'm afraid to be skinny too. Being fat will no longer be my excuse for anything. I have never been skinny in my whole life. I'm afraid I might not even like what I look like when I'm thin. You are not in this alone. The one thing I know for sure is my happiness when I become thin will outweigh my fear to get thin.

I am so sorry to hear about everything. Me and my BF are going through a similar situation. He has a felony on his record and can't find a job because of it. So we are really struggling with money and really just life in general. He has been a crazy mess about it. He feels like a loser and doesn't feel he deserves me and our daughter. Needless to say we have been fighting a lot. So if we fight and he leaves I find myself in the fridge. Then, if we are happy and everything is good we are usually going out to eat and having a good time that way. I can't win with food, it's my go-to best friend in all situations. My BF is getting his felony dismissed and then expunged. It is for something far more serious than what your son did so I would bet you can have it taken care of. Here in Illinois it takes 5 years from the date of conviction to get it expunged. I'm not sure if he gets it dismissed first, could be less time or the same. Either way it will be okay. My daughter is only 2 so I still don't have to go through these kind of things yet, but I can imagine how hard and heartbreaking it must be for you. Good Luck with everything. And congratulations on turning down food when you wanted it the most.

That is super awesome. I "liked" it for you. Looks like so far you are winning if it goes by "likes voted". Good Luck!

I have tried every diet pill out there. I only need to lose about 10-15 pounds in order for my doctor to say he will do surgery. In order for my liver to shrink and all that good stuff. So at first I was all gun ho and dropped like 15 pounds in 2 weeks. After that I started sneaking in bad foods here and there, usually in the evening. I gained 6 back. The truth is I know I can lose weight, I can't keep the weight off though. That's why I need a new stomach lol. That way a month into my new sleeve lifestyle I can't quit or get bored and binge all my weight loss back on. Hopefully though in the meantime I can figure out why I self sabotage and gain weight back, because eventually (even with the sleeve) you can get fat. The diet sucks. But the end goal I have heard is the best thing for just about everyone's lives on here. I have heard that after a few days it won't be as bad (the pre-op diet that is). I don't believe it for a second. I was doing everything so good for almost 14 days and I was still a complete witch to everyone. I had headaches and I was weak. Everyone is different though. I found myself reading a lot more or coming on here to pass the time. Try and stay busy, that's my best advice. Oh and broth. I use chicken bouillon cubes and boil them in Water they have beef too if you don't like chicken. I know it's just water but I sip it with a spoon and it does taste pretty good. It will fill you up too. And make sure you drink water. Water is filling and can help your hunger pains and headaches. It didn't help me with my bad mood but hey I told my BF this wouldn't be easy. Good Luck you can do it.!!!!!

I started my pre-op Protein liquid diet on Sept 26th. I don't have a surgery date yet. I do not even have my psych evaluation until Nov 1st. So I am assuming I will be on this diet for quite some time. I have been off track for a few days now. I eat shakes twice a day and then binge the rest of the day. I don't want to it's just geeze how much can you expect from me. I am fat after all. A surgery date would be nice, something to work towards. At least then I could say "yes I am starving but my surgery is on such and such day". Instead I am like "yeah I'm starving and I don't even know when I am having surgery big hooray". My surgeon claims this is for the best because if insurance denies me they can claim I have been on a supervised diet. At 3:00pm I don't care because I am hungry cranky and a big ole' poopie pants. So in other words I am jealous of your 2 week diet, especially jealous of 1 weekers, and I just plain ole hate 1-2 day people. LOL I am just kidding but it is frustrating. I feel like telling my surgeon that I know I can starve and lose weight I don't need him to prove that to me. You can do it though, it is so hard. Are you allowed to have Sf popsicles, broth, and other non-caloric clear liquids. Those have helped me a lot.

That's so amazing congratulations! Keep up the good work!

would you say those are thicker type shakes or thin like milk/water. Also how big are they. With Bariatric Advantage chocolate I can get a nice thick shake with 8oz and only 160 calories. With some GNC one I just bought I only get 4oz and its super thin so I don't get full. Plus way more calories. If Protein shakes are all I'm eating I want to feel full for a little while. Thanks.

So those shakes I mentioned are pretty okay tasting. For me the bad thing is they are only 4 ounces big, for you that may be a good thing. They are also pretty thin, like drinking consistency of Water. I like mine a little thicker than that. Overall I think I will keep them, but I was definetly hoping for a better product. JSYK. Also, if you don't mind if you find one you love let me know cuz as you can tell I'm having a rough way to go with this Protein shake thing. Thanks! Good Luck!

Working out is never a priority in my life. I have way too many other things I need to do. I try to amp-up the things I do have to do and burn more calories that way. Playing with my daughter, walking the dog, cleaning the house. All of those things can be pumped up and allows me to burn more and still get what I need done. I am sure I look like I belong in a looney bin sometimes but I dont care lol. There have been times in my life when I like getting in a good workout. It was never something I wanted to do, always something I had to do. For example, If I wanted to buy a new pair of shoes or go see a movie (really anything fun), I had to work out first. Soon I was getting obsessed with counting calories and burning them that exercising was becoming fun.

My BMI starting was 38. I am 26 yrs old and have been overweight almost my entire life. I have been in the 300's and I have been in the 180's and all the numbers in-between. My surgeon put me on a liquid Protein diet on Sept. 26th and he said I will lose a lot of weight. I still don't have a surgery date yet and I have no idea when it might be, the weight loss office thinks it should be really soon. As soon as I'm done with the pre-op stuff. He mentioned that many people lose so much weight that they ultimately decide to opt-out of the surgery. I WILL NOT be one of those people. Even if my surgery isn't until early next year. I always gain my weight back, I feel like I need a fresh start with a stomach that isn't all super stretched out and able to take in massive amounts of food at a time. Even if my BMI is 30 I will get the surgery. I know in my heart this is the right decision for me. It's the ending of a horrible "fat girl/unhealthy" journey and the start of a new "skinny me/healthy" journey. Knowing that in the end I will get this surgery is helping me to succeed more too. I too agree that you should prolly go to Mexico to have it done since you will most likely be qualified there. Do what you think you should. When I was 16 I wanted gastric bypass and my whole family laughed in my face. They said I would be laughed out of the office cuz I wasn't fat enough. My dad simply told me put down the fork and pick up the weights. Yeah well here I am 26 years old and still struggling with my weight. Guess parents don't always know best. Most people also don't look at me and think I am obese but I think I am lol. I hate the way I look in clothes, I don't even like looking in the mirror anymore. I have a closet full of clothes ranging from 14-24. Since I have had my daughter in 09 I have really put myself aside to focus on her. Well now she is two and I am ready to do something for me. Something that will make me better on the inside and out. This surgery isn't the answer for everyone. Make sure you research research research lol.

Good Luck to both of you!!! I am still in the "hoop-jumping" process but I always love to hear about people getting their sleeves. I'm excited for you guys!!! Keep us posted

Yeah I too cook for my daughter and BF all the time and well Bread screams at me and when its not screaming at me it's rationalizing with me. So does pasta, ice cream, cheese, and chips. "just one won't hurt right" or "you have done so good all day/week/month just eat it" and my favorite "you totally deserve that quarter pounder you have had a bad day" Running to my favorite friends (aka food) will be very hard when and if I get sleeved. You are on the right path tho just jump back on and get back on track. My problem is the next day when I get back on track I usually mess up again and then again the next day until I completely give up. Good Luck to you!!! We wouldn't be human if we didn't learn from our mistakes right ? !

Good article. Definetly a lot of truthful information there. I'm still getting the sleeve tho it's totally worth it to me!!! Thanks for posting it tho, I enjoyed reading it.

Told my BF and my Mom. That's it because everyone else in my family and my Bf's are too judgemental and I don't want the stress. Oh and the GNC guy last night LOL he was helping me find protein powders.

I keep doing the last supper too. The problem is the next morning when i wake up I'm like "it's a new day I will be on track today". But then by the evening I eat something I shouldn't have.....another "last supper" so to speak. I am fine all day, it's the night time when I am rocking my daughter to bed that gets me. I will get thru this, this is exactly why I am getting this surgery....to help me. Until the surgery i will continue to work on these eating triggers.

Thank You! I'm getting so sick of my Bariatric Advantage shakes that I can hardly tolerate them anymore and I know I'm gunna be doing shakes after my surgery too so I like to have a lot of options. The pudding idea is great I am going to try that today. Thank you.

It depends on how much Protein you're getting I think. If you can't stomach more than 3 shakes a day make sure you are getting at least 60g of protein when ur drinking those 3 shakes. At least thats the requirements thru my office. I can either do 4 shakes a day or 2 shakes a day and a small meal with meat and non-starchy veggies. Only things I can eat all day otherwise is non-caloric liquid. (water, broth, SF Jello, SF popsicles) Anyways I am so glad you posted this again because I tried creating the same post and no one answered me LOL. And you and I both tried in that other post and still no answers. Glad you finally got some help, cuz it helped me too! Also last night I went to GNC and I am about to try their Wheyabolic shakes. I have chocolate vanilla and Cookies and cream I will let you know how they are because like you I am so sick of my shakes it's getting hard to drink them anymore.

Really?! My place says that the protein shakes do NOT count. They want me to drink my protein shakes plus 64 oz of non-caloric fluid per day. Guess everyones doctor is different lol. I'm still pre-op tho, maybe they will change that opinoin after my surgery but I highly doubt it.

So I am pre-op on a liquid protein diet. Right now I am drinking Bariatric Advantage the chocolate flavor. I like it a lot, it is just the right thickness for me. I make them with water and a couple ice cubes in a shaker cup. I do not like the other Bariatric Advan. flavors at all. I'm sure there is a thread somewhere about all this but I can't find it. I was going to order some Unjury flavors but I don't know how thick they are. Any help is good help. I don't feel like I can be succesful if all I drink is chocolate bariatric advantage. It's getting boring at 4 shakes a day. HELP ME! Thanks!

I would also like someone to help me if they could. I am drinking Bariatric Advantage Chocolate flavor and I like it. I like my protein drinks pretty thick. I make it in a shaker cup (the one with the little whisk ball inside) with water and a couple ice cubes. I'm getting sick of just chocolate though and I don't like the Bariatric Advantage brand in other flavors. I'm okay buying stuff online or at the stores. If you have any personal recomendations for me that would be awesome. Thanks !

I'm on my 13 or 14th day pre-op liquid Protein diet. I have made a few mistakes along the way, it is super hard. I am the same way at home, I always seem to be hungry. So lately I have been trying to keep my hands busy even when at home watching tv. If I watch tv I also sit on my laptop on this site now so I won't be tempted to eat or grab some junk food. As far as feeling bloated you might be drinking and eating too closely together, or too fast. I find if I chug anything I get so bloated afterwards. I have been on here a lot and almost everyone says that their hunger gets better after surgery. Lots of people even say they have to make themselves eat because they are just not hungry. I can't wait to have that problem because right now I am always hungry (head and actual hunger). Good luck to you, just keep pushing and remember it does get better. This is all worth it, or that's what i hear. Oh and are you allowed to have sugar free Jello and popsicles, because having that type of snack has really helped me. It isn't the same as grabbing chips or ice cream but it at least gave me something to munch on when everything else gets boring. If you can't have that you could make your own crystal light popsicles, I think they even sell them at stores now too. That way it takes some time to eat it but your hands are staying busy. Good Luck! I'm pushing thru right there with you.

LOL I love this story! Congrats on your NSV!

I'm an INFJ.