Mickie Vest

I also lost all my hair to chemo and it is only chin length and very thin. I'm also hypothyroid which also makes your hair thin. I'm jealous of those of you with thick beautiful hair. I don't think I can spare any more hair but Leslie is right, if it has to go I'll get a nice wig and never have a bad hair day!

I'm a smoker as well but very pre op. I plan on quitting closer to my sleeve date whatever that ends up being. With any surgery they tell you to quit smoking because of the slowing of the healing process but I've never had a problem with healing even when I had my double mastectomy (lost 26 lbs along with my breasts lol). In any case I'm prepared to quit although I'll miss it.

I had to lose 10 lbs for my PCP before he would give me a referral. I'm hypothyroid so it is especially hard for me to loose weight but I did it by eating 1/4 cup oatmeal in the morning and 1 cup of chicken broth in the afternoon. I also drank water, lots of water. It helped to keep my hunger pangs in check. I'm still worried I'll gain weight and be denied. I was denied once before. I also smoke so I'm looking at quitting along with everything else. Smoking has helped keep my weight in check so I'm not quitting until the last minute.

I joined the group also. I'm afraid I'm going to gain weight prior to surgery. I went to the Alexandria Fair this past weekend and was very bad.

I'm not a very private person and I'm not easily hurt or offended so I've told everyone that is my friend on facebook. LOL. Of course I'm just at the beginning saving up the money to start seeing the various specialists but I'm determined I'll get the surgery this time. I failed once before many years ago but I'm barely eating now so I don't gain weight and I went on a liquid diet to lose the 10 lbs that my PCP wanted me to lose before I got the referral. I've gone from 239 to 212 so far and maybe that will shorten the time I'm on a liquid diet prior to surgery. At least I'll be used to being hungry all the time.

I'm from Cincinnati too, well just outside city limits in Reading. I'm saving up the $250 dollars I need to get started on the weight loss journey.

New member here just thinking about the sleeve and doing research. When I did Atkin's you always subtracted the fiber from the total carb count since it isn't digested.