DUBrookie03

I'm over a year post op and I can gulp down half of a 16 oz bottle at a time easily.

One year ago I gave myself the best Christmas present ever. I was sleeved on 12/24/12, and even though I spent xmas eve, and xmas day in the hospital, it was SO WORTH IT. I had my one year checkup with my surgeon yesterday. When I signed up for the program, I was 288 lbs. I was 277 day of surgery, and I was 149 in the office yesterday, clothes on THAT MAKES 139LBS lost!!!! I lost almost 50% of my body weight. HOLY SHIT that sounds crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I lost 100% of my excess weight. Haven't taken a Vitamin since surgery, all my levels were great! (Do not do this, take your Vitamins, I suck for not) The only thing I was moderately low on was Vitamins D and B12. He scolded me for not taking them, but was very pleased to see how balanced I was just from diet alone. My surgeon referred to me as petite, and they asked me to come speak at the seminars for people who are thinking about surgery. I'm sorry if this all sounds quite braggy, but honestly I don't care!!! This has been LIFE CHANGING and I (and all of you) deserve to celebrate!!!! My surgeon gave me such a big hug when I left that my feet actually left the ground a little lol!! Merry Christmas to you all, thanks for all of the support and wisdom provided over the past year

Hi Everyone, I'm 10 months out, down 123 lbs and only 10 away from my final goal. I have had no issues with gaining at all, only some small stalls, which coincidentally enough, the only thing that broke them was giving in and having something sweet! I am at the point where I am finding myself REPULSED by the amount of excess skin I have. Particularly my stomach and inner thighs. I was wondering what people's experience has been with getting this skin removal covered by insurance? Are there any tricks or things people have found helpful in getting their plan to agree to pay? I don't want to have to wear shapewear everyday for the rest of my life lol

LOL you are reading the diets that people have to stick to right after surgery to allow our little pouch to heal!!! That isn't what life is like from then on!!!!! I can eat anything I want. I CHOOSE not to eat certain foods because of the way that they make me physically feel afterwards, however there are very few things that make me feel that way, and everyone is different! I personally have trouble with bread, Pasta, and certain kinds of chicken. So I stay away from that for the most part. However, there are hundreds of things that I CAN and DO eat, and enjoy! The sleeve does not restrict you in the same way as the bypass does. I was mentally ready to change my life and so for me, I wanted to be able to still enjoy a piece of cake at a birthday party without being sick. Some people need the restriction that a bypass provides as mentally they just are not able to cut off that relationship with food. I was mentally ready for a couple years, but when the weight did not come off at the rate I needed it to, only then did I turn to surgery. It sounds like you are really torn with the thought of having to possibly sacrifice certain foods...I would just ask you to look at some before and after pictures of some people on the site as I think it may help you make up your mind. Personally, I am pissed at myself for waiting until I was 31 to have the surgery. I should've done this in my 20's so that I could've enjoyed the after years a little more In short...getting the surgery is by far the smartest, most life changing decision that I have EVER made. I still cannot believe everyday when I wake up that I am an entire person smaller than I used to be. Oh...and did I mention that outside of the required post op diet, I have not felt that I have had to sacrifice any food that I wanted to have due to the surgery. The ONLY change is the amount that I now eat Good luck in your decision...my vote is go for it!

My entire pallet changed! I can no longer eat and enjoy things that I once found delish. They now make me gag! Example...I went through McDonalds drive through last week. I only go there for my dogs, they love the cheeseburgers Well, I hadn't eaten, and it seemed like a good idea, so I got one regular cheeseburger for myself. In my former fat life, the ONLY things I liked at Mc D's were the fish sandwich, fries, nuggets, and regular cheeseburgers. I unwrapped it, literally drooling like a dog, and sunk my teeth in. It was horrible. What was so bizzare was how much SUGAR i can now taste....in EVERYTHING. It tasted like someone swapped the bun for donuts. I basically can't eat any fast food now, anything I've tried has been sh*t. Even restaurant food has lost it's appeal for the most part. You will notice all sorts of random changes like this in the days weeks and months to come! Enjoy your new sleeve, and good luck in this exciting new journey ahead of you!

Puree stage sucks!!! LOL!!!

Hope your recovery is easy. My time in the hospital was horrific. Worst acid of my life I spent 2 days gagging up bloody acid. Begging them for maloxx that they would only give me every 6 hours. HAHA finally I made my family sneak me in my own bottle. It was horrible, but soooo worth it and I would do it all over again in a second. I'm 10 months out down 123 lbs. Size 8 and loving my new life Good Luck!!!!!!!!

I'm not quite a year out, but I seem to do fine on 1000-1200 a day. I can eat around a cup at a time, although I have noticed that if it is straight liquid, I can do more than a cup at a time. MAN HAVE MY GROCERY BILLS GOTTEN SMALL!!!!!!!!!!

That's awesome!!! My boyfriend didn't want me to have the surgery. Now that he's seen the results, he wants it for himself lol It would've been awesome to go through this with him. I bet you guys get even closer!! Plus you have a guaranteed workout buddy :)

Hi. So hair loss is really inevitable. Even if you eat your Protein exactly as recommended from day one (which most people cannot), you will still end up losing some hair simply due to the nature of the procedure and the shock to the body. However if you combine that with poor nutrition, low protein, and dehydration, it will exasperate the effects of the loss dramatically. Start taking women's formulated Vitamins, plus get some 10,000 mg Biotin and take that daily before and after surgery. If you color your hair, you need to color it within the first month or 2 after surgery b/c you're not going to want to do it again after that. There are products by Bosley and Nutri-Ox sold at Sally Beauty supply that help. I used a combination shampoo/conditioner/scalp treatment as soon as i saw the loss start, until i was sure it had subsided. For me loss started promptly at month 4. The severe shedding phase where it comes out in gobs like the picture above, lasted about 6 weeks for me, but substantial shedding continued for at least another 6 weeks. I ordered Toppik (Hair fibers) online, and it is a miracle product. I used the auburn shade and it completely covered all areas where I could see too much scalp when parting my hair. I stopped shampooing so frequently, reduced the amount of heat styling that I did, and tried to be very gentle. After the severe loss subsided I cut 4 inches off which made it look much healthier and fuller again. Everything is back to normal now and I have new growth all over (which i know b/c they are coming in gray )

Congrats to you all! I will hit 9 months on 09/24. I have so far lost 120 lbs. I am only 13lbs away from my final goal. I went from a size 22 to a size 8!!! I have a ton of energy, can pretty much eat what I want. Best thing I've ever done in my life.