Indigo1991

You have a significant illness and comorbidites - your BMI is only one indication of whether you need the surgery, you also need it to treat that illness. I hope you get the approval ... will have everything crossed for you. Perhaps after that life will take a step change for the better for you

Aggie1234, you will be in very good hands - who's your surgeon? I am now almost 5 months out and reading my early posts reminds how it new it all was then! I started at 101 kilos, then pre-surgery I lost weight with the diet which took me to 93k. Since the end of April, I have lost just over 24 kilos and now weigh 69 kilos. I have 5 kilos to go - as I am having a breast reduction, the surgeon wants me to leave him 2-3 kilos to play with, so I really only have 2-3 kilos to go. You won't believe how life changing this surgery is.... not necessarily the easy option but great results if you work with it. Hope your tests today have gone well, am sure you will be fine. Great team there, Lorna is lovely :-)

I think you shared your story just to make the rest of us green with envy, lol!!!! You go for it, there's something to be said for being happy and confident - feelings that are sadly underestimated but really important to our overall wellbeing. And that's a great context in which you are now making your journey. Better that than struggling because you are alone and miserable.... Of course you need to get your Vitamins in and keep focused so that you don't slide. But I bet you will after all this encouraging feedback. Life is there to be enjoyed and lived - good for you for grabbing it with both hands. If it's this good with 100lbs to go, please don't post when you get to your target, it will be adult rated content by then

Thanks :-)))))))

I don't know how I did it but my new profile pic is sideways... Can't see how to rotate it - any advice??? Thanks :-)

I am with Gamergirl - keep it simple, you are only two months out and if you go with that, you won't go far wrong. Nothing much makes me feel ill either but strangely that still makes me cautious about my food choices. So Protein first, turkey, chicken, tuna, fish, eggs, cheese are all good as the heart of a meal. I made omelettes with cheese, bought smoked fish and turned my ground beef into mild chilli. I am no cook so am with you on the recipes thing - but I recognised that I had to try to make my food a bit interesting or I would slip back into eating whatever was to hand and easy. Good luck, you made a good choice being sleeved, keep breathing and relax, won't be long til you are more used to the new normal and you might look back and wonder why you were concerned :-)

Katierebecca83, you are a star - you were right. Now the right way up, lol

Thanks! I have done it from my iPad... Will try from PC :-)

Agree with Ima Loser, have a general target to aim for then refine as u get closer. BMI charts are helpful tools but don't really tell the whe story of what u will look like at a particular weight. So keep an open mind. At 5'2, my top end BMI weight is 140 (I started Pre op diet at 223) but my cosmetic surgeon says I have to "give" him 7lbs which will come off when he does my boobs. So my next target is 147. I am currently 154, which leaves me 11lbs to go but my nut and doc are recommending only another 5-6lbs because, at my age of 52, I may end up looking scrawny around my face and neck. I am now a size 8 and small (was a good 18 and 2XL) despite being overweight on the BMI chart!!!! So I am aiming for roughly 7 more lbs but will take it lb by lb until I feel that's enough. Good luck to you, I hope u are as happy with ur sleeve and the results as I am with mine :-)

In Scotland we'd say "lucky white heather" which means u need some! Sorry to hear u are having such a cr@p time of it. Totally get the work thing- clients, don't u just love them- not! :-))))))) Hope back pain is subsiding and that u are a bit more mobile. Then maybe u can do something to take ur mind off ur youngest's absence... As ever, this too shall pass, hang in there, Friday 13th is behind u!!!!!

Sleevers aside, restaurants/food outlets serve the food the public wants. They have no health agenda, they are there to make money so they serve food that the majority will buy. So we need to speak up if we want something else on the menu because they will provide food if there are buyers .... How many of us complained about portion sizes pre-sleeve? Not me. So is it the restaurants' fault that I got fat eating everything they put on my plate? Em, nope. But I do speak up now by making more demands when I order. For example, when I eat fish, I ask for the smallest fillet they have - they are usually happy to do that as no one else wants it cos they are still demanding value for money in the shape of a huge piece of fish! I eat out 3/4 times a week and make polite requests almost every time so that I get the meals I need. At almost 5 months out, never had a problem with any restaurant doing what I have asked them. The smaller I have gotten, there seems to be a recognition that I must eat less so they seem to go along with that.

Have u tried eating dense protein first, then ur carbs? Turkey, tuna etc will fill u up better and take longer to digest. And the more u chew it, the more u will get in beyond taking just a few bites. That's helped me get more protein/food in and has kept my weight loss steady. Just a thought...

Day 3 I cried all day and wondered what the heck I had done to myself...the first few weeks are the hardest, you have recovery and a new normal to deal with all at the same time. The mental side is the biggest challenge - can I get my Water in? Am I taking enough Protein in?Am I moving enough? Can I do this for the rest of my life? It takes over your life for the first weeks but gradually, every day, things improve and you start to look outwards and beyond. I am four and half months out and the difficult first few weeks are fading in my memory. Life is good and my health is transformed beyond recognition. Just keep your focus on looking ahead - this too shall pass!

Dancing Queen by Abba, makes me dance and laugh every time. But if I need something to lift my mood, it's My Chemical Romance's I'm Not Ok, played loud enough to upset the neighbours, lol

This is a fantastic post, that will resonate with many of us on here. Thanks for posting, it hit a button with me today just as I was flagging.... But not any more!

I am in the process of clearing out every drawer and cupboard - this will culminate in tackling the attic before Christmas! I just didn't have the energy to spend long periods doing this before but I am finding it very therapeutic now that I have more time....

Yup, would crawl over broken glass to get to my surgery if I had to do it again. It was a bit like childbirth, painful at the time but the memory fades as the joy takes over, lol! Had one weepy day as hormones were all over the place and buyers remorse kicked in. But not regretted it one bit since. My health has improved significantly and I couldn't have done that without the help of my sleeve. Good luck!

This isn't a rant just an exasperated and frustrated letting off steam kind of thing, lol! My friend lives abroad, only seen her twice since I had surgery. Second time I was 35lbs down and her emails in the run up to seeing her all talked about me being a skinny minnie, not being called JLo any more as my butt had gone etc. I was calm and asked her not to say those things and that my surgery was important to me, it wasn't funny. She took it ok but had another dig about whether we should go out to eat because it was so difficult for me!!! But when she visited, my weight only came up when I raised it - she said nothing. But that was ok. Her dad died of diabetes and I felt she saw me finding a way of dealing with my diabetes when he didn't have that chance... Smacked of her believing I was taking the easy way out but I let it go. She's due back on Tuesday and after weeks of nothing other then nice emails, the last one was about where we would go to eat. I made a suggestion to which she replied "Godd choice, they serve mini meals (ie tapas) for mini people". I am sure she doesn't realise what she's doing but I don't want another evening feeling she is watching every bite but saying nothing about how well I have done. I don't want to fall out with her, we have been friends a long time, but she is the only person who makes anything of my surgery and actually makes me feel uncomfortable about it. Everyone else accepts that when we go out, I eat less. All suggestions gratefully received.... Or am I being too sensitive?

Loopy, you hit the nail on the head with the passive-aggressive thing. It's like grasping sand - if I raise it, she will be offended as she will ask what has she said that was awful/wrong. So I will see how she reacts when she sees me on Tuesday... Madam Reverie, I have just stopped laughing but I don't disagree with a word you said - I just love the comment about watching my ass disappear in the mirror!!!! Humour usually works with most people but the more I read everyone's replies and think about the situation, the more I realise it's her problem not mine. I am going to carry on being me and if she can't cope with the changes in me, then she's not the girl I think she is. But I will speak up if any more is said. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't take the crap... Thanks for all the responses, feel better already about seeing her :-))))

Musiclover, no one can explain why my arthritis is in remission, the only explanation is the sleeve. I was on 25mg of methotrexate and 50mg of Enbrel a week. Post surgery, my consultant stopped the metho completely; he only wanted me to start the Enbrel in case the arthritis came back. We are discussing in Jan reducing it to a single injection a week. So, all I can say is that I had severe arthritis that was only being managed with two drugs in tandem and all that has changed :-) Miss Mac, omg, what a family history!!! If you need any further incentive to lose weight, keep the thought of a trip to Scotland to the front of your mind - you would love it. Let me know when you are coming :-)))) As for the sleeve, our bodies all react differently to it, but I couldn't be happier at my outcome. I hope you get the results you want when the time comes.

Looking for inspiration - did you find love post sleeve? Split up from husband almost 3 years ago after 30 years together (i was a child bride, ha ha) and have made no effort with the opposite sex - forgotten how to, lack of confidence, lots of reasons. But even at this early stage, am now getting some male attention and it's all positive. So that gives me hope - but would love to hear your stories.... Thanks

Thanks girls. Belladonna, you are right, think I need to tell her how I feel or it will affect our friendship. I think she's always seen me as the older, fat friend - and I am not that any more (ok, still old but hotter than before, ha ha!) As you say, Beach Lover, there are people who wish us well but can't handle it when we lose weight - that might be another reason for her behaviour. I suppose my sleeve is just my sleeve, it's now part of me along with the new way of eating. She just needs to adjust to my new normal and make it hers in relation to me :-)))))

Keea, u put ur finger on it - u r hurting and want the pain to go away quickly. But, as u know, food isn't the answer. It can feel like an anaesthetic but using it like that is what gets some of us to being overweight.... Distractions, like doing something, are good. But sometimes we just have to bear the pain and focus on where we r going. It's part of learning to keep food in its place - it's fuel for our bodies, not medicine for our minds. It's hard when we take away the easy fix - I was a comforter eater too - but u have achieved so much with ur weight loss. May have been with the help of ur friend but it was actually u doing it. If u keep posting here u will get lots of support while u work through this. Good luck!

Something I knew but seemed to forget in the first few weeks after surgery is that the excess weight wouldn't be gone overnight (took years to get here) and that weight loss isn't necessary constant - it stops and starts. Once I relaxed and remembered those things, sticking to the program got manageable.... Good luck, if u are asking this question, u r doing ur prep - and that's half the battle :-))))

Relax and stick to the program - you can eat too little which will stop weight loss so make sure you are eating what you can, drink your water and keep moving. Don't be despondent, it's only 2 weeks. Probably took time to put the weight off, will take time to get it off. Our bodies all react differently to the surgery - just keep breathing, it will happen for you...