MarciHunter

Thank you for the warm welcome, lovely Revs I'm really very happy to have found a group of people after my own heart, especially in this thread , and I'll try to pitch in from now on x And yes, somehow, I always thought it is "okay" to accept all the remarks, all the name calling, because..its everyone is doing..must be normal.."we don't mean anything by it" or "come on, we're only joking" and my favourite : "no offence , but.." You rightly know you're gonna offend someone when you say that..but you choose to do it anyway, and that makes you an ah**hole.. Moving to the UK was a breath of fresh air and finally learned that ..it was not OKAY , and that the way I felt and behaved all my life was what normal decent nice people do, not the other way around. And to think that I always felt like the odd one out. So thank you, my new British friend , it means a lot and .. By the way,I just love your profile picture. Hilarious . With a bunch of respect for you and everyone else, Marci, the newbie

Hey guys! Another lurker here! I've been reading all of your stories from day 1 and keep coming everyday to check the thread! I found pieces of my life in each and every story and at times it was hard to read some of them and not get chocked up. You guys made me think about my own life and my own issues , even though for the last 5 years I put them in a box in the back of my head and slowly I started to let them go and I'm happier since . Well, mainly because 5 years ago I left "home" (Romania) and moved far away, to the UK. I found that since that happened I'm loving my dad more and even can't wait to see him every 6 months when I go back to visit . This wouldn't have happened if I were still living there. I met my wonderful husband when I moved here and he changed me for the better! I'm so happy I let go of the anger I had, but that only happened about 3 years after I left home, it took some time. But In all honesty, my story is not a dark one, I can't be hypocritical and say otherwise, I had a fairly happy childhood and was blessed with good friends growing up for whom my weight was never a problem. I don't know why I overate all my life. My earliest memory of me overheating was when I was around 7-8 years old and mom made donuts. And I also had to do homework. I remember sitting on the sofa with a big bowl of donuts and eating ..and eating..and ..eating.. My parents told this story over the years, fondly remembering how I was stuffing myself just to get out of homework. Now, knowing myself.. I'm sure it was because ..I loved to eat and never knew when to stop, not because of homework. I've always been a tall muscular child and until 15-17 I wasn't actually fat but since I was very young I heard how I was "fatter than other kids". My dad always called me "fatty" but in romanian(sounds a tad better in romanian) and he kind of sounded sweet, for him it really was a term of endearment ..so for me..it was very normal to be the "fatty" around..looking back..I really wasn't..and probably that's how it started. Every time we would go visit relatives, my dad would embarrass me in front of the others, telling me to stop eating . I don't remember a time when we went places as a family where I didn't cry. All my life I heard how I was "too sensitive and cry always" .. But in their defence..I cried a lot, as a kid, as a teenager, as a young adult..all that changed when I left the country...hmmm..I wonder why? Well, because I'm finally surrounded my lovely people that won't put me down at every step. My mom is a wonderful person , always doing everything for everyone, dad is a good person as well and always told me how much he loves me and my brother, always hugging us, but at the same time...he was always angry, always telling us we're doing everything wrong, we're good for nothing, etc.. It was so confusing.. He would yell at us, and threaten us with some butt whooping and in 10 minutes he would come over ,hugged us and told us, we're just "too sensitive" and that he loved us. So that's why I have mixed feelings and can't say my childhood wasn't a good one. But it wasn't the greatest either. I remember sooooo many times around the dinner table when my dad would yell and I would keep my head down, tears were running down my face straight in to the food that I wouldn't touch. And then it started with secretly eating, hiding food, eating very very fast while they were away, etc. Also, my boyfriend of 4 years in Romania.. Would not hold my hand in public and wouldn't act like we were together even though..well,everyone knew about us, as we were in a big great group of friends. That, of course, wasn't great for my self esteem and of course, made me eat even more. Where I come from, people think its just ok to tell someone how fat they are and to make them feel like they're worthless. I was working in a school in Romania and when I gave my 2 weeks notice because I was moving to the Uk, the principal wished me all the best and she added : "now you'll fit better in the society, people are fatter in the UK" or something to that effect. But again, the way they're saying these things.. They don't mean to hurt you..they genuinely think its ok to say these thing..its a damn cultural thing, I don't know. I think there are so many issues that contributed to my weight gain over the years, but I also think greed was also a biiiiig factor. I've been sleeved 6 months ago and lost 80 pounds so far and in a month we're going to Romania to visit my parents, brother and friends..and it is for the first time when I don't secretly wish that something bad would happen that would cause us to postpone the trip, this time, I don't feel so ashamed..and for the first tine, my brother won't grab my tummy and say: come on, what's with all this fat?are you pregnant or something? Mmmmmmyeah, and that would be the very first second he would see me at the airport..wasn't very anxious to see my parents and hear similar things, how I get fatter and fatter every time I come home. I think my dad made amends with me in his own weird way and paid for my gastric sleeve surgery, as I didn't have any chances of paying for it myself . He did not pressure me into it, it was my idea but when I first told him I want to have the surgery.. His face lit up, its like I could read on his face the joy and the anticipation that he'll finally have a normal looking daughter. Oh well, so so many things to say..and I really wrote way too much. I'm so sorry for the long post, I just don't know where to start..where to end..but I wanted to write a post too, as I felt bad lurking around and reading all your stories.. Anyhow, sending you all happy thoughts and you're all so brave and I respect you so much, after reading everything..all I can say is ..you are a bunch of tough cookies !

Same here, can't believe I had doubts , this surgery really changed our lives, hasn't it? Best of luck to you from now on xx

Looking great, you've done a brilliant job

Looking great, you've done a brilliant job

Hehe, I'm just the same, always looking for tall women , well..I used to before having the surgery, now I'm trying to stop comparing myself to others, especially that I'm pretty happy with what I lost so far. Best of luck for tomorrow during the surgery, I'm sure all will be just perfect and hope you'll recover quick! My surgeon made a bet , that after a year post surgery, I'll weight around 165 pounds, he thinks that's the ideal weight for my height. Of course, I'm greedy as usual, and I'm fighting for 155 pounds, but of course, I will be happy with 170 pounds too, but I'll try for a result of 155 pounds, especially that I'm planning on getting pregnant so..you know..the lighter I will be, the easier. It seems unbelievable to be at around 150 pounds, I know , but that is withing the normal weight for our height so, I'm sure we can do it xx thank you so much and wish you all the best tomorrow, chick x My starting weight was 287, so pretty close to yours, I bet you can't wait to see results on yourself xx

Aww, I know right? Most of the weight I lost is from my waist and upper body, loooooove that I have a waist hehe. Thank you, you're very sweet xx

Everyone's looking amazing, well done to all of you, you're inspiring , I just loved reading thought this thread Here's me, I'm 5 1/2 months post sleeve, and I'm down 80 pounds. Surgery weight - 287 pounds Height - 5'10"

Looking great, chick xx I'm always looking over your photos and keep seeing you updating your pics, and you're losing more and more everytime and looking better and better, keep up the good work xx

More pictures with my before and after meals, I'm almost 6 months post op and down 80 pounds. My dinner a few weeks ago, 2 small pizza slices, can't tolerate breads,pastas, so I eat just a wee bit of the crust as I was craving it. My dinner tonight , fajitas, again, I had a few bites out of the tortilla , and ate most of the chicken and some vegetables

Made a turkey roast with stuffing and everything else for my dad in laws birthday. Was my first meal of this kind so I put a bit of everything on my plate, the peas went down the best, barely touched the meat. Here's the pics (I'm 27 and 5'10" , SW - 287 , CW- 209 , 5 month post )

Thank you lovely. You're looking great too! How far out are you ?

Awwww I just love this thread, and all of your kitties are adorable, I just love looking at all the pics, I hope more and more people post pics of their furbabies

I'm 27 and 5'10" tall . Had the sleeve 5 months ago, lost 73 pounds so far ( 33 kg ) . My starting weight was 287 pounds ( 130 kg ) and now I weight 214 pounds ( 97 kg ) and this is a before and after , even though the after picture was takes when I was 4 months post op, didn't get the chance to take a more recent one

My furbabies, Booboo and Eddie <3

Hey guys, I've been sleeved 19th of June, this year. Starting weight was 288 pounds and today i weight at 215 lb , so a total of 73 pounds lost . I'm 5'10" tall . The weight loss has slowed down ,but it was expected but I'm pretty happy with what I lose monthly , and so should you, we'll get there, you'll see. I don't know about you, but my weight loss is slower because ( or so I think) because I do not work out, and don't drink enough fluids. And I know is really bad, but I still feel very weak and dizzy but I plan on starting working out as I wanna take advantage of the honeymoon period. Riiiiiiiight, think happy thoughts, people!

Uuuuu, this is interesting . So far I lost nearly 4 card tires...uuu

Same here! I'm 4 months post op and haven't had pizza since before surgery! And me and the hubby decided to order Dominos. Before surgery, we would order 2 large pizzas and we would both eat more than half of pizza and then have it for lunch the next day! This time, we only ordered one pizza! Half pepperoni, half roasted chicken, peppers,ham,bacon,etc! (Protein overload) God, it smelled amazing! I definitely missed it! Sooooooo, I took a slice. Took my first bite! And it went down and almost instantly ..I felt bloatey! I knew I cannot eat the base, the pastry,the dough, whatever you call it! So, I ate everything but the base. You can say I ate 1 slice of pizza and I was full! But technically I only ate the toppings and the cheese on 1 slice of pizza and I was full! I couldn't believe it! Oh, and I had a realisation while eating it! Eating only the toppings..without the base..doesn't taste like pizza that much lol. I guess the base makes pizza the wonderful thing that it is ! Sent from my iPad using VST

It helps if you measure your portions. I got myself a teeny tiny electronic scale ( its a jewellery scale lol so its very very precise) and I only put around 3 oz on my plate. But of course, sometimes I skip the step and I put more food than I should but I found that I never finish whatever I have on my plate. Because I have learned when to stop. BUT that took some time to learn. I'm only 4 months and a bit post op, and several times I overate . And I found it funny . So here's the story of my overrating : After eating around 3 quarters of my food..I take a final bite. And I chew and a chew and then I swallow it...so far so good. While the bite goes down, my brain thinks : "meeeeh, I'll have another bite" Sooo? What do I do? I take another bite! And while I chew and chew my bite..the previous bite just went down completely and touched my stomach. So, while still with food in my mouth..I realise..I'm FULL! Naturally..the first months post op, I would swallow that last bite and I would feel bloatey and not so hot hehe. But now, I just go on and spit whatever I have left! To me, that's funny! Funny how my brain it's still adjusting and how we really should be eating very slow! I still have to train myself to eating slow but I'm getting there and I also avoid getting sick, thankfully, I haven't threw up once so thank you, brain, for getting there ! Sent from my iPad using VST

Hey there, I'm 4 months out and I , too, have the bad habit of putting way too much on my plate,most of the time. My pics are not that great,as they're taken with my phone but..oh well. Most of the times I really don't eat more than 2.5 ounces of food, if that! But there are times when I can definitely eat more! Depends on what I eat too. Little info on me: weight before surgery 290 pounds. I am 5"10 . I'm 4 months out and I now weight around 220 pounds. This was the first and only time I tried eating fries. Since then I can't tolerate breads, pastas,rices,pataoes ..they fill me up right away and make me feel bloatey These are mainly my lunches over the last 4-6 weeks or so, that is everything I could find in my phone and tablet. Hope this helps . Sent from my iPad using VST

Hey, sweetheart, calm down! I know it's hard and you are doubting a lot of things but the hunger..the hunger is only in your head. It will pass. I'm a new sleevee as well, I'm just over 6 weeks out of my surgery and until 1-2 weeks ago I has the same questions you had. Why am I hungry? Did the doctor not cut 85% of my stomach and so on! You'll see, this psychological hunger will pass soon, wait and see and don't despair! As for feeling slightly full..that's normal when you're downing liquids or creamy liquids or shakes etc.. Our new sleeved tummy will take in a lot of liquids , don't worry, its normal! Of course your tummy is not stretched out! Don't be silly! And for the sleeve itself ...is not an exact science , its impossible for the doctor to cut exactly 85% of the stomach but its pretty much around that size! I really hope you'll feel better soon and stop worrying! I did worry too and at 3 weeks I already hit the first plateau when I started solids but the weight started melting again after a week. I'm down 40 pounds in 6 weeks and my starting weight was 280. So cheer up, everything will be perfect! I wish you all the best xx