skinnygirlwithin

Once you lose the weight - most of us tend to forget why we did WLS in the first place... To get healthy... and it becomes more about what we look like...
So some of us end up with some extra skin... it happens... but i accepted that before hand knowing that might happen... I have extra skin around my stomach area, and very lose skin in my upper thigh area... but i FEEL good, i can get up and down the steps, have fun & LIVE.

Hi All...

It has been a while since I have been on here.... but tomorrow marks my One year & 6 Months from surgery. As I look back at my struggles and achievements; the highs & lows,– I still am so very THANKFUL for my sleeve & giving myself the best gift I could have ever given/received. I am thankful for all the support I have had from all of you!!!
I started out at 253lbs and currently 146lbs.
There are days were I look in the mirror and don’t see the current me. I see the original weight/old self… which I know is weird since I am a size 6/8 BUT sometimes still see the size 20w… I started really beating myself up. I was feeling like I was going crazy, but according to my doc there are others that go through this…
So I went to a support group meeting last week, and someone said “you have to be nice to yourself, stop beating yourself up over everything, learn to forgive and love yourself”. I give this advice so often; I don’t know why I haven’t given it to myself. IT was such an eye opener… We are with our self all day every day… We need to be nicer to ourselves… I NEED to be nicer to myself…. I am on day 8 of taking this advice, it’s a work in progress but I am trying.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful HUMP day!!!

Hi All...

It has been a while since I have been on here.... but tomorrow marks my One year & 6 Months from surgery. As I look back at my struggles and achievements; the highs & lows,– I still am so very THANKFUL for my sleeve & giving myself the best gift I could have ever given/received. I am thankful for all the support I have had from all of you!!!
I started out at 253lbs and currently 146lbs.
There are days were I look in the mirror and don’t see the current me. I see the original weight/old self… which I know is weird since I am a size 6/8 BUT sometimes still see the size 20w… I started really beating myself up. I was feeling like I was going crazy, but according to my doc there are others that go through this…
So I went to a support group meeting last week, and someone said “you have to be nice to yourself, stop beating yourself up over everything, learn to forgive and love yourself”. I give this advice so often; I don’t know why I haven’t given it to myself. IT was such an eye opener… We are with our self all day every day… We need to be nicer to ourselves… I NEED to be nicer to myself…. I am on day 8 of taking this advice, it’s a work in progress but I am trying.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful HUMP day!!!

@@skinnygirlwithin, congratulations on your milestone! Your support group friends gave you great advice! Easier said than done though, right? Many (most?) of us spent a lot of years not being very kind to our obese selves. There is no time like the present to change that, and it feels better day by day as you begin to appreciate and respect YOU.
About the body image thing--I attend support groups regularly, and many people talk about still seeing the "old me" in the mirror (me too!). Over time, it does improve but for many it takes a long time. Have you tried using comparison photos of yourself? Sometimes it's easier to see and/or adjust the brain when you see yourself in photos.
This is kind of silly--but do you ever do anything for yourself with an intentional label of "This is just for Me?" If you don't-- just a suggestion to maybe plan a once a week particular intention to do something for just you. It can be as small as buying some dumb little thing from the Dollar Store, or going to a movie (by yourself or with a friend if that makes you happy), visiting a park, making time to read a book, etc -- whatever gives you a lift-- as long as you specifically label it as something you are doing for JUST YOU. It's a start to acknowledging that you are WORTH being good to yourself.
Keep up your new routine of kindness to your "selfie."

Thanks for sharing your story! It helps me at 3 weeks out to read others stories and see where I could be in time. Great job!

Took my son to FL to see the EX & family... one day it was raining, so X-mother in law wanted to go shopping... we all went.
She picked out 2 form fitting dresses - SIZE 10!!
I go into the dressing room with just her waiting for me, to coming out of dressing room to everyone waiting...
Ex-Husband says "HOT DAMN ummm.. REMIND ME WHY WE ARENT TOGETHER?"... my reply "cause you were an idiot" and his mother & Sister laugh agreeing with me...
how does the saying go....
Flight to FL $400
New Dresses $150
Expression on Ex's Face... PRICELESS!!!

Hi All...

It has been a while since I have been on here.... but tomorrow marks my One year & 6 Months from surgery. As I look back at my struggles and achievements; the highs & lows,– I still am so very THANKFUL for my sleeve & giving myself the best gift I could have ever given/received. I am thankful for all the support I have had from all of you!!!
I started out at 253lbs and currently 146lbs.
There are days were I look in the mirror and don’t see the current me. I see the original weight/old self… which I know is weird since I am a size 6/8 BUT sometimes still see the size 20w… I started really beating myself up. I was feeling like I was going crazy, but according to my doc there are others that go through this…
So I went to a support group meeting last week, and someone said “you have to be nice to yourself, stop beating yourself up over everything, learn to forgive and love yourself”. I give this advice so often; I don’t know why I haven’t given it to myself. IT was such an eye opener… We are with our self all day every day… We need to be nicer to ourselves… I NEED to be nicer to myself…. I am on day 8 of taking this advice, it’s a work in progress but I am trying.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful HUMP day!!!

Hi All...

It has been a while since I have been on here.... but tomorrow marks my One year & 6 Months from surgery. As I look back at my struggles and achievements; the highs & lows,– I still am so very THANKFUL for my sleeve & giving myself the best gift I could have ever given/received. I am thankful for all the support I have had from all of you!!!
I started out at 253lbs and currently 146lbs.
There are days were I look in the mirror and don’t see the current me. I see the original weight/old self… which I know is weird since I am a size 6/8 BUT sometimes still see the size 20w… I started really beating myself up. I was feeling like I was going crazy, but according to my doc there are others that go through this…
So I went to a support group meeting last week, and someone said “you have to be nice to yourself, stop beating yourself up over everything, learn to forgive and love yourself”. I give this advice so often; I don’t know why I haven’t given it to myself. IT was such an eye opener… We are with our self all day every day… We need to be nicer to ourselves… I NEED to be nicer to myself…. I am on day 8 of taking this advice, it’s a work in progress but I am trying.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful HUMP day!!!

Hi All...

It has been a while since I have been on here.... but tomorrow marks my One year & 6 Months from surgery. As I look back at my struggles and achievements; the highs & lows,– I still am so very THANKFUL for my sleeve & giving myself the best gift I could have ever given/received. I am thankful for all the support I have had from all of you!!!
I started out at 253lbs and currently 146lbs.
There are days were I look in the mirror and don’t see the current me. I see the original weight/old self… which I know is weird since I am a size 6/8 BUT sometimes still see the size 20w… I started really beating myself up. I was feeling like I was going crazy, but according to my doc there are others that go through this…
So I went to a support group meeting last week, and someone said “you have to be nice to yourself, stop beating yourself up over everything, learn to forgive and love yourself”. I give this advice so often; I don’t know why I haven’t given it to myself. IT was such an eye opener… We are with our self all day every day… We need to be nicer to ourselves… I NEED to be nicer to myself…. I am on day 8 of taking this advice, it’s a work in progress but I am trying.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful HUMP day!!!

Hi All...

It has been a while since I have been on here.... but tomorrow marks my One year & 6 Months from surgery. As I look back at my struggles and achievements; the highs & lows,– I still am so very THANKFUL for my sleeve & giving myself the best gift I could have ever given/received. I am thankful for all the support I have had from all of you!!!
I started out at 253lbs and currently 146lbs.
There are days were I look in the mirror and don’t see the current me. I see the original weight/old self… which I know is weird since I am a size 6/8 BUT sometimes still see the size 20w… I started really beating myself up. I was feeling like I was going crazy, but according to my doc there are others that go through this…
So I went to a support group meeting last week, and someone said “you have to be nice to yourself, stop beating yourself up over everything, learn to forgive and love yourself”. I give this advice so often; I don’t know why I haven’t given it to myself. IT was such an eye opener… We are with our self all day every day… We need to be nicer to ourselves… I NEED to be nicer to myself…. I am on day 8 of taking this advice, it’s a work in progress but I am trying.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful HUMP day!!!

YES! I was "sleeved" on Dec 11 2013... and almost right away I noticed a change - I have always had keen sense of smell - but now... it’s crazy... and my sense of taste... holy craziness!
I use to LOVE bacon, pork chops, HAM… they use to be my very own food group… NOT anymore! Even tap water… I can taste the chemicals, so I do bottled (sigh)…
Really anything that has been processed has a funny chemical taste to me… like Pasta, bread etc… I can taste the flour and salt etc… CAKES… omg they are disgusting now, they are just grossly sweet… its really helped with my weight loss… because foods that I would “go to” are no longer appealing to me. I have lost 73lbs in 4 months… I don’t know if I would have, had it not been for my taste buds being completely different…

@luckyknickers57 Just totally busted out laughing! ok here are head shots...

I am so happy we have two more people on our official maintenance thread! I think that maintenance is a journey that needs to be shared because now our gears are shifting and we are moving into new territory . I am anxious to hear what the nutritionist has to say Mini. I don't have one available to me.


Congratulations to both of you !

Now that VST has been around awhile, there are a lot of us at goal who are learning to maintain.

I would like to discuss maintenance. Is it easy for you? It is not easy for me.
I fight it every day. I can eat so much more than I could when I first had surgery. I don't feel really full all the time the way I did a year ago.

I used to be able to eat a meal and feel so full for hours that I had no desire to eat again until it was meal time again.

I would say that Head hunger is more than 75% of hunger for me. I can eat a meal and thoughts of junk food enter my mind an hour later.

I am so thankful that I do have this tool to help me maintain, but it will always be a battle for me to not eat chips, candy and all the rest of the stuff that could easily pack on 20 lbs in a short time if I gave into my head hunger.

How are the rest of you at goal doing? Is eating healthy such a habit now that you have no desire to snack?

Hello all, so a funny thing happened this morning. Last weekend i purchased some new shorts for the warmer weather. Well im now in a men's Large so i grabbed some, and bought them. However i made the mistake of just looking at the hanger not the tag on the shorts. so one pair i bought was the wrong size. Now this morning I picked up the shorts, not knowing they were the wrong size and i remarked to my wife how surprised i was at how small these shorts looked in my hands. So i ripped the tags off and then realized the tag inside said XL not L. so i said to my wife, "oh I bought the wrong size dang it." so she picks up the tags i ripped off and said, "yea you really got it wrong, these are a BOYS XL. I laughed and just for the heck of it I tried them on.
They fit! and I am wearing them as I type. lol
Seriously? a boys XL? this is wonderful, these little surprises really help to hit home how well you can do with this surgery and will all the help and support of freinds , family and especilly the help and support of all you Bariatric pal people.
So have a great day!
food is what you live ON, Not what you live FOR!

So very Excited for you!!!! Enjoy your shoes!!!

This is the first of many stalls... Just keep doing what your doc/nut have put in place for you. They wont last forever... Some stalls last longer then others - i had one last over 2 months... but as stated above - the best advice, dont compare yourself to someone else... this is your own personal ride... you may wait in line a little longer then others, your ride my go faster then others... Just enjoy the whole thing, the ups, downs & stalls... when you get to your goal... all the stalls and down falls wont matter any more congrats on being sleeved!!!

My VSG was in May 2014 and I have lost all of my excess weight. The VSG worked for me because I followed my surgeon's program as closely as I could. From my observations, that is the most important factor determining success or failure. The people who seriously follow the guidelines almost always lose most of their excess weight. It is a wonderful tool. The VSG gives you some months (it varies) when you are more in control of your food intake because your hunger is greatly diminished, but it doesn't make your food choices for you. Most VSG patients can eat most things (although in smaller quantities) once their stomachs have healed.
You are wise to question yourself and learn about the successes and failures of others before committing yourself to surgery. When your surgery date finally comes, you will feel informed and confident. Good luck.

It's a tool that help you get control of your eating habits. My weight is coming of slow. I was feeling sorry for myself because I wasn't having that rapid weight lost like others. I would do it again, the thirty pounds that I have lost, remains off. Take this time to research on behavior modification, which will be your challenge and work on your exercise program. Good Luck

It did for me exactly what I wanted it to. I expected to lose 70% of my excess weight. Right now I'm at about 73%. It worked like a charm.
I wanted to be able to easily control my food intake and not have to struggle with some stupid diet that worked short term at best. That worked too. There are many days I sit around and wish that for just one day I could eat everything I wanted. But wasn't that the problem to begin with? Yep. Now I don't worry about Portion Control and self discipline. The sleeve does it for me. I do have to watch the junk food and sweets intake. It's easier to eat more of those things than it is healthier foods. On occasion I gain 3-4 pounds. I make an effort to eat better and the extra pounds go away.
I know I say this a lot, but I cannot stress enough the importance of the emotional and psychological implications of WLS. If you can get pre op counseling then do it and take it seriously. If not read up on the subject and prepare yourself the best you can. It's work to adjust to the sleeve itself and even more work to pull yourself together after your security blanket is gone. The security blanket is food.
You can do it, you'll be a better person because of it, and somewhere along the road you will lose weight and look better than ever. I hope you get everything you want from the decision you make.

It worked for me because it drastically limits the amount of food I can eat. Because I eat so little, it needs to be of highest quality nutrition. Eating Protein first fills up your sleeve "real estate' to where there is very little room for veggies, so your best option are the non-starchy ones because they are lower in calories and carbs.
While you are waiting to decide, here are the basics of many of our plans that you can get familiar with:
1. Eat mostly Protein, and plenty of it. (gravy does not count as protein)
2. Eat more non-starchy veggies than you used to - the greener, the better.
3. Eat less fruit than you are used to. (apples, not apple pie)
4. Try not to eat starchy and sugary foods. They make you hungry for more starchy & sugary foods. (bread, Pasta, rice, pastries, (usually white in color)
5. As much as possible, avoid foods made in a factory.
6. Drink Water until your eyeballs float.
7. Don't become part of the sofa. (You have no doubt heard of he saying "Dance like nobody's watching".......so at least do that. I crank up the music while I am doing housework - it helps)
One thing I noticed on the pre-op diet was that the best way to reduce salt intake was to not eat the foods that I had a tendancy to put salt on (partucularly potatoes and noodles)
I wish you the best. Delay is not denial.

I had VSG on March 6th and it was the best thing I could do for myself. After years of yo-yo dieting it was the best tool to help me. Before surgery I was taking 2 blood pressure pills and one for high cholesterol. When discharged from the hospitalI no longer had to take those medications. having the surgery has helped me to eat healthier and I have have lost 56 pounds so far. before surgery not only was I overweight I also was diagnosed with Lupus and fibromyalgia and boarderline diabetic. I think VSG has helped me become more aware of what kind of foods I was eating, I have to have protienm then veggies and drink water! It has helped me make make healthier choices. You will do well! I was second guessing myself, but I am glad I did it.☺ Use the time that you have to research, check out this blog, the members who are here have all been there done that and can help if you have any questions ! Good luck in your journey!

Everyones journey is different. Dont measure yourself versus others, what some lose isnt what you wil lose , you might lose more, or less. but you will lose. thats the key!
Keep your chin up.
That first stall sucks, but when it breaks..it breaks.

I got on the scale this morning and was so happy!! I am down 100lbs!! I had hoped to hit 100lbs lost by my 6 month check up which was April 27th, but even though I didn't meet the goal I set for myself I am still very happy with how far I have come!!
I have 39lbs to go to get to my first goal of 175lbs. I am hoping to do this by my 1 year surgiversary!!
Tomorrow I am having surgery to remove my ventral hernia, this is one of the reasons I had the sleeve surgery to begin with. I am excited and nervous. I'm hoping my recovery from this goes as well as my recovery from my sleeve surgery. My bariatric surgeon is doing the surgery for me.
Thanks to everyone on this site, your posts and words of encouragement has really helped me stay motivated and know I can succeed.
I am finally able to wear my 100lb lost shoes I bought to reward myself. They are a really cute pair of wedges from Clarks, they were $107, but they are so cute and comfy. I normally wouldn't spend that much on shoes but for this I thought it was okay. I actually bought them a few months ago and my husband and daughter have been holding them hostage will I hit 100lbs. So today we are heading out to lunch/dinner and I am wearing them!!

Hi All
I was a year out as of Dec 11, 2014 - over the weekend was with some gf and tried on dresses... got to say I smiled ear to ear when i zipped up a size 6 & their voices all said WOW!!!
First picture is from Nov 2013 size 20W and the 2nd picture is from Sun Jan 25, 2015 (SIZE 6!!!!)
3rd pic is from Oct 2013 - 4th pic is from Sat Jan 24, 2015
The sleeve CHANGED MY LIFE! best thing i have ever done!!! wishing you all a happy day!