italian-girl

Yeah my mom traumatized my poor nephew when I had surgery she just said the dr curt off nini's stomach and he cried when he came to see me at home and said " nini I loved you whole!" I had to show him my incisions and explain they only has to cut tiny areas to make nini's tummy feel better. His sister who is 3 saw them and said " nini did a shark bite your tummy?!? I'm gonna beat them up!!" If it didn't hurt to laugh I would have. I had only been home for about 4 hours from the hospital.. Family has always been my love in life.. My nephews and nieces make my life amazing.

Thanks he is one of my favorite people on the planet.. My other 5 nieces and nephews are too but this kid is a gem I tell ya!

I find if I eat anything with Beans it fills me up super fast. But I measure everything if its serving size is in cup form I use measuring cups if its in pieces I count pieces and if its in oz. I weigh it on a food scale. I eat what I measure out and it's quite typical for me to leave a bite or two on my plate.. I haven't found a slider food yet.. Which I ain't mad at! I get full on everything so far and I'm ok with that. Honestly tho measuring it out seems to be the best way for me. Good luck!

The best compliments come from my 5 year old nephew.. He told me the other day "nini you look so beautiful today, I love your boots! You smell really good too!" Then when I dropped him off at school he gave me a big kiss and hug then told his teacher "doesn't nini look beautiful!?" I just smiled at his teacher and chuckled then as he was running to the playground he yelled out " nini! I love you!" So I yelled back at him that I loved him too. So many kids don't want to be bothered with kisses and hugs but he doesn't care what people think and it's adorable! Another compliment that was actually funny was at work when a customer was asking me. To speak to me... I smiled and said yeah that's me! Then had to show him my tattoo on my arm! He is an older gentleman and he said oh my goodness gracious I didn't even recognize you you look terrific congratulations!! I haven't run into negative people yet but it could be that I avoid negative people like the plague, and I always have.

I found that if you increase your calories a little bit on days you do cardio you burn more and it shows... Add 100 calories and some carb in the cardio days it's fuel to burn.. Seems crazy but with this surgery nothing is 100% formula!

I walk every other day 2 miles increasing it to three next week and have started strength training two days a week. So Monday walk Tuesday strength Wednesday walk Thursday strength Friday walk... Seems to be helping shed inches...

Yeah I was a tight 26 and I'm a loose 20 now!! It's nice!! Keep it up!!!

Ok so those are my before surgery early in the year, (feb) then the 3 pic is before surgery 1 month out then 2 months out and the last pic is my 1 month vs 2 and 1/2 months out.. I'm actually pretty shocked that my 2 month and 2 and 1/2 months out pics look so different.. In general it's crazy to see such change! But exciting too!! Started at 292 in February this year started seeing the nutritionist in late feb. did all the requirements for Aetna and had surgery 8/12/13. Day of surgery weight was 264 and today I weigh 237.5 ( those half pounds count!) Inches melt away faster than lbs! I'm really happy with my results so far and looking forward to continued success

I have Aetna and after two submissions I was approved. However they are getting very very picky. The denial came because they said I needed 1 more appt with a NUT. So I had to go to the office for them to get my weight and blood pressure and temp. Yes vitals and for my NUT to revise her letter of advocation for me to include 120 days of a guided diet. My bmi was 44 and I have (had) type 2 diabetes. Sometimes it's something as little as one day of nutrition classes. That didn't meet their requirement that will get a denial You can appeal the decision with a letter written by you. I've heard that works really well sometimes. Never give up hope, 3 years ago I had blue shield blue cross of Georgia and they denied me 3 times saying my blood pressure was too good and my diabetes wasn't a good enough reason to approve me. So when's company switched to Aetna I tried again... Good luck and appeal if you need to

Yeah I have had serious sensitive smell issues! I swear I can smell bad breath from 8 feet away.. Body odor and perfumes ohhh it's so gross.. And since surgery I hate HATE the taste of anything chocolate!! It's disgusting. Makes me wanna vomit...

I didn't lie about it, everybody knows the reason I took medical leave at work, I work for a company located inside another business, all my co workers knew but when I went back to work the people in the other business were like wait, you have been gone a couple months right?! Then they ask ever so quietly " did you lose weight?!" I just tell em yes and say I had a gastric sleeve surgery, everyone has had a a really good reaction very positive.. I figured if I show positivity about it they usually will too. My customers too everyone has been super awesome about it..

Yep then I ended up with a kidney stone... I eat some carbs now like oatmeal for breakfast I don't get a whole lot in since its very filling but it's complex carbs so its not bad. Or I'll have quinoa or beans or lentils. I try to eat the healthy carb choices, just not a ton of it... Not that I could. But I've noticed it does help. They have strips you can test your urine with and know if there are keytones in your urine. ReliOn is the brand they have them at any drugstore or pharmacy.

I miss fresh fruit and veggies!! My program says 4 months out we can have fresh veggies and lettuce. I'm awaiting December. That's when I'll be 4 months out. In our nutrition class we were told it was to hard to digest for the first few months. The only fresh fruit we were allowed is watermelon and only a few small pieces, she said that watermelon is easily digested. Since its mostly Water.

I can't relate, as the reason I had my surgery was to help with health issues I already had that in my eyes could of taken my life. After 2 months my diabetes is at normal levels and I am ecstatic about it. Being one of the main reasons I did this surgery. 2nd was the fractures in my feet from the weight. Those are getting better. I wasn't an unhappy fat person. I have never dealt with a negative self image. I did things I wanted to do I traveled and met amazing people all over the world. I had this surgery to better my health as working out was not available do to the fractures in my feet and diet alone wasn't working. They told me I had to lose weight before I could exercise or my feet would only get worse. I'm sorry that you feel this way about yourself. But people are more than what they look like. I've told everyone I know that if you can't look in the mirror and tell yourself you're beautiful and 20 kinds of amazing, that you can't expect anyone else to. I do it daily, I have friends that do it daily. I know there are things you are amazing at doing and that you know you do better than anyone. Start with those things and focus on the positive. The more positive things you can focus on the more positive your life becomes. Good luck to you.

I'm only two months out, still don't feel hungry, I eat breakfast lunch and dinner... Because I know I need to. If I ate when I was hungry I'd never eat. But the small meals are Filling and I've not finished a meal yet always end up with a few bites left on my plate or in my bowl.

Today is my 3rd day back at work and my co workers saw my tiny lunch and they were all like " that's it?!?" I laughed and said remember I have a tiny tummy! I laughed at the amazement! Satisfied with my tiny lunch!

A 1/2 cup chicken salad (made with Greek yogurt and mustard) and 3 quinoa crackers. It's a filling lunch and I quite enjoy it.

I think that's a great rate especially while working out hopefully it helps with skin sagging!! I think you're doing great!! Keep up the good work!!

I've been averaging a loss of 2 lbs per week since the day of surgery. I lost 20 lbs before my surgery on the two week pre op diet.. Sleeved on 8/12 my pre surgery weight 4 weeks before surgery was 285 (back in jan when I first started my journey looking for a surgeon I was 297) today I'm 242.. I feel like I'm on track.

Thank you!! Each day is a step towards goal!!!

Before surgery 1 month out and today 2 months out.. In that order down a total of 47 lbs since pre op diet