Comfy_Blue

OMG when I was on the liquid diet the week before surgery my mom emailed me that there was a great book i needed to read called "Fish and Grits". Even though it had nothing to do with food (it's about a poor family in NYC in the early 80s) i avoided it for a couple days because the title made me hungry! I don't even like fish and grits together, but just seeing the title and the fish on the cover made my mouth Water. I remember a scene where the protagonist went to the market and mentioned walking past chips and my stomach was like "gurgle gurgle". In another scene there was a fight in front of the grocery store and someone threw a glass jar of jelly which broke and i was like "mmm..." I actually cried all the way home on Day Three because on my way out a clothing store, i passed a chinese food restaurant and a liquor store with tons of Snacks in the window and my stomach was like "PLEASE FEED ME! NO MORE OF THOSE Protein SHAKES!" Needless to say I'm glad it's over. PS: i started obsessively pinning food recipes, reading about paleo and other sleeve friendly diets and planning and replanning my first meal.

My husband has been super supportive this entire journey(including lifting me up so i could use the bed pan rightnafter surgery) but he let it slip yesterday that he "missed how we used to eat out and eat so much at Chevy's". I was like "honey we can still eat there" and he was like "yeah but sll you can have is like half a flauta and maybe a couple bites of quesadillas." He apologized later andnsaid he was proud of me and he didn't mesn to make me feel bad, but I still think a little part of him misses when I was pre-opt because we were eating buddies. We'd do Chipotle, then share a carton of chunky monkey. When i start to miss those days, i remind myself how much I've gained(like lower blood pressure, control over myself, more money, better mobility, etc)

In the hospital i felt awful. My husband had to help me to the bathroom, my stomach hurt, i was stiff and i literally did nothing but wake up to pee, then sleep for the first day post opt. When i got home for the first two days, i did nothing but sleep and eat a teeny bit here and there. My stomach and throat were sore. I'd say by the 4th day post opt, i felt so much better. I never even used pain pills, except for when i was in the hospital on a morphine drip. I promise you are going to start recovering and feeling better very soon.

I don't have one big story, rather lots of little food addict stories. 1. In high school (and college) I was obsessed with Dunkin Donuts. I used to play hooky from school to drive 15 minutes away to Dunkin Donuts where I'd get half a dozen strawberry frosted donuts and milk. i'd eat at least 3 in the car and put the rest in my book bag for later and sneak back into school. I did this at least twice a week. 2. In college, i drove to DD and ordered a half dozen. The girl at the counter was like "we have a special. It's only $2 to upgrade to a full dozen". It was too great a deal to pass up! So i bought a dozen donuts back to my dorm room. I ate six on the way back to school and started to feel sick. I was embarrassed to have gotten so many, so i lied to my roommates and said i had "won" them because I was a frequent customer. No one believed me of course. 3. Another time, a friend and I ordered a pizza, 10 double cheeseburgers and a bucket of chicken w/mashed potatoes and a dozen dunkin donuts, rented a couple movies and gorged all night. I would eat until i felt like i had to barf, then wait it out and eat some more. 4. As an adult they had a deal at Chipotle where it was buy one burrito bowl, get one free. I bought 2 with the intent on eating the second bowl the next day. I ended up eating both bowls in one sitting because it was just so delicious and there. 5. One of the worse times was as a teenager i bought some napoleon ice cream (i hate the chocolate but like vanilla and strawberry). All day at school i kept thinking about that ice cream. I came up and found someone had eaten ALL the vanilla and strawberry and left the chocolate. I was so angry that i slammed the freezer door over and over so hard the door broke

WAY TO GO! That's so awesome! Under 200lbs?! It's got to feel good to be able to go to the store and just choose what you want to wear without fearing it'll be too tight/not true to size. I cannot wait until I am able to wear a loose 14 or even a 12. Right now i'm in a loosening 16. Be proud of yourself and i hope you'll Celebrate with a treat like a mani-pedi, seeing a movie, buying a new pair of pants, etc.

I found the closer i got to my surgery date the more obsessed i became. I especially got into watching youtube videos about the sleeve and looking at before and photos and reading blogs. I even started my own blog. Have you ever had surgery before? If not, that might be adding the fuel to your fire. Prior to my procedure I'd never been in the hospital, so I was scared because I had no point if reference. I had no idea i'd need a bed pan, or have to wear disposible underpants, or if i could wear my glasses into the operating room.

Please let me know, Id love some feedback.Thanks in advance! 1. Am I too big for general anesthesia? Not at all. I'm not a doctor, but I have had family members much larger than you that have had surgeries for much more serious operations (ie: open heart surgery, knee replacement, kidney transplant, etc) and they survived. Plus, the whole point of all the pre-screening stuff is to determine any risk factors. Also, the whole time you're under there is an entire team monitoring your vitals. If anything even looks fishy, they would wake you up. 2. Will I stop breathing during surgery being that I have sleep apnea? Highly unlikely. I have mild obstructive sleep apnea and my best friend (she has the lapband) has severe obstuctive sleep apnea and neither of us woke up. Remember, the anesthesiologist knows what they're doing. I've been put under twice -- the first time for my endoscopy (that time I remember dreaming I was home eating with my husband, then suddenly I woke up and it was over). The second time was during my procedure. All I remember was the nurse asking me if I was cold and not to be afraid. The next thing I knew, I was in recovery. 3. Will I regret my decision? I doubt it. I've been struggling with my weight since I was 12. I'm turning 30 this year. I've done Weight Watchers, Medifast, Phentermine, Atkins, Sugarbusters, Lemonade Diet, starved myself, avoided Pasta and bread, worked out 3 hours a day 7 days a week, Dexatrim to name a few, Slim Fast to name a few and I've never been able to keep off the weight more than 1 - 6 months. I also felt hungry/depressed/scared to eat the entire time for fear of gaining back. And often times, I would end up gaining back more than I started out with. I came to the conclusion that if I could "do it on my own" then I would've figured it out by now. 4. Has anyone had these issues? I've been concerned about EVERYTHING you wrote and more including "what if I die on the operating table?" "What if I'm the one person the surgery doesn't work for, so I did all this for nothing?" "What if I start losing weight and my husband resents me and we end up getting divorced?" "What if my friends resent me for no longer being 'the fat one' and they abandon me?" HOWEVER the deciding factor for me was what would happen if I did nothing and continued yo-yo dieting and binge eating. All the things I mentioned above "could" happen. But if I stayed the same, then I knew that my blood pressure would continue to go up until I was on meds like Dad and Grandma, I'd develop diabetes, need a knee replacement eventually, lose mobility, shorten my life span, continue to have irregular periods which would mess with my fertility, not be able to be a "fun" parent like my Mom and Dad because I can't move around well, end up on a C-Pap machine, etc. To me the "coulds" were far less scary than the "woulds". (for the record all the "coulds" that I was afraid of never happened. My husband is proud of me and my weight loss and lifestyle changes are motivating him to do the same. My friends and family still love me. I didn't die on the operating table obviously, nor did I wake up. The surgery IS working. I was 241lbs when I attended my first open house at my surgeon's office and 226lbs on my day of surgery. I'm currently 211lbs (need to update my ticker) which means I've lost 30lbs altogether).

I agree with Best about the walking. It's a pain, but it does help. Plus, it helps prevent blood clots and I found I felt better then just laying in the bed. One thing that was annoying was whenever I'd tell the nurse that I was having (what I later learned was stomach spasms) pain in my chest, she would give me more morphine. I didn't like it because it made me feel sleepy and groggy whenever I was awake.

I had mild obstructive sleep Apnea prior to WLS. According to my sleep study, I was waking up 19 times an hour. I also used to wake up around 3 or 4 am every morning with my bladder so full it hurt. (I learned that this was caused from the apnea. Basically when I started having breathing trouble, it put stress on my heart, which sent a distress signal to my brain, which would then release a chemical that stimulated my bladder to produce more urine). That was really annoying and scary because I would cut off drinking 2 hours before bed and urinate several times before I turned in for the night. I was afraid that I was developing incontinence. I also felt groggy most mornings, had frequent daytime headaches and by 2 o'clock every day I felt exhausted and needed to nap. Post-opt, I've lost almost 30 lbs. I don't wake up in middle of the night anymore and my bladder doesn't feel like it's going to burst anymore. I'm feeling clearer headed during the day and I rarely nap anymore. A few nights ago, my husband said he had to check on me to make sure I was still breathing because I was breathing so quietly. I asked him what I used to sound like and he said my snoring was loud and most nights I sounded congested like I had a cold.

I'm still rather new to the game (it'll be 1 month in 3 days) and while I've had no regrets, there are a few things I miss about my pre-opt body and struggle with. Disclaimer: Please do not let my experience sway anyone from this procedure. Whatever lifestyle you choose, even if it's eating whatever, whenever and as much as you want (which was me pre-opt) it's going to have downfalls and challenges. I think of myself as like a recovering addict -- happy to be clean (which for me is losing weight and eating healthier and making better life style choices), but sometimes I miss the "high" that came from my pre-opt lifestyle. 1. Being able to drink and eat at the same time. Waiting 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after to drink is really difficult for me. I've cheated a couple times, like a few minutes ago. I had a low sugar, high Protein bar that was REALLY REALLY sweet to the point I could only eat half. I wanted some Water or milk to neutralize the sickly sweetness, but alas that 30 minute rule. I waited about 10 minutes, then I took a sip of milk because it felt like my throat was sticking together. 2. Not being able to comfort myself with food anymore. In my community, "food is love". So when my granddad died, everyone was bringing all sorts of yummy food to grandma's house, from traditional dishes, to other favorites like KFC chicken, Cookies, cake, sodas, juice, etc. Everyone was sitting around with plates of comfort. I tried to have a little bit of everything and it was VERY uncomfortable. For me, when I eat too much and/or too fast, the food feels stuck in my chest and like it's right at the back of my throat. It burns and I get a sensation like I need to vomit, but nothing comes up. This feeling lasts 30 - 45 minutes. So when I felt overwhelmingly sad bout Granddad, I had to ride the wave of pain, instead of shoving some chicken in my mouth and having it go away instantly. 3. Throwing away food (My grandparents lived through the Depression and my parents were Baby Boomers. So I was brought up not to waste food. With my tiny banana tummy, I am not able to eat nearly as much as I used to, but I still cook the same quantity of food. It is really hard for me to throw away half a pot of chili, or 6 chicken thighs, etc because of how I was raised, plus I think about people who don't have food in the world. To combat this, I purchased freezer bags, so whenever I cook, I freeze half and leave the other half for husband and I to eat during the week. I also have started taking food to my parents house which they appreciate because it's healthy, home cooked, free and means Mom doesn't have to bother with prepping food for her and Dad) 4. Holiday Parties/Family Gatherings (I got sleeved on the 23rd which means I was on Clear liquids during three holiday parties and the early Christmas celebration my family held. That was REALLY hard because holidays are normally a time we gorge ourselves, then everyone lays around in a food induced haze laughing and talking.) 5. Not being able to guzzle water anymore. I struggle to get in 64 oz of water because I no longer drink when I eat and I'm unable to drink as much in one sitting. When I was pre-opt, I used to down 20 - 30oz of water in one sitting. By lunch, I'd normally have gotten my daily intake. Now, I feel like I am sipping all day, and I'm still not meeting the 64oz mark.

I agree with the other posters. I know you love your husband and he probably doesn't act like this all the time and when he's being "good" to you, those times are great, but the times he is being bad to you (like at dinner) are awful. He sounds verbally and emotionally abusive. I don't know your entire situation or you personally, but i have been through this before with my now ex fiancé. When i became a teacher, I was so proud of myself and when my first check came in the mail, i jokingly said to him "I'm rich!" (Now keep in mind this was a HUGE accomplishment for me because i had had a very hard time finding a job and was unemployed for almost a year and had to depend on "hand outs" from him, which I realize now he enjoyed because it made me beneath him in his mind and gave him control over me) He immediately laid into me saying i was "only" a teacher and at the bottom if the pay scale compared to other professions and i wouldn't feel so rich in ten years or so when he and everyone else not in my profession were making double or even triple my salary. Then he started dissecting my check and said "by the time you pay a, b, c, d and e, you're not going to have ANY thing left" and laughed nastily. Like you, i was hurt and tried not to cry. When I came back later to speak to him about it, he got defensive and said i "just wanted something to be upset about" and he wasn't going to apologize for "telling me like it is". Hence why he is my ex. I would highly recommend you guys seek counseling to see if you can salvage your relationship.

Yup, my ex-fiance was a fitness fiend. I remember asking him to help me work out and lose weight, so he had me drink two gallons of Water in about an hour (my stomach hurt so bad and my privates hurt from peeing so much), had me running up and down bleachers in the rain and he told me that unless you throw up after a work out you haven't pushed yourself hard enough. He exercised 3 times a day (he was in ROTC in college when we met, then full time, active duty after we graduated) and even though he ate fast food like most college students, his high level of activity kept the pounds off. He was always a naturally skinny guy, so when he worked out, he would just get super muscular. The entire time we were together he had six pack abs. I always felt fat and ugly with him. Like you, i slowly gained weight over time (was about 160lbs when we met, and closer to 190lbs when i called off our wedding). A lot of our issues stemmed from my insecurity. I got jealous easily, i didnt want to go out with his friends because i was embarrassed of my weight. I actually hid one time in a store where his friend worked because i didn't want him to see what i perceived as a big, gross, fat body. Unfortunately my ex didnt do much to make me feel better. Hs thing was "stop eating so much and exercise". He ridiculed me for being self conscious, never told me i was beautiful, and i used to get really hurt because he'd call people fat who were smaller than me (at the time Kelly Osbourne had just begun to lose weight and was smaller than me and i recall him laughing and saying she was still a fatty). I used to feel so bad because he loved to jog, so he and one of his female coworkers would go jogging just the two of them through the mountains. I hated it and i felt uncomfortable because that seemed kinda romantic to me. His thing was "well, learn to jog or get over it. If i want to jog alone with another female that's what i'm gonna do" I'm glad he is my ex. I hope your husband isn't like that. Even if he does not struggle with weight and emotional eating, he should be supporting you through this journey. My current husband truly gets it and without him it would've been a lot harder. As long as your husband isn't belittling you or feeding your insecurities, you've got a good thing. In fact, this is kind of exciting because now you all can bond on another level...getting and maintaining health. My current hub y is overweight too, but seeing me lose and change my habits has motivated him. We get excited now to eat at home and try healthy, alternative meals. Like last night i made double bake cauliflower which tastes almost exactly like a cheesy, baked potato and he was floored at how yummy it was with way less calories and fat. He also sneaks veggies into foods that we both like (puree) and tries to get me to guess how he's made the recipe healthier. It's a lot of fun.

I'm glad your surgery went do well! It sounds like everything i went through, except the part about pain medication. The medicine didn't bother me, but i did have terrible spasms in my chest for the first two weeks. Even the tinest sip of water (i'm talking using 4 swalllows to finish a medicine cup) would cause this pain that felt like gas to rise up and spread in my chest. It'd sit there for 30 seconds to 1 minute then disssapear. Eating and drinking became very difficult. Thankfully for me, the cause was the newness of my sleeve and it has since worn off. I only get that pain if i take too big a bite of food or eat something that diesn't agree with my sleeve (like a greasy, loose meat hamburger from Coney Island. NEVER AGAIN. it hurt a lot even though i didnt eat the bread)

Hey guys, I'm curious how are you able to tell you're losing weight? Do you go by the scale? How your clothes feel? What other people say? Looking at old photos of yourself? I've lost almost 30lbs since I first started my journey and even though other people are starting to notice and mention to me that I'm looking smaller/losing weight, when I look at myself I look the same. I can only tell I've lost weight when I put on clothes. Like I've had this XL, form fitting blue shirt for years that even at my heaviest (245lbs) I was able to get into. I tried it on yesterday and noticed that the arm holes and the part that goes across the chest aren't tight anymore. I also notice my rings don't fit anymore. I always wear my wedding set and a birth stone ring my dad gave me. The birth stone ring used to fit only my ring finger, now I can wear it on my middle finger (and it's still loose). My wedding set refuses to stay pointing at the ceiling. As I type this, it's slowly spinning itself so it's between the skin of my pinky and ring finger, until finally it's pointing toward the floor. Once I hit 200lbs, I'm getting it resized. My work pants don't fit either and all my XL yoga/stretch pants are now loose and keep trying to make a break for my ankles even when I pull the string tight. GOOD PROBLEMS!!! Funny thing is when I look at myself naked, everything looks the same. I still have a pouch of fat under my navel. My boobs are heavy and huge. Still got an ample behind. Thighs are still touching. My face is round with a stubborn double chin. But I'm LOSING! That's what matters.

thanks for sharing how you can tell that you're losing weight. i guess i was looking for some NSV and other cues because people keep asking me ''don't you see you're smaller? don't you feel smaller?'' and so forth. but i honestly don't. it's only when i put on my clothes. that made a lot of sense about my shape being the same. no wonder i look the same(derp!). i really hope my love handles melt away so i'll have a waist again.

When you find the name of someone you like click their picture. It takes you to their profile. Then look ob the right whete you'll see "add me as a friend"

Cute! I love it.

The exact same thing happened to me last month. I was not allowed to wear a tampon. They gave me a pair of disposible underwear and a weird pad that didnt stick ti my underwear that i kept on during surgery. The nurse said it was best i wear those panties because if i wore my own there was a good chance they might cut them off during surgery. It wasnt bad at all because the procedure was so short. In my hospital room room i put on a tegular pad once i could move around better. It's actually very common fir women to have periods right before surgery. I think it's th e stress or something that makes our hormones go haywire. I also heard that many women start their periods right after surgery.

i guess it depends on the people you work with. I've been working the same team for 4 years and no one has said anything to me about eating less. i don't think they care. If they did say something i'd just say the truth ''I'm trying to eat healthier so I can lose some weight and be healthier''. I thought everyone was going to notice and be whispering that I must've had WLS, but again, people just don't dig that deep. I guess they have their own stuff to deal with. I've gone from 243 ro 213lbs in about 2 months so people have been commenting that i'm losing, but that's all. Personally I don't believe in telling people about WLS b/c I don't want their opinions b/c I'm the type where I can get 10 compliments, but I'll obsess over the 1 criticsm.

That's so awesome! I'm right there with you. I'm not a mirror hog, but I've been putting much more time and effort into my appearance even at work (and I'm surrounded by 6 year olds there). So glad you posted about leather jackets! I've never been a leather jacket wearer (not that I don't like them, I just never think to buy) but my grandfather passed recently and my grandmother said he'd have wanted me to have his beloved black leather jacket. I've started wearing it and felt a little self conscious like, "are leather jackets in? is this cool?" But now that I hear you're wearing one, I'm feeling more confident.

Weight as of 1/17/2014: 213lbs (last week's weight was inaccurate because I was at my grandparents for a funeral house and I used their scale. The day I left, it said I was 210lbs. I got home a few hours later and when I weighed on my home scale, I was 217lbs).

I was losing weight like crazy. Then my grandfather died, so I had to leave home last Tuesday and travel across country for the funeral. While I did puree most of my foods, I allowed stress to get the better of me and ate some things I shouldn't have(ie: i had 2 Cookies, every meal was eaten out and not prepped at home, people brought oodles and oodles of food to the house, walking was difficult due to 3 feet of snow outside). I weighed myself several times at grandparents house and the scale said 211, so I thought I was fine. (they have those old fashioned scales,not the digital one that I have at my house) When I came home my weight Saturday night, I had gone from 213 to 217. I freaked and went back to counting calories, eating small meals, etc. By Tuesday my weight had dropped to 214.5 which is great, but freaking me out because it hasn't budged from 214.5 since then. It says 214.5 it in the evening, in the morning, before and after I pee. Is this the infamous stall hitting me? Is it PMS? (my last period was Dec 23...the day of my surgery). I want to go back to losing weight. I'm so scared I've ''broken'' my weight loss

Thank you for the condolences and advice. I'm trying really hard to keep up the good eating habits, but when I get highly stressed, it's harder. I've made an appointment to start receiving counseling because this has been such a big change in my life and even though you guys are awesome, I want someone to talk to in person that can get to know me and my personal situation(s).

WOOT WOOT! That's awesome! Pretty soon you'll be posting you're in the 70s, then 50s then 20s. Keep up the great work!