apeters9284

Thank you lovelytrl! You look great too!

Great job everyone! I passed my 1 year on Oct 15th. I do wish I has lost more my first year, but am proud of how far I have come. I am definitely still dealing with the mental side of all this. I see the difference in pictures and in clothing sizes, but feel like I look the same when I'm looking in the mirror. Its crazy! I also am still trying to figure out what gives me those boosts where I drop significantly in a week. I can't figure it out. There are weeks when I feel like I snack poorly and won't exercise as much and I'll drop 5 pounds. Other weeks, I'll gain a couple. I just keep trying to do what I can. Here is to our 2nd year journey!

I was well over 300lbs! 388 to be exact. Hard to say that number! I just had my 1 year surgiversary and am feeling great! I am down 126lbs and sure wish it was more but am grateful for how much better I feel. I just went to an amusement park with my family a couple weeks ago and had no concerns with fitting and riding all the rides I wanted! That was so exciting! I still have about 50-70ish till my goal, but weight loss has slowed a lot. This surgery is not an easy way out. It has been a daily battle and mental game, but so worth it. Good luck to everyone and remember to be proud of every pound lost.

Just past my 1 year post op on Oct 15th! I, of course, wish I had lost more and have a hard time always seeing the loss, but I am feeling great! I am down 126lbs and hope to get off another 50-70lbs. Congrats to everyone on this journey! It is not easy or taking an easy way out. It has been difficult and emotional, but so worth it! Be proud!

So sorry for your loss! Prayers for healing! I read this thread daily because it gives me hope Ladies! My husband and I have been TTC for 6 years. We even did some fertility treatments last year before I had VSG. It was the main reason for me deciding to have the surgery. We have just got the clearance to start trying since I am a year out (even though we stopped using protection 2 months ago) and are praying daily for our miracle. My obgyn prefers to see me lose more before I get pregnant but at a year out, I have lost 126lbs and feel great. I would like to lose another 50ish pounds but don't mind taking my time on that if it meant I was gaining due to being pregnant. So I just wanted to say thanks for giving me hope! We so badly want to have children! Congrats to all you ladies and again, condolences so those who have suffered a loss.

Tssiemer I didn't have staples so I can't relate to that. But my physical recovery was a breeze compared to the mental recovery. Still a struggle almost a year out! Don't be worried about messing the process up and be denied. You will be more upset with yourself not trying if you gave up. Constipation can sometimes be an issue for me but only when I take ibuprofen. I was approved and instructed to take it while on my cycle because mine got worse with loosing the weight. So I take them very limited but when i do take them... Constipation strikes. But its usually fairly easy to take something and get it moving again. And as far as the easy way out.... You tell whomever to go to hell who says that! Sorry to be blunt but seriously.... This is not easy! I work so hard daily at this. Harder than I ever have!! I don't tolerate anyone telling me that because I know the dedication and time I put into this. I contemplate everything I eat, get up at 4:45am to work out before work, count my water all day long, gave up alcohol. Its not easy but still the best decision I ever made! I can't ease all your fears but I'm always here to try and talk and be honest about the process.

So sorry this is happening to you! Unfortunately, it is hard esp for women sometimes to be happy for someone else. This is so much more about them and their insecurities than it is about you. I have never understood this! Even at my heaviest of 350+ pounds, I was still confident in myself to acknowledge beautiful women. Jealousy is ugly! Luckily I own my own business and have not had any issues since dropping the weight. I agree with the other posters, you have to just ignore it. If you let it beat you down or allow it to cause a reaction, they got what they wanted out of you. Its like we tell our kids, have to ignore ignorant people. This journey is by no means easy! So you deserve to be happy! Don't let these immature women still your joy. They are not your Maker and their judgments mean nothing. Keep doing you girl!

Hey Ladies! I posted a few months ago about infertility and wanting some hope about TTC further out after surgery. Well we are going to start trying in August and I am terrified! Let me run down our history real quick. I'm 30 and my hubby is 35. He has 2 teen daughters and we have been trying for a baby for almost 6 years now. Last summer we did some fertility treatments with an amazing RE who was confident that we could conceive because all of our tests came out perfect. Infertility was unexplained. There was speculation that I have PCOS. After 3 failed cycles with only 1 of them producing any eggs, I got discouraged. All the hormones, injections and appointments became overwhelming. Dr never blamed my weight but said it could be a problem. I decided to take a step back and get healthy! I had gained 38 pounds from all the hormones and stress eating so I started out at 388lbs. So here we are today and I am down 112lbs. I still would like to lose 70 more lbs and working hard at it. But we are ready to start trying again naturally next month. I'm scared to death because what if this doesn't work after all that hard work? What if we still need treatments? So many what ifs! It is so scary to me! Wanting a child is something I have always wanted! I guess I just would love for some of yalls stories about successfully getting pregnant after VSG! I was addicted to looking at before and after pictures before surgery so now I want to see great stories of pregnancy! I just need some hope! Thanks everyone!

Not stressing is so hard when you are watching everything that your body is doing like a hawk. I so wish I was someone who accidentally would get pregnant, but km just not. We are trying to just enjoy it as much as we can. You waited a while to get pregnant. I'm only almost a year out. My purpose for the surgery was to be healthier so I could get pregnant so my surgeon knew I was only waiting the 12 months. Yeah depo shots are not good! I have seen so many women struggle with weight on them. I hope you can figure that all out and get back closer to goal! You have done a great job so far! Thanks so much for all your help!

Yeah I bought a bunch off of amazon but can't get positives. But the drinking tons of water all day really dilute my urine. We are trying for the every other day and think the 3 days right at ovulation. Boy! I'm exhausted lol! So glad it didn't take you long yo get pregnant. I may be worried for nothing! I pray that's the case. And I pray my pregnancy will be that easy. I'd like to think I'll be thankful for any symptoms at this point. I still carry majority of my weight around my stomach, thanks PCOS, so I'm assuming I won't have a huge bump either. But after losing 117lbs... It will definitely be more noticeable! How far out of surgery did you get pregnant? How close were you to goal weight?

Thanks so much AngelEyes! It is such a stressful journey and I become obsessed over it which doesn't help with trying. I'm trying to just leave it in God's hands and trust His plan! We tried PreSeed in the past and I think I am going to try that again next month. I never get positive OPKs so I need to probably temp to check for ovulation. How did you track yours? My fertility doctor said its not uncommon for some women to never get a positive on those test. Congrats on your precious son!!! How was pregnancy with VSG?

Hey ladies! My husband and I are 1 in 8 couples struggling with infertility. This week is National Infertility Awareness week and thought that I would make a post for a place for women to share their stories. This is a hard, trying, emotional battle and don't want anyone to ever feel alone. I read an amazing article about how we are flying together with broken wings. So please feel free to share you struggles, successes or questions here. I would love to read them! My story... well my hubby and I have been together since 2003. We were married in 2009 and never used any protection after we got married. We just figured we would leave it in God's hands. We started really cracking down and trying in 2011 and nothing. Finally after 5 long years, we seeked helped with an RE. He was wonderful! We did all the testing and bloodwork and both of us were perfect. I had a great AMH level (egg reserve) and hubby had great swimmers. We jumped right in and went to injectible cycle with an IUI. It was the most emotional month of my life! Everything went pretty good! I had great uterine lining and 4 20-22mm follicles. But still negative. So we tried 2 more rounds but this time, my body did not respond at all. No growth happening. My insurance at the time did not cover a single dollar of treatment. Everything came out of pocket. We simply were tapped out. We were now categorized as Unexplained Infertily. He assumed I had PCOS. He could not blame it on my weight but said it could play a role. We decided no more treatments. I had to focus on me and get healthy. I decided to have the gastric sleeve done to help with this. I have tried since I was 10 years old to maintain my weight and every year it would climb and climb. Fortunately, besides being morbidly obese, I was healthy! I am 6 months post op, down almost 100 pounds and feeling amazing. My baby fever is through the roof and I am struggling this week with not letting my heart dictate what we do. I want to start trying now. But I know waiting till the year mark is best! We pray together daily that we will get a miracle baby and naturally when we start trying in October. This is a hard hard battle! Please ladies.... share your stories! Baby dust!!

Thank you so much Joymarie! We need all the prayers we can get!

Thank you BizzyB and FitFunFamily! It has been an incredible journey with great rewards! I have never once regretted my decision! Surgery was easy and recovery was a breeze for me as well. It was more the mental part for me than anything! Good luck ladies! Can't wait to see progress pics!

I am definitely not at goal but I started my journey at 388 pounds. The heaviest I have ever been! I could barely even walk anymore! I had surgery on Oct 15, 2014 and have lost a total of 104 pounds. I get a bit frustrated at times because I am a bit of a slower loser with as much weight as I have to lose, but darn PCOS just makes it a bit harder for me. I still have pretty great restriction almost 9 months out. I continue to try to eat low carbs and work out as much as I can. I am by no means perfect, but I am the healthiest I have been in years! We even went on a family vacation a couple weeks ago and I got to ride every amusement park ride there was! Huge accomplishment for me... No more watching from the sidelines! These are the only pics I have. I recommend taking way more than I did because I sometimes still dont see the weight loss in the mirror. Pictures are the only way!

Still a work in progress but about 7 1/2 months out and down 103lbs. Its hard to see everyday but comparison pics help! Excuse the before pic with no bra but forgot to take a pic before the surgery so did one quickly before heading out

Ulta** autocorrect!

I agree with woo woo 100%! Being so overweight, makeup is what made me feel beautiful! I by no means am an expert, but I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on it. I feel like there are good options at the drugstore for makeup because the truth is, we can't all afford some of these brands. I have a lot of eyeshadow pallets that are more expensive and financially it makes more sense because you get several for $50 usually. My current favorite is my Too Faced pallets! Great quality and the good thing is that the colors all go well together so you can't really go wrong with that! Brushes is something you need to invest in! They make a huge difference with blending eyeshadow and buffing out foundation. It's so important. And I totally learned how to do makeup from youtube. There are some great tutorials on there showing you step by step. I am not a huge fan of someone else doing my makeup because they tend to go in the direction that they want to go instead of what you like. This way you can youtube an exact look. I started out just watching foundation reviews to find out my favorite. Also, Ultra and Sephora do samples. So go in and ask them to match you with foundations or concealers and they will give you samples to try for a week. That way you aren't wasting your money. I hope this is helpful! I don't comment much but I love me some makeup!!! Lol

One of my biggest reasons for getting vsg in Oct 2014 was to be able to conceive. Hubby and I have been trying for almost 6 years. Never been pregnant before. We did go to a fertility doctor and did a few rounds of injections with clomid and IUI but still nothing. He did mention I possibly had PCOS. And he never mentioned my weight! But after those failed and us trying on our own, it was mentioned by other professionals that it possibly could be weight related. I will do anything to get pregnant so I decided to start my journey to get healthier. Starting weight was 388 and I am down 82 pounds at a little over 4 months out. We are using protection currently because I was told to wait at least a year. So lately I have this uncontrollable fear that I won't be able to conceive. I literally become panicked and emotional about it. I need some hope ladies! Anyone have any stories of vsg and PCOS with successfully getting pregnant? Thanks for any hope!

Thanks ylopez!!!! So good to hear such positive stories! Congrats on your miracle baby!

I think if you don't make it to 75 pounds you will be close to it! It's so hard to not focus on that number on the scale. I am dropping weight all over but very little in my stomach because of the dang PCOS. So frustrating. It is coming of there but just slowly. We are going to start trying at the 1 year mark. My surgeon said ideally he would like me to wait 2 years out but I told him that I will be 31 this year and want more than 1 child so waiting 2 years was not an option. He said for me to wait till the 1 year mark so if I get pregnant right away, I won't give birth till after the 18 month post op mark. My cycles are regulated to the day every month now so I know my body is getting in better working order. Makes it hard to not just say well let's see what happens. It's been 6 years that we have been trying so why prevent now? But I know I will be so much healthy if I can give myself till October. I would never forgive myself if I got pregnant sooner and if I was diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure or whatever. I just know I would blame myself for not giving myself enough time. We tried clomid a few times along with IUI and nothing. I have high great egg reserve and he has great numbers as well. Just my body was not taking. I was too unhealthy. I don't know how I would have carried a child as heavy as I am/was. I have hope that this will help us girl!!! We can beat infertility! Are you on facebook? I would love to keep in touch! Having someone else go through this with me is so nice because you understand!

You are so welcome!!! It will change your life! I promise!

I don't have quit as much to lose for my personal goal but still had about 200 pounds I wanted to get off. My starting weight was 388. I am only a little over 4 months out and down 83 pounds. My doctor never questioned if sleeve would work. I think they see great results these days with it on high BMIs. I have read several stories of people the same size or bigger who were successful. I think you can totally do it! The change with eating is what took me a couple months to adapt to. I literally mourned food the first couple months. I haven't had anything really disagree with my body but I definitely have a difference in what feels almost heavy in my stomach. Breads are so heavy for me. So I just stay away from those. And ground beef feels me up quicker than chicken but I'll still eat it. I just adjusted my choices and trust me, I am crazy picky so if I can do it, anyone can. I don't feel like I had to give anything up. I eat what I want. But I chose to eat what makes me feel better and not like a ton of bricks. You can do this David!!

Wow 38 pounds in 2 months is awesome! Congrats! I remember struggling the first month or 2 with adapting. I by no means am perfect, but I am in a routine so it comes a bit easier now. I have my days where I feel like I am losing great and on target and other days where I feel slow. I definitely am one that hits stalls every 30ish pounds and they last for 3 weeks so it's frustrating. But I am officially down 83 pounds as of this morning and there is no way I would have done that in 4 months without it. I'm almost out of the 300s which is huge for me!!! Been 10+ years since I have been 2 something. I love talking to other women who are going through it too! This whole experience is so unique and you definitely need friends who have gone through it plus you add in infertility and that requires even more specialized friends who have been through it.

Thanks cd0727!! Congrats on your surgery! How are you doing 2 months out? I wish you luck as well!!