ridingrae

I hope this comes off as inspirational and not bragging
I had sleeve surgery March 31, 2015. So almost a year already! I started at 232 and today was 131.6!!!!! My goal was 150. I'm 5'3" and 45 yrs old.
I was an athlete at 200 so that plays a big role in my success I think. But mainly, I just follow the rules. I still struggle with hydration. Had my first blood work since surgery and everything was perfect! So proud of that because it shows I'm doing things right as far as my Vitamin routine and Protein goals go.
You can do it, too! It isn't always easy but I like being thin. I do struggle A LOT with body image issues, confusion about my size and feeling like I'm disappearing, but it's just another part of the process.
Thanks for listening and your support!!!
It's a whole new world. My dreams are all coming true.
Rachel

This video was posted in a private Facebook group I'm a part of and I thought some people might want to watch it. I found it interesting and he explains things quite clearly and simply (though I don't think they treat it simplistically, which was nice).
The title says 'how to stop stomach stretching' but it's actually talking about eating post op and some of the reasons people regain, how to avoid it etc. It also discusses how portion size changes further out post op an some other things.

It is something that takes some getting used too. Specifically because my body is still changing and I have more weight to lose. Shopping is not something I have ever enjoyed, in fact I would never try anything on in the store. I knew my size and would take it home to try. With the smaller me, I can't leave the store without trying it because I waste too much time going back to get a smaller size, because the size I thought I wore is wrong. I imagine though this is something I may have to deal with until I am well into maintenance so, I am working to get use to this knew me.

This would be a good time to talk to a therapist before your brain takes you in a direction you're not prepared for. Body image is such a tricky topic for us ladies and how we define/view ourselves is very much tied to our appearance (unfortunately) in varying ways depending on our cultural, spiritual and educational background...probably even class (again, unfortunate but true). Don't get too out of sorts before finding someone to talk to that has some background in this area. Maybe the person that did your pre op psych eval?

I'm still pre op, but I've given this a lot of thought during my pre op journey. It actually frightens me a little and I can't even picture in my head me being a smaller size. It's scary, and I feel like a toddler who has to give up their security blankie. That's how I've come to view my size, as a security blanket, or a cushion against society. Being as big as I am I know that the people who like me and love me do so because of who I am, and not what I look like. But what about when I don't have this to hide behind anymore?
I wish I had some answers for you, or could relate, but all I can say is that I hope it gets better for you.

I was sleeved March 31,2015 and am down 94 lbs. Everything went perfectly from the beginning. But now that I'm a size small I am struggling with my body image. I feel confused about my size and this new body. I knew how to live/feel in my fat body.
It's a very bizarre feeling. I actually cried in a Target dressing room because all the size smalls were fitting me but I can't wrap my head around being a small.
Thoughts?

I reached 70 pounds lost this morning and I wanted to post a few photos for those considering WLS. I am five months post op and I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy in Tijuana Mexico. I used Dr Jesus Martin Lopez. He and his staff were amazing. I booked my surgery through BariatricPal and they were also wonderful. I have had no problems and I can tolerate 90% of what I eat. Every now and then I have something that doesn't agree with me. This doesn't mean I can never have it, I just wait and try later. It simply meant it wasn't time to have it yet. I attribute my lack of complications to Dr Lopez. He did an amazing job and is truly a talented surgeon.
The surgery is simply a tool. The biggest contributing factor to success is mental. I was ready mentally and prepared to NOT make food a priority in my life. I was ready and willing to give up whatever food I needed to make this work and to give it up for the rest of my life if necessary. Temptation has been there but I have not given in and I have not cheated. I still have 60 pounds to go to reach my goal. I WILL make it because I WANT to make it and I am WILLING to put in the work and sacrifice needed to get it done.
THIS HAS BEEN HARD! But it has been worth it. If you are considering WLS because you think it will be the easy option, please reconsider. The surgery did make it possible for me to make it half way to my goal. I could not have done it without VSG.
So, instead of saying onward and upward... I will say onward and downward! I am determined to post more pics on the future. I think the great thing about this forum is if I do screw up and I do cheat, I know I can come here for the swift kick in the ass that I need to get me back on track

This taken from a status I wrote on Facebook last night...
The last time I went running, I had an interesting experience...there were just 2 of us on the indoor track, myself and another woman. I was jogging a lap, and then walking a lap. On about my 3rd jogging lap, the other woman turned as she heard me approach her to pass, and turned and gave me a double thumbs up and mouthed "You GO!!" (I'm assuming she mouthed it, I had my ipod on). It dawned on me, I was "the fatty running on the track", the one that the story is written about. I appreciated the encouragement, but that got me to thinking; I don't know where I stand in terms of my size. It was easier to describe myself when I weighed 74lbs more...I was "heavyset" and "all personality"....now, I am not thin....but I don't think I am exactly heavyset. I have used (not derogatorily, per se) the words "fat girl" to describe myself, and twice been told "you're not fat anymore"..."fat" was my identity. Now, I am finding out I am so much more awesome than "fat", and it has nothing to do with the number on the scale. It has to do with finding my value, and feeling cute, young and lively...it has to do with loving who I have become....losing the weight just let me actually show off my inner sparkle. While I am shedding weight, I am shedding my self consciousness, I am shedding my self doubt, and when I look in the mirror, or at pictures, FOR ONCE all I see is the awesome, zany, spunky, sparkly, loving, funny, kind, sensitive person that I have always been. Losing weight didn't make me a better person, it just allowed me to see past an exterior I hated to see the amazing, lovely woman I have always been.

You can certainly enjoy being thin and not have to be in any fetishist's club. One does not imply the other, so don't worry about that.
I find what you are describing to be as offensive as homophobia or racism. You wouldn't give a guy a second date if he said on the first date how much he hated blacks or asians, or how much he despised gay people, right?
So just use these very disrespectful, but informative,l comments as a way to sort out men you would never be compatible with, and keep sifting through the crap until you find your gold.
I remember years ago having a first date with a man who, over coffee, began to diss on his employers. "They are Jewish, so of course they are stingy and my salary isn't what it should be."
"Oh really?" I said. "I know a lot of Jewish people who aren't like that."
"Who?" he asked.
"Well," I began, "my parents, for instance."
There was never a second date, of course, but what a great insight into who this man was.

I have been on several dates lately and it's amazing me how often the subject of my weight is coming up.
These men seemed intrigued and extremely attracted to and mesmerized by my thinness. They talk about my weight and how little I eat as such a plus and make sure they let me know how they don't like overweight women and they talk about their own weight a lot to the negative even if they are thin.
Is there a breed of men especially attracted to underweight women? Because I seem to be attracting them in droves and it's a very weird feeling to me.
I feel like for one I could never let these guys know I used to be overweight. They are so fixated on my shape and I feel totally uncomfortable thinking of what their reaction might be to know my history. I'm sitting their wondering how far their desire for perfection goes. I find the attitude pretty repulsive and walk away knowing I could not date these guys.
In fact it's gotten so bad I'm finding myself seeking out and wanting to date an overweight man because I find his attitude about his body more attractive and it comforting to be with someone that is overweight. It's more familiar to me and I feel like they would be less likely to judge my history.
The attention I'm getting from men seems so biased towards my looks. It's making me feel really weird. I'd hate to have to burst their bubble with the truth and I also hate the idea of only being seen for my physical self.
I'm not saying it's all the guys I've gone out with, but I am definitely running into it. Like these guys are groupies for modelesque type women and I'm suddenly in that status.
It bothers me to hear them put down overweight women. I happen to find overweight men and women attractive and I make sure and tell them that.
I went to dinner with a guy tonight and both him and the waiter teased me about how little I ate and he even told me how his daughter is overweight and her thighs are big and how him and his ex wife tried to intervene and help her by sending her into counseling. Poor girl.
I want to be skinny but I don't want to be in this kind of club.

Hi there, I had surgery on the same day. Sometimes I start crying because I am so happy but it is just so surreal. I want to yell to people that the old me is still in here in this new skinny body. It's like I've lost someone. The emotional stuff is definitely getting hard right about now for me as well. It is real. But you are not alone. I try to think of it as an opportunity to improve my mental health and just another part of working on me. Take your new improved self and put yourself in some different, and comfortable and new situations and see what happens. Sometimes when you do things alone you actually feel less lonely. Keep your chin up, this too shall pass!

Hi there, I had surgery on the same day. Sometimes I start crying because I am so happy but it is just so surreal. I want to yell to people that the old me is still in here in this new skinny body. It's like I've lost someone. The emotional stuff is definitely getting hard right about now for me as well. It is real. But you are not alone. I try to think of it as an opportunity to improve my mental health and just another part of working on me. Take your new improved self and put yourself in some different, and comfortable and new situations and see what happens. Sometimes when you do things alone you actually feel less lonely. Keep your chin up, this too shall pass!

My surgery was March 31,2015 and to date I am 110 pounds down. I started at 341lbs and today I weigh 229. Now I should be over the moon happy. My weight loss has been awesome, however I realize more now than ever there is so much more to losing weight because I feel more alone today than I ever felt at 341lbs. I'm sharing this to help anyone thinking about bariatric surgery to understands that the reality of not being able to eat through your feelings is hard. Worth it but hard. I just have to sit in the feeling of loneliness or whatever it is until it passes or I can sleep it off, even exercise helps but once the coping mechanism of overeating is gone things get real......fast. I knew this was a component of surgery and I thought I was prepared but I wasn't. Soooo one day at a time. But the struggle is real.

I didn't really see any change in myself by looking in the mirror so I took these compare pics and I see it now. Now I am more excited and can't wait to lose more.
Starting weight 220, day of surgery 215, this morning 155.2! 

This isn't a diet but you have to be focused on nutrition because you have so little room for food.
Instead of the focus on minimizing calories that we were taught by our many, many diets, we have to change our focus to maximizing nutrition, particularly Protein.
We have to get in all of your Protein and fluids, every day.
We have to take our Vitamins as directed.
We have to exercise.
It's not because we are on a diet, it's because we need to be healthy.
This was on the bulletin board at my 6-month follow-up and I thought it was great advise.

When do we put the past to rest? I feel like I'm living in this state of "I'm going to wake up and this will have been a dream".
I'm afraid to let my fat self go. I want to fully move on into the present and future as my new self. A part of me is afraid I can't do this. Like I have to hold on to her because she's either going to come back, and I shouldn't get too comfortable, or she's my legacy and I need to wear her like a chain around my neck, or she's a me that's died and part of me misses her.
Do I just miss the life I lived while I was her? So much happened in that life. She was real.
Now I sound like I have split personalities.
Is there a point that one can just let it go? I'm tired of talking about it, thinking about it. I feel like I'm living in the past. I think that may be one of the reasons I'm struggling with entering maintianence because I can't let my old self go.
Does enough time eventually go by that we just move on? Do we get comfortable? Does the fear or regaining ever go away?
I don't want to live in a shadow of what I used to do and look like forever.

The recommendation to read the Beck Diet Solution. I got the book from the library and found a lot of great ideas. One of my favorites is "hunger is not an emergency", there will be another planned meal coming along very soon. I used this thought today and waited for lunch. Before surgery I always ate at the slightest hint of hunger and would snack all day long. Now I am happy with one snack a day and three meals.

I just started seeing someone for the first time in four years. My best friend introduced us and luckily she told him everything. He is so great and very understanding. Zero judgement, plus if someone judges us for this they are obviously not someone we should be seeing.

I'm so proud of myself.

Say what?!?!?! That's awesome! Congrats!

Awesome!!!! Shopping at Lululemon is actually a goal of mine. Along with having the body that allows you to wear their pants in public. ???? I can't wait!!!

What a great story!

I love lulu lemon! That's such a nice story.

I am officially 9 months into my post op journey, and if you would have told me this time last year that I would be down from a size 20 to a size 6, I would have laughed in your face.
For everyone who is struggling with this decision, or is losing weight at a slow pace, keep your head up and let your new sleeve work for you. Don't over think things. If you slip up or fall down, pick yourself up, brush your shoulders off, and keep on truckin'.
I will not lie and say that this journey is easy, because it is very, very, hard. But believe me, if you work with your sleeve, and let your sleeve work for you, you too will find yourself in complete awe of where you'll be 9 months out from your surgery.
I wish everyone true happiness and success in their journeys, and if you are fortunate enough to find people here in the forums that will be as honest and upfront with you as some of those people that I have encountered have been with me, I promise your journey will be made just a little bit easier.
Thank you @@Alex Brecher for creating a forum for all of us to share, encourage, and uplift each other along this path.

I have never been able to shop at LULULEMON. Tonight I wandered in just to check it out. A nice guy helped me pick out a pair of capris to try on. He suggested I try a size 8. What?!?! I mentioned I just lost a bunch of weight. The ten fit and I decided to go for it. He then proceeded to tell me as a congrats, we are proud of you gesture, he was giving me the $99 capris for free!!! I started crying. Great moment. Great feeling. And now a store I will definitely shop at again!!!