thinoneday

Wow that is amazing. . . I was 6'0" tall at 360lbs and continue to be 6'0" now at 210lbs. I've always been size 10 shoes fat and not. . . ugh I wish i shrank some in the shoe department

windycitymom, I'm 3 years out and i consider myself very successful. . .other then follow my doctors advice and keep my appt's i really didn't do too much to help the weight loss along (at this time, I'm snacking on almonds and diet coke). . . now at 3 years out i am maintaining and love it. . . it's nice to be at peace with myself for once. . . i have reached my doctors goal for me, but would like to loose about 20 lbs more . . . but i'm definately not killing myself getting there . . . good luck!

I love Friday the 13th, , , my lucky day and number! Today, Friday 13th, I'm going to start to watch my diet until Friday, July 13. . . it's always brought me luck in the past, lets see if it'll help again! Only "want" to loose about 15 lbs!

I'll be dead by then anyhow so whatever. . . anyhow, to answer your question, just like some of the others. . . I'd rather be dead then fat again. . . which i'll be, so there is no problems here! ha

gotta love 'em. . . . I'm sure you have gotten lots of responses here that can help. . .but yup they are so clueless at times. . . .I didn't tell my mom/family until about 1/2 year later and she (mom) only found out cause she came to visit me and noticed the weight loss. . .then she was like "why didn't you tell me!" I just laughed and shrugged it off. . . don't worry, in the beginning it'll drive you nuts, all the questions, the looks, the people trying to tell you how to eat, what to eat, when to eat. . . but then it wears off. . . then it's nice again to just be you. . . . good luck

piper, the word normal is a vast word. . . the best i can explain it to you is like this "normal is how you see it" Everyone sees "normal" as different. My normal won't be your normal, and your normal won't be my normal. I've responded to 4alongerlife on here and explained how I see normal. Hope this helps.

"OMG what is three years out like? I've been on a freak'n clear liquid diet since essentially 3/5 due to a leak and abscess. How in hades do I advance my diet is all I keep thinking? (after the fear of another leak, I am scared y'all.... honestly scared). I cannot fathom what 'normal' is like - going to dinner with my family and what? Just eating less?" I'm so sorry to hear about your complications. For right now, do as your doctor tells you. . he is the expert and will see you through this. . it's very normal to be afraid about the next step, but do as he/she (doctor) tells you even with the advancing of foods. . .it's going to take time, but don't rush things, go slow and heal. . . Later on, when your well and able, you will be able go out with your family/friends and eat/order whatever (just remember to get a to go box at the same time) You can enjoy life just like "normal" but your going to eat a lot less. . . forget buffet though, those are a waste of money now, but going to a sit down restaurant is wonderful. Now you will actually be able to focus on good company, good talk, and family/friends time instead of focusing on eating. . . it's great. There definately is a light at the end of the tunnel and after you travel your journey for a bit (remember this downside is only temporary) it's going to be great. . .you'll weigh less, be able to do stuff you've had a hard time doing before (ie: for myself, i'm so proud i can now ride horses, climb the stairs without dying, walk for miles without noticing, pick weeds without fainting from bending down, etc) and definately eat less. You'll be focused on life and not food and its so nice to actually love yourself again. . .

Hi, I suffer from severe vitamin D deficiency as well as other malabsorption problems. Just take the vitamins prescribed to you. . as far as the headaches, check how much fluids your getting in. . . dehydration causes headaches. . .up your water intake. . .body aches could just be that, aches. It could also be caused from low calcium and/or B12 . . .up your calcium and B12 intake a bit. . . your taking your calcium and B12 vitamins right? hope this helps

Im out 3 years and in my first year and a couple months lost 150 lbs. . . now i am maintaining between 200 - 215 lbs. . .and i can finally say that i am at peace with myself and love it. . . it's a fabulous feeling. . . .

Mine was for 1 year and a couple of months. . . after that it stayed at the same weight, give or take a couple of pounds here and there. . . but now that i'm into year 3, i can honestly say i'm happy where i am. . . i feel and look healthy. . even people who know i've the surgery, tell me how healthy i look, that i don't look anorexic or sickly like some people do. . . this makes me very happy. . . my hubbie even loves how i look now. . . he always says "don't loose anymore" he likes the idea of being able to grab and hold onto stuff hahahaha silly man. . . so i surpassed the 212 lbs the surgeon wanted me to be by 12 pounds and now waver at 200 - 215 lbs . . . love it and for the first time in my life i am at peace with myself and if feels great! good luck!

You are pretty lucky there rootman, greasy causes me major acid reflux, sweet dumping and nausea, milk products dumping except yogurt??? go figure, high carb makes me sick. . . but other then that I'm great!!!

I totally can not eat lettuce or any raw leafy vegatable. . . it causes me incredible pain, like call me an ambulance type of pain. . . i don't eat vegatable salads anymore. . . also chocolate gives me a really bad puke stomach ache, which is good though. . .who needs chocolate. . . I'm not a bread person, but this too has it's ending point. . couple of bites and i feel like i need to throw up. . . it's like the bread is crawling back up my throat. . . yuk nasty feeling. . .the other thing is i dare not mix up foods. . if i'm eating a hamburger tht is all nothing else, if i'm eating some rice that better be it, not rice, meat, veggies, dessert, one food at a time or i'll be sick. . and here is the kicker, I'm out 3 years and still have these going on, but it's ok with me!

Wow, good for you losing all that weight before surgery! I too, did not need a pre-op diet. All doctors are different I suppose. Mine just frankly doesn't believe it does any good. . . he told me i could go ahead and do it if i wanted to, but it wasn't necessary. The liver, he said, takes longer then 2 weeks to shrink and he just didn't see the point of it. . . soooooo with that said, i'm sure there are others who'll disagree, but whatever. . . he also stated that my BMI wasn't high enough and that i was on the "small" side (hahaha, that one made me laugh) at 350 lbs "on the small side". . . so don't fret any, i'm out now 3 years and haven't had any type of problems except for malabsorption, but thank goodness for vitamins and doctors for that one! good luck!

Get yourself some miralax to help with that constipation. It's common, and once you get yourself regular it'll help. . .are you exercising? Drinking your fluids, following your doctors advice? Some of us just are slow losers. . . and put away the scale, weighing everyday doesn't help either. . . try to weigh only 1 x per week or every other week. . .i'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised. . . good luck

Nope, I didn't have to do a pre op neither. . . I was soooo happy cause I don't think back then i could have stayed on it. . . I was a horrible dieter 3 years ago. . . am now too, but at least i have this wonderful little (expensive) tool which keeps me on the straight and narrow! hahahaha. . . good luck to you all

LOL! We are so blessed! Just think what will happen when he reaches to a certain point, and you surpass him! hahahaha. . . who'll be laughing then? Remember, slow and steady wins the race. . . not that your competing or anything right? Keep up the great work. . .

awwwww that is so sweet. . . we can all learn from that! :wub:

3 years out here and am living life as "normal" as possible. You can do this 5 lbs! Have you done/tried the 5 day pouch test? it's really tough, but it works and gets you back into the "swing" of things. . . good luck!

Realisically, you don't need 2 weeks off. . . i took 2 weeks off because i had time at work to do that. . . but the surgeon told me that 3 - 4 days would be sufficient. but of course, it depends on how your body reacts to the surgery of course. . . good luck

it's not a full feeling like it used to be. . . it's more of a bad pressure like when you used to overeat at christmas time or thanksgiving. . . that very uncomfortable, i'm going to puke feeling. . . it's hard to explain, it's really odd. . .

millifrits, just an FYI, in alot of us, the hunger thing never went away. The ghrelin hormone is also produced in the pancreas, so it may be there for you as well. I'm out 3 years now and have never lost that hunger pang thing. Alot of it is head hunger, but more then not, it's real hunger. . . however, the VSG is the way to go anyhow. . i'd do it again in a heart beat, hunger or not. . . good luck!

I really worry about my daughter. She has 1 more year before she graduates with her bachelors for Respiratory Therapy. She definately has a high BMI, I sure hope that they don't discriminate her from getting a job. That would be very upsetting. . . the majority of the USA is obese and some can't help it, some have a disease that won't let them lose weight. Isn't that sad.

You will both do fine! You get back to "normal" really quickly so don't worry. . .I'm 3 years out and doing well. . .

Hi, what i was told one day was that your body usually stops (stalls) where you started gaining weight. So if your weight gaining started at 150 lbs and your at a stall there, well just be patient and it should eventually break. I was in a 7 MONTH stall then lost 10 lbs and that was it. . . no more. . . but the person who told me about the body was so right, I started gaining weight when I was 200 lbs (weighed 222 lbs at 12 years old) and it seems that 200 lbs is where my body is comfortable right now. . .

Was it yummm??? Good, don't worry it's not going to hurt you in any way, shape or form. . . but now that you did that and you realized it was wrong, i'm sure you won't do it again right? It's tough with this sleeve, especially to think about what we shouldn't be doing. . we were given this great tool, but unfortunately we weren't given too much instruction or training on our new ways of thinking. . . this is something we ourselves have to change. . . good luck!