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For years, I've had an elevated resting heart rate (110-125bpm), and even in July when I had my well woman exam, my resting heart rate was around 98. We (myself and my medical professionals) always attributed it to my obesity, and the fact that I do smoke. I had hoped that with my weight loss my heart rate would level off, but it maintained 110-125 bpm up until July when it registered below 100. I was absolutely thrilled, but my PCM was only willing to wait another 6 months before sending me for a cardio work up. After the orthrostatic hypotension diagnosis in March, it really became apparent that my body was still adjusting. I still have bouts of hypotension, and my bp drops to 80/45 occasionally which is downright scary, but I just increase fluids and sodium again, and then I won't have bouts of almost passing out for a couple of weeks. With all that being said, my resting heart rate is down to 82bpm. Yes, it's still HIGH, but for it to drop from the 100's is amazing. I would like to get it down to 70. I'm sure working out is attributing to this improvement, and I'm hoping when I go back for a follow up with my surgeon on the 20th, he'll be pleased with my heart rate. I know that quitting the smokes will definitely help, but we all know my story with kicking that habit. Just thought I would share because NSVs this far out are few and far between.

Congratulations Tiff. What a great NSV!

That's awesome! Congrats on such a great NSV.

Now THAT is a great NSV! Congratulations, I remembe the first time I had to wear a belt, it felt amazing and awe inspiring

I do high intensity Water aerobics most every Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, my swimsuit about fell off (I bought it in February when I was still about a 24W or thereabouts) so when I saw that Macys had clorine resistant suits for 50% off I had to snap one up. I was so excited to pick a black suit with hot pink trim including a zipper up the front! My inner thighs are gross so I wear these sorta bicycle short things under the suit. the total effect isn't too hideous. The suit I had before was a tankini worn with shorts which was great at first, but when it got too big, it was a little bit of a train wreck. It did cover my thighs, but I was in danger of stepping out of the pool and leaving the suit behind - something I DON'T want to have happen! Anyway, NSV #1 - I fit into and 18! Not an 18W, and actual honest to goodness 18! I started in the 26W range, and what a difference! NSV #2 - I had 3 people in my water aerobics class come up and tell me how good I looked, how i must have lost weight suddenly and how much they liked the suit. I saw these same people on Tuesday, but wearing a dumpy looking too big suit just isn't flattering and they really noticed the difference. I am starting to feel so much closer to "normal" sized even though I still have a lot to lose.

great NSV!!! Rock that sleeve!!!

what does nsv mean Sent from my SPH-D700 using VST

Day 28: "Impatient" Today is a good day, but as I've mentioned in my previous blog entries -- time seems to be standing still and I'm having to learn the art of patience and distraction. My weight loss has not happened as quickly as I'd hoped, but I'm still loosing 4-5 pounds per week. Nothing to sneeze at. So long as the numbers are going down, I'm stoked. Can't wait until the next drop in clothing size. My tops are loser for sure in the waist and arms, but I can't go down yet due to my bra size. If anyone has any good exercises for making the "girls" smaller, please let me know! So I now know what dehydration is all about, and it sucks. It's bittersweet because I had to learn it during two of my early NSV moments. First, on Friday I walked 2.5 miles in an hour. The furthest I've gone in years! And I felt great during the first 2 miles, very little pain in the usual places, good heartbeat. Then I bonked at the end, and even worse a few hours after I got home. I had a low-grade headache, some nausea, and muscle spasms. Not to mention I was as weak as a bird. I knew it was dehydration, but I was perplexed because I'd been drinking plenty of fluids and had water with me on the walk. So I upped the intake even more, to nearly 100oz of fluids! When I wasn't urinating very much, I got worried. Went to bed, hoped I felt better then next day. And I did. Saturday was a little better, I drank more, and seemed to be getting better. My husband and I went for an 8.5 mile bike ride over 1.5 hours and I FELT GREAT! I can't remember the last time I felt that good on the bike. Considering my history is heavily cycling related, it was a little overwhelming emotionally. My husband commented about how great I looked, my balance was better, and our pace was much faster than it had been in the past few years. What a difference taking a small, 30+ pound monkey off your back will do for your endurance! Then I bonked, again. A few hours later, I was weak, headache-y, twitchy, yadda, yadda, yadda. I had a full 22oz bottle before riding (along with breakfast food and shake) and finished the same 22oz second bottle while riding, and drank like crazy after. WHAT WAS GOING ON!? I take a potassium pill from my doctor that is the size of a horse pill. Don't worry, I dissolve it in water and drink it down. But my sodium and magnesium levels were low. I looked at my food journal and somehow the foods I was taking in were much lower in sodium and magnesium than previous days. Not sure how what happened. So I took some magnesium citrate as well (powder form in water), and drank and rested yesterday. Just a 45 minute, slower pace walk. Today I'm feeling much better, and I talked to my NUT. She wasn't too concerned, said to continue with the potassium, magnesium, and work in more sodium where I can without taking too much. It's amazing how fragile my body still feels. It takes so little to change the chemistry and throw everything off! It makes me a little sad, that I will forever have to watch every single thing that goes into my body. I'm OK with it so long as the scale is going in the right direction, but when it's not moving very fast -- it's not as easy. I knew there would be up's and down's, as I talked about in my first blog entry. This was both. A great victory for my physical endurance, but a slippery slope in my health. Let's see how the next week plays out!

I experienced an NSV today. I was walking in the store and saw this really cute thin woman in the mirror. I thought to myself, what an attractive woman. I then realized it was me!!! Love it!! I still don't recognize my reflection sometimes!!

The guy that does our cleaning in our office is a really sweet Latino. His English is very broken and most of the time I can't understand what he says. Every Friday he comes through and says "it's Friday, yay". We just adore him. Yesterday I was sitting in the break room and he comes in and sits down. He said "where did your stomach go?" LOL. That made me feel so good. Someone is noticing!!!

I haven't posted in a while and I kind of regret it because you all keep me on the right track. I have my lap top at work now so I can stay logged in! I haven't been doing terrible but I haven't been as good as I could. I have had some cocktails (not a lot at a time because I get drunk FAST now) and I have been eating more chips than I need. But I also get an average of 90g of Protein in a day and stay within my allowed calorie range (max 1100 but i average 900-1000 a day). So far I have lost about 45 lbs from my pre-op weight BUT I have stalled like crazy and I have gone down 2 sizes which makes it a little better. NSV: My birthday was this past sunday and I spent it at a banquet celebrating my pastor's 25 anniversary with the church. I wore a satin pencil skirt that I purchased about 3 years ago and was never able to wear. It was so big that as I walked down the hall of the hotel, it turned COMPLETELY around. The split was in the front and if not for my hips it would have been in the floor!!! LOL!!! So this is my progress so far and I plan to pick up n my exercise this week. One question that I have: does taking Vitamins help with weight loss or stalls?? That's probably the one thing I have been really bad at....I haven't really taken any since surgery (mostly because I didn't have the money to get them but I will get them monday when I go to the doctor)

I don't know all abbreviations but here are some: HW = high weight SW = surgery weight CW= current weight GW= goal weight DS = duodenal switch RNY = Roux-En-Y = gastric bypass GS = gastric sleeve NSV = non scale victory I'm having a blank trying to think of what other abbreviations you'll see. Do you have any that you've seen and want to know what it means? HW: 328 (02/21/17) CW: 278 (preop 50# disowned)

Nsv! Size 12s are loose! Woop woop

Okay, I don't know if this is good or bad!!!! During spin class today, in full workout mode, focused on pedal stroke and cadence while standing on the bike, I realized the back of my stretchy pants had dropped below my butt!!!!!! OMG!!!!! I grabbed them and yanked then while trying to spin..... I thought it was a bit breezy in there! :-) Luckily, I was in the back row. But, several folks had left and entered through the door directly behind me!!! The lady next to me, Barbara, saw my horrified look as I struggled to pull my pants up and said: "you're looking great!" and gave me a big smile!!! If I wasn't so happy my butt shrunk so much I would be embarrased to return to class!!! LOL

Yes, I recommend it. Yes, I would do it all over again. My comorbidities are lessened or completely gone, my self-esteem is very good, I feel great, I have had more NSVs then I can shake a stick at, I am adding years to my life, etc., etc. My only regret was not having a VSG sooner. Make the best educated decision on the procedure that is correct for you. Research as much as you can, attend a WLS seminar, WLS support groups and have your PCP, surgeon and any specialists you may be seeing all on board. Congratulations.

I just want to share, now that I have finally broken through my carbohydrate-binge after entering Onederland May 13th (and celebrating with occasional chips and ice cream). Because of my own actions--and the pull of carbs, causing hunger and cravings!--I got stuck in the 190s for two freakin' months. But I regrouped and finally got back on track last week. This morning I was 189.6! That's still too close to 190, but I'll take it; and I've been a really good (and motivated) girl all day. With my next milestone goal of 175 [hopefully by September], and the 180s now in view, I purged another component of my past weight-battle life: I gathered ALL the weight-loss crap/diet supplements I had around the house, in cabinets, and dumped them in the trash can [see picture]. Sensa. Xenadrine. Boxes of Optifast shakes and chicken Soup. Medifast. Venon (diet pills). Some other stuff--some chemicals that work on the brain to affect mood and the satiety center, etc. A bunch of stuff. It felt good to say "no more!!" Another NSV. Yeah. This reinforced a life lesson: It's easier and better to not get into trouble [don't even start the bad carbs], then to try to get out of it [fighting cravings].

Congrats... Nice NSV!

Great job on the NSVs! Way to go!

Enjoy the pants as long as you can. Pretty soon you will be in a smaller size! This is such a wonderful NSV...... CONGRATS!

I was updating my blog this morning and realized that my BMI is now under 30 for the first time in probably 25 years. I am no longer obese and just overweight. I still have about 33 more pounds to lose but no longer being statistically obese is a big deal for me. My next goal is being at normal weight and out of the overweight catagory.

Tried on cute winter boots this year and couldn't buy ANY except super short ones because my short fat legs would not fit into any of them. I was mortified and my husband felt terrible for me! I am 10 weeks from being sleeved in Mexico and I'm focusing on positive things like this. I want to be able to fit my calves into some cute boots this coming winter!!

Questions like this are red lights to whether or not you should have the surgery at this time - not ever, but you need to be really aware of what is going on. I see posts like this often (I have been here since November of 2011) and I know you are going to get responses – may have already got them in the time it takes me to type this – that it varies, maybe, if you exercise enough. Honestly, truthfully, if you are over 100 lbs overweight and hope to reach within 10% of your goal and stay there, the answer is that you cannot get away with the unhealthy foods, you cannot regress to the breads and fats and drippy gooey things that got you here in the first place. This surgery was NEVER about you losing weight, and somehow like it was an old war wound you forget about it in time, you maybe kinda get a limp that you compensate for but it is nearly automatic x amount of years or months out. It doesn’t work that way. You are putting your body through profound biological and physical changes and you were probably really heavy for a long time, possibly very ill, too. You are losing weight but you are really tampering with your metabolism. We (I shift from second p. to first p. singular because this includes us all) – we will not succeed unless we learn that this is not a cure-all, not by far, it is a really long road. We deal with our bodies, our heads, our memories, other people, and when we are taking a respite from that we deal with the current, back to the day to day, and then, we still have the future. It’s scary, and makes us hesitate, and sometimes really overwhelms. THEN we notice changes, less meds, less pain, more activity, clearer minds, deeper breaths, we have added years to our lives, playtime with pets and kids and family and even new friends. Maybe our pants fall down to our ankles, maybe we run up a flight of stairs AND down the hall before we realize we are not out of breath. The NSV’s everyone mentions here – let those be your guide to whether or not the cheese’s and fats and breads really matter. If they are still in your thoughts, think this through some more – get with your therapist and explore some more discussion and evaluation BEFORE surgery. Note I did not say don’t do it. Just be prepared that you literally are going to get what you put in.

Congrats on the NSV, that's awesome!

I am so thrilled and just had to share this because a few days back, I was feeling bummed about being stuck. I started adding up my numbers and getting panicked that my surgery was a waste of money. I know I am not alone in this as I had read similiar trains of thought on here as well. I was doing everything right, I was adjusting from pureed to solids a bit and stalled in week 4. Also, I have lost ten pounds now since I came home from surgery-lost 18 pounds in the first week. Some things I did change was incorporating simple exercize now, and also increased my Protein a bit. And VOILA! off went three pounds in two days. Also, I tried on my wedding dress as I got married in August this year, and wanted to see if it fit differently. It almost fell off of me! I was not at my highest weight...in fact about only ten pounds havier, but the inche are definitely less than when I wore that dress-it felt great! I have dug out all my old clothes and right now have a room full of piles of stuff...my jeans are falling down my butt....it feels great. Yay! Here i a pic of me in the dress that doesn't fit anymore...lol

I been stalling out over the past 2 months. I have lost 4lbs, literally over Jan and Feb. So, I figure that if I am not loosing (large) amounts of weight then I must be loosing inches. I am working out regularly - ie running, weight lifting etc -- I try to keep my eating in control. I focus more on portion control and getting in ample amounts of Protein -- compared to calorie counting. But, last week (Friday) I wore jeans to work. I thought they were a little "big" on me -- so I went to Walmart (yes, I buy my jeans there because they are CHEAP, and the most COMFORTABLE pair of jeans I have found around the city. <side note> If you check the label and it says that they are made in Egypt; it's like having a 2nd layer of skin on. That's how "light" the jeans are..... Anyway, to my size -- I bought a size 10 -- didn't try them on (because I walked in there after my morning workout)-- took them home and tried them on -- AND THEY FIT!!! Talk about a great NSV while moving into the summer. Hopefully by end of summer I will be a 4-6!!! Yeahhh me. Also, I am now down to 178lbs. I can't tell you -- when I have EVER weight 178 in my life. I am loving my sleeve....thank you Lord Jesus for making all of this possible for me!