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Hello I'm a young 32 year old woman who's battled weight my whole life. After starting a journey towards weight loss surgery in 2008 I have finally achieved it just past a week ago. Got RNY, laparoscopically, finally getting back to feeling human again. I'm down 5lbs so far and feeling good. I've had a difficult time healing due to a hysterectomy and bypass in the same surgery. So ready, and happy to have finally started this chapter my book of life!

VerticalSleeveTalk Newsletter Hey, Sleevers!Happy New Year! It’s time to leap into 2013. You might have slipped a little during the holidays, but January is a great time for a fresh start! Of course, VerticalSleeveTalk.com is here for you as you work to lose weight and get healthy. Allow the January Newsletter to motivate you to get back on board if you lost your focus in December, or to inspire you to keep up the good work if you were able to stay on track during the holidays. Here’s what we have in this newsletter. Looking Ahead to 2013! Member Spotlight: Meet Velena! New Year’s Resolutions that Work! Sleever Challenge: Make Your New Year’s Resolutions! Casting Call: Looking for VerticalSleeveTalk.com Members to be in a Book! As you get back into the swing of everyday life and your commitment to your health, we hope you continue to make VerticalSleeveTalk.com a regular part of your day. So, enjoy the newsletter and then talk about it or anything else on the forums! See you there! Sincerely, Alex Brecher Founder VerticalSleeveTalk.com Looking Ahead to 2013! 2012 was a phenomenal year for VerticalSleeveTalk.com. The forums grew tremendously and we came out with mobile apps for the Android, Kindle and iPod, iPad and iPhone. We have plenty more changes in store for 2013! Keep watch for even more improvements. We’ll be sure to let you know in the newsletters and on the forums, too. 2013 will be an exciting year! Thanks to you, our members, for continuing to support the community. Member Spotlight: Meet Velena! We’re delighted to start off 2013 by shining the spotlight on Velena from Madison, Alabama! She says she spent most of her adult life obese. She didn’t want to spend “second half” of her adult life obese, too, and set the goal of weighing under 200 pounds by her fiftieth birthday. She lost about 25-30 pounds through dieting, doing fitness DVDs and taking weight loss pills, but was still 30 pounds short of her weight loss goal. She wanted to lose weight to be able to enjoy life instead of being limited because of her obesity. Velena wanted to be able to ride a motorcycle and enjoy hiking with her husband; the final straw for her was on a hike when she couldn’t follow him down to the falls because of the steep stairs. She had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. In addition, Velena has diabetes and needs to eat well to control it. She says she always ate healthily, but portion control was a problem. When Velena started looking into weight loss surgery two years ago, her insurance didn’t cover it. This year, she attended another seminar and found out that now her insurance would cover the sleeve. She didn’t like the idea of bypass “rearranging my plumbing,” and a friend had had a bad experience with the lap-band. Velena did like the idea of the gastric sleeve, and got her surgery in September of 2012. Her top weight was 264 pounds. Now, Velena is down to 197 pounds! She feels light on her feet and her balance is much better after losing so much weight! Velena now has her own bike to ride around the neighborhood. Some of her great moments have been buying a jacket in the Misses section, instead of the plus size section, and trying on a winter coat at costco and finding out that it was too big. Of course, stepping on the scale and seeing a number under 200 was a thrill for her! She faced some challenges along the way, such as having trouble swallowing right after surgery. She got dehydrated and had to get hooked up to an IV! Eating slowly enough and ending her meal before she’s too full are still challenges for Velena, but she’s working on them and it’s paying off. Velena uses Vertical Sleeve Talk daily to catch up with friends, get ideas and encouragement and provide support. She says the forums keep her focused on her nutrition. We’re sure that you’re keeping up with your nutrition because you even managed to lose weight during the holidays! Congratulations on your success so far! Thanks for being in the Member Spotlight, Velena! Welcome to 2013 and the second half of your adult life! The Member Spotlight Forum is the place to go to nominate another member to be in the spotlight section of the newsletter. You can also nominate yourself – everyone on the boards will be pleased to meet you! You can even send Alex Brecher a private message telling us that you want to be featured. Everyone has a great story to share. Thanks! New Year’s Resolutions that Work! What are your New Year’s resolutions? Whatever else you’re resolving to do in 2013, your resolutions almost certainly include losing weight or maintaining your goal weight. Too often, we stop following our New Year’s resolutions pretty soon and fall back into old bad habits. How can you make New Year’s resolutions that you’ll stick to so that you can meet your goals for 2013? Try out these simple tips as you make your resolutions. Make them specific. You want to get healthy and lose weight. Those are great goals, but those resolutions aren’t specific enough to be helpful. Instead, choose resolutions that will help you meet those goals. Resolutions to help you get healthy might include exercising at least three days a week and choosing olive oil instead of butter for your servings of fat on your bariatric surgery diet. To lose weight, you might resolve eat at least 80g Protein per day so you feel more full. Make them doable. Keep your resolutions realistic so you’re not setting yourself up for failure. Nobody’s perfect, and your resolutions’ success shouldn’t depend on you to be perfect. Instead of resolving to drink more Water, resolve to drink an extra 8 ounces of water in the morning at least 5 days per week. This resolution gives you some room for error just in case you forget your water a couple of times in the week. Plus, the resolution is specific, so it fits with the first tip! Make them controllable. You can’t control whether you lose a certain amount of weight within a certain amount of time. What you can control are resolutions such as sticking to your diet or exercising to burn off an extra 300 calories per day, 3 days per week. Keep these tips in mind when you’re making your own New Year’s resolutions. Solid resolutions together with your best intentions can help you make 2013 a great year for your health, weight and happiness! Sleever Challenge: Make Your New Year’s Resolutions! This is the part of the newsletter where we challenge VerticalSleeveTalk.com members to take a step forward by doing something new. The experience can help you grow and gain confidence when you do something you hadn’t even thought about before, or you find out that you can do something you hadn’t even realized that you could do. This month, we’re sticking to the theme of New Year’s resolutions. The challenge for this newsletter is to make one or more resolutions based on the advice in this newsletter. We challenge you to make your resolutions specific, doable and controllable – and we’re eager to see what you decide to do in 2013! Tell us about your resolutions in the Sleever Challenge Forum. We’d love to hear about why you chose those resolutions and how you think you’ll do on them. When you post, you get to help other members who may need ideas for their own resolutions. Of course, if you ever miss a challenge, you can always go back to the archived Newsletter Forum to check out the old ones. It’s never too late to try – or retry! – a Newsletter Challenge! Casting Call: Looking for VerticalSleeveTalk.com Members to be in a Book! Are you eager to have your gastric bypass story published in a book? This is your chance! Our first book was focused on the lap-band, and it is called “The Big Book on the Lap Band: Everything You Need to Know to Lose Weight and Live Well with the Adjustable Gastric Band.” It was inspired by our sister site, LapBandTalk.com, and we’re so pleased with its success that we’re going to add a vertical sleeve book to the series! If you want to have your story published or you have advice, tricks or recipes to share, let us know! All you have to do is contact Alex Brecher (username Alex Brecher) via VerticalSleeveTalk.com’s private messaging system. We’d love to hear from you no matter where you are in your sleeve journey, even if you’re just thinking about the surgery. Thanks! That’s it for this month’s newsletter. We invite you to head on over to the forums and get a head start on a healthy 2013. Again, Happy New Year to you and your loved ones! May 2013 be the best year so far. Take care of yourself and each other. Sincerely, Alex ============================================================== If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, you may unsubscribe by going to your Control Panel and clicking on the Newsletters tab, or clicking on the following link: {unsubscribe}

To say I'm excited is an understatement! I'm finally getting this damn band out. I've only had it in for 8 months, but it has been no fun for me at all. Thanks to everyone for all of your assistance as I researched and researched within these forums. I think I've read every single post on this site. I'm feeling really good about my decision. Anyone else having surgery at the same time?

I am so excited to have my first appointment with my doctor this Thursday. I can finally say it's less then a week away. I made the appointment 3 1/2 weeks ago! I am 5' 4" 236lbs. My hubby is in the military and we have tri-care prime insurance. I have a couple questions. First, since my insurance does not require any meetings with psych. nutritionist etc. do MD's normally? My insurance also doesn't require a 6 month waiting limit like I have heard others do. Do MD's make you wait then???? My doctor is out of Temple University, In Philly Dr. Daniel Dempsey. I was also wondering what problems would keep someone from having the surgery? I had heart palpations and went on atenolol but they went away when I lost some weight. I was going to make an appointment with the cardiologist that followed me just to be on the safe side. Thanks and good luck to everyone on your journey:smile: Joleen

Well, I have had my stomach scoped and the doc found some erosion. He advised me to stop taking my daily aspirin as he suspects that is the culprit. I also had an IVC installed through my neck. Anybody else had this problem with aspirin? So now I have a surgery date of October 3rd. Two weeks of liquids prior to that. I started this deal on March 31 so it will be about 6 months from beginning to surgery. I guess that is not too bad. I also have a cyst in my neck I need to have removed prior to the end of the year so I won't have to pay a new deductible off to get it done. Already had two cataract surgeries and a colonoscopy done. I have been at the hospital way too much this year!

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forums here, I've been lurking for a few months reading everyone's stories and ups and downs. I'll definitely post my story in the introduction section, but for right now I have a question. How did you prepare for your surgery? Not talking about the pre-op diet, more like did you take pictures in a certain outfit or buck naked or anything of that nature? How did you prepare your house/bedroom/where you'd be spending your few days recouping when you're on pain meds still? I've got 3 kids, 3 8 and 12, and hubby will be home with me for a few days, so I'm not absolutely stressed about minding the kids, more about taking care of me! Thanks! ~tara

Actually for 5 days of it. My husband is working out of town so we brought him the stuff for the five days he will be gone. Lots of shakes, soups, Popsicles and sugar free jello. This makes our journey so much more real!! I'm terrified. He's my strong man and I am so scared to see him in a hospital bed. In all our 12 years together, he has never been sick. Never been to the hospital. Very healthy. It's quiet terrifying. I know he will be healthier and I am behind him. Luckily I am able to hide the terror from him right now. He's such an amazing man. I'm prepared for anything. I'm going all liquids in support so if we are going to be crabby, it will be crabby together!!!

What brands of Vitamins best work for any of you? My surgeon suggested the Vitamin patch but I see bad reviews online. I'm a 30 year old male 330 lbs, my goal is 195.

My surgery has been scheduled for Jun 8th. I must admit that after years of wishing for this I am a bit nervous. My question is this. If you could change anythingyou did or didn't do to prepare for you surgery, what would it be?

I got my official surgery date today, and I have to say I am excited and ready to get the show on the road! Sent from my iPhone using VST

Hi all, I appreciate reading everything everyone has posted! I am currently 25 years old with 2 semesters left of nursing school. I have struggled with my weight all of my life and both my parents had gastric bypass surgery. I decided that after I graduate in April I want to have the surgery in the beginning of May. I figured I am starting a new chapter with finishing school and want to experience actually living life without being a prisoner in my own body. How long do most people request off work? I currently work as an aide lifting and moving patients as well as work on farms doing horse chores and cleaning stalls and shoveling horse turds. Trying to get an estimate on the time off, I will need.

hi guys. had sleeve surgery on 01/29/13. i've lost 90lbs so far (20 before surgery) so long story, my hair is starting to fall out. little by little. not in big clumps or anything. i know this is a side effect but i was wondering if there's anything i can do. also will it grow back? should i start propecia or rogaine? just a little nervous here. i know it's just hair and cosmetic but i want to try and keep it as long as i can. thanks in advance

I accompanied my daughter to Hospital Jerusalem and am now wondered how the rest of the group who we checked in with is doing, now that it's 4 months post op. South Carolina, Ontario, Oklahoma? You guy's out there? Washington state mom is thinking about you and wondering how things went once you got home. How are you adjusting to life with a sleeve? Also, Seattle from the recovery house...you out there?

When I started this journey in july I only ate 1/2 cup of food. I measured everything I ate. If it fit into the half cup that's what I ate. No matter what food it was. Now I measure everything into 1/4 cup serving. When I go out to dinner I can't make a decision so I get coffee for refried Beans. Everyone else I know eats a lot more. I was just wondering if anyone else eats like me. No, I'm not starving myself!!! Surgery- July 11, 2013 Band is 10cc's 4cc's in 1cc in 1cc in .25cc in .25cc in .25cc in .50cc in .25cc in .25cc in Band Dilation.........All out...............because my esophagus closed completely because I had too much Fluid I was on liquids for 3.5 weeks. 3cc's in Everything is all good!!!! SW: July 11 250 lbs Size 18/20 XXL Top 38 weeks ago 209 lbs 32 weeks ago 199 lbs 21 weeks ago 178 lbs 13 weeks ago size 9! 8 weeks ago 169 4 weeks ago 167 Today -Size 7/8- M Top. My goal is 150 lbs Dr. Goal for me is 159 This journey isn't easy but I love it!