Sleeved July 14 th. 2016

[July1416 3]

Didn't want to have surgery, but new I couldn't do it on my own. Finally gave in. After the surgery I was not happy. The pain and nausea was bad. But next day I went home. For 3 days I couldn't really stomach anything. I wanted so bad to gulp Water. But it was to painful for that. I took it slow.

Second and third week I felt like I was starving. I realized I wasn't getting enough Protein. Everybody is different on what they can eat and digest, during the different phases.

The day I was to go home, a girl two beds down from me had the same surgery. So I asked her if we could exchange phone numbers. She said yes and it has been great. We've helped each other threw the last 6 months. I asked her what she was eating and I told her what I was eating or not eating. It was a fantastic support person.

It's been 6 months since surgery. I'm so glad that I went threw surgery. I would do it again. After the 2 ND week things got a little easier. You lose a lot the 1 at month. Looking back it was trial and error on what my stomach would allow and not. I would say it took me 3 to 4 months to get up enough strength to go back to work. After awhile the weight loss slowed down. I had to start adding some form of exercise. I found biking. I got a large padded seat for my bicycle. I started out slowly. 2 miles a day around the neighborhood. I worked up to 4 miles a day. I would ride in the evening when it cooled down outside. Live in Bakersfield and it gets blazing hot. I didn't work for 4 Months and it was summer for my kids.,so I had time to do all this. My kids went riding with me for support and my husband also when he was off work. I got up to 9 miles a day. My kids went back to school and I was able to find a job where I went in at 10 am. So now 5 to 6 days a week I drop the kids at school and then get on my bike and do a 4 mule loop around the neighborhood. Then shower and go to work.

I started this journey last year in. August. I went to the initial consultation. Then wait a month to set up a date to go for it. My insurance at that time wanted 6 months of nutrition counseling before they would do the surgery. Well I finally got the the counseling. It was just one phone call a month. I finally braved up and scheduled my surgery for June. Then chickened out a few days before it was to take place. My husband was more scared then I was. I worked at a hospital at the time. I talked to a lot of nurses that had the surgery. Well I finally did it on July 14 TH. I was 262 lbs August 2015. Now I'm at 190. I'm losing about 10 lbs a month. Which is fine. It's coming off slow and staying off. My I'm doing small goals, so I don't get depressed. My final goal is 170- 160. So I've lost a total of 72 lbs in 1 year. I was 242 the day of surgery. I had lost a little on my own. They said I needed to.

Also, she said that if I lost 10 lbs before surgery, I would only have to do a week of just liquids instead of 2 weeks. I didn't really make it threw just liquids, but things went fine. I'm 47 years Old. MY surgery buddy was 23 years old. She did lose faster than me, but everybody's different. But we still helped each other.

Hope this helps someone. I still fighting exercise and watching what I eat, but it's a life change and it doesn't happen overnight and it takes time to retrain the brain. I still want fatty foods. If I eat to much fattening food, I do more exercise. Or I eat less the next few days. It's give and take.

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[jacque2250 46]

It's good to hear you stuck to it. I am only 8 weeks out, tomorrow. The worse problem I had was that dreadful tiredness and lethargy. It only lasted 2 & 1/2 weeks, thankfully. I am losing very slowly and tend to drop 4 lbs at a time, then nothing for weeks. I've lost a total of 30 lbs since starting the pre-op diet.

Your story gives me courage to just keep at it. Thank you.