I wish I'd known how freaking amazing life can be when the package in which you live it has changed. 

The weeks before surgery, I spent so much time worrying, stressing, reading, psyching myself out. I was so scared of every little thing. I envisioned a lifetime of deprivation, dumping, fatique, hair loss, saggy skin, endless vitamins, disgusting protein shakes, and I got scared. I got scared of anemia and lethargy and vitamin deficiencies and strictures and ulcers and food withdrawal and emotional issues. 

Truth is, none of that happened. Well, lots of it happened,m truthfully, but none of it was a big deal. 

I lost a lot of hair. Like, a lot. A frightful amount. But then it grew back. 

I have no boobs. My boobs have all but vanished. They're a bit deflated and empty. But I can button my shirts without gapping and my back doesn't hurt, and I look so much more petite. 

I take vitamins every day. But it's routine now, I barely even think about it.

I dump on sugar. Badly. So I rarely eat sugar. And when I do, I lay down til it passes, and it's fine. No biggie.

I have saggy skin. Mostly on my arms, belly, and inner thighs. We're probably all going to have saggy skin. It happens. You can't prevent it, so you might as well expect it and roll with the punches. Spanx helps. 

I can't stomach traditional protein shakes. I've tried them all. Spent more money than I care to admit, and thrown it all away. Now I drink two Atkins readymade shakes a day. They're not the highest in protein (only 15g apiece), but they taste delicious, and they're easy. I do what works for me. You do what works for you. 

I've never had a stricture. I've never had an ulcer. I've never had a vitamin deficiency that wasn't quickly resolved by an increased dose for a week or two. 

I've had plenty of emotional issues--hormone dumping, cross addictions (I turned into a massive caffeine junkie in the absence of sugar), self control issues that come with newfound confidence. I see a counselor to help with some of that, and so far, it has not been overly problematic in my life. Watch for issues--they likely will happen, but you can cope with them. Any major life change will come with mental changes as well. Expect it. But don't freak out. 

I had surgery 15 months ago. Since then, I've taken up Crossfit, joined a running group, and started training for a marathon. 

My highest weight was 269. I was a size 24. 
Today, I'm 138, and a size 6. 

And life is good. No, that's not true. Life is great. I have so much more energy and confidence. I feel good in my body, and I feel healthy. And if I had to go back and do this surgery over and over again, I absolutely would.

So if you're new, and you're freaking yourself out, stop. Read. Educate yourself. Talk to people. But don't start thinking that all there is on the other side is misery and work and complications. Because it's simply not true. I was very fortunate in my recovery and loss, and not everyone is so lucky. But the horror stories that might have you scared happen far, far less than the good stories--the successes and happy people whose lives have been dramatically changed for the better. 

So good luck. It's worth it. 

Hey thanks! You've done an outstanding job as well! I'm always fascinated to watch the progress of people who started at the same height/weight as I did--it always amuses me how closely we tend to follow one another. 

It's really neat to be in a place where, if I never lost any more weight, I'd be okay with that. A year ago, I wasn't sure if I would ever get here. 

I spend about $100 a month on Vitacost.com ordering Atkins products. 

I am constantly on the go, and having a protein bar or three to stash in my car or in my bag is a lifesaver. I love the way they taste, and have narrowed it down to two meal-replacement bars I really like--the peanut butter granola and the chocolate chip granola.  I use those as meal replacements if I don't have time to cook.  I get a wide variety of the smaller, less-protein-heavy bars as snacks or desserts or quick breakfasts. My favorite is the chocolate hazelnut bar. It tastes so crunchy and creamy and decadent--like Nutella. And for almost zero sugar, it's much safer than, say, a handful of cookies. 

I have an Atkins shake almost every morning for breakfast. I'm almost 10 months out, and my stomach doesn't like solid food too early, especially if I'm running around, so downing a shake as I get my kids ready for school is ideal. However, I HATE whey shakes. I haven't found a single one that tastes good. But the Atkins shakes, while not as high in protein, are not only palatable, but I really like them--and they make the Cafe varieties now which contain a little caffeine. Bonus! 

My only complaint is that I wish they made a more savory bar. I don't have a tremendous sweet tooth, so sometimes, having my meal replacements all be sweet like dessert is a bit...blah. I'd be very open to trying a savory, crunchy alternative. 

It'll be different for everyone. Sugar alcohols make my stomach rumbly, but they don't make me sick. Only a couple Atkins bars give me that effect, and so I avoid those. 

My husband is deployed overseas, so being there physically wasn't an option. But as far as taking interest, asking questions, reading up, posting on forums...nope. He's not interested at all. He's very supportive, but we don't really talk about it. Any time I bring it up, i can sorta HEAR him tuning out.

At first, I was frustrated and annoyed that he didn't care, but then I realized....he doesn't care. 

He trusts my judgment as far as the safety of the procedure, and my weight has truly never been an issue for him--he's always loved me, regardless of my size. So for him, it's no big deal. Me losing weight is FAR more exciting and fascinating for me than for him, because in his eyes, it doesn't change anything. 

I had to comes to terms with the fact that he's not gonna be my go-to person when I need to read thousands of fascinating details about my surgery, or when I want someone to ask questions or talk at length about it. I have other friends for that. And as for him needing to be involved...meh. I'm a grown woman, I can make decisions about my food. Yes, it has totally changed my life, but it doesn't particularly affect him unless he wants it to. So he doesn't need to be a scholar on my lifestyle changes, because I'm in control of those--not him.

Good luck, I hope you can move forward without resenting his disinterest, and try to view this surgery as something for YOU, and enjoy it without worrying about his involvement. 

1) Qui****ching the scale. Staring out the window won't make your loved one come home faster. Peering at the oven won't make your cookies bake quicker. And watching the scale tick slo-o-o-wly downward isn't going to make the fat melt off any more speedily. So don't make yourself nuts, enjoy the ride. You're in this for life, remember? You have a long haul to go. So focus on what you need to do, do it, be healthy, live your life, and stay off the scale until you notice your clothes loosening up again. Weighing every day, if it frustrates you and causes you to lose momentum, is not doing you any favors. 

Not a single regret. Not one. If my weight loss required me to do this again every year of my life forever, I would. Again and again. 

Two reasons, plain and simple. One or the other, or both.

1) They truly believe it is a quick-fix scheme and are justifying something in their heads by denying its potential longterm success.

and / or

2) They want to be able to smugly think, "I told you so" if you DO happen to gain it back. Everyone loves to be right.

So go out there, be confident, and prove them wrong. 

I had surgery at size 22-24, weighing 233 lbs. 

I didn't start dropping sizes until I broke 200, which took about 8 weeks. After that, I dropped about a size per month until I hit 16. 

Once I hit size 16, it really picked up and I dropped quite quickly, going down through 14 and 12 in what seemed like a matter of weeks. I am now 8-10, depending on the cut, and I really don't imagine getting much smaller. But we'll see.

Larger sizes take longer to change. It's like a fresh roll of paper towels. Take 20 towels away from your big plump roll, and it'll still look about the same. But if you start with a half-used roll and take away those same 20 towels, it'll look much smaller, much more quickly. 

I'm 9 months out.

For the first 4 months, I ran like a furnace. I was hot all the time, but that was normal. I was baffled about why everyone complained about being cold. In the last month, I've been getting the cold. All the time. 

My boobs are gone. I've always been super chesty, and this is the first time in my adult life I've ever had tiny boobs. I like it. 

Soda no longer appeals to me at all. Even if it wasn't uncomfortable and gassy to drink, it no longer tastes good. 

I am wrinkly everywhere. I don't have any major sagging or drooping, but my skin is just....loose...  It wrinkles and crepes everywhere--I have stretchmarks in my armpits, creping on my hands and boobs, lots of jiggle, but I hope that will all tighten up in a year or two. 

Even when I was fat, I was really active, and I always joked that I had a really athletic figure--under my fat. Turns out, that's true. As the fat melts away, I'm really kind of pleasantly surprised to see what's been lying underneath and how well toned my muscles are. It's a bit like an archaeological dig. :P

I was at dinner with my mother tonight, and I ate barely half a dozen bites of my meal before I was full. And I said sadly, "The waitress is going to think I hate it" which would be a shame, since it was incredibly delicious. So my mother replied, "Well, if she asks, just tell her you had surgery." And I recoiled. No way. We had a little battle about it, she kept probing on WHY I was so anxious about telling people, and I finally blurted out, "Because I don't feel like telling total strangers, "Hey, by the way, I used to be a total fatass!' 

And then it hit me. I always struggled with the issue of telling people about my surgery, but never really understood why it made me so uneasy. I had no shame in having gastric bypass, so I really couldn't pin down a solid reason for my discomfort. Until now. And I realized I wasn't ashamed about having the surgery, I was/am ashamed for having needed it in the first place. 

Logically, I know I was morbidly obese. But as I've mentioned here ad nauseum, I never really wrapped my head around the fact. I never SAW myself that way. And so, I never really figured other people saw me that way, either. And by admitting I needed weight loss surgery, I am reminding the world how big I was.  Now, obviously, everyone already knows I was obese. But in my own little delusional head, that's not the case, and it feels like being the Emperor and his (no) clothes.  Everyone could see the truth, but I had no idea, and even though I discovered what they were seeing and resolved the problem, I'm still too ashamed to remind them of my embarrassment. 

Gah. This sucks.

It feels like those bubbles of surgical gas did, right after surgery--except these gas bubbles are in my abdomen, right below my stoma. 

There is absolutely no common factor, pattern, or trigger. Sometimes they happen when I'm hungry, sometimes after I've just eaten, sometimes for no reason at all. I can FEEL the bubble shifting around, and very occasionally, I can lessen the pain by burping or changing position, but 9 times out of 10, it just hurts badly until it eventually dissipates.  My belly gets all distended and I look pregnant, and it can be painful to stand straight, because the bubble presses upward and hurts. GasX doesn't help. Water doesn't help. Laying down helps, but the pain often comes back when I stand up. 

It always dissipates. Sometimes it takes longer than others. My doctor says there's really nothing they can do.

Anyone have any tried and true remedies for sudden, "stuck" gas? 

A friend of mine is trying online dating. She wants to put out a personal ad, but didn't know what to write, so she asked me to write one for her to use as a template.   Kind of a fun project. So I was writing this ad, and I didn't know what to use to describe myself. In the past, I would have written "plus sized, full figured, BBW, voluptuous, etc"  And now, none of those really fit. Voluptuous maybe, since that doesn't really relate to size as much as shape.  I guess.

Since it's not a real ad, it didn't really matter, but it struck me as odd that I no longer have a category. I'm not thin.  I'm not athletically built. Even though I'm clinically obese by BMI standards, I'm in a size 8, and don't look obese. 

I never thought I classified myself, but I totally did. I found a certain comfort in having a label or a tag. Being able to call myself something--a plus sized woman, a BBW-- gave me a sense of belonging. There was a whole culture of women with that same tag that I could relate to, among whom I could blend in. And now I don't have that anymore, and it feels a little disconcerting not to have a group.

Lord, is this the beginning of an identity crisis? ;)