When i started this journey i was considered EXTREMELY OBESE and today at a weight of 237 down 40lbs i am considered just plain ol OBESE now.  And if a normal person heard those words they would have a fit but i am so excited to be just plain ol' obese it is crazy.  But today i put on a pair of 20 jeans and they are too big already.  I just wore them for the first time and i needed a belt.  And hey were  big in the butt too.  So i guess i go look for a size 18 now and then a 16 and i cant believe it is haven't seen these sizes in so long that i forget what they were like.   I really cant believe that soon i will be shopping in a real store and i may have to go to the x-large or large rack but i will be shopping in a real store not a fat store with ugly frumpy clothes. I may be turning 47on the 8Th of may but i don't consider my self even close to frumpy.  I still like the styles of some of the new clothes that are out for the 20ish age group.  The only thing i hate is the low rider jeans.  I still think like an extremely obese in the fact i have to have pants that are up above my belly button.  I feel like they are falling down if they are too low.  But i am rocking on cloud nine right now.  And i have not looked in a full length mirror in so long it is ridiculous.  But today i did for the first time in probably 6 months, and wow is it really me. I  don't recognize the girl looking back at me she is familiar from the chest up but from the chest down she is not who i remember.  I am so wowed.  Today my husband and i went out for the day since he was off and my daughter even told me that i looked beautiful.  And my husband told me he was SO proud of my daughter and i for taking this journey.  1 yr ago this was only a dream that was unattainable because i have so many medical problems.  "They will never operate on someone like me" i said and now 1 yr later i am rockin.  I really don't want to wear shorts or God Forbid a bathing suit for now.  Not in public anyway.  Because the icky hanging skin on my upper inner thighs is yucky to me let alone a perfect stranger.  And the belly lap is getting less fat but it is hanging lower i feel.  I don't know what i would do without that flap, we have been together for so long, i haven't any idea when it was not there.  It is like an old friend.  Not one you want to be hanging around all the time but one who has no place else to go and wont go away.  I think i will name it for the sake of my flap.   I think it will be a male name and it is going to be called      "Seymour"       from now on and from this point on i will refer to the flap by his newly given name.  And Seymour will be miserable for the next few days because he doesn't like the heat and it is going to be hot .  The last 2 days has  been horrific for Seymour.  He is not liking the fact we have not had a spring again this year.  It has gone from cold and layering clothes weather to the weather where it is impossible to take anything else off to get cool, except for out skin.  And if you have your own friend like Seymour you know it means time for the painful and annoying heat rash.  And there isn't anything we can do to make Seymour more comfortable and less irritable.  Well i just thought i would let you all know how things are going, we are 10weeks and three days out from the surgery.  I have really learned alot since the vertical sleeve gastrectomy.  Things that no one could ever describe to me , we all have the same types of operation but really we are all different with every step we take.  I thought it would be just like the other peoples who had this journey before me.  But it was unlike any other persons journey that i had connected with.  But i guess that is the way it feels to all of us.  We get the basics of the procedure and the healing process but it is a learning journey that we must all take alone in a way.  My daughter had the RNY the same day as i had my VSG.  And we are so very alike in almost every way except for the way we have taken this trip.  Before this trip for my daughter i could count on one hand how many times she threw up in her 17 yrs.  And now she probably throws up 5 out of 7 days.  And i have yet to figure out why it is happening .  I thought at first it was a food issue but i has been different foods and  foods she tolerated last week will make her sick this week.   So it is a completely different road then we were told.  They said she may vomit if she has dumping syndrome but nothing about her throwing up almost every night.  Thank God we go to see the surgeon soon, because i fear she is vitamin deficient at this point, even though she takes all her chewable vitamins everyday like she was told to do.  They had better have some kind of answer for us.  I am concerned if it goes on for long periods of time.  Like what is it doing to her teeth , for her to keep bringing up those acids like tat.  Or is it irritating her esophagus.  I hope they can tell us.  If anyone has an answer that worked for them let me know we will try anything.  The nausea pills they gave her make her vomit too.  So no Zofran dissolve able for her.  Have a great day, and  keep In God We Trust in our American life.   Gail

Well buddies i got wieghed today and i weighed in at 240 and in a few ounces i will be into the 230's. OMG OMG i havent been in the 230's in almost 18 1/2 years ago when i first got pregnant with my daughter.  At that time i was 234 for almost 10 yrs.  And now i may see that soon and i feel so shocked.  I can feel bones that i havent seen or felt in years and years.  And yes they are still there and i cannot wait til i pass the 234 mark.  That will really tell me that i am loosing a big deal of weight.  The other day i found pictures of me when i was at my absolute heaviest ever.  I weighed 324 and  i looked huge .  But at the time i didnt feel like i was as big as i look at me then.  That is 16lbs short of 100 lbs ago omg i cant believe it.  That when my daughter was 5 i weighed almost 100 lbs more then i do right now.  But i am seeing things on me now that i do not like the look of. and that is the skin that is wrinkled and saggy in the inner thighs.  yuck yuck.  but my husband keeps saying well honey when you are done with your weight loss we will get you the plastic surgery.  Even if the ins dont pay we will get it done.  And i think well he must have a mouse in his pocket because i am not having the body life done over my dead body.  But you know ???? i will probably do it when i get to the end of this journey and things that God planned to be here and they are then wayyyy down there, i will probably do it.  but just being 6 weeks out of the sleeve, i am thinking i dont want to go thru all that pain again post op.  but the vain me says if i do all this then why not look rockin when i am done after all this work.  At least get the boob back to where they are suppoed to be.  Then it will be well there is so much hangin skin we could do that too.  I know it is a long way away.... but him and his mouse are right i will probably do it. we will have to see what happens.  But for now i am so damn happy to see the ligh of 230's are only a few walks away.  Gail D