Teresa V.

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Well, here I am 5 years later. I am still in the "normal" weight zone and still loving life. Yeah, I'd like to maybe take off 5-10 lbs, but I'm healthy and feeling good, so I'm happy with that.  

Wow, I can't believe it's been 3 years since I had my VSG. It's amazing how the day went without me even thinking about it till this morning. I guess I am really living my life. I still love my VSG! It is possible to gain with it. I know for me, my metabolism is all kinds of jacked up. If I were to eat what a normal person eats to maintain, I would gain big time. I still don't eat all that much. I weigh every day, and when I notice some lbs sneaking on, I will diet again. My tastes changed after surgery, and they are still pretty much the same as they were right after surgery. Things i loved before surgery, that I no longer liked after surgery, I still don't care for now. That was a great thing, because I really don't like things like hamburgers anymore. I don't really like much at fast food places at all. I seem to lose weight on vacations because we hit the fast food places more, and I only eat a few bites and I'm done. I actually love working out now. I never thought I would be one that likes it, and I just recently got to this point. I do a step and pump aerobics class and I look forward to those classes every week.
My dream weight was to get to 130 lbs. I got down to 117 and was constantly told how bad I looked (people will still tell me "you really looked bad then". I worked really hard (it took almost a year) to get up to 125 to 130. This morning I was 132. I fluctuate between 130 to 135. If I get to 135 I panic and go into diet mode. I think I am at the perfect weight for me now, and I'm so much more confident that I have ever been. People tell me I smile more, and just seem happier, and friendlier. I guess I didn't look as friendly back then. Probably because I was so miserable.
Anyway, I just wanted to pop over and say hello to everyone. I haven't posted in a long time. Every so often I will read the forums, but I just don't get over here much.

My biggest obstacle is my husband. I love him dearly, but he seems to think that he has to buy me chocolates on any holiday or celebration. He got me 2 lbs of mixed chocolates on my birthday (May 5th). I told him, I would physically hurt him if he did that for mothers day. I bet it crossed his mind. I told him he just wants me to be fat. I know he doesn't but he just seems to think about foods being a celebration. He isn't obese, but he has gained some weight now that he's getting older. He loves going out to eat. He says I'm "no fun" because I don't want to go to buffet type of places because I know I wont eat my money's worth, and I just usually feel miserable because I want to try a little of everything. So, he's my biggest obstacle, but I'm still working on him. lol

Wow, I can't believe it's been 2 years. My life is awesome since my life changing surgery. There isn't a single bad thing I can say about my VSG. Yes, at first, when you're healing, it's not fun, but you just went through a major surgery.

I haven't had problems keeping my weight in check. I got down to my lowest of 117, and started freaking out because that was about 13 lbs lower than I wanted to be. I worked to bring my weight up, thinking I wanted to be 130 lbs. Well, I got up to about 122 to 126 and am thrilled with that. I guess my body had different plans for me. I still weigh everyday (old habits die hard, or don't die at all for me. lol). If I were to see myself get above 128, then I would kick it up a notch and work to bring it back to where I'm at now. I know even 128 is below my "dream" weight (the weight I thought I wanted to be my entire adult life), but this is where I am and I love it! Plus, I don't want to go into a weight gain mode, because you all know we're all worried about weight gain. 

I think part of what keeps me on track is I stay involved in my local support groups. I am a leader of the sleeve group, and co-lead another local one. I think it's important to me, and I just love helping others. Even if I wasn't leading any of them, I would still feel a need to go. I think people look to those of us who have reached goal, because they know it's possible to get there. Plus, they keep me on track because I don't want to fail them either.

I think I eat like a normal person now. Yes, I still go for protein first, but I don't count anything like I did before. I don't feel like I'm on a diet, because I really do like how I eat now. I don't really crave the junk anymore. If I'm somewhere and dessert is offered, I'll take a small piece. Unlike before surgery where I would eat the biggest one I could get, and if 2nds were possible I would have gone back for more. I do have my weaknesses, but I just try to keep them out of my house. If I know it's something I wont be able to stay out of, I just wont buy it.

I have changed inside as well as out. I am way more out going. I'm happier and have way more energy. I get noticed now more than ever, compared to being ignored when I was obese.

I recently had smart lipo done on my outer thighs. Smart lipo is like lipo, except they also use a laser which helps to tighten the skin. I have always had "saddlebags" and now that I went through all this to lose weight, it's just not acceptable to me anymore. lol
It's been a month since the smart lipo and I'm thrilled. My right thigh was a lot bigger than my left, and it's still not all the way flat, but that might get better over time. The laser part of the lipo is supposed to take 4 to 6 months for final results because the laser awakens the collagen and from that point, it starts slowly tightening it. It's something like that. LOL I just don't know how to explain it. Either way, it's great.  Yes, I still have loose skin in places, but nothing really bad. I don't expect to be wearing bikini's, but I just wanted to look good in clothes and felt I didn't with the lumps bulging out from my outer thighs. 

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. Thanks to everyone here before me for giving me the inspiration while I was going through the losing phase.

Being a support group leader has been one of the best things I have done. I really enjoy helping those who have questions and having such a wonderful group of people to go through this with.

Well, I ended up at 118, and hopefully now it has stopped. It has slowly been dropping since vacation which was around July 10th. Now, my high number seems to be at 120. On the weekends I tend to go to 118. It's strange that I have to watch my eating habits in a totally different way than before. Before I had to watch them so I could lose weight, now I have to be careful not to miss a meal or anything like that because it seems I can still lose weight pretty easily. I don't think I am anything close to having a problem (because I'm still a good 10 lbs away from being under weight), but I certainly don't want to keep losing, so I am now having to watch myself in a totally different way than I ever have before in my life. It's strange to live a life of watching calories to keep from gaining weight or so I can lose weight, and now it's having to change the way I have thought my entire life. I LOVE it, but it's an adjustment that I never thought I would have to do. lol
Oh, and just so you know, it's not always easy to just stop the weight loss. I have sort of been able to do it, but if I started having a problem, I can't do things like just add in shakes or ice cream because those make me nauseous. Greasy type foods make me feel horrible, high fat foods make me feel bad and eating more often isn't really much of an option because I already eat 5 times a day and sometimes 6. I can't just eat junk to keep from losing weight, because junk just doesn't sit well with me and I feel horrible for a good hour or so after eating it.
Teresa

It's very strange that vacation started my weight loss back up. I now weight 120. It isn't coming off fast, but I did notice it start to go down since vacation. I'm going to try to eat in a way to keep it where it is, or make it go back to 125.

Well, I'm now a year and 2 months post op. My lowest weight was 122 (it got to 121, but was only there a day) then I had the "bounce back" weight of a couple of lbs. I was staying at 124 pretty much constantly (it would fluctuate up and down a couple of lbs) till we went on vacation. When we got back from vacation I was at 121, but it's been pretty much 122 now. It will fluctuate between 121 and 124 now. I haven't see 126 since we left for vacation. Usually the high number it would hit while fluctuating would be 126, but now the high number is 124. Either way, I'm pretty much the same. I was a little worried what vacation would do. We did tons of walking around, but we ate out every meal. I still can't eat much at a time, so I pretty much need to be eating 5 times a day. During vacation that just wasn't happening, which is probably why I lost weight.
I love everything about my VSG. I would do it all over again if I had to. I've been doing great at maintenance for about 4 months.

We took the first picture when Kim was 3 weeks post op and I was 6 months. In the bottom picture I'm 11 months post op and Kim is 6 months post op. 
What a difference!

Wow, we had our 2nd support group meeting yesterday and it was so much fun! I am so proud to be able to be an OH leader for this group. I hope to be a good role model and example. I think they will help me stay in line. LOL
We had 26 people show up! I couldn't' believe how great of a turn out we had! It was amazing!

I'm a size 4 pants and small shirt in this picture. I never imagined I would be wearing this size of clothes.


Here is an update to one of my first pictures taken. The first one was taken the week before surgery. Brenda is on the left (brunette) and Lindy is my angel and is on the right. She was about 4 months post op in the first picture, and in the 2nd picture she is wearing a size 2. Brenda was about a month post op (I think) in the first picture. The shirt she is wearing doesn't show how small she is now, but she's done awesome as well!

Now, this was taken last weekend (3/8/08):