TheSleevedLife
Hi! My name is Pennie and I love my sleeve! I've lost over 100 pounds with it, and I'm in maintenance. I think my favorite thing about my new life is that I can shop anywhere I please. It used to be that I could only visit one of a handful of stores to find things in my size, but now I can walk into any store I wish and be guaranteed to find something that fits.
I was always "chunky" as a child. By the time I was in college I was already well into the yo-yo dieting lifestyle. By the time I was married, I was 100 pounds overweight. Before I had my first kid, I was almost 130 pounds overweight! I ate healthy foods, in general, but I just ate WAY too much! I'd diet, hit a stall and throw in the towel, and then gain it all back (plus some!). For the first time in my life, I feel like I've found a permanent solution to my obesity problem. (I hope!!!!)
I'm a full time mom, a homemaker, a housewife... and I'm also a writer. I recently wrote a book about the sleeve that I hope will help other patients who are considering weight loss surgery. I know when I got my sleeve, I couldn't find ANY sleeve patients to talk to. Even to this day, almost everyone in my support group is a gastric bypass or adjustable band patient. I have made some sleeve friends online, which has helped to bridge that gap. Thank goodness for the internet! I hope that my little book will help reach more people suffering from morbid obesity to know that there ARE choices when it comes to weight loss surgery. The sleeve surgery was definitely the right choice for me personally.
I still weigh myself at least every week. I exercise five times a week. I still write down every single thing that I eat. (I love using livestrong's my daily plate!I feel that maintenance can be even harder than losing the weight! It's all about constant vigilance for me, because I know I could go back to being morbidly obese if I let my guard down.
I'm thinking about plastic surgery right now to remove excess skin around my stomach. OK, ideally... I'd love to have extra skin removed from my stomach, my neck, and my arms!! My skin is apparently not going to snap back! I haven't decided yet, though, when and if I'll do it. I hope to get inspiration and information from other post-WLS plastic surgery patients here.
Thanks for reading my story!
