Love Chrys Journey's

[lovechry-wls]

[fatimamononoke]

anonymously send me positive vibes or just happy thoughts

[my-wls-journey]

Face transformation is wild!

[lovechry-wls]

[lovechry-wls]

DO NOT Trust Your Fart: Vertical Gastric Sleeve Edition

Getting use to this new stomach and finding out what's is/isn't going to bother me is going to be a journey. 🤦🏾‍♀️ With that being said I had my first embarrassing moment. I am just happy I was by myself 🙌🏾 if anyone was around I think I would have died ☠️ Since my surgery, I have had to sleep on my couch. No matter how I try and position myself in my bed I always have horrible gas pains 😡👹 It was the middle of the night and I hadn't had anything to drink in a couple hours so of course I was having hunger pains. I got up and drunk 3 sips from the protein shake that was on my kitchen table. The protein shake was a shake I made. It had unflavored protein powder, banana and cream sugar free jello with 1 TB spoon of Tarani Sugar Free French Vanilla Syrup. It had been out for a while so it was lukewarm. *BAD IDEA* I have been drinking something similar to this drink for the past two days so I assumed it would always agree with my stomach. After taking 3 sips, I laid back down. 10 minutes later my stomach started feeling a little funny. Feeling like I had to pass gas and take a s%!t 💩so I got up and went to the bathroom. I handled my business and then went back to lay on the coach and eventually drifted back to sleep. ⌛️ ⏳ 30 mins later, I had a little pressure come back to my stomach. I already handled my business so I am thinking it's just gas. So I let it out. *bad idea* As soon as I did that I felt wetness so I jumped up and ran to the bathroom so fast you would have thought I was a damn track star. All I was thinking was this can not have happened. This has to be a damn dream. I better not have gotten shit💩 on this damn couch. 🤦🏾‍♀️ I am 26 and Yes, I shart my pants. 🤷🏾‍♀️Thank God, I slept in my sweatpants so nothing got on my coach. 🙌🏾 I share this experience to say as a new Bariatrics Patient just be careful what you put in your new stomach. Just because you use to drink/eat things before the surgery, it could react completely different to your new stomach. So be careful and please DO NOT TRUST YOUR FART Stay Lovely, LoveChrys❤️

[lovechry-wls]

Now that you are on your liquid diet, I am sure you are trying to figure out what you need to pack for your hospital stay? In My Bag I Packed: 2 Pair of PJ pants 2 T-Shirts 2 pair of Undies 2 boxes of Gas- X Book Phone Charger Phone Charger Case Tampons Headphones After packing all of these things guess how many I actually used? I only used the charger and the headphones. Use my experience as a lesson to not overpack. As long as you don’t have any complications you should only be in the hospital 1-2 days. You will spend the majority of the time in your hospital bed going in and out of sleep or you’ll be up walking trying to relieve the gas pains. Meaning you really do not need much. You’ll be in your hospital gown the whole time. You have a TV so it’ll keep you entertained. My doctor required me to walk 30 laps before I was released so I used my headphones wile walking. What I wish I had? After surgery, your throat will be a little soar because they put a tube down it that helped you breath during surgery. Also you won’t be able to drink ANYTHING until you pass a leak test to insure there is no leaks in your stomach. This means that your mouth will literally feel like the Sahara dessert. So you do want to bring a mouth rinse to help with the dryness. Just make sure you DO NOT accidentally swallow any of it. Optional Gas-X is such an amazing product. Unfortunately my doctor would not allow me to use it while in the hospital but as soon as I left I used it every couple hours and it helped relieve the gas. So I would bring it just in case you are able to use it. Lastly, this could be completely optional. It could be useful depending on your pain tolerance and if you have any complications. You may want to bring a pillow for the ride home to relieve any pressure from the bumpy ride. Let’s talk about it. If you are preop what are somethings you feel are a must have? If you are postop what are somethings you wish you packed? Stay Lovely ❤️ Love Chrys

[lovechry-wls]

3 Tips To Get Through Liquid Diet: Vertical Gastric Sleeve

First they want you do a 6 month diet and then they want you to do a 14 day liquid diet. If your anything like me you probably were thinking if they want me to get healthy then why are they taking food away? 🤷🏾‍♀️😩 Good question. If you do not know by now, I will be getting the Vertical Gastric Sleeve done on August 30th. With the procedure the doctor will be cutting out 80% of the stomach. The liver sits in front of your stomach. The purpose of the diet is to shrink your liver so the doctor can have easy access to your stomach to perform the surgery. Depending on your doctor, they will either put you on a strict diet or a liquid diet. The liquid diet could last 48 hours up to 4 weeks. Thankfully I didn't have to do a month 🙌🏾 however I did have to do a 14 day liquid diet. The liquid diet is a mental process. The first 3 days are the hardest because your going from eating what ever you want to completely not eating anything solid for 14 days. Although, we are all adults some times our minds are comparable to kids. As soon as we put a restriction on ourself we tend to want it even more. Through this process I learned 3 key things to help me get through this process. 🔑Never Let Yourself Get Hungry Although there is restrictions on food. There usually isn't restrictions on how much liquid you can take in. Keep liquids on you and drink something constantly. It was RECOMMENDED that I intake 5 meal replacement shakes a day to make sure I am getting the nutrition. My doctors did not want me to have malnutrition going into the surgery. I learned that if i drink a cup of water before and after my meal replacement shake I would stay "fuller" longer. Protein Shake Options Bariatrics advantage protein powder Celebrate protein powder CHIKE coffee protein powder Premier protein shake Atkins shake (Blue top only) Fluids drink at least 8 cups a day. Water Sugar free powder drinks Crystal light Sugar free Kool-Aid Propel Power aid zero Coffee/teA (2 cups of caffeine) Sugar free jello Sugar free popsicle Broth 🔑Stay Positive Your attitude is the foundation to your happiness. If you go into the liquid diet feeling like this is going to be the worst 14 days of your life then I can guarantee it will be. However, if you go into it with an open and positive mind then it will get easier with each passing day. If your anything like me staying positive can be hard especially if your always surrounded by food. 😩Anytime I felt a hunger pain or had an urge to eat something I always flipped my thoughts. Meaning, I automatically switch to thinking about why I am doing the diet as well as why I am doing the surgery. Doing this allowed me to focus on my over all goal as a pose to the short moment of weakness I was feeling. 🔑Stay Busy You have to keep yourself busy. The busier you are the less you will focus on food. What I did was I signed up for as much OT before my surgery as possible. I helped my close friend move. I found anything I could just to get out the house. With these 3 steps I was able to get through the liquid diet with ease. What about you? If your going through a liquid diet what are your 3 key tips that helped you get through it?

[such-a-pretty-sheri-deactivated]

VSG or WLS

Please like/reblog this if you have had vsg or wls or are even in the process of it. I’m in the beginning stages right now and would love to follow more people who are going through the same thing

[i-have-a-fever-for-cobel]

Entering day 25 post op! VSG on July 10th, 2017

[itskalaswlsjourney-blog]

Almost 3 months post op RNY <3

[mywlsurgeryjourney]

Just over one year post op RNY!

[maecaroline-vsg]

VSG Scheduled for 8/15/17!

[lovechry-wls]

I hope you don't change after you have the surgery. I hope you don't become stuck up. Don't lose that weight and start acting brand new. Don't lose the weight and forget about me. I can't be the only person getting these statements.... My first thought is to say "of course I am not going to change." After taking some time and thinking it over, is change really bad? Isn't that what life is about; always changing and evolving into a better person. Hopefully, your current mindset isn't the same from when you were in first grade. Right? I would hope that you've changed in many aspects of your life since then. So, is it really a bad thing to change? With that being said, you damn right I will change. I pray to God I change, grow and evolve. I will use this tool to press a reset on my life. I pray that the person that I evolve to be is a strong, dream chasing woman of color, that will never allow anyone to stop her from her dreams again. It is one change that I am nervous about. The change in other people. As August 30th approaches, I try to mentally prepare myself for this big change. However, I am not sure how everyone around me is going to react to this process. I spent some time reaching out to people who have had WLS impact relationships. I had the pleasure of speaking to a lovely lady who informed me,after 10 years of marriage ,her husband filed for a divorce because he felt she changed. Another person, best friend for 17 years fell out because she "changed" It's evident that you are going to change. However the people around you have to be secure enough in themselves to acknowledge that you will change for the good. Let's talk about it! Have you lost a friendship over WLS? Do you think insecurities played a roll? Stay Lovely, Love Chrys ❤️

[lovechry-wls]

Guess who got there Surgery date???? 🙋🏾🙋🏾🙋🏾 Yes i finally got the date. It's been a LONG road. A year long road to be exact. I had my first consultation August 2016 and to know that I am having my surgery August 2017 is feeling that I can't describe. I don't want to get to excited because I still need the approval from my insurance company. What I will do is continue to claim my surgery and I am claiming a safe and speedy recovery. Next step is my Pre op Appointment which will be August 17 and I will then start my liquid diet 🤦🏾‍♀️😩 You know I always have to hear from you so tell me how you felt when you got your surgery date? Or how do u think your reaction will be when you get the date? Stay Lovely; Love Chrys❤️

[lovechry-wls]

Why are you getting the surgery done? You aren’t even big enough? You don’t need it. This is always the first response that I get from every SINGLE person I tell that. Along with a facial expression like I just told them that I was pregnant by a crackhead. I am not sure if you are like me but this question just irks my soul.

I just feel like, who are you to tell me what I need to do and don’t need. If my doctor that ACTUALLY went to school and got a degree tells me I am a perfect canadite because of my age and my weight then I am fine. At times, I just want to tell each person; I never asked for your damn opinion about the surgery. So you can support or not support just shut the fuck up with your negative opinion. To keep the peace, I just push through the annoyance and put a smile on my face. Then I processed to tell them that my doctor has not found an issue in me having the surgery.

When people think about weight loss surgery they think 10 years ago. When it was very risky and life threatening. My doctor told me that more people die from C-Sections than this surgery, now and days. A lot of people aren’t even open to learn how this industry has changed. They think you have to be 500+ lbs. In all actuality; in order to be a candidate for weight loss surgery/Bariatric surgery you should have a body mass index (BMI) above 40. Now I am not saying just because you have a BMI above 40 you should get it done. This should be the last option.

Me personally, I have been overweight since the age of 5. I have always been the “fat girl” of the group. Growing up, my parents put me on so many diets and brought attention to my weight so much. In there mind, they are doing the right thing.At that the young age I started feeling ashamed of how I looked. I started internalizing my feeling. It was at those moments that I started to fall into what I later found out was depression. What do people do when they are depressed???? They eat. So I started gaining more and more weight. Fast forward; 2015 my coworker went through the process and I watched her transition from the sidelines. It made me started doing research on this WLS. I read articles about it, watched YouTube videos. I joined a Facebook group and I spent HOURS out of the day sitting and going through the page. I observed so much. I talked with people who were successful and people that were not successful. This is why I feel like the negative opinion is’ needed because I am sure I have done more research than them. So just support me or leave me alone because regardless it’s going to happen.

Now I can’t be the only person that has felt like this? In the comment section let me your experience and what your response is?

Stay Lovely, LoveChrys❤️

[lovechry-wls]

Just take a moment and close your eyes. (If you have the time lol) For a couple minutes just Imagine you accomplishing your goal. Not just any goal. Your life changing goal. How does it feel? Amazing and a little emotional right? Hold on to that feeling. Even when you open your eyes and look around and reality steps in, just hold on to that feeling. That feeling is what will motivate you to keep on pushing until that dream becomes a reality. Now, if you are anything like me holding on to that feeling becomes a little hard when life starts hitting you. Whether its a breakup, relationship issues, job loss etc. In reality it is very hard to hold on to it. One way I learned to hold on to it is by creating a vision board. A vision board is a physical reminder that is made up of pictures that represent you and the goals that you are working towards accomplishing. I put mines on the wall in front of my bed so I can see it every morning. After seeing it I always take a couple moments to reflect on what I need to do that current day to accomplish my goal. Once my reflection is over I always have a strength that comes from with in. That amazing and a little emotional feeling is a feeling that will always bring a smile to my face and give me that extra push I need when I feel like giving up. STEPS TO MAKE A VISION BOARD

1. Set the Mood Get a glass of whine or a nice cold non-alcoholic beverage for my non drinkers.Turn some music on. Invite some friends and make a girls night in party 2. Collect images You want to get a variety of magazines or you can print a bunch of pictures of a computer. Just make sure that you are getting pictures that speak to you. If you are anything like me and you feel like every other picture you saw spoke to you its okay I promise the next step will help you 3. Organize Go threw the pictures and put aside the ones that don’t give you that same feeling when you look at it for a second time. Then start placing the ones you like on the board in any order you want Use your creative mind and go nuts. 4.Glue Once you get everything where you want it to be, walk away from it for a couple minutes and then come back to it to make sure you actually like it. Once you have decided its perfect then get some glue and make it stick. 5. Have Fun This isn’t suppose to bring stress. So just let loose, be creative and have fun

If you decide to make a vision board post a picture in the comment section down below or if you already have one post it so I can see all of you guys creative side.

Stay Lovely, LoveChrys

[lovechry-wls]

Why the Fuck Do I need to Diet for 6 Months If I could diet for 6 months then I wouldn’t need the surgery

August of 2016, I made the decision to start the process of getting the Gastric Sleeve. I make an appointment to see a doctor. As I am sitting, listening to him tell me about the labs and different test I will have to take, I was thinking…cool no problem I can do this. He then proceeded to tell me that I would have to stop smoking cigarettes, we will discuss that process at another time. At the time I was smoking a pack of Newport 100’s a week. So stopping was interesting. He decided to wait till the end to tell me about the REQUIRED 6 months SUPERVISED diet. I am sure I looked at my doctor like he had a third eye ball because I was so confused. If I could actually be on a diet for 6 consecutive months then I wouldn’t need the damn surgery. At least those were my thoughts. Tell me in the comment section if I was the only one that thought this. As we are talking about the diet, I start telling him my hesitation and doubts about the diet. He then responds “then maybe your not ready for the surgery” I was so upset. I am thinking “How can you tell me what I don’t need….” I just said fuck it and went to my favorite pizza place and ate a small mighty meat pizza with garlic parm pretzels. I was thinking 🖕🏾🖕🏾🖕🏾the 6 months diet. I am sexy my size anyways so fuck it. For the next couple days, I couldn’t help but think about his comment and it finally hit me maybe he was right. If I could not attempt the 6 months diet then maybe I wasn’t ready for this surgery. I realized that this surgery isn’t something you just get done. It’s something that is LIFE CHANGING and if I am not ready to change my life for only 6 months then how can I get the surgery and keep the weight off for a lifetime. I say that to say this; if you have to do the 6 months diet. Take this time to start mentally preparing your self for the change in eating. We both know that it does take a while to break a habit so you wont be perfect. The six months will be hard at first and you will get frustrated at times. You will fall short some days but the key is to acknowledge your mess up and move forward. Don’t dwell on the negative focus on not making the same mistake. If you were like me you probably ate fast food every day because it was so much easier and convenient. You probably didn’t cook at all. If that sounds like you then take this time to learn how to cook. Try different EASY recipes to start getting you in the habit of healthy eating. Just make conscience healthy decisions. Instead of getting soda with your meals try water with crystal light. Instead of getting fries with your burger get a side salad. The more you get in the habit of making healthy choices the easier it becomes. Also, when you start doing this you find out that even though it is a little bit more time your saving money, which is a plus.

Now I want to hear from you. If you have completed the 6 months diet or in the process what is something that kept you motivate through the 6 months?

Stay Lovely, LoveChrys ❤️

[lovechry-wls]

“What’s my name bitch” was going to be the title but I thought that would be too much to soon…. Raise your hand if you agree 🙋🏾🙋🏾🙋🏾So let me just keep it simple until we warm up to each other. Hello my name is Chrys and welcome to my journeys👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾. Love Chrys Journeys will be a mixture of my weight-loss surgery progress, fashion, beauty and lifestyle. My blog is like my personal diary so expect raw and honest updates. My plan is to share my weight loss surgery to connect with multiple people who have or are intending on getting the surgery done. I don’t have a strong support system so, I figured I could create one. Also, I am hoping to gain an extra push and find people to help hold me accountable through the process. I am excited and also very nervous about the process but I am hoping to share and touch at least one person every step of the way.

Now that you know me, tell me about yourself. Also, in the comment section tell me how did you found my page. Until next time stay Lovely ❤️