M2G

Monty thank you for the wonderful compliment. It is hard to keep believing that you will continue to lose when you lose at a verrrrry slow rate. Trust me! I've been frustrated, and lost patience and sometimes I would come here and see some of the fast losers who not only lose quickly but get to goal quickly and I won't lie, it's hard, because sometimes you just go "why can't that be me?" But the fact remains that it's NOT me and this is MY journey and I will continue to work my sleeve and keep getting results in a timeframe that while it may be frustrating it's also taught me a lot. Your motto needs to be never give up! You look amazing for 68 and I applaude you for having WLS...just goes to show you it's never too late! (I'm 40, btw, and totally wish I had done this 20 years ago, but hey then I wouldn't have the wisdom I have now and certainly wouldn't appreciate my body the way I do now...I had to live morbidly obese for all those 20 years to truly appreciate the gift I've been given!!!)

I believe I had lost about -85lbs in the first year and then just kept on working my sleeve slow and sure. I have not gained any weight back, but I stall for really long periods of time. For instance I've weighed about the same now for the last probably 8 weeks. I lost some earlier this year in Jan/Feb but then it has slowed down and I've been the same for Mar/Apr. I "bounce" up a lb, down a lb, up 2 lbs, down 2lbs, but I write my weight down once a week and I can see that it's been in the same "zone" for quite some time now. Hopefully I'll be dropping some more soon, but in the meanwhile I have to be very patient. It's hard but do-able!

Absolutely. I'm still terrified of gaining the weight back (I'm 18 months post-op!) I basically just decided to use the fear as motivation. Surgery was my LAST resort, I put a lot of time, effort, energy, thought, and research into this option and I refuse to fail and I refuse to go back. I refuse to be a WLS failure!!!

Amazing transformation! Congrats!!!

Well this is just for me personally, but my "honeymoon" period was 3 months. In month 4 I lost exactly -2lbs. I was very dissapointed but my motto has been never give up. I lost about -65lbs by my 6 month mark and then it's been really slow going since about then. But overall I'm happy, just not a very fast loser. I'm 18 months post-op now...

Beautifully written! Now that I'm closer to being at goal than any previous diet I've ever been on, I find that I am left with the skin, etc. but I *knew* that going in, I wasn't coming out with a super-model body. Some days are worse than others, but mostly I'm grateful to be here. And you are right because I never want to forget what it's like to live life in a larger body, I never want to go back!

Well, I wouldn't know because I have not puked ONCE since being sleeved 18 months ago. Choosing the VSG over the band was such a huge weight lifted off my shoulder because I had heard about the PBing (productive-burping) with the band where when food gets stuck it has to go down or come back out, and I just couldn't bear the thought. So I choose the VSG and there really was only one time that I overate and *thought* it might come back up, but about 20 minutes and it passed. Phew. I might be a little unusual in the never-having-puked-post-VSG department, but I'm also super happy about it. And knock-on-wood I haven't had the flu or anything else that would cause me to vomit. Yay!

There is a member here by the name of "Jax" (you can search for her) who was sleeved at about 160ish and she was a band-to-sleeve revision. She hasn't been on here in a long time but you could try PMing her since I think most people have an email associated with their account...it might spit it to her email and she could respond. Good luck!

I have consulted with 2 different paramedics about my surgery and the necessity of a medic alert bracelet. Both of them felt like it was NOT necessary because we don't have a "pouch" like a band or bypass, since our stomach shape is similar to a regular stomach only smaller. It basically refers to if you are unconcious and needing a blind NG tube inserted through the nose/mouth to intubate you and the fact that they could puncture your stomach since it has been surgically altered. I think most bypass people also can't have NSAIDS, so most of their bracelets say something like No blind NG tubes, No NSAIDS, and of course any other personal issues or allergies.

I'm 18 months out... I can definitely eat more than a cup of food. But it also depends on the type of food. Popcorn, and other sliders, I can eat more (so I use portion control with sliders) if you are talking chicken, steak, seafood, dense Protein, etc. then I can eat between 3-4 oz and I'm full. I also tend to underfill my sleeve. I still don't have much hunger so it's easy to measure out a portion and just eat that. Just because I CAN eat more doesn't mean that I should eat more. Hope that helps.

If you like iced coffee, take a bit of instant decaf coffee and mix it with hot water. Then add a bunch of ice, and pour a vanilla protein drink over the ice. I add sugar free caramel syrup and it's like a frappucino without all the fat and calories.

I completely understand where you are coming from. I had the same issue. I had mostly everything from 14-24 in my closet, and I've always cared very much about how I look (I always do my hair, makeup, jewelry, etc.) so it was hard letting go of all my nice clothing. I found that my taste hasn't changed much, but I found myself buying similar clothing in smaller sizes. Now that I'm a 10/12 and M/L I have a few things that are XL (and mostly too big) but I do have a handy mom who can sew. She has fixed a few things for me that were my favorites. So at some point I will go through the XL stuff and see what can be fixed and what needs to go. It is hard, but I think it's a necessary part of letting go of our formerly larger life.

I'm in the Denver area, had surgery 10-22-10 with Dr. Snyder. You can PM me anytime here. It's hard going with very little support, but hang in there...you are doing the best possible thing for your health!!!

Love your dress, you look great!

Awwww, that is awesome! My hubby and I are both sleevers. I was the one to first bring up WLS for *both* of us....while his first reaction was "you go on and do this, you'll be great at this" having him come with me to the surgeon's seminar and learning some of the facts for himself was the clencher. I'm 18 months post-op and he is 13 months post-op. Together we have lost over -170lbs...that is an entire person! Congrats on not only showing your support for your wife, but joining her in her Quest to get healthy!

WOW! You look amazing and have the perfect "hourglass" figure...awesome job! Congrats!

You both look amazing!!!! Congrats. I can see the concern, your after photos look NOTHING like your befores!

Best advice = ALWAYS underfill your sleeve. Weigh and/or measure your food. And when it's gone, it's gone, there is no need for seconds. My NUT said that on a scale of 1 (being like about to pass out from not eating i.e. being hungry) to 10 (being so full you are ready to burst) you should eat until you are about a 4. I think that is excellent advice. I'm 18 months post-op and still weigh and/or measure a lot of my food, just so I know what I'm eating vs. guessing or waiting until I feel full. Hope that helps.

Amazing loss! You look wonderful, congrats!

Awwww, I *missed* it...shoot!!! Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY anyway, sounds like a lovely day. I forgot that you both share a day...did she make the cake? Sorry I missed it...hugs my dear friend!

WOW! Congrats, you look amazing!!!

How fantastic!! Congratulations to you!!!

If there is one thing I could preach about on this topic is to have patience. It didn't come on overnight and it certainly isn't going away overnight either! I'm still working my tool 18 months later and not at goal yet. Little by little, I have learned patience! Hang in there and have fun with Zumba!

Oh wow, I'm so sorry! I agree with everyone else. This is definitely HIS problem and the way to deal with it is to discuss it with him. DO NOT starve yourself. You have to do ALL of this for YOU...no one else. I'm sure he didn't think he was being "insensitive" but that is what came accross. I had a co-worker the other day ask me about if I was classically trained (I'm a graphic artist but I've got a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts with an emphasis in Graphic Design, but it was all before computers did so much for us) and when I began talking to him, he blurted out "WOW, you are a LOT older than you LOOK!" I stopped for a second and just went, "um, yeeeeah, I'm going to take that as a compliment" and of course he fumbled and bumbled about how it was MEANT as a compliment, etc. So even when they are TRYING to be nice sometimes they just miss the mark. Sorry that his comment hit you so hard. Please talk to him about it and let him know how it made you feel! HUGS!!!!

Cheri...wow, looking fantasic!!!