M2G

Congratulations on your 1-year mark! Don't give up hope! I'm 16 months post-op and still not at goal yet either! It is not a race (although it is hard to see someone come on here and say I'm 6 months post-op and at GOAL!!!!) Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for them, but that simply is NOT my story. What I do know is that if you don't "work" your sleeve you won't get results. I say this from experience and also from watching my hubby. He is sleeved (1 year will be March 7th) and I think he has lost about 65lbs in this past year. He also has about 25lbs to get to goal and when I asked him (he's been stalled since before Christmas) if he thinks he is done or he wants to lose more, he said he's not DONE yet but hasn't had MOTIVATION to work his sleeve. So he eats smaller amounts of food, but doesn't measure his food, nor track his calories, nor does he monitor his carbs, and he's fallen off the exercise wagon. So basically he felt like the stall was his own doing, and I'm not sure where he will find the motivation to get the last of the weight off, but I told him to not give up. So that is my advice to you, is to NOT give up. Just because you haven't lost -100 lbs in a year doesn't mean you CAN'T lose -100lbs. Just going to take you longer, but you will get there if you want to badly enough. Hang in there!!!

I have been working out at my local Curves for just shy of 8 years now (my 8 year will be in April 2012) and I've been going about 3-5x a week for those entire 8 years. I have added in extra arm work since being sleeved 16 months ago and I do still have bat wings (I'm 40.) BUT, I have noticed something even in just the last 3-4 months...I'm starting to LOSE the bat wings. I don't think they will ever go away completely (without surgery which I'm not planning on doing) SO just work on your arms, and don't be sad if you don't get instant results. These things take time, so have patience and keep working on it!

I've been following your story and I'm soooooo happy for you that your leak is healed and the horrid stent is gone! I love your new photo, you have a wonderful smile! Just remember to take things slowly in regards to eating, even though you are (3 months roughly?) out, just treat it like you are a few weeks out with the ordeal you have been through. Also don't swear off burritos forever, but definitely they don't agree with your sleeve right now. So start with less spicy, more bland food and you will probably just have to experiment with stuff to figure out what makes your sleeve happy. I'm so glad you can eat real food again and that the constant vomiting is gone!

C'mon, 11am tomorrow already! Will be thinking of you, and prayers that it is healed and the stent can be banished from you FOREVER!

I LOVE THIS!!! It is such a great feeling! I remember feeling completely overwhelmed in the "regular" section of the store...like a stranger in a strange land. I got over that pretty quick and am wearing 12's and even 10's in some things (down from a 22/24!) I dont' feel like such a stranger anymore, and am generally still amazed that things fit.

Oh my goodness this is soooo true (AT least in OUR household!) My hubby is sleeved and has neither the time nor desire to join a message board. He learned everything he knows about the sleeve from me! Which is ok. I don't mind being his mentor, and together we have lost almost 170lbs and both look and FEEL 10 years younger. So all is well with us, but I have to just put in here that generally the men aren't as "chatty" as the women. Just how it is!

What a wonderful wonderful thing for her to do. Favoredone, YOU ARE AWESOME!!! Enjoy your beautiful roses Jasleeve, I love that it turned your day right around. You have an ENTIRE message board praying for you and we will ALL be thinking of you come Mon!!!

Funny about goals. I think it's going to take super-human effort for me to lose the last -20. I am right now a size L on top (some Med. but usually a L) and I am a 10/12 on bottom, and part of me thinks that this is good, I could stop here and be happy. But then part of me goes "what if" ...where would I be if I could lose the last -20? I'm also pretty happy that I'm still a DD, and I remember our LilMissDiva saying she REALLY got deflated with the last -20 or so and so I'm worried about that. I'm not planning plastics anytime soon (my kids need to go to college before I need plastics) but it is kind of fun to dream about. Maybe someday. It's hard stuff figuring out where we should land. I'm 5'6" but certainly not as tall as you Meg. I too will never be 130lbs. Just isn't going to happen. And I'm okay with that. At this point my goal doesn't even put me in the healthy BMI range, but you know what, that is ok too. As long as you are happy where you land, all the BMI charts, and drs. in the world can take a flying leap, in the end we have to be happy with ourselves!

Torani uses Splenda. Sorry that you can't tolerate them, as they have been a lfiesaver for me. Also I like to sprinkle in a touch (like a tsp.) of powdered sugar-free pudding (Jello brand makes the little boxes of pudding mix, and the sugar-free stuff is in the blue box) but I will get flavors like cheesecake (or white chocolate) and sprinkle the powdered pudding into the yogurt, it thickens it a tad and it sort of is like eating real cheesecake! The sugar-free pudding has some calories also but very minimal, I think 1/4 of the box is about 25 calories so a sprinkle might be about 5 calories? And to me it's like eating dessert, only WAY better for my body!

So, if nothing stays down, yet they say you are not dehydrated, HOW are you supossed to be getting any nutrition at all? I am continuing to pray about you and your whole situation, and praying that you have a break through soon, so you can have some peace. This sounds just miserable.

At support group my NUT (who runs the group) was telling those of us who seemed to have developed a Sweet Tooth to try and incorporate more fruit. I have to be honest. I was NOT a big fruit eater BEFORE surgery and of course it got much much much worse when you are only eating meat and VEGGIES and being a good WLS patient. So I am going to try and make a good faith effort to eat more fruit, now that I can. The one fruit that I have always enjoyed is a good granny smith apple with a few slices of sharp cheddar cheese...that is one favorite snack of mine. Course I had that yesterday and still indulged in a few treats at the super bowl party yesterday...gah!

Not only do you look so SKINNY, but you look COOL! Your kids must be soooooo proud of you! *LOVE THIS POST* SO I use http://caloriecount.about.com and I tried myfitnesspal a while back but I didn't like the way you are forced to put in quantities. At CC, you can do things in grams, oz, servings, 1/2 a serving, or 1/8 etc. I have an iPhone and there is a CC app (sounds like MFP has one too) but it has the bar code scanner etc. which is really cool execpt that I try to stay away from processed food as much as possible. I did use it the other night and was pretty tickled at how well it worked. As for me, full disclosure here, I gave myself a DAY off from tracking and I did eat quite a bit off plan this weekend, esp. yesterday with it being the superbowl, we went to a party and I GRAZED and SNACKED and ate very little Protein. BUT today is a a NEW day and I'm back on the wagon....CHEER to that!

What an incredible victory and what an incredible gift!!!

I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry you are going through all of this. It sounds awful, painful, horrible and just plain exhausting. Add on top of that losing your job, your boyfriend, and basically having zero support, I think that any one of us in the same situation would feel a ton of regret, wishing to hit the "rewind" button and go back to life before surgery. Also I think many of us *know* and *understand* that with any surgery there are RISKS. We realize there are risks, but *hope* that we fall into the 98% of people who DON'T have ANY complications at all. I know for a fact at support group there were people who were banded 3-5 years and yet when things like "erosion" and "slippage" were mentioned they acted shocked. A few of them asked for clarification, and I was thinking, "I've never even had the band and I knew all about those possible risks of being banded!" So I think a lot of times we go into this just hoping and praying that complications do not come our way. I think that 1-2% leakage rate sounds really minimal until you ARE that 1-2% that has a severe complication then it's 100% for you! And that is the awful truth. And I'm sorry you are living through this and all the pain it has caused you, physically, emotionally, financially, and every other way. But I'm glad you are alive, and I know deep down you are a fighter because you are worth fighting for. I am glad you have a forum like this that is a place for you to vent and kick and scream and to SHARE. Thank you for sharing. I hope you feel like the people here care about you and I hope since you are lacking support from your real-life friends and family that you can at least come here and feel like everyone is cheering you on and hoping that soon you will have healed and that this will all be a distant horrid memory. Please keep sharing, and we can keep lifting you up and for those of us who are the sort to pray that we can continue to include you in our prayers. Stay strong, and may better days lie ahead for you! HUGS!

YAY! So far the Flexees brand has been my favorite, and no they do not squish the boob area! Extra bonus points! I found some at Ross and TJMaxx for a lot cheaper than what the dept. store sells them for. Oh also check at Kohl's on their clearance rack, and take a 15%, 20% or 30% coupon into Kohl's with you. I bought 2 of the Flexees in Jan 2011 (that was when I was 3 months post-op) and they were clearanced down to $11.20 plus I had a 15% off coupon so before tax they were like $9.50 those were the size 2XL ones that I bought (and still wear occassionally although I am on the hunt to replace them in a size L!) The only down side to shopping at Ross or clearance racks, etc. is that your selection is limited. BUT I have found a brown one, a grey and white (layered look) one and I really like wearing them as layering options so it's kind of fun to have different colors, etc. Good luck, I rarely go a day when I'm not wearing something by Flexees!

I have friends from Curves who all say the same thing, "I just don't remember you being that BIG" when I pull out the photos. They saw me EVERY DAY at that size, but I guess they think they are being polite to say that they didn't notice the elephant in the room. Cuz I sure remember how it felt to be that big! (and I've changed the same sizes as you from a 24 to a 12, even some 10's woot!)

I've been a frustratingly slow loser as well! I did try to go up to 1200 even 1400 calories for a period of about 3 weeks and nothing, I didn't lose anything! So I'm back to 800-1000. I did have my BMR (basal metabolic rate) done and it showed that I burn about 1400-1500 cals doing absolutely nothing. If it was simple calories in and calories out my BMR + my exercise + low calorie should work. And I do have to say that it did work for me in Jan (just last month 2012) I lost -7lbs in the whole month. I was pretty religious about logging my food, etc. and stayed within the 800-1000 range. I was shocked because I'm 15 months post-op and had spent pretty much from about 8 months-14 months stalled. Anyway, I'm going to keep the cals low and hope to get the last 20 off or so here in the next 6-8 months! Good luck it's frustrating because what works for one person doesn't for the next etc. I think we just have to do what works best for us, but it sure is frustrating trying to figure it all out!

Congrats on your two year surgiversary and your loss and most importantly congrats on KEEPING IT OFF! YAY! Thanks for your honest account of how you felt, I'm sure that some people will always feel that we took the easy way out. We KNOW better! :wink1:

Swizzly...sorry I missed this (re your cough) I'm wondering if there is a correlation? I know that our lungs can be compromised during surgery, but you are almost a year post-op so that is a bit troubling. Thinking of you, hoping that it clears up soon!

This is just my opinion and that is what you asked for. I would NOT do the band OR the plication and I certainly wouldn't do them together. I personally don't believe that the band is a permanent weight loss surgery. I feel as if it has a shelf-life, due the the incidences of erosion, slipping, ports flipping, tubing cracking, etc. I believe that most people WILL not keep their bands until they are in their 90's. As far as the plication alone as a WLS, I don't think that it has proven to be as effective as the sleeve. But time will tell as it is still such a new surgery. I personally (again JUST my opinion) do not like the idea of the stomach being folded on itself. I know for a short period of time that surgery can be reversed, but I think after the window closes, then it is permanent. I don't like the idea of my tissue being folded and growing together and there are incidences of the tissue not being folded correctly and dying (the necrosis that you mentioned.) But of course their are risks with ANY WLS or any surgery for that matter, and you may not be one that ends up with a necrotic stomach tissue. Now, putting them together, the banded plication is definitely new and I'm sure that there are success stories out there. I just worry that anything dealing with a band is temporary. I know that people have a hard time with cutting and losing a good portion of their stomach, but once you are healed, you are done. I do not lay awake at night worried that my sleeve won't hold or that I will need another future surgery to fix or otherwise replace my sleeve (like many have had to do with the band.) I think you are wise to do your research and learn all that you can. I know for me I wanted ONE surgery and to be DONE.

Ha ha ha, that is a great story! Creepy but nice, lol!

You look amazing!!! Congrats on your loss!!!

Checking in over here, I haven't been keeping up on much going on over here, as I went back to work part-time and suddenly I'm having to schedule my time more effectively. I'm also freaking out because I am used to working out EVERY single day so with my new work schedule, I'm missing out on my workouts, so I am hoping to get a handle on that soon. I actually lost -6lbs in Jan. and I was SOOOOOO happy! I'm 15 months post-op and have had several months where I didn't show any loss at ALL, so this was huge for me to lose -6lbs in one month! It has been a huge confidence booster to know that just because the "honeymoon is over" doesn't mean that I can't still keep losing. Like Coops said I'm so happy about this thread because we all "get it" as far as the fact that we are working our arses off to lose and working for each and every pound lost. So just wanted to pop in over here and say hello...Meg, keep us posted on the breathing issues....that sounds scary! I hope you can the get the testing you need so you can find some answers.

Tracey, you are doing so good (hubby too!) and I am so happy for you both!!!! You have come a long way since the start of your journey, keep rocking that sleeve girl!!!

Thanks Peacequeen!