pasquini

Btw: thx for chiming in folks, this is turning out to be very cathartic for me. Love this place!

Woot!!! Congrats on reaching GOAL!!! Even with the change this is where you origanally started for and you dis it!! *que inspirational celebratory music* I to changed my goal weight for the exact sane reason. I reached goal and was just over bmi for normal by 6lbs so i lost another 10 and that gives me 4 lbs of float. :-) im glad i did. It helps mentally for me. I sooo understand the skin thing. I know on one level that what is bunched up under my clothes and held in check by underarmour is skin, but ugh!!!! I am gonna have a lower body lift evemtually. I just feel like that will be closure, the final piece of the new me putting the old to rest.

Congrats!! And yes that would certainly rank as a best comment!

Ok here I sit eating a granola bar, carb loading on purpose! I'm below goal, and really dont want to lose anymore!! Its funny in a ironic, surreal way. I alway envied small people, even skinny guys because I would have taken that over where I had always lived as the fat guy. Yet, here I am truely concerned and stressed about losing more. I feel like my loss was a fantastic success, 8 months 273lbs to 158; 311 at my heavest. I stayed hyper focused, underate my sleave, became a runner, worked hard and journaled every crumb that went into my mouth. It worked. I didnt end up with any crossover addictions. Or so i thought, lol. Oh, sure im not eating dirt, or drinking gas, or growing out my toe nails to 12in like the people on strange addictions last night, however, as I am trying to stop losing (i should say I have been mostly stable for the last 5 weeks-ish) I still cant order my cappuchino with anything orher than splenda, and I stress about anything calorie dense. It's like being addicted to the idea of needing to lose weight. When you have been trying for 25 years its a hard habit to release. I think I understand what anorexics go through, in that im 5'8 158-164 depending on when I weigh, and still cant see myself as thin. This weekend my girlfriend looks at me and says are those your new skinny jeans? I smile an say yes, to which she say wow, are they like a 34? Now I should have been elated being that 8 months ago I was in a 54, but I was like... "What!? Ugh, dont even talk to me now. They are 30's!!!! I wear a 32 normally. 34's fall off without a belt, are you saying I look fat? " she just laughed at me and said "sheesh, I so know how men feel now!". Kissed me and told me I looked great, while I feigned distain. But here's the thing I thought, see I still dont look small! And at the same time my friends that wear a 32-34 dont look big. Not sure what my point is today just getting some of this outta my head. Dont get me wrong i love my new self!!! Just so strange.....

Welcome back!! You are so gonna love the new you! OMG!! Everything i imagined being not over weight (lol i still cant type thin about myself) is no where near how great it is!! Stay focused, dream small GodSpeed

Woot!!! Good for you girl! We all sooo understand! Which makes this place so great! Know that for a month or so your not gonna get anywhere near all your liquid and protien if u are like most. It takes a while. Dont push it, undereat your sleave and keep moving. U will be in One-derland before you blink!!! GodSpeed

I know this stage is hard, however, you can do this!!! You are making a lofe long choice that is going to take you on an amazing dream filled journey. After your surgery u absolutley!!! Can not cheat without risking a leak. Your head will still want solids, u might as well beat it into submission now. On another note, an added benifit of this preop os that it will remove most true solids from you digestive tract which will reduce the risk of a nick to your intestines during surgery as well as make certain bathroom visits easier right from the get go after surgery. I had cottage cheese and yogurt on my diet until three days out an then it was only liquid and then at 48 hours out it was clears only. Everything was smooth for me. :-)

My advice overall is to not crack. It can be like detox! Seriously right now is a great time to change tge relationship your head has with food. It is so easy to let the fact that iur stomachs are smaller convince us that a "treat" is ok. Ultimatley it will be, but after beating the cravings into submission!!! Lol. If u must there are some decent sugar free chocolates and such. Even reeses cups. Our sugar free puddings and jello. For me it was more about winning the head battle until the cravings went away. That took a while. Now at goal (12lbs below actually) i allow myself whatever i want. Interesting what i want has changed signifigantly. Just keep in mind sugar free isnt calorie and carb free make sure u add the treats into your totals. :-) GodSpeed

It will indeed get better. You could try eating under you list. By this i mean if your get this a lot then back up on your food list. Stay on liquids a little longer, go back one step on your diet list and progress at a slower pace.

Id be interested in finding out what my blood sugar is. With the calorie restriction you could be experiencing hypoglycemia.

Lol, i know right?! Sheesh i get why skinny people stay that way they never can sit down always have to keep moving!! :-)

Ugh!! Yup knees kill me at night and i cant freaking sit diwn with out my butt hurting. But I'll take it!

I have been taking prilosec since surgery. 10months now. I have tried a few times to come off it. But have had to go back on.

Im excited for you, it is a tough journey, but worth all the work! Stay focus. Dont rush anything. Listen to your body. Your gonna do great!!

I was sleeved there by Dr. Almanza may 10 last year. Best decision i ever made! I postes a pic update a couple days ago in the success forum if u wanna see where u will be in the near future. :-)

Aww thxs. :-) that made me smile.

A plication is a slightly differant proceedure. They do not remove the stoma, but instead fold it into itself and sew it there. In theory it doesnt leak because it wasnt cut. However, the sutures can leak and there is some debate on the hormone ghrelin (hunger hormone) still being produce. In the non-plocation approach 85 percent of the stomach is actually cut away and removed. The the remaing is sew back together. In this proceedure the early stages are the time to be watchful for leaks. But it also remove the portion of the stomach that produces ghrelin. In my case i have not felt hungery sine may 10th last year. :-)

No reason to feel guilty watching it. :-) heck u have to tool to control it now! You are gonna love this new life! I started walking and jogging small amount at 3 months out and as i got smaller i fell in love with it.

First let me say 85lbs is a huge success!!!! That a large dog! Go ahead pick uo a neighbors large dog and lug it around a day or two and see if you feel u have failed when u notice the differance. :-) celabrate the success you have had thus far. 2nd are you journaling everything you eat and drink? I mean everything? If not you have to start there is no way to adjust unless you have a true picture of what is going on. 3rd why in the world are you going a month without weighing? I know this is against the grain of some on here but when i was in my losing phase i was in the scale daily. It served as the best reminder of where i was and where i had been. It also allowed me to see how the foods, salt intake, liquid in take effected me daily. The scale was my friend, not rhat i always liked what it read, but because it gauged my eating and held me accountable. Daily weighing may not work for you but for me it was a must to keep my head focused. Also if something isnt working and you don't know for weeks at a time then you are missing opportunities to adapt your diet and exercise. Personally i think the minimum one should go is every 3 days. (i have my reasons but too much to type on this tiny phones keyboard). At least then you can adjust or maintain. Waiting a month is lost opportunity. With all that said remember u have lost a really big dog already!!! Thats awesome and a success