feedyoureye

i became lactose intolerant for a while and am a vegetarian to boot! I used lactaid or soymilk with whey... whey does not contain lactose... check the can to make sure it does not contain other milk products... at around 3 months my ability to eat dairy returned.

12 to 11

I know the first days just creep by so slowly, but I am coming up on my 8th month, and honestly, it feels like I had the surgery about a month ago... the months will FLY by. Just keep walking, sipping and getting in as much protein as you can.... avoid milk for a while and see if that helps.

Congratulations! You look fantastic and I'm sure your little girl is very proud of her mama!

A really simple and straight forward demo! Thanks for posting! I will try to avoid even the little sips I sometimes take during meals.

http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/22858-are-there-any-sleevers-out-there-that-have-gained-a-lot-back/page__p__192980__fromsearch__1#entry192980 Oroborous put it this way in another post... Parsing that out, it means that yes, SOME people do regain weight. But EWL -- excess weight lost -- was still >50% at over 5 years. This means that for MOST people, MOST of the time, MOST of the weight will stay off. Realistically, most of us will probably drop quickly, then plateau, then stay at low weight for a while, perhaps with a long slow drop to a "real" low weight. Then, most of us -- against, speaking statistically -- will probably regain 10-30 pounds over a long period, because that's just how the curve seems to be shaped. A lot of that is genetics, a lot is age. If you look at the weight curves of NON sleevers over the same time span, you'll see about the same curve! So, statistically speaking, the sleeve IS durable weight loss, compared to ANY other method of weight loss that is current known. This doesn't mean that you'll never regain any of it; you likely WILL regain a little from your absolute low (if you think about what "absolute low" means, you'll realize that that means there's nowhere to go but up, since that's your ABSOLUTE low). And of course, if you sabotage yourself, you can regain quite a bit. But with the durable ghrelin loss, and with the determination to work WITH the sleeve instead of sabotaging it, yes, you can lose the weight and keep almost all of it off.

At my work they wanted a letter from the Dr. saying how long I should be out of work..... it was on Bariatric Surgery letter head....Now I didn't care if they knew, but someone else might....

...including soup and jello.

Ditto "dehydration can make you feel extremely nauseous". Try warm herbal tea.. peppermint or camomile worked great for me. Don't worry too much about the protein yet, get that water in first.

My Doc made me wait to start also... 4 weeks I think.... then mostly chewable.

Thats a good one alright!

I told pretty much everyone, and my mom told the rest! I have only had one so-so comment from someone I barely know..."are you sick?" and "I liked you better fat"! I just know that I would want someone to tell me about the sleeve and how wonderful it is if I didn't already know... my DR was the one who told me about it... I was going in for RNY! Thank God he did! One person I told went out and got the sleeve one month after me because I told her, and I have another who is looking into it. If it helps them out, then who cares about the guy that liked me better fat!

I like sweets too... I try and have protein snacks around like Tiffy said, and sugar free pudding with Cool Whip Free help. I use Sugar free hard candy once in a while... and have a tablespoon of chocolate chips with dried cherries or almond butter many nights a week. This seems to get me through. If you mix your sugar with some kind of protein, it helps reduce the insulin spike afterwards. Sometimes if your in an eating rut, plan snacks and avoid all sugar for a few days to get back on track.

yes, yes and YES! I am one of the nuts that weighs every morning. My weight goes up and down like a see saw! Looking at those numbers is an exercise in fortitude for sure. I have had many stalls, including a 4 week stall at 2 1/2 weeks. That stall was not flat... it went up and down for 4 weeks then finally broke. At 8 months I still stall, and lose much slower than before, 3 pounds in the last month.. and I don't know when the weight loss will end. Maybe now! I don't know. But my Doc has good advice... it will end when it ends. Follow the rules to the best of your ability and you will lose as much weight as you lose. The End. At my checkup a couple of days ago, I was at the 78% excess weight loss point... The Nurse practitioner was thrilled. I have not been "perfect" but she just said, do what you have been doing, because it is working just fine. Just keep up the good work and let the body have its mysterious ways! Don't forget to enjoy your life along the way peoples!

Research is starting to show that after you have reached the obese range of weight, your physiology changes, and it is not like a regular sized person who wants to lose a couple of pounds anymore. It is probably true that you could eat like you have the sleeve for a year and take off lots of weight... but that would be crazy! I ate 350 cals a day for the longest time, then slowly popped up to 800, 900 and now 1100 at 8 months. I will probable stay pretty close to this for the next year I am guessing. Without the sleeve and Drs supervision, that is pretty much an eating disorder! With a regular sized stomach, could you really eat this way for the rest of your life? That is why my diets failed in the past... I just couldn't keep it up. I couldn't fight the hunger, the small portions, or really HUGE portions of no calorie foods....no feeling of satisfaction...skipping meals, trying to stay away from the foods I loved. Well with the sleeve, I am satisfied with much less, I do watch protein intake and when I drink my liquids... but I can eat a little abnormally for long enough to get the weight off, and then eat pretty normally to keep it off without getting killed by those couple of weeks of birthday parties, holidays or vacations that make it sooo easy to bust the diet and spin out of control again. I just can't eat enough at this point to spin very far out of control, and the next day I just don't even want to eat crap. I say this at 8 months, and I see statistics show some folks have some weight gain between 1-3 years... I may not have met that challenge yet, but I am working on it right now changing habits before I get there.

Here is a second way to look at it... perhaps you are lactose intolerant? Sour cream, butter and cheese all caused me problems the first 2-3 months after the sleeve. I am fine eating dairy now, but not then. On the glycemic index, yams are lower than white potatoes. People that follow the low glycemic index instead of just straight carbs find some yams acceptable. Southbeach and other eating plans recommend this. The idea is that when you eat high glycemic index foods, you get a quick insulin response and this triggers your appetite and its hard to feel satisfied. It can also trigger energy swings. I have found this to be true.

..like a million bucks!

I love seeing the stats on the ghrelin levels. I have also seen studies that show that increase of reflux follows the curve of the weight gain almost exactly! Any Reflux I have had seems tied to what I eat for sure... crappier food, fried food, sugar = more reflux......= weight gain...?

I posted a five year study that talks about regain stats. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/22835-5-year-study/

Thanks Sleeve! I feel thinner than I did the last time I was this weight...19 years ago... I thought i was totally fat, this time around I am truly grateful for being this weight! I now weigh about 60 pounds less than my husband and he calls me his skinny minnie.

My weight is finally less than that on my Drivers License! I have been listed as 185 for YEARS... I am now 183.6....I am finally not lying on my DL!

Sounds nice! I am wearing above the knee dresses for the first time in years too...Picture!

That is fantastic! Mine is much better too.. Here is my changes over the last year (first one july 2010- second aug 2011)

Exactly! Just don't stretch your tummy out with too much stuff, even the good stuff.