Forensikchic

I'm two+ years out now and recently have put on about 8 pounds. Well, Im sure it was creeping on all summer. I want to get it back off before the end of November when I am scheduled to run in the Rock and Roll Marathon (5k). I know its late to join a challenge but they sure did help me when I was in the losing phase. I have about 20 days left in this challenge, so three weeks. I'm gonna shoot for all 8 pounds. I am not sure that is doable but I will never know unless I try and any loss is good so.... Here goes!

Here are mine...

Here are mine...

Good luck guys!!

I was never a big soda fan to begin with although I drank it some. After surgery, I was told it was okay to drink if you shake the fizz out. Who wants flat cola? YUCK! I went caffeine free before surgery as I was told to do and I am almost two years out now and still dont drink caffeine. Occasionally I will have a few sips of sprite if its the only thing to drink but its a rare occurrence. I just dont care for the fizz and there is usually lemonade or some non fizzy caffeine free choice. Its a personal preference. I dont understand people who get this surgery and set out to figure out when they can go back to their old ways. Why bother? All this talk about when can I have this and when can I have that. If you wanted to keep your old lifestyle then why not just stay fat and unhealthy? Why go through all the trouble of surgery just to trick the sleeve, eat bad stuff and gain the weight right back? Seems like a stupid choice to me. I eat a variety of foods but I try to keep in mind to eat my protein first. I feel better when I do. I have been in maintenance now for almost a year. You have to embrace the surgery and use it as the tool it is.. to help you to get healthy and eat right not see how fast you can return to your old ways. Its not a miracle magic potion. Its a lifestyle CHANGE. That means you dont eat the same way you always did... or you will get what you always got... FAT. just sayin'

I just realized I am a day late and a dollar short on this post. oops.

I would also like to add that you will feel hunger in your tummy if you have too much acid. You need to take an acid blocker like prevacid or zantac once a day for a few weeks, especially right after surgery. This is where some folks hunger comes from.. too much acid. Some if it is head hunger. Are you bored? Sometimes when I am bored, I tend to have that "never get full" thing and am always looking for something to snack on or eat. I had to really work on that after surgery. I am almost two years out and have been at goal for almost a year. Try drinking some water when you think you need to eat and cut back on the carbs. They make you crave more. Find something to do to keep your mind and hands busy. That should help with it. If you are busy, time will pass and you will realize you were not truly hungry. HTH Tammi

Im 18 months out too. I can eat more than I could at one year but just barely. I dont try to eat more. I just eat till I am full and then stop. I am eating about a cup of food at a time, depending on the density of it. I still dont eat bread because it takes up my room. I can not eat very much meat or shrimp. Maybe 2 oz if I have a bite or two of veggies. If I only have meat, then I can only eat about 3 oz. I would say I can eat just a little more than I could at one year. I was eating about 6 or 8 normal bites at one year and now I can eat about 10 bites. If that makes sense. From 1/2 to 3/4 cup went up to about 1 cup and then I am uncomfortable. My husband says that in the last few weeks, I am hardly eating at all and I noticed myself getting fuller faster.. Guess my restriction is still excellent. I was maintaining at 135 or less for three months and then I had my plastics done three months ago and my restriction was very good during the iniital weeks and I lost about 5 pounds- down to 129, but I have since bounced back to 132. I have been holding 132 since December 2012. I think this is the weight my body likes so I am in a routine that is good for me. HTH.

SAME HERE! Mine says 12/12/12 I think.. but I met goal in September. Ugh.

You are welcome and thanks for the compliment! Made my day!

Becky, I'm 44 as of July of this year. I think as long as you do some sort of walking or exercise most days, you wont have a big problem. I walked mostly and did some zumba, elyptical, etc. I was not consistent with it but for the most part, I exercised about three days a week or so. This summer I didnt do anything really. It was hot and I just wasnt motivated. I did start jogging/walking in early october and finished my first 5k in 36:10! I was very pleased with myself for that. I am only three weeks out from my plastics so I cant exercise for a few more weeks but I plan to train for another 5k or maybe even a half marathon. I enjoyed it, if you can believe that. Just follow the rules the best you can and get some exercise in. You are young. Believe in yourself!

I have a collage that shows my before in a swimsuit, my after in a swimsuit and my after plastics in a swimsuit. I looked fine in my bikini before plastics, but after is even better. I have to say that I lost another 10 pounds after the second bikini shot in the blue bikini was taken. I looked even better in it, except it got too big. I had plastics three weeks ago so now its better than ever. I didnt HAVE to have plastics done to wear a bikini, thats the point Im trying to make here. Good luck to you!

Starting weight 234 Starting weight for Halloween challenge: 139 Goal for challenge : 134 Pounds to lose: 5 Made goal 9/23/2012 Woke up today and weighed 134 exactly! Made my goal and kept it off for over a month now! I have lost 100 pounds and I have been in maintenance for almost 8 weeks. Woohooo! Congrats to all who made or came close to their goals! We rock!

I reached my Halloween goal a few weeks back so I have not been commenting on this thread lately. I am in maintenance now. I was 133.2 last Monday but fluctuate at least two pounds during the week and usually go back down on the weekends. This morning I was back up to 135. I just don't want to gain above that! I am happy as long as I am maintaining between 133 and 135. Maybe I will be on the low end when the challenge is over...lol. Good luck everyone!

I just thought I would pop on here and give you guys an update. I know that a lot of people stop posting once they reach goal or get about a year out, etc. but newbies and others what to know how it is to be sleeved this far out and what is going on at that point, so I thought I would continue to post monthly at least. I started out at 234 in August of 2011. Its been 14 months today and I am under my goal by 2 pounds. I have lost 101 pounds so far. I had been maintaining for five weeks but dropped another two pounds this weekend. I am going to have plastic surgery in 6 short weeks- so excited. I am having my arms done, my thighs done and a lower body lift that includes a tummy tuck. I have some lose skin issues and I want my body to be as good as it can be for 44 years old! I have worked hard to achieve this and it saddens me that I have lose skin. Admittedly, I didn't exercise as much as I could have and I am not sure how much good it would have done anyway. I am very happy with my results and I hope to maintain this loss for the rest of my life. I can eat more now, that is for sure, but not a whole lot more. I was eating about 6 to 8 bites of things for most of the year, at a meal but now I am up to about 12 bites. Translation....about a half cup during the year and now about a cup at a meal. If its meat, not even that much. I still dont eat rice, Pasta, bread. Its too hard on my sleeve. I do eat potatoes occasionally but only a few small bites. I mostly eat meat and cheese, a bite or two of veggies. I eat whole wheat crackers with my cheese but only two of them. I also eat Peanut Butter on mini vanilla wafers for snack. I cant hold many so that is good. Potato chips are sliders for me so I only eat them occasionally. I am pretty set in my routine and I love it! I eat what I like and it works for me. Good luck everyone with their own personal journeys! Please feel free to message me or respond to this thread if you have questions or you think I might be able to help you in any way. I want to be present for those behind me, just as the veterans helped me with my journey. I am including a new comparison pic in this post.

My starting weight was 234. My goal weight was 135. So I had 99 pounds of excess body weight to lose to get to my goal. I think the question is what percent of the weight you needed to lose, have you lost? I have lost 102 pounds and now weigh 133 pounds. Thats 101% of my excess body weight. I lost it ALL 100%+. It is doable. They told me the stats were about 70% but I was determined to prove I could lose ALL the weight I wanted to lose with the help of the sleeve. I love my sleeve! PS.. I dont think it matters what percent of your total body weight is lost. Everyone wants to lose all their excess or as close to 100 percent as they can get. If you calculate your total body weight loss that way, you will never get to 100%. You cant weigh zero pounds to that is a worthless statistic. What we all really want to know is how successful have you been at losing the weight you needed to lose, (your excess body weight). So if you are 100 pounds over weight, you need to lose 100 and if you have lost 75 so far, thats 75%. etc... I think that is what we are all interested in knowing. All you do is divide your pounds lost up to know by the total pounds you wanted to lose. HTH

Im 14 months today from my VSG and have been at goal for a month. I actually lost another pound this weekend. I dont know if it will stay off or not but I am 2 pounds under goal now. I have just been eating whatever I wanted since maintenance just to see what happens. I still eat my protein, muscle milk, cheese, etc. but I have had some cookies at night with milk, a few deserts, etc. I am still losing apparently but its much slower now. I want to keep losing really slowly another 5-8 pounds so that when I get the bounce back, I will still weigh 135 pounds. I am having plastics in 6 weeks so I dont want anymore drastic loss and I dont think I will have that happen. I have only lost about 5 pounds in two months now. I feel I am pretty stable.. its keeping it off that I am worried about because i have a helluva sweet tooth!

You are looking great! Congrats!

I drink the banana muscle milk exclusively.. I love the cake batter too but the banana RTD is awesome. Its lower in carbs too. I have had no trouble with my loss and I have used it in the mornings for about a year now. Quick, convenient and sold in GNC and HEB if they have that store where you are! Good luck and you are doing great! Dont get discouraged!

Weight before surgery: 234 Date of surgery: 8/11/2011 Current Weight: 133.8 Goal weight for oct 31st: 134 I made my goal for the first time ever! I have been doing these challenges since last Halloween. I had never made one yet and one full year later I did it! I have lost 100 pounds now belong in the century club now. I am a size 4 in most things. I am so happy to have done it. Now to see if I can maintain it!

I am having a lower body lift, an arm lift and a thigh lift in November. The girl that took these pics is a coworker/friend of mine. She does photography on the side. Her website is http://kimberlylander.zenfolio.com . She does great work!

Thanks everyone! Advise for newbies.....Follow the instructions from your surgeon. You have a certain window of opportunity and you can fall off the wagon (slightly) later...Now is the time to seize the moment. Remeber to keep your carbs low and your protein high! It pays off! When you get to mainenance, you can up your carbs some then so you will settle out. You will always have to keep protein high though so might was well get used to that and find high protein things you LIKE> I dont like some things like yogurt and eggs. I wont eat it and the beauty is I dont have too. I can find things that I like and tailor it to me! You can too! Focus on Protein! That doughnut can wait til maintenance! I do eat a cookie about 5 nights a week with a little milk to satisfy my craving for sweets. It works for me and its a cookie, not a bag of cookies, like before. Thats my secret to being satisfied. If we have cake or doughnuts at work, its rare, so I will partake a little and thats okay because its not weekly or even monthly.. its a rare occasion and sweets are ok as long as its not overboard. I am carb sensitive so I have to build the cookie into my plan for the day, so I dont go over my carbs.. I use the 70/70 rule.. no more than 70 carbs and no less than 70 protein. HTH.

I started this journey at 234 pounds in my Surgeons office July 31, 2011. I had surgery August 8th at 225 pounds. I had a setback in September and started over really after a kidney stone and kidney surgery September 15, 2011 at 236 pounds (yes even higher than my original weight). I have lost 100 pounds in a year. I decided I would get a makeover and do a photoshoot. Here are a few of those pictures.. I will post the pic of me the day of surgery for reference. I would not have made it except for the support I have found on this board. All you guys are great! I appreciate you all being there during the journey and the ups and downs. I am going into maintenance now and I will still need help and support during that but I am hoping to continue to pay it forward for anyone who is new to this and just needs encouragement that it CAN be You. I know I said that to myself a million times.. "could this be me " when I saw others how made it to goal. YES it can and it WILL be you. Love you all. Hope you like the new pics. Tammi