LindaS

I drank over 64 ounces yesterday as well, and I had another loss this morning. It seems dehydration doesn't work well for weight loss. :-) Forensikchic, I am impressed that you got 2.5 miles in during your lunch hour! How awesome! Thanks, SleeveofSteel! HelenTheCat, I totally agree about the cold weather. I can't wait until it warms up, so I can resume long walks outside. Right now, the only walking I do is when I'm walking across campus where I work. I arrive with a red face from the wind burn on my cheeks. I have a treadmill in my bedroom that I rarely use. I hate the treadmill. In the winter, I prefer Zumba.

kkimm, what is your Water intake? When I tend to not lose weight for weeks on in, I found that I wasn't drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day. When I increased my Fluid intake, I started losing weight again. Linda

Tomorrow is the six month anniversary of my surgery. I've lost 65 pounds, and I'd like to lose 30 to 50 more pounds. Yesterday, I met with my surgeon. All of my labs came back good. He warned me that my weight loss might slow down without exercise. One problem for me is that I am not ingesting enough fluids. I have been keeping track of my food, and I think that it has a direct relation to my stalls. When I drink less, I tend to stall. When I up my Fluid intake, I lose weight. I discussed this with my surgeon, and he said that it takes fluid to burn calories. If I'm dehydrated, I won't burn calories and the 40 ounces I normally drink probably isn't enough. I increased my fluid intake yesterday, and I am down a pound this morning to 190. I am very happy with my sleeve. Before my surgery, I weighed 255 and was gaining weight despite efforts to exercise and eat right. It would take me months to lose 10 pounds, but I could gain them all back in a weekend if I wasn't careful. My right ankle has severe osteoarthritis (spelling?), and it was painful. I'd take medicine for the pain and to help prevent swelling. It swelled frequently despite the medicine. My girls' bedroom is upstairs, and I would rarely go upstairs because I was fearful of my ankle and because the stairs wore me out. I hated buying clothes or trying anything on because I was so disgusted with myself. More and more I found myself opting to not do things because I weighed too much. I have gone from a size 20/22 to a 12. I now weigh 190 pounds, and I hope to break into the 180s this week. I am active. I haven't had to take pain pills for my ankle since my surgery. It no longer swells up. I climb the stairs to my daughters' bedroom at least once a day if not more without any problems. Happily, I am eager to do things and love being active with my family. The sleeve helped me change my life for the better. When I first planned the surgery, I thought there was a possibility that I would lose all 115 pounds of my excess weight by this time. That hasn't happened, but I am not concerned with my progress either. There are so many other factors that go into losing weight, and I feel like I am right on track. More importantly, I am making exercise a regular part of my life.

My nutritionist suggested we avoid special K because they are designed for a different person that weight-loss/meal replacement. It was also because of tehir high sugar content. I was told to look for foods that have less than 7 grams of sugar per serving and to even avoid sugar alcohols, which are what is used ot replace sugar in a lot of the "no sugar" or "sugar free" stuff.

For me, it depends how much protein is in the food. If it is just 15 grams of protein, I can eat more than 5 ounces. If it is 25-30 grams, I can eat 5 ounces but it will take an hour or so.

I love my sleeve.

I am struggling with this same question right now. I chose my "goal weight" pretty randomly. I did it knowing it was 5 pounds LESS than what I had weighed in high school, which was a time when I was very active and healthy and not overweight. As I get closer to my goal weight, I am starting to wonder if I truly want to weigh less than I did in high school. It was also when I started crunching the numbers. I realized that I will be within a normal BMI range at 162. It makes me think that 150 or 155 would be a better goal for me. Even then, I am thinking 155 because that is the "100" pounds lost goal. I want wiggle room in case I gain later. For me at 5'7.5," I would weigh 185 to be equivalent to your 5'4" and 165. Personally, I want to lose beyond that. I really want to get in the normal range. My loss has slowed down. I do exercise regularly, but I know I could step it up. I think it is important to constantly evaluate where you are and what you want to be. I completely understand what you mean about rather be chubby than loose skin. I want to be healthy and look healthy. Whatever decision you make, I know it will be one that you thought hard about and that means it will be the right decision for you.

OK, this made me hate my current photo and really motivate me!

My sister lives in Arizona, and I live in Michigan. She has been asking for pictures of me to see my weight loss, so I posted one to Facebook. In less than a minute, I had a ton of likes and about 17 comments. In less than 5 minutes, my sister-in-law was instant messaging asking me if I was done losing weight. I said no, and I planned to lose between 30 to 50 more pounds. She told me I'd be skin and bones and that I shouldn't lose any more. My sister, however, was thrilled to see my loss, and she is excited for me. She is overweight and has never dieted. She is starting to talk to her doctor about weight-loss. She isn't ready for a surgery since she'd never even tried to lose before, but she is hoping to start dieting with some success.

I don't think your before pics are that horrendous, but I am so impressed by how well you are doing. Plus, I love your hair. If I am looking right, you are wearing the same shirt in both pictures. It is so cool to see how it fits differently now. You can see some of your purple tank top in your chest area in the second picture. it never would have been visible in the before picture. Plus, in the second picture, the shirt comes down so much further on your butt and arms even though it isn't pulled down all the way. It really shows the changes in inches. Great job!

At 9 weeks out, I was down about 42 pounds. You are right on track. If you figure it out by the week, you are averging a loss of more than 4 pounds a week. That's awesome. I had a 10 pound loss before surgery, but I gained it back for a few days due to surgery fluids. So my 42 pound loss includes that relost 10 pounds.

You look awesome! You've really rocked your sleeve in the last two months.

You look awesome! Congrats.

To date, I've lost 64 pounds, and I am a couple of weeks shy of my 6 month anniversary. I feel great, and I love all of my energy. It is hard to believe that photos taken just 6 months ago are really of me. I never felt like that was me. I feel like I am myself again. My diet has recently had to change back to mostly liquids and soft cheeses. I have braces now, and the lower brackets were installed just over a week ago and boy did it hurt. It still doesn't feel great, which is why I'm on a mostly liquid diet. And I am thrilled with the results I am seeing. I can't wait to continue to see improvements.

I am rarely online on the weekends, so I hardly ever update here. I'm glad I caught this thread. I had a pretty dismal loss in December (only 3 pounds), and I quickly doubled that in January. I have stayed where Iam at for more than a week now. I need to up my exercising. I can really tell the difference when I do. Since surgery, I am down 64 pounds and am more than halfway to my goal.

It sounds like it is working just like it did before, which for me was that it didn't work. I have never been able to get the calories in/calories out thing to equal weight loss. For me, 3500 calories less does not and never has equaled one pound loss. But it seems like 200 calories plus has always pretty much equaled 2 pounds gained. It's not fair, but it never has seemed like the math involved in calculating weight loss actually works.

I'm glad they found it and are doing something to fix it. I am sorry that it happened. I hope you get better soon!

Your hubby is probably very worried about you and afraid you might have something bad happen because of the surgery. Mine was very worried. He got better and now, he knows it was the right thing for me. The surgery scared him. I think the pre-op diet is the hardest part of the entire process. You are being asked to eat as if you have a sleeve while still having a football-sized stomach. It doesn't make it easy. Eating right will be/is much easier after surgery. You can do this.

I drink when I eat. I do drink less, but I like taking small sips when eating. If I am eating at a restaurant, I order Water because I don't drink enough to bother ordering an entire drink. I don't get sick (and never have). What I don't get when talking about this is how Protein shakes fit in. If drinking makes the food go through fast, and we don't feel full than how do we feel full when we drink an all liquid meal? If this were true, we wouldn't feel full after drinking Protein Shakes.

I am 5.5 months out, and I've had to change my closet completely twice. My first complete change was purchased through second hand stores. Now, I have bought some shirts and things at real stores because I figure a "large" won't be too large.

What a great accomplishment! Great job!

I ended up having a reaction to the bandages. It went away after a week. It was mildly itchy. I used Neosporin topical creme, and I tried different types of bandage adhesives.

It would be difficult for you to know the woman didn't reach her goal without her telling you, so I think that the woman was rationalizing. At the same time, I'm not sure if I am going to reach my stated goal of 140 pounds because I'm not sure if 140 is the right goal for me. I'm 5'7.5" tall and a "normal" BMI for me would put me at 162 pounds. Do I want to be 22 pounds less than that? My BMI would be 21.6. My gorgeous 16-year-old daughter is 5'6" and 140 pounds. Her BMI is 22.6. If I was at a BMI of 22.6 pounds, I don't think I would be actively trying to lose just to attain a goal weight. At some point, I need to be happy with where I am. I don't know if 140 is the "right" weight for me. I have it as a goal, and I am working my sleeve. I exercise and eat with Protein first. I love the results I am seeing. I get excited seeing the weight loss. I want to be healthy, have a normal BMI and have some wiggle room. I can now eat "anything" I want, but I don't. I don't eat candy or junk food. And if I "indulge" myself, it is with just a bite of the indulgent food (like at Christmas time). Most of all, I love how active my weight loss has allowed me to become. My girls sleep on the second floor of our home. I have severe rheumatoid arthritis in my right ankle and before my weight-loss surgery, I rarely went upstairs. Since surgery, I go up there at least once a day if not more. My ankle isn't stopping me anymore. I may decide in the future that 140 is too small for me. I may not. I'm not worried too much about the scale. I want to look and be healthy. I want to be active. I want to keep exercise as part of my regular way of life. I want to see how far I can push the muscles that are developing. I try not to look at my body and see the bad things -- like the droopy stretchmarked lower portion of my belly. I try to look and see the good things. I want to see more of them. I don't believe there is a time period before I can reach my goal. I am making this work for me, and it is a change for the rest of my life. If I decide to not make it to my goal, it will not be because I've given up.

Parents are protective and try to think of the good/bad things and warn their kids. His comment was hurtful, but he probably didn't intend it to be hurtful. He worries about you, and this comes out in his comments. When I was a teen, I didn't have a weight problem. My mom used to tell me that I didn't eat enough to keep a bird alive. She stopped saying that when I gained weight. When I started losing weight, she was supportive. She comments about how good I look. Now, though, when I eat in front of her she starts talking about that bird again. She's worried. My mom has her own food issues. She likes to show her love with food. She likes to cook for family and prefers to pile your plate to overflowing and feed you whenever she can. I have to be careful how I turn down her food offers so that she doesn't feel like I'm turning her and her love down. It's not always an easy tightrope to walk.

MeginNOLA, I am so excited for you! I love seeing the posts that announce Onderland. Great job!