Lissa

You ARE marching in that parade!

I see no problem with someone else's before being my after pic. I started at 352 and I'm holding steady at about 120 pounds lost. I've seen "lightweight" sleevers who started at 230 and lost down to the low 100's, but that's not my reality or my goal. I think each of us looks for their own ideal body image. I'm very very close to mine. My original goal was 170; surgeon's goal was 190. I'm comfortable where I am, though, and, while I'm still trying to eat right and I'm exercising, my goal now isn't the number. It's the health benefit and how comfy I am in the body I'm ROCKING these days.

I know I'm not around as much lately, but I just popped in and someone had liked an old post of mine. While scrolling through the thread, I saw names I remember from way back and some newer names. What struck me as AWESOME, though, was the tickers at the bottom of everyone's post. Each and every ticker shows some tremendous weight loss for every person on the thread. FYI, the post was "Anyone have a Relatively Easy Recovery". I'm stunned at the high numbers everyone is showing (including me! YAY! ) IF anyone ever doubts that the Sleeve works, just scroll through a few of the older threads and look at those tickers. It's a ticker tape parade!!!

You're talking about the Vena Cava filter for blood clots? I didn't notice it while it was in and didn't feel any different after it came out. I'm still mad at the OR nurse because he wouldn't give mine to me. I wanted to have it gold plated and make it into a necklace! LOL Mine did catch clots and saved my life.

I hated protein shakes. I drank a lot of broth.. .be careful and get low sodium broth in the boxes so that you can nuke up an ounce or so at a time to drink. Less protein than the shakes, but easier on the sleeve. Didn't Dr Garcia give you guidelines to follow regarding stages for food? I believe I moved to full liquids at one week, soft puree at 2 weeks, soft food at 4 weeks and solids at 5-6 weeks. I didn't do red meat, caffeine, lettuce, or raw veg until at least six months because my sleeve wouldn't handle any of them. Good luck!

MistySJ, I remember that one. I think it is called the Daniel Diet. Supposedly, if we ate like the Old Testament people ate, we'd never be fat. Of course, that completely ignores that they were nomads who walked miles in the hot sun every day and worked like slaves for every bite of food they ate... or that they didn't have modern methods of food storage, preparation or preservation. I have a sister in law who has done that diet several times and swears by it. "I always lose 40 or 50 pounds on it"... then she gains that back with extras as soon as she starts eating "normal" again. I keep telling her I'm not "on a diet". I have changed my way of eating completely.

I don't use anything artificial to curb my hunger. I still concentrate on dense protein first, then veggies (raw carrots or broccoli fill me up quickly). I'm satisfied by the time I finish my 4-6 oz of protein and a couple of bites of raw veggies. I love steamed broccoli as well, and I can usually only fit two or three pieces of that after my protein.

It's very common. I drink a cup of decaf coffee most days to help combat this. It works for me. I've seen others post other solutions... this is a common question and you may get quicker responses by doing a search on the main page.

Laughing cow has a weird consistency to me. I much prefer the baby bels and cheese sticks. I eat them as snacks.

Heavens, I've done almost every fad diet out there. Atkins, Cambridge diet, South Beach, Slim Fast, Grapefruit, Fen Phen, 1-food per meal diet, grapefruit, speed pills (in my teens/20's), Water Loading (great for the kidneys, you drink three glasses of water before every meal...theory being you won't eat as much because the water fills you up, UGH). You name it, I've probably tried it. I even did several self-made plans where I allowed myself three pre-made frozen meals a day that totaled 800-900 calories. I'd lose weight, but I gained it back always, with bonus pounds.

Sliders are any food that does not cause you to feel full... and that can be anything. Dense protein is the only food that fills me up quickly. I ate egg salad last night and discovered that it's a slider for me, despite being a good source of protein. I'm very glad that I weighed that food before sitting down to eat! I had 4 ounces of it and could have probably eaten 4 more ounces! I'll have to be wary of that one.

I also had to wait six weeks until all my incisions were totally healed both after my sleeve and my laprascopic gallbladder removal. I remember waiting anxiously for the six week mark so that I could soak in the tub!

My plastic surgeon is working to get a panniculectomy approved for me through BCBS IL, but no answers yet. He seems to feel that they will cover it because of the issues I'm having with my pannis and because we've been diligently documenting them since early in my WLS journey.

I didn't not get weighed at the hospital prior to surgery, but I did weigh myself at home that morning and write that number down for posterity.