BenisaMartim4

I'm laughing. Here's mine [ATTACH]17914[/ATTACH]

Well I am at goal (175# lost), but waiting on my plastic surgery. When I have that done I want to have boudoir photos made for my husband.

Yay! Best wishes :-)

I am so going to love getting a new DL. When I show the one I have now people look at me like I'm crazy. They don't believe its me. I am less than half the weight I was when it was made.

I am 18 months out and I still weigh almost every day. I have always been fixated on the pounds. At surgical goal I was a size 10. (5'9) but the scale still said I was overweight so I lost another 20#. Now I'm as small as a 4/6 and you can see every bone I have. According to the scale I could lose another 25# and still be "normal weight"; according to the mirror I'd be a walking corpse. The scale really shouldn't play such a large roll in our lives, but we all know it always will. Success to our doctors and society will always be based on the number of pounds lost/number on the scale and not by how we feel.

By 10 months I was down 140#. From 10-12 I lost 15# and from 12-18 another 20#. Make sure you are eating ENOUGH. continuing on the extremely restrictive calorie diet will cause you to stop losing. It can damage your metabolism permanently to stay too low too long. I shoot for 1200. Sometimes I'm way under, sometimes way over; but the majority of the time that's where I'm at. I will probably be upping mine a bit before long because I don't need to lose any more. I am starting to look poor.

You have done wonderful. Congrats!

Congrats! I am still waiting on mine. The insurance company is dragging their feet (as usual.) It has been close to 3 months.

Today is my 36th birthday and for the first time in 30 years I am not overweight. I started my WLS journey 1-1-12 (surgery 2-14-12) and since then I have lost an entire person. I started at 335# and a size 28. Today I am 160# and a size 8. I am 20# below my surgical goal. It is a very shocking transformation and I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around it. I am less than half the weight I started out at and wear about 1/4 the size clothes. Mindboggling. I don't even recognize myself, let alone people that haven't seen me in awhile. I don't plan to try to lose any more because I am getting way too bony. I am in the process of trying to have plastic surgery though. I believe when that is done I will be a size 6..possibly even a 4/6. Unbelievable. I am a large framed woman and never would have believed it was possible for me to be this small. A 16 was my goal because it was the smallest I could ever remember being. [ATTACH]17879[/ATTACH]

LOL... sorry sweet. Don't hurt them too bad o.k. I am 16 months out and I reached my final goal last month (I am 15# under my surgical goal.) I have lost 170# and I am now a normal BMI. I have never "exercised." I do my regular daily activities of housework\childcare and on special occasions something extra, but to say I exercised no. I have fibromyalgia, degenerative disc and joint and need a knee replacement. I have been doing good to walk at all. I have been doing excellent comparatively since my surgery though. I used to be on a cane/walker/wheelchair. Now I get around very well unassisted.

Oh my goodness! Thank you so much! I am apostolic Pentecostal and like the Jewish ladies we do not uncover ourselves in public either. We are taking our children to a resort in the Smokey Mountains this fall and they have a huge indoor Water park. I have been worrying about what I was going to wear (my children are autistic/ blind/can't swim so they can't be left alone). I will definitely be shopping this site! Sent from my iPhone using VST

I cover mine with a napkin so I don't throw up looking at it 0.o Sent from my iPhone using VST

I am interested in this, but currently I am not able to participate. I just got some bad reports from a couple of MRIs and I am getting ready for a couple courses of treatment and possibly a surgery or two. I will have to have some PT is get things back in order. I wanted to comment so I could mark this so I could find it a little later on. Best wishes to everyone participating. I want to see those before and afters in 12 weeks :0) Sent from my iPhone using VST

I spent months puking and my restriction is still very tight (15 months.) I had stopped losing weight and my nut said it was because I was not eating enough. I eat 6 times a day (at least.) my goal is 1200 cals. My nut said for me to get my cals any way I could. I have never completely low carved it. They have had me drinking sweet tea and/or regular Gatorade from the beginning. There have been times that those were the only calories I had. I currently get as many as 200 calories a day from that and they told me not to stop. Staying at that calorie level WILL damage your BMR...possibly permanently. You have to get in more calories. If you have to start drinking Protein shakes or milk several times a day, do it. I throw up every time I drink milk, but I can now stomach the shakes and have as many as 3 a day. If I have been able to eat well, I drink the 100 cal EAS. if I need the extra, I drink the Atkins 140-160. I have lots of cheese, Peanut Butter and bacon. They are higher calorie and take up very little room. My go to since being sleeved has been a slice of American cheese with 1/2-1 tbsp of PB (110-160 cals.) If you will add one Atkins shake and 2 tbsp. of PB to your diet a day you will have an extra 340 cals. That is going to take your metabolism and energy a long way. If you are not diabetic or have metabolic syndrome you might want to try some Gatorade too. 50 cals per 8oz. The sugar has not effected my weight loss at all. It is the only thing that had kept me going much of the time. I have lost 164#. It is going to be worth you experimenting. You don't want to start damaging your BMR...or even worse start burning your internal organs for fuel. Sent from my iPhone using VST

I am 15 months out and I track everything. I do not have a problem of over eating, mine is under eating. My sleeve is still VERY restrictive. Many times I'm lucky to get in 2oz. I was living on a very low calorie consumption but I stopped losing weight. I called my NUT and she said no one over 12 months out should ever drop below 1200 calories. She said continuing with the extremely low caloric intake will damage the BMR, sometimes permanently. I immediately increased my calories through any means necessary (extra shakes, Gatorade, condiments.) I had been in a 6 week stall and within a week of increasing my intake I had lost 5#. I have to track to make sure I eat. Without the accountability I literally would not take a bite all day. food is at the bottom of my priority list. I have to eat every 2-3 hours to be able to get my calories in. I am below my surgical goal, but I am 2# from my end goal of half my body weight gone and normal BMI. I still plan to track long term. I just think it is the best for me. Sent from my iPhone using VST

Woohoo!! You have done wonderful girl. So glad you were able to get your TT and everything is healing well. It will make such a huge difference in the way you feel. Question: When they say that the average skin removal is only about a pound, do you believe they are speaking of us (WLS folks) or just the general public? That sounds like such a small amount. I have 3 friends that have already had it done. Their removals were 7#, 8# and 10#. Mine is in review right now and I am expecting 5#. That will be the best 5# I have ever lost too! I can't wait to have it done. I want to have a belly button again! I agree with everyone else; you are going to have to share pics ASAP :0) Sent from my iPhone using VST

I stand up and shout it from the mountain top. I want everyone to know what it did for me. I hope my testimony helps others take back their lives. Only positive feedback here. 15 months out, 165# down and maintaining. Awesome! Sent from my iPhone using VST

Cute!! Congrats on your progress!! Sent from my iPhone using VST

The point of us having this surgery was to live like normal healthy skinny people, not to stay on a diet the rest of our lives. I eat whatever I want and always have, but in very tiny quantities. I am almost 15 months out. I have lost 165#. I have pretty much been in maintenance for 3 months. Not really on purpose; the nut told me that my calories were too low and that is why I stopped. I upped my calories and carbs and lost 5# in 5 days. I am 10# below goal. You will find that the majority of people that will all four you are pre-surgery or newbie sleevers. That is why you will find very few veterans here. We have learned to live life like normal people with tiny stomaches and we try to steer clear of pettiness. You have to find your own way in this journey. If you were living on nothing but cokes and Cookies I would tell you to get a hold of yourself. If you have a cupcake now and then or a cookie with your milk sometimes, I say enjoy. You are going to have a sleeve the rest of your life. You have not been sentenced to food prison. You have been given the liberating to enjoy life and food and have control of it instead of it controlling you. Best wishes! Sent from my iPhone using VST

There are so many things that factor into this. Your sleeve is not a failure. All of us function differently and have had different things going on with our health when we were sleeved. I am in a support group with ladies that all were sleeved within a month of each other. We are all 14 months+ -. Our weight loss ranges from 66# to 170#. I have lost 165#. My start weight was 335#. What was your start weight. Pounds lost is not the best way to look at it. You need to know % of body weight lost. This is how they figure it on the biggest loser. It's not fair to compare the weight loss of a person weighing 350-400# to that of a person weighing 200-250#. The bigger person is pretty much always going to drop big numbers faster. You also may have the opposite problem than what you think. You may not be eating enough. You will lower your BMR if your body presumes starvation. I was doing this to myself. I would ask my doctor to assess my routine. If he/she thinks you are doing everything right (keep up with it on my fitness pal so you can be POSITIVE of your intake) then I would consider going to an endocrinologist to have my BMR tested. If it shows that your metabolism is damaged, then they can tell you ways to help boost it. You did not make the wrong decision choosing the sleeve over the by-pass. It is much better to lose >60# and be healthy than to lose >100# and be malnourished and Vitamin deficient. Sent from my iPhone using VST