newtoncornflake

I think it's totally your body shape. I have noticed that if you are an 'apple' like me, you tend to hang onto your belly fat longer so your pant sizes don't change as fast as someone who is a 'pear' shape (hips). I know my best friends all have their junk the trunk and skinny waists (well, skinny in relation to their hips) and when they lose weight, their the ones whose pants literally fall off, or down! Me, who started with a 58" waist (! yes you read that right!) but absolutely NO hips, I've only went down about 1- 1 1/2 sizes with a 50 lb loss!!!! Damn tummy, anyway. I keep waiting and waiting to be able to really notice a difference in my clothes, but not much yet. I know it will come. My shirts are also only down about a size or two (30/32 to 26/28). It really is discouraging since everyone on here always says "I'm losing inches!" even if they're stalled, but I've been stalled for almost 6 weeks and have NOT LOST ONE INCH off my waist since. Okay, I have to stop, or I'll start crying....
SO, anywhoozle...I totally think it depends on your shape! Anyone else?? Any apple shapes wanna comment? Any 'hipsters', lol!!???

Oh. My. God. There is NO way anyone would laugh at that. Good grief, Girl. Is that the same person!!?? You were beautiful before, but oh man!!!! You don't even look the same!!! That is amazing....SO amazing! I am so freakin' proud of you!!!

Yeah, where are our EMOTICONS!!! Sheesh, for real?? Censorship on a board where we are supposed to be so honest and open??? If someone is unhappy with the 'offensive' ones, then by all means get rid of those ones, but ALL of them??
Admins, bring back our little happies!! They help us so much try to get across our feelings, frustrations, support, etc.
Or, at least talk to us and post something about why they're gone....I really, really miss my hugs ....and my crying *sniff*

I am over 4 months out and have absolutely no problems. I wish I did, to a point! I can eat pretty much just like I used to, except not as much. I WISH I had to eat slower and take smaller bites, but I still have to make myself think about it, if that makes sense, like before on a diet. My little sleevie could care less what I throw in there She's extremely tolerant. But, again, everyone is SO different! I just ate steak last night and had to slow myself down so I didn't get full in two minutes! I can eat just as big as bites, just as fast, but I just get full a WHOLE LOT quicker, then just watch everyone else still enjoying their food, lol.
It's still a mental thing for me, not physical.

Thank you SO much for the info and follow-up! I, too, suffer from extreme hirsutism, along with all the other symptoms, and it so helps to know there is light at the end of this tunnel. Yes, if you can let us know what type of laser was used, that would be GREAT!!! Thanks again, Madison!!

I'm in!!!! Can't wait!!! I have a personal goal to get to 235 by 3/31, so this is perfect timing!! I didn't make my very first challenge, the Christmas challenge, so I have been licking my wounds and avoided the Valentine's challenge. Now need to step back in the ring again!!!!
SW: 302lbs
GW: 235 lbs (by Easter)
CW: 251 lbs
Need to lose 16 lbs
Let's do this!!!

I completely agree with 5-6. That's what I do. We eat SO little, we need to eat more often, in my opinion. As for tracking, come join www.myfitnesspal.com. There are literally dozens of us on there!!! My screen name is shadowdlady there. Friend me! You can also see our food diaries for tons of examples of what we sleevers eat.
I can't even imagine eating only three meals a day. I would only get like 500 or 600 calories!! That's crazy talk. I do believe doctors and NUT's are worried about us 'snacking' continually as that is how many weight loss surgery patients regain our weight, by eating constantly cause we can't eat volume anymore, but they do tend to go overboard sometimes in their instructions.
You will find your own routine and schedule. I also think it's important to eat more often, or you can feel very hungry, and then eat too fast, or eat too much, and be really uncomfortable afterwards, or make bad food choices because you're so hungry. We did lose most of our ghrelin, and we don't feel AS hungry as before, but it is still there. Our bodies still need nourishment! And since we eat so little, it does go through our tummies faster, so we do get hungrier more quickly than if we had a huge meal three times a day. Well, not all of us, some NEVER feel hungry, but I wasn't blessed with that side effect I still get hungry, just not that gnawing, gotta-have-some-food-NOW feeling I did before.

Ugh. I know how you all feel. I have been stalled for a month now, with a 3 lb gain in the middle of it. I am starting to get so frustrated. I had read and read on here about stalls, knew they would happen, and would feel bad for people who were stalled but wondered why they were upset when they had to know it was temporary. It's TOTALLY different when you're in the same boat....I have been EXTREMELY discouraged, to the point I am eating 'bad' and not coming here as often as I should. The biggest problem? I am NOT losing inches, either So I am really, really down. I logically know it's temporary, know I will lose weight again, but it's so hard emotionally. We have been so abused by diet failure after diet failure....our little fragile minds are all twisted up and we think we're done lsoing weight, when we know we aren't.
I just gotta say, I hate this. I really do. And I haven't reached out on here yet cause I know everyone will tell me it's temporary, and I need to exercise and drink my Water, and not eat carbs, or shock my body, or stand on my head and chant three times (just kidding! :wub: :wub: I so love everyone!!) but I know all that myself. I just need the scale to move again. I know it will....just so tired of waiting FOR A MONTH!!!! I think it was Lissa (?) who had a six week stall? That's the longest I've seen...I think I may break her records. I may have to go ask on the board what the longest stall was...without inches lost.

Oh, Spatters.....thank you. So much. I have been stalled for 6 freakin' weeks and am going absolutely crazy. I try so hard to not get down, but man, is it tough
But you know what, you're right! I just need to somehow get back my determination and anticipation and hope. I had SUCH excitement and high hopes at the beginning, but I've lost it...need to get it back.
So right about not being able to give up and say F*^$ it like I used to at this point. Oh, don't get me wrong, I've tried , but just can't fit much in there!!! I'm hoping the scale will move soon. My problem is that I haven't lost inches, either, which is horrible for six weeks.
Your words did help! :wub: Thank you.....

Refried Beans and cheese (mixed and warmed up in micro, can add salsa or sour cream on top, you'll be surprised how good this is!), Eggface's ricotta bake (nummy - that was my fauxsagna!), and pureed Soups (campbells bean with bacon, clam chowder, split pea) and my homemade pureed black bean Soup. A bit later, canned chicken breast salad mixed with mayo or avocado, or both!

I did mine under BCBSIL, and just like Sleeved Realtor above, I was going to do the band, then they changed from a 3-month to a 6-month program in my second month, then found out my first surgeon wasn't preferred. Went to another doc who does all three (Center of Excellence) and through that process, 'found' the sleeve.
I have never looked back and have never one complained about my husband's insurance. My insurance through my work, and most everybody else's, doesn't cover bariatric surgery at all, so I am very, very, very blessed and I am grateful every day that my 'mishap' happened, or I would currently be suffering with a band AND having to pay 40% for it! I have many friends who are so jealous and upset they can't go on this wonderful journey with me....
BCBSIL does want you to use a Center of Excellence exactly for the reasons stated above...those surgeons have to pass rigorous reviews and qualifications so you know they are VERY experienced and have to continually prove low, low, low complication rates.
I know, very well, how frustrating it is to have to jump through hoops, have things changed, have to change surgeons when you like the one you had and got attached to, and just generally have to wait when you want this major life change just to START, already. But this is a major decision, and sometimes it's good when fate puts on the brakes for you. I am THE most impatient, impulsive person I know (check out my blog!) but now I am glad I had to wait and had to experience what I did...it allowed me more time to research, and to learn, and to be on this site, and get to where I am at now.
It will come, just have patience and be grateful you're covered at all
Then come on here to vent and have us help you through it and bring you down to earth with support, love and understanding!

Mine was really swollen, too, at the top like that for about 4-5 days and just slowly released over time. It wasn't like one morning I got up and it was gone, it was so gradual I hardly noticed it. Now I can drink just fine....not quite gulping, but can get down four or five big swallows! Your new tummy is really tight, especially at the top, and each day it will lessen a bit more....the burping will continue, though, but will also get better. I still burp....I think it's because when the food/liquid goes down, it has to displace the air, and since our tummies are long and skinny, the air has to come up the same little tunnel the food/liquid goes down, so sometimes there is a little battle in there until they sort out who gets to go first and/or take turns!! Hang in there....it SO gets better and you'll look back and go "Wow, that wasn't so bad".

Yeah, I was on here too posting about the same thing around week one or two, as I couldn't feel if I was full in the beginning. I was worried about it and would use a little bit of food feeling in my upper tummy/esophagus as my guide since my tummy couldn't feel it. Then feedyoureye, bless her heart, told me that my stomach had been cut (duh!) and that it was most likely all numb and the feeling wouldn't come back for a while!
Well, lo and behold, she was right. I didn't wake up one morning and think, oh, NOW I feel it! It was more gradual and didn't really start to hit until about the fourth week out. I was worried cause in all of my reading/research, I had never read that you DON"T feel full...everyone was saying they feel full all the time!
But, obviously, my tummy healed, figured it's little self out, and now I have normal signals again, at seven weeks! Gosh, that sounds like so little time...feel like I have been sleeved for months and months! Shesh...sorry, that was kind of weird....just kind of hit me it's only been 7 weeks!
Good luck, honey...it will get better and it's almost kind of fun learning about your new self and your new tummy. Just take it slow and it will all work itself out!!

Oh, honey....you and I are SO much alike! We had our surgeries a day apart and we struggle with the same things! Please, please, please don't beat yourself up and just realize this is just a bump. You WON'T do this forever, trust me. I find myself being 'bad' for about a week, topping off, eating when I'm not hungry, etc, especially after a stall, which I have definitely had (!), but then a week or so later, it just seems to taper off and I'm okay for a while, then another week, I'll eat 1/2 a donut and two chocolate chip cookies!
As for measuring inches, that can be true for some, but my measuring tape doesn't show many inches lost! Only about 3 inches off the waist, an inch here and there, but overall not much, so that just makes me feel worse. The inches lost doesn't change much, either. But what did help is that I started a weight loss chart, which compares what I have lost to what a pound or two pounds per week would be and it shows that I am really ahead. AND I average my whole weight loss over how many weeks sleeved...so for you, I am calculating about 4 lbs a week on average since you're surgery, right?? That is incredible! There is no way that you would have EVER done that on any other diet. Do you use myfitnesspal.com? If not, try it. You will see that even with your 'extra' eating, you are probably still below what calories you need to lose weight. When I indulge, I find that I am still in the safe zone, so feel much less guilty about it!!
I also think that we need to get away from thinking about 'bad' food and feeling bad for just eating. It's just that....eating! We're not killing anyone, we're just eating! And your three Oreo Cookies is what a normal person would eat as a treat. We used to eat half a bag!! And your shaved chicken, your wedge, and egg was a GOOD choice, not bad. So what if you weren't technically hungry? You didn't eat a maple bar! I can guarantee you are still eating less calories than before, and can probably guarantee that you are not eating enough to stop weight loss. You're stall is just because your body is adjusting. You will lose, you will see. It's almost impossible to screw this up. I stall a lot, also, but overall my average has been good!
Don't beat yourself up, honey. It's just food.< /em> The more you get away from 'bad' and 'good', the more healthy your outlook with food will become. I had this surgery to be normal, to be able to eat some Cookies once in a while, God forbid! So what if I sometimes eat when I'm not really hungry? There will be some days when you're not that hungry and you don't eat much at all...some days you want more food for whatever reason. Normal ups and downs, just like anyone else!
We love you, and we are all in the same boat, to varying degrees. We are here for you, and if you aren't on myfitnesspal, come and find me...I'm shadowdlady there.
Love and hugs, sunshine....you will do this, and you will not fail this time

Here's something that will blow your minds.....SB will ADD a Protein scoop (or 2) to your coffee if you request it!!!! I get it in all my drinks....stats are:
A single shot will add 30 calories, about 6 grams of Protein, 1 gram of soluble Fiber, and zero sugar or artificial sweeteners.
So drink up, all, and add even more protein!!!!

Thanks so much, Steph, for checking in! I'm so glad things are getting better for you....that swelling must have been horribly uncomfortable It sure helps us to hear things like that, though, so if those things happen to us, we're not terrified and thinking the worst.
Keep us posted on how you keep progressing!

Good morning, Everyone! Boy, our month is filling up quick! We have a total of 33 now!!! I LOVE having you all here. This is so exciting we get to go on this journey together! I have friended everyone and I also added fatbetty, his2my2our4, Fusilli66, Free2B, mocha, and oknev. Welcome, guys!!!

Hey, Everyone! Please see below for the October Sleeve Roster! If I forgot anyone, or you need your name added or changed, please just reply to this post, no need to quote, and I'll update as we go!! So far, the 10th is a really, really busy day! So excited for us all!!! :grouphug:
Official October Sleeve Roster
1
2
3 – Mim, TinyTummie, Missy<3, beachlover09, Monty, ~eclipse~, AussiePatto
4 – JenniLee0628, ereneeh
5
6 – 5McK, JMYERS NOLA (Jason)
7 - Shamrock323
8 - ara1973
9
10 – kygal1982, Terry H,. Bakomom, A New Day, Pixie Jen, Courtines, Angelica
11 – lisajxoxo, Holiday, Fusilli66 (Gee), AnneAC, Boo2011
12 - +change (Jan)
13 – New start, Lozza, bklyncat58, Kim1204
14 – terrih1, oknev, Heller2U (Stephanie), AmberP, smallgirlsxthree (Stephanie)
15
16
17 – Hopeful Spirit (Phyllis), mamasez (Leah), Ren<3, MsKendraHL, meohmy, gunning2005
18 – azsenior, KayyyBeee, KCSunshine, his2my2our4 (Kristin), mocha, bh7, ButterflyTX
19 – SmokyMountainGal2011, Browneyedsouljah, Yukon Kara, patd1952, marypenny, alexer, mrs somis
20 – Soon2BMiniMommy (Chris), ab76307, Vegaslaw, vf59, StLouisSarah
21
22
23
24
25 - Free2B, saints92, Jen1124, The Crop Queen
26 - CTFats
27 - fatbetty
28 - GetInMyBelly
29
30
31 – iboprincess, Honeydue28 (Ronda), Sweetness2005, bonkers, kaywieny
Unknown/Undetermined:
Jennsev123, putasleeveonit 9th or 10th?

First off, I have to apologize for dropping off the face of the earth. Here I was begging and begging to have everyone post their experience so I could learn from them, and then I had my surgery on the 20th, got lazy, and didn't post! I'm so sorry! Part of the problem was that I was reading and lurking from my little netbook on my recliner and it's too hard to type while sitting in a recliner!
But today I am back at work (yesterday first day back) so now I am at my desk and fully present again!
Please check out my blog (link below) for the full story…I did have a leak test scare.
I sure hope everyone is doing well and healing nicely. I am at the point where I almost forgot I had this done, until my still slightly-sore abdominal muscles remind me if I stretch too far (which I did 2 days ago – pulled something and was really sore for a day or two!)
Love you guys….I’m sorry for absence. I’m back, though! Can’t wait to share our experiences and catch up!!

I don't do fat-free, either. I figure we don't eat near enough to worry about a teaspoon of real butter or real mayo in our tuna salad. And all the cheese I eat is full fat. I did this so I could be normal and eat normal and not count every calorie or carb or gram of sugar that I ingest. Honestly, I think all of would lose weight no matter what we ate at this point (unless you survive on Doritos, cheeseburgers, nachos, and slider foods!). I think after a year with maintenance it matters more, but not to the point of cutting out all fat and sugar...just doing what you are doing, eating Protein first, veggies, etc, and if you want to, have a few bites of chocolate! I also don't do sugar free, but I'm not a 'sweet' person, so I'm lucky that way, but I do use sugared Creamers in my coffee, sometimes I'll have a few bites of cookie. I DON'T FEEL GUILTY ANYMORE AND I NEVER WILL AGAIN! At least not for what I put in my mouth That is my mantra. I've spent too many years punishing myself for my eating habits and now I don't have to. I can enjoy a piece of pie (or a few bites) or some fish and chips without gaining any weight. Anything in moderation, right?
I also know I do lose faster when I eat more calories - it takes by body out of homeostasis, or starvation/store/stay-the-same mode.

I am only 4 weeks out, but my hardest is eating slow, and to not graze after a while to get in more food. The mental part of being done with so little food has hard for me - getting much easier lately, though. But I am lucky (unlucky?) that everything I eat goes down just fine. I can eat two scrambled eggs for Breakfast just fine, I can eat 1/2 cup of food in 15 minutes. I did not have any struggles like a lot of others have, so I think it's harder because I feel so normal, if that makes sense. I don't have to baby my sleeve (oh, I did at first, and I am still following the rules with soft foods) but I don't have any pain or discomfort. The only way I know I've eaten too much is if I feel food in my upper tummy/esophagus juncture so I've learned to stop way before I feel full. No pain or pressure, though, just a weird feeling for a while. I almost wish I had some kind of physical thing to remind me (shock collar, lol!!)
So, yeah...eating slow, and not going back for more. Getting over the portion adjustment.....

Wow. Wow, Trixie. You have been through many, many trials in such a short time. I am very sorry about your Mother. I am so glad you are here with us and we are waiting for you with open arms on the Loser's Bench! :grouphug:
Look at this way......you have gone through so much this past year, most of it negative, you have used up all your negative karma and now only have good karma coming, which means you will SAIL through this surgery with no complications and you will be a star patient!
I look forward to hearing about your experience and your progress! Good luck and keep us posted!

I'm four weeks out, and I pretty much just ate or drank when I felt like it. I was (and am) also like you where I could tolerate pretty much anything. Now, at four weeks, I can eat two scrambled eggs comfortably....many on here still can't do one and they're 4 or 6 months out! And, yes, my surgeon used a 32 Fr bougie, a little one
But, I have to tell you, I eventually got into trouble just eating whenever I felt it was time. I eventually starting grazing, bad. But I called it 'topping off'. Because I can only eat 1/3-1/2 cup of whatever at a time, I would wait a while till it settled and started to move through my little tummy, then would go back and have a couple more bites out of the fridge, or whatever. Mostly with seafood or egg salad. I'd heat up some pureed Soup, drink/eat it, have some more an hour later. I was getting into trouble since the main reason people fail at bariatric surgery is because they graze, or eat constantly, to overcome the loss of binging, or eating large amounts at a time. We still want our food till we mentally adjust!! And then, because of this constant topping off I was doing, my stomach never really emptied so I couldn't drink my fluids like I was supposed to. Vicious cycle. Didn't help that I was eating fine and not having any issues....felt almost normal.
So, needless to say, I had to pull myself together and at about 2 and a half weeks out, I started a routine. Breakfast around 8, drink lots, snack around 10, drink lots, lunch around 12, drink, snack at 2 or 3, drink, dinner around 6. Drink lots more, maybe an evening snack. Now sounds like a lot of eating, but I'm almost always under 800 calories a day...snacks are a Laughing Cow soft cheese wedge or a string cheese, meals are a little under 1/2 cup of something soft. It was a lot easier when I was back at work with a regular routine and schedule.
So, I guess to answer your question, right now it's important to hydrate and nourish yourself as much as you can, so I wouldn't worry too much about three square meals a day, etc, but be aware that you will need to probably set a schedule for yourself as you advance and are able to take in more volume and calories. You don't want the "I'll eat whenever" to become a habit, or you may regret it later and find it really hard to break. I had a hard time breaking it just after a couple weeks!!
Good luck!!

Oh, Sandy......stay strong and get healthy! Just a setback...in a month you'll look back and be grateful you're on the other side of this!! Sending tons of healing hugs your way...