AngelaEEEE

He subject says it all! I finally after almost 6 months broke down and shopped for new clothes! Everything I bought is a size 4!!! 97 pounds down and 21 to go to goal! I started at 228 and now weigh 131! Thank you God for VSG!

Don't know how to reply without getting flamed, so I'm just going to pray for you.
I truly wish you the best on your journey.

You've not ruined your sleeve. You just gained what you needed to. Perhaps do the 5 day pouch test or 5 days of protein shakes, meats, nuts, etc, to break the carb cravings. Then introduce healthy whole grains back in one at a time to maintain your new weight. Congrats on your success thus far!

You've not ruined your sleeve. You just gained what you needed to. Perhaps do the 5 day pouch test or 5 days of protein shakes, meats, nuts, etc, to break the carb cravings. Then introduce healthy whole grains back in one at a time to maintain your new weight. Congrats on your success thus far!

You've not ruined your sleeve. You just gained what you needed to. Perhaps do the 5 day pouch test or 5 days of protein shakes, meats, nuts, etc, to break the carb cravings. Then introduce healthy whole grains back in one at a time to maintain your new weight. Congrats on your success thus far!

Every time I see the word "bougie", I hear "Do the hustle!" I think I just dated myself horribly!

I know this is a brave move on my part but here goes.... The first pic is of me last spring in Brazil (far left) (234 lbs). I was there visiting for a wedding and this pic was taken by my brazilian family and I didnt know it would eventually end up on Facebook! I was so embarrassed by it. I got tagged in it and it went all over my page and everyone saw it before I could get it taken down. Anyways.....The second and third pics are of me at the beach last week (147 lbs). I have a funny tan line on my belly that we all thought was hilarious. I do think there is quite a bit of difference that nearly 90 pounds makes! I am no supermodel but I thought I looked decent in a bikini, my first one in 22 years! I wore five different ones, one for every day at the beach! I was only a little bit self conscious in them. A huge leap for me!

I am halfway to my goal of 170. I think that once I am there it may change depending on my SKIN and the way I feel but 170 has been my goal and I am 37 pounds down with 37 pounds to go! Woooaaaa!

Lucky!

Do a search on the term slime. MANY threads out there. On the website, search functionality is in the upper right hand corner. From a mobile device, I believe it is under Options.
For me, it wasn't WHAT the food was, but rather not chewing enough or eating it too rapidly. It is something you definately don't want to repeat, through ...

Okay - slimies. That was my "I am full" response for the first couple of months. Not that bad, just a big old drop of drool (gross) with no control.
I don't think you did anything wrong, you are just learning new body responses. I did not overeat or not chew enough (trust me I counted to 20 for every bite)
Congrats on your surgery!

Everything said here rings so true. I was sleeved on 3/22/12 by Dr. O in Illinois. I look and feel like a completely different person at 39 lbs down since POD (49 since start of process). I now weigh 168 and am 38 lbs to goal. The hard part is that the food demons remain. My weight loss has slowed, and so the thrill and distraction of the frequent scale changes and healing concerns have given way to the reality of life post op. Food is not my friend, it is fuel. I can't use it for comfort or entertainment-not even on special occasions! I still have to make right choices (including eating enough) despite how I feel about eating at the moment. I love eating nuts, and can easily exceed my calorie goal by several hundred if not careful. I can also find myself going hours without eating if not 'interested'. Yes, the challenges of this life are real, but I wouldn't change a thing!

Sleeved 2/6, 30-something lbs down, had so many complications that I spent almost the entire month of Feb in the hospital. I regretted it then. Now that I feel great, have energy, and can eat like a normal skinny person I wouldn't change it for the world.

I enjoy 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of cashews or pistachios a day. This helps me to get my calories in. I am almost 9 weeks out and average about 800 calories a day. I supplement my protien with one 30 gram shake per day. Overall I get about 70 grams per day. My carbs are between 30 and 60 grams per day, and mostly come from dairy, beans or nuts. I get all my fluids in and feel great.

Honestly I know exactly how you feel. I would log on and see other people who were sleeved around the same time as me and they had lost twice as much. I wanted to get frustrated but my sleeve wouldn't allow me to stop. The best thing I've done for myself is joining the Y because while I don't see my scale moving fast my clothes are getting to big and my body is getting toned from exercising and it's made me feel so much better!!!

You look great!! Congrats!

OK...so in spite of the fact that my surgeon was less that energetic about my weight loss (Only 9# to go before he will schedule surgery) I must be doing something right. He actually sent the request over to Radiology for me have have the Upper GI to double check any scarring done by my band. I'm taking this as a good sign that I'm actually moving towards my sleeve!!
Special Shout out to the Fabulous MissDiva for talking me off the edge of the cliff yesterday!!! You Rock!!!

I first want to say thank you to everyone for the advice and encouraging words. About Dr. Nick, I do like him but agree that he should play a bigger role in post op. I didn't see him after surgery till my 1 yr follow up. As for my pouch size it is a 34 bougie. I have noticed that most success stories that I have read are a 32. ( by that I mean they met their goal and then some in a much shorter time period) that's not to say that this is true for everyone. I also noticed that the 32 comes with more issues as far as being able to handle the protein. I askex the Dr about this and he said the differance is so small it shouldnt matter but I really think it does.
So I deceided to go back to the basics. I started with just protein shakes 3 days ago. Today I deceided to make a salad with a 6 oz salmon . I was only able to eat 3/4 of the salmon and I was done. I didn't even make it to the salad. So I think it is working. A week ago I would of ate all of it plus a glass of tea. Today I did not drink with my meal and it made a big differance. I felt the restriction and knew I was full. I will keep everyone posted on my on or off scale victories that I hope will come soon. Thanks again for the support.

It really helped that there are some people who enjoy my posts and want me to continue sharing my experiences. I really relied on posters with lots of experience, namely Tiffikins in the beginning. I was sad when she left for a while to be with her beautiful sweet daughter Tatum. I am glad to see her back here and there. I look forward to reading what she and others that are further out then me have to say.
When I need advice, someone further out has always helped me and I want to help others all I can. I guess you guys are right, Its a forum and its to be expected. I will ignore the bad and keep yapping about what works for me! LOL Thanks for the encouragement. :wub:

I love my sleeve. Went to a BBQ today and ate the tiniest bites of everything. Got full! Didn't even think about dessert. Or drinking anything. It's working!

I got down a couple of bites of my taco bake, about half of a large meatball, and most of one wingette. But it was all very tasty do I was satisfied. But I looked around at everyone else, especially the guys, and was amazed at the amount of food they were eating! It's hard to believe that I ate like that just a few weeks ago! That made me smile and just savor what I could have. It'll all be worth it in the end.

im 5 days out!! i dont go back to school until August 22nd.. im in college now but throughout elementary and other summers i remember summer being the time id sit around and eat and eat and get larger and larger!! thanks heavens that cycle is over

I didn't find it bad at all. I treated it like a mini vacation. Brought all my favorite stuff to the sleep center. It was great. You may not want to go by me though... I have three small children and could use a break.

I know exactly what you mean. It is like a switch has been flipped in my brain that just had it makes sense very suddenly. I've only been overweight/obese for the last six years (gained 100lbs in a single 12-month period, very rough year). The last 30-40 pounds came on over the subsequent years being frustrated with the initial weight gain. Joints hurt every time I tried to get into a routine again, I could not find sports bras that fit me in my new large size. It depressed me, so my eating habits actually got much worse after gaining that extra weight. Funny, I had to gain weight to eat worse than I did before. Not to mention hitting my 30's and what that does to hormones and metabolism. I wasn't really eating differently than what I ate when I was 28 years old, but I wasn't exercising at all and I was older. It was terribly difficult to see that I needed to adapt. Even the year or so before surgery, I was eating so healthy. Salads, lean meats, no soda, avoid fried foods, etc. -- except I wasn't journaling and even healthy foods in "too large" quantities can be high in calories. I know the healthier eating habits staved off getting any higher than I was (I stayed at 265 for a long time), but I was still working myself like crazy 60+ hours per week and not getting active. I have two very healthy doctors in my family, many friends who are trainers or do triathlons, and yet I just couldn't get it. I had the knowlege of "calories in/calories out" and nutrition, sleeping well, killing soda and avoid refined sugars and carbs. But I wasn't always applying it.
The other odd thing is that even though I went from buying 4/6 and XS clothing all the way to buying 22/24 and 1-2/X clothing, I never perceived myself as fat. I always saw the skinny me when I looked down. Then I'd look in a mirror and it felt like I was looking at another person. Or I'd get in an airplane seat and the belt wouldn't fit. Or some innocent kid would ask me if I was having a baby. These little innocuous events seemed weird to me, like I truly thought the airlines were making their belts shorter and taking away legroom. The brain is really funny that way, how it can be your worst enemy.
Now that I've had the surgery and dropped nearly 55 pounds, I get it. I totally see what I was missing. Now that I journal and measure my foods, I see how the large portion sizes eating out are not smart. I understand how staying hydrated helps the body shed. And it's amazing how much I want to tell other people now what they're doing wrong. I see it in their eyes when they're ordering in restaurants how they are keeping themselves unhappy. They see surgery as extreme, but I see it as having on of the healthiest relationships with food I've ever had in my life!