txchickinla

Started preop diet on July 26, 2011. Had sleeve surgery Aug 23, 2011. Started at 370lbs on preop diet. Today I weigh 161lbs. I have lost 209lbs. I am living proof that it can be done.

Premiere nutrition makes Protein Bars w/ 30 grams,@ Sam' club.

I am one and a half week post-op, but completed two weeks of a two week pre-op clear liquid diet. During the pre-op diet and a week after surgery I lost 23 lbs!!! BUT...since last Thursday I have only lost 2 lbs. I was getting depressed thinking I am "eating" too much. But when I plugged in my food diary into My Fitness Pal, I was pretty much on target.
After reading this post and the comments, I feel SO much better. Knowing there is a "three-week" stall for many makes me know I am not alone.

As of today, I have lost a total of 102 lbs!!!!! I am down from 325 to 223. I still have a ways to go, but my next goal is to get under 200lbs. It is falling off much quicker than I expected. I was just sleeved 4.5 months ago. Since the surgery, I have lost 87lbs. I have gone from a size 30 in jeans to a size 16/18 and a 4x in tops to a XL. I feel so much better, but can't wait to lose the next 50-65 lbs. I hope to be at goal by Christmas. Just wanted to share my excitement with you all.  

That's awesome and you look amazing! My one year anniversary is coming up on July 13th and I have lost 156 pounds. I can't stop shopping. Every weekend I'm finding myself buying more cloths and shoes. I must admit I look and feel great. I can't believe I didn't make the decision to have the surgery sooner..
Katrina~

Congratulations, that is so exciting. I have gone from a 32/30 down to a 16 now. I am getting pretty excited about saying goodbye to Avenue and Lane Bryant forever.

yesterday I went to the store and I wear a size 12. I'm down 119 lbs. I was so excited going from 24 to 12. My daughter laughed at me cuz I was so excited. Just thought I would share.:biggrin0:

I had a stall for 2 weeks. i thought my sleeve stopped working and all of a sudden i woke up (after 3 days of walking) i lost 2lbs and the day after another 2lbs

Today had a nsv! I wore a shirt that I bought four years ago that never fit. In fact I wore it as a jacket! I wore it today and could button it up and it wad even loose! That shirt alone was worth the surgery!

I'm not going to fuss at either one of you. I've eaten a McD's cheeseburger (no bun) and, on a different day, a taco bell taco with the shell. Of the two, I prefer the taco. I drive a lot for my job and sometimes fast food seems like the only option. I've noticed that most fast food isn't appealing to me anymore. I literally find myself standing in front of the menu trying to figure out how to get a decent Protein out of one of their foods. I know grilled chicken and salads are lots of folks' go to, but some of those "grilled chicken" salads have as many calories as a big mac! I'm not willing to invest 800 calories to eat some chicken and bland lettuce.
Wendy's chili is usually my go to if I must do fast food. I prefer to keep a Protein Bar in my purse and have that if I'm out at mealtime than to eat at almost any other fast food place, though.

I did it. I am 299.5 this morning!!!! I made it to the 200's. I can't believe it. I don't even recall the last time the scale was under the 300's. So glad I made this decision. It was so right for me.
Now if we can just know that Jimmy is ok, I would truly have a reason to Celebrate. This is the bad part of our close April group. How far away we are all. I am pretty sure that if we lived close, we would all be there in person for him. Hang in there Jimmy. We are still pulling for your recovery. Hugs via the cyber network.

Well I finally broke through my 304, 302, 304 pattern. This morning I am 300.4. Yippee. I am so happy. 200's here I come. Once I hit them, I will weigh less than I have in 14 years when I was pregnant and I had to keep taking steroid shots to help develop my girls lungs. I knew she was going to be born early.
I feel almost giddy. I am so glad I had this surgery. Seems like when I add in fruit to my diet, I start to go down. Guess I will keep up the apple sauce and melon.
Happy Saturday everyone!!!

I got on the scale today and it said: 179.8.
I'm making this announcement because I want people to know that so far, my year-long experiment with sleeve eating has not been a failure. If you've ever read my posts before, you know that I am not dieting with the sleeve. I am not lowcarbing. My calories are not at starvation level and they have not been since I got my surgery last April. My actually surgery was March 29, but I mostly count it as April 1 just to round everything out.
Okay so the thing is, there is research out there that says that people typically lose sixty percent of their weight in the first year and that's all you get. There is research that says that you will "stretch" your sleeve after six months or so, lose your "honeymoon" with your sleeve, stop losing and get stuck. There are surgeons who say you *have to* be on a lowcarb diet of 800 calories for the rest of your life or you won't lose the weight, and they say that you need to exercise like a demon *while* you're eating that 800 and you have to stay like that forever or you'll get fat again.
I want to tell you that in my experience this is not true.
What I want to tell you is that I got the sleeve because I was 46 and SO FAT -- I weighed 289 -- and I was at the end of my rope. I had dieted before and gotten the weight off only to regain it and the way I did that is pretty much to follow all the instructions above. Eating 800 lowcarb calories a day will get you to goal weight, there is no doubt,but in my opinion that's just no way to live and it's impossible to sustain. It also creates such intense anxiety about eating and your body and your food that it creates a horrible unending complex about fat, and feeding yourself, that the cure is worse than the disease.
I got my surgery in March. I was *severely* depressed and the reason I was depressed primarily was because I WAS SO FAT. I really hated myself. But I decided that the fat was emotional mostly and so what I was going to do was this. I was going to lose weight without dieting by having a surgeon remove eighty five percent of my stomach. And knowing that was taken care of and I had done the most *extreme* thing I could possibly do to solve my weight problem, I was going to let it come off naturally, eat normally and not push myself or punish myself because obsessing over my weight has basically been my career since I was 13 years old.
I had this thought once when I was watching Oprah Winfrey. All that woman ever talked about was her weight. All she ever did was look at the scale. Every time she lost fifty pounds it made the freakin national news and when she gained the weight back she made this weird confession and apology to everyone in the world. So obviously she was obsessed but what I really thought was holy crap, really? Imagine what Oprah could have accomplished with her life if she was not spending seventy five percent of her time obsessing over her pants size. Imagine what *I* could do if this was NO LONGER A PROBLEM for me and when I say NO LONGER A PROBLEM I mean I NEVER HAVE TO THINK OR WORRY ABOUT IT AGAIN.
So really....I was looking for more than weight loss. I wanted to be healed. Completely.
So the weight has come off really slow. In August of last year, I weighed 237. In November, I weighed 222. In January, 209. On April 1, my surgiversary, I weighed about 190. I've gone on vacation, I've drunk numerous glasses of wine, I've eaten cake and Pasta and carbs, I've avoided cardio really for the most part -- but my calories are *naturally* way under what I would need to sustain these weights and so....slowly....it's coming off. And it's still coming off and it has now been *over* a year.
I think I'm going to hit goal eventually. This will be without dieting, without worrying about the "honeymoon period", and without forcing myself to do ninety hours of cardio a week. And when I get there there's not going to be some freakout/rebound where I now have to figure out what "maintenance" is and be on the verge of shooting myself in the head because I had a piece of birthday cake or a piece of gum with sugar in it.
So this is what I want to say:
If you're just starting this project ( I refuse to say journey -- UGH) then realize that patience is required. Plan on a year *or more*. Even if you believe the honeymoon thing you're not going to drop all your weight *inside* your "honeymoon" so think about it...what are you going to do when it's over? Because you're still going to have to lose a lot of weight and you're going to have to sustain whatever you're doing for the rest of your life. It's frustrating that such an extreme solution is not instantaneous, but it is NOT, so prepare yourself. You're going to be working on this for at least a year. A year is a long time and you can't just not be alive for a year while you get thin. I didn't have that year to waste and you don't either.
If you're just starting this project, consider what you want your life to be as a thin person. Not a "formerly fat" person. Not a constantly dieting, obsessed person. This is what you'll be free of when it's done, so prepare by starting now and living your life.
And finally: Prepare for the idea that you may not lose all your weight in the first year. But remember this post by me and realize that you *will* very likely get exactly where you are going by the end of the second one and forget all that stuff about first years and honeymoons. This is not magic, it's science. It's mechanics. The mechanism that uses energy that is your body will continuously be operating at a deficit *even after* the honeymoon, *even after* the first year, and that means you *will* get there. You *have to*.
This requires patience, and then more patience. That's really the *only* think you need going into this. The rest, I really promise you -- will take care of itself.

I am at the atlanta airport on my way to fla from ky. I knew I needed to eat something since I still have a long way to go. all the food smelled.great and fattening. I chose from dunkin donuts a vegi.egg white no bread would not have done that before the sleeve I am 1 month out
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Willowsknot my NUT said i need to get 800calories aday atleast for my body to continue to lose weight. But i also need to get my fluids in too. It was very hard until i started drinking sugar free carnation Instant Breakfast or making sure i get my Protein Shakes in. Its killing two birds with one stone. Your getting more calories and the hydration part too.

Up and dressed just waiting on my mother and we are off to the hospital!

I am 7 months out and am still a DD cup just the band size has gone down 4 sizes.
I think alot of it depends on how endowed you were growing up, as a teenager I was like a C/D cup so am not expecting to go lower than that. *fingers crossed*, lost 115 pounds with 55 to go.

lol I want to know why some ppl don't have to do this blasted 2 weeks liquid diet !!
~ Sorry my hunger is making this way ....LOL

I was sleeved yesterday morning 04/23/2012 and I haven't even left the hospital yet but I'm already thrilled the I had this done. I was so nervous about the actual surgery that I never really let myself get too excited about the life changing possibilities it would have for me until now. It just hit me starting yesterday when I got to my hospital room that now I'm on the other side and will actually be one of those of you on the loser's bench!

I was on clears for 10 days, full liquids for 10 days (that's almost 3 weeks) and then to mushies. I too am not sure why your post-op diet is so strict. I doubt it would hurt you to start cream Soups and things like that. I think as long as you can pull it through a straw, you should be OK. Thinking back now, I can hardly remember what it was like those first few weeks post-op. Try to distract yourself with whatever you can find, reading, gardening, whatever you like to do. I work full time and went back after one week, so I really didn't have time to fret over it. Everyone at work knew about my surgery and they were all very supportive and encouraging. I hope this post-op time passes quickly for you. Before you realize, it will be a distant memory and worth the trouble. Chin up!! Kathe

Hi All! The surgery went well on the 12th. I have to say the 1st night was rough....the doc gave me morphine for pain ... Only took two doses of 1mil. Was more scared of throwing up than the pain. I developed sinus congestion and ended up dry heaving the second night. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. By last night, I was feeling better. Still having trouble getting to sleep because of the drain but for the most part, I have no pain. Trying to get all of the liquids down. Not hungry at all. Hope everyone else is doing good!

Hi All! The surgery went well on the 12th. I have to say the 1st night was rough....the doc gave me morphine for pain ... Only took two doses of 1mil. Was more scared of throwing up than the pain. I developed sinus congestion and ended up dry heaving the second night. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. By last night, I was feeling better. Still having trouble getting to sleep because of the drain but for the most part, I have no pain. Trying to get all of the liquids down. Not hungry at all. Hope everyone else is doing good!

Hi, my name is Nancy and I think my journey started about 20 years ago. My childhood and teen years were filled with a very appropriately-sized young lady that thought she could eat anything and not gain weight. Well I was wrong! And so wrong because when I did start gaining weight I tried every possible, unhealthy option I could to lose weight. The older I got the wiser my weight loss choices, but by then my body had found a rhythm of dropping 25 and gaining 35. Ugh! A few years ago I started going to my doctor regularly. I had prescription appetite suppressants and I tried hard to get the workouts in, but by this time I had done enough damage to my body and had been carrying excess weight for such an extended period of time, my skeleton rejected everything my head and heart truly wanted to do. Bike riding seemed to be the only thing my body would allow without too much pain, but it wasn't enough.
Bariatric surgery used to be a non-option unless you were at least 100 pounds over weight. I never did fall into that category, I usually hovered around 80 pounds overweight. But then this year I found out there are other ways that someone like me can qualify (high cholesterol) and BMI, arthritis, swelling, GERD, etc. (I hit about 4 more categories as well)! So I jumped through the hoops and had my surgery on March 27, 2012!!!!
One of the hardest parts of my journey, so far, is being judged. I'm judged by people that think I'm taking the easy way out and should just eat less and exercise more; and I've been judged by people that are significantly heavier than I am questioning why or how I should qualify. The bottom line is I did qualify and I am deserving of this opportunity- this is my gift to myself!
So here I am! Eleven days post surgery and feeling like a million bucks! Happy losing Everyone!! I'm looking forward to meeting people and sharing in this journey!

Well I can't believe that it has been one year since my surgery. This has been the best year of my life. when I started this I was 460 pounds. July of 2010 I was 450 when I went to the surgeons office for the first time. April 7, 2011 I was 410 pound the day of surgery. So I have lost 176 since surgery and 226 total. I have 54 pounds to go. things are slowing down and I went to my surgeon yesterday for my one year visit and he says this is normal. That I need to bump things up though with excercise and watching extra caerefully but he is very impressed with what I have done already. This forum has helped a great deal , and showed me the sleeve does work. I was suppose to get the DS surgery and when he went in I had very bad gaul stones stuck to my adominal wall and he needed to take care of that and was afraid of infestion so I got the sleeve instead. I was upset at first but got over it and joined this forum and saw that the sleeve does work. i am very happy now for the sleeve instead of the DS. Dr. G says that i could of had the rest of the surgery this year but he said that I was so successfull with the sleeve that I don't need it. I am determined to loose this last 54 more pounds but in the meantime I feel great. I am 50 years young and feel 20 again, I have been given my life back.

Hi! I'm also having my surgery April 12th! I am so excited and ready!I told my sister and my mom and they are both very supportive. My sister is even going to stay the night with me. I didn't tell my brothers I didn't think it was important for them to know...I do miss chewing but the liquid diet hasn't been too bad for me. I'm supposed to drink 5 shakes a day. I can only get down 3 but they said its ok. I have lost 5lbs since I started it!