carolinagirlz

I'm here!! My surgery was June 25th. I am down 87 lbs. Been losing slowly now. I am 5'3 and started at 278. I still want to get to 150 if my body will let me. I have to amp up the exercise.

Lisa I'm right there with you. I'm 7 mo out and have hit a wall! I'm 40 lbs to goal too. I just upped my cals to 1200 from 900. I still do Protein Shakes as well. I am trying this for a week and see how things go. If no change then I'm just going to do my best and hope that by June (my 1 yr mark) I make my goal.

Thanks!! I'm excited. It was my ulimate goal after surgery. The best thing is my surgeon is running it with me!!

Are you training on the road or treadmill? I have my first 5k March 2nd. Ive been training on the treadmill, but I heard its different running on the road.

Thanks!! I'm excited. It was my ulimate goal after surgery. The best thing is my surgeon is running it with me!!

Thanks Cheri! It is the white carbs that get me into my addict mode. I turn into a some sugar monster always wanting more!! I'm detoxing then going back to my good carbs. I can not do low/no carb. Too many bad migranes and lethargy. I just let myself fall back into old habits over christmas and it's slowing getting worse. Btw, congrats on pregnancy.
Kelley

From what I've read, if you put the treadmill on a 1.5 incline it will be more like running on the road. I don't have access to a treadmill, but I love running outdoors so it's okay. Good luck with your first 5K.

Are you training on the road or treadmill? I have my first 5k March 2nd. Ive been training on the treadmill, but I heard its different running on the road.

Going to start my C2K tomorrow as well - I am going to start with a plan that begins with a 5k walk to start as I have wicked arthritis, and see how things go from there. I would love to run and have an app for my phone once I build up a bit of stamina. I am praying my knees cooperate
Hubby and I also start Water aerobics once my new swimsuit arrives - I dont think I have bought one of those since I was a teenager and am a bit mortified at the thought of actually putting one on in public lol.
here's to scary new activities

As usual, my response will be a novella. Bear with me!
I think the biggest thing to be aware of is that the sleeve is going to help immediately (and forever) with Portion Control. You will never sit down and eat an entire pie, pizza or box of Cookies in one sitting again. That said, the emotional and habitual triggers will not be resolved. I think a lot of people transition from binge eating into grazing because that's what their sleeve will allow.
I was completely in denial about my overeating and binge eating until I was forced to confront it post op. I had really, really convinced myself that my weight and inability to lose it was entirely due to my diabetes, my hormones, my metabolism, whatever. I really thought that simply controlling my portion size would be this miracle solution and that for the first time in my life the weight would just fly off and I'd be skinny.
It wasn't until I stumbled upon the book "Hungry" by Allen Zadoff that I acknowledged the behavior I'd been denying and realized why I was struggling with my emotions post op.
The most important thing to do is track your food. I tracked every single bite religiously, to the point of ridiculousness, actually. Six M&Ms and a sip of soda? I'd do the math and add them into MyFitnessPal rather than ignore them. This was the first big step in acknowledging what I was eating.
The next step was to force myself into a set caloric/nutritional window. If I didn't have "slack" to indulge on any given day, I did not do it. That was tough and many a night I went to bed thinking about food. But it was so important to me that I learn to control my eating instead of continuing to be a slave to my desire for food. I LUSTED after food. I had to break those habits and the easiest way was taking advantage of that window where I had zero physical hunger and using it to overcome the habit of eating.
From that point, I evaluated my emotions and feelings every time I found myself thinking about food or opening the door to the fridge. Once I pinpointed my triggers I was able to stop the behavior. The sleeve made this so much easier for me, because I really wasn't experiencing any hunger. The only time I ever struggle with this is during my cycle, when my hormones are wacky and I feel like I could eat paint chips off the wall (all despite feeling ZERO actual, physical hunger) but I still keep myself under control.
Once I was able to tackle those three things, I had to learn moderation. I could not treat the sleeve like a diet. I could not approach the sleeve as the other half of a life on Atkins. For me to succeed and feel happy about my success, I needed to feel like I wasn't denying myself or like I was fencing off an entire world of food forever.
This is different for everyone, because some people have serious trigger foods like white sugar or white flour that make it incredibly difficult to incorporate them in moderation. My only real trigger at this point is popcorn. I could eat it every day. Every other food that used to set me off has no control over me these days. So my experience in this won't work for everyone.
But basically, I found that around six to nine months post op that I was able to incorporate a more reasonable amount of carbs and good, quality fats into my diet. All at once my mood improved and I stopped dreaming about food at night. I was able to indulge myself occasionally without feeling the compulsion to eat myself sick. From that point forward I started eating about 40% Protein, 30% carbs and 30% fat as my diet.
I try to make good quality food choices 90% of the time but I allow myself 10% of give where I'll eat whatever strikes my fancy. If I feel like I'm slipping I immediately start tracking every calorie again and find out if I really am slipping or if it's all in my head. Usually it's in my head, to be honest. There's a huge amount of baggage that goes with a lifetime of negative body image, crazy diets and generally poor eating habits. There were times when eating a few bites of cake could make me feel guilty but if I counted up my calories for the day I'd see that there's nothing wrong with a few extra calories and carbs.
And I'll admit that those days are mostly behind me at two and a half years out. I have now ingrained the habit of healthier eating and the desire to binge and graze endlessly is gone. Most of the emotional baggage has been worked through and shelved, and I don't question my choices like I used to do. It really is a huge relief to feel this way - I imagine this is how people that never had food issues or a weight problem feel about food. It's just food. I enjoy it, sure, but it doesn't control me or make me feel guilty or send me into fantasies where I eat it all anymore.
All of that aside, I did not whip down to goal quickly. I was still a slow loser, even sleeved and doing my best to be healthy mentally and physically. It took me 17 months to reach goal but when I got there I was ready for it. Maintenance was a breeze for me once I accepted my body's happy weight was going to be a few pounds more than I wanted. This is why you will see me repeat the same things over and over again here - it's important to learn moderation and stumble on your way to healthy BEFORE you reach goal. Do not save up all of the issues that caused your obesity until that point and then try to live a normal life while unpacking your baggage!
I could not have done this without my sleeve. I urge anyone that's working through this to really address it as something you can fix, something you can control. You really are in charge of your body. Make the sleeve, and the fact that you removed most of your stomach, count. It is a struggle. It is hard. Those compulsions, cravings and desires are seriously hard to break, but we can do it. I'd say we HAVE to do it if we want to live life at goal as a happy and healthy person.
Best of luck to everyone struggling with this.
~Cheri

I see VST less as someone's personal cheerleader and more as a place to share information, ideas and strategies on life with a gastric sleeve. It's a forum full of strangers from across the globe and I cannot expect everyone here to think and act the way I might.
I don't know, but as an adult I suppose I'm just used to dealing with both nice and not so nice people, with people that are blunt and with people that are delicate, and with people that take everything very personally and with people that let things roll of their backs. It's part of life. In the real world, I interact with those people just fine without the need for someone else to back me up or intervene.
I think what frustrates many people isn't that people don't search out old searches (though many people never bother to search at all), it's that on any given day you can find four active threads about the same exact topic in a forum. Most often, I simply ignore these repeats, but yes, seeing the same questions and information (and sometimes misinformation) being continually revived gets annoying. I think what frustrates people here the most is that those of us that don't need to be here come back to help. We want to share our experience and we genuinely want to see people succeed. Finding repeated posts from people that simply want validation for what they know are poor choices gets aggravating and I'm sure you'll understand that once you've been here a while.
This isn't kindergarten where we need a moderator to separate us into opposite corners because we disagree on occasion. We're all adults here, right? It's very easy to simply ignore someone that posts something you don't like or don't agree with and to avoid posts where you know that particular member has been active.
Oh, and I'm not only a meanie, I'm a hormonal pregnant woman.
~Cheri

I Like your attitude!! My Nut says the same thing( balance). I got myself messed up by following what others were doing. Which was 700 cals, 20 carbs and 70 protein. I have been in a serious stall so I'm going to take a break from MFP and just live and eat like a normal HEALTHY person would do!

Looking Ahead....you look amazing!! I know you had your share of troubles, but 108 lbs???WOW!!! You know we had surgery the same day and I'm down 70lbs. I've been in a serious stall. I'm getting about 900 cals a day. Prob need to increase but I'm scared LOL.Keep up the work and Take those Vitamins!!

Thanks!! I'm ready to come over to the other side. Prayers needed I'm nervous!

Thanks!! I'm ready to come over to the other side. Prayers needed I'm nervous!

Wow this is it in less than 24 hours my new life will begin. Good luck to all of my sleeve twins!!!!

I have surgery on Monday the 25th. I have been on pre-op diet for two weeks. I knew I was a strong person, but just didn't know how strong. We spent a week at the beach this past week. Let me tell you...it was hard!! This was the first time on vacation where there were no alcoholic beverages or sodas consumed. I had to watch everyone else indulge in processed junk foods that are so good on the beach! I kept strong and reminded myself of the big picture. Now I must push thru tomorrow because I will only be allowed Jello and broth.< /p>

I have surgery on Monday the 25th. I have been on pre-op diet for two weeks. I knew I was a strong person, but just didn't know how strong. We spent a week at the beach this past week. Let me tell you...it was hard!! This was the first time on vacation where there were no alcoholic beverages or sodas consumed. I had to watch everyone else indulge in processed junk foods that are so good on the beach! I kept strong and reminded myself of the big picture. Now I must push thru tomorrow because I will only be allowed Jello and broth.< /p>

sounds good to me!

June 25th for me!!!!

Me too!!!! I start my pre-op the 9th. I have been eating "junk " the last 2 days. I guess it's my way of saying "bye, bye" sugar.Is that bad?

June 25th for me!!!!

so sorry for your loss. Sending prayers your way.

I'm scheduled for June 25th!!

Yes!! I can't wait until my hubby and I can sit in jetted tub together without it overflowing the sides:) Congrats on your NSV.