LilMissDiva Irene

Wow that's a huge deal!!! Congrats and I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you! Knock their socks off lady!!

Wow so sorry to hear that Wishing you well on your surgery though, please check in when you feel up to it!

Hi mnb, I already replied to your other one, I just wanted to make sure you got a proper CONGRATULATIONS here!! Yayyyy!!!

Since this is the very first post, I'd like to formally WELCOME: feedyoureye Foxbins hugsamber kellyw74 lsereno meggiep MLD mnbsleeve (newbie sleever!!!) My Life as Liz Ovalcutie chef neil (joined today!!!) moongirl (joined this week!!!) singand_dance (joined this week!!!) WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME!!!!! I would give everyone doughnuts, but well... that probably wouldn't be a good idea.

I had insurance cover my lap band and for that I had to have 6 dietician visits and they were to occur on a monthly basis. They had to be consecutive too, if I missed one I'd have to start all over... TG I never missed one! Anyway I think 6 months is pretty common, at least that is the majority that I hear. Some do 3 months and some even do up to a year! Good luck!

Majority of my pain was in my esophagus every time I tried to swallow my fluids. The incisions to me really werent that bad, but at that time I'd already had 3 other abdominal sugeries and the WLS were two of the lessers by far!! The incisions only hurt for a few days, unles I tried to sleep on my stomach. That hurt for 2 weeks tops. The esophagus pain lasted for at least 6 weeks. HTH

Yay Stacy!!! I can tell a lot! Looking great! As for your Hubby -- WRONG ANSWER!! Even if you couldn't tell... LOL But, you can big time!!

Hi mnb I'm so glad to hear you made it through flying colors!!! Welcome to Sleeveland, you WILL enjoy your stay here! Sip, Walk, Rest... Sip, Walk, Rest... Sip, Walk, Rest...

I'm wondering at what point do you feel normal? I understand you feel different in the sense of eating, but when do you feel you have enough energy? I didn't start feeling normal with energy levels at least for the first two months. I didn't even gain back enough stamina for my workouts until around 4-5 months post op. Don't worry though, it does happen. It is really really worth it. I feel completely 100% normal today. The only time I am reminded I have a sleeve is when I post here or if I eat too much or too fast. When do you stop worrying about hurting your stomach? Never! You never want to fill your stomach too much, but you can generally expect that you should be completely healed around 2 months out. When do you simply eat and drink without thinking it through so much? At almost 9 months out I can really drink much faster than I did at only about 1 month out. But I still can't guzzle like I did pre surgery. I still need to keep close attention to my full signal because pushing even one bite too much can leave me feeling miserable. Is there a day where you dont' think about the surgery and what you've done and just live and enjoy the day? Why can't you do both? I think about my surgery daily because I have to every time I eat or drink - yet I do still live and enjoy my day! For those of you who had the surgery done 1 or more years ago, why do you still come to the forum? Is it because you still need support or is it because you simply want to help others? If you still need the support, why? What is it? Well I'm close to one year out, but I'll tell you why I still come here. Simply because the awesome folks here were there for me when I needed answers and now it's my turn. I owe it to this great community. I still get amazing advice to this day! There will always be someone here who is further out than me and can help me out with questions. I don't think I'm having many issues per se, but this is a lifetime decision. Our sleeves will be wtih us until we pass away, so it's nice to have a place like this to come back to whenever. I guess I'm hoping after surgery I could just move onto my new normal life. You will!!!!!!! Thanks so much!

I feel this way myself. I'm just a lot heavier than others who are wearing my size so the scale just isn't going to be kind to me ever. I just have to enjoy the tape measure, and how my clothes fit. It's still just as great though!!!

Thanks my fellow sleevers!!! @Raine: I'm telling you! I will have it all, I will just have to pay for them. @thin, what that guy tells you is the absolute truth. Trust me, that wasn't any type of complaint from me! I don't wanna lose much more of that booty... LOL @Nichelle - congrats on your inches lost!!! Yayyy!!!

Oh wow... that is too much. Mine came up automatically at 149 Lbs, which for me was only about 5 Lbs lighter than my maximum BMI chart weight. I don't even plan to get to 154 but to 165 - so if I'm counting by that I should be beyond the 65% which is even more excellent! It's all in the eyes of the beholder, and IMO the BMI charts really don't apply to me. I would have to go by another set of rules. Probably that big boned calculator you mentioned... LOL

LOL!!! Candace that is funny! Yes, those Starbucks are super charged...

This is not something I gathered a distaste for. I've always loved black coffee and I still do. I drink it half-caff and it wakes me up enough so I haven't strengthened it at all. I still love my teas as well - and enjoy some Stash Black Tea when my morning coffee isn't quite enough. The Starbucks skinny vanilla coffee is good too but I get the Tall because I can't even finish that. It gets me buzzing!!!

Awesome Congrats!! This got me wondering how close I was so I looked up the tool at OH.com - you put in your weight at surgery day, your height and percentage you expect to lose. I put 65% since that is the common expected successful surgery WL goal. I'm only 5 Lbs away from mine!!! Another reason to smile today. Here's the link: http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/information/post+op+planner.php

Hellooo!!! So this morning I decided it's time to do some measurements. I don't do this on any kind of regular basis and it turns out I do this about once a month. I don't usually see a whole lot of changes month to month but the grand totals are really incredible now! I've lost an ENTIRE HUMAN BEING in weight... I mean the inches came from somewhere right??? WOW!!!! I can't even believe it as I type this... I measure my entire body; my neck, bust, waist, hips, upper and fore arm, wrist, thigh, calf and ankle. I only started my measurement records when I was around 300 Lbs. I'd already lost a good 30 lbs at that point so I really don't know my exact inches lost and never will. Anyway in totals I've lost 58" off my entire body!! Wow!!! I'm down nearly 140 Lbs from my peak so I've lost the weight of an entire person!!! WOWOWWOWWWW!!! My female dimensions right now are 36-32-42!! That 42 inch hip is not the lenth, majority of that is booty. I'd like to still lose some of that to at least get it into the 30's. I'd love to be 36-28-38. I'd be super comfy there I'm sure. I'm sooo close!! Of course I know that will make my bust smaller (not a 36 but more a 34) but hey - we can't have it all right??? LOL And that can be fixed once I get the boobage puffed back up. My ribcage is a 34 and honestly my ribs stick out so I don't know how much more I can lose there... it's weird to be this close! My mind really is taking it's time getting used to my new reflection in the mirror. At 300 Lbs my measurements were 44-45-56. Anyway here's the very best part of all of this. The healthy waist measurement for a woman is 32" or less!!! My waist is IN THE HEALTHY RANGE FOR A WOMAN!!! Whhohooooo!!!! This is an AWESOME victory for me!! I knew I was close but wasn't keeping exact tabs, so I decided to look it up and come to find out - I AM THERE NOW!!!! Doing the happy dance!! Today is a happy day for me. I just keep working my sleeve, and it keeps working for me. I LOVE MY SLEEVE!!! It truly has saved my life, and every single day I get closer and closer to my goals. I sooo close and I can hardly stand it!!! I'm within inches of my final goal. Now if I get to 165 Lbs and haven't hit my inches goals I think I'll keep trying to lose more. But I'm thinking it would be pretty close, or if I hit my inches before my weight then I'll not try to lose anymore. Cheers to all on this most successful tool!!!! Newbies be warned... you have all this to look forward too.

You go girl!!! You're doing fantastic! Big Hugs and Cheers on the rest of the months that will come and go as quickly as this one did!!

Welcome Andrea!!

Congrats!!! Question: How do you feel about your sleeve now?

As always - AMAZING!! I think what you are feeling is quite normal actually, and if not then I think there could be the risk of you keeping whatever you gained after you deliver your baby. You'll be fine, I'm sure you'll get back into your cute stylish clothes fast. Also, I'm not sure why anyone would accuse you of not eating healthy for you and your baby. That would be rude!!

Well you're not annoying me Meggie! It's really really tough in the first few months after surgery. You almost have to become obsessive with everything you put in your mouth. Unlike pre-surgery it's that you NEED to eat/drink instead of that you don't. It's a very hard concept! And with a tiny tummy, it can just be incredibly hard to accomplish this. I right now at nearly 9 months out I don't really have a hard time getting over 120 Oz of Water in and including around 900 to 1200 calories per day. Getting higher than that is a bit tough as my surgeon carves a very very tight sleeve, but IMO I think I needed that. I do try to keep my calories up, and especially on the days that I'm doing my hardcore cardios. I will do my hour workout and immediately after I'll make me a Protein shake bomb. It has over 40 grams protein and adds in about 200 calories to my daily total. It helps me a lot and I feel really good once I have it. I think sometimes Dr.'s worry with "drinking the calories" simply because they don't want us to abuse it. They'd rather we didn't do it at all, but I think if we are responsible about it and our drinking of calories is for nutritional purposes I really don't see any problem with it. Sometimes I just don't have time to eat, and I need the extra protein! What am I supposed to do? Anyway, that's my contribution to this thread. It's good to try to keep the calories moving about. Staying at one degree for too long and your body does get used to it. It's one of the ways I keep my scale moving. Hugs to all!!!

That is fantastic Amanda!!! Congrats on the great interview and I've got my fingers X'd for you! I hope you get the promotion! You sure went through heck for it... wow 13 person panel??? Yuck!! LOL

Yayyyyy Raine!!! Congrats!!! Rock that sleeve missy!!!

Whooottt!!!! You go girlie!!! You work so hard, of COURSE they fit!!

I agree Vitamin Shoppe is amazing! They have every single thing you can ever imagine you would need in your journey and every brand under the sun (save for a minor few). They are my nutrition store of choice and often have B1G1HO sales. Saves tons!! Especially since I go through tons of supplements. If anyone has a VS in your area, I urge you to check it out. The sales staff is super knowledgable too and incredibly helpful!