LilMissDiva Irene

Yep, if I ain't goin' I ain't losin'. Poo weighs a lot. I use fiber chews (which I am going to switch to benefiber once I run out) and I also use Dieter's Tea. It has a natural effect called Senna. It works! You don't wanna abuse this stuff. Speaking of oatmeal, Quaker makes a Hi Fiber type and it works wonderfully. I love the stuff and it will hold me 6 hours!! It's very satisfying. Lots here also suggest Miralax - though I haven't tried it myself. It might be worth the try. Good luck!!

You're right! Health O Meter always would be crazy for me. I'd step on and it would give me a weight, then right after step on again it would be +/- 5 Lbs!! I use Taylor and it works excellent. It's always right on with my Drs office. I've also heard a lot of good things about the Weight Watchers scales. Of course you can never go wrong with the Detecto scales too.

Welcome to the Pear Family!! LOL Yes I'm a pear. Yes I lost top down first. Yes I look super skinny on top now and normal on the bottom!! I'll tell you how, I workout the bottom half of my body WAY more than the top. I do the elliptical without using the handles, I run and walk, I do the spinner - all bottom workouts. I think it's helping! Check out my photo album, it will give you an idea on how my pear shape melted away. Good luck!!

Absolutely yes, it is a good idea to start working out again. The healthier you are going into surgery, the healthier you will be coming out. It sounds like you are already doing quite well with them when you do them. That sounds pretty much like what I do. Yes you will *eventually* get back to having enough energy to sustain workouts again. It took me awhile though. The first few months were really tough where energy was concerned. The super low calories, not enough fluids and Protein really took a toll on my stamina. However in time it got better and of course my energy did return. Patience is really key when it comes to the first few months. HTH!

Good morning! So, it’s been over 2 weeks since I’ve actually stepped on the scale. Bad? Good? Neither, more like a huge sigh of relief. My scale has been living my life for me for the last 6 years. It has defined who I was, and it was the precursor on how I would feel that day. I go up a few pounds? Bad day and everyone around me look out! I go down a few pounds? The world is a beautiful place and everyone and everything are super duper!! Why is this? In the very beginning of my Sleeve journey (not my pre-band and not my band journey) I was only weighing in once a week. Every Wednesday I would jump on the scale and see how my week went. Pretty much every single time I stepped on I was down at least a few pounds. Awesome! Some weeks it would drop huge numbers, sometimes only one pound. They were all fine with me – if you only knew what I went through with my band, you’d know that for ME EVERY SINGLE POUND lost WAS A BLESSING!! For the record that has not changed. I’ll tell you what has changed. How often I was stepping on that scale. Over time my weigh-ins would increase. From a few times per week, then up to a few times per day. For me, this really started to mess with my mind! In the beginning it was no big deal. But the closer I started to get to some very huge weight milestones I started to really let it affect my mood. NOT GOOD!! I did always promise that if it did affect me negatively then I would take a step back and not do it anymore. …and that leads me to today. Today I have not weighed in two weeks! I think this is for sure the longest I’ve gone since my sleeve surgery. I think I’m almost ready to get back on. *Almost*. Wednesdays have always been my weigh day – but I may change that. Before my sleeve I always liked to weigh in on Fridays. I think I may go back to that. The reason for this is during my workweek I am excellent!! I do my workouts, I eat perfect – I’m just really on point during these days. It’s always nice to see the fruits of my labors at pretty much the end of this. The weekends are a lot harder to manage. Hubby and I are always really busy and whatnot, it’s just not as structured. I’d rather not see the bounces if at all possible. Is this avoiding the truth? Who cares??? My sanity is at stake here!! LOL!! IMO as long as the scale is going down, I’m happy. Even if it’s one little pound – ya know that’s still ONE POUND closer to GOAL!! Gotta love that. Especially since I’ve only got about 30 or so to go. Most folks tell me that I don’t look like what I weigh. Awesome! I wish I did though. I would most likely at this point just try to wiggle myself into maintenance mode at this point. However, the fact is I DO still weigh what I do (199.6 at last check) so I still have a little bit to go. I was going to go for the maximum weight according to the ridiculous BMI charts. For me that would be 154 Lbs being that I’m 5’6”. Knowing this I’d still have 45.6 Lbs to lose. Ummm… no. I’m already fitting in some 10’s and mostly all 12’s now. My 14’s are pretty much ready for donation but I’m wearing them until they fall off me… LOL… which is not too far from now. Who knows what size I’ll be in 30-35 more Lbs. I will surely be done by then. Anyway like my title said, My Scale Does Not Define ME!!! I do. Blessings to all on your journeys. I know this is long winded – but that’s how I do things...

All are welcome here! We have about 8 weeks until final weigh in day! I'll be checking my scale soon, but it's been a real relief not having to rely on it the last few weeks - I can't lie. I think I'll be ok with it once I do get back on (no more scale whore here because the scale doesn't match how I feel!!!). Congrats on everyone's success so far! You are all doing amazing!!

Wow Firefly!!! Looking fabulous there lady! Congrats to you

Dear Gabriella, you are in my thoughts and I'm wishing you well. Please get well soon, and STAY STRONG! You have so many reasons to get through this. Just know that all of us here are pulling for you. Please also update us on your condition whenever you feel up to it. Big hugs!!!

Hellooooo!! Is anyone out there? Come in and chat

I see most of you have already found it! In case anyone else wants to join, here's the link: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/16638-4th-of-july-what-will-you-weigh/ Good luck!! Cheers to the mini goals!!

Someone here put it into words once so perfectly, and for the life of me I can't remember who it was. I'd def give them the credit if I remembered who it was. Anyway thy said it's like the Movie Alien - the Alien baby in your chest. That's EXACTLY what you could imagine it feels like. If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor and rent it. Can you still push through it? If I could I would, and believe me - my answer is NOOOO!!!!

I really love mini-goals, which is why I like to do the "What will you weigh" threads! My husbands family is having a family reunion Labor Day weekend and my hope is to be at my ultimate goal by then... but first things first, right now I want to get to 180 Lbs which will put me at 150 Lbs total lost. This really makes it so much easire to do IMO - sepecially when you're like me and needed to lose well over 100 lbs (borderline 200) Work it!!!

@cludgie, that is AWESOME!! The best part for me in all of this is being able to shop in normal stores and buy CUTE CLOTHES!! @coops, someday when you keep going down and she's on her way back up you will have the pleasure of giving her back all of her "bigger" clothes.

Fabulous job you!! Your progressing great

I think I've been in sporadically within that time. It may just be a coincidence it being down whenever you try to log in. I know it has been going out a little bit here and there...

Agreed, and I think that is the major reason why I chose the sleeve above all others. I had the lap band and I found out it is incredibly easy to gain weight back with it. One of my deciding factors on how I was going to choose my next WLS had to be one that was the most effective with keeping off the weight lost. I read and studied a lot - and it seemed the sleeve had excellent results where this is concerned. I imagine it's possible to get back up to 300 Lbs with it. I also imagine it would be more work than it's worth though! One would have to go on a full on food binge for at least 5 years and eat all the worst things possible, almost with a purpose. I haven't been perfect at all in my journey so far. I'm good most of the time but sometimes I'm not. In those cases I never really gained any weight back. I pretty much would just bounce up and down a few pounds until I get back to being right. So far the sleeve rates A+++ for me.

A lot to me has to do with the excitement of having surgery and wanting to do your best to get the weight off in the beginning. Just like a marriage in the beginning - Love Is Blind as they say. Everything is seen through rose colored glasses and life is better than you ever imagined. Well once the newness wears off you're left with reality. In my case now, I love my hubby more today than I ever have! I hope this is the case with my sleeve too. Not only is my sleeve beautiful to me now but with many years and experience and good and bad times with us - that would only make our relationship stronger. I went to a seminar held by Dr. Cirangle and he has some of the best long term data out there. He did say that "average" weight gain with the sleeve is excellent. It usually comes out to about 10% weight regain for about 10% of patients. So... one out of every ten patients who lose 100 Lbs of exces weight will gain back about 10 Lbs. Sounds good to me! That's news I can use...

Thanks girlfriend! All that running, I'm telling you!

I think it's almost a right of passage for sleevers to go through this. However I believe it will or should only happen once to most of us. I barely went through my first episode a month ago and I'm 8 months out now. I had a little inclination though because I was banded for almost 3 years during my revision. I know my limits - but sometimes its not even about that. It was more WHAT I ate rather than how much or how fast because I neither had a lot nor did I eat it too fast. Next time I'll know the warning signs if something just isn't working for my sleeve!! That is one thing I'll never ever forget!!

Wishing you well today Kelly - and WOW I just noticed you've already lost almost half of your excess weight!! You're going to be at goal in a few months... CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Wow best wishes to all of you! You're lucky to have others around here who are sleeved all on the same day. Remember: Rest, Sip, Walk... infinity. Keep us updated on your post op progresses!!

Here's my most recent updated photos: Current - 199 Lbs: Beginning of my LONG journey - 330 Lbs: ETA a few I took this morning.

Great news!!

Good morning! Well this has been a HUGE issue for me as well... so yes you are definitely not alone. I have never been able to get the photos, mirror image or anything to match the true me and even what I see myself in my head. It's so just plain strange and foreign to me. Now it's even worse because I'm a completely different looking person than I was barely 8 months ago now. I see old pictures of me when I was really heavy and especially the infamous brown sweater picture and I'm totally blow away. How did I not see how truly giant I was? I know I didn't feel that great, I know I was buying size 28W and 3X or larger tops... WOW!! I really honestly did not see it. I think I still envisioned myself a slim teen the whole time, crazy as it sounds. I just walked into the bathroom not even 3 minutes ago and the reflection I saw just now shocked me. My bony collarbones, skinny face - I don't recognizer her. It's almost like I see an entirely different entity when I look in the mirror now - and ethereal separate being. I can't look at my clothes and think I will actually fit them, and I'm shocked every time I put them on. They DO fit, and that IS me looking back in the mirror. I guess it will take some time to get used to it. I have such a displacement between me, myself and I. It almost takes away from all of my accomplishments - and that's very sad for me. I think I have always had this problem though since I was even as young as 8 years old. I was mentally abused as a young child regarding my weight. I was ridiculed by a grown up who should've been like a father figure to me but he was anything but. I think that's maybe where it stems from, is my belief. I wasn't even a really fat child, I was about 10 Lbs over the ideal weight, but when I was young that was seen as a very bad thing. Nothing like you see children of today. I see pictures of me as a child and yes I had a little pot belly but for the most part I was not fat. I did gain quite a bit in my early teens and that's when I went anorexic and bulimic to lose weight. I got very very thin and stayed that way all through High School. This is the girl I always remembered and through my heavy years, I think this is who I saw in my head, the skinny anorexic girl. I hope one day for all of our sakes our minds can meet with the reality. I would love for that to happen.

Repost: This is so right! Erin, you should be sipping/drinking constantly. Big hugs, and I hope you went to the ER by now... please keep us posted.