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I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.

It does take a lot of strength to say, yes, I made a mistake, but I am accountable and I am here not giving up. I think in the past many of us (I know for myself anyways), if I started gaining, I just gave up. Boohoo, poor me. Now, I strap on my big girl panties, say its time to get my head back in the game.
I don' t think anyone is a failure that is struggling to reach goal, or has had some regain. I think the only time that we fail is when we choose to give up.

I will be completely honest, I never really tracked how long any stalls were. I know the longest one was between 2 and 3 months (that's right, months, not weeks). I actually thought I was done losing and was a few pounds away from goal. But I was actually ok with that because I never dreamed I would even reach my goal as I had never remembered even weighing that amount. When I did start losing again, I was shocked and ecstatic!
I am also a only lose for one week out of the month person. And I always bounce up a few pounds around TOM. It used to freak me out because I thought I was gaining until I actually realized what was happening. I never paid attention so closely to my weight before surgery, I never noticed the changes in weight through out my cycle.
After the first 6 months, I just started rolling with it and not stressing about it so much. I was happy eating the way I was eating and slowly losing. When I stopped comparing myself to everyone else, I was much more at peace with this whole process. Sometimes you have to let go of what you thought it would be like and embrace the way your body works.

I would say, by definition, I was a slow loser. I had a total of 80.5 lbs that I wanted to lose to my goal after I had my surgery.
In the first 6 months, I lost 55 lbs. Then, it slowed to a crawl.
In the next 6 months, I lost 21.5 lbs
I stalled at this point for 3 months and I actually thought I might be done losing, then I lost 3 more pounds, now at 15 months post op.
Once again I stalled for about 2 months and thought I was done losing, still about 5 or so pounds from goal, but I was really that worried about those 5lbs.
Then, 18 months post op, I hit my goal weight of 140lbs and 80.5 lbs lost. In the months following, I dropped a few more pounds!
Now I have a 3-4 pound weight fluctuation. My cycle is a major factor in how much I weigh, so I try not to let it bother me. I can go up as much as 2 or 3 lbs during ovulation and 3-4 lbs during TOM. My weight loss near the end only really occurred in the 2 weeks in between Tom and ovulation, so I highly encourage women to really pay attention to their bodies. I also get wicked cravings and have a very hard time not wanting to eat everything in my path. How do I cope with the cravings? I do not keep anything in my house that I know I will eat.
Now I am over 2 years post op and have not had many issues maintaining for the last 8 months. I am still learning as I go and I still make mistakes. But over all I would say I eat healthy 90% of the time, and 10% of the time I don't. If I am going to be truthful, I never counted anything (calories, carbs, protein), I never weighed anything, and I don't exercise by definition regularly. I did follow my post op guidelines. I rarely eat bread (but I will eat garlic bread when out for supper) and I eat very little other "white carbs" like rice, Pasta, flour, sugar (notice that I did not say never). I do not drink with my meals, I still occasionally drink Protein shakes, I eat a lot of greek yogurt sweetened with stevia, drink 2% milk, eat nuts, and enjoy veggies AND fruits. I will still have an ice cream cone once in a while, I will still eat chocolate and I will still have other treats as well. I just do not keep them in my house so they are not tempting because I do not have any more will power now than before surgery if food is sitting in front of me (hence a 4 lbs weight gain over Christmas that I am happy to report is all gone again).
I wanted to make changes that I know I could live with, maintain, and be happy with for the rest of my life. I am happy with the weight I lost, and even though it was slower in the "sleeve" world, it was still faster than any other time I had tried to lose weight in my life. My new habits are firmly entrenched, and even if I stumble now (like Christmas), it is not difficult to get my head back in the game. I would not change what I did and how I did it and I love this tool that I have been given!

I am happy to see people realizing that everyone is different. When I went for my surgery, I was pretty sure I would be a slow loser. In the past I was a slow loser, no matter how hard I worked at losing weight, it always took me 2+ years of grueling workouts and strict diets. When I got the sleeve, I decided to make it a lifelong, manageable change. Did that affect how fast I lost...perhaps. But I knew that I could not endure crazy work outs and super strict diets anymore.
And I did compare in the beginning. And where did it get me? No where. I still didn't lose any faster and I only made myself miserable. I love that Cheri started this thread to encourage everyone. Of course the people that get to goal super fast are the ones that are going to post and those that are slower are going to shy away. We should all be here to encourage one another, not to judge. I have seen people that do not change anything in their diet get to goal in 6 months...problem is, when the honeymoon phase is over, they start gaining because they never had to make changes.
You have your whole life ahead of you, so don't worry if you don't reach goal in 6 months. And I would also like to give a big shout out to Coops. She is a great example of positivity! I also personally know others that never reached their "goal", but they are living happy, healthy lives. And really, is that not what this is all about. It is those that persevere that will have the long term success.

I would say, by definition, I was a slow loser. I had a total of 80.5 lbs that I wanted to lose to my goal after I had my surgery.
In the first 6 months, I lost 55 lbs. Then, it slowed to a crawl.
In the next 6 months, I lost 21.5 lbs
I stalled at this point for 3 months and I actually thought I might be done losing, then I lost 3 more pounds, now at 15 months post op.
Once again I stalled for about 2 months and thought I was done losing, still about 5 or so pounds from goal, but I was really that worried about those 5lbs.
Then, 18 months post op, I hit my goal weight of 140lbs and 80.5 lbs lost. In the months following, I dropped a few more pounds!
Now I have a 3-4 pound weight fluctuation. My cycle is a major factor in how much I weigh, so I try not to let it bother me. I can go up as much as 2 or 3 lbs during ovulation and 3-4 lbs during TOM. My weight loss near the end only really occurred in the 2 weeks in between Tom and ovulation, so I highly encourage women to really pay attention to their bodies. I also get wicked cravings and have a very hard time not wanting to eat everything in my path. How do I cope with the cravings? I do not keep anything in my house that I know I will eat.
Now I am over 2 years post op and have not had many issues maintaining for the last 8 months. I am still learning as I go and I still make mistakes. But over all I would say I eat healthy 90% of the time, and 10% of the time I don't. If I am going to be truthful, I never counted anything (calories, carbs, protein), I never weighed anything, and I don't exercise by definition regularly. I did follow my post op guidelines. I rarely eat bread (but I will eat garlic bread when out for supper) and I eat very little other "white carbs" like rice, Pasta, flour, sugar (notice that I did not say never). I do not drink with my meals, I still occasionally drink Protein shakes, I eat a lot of greek yogurt sweetened with stevia, drink 2% milk, eat nuts, and enjoy veggies AND fruits. I will still have an ice cream cone once in a while, I will still eat chocolate and I will still have other treats as well. I just do not keep them in my house so they are not tempting because I do not have any more will power now than before surgery if food is sitting in front of me (hence a 4 lbs weight gain over Christmas that I am happy to report is all gone again).
I wanted to make changes that I know I could live with, maintain, and be happy with for the rest of my life. I am happy with the weight I lost, and even though it was slower in the "sleeve" world, it was still faster than any other time I had tried to lose weight in my life. My new habits are firmly entrenched, and even if I stumble now (like Christmas), it is not difficult to get my head back in the game. I would not change what I did and how I did it and I love this tool that I have been given!

Best of luck Jane! Let us know how everything goes and keep us up to date on all the amazing changes!
And Butter, do you always wish everyone a "good lick".....

Best of luck Jane! Let us know how everything goes and keep us up to date on all the amazing changes!
And Butter, do you always wish everyone a "good lick".....

You look amazing!! You don't have to be a size S to be beautiful. You have done fantastic, I cannot believe the difference in the size of shirts.

You look amazing!! You don't have to be a size S to be beautiful. You have done fantastic, I cannot believe the difference in the size of shirts.

You look amazing!! You don't have to be a size S to be beautiful. You have done fantastic, I cannot believe the difference in the size of shirts.

You look amazing!! You don't have to be a size S to be beautiful. You have done fantastic, I cannot believe the difference in the size of shirts.

I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.

My scale is suppose to take body fat percentage with the little currents. It says my body fat is 29.1%
Oh well, I choose not to believe it!

That is amazing, and you look amazing!! And I agree, put on your biggest pair of pants pictures. I can fit into 1 leg of mine, and have my 4 year old with me, and still have room!!

When I was deciding on a goal, what I originally did was just pick a just within normal BMI (which was 140lbs for me and put me at a BMI of 24.9). In the back of my head, I never really thought I would ever make it there. I had never weight that amount in my entire teenage to adult life (maybe when I was 10, or something like that!). I just decided that I would make changes that I could live with for the rest of my life and go from there. When I reached my goal weight and even dropped a few pounds below, I did a happy dance that is for sure!!
Setting a goal is a very personal thing. For everyone it is going to be different. The only thing that I wanted to do for myself was to make it attainable and realistic. I did not want to set myself up for failure by saying I want to weight 115lbs (still within normal for my height). I knew that it was something that I could never manage and would drive myself crazy trying to. Could I lose a few more pounds, well, probably, but I wouldn't be happy if it took everything in me just to get there and attempt to maintain. I had surgery so I could live a relatively normal life. I eat healthy, I am active, but I sometimes have an ice cream.

I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.

Ummm... Butter it may have been the morphine
But you don't remember sending this picture out last night??????

I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.

HA!! But I thought you had a pair of stars and stripes to show us!

I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.

I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.

What a transformation! You should pat yourself on the back.
It is totally normal for weight loss to slow down, usually just past the 6 month mark. It doesn't mean it has to stop, but it does take more work. I didn't reach goal until 18 months, and I know many others that are still slowly losing 2 and 3 years out. There is no expiration date on the sleeve.
If you are struggling, try tracking for a little while and see what you are really eating. Sometimes we tell ourselves that we aren't really eating that much, but when you write it all down, it adds up quickly!
Congratulations on your success!

I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.

I got rid of all my clothes except my biggest pair of pants, a size 22. I hang onto them to remind myself where I have come from when there are days I still see a fat girl in the mirror.