SleeveGirl-TX

Some would say I'm a "slow loser" when you look at my percentages, but I had a LOT to lose and I'm very happy with where I am and where I'm going. Some days it seems painfully slow... others, really fast. I'm all about making lasting changes. If that takes me an extra few months.... so be it.

It all depends on you. How bad do YOU want it? You gotta want it bad and be willing to do the work. You'll stall, you'll crave things, you'll get angry, you'll get frustrated... but it's really all up to you. The SURGERY will help you lose 50%... the other 50% is ALL YOU. I've been really successful. Therapy has been the single best thing I've ever done for myself. I started a month before surgery. Best decision ever.

Finally finding my way back to this forum, it's been a LONG time. I'm about 16 or so pounds from my new goal weight. Ha! 175 seemed so unobtainable that I never thought I'd actually hit that number, much less pass it and keep going. I'm still losing - in month 19, I'm at 5 pounds lost. I weigh 166 and am 5'6". Best decision I've ever made, but it's also a LOT of hard work. There's no easy way out. I make decisions every single day and I live with the consequences of those choices. I still only eat around 800 calories a day. I can get up to 1200 if I try really hard, but I still have amazing restriction and I seem to lose best at 800, so I just keep it there. I get around 30-50 carbs per day, a LOT of Water and 70-100 Protein. I use MyFitnessPal to keep myself in check. There's a LOT of skin. I held most of my weight for 30 years in my stomach. It's really bad. There will be eventual plastic surgery to deal with it. But I'd much rather have that than all the fat that was hanging around. My life is so much different now. I'm a totally different person, yet completely the same. I'm able to do more and live life how I'm supposed to be living it. I have been married to the most amazing man in the world for nearly 20 years and we have two (nearly) perfect children and life is pretty darn good. To those of you struggling, stalling, wondering if you can do it... you can. You just have to want it bad enough. And by that I mean... BAD. Stalls are normal. I lose some, stall, gain some back, stall, lose that and then a little more, stall again. My longest stall was 20 days at 3 weeks out. I routinely stall for about 2 weeks at a time nowadays. It's all good, as long as the overall trend is down. I'll attach a photo of me at 200 lost, I've lost 8 more since then, but the difference is pretty amazing.

I'm not a teacher, but my husband is. I waited to have mine done until June (although I made the decision in March) so that he would be here to help me with the adjustment. I'm REALLY glad I did. He cooks and I was pretty miserable for a few weeks after - I had a lot of abdominal pain. Everyone is different though and I know folks that were right back at it. I know that I couldn't have been on my feet, doing all the walking and bending that you folks do that early out though!

Finally finding my way back to this forum. Hiya, Texas folks!

Oh wow... that's amazing... congrats to you. Way to rock it!

Pure Protein is too... protein-y for me. It tastes funky. I really like the Oh Yeah! and the PowerCrunch brands so far. I'm just trying a bunch. I really wanted to like the ThinkThin ones, but they tasted like protein bar too much. LOL. I guess the "wafer" ones are more my style as well.

Kelly - I agree, but I'm struggling to get those calories in... short of eating cocoa puffs, I'm not sure what else to eat or when. He says 3 meals per day, but I obviously eat more than that. Like I said in my blog, I'm just going to go with it at this point...

An update to this... I blogged about it on OH actually.. http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/sleevegirl/

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

Fluffy - looks like you are pre-op --- you'll find after surgery, it's REALLY hard to get in even 800 calories sometimes. I know that sounds crazy. Trust me, I know! LOL! I was mainly just seeing if anyone could see something I was missing or whatever. I think I'm actually doing just fine, but you know how it is...

I don't like butter on my crab legs either. I think it's sacrilegious to do that to a perfectly good hunk of crab. I can't wait either. I'm on "no shell fish" until like month 4/5 though.

I posted this over at OH too but figured someone here might could help too... I'm currently searching for a registered dietician that specializes in bariatrics, if anyone knows someone that will do phone/internet consults, please send them my way. I do have a great lead from my trainer, but throwing that out there... I had an appointment last week with my surgeon. He wasn't thrilled with my weight loss so far (not disappointed, but wanted to see more). I've lost 32 pound since surgery, almost 7 weeks ago. This week, so far (tomorrow is weigh in day), I've lost only 1 pound. The doctor doesn't think plauteaus should happen this early out and I should be losing 4-5 pounds per week. He said to increase calories then drop them back down after two days, add a fruit, stop tracking fat and carbs and only worry about calories and Protein. Here's my little chart so far... 324 (-6) - Week 6 - 08/02/2011 330 (-3) - Week 5 - 07/26/2011 333 (-0) - Week 4 - 07/19/2011 333 (-0) - Week 3 - 07/12/2011 333 (-14) - Week 2 - 07/05/2011 347 (-8) - Week 1 - 06/28/2011 I'm NOT complaining. I do wish it was faster, but he wants me to be down another 30 by around 9/21 and a total of 135 by Christmas. This seems like a monumental task! To answer you next questions... I'm eating about 700-800 calories per day. I get 80-100 protein, 30 fat, 40 carb (although I'm going to remove those from my tracking so I won't fixate on the red numbers LOL). I work out with a trainer doing strength training twice per week. I hit the gym 3-4 times per week for 20-40 minutes of cardio (treadmill or elliptical) and walk with friends once per week for an hour, plus a family stroll now and then. I'm going to cut out cheese (sniff) and see if that helps overall. He said I might go to the gym twice per day, it could help boost my motabalism, so I might try that. I cannot eat raw veggies until month 3 (slowly slowly introducing them, he originally said month 5). All beef products are out until at least then, steak for sure until month 5. Right now, I eat soft foods. A typical menu will look like this: Breakfast - 7oz greek yogurt or leftover chiken from night before, sometimes a Protein Drink lunch - Tuna or chicken - grilled or baked, cauliflower mash or lima Beans dinner - Chicken (tonight hubby made chicken tortilla Soup without chips and corn and thickened it with refried beans) or something, some kind of veggie. Snacks - cheese stick, laughing cow cheese, Just the Cheese snack, sometimes I'll have another dinner late night if I'm low on calories (almost always). I'm meticulous about tracking - almost to a fault. I track EVERYTHING that I put into my mouth. I could see if I were fudging it, but even when I had a 1/4 cup of my kid's homemade ice cream, I put it in there. Best choice? Probably not, but, that was this past weekend. Family freeze off - she won 3rd place... oh, look, shiny... Anyway... My trainer suggested a yogurt smoothie. I don't even know where to begin though. I'm allergic to all fruits except banana and berries. I'm allergic to tree nuts. I'm allergic to soy and all soy products. I'm slightly lactose intolerate. So what do I make it out of? fruit juice is out, milk is out, soy is out, almond milk is out. LOL! I guess I could use lactaid milk, right? Someone give me a recipe with a lot of calories (that's the first time I've asked for that, so screwed up!) LOL Anyway, let me say... before you all go "30 pounds is amazing!". I KNOW it is. Trust me, I'm down 2 underwear sizes, a pants size (and almost a 2nd one). I feel great, I'm off all blood pressure meds, etc etc... I'm just going by what my surgeon says and trying to meet his goals They did have a nutrition counselor (not a nutritionist or whatever) but she left and they are hiring a new one. I did email them for a suggestion of someone I could hire. I've also emailed my weightloss therapist for a recommendation too. Yes, I have a huge team of people behind me, I know! I'm lucky to have a great husband too, he's been fabulous thorugh all of this!

Yup, I can't have raw veg until 5 months, I use it on meats now when I need a protein boost. Like for lunch today because I didn't eat breakfast, just couldn't deal with the idea of food this morning. LOL. I think you can probably use it anywhere you would sour cream

I mix in zero-everything Walden Farms caramel or strawberry spreads. Or I'll mix in some dry hidden valley ranch and spread it on chicken. Or put it over beans.

This is an interesting thread... I've rarely, if ever, felt slighted in public, but I am always smiling at people myself and am a pretty confident woman. Heck, I even flirt now and then if it will get me what I want. So, I haven't really noticed or perhaps I will when I lose some more weight... LOL. We'll see!

Mine was against it. So, after I had the surgery, I found one that was for it and had other patients that had done it. It's my choice who my doctor is. I chose the one that is going to support me. She even knew what the sleeve was

There are folks that have lost that much. Hang around and poke around and you'll find them. I am at 6 weeks. I have lost a total of 51 pounds today, so right at 25% of my total 200 I want to lose. 20 of those were with the pre op diet, but the other 30 are all me. That's 5 pounds per week, on average, since surgery. I had a three week stall even. I absolutely 100% believe it can and will work for me. BUT it's not just surgery. YOU have to change too. I'm visiting with a counselor, I'm working out with a trainer twice per week and I have a gym membership now. Crazy! LOL

Follow your doc's advice. Mine says no raw veg, no beef, no shellfish until 5 months. I am going to verify with him about ground beef though, but I'm told beef is one of the hardest foods to digest so that's probably why. He's really ultra conservative though.

I was told I could get in the pool at 3 weeks, but just to float and walk around. No actual swimming until 6 weeks.

Anyone know what time the meetings usually go until? I am meeting a friend at the gym after so wanted to know what time to tell her... Edit: I found out they last about an hour

My insurance covered all tests that I got my PCP to do as well

LOL! Yes, seconds... you can try minutes, but you might get egg powder.

I made puree egg salad with light mayo and sour pickle juice. Yummy. I also scrambled it in the microwave (spray glass bowl with pam, scramble egg with a little shredded cheese, nuke for 20-40 minutes). then pureed it with some salsa and greek yogurt.

Wow. I'm not being judgmental although I fear this might come off that way, but I think I must have the best husband in the world. He's not overweight. He's never made me feel anything less than loved and beautiful and desirable. He's either been faking it for 18 years or he really just loves me for who I am. I will admit that I worry about how things will change as I lose weight and if it's going to be weird. I've been overweight since I was in Kindergarten, so he's obviously only known me fat. We've talked about it and if things get wonky, I have no problem pulling his butt into my therapist's office to talk about it. Honestly, he's been amazing throughout this whole thing, he does all of the cooking and he's been very good about making sure I have food and when we go out, choosing somewhere I can find something, etc, etc. Having said THAT, I can see how things could change if we were both overweight and how your view on your body, their body, your health and their health changes. It has to be hard, for everyone involved. Virtual hugs to those that need them. I guess we all have to live our lives and do the best we can to be happy.