Sassafras

(This was my response to a low bmi soon to be sleever worried that she would be a slow loser. I got to thinking about it and realized its pretty common so I thought I would post as a topic for others who worry about it.)
Don't let the idea of being a "slow loser" worry you. I worried about this a lot before surgery and I compared myself to others alot for the first few months after surgery, but it really doesn't matter at all. I'm about to tell you why.
I am 5'2 and started with my bmi just barely under 40. I think it was 39.6 or something. I hit 5 months out a few days ago and have lost 55lbs. That may not be as big of a number as some the sleevers that start out at 300 or 400 lbs and drop 55lbs in 2 months, but I am averaging 2.7 lbs lost a week and while its not the fastest I don't think thats too bad. I also have no excess skin yet (fingers crossed). I am now in the overweight bmi category when just 5 short months ago I was a hair away from the morbidly obese category. And I have to admit I have not started to exercise at all yet (bad me I know but I am starting soon).
Some people lose slower and some faster but I promise it will all FEEL fast. It feels fast when I've gone from a size 18 jean and an XL shirt to a size 11 jrs jean and honestly (could probably wear a 9 now but haven't been shopping in weeks) and a M shirt. It will feel fast when you are clearing your closet out and everything hangs on you like a sack. It will feel fast when your smallest sizes from yo yo dieting get too big and you realize you have nothing to wear. It will feel fast when you realize you aren't starting fires between your thighs when you walk. It will feel fast when you buy a bunch of Victorias Secret cheekie panties and your tush looks amazing. It will feel fast when you climb a couple flight of stairs and you aren't the slightest bit winded. It will feel fast when you don't mind seeing someone you haven't seen in a while because you aren't ashamed of your weight anymore.
I may be technically considered a "slow loser" by some standards but the sleeve has allowed me to lose slowly but surely through a week long cruise, the fair, a 10 wk pregnancy and miscarriage, Thanksgiving, a vacation to Florida, 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years with my house loaded with company and fatty food. Any one of those things would've knocked me off any diet. Before the sleeve and I would've gained back all the weight I lost +10.
So being a "slow loser" is pretty awesome if you ask me. And probably if we went by percentage of weight lost I bet most of us sleevers would be in the same loss range. Its just going by lbs that throws everything off. I love this sleeve!

Fries were my most beloved food prior to surgery. And if I indulged one day, I had to have them EVERY DAY. I would crave them. I loved fried foods.
I doubt they'll always affect you so strongly, but yeah...they aren't so fabulous post op, are they?
As your tastes change your standards will get higher. I no longer want greasy, quick foods - when I was back in America over the summer the first thing I wanted to do was eat some fast food. Within my new better habits, of course, not like I would have done pre op. Ugh. All I can say is YUCK. If you go without eating that garbage for any real length of time, you'll be amazed by how disgusting it is after a while.
Sure, some foods are still enjoyable no matter how bad I know they are. I love soda, so I keep my consumption to a minimum. I love popcorn, but I pop my own on the stove and ration myself so I don't overdo it. But most of those old trigger foods? They're gone. They taste like the garbage they are, and that's not a bad thing at all.
You might find that later on you'll enjoy a real, homemade french fry every now and again. I'm okay with them if I make them myself. They taste a thousand times better. But I still only eat four or five before I've had enough. It's nice to know you CAN eat them, even if you don't want to do it.
~Cheri

I think there has to be some sort of middle ground and that's where the work comes in while we're losing the weight. On the one hand, I see a lot of 'i didn't have surgery to go on a diet so I'm gonna eat pizza and potato chips and ice cream but it's okay because I can only eat 4oz of it at a time!!!" Drives me crazy.
On the other hand there are the super literal, super dedicated regimented health conscious who are going organic this and hormone free that. Drives. ME. CRAZY.
Maybe I don't want to 'never eat a big mac ever again' (even though I think Big Macs are horrific, I'm a double cheeseburger gal myself ) Don't most of us get this surgery to be NORMAL? What's normal about feeling guilty about eating?
The work I have set out for myself is giving myself the nutrients I need from the food I can eat. Eventually I want to get to a place where I can eat anything and stop when I've had enough. Before surgery, I wasn't there. I don't know what makes me think I can be there after surgery, just because I can only eat 4oz of whatever. The ISSUE-- for ME-- is that I feel like I need to have it.

Eat a donut, you're going to fail!
Don't eat a donut, you're going to fail!
Blah blah blah...
If I don't eat a donut and I fail does the world stop?
If I eat a donut and I fail does the world stop?
People just do the best for you!
Just do you and try to get healthy!!
I hope none of us fail.
Donut eaters and non donut eaters just freaking unite already and don't FAIL

I so agree with you. I would have easily gained 10 this holiday season as I have done in years past. It does feel amazing to eat only to a point and then have to stop because you can't hold anymore. My restriction is such a blessing. It allows me to taste foods and enjoy them as opposed to guzzling them down and feeling remorseful later. We are doing amazing!! Thanks for the great post:)

This was an awesome post Sassafras thanks for sharing! I am a slow loser but having lost 80 pounds in 10 months make me feel amazing, making it through the holidays and wintertime without gaining a single pound makes me feel even better! Can't remember when that ever happened. It's has been a wonderful journey and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Thank you for this , I was just feeling so down about myself ... Had my surgery Nov 13 , 2012 started pretty good , so far lost 37 lbs ... but for the past 2 weeks "Nothing ". I also have to admit that I have not started excercising and I am feeling guilty about eating some of the things that I know I shouldnt be eating , I am not pushing food down or anything ,,,, I just feel that my stomach is able to hold more than before..... I sometimes with that I could have that uncomfortable feeling I use to get when I took an extra bite of something , and would send me to the bathroom to throw up ............ Yesterday , I went to subway and got a phily steak 6 ' on wheat with cheese and onions ( First time I got subway) I cut it in half and I was able to eat it , then about 3 hours later I ate the other half .Although I have the food list of what I should be eating ,sometimes when I am on the go , its hard to stick to it . I need some feedback.

What a great way to look at this sassafras!! I was feeling a little blue just now because I am stuck at 185! But I am two lbs short of a 60 lb loss in 4 months so life is good! I will certainly be trying to pick ups 50 lb bag of dog food as a reminder of just what I have lost!!! Thanks

(This was my response to a low bmi soon to be sleever worried that she would be a slow loser. I got to thinking about it and realized its pretty common so I thought I would post as a topic for others who worry about it.)
Don't let the idea of being a "slow loser" worry you. I worried about this a lot before surgery and I compared myself to others alot for the first few months after surgery, but it really doesn't matter at all. I'm about to tell you why.
I am 5'2 and started with my bmi just barely under 40. I think it was 39.6 or something. I hit 5 months out a few days ago and have lost 55lbs. That may not be as big of a number as some the sleevers that start out at 300 or 400 lbs and drop 55lbs in 2 months, but I am averaging 2.7 lbs lost a week and while its not the fastest I don't think thats too bad. I also have no excess skin yet (fingers crossed). I am now in the overweight bmi category when just 5 short months ago I was a hair away from the morbidly obese category. And I have to admit I have not started to exercise at all yet (bad me I know but I am starting soon).
Some people lose slower and some faster but I promise it will all FEEL fast. It feels fast when I've gone from a size 18 jean and an XL shirt to a size 11 jrs jean and honestly (could probably wear a 9 now but haven't been shopping in weeks) and a M shirt. It will feel fast when you are clearing your closet out and everything hangs on you like a sack. It will feel fast when your smallest sizes from yo yo dieting get too big and you realize you have nothing to wear. It will feel fast when you realize you aren't starting fires between your thighs when you walk. It will feel fast when you buy a bunch of Victorias Secret cheekie panties and your tush looks amazing. It will feel fast when you climb a couple flight of stairs and you aren't the slightest bit winded. It will feel fast when you don't mind seeing someone you haven't seen in a while because you aren't ashamed of your weight anymore.
I may be technically considered a "slow loser" by some standards but the sleeve has allowed me to lose slowly but surely through a week long cruise, the fair, a 10 wk pregnancy and miscarriage, Thanksgiving, a vacation to Florida, 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years with my house loaded with company and fatty food. Any one of those things would've knocked me off any diet. Before the sleeve and I would've gained back all the weight I lost +10.
So being a "slow loser" is pretty awesome if you ask me. And probably if we went by percentage of weight lost I bet most of us sleevers would be in the same loss range. Its just going by lbs that throws everything off. I love this sleeve!

For starters, Cheri, your posts are always so insightful, temperate, and helpful, you should really be paid to contribute to these forums.
The food Nazis are coming from a place of fear and denial.
There is a rather large contingency of sleevers on these forums who have never worked on their food issues. In an attempt at defending against them, that is, working around their compulsive eating, they live and preach a model of abstinence. They boast of attending a holiday party with a blender and Protein powder, one whole year after surgery, or they'll publicly scold a member who shared that they ate a real pepperoni instead of a turkey pepperoni. This position is nothing short of absurd.
Of course you can eat a Big Mac, Chili's baby back ribs, or a Dunkin' Donuts Bavarian creme doughnut after surgery... albeit not very much of them, just as long as you track or monitor your daily caloric intake and meet your Protein requirements.
If you cannot successfully eat in moderation after surgery, that is, if you cannot eat 3oz of Ben and Jerry's ice cream without eating 16, if you cannot eat one cookie without finishing the entire bag, then substituting the foods that you crave with low-fat alternatives is not the answer... not over the long haul. If you cannot eat in moderation after having had 75 to 80 percent of your stomach removed, then you have serious psychological problems with food and, trust me on this, low-fat yogurt and carrot sticks are not the answer.
The answer is to get yourself into a good psychotherapy as soon as possible so that you can start redefining your relationship with food. And, in the interim, stop bullying other members who do not share your need to abstain from the foods they enjoy.
The key to good health and a good life is moderation, not abstinence.

My biggest problem here is when I write something like in the cheeseburger thread I was misunderstood and called an idiot. And I'm pretty tired of ppl trying to shake the finger at me and tell me I'm a bad person when in reality I cry when I catch a fish because I feel terrible. I'm sick of coming on here and having people act almighty when I stated an opinion that was not even for them. And I find that there are some extremely EXTREMELY emotional ppl on here. And they are way to sensitive. But I'm not going to let ppl talk down to me anymore. I'm a good guy and I try to be funny and try and make ppls days and then I also try and help people with my own thoughts. But when I get attacked for it claws are gonna come out. Meow. Lol

Hey sleeve family, just some food for thought (pun intended) please try to be more empathetic and kind towards fellow sleevers. None of us are perfect. Constructive advice and loving encouragment are the only things i should see on these threads, but what i do see in addition is the "holier then thou" attitude. Some ppl smoke, some cant give up their m n m addiction. Humans are not perfect. We should be a support system for each other.

thanks for posting this. it is very discouraging sometimes to read of the large losses and to be one of tghe slow losers. It helps to remember that losing is the key not how fast or how slow. Thanks again.

(This was my response to a low bmi soon to be sleever worried that she would be a slow loser. I got to thinking about it and realized its pretty common so I thought I would post as a topic for others who worry about it.)
Don't let the idea of being a "slow loser" worry you. I worried about this a lot before surgery and I compared myself to others alot for the first few months after surgery, but it really doesn't matter at all. I'm about to tell you why.
I am 5'2 and started with my bmi just barely under 40. I think it was 39.6 or something. I hit 5 months out a few days ago and have lost 55lbs. That may not be as big of a number as some the sleevers that start out at 300 or 400 lbs and drop 55lbs in 2 months, but I am averaging 2.7 lbs lost a week and while its not the fastest I don't think thats too bad. I also have no excess skin yet (fingers crossed). I am now in the overweight bmi category when just 5 short months ago I was a hair away from the morbidly obese category. And I have to admit I have not started to exercise at all yet (bad me I know but I am starting soon).
Some people lose slower and some faster but I promise it will all FEEL fast. It feels fast when I've gone from a size 18 jean and an XL shirt to a size 11 jrs jean and honestly (could probably wear a 9 now but haven't been shopping in weeks) and a M shirt. It will feel fast when you are clearing your closet out and everything hangs on you like a sack. It will feel fast when your smallest sizes from yo yo dieting get too big and you realize you have nothing to wear. It will feel fast when you realize you aren't starting fires between your thighs when you walk. It will feel fast when you buy a bunch of Victorias Secret cheekie panties and your tush looks amazing. It will feel fast when you climb a couple flight of stairs and you aren't the slightest bit winded. It will feel fast when you don't mind seeing someone you haven't seen in a while because you aren't ashamed of your weight anymore.
I may be technically considered a "slow loser" by some standards but the sleeve has allowed me to lose slowly but surely through a week long cruise, the fair, a 10 wk pregnancy and miscarriage, Thanksgiving, a vacation to Florida, 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years with my house loaded with company and fatty food. Any one of those things would've knocked me off any diet. Before the sleeve and I would've gained back all the weight I lost +10.
So being a "slow loser" is pretty awesome if you ask me. And probably if we went by percentage of weight lost I bet most of us sleevers would be in the same loss range. Its just going by lbs that throws everything off. I love this sleeve!

I'm finally at onederland. 199.8!!! LOL!!! It still counts!!! :-)
Love my SLEEVE!!

Ditto lol...I plan to throw a parade lol

Congrats!!!! You are such an inspiration! I am also 5'2 and I started at 217 lbs. I had surgery 3 months after you and I will be estatic if I reach goal by 8 months...WOW! Truly awesome!! You look great...and teeny

Sassafras, ty! This docu is excellent

This is too funny! I just achieved this milestone this week and was sooo excited (I made it a status update lol)! I thought I was the only one who noticed or fudged the numbers by as much as I did on my license. I was 5 ft 2 1/2 in and weighed 218 lbs but put that I was 165 lbs. Now I am 2 lbs below that fudged number woohoo. Hopefully I'm going to be lying in the opposite way soon and be way under that weight. When I hit goal one of my rewards will be new DL stats and a new pic (otherwise I'm stuck with this pic for 4 1/2 more years because I just got this license renewed this year!)