mom2five

I'm 5 months out from surgery and I've lost 94 pounds. I have 55 pounds left to lose to reach my goal of 125. I'm 5 ft tall. I'm so excited about the weight I've lost so far and feel a million times better. I hesitate to post this because the before pic is me in my underwear but It's the only pic I have that really shows the difference. I hope it doesn't offend anyone. My family is getting ready to go on a beach trip and I bought a swim suit. I got a halter bikini top and swim shorts. I tried to find a pic of me last year at the beach but I couldn't find any that showed me from the shoulders down...but I found this underwear pic from the night before surgery. I've lost a total of 64 inches so far! I've lost 13.5 inches from my hips and 10 inches from each thigh!! I'm amazed at the process and I'm loving this journey! Please, if underwear offends you, do not click on the pic. :-)

Thanks everybody! I am definitely enjoying the process! I'm just trying to follow my doctor's advice... but others are right. Everybody loses at their own rate and we shouldn't compare ourselves to each other. I'm losing kind of fast, but I had a lot to lose to begin with. I had 150 pounds of excess weight to lose. People with more to lose seem to lose faster at first. But if you look at percentages, it really evens out to about the same for most people. At 4 weeks, I had lost a total of 30 pounds... and 20 of that was post-op.. so I don't think you are losing slow at all! I think my sleeve is on the small side. I can't eat more than about an ounce at a time. Sometimes a little bit more now but not much. So, I don't get a lot of calories but I do try to get around 60 grams of Protein. I'm keeping my carbs under 20 if I can. I exercise every day...or try to. This week, I have only gotten it in about 3 times because we have been so busy.

I'm so excited. Last week, I hit ONEderland! I'm now 197.8 lbs! This is a big milestone for me... It's the halfway point. I'm actually a little more than halfway now... ONEderland! and I'm not morbidly obese anymore...I'm just obese! So I'm really excited. Here's a pic. Before, I weighed 274 lbs. Today, I weigh 197.8. I am 5 ft. tall.

It's not too hard for me to not drink with meals, but the waiting afterward is the hard part. I actually don't time it. I just wait until I feel like my food has digested... about 30 minutes.. sometimes more. I should time it but I'm too lazy.

All I have to say is you are gorgeous!!

I was sent home from the hospital on full liquids which includes creamed soups. So, that was like from day 3. My favorite was cream of chicken soup thinned with a little 1% milk.

My surgeon said to drink decaf and I could have as much as I want. He also said to limit caffeine or eliminate it completely. He also said that I could have ONE cup of regular coffee per day. If I drink coffee, it is regular coffee... but I don't have it every day. Before I started my weight loss journey, I would have up to 3 cups of coffee per day, but I just don't crave it like I used to. For me, I don't see the point in drinking decaf. But, that is just me. :-)

I drink coffee. Not every day. I drink a cup every other day or so. I don't crave it as much as I did before surgery. I am 13 weeks out and have lost 62 pounds.

OTR, I've looked up to you ever since I first started coming to this board. I totally respect your confession. We all fall off the wagon occasionally. I am only 13 weeks out, and my biggest fear is that I will lose all my weight and then have a relapse and gain it all back. You are setting an awesome example by coming here and admitting you backslid and showing us that you are getting back on track. I hope that I will be able to follow your example if/when my time comes. This is your journey... and we all learn from our journeys. During the process, we learn to change our thoughts about food. I've heard that the mental changes are quite a bit harder to make than the physical changes. It is a process for all of us. I know you will get back on track and be stronger than ever. :-)

Great job! You look gorgeous!

That's cool. I've heard about other people eating 2 or 3 ounces at my stage and earlier and I wonder if something is wrong with me! I just can't eat more than an ounce of anything... usually less. But, I'm doing well, as far as having energy and stuff. I wasn't trying to say you are eating too much.. not at all because I know others do it too. I'm thinking my issue might be that I am so short and maybe my stomach was really short too and now that I'm sleeved, I just don't have much space in there... I'm looking forward to eating slightly bigger portions. :-)

My only question is... how did you do it? I'm 12 1/2 weeks out and I can't eat half a hamburger with bun... I can't eat 1/4 a hamburger with bun... or without bun. I am afraid to try bread. I could probably take 3 bites of hamburger patty and be done. You had your surgery a few weeks after me... I just don't see how you did it.. and I'm not saying it judgmentally. I'm just in awe. LOL

I think you and your gf should get some counseling and try to work through these issues. Relationships have all sorts of phases. Even in marriages, people go through dry spells where you feel like just friends or like it is going nowhere... You wonder if you even love that person... ppl can't just end their relationships over that. I am willing to bet that if you stick it out and maybe get some counseling together, you will be happy again. You are going through a lot of changes right now because of your surgery...it is not a good time to make a huge decision like this.

I'm 12 weeks out. I feel the same way. 3 to 4 bites usually fills me up... and there have been times that I was like... geeez!! I wanted more! But, for the most part, I'm very happy with my sleeve. I can only eat an ounce at a time.. sometimes less. If I measure by volume, 1/4 of a cup is more than I can handle. A lot of times I measure out my food and still can't finish it. It can be frustrating! But I've lost almost 60 pounds, so it is definitely worth it!

Protein is very important, but more important at this stage is to stay hydrated. I couldn't tolerate protein shakes that early out either and I just concentrated on getting my fluids in.

Mine was refried beans with cheese... I could only eat a couple tiny bites, but I loved it!!

Tuna salad, egg salad, refried beans with cheese and sour cream... I bought some low carb crackers that I spread the tuna or egg salad on sometimes. Chili with cheese melted in it. I make variations of Shelly's Baked Ricotta for lunch sometimes... I make single servings so I don't waste so much. If you aren't familiar with that it is on this page http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html. I know it is a pureed food page, but just don't puree it anymore... It is still really good and I put different things in it sometimes.

Thank you all! :-) I feel great!

Thank you! :-) I'm keeping my carbs below 40 if I can and my protein above 60 if I can... My calories are usually around 650.. sometimes less. My sleeve is really small. I can only eat about an ounce at a time before I feel uncomfortable. I've been exercising almost every day.. doing about 50 minutes of cardio.

Thanks, y'all! :-)

I have this picture that I hate of myself before surgery... I decided to try on the clothes I was wearing in the pic and what a difference! I'm so happy and excited! I love losing weight! I've lost 58 pounds in 11 weeks.

The way I do it is I calculate the calories and other nutrition info (like carbs and protein) in each ingredient I put in the food. Then I total it all up and have the total calories (carbs, protein) for the entire dish. Then I figure out how many servings I have all together...(by measuring it out in cups or whatever size portions I am using. Once I figure out how many servings I have all together, I divide my calories (carbs, protein) by that number... so then I have my nutrition information per serving. So, say I have 500 calories in the entire dish, and I've determined I have 5 one cup servings. I divide the 500 calories by the 5 servings, and I have 100 calories per one cup serving... Does this make sense?

I'm 10 weeks out and there's no way I could eat that. This is how I've felt about my surgery and my sleeve... Just because you CAN eat something, doesn't mean you SHOULD.. If I was going to attempt that burger, I would have left the bread off and eaten the meat and cheese with a fork, taking breaks between each bite to wait for feelings of fullness. As soon as I feel full, I stop. I usually eat about an ounce or maybe a little more. Burping is a sign of fullness... if you are burping, you should stop eating. Some people get a hiccup... I notice that I get a hiccup too but it is usually after I stop eating. I've also noticed that sometimes I'm eating something that tastes really good and I want to finish it, but my sleeve says STOP.. my head says FINISH IT! But, I get this feeling of satisfaction and even though my brain wants the food, I'm satisfied so I have to make myself quit! We just need to eat slow so that we don't miss these signals. If we eat fast, we will overeat every time.

I'm 10 weeks out... I have just recently been able to get nearly 64 oz of Water per day. Recently I noticed that I can take 2 or 3 drinks of water at a time, if I am careful, without it hurting. Early on, it seemed that warm liquids went down easier, but now I put flavor packets in my water and stick it in the freezer until it is slushy. That is how I am able to drink all my water... the colder the better! Flavoring makes it easier too. I LOVE the orange crush flavor packets.. They are my favorite. If you are getting 40 oz at 3 weeks out, you are doing GREAT!

No, during the liquid stage, I could barely drink water... there's no way I could've had anything more than that. I was so afraid of hurting my new sleeve... I just wanted to heal. I was told that water was the most important thing in that early stage so I concentrated on that..