RJ'S/beginning

I would never in a million years thought that the first photo was you....Total transformation....wow. congrats to you girl!

Had my second lesson with my trainer today. He assures me that when he is done with me my tire will be a lot less noticeable ..... I hope he's right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Proverbs 25:16 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. Truth is truth. Yes the benefits are numerous!! Not to mention that it is the only food that never spoils or rots!!! And the healing components in it are amazing as well! But I get your thought Gman..good point!

You look amazing.............awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope I can feel as steady as you about my spare tire....it is really driving me nuts....you were one to say this too.. Thanks for the humor as well Gman

I keep feeling like I am gaining weight even though the scale says otherwise. I feel like my stomach is getting bigger. It seems to stick out more then before. I feel like it is taking over my whole body... I hate it so much and it bothers me to see myself in the mirror... I know that weight goes in different places at different times. but it looks like everything else is shrinking except my stomach. Is this an optical illusion or have others found that the stomach seems to stay forever... Kinda ranting I guess.....Is it mostly skin or what is happening here?!

Wonderful Gman....that brought tears to my eyes!!!!!!!!!!

You go girl and feel those dreams. it was a fall in a bath tub that brought me totally down as well. The effects were devastating and the weight packed on as well. I could not walk for more then ten min. before I broke out in a sweat from the pain. i could not stand to even cook dinner for my husband. He took over all the shopping and house chores... I felt so useless and thought in a year i will be in a wheel chair or worse. DEAD! All the things you mentioned have been my reward for this long and difficult journey and like you said much more....I will always see this as a new lease on life and as a chance to live again...which i am thank goodness!!!!!!!! Hoping the same for you hun!

This quote is not recommending sweets it is referring to everything in balance. Everything in life that we need to live like normal individuals. Don't look at this quote literally. See it as a quote that is encouraging moderation in everything in life including the choices we make in eating...I thought it was good and it struck me in a positive way: We'd get sick on too many Cookies, but ever so much sicker on no cookies at all. Sinclair Lewis Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis

There are other substitutes for sugar. Real maple syrup and Agave nectar. i try very hard not to use artificial sugar in my food as well. But now I do have a more hunger issue which I had really hoped I would be one of those people who never felt hungry again...It was not to be. So sometimes I do have a sugar free hot chocolate. Not always but once in a while. It seems to help. All Protein drinks have some kind of artificial sugar as well. But as you go along and you feed yourself properly. You won't need them. only on the really bad days when you may not be well. That is what I do otherwise it is the real thing all the way..... There are Cookies out now that have fewer calories such as Life style by Peek Freans. If it gets too much I find they are great. They are not sweet at all and they seem to satisfy. I find now I can't eat really sweet things.. i actually gag on it.....

I had a food funeral. i was glad I did. i ate my favorite foods for a couple of weeks. the night before I started my 2 week liquid diet I had my most favorite meal of all time....I do not regret it at all The one thing that I did find out is that I can still eat those foods now if I want to, just not in the same amounts.....I am one of those that saw the funeral as a good thing... But...........that is just me!

This is absolutely the right place to discuss this. It will effect you and your journey and your life. That is so awful. I am so sorry! As Indigo said try to make some good memories along this painful journey and look after you. We are here for you as much as we can....

Wow that is a boat load of pills. Good for you though, your on your way to a better and healthier you! Vitamins are a lot better then that kind of meds. Less affects on your other organs! SWEET!!!!!!!!!!

Good job! Your right it is about healthy not skinny......

Don't panic just yet. it sounds to me like you are doing really well. You are going to be sore because they took 85% of your stomach out. It is tender and swollen. there will be signs if there is something going wrong. Fever. Fullness, not just fullness but extreme fullness. Sore aching all over...You would know if you were in trouble trust me... Make sure your getting your G2 in as well to keep hydrated. I use 1/2 Water and 1/2 G2 Gatorade.. Congrats on the new journey..

Absolutely normal to feel this way. Don't forget your not healed yet and your probably still swollen some and feel awful there as well. Who really wants to eat when you feel yucky. Anyway.. Part of the problem too is that fear of what comes next is also an issue.. If i try to eat real food what will happen.. It is all normal and a process that we must go through to learn to be healthier and recover and to succeed. Try a little at a time and if your stomach can't handle something..Don't eat it and try it at a later date......

You should expect her/him to be professional. not judgmental. for yourself. You should be honest and explain what brought you to this place and what your expectations are. Nut she will try to encourage you to eat 3 times a day because most of us don't do that that is why our metabolisms crashed. She will encourage you to eat healthier and log everything. Most people try to play the say the right thing ...you know the say what they want to hear game..Me i was dead honest and I think it was better for me and for her and actually she gave me far more attention then to others..Good attention.... Best to you on your new and amazing journey you are about to start!

Look at you! You look wonderful. Congratulations on your success!

I have the hardest time wrapping my mind around how differently I am treated now as well. What courage you have to try that spa....Me no never..But admire your gumption to take that step. Good for you!

The only way that the body can even remotely break down corn is if it is ground. The only purpose corn serves otherwise is to go right through almost the same consistency as it went in...fiber that is it..... Most likely all the fat a long with the corn caused you the problems. I would find another food to replace that one as with our new stomach there is limited food space. Think Protein first and a couple of bites of the other things after....

Okay this post is a bit frightening for me because I'm wondering if I'm screwing it all up. I am less than four weeks post-op and I've had absolutely no issues. I was back at work 4 days after surgery. My recovery has been remarkable and so far, I'm feeling like getting the sleeve is the best thing I've ever done. As of today, I've lost 13 lbs since surgery but things have slowed down considerably since introducing real food back into my diet nearly one & half weeks ago. I faithfully did the liquid protein diet for the first two weeks both pre and post-op, but then quickly moved to meat after the two week post-op liquid diet was completed. I immediately tolerated well-chewed chicken, beef, pork and even chili very well. I eat about 4-5 oz. of protein three times a day, along with sipping one 20 oz. bottle of Isopure Protein drink throughout the day. Although the guidelines given to me say that I can have as much as 1 cup of food at a time, I don't and won't. It's true what everyone says, my body tells me if I've had one bite too many. Now that I'm eating real food I feel really good and have more energy, but have I done too much too fast? I've been working under the premise that my body will tell me if something doesn't work for me. Am I looking at this wrong? This is me to a T does this mean that we have a larger sleeve shouldn't some foods bother me? I'm on my 4th week out and I can tolerate anything obviously tiny portions! And my sleeve let's me know when done but why can I eat whatever??? You can eat whatever because you are one of the few that have no issues with what you put in your new stomach. that is wonderful. most of us have foods that we can no longer eat because our stomachs revolt and cause a small war to happen. No one is saying that you have to have problems eating. You are one of the lucky ones in this journey. You have tons of choices you can make to make these changes easier. It is not about how much really. It is about following the guidelines that your Doc sets for you. it is about learning better habits and eating better quality foods instead of the standard junk food that we all used to reach for. It is about fixing our thinking process and fixing the emotional reasons why we got to this point that we needed this surgery in the first place...That is the real work...If you feel that you are on target then fine. As long as you see what the trigger foods are that you are able to eat tons of and keep protein and Water first and for most in your journey. You will succeed.... Some really do call this the easy way out but it is the hardest thing that I have ever started and worked on in my life...Ups and downs, so many... The sleeve size can vary according to Doctors and height of an individual...but the core of the program remains the same...

Lettuce is not a dense food so therefore you can consume more of it if you want. chicken on the other hand is dense and would take much less to fill you up. Even though there is nothing wrong with eating a healthy chicken salad. Try to concentrate on the chicken first and foremost and enjoy the salad part as a second thought for now... Protein is the back bone of the sleeve and will assist in helping you lose your weight and maintain a good healthy body. There is no need to eat until we are exploding or eating for an entire 30 min. Yes can we/ should we? That is a question you need to ask yourself... We do not know what size the salad was or its contents. But if you were surprised that you were able to eat that much then probably you did eat too much... Careful too, you are still healing in your sleeve. It takes a while for the scar tissue to surround your scar to make it strong.

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

I am still not there yet so I don't know..i was told yesterday by my trainer that I see with a big head which means I see myself a lot bigger then I am...someday I hope that changes for me!

if we are under the impression that we cannot stretch the sleeve we are terribly mistaken. Actually it is not the stomach that stretches more then it is the entrance to the small intestine that causes a bulge and can let us consume more then we should... Just because we can eat 2 cups of salad does not mean that we need to. Remember how much you were eating when you were losing and then to maintain it still was not a huge amount. We don't need to eat as much as we used to think we did...We watch other people and always wonder how they can eat that much. I know I do now..I now know I can live on so much less then I used to and i kinda get a kick out of it that I finally learned that.... Keeping to the original plan of Protein first then veggies, fruit and carbs will keep you there.....water too lots of Water.. You have done extremely well 2 years out and maintained for over a year...I so hope I have the same success as you girl! You rock! I am not saying I don't enjoy a treat now and then, far be it for me to imply that I am strict with myself..But most of the time I stay on course, and have to the rest of my life to live and not become obese again...It sucks but that is the way it is.... My sleeve and this forum have taught me a lot about food and habits and mind games and so on.....It is a journey to follow the rest of our lives if we want to be successful....And we all do!!!!!!!