goldiva

Hey everyone! Great job on your totals for September and a huge thank you to Butterthebean for starting that post and challenging us all to challenge ourselves. We all wish BTB great success and a speedy recovery from his surgery. We know you will be watching and cheering us on. October is among us and with that comes a new challenge. 100 miles in 31 days! Walk, run, bike, whatever you do, log those miles and drink that water! Anyone who has been lurking in the shadows and watching last months challenge, now is your time to join us! It doesn't matter if you do 1 mile a day or 20, just go at your pace and have fun! For those of us who participated in last months challenge, I want to issue a personal challenge to add another 15 miles to what you did last month. After all, there is 1 more day in this month.
On a side note, this group has become very motivational for me as well as others. If you don't mind, let's let everyone know your real first name. If you would rather not and just want to go with your username that is perfectly fine. I will kick it off...my name is Ted. Good luck everyone and log those miles!!

http://www.modelmydiet.com/ hope this helps

http://www.modelmydiet.com/ hope this helps

I am 17 months out and still losing. :-) It is definitely not a race.
I've lost 83 pounds overall, and I am planning to lose 100 pounds.
August 2011: 25.5 pounds (sleeved Aug. 9, 2011)
September 2011: 14.5 pounds
October 2011: 9 pounds
November 2011: 6 pounds
December 2011: 3 pounds
January 2012: 6 pounds
February 2012: 6 pounds
March 2012: 0 pounds
April 2012: 0 pounds
May 2012: 3 pounds
June 2012: 0 pounds
July 2012: 0 pounds
August 2012: 0 pounds
September 2012: 5 pounds
October 2012: 0 pounds
November 2012: 3.2 pounds
December 2012: 4 pounds

I haven't lost any weight in January "officially." I gained some weight around the holidays, and I've lost it again.
I also went down to a size 10 in jeans in January, which isn't reflected in my weight loss and stayed true even when my weight went up a few pounds. To me, this means I am losing inches and gaining muscle tone as well as losing weight overall. This is good.

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!

This is perfectly normal. Every possible thought ran through my head. If you don't do anything else you owe it to yourself to become healthier and this is one step on your journey. I'm only just about weeks post and this is the best
decision I could have made. I deserved to be happy and healthier. You deserve to be happy and healthy.

This is perfectly normal. Every possible thought ran through my head. If you don't do anything else you owe it to yourself to become healthier and this is one step on your journey. I'm only just about weeks post and this is the best
decision I could have made. I deserved to be happy and healthier. You deserve to be happy and healthy.

This is perfectly normal. Every possible thought ran through my head. If you don't do anything else you owe it to yourself to become healthier and this is one step on your journey. I'm only just about weeks post and this is the best
decision I could have made. I deserved to be happy and healthier. You deserve to be happy and healthy.

This is perfectly normal. Every possible thought ran through my head. If you don't do anything else you owe it to yourself to become healthier and this is one step on your journey. I'm only just about weeks post and this is the best
decision I could have made. I deserved to be happy and healthier. You deserve to be happy and healthy.

These were taken 4 months Post Op, I started my journey in May @ 670, lost 20 pounds before surgery, and on July 2nd, I was 650. Today, I'm 535. Which means I've lost 135 pounds since Memorial day -- not too shabby!

At my 3 week stall I found that even though the scale wasnt moving, I was still losing inches. Like Decembersleever said, it must be our bodies just catching up. I broke thru mine by upping my calories a bit with some good fats like sliced avocado or Peanut Butter. I broke thru but it was only a couple of pounds. I tend to lose about 2 to 3 pounds every week and a half. Its slow but as long as the scale doesnt go UP, Im all good with it. Hang in there beautiful.

Blondie, have you tried making your own shakes? I couldn't tolerate any of the pre-made shakes because of the awful fake sweetness. It takes me five minutes to make my own (I use a stick/immersion blender but you could use a regular small blender or food processer). I put in the following:
I cup almond milk, I scoop unflavored Protein powder (mine is 17g/protein per scoop), 1/3 banana, 1 TB PB2 (powdered peanuts), 1TB high grade unsweetened cocoa, 2 TB fat free coolwhip, 2 packets of Splenda.
I think that comes out to about 200 calories and 18g Protein. Sometimes (if I know I am going to be running around and won't be able to eat for 3+ hours) I double it and sip it the whole time.
If I need more Fiber I add a TB of chia seeds which are great for tons of health reasons (including constipation) but which gel into a texture kind of like tapioca in the shake after 15ms, which some people don't like.
This shake tastes so much better than the premixed, is so much cheaper, healthier (fewer additives/less processed), and is super easy once you have all the ingredients.
** Sorry you guys, just realized this was a band to sleeve revision forum, I thought it was the regular post-op one, didn't mean to butt in.

Thanks you guys!! I see we all share that common concern of the Vitamin deficiency and dump syndrom. I think I'm going to go with my ORIGINAL decision and SLEEVE it.....you ALL were a great help!!

Oops here's the picture... Can you tell the difference??

Baked ricotta
8oz ricotta
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1t. Italian seasoning
1lg egg
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup marinara sauce (I used 1/2 cup sun dried Tomato alfrado sauce
1/2 cup low fat mozzarella cheese
Mix ricotta cheese,parmesan cheese, beaten egg, and seasonings together. Place in oven dish pour sauce over top then top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 450 for 20-25 min. 6 servings 88 cal. 4 fat. 3.3 carbs and 9.2 Protein
*I copied this from lindasue on a seperate post*

Oh it was so amazing to feel the texture of actual food in my mouth. Went out to a local restaurant for an open house for my wife's thirty one business and had baked salmon and mashed cauliflower. Amazing. Looks like 3 meals from a 14.99 entree

I think you are doing good because you are getting cardio in. Over time your body will build up as it gets
stronger, dont get discouraged just keep it moving. I'm 3 weeks out and I jumped on the staid machine and thought I was going to pass out, I was devastated because before surgery I was able to do 35-45 minutes but I had to realize my body is going through a transformation, so now I alternate between the stair machine 30 minutes,
treadmill 30 minutes and alternating the bike. I was walk/jogging too, yeah Imma wait for that until I get
stronger. I also walk in the mornings on a nature trail for 45 minutes(I get bored with the gym) I figure as
long as I keep moving I will see results. Good Luck, your doing awesome keep it moving

I don't get to come on to VST very often, but I thought I'd stop by and share my success thus far.
My name is Britnee. I'm 23 and have an almost 3 year old daughter. Her and school are my priorities. While making my daughter my main priority, I realized that something had to be done about my weight. I wanted to stick around for her. I've been her only constant since the day she was born, so I want her to have me around for many many years into the future.
Anyways, I started the process in Aug '12. I had surgery on Oct. 10th, 2012. I have one of those special insurances that doesn't expect 6 months of weigh-ins.
My HW was 316.
My GW is 175 (then 130).
My CW is 252.
I have lost 63 lbs in the last three months. That is amazing! I work out daily. Doing a number of things that include: walking, Zumba, Wii Fit, and recently took up running.
This is the best decison I've ever made!
I have more energy to keep up with my daughter, I am happier, and last but certainly NOT least, I am HEALTHIER! I love life. <3
Here are some progression pictures.

Take your bottle to the store and compare the ingredients. This lady is correct.

I have liquid Multivitamins and my Biotin and niacin pills I chop up with my
smoothies, but you can get your Vitamins from anywhere. I dont taste them when i put them in my smoothies, maybe try them at different time of the day as well. Some
doctors try and make you buy theirs so they can make money, but you can get the
vitamins anywhere, they are Vitamins its no special kind, get something that works for you. Good luck:)

Yes, I have the same feeling, but remember your stomach is smaller so your going to lose weight anyways. Some days I could go without eating simply because I didn't feel like it. But I make sure I keep my liquids in to keep from dehydrating myself. I still havent figured out the eating thing either(lol) this week I started doing smoothies with juice instead of milk, milk makes me feel icky. I'm on the full liquids until my 5th week. Your doing good with the
weightloss so far and you will continue to good. Just stay healthy and take it one day at a time.

I have liquid Multivitamins and my Biotin and niacin pills I chop up with my
smoothies, but you can get your Vitamins from anywhere. I dont taste them when i put them in my smoothies, maybe try them at different time of the day as well. Some
doctors try and make you buy theirs so they can make money, but you can get the
vitamins anywhere, they are Vitamins its no special kind, get something that works for you. Good luck:)

Yes, Goodwill or local consignment shop. Don't spend a fortune of clothes you are going to get too small for within a few months.
Happy for you to be losing it into smaller sizes! Keep up the great work!

Go to goodwill, salvation army, try on some clothes that fit and buy them.

I had the same experience this seems to be normal. But remember to hydrate, hydrate,hydrate. Make sure your getting all of your Vitamins in especially the B12. I am 3 weeks out and I thought something was wrong with me but as I kept pushing
eventually I was ok. I had to remember your body heals with rest so if your tired
then sleep/rest. It gets better, I still have some days where I get exhausted and
on those days I just relax and take it easy. Good Luck:)