Danilax

Hi Cara:
I absolutely asked myself the same questions, and had the same concerns prior to surgery. I also have had a life long weight issue. I have successfully gained and lost and gained again the same hundred + pounds at different times.
Going on a diet was never the problem. Not being able to sustain it was, for me at least.
I did weight watchers, and was "successful" Until after a year, I was tired of being hungry all the time and the bad habits kicked back in. Which for me, was always a portion size thing.
I had a big appetite and could pack it in. Throw in some bad food choices and emotional eating and POOF.. back on went the weight.
I always wished it could be a little easier, for me the feeling of being full and satisfied was always a comfort. With the sleeve in place for about 9 months now, I get that feeling, and keep my portions in check. I was never one to graze all day, so for me that hasn't been an issue.
Like most things, this is not a one size fits all solution. Depending on what our individual issues are - portion, grazing, bad food choices, binging etc; - we all have to alter some aspect of what got us this way. The emotional eating aspect did not change overnight. But what I keep in the house has. And yes, this has changed before too.
All any of us can do is make the best decisions we can. The sleeve is a tool, not a cure.
There have been struggles, no weight loss is easy. But sometimes we find the one thing that does help. We don't always know what that is initially, so we keep trying.
For me, the decision to get sleeved was a last resort. I tried EVERYTHING short of surgery. pills, WW, nutri-system, fasts, cleanses... the whole lot. The only thing that took was Weight Watchers. It wasnt' the plan that failed, it was me. I needed the tool that would help me. The sleeve has been that for me.
Ideally, I want to eat the things I enjoy (in moderation) Thanks to my built in restriction, moderation comes much easier these days. I believe there are many factors that go into long-term obesity. We have to tackle these things one at a time, and try to understand the why behind it, at least that is what works for me.
Not being hungry, and getting full faster is a part of it, but I still have to make the decisions on what to put in my mouth. I don't know what will come in two years, but I'm committed now and plan on sticking to it. True, I always planned on sticking to it, this time truly feels different- I feel very much in control. I know I cannot sit in front of a big bowl of Pasta and chow down. I physically can't. This time around, having the benefit of a nutritionist is extremely helpful. It makes sense to me that because of the lower calories Im taking in, they need to count. So yeah, I get my Protein in first. I plan my meals, and I portion my food, but I'm enjoying the food I'm taking in and it is physically satisfying me.
We cannot predict what struggles we will encounter. Like any other weight loss try, we have to do our best, form better habits and hope when push comes to shove we can stick to it. When we struggle, we are now in the midst of like minded people in the forum who walk the same path. We know how the others feel and having that support is also a huge benefit this time around.
Best of luck to you!!

Okay, this has been on my mind big time lately, as I'm sure it was on many others pre-op. I've been trying to decide if I want to do this. I've been fat ALL my life, always. I never knew anything else except for a brief period of time in high school when I was biking all the time and hardly ate anything. Otherwise, yeah, I was the fat gal everywhere I went. My weight is currently 250 and I'm 44 years old. Sooo, tired of it.
When I read about people on here really struggling with keeping weight off a couple of years out and more, I keep wondering, what was the point, then? If you have to watch your food like a hawk, get on the scale a great deal, fuss and worry about weight gain...why not just do all those same things with all of your stomach intact? If you're willing to do it now that you've had the surgery, why don't we just do all those things NOW and keep our stomachs?
So what I'm not hearing in the posts is WHY having had the sleeve done was beneficial for you. Do you feel you are living the same way afterwards as you did before it? Does it help you keep your weight in line, even years later? People keep calling it a "tool", how is it assisting you later on when the weight gain becomes a worry?
Before I do something this drastic, I would want to know that even when weight gain became an issue a few years out, the sleeve was still helping me in some way while I exercised and ate right. If you start to gain some weight, is it easier to get back off because of the sleeve? Because if all I'm looking at is this dramatic weight loss for the first couple of years and then I'm back to white-knuckling my existence with food, then what were the expense, pain, and possible risks for?
I hope this makes sense. I'm tired of being tired, being the fat lady in the group, losing and regaining, and watching my weight issues get worse over time. I don't want to waddle my way through the rest of my life. I want to feel good and look good and avoid diabetes and other issues. I'm a nurse and know what I'm looking at if I stay at this weight. Sigh!
Thanks!
Cara

http://www.capellaplasticsurgery.net/photo_gallery.htm
Hey, I came across this website today, and I found it very informative. It shows pictures of patients with large amounts of weight loss before and after plastic surgery. WARNING: The pics are uncensored and feature full nudity, so don't click if that offends you.
Does anyone know of other sites like this? (Not necessarily ones with nudity, haha. Just pics of plastic surgery for weight loss patients?)

I lost 140 pounds......overweight forever.
i thought i would never do plastics, i have a great marriage to a man who has loved me no matter what. then i realized that as i got to a good weight that iknew in my head that i was a good weight, i wore a 10 and i could cover up what i needed to, but when i looked in the mirror it was the same body, only deflated.
So happy with the decision.
It has discomfort, but i will say i was pleasantly surprised it was not horrible painful, i am shocked. The girls that had Lipo were in more pain than me, and they did not have as much incision work as i had. i would do it again in a heartbeat tomorrow. Post op i only used motrin and tylenol for pain control. the compression garment has given me the most pain. I am tight and that is uncomfortable and hard to sleep at times.
All in all a great experience. I will get some revision work down the road. As it is he did lots of work, and had me on the table for 13 hours. I had LOTS of skin. I know it was to my benefit that I was in great shape, i became a gym rat and it helped the recovery and the results.
I know i liked seeing the changes in people.

Weekly??!!!!! Oh no, I weigh every single morning and have since my pre-op diet. Close to 3.5 years now.
My doctor recommends it, it is easier to lose two or three pounds than it is to lose eight or nine. I know ME, and I know how quickly nine and ten pounds can 'appear'. You can't let it mess with your head, the scale is going to go up and down.
I never 'cheated' not one time at all when I was losing, and I never had a plateau like most folks do, BUT, the scale still went up and down, the entire time. It was like a game to me, weighing, it still is. I'd lose a pound or two, then gain a pound or two the next morning, up and down, sometimes for a week, then it would be gone and on to the next pound or two.
That is how MY BODY did it. I've talked to others that experience the same thing.

I weigh daily but chart it with Libra app for Android (there is also a website, physics diet, that allows daily tracking but it's not always working). The app tells me trends, makes predictions and creates pretty charts. I've come to realize that what I lose or don't lose from day to day tells me much less than what happens in a month so I don't stress anymore if nothing changes from Tuesday to Thursday, or if it goes up between Sunday and Monday. I just try to hit my nutritional targets.
My mom and best friend only weigh when they go to the doctor, so that's another strategy that may work better for scale anxiety.

So yesterday was pointfest (Christian bands playing it was awesome) at cedar point and my college group from church spent 14 hours at cedar point riding coasters and enjoying the bands. Last summer about 8 months before surgery and I could only ride a select few rides. I got on 3-4 rides. Yesterday I got on everything with no problem! Felt so good. Even last year stood in line for 3 hours to ride the magnum and was mortified by having to get off cause the belt would not fit. Welp... Rode it yesterday! Along with everything else. So happy!!!(:(;

Yeah this is important information. You have to get in at least 64ozs of liquid and probably more to handle large amounts of Protein. Also, I was told that eating more than 30 grams in a sitting may not be useful as you won't absorb it all.
At the same time, I've found that increasing my Protein from 45 (the "average" American woman as cited in that book above) to 70 has significantly sped up my weight loss. More protein equals less carbs because we can only eat so much.

Eventually, you're going to want to get your calories up. You cannot sustain a negative calorie balance for long....not and expect to be healthy. It's common in the first few months, and that's why high Protein and resistance training is so important. It helps slow down muscle catabolism. I've read alot of talk lately on this forum about people thinking it's wrong to be eating high protein, low carb diets.....but this is why you do it, at least in the early months. To spare all your lean body mass.

I try not to disagree with people's surgeons, but I have to here.
Immediately after surgery your only concern should be hydration. Protein is nice, but not getting Protein won't land you in the hospital with dehydration. For God sakes, you are in Arizona. Once you are getting 60oz of fluids (Water, Powerade zero, or other very low or no calorie drinks) the add protein as you can tolerate it. Many people, like myself never experience any restriction on liquids & can get hydration & protein very quickly. Others however sometimes take over 2 weeks just to progress to the point of full hydration. You want to make this progression as quickly as you comfortably can, but do not push yourself to the point of discomfort.

I just did it. Have not gotten them yet but it appears to be on the up and up.
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=7ff17c98a6907eed6c4e147b1&id=bc7ce0a51b&e=053fbaeb99

Like Joia, my doctor doesn't restrict anything and every time I see the nutritionist she tells me not to count things. Of course I count but you can still lose. The rules I'm supposed to follow: Three meals a day, at least 60 grams of Protein (higher if you're male), and 64 ounces of Water. What I find is that when I follow these rules I DON'T HAVE MUCH ROOM FOR ANYTHING ELSE. With the restriction I have at four months out, it's a struggle to get the protein (I don't drink the shakes anymore, get it all through food). But I had a brownie today. And some crackers. These all have carbs. On the other hand, I made them myself using low carb recipes so they have minimal carbs but they have some.

Date 4/22
Hw 266
Sw 260
Cw 224
Down 42 lbs , yeah!

I had real plateaus - nine weeks apiece - at roughly six months and one year post op. Both times they occurred when I hit a previous "happy weight" that my body had trouble moving past.
And of course, the last twenty pounds were brutal but I hesitate to call those periods "stalls" or "plateaus" because I did lose weight...just at the poky pace of less than a pound a week.
My honest opinion is that many people get frustrated by "stalls" or "plateaus" that don't really fit that description. Daily weighing immediately post op and in those initial months leads to many people feeling terribly frustrated with a short adjustment period (often less than even two weeks) where the scale just isn't moving. Weigh weekly or monthly and a lot of that can be avoided, and save the daily weighing for maintenance, when it's necessary to stay accountable.
~Cheri

Hi Alex...I do love the poll concept by.the way!

I hope I'm not alone here, but weighing once a month, I never saw a platau. I'm sure I had them, but I was afraid I would get discouraged if I saw a stall or any weight gain. I knew this journey wasn't going to be a straight line from start to goal, but have ups, downs and plataus, so I didn't weigh very often.
So, I never saw stalls, plataus or increases. I was always encouraged. May have had something to do with my success, as I never did feel discouraged and was able to stay motivated with my exercise and eating habits.
Option isn't available on the poll, so I couldn't answer ...

For breakfast I tried the bariatric funnel cake recipe here. I didn't have Carbquik so I made it with Bob's Red Mill low carb baking mix, but that was a mistake. That mix is much too hearty and thick. I ended up making a jacked-up pancake. But that mix does have a good amount of Protein and I got 18 grams from my "funnel cake". For lunch I had zucchini julienned into noodles with italian sausage, garlic and drizzled Tomato sauce. For dinner I plan on having something new, chicken, spinach, onions and peppers wrapped in flatout foldit multigrain flax flatbread. For my evening snack a mozzarella cheese stick probably.

If I were looking at this problem I would probably go with the Duodonal Switch. It is considered the Gold standard in Weight Loss surgery and is often done after the sleeve for people who have a lot of weight to lose. Not all Doctors do the DS but you might want to ask your Doctor about it. I'm sorry that you are on a plateau which is what my nutritionist calls any stall that lasts longer 4 weeks. I'm sure its frustrating and hard watching others get to goal when you are stuck. I was sleeved around the same time as you June 4th 2012. I lost very slowly my first 6 months and then I became really focused, kept my calories at 700 per day and my carbs under 20 grams a day, worked out 6 days a week burning off most of those calories that I ate (according to my Heart Rate monitor). Again, in your situation I would go with DS rather than band...... talk to someone who has had the band, it's not pleasant and could cause a lot more problems in the future if you develop scarring around the band.

The drinks with sugar in them have to go. This made the biggest difference for me pre-surgery. I loved kool-aid and soda. I just went cold turkey. Crystal Light helped a lot, but there are many kinds of sugar-free drinks. It also helps one get used to just drinking more Water. Diet soda is iffy especially since carbonation is a no-no after surgery so no point getting used to it. Seriously, the drinks with sugar have absolutely no nutritional value and increase calorie count tremendously. I didn't think I could drop them but I don't miss them at all.
Edit: Oh, and on the main topic, I know how you feel! Grocery shopping is the only shopping I ever liked to do and shopping for liquids was no.fun.at.all (especially since I was still in a lot of pain). It was so pointless and there was no joy in it and no meals to look forward to. But when I got to mushy foods and soft foods it got a little better. And now, 3 months out, I LOVE IT more than I ever did before. You should see how giddy I get over the new ingredients I can try and finding them in my local stores.
Also, I am a low carber but there's more to it than meat and cheese. But I also like to cook and love finding new recipes and have spent hours finding and even creating my own low carb recipes so that does help.

Hey guys, I was sleeved on July 30, 2012!!! It has been the best thing I have ever done for myself...
It has been an amazing year!
From 354 lbs to 195 lbs! I'm 5'9" and my goal is 170!

I didn't poo for 13 days post op so when I finally did, the colors of the world were brighter, the birds sang louder, the butterflies appeared bigger, it was heaven!

The drinks with sugar in them have to go. This made the biggest difference for me pre-surgery. I loved kool-aid and soda. I just went cold turkey. Crystal Light helped a lot, but there are many kinds of sugar-free drinks. It also helps one get used to just drinking more Water. Diet soda is iffy especially since carbonation is a no-no after surgery so no point getting used to it. Seriously, the drinks with sugar have absolutely no nutritional value and increase calorie count tremendously. I didn't think I could drop them but I don't miss them at all.
Edit: Oh, and on the main topic, I know how you feel! Grocery shopping is the only shopping I ever liked to do and shopping for liquids was no.fun.at.all (especially since I was still in a lot of pain). It was so pointless and there was no joy in it and no meals to look forward to. But when I got to mushy foods and soft foods it got a little better. And now, 3 months out, I LOVE IT more than I ever did before. You should see how giddy I get over the new ingredients I can try and finding them in my local stores.
Also, I am a low carber but there's more to it than meat and cheese. But I also like to cook and love finding new recipes and have spent hours finding and even creating my own low carb recipes so that does help.

The drinks with sugar in them have to go. This made the biggest difference for me pre-surgery. I loved kool-aid and soda. I just went cold turkey. Crystal Light helped a lot, but there are many kinds of sugar-free drinks. It also helps one get used to just drinking more Water. Diet soda is iffy especially since carbonation is a no-no after surgery so no point getting used to it. Seriously, the drinks with sugar have absolutely no nutritional value and increase calorie count tremendously. I didn't think I could drop them but I don't miss them at all.
Edit: Oh, and on the main topic, I know how you feel! Grocery shopping is the only shopping I ever liked to do and shopping for liquids was no.fun.at.all (especially since I was still in a lot of pain). It was so pointless and there was no joy in it and no meals to look forward to. But when I got to mushy foods and soft foods it got a little better. And now, 3 months out, I LOVE IT more than I ever did before. You should see how giddy I get over the new ingredients I can try and finding them in my local stores.
Also, I am a low carber but there's more to it than meat and cheese. But I also like to cook and love finding new recipes and have spent hours finding and even creating my own low carb recipes so that does help.

It's just temporary. Give it some time. I'm four and a half months out and I LOVE to grocery shop.. EVEN MORE THAN BEFORE.. Now I can buy the expensive items that I NEVER could afford before. I bought four ounces of 10 year aged extra sharp cheddar last week at $21.00 a pound. It was DELICIOUS! I also buy seafood and expensive cuts of meat, and AWESOME looking produce. I'm not just looking for things that will fill up my enormously large stomach anymore so I can focus on QUALITY rather than QUANTITY.

I am the opposite I love to grocery shop! Its fun to find new and different things to eat. Last week I went just to shop for me , its not easy but I thinks its fun to try new things. Maybe it will be better for you when your a little further out. Good luck