leanintoit

May sleever friends - anyone else dealing with hair loss? A couple of weeks ago I started to losing hair like crazy. I started taking Biotin a month before surgery, but doesn't seem to be helping. Just wondered if anyone else is experiencing this. It is discouraging.

Excited for you and encouraged for me!

Wow! Kathy! Over 100 lbs down! That is terrific! So proud of you! Your surgeon's stat is an interesting one. Based on posts from other May sleevers, most of us are going to blow that stat out of the water! That is if I am calculating correctly. I weighed 251 at surgery time. So I needed to lose 107 lbs to reach my goal. 55% of that is 58 lbs. I have already lost 46 lbs. in just over three months. Did I calculate correctly? I hope so and I find this to be very encouraging!

Like so many of you, I had been in a stall for a couple of weeks, but today I stepped on the scale and had lost 2.2 lbs since Tuesday of this week. What a feeling! What a blessing! I believe my NUT's analogy of the staircase is accurate. Here's to being on a lower step! Hope that you are experiencing blessings too!

Tarareed2010 - My NUT illustrated sleeve weight loss as a staircase. You sit on one step for a while before you drop to the next step and then sit for a while before then dropping to another step. This has been true for me. How about you? Also, my surgeon just told me, on Tuesday, that the further along the more important exercise becomes. We can actually reset our metabolism by exercising now that we have the sleeve. Are you exercising several times a week?

Dear Pink Dragoness, Please don't get discouraged. You aren't finished losing. My NUT illustrated sleeve weight loss as a staircase. You sit on one step for a while before you drop to the next step and then sit for a while and then drop to another step. This has been true for me. How about you? Also, my surgeon just told me, on Tuesday, that the further along the more important exercise becomes. We can actually reset our metabolism by exercising now that we have the sleeve. So, if you aren't exercising much, do "step it up" as you mentioned in your post. Best wishes to you and all May sleevers!

So proud of you! Can't wait to join you in the one-derful weight category! 20 lbs to go for me!

40 lbs total is incredible! Congratulations on a job well done! I had my three month follow-up yesterday. I look forward to seeing how the blood work turns out. I celebrate these milestones: 1. no longer taking blood pressure meds, 2. no longer taking high cholesterol meds, 3. exercising much more frequently 4. some relief from chronic unexplained nausea that I've had for four years and 5. lost a total of 43.8 lbs since I began pre-op diet (35 lbs since 5/2/13 surgery)! Yes, my weight loss has been slower than some, but I'm trying to keep the emphasis on health improvements. I hope that all you dear May sleevers are seeing vast improvements in health, as well. I thank God for his prompting, my surgeon, and this community! This is the day that Lord has made! Rejoice and be glad in it!

Excellent points! So grateful for my sleeve and this community!

Dan! You are absolutely rocking this life change! So encouraged by your story!!! Keep it up and you will not recognize the new you in size and behavior! Yay for you!!!

Very encouraged by you! Thank you for sharing!

Major wow! Excellent news for you! You are well on your way now!

I was able to completely come off of my high blood pressure meds, so I pray the same for you!

So happy for you being under 200 and no more insulin! This is a huge blessing! Way to go!!!

So glad for you being under 200 and, most of all, for being off the blood pressure meds! Me too! We are so blessed! I look forward to dipping down below 200 in the coming weeks!

Wow! Amazing results! So glad for you!

I am ten weeks out and do not look forward to the hair loss. I started taking biotin before surgery, hit my protein about 60 most days so we shall see. You made me giggle with "I don't want to be skinny and bald." I guess we will have to get creative with scarves, headbands, barrettes and the like. But we will be SKINNY! Yay!

Wow! This is wonderful! You look amazing and we are so proud of our 'sister in WLS'!

Calnala2010 - I started at 264

Karyanne77 - You have verbalized what a lot of people feel prior to VSG, including me. But honestly, to say that the way I was is "normal" is false. I don't know about you and other folks, but I was very abnormal eating too much of the wrong things every day and fantasizing about my next meal while still eating the current one. I was consuming crazy amounts of calories because I was sad or happy, depressed or elated, bored or excited...That just isn't normal. Now, (ten weeks out) I am much more "normal". Food is not the preoccupation that it once was. I can eat pretty much anything (still haven't tried steak) off of a restaurant menu, but choose lean protein and grilled or steamed vegetables because that is truly what appeals to me. My cravings have, by and large, gone away and I rarely eat emotionally. I attribute this not only to the good Lord and the surgery but to working on the psychological reasons for my overeating. A book that continues to help me with this is "Love to Eat/Hate to Eat" by Elyse Fitzpatrick. I have struggled with nausea more often than others (it is a chronic condition that I have been living with for more than five years), but still do not regret my decision to sell things so that I could self pay for VSG. From what I can tell on all the forums, after a few weeks, NO ONE regrets the decision to take control through this tool. YOU CAN DO IT!

I also wanted you to know that she said my surgeon has a very reasonable goal for his VGS patients of 50 lbs lost in five months. Most of you (and I) are on track for meeting that goal. Feeling very encouraged even though losing more slowly that some of you! Have a blessed weekend my soon-to-be skinny friends!

I would like to share with all you marvelous May sleevers some encouraging information from my nut. She painted a great picture for me by saying, "Weight loss with the sleeve is like going down a flight of stairs. You land on a step and stay there for a period of time (a few days or a couple of weeks) with no weight loss and then you move down to the next stair (2-3 lbs lost in a week), then you stay on that step for a few days before moving down to the next step." This image is a perfect description of my journey of weight loss so far. And it appears to capture a lot of others' experience, as well. She also gave me the following nutritional goals saying that it is difficult to get more protein in when only eating 1/2 - 2/3 cup of food (normal for my stage at 10 weeks out). She prefers that the majority of protein come from food, at this point, with protein shakes filling in gaps throughout the week. Calories: <1000 Fat: 30 max Carbohydrates: 30-50 (excluding vegetables) Protein: 40-50 (eventually 70-80) Sodium, Na: no recommendation Fiber, total dietary: 25-35 (eventually)

Wow! What a blessing! Congratulations on such incredible success, Tammy123!

Oh girl! 50 lbs? That is incredible! We were close on our start weight and surgery date but I have only lost 39 lbs. Sorry to say "only". I should say, "I have lost an amazing 39 lbs in 9 weeks!" So glad to hear of your success!!!

Wow! That is encouraging! You've gone down a size! Celebrate!!! I hate that you don't have more support from your surgeon's office. I am about six hours away from my surgeon, so I don't get to see them often, but lots of phone calls. Good job on getting a fitbit! I have one too and love it! I track all my food and water in sparkpeople.com and upload it to fitbit. I think that you will see more weight loss once you take more steps. Walking is fantastic! I truly enjoy the water aerobics offered at our YMCA. Do you have an opportunity to look into that? The thing I love is that my arthritis doesn't bother me, I get a great resistance and cardio workout with NO SWEAT! Best wishes for your continued success!