Seela

Please understand, I wasn't judging as much as surprised.

I couldn't agree more, and I thought about that. I was taking in the whole picture and out of 150-200 people there were only a handful that weren't still very fat. I doubt that almost every one of them started at over 400 lbs. It was just depressing and surprising. I wasn't trying to judge anyone as I was in the same boat, it was simply unexpected.

I realize that, and I took that into consideration, but in a room with a couple hundred wls patients I expected to see more that were thinner. Especially at over a year out for a lot of them.

So the other night my surgeons office held a ceremony for everyone that had wls in 2013. My surgery was 10/21 so I was excited to go and see everyone's progress. I know what they say about expectations but it was really kind of depressing. They had people seated in groups by month, December, November, October then September, August etc.. as each group got up I expected (haha) that for the most part each group would be a little skinnier. With the exception of a few people the October, November December group was the thinnest! I wish I hadn't gone to this ceremony. I feel so discouraged after seeing all of these still fat people. I was one of the thinnest people in the whole room and I wasn't expecting that! Arg... I really need to find a way to get that picture out of my head!

There are 14 carbs just in my vitamins alone!

The hair loss sucks. That sums it up. Sucks sucks sucks. I'm a stylist and salon owner so it's my job to have great hair. I have no words for how devastating this is other than, sucks! My only condolence is that I know it's temporary. But for now it just really sucks.

SW 189 Week 1 186.6 Week 2 183.4 CW 183.. not much but at least it's something!

The good news is one slice of pizza has about 20g of protein...

I think the reason most of us stick to a strict diet, at least for the first year, is that we can only eat just a little bit so what we eat better count! After pre op then liquid diet then mushies etc... you kind of lose your taste for all the junk... for a while anyway, so you use this time to help break all your bad habits. As far as going back to work at one week, I'm a stylist but I used to be a nail tech and I think if you lighten your load some and assuming you have no complications you should be fine. Tired but fine. I'm almost 5 months out and that"strict" diet is becoming increasingly difficult. I'm starting to crave things I haven't wanted in months but I just stay away and the cravings quickly go away. I love my sleeve#

I'm really looking forward to cheaper electric bills this summer. It's so much easier to warm up than it is to cool off!

A friend and client who knows very well that I had wls as we have discussed it several times sent me an email after seeing me the other day. She said she was so surprised at how great I look and could I please share my "secret" to weight loss. Hu? Seriously? I emailed her back that my secret was surgery followed by eating a diet of mostly protein to the tune of 600-800 calories a day. When did people get so downright stupid? **frustrated**

I'm 4 1/2 months out and I think I had a darn near perfect recovery. My experience was almost exactly like the OP. of coarse some people take months to recover, with complications and some people recover as if they never even had surgery, but I think the OP's post was pretty accurate for most of us the first month out. Nice.

It is very normal to have slow weight loss and plateaus the first couple of months. It's not advisable to go back on a liquid diet without your surgeons support. Stick to your program, it will work. Be patient. I only lost 4 pounds in all of January and it was way discouraging but I stuck to my plan and lost about 14 lbs in February. Don't assume you know better than your surgeon. Trust the process

I'm an all or nothing kind of girl and before pre op I kinda got pissed off and just went balls out and ate everything I could get my hands on. I drank as much diet Pepsi as I could until midnight before pre op. Then I quit everything cold turkey and haven't looked back. I was miserable but from what I read so was everyone else no matter how they did it. I don't recommend doing it my way but even with my screwed up brain I have been very successful. 68 lbs down in 4 1/2 months.

Oh yeah... I am completely off caffeine, just don't need it anymore

It was 40lbs for me, too, before I went down a size but now it seems like I go down a size every 3 weeks! I tend to gain and lose very evenly so it was at about 50 lbs when people started really noticing... very frustrating. Although at this time I still have some loose fat low on my belly, in clothes my stomach looks nice and flat. I love that I don't feel like I look pregnant anymore. I still have about 40lbs to goal and I really think my skin will tone up and I won't need plastics. My skin gets alot tighter when I'm on a plateau and when I'm losing fast it gets all loose again. Very interesting.

On the bright side a month from now this will all be a long forgotten nightmare. It sucks but it's short lived. Hang in there, you all are doing great

While I totally agree with all of the above, I went in very educated and knew that would be the case from the beginning. For me at 4 1/2 months out the biggest challenge I'm facing is clothes. I don't stay the same size for more than a couple of weeks so my wardrobe is VERY limited and, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sick of shopping! Plus it's expensive. I know, boo hoo, but honestly between that and trying to figure out what size bra and panties to buy, its a constant never ending ordeal. Did I mention expensive?

I was sleeved about a month before you two and about a month ago I went through a few weeks where I was eating 1300-1400 calories a day. Scared the crap out of me! Then I just couldn't. Now I'm back down to 600-800 calories a day again. I don't know, Weird. ..

I'm so glad. I wasn't trying to imply that you were, I remember well how hard that post op period is. Just don't chance it. A month from now it will be a non issue. Good luck!

I used to be a size 8 then with weight gain I went up to a 9 1/2 and now back to an 8

Seriously, you could get a leak or a food particle caught in your staple line or any number of problems. I know it sucks but, really, it's only five more days. If you're wanting to give up this soon out you're gonna have nothing but issues moving forward.

Knowing that early out sweets of any kind made me sick made it easy for me. I have since had to completely adjust how I celebrate. A celebration isn't about food, or eating something that makes me feel bad or feel bad about myself. Now I can do more of what I really love to do at parties. .. talk.. I mean visit lol

It's definitely dehydration. I average about 6 glasses of water daily, I just can't seem to get in more, and I always feel like I'm on the edge of dehydration.

Woke up to TOM but still had a great week! SW 189 Week 1 186.6 CW 183.4