desertmom

Another way to see this is as an adjustment period after a big loss...( here is the reason to be EXCITED about an adjustment..) its followed by another big loss. Having said that,I still freak out if it lasts too long!It just puts doubt in my mind. I've lost really fast for my age and genentics by eating real solid Proteins.Hardly ever needed a shake since I could eat. You will look at your friend,that's what we do even if we know we shouldnt.So,if you say she eats lots,how what does she eat that you dont and what does lots mean? 40 pounds in 2 months seems great to me.Will go and see where I was at 2 months out but it seems like a heck of a lot more than what some people lose. xxo

For 4 years I had constant pain in my hip and upper leg.Since buying my tempur bed and 3 months post op,no more pain!I sleep so much better and well,no pain. Every time I exercise my "bones" ache so badly that I just want to quit.Execised again today and now the sides and front of my lower leg has this deep ache.I hate drinkng pain killers but for a while at least I suppose I will have to take 2 panadols to help me with the sleeping at night.Since I have started sleeping better for the first time in years,I am not prepaired to give it up,no way! But exercise I will.No more cop outs and excuses!None!

Yes,last ***ht I had the fright of my life and decided to really start exercising. I exercised yesterday and today.Still play a mean game of squash even with no energy! Also did some arm and leg circuits and I can feel it! Of course I immediately wanted food afterwards but had a cup of tea and will have a nice protein dinner!

Are you taking a PPI?Might be reflux as well.

i just read the scariest thread on OH. A lady,4 years and 8 months out and gaining rapidly.Feeling lost and having no idea how to get out of the mud.She is back to not really knowing how she will lose the weight again. This scares me senseless! What if what I think is mindful changes is just a matter of not being able to eat a lot?What if the WANT to outeat the sleeve starts in me too?How am I going to do this in the long term?I dont want to be on diet for the rest of my life. I can do what I am doing now for the rest of my life,IF ONLY IT WORKS! The problem does seem to be eating around the sleeve.Eating constantly,eating junk like crisps and a lot of carbs and sugar.But what if the changes I feel,like not depriving but not over indulging,keeping a good balance,saying no to myself to bad stuff most of the time,isnt real? What if I am not learning to eat like a normal skinny person? How do we know what will work for the FOREVER we need? I am really freaked out by this as I saw a therapist for a year.In that year she aimed to teach me what normal was.I lost 70 pounds in 6 months and then went on holiday to the family.My brother and me had an argument and he seriously hurt my feelings.It was 4 days before I was to come home.I GAVE MYSELF PERMISSION to eat emosionally just for those 4 days until I could get away from them and I LOST NORMAL in those 4 days.I never could get back on track and it took me about 3 months to regain all 70 pounds again.This was 2 years ago. What if this happens again.Of course I have the resolve to not let it.Maybe that is another reason to have all the plastics done.Arms,legs,tummy,boobs.If I gain a 100 pounds then I will surely explode and that will just be the end of that! Now I have to try and calm down to sleep!

I have started tracking my daily calorie and even though Im hitting 60g of protein most days my calories have been around 450 to 600 which kind of explains to me why I just cannot even play badmington with my 11 year old.I realized that during the holiday I dropped my cals just automatically without even noticing.I have not even attempted to playa game of squash as even the thought of it made me tired. Today I decided to eat more.Back to 1000 when I need energy to exercise. The thing is even though it wasnt really too much,I dont feel to well.I am hyper aware of my stomach all day and I think of food,something I havent done in a month. Tomorrow I will go back to eating very little again.I will drink my tea with milk,eat my 2 tiny tiny meals but to that I will start adding a protein shake to help with the protein.I will try and buy a shake that is high in vitamins too as drinking a multi feels like it irritates my stomach and makes me hungry. Hopefully that will give me a little energy.But the exercise is on.It was shocking to see how little I could do and I had a huge drop in blood sugar to boot halfway through.These are things that I now need to fix as my friend has aked me to run the 10k in November or December with her and I stupidly said,of course I will. That was me for the day.Weight still the same!

Ok,I cant comment about the meds but I can tell you this. The surgery is done.No turning back.At 2 months to 3 months I mourned the loss of eating.Then I decided to start enjoying it again.If I can only lick that fork,well it is the tastiest lick I will ever have.If it is 3 bites,which often happens when I eat out,it is the greatest 3 bites I have ever had.(ok,still need to learn to take smaller bites...lol) In the beginning I would constantly feel that by the time others are just warmed up to eat,I was finished.Then I decided to argue this out with myself and to WIN. Rule one is to be mindful when I eat those 4 bites.Slowly and deliberately.Look at it,beautiful,smell it..mmmm...taste it,delicious. Now,when my 3 or 4 bites are finished,I have to tell myself the following:wasnt that just great?Isnt it just awesome that I am actually full without being the one to scoff down mine plus my kid's food?why do I believe I cannot be satisfied with what I have eaten? And then I choose to let the plate go.No take away bag,nothing.Just tell them to take it.And I am so happy that I chose that.I won! I keep telling people struggling with this issue.Now is the time to figure out how to be happy with the fact that you can only eat a little.And you can mourn the loss of a lot of food and you need to have a great talk with yourself and you need to congratulate yourself when you manage to feel you've won! I suppose this is advice not support but if a friend of mine didnt have a very frank discussion with me about the fact that I just seemed so sad and depressed after my surgery and that I should let go of eating a lot without letting go of enjoying food,I would still be sitting in front of my plate of food,crying. It just made me think how in control I can be if I am just prepared to be in control.That I decide,that I can turn this into a win win situation for me all the way. Now,I dont diet,low carb,low fat,deprive myself of anything. Baby portions of the best qualitly food I can possibly eat.I dont like something,I just wont touch it.Tasty food,well presented food,healthy food. Good luck with your journey and I hope you can find this great balance and start really enjoying your food again. At 4 months out you will really be able to eat a little more than you can now.You will learn to say as I do....it is awesome that I cannot eat that huge plate of food anymore. xxo

My first words after every surgery! I am so happy for you.Now,sleep!

It is just wonderful.Congrats! You've just made me realize that my 11 year old(whom I cannot carry around anymore) weighs less than I have lost. Great going!

I still think I see more women with long hair saying that the have bad hair loss. Does the women with short hair,that does not need tying up at all, also lose a lot of hair? Mine started falling out at 4 months but my mom got me stuff thats called placenta with bergamot and I am convinced it is really helping.I am still only 4.5 months out but the hair fall has slowed considerably.It still comes out but not in strands of hair anymore.The hair that is growing back is gray though,something I didnt expect at all. Still worth every hair I have lost so far.

I lost nothing for 10 days.then I dropped 20 pounds in the next 2weeks.(I also came home 8 pounds heavier than when I went in)

No regrets here,a little sadness that I couldnt have done this at the age of 30,fifteen years ago! I love my sleeve!

Sgbrown,why does the dr not change your PPI?

No,never had a hernia.But boy do I know about reflux.I have an online blog of the earlier years with the band and let me tell you I was petrified that it would be the same with the sleeve. Having said that.I still do not eat anything that gave me reflux when I had the band.I know which foods to avoid and I do.Fruit is almost a no no in my life,coffee,any acid forming foods,yogurt,tomato,and loads more mind you.Tried a strawberry recently and it gave me heartburn.When I take Probiotics I get heartburn....I know how to live not to get reflux and I do.Carbs ease the stomach in small portions.When I eat only Proteins it is potential reflux and when I overeat I die and so on and so on....the 7 years before the sleeve helped a lot now. Hope you can come to a decision and that it work great for you. I also found that prilosec and the other PPI's didnt work for me.I drink nexium.

Hi Never had reflux before the band and had it badly for years with the band. I am on nexium for the first 6 months of the sleeve but I dont think I have it at all now at 4.5 months out.Had a bit of heartburn in the beginning when I took another ppi but the nexium sorted it out. You alone can decide this but I love my sleeve! Its everything I thought the band would be and wasnt.

Really?I will start doing this too. Since surgery I have never been able to do Breakfast,just the thought makes me feel sick. Dont know if this is good or bad as I now like only eating 2 meals (less danger of doing to many calories) Yes,yes I know breakfast is important...lol

When my body takes the time to readjust (stall..lol) the scale stays exactly the same to the .100.Morning noon and night.And I do jump on the scale every 10 minutes so I really know this as a fact. It can stay like that for quite a while too.....and then I drop quite a few pounds. Every time I restart the exercising thing I stall for longer than 10 days....not a .1 down,nothing. Do what you say you are doing and the weight will come off....be patient.

O great.This is my biggest fear,that the hunger ( which I dont have anymore,dont know if I really ever had it as I had a lot of head hunger to deal with after surgery) will return. O well,that is why I am aiming to eat normal even now.So that there just wont be a diet to fall off of ever again.

Hi God is in control.I am glad you are on your way ro recovery now. My best friend had gastric bypass 2 years ago and she is so happy she did it.Reached her goal and is staying right there without much effort. She doesnt dump on small amounts of sugar and she loves loves her bypass. May the future hold lots of good things for you.

I read a lot of posts and I see that we all have the same issues at some time or another. Of course,every time I lose even one pound I am positive and when I dont I doubt. Today is a positive day.hehehe I am 217 today and I am happy! In this blog I process externally (I dont really know how to be an internal processor..lol) The ups and downs of this journey is very real and when I have down time I read about my up times and then I can breathe again and wait....the weight losses come when they do.I eat right and wait. Yesterday I started doing leg exercises...a little.And I can feel it.Today,I will do upper body and lower body.Cardio will have to wait until I am cold free again. xxo

The sleeve is so different from the band isnt it? At some point I realized how I would out eat the band just because I never felt restriction per se but was so sick with heartburn and pain all the time. It left a deep psychological scar because I felt like an utter failure for so long. Now I am starting to feel free.Free from this monster stomach that could hold so much food and free from the head that just wanted to feed it...lol Anyway you are doing great.Keep up the good work!

I am a revision and whereas the people thats been sleeved longer can tell you about long term struggles,in the short term the sleeve is what I thought the band would be, and wasnt. It feels awesome to not be able to eat that much anymore or to not struggle with the band anymore. What I would like to know from the 2010 sleevers is did the actual physical hunger return?

Before I was sleeved I gained about 30 pounds from January until surgery on the 13th of March. When I saw the dr first I weighed about 8 pounds less than surgery day and when I came home after surgery I was up 10 pounds more. At the time when I did my ticker I thought the 18 pounds gained cannot count...I had to start where I first saw the dr. Recently I realized I was being stupid to say the least.Every pound I had lost post-op,counts.It changed my perspective from being a low loser to being an average to speedy (older,yoyo dieter) loser. Now for the kicker...lol EXERCISE PEOPLE,EXERCISE! My size is bigger than ever before at this weight and I look like a sharpay dog from behind...folds and folds of skin...lol. I should have exercised! All in all I am very happy about the surgery and my fear of failure is slowly getting better.I had the band for 7 years and felt like a real failure for most of them.Going into this surgery I didnt allow myself any expectations,it was just the last resort for a very desperate person and I think that is also why I've been so resistant about increasing my exercise.Mind you,when the scale goes up even 100 grams the fear sometimes still overcomes me and I have to reason with my mind not my feelings. I dont low carb or low fat but I dont high carb or high fat either.I avoid unhealthy foods and concentrate on Proteins and veggies.I dont eat sweets or any such rubbish,just dont feel like it any more.I have the occasional glass of wine and I really really enjoy my little bit of food more than ever.When my weight loss slows down I focus more on Protein and I do cut carbs more. My Vit B12 do seem to go low before the 3 months is up so I get B12 and D injections more often.Placenta with bergamot seems to help slow the hair loss way down.I think...lol I am really starting to believe that this might be for real.This might be permanent if I follow the rules of never overeating or out eating the sleeve,that I might actually get to my goal weight for the first time in 20 years.I have always regained before I got there. So,now for the last 50 pounds.The 50 that always somehow stayed no matter what I did. And exercise...exercise people,exercise! LOL This website have become my go-to,my sanity sometimes and I love reading how this surgery have saved so many people!

Hi Brian I am only 4.5 months out but I have been on a 3 week holiday to my home country recently.When we go home we eat out all the time...some times twice a day...its holiday after all. I've had to sit in front of an almost full plate and have that momentary argument with myself every single time.Why do I want to continue eating when I am full and have enjoyed the food and the experience of it so much? But the moment I convinced myself it is my choice to stop (i dont have a full feeling in my stomach, I get what I call mentally uncomfortable...a thought or feeling in my head that I've had enough) I feel satisfied. It has made me wonder if this will ever change?Will there ever be a time when I am satisfied when I know I have to stop eating?Or will I have to have this track in my mind forever?I can do it,but it would be nice to just stop and not to have to convince myself I have to stop and be happy about it. It is very encouraging to see it still matters as much after 2 years,that you practice saying no to yourself now as you did when you were still losing weight. I must say I have also realized how much people around me really eat and a lot of them also eat way beyond the point of enough. This sleeve rocks doesnt it?

So,we have been back in the UAE for 4 days and we are totally housebound.I mean completely. It is ramadan and whereas the malls are open you are not allowed to eat or drink anything in public.It is over 103 degrees most days up to 110 some days (50 degrees celcius) and I cannot go out without drying out like a prune within an hour.So we have watched every single olympic event there's been (with the kids legs going back and forth in front of thr tv as she is on her beam the whole time,she's a gymnast and the gymnastics have greatly inspired her to exercise more...lol) I have played boggle with my little kid a 100 times.We are now bored stiff.Another 2 weeks of this,I think,hope pray,and then life will be normal again. One good thing though. My hair started coming out in clumps when I was in SA on holiday.I spoke to quite a few hairdressers and they all recommended a South African product called placenta with bergamot. It smells disgusting but since I have been back the hair seems to be coming out a lot less.There is still hair everywhere but it isnt the total strands of hair like it was in the last 2 weeks.I wonderif this stuff may be working? There is already a lot of new hair but some days I see a lot of short hair falling out too....so I dont know if it really works.One thing though,a friend of mine that had VSG and who is the exact same age than me was completely gray when the new hair came out. I am a dark blonde and never noticed any gray hair before.Now,a lot of the short hair seems to be silver which I take to be gray.My folks went gray very very late.In fact my mom still has brown hair and she is 70.Never coloured her hair.My dad has some gray and he is 77 and my older siblings dont have any gray hair yet. Now I wonder if I will be gray when the new hair comes out?Mind you,my friend lost a lot of hair and took to waring a headscarf of some sorts for quite some time. This is all very interesting when you have nothing to do and I will keep spraying this stinking bergamot stuff on my head and update if it helps. Another friend that has RA and gets infusions for it says the meds make her hair fall out at the back of her head.Her Filipino housekeeper started cutting aloe leaves off and then she massages it into her head and she swaers high and low that it works wonders to help the hair grow back.So maybe tomorrow I will cut a piece off and start doing that too. Well, 5 weeks of summer holiday left and without my passport I cannot travel so here we are....watching the wheels go round and round...lol