Defying Gravity

I am at week 5 on Wednesday! Doing good, but have no idea how much I've lost. I found out I'm only supposed to weigh in at the doctor and it's been a tough week staying away from the scale. Clothes not fitting anymore though, LOVE THAT! I've lost 4 inches around my waist, where most of my weight is. I see the doctor this week for my one month follow up. I'm fine other than I have to sit up for 1 hr minimum after I eat or if I drink iced tea, or I wake up coughing up acid reflux (totally gross). I've got that under control now though. How is everyone else doing? Anyone get to go shopping yet?

Congratulations! I'm happy for you. Best wishes on a smooth surgery and recovery!

Last night I went to my first support group meeting and they said that when they stopped weighing themselves at home, they stopped plateauing. I guess something about weighing yourself, especially daily, gets us in the wrong mind set and several women said they were stuck for months, doing everything right, really upset, then the doc said not to weigh at home and they stopped and haven't had a problem since. Just thought I'd share that. I stopped weighing myself, which is hard, but I already feel slightly liberated!

@CBT - Wow, that's awesome! Thanks for the details, I want to get into more dancing and weights but was nervous. I've been cleared to do "anything" as long as I'm smart about it, but walking has already been sort of hard for me. Now I do feel inspired by your response. Thanks!

Just filmed one today, hope to get it up tomorrow! Thank you!

Yeah I'm not supposed to do any soaking for a month because of the drain incision. Not a big deal for me though. Thanks.

Thank you Fiddleman! I really appreciate the detail. I need to walk, I started doing some light upper body weights yesterday but it was just too much. Walking 3 times a day is great. I'm going to try that. Thanks again.

Wow, you could soak after one week? I was told a month because of the drain hole. Oh just noticed you're a band. I remember thinking I wasn't allowed to work out but I was. I couldn't lift 15 lbs bending over or 30 lbs standing until Wed but now I don't know if I should hit the cardio like crazy or not. Thanks for the response.

Thank you icece1!

Oh wow, I didn't know anyone responded! LOL. It didn't show up in my activity so I apologize for not responding. Thank you all for sharing. It helps to know how other people handle it, regarding their lifestyles.

How hard did you work out once you were cleared? On Wed was 3 weeks from the surgery and I was told I could go back to the gym. But I'm curious how hard can I push it? Yesterday I sort of did a little too much at home, but only 15 minutes. Curious about if anyone began ab work right away or at what stage you started running and doing more than just walking? Thanks

I hope it helped, and I have a youtube channel that I have my videos from the hospital if you're interested. http://www.youtube.com/caydenkelby

I am sooo incredibly happy that I found this thread! I've been stalled for about 10 days and I know it's Water and Protein, but I thought I was doing something majorly wrong. I've got my protein up, and today I finally drank all the water that I needed. How long does it take to get yourself out of the slump and back to dropping weight, once you get your protein and water met? Thanks.

What great news! Congrats!

I've never tried vitamin E, but I have used a tiny bit of tea tree oil. It disinfects and all, but best of all it's an amazing healing oil. I use it on everything from scrapes to scars. My band scars aside from the port removal site are almost all faded now, but I am not sure how the drain scar will be from my sleeve.

Oh I know it's cold there, but I do so envy the snow!! Wow, that's great, you look fabulous! 8 months out - you're doing great! I can't wait to shop for smaller clothes. Your post was funny, keep up the great work.

If I had to do this over again I would spend way more time doing weights - I am the poster child of overemphasizing one of your two choices. I went with cardio only. Sure, I have impressive weight loss on my ticker at the bottom but the price I'm paying for that is loss of strength. I put 150lbs on a bench press machine like I used to do years ago when I was doing both weights and cardio and I couldn't budge it! I found that I could only do a fraction of it. There are probably lots of people here that could speak more definitively on this but I believe your weight loss isn't going to slow that much by lifting weights AND frequent body fat measurements as well as measuring yourself will show that the sleeve is working for you. Thanks for your honestly. I also really appreciate your links in your quote! Eyeroll? Something you didn't like? I'm thinking maybe she misquoted you? Perhaps wrong thread??? I'm hoping. You're probably right, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing something. Probably just used the wrong smiley, but I'm thinking she meant the links in your signature.

I'm surprised your doctor didn't prescribe an antacid. I was given one for twice a day. Gurgling and gas is normal.

I had a job interview with a big client the day before my sleeve. I told her that I would be taking 2 weeks off from my work. She really wanted me to start working immediately, but said she could wait. Before I know it, she's on the phone with me asking when I'll be back. I said I didn't know because I'd heard many things about recovery times. She asked me flat out, "What, are you getting a tummy tuck?" I was so embarrassed (hell, it's like asking a flat chested girl if she's getting a boob job. Presumptuous and insulting!) I said no and she told me that she'd had one and ended up in the hospital and had been out for a week from work. I was really uncomfortable talking about it, because I have a habit of keeping work and health completely seperate. I don't really like to tell people about it unless I know they are considering it or they've had it also. Mostly because people assume it's the easy way out (It's actually harder!) or it's like telling them that I'm enormous. It just makes me uncomfortable. Do you discuss it openly at work, with friends, acqaintances, etc? Or do you prefer to keep it under wraps? I'm fine talking about it with family and friends, but I really prefer not to discuss it at all.

Well, I used to be an athlete and a coach. Yes, the muscle will add weight, but that's a temporary issue. Muscle burns calories. The larger the muscle mass, the more you burn. That's one reason that athletes must eat so much. They burn calories all day long even when they aren't actually working out, because they have high metabolism. The great thing about cardio is that it keeps your metabolism up all day. But doing weights keeps your metabolism going for up to 3 days. It's hard work and not like a magical thing, but if you keep going in the long run, the muscle really will help your metabolism. The best thing to do is both, and mix it up. And when you hit a plateau, you should change up your routine again. Your body will get used to the exercise and a change in days, exertion and in exercises can keep that from happening.

I love this! How wonderful. I'm sure that the change you feel about yourself is what changed the relationship. I'm very happy for you. What a sweet story.

I was told 9-12 months, but I remember having hair loss for over a year from my band. Not looking forward to it with the sleeve! I didn't lose chunks or anything, just shedded a lot and it got really thin.

Thanks guys! I was a little insecure about posting them, but I hope they were somewhat helpful to people preparing themselves.

My blog has the first few posts about my weight loss with the sleeve. http://bit.ly/Krz7Sm If you are interested, so far it's just the hospital stay stuff, but I have 3 more to edit and add. I'll try to get to them tomorrow.

How funny, I had my band in June 2010, removed in June 2013, and was converted to sleeve on the 18th of Dec.