motherearth

During the first 3 months your sleeve was healing, it was swollen. The swelling has gone down to where you will find your allowed a little bit bigger portion size. No bigger than 8 oz at a time or a cup at a time. Best to measure your food to help you keep on track. Still, "Protein First".
Congratulations with your weight loss.
Sherri

Throwing in my 2 cents... I feel that I've gone through too much pain to not try to maximize my weight loss now so with mayo I go light as it's only 35 cal for a tbs and like most other posters if the cal count is down and it tastes comprable then I go with the reduced fat/cal brand but if not then why not go for the taste? Good topic too as I wonder if we know for sure just how all those SF items will affect us down the road with all them chemicals they put in them

fat free products are terrible tasting to me. they actually replace the fat with sugar. I know people who only eat fat free everything and they are fat.. I use eggbeaters too but they actually do better than real scrambled eggs for me. I still use Truvia and sugar free proucts but definitely not fat free. I don't eat enough of any of it to make that much difference. I love my band cause it's made me free of "diets".

I love the Pure Protein-chocolate and Peanut Butter bars. It has 20 grams of Protein and 2grams of sugar. I get them from Walmart.

I really like the pure Protein bars.. I haven't tired any of the other ones. Where do you get the Quest bars at or do you have to order them?

Just wanted to pass on some info I learned the other night eating out at Red Robin.
The kids were dying to go there the other night and prior to going I looked on line for low carb options and I found out that you can get any of thier burgers or sandwiches on a lettuce bun and side salad instead of fries, I ordered the California chicken sand and was surprised at how good this was, it was served between to thick, crispy pieces of iceberg lettuce and wrapped in paper which made it easy to eat, I ate about 1/3rd and took the rest home and the next day my wife and I split the rest for lunch and it was just as good the next day.

Georgia is so right. Some foods I am fairly sure I could eat unlimited quantities...
So I always think in terms of not so much how much CAN I eat but rather how much SHOULD I eat - but she said it better.

If they were 10's or 12. I'd be all over them. You have good taste!

My name is Kerri and I'm a 37 year old wife and mother of 2. I've been battling PCOS since 1999, gaining weight, losing weight, gaining more...blah blah blah, you know the story! I've been on Metformin for more than 10 years, but my a1c keeps creeping up. Doctors have suggested that I look into bariatric surgery, so I went to two seminars. That was two years ago, when I found out that our insurance doesn't cover a dime of bariatric surgery, under any circumstance. In the meantime, I prayed that we could come up with the money. I have all of the support of my husband and family, but the funds just weren't there.
To make a really long story short, I got some blood test results recently that gave me an official diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. I'm feeling pretty crappy with headaches and horrible, throbbing leg pain. I decided right then and there that I need to make this happen sooner rather than later. WE HAVE THE FUNDING FOR MY SURGERY! I'm currently scheduling my scope, then I will have a surgery date! I'm hoping for end of June.
I am so excited to go on this journey with you all! Now I'm off to explore this fun site!

I think men get insecure when they see their partners slimming down and feeling more confident, and making serious changes for the better in their lives. They may fear being leeft behind at the same time they resent your moving ahead - and yet don't want to do anything about it! I've seen it several times - but cheating won't help, nor is it excusable. I agree - talk to him and see if the conversation can be had in a non-threateneing way...if not, maybe he's not going to be able to go the distance.
In any event, take care of yourself and stay focused on your wise choices. Love yourself, and do it well! You're worth it.

Sip like its your job.
Sip every other minute. Use a timer for a weekend.
Sip like your life depends on it.
I heard/read someone said "sip like it is your job" I liked that.

My "fatter look" came because my belly was so big that the fat loss on the rest of my body was easier to see. When the rest got smaller the belly seemed bigger. The keg is not yet a six pack but it casts no shadows on my legs.

Thanks everyone! This was very helpful! I think I'm going to start seeing a therapist sometime after surgery so I will be able to take the fat goggles of!

Oh, how I have been there. It takes time for our mental to catch up with the physical part of us. Losing the weight as quickly. The Fat Goggles need to come off and will at some point. It takes time to adjust to the new you.
Sherri

So I'm on my two week diet and have lost 10 pounds and my whole family says I look like I've lost weight and I look great but for some reason I look at my self in the mirror I look fatter! So I'm worried I will lose 100 pounds and still see my self the same.

You see yourself everyday and have high hopes and goals. You probably wouldn't notice 10 lbs on your self but your family could. I was the same way. If after losing most of your weight you still feel like that I would talk to a therapist about it and get on track but I think you will notice it more and more especially with pictures. I felt like I wasn't seeing a difference., The scale was moving and my clothes weren't much different. Everyone was raving how great I looked. Once I compared my week before surgery to my month out surgery.. HOLY COW you could see it in my face especially.

It's pretty darn near impossible to stretch your stomach out. Unless you are self abusing and even that is super painful I am sure you will not stretch it out,
A Stall is no inches or weight loss in over 30 days. Are you measuring and taking photos weekly? Not everything is scale oriented.
You should be able to eat more now. Your stomach is done healing, you should be getting all your Protein organically rather than chemically by shakes. You should be eating every 3-4 hours.
Keep tracking and measure all your losses not just the scale.< /p>
I dropped 2 full pant sizes from a 10 to a 6 with out losing a single pound.

Milk of magnesia was my friend post-op. I took it every day for a week whether I needed to or not. I would take it occasionally after when having issues.

I like milk of magnesia and Fiber gummies.< /p>

So I was sleeved 9/24/13. I've lost 66.7 pounds and am on the slow downhill slide toward home. I feel fantastic. However I did admit to y'all not too long ago that I really had done no work yet. I wasn't exercising and letting the sleeve do all the work, which was wonderful. But now I am happy to report with a little kick in my smaller derierre, I have started to walk/jog again. I am celebrating my birthday this month and registered for a Lucky Leprechaun 5 K. I thought it would help motivate me to get it in gear, knowing that I had to perform soon. Well over the weekend I set out to see if I had enough stamina to walk jog my "country block" (just a smidge over 5 miles). And I'm happy to report I am still alive. I stopped a couple times to stretch a little, but managed to pretty consistently walk/jog the whole thing otherwise. Sorry I'm tooting my own horn, but it was a big step for me to finally take some control. I am starting to feel a bit stronger and excited again about being healthy not just smaller/thinner. Thanks for listening. I hope you are all taking better care of yourselves than I was. I feel much better now. Have a great day! And thank you to all who are sharing, it helps to have a source of support in this. If you don't live this way and have this history it is impossible to understand.
Stacie

Hi Dan, I'm 3.5 years post op. YES!! It really does get better. I noticed that about 6 months post op I started to feel more normal but my sleeve did keep me in check big time. I just didn't feel tired or sick all the time. To be perfectly honest I doubted I did the right thing for the first two months post op because I just had a general feeling of unwellness and it was very difficult to get all of my Fluid oz in and my Protein.
As far as dehydration, yes it can continue to be a problem if you don't stay diligent with getting your daily allowance in. About 6-8 cups per day, every day for the rest of your life. As long as you stay on top of it though it's not a problem at all.
Good luck!

Hi!!
I am 5' 6"
SW: 253
CW: 153
Age: 54
Surgery: 5/31/13 (9 months out)
My goal is 150 (3 more pounds) because at 5' 6" that puts me at a healthy normal BMI of 24.9

My personal opinion is that numbers on the scale are just that - numbers. There are so many variables. I don't have a number goal. When my body tells me it's at a good weight, that will be my goal.

The society we live in can be so cruel. I've been teased, bullied, mooed at. Ignored, disrespected and humiliated from a very early age. Obesity genes play a part on both sides of my family.
Diagnosed with hypoglycemia in my twenties and Degenerating Joint Disease in my hips.
Hypothyroidism when i was thirty.
Type 2 Diabetes when i was forty.
My weight sky rocketed to the highest of 385 in 1992. The year i was married and also the year i was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism Once my thyroid was under control i became pregnant. My OBGYN told me i was a high risk pregnancy and that i could endure many unhealthy hurdles. But i went ahead with our pregnancy. I did get gestational Diabetes and gave myself insulin shots through out my 2nd and 3rd trimester. I was put on a Diabetic diet during my pregnancy and actually gained 19 pounds because i had started losing weight at the end of my pregnancy. The Diabetes left as soon as i had my baby. Only for it to show up six years later as Type 2 Diabetes.
That was the straw for me.
I have endured Breast Cancer, Acute Severe sleep Apnea on top of morbid obesity. I had to make a change or i want going to see my daughter live her life and experience all the wonderful life experiences you do with a daughter.
So i opted for weight loss surgery. Best decision i ever made. Well, one of them at least.
Hope has returned and i am so looking froward to getting off the sidelines of life and back into the main stream of enjoying life again. When you hear of people say they came fro the school of hard knocks, well i'm one of them.
It definitely built character and wisdom and gave me the tools to go with the tool i received "the Sleeve" Looking forward to what life has in store for me now.

It only gets bigger when the swelling subsides about 90 days Post Op, That's when your stomach is healed from the surgery.
I began feeling a difference a couple weeks ago and i'm 8 weeks Post Op this week. It just depends on what i'm eating as well. I don't eat beef. I stick with fish and chicken. Any meat i chew and becomes bigger than what it was when it went in, doesn't get swallowed. It would take up too much room in my sleeve. So I would rather have ground turkey and fish. Something i can mash with my tongue and get a healthy portion size in..
Even if it did stretch out, it would never go back to the size it was. Perhaps an intake of 8-10 oz, and that's max.
Sherri