BigTink2LilTink

Fantastic job. However I just wanted to say that you are very gorgeous. Both pre and post surgery madam.

Looking good there.

Isopure unflavored works for me. Most others I have to take a lactaid or two.

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It's been a while since I've shared here.
56 more lbs until I'm at my goal weight!
Before: Size 3X/4X - 24/26
After: Size Large - 14/16
(because people always ask..)
I'm 6'0 tall
My Starting weight was 400 lbs

It is very common to hit stalls along the way especially after sleeve surgery. It is so common that someone on this site coined the phrase "embrace the stall".
The three most important elements after surgery are to meet your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight.

You're just experiencing the "three week stall" that almost everyone experiences. This will be the first of many stalls you will go through in your journey. During my six month pre-op diet program, my weight loss was linear (3 pounds a week like clockwork for six months). During my seven months post-op, it has been more like a step function. I lose 10 pounds in 10 days or so, and then I stall for a week to 10 days. Then the cycle repeats.
My advice is to stay off of the scale for the first month, and then to only get on the scale with a frequency that won't cause you mental anguish. Some people can weigh every day and contextualize what it is saying without causing distress. Others can't do that. You'll do yourself a big favor to figure out which camp you are in and weigh accordingly.
Good luck!

Yup I can also recommend Metimucil as well. It was what I used for the first 7-8 months post surgery to get me going regularly again. I don't do it much if at all now. I may take a glass full once every 3 to 5 weeks. But its the go to for when I'm not going regularly like I need to.

Looking good there.

Wow... everyone looks great.
I am 3 months post op, and have lost 46 pounds...   

These are my success pics... and I am enjoying my post sleeve journey... [emoji4] [emoji4] [emoji4] [emoji4]

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I am over a year out and woke up yesterday with the fear that I am going to gain back all of what I have lost. I have not changed my eating and log my food everyday. Not sure where this is coming from.

Wow guy you look outstanding. Looks like you have very little to no loose skin to deal with at all.

From my workout yesterday. Yesterday was cardio and back day with the weights. Those last 20lbs are very very stubborn as far as going away. My tracker says that 11lbs away from goal, but its more like 20 to 22lbs actually.

Drinking from a straw and swallowing will increase the amount of gas you have in your pouch, which will both limit the amount of food or Water you can have in your pouch at any given time, or may simply cause you to throw up if you over-do it. Having said that, I, like @Berry78 said, have found that if you just pull the liquid into your mouth, then open your mouth and release the air, it works fine. I will caution though that I have a sleeve and I rarely use straws.

Felt pretty cute this week, so I took some more pictures!! And I found a really great "before". It's amazing how much my baby face has gone away...

I tend to follow this method. It may come as a shocker to some, but I do eat bread and drink soda. Well let me state it more accurately and clearly. I eat small amounts of breads (carbs) weekly, and I may drink a soda once in a blue moon (still very rare for me to consume carbonated beverages). Thing is, I like you, don't eat an entire loaf of bread in 72 hour time span or consume a large pizza in one sitting for lunch. Or try and finish down said pizza with a 2 liter of diet Pepsi. Its all in extremely low moderation now, which is what I needed. I needed the portion controls and the sense of feeling very full and satisfied after a few ounces of food in my tummy and not a few pounds. So I Portion Control like a mother, and I still try and follow the rule of Protein first, veggies/starches second, and carbs last if there is room to spare for them.

The trade off for this consumption of carbs from bread I do indule in, is that I have to burn off what I consume for the day in exercise. Mostly via cardio, but does include some resistance training to boot. So if I had about 80g of carbs then I know that I will need to burn off caloric equivalent of that in exercise for that day. How I do it may not work for everyone else, but it has been working for me.

I think the only thing I could suggest for anyone is that to make sure you have a good understand of the foods you are consuming into your body, as well as having a healthy relationship with food. If someone is getting over food addiction and carbs/sugars were their trigger foods then its probably best for them to avoid those things. Also talk to your doctor/nut about these things before you start consuming them if you have any questions.

Just my $0.02 worth of input here.

I think my Ah Ha NSV moment came back about a year and a half ago when I could buy cheap $8 pack of underwear from Walmart. I knew then that I was now officially out of the Big & Tall stores only when it came to shopping for clothes. Now I am in suites, something that I think I wore maybe three times in almost 20 years, I've worn at least five times this year alone and we're aren't even in month number five yet out of the year. I have two custom tailored suites now, I hope by the end of the year I'll have at least five more to give me a suite for every day of the week.

My next few NSV, which I am sure I can do now:
Is to buy a complete from head to toe outfit from American Eagle or Abercrombie and Fitch. Outdoor Bike Trail Riding for 10 to 15 miles Do a photo-shoot. (Both clothing and nude photo-shoots. I have a bunch of photographer friends that will gladly do glamor shots of me) Actually attempt to do a 5K run. (Maybe in the fall)

I think my Ah Ha NSV moment came back about a year and a half ago when I could buy cheap $8 pack of underwear from Walmart. I knew then that I was now officially out of the Big & Tall stores only when it came to shopping for clothes. Now I am in suites, something that I think I wore maybe three times in almost 20 years, I've worn at least five times this year alone and we're aren't even in month number five yet out of the year. I have two custom tailored suites now, I hope by the end of the year I'll have at least five more to give me a suite for every day of the week.

My next few NSV, which I am sure I can do now:
Is to buy a complete from head to toe outfit from American Eagle or Abercrombie and Fitch. Outdoor Bike Trail Riding for 10 to 15 miles Do a photo-shoot. (Both clothing and nude photo-shoots. I have a bunch of photographer friends that will gladly do glamor shots of me) Actually attempt to do a 5K run. (Maybe in the fall)

I have been so busy with life I have just forgotten about all you great guys! On April 10th I was 19 months post op. My current weight is 135 and I feel absolutely great can say that I have not spent one single second regretting my decision to have the sleeve and would do it all over again if I had to.

Don't use the scale as your only source of measuring. As you've said you have gone from a 26 to a 14 (12 inches btw) and you have more definition in your legs and soon the rest of your body. As long as you are feeling great and keep doing what you're doing you'll get to that goal, and be fit and healthy along the way.

As a male, I experienced a lot of Hair growth. Especially body hair growth, but that is more than likely due to the increased levels of testosterone release within my body's fat cells due to the rapid amount of weight loss I was going through. I heard that its quite different for women though than it is men when it comes to the hair question.

As for my incisions, they've healed up quite nicely. I had 4 incisions with my surgery and I can really only see too of them. They are way smaller than what they use to look like. But I think a lot of that was due to the increase amount of Vitamins I've been taking along with a hair/skin/nail Vitamin I was taking from Walmart of all places.

As a male, I experienced a lot of Hair growth. Especially body hair growth, but that is more than likely due to the increased levels of testosterone release within my body's fat cells due to the rapid amount of weight loss I was going through. I heard that its quite different for women though than it is men when it comes to the hair question.

As for my incisions, they've healed up quite nicely. I had 4 incisions with my surgery and I can really only see too of them. They are way smaller than what they use to look like. But I think a lot of that was due to the increase amount of Vitamins I've been taking along with a hair/skin/nail Vitamin I was taking from Walmart of all places.

Happy to see there's a thread for African American VSGers, as I've got questions about Hair loss and incision healing and scarring!!

I think keeping track of your body fat percentage and lean mass is the best marker of progress. Which is why I like DEXA scans so much.
I'm doing great. I have been struggling during Lent since I have up meat. Protein Bars have made sick a few times. I am so excited for Easter! Back to all the meats. It has been a great learning experience and I have learned that the way I eat normally really works for me and I can never go Vegan or vegetarian like I had been considering. Too hard to eat right even with seafood included, no meat at all would be impossible. Oh well.
Culturally it is interesting to see how people react to me being so small now. I'm heavy in weight at 188 ish but I wear size 8s and 10, a 9 in juniors. So that is pretty small for a Black woman my age. My RNY associate has commented she would never want to be this small it isn't her ideal, lol, but when she first had surgery all she talked about was onederland then she got a man at 250 pounds and decided that was enough weight lost. Now she is back around 300 and borderline diabetic again. A good lesson about losing as much as you can for health and not just losing enough to meet a physical ideal. I liked being curvier, but I enjoy being healthy.
Just a few more pounds and I will have lost more than I weigh!

Keep doing what you were doing in the beginning. The scale is a checking point if you are loving what you see don't let the scale mess with ur mind.

Hey all! Checking in. How's the weight loss going? I'm having a weird issue because I gain muscle so fast the scale has been playing tricks on me. My legs are becoming super define (win) but the scale has me at the exact same weight though my dress size has changed. ☹️

It's been about 14 months since surgery for me. I've lost 65lbs, and went from a size 26 to a 14.

How's everyone else doing?