JanineVSG

How much did everyone lose in month 2? I only lost 10 lbs in month 2. I'm worried it's slowed down too much. I just have to remember I lost 45 lbs pre-op so there's a chance it won't come off as fast for me as it does for others... and, on the other hand, 10 lbs is much more than I would have lost before!

Anyway, to answer your question -- try to order "a la carte" if you're able. Or, get a meal that's protein based and ask for substitutions. For example, the other day I went out to eat and ordered a citrus chicken breast served over rice with one side. I asked for creamed spinach instead of rice and got a side salad. Ate a few bites of chicken, ate my salad, and boxed the rest up to take home! I got 2 more meals out of it. Just look over the menu carefully and see what can heat up well, like you mentioned.

You're right! I just went to hibachi earlier and got a side order of just salmon... the waiter was like, "What? You know that doesn't come with rice or vegetables or anything right?" Like, yeah, I know, I'm aware! 😂 I even was able to box up half of it and take it home. I actually like going out to eat, because I like getting leftovers and being able to munch on them for a few days. My husband has even gotten into this habit, too, so he's losing weight as well!

That's a lot of replies and a lot of anger. You said you're leaving the thread - so . . . good luck with everything!

That sounds so frustrating!!

I am not saying you need to coddle others when discussing your own struggles. I, and some others in this thread, are just saying we could all stand to be a little nicer to ourselves and understand how negative self-talk does not really lead to a healthy relationship with our bodies. I am sorry if my post upset you.

Hello dreamingsmall, I am sorry if my post offended you. You seem to be very aggressive in this reply to me. I never said it was all about me. This is a place to talk about all of our frustrations. Personally, I am working to be more conscious of how everyone's journeys are different and how our struggles can be just as hard, despite our different starting points. Maybe you can also work on understanding how someone voicing their struggle with self-worth doesn't invalidate your own. Thank you for the reply.

Wow, that's so sad! I can relate to that... my mom took me to Weight Watchers from a very young age (at least 8 years old). She would constantly complain about how fat she was, even though she was probably only 175 at her heaviest. It made me feel so bad when she would talk about how fat she was, when my highest weight was 456 lbs. My dad is similar -- he's overweight but he'd just tell me to stop eating, as if it were that easy! You're right. It's a blind spot. But as a lot of others have said, each journey is intensely personal. But people should be aware of that and sympathetic to others. "Fat-compassionate" is a GREAT way to put it!! We've all had the struggles, we shouldn't judge others for their starting weights. There's a great poem about how your parents can influence your life. Look up "This Be The Verse" by Phillip Larkin

Whoops, double post!!

You're right. Perspective is everything. You've given me a lot to think about.

It's weird, because we with higher BMIs do have a big loss (though mine's not so big because I lost 45 lbs preop) but it feels like a drop in the bucket sometimes I didn't really have people noticing until I dropped 50 lbs, either. Thank you for the reply.

"Vanity pounds" is a great word for it. It's crazy because someone with a low BMI would look drastically different with a 20 lb lost. But I can relate to you. Everytime I see how much more I have to go on my surgery ticker my heart feels a little heavy! We all have to work hard on our journey. I'm not trying to discount that at all. I have to try harder not to make kneejerk judgments on people with lower BMI. No one wants to be a bitter ex fatty lol! Thank you for the reply.

Great replies everybody. I want to be clear that I don't think that people who started with a low BMI have it easier! What I'm saying is... people need to be cognizant that there a lot of people who start off with really high BMIs. So when you talk about how fat and disgusting you were at a certain weight, you might be talking about someone's goal weight. Does that make sense?? It can just be hard, PERSONALLY, to see someone talking about how disgusting it was to be, say, 50 lbs overweight when you have over 200 lbs to lose. You know?

Today, I got a cobb salad with no pecans. I didn't ask for for them to not include croutons... but it didn't come with any croutons. And I was legitimately sad that it did not have any croutons. I just wanted one! Just wanted to nibble on ONE. Your post is very timely today... thanks for sharing. We can do this

I've started exercising since I'm 8 weeks out. Trying to do an hour 5x a week. So far, so good! Doing weights 2x a week.

How are all my January 2018 buds doing today?

Hey everybody, I was sleeved on January 15, 2018. Feeling a little depressed this week. I know I should be proud of my loss so far, I just worry that I'm going to fail like I always have. Even worse is that my therapist was telling me last week I didn't look depressed anymore - I told him it was probably just the makeup I was wearing, lol. But honestly, my mood just goes up and down... and the downs are HARD. Sigh. It's really hard to deal with your emotions when you can't just cover them up with food, you know? HW 456 SW 417 CW 388

Thanks guys!! I've followed everyone who's posted so far

Hi guys! I recently started an instagram to track my VSG progress. I'd love to follow some of you guys. You can find me at gobefatoutside. Post your instagram links so we can connect!! It's so inspiring to see everyone's progress I love reading the posts here, but I also LOVE visual motivation. Thanks!!!

Thank you so much! We connected on instagram and you seem pretty cool; can't wait to see you succeed on your journey

Congratulations! Best of luck on your journey!

Anxiety is totally normal. I felt very strange for the first few weeks out of surgery. (warning, a little graphic) I kept having this really strange reoccurring thought/daydream of being able to just pull out my stomach and throw it away. Those weird feelings pretty much subsided by 4 weeks out, though. (I did make a strange animation of the thoughts that kept coming back, but it's too weird to share anywhere lol)

I picked up a box of the Cookies and Cream flavor, since my husband loves the chocolate flavor and I thought he might like the new one. He liked it, but we both said it was super sweet (way too sweet for me - I've never had a particularly needy sweet tooth or anything). Looks like a lot of y'all like the peaches flavor, so I'm definitely going to try that next time!! For right now, I just alternate between vanilla and chocolate. The strawberry was too sweet for me, too...

I promise you that it goes by much quicker than you might think. If you have a smartphone, download an app or widget to help you count down the days . . . it's going to be tough, but the reward is SO worth it. And I say this only 6 weeks post op, like you spotted! You're going to be amazing!

I agree with Sandra - 400 calories is super low. My nutritionist said the #1 reason for stalls is not getting enough calories. Try upping your calories to 800 (high protein of course) and see if the scale begins to move again.