noteasierstronger

Just had to reset my phone Face ID….

Once a month right now. I don't want to drive myself crazy as my loss slows down over the next 6-9 months. Some days it's difficult to not get on the scale, but I try to tell myself that if I keep doing what I am supposed to be doing, the weight will keep coming off. And my clothes continue to fit differently, so I know something is happening.
I don't know what I will choose when I get to maintenance.

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Some of the jeans from my "someday maybe these will fit again" drawer just slide on. And then they button and zip with no problem. It amazes me every time.

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Some of the jeans from my "someday maybe these will fit again" drawer just slide on. And then they button and zip with no problem. It amazes me every time.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using BariatricPal mobile app

Some of the jeans from my "someday maybe these will fit again" drawer just slide on. And then they button and zip with no problem. It amazes me every time.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using BariatricPal mobile app

Some of the jeans from my "someday maybe these will fit again" drawer just slide on. And then they button and zip with no problem. It amazes me every time.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using BariatricPal mobile app

Some of the jeans from my "someday maybe these will fit again" drawer just slide on. And then they button and zip with no problem. It amazes me every time.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using BariatricPal mobile app

I know, it's a wild mystery, isn't it? And these are all excellent questions. Leave a bowl of milk outside your bedroom door each night as pixie payment. But beware if you forget! They'll prank you in the night by removing fat but stuffing it back into weird places so you wake up with super-fat ears you cannot hide under any hat. Noooooo! The naysayers were right, I should never have done thiiiiiiiis!

These pixies sound awesome. Also it would be a crazy busy job. But then what do they do with the fat after they take it away? Is that how other people gain weight? Do you have to make offerings to the pixies in order to stay on their good side?
... Maybe I should stop wandering down this rabbit hole...

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These pixies sound awesome. Also it would be a crazy busy job. But then what do they do with the fat after they take it away? Is that how other people gain weight? Do you have to make offerings to the pixies in order to stay on their good side?
... Maybe I should stop wandering down this rabbit hole...

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So here's my take on this, and I am definitely not presuming to speak for anyone who has posted in this thread. For me complaining is a pressure release valve of sorts. It gives me a chance to release my frustration to the world so that I can get back to baseline. I know what the behaviors are, I understand that they are not changing unless he is interested in changing them, and I am fully aware of the choices I am making IRT my relationship. I have my reasons, as does everyone. Mostly I just complain out loud alone when I need to, but sometimes it is a commiseration if one of my friends is also in the same headspace.
That's my take.

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Makes sense.
As I understand stereotypes, guys tend to be "fix-it" sorts and women tend to be "express-it" sorts. Of course, stereotypes don't always pan out, but for me it's pretty much spot on, if not a bit weak. I tend to hear complaint's as pleas for help. Add to that my personal issues of being a programmer, for which virtually every statement of fact is a requirement for a fix. And my severe OCD which all this amped up to completely irrationally and annoying to anyone in my vicinity.
Even as I express my understanding that not every complaint is a plea for a solution I feel compelled to jump on every last thing as a demand for a fix.
Imagine the joy of being me, and the special joy of being married to me.
For those that have expressed relationship complications, feel free to private message me as I have an individual action plan for every comment made in passing that has ever been posted here. I can even help with your grammar and punctuation.
I hope everyone can solve every last problem that doesn't require a fix.
Good luck,
Tek

NOTEASIER - well explained .It's just great to have somewhere to off load when it all gets a bit much .I'm not looking for answers , my situation , like most others , is complicated ,by family , religious beliefs ,many things .

Re; being lighter.
I especially love the extra motivation to lose weight that's goal oriented, not about aesthetics or some vague notion of health.
Every pound of fat that I lose is a pound that goes up on the barbell, essentially for free. And that's something to cherish!

CrossFit is the greatest thing i ever did for myself besides getting the sleeve. It is a community. Not just a gym. Having those like minded people who only want you to be healthy and move correctly, is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself in this process. I encourage anyone to give it a try. ANY AGE, WEIGHT, OR SIZE.

Just wanted to share a little NSV.
I realized last week that I had to do some shopping because once again my clothes were getting too big on me!
When I started my weight loss journey, I was wearing XXL shirts that were getting too snug, and size 42 pants that were also getting too snug.
As of this week, I'm wearing Medium shirts and size 32 pants - holy cow!
I found one of my old XXL shirts that used to fit me tightly, tried it on with a little help from my daughter, thought some here might enjoy:

Finally went diving!! (First time since surgery!)
Pleased to report that:
1) I went down from an XL BCD to an XXS!
2) Went from 18-20 lbs of required weights to 6! (8lbs if i wore a wetsuit)
3) Speaking of wetsuits…i used to wear a Men’s XL, and now a woman’s size 2 (though if they had a size 1, it probably would’ve been better)
I was NOT all sweaty and tired lugging all my gear around on land, got in and out of the boat with little to no effort, AND was looked cute in pictures lol.
WIN!

So it may be time to take a little break from the ongoing saga of why it’s taken me over two and a half years to get to surgery and instead talk about how I got to the point of wanting to have bariatric surgery in the first place.
My lightest weight as an adult was while I was in the Army. Just sheer physical activity and regular PT had me lean down to around 175 from maybe 185 when I graduated high school. Unfortunately I was severely injured in a training accident while in the service and left the military with a bad limp and a knee brace as a constant reminder.
Weight wise, things went downhill from there.
Being somewhat disabled made it hard to exercise, but meanwhile I was still eating like I did when I was in the service. (Lots of food, very quickly.) This was obviously not a good combination.
Several other health scares and life events later, I shot up to around 240. I managed to stabilize things at this point and was even able to get into strength training pretty seriously for a while. Most cardio was still out, though.
Life went on for several years, until I got a new job that paid me very well, but also took it’s toll on me physically and mentally. Within 3 years in the new job, I was up to 285 or so and climbing. I knew I needed help, so my wife and I tried just about every possible diet program imaginable.
Interestingly, I’ve kept logs of every one of those diets. For at least the past 15 years, the typical pattern was for me to be somewhere between 285 and 300 pounds lose 30-80 pounds, then yo yo right back to my starting weight and then some.
In about 2017, I finally asked my Doctor for help. We did all the things you’re supposed to do: talk to dietitians, try medications of various kinds, and even do physician monitored diets. None of that worked any better.
The problem was, they just assumed like everyone does that I was weak-willed or to stupid to know how to eat properly. That’s never been my problem. I actually eat pretty well overall, with lots of fresh veggies, and plenty of lean Protein.
The problem is, in addition to all the good food, I’m also an emotional eater that soothes with sweets. I knew I’d reached rock-bottom when I started hiding food from my wife. As an example, I might buy a box of donuts and plow through it in a matter of minutes. Or buy the boxes of chocolate intended for Valentines day and devour them all in a morning. No box or bag of candy or pastries ever had the dust settle on it around me!
About this time, I got up to 330 (my highest weight), and knew I needed to take a different road or I would never live to see my grandchildren. (I may never actually have any grandchildren, but that’s a story for a different day!)
This takes us to late 2019 when I discovered, quite by accident, that my new insurance plan starting in Jan 2020 would finally cover bariatric surgery. After about a millisecond of research (okay, maybe a little longer), I decided this might be the thing for me. I think you already know what happened in my saga in 2020, so we’ll stop there for now and start back up next time in the summer of 2021, when I finally got the cardiac clearance I needed to get WLS.

I love it so, so much. I started about 4 months ago when my BMI was still north of 60 and I've gotten so much stronger since. We just did a workout to find our 5 rep max for back squats, a move that I could barely do with a PVC pipe on the first day. I could lift all the weight I've lost since starting + more, on a real barbell!, but I didn't have time to find my actual max. Never in a million years did I think that I would be an athlete, and yet...

I agree wholeheartedly with @liveaboard15. Such people as your aunt are poison.
Tell her that if she wants you dead then she gets her wish: You're dead to her. And never talk to her again.
Family doesn't get special rights or privileges to treat you like carp. Cut her out. If she visits go to another room, or 'run an errand.'
If other family hound you about 'respect' or 'honoring elders' or push visiting with the aunt remind them that she wants you dead. You're just giving her what she wants: one less niece. Tell them if they keep pushing you into a taxic situation they can be added to the ignore list.
Life is to short to spend any of it on your aunt or anyone else that can't treat you with, at a minimum, basic courtesy.
You are your first priority.
Good luck,
Tek

Always call your doctor. People here know a lot of things, but the doctors do these operations on thousands of people. They and their staff are (usually) the best resource if your body is doing something and you aren't sure why. Good luck! Feel better!

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Unless your friends are medical researchers in bariatrics, listen to your doctor over them.
https://www.barilife.com/blog/gastric-sleeve-10-years-later-how-to-win-the-long-game-after-gastric-sleeve-surgery/

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First I want to say thank you to so many of the veteran posters on here. I hope you gals and guys know how much your experiences and feedback have helped me and I suspect many others. There's just such a fantastic mix of people and experiences - It's great knowing you aren't alone in this journey.

The first few months after surgery were easy. The weight was simply falling off, there wasn't anything I couldn't eat or drink - And better yet, I couldn't overeat because of the restriction. I felt fantastic most of the time, had all sorts of NSV's and loved my new life. From August until January I lost almost 50lbs - I was so close to Wonderland I could taste it. THEN reality struck - Suddenly I was one of those "slow losers" - It took almost 2 months to lose 13lbs. UGH, I WAS going to be one of those slow losers. OK, fine, I'm 52 and it is what it is, right? From January until May, I "only" lost 33lbs. Again, every week/month I told myself that I would lose the weight, I was just in some sort of a stall and things would magically pick up. Well, they didn't, I would lose 2-3 lbs and then I would gain 2-3 lbs. Again, "it's normal" I told myself.

Fast forward to a week ago - I jumped on here for some motivation (reading stories, etc.) and I took a hard look at what I was doing. Basically, I was being lazy - I was eating whatever I wanted and justifying it by saying "I only eat small portions" - Well, yeah, that was true...BUT I was grazing, I was drinking too much alcohol, and I wasn't tracking. I honetly have no idea how many calories I was consuming (especially on weekends with family and friends). I played mind games with myself and said "As long as I'm not gaining, I'm doing things right." - Well, that was a giant load of (@*$.

This past Tuesday (after a weekend of Mimosa's, Crown Royal, and some really great BBQ), I woke up to a 5lb gain (BTW, yes I realize some of that was Water retention). WAKE UP CALL. 5lbs? Seriously - Time to go back to basics before that's a 10lb gain. For the first time in MONTHS, I tracked every thing I tracked everything that went into my mouth (water, food, etc) - I did 3 days of liquid - In two days, those 5lbs were off. Rather than what I've done in the past, I didn't stop there - I continued tracking, I continued being cognizant of what and when I was eating. I said "no" to many things that I thought I wanted. I lost 6.8lbs from Tuesday to Sunday. What? I'm NOT a slow loser - I'm a LAZY loser.

Folks, for many of us, it's EASY in the first few months, it's EASY to convince ourselves that we're doing OK, it's EASY to compare ourselves to others, it's EASY to ignore signs that you're falling into bad habits, and it's EASY to get lazy. In reality, it's HARD to stick to your plan when you're feeling fantastic and patting yourself on the back for losing so much weight. I'm choosing to be thankful that this happened now rather than 2-3 years into it. I'm glad that reality smacked me in the face and forced me to face the fact that i wasn't doing what I needed to do. Right now it was EASY to get back on track before I let it get out of control. For those of you experiencing the same - Buckle up buttercup, start tracking, weigh yourself often if you need to, and take a good look and when and why you're losing weight and when and why you aren't.

Again, a very special thank you to you old timers for always keeping things real and giving out such fantastic advice.

Definitely go at your pace! For me i started crossfit a few weeks after surgery and its definitely been my most consistent form of exercise over the past 3 years. and 100% the reason i look the way i do. And when you do decide to up your caloric intake, just remember to stick to healthy choices, and give yourself time to figure out your calorie range. There is no perfect formula. Everyone is different.

i also completely understand the mental side of all of this. upping my calories was harder mentally then any of my runs lol. it is scary. but one thing i am sure of, if you exercise an hour a day 5-6 times a week, it will be hard to gain weight back. find something you love and stick to it. i highly recommend crossfit to anyone regardless of age, weight, size and so on!!.

congrats on your loss so far and keep crushing it!

I get nauseous if I get way too full. But as I'm getting full, I get hiccups and sometimes sneeze. I'm 9 months out exactly.