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LoL - no horror story here!!! I have been on board and excited since I woke up in recovery!!! Never a problem, never, ever buyer's remorse!! It may be because I was healthy and had no medical issues.....but I had an easy time....I also had an over the top positive attitude!!!! You'll do fine and I'd bet money you're going to LOVE being sleeved. (have you had surgery??) One year later, you won't believe how different your life is!!!

BTW - from the beginning, I started and ended EVERY day with a cup of skim milk. Skim counted as 'water' plus you get the protein. I am a few weeks shy of three years out and I STILL do this!!!! I keep glass glasses in the freezer, I love milk ice cold!!

I hated them, all of them!!! It would take me almost 3 hours to get ONE down. YUCK. I discovered prior to surgery that unflavored only means it isn't choc, strawberry or vanilla, still disgusting. When I was discharged from Forest Park, back then they sent you home with a 'goodie bag' with samples as well a tape measure and a few things like that. One of the sample was a protein 'bullet' or protein 'shot' from GNC. It was 43 grams of protein and ONLY 3.5 oz. OMG, this saved my life. Blue Raspberry was the least offensive, grape was pretty strong to me. Don't get me wrong, this stuff is not something you're going to want to belly up to a bar and order, but it is 3.5 oz!!! I'd hold my nose like you do when you're a kid and take a few sips in the morning, rinse my mouth out. Do the same thing at lunch time and then finish it off in the evening!!! I never lost my hair and I made up the rest, getting at least 60 grams per day, with real food!!! I am certain this sample saved me!!!!

This made me giggle, my husband is not an optimist, not at all. He is an IT Director, he said it is his JOB to look at any situation and think about WHAT COULD GO WRONG!!!! LoL Everything that is except my success, he's been my biggest cheerleader, I love my 'glass is half empty' guy too!!!!

I'm a Texan and I'm a Baptist, so everything revolves around food. I have been maintaining for 2.5 years and I had no alcohol until I reached goal.....actually not even then, not for a while. I had to get my 'footing' with maintenance. I will have a drink once in a while, but it is seldom. It is all so high in calories. I have a couple of friends who drink a couple of glasses of wine EVERY night and they are not skinny minnies. I am pretty sure they could lose a little weight if they'd cut down to maybe a couple of times per week......I am not sure this is 'possible', if you know what I mean. Anyway, I digress....I never stopped going out to eat, with my husband or friends. I share with him, or I will order soup or a shrimp cocktail. It can be done, and it can even be healthy!!! Don't worry, this is your new life, you're just learning. Do what feels right, it will all become habit before long!!

Being thin may not 'equal happiness' but it sure as heck makes "RETAIL THERAPY" a lot more fun!!!!!! I'm just sayin'

I had a friend tell me, and this was prior to surgery, that my optimism can irritate the sh*t out of people some times. My glass has always been half full. My favorite saying "It could always be worse" That said.....my life prior to surgery; I was just a couple of months shy of turning 50. I was married to my high-school sweetheart. Happily married, we were still holding hands, liked to hang out together! Sex was good, kids were grown, and both were happy - three grands, all three are pretty darn cute kids. I was happy, on the scale, I'd say I was a 9.5 most days. I was NOT living in Texas and I'm a Texas girl, that was the 'biggest' deal in my life. I did not like to shop, I did not like to have my picture taken and I hated going to any kind of party, although I did it occasionally, but I did not like feeling like the biggest girl in the room. Three years post op.....83 lbs lighter - maintaining for 2.5 years. I'm still married to my HS sweetheart and we still hold hands and like to hangout. Our daughters are still good and the youngest grand wasn't even two when I had surgery three years ago, so he will only ever remember 'this size' Dee Dee - other than pictures. I love, love, love to go shopping, even just window shopping. I like to go try on clothes just because I can!!! LOL Get togethers are fun, and many, if not most of the time, I am the SMALLEST girl in the room. Sex is off the chart good. I love it that I feel TINY next to my husband, and wow, he can pick me up. It's just nice that he can more than wrap his arms around me. I had no health problems at all.....and that is still the same. I'm a cheaper date, but make up for it with clothes! Oh, and on top of everything else, we are back in Texas. I weigh every morning and it tells me I am 145'ish - and when I shop for jeans and slip into a size four.....on a scale of 1 - 10, ecstatic, 10+ No doubt about it!!!!

You'll probably feel guilty, don't do it!!! Instead, do this. Oven fried chicken, boneless, skinless breast, dip it in egg/milk or just milk, roll it in one of the oven fried chicken things....should be on the baking isle, or wherever the cornmeal stuff is located. It is GOOD, I promise!! Spray a baking pan with Pam and bake!

SF Jell-O was on my clear liquid list, and Dr. Davidson was very cautious for the first six weeks. The good thing is I could count it as a liquid.....so I was thankful for that. The first few weeks, I didn't want to eat but made myself, lime Jell-O was good though. I ate because I had to, it was great!

My mother grew up in El Paso, when I was little, we'd park the car and walk across the bridge into Juarez. Now days, the locals say it is very dangerous over there or even near there, tourists just cannot do what we use to do. If you go, be very, very careful.

I don't know about all the other 'older' sleevers, but I'm 53 and wanted to run out of the dressing room the first time I slipped EASILY into a size four!!!! I am a cash pay patient, my BMI was under 36 - I had zero health issues. Low normal BP, cholesterol numbers to die for, sleep apnea, no -diabetes, no. I had just turned 50 and it was ALL about vanity. I'm a Texas girl, we're shallow and vain!! I wanted to have fun shopping and I wanted to NOT be the biggest girl in the room. I love the sleeve, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. I thought I'd lose 50 lbs....I lost 83. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would or could lose that much......and a size four, that is the cherry on top of the sundae!!!

June 11th will be three years for me, I still don't get hungry. At about 12 months, maybe a little longer, I started what I call my 'new hunger', an empty feeling, something I can ignore if I need or want to. It is wonderful, I pray it will be this way forever.

Please, define 'over confident'!!! You are talking about what we all fear to some extent.

I started taking 5000 mcg per day, two months prior to surgery. I'm almost 3 years out and still take Biotin two or three times a week. I never did lose my hair, who knows if it was the Biotin or I was just lucky, but I wanted to err on the side of caution!!

I lived out of state, so my first doctor's visit, the seminar and my "2 week pre-op" were all rolled into one.....two month prior to surgery. The pre op is to shrink the liver so it will be not be 'fatty' and easier to work around during surgery. He told me to lose 10 - 15 lbs. I knew I could, I CAN lose weight, it's keeping it off I always had trouble with!!!! I had two months and lost 23 lbs. He was happy and so was my liver!!! I'm sure of it!

The exact reason why I never started exercising. I have the attention span of a four year old!! I'm serious, I KNEW I would get bored so I knew I had to make lifestyle changes I could live with, and that's what I did. I changed the way I eat....for one, I keep track. Weigh or measure everything I eat when we are eating at home, I weigh daily and I log my food on line. I did not want to lose weight because I became an exercise guru, only to get bored six months down the road.....and that's a stretch......end up stopping and then regain. You are not alone, I'm sure of it!!! Good luck!

Good for her and double good for her if she can do what I couldn't and most of you couldn't.....keep it off. The key word here is 'diet' - WE aren't on a diet, this is our new life. Forced portion control. I went on every 'fad' diet, took pills, including phen/fen, saw a nutritionist, went to WW, joined Curves, did the Medifast thing, and I lost weight. I can lose weight, I've lost 50 lbs three different times in my life. I've lost 15 - 30 lbs more times than I can count. The key word is DIET, once I went OFF the diet, that's when the weight started creeping back on. My PCP told me that to lose the 50 lbs I wanted to lose would be very hard, to keep it off, near impossible unless I started eating grass and weeds. I ended up losing 83 lbs.....it was NOT difficult, but surgery was not a magic bullet. It makes it much easier for me to make WISE decisions and I can not resist temptations when I need/want to. It's yet to be seen if Mo'Nique can do what most find impossible. I did that yo yo stuff for 30 years!

I am certain you can get WAY below 172. At 170 I was a size 12 and probably would have been happy had I never lost another pound......but it happened pretty quickly, I discovered that I'd really underestimated what we can do with this new little 'tool' we have. My physicians goal was 150, right at a healthy BMI, after I got to a size 12, MY goal was a size 8. That came and went. Then I thought, I KNOW I CAN get to his goal, I WANT FIVE POUNDS LESS!!!!!! ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FIVE POUNDS????!!!!!!!! No way would I have ever, in my wildest dreams thought I could do this.....I did. I've been maintaining between 144 and 147 for 2.5 years. My jeans are a size 4, I still hold them up and think NO WAY!!!!!!!! You'll hit that mark and I promise you, you can keep going lower and lower. Don't let people tell you you're too thin. Look at the BMI and how YOU feel. Others are use to seeing us large, so it takes a while for them to adjust, and it will take YOU longer!!! Good luck and enjoy, the fun is just beginning!!!!

Try lowering your calories. I know everyone is different, but at six weeks out I was only getting in between 400 - 500 calories. What are you eating? I still don't get hungry, I get an empty feeling, I call it my new hunger, but no 'OMG, I'm starving' - not ever.....so eating very little was easy in the beginning, over time I could/would eat more, but during my losing stage, never over 800 and that was the last month and not every day. To maintain I get in 1300 calories a day and the only way I can get that much in, unless I started eating a lot of stuff I shouldn't, is by adding in a few snacks every day......graham crackers, sliced ham, an additional glass of skim milk. I cut out cheese and nuts as snack items, too high in calories! I feel like I've gone back to grazing, but that is the only way I can get in enough calories. I drop back to 1200, and I'll lose. Slowly but surely, but I do lose. There is a fine line and we all have to find where ours is. Good luck!!!

Go to your settings, you should be able to download a profile picture.

Thanksgiving full.....that is funny, when I'm stuffed, that is what I say!!! I have three things I do, that I started at week #2 after surgery....and I'll be three years out on June 11th!!! A) Weight every morning I weigh and/or measure my food when I am home C) Log my food on line Like you, I don't know I'm full until it's too late, but I DO know how much I can hold, so I measure or weigh my food.....it's habit, it's just part of my new life. I also under eat my sleeve. Meaning, I know I can eat a little more, but I purposely don't. Less calories plus when I stop, I am comfortable. The only time I get that Thanksgiving full feeling now, is if I am not paying attention when we are eating out. I really do highly recommend doing these things!!!! Good luck!!

I am thankful that Dr. Davidson does not worry about carbs unless a patient is not losing. I read a book on carbs prior to surgery, thinking it would be something I needed to learn. OMG - it was overwhelming to me!! At this point I don't even know what is low carbs, as far at total carbs per day!!!! Good protein vs not good protein and calories, THAT I can keep up with!! LOL We have so much to learn, but it becomes second nature. I never did have anything sweet while I was losing, not even a bite. In my mind, I had this 'honeymoon' period and I was scared it would come and go and I wouldn't have reached goal. Now, I eat sweets, not a lot, but a couple of times a week I'll have something. Like you, I log it and it's counted. Honestly, overall, I think I felt better during the losing stage when I didn't allow myself anything sweet and not even one French fry.....it just isn't reality. Dr. D said 'This is not a diet, it's a new way of life'. That is what makes this surgery so great in my opinion.

Shoot, I don't know. I know at the support groups the professionals say you can drink your calories and gain. I suspect that if we were to drink margaritas, milkshakes and eat ice cream and Little Debbie's then we could gain weight, even if we didn't go over 800. What do you think? I'm not sure, I'm just guessing!! I always took comfort in knowing, if I wasn't eating anything that should be off limits while I'm in the losing stage, then even when I was doing the up and down thing.....I would lose just because, how can we not!! Right? That is just the way I did it, the entire five months, up and down a pound or two....the longest time I did it was ten days. LoL It was crazy!

At your stage I could eat one slice of Canadian bacon and mushroom pizza.....but could not eat the crust, unless we were eating a sm pizza. Read up on pepperoni, calories and fat, DON'T eat it!!!

What is your caloric intake? At this point, taking in less should be no problem, you probably have to remind yourself to eat. I have weighed every single morning for three years. I'd go up and down, up and down (a lb or two) during my entire losing stage, then I'd finally LET GO OF IT and on to the next couple of pounds. I never had a real 'stall', at least I never thought I did, there was one time that I did the up and down thing for ten days before letting it go for good, but that's it. My caloric intake during my whole losing period was never over 800 calories. In the beginning, the first couple of months, it was 350 - 450 calories. I was healthy, felt good - it was like being on a new adventure!!! Don't worry, it WILL go the other way. Do you keep an on line log so you know for sure what your calories and protein are? (up your protein a little if you can and drink more liquids) I have logged my food and I still weigh and/or measure my food when I'm at home. Good luck and don't let it get you down.