Stacy160

4 months. No, really! But don't let that scare you... here's why:

Even from the beginning, I always had a week or week and a half during every month where nothing happened on the scale... this is normal, your body occasionally holds Water when it senses that it needs to regulate itself, then it decides everything's OK, and you magically "lose" several pounds overnight. Thing is, you're still losing fat during that time, which is why you'll constantly see people wondering how their clothes can be getting smaller when they're not losing any weight.

As for my big stall, which I've finally broken through over the last week... well, it wasn't exactly a stall. What happened was that I'd started running and allowed more carbs into my diet.... usually healthy ones, like Fiber One, fruits, nuts, things like that, but more carbs nonetheness. Then I slowed down on the running as the weather got cold and crappy (I'm in Michigan) and eventually stopped altogether around Thanksgiving, and didn't adjust me eating to compensate for it. Then the holidays-hoooo, boy, I completely lost my sense of purpose there for a couple of weeks.

Amazingly, I did NOT gain weight and I 100% have the sleeve to thank for that!

So it wasn't really a stall, but more like I slipped into maintenance mode. I have come to realize though, that I can not lose weight if I go over about 40 grams of carbs a day on a consistent basis.

Here's the really good news: I've been back on the wagon, doing super-low carb and lots of Protein, since Monday, and so far I've got 5 pounds and great restriction to show for it. I slipped under 170 lbs. yesterday, putting me less than 10 lbs away from my first long-term goal! I say first because I'm pretty sure I want to go another 12 lbs. or so past that.

I have gotten completely off-track... well, kinda not, because my point is, don't let stalls worry you. They're normal, they happen and your sleeve DOES WORK and will ALWAYS work!! If it seems to last longer than you think it should, re-evaluate what you're eating and make sure you're taking in enough Protein and Water, and not to many carbs. For many of us, they really are disastrous. Hope it breaks soon for you!

Nope! But as soon as I had that $100 million in the bank, I'd throw a huge party with all my family and friends, eat like a pig, drink like a fish, hit the Chinese buffet the next day, follow it up with Dairy Queen, take a cruise and eat all the wonderful food I could (to get my money's worth, you know), hit up every restaurant I've always wanted to try, always packing it in to maximum capacity... get the idea?

Lots of people here -- I'm not one of them -- HAVE lost all their weight, some of them numerous times, losing and gaining the same hundreds of pounds over and over through the years. The sleeve is about REALLY getting it off, in a healthy way, once and for all, taking control of your life, learning to love a healthy lifestyle, and never looking back. All I can tell you is that in the end, even if you're one of the unlucky ones with complications, you won't regret it.

Boy, those DS people. They love to come to the VSG board and spam it with their nastiness, too.... I'm sure there are some decent ones, but 90% of the ones I've encountered are just plain irrational, misinformed, and downright nasty. I've seriously wondered, and I'm not being facetious, if their nutritional deficiencies cause personality changes, because they seem to be the only group with such a widespread freak-thing going on.

A long, long time ago, an old friend told me, in explaining why he no longer had a relationship with his brother, that "Sometimes we need to rid ourselves of the toxic people in our lives." That saying has stuck with me since then, and has helped me on several occasions to evaluate whether an old friendship was worth saving, or if that person had become a poison leaching into my world.

I figure if we're taking this huge step to rid ourselves of toxic food, toxic thinking, toxic fat, etc., then as the toxic people start to become more obvious, why let them continue to taint our lives? We ALL -- WLS or not -- need to surround ourselves with family and friends who make us happy, bring us laughter and love, and lift us up (and who we do the same for).... not blood-sucking leeches who bring us down! :wink0:

Oh, YAY for you!!! I get so excited for the new people, still LOL... we can gush and gush about how wonderful this is but truly, you'll just have to experience it for yourself to believe it. I'll chime in on your questions, too.

1. Some people have a lot of pain, or don't tolerate what they do have well. Sometimes the gas pains are worse than the surgical pain, but you don't read about that very often.

I had what I would call very little pain after surgery. For the first few days, it did hurt when moving from lying to sitting, or sitting to standing. My abs were 1,000-situp-type sore, but pain was mostly at the main incision. It was sharp, but not terribly intense... maybe a 5-6/10, but only lasting for a few seconds, totally tolerable. My abs were tight and sore too, like I said, but I never had to take any pain meds after I got home (what I did get in the hospital, they automatically put in my IV). By one week out, I felt completely normal, no soreness or anything.

2. Some people feel what they think is hunger during the early days, but most don't. You'll be fine on liquids, but by the end of that two weeks, you'll be SO bored with them, you'll think a scoop of refried Beans is the most delicious thing you ever ate LOL.

3. Again, you never know until you're there... some people go through a period of regret and others don't. Some get tired of it hurting, some get frustrated that they can't turn to their security blanket of food for comfort. They inevitably come back after a month or so saying how thrilled they are with their sleeve! There's the hormonal thing too. When we lose a lot of fat really fast, all the hormones that the fat was storing are turned loose in your system to wreak havoc on you--some people are seriously affected by it, some aren't. I'm happy to say that I never had a moment's regret or problems with the hormones (except whacking out my cycles, but they were starting to get wacky anyway).

You will be SOOO happy you did this, and if you stick around and keep reading the forums, I think you'll be doubly happy not to have gone with the lap band, which you'll see has a very high failure and complication rate (you'll also see dozens of people who HAD bands and ended up revising to a sleeve).

My biggest suggestion would be to document everything about yourself right now... not just your weight, but your feelings, how you feel physically (be specific! Can't breathe when you tie your shoes, knees hurt on stairs, etc.), what you hope to get rid of, what you hope to accomplish, and include totally superficial, fun stuff too! And make sure you have lots of pictures of yourself. A lot of people don't, and don't take "before" pics, and regret not having anything to compare to. OH, and measurements... you won't believe how fast those numbers go down!! You really want to be able to remember what pushed you to have the surgery in the first place, because there will be days when you still feel fat, or bloated, or just gross (ALL people have those days, even the scrawny ones!), and you'll feel like you're no different than you were before, and if you can take yourself back and remember the misery you started with, you see how amazing the changes really are. It's good to have that reminder of how far you've come.

A year from now, you just won't believe where you are, but trust me -- this thing is awesome!!

I was on clears the day before, of, and after surgery, and then it was full liquids from then on, with no problem (except for the time I mindlessly slugged back 2-3 gulps of Water before I realized what I was doing... oops!). That included Jello, yogurt, cream Soups (strained if there were chunks).

Don't worry if you think you're taking in too much with the liquids... maybe your stomach doesn't have as much swelling or the swelling's going down faster than some people's. I had the same concerns, when I could eat a full bowl of Tomato Soup in 10-15 minutes, but others reassured me that it was only because the liquid runs right through (although creamy stuff WILL make you feel fuller than clears). (btw, Tomato Soup with a spoonful of greek yogurt was my absolute most favorite, heavenly thing on liquids. ) Once you're on mushies, you won't believe the difference. I couldn't wait to have some refried Beans with sauce and melted cheese, Taco Bell-style, and was shocked to find that I couldn't even get down a quarter cup of them to start with. But dang, they sure were delicious after all the liquids and sweet Protein drinks! :confused1:

I do think so! Back when I was heavy (heh... "heavy" *snort*) into Atkins, in the early 2000's, I frequented a low-carb forum and very often people would talk about how much better they were sleeping, off the carbs. I know I did too!