So.... they take out 85% or so of your stomach.... It should be ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE not to lose weight, right? (Although I realize that the goal here is to change your lifestyle) Why would you limit your food intake in addition to what the sleeve is doing already for you?

I can imagine that as you get close to goal, you MAY need to restrict, but why would you do this initially after following your doctors' post-op diet? (Some other active threads got me to thinking about this.)

I would think that the weight may come off more slowly if you eat as a "normal person" would, but still, I would think most WILL eventually come off. (If I am eating a half of a slice of pizza, as opposed to 4 slices that I can pack away now, I would lose weight.)

I welcome your thoughts and experience on this. (My surgery date is 6/20/12.)

I don't want to stretch my sleeve out( thus making it useless ), so to to this I measure what I am to eat at one sitting. I also need to get in a daily requirement of protein. Considering my sleeve is so small, this means I need to put food in my mouth with good value. If I were to fill up on junk I wouldn't have room for the protein. For example, If I were to eat the slice of cheese pizza, I would be full after 4 bites. If I eat the top of that slice of cheese pizza and omit the bread I can eat all the cheese and get 11g of protein. It's a food value thing. Best wishes

I forgot to mention, with the sleeve you aren't hungry so you don't really care if you eat and you get that Thanksgiving full feeling after the sleeve if you don't moderate what you eat.

Losing weight is more than just eating less calories.

I don't focus on my calorie intake at all. I watch my Protein intake. I try to eat 70 grams of protein a day.

I have to eat protein first, or I won't get my protein in. This means my calorie intake is lower than normal eating.

Although the weight came off pretty quickly the first couple of months (when I was on the post-op diet), it doesn't continue to come off easily.

I don't eat pizza at all. The crust, which I used to love, doesn't appeal to me. It feels too uncomfortable to eat. My family eats a lot of pizza still. I have learned to stash Protein shakes at my in-law's house, so I will have something to eat when they order pizza. If I find myself without any alternative, I will only eat the toppings off one small slice. I prefer not to do that.

As far as your pizza analogy, it might not be that you lose weight because you are eating one slice instead of four. It might be that you just quit gaining weight. It depends on what else you are eating and how you exercise.

I exercise at least 5 days a week. I drink my Water. I eat around 1,000 calories a day but focus more on the protein intake. I haven't lost weight in over two weeks even though I've had several negative calorie days. My body is changing, but it isn't showing up on a scale. It probably will eventually, but it just shows that losing weight is more than just eating less.

I actually do eat whatever my family is eating just way, way less and I have lost weight nicely. I am 15 lbs away from my goal and the loss has slowed down so I am adding in exercise to speed the process up. My surgeon told me that the sleeve does not stretch because the stretchy part is gone now. I have a friend that had her surgery 4 yrs ago that eats just like I do who still has the same restriction that she had at about 6 mo and has kept her weight off no problems. Every person is very different, I do get hungry and eat every 2-3 hours.