to all "seasoned sleevers"

please speak to me and others about being sleeved the 1rst year mark and maybe into the 2nd....year. would like to know if the sleeve is still assisting you. Obviously, you need to be eating properly, and drinking.

I've known since I was a "baby" sleever in diapers that the sleeve is only a tool. I fully get that.

now that you have passed "childhood" and have made it to "adulthood" how goes it. I'm sure you can eat more, very carefully - how does the sleeve help you now?

thanx

kathy

ps i know this has been asked before, please refresh my memory.

Hi all! I was sleeved back in september of 2009 so that would make it 2 years and 7 months now. I had to register again because I hadn't used my account in ages (was never a big poster, more of a reader).

I remember looking for answers like the ones your asking a lot because I think it is very important for us to know what happens later on, to have someone reassure us that everything is still going great.

Here is my brief story: I lost a total of 130 pounds with my surgery. I got to goal at about ten months. I went from pants size 48-50 to size 36. And from shirt XXL, and sometimes XXXL to size L.

My story is similar to others'. No sweet cravings, no carb cravings, stopped drinking soda (diet and no diet) since my surgery and haven't drank it since. Got filled up quickly, specially with Protein, not so much with slicer foods. People telling my amazing things about how I looked, in general got a better mood and a lots of security. I was even able to get my wife pregnant after trying for some years! Succes story of which you've read a few here.

My program was great because I had full support of a nutritionist and a psychologist all the way to the 1 year mark.

At about the 1 year and 9 month mark I had to change my job, my city and lifestyle to a more stressfull job. More money almost always means more hell to put up with. I started drinking coffe and in general I had to go to a lot of events with tons of food always available for free!

Long story short: In one year I regained 33 pounds, I actually regained 44, but have worked my way down.

I have found it pretty easy to go down again once I get fully commited to it, which I fully am right now.

Lessons learned for you newbies out there, never forget what I write here:

1) Yes they fixed your stomach not your brain. Get help from a professional to deal with the issues that make you eat, do it, I'm not kidding, it helps, a lot! but most importantly. DON'T STOP GETTING THAT HELP! That was my biggest mistake. I would even say that once a nutritionist teaches you what you're doing wrong, the help you get from a psychologist is more important than the help you actually get from the nutritionist.

2) Yes you can still eat a lot if you want to. Small portions times many times and you can still eat hundreds and hundreds of calories per day. Your stomach does get more tolerant of amount so you can't always rely on the tool to do all the work by itself. You have to work with it.

3) Drink a lot of Water. It helps control hunger. Coffe is not so good, it actually helps to get more food in. I have been trying to stop drinking coffe to maybe one or two cups a week.

4) Never believe that you can eat anything you want and not suffer the consequences. Once I reached goal, I noticed that I could indulge some with some sweets, some Cookies, some whatever and nothing happened, I did not gain, not a half a pound, I felt immortal! WRONG! You stop weighting yourself and before you know it all of a sudden you have gained ten pounds! And the worst part is that you will have a hard time breaking all those bad habits again. You will have to get really commited again.

5) Once you reach goal it is impossible not to gain about five pounds every now and then, but do determine which is your tolerable limit, and never never go over it. Don't say, "I'll allow just a couple of pounds more". Do relax, but never so much that you forget how much work reaching goal costs.

6) Excercise. You don't have to over do it, you can just walk fast or whatever you want, but get off the couch. It does help and we do need it anyway. I've never been very good at it, but I try to walk-run at least four times a week.

I hope this helps. I'll let you know once I reach goal again. Because I will reach goal again.

Regards,

Miguel Méndez

Starting weight: 316.8

Date Sleeved: September 19, 2009

Goal reached at: 187

Current weight: 220

Sleeved at: Angeles Hospital in Puebla, Mexico (Self payed)

Currently Live: Monterrey, Mexico

I work at the biggest private university in Mexico.

they fixed your stomach not your brain.

Miguel

Thanx for your post. It was a great story. Great lessons you have learned from your experiences.

I have heard that if you continue to work with the sleeve as a "tool" things will go well with your food eating, and weight. you have given me good info after the after life of the sleeve., over a year of the sleeve, thats always what i've been concerned with.

Yes, they fixed my big stomach so i would lose weight, now i have to work on my brain to remember the reason i need to lose weight - and to not regain any weight back.

Thank you for your honesty concerning your weight gain, that can be hard to admit, its important to be honest with yourself first.

you said, basically it was your doing with eating certain extra things and too much food available at no price/ cost. Just kindof letting things go, not weighing yoursef. But you are back on that wagon, and are in the process of loosing that excess weight, good for you.

we're human, and can gain, even with the help of the sleeve, but we must guard ourselves, so we don't gain and all that hard "torture" we initially went through was not in vane.

As you can see, i'm still far from goal, but maybe i'm being naive, i cannot afford to gain my excess weight back in the future, but i know it will be hard. It sounds like the sleeve will continue to work for me, but i know its only a tool, and i have to work with it also.

Tale care

best wishes

Kathy

Blackberry - have you tried Click Mocha Protein Powder? If you are craving lattes but feel guilty, this is the solution! Some Click, some chocolate protein powder, some torani syrup, some sf whip, put it in a fancy container and you would never know the difference between it and something from Starbucks. Plus, every serving of Click has the equivalent of 2 shots of espresso! buzzbuzzbuzz! =)

Yes, I second this one. It's not that great as just a protein drink but if you consider it a lower calorie sub with a protein perk for those lattes you might find yourself "indulging" your latte addiction.

~Cheri

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm legitimately obsessed with a particular coffee shop's latte, though, so I doubt this will help. I don't feel "bad" about drinking lattes, necessarily, after all, it's just like drinking milk with the extra bonus of perking up. I just mentioned it because it does add calories overall - just like a Protein shake would. But to give you an idea of how obsessed I am....today I had a 45-min lunch break and I spent all of it on a bus trip 20 minutes away to this particular coffee shop to get that latte and then bus it back....lmao, as mentioned above, "they can't fix your head."

In my case, stress and anxiety make me eat. I noticed that coffe got me more stressed and more anxious so I forgot about coffe and I think its helping. Then again I could have worked the anxiety if I had continued getting some help with it. Just never grow overconfident even when you reach goal.

This thread has been so important. Thank you everyone for sharing!

I have loved reading this thread, at 7 months out, I am starting to look at what like looks like a year from now, 2 years etc.

Thanks for all your feedback.