I am a very A type personality and have been obsessed with making sure I do everything the right way. Between this site and sparkpeople.com, I kept track of every tiny little thing. I do believe this is important, but I am an all or nothing kind of gal and have a tendency to go overboard. I was working out 5 hours a week and eating between 600-900 calories daily as my NUT recommended. I had lost something along the lines of 2 lbs in 3 weeks, and although I was losing, needless to say, I was rather frustrated. Last Saturday, two good friends of mine got married. The next morning, I woke up and left with the family for a 5 day camping trip (which included apartment searching, meeting with my grad advisor etc.) to the beach. I decided that I was going to take the week, not do any more exercise than I would naturally get on a camping trick. Jot down what I ate for when I got home, and just trust my tool. I followed the rules about drinking and listened to my pouch. We carried a lot of proteins but we did eat out 4 times on the trip (everyone who hadn't seen us in a while insisted on taking us somewhere). When I went somewhere, I didn't order what I used to, even though it was vacation, I paid attention to my new lifestyle. I moved food around a lot on my plate and pawned lots of stuff off on my husband (who still managed to lose some weight on this trip). The only junk I ate during the trip was a smore I made when we did a midnight camp fire on the beach. I felt a little guilty, but allowed the feeling to pass. I also found out that I get very frustrated when I cannot snack and drive. It is the first time since surgery that I had to give myself an attitude adjustment about food. I felt successful when I couldn't get snacking out of my head, and literally purchased and apple (which was a major NSV because I was completely pleased and satisfied). I stopped eating when I felt full, ate slow, kept people distracted from my intake with conversation and did my best not to obsess. The results: When I weighed myself this morning, I found that I had lost 4 lbs in 5 days! I used my log to plug everything in to sparkpeople and found that I was managing about 1200 calories a day (all those times we had to go out). I found that when we did have to go to a place that was not so healthy, listening to my pouch and making smart diet choices led to a 300-350 calorie meal, vs the 2000-4000 that I could have easily consumed at a restaurant before!! What did I miss the most? Vegetables! I knew I needed my protein, so I got them whenever I could. However getting veggies in while camping can be quite difficult. I learned so much on this trip and need to keep reminding myself to just listen to my body. It knows exactly what it needs!

Hi Lady,

You found the secret, the beauty of our sleeves. Listening to your body, and making good head choices. Congratulations!

Best to you,

Sent from my iPad using VST

Wow... You just made my day! Thank you for sharing!! So proud of you!

Great example for us, thanks & congrats to you!

Amazing little surprises.

BTW. I don't know why I keep calling it a pouch. I guess I have just seen it so much from my FB groups that have had other types of bariatric surgery

I am happy for you that you have internalized listening to your body for true hunger clues coupled with incorporating good habits. You are amazing