i had my 4 month follow up today. They confirmed I am a slow looser. I started with a low bmi so they weren't surprised. Still happy with my results though. I should exercise more though

Wait, you can't compare yourself to others. When have you ever lost 40+ pounds FOREVER in a few months? Even starving at WW did I not hit this goal.

Give yourself some credit and applause. At this rate, in under a year you will be at goal. That, my friend, is a miracle thanks to our sleeve.

Hugs - and congrats on what you have lost.

Thanks. I was feeling good until I got the label slow looser. It made me question myself. I have been feeling insecure all day. And you are right

I have never ever lost this much on my own.

a slow loser is still a loser! Celebrate.

I'm a lower BMI and am probably a slow loser too. 8# in October. But I'm still a loser! And for the first time in my life, I believe I will keep it off. Slow, fast, it doesn't matter. It will happen!

I am more and more convinced that some of these doctors lack people skills. You are doing a fantastic job at the right pace for you.

I think there's this perception sometimes, with both surgeons and patients, that we're going to have this surgery and the weight will just fall off. As if the only factor in every single obese person's weight is purely a willpower/quantity thing, and removing most of your stomach (or banding it, or making it a pouch) is going to just immediately solve what years of failed dieting and exercise couldn't.

If weight loss (or gain) were a simple numbers game, every person that tries Weight Watchers would be reach their goal and stay skinny for life. It's NOT that simple for many of us. It works for some people, but for many others (especially those that reach the surgery point, like us) there are other issues like metabolism, insulin resistance and hormones at work.

These things are not immediately resolved just because you slice out 85% of your stomach, unfortunately. And many of us never find out WHY we don't lose as quickly, we just deal with it and slowly plod our way to goal.

I lost, on average, just barely over 6 pounds a month. I took 17 months to lose 107 pounds. I maintained very easily once I got there, but it was a longer journey than I expected.

You started out with a smaller amount of weight to lose and you've managed to shed more than half of the weight to your goal in four months. That is not a failure, that is actually quite an accomplishment.

Readjust your mental view on this and don't let a label your doctor has applied to you affect your feelings about your success. Because this is a success story already, and you will achieve your goal in time.

Best of luck,

~Cheri

I REALLY like Cheri's post. Her comments are probably the most common sense posts that i've read on here for a LONG time.

I'm a 'slow loser.' And I'm ok with it. Never have I ever felt so accomplished, confident and satisfied when losing weight before. I've lost 50 pounds 6 months, including pre-op, which my doc absolutely counts as part of the process, because it IS!! I know that weight is gone!! My doc says 15 months is about when our bodies stop losing weight unless we really push ourselves. He says at 15 months after surgery thats when our skeletal frame adjusts to the 'new lifestyle' or whatever you want to call it. So I still have 50 pounds to lose to get to goal. I was sleeved in August, so that means I have till next Thanksgiving to keep losing if I continue to work the program.

The way I look at it, this is year for me to celebrate, retrain myself to eat & live a healthy lifestyle. No habits formed from years of practice are going to change overnight. So I'm ok with being a slow loser. It will be the LAST TIME I ever lose a massive amount of weight. (I feel like that Taylor Swift song: i'm never, ever ever EVER gonna see the fat again.) So I am not rushing thru this wonderful experience. Maybe this comes from being an older gal and I don't feel like i need to lose the weight to start my life. I'll accept that. But what I don't want to accept is docs getting down on their patients and upsetting them by putting meaningless and harmful labels on them.

Hang in there.

Wow. Thank you everyone. I needed this real feedback. It has been kind of a good thing for me. I had not been exercising and this has given me the " kick in the ass" I needed. I have started walking. It isn't major, but in the past I have over done it at the beginning and just quit. It certainly is easier without the extra 40 lbs.

Thank you Cheri. Your feedback in particular is very affirming!