Lately I've seen a TON of posts about lucky sleevers that drop 100 pounds in six months.

Congrats to them and to their loss. And I would never, ever begrudge anyone the right to crow about a fantastic success. It's part of why we're all here, to share the ups and downs of this surgery!

But frequently, these posts are followed by folks that feel frustrated because they aren't losing at the same pace. All too often, we forget that everyone loses at a different pace. It's easy to lose sight of the real goal (long term maintenance) in the face of the scale goals we set for ourselves. And it's also easy to forget that this isn't a race and that there's no special prize waiting at the end for reaching goal more quickly.

I would like to contribute my loss pattern so that people can see that there is more than one way to achieve a goal. Being successful is about reaching your personal goals, overcoming your personal food demons and maintaining your weight loss for life. It's not about hitting goal in nine months.

I encourage everyone else with a slow loss story to contribute their successes here as well. It's hard to research this surgery and find only the stories about extremes - people completely thrilled with surgery or people that regret every minute of life post op. The same goes for loss. When people search out stories on this, it's too easy to only find rapid loss or stall posts but nothing showing the more realistic and moderate journey many of us take. The sleeve is a permanent tool that does not have a special window of easy weight loss. There is no reason to feel discouraged when you haven't reached goal at one year out, or even two. There is nothing preventing you (short of your own body's natural stopping point) from achieving or re-achieving goal at any point post op.

I lost 60 pounds in the first five months after my surgery.

And I slowly lost 32 pounds over the next seven months.

It took me another five months to shed the final 15 pounds to my goal.

I lost 107 pounds over the course of 17 months. I stalled twice for nine weeks each time. I had months where I only lost one pound. I regularly experienced a gain of three pounds around my cycle, and often only lost weight in the last week to ten days of the month, after sitting at the same weight for nearly three weeks.

I am a success, and at 2.5 years out (and currently pregnant) I still have good, healthy eating habits and maintained my weight loss quite easily. Even 30 weeks pregnant, I am still wearing a size 6/small (in maternity clothes, of course) regardless of how I feel about my expanding body!

I learned what was important on this journey and am in better health today (not just physically, but mentally and emotionally), than I have ever experienced as an adult.

Good luck to those currently on their journey, and I encourage everyone to share their stories here so that newly sleeved folks can see that slow vs. fast loss doesn't really matter in the end.

~Cheri

Starting at a high weight of 246, I was 234.6 day of surgery on June 18. Over the 9 weeks I average 1.34 lbs lost, which I am thrilled about because my eating and exercise behaviors are sustainable for me. My body and mind also have a chance to catch up to the changes, as well.

For the past 3 days I've weighed 206.4 looking forward to a woosh in the next couple of days after ovulation passes I tend to retain water during this time. Figured out the calories to my homemade jambalaya recipe and it's only 235 cals per cup and super yummy. My sleeve is still working well (not that I'm surprised). I can only eat about 3.5 oz of dense protein or 3/4 cup of food at a time. So happy for this tool and plus I don't have that overwhelming sense of hunger like I did before and this makes it easier to eat between 1000-1550 cals a day. *Blabbing away, sorry*

I always wooshed after my cycle, too. Up three or four pounds (after sitting still the rest of the month, usually!) but a big drop right in the last week to ten days of the month was my norm. I usually lost all my weight for the month in the last week or so.

It is a lot easier without the hunger. I still don't have hunger. But I do still have disordered eating habits inside me, that only need a little stress, upheaval or upset as an excuse to come out and cause me problems! I think that in the loss phase (which was 17 months for me) it's really easy to rely on the lack of hunger to help you make those choices and stay on track.

As you get a bit farther out, it does fall more squarely on you. More specifically on your head and on how you relate to food. It's still sometimes a challenge for me. And what makes it harder is knowing that for six days running food is something I don't particularly care about and can walk away from at any time. It's easy on those days. But give me a really hard day - give me bad news and bad emotions and plenty of stress...and those choices become much harder to make. And head hunger still feels like hunger - no, not physically. But that nagging and never ending desire to just eat and eat can still show up!

I'm not here to share horror stories or scare anyone. I think that being a slow loser really helped me do as much of the head work as possible. Achieving goal and maintaining it before my baby helped me realize I can succeed and that it's possible. But staying in that "need to lose a few mindset" after any type of regain (even one for a baby, like my piddly five pounds I can't lose) is hard sometimes. And it gets HARDER the farther out you get.

Accepting that I will never be able to just eat what I want without being accountable no matter when I get back to goal and no matter how easy it is to stay there is important. I have to stay on top of things, because even now it's still far too easy to mindlessly eat or to fall back on old habits of using food to cope.

I know that for me, at least, losing incredibly quickly would have left me floundering once I was in maintenance. And oh, now? I would have given up already if I truly expected to lose the weight from my pregnancy overnight. I've been battling close to fifteen pounds for more than five months! And I still have five of them to go!

~Cheri

Not sure if I even had a point when I started. I guess that it might have been that this is challenging in the long run no matter what. But at least my slow loss allowed me to learn some new coping skills and new habits before I got to maintenance.

I always wooshed after my cycle' date=' too. Up three or four pounds (after sitting still the rest of the month, usually!) but a big drop right in the last week to ten days of the month was my norm. I usually lost all my weight for the month in the last week or so.

It is a lot easier without the hunger. I still don't have hunger. But I do still have disordered eating habits inside me, that only need a little stress, upheaval or upset as an excuse to come out and cause me problems! I think that in the loss phase (which was 17 months for me) it's really easy to rely on the lack of hunger to help you make those choices and stay on track.

As you get a bit farther out, it does fall more squarely on you. More specifically on your head and on how you relate to food. It's still sometimes a challenge for me. And what makes it harder is knowing that for six days running food is something I don't particularly care about and can walk away from at any time. It's easy on those days. But give me a really hard day - give me bad news and bad emotions and plenty of stress...and those choices become much harder to make. And head hunger still feels like hunger - no, not physically. But that nagging and never ending desire to just eat and eat can still show up!

I'm not here to share horror stories or scare anyone. I think that being a slow loser really helped me do as much of the head work as possible. Achieving goal and maintaining it before my baby helped me realize I can succeed and that it's possible. But staying in that "need to lose a few mindset" after any type of regain (even one for a baby, like my piddly five pounds I can't lose) is hard sometimes. And it gets HARDER the farther out you get.

Accepting that I will never be able to just eat what I want without being accountable no matter when I get back to goal and no matter how easy it is to stay there is important. I have to stay on top of things, because even now it's still far too easy to mindlessly eat or to fall back on old habits of using food to cope.

I know that for me, at least, losing incredibly quickly would have left me floundering once I was in maintenance. And oh, now? I would have given up already if I truly expected to lose the weight from my pregnancy overnight. I've been battling close to fifteen pounds for more than five months! And I still have five of them to go!

~Cheri

Not sure if I even had a point when I started. I guess that it might have been that this is challenging in the long run no matter what. But at least my slow loss allowed me to learn some new coping skills and new habits before I got to maintenance.[/quote']

I think you made several great points here. Your insight of this WLS is so very helpful to me and I am sure others who are just getting ready to start this wonderful journey. Thank you for your posts.

Being the slowest loser in town (lol) I am starting to feel grateful of the fact. As I've said before, I'm still not at goal - but of so close to my surogeon's goal - and I really think that this has stopped me regaining anything other than holiday weight.

It has given me the, reluctant, opportunity to focus on my needs, the way my body responds to food and exercise and how my mind works ... I have had to do a lot of self reflection and self analysis to get to this point of acceptance.

Ok, I am not going to fart and lose 50lbs over night! That's cool with me now, 3 years later.

I never take me sleeve or my body for granted any more; it needs respect! I get that now, regardless of what the pesky scale says.

Does all this mean I don't want to lose more - hell NO! I'm desperate to get to at least 154 - I'd love to see 135 but now I realise that if this doesn't happen I'm no less worthy of being a good person! The scale used to dictate my mood, not any more... don't get me wrong, when I see a low number, especially a new low I am happy... but if I see a bounce it doesn't put me in a a bad mood or a dark place anymore.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that being a slow loser makes me/you/us appreciate each and every scale victory and non scale victory alike!

Remember, the scenic route is beautiful!

Being the slowest loser in town (lol) I am starting to feel grateful of the fact. As I've said before' date=' I'm still not at goal - but of so close to my surogeon's goal - and I really think that this has stopped me regaining anything other than holiday weight.

It has given me the, reluctant, opportunity to focus on my needs, the way my body responds to food and exercise and how my mind works ... I have had to do a lot of self reflection and self analysis to get to this point of acceptance.

Ok, I am not going to fart and lose 50lbs over night! That's cool with me now, 3 years later.

I never take me sleeve or my body for granted any more; it needs respect! I get that now, regardless of what the pesky scale says.

Does all this mean I don't want to lose more - hell NO! I'm desperate to get to at least 154 - I'd love to see 135 but now I realise that if this doesn't happen I'm no less worthy of being a good person! The scale used to dictate my mood, not any more... don't get me wrong, when I see a low number, especially a new low I am happy... but if I see a bounce it doesn't put me in a a bad mood or a dark place anymore.

I suppose what I am trying to say is that being a slow loser makes me/you/us appreciate each and every scale victory and non scale victory alike!

Remember, the scenic route is beautiful![/quote']

Good thoughts to remember. Thanks.

I think you made several great points here. Your insight of this WLS is so very helpful to me and I am sure others who are just getting ready to start this wonderful journey. Thank you for your posts.

Yes, I too, love hearing from Cheri!!

"The scenic route is beautiful" - thanks for that, coops!

The things that I've learned in my almost one year since vsg is that this is my journey and I have to focus on things that I can stick with and not necessarily something temporary that may get me to where I want to be (goal) but isn't sustainable in the long run. One of the most important things that I realized is that I can't crash diet. I can't pick a calorie number that's so low to where I feel miserable, deprived, and on the verge of bingeing. I do remember advice being given when I was preop and people would say that most people eat between 600-800 cals during the losing phase. That calorie level makes me want to binge and I've never been a binge eater and definitely don't want to start. Weight loss wasn't as hard the first 6 months but I definitely didn't have to try like I do now. Now that I have to try and figure out what different things work, I feel like I'm becoming more knowledgeable on what I need to do and my own needs. The first 6 months I thought I had everything figured out and if I had made it to goal during that time I don't think I would of learned a damn thing.

One of the most important things that I've learned is that I don't need to have a huge calorie deficit in order to get the scale to move. I set my calorie deficit goal at 500 (per day) and this will lead to a weight loss of about 1 pound a week or 4 pounds a month. This deficit also allows me to eat like a normal person who is trying to shed a reasonable/healthy amount of weight at a time. I've long abandoned the sprinting to goal approach and now I'm just focusing on slow and steady. There's no award for getting to goal early or losing a whole person in a short amount of time. Plus I didn't want to be one of those people in maintenance who are white knuckling it trying to stay at goal or the ones who freak out because they ate a snickers bar lol. My goal has always been to eat everything in moderation. I don't eat low carb or fat free diet(y) stuff. I'm a human and want to be able to eat normal human things within reason. Could I have lost faster? Probably! Yes the honeymoon period is long gone but I still have the tool *Yes, rambling again lol*

Oh and CLK that's how I lose also. I usually have one week where I lose all my weight and then I maintain for the other 3 weeks. I keep track of my cycles and can tell when I'm gonna gain water weight or stall. My cycles have become shorter now 27 days, whereas before surgery it was 30-32 days. You, Coops, and another lady (can't remember her SN) have been very inspiring to us slow losers.

I'd say that I agree - you're too soon out to really know your pace. Your body is still recovering. And if you did a preop diet? You can expect slower loss in the first month and an earlier pause (I hesitate to say stall; they last three weeks or longer) than if you didn't do one.

I consider a slow loser anyone who loses at the pace of a typical' date=' non WLS patient. So, 1-2 pounds a week. Many experience at least 5 a week until they get to the end, where everyone slows. I lost, on average, just over six pounds a month. Less than two pounds a week, with two nine week stalls in there and several weeks towards the end where I logged losses in the tenths of a pound.

~Cheri[/quote']

But u did keep losing and that's reassuring to me! I too am losing only about 2 lbs a week. I'm 5 months out on sept 4th. Started at 270. Yesterday was215. Have 85 or more to hit my goal of 130 or lower. Dr didn't set s goal.

I started similar I lost 85 lbs in the first 6 months then I stalled for 1 month and a half lost another 15 lbs currently on another stall

My stall broke!!! I can officially say it!!!! After bouncing between 176.4 and 174.6 for over a month I now weigh 171.8.

Missed my Labor Day goal by a pound. But who cares? Scale is moving again! Goal is 169 by sept 21. Fingers crossed I get there! 16lbs to goal.

Thanks guys, I really needed this. I am so frustrated, my *small* clothes from pre surgery are loose now, I have lost 35 lb in 6 weeks but the clothes are not fitting well but it is too early to shop or alter the clothes and for the past 3 weeks I have not lost much.

As everyone says it is a journey and as I was not successful for years, this should acutually be a dream come true but we are all impatient and when a good loss pace suddenly grinds to a halt it makes one very worried.

Thanks for all the inspirational stories, I love sharing everyone's journeys.

Thanks guys' date=' I really needed this. I am so frustrated, my *small* clothes from pre surgery are loose now, I have lost 35 lb in 6 weeks but the clothes are not fitting well but it is too early to shop or alter the clothes and for the past 3 weeks I have not lost much.

As everyone says it is a journey and as I was not successful for years, this should acutually be a dream come true but we are all impatient and when a good loss pace suddenly grinds to a halt it makes one very worried.

Thanks for all the inspirational stories, I love sharing everyone's journeys.[/quote']

I proudly wear my clothes baggy. When my pants fall off as I walk ill go to a used clothing store. I was looking at my toes last night. And I now see spaces between them! I must have had fat toes!

Update....Well I hit my goal weight (215) a few weeks ago, but that didn't last long. I'm already back up to 219.....but some of that is water weight since I started back on creatine. A well hydrated muscle gives me that extra rep on each set and extra set at each lift, so it's worth it to me. Also upped my cals slightly, by 300 or so a day. I felt a little weak after hitting my goal and really restricting my calories for a couple of months to get there. So I think the low 220's is my comfy place. I know years (hopefully decades) down the road as my metabolism slows further, the 220's will be hard to maintain.