(This was my response to a low bmi soon to be sleever worried that she would be a slow loser. I got to thinking about it and realized its pretty common so I thought I would post as a topic for others who worry about it.)

Don't let the idea of being a "slow loser" worry you. I worried about this a lot before surgery and I compared myself to others alot for the first few months after surgery, but it really doesn't matter at all. I'm about to tell you why.

I am 5'2 and started with my bmi just barely under 40. I think it was 39.6 or something. I hit 5 months out a few days ago and have lost 55lbs. That may not be as big of a number as some the sleevers that start out at 300 or 400 lbs and drop 55lbs in 2 months, but I am averaging 2.7 lbs lost a week and while its not the fastest I don't think thats too bad. I also have no excess skin yet (fingers crossed). I am now in the overweight bmi category when just 5 short months ago I was a hair away from the morbidly obese category. And I have to admit I have not started to exercise at all yet (bad me I know but I am starting soon).

Some people lose slower and some faster but I promise it will all FEEL fast. It feels fast when I've gone from a size 18 jean and an XL shirt to a size 11 jrs jean and honestly (could probably wear a 9 now but haven't been shopping in weeks) and a M shirt. It will feel fast when you are clearing your closet out and everything hangs on you like a sack. It will feel fast when your smallest sizes from yo yo dieting get too big and you realize you have nothing to wear. It will feel fast when you realize you aren't starting fires between your thighs when you walk. It will feel fast when you buy a bunch of Victorias Secret cheekie panties and your tush looks amazing. It will feel fast when you climb a couple flight of stairs and you aren't the slightest bit winded. It will feel fast when you don't mind seeing someone you haven't seen in a while because you aren't ashamed of your weight anymore.

I may be technically considered a "slow loser" by some standards but the sleeve has allowed me to lose slowly but surely through a week long cruise, the fair, a 10 wk pregnancy and miscarriage, Thanksgiving, a vacation to Florida, 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years with my house loaded with company and fatty food. Any one of those things would've knocked me off any diet. Before the sleeve and I would've gained back all the weight I lost +10.

So being a "slow loser" is pretty awesome if you ask me. And probably if we went by percentage of weight lost I bet most of us sleevers would be in the same loss range. Its just going by lbs that throws everything off. I love this sleeve!

thanks for posting this. it is very discouraging sometimes to read of the large losses and to be one of tghe slow losers. It helps to remember that losing is the key not how fast or how slow. Thanks again.

thanks for posting this. it is very discouraging sometimes to read of the large losses and to be one of tghe slow losers. It helps to remember that losing is the key not how fast or how slow. Thanks again.

That is EXACTLY right! We are ALL healthier than when we started and it doesn't hurt that we look and feel a bit better too Sometimes I look at those big ol 52lb bags of dog food at Costco and think oh my gosh I used to carry that around on my body all the time. I can't even get that thing in my cart! So now I measure my weight loss in bags of dogs food to put it in perspective LOL It helps you realize how far you've come

What a great way to look at this sassafras!! I was feeling a little blue just now because I am stuck at 185! But I am two lbs short of a 60 lb loss in 4 months so life is good! I will certainly be trying to pick ups 50 lb bag of dog food as a reminder of just what I have lost!!! Thanks

Thank you for this , I was just feeling so down about myself ... Had my surgery Nov 13 , 2012 started pretty good , so far lost 37 lbs ... but for the past 2 weeks "Nothing ". I also have to admit that I have not started excercising and I am feeling guilty about eating some of the things that I know I shouldnt be eating , I am not pushing food down or anything ,,,, I just feel that my stomach is able to hold more than before..... I sometimes with that I could have that uncomfortable feeling I use to get when I took an extra bite of something , and would send me to the bathroom to throw up ............ Yesterday , I went to subway and got a phily steak 6 ' on wheat with cheese and onions ( First time I got subway) I cut it in half and I was able to eat it , then about 3 hours later I ate the other half .Although I have the food list of what I should be eating ,sometimes when I am on the go , its hard to stick to it . I need some feedback.

Thank you for this ' date=' I was just feeling so down about myself ... Had my surgery Nov 13 , 2012 started pretty good , so far lost 37 lbs ... but for the past 2 weeks "Nothing ". I also have to admit that I have not started excercising and I am feeling guilty about eating some of the things that I know I shouldnt be eating , I am not pushing food down or anything ,,,, I just feel that my stomach is able to hold more than before..... I sometimes with that I could have that uncomfortable feeling I use to get when I took an extra bite of something , and would send me to the bathroom to throw up ............ Yesterday , I went to subway and got a phily steak 6 ' on wheat with cheese and onions ( First time I got subway) I cut it in half and I was able to eat it , then about 3 hours later I ate the other half .Although I have the food list of what I should be eating ,sometimes when I am on the go , its hard to stick to it . I need some feedback.[/quote']

37 lbs is amazing (a good size hard to pick up bag of dog food)!! Congrats! Don't beat yourself up. I have been anything but food perfect along the way. I was very strict up until my 3rd month after surgery. When I was 3 months out from surgery (and 2 months pregnant) I was so insanely nauseous all the time that almost the only thing I could keep down was starbursts for a whole month (normally I don't like sweets or candy at all)! Other than that it was a bite here and a bite there of whatever didn't make my stomach churn. I was doing what I had to even though it wasn't a good diet. My 4th month (and after the miscarriage) was a better getting back on track with the Protein first rule but I found myself eating a little bit of carbs and slider foods (like chips) because we had company and that junky stuff was around a lot. Plus I started drinking a little with meals (yikes).

Luckily I got a pass on my bad behavior last month because I still lost 9 lbs, but I know I can't always do that and be successful. My plan is to to a cleanse and go back to basics for a week to get those bad patterns in check before they become habits. I don't think your subway sandwich broken in half and eaten at 2 separate meals is anything you should be worried about. If you removed half the bun it would make it a very good choice in fact. And I eat 5 small meals a day so eating every 3 hours or so is normal to me. Just because you don't feel the restriction and the throwy-up-ness anymore doesn't mean you have lost your tool and your going to go eat a large pizza. It just means your stomach has healed and you can tolerate things better.

I have been on the go too a lot lately and it is harder to make good choices but when you do you will feel great about it. I have a pre-sleeve foodie hubby that always runs thru a drive thru some where when we are out running around busy. I just let him choose and if its somewhere like sonic or mcds I just make the healthiest choice I can (a chicken tender or 2, or a grilled chicken sandwich and just eat half the chicken, even a kids cheeseburger and remove the bun). If its taco bell I get 1 soft taco no lettuce and tear off the top of the tortilla.

This is life and you are doing the best you can and thats all you can do. BUT if you see bad habits forming or your choices are effecting your weight loss then you have to pull back the reins and get it back in check. The key is to being on track the majority of the time and then a splurge a couple times a month won't effect things too much.Thats what I am doing now and I can guarantee you my eating habits will be much better Plus I hope to start getting on my elliptical I don't know if this feedback helped any...I am far from an expert. I can promise that what I share if from my own experience. I try to just be honest. Honesty is that I had 3 months of good strict eating, 1 month of horrible eating (due to sickness), and 1 month of so-so eating, but am constantly aware and stay on top of it which is why I'm currently getting back to the basics.

This was an awesome post Sassafras thanks for sharing! I am a slow loser but having lost 80 pounds in 10 months make me feel amazing, making it through the holidays and wintertime without gaining a single pound makes me feel even better! Can't remember when that ever happened. It's has been a wonderful journey and I wouldn't change it for the world.

This was an awesome post Sassafras thanks for sharing! I am a slow loser but having lost 80 pounds in 10 months make me feel amazing' date=' making it through the holidays and wintertime without gaining a single pound makes me feel even better! Can't remember when that ever happened. It's has been a wonderful journey and I wouldn't change it for the world.[/quote']

Congrats! 80 lbs must feel FANTASTIC! Isn't it crazy not to be packing it on this winter? And to have a little of everything at the holidays and be done!! AMAZING! Last year I would've gained 10 lbs... this year I lost weight! What a truly awesome experience when you take the "worrying about the numbers" out of the scenario and truly Celebrate what we and our bodies are achieving! Look how far we've come!! Hallelujah to the sleeve

I so agree with you. I would have easily gained 10 this holiday season as I have done in years past. It does feel amazing to eat only to a point and then have to stop because you can't hold anymore. My restriction is such a blessing. It allows me to taste foods and enjoy them as opposed to guzzling them down and feeling remorseful later. We are doing amazing!! Thanks for the great post:)

It was sooo great to hear all of this

(This was my response to a low bmi soon to be sleever worried that she would be a slow loser. I got to thinking about it and realized its pretty common so I thought I would post as a topic for others who worry about it.)

Don't let the idea of being a "slow loser" worry you. I worried about this a lot before surgery and I compared myself to others alot for the first few months after surgery' date=' but it really doesn't matter at all. I'm about to tell you why.

I am 5'2 and started with my bmi just barely under 40. I think it was 39.6 or something. I hit 5 months out a few days ago and have lost 55lbs. That may not be as big of a number as some the sleevers that start out at 300 or 400 lbs and drop 55lbs in 2 months, but I am averaging 2.7 lbs lost a week and while its not the fastest I don't think thats too bad. I also have no excess skin yet (fingers crossed). I am now in the overweight bmi category when just 5 short months ago I was a hair away from the morbidly obese category. And I have to admit I have not started to exercise at all yet (bad me I know but I am starting soon).

Some people lose slower and some faster but I promise it will all FEEL fast. It feels fast when I've gone from a size 18 jean and an XL shirt to a size 11 jrs jean and honestly (could probably wear a 9 now but haven't been shopping in weeks) and a M shirt. It will feel fast when you are clearing your closet out and everything hangs on you like a sack. It will feel fast when your smallest sizes from yo yo dieting get too big and you realize you have nothing to wear. It will feel fast when you realize you aren't starting fires between your thighs when you walk. It will feel fast when you buy a bunch of Victorias Secret cheekie panties and your tush looks amazing. It will feel fast when you climb a couple flight of stairs and you aren't the slightest bit winded. It will feel fast when you don't mind seeing someone you haven't seen in a while because you aren't ashamed of your weight anymore.

I may be technically considered a "slow loser" by some standards but the sleeve has allowed me to lose slowly but surely through a week long cruise, the fair, a 10 wk pregnancy and miscarriage, Thanksgiving, a vacation to Florida, 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years with my house loaded with company and fatty food. Any one of those things would've knocked me off any diet. Before the sleeve and I would've gained back all the weight I lost +10.

So being a "slow loser" is pretty awesome if you ask me. And probably if we went by percentage of weight lost I bet most of us sleevers would be in the same loss range. Its just going by lbs that throws everything off. I love this sleeve![/quote']

You are inspiring! We have the same BMI.. And am very thankful for every pound I lose....coz I can't even lose 2 pounds before the surgery. The fastest way to lose happiness is to compare with others~ so i Celebrate my own loss & it is my own happiness!

You are inspiring! We have the same BMI.. And am very thankful for every pound I lose....coz I can't even lose 2 pounds before the surgery. The fastest way to lose happiness is to compare with others~ so i celebrate my own loss & it is my own happiness!

What a great outlook! Ahh...I love the sleeve and what it helps us accomplish! Its a shame so many get stuck on numbers instead of truly celebrating their successes. Fast loser/ slow loser... who cares? The point is we are LOSING! Im in the 150's now and this time last year I would've never thought I'd be saying that. Losing weight was such a foreboding overwhelming task making me miserable. I found out about this surgery in July and got it in August without hesitation and its been the best decision I ever made.

I really don't u sweatband why being a slow loser is a bad thing. Considering your skin has a better time getting back together and your less likely to have gallbladder issues. It's really not a bad thing at all. I wish I was a slower loser cause it would of helped with the adjustment to this life!!

I really don't u sweatband why being a slow loser is a bad thing. Considering your skin has a better time getting back together and your less likely to have gallbladder issues. It's really not a bad thing at all. I wish I was a slower loser cause it would of helped with the adjustment to this life!!

I completely agree! Good points! So far my skin has held up pretty well and no gallbladder issues...2 more things to be thankful for ha ha

I really don't u sweatband why being a slow loser is a bad thing. Considering your skin has a better time getting back together and your less likely to have gallbladder issues. It's really not a bad thing at all. I wish I was a slower loser cause it would of helped with the adjustment to this life!!

I honestly wonder how people adjust to all this when they lose super fast because honestly I can't imagine. I feel like its all been at lightening speed and I've averaged 2.7 lbs a week.

This has helped me a bit. Still reading about people losing 80 pounds in 10 months.. I thought, I wish! I hope!

Tomorrow I will be 2 weeks out... the first week was good -7.2 I was happy with that, tomorrow will be week 2 but I'm only down -2.8 in 6 days... 0.2 after going to the mall and walking for 3.5 hours and having more fluids than I have had out of any day, and 94 grams of Protein...I was hoping for a little more than -0.2. It's sad that I look at the scale and pray to god that it is lower before I get on it.

I don't want to be victim to the scale but it's so damn hard not to. I feel like it will keep me on track if i see the numbers going up (especially later on if i fall victim to my old eating habits), but the days it doesn't go down, it doesn't make me feel any better. Last week when it was going down consistently, I was okay with not looking at the scale every day and skipped a few days of looking. I find I'm wanting and needing to see the scale when it's not moving just to "see" if it did move since the previous day... I know I need to relax a little! I just wasn't expecting to go form -7.2 to -2.8 at week 2... (Surgery day I was 239.8... currently 231 today - I'm 5'6") I had wishful thinking of being 199 on my Birthday (March 18) but I think that goal is set too high after seeing the -2.8 this week.

One other question is that I've noticed people saying they're working out like 2 weeks post op. I was running 5k prior to surgery, but was told no running for 4-6 weeks, no lifting weight for 6 weeks (they were very strict about this one). All I've been told is walking... think I should do a little more? light jog? to try to speed up the weight loss a bit?