Any other newbies on this journey out there?? Had my sleeve on Tuesday, 7/16; so I'm 9 days out. Day 3 has been the worst so far. Think I possibly have temporary (I hope) lactose-intolerance as I'm struggling with some bowel issues; but beyond that, I feel very good. Not being hungry all the time is wonderful. Still hard to get in the habit of not drinking for 30 min. before; during; and 30 min. after eating. How is everyone else making out?

I am also struggling to get calories in. thank goodness for Unjury vanilla shakes, for some reason i just love them. I can get in 1000-1200 by working at it which should be enough but i am exercising about an hour a day and i keep getting messages from MFP that I am in starvation mode. I am still losing weight at a faster pace than expected so I wasnt too worried. this week the weight loss slowed down, which was inevitable and actually necessary. I wish it had waited one more pound so I could have been under 200 for the first time since 7th grade (1969) for you youngsters out there. My nut says that as long as i keep my protein high not to worry about the messages.

I asked my nut what my calorie and protein goal should be and she said there was no magic number and to just get as much protein as I can in. That doesn't seem like much help so I've just been kind of going by what everyone on here said their nut said. That's kind of hard to do seeing how everyone's nuts seem to say different things. However, they may be saying different things based on your current weight. I know that when I did Weight Watchers the more you weighed the higher your calorie intake was to avoid going into starvation mode. Whatever I'm doing seems to be working for me so I'm just kind of going by that. I did start using Fitness Pal today just to see how many calories and protein I'm currently getting in. I won't be doing it every day but I figure if I reach another stall then I can use that to see if I need to decrease or increase my calories.

Please help' date=' July-2013 buddies!

How many calories per day do you eat? I'm worried that I'm eating too many, but worried about "starvation mode" if I eat too few. What do you guys do? What did your NUT's recommend for this point (I'm just under 8 weeks post-op)?

Thanks!!![/quote']

Loopy. My goal is to average 800. I've been usually between 700-800.

Add me on fitnesspal user name crystalmendza

Today is my 2 month mark. I lost a total of 59 lbs. 21 pre-surgery and 38 post-surgery. I am still having trouble eating some foods and find I can't get more than 4 or 5 bites of anything in. I feel I am losing at a steady rate even though most times it feels slow.

How is everyone doing?

Good for you! I am down 52# since surgery. My problem is I can't really exercise like I want. I am waiting to join the YMCA. I can eat a good bit at times others not so much. Most I've eaten is a whole sandwich. But most times its barely half. I have zero issues tolerating things. Which is good, yet bad at the same time. My biggest problem is drinking too fast. I guzzle when IM hot. So when I do yardwork its hard to not just guzzle. Hands down best decision I've made for myself. Would do it all over again.

Today is my 2 month mark. I lost a total of 59 lbs. 21 pre-surgery and 38 post-surgery. I am still having trouble eating some foods and find I can't get more than 4 or 5 bites of anything in. I feel I am losing at a steady rate even though most times it feels slow.

How is everyone doing?

Awesome. Keep up the good work. I had my surgery July 11th and have lost 36 pounds and a total of 85 since February. I never thought I could get down to the size I am now. I was able to eat anything I wanted two weeks after surgery but I have been craving soft drinks which I need to quit, I would do better at losing weight if I did. Good luck.

Please help' date=' July-2013 buddies!

How many calories per day do you eat? I'm worried that I'm eating too many, but worried about "starvation mode" if I eat too few. What do you guys do? What did your NUT's recommend for this point (I'm just under 8 weeks post-op)?

Thanks!!![/quote']

My Dr told us to not worry about calories but to worry about Protein. I don't do the shakes anymore because I can eat the protein needed. But there are days where I have to eat on the run and miss my protein.

Congrats on your success! I am also ~ two months out. My success is less impressive than yours. I am 32 pounds down but have not dropped on ounce in over two weeks. Very frustrating. I have tried to bolster myself by finding non-scale victories. I have been excercising much more recently and am now walk faster and further than just a few weeks back. I feel physically better on all fronts. My knees are less painful, my feet and ankles are not as sore. I never took "before" photos but did take lots of "just post" measurements. I have lost lots of inches. Yippee! My watch is so loose I need to take it in - again. My wedding ring is falling off. I need to use the 4th hole on my belt to hold up my pants...the same belt which barely fastened on the loosest hole pre-surgery. My pants are falling off. Woo, woo. This is fun. I'd be delighted if the scale would budge but I am still very happy that I had the surgery.

Just checking in. I'm about 9? weeks out now (July 23 surgery). From weeks 5-8, I really struggled with nausea - some due to a kink, some due to swelling, so I was eating extremely few calories. I finally got that worked out last Monday and am on stronger anti-nausea meds and have been able to get much closer to Fluid goal and make my Protein goal. I've also been able to eat at the top range of what my nutritionist wants (just below 1400 cal/day). I have gained weight every day since last Monday, so I'm 8 pounds up from what my ticker says, but today was the first day that I didn't gain. Not too worried about it because I know I was an unwilling anorexic and my body is kind of freaking out. My body is increasing fluid, since I'm able to consume more, this is my pms week, so I'm retaining, and I've been eating higher carb than I have since I started my preop diet, so I'm guessing I might even be replacing glycogen stores, so the gain is pretty easily explainable without fearing that I'm having some kind of fat gain. Should start dropping again in the next few days. Ready to keep progressing!

I'm pretty pleased with my results so far and am learning my new signals as time goes on. It was a bit of a struggle trying to work through the nausea, but all in all, not a big deal. The only thing that I'm really not happy about is the fatigue and weakness the starvation has left me with. Shopping wears me out and after just a couple hours at the mall, my back will hurt, my head will ache, and I'll be limping because I feel like I can barely pick up my feet to keep propelling myself forward. This one thing has been the most demoralizing of this whole process. After having completed triathlons weighing over 300 pounds, to be less than 250 and struggle to shop really sucks. I am still recovering, though. I try to keep my calories consumed as high as possible and try to keep a healthy proportion of carbohydrate so that I can keep my energy up. Every day I have just a tiny bit more energy, and it is getting better, it just feels slow. I think in the next couple weeks, I'll probably feel capable of getting in some light exercise at the gym. Right now, I'm just stopping by the mall on my way home and window shopping for a bit, just to build a little stamina.

Anyway, onward and upward! (Or downward in this case!)

To the rest of you that are having some struggles, just keep at it. Talk to your doc. Try to figure out the cause and how to manage whatever challenge you might be having. There is no need for you to endure or muscle it out. This is a process with an enormous learning curve, and it's different for everyone. But most of all, whatever challenge you might be experiencing, you are not the only one, I guarantee you.

Best of luck to you all!

Hi July Sleevers!

I figured since we have all reached 6 months post-op we should give an update of our progress. Here's mine:

Surgery Date: 7/26/13

HW: 269

SW: 248

CW: 160

Total loss of 109 lbs. 88 since surgery. I still have about 20lbs to lose to meet my goal. I look forward to everone's updates.

Hello July Sleevers...I too decided to check in so here goes:

Height: 5'0"

HW: 205

SW: 185

CW: 131

I am 6 lbs away from my goal as of today. My overall health is wonderful, no more sleep apnea. I walk 3 to 5 miles a day and now ENJOY shopping for clothes. I have gone from a size 20 to a size 8. I am beyond thrilled with my progress. I have worked hard to get here and I never plan on going back!!!

HW 299

SW (7/3/13) 289

CW 203

Wow! Everyone's doing awesome!! Here's my progress:

Surgery date July 29th

HW 295

SW 250

CW 163

Total loss of 132 pounds! My goal is 160, but I think I want to go a little lower. Maybe 155 or 150. I'm just gonna see how it goes and see how I feel. Not putting too much pressure on myself to reach a certain number. Even if I don't lose any more, I'm still thrilled with my results. This has been an incredible journey so far. A little bumpy at times, but worth every bump! For me the best part is that food no longer has power over me. It's no longer a drug, but just food!

Greetings, everyone! Well, after a great December, my January was far from stellar (probably because I didn't participate in January's challenge due to our move, etc). However, I'm back and excited to put up good numbers in February :-)

My Numbers:
My surgery was on July 15, and my starting weight was 379 (370 the day of surgery after 2 weeks liquid diet).

I've lost 76 lbs. total, which I guess qualifies me as a slow loser, but hey, I'll take it! :-) Still have a long way to reach my goal of 160, but I'm sure I'll get there if I don't give up