The past few weeks have been a bit stressful trying to stay on track. I'm almost embarrassed to admit the things I've eaten, but I figure it's probably better for me to be embarrassed and shamed instead of keeping it to myself and not being held accountable for it (I really should probably get a buddy to hold me accountable). So here is my confession (skip over the next paragraph if you aren't interested in reading all of the crappy food I ate):

My fiance had his birthday July 23rd and I had a few small bites of cake with not even a whole scoop of ice cream (maybe 1/2 or less). I didn't think much of that since I have never had a problem with cake/ice cream/candy type of sweets, but then he requested and ordered pizza for dinner but I skipped the crust and only ate the toppings. It didn't make me feel too well after but I figured it was ok since him and my son are both huge pizza fans and because of my surgery they have been deprived lol. This week my nephew came down for a visit (lives in a different state) and we had a family dinner. Although they did try to accommodate me and get some rotisserie chicken, the store didn't have any so they ordered Popeye's instead. I ended up just pulling off all of the breading and eating the chicken. I know it still wasn't the healthiest but I figured it could have been worse. Last night everyone wanted Chinese and I've never been a fan of anything Chinese except for the sweeter stuff (general tso's, sweet and sour chicken, sweet and sour shrimp) so I had a bit of General Tso's (a few pieces of the chicken) and mostly ate around the rice. Although it did NOT stay down, I still put it in my mouth and attempted to eat it even though I knew I probably shouldn't have.

With all that said, I had a short stall (at least I think it was short?) before all of this that lasted a few weeks and I hardly lost anything even though I was actually doing everything at that point that I was supposed to be doing. However, once I started to "stray" a bit I started losing weight again (go figure). Still, I know that is a fluke and I don't want to fall back into bad habits so I'm thinking I will probably start a full liquid diet tomorrow just to kick me back into gear and cleanse myself.

I have to ask, for those who are successful and years out, how often (if ever) do you "splurge" and have something not your norm? Also, I'm not sure if I'm "on track" as far as weight loss goes and it doesn't seem like I'm losing enough, so I would value your opinions and any tips you might have. I start my morning with a premier Protein shake and usually have a packet of Starkist tuna Creations for my lunch and some kind of meat or a Protein Shake for dinner. Snacks are usually cubes of cheese or a Breakstones brand Cottage cheese double (the cups with the fruit).

Surgery was June 15th and weighed 326

Current weight is 296

I think your weight loss pace is on track - stalls are normal.

Life is challenging. When my dad died in June I was NOT going to add to my mom's stress by needing certain foods. I decided whatever was brought to us I would try to make the best of it. and I learned that I will be ok if I am not picture perfect in my food choices all the time. once I got home and back to work I went back to the comforts of my normal post surgery food routine and choices and I did the same when I went back home on vacation at the end of July.

The reason I choose the sleeve was the flexibility. Once fully physically healed, life continues - my point is at some time you are going to be at someone's wedding, birthday party, whatever and you will want to Celebrate with everyone else. Keep your diet where it should be the rest of the time, enjoy the event and move on with your life. Don't let food have the power to make you feel guilt. When I was home the last time one night I had half a waffle with maple syrup and fresh picked wild raspberries. my Mama had picked them because I love them. NO way was I going to hurt her feelings by not having some. the JOY of the sleeve for me (I used to be diabetic) is that after I ate that I took my blood sugar- completely normal. do I eat things like that on a daily basis? NO WAY.

Your post makes me feel much better. I definitely do not want to cheat all the time. I want to be successful so I'm hitting the "reset" button and doing a liquid diet just to make sure I don't fall off the wagon from the past few weeks of splurging. Even with all of the "bad" things I ate, I at least attempted to make it healthier (taking the breading off, skipping the crust, avoiding the rice). I know they still aren't healthy things but compared to what I USED to do, I'm at least making an effort now if I do eat something unhealthy and I'm conscious of the things I'm eating. I'm just not sure it's enough of an effort to continue losing weight even if it isn't every day (or every week/month) that I eat the unhealthy things. It makes me feel like I'm going to fail when I eat something unhealthy.

Keep moving forward. I am 2 years post-op and did a big cheat for several months and paid a big price in weight gain. Don't be like me! One of the biggest things that kept me in that cycle of eating junk (and too much of it!) was the shame and feeling that "Oh well, I blew it. I might as well eat what I want now!"

Just go right back to doing what you should! You'll get there.

Keep moving forward. I am 2 years post-op and did a big cheat for several months and paid a big price in weight gain. Don't be like me! One of the biggest things that kept me in that cycle of eating junk (and too much of it!) was the shame and feeling that "Oh well, I blew it. I might as well eat what I want now!"

Just go right back to doing what you should! You'll get there.

I was actually JUST reading your thread! I'm glad you came here and didn't let the support group beat the determination out of you! I have yet to attend my support group first because I already know some of the attitudes I will be dealing with there since I had to attend some classes with some of the same people pre op. Second, I am a pretty quiet person in real life and I just don't feel comfortable with sharing my struggles with people who may be judgmental (let alone a whole group of them). It's easy to ignore judgmental/rude/nasty people on the internet but in real life I'm not sure how I would react. I am determined to keep pushing forward and hope that I make the progress I am aiming for. I hope the same for you!