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My office has an official celebration for everyone having a birthday each month. And they bring out the goodies. Lots of cookies, dips, chocolate gooey thingies and of course cake. For reasons unknown to me the thought of all those goodies lined up for the taking triggers something in my brain. I get a ravenous hunger that almost compels me to eat stuff that normally I don't even think about. I just want to bury my face in the cake and go, "Nom nom nom. Oh, you're a dirty cake aren't you! Nom nom nom." I was able to restrain myself to just one piece of coated popcorn. I thought it was a coated nut. Honest! AND it was yucky! (That's my story and I'm stickin to it!) I am not looking for applause or a pat on the back, since I only did what I was suppose to do - for the past 35 years. Just wanted to share that we all have our weak moments and demons to fight. Keep Pimpin That Sleeve!

I was having trouble with the idea of having surgery. I then started to think about food as an addiction. I asked myself whether or not a drug addict or an alcoholic who had the option to have surgery would do it, and whether or not their choice to do so would be frowned upon. This helped me with my decision to get the sleeve. This is a GREAT post. Thanks!

I believe anyone that has 85% of their stomach removed will lose weight. You can't help but lose, if you are limited to 4oz of food every few hours. Now the big question is, where is your hunger coming from? Only you can figure that part out. Is it from emotional eating, boredome, stress, or is it because you have hunger pangs caused by the hormone ghrelin? From my own experience, I knew that my hunger was real (even though I had eaten 2 hours earlier, I'd be hungry again). It wasn't until I talked to my surgeon that he told me that I had an excess of the hormone ghrelin (produced by the stomach). The bigger the stomach, the more of the hormone produced. The surgery stopped my hunger pangs. I have not had that nagging sense of hunger (other than my stomach growling) since surgery 7 weeks ago. And 4 or 5 oz of food keeps me satisfied, whereas before, I could eat 1 lb of steak and know I'd be raiding the fridge in 2 hours. And I don't have any cravings anymore for certain flavors. Whereas before, I'd think about something that would taste good and I couldn't get the thought out of my head until I ate it - and a lot of it, not just a small portion. Don't get me wrong, you can sabotage yourself after surgery. There are foods, called slider foods, that are calorie dense (ice cream, peanut butter) that pass through the stomach quickly, so it's possible to eat more. And it is possible to just graze all day on snacks that are high in calories. The sleeve gave me the control over my eating that I needed. When I eat, I have full control of what I eat. I can pass on the donuts or just have 1 and be satisfied. With the exception of pasta - it triggers my sugar cravings. So I have to be real careful about eating it. But I don't know if I'd the same success if my hunger was tied to my emotions instead of hormones. I really believe food was an addiction - one you can't quit and never touch again. Other addictions can be quit and never touched again. But what if a heroine addict, smoker or alcoholic knew they had to take some every day or their body would die? What if they had 75 TV channels that ran commericals for cigarrets every 10 minutes during their favorite programs? Or had reality programs (like the best places to pig out or the food challenges) devoted to the best places to get their fix and showed people taking drugs and loving it? Could the addicts just reduce the amount they took every day and never over do it or would they give in to the nagging voice in their head telling them how good it was going to feel? Ok, rant over. :-)

i'm down to 208 and i can see onederland in my future

It should get better. I am 4.5 months out and things are tasting pretty much the same as before surgery. It's nice.

Nom nom nom! Lmao

Way to go!

We ALL felt all those mixed emotions at the start of our journeys,, too. ALL of them! The great thing in all of this is that FIRST STEP. It took me a year to decide to go for it. I took another 2 months to get my insurance company to ADMIT they would cover me (they tried so hard to keep it a secret from the employees where I work)! And, another 6 months (insurance requirements) before it was finally approved. When they wheeled my gurney into the Operating Room with the silly paper hat on my head, I felt ZERO fear, anxiety, trepidation... I made a fist in the air, and yelled out, "YES," as I pulled my fist down to my chest, as a celebratory cheer that broke everyone in the OR out in laughter. I was FINALLY in the room I worked SO HARD to get in! When we make the decision to alter our bodies and our way of nourishing ourselves for the rest of our lives, we usually make peace with it all by the time the Surgery Date arrives. Just make sure you do that. Once you are totally on board, DON'T second-guess yourself and never look back. That is a life in your past. Look forward to your new life! Ever dream about what you would do with all that money if you won the lottery? The sleeve is your health lottery! Start dreaming about what you would do if .... The bikini.... The skin toning.... The ENERGY! The complimentary smiles and comments from strangers. One by one, the medications go away! A new wardrobe... A new hairstyle.... SHOES!!! Being able to sit comfortably in an airline seat. The list goes on and on! Start DREAMING NOW, because everything you really want out of this can and will happen if you strengthen your resolve. You can do this! How do I know that? Look around you here. Everyone is doing it! If they can, WE CAN, TOO!

I wasn't always lucky. I had to go back in for more blood tests pre-surgery and they couldn't find a vein, and the day of surgery, they had trouble finding the vein again. I was feeling like a pincushion after a while. :-P