M2G

Okay, FASTING DAY ONE is done!!! Whew! What a day too! My older daughter (12) ran around buying supplies to make stilts for my younger daughter's birthday (she turns 11 on Sat.) and she wanted stilts. The ones she wanted were like $70 plus shipping (they were aluminum) but someone suggested I just buy the wood and make them myself. Well, 4 hours in a hot garage with my daughter helping me...OMG, I did get a Headache and figured it was fasting related, but could have been the heat also. I drank tons of Water today. Probably 100oz just to keep myself hydrated in the heat. We finished them but still need to paint them tomorrow (in the heat again!) But I logged everything including the two tiny hot tamale candies that I ate, lol. Total for the day was 506 cals. So glad I can eat tomorrow, but do have to say that I like not having to constantly worry about food, etc. Reminds me of being a newbie sleever when food didn't consume my every thought. I can see why some of you say you actually look forward to a fasting day.

That is one of my fears of doing this that I won't be as "in control" on my feed days. But there is no time like the present to start so I'm going to try my very first fast day today. It's just past 9am and I've had coffee with fat free creamer, egg beaters with a bit of turkey sausage and cheese for 145 cals total. Good start...hoping for something small mid-day and a good dinner. I will keep you all posted...

It is possible to gain weight after being sleeved. Just hop over to the Vet's Forum to find a few of us. I don't think anyone has gained more than 25lbs (I could be wrong about that) but it is possible and those of us who are 2 and 3+ years out can easily experience this. Not to rain on the OP's (or anyone else's) parade, but just saying it's a legitimate fear and I think you should USE that fear to your advantage. Stay the course and keep working hard...you look fantastic!

I love that you had a conversation with that 12 year old little girl inside you. I often think about going back to talk to "myself" but never have...maybe I should try it.

You CAN do a RNY after a sleeve, but honestly I don't think you could sleeve after RNY! I can't visualize how they would be able to do a sleeve on the little pouch that is created during an RNY, but I'm no expert. Plus they connect the lower intestine up to that little "pouch" so I would imagine there isn't much room to cut off part of the pouch while still keeping that intestine attached.

Sounds flexible enough!

Ok just found this under the links by FYE...under the FAQ stuff Q: Do the 500/600 cals have to be spread across the day or in 1 meal? A: It’s up to you. Dr Mosley split his between breakfast and dinner, lots of people prefer to save their calories for a good sized evening meal. No one yet knows whether there is any health advantage to saving up the calories for one meal.

Are you guys talking about the fasting window ON THE DAY OF fasting? Like I understand the before/after because you are mostly sleeping right? I'm *almost* always done eating by dinner which is usually around 6pm. So I eat dinner at 6pm on a non-fast day, sleep and get up and drink coffee around 6am on a FAST day. Then eat breakfast for let's say around 200 calories. Then do you NOT eat for 8 hours and then have dinner at 4 or 5pm and say you eat 300 calories at dinner. Your day is done right? Please tell me if I'm understanding this correctly. Or should you eat something low calorie in between breakfast and dinner? Sorry it's all new to me and I feel like a newbie all over again.

I'm Sheila, and gosh where do I start? I was always a pretty big girl...I remember being about 8 years old and wearing a ladies size 8 pants. Never was a 0 or a 6, lol. I graduated HS weighing around 175 and felt like a big ole fattie. Sigh. I wish I could go back in time and tell that 18 year old girl that she looked pretty damn good. Instead of the college "freshman 15" I think I gained about 25. And each year I would gain more and never even owned a scale. Just would go and buy bigger clothes. Finally I was up around 265 at age 26 and fed up and tried Medifast (my first ever real DIET) and lost about 80lbs (medically supervised and had to see a dr. once a week for the Meal Replacements back in the stone age before the internet was popular and you couldn't buy Medifast online.) Then got pregnant with my first daughter and regained all the weight, ending up about 262. Lost -10lbs after birth and regained that in the 10 months after she was born bringing me back to 262, and quickly became pregnant with my second daughter and because I was so large, somehow I only managed to gain 18lbs with that pregnancy and delivered at 280 at age 30. But sadly even 280 was not my highest weight. And after having my girls I began the yo-yo dieting and tried just about every diet in the book and I would lose weight and gain what I had lost back PLUS MORE! Every single time. At one point I dieted down to a range between 220-225 and loved it. But of course that was not the end of the story because all that weight came back plus more. Again. So I had finally had enough in 2010 and started researching bariatrics. I had always known and thought of RNY but was scared about it and so I had done some research on the band and decided that was the route I would go. Called my insurance and found it it would cost me about 5K out of pocket for surgery and they said they covered the band, the bypass and the sleeve. Never before had I heard of the sleeve. Went to the seminar and NO ONE on the panel had the sleeve and the dr. sort of 'glossed' over it. I still wanted the band. Then hubby started being interested in surgery and said "what about that sleeve thing" and after doing more research I knew it was right for US, something we could both do and not have to have a second surgery (if the band failed) or live with constant vomiting. And so had my sleeve surgery in Oct. 2010. I was my surgeon's 15th sleeve. Lots and lots of trust in my surgeon (Dr. Snyder in Denver Colorado) because he had done thousands of bands and RNY's but not many sleeves because they were relatively new. I was always a slow loser but initially lost about 100lbs. I was at my low weight for a few days (almost back to HS weight!!) and then I bounced up +5lbs and stayed there for a while. Then somewhere between 1 year post-op and 2 years post-op I gained an additional 9lbs in about 9 months. And I have been at this higher weight now for a while. Earlier this year I had lost about -9lbs but then I quit tracking my food and went on vacation and somehow that 9lbs found me again. Grrrr. So right now I'm the same weight that I was in Jan. And frustrated. I average anywhere from 1000-1500 cals daily. In order for me to LOSE weight I need to usually do less than 800 cals. Which just doesn't seem possible every day. But 500 cals, 2 days a week? Okay, now I'm listening. Because believe me I have TRIED to consistently keep my cals >800 for days on end and it's just exhausting and next to impossible to do. Not to mention I work out. 4-5 days a week. 3 days are HARD, I drip sweat and the other 2-3 days are lighter. So living on >800 ALL THE TIME just isn't doing it for me. Thanks ladies for letting me into the club. Sorry this is so long!

Yes please post one. The "cartoon" probably doesn't do you justice!!!

You have a wonderful way of telling your story, can't wait for the rest! Congrats on your loss thus far!

Cheri, I just want to say how much of an inspiration you have been to me personally. I know what you mean about never being DONE as I near closer to my my 3 year post-op as well. Maintenance is by far the hardest part of this journey because it's for LIFE! Hugs to you and thank you for sharing yourself here and I love your new photos. Your baby daughter is darling and worth the pregnancy weight! I know the extra lbs are bothering to you no end but you look fantastic. We are hardest on oursleves. Chin up and hang in there!

So, just popping in here to keep up with all my fellow vets (struggling or not!) and wanted to say how much you all inspire me and keep me going! We returned from vacation a week ago and there is NOTHING like a vacation to shake up your eating habits (for the worse!) even though we had planned ahead (brought bars with us and my sleeved hubby and I split every single meal...no microwave in our hotel to heat up leftovers!) So I know we saved money and more important calories. We went to Florida and had 4 day passes to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, but had a 9 day vacation, so there was at least 2 non-travel days away from the busy hot crowds at the theme parks. The food choices are truly terrible but we made the best of it. To get back on track we attended a Back to Basics class offered by our surgeon (free...yay!) It was great because we needed a review of the Rules of the Tool. I chatted at length with the instructor (my fav. NUT from my surgeon's office) about the 5:2 plan. She had not heard of it, but upon my insistence that several sleevers who are 2+ years out are swearing by it, she said she would be fine with me trying it. I'm to check in with her in a month and we'll revisit where things are at. My husband thinks I'm a little cray cray to try it, LOL, but he probably doesn't need to do it at this point in time. So I am going to jump in and give it a whirl. I have nothing to lose but excess weight and honestly from what I can tell about the plan and the reports of you vets who are doing it, it seems quite do-able with the sleeve. With a reg. stomach I think it would be infinitely harder to do 500 cals a day 2x a week!! If you want more details about the class itself and the Rules of the Tool, you can visit my blog where I wrote about it, in more detail. http://thisonebody.blogspot.com/ I'm not sure which day to start my fast, but it won't be today...date night! I will keep you all posted!

Great pics, love your swirly updo hairstyle!

Never vomited once, and well past the 2.5 year mark. Not even right after surgery (I had the anti-nausea patch behind my ear for a few days post-op) and never from eating too much food. I have never "slimed" either, not sure exactly what that is. Also (knocking on wood) haven't had a stomach flu or bug or anything that would have made me sick so I can honestly say I have never once had something come back up since being sleeved. I'm sorry you are living with daily vomiting like it's normal. To be perfectly honest...when I learned that some people with a band live like that it pushed me to the sleeve. I don't do well with things come back up and can't even imagine how horrible it must be to have band-induced vomiting. I hope your sleeve experience is MUCH better!!

I know I already told you this Coops, but you look amazing in the dress. So glad you had such a good time, and love that you had a nice day "after" your pub romp lazing in the garden in your swimsuit!

I haven't not read in a while due to being on VACATION! I really tried to eat well on vacation, but gah, we went to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure in FL over the week of 4th of July and holy hotdog Batman...healthy food is NOT their top priority. I wish I had taken a photo of my attempt at a healthy theme park lunch (I ordered grilled chicken sandwich and fries, and threw out the bun and most of the fries) but honestly this little chicken slab was so horrid looking I'm shocked I was able to even eat any of it. lol. Burger King would have made a better chicken sandwich! Anyway, just back trying to get back in the swing of things...threw out my back (too many roller coasters?) but the only saving grace for a vacation like ours was the sheer amount of walking we did each day. Hello cardio. Okay, sorry for butting in without reading the most recent previous posts...resume your regular programming...hehehe.

Georgia...you know I'm not 100% sure. I know they want people to call in and make appts when they are experiencing regain. I sort of lost touch with my every 3 month appt approach after I hit about 18 months post-op, so I have resumed seeing the NUT every 3 months starting in Jan of this year...(which is good but isn't making the regain magically disappear.) They also have a structured diet (ketogenic diet??? thinking Medifast-ish) that you use to replace food for a while. You don't just get to say "oh I'm sick of it, I'm OFF" so I think they slowly wean you off the diet and back to real food. Beyond that I'm not sure. I've thought about the keto diet but haven't jumped in because I honestly think it will be hard to mesh eating "my food" with feeding my family etc. So not sure, but I know he speaks about the "After 2 Year Gain" in his seminar and how part of his practice is focusing on eliminating that. I think most people tend to slink away when there is a gain and that is when you NEED him (surgeon) the most. Just like people slink away from here with a regain. Sigh...

Cheri you hit the nail right on the head with saying that you "don't have to be hungry to eat." Ah ha! Yes, and 2 years ago when I was 7-8 months post op I thought I had it all figured out, eat to live...duh. Isn't that was all the experts say eating *should* revolve around? Anyway, I'm still in the "moderation" camp vs. the "abstinence" camp but I do practice a lot of either or. I will either have a flatbread round for my sandwich OR a handful of pretzel sticks, but I wont' do both. Same for things like mexican dining, I will have the chips/salsa but NOT the rice. I haven't read the articles posted so I need to go do that. My surgeons spends a LOT of time trying to eliminate the 10-???lbs regain that he sees ALL the time. When he first said that I thought "oh not me, if I work so hard to get it off I will never regain" hahaha. Best laid plans. For the most part I DO focus on the -85lbs I have lost instead of the +15lbs that I have regained that I cannot seem to make disappear. After I get back from vacation I may have to jump on the 5:2 plan!

Here is a really neat article talking about how our Mothers' actions and words shape our body images even when we are young. http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/8760102/When-your-mother-says-shes-fat I have REALLY conciously tried to stop the negative talk when it comes to anything about bodies, shape, fat, etc. when it comes to my girls. I have an almost 11-year old daughter and a 12 year old daughter and the last thing they need to hear is "oh you'll just take after me and be fat." They were 9 and 10 when I was sleeved and I told them that I needed to have surgery to regain my health. It is my great hope that obesity does NOT find them and do harm to them.

Sometimes I find myself just opening the fridge and staring, or standing in the pantry looking. Aaaargh! WHY? I used to be able to tell myself "If you are not looking for Protein then you must not be hungry" and that would work. Now I do find myself snacking on things that are NOT on my plan, but for the most part I do at least portion it out. Never again eat handfuls out of the bag or box. It's good that you are recognizing the old ways and behaviors, that alone is going to help. Awareness is a good tool.

I still love plain Water also, but it does need to be ice cold. I have various assorted crystal lite mixes but find that I actually prefer water over something sweet to drink. I hate sweet tea so that is a good thing. The one thing that I will allow in my water is True Lime. It's not sweet, just like adding a squeeze of lime to your water (it's crystallized lime without added sugars). That might help. I just heard about adding sea salt to my water after a workout (instead of gatorade-type drinks) to replace lost electrolytes. I've tried it but not the biggest fan. Sometimes I can handle it if I do a mix of sea salt AND True Lime. So this is not to scare you, or to say that this is going to be your problem also but it's worth noting here. The citric acid in a lot of drinks can be bad for your teeth. (The True Lime that I mentioned has it also...so buyer beware.) http://lapbandgalsjourney.blogspot.com/2012/06/are-you-bulimic.html It's one of the many reasons that I try to drink plain old water.

I know of someone who was looking to have this done also...I will PM you her blog and maybe you can connect with her.

You look beautiful! congrats on all your hard work so far. Keep up the exercise, you will need it for life to keep the pounds away!

Congratulations on your 2 year! WOW! Judging from your before photos you were the LIFE of the party before having the VSG, but now YOU probably get to enjoy life SO much more...being able to swim, dance, etc. Love the last shot!