M2G

I went from a 44D/DD to a 36D/DD (D or DD just depends on the make) so I didn't lose the cup size, just the band.

Funny I had my gall bladder laproscopically removed about 14 years ago and then the sleeve almost 2.5 years ago, and once I had "fresh" VSG scars I couldn't even FIND my GB ones. They have really faded quite a bit. I'm definitely not rocking a two piece tho...skin, stretch marks and scars..oh my! Good thing I'm married. Oh and appropriate bedroom attire will certain take the eye away from scars OR cover them completely.

Wow, that is just amazing! Your shape has changed completely...you look GREAT! Congratulations on your success! And I love the streaker cat...mine does that too. After all they are part of the family, so of course when the camera comes out they need to be part of it too. haha.

OMG, thanks for the laugh. My brother once made a reference to "dropping the kids at the pool" and I had NO CLUE what he was talking about. I got confused thinking he was taking my daughters swimming. He had to explain it to me and I was horribly embarrassed. But your post just brought back that conversation from many years ago and made me laugh. Thanks.

Lemme send you a PM...

NannieG....Yay, glad to see you back as well! I've been basically counting calories over at caloriecount.about for a long time now. (Obv. not when I spent some of 2012 regaining weight, there wasn't a whole lotta tracking going on from April-Dec.ooops) but I find that I eat much of the same foods day to day. And I will go in spurts, like I will eat a greek yogurt everday then stop for a while. Same with hard boiled eggs. Will do them for a few days then not. I honestly haven't googled Paleo though hearing LOTS about it. I think we all need to do wahtever works for us. One reason that I feel like I was a slow loser was because I didn't want to swear off certain foods for life. I went to one of my surgeon's seminars as a person on his pateint panel (I like to call them dog and pony shows because it's where everyone sits and listens for 2 hours and then signs up for appts with him) and there was a RNY lady there who had done quite well with her surgery, even had the tummy tuck, etc and said "You would have to put a gun to my head to make me eat a potato, or rice, bread now" and I thought...OMG who doesn't love sneaking an occassional french fry? I picked the sleeve because I didn't want the death penalty if I eat some ice cream or a french fry. That being said sometimes it gets exhausting being so on-top of what I put in my mouth. I think that is part of the reason I fell off the wagon...the sheer dedication it takes to maintain...well, that isn't from surgery that ends up being on us. Well, sorry for rambling...My hair is also somewhat recovered. I've been considering growing it longer but cant' seem to get past where I am. Sigh

There is a social group someone started about CO sleevers. But it's really quite dead over there... http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/forum/160-colorado-sleevers/

I'm in CO! Centennial. Had my surgery Oct. 2012 with Dr. Snyder. Workitoutwoman...perhaps we will see each other at support group? I haven't been going the last 4 months because of a class I'm taking that conflicts with the sleeve group time, but I will be there in May! I'm normally a support-group junkie so the last 4 months have been HARD on me! lol I always get a kick out of CO being the leanest state. On one hand I get it but on the other I see obesity eeeeeverywhere!

Funny how pregnancy affects so many things! Glad you can eat dairy again...I think I would just die if I couldn't do dairy. cheese and yogurt are some of my daily staples of living! Do they have PB2 where you are (I know you can order it online) but it's powdered Peanut Butter with less calories/carbs than reg. PB. You mix it with Water and it turns into a PB consistency. I don't eat it plain but I know some people do. I add it to my plain greek yogurt. 12g adds 45 calories but also 5 more g of Protein to my yogurt! One of my daughters is allergic to peanut butter so I have to be careful ...lol sneak it when she isn't around! haha.

I just now found this thread and feel compelled to join in. In the beginning, when I would hear others talk of a "honeymoon phase" (ie. window of opportunity post-op sleeve to lose the weight) I thought that was the silliest thing ever. Why would there be an expiration on losing weight, I thought. Well, indeed, for me personally, there was a window and it closed during my 4th month post-op. For my 4th month post-op I lost -2lbs. There is no denying that was rough. And before you go thinking I was eating ice cream or slacking off on exercise, quite the contrary was true. I was eating about 800-900 calories a day, mostly all Protein and a few veggies and had increased my working out from 3-4 days a week to 5-6. Basically I was following all of my post-op food/exercise guidelines to a "T" and was rewarded with a -2lb loss for an entire month. Now of course I went on to lose more weight, but I truly felt like that was the beginning of the 'struggle'. I did eventually lose -100lbs in about an 18 month time frame. Which still didn't give me a "healthy" BMI. But I'm ok with that. My goal was never a number on the scale, a certain BMI, or a size in the clothing department, my goal was to reduce my risk factors for many obesity-related issues. So from that standpoint, I had reached my goal...getting healthier. I've always been pretty good about exercise. Even when I was morbidly obese I still worked out 3x a week. And after the sleeve I upped that to 4-6x a week and at one point I went on some crazy exercise binges where I worked out every day for like 50 days at a time. At one point, I went back to work full-time and my workouts had it dropped down to 2x a week and now I'm more balanced at 5-6 days a week. I guess I didn't view exercise as "temporary" I view it as my "me" time. At first it was like a chore, you know laundry, dishes, exercise. But now it's more like a treat because I like the way I FEEL after I exercise. So even though I am 2.5 years post-op I'm not DONE exercising and God willing I never will be DONE exercising. I am happy that there are fast losers here. I'm happy FOR them and happy to see and hear about their experiences. (And yeah, I used to get jealous) but we all have our own struggle. Whether we lose the weight fast, or slow, the whole thing is not a race, because there is NO FINISH LINE. Maintenance is for life. And while I'm at it I will say this: there really is no expiration on losing weight. I'm now just shy of 2.5 years post-op and I spent a good 9 months during my 2nd year putting on some regain weight. Anywhere from 15-20lbs of it. So I have rededicated myself to this journey and now since Jan. 1, 2013, I have lost -9lbs of that regain (that is 9lbs in 4 months and honestly that is about the rate that I gained weight.) That old saying "you didn't gain the weight overnight, and you aren't going to lose it overnight" yeah, well that is true. Again, true to form the weight isn't flying off, just because I'm tracking calories, drinking Water and exercising. So again, I have to have patience that I will eventually work off to where I was and then keep going to goal. Coops is and always has been my hero also. She is my sleeve-sister...not because we share a sleeve date or anything but because we have both shared the struggle of losing slowly and keeping the faith going. She has done beautifully and I can't wait to see her post-TT success. And yes Coops, I think the time has come to change your ticker. Enjoy your journey my SS.

You guys are the cutest couple! I *LOVE* seeing this and hearing about other husband/wife experiences. Since hubby and I are both sleeved, it was one of the best decisions of our lives. I can't imagine life any other way, if you have a morbidly obese spouse, having surgery together (not exactly at the same time) is one of biggest support systems you can imagine. I think that last picture of you guys together tells SO much of the story when you look at the before. WOW!!!

I forgot about hard-boiled eggs. I go in kicks. Will boil 6 or 8 and keep them handy for a week or so. Hubby is sleeved also and likes them and one of my two daughters will eat them also. Then I forget about them for a while and will have a grocery store day when I buy 18 new eggs but still have 5 or 6 sitting in the fridge. They are better to boil when they aren't as fresh. I add a tbsp of vinegar to the boiling water to help make them easier to peel. Thanks for the reminder Linda!

Yes, that is odd...just maybe as I wasn't posting as much, then you arrived? And you are right, didn't think about 'old timer' as negative. Oops. (Miss Tiffy and LilMiss also...) Well, at any rate, pleased to meet you and CONGRATS on your loss! And can I just say that if you had made me guess your age there is NO way in a million years I would have said "oh 48!" HOLY COW! You look amazing!!! Yeah real world creeps in from time to time, and unfortunately as much as I wish it wasn't true, the paying attention to what I eat, tracking from time to time and working out all are factors in my ability to keep it off. I never have and never will be the person who "can just eat anything and I like and never gain an ounce" (don't we all want to smack those people?) Thanks again for the welcome back...

Congratulations on the new baby girl. She is darling! And you are moving and dealing with a new baby and POSTING! (makes my excuses pale in comparison. ) So glad she is here and what a wonderful testament to regaining your health! A happy, healthy mommy makes for a happy, healthy family. Thanks for the pictures...

That is about how often I eat them also. However, back when I was packing a daily lunch, though, I probably ate one a day with about 15g (half of a "serving") of mixed nuts and that would count as one of my "snacks" for the day. Oh, just thought of a another favorite combo (cheese and nuts being one) half a granny smith apple with 1oz or less of cheddar cheese. Apparently this just turned into a post about how much I love cheese (cottage included... )

Thanks for the nice welcome back ladies! Due to some of my classes, I've had to miss a couple of month's worth of my regular support groups. (My surgeon does a TON of support, and I'm a support group junkie, like up until my classes started in Jan. I had NOT missed a single month of support since my surgery!) So this is good for me to realize that I can get support here (and I still need it even being this far out!) So thank you all so much.

This may or may not kick the hunger out, but I keep the light Babybel cheeses in my fridge. The light version is only 50 calories and a whopping 6 grams of Protein. (They are pricey at the grocery store but well worth it at Costco). It really helps me feel like I'm eating something without blowing my calorie budget. They are the ones sold in a plastic netted bag and each cheese wheel is encased in a layer of wax. As long as they stay cold they are quite portable.

Congrats on hitting the one year mark. -115 is awesome, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

AMEN!!!

Beautiful pictures (super-cute pup too!) I agree, it's amazing to accomplish something like this. Well done, and congrats!

Thanks SOS!! I just found and posted over in the Vet's forum. I would so love to eat 2000 cals a day. A very bad day of eating and grazing will usually net me 1,700 calories. But that is like a day when I just say what the heck, and will eat birthday cake, and a few extra carbs here and there, etc. (and yep I will still measure and log it so I can see what I'm eating...) But it would be interesting to try and get in 1,700-1,800 calories that don't have the extra calories coming from carbs/junk. I really should try to eat that many cals but having most of it come from Protein. Hum, something to think about.

This is such an interesting topic to me! I feel like the short answer to the question is YES, I've metabolically screwed myself by having WLS. Disclaimer here that everyone is different and there is NO ONE THING THAT EVERYONE CAN DO and have it work 100% of the time. I'll pick on myself. I eat about 900-1,200 cals a day. I'm currently trying to work off a regain from my 2nd year post-op. (I'm almost 2.5 years post-op) and so far eating low-calorie and low-carb has netted me a -9lb loss since Jan. 1, 2013. Now I'm not perfect and there were days that I ate 1,500 or 1,700 calories but in general since Jan 1st, I've keep it to an average of 1,100 cals. On the other hand, my husband who is 2 years post-op (march 7 was his anniversary) eats pretty much whatever he wants only in smaller quantities. He never tracks his calories, carbs or Protein, but he eats routinely similar food (like greek yog, turkey, chicken, etc.) but doesn't restrict his carbs nearly as much as I do and he has maintained a 70lb loss for about a year now. I'm very interested in possibly resetting my metabolism. I had a body scan done about a year and a half ago and at the time my RMR was 1,400 cals (i.e. I could do NOTHING all day and burn up to 1,400 cals). I work out hard 2-3 days a week and lighter 3-4 days a week. I probably burn about 200-800 calories per workout depending on how hard it is. The one really GOOD thing about the sleeve is I'm not starving at 1,100 cals a day. I feel like I eat enough, but I get frustrated because I think if I had eaten 1,100 cals a day BEFORE being sleeved, OMG I would be soooooo skinny now. LOL.

OMG, Coops! I KNEW IT! I knew you would see the 150's soon. It's real, I have no doubt my friend! I had forgotten about this thread and so many apologies to those who have been faithful with their updates. I'm just shy of 2.5 years post-op and I was lazy in my 2nd year and from Apr 2012 - Dec 2012 gained about +20lbs. NOT GOOD. So I'm working it off, and I just have to say how totally unfair it is for it to come on so fast but how it takes it sweet time leaving. I'm down -9lbs since Jan. 1, 2013 and it is only because I've been quite dilligent with tracking my food, calories+carbs+protein. Big effort. Also because I'm exercising 5-6 days a week. But it is just a S L O W process and there are many days that I resent the fact that I exist on basically 900-1,200 calories a day and don't see big losses on the scale. But that is my issue so I need to just vent about it and get over it. Sigh.

Welcome, this really will be a NEW LIFE for you! Congrats!

I hate to be a downer, but for me maintenance has always been the struggle of ANY diet I've ever been on, and for the most part, the sleeve is no different. After you are past your honeymoon stage, losing the weight becomes harder and harder. Gaining can happen fairly easily (for me anyway) all I have to do is quit paying attention to what I put in my mouth and viola, the scale goes up. Here is where the sleeve makes a difference for me. I eat about 900-1,200 calories a day. I'm almost 2.5 years post-op. I don't feel hungry even on such low calories. I do much better when I eat 80-115g of protein a day. When I let more than 100g of carbs slip in that is when I feel MORE hungry, due to more carbs. Maintenance is for life, that is the hard part! But you can do it, if you are willing to put in the work!