swizzly

Thanks, everyone. It's been a fun year, honestly. I've enjoyed sharing it with all of you and hearing your successes, stresses, wins, NSVs, doubts and fears, victories, etc., as well. Here's to ENJOYING LIFE!!! <3 <3 <3

That. is. AWESOME!!! :wub: So presumably, you also wore your swimsuit in public as well?? How did that go? Congrats, HUGE NSV!!!! <3

Oh yay, that's three of us now! I feel so normal and not-alone, knowing that others are right about at 90lb about a year out. Seriously. I have been a relative piggy by WLS patient standards, eating 1000+ since one month post-op and 1500+ for most of the past year, so everytime someone talks about their 800 cals at 8 months out, I'm like oh ****, I've screwed the pooch for sure. But I think we all lose in our own way and time, and mine was with the full support and guidance of nutritionists, doctors and my therapist. I've said slow and steady all along, that's what I wanted, that's what I've gotten -- by WLS patient standards. By any normal dieter's standards, I've melted away over one year alone. Yeah, I still wouldn't mind to lose another 10lb, but I can see that it won't be easy or fast at all. Like my work colleague who has five kg to lose and she's really hoping to lose it by summer holidays in July. Nearly six months for those five kg. Made me remember the pre-WLS perspective anyhow. This is not a passive-aggressive sideways message to you, crosswind LOL -- I'm just thinking out loud. I can totally understand the idea of wanting to GET THERE and get it over with. And THEN think about how to maintain, which you probably will not have a problem with I don't think. I'd like to lose 10 more lb, which isn't going to go very fast based on how things have been the past few months. I really CAN'T do anything drastic in the WL arena because of my own history of obsessive behaviour...I consider myself a longterm recovering anorexic, not a grownup who fully has that stuff beat and behind me. So no, I step away from the brink when I am anywhere near it coz I don't think I will ever have full control once I get into that zone. Right. All that said, Happy Medifasting, crosswind!! I do hope you'll keep posting and telling us how you're doing, I love hearing from you and hearing the thoughts of someone else who seems similar to me in some ways. Oh, FWIW on the carb topic -- I've never counted carbs at all, except to keep them in balance with my overall eating -- which is what my nutritionist anyhow asks for. I used to get 'in trouble' all the time early out coz I wasn't eating enough carbs, so by now I'm doing much better at it. But I'm sure people would go nuts at my numbers, I don't think I've ever been below 40 for a single day. :-o So now I'm going to google Medifast, as I have no idea what it is.

Yo, crosswind -- what's ya goddamn hurry?? You're doing great and are on the right track for you (and for me, honestly -- we are following a very same approach and I've also lost 90 lb in a year, and I also eat 1500+ cals per day), so why suddenly get antsy and dip your toe back in the waters of diet OBSESSION? Not. worth. it. Stick with what you're doing, be patient FFS, and you'll get there!! :-) Don't go mental on yourself, don't mess with the success you are having and will continue to have just for the sake of being impatient. Bad trade-off IMO.

That's a great one! I love it. :-) A very senior person in my organisation didn't recognise me in a meeting earlier this week until I said my name, then she did a double-take with wide eyes (she was leading the meeting so she couldn't actually stop and say anything), so I totally knew what she was thinking LOL. It was kind of funny.

Thanks, Coops. :-) Means a lot to me.

Today's my one-year anniversary, it kind of sneaked up on me. One year ago today, I had a sleeve gastrectomy, and now a year later I weigh about 90lb less (down about 42kg) and went from 40 BMI to 24 BMI. Started in size 18W-20W and am now in a size 6 or 8 trousers and mostly medium tops. I work out three times a week, walk to work and back every day, eat too much sometimes, eat mostly healthy most of the time, and enjoy my life. I could still be happy with another 3-8 kg loss, but I'm not sweating it. :-) Thanks for listening...

I live outside the US, but I think in the States it's called Acti-Gall or something similar to that.

I didn't wake up with a tube down my throat, I did have a JP drain in for five days. I didn't have gas pain at all, but my incisions and my little tummy hurt a bit -- also had a couple of days of dry heaves post-op. I would not classify this surgery as painful really, compared to other pains I have experienced. I didn't have pre-op or post-op liquids-only, I live in a place where the emphasis is getting you back onto normal foods asap. I did have to inject myself with blood thinners for four weeks post-op (was a breeze), and also took the anti-gallstone (massive) pills for six months. I wasn't all that worn out or tired post-op for very long (doctor/nut claim that the 'real' food has a lot to do with this, I don't know if that's true or not though), though I was off work for five weeks (local practice, I probably could have worked sooner just fine...glad I didn't have to though!). My hunger did NOT go away, except for seriously like a day or two (it's not acid, I'm successfully treated by PPIs ever since surgery and do not have any acid problems at all), so I've done all this while still getting hungry. My full signal came back a month or two post-op, which was great. Since I was hungry, feeling 'full' was exactly what I needed. This is totally do-able even WITH an appetite, IMO. ETA: I DID lose a ton of hair, it IS coming back slowly. I didn't go through ketosis or have the funny taste, hyper sense of smell, or lose my taste for any foods that I liked pre-op (ie, I still like them all now). There is almost nothing I can't eat (!). I have found it to be ludicrously easy. It's been a fun journey as I've gone along, the progression of things intrigues me, and my body showing up again is fascinating. I enjoy food and eating, so that's still nice. I just can't eat loads of food at one go. I've been eating 1000+ cals per day since about 2 months post-op and am now up to 1500+ per day. I've lost 90+ lb in the year since surgery and am just a few pounds from goal. It's great!! If there's one thing I would say, it would be: Go for it! It's an incredible opportunity. <3

I've lost 90lb too, but it's taken 11 months and three weeks. LOL. I *know* the head **** you're talking about crosswind, I've lived there most of my life since about age 15. But I will. not. go there ever again. Won't. Will not. No how. I don't know what to tell you in terms of exiting that head space, but I am just saying it's possible to get out of that space, but you have to be willing to let go of punishing yourself for being fat, with being in a hurry to get 'somewhere' (where?) and being afraid of getting there. Six months from now, you'll be a smaller size and you'll weigh less unless you invest serious effort into trying not to. Will you be happier then? If not, why? If so, why can't you cut to the chase and get happy now? Yeah, I'm annoying and believe it's a choice. I do positive self-talk all the GD time, and I train myself to think in ways that I *want* to think. Give it a try. Anyhow, to me it's obvious you're smart enough to figure this out, so what do you think? What do YOU think? Tell us what the problem is. Let's talk about the problem. Because I'm pretty sure it's only tangentially related to weight per se. I could be wrong, though -- it's not like it's unprecedented. Always happy to read your posts, nice to 'see' you again. ETA: Meant to say, your post title is BS, dude. You're so NOT fat. STOP THAT. Your subconscious doesn't know from jokes...it just believes what you say...

{{{Coops}}} BIG HUGS to you. Much love and healing peace to you, your students, and especially his family. I'm so sorry for the tragic loss of a bright young life.

The thing that stands out most for me is that I think your husband is depressed and needs to be treated for it. He is acting out exactly in ways that are predictable for middle-aged men who are depressed. I think prozac or similar would work a miracle probably. Anyhow, ALL the best to both of you -- two really good people trying to work it out. :-) <3

missmeow, I could have written most of your posts word for word (except, dumping and nutritional deficiencies are largely by-products of the RnY, not the sleeve, so do a bit more research so you feel more comfortable), wasn't a miserable fat person, or a 'food or carb addict.' I'm post-op nearly a year now and haven't had a 'grieving' period for losing my BFF food, cos food plays pretty much the same role in my life as it always has...just less of it! I was always super healthy my whole life, and was thin a lot of my life too. I did get hypertension a few months before I finally decided to go for the WLS, and that was a shocker cos it doesn't run in my family. My own body and lifestyle had introduced a new health problem into the gene pool. I do think my weight was causing me issues at work, and some of those are resolving now -- c'est la vie! I'm not bothered when people are nicer to me now than they were before, human nature is what it is and I don't take it personally. So yeah, a year post-op, I'm nearly to "goal" -- tho my goal is fairly ill-defined lol...I hate goals. And it's been dead easy. And I didn't start working out until a couple months ago, and now I do three times a week. I've lost 90 lbs in a year, which is fast by normal dieting standards maybe? But slow by WLS standards, which is exactly what I also wanted. I got to 1000 cals per day as fast as I could post-op, and I've been 1000-1500 per day throughout the past year. I am fiiiiine with being 'slow.' I tell you, it doesn't seem all that slow . Anyhow, good luck! Any more questions, keep asking. :-) cheers

I've been eating the Quest bars for months now and still losing the same as I was.

Oooh, me too!! Thanks for the links, happy!!

I always forget to mention the texture when people ask me about the Quest bars! Argh! Yes, they are *very* chewy (a texture I totally love anyhow). And they do have very little, if any, 'crunch' to them. I love their very firm chewiness and substantiality, but it's not to everyone's taste I know. I have not had any crunchy Protein bars, ever, so I didn't even think about mentioning that bit. Think of a very, very chewy brownie that's also gone a couple days past being fresh -- that kind of chewy. Like a tootsie roll maybe? I can't think of a proper comparison... Even if the texture is not to your liking, perhaps the flavors will still win you over -- or the nutrition profile, which all else being equal, is awesome. For anyone with troubles getting in enough fibre, one of those a day will put you right up at top fibre levels.

I would bet GOOD MONEY that that is not a "real" gain, but rather a fluctuation. It's simply not physically possible to gain actual fat pounds on 1000 cals per day. {{{Globetrotter}}}

@LilDiva...minus the binge-eating, your story and mine are very similar. My mom put me on the Scarsdale Diet when I was pretty young, and made me do Jane Fonda with her (LOL...the '80s...). My family are a bit nuts about weight and thought I was "fat" long before I actually was even close to fat. Oddly enough, my sister and I are the only ones who ended up heavy, and we are the ones they bugged about it the most. /sigh It's difficult to have any kind of normal relationship to food as an adult, I so hear you on that one. For me, I have to walk a very fine line between "letting myself" eat in a healthy and sufficient way, and becoming hypercontrolling and not eating enough at all (sleeve could really enable the latter, so I have to be good about not skipping meals or snacks). I sometimes eat too much on purpose, just to remember that I CAN and the world won't end. Ugh. Inside I wonder if we ever grow up... That all said, I've been eating more than 1500 cals per day for a while now and still lost a couple of kgs in the past couple months. Yesterday I ate 1800 cals LOL, had a pistachio-fest after work. :cornut: I am thinking I'm so close to my (totally arbitrarily selected) goal that I don't mind if I'm more maintaining than losing now. I actually forgot to weigh myself this morning! So yeah, speaking of being "normal" -- Meg, I definitely understand that desire and I'm working on that one too. I don't track a day or two each week -- and I started tracking only because I needed to see my Protein counts cos I don't have shakes. Now it's a habit, but amazingly!! I haven't become obsessed over it and just do it in what I consider a healthy way now. THAT is progress for me.

I live in a very high-cost-of-living place, so the Quest bars seem reasonably priced to me, I don't remember US prices enough to know what other bars cost (also, I've never used Protein shakes, so this is my only 'diet' food thing). But they are heavy, too -- so shipping them is not cheap, though their rates within the US are actually very reasonable. I pay to have them shipped overseas and then import duties as well -- they end up probably being $4 per bar...and I STILL consider them to be essential and will not give them up! :biggrin: 48 more are on their way as we speak... Rosie -- I think the PB&J ones are very yummy, though I prefer the straight PB ones personally, just cos PB&J is not a flavour I really dig. The Original ones are all awesome IMO, and the new "Natural" ones are not my cup of tea...though I'd still eat 'em if I had 'em!! (God, I should get paid by Quest for all the pimping I do.) *LOL*

See, now THAT I agree with (perhaps easier for me to relate to this as an ex-smoker though). Your earlier assertion was much stronger than that -- ie, calling it irresponsible when smoking cessation IS advised/required, which I still disagree with. Would it also be irresponsible to require that someone with a diagnosed eating disorder, especially bingeing disorder, get treatment for that (AND quit bingeing or other problematic behaviours) prior to surgery? Or just irresponsible to require both at the same time? I'm really trying to understand where you're coming from, because I suspect we are more similarly opinioned on this than our discussion thus far would indicate. LOL.

I know plenty about it. But I'm fine to disagree. And I'm always liberal with my opinions, obviously.

Of course all addictions have a psychological component. However, they do not all have an actual physical (ie, withdrawals and physical danger from stopping suddenly) component. So there are varying addictions for sure. When people start losing jobs, families, stealing from their pensioner mother, blowing dudes on the corner for food, then I'll be more inclined to see a true physical addiction. Until then, it's primarily a psychological addiction -- which is not less problematic AT ALL. It's just not the same as physical withdrawal and the medical problems relating to that. If you are addressing me, you are putting words in my mouth. I was speaking about smoking cessation, which is virtually never in itself accompanied by suicidal ideation. Depression, despair and suicidal thoughts are of course very serious, I'd never say otherwise. "Treating" them by enabling addiction is not a good answer either. Rather than using an intensive, convoluted justification for smoking, it would be better to see a good therapist and be treated with appropriate medications to intervene for the sake of addressing the depression. That said, as I said earlier, I wouldn't be too fussed about getting all upset about the smoking whilst trying to address the depression -- but neither would I think continuing smoking in itself would do SFA to address the actual problem. Thus I wouldn't find it 'irresponsible' to still recommend smoking cessation if I were a medical professional dealing with such a patient. I wouldn't bang on about it or punish the patient (I got in trouble here once months ago for getting ALL pissed off at a doctor who denied surgery to someone, on the day, because they had fallen off the smoking wagon), just as I wouldn't carp on ANYONE dealing with depression and suicidal ideation. Well, you're tilting at windmills here. I've never said the surgery was a magic bullet, I for sure don't think it's true personally. I don't think anyone who has even a vague clue thinks the surgery is a magic bullet, apart from the know-nothings who claim we are 'taking the easy way out.' I wasn't at all speaking about removing FOOD from the equation, I was discussing the topic at hand -- which is smoking. Removing FOOD from people who are psychologically dependent on food as a mood-stabilising substance is indeed a very difficult process and many times requires professional intervention (or should do anyhow). Removing CIGARETTES from an otherwise healthy individual will never (shall I say 99.9% of the time?) cause suicidal depression. That's my entire point -- and there's nothing irresponsible about it.

What a great post, and very insightful. Thanks for sharing it!! I too get worked up over work **** and it can really make me mental sometimes. I'm not a binger, but I do have some compulsive food behaviours (mostly to do with not eating) that always want to resurface when I'm stressed. And this is after years of therapy about it. Some things will just always be a struggle I think. I wish you all the best -- being mindful as you were during this episode is more than half the battle in my opinion. <3

Well, cigarettes have chemicals in them that cause a bona fide physical addiction, whilst food causes a psychological addiction at best. So quitting them both is possible, but definitely psychologically very difficult. I quit smoking prior to surgery, though it's not required where I am -- I just wanted to do so. I have been lucky to have found quitting to be relatively easy, I know others go through a hell of a time with it. Have you tried the e-cigarette? I have a friend here who absolutely swears by it (and you can 'smoke' it indoors as well, so no freezing required LOL). That said, in my opinion it's not at all irresponsible to ask people to quit smoking before having surgery, to break the physical and psychological addiction all at one go. And also to help with a safer surgery and easier recovery, as cigarette smoking hinders both (and increases the risk for clots significantly). Yes, it's very difficult for sure -- and not everyone does it, which I understand. However, saying that people need to be gently enabled in one addiction so that they can 'cure' their other one strikes me as fairly absurd. "Transfer addictions" are a big danger indeed -- but one doesn't go ahead and provide or mollycoddle a transfer addiction for people to slide into. I think the real issue isn't giving up multiple problematic/compulsive behaviours, I think the issue is addressing the addictive personality or underlying need that is being met by addictive behaviours so that the person finds *healthy* coping mechanisms rather than easy transfers. That ALL said, I am not one to tell people to quit smoking, never have been. I know full well that people only quit when they are *ready* to do so. But I'm not a surgeon -- and when they ask people to quit smoking, I think they are perfectly justified in doing so in order to try for the least risk and best outcome from surgery. I would never consider it irresponsible of *anyone* to encourage people to quit smoking when it's appropriate to do so -- though it's absolutely useless to bug smokers about quitting, which is why I don't do so. Annoying and a waste of time, yes. Irresponsible, no, not at all. When people are in rehab for drug or alcohol addiction, smoking is the last thing I'd bother about -- so in that sense I agree with you. But there is no rehab for food -- and there are good reasons for that. It's really apples and oranges IMO.

Excellent news!! I never would have suspected anemia as the culprit -- weird how these things manifest, no? I don't think that is my problem (using the word 'problem' quite loosely, as the only thing that's weird is my lame cough -- I have no real breathing problems per se), though, as my iron levels were normal-high at the last two checks. Though I will be on the lookout for this at my next check, which is coming up in a couple of weeks...thanks for coming back and letting us know what was happening!! I hope the iron continues to make things rosy (groan) for you!! @LilDiva -- my Nut has advocated for 'days off' since I had the surgery. They are very big on the moderation plan here, and they want you to take the whole weekend as no-count days. I didn't do that much during the first few months, but I do try to do it at least one weekend day now. I still of course am tracking in my head, can't shut that off, and I don't really go overboard or anything, but it's nice to feel like I *can* give myself a break without thinking I'm going off the deep end.