CraftyChristie

Whoooo hooooo!!!!! You can sit next to me at the club meetings Way to go!

I'm half of a sleeved couple here too! So happy to be doing this with my hubby. It's so nice to hear about your maintenance and that you still feel your restriction. Sometimes I worry that I eat so much more than I did several months ago... but I am pretty sure the amount has leveled off. I want to follow what you said... protein first, eat mostly the right stuff, but don't deprive myself. Sometimes my challenge is that "don't deprive myself" mentality leads to a lot of extras, too many extras. But I get sick with too much sugar at once too. Had a milkshake and thought I was gonna die, so that's off the list LOL. Thanks for sharing and I do hope you post pics!

Are you kidding? You are DEFINITELY a success story Great job!!

You look AMAZING my friend!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to see you in person

Congrats, that is wonderful! And I LOVE your saying .... "added years to my life and life to my years"... I'm totally going to have to use that!

I went through this too Brian! Firstly, do away with guilt. We struggle with these things and surgery doesn't make that go away, but you CAN change it. There are two forces at work here - mental and physical. Physical is easier - which is "the carb monster". All the foods you described are empty carbs and when we eat them, our body craves them more and more and MORE!!! It also makes us feel more hungry more of the time, which causes us to eat even more frequently. Now, mentally... I went through this too... "I can eat this and that because I eat so little"... I think we all have this happen because after surgery, it's true. We lose and lose no matter what choices we make. Eventually this stops being true as our capacity increases and we have GOT to make the right choices. I stalled a lot and even gained a couple times and I said enough. You need to "reset" your mindset again. Find that determination to make the right choices that you had after surgery... and physically you need to take a break from carbs entirely for a few days or even a week just to help your body lose its dependency on them and the craving. This can take whatever form you wish. It can be as simple as going back to all meals 100% protein only, meats etc... or doing a "pouch test" which is where you regress back to the stages from post op... liquids, mushies, soft meats, etc over the course of 5-7 days. For hubby and I, we did protein shakes all day long and two small high protein meals at night for 5 days. It helped us get the junk out of our system and refocus our priorities. I think I remember you having kids, so maybe saying "get that food out of the house" may not be an option for you. And, being a believer in Intuitive Eating, I don't usually advocate saying "NEVER" to any food. But maybe you can put some rules in place such as a little baggie with a mixture of these foods you enjoy - like a snack size baggie - and that is the amount you can enjoy. One baggie for the day, so you can dip into it when you find yourself wandering to the pantry, but once it's gone that's enough? I am not sure the best thing to suggest but I hope these ideas help. You CAN do this!!!!!!!! It is a fight to change these habits but you can do it.

That is what this stuff is ALL about. The number on the scale isn't the goal, the goal is to participate and live your life! I'm so happy for you!

Congratulations!!!! I know what you mean about looking at your clothes and not believing you fit into them. When I got into my size 18 jeans, every time I took them out of the dryer I thought they had shrunk. They just looked too small. For a couple months, every time I took them out of the dryer I'd put them on right away to start convincing my brain they fit. I haven't changed size in a few months now so my brain has FINALLY adapted and when I go shopping I can pick up things and look at them and judge whether they will fit. Before, everything I took into the dressing room was too big lol. It just takes a while for the brain to catch up to reality!!

Very excited for you - what a feeling!! I am still waiting for this milestone myself and can't wait to do that happy dance Congratulations on your huge accomplishment!!!

Congrats you are doing SO awesome!!!!! I have some size 20 shorts from Old Navy to get rid of if you think you might like them! Get it touch with me if you do

Hey all! I don't come on the forums hardly EVER anymore. But I do blog. I wanted to post my most recent blog entries in here to update on life at almost 10 months. My current loss is 102 lbs and I weigh 208 lbs. I'm eating too many carbs so that is gonna stop. I have taken up snowshoeing which is a great activity Those are the basics, but thought you guys might be interested in these blog posts. Feel free to comment either here or on the blog, but I will be more likely to see your comments on the blog My most recent entry: Current Struggles at 10 Months Post Op Other recent surgery-related entries from my blog: Weigh-In and Exercise talk (Feb 25th) Things I've Been Eating (Feb 16th) The ARM ISSUE! And Shopping (Feb 15th) 8 Month Progress Photos (Jan 29th)

Thanks for sharing!! I"m putting a recipe book together of soft foods and pureed foods for someone and I'm going to add this.

The World According to Eggface has a GREAT list of protein smoothie recipes here: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-favorite-protein-shake-recipes.html

What an AMAZING astounding difference. Incredible. So proud of how you are doing.

Way to go Julie!!!!! Don't pinch yourself... cuz it will hurt... cuz it's all real :-D

My VSG blog is http://healthy-christie.blogspot.com and my personal blog is http://christies-blog.com

I'm with poster #1 - Do the sleeve (because I really believe you can do this) and you can always get the 2nd part later if you truly need to. Even if it's a few years later. Although my starting weight was lower than yours, I am shorter, so my BMI was higher. I started at 310 lbs with a BMI of 52. I am 5 months post op and have already lost 93 lbs. My goal weight is 160, so I have 150 lbs of excess weight. So at 5 months I have already lost 62% of my excess weight!! I'm already beating the odds. True, I don't know what is going to happen later on... but there is that comfort that I COULD complete the DS procedure IF I chose to. Don't be convinced that because you are larger, you can't do this without bypass. YOU CAN.

Whoo hooo! That is awesome! If you need any more pants shoot me a message, I have lots of 2X/22/24/ even some 20's to get rid of

I woke up hungry in recovery as well. I actually dealt with VERY severe hunger my entire first week. I still have hunger at 5 months + post op... but it's a much more manageable hunger. once I was on mushies it got better, and on solids even better.

It's the whey protein If you are doing isopure or other protein stuff..... ew. Isopure gave it to me the worst. Not much you can do about it!!!!! I used wisps so I didn't have to keep brushing contantly.

I am one of the unlucky ones who has still had hunger - and so is my husband! BUT, even so, it helps a LOT. I still get hungry, but not like I did before surgery. I get hungry several times a day, when it really is time to eat. As long as I don't ignore it, I have plenty of time to make food and eat without every feeling ravenous. If I ignore it for a long time, the hunger does get stronger. I do take an acid reducer, and I have noticed when I don't take it for a few days, my hunger gets stronger, so that may be part of it. My hunger is also stronger during my period week. Hunger does not go away for everyone and you can't EXPECT that it will, because you could be disappointed - BUT, it will definitely help you to be a lot LESS hungry, and for hunger to be much more manageable. And you could be one of the people who doesn't get hungry - but some people actually complain that because they never feel hungry, they have no appetite and they lose the desire to eat. So either way, there will be challenges. I am happy to report though that even though I still have hunger, I have lost over 90 lbs in 5 months. So obviously, it is still quite successful. I actually am fine with still having hunger, because it reminds me to eat and I really enjoy food still. But sometimes hormonal stuff makes my hunger worse (I've been struggling re-adjusting to birth control and my period is pretty constant) and that can be difficult.

aww sweetie... I am just smiling ear to ear for you!!!!