wondering1

Congratulations on your loss! Here's hoping you lose the rest of whatever you want to lose and get to your goal!!

Hi August All-Stars! This week has been ok for me. I weighed in at 195.0 this morning for a loss of 2 pounds. I love my sleeve but it seems as though I'll never get to goal. The last few weeks this has become much harder. I feel like I can eat more than ever so I really have to watch myself and track all of my calories and fat. Is anyone else feeling this way recently? I'm getting tired of being "on a diet" too. Can't wait to get to goal. Is anyone close? Let us know how y'all are doing!

cbchebert, I don't think you're a failure, you just need to learn how to work this tool you have like the rest of us. We ALL had to and continue to learn how our bodies react and respond to our eating and exercising. I still eat every 2.5 to 3 hours, I just make sure I'm eating around 150-200 calories each time instead of 300-400 calories every couple of hours. When I really need a snack, I try nuts, cheese, or an Adkins protein bar (or half of one). This helps because if I still "think" I'm hungry, I know I'll be eating again soon. You can also try to work in some 100 calorie snack packs. I know there is an oreos one that is great. It doesn't give you any nutritional value, but it is a treat if you've been eating all protein all day. Please don't give up. You haven't come all this way and lost 50 pounds to go backward. We are all here to help and listen.

I have lost about 1/2 of my hair. It really bums me out but I know that it's likely to come back in 6 months or so. I get over 80 grams of protein daily, take 10,000 mg Biotin and use Nioxin shampoo, conditioner and scalp treatment. I think this is slowing down the loss but it's definately not preventing it. Ugh.

I have lost about 1/2 of my hair. It really bums me out but I know that it's likely to come back in 6 months or so. I get over 80 grams of protein daily, take 10,000 mg Biotin and use Nioxin shampoo, conditioner and scalp treatment. I think this is slowing down the loss but it's definately not preventing it. Ugh.

Hi Kristina!! You are right, Onederland is just around the corner for you! That's awesome! I'm down 4 pounds this week weighing in at 197!!!! I'm so excited. That makes my total loss 75 pounds. Hope everyone else had a fabulous week

This might sound crazy but I can't find any underwear that fits! I have diaper butt no matter what I wear. I was wearing a 22/24 panties from Lane Bryant. I went to Victoria's Secret and bought their all cotton panties in XL but they seem to stretch out a lot, I'm guessing due to the lack of spandex. I even went to Walmart to buy some underwear but I can't determine my size. All of them are sized differently like 5,6,7,8,9, etc. Has anyone found a good quality panty that's working for you? Please let me know what brand to buy and where to find them. Thanks ladies!

Amber - first let me say I'm sorry this has been a struggle for you. Everyone is different and has to do different things following surgery. I'm sure your doc is an expert. That being said, has anyone suggested you increase your calorie intake? Could your body be in starvation mode? I know for me, I don't lose weight unless I'm consuming 1100-1200 calories per day and around 90 grams of Protein. Of course I do exercise also, and I also had a lot more to lose than you. so like I said, my situation is different. But it seems that right now, you have nothing to lose by trying it. Let me know how it goes. Sending good thoughts and hugs your way (())

Don't have an empty signal... but when my sleeve has had enough I hiccup. That's when I know I'm done. My family has picked up on this too and when I get the hiccups they say "ok mom, stop eating". It's really funny.

Nope. January 8, 2012 is my 5 month anniversary and I have officially lost 75 pounds as of today. There is no way I will get to goal next month. And I consider myself a pretty hard worker at this though there were times I did fail and have to regroup. My goal was to lose 127 pounds total. So if I'm calculating right, I have only lost 60% of my excess weight. Now that I actually look at it and do the numbers, I'm kinda depressed. Ugh. Maybe I do need to work harder. Good luck with your journey.

Good for you! I think it's great that you're blogging your experience too. I looked at many blogs before making my decision to have this surgery. If I had the time, I would blog my own experience but I'm thankful for those that do. Also, I never told anyone about my surgery either and I'm so glad I didn't. Life is good now and almost normal

I went back to drinking coffee 2 months post-op. At first I drank Maxwell House 1/2 Lite coffee which is a mixture of 1/2 caffeine and 1/2 decaf. It was lovely. At month 3 I started drinking regular coffee and have at least one large cup every day. I hope I don't get ulcers but I love my coffee! Especially in the cold weather season.

I agree that this isn't a "warning", it's a part of you... a wonderful and well put together person. Speaking only from my experience and not meaning to offend anyone, I suggest you wait for marriage to take things to the next level. My husband and I decided to abstain while we were dating and we are both soooooo glad we did! We have been happily married 10 years now.

I try to get all my protein from food but there are days that I have to add some unflavored protein powder to my drinks. This helps me get 10-15 more grams of protein per day and I am able to reach my daily goal. This was good info PdxMan. Thanks for sharing your research.

Juzmejnee - I won't lose weight when I only consume 800-850 calories daily. I don't consider myself a slow loser, I think my weight loss has been steady and moderate. But I have to consume 1100-1200 calories per day and almost 90 grams of Protein to keep the scale moving. When I go below these amounts my body seems to panic and hang on to everything I feed it. This is just my experience, but if you're exercising regularly and only eating 800 calories, my suggestion would be to increase your calorie intake (good calories of course Try it and see if it works for you... if not, try something else. We're all learning.

Praying for you. I agree with others, do what the docs say and everything will be fine. Please continue to update us when you can.

Heatherr- I can't imagine wearing a thong it would get lost between my big dimpled cheeks, lol. I will take your advice and try them though. I'll make it my reward for if I meet my Valentine's Day goal.

Thank you all so much for your ideas! I'm going to Kohl's tomorrow to see which brands I can find in my size. If I'm not satisfied I'll keep trying other people's ideas. Can't do Lane Bryant anymore, too big

I eat every 2-3 hours and only eat around 200 calories or less at a time. When you're only eating a small amount, you get hungry faster. For example Breakfast might be coffee with sugar free cream and a greek yogurt, mid morning snack is 1/8 cup of trail mix. lunch is a low carb Lean Cuisine, like their steak and broccoli, afternoon snack is maybe 1/3 cup sweet potato. dinner is a 2oz piece of fish and maybe a scrambled egg. I end up eating around 1200 calories a day and have found that this works perfectly for me. Also, I don't really limit carbs on purpose, I just don't feel that great if I eat bread, rice or Pasta. The carbs in the yogurt and sweet potato seem to go down fine. Hope this answers your question but remember all of us are different. I agree with the above posters, we have to find what works for each of us. Good luck. Happy sleeving

Sorry to hear you're having such a rough time. I agree that maybe they should check your gall bladder.

That's fantastic! I'm hoping to be there soon myself. Pehaps this Saturday?

No serious complications... Just dealing with head hunger and feeling awful when I eat the wrong thing, like too much sugar or bread. There is definately a learning curve when working your sleeve. And it's soooooooooooooo worth it!!

Diva you look really good! Thanks for sharing all of your experiences because I really need the motivation sometimes. And it's true if we really mess up one day, or a couple of days, that we need to forgive ourselves and move on. Well said!

This is great! I really enjoy reading everyone's NSVs. I went from a 42DD to a 38DD and now I'm having to be fitted again. I love it. And Leslie - you're doing fantastic for just having had your surgery a few weeks ago. Wait until it's been a few months and you can hardly believe how small you've gotten

Well here we are the last day of 2011. December has been challenging for me. I weighed in at 201 today, which is down 2 pounds from last week. That makes my total loss for the month 9 pounds. I would've liked to have done better but that's water under the bridge. How did everyone else do this week / month? HAPPY NEW YEAR!!