Eureka-C

I took the baby food meat, added salt and garlic powder, then spread it on a saltine. I found it easier for a quick meal and it was healthier than potted meat. I only ate maybe 6 jars in all. I was tired of tuna and canned chicken and ground hamburger didn't sit we'll in my tummy.

Hello neighbor! I live at Lake Tawakoni, not far from you.

Howdy neighbor

First of all, congratualtions on what you have achieved! You have lost 90 pounds in a year, and kept if off for two months. YEA! What other program have you done that has given you those kinds of results?

You are so right. I have never done this before, and I am very happy with my results.

Second thing, I would seriously re-think your ultimate goal of 150pounds. You couldn't maintain that weight at 16 years old without starving yourself, do you really want that as your ultimate goal? If you want to weigh less than you do now, talk you your doctor about what a realistic end goal would be. How much exercise do you want to do once you are at goal weight? How restrictive do you want to be with your goal weight eating?

I know My goal is really just to get below 200 (195 maybe), but when people keep talking about reaching their goal and falling below goal, I can't help thinking "maybe?" "Why can't that be me?" Like I said 150 is the top of my "normal" weight for my height. Am I destined to be "overweight?"

Try not to compare yourself with others. We all are different and our journeys to becoming healthy, happy normal weight people (not necressarily "skinny" people) are different.

I really try hard not to compare, but it is hard. A coworker had the surgery one month before me. She is the same height and about the same build as me and already has dropped to 140, wearing a size 8. The little kid in me throws a tantrum, jumping up and down screaming "its soooo not fair." The adult in me recognizes we are all different, and I made different choices. I am happy, but I can't help having occasional fairy tale dreams.

Best of luck to you. PM me if you would be interested in getting together.

Thanks Sharon, maybe after the holidays? It is a crazy time around here. Would you be interested in a walking partner?

Erica

I am a week post op today. I have been on Clear liquids this week and am supposed to move to soft/pureed foods today. I will able to have cheese, yogurt, pureed Beans, and eggs. I am supposed to have two meals a day and no Snacks. I can have a Protein drink at Breakfast and then lunch and dinner, but no snacks!

I could not get in enough calories at first to do this. It is a fine line between setting good habits and getting in enough to sustain a full days work every day. Early on even eating six or seven times a day, I barely got in 400-500 calories some days.

Thank you both for the support.

As for a goal weight of 150 - that is what my doctor recommended, it would put me at the very highest end of "normal" weight. Realistically, I don't see it. I am happy where I am now. It would be nice to hit that 100 lost point and drop below 200. That would put me in a size 14, which would make me very happy.

I also think exercise is a big part of it. I have never been a sports person. I always tell people if they had special education for PE, I would have been in it. I have a very poor reaction time, poor coordination, et cetera. BUT... I am no longer embarrassed by it like I was when I was younger, and just laugh it off. So, after the holidays, its back to exercising... usually walking with my daughter, bike riding, or playing kinect with my children. I think that might give me the extra I need to lose another 10 pounds by March. And I will feel good, unlike how dieting makes me feel.

November 22nd was my one year surgiversary. I have been thinking about what to post, but could not do it. I am not at goal. I have not even lost 100 pounds. I have stalled the last 2 months. What do I have to offer others? Then someone asked me a question that made me look at the past year differently. The following is my story.

Goal...hmmmm..... so I have lots of revolving thoughts and feelings around that issue. My ideal goal is 150 pounds. That was my lowest weight ever at age 16 in 11th grade. I only stayed there about 6 months and that was by starving myself (no Breakfast or lunch), apple after school and small dinner so my mom wouldn't know I wasn't eating. I have little to no willpower and enjoy food too much for that to last long. So by start of freshman year of college, I was up to 220. I was active, ate whatever I wanted and rebelled against lifelong dieting. I gained 50 pounds that year. Then went on fen/fen and weight watchers and lost the fifty. I was around 225-230 for years, even through my first pregnancy. Then when I found out I was pregnant a second time, with a newborn infant at home, I crashed into a depression and ate my way through my second pregnancy. After that, although I came out of the depression, I decided dieting made me miserable and refused to diet, so I slowly crept up to my max weight of 299 (might as well have been 300). Then several things happened. Both my overweight and younger cousins were diagnosed with type ii diabetes. My mom had a heart attack, and a separate issue, almost lost her food to charcot's disease, a side effect of type ii diabetes. My father was diagnosed with type ii diabetes and myasthenia gravis. Both my parents were over 400 pounds, not even 60 and might not live to 65. Then my uncle, mom's brother died at 58 of a heart attack, also has type ii diabetes. I looked around and noticed most of the people in my family have serious medical issues by 45 and die before 60. Here I was almost 40, with edema, pre-diabetic, can barely walk up a flight of stairs, had to get off the roller coaster with my children because they couldn't latch the bar. So, I don't want to die, live next 10 years of my life with serious medical issues, and miss out on my children and future grandchildren's lives. I decided to have surgery. The stats say most people lose 60%. That would put me around 210. At 210, I can exercise, dress nice, feel good, and have a lower risk of health problems. I am overweight, but not obese. I can happily live with 210. So, I had the surgery. I was inspired by all those who lost sooooo much and got to goal in 6 months, 7 months, a year. Then, they got below goal. WOW. So, I thought maybe I can get to goal (150) too, but in the back of my mind, I thought there is no way. I rebelled. I don't want to diet ever again. Healthy is more important than skinny, so I keep saying to myself. I follow all the rules. But I am not careful. I eat what I want for the most part. Here I am one year later at 208-212 for the last two months. I have plateaued. I know if I diet and am really careful, I can easily lose more weight. I tried it for a week. It was not as hard as before, I lost 4 pounds quickly, and gained back 2 when I stopped. So, here's my dilemma: Do I diet and lose more weight? If I do, how hard will it be to keep it off? Do I like how I look now? Am I happy? Am I healthy? So, for now, I am going to be happy where I am with no food obsessions, eating what I like and feeling happy and healthy. I would love to be 150, but I don't want to fight for it. I don't want the depression and self-loathing that happens when I diet. I don't want to try and fail again. If I stay at the weight I am now, I feel successful and for the most part am fully happy and satisfied. But sometimes I feel sorry for myself and think "I am still fat." Fortunately those moments pass quickly as I enjoy my life, my children, my health, and shopping in the regular rather than plus clothes.

This is a life changing event. It forces you to see things about yourself that you never thought about before. Its not just about losing weight, its about redefining "self."

Thanks for all the love and support from my fellow sleevers, and I hope that my story can offer hope to those who are slow losers like me.

Different things make different people nauseous and some are more sensitive than others. Since it hasn't been mentioned that I have seen, I wanted to say Sugar Alcohols make me nauseous. I feel like I am coming down with the flu about 10 minutes after I ingest them. I found out this is a hypoglycemic reaction. My body thinks they are sugar and floods my system with insulin which zaps up all the sugar, but does nothing to the alcohol sugars, and causes my blood sugar to drop rapidly. It takes about 30-60 minutes for me to recover. I have no problems with lactose or sugar or artificial sweeteners.. go figure.

I hope you find out what it is that is causing your stomach upset. Let us know.

I started off really well at 6 meals a day with water/tea/sugar free drinks in between. Then moved it down one meal at a time to 3 meals and one 50-100 cal snack by about 7 months out. At a year out I am not being careful. I too top off and was just thinking today I need to break that habit today, so no more.

Anyway, at 2 weeks I say do what you have too to keep your energy up and get in the minimum. But start making those good habits as soon as you can.

If you hit a rough patch and feel you are not losing, do a search for 'stall' and you will see you are not alone. Everyone has them. It has taken me a year to lose 90 pounds or 60% of my excess weight. You are doing great.

Hi Ava, I am a 39 year old married woman with two children. I had surgery on nov 22 2011. Feel free to take a look at my posts and msg me if you want.

I took a jar of baby food meat, added some salt pepper and garlic powder, dipped a saltine in it and ate that for some Protein. I also had to make sure my meat was very moist at first. Mixed tuna or canned chicken with mayo leaving in the liquid from the can, then put in my little electric chopper. Same with ground beef, added a little canned beef broth and ketchup, chopped fine. I couldn't eat steak or pork chops until much later. I had problem with meat getting stuck at first too. I also depended on shakes a lot. I am almost a year out and can eat anything (almost) with no problems. I still have to be careful taking big bites, not chewing enough or eating too fast.

I was told by my doc that the beginning was just about getting in the fluids and some calories (preferably protein) until you heal enough to take in what you need. So, at first I sipped the thinner fruity Protein Drinks (took me almost all day to drink one) and got 40 g of Protein. If I had any time of the day left, I drank gatorade. I set a timer for every 5 min and would wet my mouth and let it slowly trickle down. If I didn't set the timer, I would forget to take another sip for 15-20 minutes and would not be able to get in my fluids/protein. This was only for the first 5-6 days. Afterward, I was able to drink a half an ounce (half a shot glass) at a time. You may have some heavy duty swelling that makes it so difficult. BUT you do NOT want to get dehydrated. I have heard of several people on here going to the emergency room because of dehydration. Dehydration makes you nauseous and becomes a vicious cycle where you don't want to take anything in. Take it slow and easy, one small sip at a time and focus on healing. This will be behind you before you know it.

I started losing hair significantly in month four. It was noticeably thinner, courser and drier by month six, but no bald spots. The loss slowed by month seven, and at 11 months I am halfway back to my old thickness, still very dry. I take a Multivitamin, B12, and Iron.

Btw, it was way worse than post partum.

I have found this happened when I eat too fast, eat too big a bite, eat something that balls up (tortilla is the worst), or overeat. It used to happen every few days when I started eating solids. At 11 months now, it has happened once in the past two months. I ate too many bites too fast.

Ghrelin is also a factor in heat regulation. There seems to be some preliminary studies suggesting it is more than the weight loss making us so cold. Hopefully our bodies will adjust with time.

I read over and over about the no stretching, yet every month I seemed to be able to eat more. Finally it clicked. My stomach was healing, the swelling was going down, and scar tissue was tightening. At about 5 months, I topped out. Now at 11 months, the amount I can eat has stabilized. The amount I can eat depends on the type of food, how fast I eat, whether I drink liquids, and the time of day. However, it is fairly consistent and physically impossible to stretch. Before surgery, even though I was full, I could eat a few more bites, sneak a snack in here and there. Now when my tummy says stop. I better stop or there are significant repercussions. (Pain, slimies, and vomiting)

Remember to focus on how insightful you are to your own mental health and how well you are managing your own mental health issues. Talk about your great support systems and how you have already discussed with your psychiatrist/doctor about managing your meds closely after surgery. BEst of luck to you.

I am on med for bipolar and also anxiety. and antidepressant. Will I pass eval????

I did measurements pre and post op so I would know when the swelling had all gone down. I stayed swollen in my belly region for almost 6 weeks. So yes the Water weight goes away fast, but the swelling on me at least took a long while.

I ditto the answers on the other posts. Its nothing like I could ever imagine.

2 points - First, I refuse to ever be on a diet again. I try to make healthy choices, but I eat what I feel is normal. That being said, the sleeve made it possible for me to not be at war with food for the first time in my life. Second, I am a slow loser, because I don't work my sleeve. I also don't sabotage my sleeve by drinking shakes, high calorie drinks etc. So I lose slowly but steadily. at 10 months out I am losing about 3 pounds a month. I have lost 90 pounds since I was sleeved (started at almost 300).

You asked the question about being full and still hungry. I have been under a lot of stress lately and my coping mechanism has been to binge eat. I have found myself fixing food, ordering food, buying food and being unable to eat it. In the moment, it makes me angry, because I am full and cannot eat my way out of my stress. Afterward, I am glad because I don't have to feel guilty about anything except throwing away uneaten food. Up to this stressful time in my life, I have been totally happy with my small portions, the loss of obsessing over food, and the new healthy relationship I have with food. It hurts if I eat too much or too fast. I get the slimies and throw up if I go past "that point." I have learned to just stop. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband and family. I am able to turn to them for support and comfort.

This has been the best choice I could have ever made. I don't regret it one iota.

Have you considered marriage counseling. Sabotage like that usually indicates some deep underlying fears. Maybe seeing you succeed is scaring the *ell out of her. I wish you both the best.

I went back after a week. The doc was okay with it, and the nurse gave me a lecture about taking care of myself. My job is a sit down job with lots of breaks. I was able to do it, but I was exhausted. you need lots of chances for breaks and to sit down. Remember its not just the surgery, you will be subsisting on around 200 to 500 calories at that time, and you won't have any extra energy. If you have a sympathetic supervisor, I say go for it. If not, then take the extra time off.

beef Jerky

turkey jerky

cheese sticks

chicharron (pork cracklin') not healthy but more Protein than chips

popcorn - not protein but healthier than chips

nuts

Peanut Butter crackers

cottage cheese and fruit

I had to take a laxative to get started once my body stalled. After that, I took a Fiber supplement (benefiber) with every drink until about 5 months out. I also took a stool softener if I hit the 3rd day and no bm. I am not a fan of Constipation, and found that this was important until I could up the fiber in my diet with fresh veggies.

I was at 50% loss at 6 months (about 75 pounds). From months 6 to 101/2, I have lost 13 pounds (total 88 pounds). That's about 3 pounds a month. My RDI is 1800 at my current weight for no loss and I average about 1200 calories a day. Many people choose to keep to 800-1000 calories, with super high Protein and super low carbs, watching every bite. I choose not to do that and accept that it means I am a slow loser. The point is I am still losing. This has never happened on a diet in 38 years. I always end up falling back into old eating habits and gaining. Welcome to the slow losers club, with the emphasis on losers, because it means you are still losing.

I know my hunger is affected by my TOM. Also, if I am having one of those days. I try and choose dense Protein like beef Jerky to snack on or have a Protein Bar. I also snack on pistachios (but if you have too many, nuts can be counterproductive).

That is so great. It's wonderful to be able to buy clothes like everyone else. Congrats on your exercise. At 9 months out, I am just starting to really exercise.