Jolanda

Oh, ho, ho, ho :D That was the funniest thing I've read in a while...

I remember that part - I was very weak the first week. Not much pain, but discomfort. Walking around helped. I think it releases endorphines or something. It does get better very quickly, and once you start losing weight, it's such a rush. Moving around becomes easier by the week, and it's great!

I have no idea what Alaska's like but I live in a cold climate, too, and here are my tips for survival outdoors: - Layers - A 3/4 long coat (down to your knees) as an outer layer. You get frostbite on the front of your thighs quickly if there's a wind (and from the knee down, at least I am never cold. - No cotton next to your skin. Wool, or fleece, or thermal underwear. Cotton cools you down faster than anything will. I'm cold now I'm this thin and usually wear a fleece shirt, then a woollen sweater or two.

No regrets. I had complications, too (lost a lot of blood in the first day after surgery & had to have it removed surgically the day after) but I have also lost ALL my excess weight in one year and intend to stay this thin for the rest of my life. No regrets - or rather, I wish I had done it ten years ago! But this is good, too...

Cottage cheese is your friend. I used to put one spoon of low cal strawberry jam and two spoons of vanilla flavoured protein powder plus some yoghurt in mine. Now I'm maintaining I haven't been counting my protein but once you can eat meat, chicken and tuna are both good.

It is really an individual thing. Depends on what you eat and how much exercise you get. I just had two weeks of a cold combined with my usual PMS carb craving and I gained two pounds in those two weeks. So it is indeed possible to gain quickly with the sleeve! I am now back on about 1500 calories a day and I don't think I'll have any trouble losing a couple of pounds again: it feels really nice to be back on track so to speak. The online calculator I use also gives me about 1800 calories as a maintenance ballpark figure but I think you just have to fine tune it for you.

I hadn't even realised this topic existed until some kind soul pointed it out to me. I'm so close to goal I'm maintaining, and some high points so far: * A lady (a customer, too, not a saleswoman) in the clothes shop I asked if a sweater looked good on me or not saying "Yes, it does, because you're so thin!" * Being able to run just because it feels good * Being able to ride any horse (weight wise, that is) * Being able to shop for clothes that are perfect both in colour and fit, not just buying them because I can get into them * Not recognising my own reflection if I walk past a mirror unexpectedly * Having a completely strange guy come up to me and give me a compliment at a trade fair I was at. Sure, I kind of froze, just said thank you and blushed, so nothing came of it, but it still made my day. Hell, it made my week! *Being able to do things in Pilates class that were impossible a year ago Did I say getting sleeved was the best decision I ever made? It was.

Dehydration is a quick way to lose weight. Also a good way to get a kidney stone. Been there. Done that. Not fun. At all. (I didn't do it on purpose, and I know you didn't, I just got sloppy about drinking and didn't enough.)

Wowee, yes! I can afford to pick and choose now... In a store the other day I was trying on a sweater and asked a complete stranger (woman in her fifties) if it looked good or not (I need some shopping support still, it seems). What did she answer? "Yes, it looks great because you're so thin." Never saw her before in my life. She had no idea I used to be vastly overweight - perhaps the maintaining this weight idea and not losing any more is the right thing to do I felt like giving her a hug, she had no idea what that random comment meant to me.

Oh, that almost brought tears to my eyes. Congratulations!!!

Oh, and I forgot to mention: now I LOVE clothes shopping. I used to absolutely hate it. With a vengeance. Jeez, now it's suddenly fun. I no longer buy the first thing that fits but I've become insanely picky. And that's partly because of economic issues (I did go a little crazy in the summer when suddenly I had no T-shirts that fit so now I have about 25 T-shirts that do fit... Good if the washing machine breaks down, possibly...) but also because now that most things fit, I can afford to be picky.

I can so relate - I quickly learned to never run without using one hand to hold onto my jeans...

My God, yes. I do feel like a different person. A much nicer one, because I'm so happy in my own skin. I love being this thin (ie. normal BMI). Nobody who hasn't been obese can probably understand the difference. I was always healthy, even at BMI 40+, but moving around was something of a chore. Now it's pure joy.

I don't know, you could try Ikea. It's the most expensive meat (the reindeer) there is here, probably, but hey, I had the sleeve so I don't eat a lot!

Ten months out, I'm down from BMI 36 to BMI 22.7 and I can safely say the surgery has been a complete success. Sure, it was difficult in the beginning, but once I learned how to eat (at the moment, I can eat anything, as long as I chew well and eat slowly) I can honestly say that in the past 3-4 months I haven't felt sick because of what/how I ate even once. You do learn, and it feels great! The thing I've noticed recently as I'm working on stopping losing weight and maintaining is that nowadays, food bores me a little. What a change from the former me, whose life largely revolved around food! Now I feel like I have a completely healthy and normal relationship with food: I still like the taste of it, even though I very rarely get hungry at all, and I enjoy everything much more now I can only eat a little of it. But most of all, I absolutely LOVE the fact that now, when I look at the time and know I should eat something, I sometimes feel bored by the thought of food. It's a complete joy to feel this way instead... Now I'm just having to retrain me when food shopping: instead of buying ALL low calorie food I have to start getting the normal ones so I'll be able to get enough calories to maintain. So now I've stocked up on normal fat and sugar fruit yoghurt (instead of zero fat and artificial sweetener one), lots of dried fruits, nuts (love cashews and pistachios and they really help me get the calories I need), even bought mayonnaise (light version, okay, but still!) and toast (bread I tend to avoid but one slice of toast is fine if I take about fifteen minutes to get it down and hey, you have to have somewhere to put the mayo, Swiss cheese and cold smoked reindeer...) This sounds like such an ego maniac's post but I just thought I'd share the good news with you as you understand what it's like! And to those who are just out and still struggling with head hunger and learning to eat slow and small: It really gets easier as you form new habits. It really is possible to lose all that weight. And if you're still considering whether to have surgery, I'd say go for it. It's the best thing I've done in my life! :thumbup1:

I was concerned about stopping losing weight too, but it's been no problem. I now have the luxury of being able to fine tune where I want to be within 3-4 pounds, which is such a tiny amount of weight it's laughable, but extremely fun! I generally just eat some more carbs, switched from no fat everything to "normal", and sometimes have a piece of chocolate or a cookie. No trouble, no weight regain either.

Well, I'm tall but was at BMI 36 when I had the sleeve done last year. It's been superb for me: very little trouble after the surgery, though I did have a kidney stone in March, and my weight loss was quick at the beginning, tapering off when I got below BMI 25 and now I've been maintaining for a couple of months. I've been a lot heavier before, so I remember what it felt like, and the difference is enormous. Big big change from BMI 36 as well, of course. I love moving around now. I go running just because it feels good.

I only know about myself, and I took antacids for what, the first couple of months perhaps? After then I have had no trouble with reflux at all. Not while I took the pills, either.

None of the above regularly, but I've had rabbit stew in Spain. And I've probably had veal at some point. Baby lamb, too. *Pause for effect* Horse. I love horses. Live ones, that is. Don't eat ones I've known personally. But compared with old used-up racehorses being either transported to Italy alive for their meat (the journey is completely horrible) or sold cheap to teenagers as riding horses (when they've got massive leg problems that make them unsuitable for that), I think supporting local slaughter by having a horse fillet steak now and then is better. Mind you, as a teenager myself I didn't think this way.

I know - better not even tell you which other animal I eat occasionally, because there is obviously a huge chasm between Americans and Europeans in that matter culturally... I've been able to maintain quite easily, only losing about two lbs since I decided to stop losing about two months ago. I could easily regain them but I'm fine like this. I still eat very small portions but do eat some more not-so-low-fat-foods like nuts, cheese, full fat cream cheese and regular cheese and so on. Love my lattes. Enjoy a piece of super dark chocolate. Life is truly good. I'm really happy if this can be of help to someone just starting or in the middle of losing. I didn't write that often here before but I definitely read up on whatever I was interested in at that moment and it helped me a lot then.

I decided quite early on not to weigh myself more than once or twice a week. Once a week on average. I retain water before my period, so then I don't weigh myself at all, because it's gone afterwards but it'd depress me to see the stall. It has worked well. If you weigh yourself every day then it will always seem like you have stalls or even sometimes regain some weight, because it depends such a lot on how salty food you've eaten the previous day, how much water you've drunk and so on. I recommend once a week

Ok, I've done both the regular dieting and the sleeve, so: yes, you will still lose weight after the sleeve and above all, the sleeve will make it 95% easier to lose and keep it off!

I found a vanilla protein powder I could stomach and mixed it in with yoghurt. That helped.

Ugh, sorry... It's a delicacy over here. And the reindeer have the nicest life before becoming the nicest food! Much nicer life than the average cow. You can't have reindeer in "factories", they don't survive long enough, so they all live completely free in Lapland (northern part of Sweden).

I'm sorry you feel this way. I hope you'll get the help you need in every way.