Jolanda

I'm about a year and a half out and eat at McDonald's maybe one every two or three months. I either have the grilled chicken salad or four chicken nuggets (no fries, I can just about manage the four nuggets over a half an hour period). I tried a hamburger for the second time after surgely perhaps three months ago and it made me feel ill.

Another thing is that you should not diet while pregnant as it could possibly cause your baby to be predisposed to diabetes later in life. So until you're pretty much at goal and you need less calories to maintain your weight you'd effectively be dieting (simply because at least for me it would have been hard to get in 1800 calories a day the first five months or so after the sleeve). I'm about 20 months out and 7 weeks pregnant at the moment. The best way to combat queasiness is to eat a little food regularly, and I've been doing that since the sleeve anyway, so that's fine. Lately I've had these absurd cravings for cheese... I'm resigned to probably gaining some weight during the pregnancy but I'm confident I'll manage to lose it afterwards, as the sleeve really does make it easy.

I'm about 19.5 months out now and I still get hiccups occasionally, if I eat a bit too much. For some reason chicken = easy hiccups for me... But I get hiccups perhaps twice a month for less than five minutes at a time, so it's not a problem. Good luck: it's VERY early days for you yet!

I think this is very much individual. I reached goal weight in just about ten months and though the weight loss was slower at the end it was still good enough for me - and most importantly, it was easy to do! Now ten months after that I've purposely regained about 6 pounds a few motnhs ago as I was trying to get pregnant and my goal weight just left me a bit too skinny for my own taste: jutting collar and hip bones. Anyway, it worked fine (and until I decided to gain those few pounds, maintaining was easy, too).

I'm a medium, too. Cannot get used to that.

Pain threshold is an individual thing, as is response to pain meds, but at least for me there was very little pain. More discomfort, and the skin sutures were a little sore at some point - but all in all, it was negilible. Fear of pain is no reason not to have this surgery (and I'm the world's biggest wuss when it comes to pain!)

So far for me, maintaining has been as easy as losing weight was with the sleeve. I've been maintaining for about five months now and find it funny that it's such a delicate balance: two pounds below my ideal weight and my face looks like a skeleton and my boobs completely disappear, two pounds above my ideal weight and I start to feel tight: the way I would feel if I'd had a lot of salty food. Two pounds this way or that: it's ridiculous! But so far it's been easy. I eat less healthy than I did while losing, but I still eat a little of it. I've added nuts, some carbs, and the only things I don't eat at all (I do occasionally in restaurants or when eating at friends' houses, but I never do at home) are potatoes, Pasta, rice and bread. I eat meat, fish, vegetables, salad, chocolate, nuts, müsli, yoghurt, the occasional cookie and sometimes an ice cream cone. Yes, I can eat a lot more than I could in the months after the operation. I still don't feel hunger, though, so it's not a problem. Did I mention getting the sleeve was the best decision I ever made? (I think I have in just about every post...)

Not me - I'm always cold now! Except if I drink a big mug of hot coffee or tea - then I'm immediately hot. I've turned into a lizard or something...

Funny you should mention it: I have milk with my coffee but I used to drink a glass or two a day before the operation. Haven't wanted to drink it since - sure, at the beginning it was a calorie issue, but now I'm just out of the habit. Nice. I do take a calcium supplement daily.

I've had it too, recently twice (trip abroad, restaurant Desserts...) Once I ate a really rich, semi-cooked chocolate cake for dessert (a big piece, too) after eating duck and mashed potatoes. Then a couple of days later I got it again after eating a lot of sweet cake at a birthday party. Nausea, sometimes sweating, not throwing up but certainly feeling like it would be a good idea... I have to say, I love it. I hate hate hate it while it's on but I love the fact that it tells me in no uncertain terms not to eat a lot of junk. I never have problems when eating dark chocolate, for instance, nor a small piece of something sweet.

Sure, I was nervous before the surgery, but not too much. I totally understand that you're scared, though. If it helps any, after surgery I was weak and in a sort of vague discomfort for a few days, but there was never any active pain involved, the pain medication is that good. It's not to say that the rest will be a picnic, and of course there are risks attached to any surgery, but if I had to make the decision all over again I wouldn't hesitate for one moment. Best decision I ever made, yes.

For me using an online calorie calculator really helped. Don't think I could have done it without that, I'm not mathematically inclined... Anyway, I started at BMI 36 and am now down to about BMI 22.5. I never ate just 600 calories after the mushy food stage but started around 850 and while losing I gradually increased it to about 1100. It suited me fine and I lost all the weight in about nine months, which was certainly quick enough. Now that I'm maintaining I don't count calories anymore, I simply step on the scales once a week and adjust accordingly.

I had no problems with that once I was on the "mushy food" stage: you can pureé almost anything in a blender, like chicken. I had a lot of cottage cheese, too, which is good in protein. I never had protein shakes but did use a vanilla flavoured Protein powder in my yoghurts. I used an online calculator to count the protein and calorie intake: basically I just entered everything I ate and drank (other than water) and it kept track for me. Easy. Sure, if you don't drink enough I didn't and had a kidney stone episode: very very painful and I learned to drink enough after that! You cannot drink with meals so it takes a while to learn to drink at all other times. But if you keep at it, you shouldn't get dehydrated. This depends on the kind of eater you are. At least here I had to do an assessment to find out if I had any kind of eating disorder other than eating too much and too unhealthily: the only complications they have had at the hospital I was was with someone eating a huge meal too soon after surgery. If you have a true bulimia type problem then there might be problems. I "only" had carb cravings (which have 99% disappeared after my sleeve) and ate far too big portions so for me there was never any problems. The sleeve also makes it easy: you get nauseous if you eat too much or too fast so you learn quickly. And once you've learned, you can eat everything, but just a little of it. I love it. I wouldn't trust it, simply because you eat so much less after WLS. I take a multi Vitamin, also salmon oil, folic acid, extra Vitamin D (no sun here for 6 months of the year, almost) and extra Calcium. Yes, I have definitely done that. I do Pilates twice a week and it's made a huge difference. For me, they did. Not for everyone. I still have hormonal carb cravings about 3-4 days a month, but they've been no trouble. I give into them and eat some more carbs those days, and that's it. It hasn't interfered with my weight loss at all.

It's well meant concern - try searching for an old post of Tiffany's called "Do I look sick" or something like that - I tried but couldn't find it. I've had a lot of that and once I started to get close to maintaining my weight I had people say "Please don't get anorexia" a lot. I just ended up telling them that no, I won't, I don't enjoy dieting that much... I never put much effort into telling people I hadn't become anorexic: if I had, that's what I would have told them, anyway. And needless to say, I didn't get anorexia. I found it helped to explain to people that losing weight fast is so much more rewarding than losing it slowly so I'm going for that as it's easier to do. Mind you, I haven't told people I had the sleeve. Some may have guessed, most people I think not. Only one person has asked and I said no - none of her business, I think.

Good luck - I've been there, lost a lot of weight myself with a sort of low carb diet but still needed the sleeve to get those last 80+ pounds off. Best decision I ever made. The reason? Sure, losing the weight was super easy after the sleeve, but I've proved to myself I can diet without it, too. But keeping the weight off has been so easy it's ridiculous. I just weigh myself once a week and if my weight is up by a pound or two it takes me less than a week to lose it again. No suffering. I love it!

You're doing great! Some people who are very obese lose a lot at the very beginning - some who start slightly lower on the BMI scale don't lose that fast. But hey, 38 pounds in two months IS HUGE!

I still have foods I can only eat a little of, and chicken/turkey is one. Also bread makes me feel nauseous very easily. I have had no trouble maintaining: I stopped eating light foods, mostly, added some good carbs like müsli and also added chocolate and nuts in my diet. I could still gain weight eating Cookies and cake, so those things I avoid. Salmon is good: lots of good fat and at least for me I can eat "a lot" (for me!) of it. If it helps you in any way, this is what I ate yesterday: breakfast: full fat yoghurt, spoonful of strawberry jam, Alpen müsli (3-4 spoonfuls), flax seeds, sunflower seeds mid-morning: a latte lunch: homemade lasagna (about 200 grams), some red pepper and green salad mid-afternoon: two handfuls of cashew nuts dinner: a piece of salmon, a little fresh Pasta, some creamy sauce - this added up to about 1600 calories, which seems to be what I maintain on nowadays.

My BMI was 36 at the time of the sleeve and I've had no problems losing weight nor keeping it off. I'd say go for it.

Ok, does anyone else have really sore bones? I had at first: they were used to being inside lots of padding and were quite shocked at being so close to the surface. I used to wake up at night when I slept on my side and my knees knocked together. They got used to it, but it took a few months. Too funny.

I've lost about 158 pounds in a five and a half year period. First about half of it, then the other half some three-four years later after the sleeve. I've got some loose skin: I'll never have a bikini body, but I get by in a full bathing suit (with a couple of inches of "shorts legs"). I have a tiny wrinkle above each knee, and other than that it's mostly my butt and tummy that would need tightening up. Will I get corrective surgery? Heck no. I'm forty, I've got the body of my dreams with clothes on, I'll manage with this one. No silicone either. This is just fine! Better than fine: this is GREAT!

I have to say it's the best thing I've done in my life. Ever. - Had the sleeve at BMI 36 and am now at BMI 22.9, which I've successfully maintained for the past 3-4 months. If I gain 2-3 pounds, I start to feel tight and lose them again. If I go below, my boobs completely disappear and my face starts to look too skeleton like so I'm sticking to this weight for the foreseeable future - Dieting was and is easy and once I learned how to eat I haven't been sick. Had one major painful kidney stone episode in March, learned to drink more and it hasn't recurred (& it passed the natural route, so to speak, so nothing but pain medication needed) - I love my new life. I've posted about the benefits before on here so I won't go into any detail, but it's so worth it. If you're only considering doing it, I say go for it!

We don't Celebrate Thanksgiving over here so my life is completely Turkey free Things are good! I'm going to take the dog for a walk in the forest, then meet up with friends in the evening.

Carole, it sounds like yours might have been a small kidney stone (though I'm no doctor so don't take my word for it). Mine was pain like I've never experienced before - no way to stay at home, I drove straight to the hospital and was put on a pain medication drip after throwing up in the doctor's office from the pain... But the initial symptoms were similar: I ran to the bathroom about 20 times before the pain started an hour or two later. Not something I would like to experience again, but if I had to choose between having had the sleeve and the kidney stone episode and no sleeve, no kidney stone, I wouldn't even need to think about it. The sleeve makes it so worth it.

Thanks! I have to say I was worried about the maintaining phase, too, but so far it's been a complete walk in the park. The only regain I've experienced was when I coughed for three weeks and couldn't exercise at all, plus that darn cold didn't take away my sense of taste. Gained a couple of pounds but they were as easy to lose as the weight before that. The sleeve works super for me. I'm 5 ft 9 in and at the moment an European size 38/40 which converts to a size 8/10 in the US depending on the clothes manufacturer. Buying clothes is sooooo much fun now! I still don't feel hungry much at all. Have learned to eat regularly because otherwise I get tired. I have periods when I eat healthily (saland/meat/fish/fruit plus some cashew nuts and müsli) and then get carb cravings about 3-4 days a month when I allow myself some less healthy stuff. My period arrives and the cravings go away. Wonder how much of it was hormonal before? Some kind of hormone imbalance because of the excess weight? I used to feel like that all the time. I'm single and live alone so I've worked out what I can and cannot keep in the house. At the moment I can keep super sweet Cookies in the cupboard (I think they're yuk so I leave them alone), I can have nuts in bowls (visible) and I can have candy in containers in the kitchen (not visible) and then I have one a day. I cannot have cinnamon rolls, cake or cookies I like in the house or I'll eat them just because they taste good. I like to bake so now I bake, keep like three cookies for myself and bring the rest for friends when I see them or to work. I really love fruit nowadays. Pears, pineapple, bananas. Roast beef (rare) - yum! I still don't eat Pasta or rice or potatoes or bread at home - I occasionally make lasagna, freeze it in small pieces (about 200 grams) and have one every now and again. I eat about 75% healthier than I did before and my portion sizes are about 1/4-1/3 of what they used to be. I love it that I can manage to eat a little of everything: I don't need to deny myself anything at all.

Ok, I think it's not so important how fast you lose. It's just very easy to lose fast at the beginning, because you get punished every now and again when you eat something you shouldn't, too fast or whatever. It depends a lot on how much weight you have to lose: we all know that when you're obese, it's easy to shift a few pounds. With the sleeve, I've lost about 92 pounds in the year since my sleeve, but I've been maintaining since early August so actually it took about 9 months. That averages out at about ten pounds a month. I had a few small stalls (but I'm the one who is of the opinion you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, I weighed myself once or twice a week max). I followed the 600-800 calories a day rule for the first 4-5 months, I think, then gradually upped my calories a bit and lost the rest at about 1200 calories a day. Do watch out for dehydration. If you weigh every day, it's easy to start drinking a little less so that you still seem to be losing, when there probably will be big changes in hydration depending on the time of month. At least there is for me... It's been disgustingly easy for me. I really have had no major issues with eating healthily (but I was never bulimic as such, I just ate a lot) after the sleeve. But it's different for different folks.