LindaS

Today, I am able to say I've lost 80 pounds. I am not yet at goal, but I do want to get into a normal BMI, which means losing another 14 pounds. It has been 16 months since my surgery. I lost pretty quickly at first, but I went into a LONG stall where I didn't really lose anything but did maintain pretty well. I was eating well and exercising like a fiend, but it wasn't coming off. I was changing my body fat though. In September, I upped my Water intake and lowered my calories, and the scale started moving down again. The losses aren't as fast as they were in the beginning,but they are moving down. Water intake really seems to be the key to me -- I have to drink lots of water to get results on the scale. In the photos, I am 255 in July 2011 and 175 in December 2012. I'm not sure what my weight was in August 2009, but it was probably around 240 at least.

I was very happy with alma and my surgeon. I stayed two nights and three days, which is normal. The practice is on the conservative side when it comes to care, which I didn't mind at all. This means it will be about 12 weeks after surgery before all diet restrictions are cleared (it progresses, but much slower than most people on this discussion board). I was off work for two weeks. When I did return back to work, I was tired at the end of the day. I'd fall asleep around 8 p.m., which is unusual for me. That lasted a week or two, but it wasn't horrible.

Thanks, everyone!

For the first six weeks after surgery, the only exercise I did was walking. I didn't start Zumba until about 2 months out. I started with a Kinect game and then moved on to a real class and then ended up ordering the DVDs too. I still take classes as well. A blogger I follow just had plastics done, and she shared photos of her belly before and after. You can see them at this link: http://prettyif.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/body-lift-pictures.html

I was giving a journal to track my water intake AND my protein intake. I was very good at recording everything, but they never asked me for it.

BTW, I'm in Michigan too, and I had my surgery done in Alma. The same surgeons also work out of Midland.

I am 16 months out from surgery and down 80 pounds. I have never had any vomiting, and I haven't had the dumping symptoms either. That doesn't mean I am completely in the clear. If I eat too much or too fast, my chest feels horrible. This is only happened to me twice. I have severe degenerative arthritis in my ankle, and before surgery, I was in pain almost every day and regularly took medicine to control it. Since surgery, I am primarily pain free although there have been times that I've needed to still take medicine (usually when I was very very active). It seems to be getting better as I lose more and exercise more. I don't eat normal, but I can eat pretty normally. How much I can eat of something depends on what it is I'm eating. I eat less of things that are high in Protein. There hasn't been anything I can't eat, but there are things I don't eat because they don't feel good when I eat them. Breads and potatoes were my two favorite things before being sleeved and now I rarely eat them. They fill me up too much. I can have a bite or two of them, but I usually prefer not to. My diet has changed permanently. I eat protein first. I can eat portion sizes now that won't make too many people question my eating habits, but I don't do that all of the time. There are days, even 16 months out, where a meal or two is a Protein Shake. I can drink carbonated pop, but I rarely do. I didn't drink it very much before surgery either. If someone is having a birthday or another type of celebration, I can eat some cake or pie or whatever it is. I am usually pretty satisfied with just a bite or two. I don't eat donuts (same reason as breads and potatoes). Most things that are bad for me are usually things I don't want to eat anyway. My biggest exception to that? Popcorn. I also still like Frito Lay Wavy chips WAY more than I should. I like salty more than sweet, so your experience may differ.

I should add that I had surgery 10 days before my 40th birthday, and I am 5'7.5" tall. And thanks for your sweet comment, Kristi. I do a lot of Zumba, and I really think it is paying off.

I have lost 80 pounds and gave birth to 4 kids. My belly is decent enough that I could wear a bikini. My belly is flat and doesn't hang over, but it is wrinkly. The wrinkles only show up just above my pubic hair line.

I'm not yet two years out, but I am almost a year and a half out, so I thought I'd take a stab at answering these questions. What contributing role would you say your sleeve (reduced stomach) plays in your ability to successfully maintain the weight loss (e.g., 25, 50, 75, 90 percent)? As far as losing weight, I don't think my sleeve is involved at all. I'm not losing because I'm sleeved any more. I have to work at it to continue to lose. Weight loss isn't happening just because I'm sleeved. In the early days, I would jump on a scale and have a 5 to 10 pound loss in a single day no matter how I ate. Now, I have to work my butt off with eating and exercising to show even a half pound loss. As far as controlling my eating, my sleeve is 100 percent involved. It is why I can eat less than 800 calories and be satisfied. It is why I don't want to eat bread and potatoes any more (something I loved before surgery). The sleeve is why I can diet and eat smart. [*]Related, how much conscious effort does your continued weight loss require? That is, must you deliberately monitor your food intake on a daily basis or does the restriction of the sleeve necessarily limit how much you can eat so that maintenance is relatively effortless? I do monitor my food intake on a daily basis, but it is because if I don't monitor it I find I don't get my minimum protein intake in. I also found that monitoring helps me make good choices. A cookie sounds good until I look at the nutritional information and realize that it doesn't sound 160 calories good. The restriction on my sleeve helps me control my eating but monitoring calories and protein help me stay on track with my eating. I can eat whatever and feel restriction, but monitoring makes sure I get what my body needs. I have been tracking my food using MyFitnessPal since just before my surgery, and I've only missed one day in all that time. I am currently at 380 some days of tracking. Personally, I plan to monitor forever. I don't want to stop. [*]How has your relationship with food changed, if at all? Related, do you still enjoy eating or, currently, is food just something you must consume to sustain life? Food wasn't an important part of my life before. I didn't obsess about it. I did make bad choices and would forget to eat. My problem was I didn't move enough. I also liked high carb foods (potatoes and breads). My relationship with food hasn't changed other than I tend to only eat a bite of potatoes and breads when before I would have much more of them. I have made sure that if I am only going to eat a half a cup of something, it is going to be a half cup of something that tastes good. I have a much lower tolerance for just-ok tasting food. My MIL also had this surgery, and food for her was much more important in her life. I've noticed that it still fulfills the same role for her. She continues to plan her meals and make recipes and talk about food a lot, but she is talking about protein drinks and different shake combos. She spoke about being able to have mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving for weeks before hand. She is still on mushy food stage after surgery. [*]Compared to the type of hunger pains you had experienced pre-surgically, while on a calorie-restricted diet, how would you rate the degree and quality of your hunger pains now after the surgery? That is, do you still feel hunger pains and, if so, how is your hunger drive different now than it was before the surgery? I don't feel hunger 95 percent of the time. I do still get cravings unrelated to hunger. I recognized that late at night, I tend to want to snack on something crunchy and salty (like popcorn). This is a habit not a hunger. I remember this from presurgery as well. I am trying to overcome this habit. I try to keep some protein chips on hand to battle this. If I haven't eaten in several hours, I will get hungry. A few bites of something high in protein stops my hunger. The hunger is much less than before surgery. The other day I didn't eat until 12:30 p.m. I eat differently than I used to do. I found that just one bite can make me go from satisfied to painfully full. To prevent this, I tend to stop eating frequently while eating and wait to see how my last bite sits. I just wait for signals from my body -- can I eat another bite?

Thanks to the OP for posting this. It really is a battle that we need to continue to fight, but I also wanted to put a little perspective on your gain. You gained 17 pounds in a year. I don't know about you, but before I had surgery I could gain 10 pounds in a weekend. At the same time, I agree about emotional eating being a huge thing that needs to be addressed. I am also a bit shocked that you identified cheese as your slider food into problems. I love cheese! You've made me realize that I really need to stay vigilant about what I eat and how I eat.

Great loss! You are looking good.

It happens. My biggest gain (6 pounds) was after I was on a very physical vacation. I was working out and eating right and expected a huge loss. Instead, I had a gain. It came off within the week. I think it had something to do with Water weight. Normally, my weight will go up and down by a couple pounds from day to day. As long as the trend is downward overall, I don't worry. I don't let it throw me off my gain, and I keep on track with diet and exercise.

I watch calories more than carbs. I primarily watch Protein. I try to get 70 grams a day. I keep calories between 800 to 1,000. I seem to lose more when close to 800. I don't count carbs, but I'm like OTR in that I avoid rice, potatoes, Pasta, bread and fried foods.

I'm 15 months out from surgery. I stalled for several months, but I just started losing again in September. I've lost over 78 pounds and the last 8 pounds has been since September. One thing I did was increase my water intake by a LOT.

I was worried about hair loss before I had my surgery. Not long after my surgery, I talked to my cosmetologist about it. Before surgery, I had very thick hair. I started noticing excessive loss when I was about 3 months out from surgery. To be proactive, I talked to my stylist about the best cut to minimize hair loss (or the appearance of it). I normally get my hair thinned, but I stopped that for a while too. I also quit coloring my hair for about the first 10 months. I didn't want to weaken anything further than surgery already did. I cut back on how often I washed my hair (every other day instead of daily), and I took Biotin and listened to my stylist. My stylist was also able to recommend products that would help. I was glad I talked to her and teamed up with her on the issue. She was also able to reassure me that my loss wasn't drastic.

Vomiting was one of my biggest concerns when deciding on what surgery. I know several people who have had the bypass and frequently vomit. One woman who had a bypass over six years ago just had to have all of her teeth removed because they were ruined through constant vomiting. I had VSG surgery 15 months ago, and I have NEVER vomited. I didn't even vomit while in the hospital. I am able to tolerate any food. I also don't like the malabsorption issues that come with a bypass. I have arthritis in my ankle, and I can still take NSAIDS when I need to without worrying. I am also able to skip Vitamins once in a while and still get great results in my blood work. For instance, I never take Calcium vitamins, but my calcium levels are within the normal range. This wouldn't be true if I had the bypass.

I bought a body-composition scale from Tanita. I'm not sure if it goes above 300 pounds though. I like that it tells me my weight, body fat, Water composition, muscle mass and BMR. Linda