Chimera

This morning I got on the scale and arrived at a big milestone weight - or should I say a weight that was a 'setpoint' for a long time. It is the weight that my husband and I both weighed when we met in the late 1990's, and he has never seen me at a lower weight in person, only in photos from loooong ago. It is also what I weighed when I moved to NYC in 1993. It is a weight where the scale tends to want to stick and I have many of those - some of which surgery blasted through 283, 262, and now I am once again 240 - next ones, 233, 211, 202, 198, 155 - wow some of those were a very long time ago and have not seen them in decades. It should be interesting to see if the scale still sticks on this weight like it has always done. I am pretty excited at the prospect of losing into a range that my beloved has never seen me at - he had his vsg two weeks before I did and we are pretty close with our losses - he is two lbs ahead - cant wait for the day I surpass him and weight less - I have a much longer way to go than he does! It really is great having a partner in crime with this surgery - it is awesome that we both did it. Do you guys have set points - or certain weights that are milestones? Have you experienced the same stubborness in losing past them after surgery?

I am close to 3 months out and get a whole lot of pleasure from my Protein chicken noodle Soup - it is probably 97% liquid (in those first post surgery weeks I strained all the little noodles and veggies out) so hearing that your doc says you can stay on liquid a long time is good to hear. Now dont think I am crazy, but I am one of those that the moment it is time for me to eat - I want to drink and have to make a hard choice - so the soup is like two bangs for the buck The not drinking and eating thing is by far my hardest challenge.

I am not sure but I think it may depend on the cereal - crunchy/fibery it might be a while, like 3 months perhaps, you could ask your NUT. I stay away from cereal because i tend to like it a little too much lol - that and peanut butter

You are doing great - at the 3 month/100 day mark a lot of folks are at 50 lbs down, and you are already there. The 'magic' losing window - where it is easiest to get the weight off is 12-18 months. I would think that you will have been at goal for quite some time by then

You will lose - you dont really have a choice

I was 318 when I started - at 5'3' - surgery weight was 274 on may 21, 2012 - this morning I am 221 and continuing on my way down. Oh I think I have done every diet on earth - including Optifast, hypnosis, etc. Each time I would be very successful only to gain all of it back and more - which is statistically accurate for those who attempt to lose large numbers. When my husband and I attended our surgeon's info seminar he laid out the statistics and this is what made up our minds - I was not sure about it. He said that if you are 100 lbs or more overweight that the likelyhood of you being able to lose the excess weight and maintain that lose is less than 2%. That having a BMI of 40 or more is like having cancer - and they operate on cancer - if you had a BMI in those ranges he said that you had a higher mortality rate sitting in the chair in that conference room than we did laying on his operating table. I have to say the big difference is that for the first time in my life I am not starving all of the time - I was a compulsive binger before, and I will always work with those head issues, but the vsg as a tool is spectacularly effective. For once I feel that I will be able to reach my goal and i will be able to stay there - i was never able to say that before sugery. Myhusband had surgery as well 2 weeks beore i did and he has lost over 100 lbs - I have a bit further to go but am feeling great. I would do my research and not let friends who are not obese, morbidly obese, or super-morbidly obese (as I was) sway you too much. Best of luck

I am three months out and look and the stats in my ticker - I went through a year of appts and 6+ month of MWL prior to my surgery. The complications and risks with the sleeve are a bit lower than with a bypass, and statistically the amount of weight one can lose and keep off is neck and neck with a bypass.

I am sorry you are having the crazy urges to eat - I think most of us go through the same thing. My advice is to make your home a danger free zone - you have to be in an environment free of temptations - we have no breads, rice, flour, sugar, etc - no boxed anything. One has to go out and get it if they want something like a potato chip or a hamburger bun. The teen is adjusting - and has even lost 20 lbs herself since we have changed our eating habits (my husband also had a vsg two weeks before i did - which makes things much. much easier I know.)

Just had my 3 month surgiversary on Tuesday and this morning hit 50 lbs. down from Surgery day, and 94 lbs down total - which marks my half-way point to my goal weight of 130 This has happened faster than I thought it would and I am grateful that that I feel so much better. I even took a change and ordered some pants that are large - rather than than 1X I had been wearing, as my pants have gotten so big that I have tripped over them (still wearing my giant 3X shirts though - I think it will take a long time until the big tummy is gone enough that I feel comfortable wearing tighter stuff on top.) I have my 100 day post op appt next week and am pretty excited to go thanks to everyone on this board for sharing their ups and downs, it is great to know folks going through the same experiences.

I am not doing much right now honestly - after surgery I was diagnosed with severe osteo arthritis in both knees, had a flare that was so bad I could not even walk, lower myself onto the toilet, etc. It was waaay worse than recovering from surgery. I am only now just feeling that they are stable enough to move around more - I like walking and doing my Wii fit, and vigorous weeding has been having me sweating lately. My goal is to start walking 30 minutes a day which I hope to achieve this fall - as long as my joints cooperate. My advice would be to follow your Dr's recommendations as closely as you can - from your reading here I am sure that you may have surmised that immediately post op it is rough to get in all of the liquid, Protein and Vitamins they want us to - protein chicken Soup saved me here when my regular beleoved Protein shake (Premier) made me wretch it tasted so bad. Once you are eating - dense protein first - even things that have a lot of protein but are not as dense are sliders for me (like chili with no beans) - so I eat a lot of eggs, canadian bacon, ground turkey, chicken breasts - and I make different homemade salsas to jazz my Proteins up, just made a tomato, red onion, avocado, and nectarine salsa with cilantro and lime - delish Do a lot of cheese and deli turkey as well. I do not do low fat cheese except for string cheese and babybels - to me it is carbs I need to really look out for - not fats. Head hunger will rear its ugly head so be mindful - it is easy to let not so great choices slip in if you are not mindful.One of my favorite things to keep in mind is a quote from The World According to Eggface's excellent blog - There is NO finish-line. Healthy food choices, move your body, work on the head. Rinse, lather, repeat. Forever. I generally eat four times a day - 3 meals and a snack, and try to keep it to 600-800 cals a day, 80g protein, and under 40g carbs. I am a fan of the Primal eating philosophy, which is similar to Paleo but allows dairy - great website called Mark's Daily Apple with lots of great info. I also read the VSG maintenance club on the OH boards - it is important for me to know what lies ahead and read about people who are years out from surgery. My goals are to lose 10 lbs a month - and will hopefully be under 200 by the New Year - so far so good, I know it will get harder as the months go by, but I have already had so much more success and lost more than I ever have - and you feel different after surgery - it really is remarkable. I hope to hit my goal sometime in 2013 - or 2014 - its taken decades to put on, so a couple of years is no biggy Best of luck - getting the surgery is just fantastic and I know you will do great!

I gained 20 in the week after my surgery - but by 4 weeks out I dropped that and another 23 lbs - give your body some time, you have little choice but to lose weight in the coming weeks and months.

Alot of folks use MyFitnesspal - here is a thread with usernames to add friends and such. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/22264-official-my-fitness-pal-friend-add-thread/page__st__20#entry191897

I have a big time sensitivity to latex - it is noted everywhere in my chart. They use Nitrile gloves and I didnt seem to have any issues - the leftover adhesive seemed to last forever - I think it was 8 weeks until I could get it all off.

Congrats guys well done

A great recipe if you feel the urge for crunchy-salty is the cheese nip recipe that has its own thread in the recipe section here. I take one Kraft Sharp single - slice it into 16 little squares, place them on a piece of parchment paper and nuke them in the microwave for 50 seconds - they are little puffy, crunchy and yummy - and the carbs are low compared to a lot of snackish things.

Patrick you are doing great! I am sure you will meet you birthday goal that is listed in your sig. Well done sir

Sounds like detoxing - aka the carb flu, which is horrid and why it is so hard for us to stop eating them. I am not sure what kind of pre-op your surgeon has you doing (mine was Atkins induction with clears 24 hours prior to surgery) but it gets better. Just remember to drink as much non-caloric fluid as you can get in ( I highly recommend chugging, as you will not be able to have the opportunity to do this again for a long time - I can do a mini-chug now at 3 months post op.) The fluids always seemed to make me feel better. Just remember the purpose of the pre-op diet - to shrink your liver for optimal surgery results with fewer complications - soon enough you will be on the other side!

Three month surgiversary is tomorrow - am down 49 lbs. since surgery on May 21.

Best of luck! Pre-op can be challenging, but is so worth it after it is behind you. And after - you wont want to eat anyway

Down 2 lbs this week

What's your sign? Libra How would you rate your physical recovery post op (1-10, 1 being miserably long healing, 10 being fast & easy healing) I would rate it a 6 - it took me about 8 weeks to feel okay, and that was when I felt I had a bit of energy return. How would you rate your emotional state post-op (1-10) Considering a had complications - 8-9, I was very happy to finally be on the other side of surgery. Surgery pain was minimal other than the gas pain the first day - which walking around gets rid of. Was not taking pain meds for surgery after 2 days - but started taking it again for the baskillion CBC's I had to have (I am a p.i.t.a blood draw lol.) How would you rate your food tolerances? Can you keep things down r do you find that many food 'don't agree with you' now? Early on, I always ate too much and got the watery mouth, and watery throw ups. I went through a lactose intolerant period but it has passsed, I also went through the everything tastes and smalls terrible phase which has gotten a lot better. I stick to Protein first, then veggies, etc - but have had a few bites of carb in the form of breads and rice etc, they sit pretty heavy and feel uncomfortable for me - I will hit my 3 month mark on 8/21/12. How would you rate your general success with the sleeve. Have you made goal or are you on target to do so? (1-10). Always afraid that I will fail at this too - but it looks like I am doing okay so far. My personal goal is to lose 10 lbs a month - and I am certain that this will become much more challenging as I get further out from surgery. Sometime in 2013/2014 I hope to hit goal. I am approaching 50% loss of excess weight at 3 months post surgery - my surgeon says folks usually get it at 6 months. I was a high BMI to start with so those numbers make more sense. Please if you had complications, etc please give details. I started to bleed internally after my surgery and there was talk of going back in to repair it - my hematocrit dropped to 19 which made a couple a blood transfusions neccesary, I was released after 5 days. Once I arrived home I had an incision open up and I struggled with stopping the flow of blood - ended up back in ther ER that night, eventually all was well, took a week or so for the incision to dry up. Meanwhile, my husband who also had a VSG two weeks earlier sailed through surgery and was out mowing the lawn two days after his surgery.

Late checking in this week - was out of town for work and just got back in - was our first test with lots of eating out in restaurants, it went pretty well and got lots of swimming in which was a blast. My husband and I are still amazed at the volume of food we used to eat - and just how little we can eat now. Even better - down 5.5 this week

The scale vistory is that I weighed 229 this morning - which means I am now simply 'obese' - no longer morbidly obese, no longer super morbidly obese either Overweight here I come! Non scale victory - Sunday night the family was sitting on the sofa all watching Breaking Bad and I realized that my legs were crossed - I dont think I have been able to do that in at least 15 years. Slowly the big stomach is going away - when we would go to restaurants I was too big to fit in a booth, now there is plenty of room, plenty of room with the steering wheel in the car as well. The clothes are starting to get really big - so big that my husband tells me that I cant go out of the house in 80 percent of my wardrobe lol. I never thought I would be a success, I always thought that this is something I will never win, this fight for a healthy weight. Now it feels possible!

Welcome! I think any surgery is scary - what is scarier is when you are presented with the statistics and ramifications to our health if we stay obese. My husband and I both had the surgery, two weeks apart - and it has been the best thing either of us has ever done for our health and well being (along with my cutting out the smoking after 28 years) we have kids at home too and everything went just fine after the surgery, albeit with a few complications for me which were taken care of within 2 weeks. It can be a long process - at least it is in the U.S., which is good because it helps one prepare, this board is also an incredible resource with great info and loads of support from caring people who are experiencing and preparing for life with a sleeve. Surgery day, and the day before was very scary, but before you know it, it is behind you and you are living a new life - with hope and better health. Best. Decision. Ever.

Wow that is extreme - methinks you may hit goal by 5 months ha-ha I was 3 weeks of liquids (and I could have my Protein shakes, but strained all soups), then soft/mushy foods for another 3 weeks, and progressed to real food at 6 weeks post. Real foods was still soft things like eggs, chicken salad etc - took a bit for chicken breast, etc. 5 months seems like a long time, but Dr's have their reasons.