Chimera

Still going to keep my feed days low compared to 'normal' women - going to try to shoot for 1000 to 1200 - which puts fast days very low 250-300. Lisa you are so close to goal I just know you will get it

Heh those have binge written all over them for me - they are small and look exceptionally delicious I don't think I could have them in the house - I know myself too well. I quit a 28 year/pack+ a day smoking habit prior to surgery - one of the things that really helped me get through the white knuckle moments early on was riding out the cravings, letting them pass and then noticing how long the intense craving lasts - it is actually quite short - 2-3 minutes and then it passes - of course they are constant when one first quits, but they get further and further apart the longer one goes, and now they are very rare. I do get the urge to light up here and there out of the blue - but there is no way on earth I will ever do it - because I never want to quit again EVER - never going through that hell again. Now as we all know food is not something we can abstain from indefinitely - but rather we just have to manage it. I know for myself that I have to watch it really carefully with carbs/sugar or I turn into a ravenous, binging beast who would rip a bag of fluffy hamburger buns out of unsuspecting folks hands at the supermarket if given the opportunity I think that is part of my next experiment - to attempt to detox from any and all sugars and artificial sweeteners - which sounds about as fun as giving up smoking!

It is a crazy bunch of emotional stuff we have to address after losing so much, after changing so much - I guess that is the constant - change, something I was always terrified of before. I know I will spend a long time working on my own dysmorphia issues - I can see how far I have come - freakishly far, my husband doesn't even recognize the person I was before surgery. I recognize and embrace my newfound health and energy - not to mention how much better I look. Did that stop me from breaking down in tears two days ago in a dressing room because of excess skin - and I guess really realizing how poorly I treated myself in the past with my food addiction and how badly it damaged my body and health - no it didn't. Feeling deep regret for what I had done to myself...in the past. Well I am sure most of us have had a good cry over the myriad of issues we face as we go through these ups and downs - I will take my loose flappiness over those extra 140 some lbs anyday And for the record - I think each and every one of you is beautiful.

First day for me too! Tried posting on the group discussion but am not a full member so I cant So far so good - I've had coffee with 2 T. of organic half & half and am planning a splendid dinner tonight of lean ground turkey or 3 turkey meatballs (my fav). I love Premier Protein shakes too - the entire top shelf of the fridge has a permanent installation of chocolate flavored shakes lol. Still reading the book and am loving the science so far - feel great, no hunger at all and have been working all morning. Think I might go kick my rump at the gym after I finish my paperwork. Not focusing on WL but rather CHANGE, and the improved health benefits Planning my next fast day for Thursday.

Beautifully and eloquently said - well done and Pookey's post gets printed and added to the 'pure gold' collection

She stayed at 600-800 cals, 80+ protein, loooow carbs, oceans of calorie free liquid until she hit goal - she's tiny - 105 lbs and looks amazing.

Reposting this from another board by a fellow sleeve vet I have a lot of respect for Elina_7. I have this printed out on my desk and read it all the time. Sorry for the eye-bloodying wall of text - VST wont let me edit unless it is pasted from a word document. "This is a post for those of you that think that this surgery will get you to your goal, and I am here to share the bad news with you that it will not. This surgery alone will most likely only lead you to lose to about 50-60% of EW all by itself (on average, some people lose much less and others more). That is the bad news. The good news is that this does not have to be your fate. You can make a choice to do much better than this statistic. You can choose to lose all the way to 100% EW and be in the top 10% of sleeve patients. You really can do this and than keep your results. I am here at four years into my maintenance sharing this with you from my personal experience as well as observation. You can reach goal and you can keep it. This is what it takes (from my point of view) to get there and to stay there. 1) You will read about many programs on OH and your doctor will have their own program, my experience tells me that in most cases, the 600-800 cals, over 80 grams of Protein, under 40 grams of carbs is the way to go. Others will disagree, and I am OK with that. This is my post and my opinion and my observation. There is no way that I would have reached goal on 1200 calories. That is my maintenance level eating. This of course might need to be tweaked on an individual basis. If you are an athlete and workout multiple hours a day, or if you have a different goal than I did or if you have a super fast metabolism or are a guy and have tons of muscle, than maybe eating more calories will work for you. If you are a woman, petite, not a youngster, and work out an hour or so a day, in most cases, the higher calories will not get you to goal. Are there exceptions, of course there are exceptions. Are those exceptions common? No, they are not. 2) If you go into this with without realizing that the first six months to a year is all about your weight loss, you are cheating yourself. I read posts on here about how to add flavor to foods and often the point is about making this more palatable. There is nothing wrong with adding spices, or finding low carb, nutritious alternatives to some foods, however, when your focus is anything other than maximizing your weight loss, you are sabotaging your progress and your opportunity of reaching that elusive 100% EW. I can honestly tell you that I think I would have eaten cardboard in those early months if that was required of me. The dedication needs to be to the process, the rest is not that important. Find your groove with certain home made lean Proteins and mostly eat that until goal. This is not rocket science, eat 2-3 ounces of protein and eat low carb veggies as Snacks. 3) Do not allow relationships to get in your way. I don't care if you have kids, or an unsupportive husband, or parents choose to undermine your efforts. That might sound callous, but really, I don't care and neither should you. This next six months to a year is about you and you alone. This is your selfish time, the time when nothing comes before you. If you can't have certain foods in the house, get rid of them. If your spouse sabotages you, stop them. Speak up, find your voice, set your boundaries and do not allow anyone to take your mind off the prize. You matter, you are important, you are precious, and you must find the strength to do the right thing for yourself. If the people in your life are not supportive of your efforts, minimize your contact, or set firm limits. You are in charge and you will not allow anyone to get in your way. 4) Find the warrior in you and give yourself over that part of you for now. Find your type A personality, your alpha and your OCD parts and marry them to get one heck of a fighter. This is not a passive experience, this takes guts, sweat and tears. This takes being over focused on the minutia of your eating and exercise. This is a second job, a new baby, a big deal. This is not about passively taking what comes your way. You must drive this and you must take full control and responsibility. This will not be easy, but it is worth it, really, really worth it. Stop thinking that it will just happen, stop thinking that it should be easy, stop thinking that this shouldn't take a good deal of your time and energy or that it will be convenient. It will not be any of these things, and yet, in the end, you will love the results and remember the process with fondness. You will feel proud to own your results. This journey will change you, and I don't just mean your weight. In the end, it comes down to an age old question; how badly do you want this?"

So inspired that I actually put a real pic up rather than the cartoon head I have been sporting for the last few years lol.

That is right - we will get there eventually! My hubby and I did hit Barnes and Noble for a yummy skinny latte and I picked up Michael Mosely's book - I know there is another 5:2 by another gal but I will start with his. Think I will watch the documentary again tonight (have it saved on the DVR). and I will give the 5:2 a whirl starting Monday 9/9 - you 5:2 folks have had such inspiring success!

I did not know that caffeine can mess with one's insulin levels - I love my Starbucks 2 pump vanilla lattes - perhaps I should switch to decaf. I usually do 2% milk rather than skim, I think a little fat is a good thing - lord knows the fat is low with the rest of the stuff I eat/drink. Heck maybe I should just switch to plain herbal tea and keep the lattes as an occasional treat. Not sure about you guys but I have a whole lot of skin to deal with (with plenty of padding left in it lol.) It has got to be at least 10 lbs. I'm guessing. I am just going to keep up the good habits - maybe someday I can have the last bits cut off and I will be at that 'magic upper range of healthy BMI haha.

Was poking around looking up how close I am to being just overweight rather than obese according to BMI charts (which as we know have some serious limitations in actually determining how healthy or what size someone actually is). Looks like I am 2 lbs away from that milestone - and I found this interesting link that a gal has on her Flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/72157602199008819/

I will just keep replying to my own threads then. another site that is fun is My Body Gallery - which was linked by a forum member a while back and I think I spend half a day there http://www.mybodygallery.com/

Grrrr. I am very tired of the forum not letting my have access to edit posts punctuation etc....drives me nuts - and never a response in the help forums.

I also keep reminding myself that it can take a long time to get those last lbs. off - we are in good company! and you look utterly amazing, beautiful and vibrant! never forget how far you have come

I hear ya Lisa! We had our surgeries on the same day last year and I am still working my way down to that normal BMI - it is so hard to see how far we have come so much of the time. I think that is one reason I hang on to the number, because then I will have absolute proof that I have been able to do it. Our society is so tuned in to the astounding 'before and after' transformations that occur with massive weight loss that we can be pretty hard on ourselves when the scale stops or slows. Yes all of my co-morbidities are resolved, my docs are frankly freaked out at how drastically I have improved my health over the last 3 years (my pcp still cant believe I stopped a 28 year smoking addiction after she prescribed Wellbutrin and told me to get nicotine patches - smoke free now for 3+ years) I am but a few lbs. from simply being overweight and man I will be dancing a jig when I move into that next category.

I know right? That article really resonated for me too - all of this great reading over the last few weeks has really helped me to recalibrate my oftentimes emotional response to not being at goal already - heck I was at 80% EWL at 1 year post op and am about to ramp up my workouts and put myself back into a ketogenic state to get the rest of it off. Its been easy for me to let the carbs climb a bit - mainly through dairy and an occasional Starbucks treat - I have not been gaining, but I have not been losing much anymore either - guess I am seeing first hand how to maintain in the 172-174 lbs. range.

sorry for the underline - vsg talk hates my browser lol.

Some really great reading! I too love dr. Sharma's work and have quite a collection of links to his articles - here is another recent one that I found pretty interesting - (sorry for the OH link Alex). http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/why-bariatric-surgery-can-fail-part-2/

Rofl gman!

Congrats on goal! What an awesome achievement! I have started noting the weight I was from last day of the month from the previous year - lets see for last August I weighed 222 lbs. - and this year I weigh 50 lbs less. I will take it! I am going to continue to try and stop comparison with those fast losers and just be mindful of my own progress and success - and the fact that I am not piling it all back on - which is what has always happened in the past. Just going to be that better version of myself and keep slogging away at it

Real Self is a great site to learn about plastics and see snapshots - sorry about the underline - I cannot edit my posts unless I write them in a word processing program and then paste - ugh.http://www.realself.com/

I've been doing a lot of research into plastics these days - generally you want to be at goal and have been thee for at least 3 months for skin surgery. I would suggest shapewear in the meantime - I've noticed that the skin continues to really change and shape up in many areas as you continue to lose. You look young from your avatar photo - that is an even bigger bonus, you have much better chances of some of that skin snapping back after time. Generally, if you have 60+ lbs to lose - you can expect that skin surgery will improve your contours. if you are looking at hundreds of lbs (my real deal goal puts me at close to 200 down - lets talk about flappy skin galore lol) - the best option is LBL - lower body lift or belt lipectomy - cut all the way around and pull your lower half up like a pair of pantyhose - sounds like the worst healing pain imaginable but I will gladly endure it to get rid of the scary flabby skin between belly button and top of my knees. Someday - I am working on getting the last of the weight off and increasing muscle mass under the fat.

I third that suggestion! I spent time in therapy a few years back with an eating disorder group - interestingly enough I guess binge eating/overfilling are similar in some respects to anorexic/restrictive behaviors clinically. Hang in there - our surgery was only on our stomachs - the work on the head is all on us

I know you guys have your own group but figured you guys would read posts here - I just watched Michael Mosley's PBS special Eat, Fast, and Live Longer and it was great. I know it is on a few times this week on my local PBS station. Taping his next show which is called the Truth About Exercise. Here is a link http://video.pbs.org/program/michael-mosley/

Just wait - it gets even better