CowgirlJane

I found that I don't see myself accurately in the mirror... it is my co-conspiritor in dismorphia when I was obese, I didn't see it as bad in the mirror. Photos of myself would shock me - like - how could i be THAT BIG? Now, I am prone to see myself in the mirror as "worse" that i really look. There is something about photos that seem like more factual. I can't deny the reality. Since I use mirrors to put on makeup and do my hair... it makes me wonder what i REALLY go out of the house looking like...haha

I believe my food addiction was primarily physical. I had a DRIVE to eat that was beyond hunger. It was like that stupid Labrador retriever that must.fetch.ball no matter how exhausted, like that moth that buzzes around a light bulb until cooked by it. I felt at some point that I had no choice but to eat. That sounds insane but it describes the depth of my"addiction". Did the sleeve cure it? No. What I think happened was it gave me a reprieve (first 6 months with low to n o appetite) to sorta see it and think. Dang...I like this! When my appetite returned I had the good fortune to have resources to turn to. That combined with a glimpse of what it felt like to not be food obsessed motivated me so much. What the motivation did was make me work extra hard at following my support systems advice on appetite control. I could not have done it without the sleeve. I could not have done it without the education and support I could not have done it without this forum If it weren't for how badly I wanted it I am sure I would weight in the 200s vs. My current 150s. I am HALF my former size, something I give daily thanks for. My point is that there is alot of factors for some of us to maintain our goals. Hunger is real and almost overwhelming at times.. Even post sleeve,there is a way of eating that helps control it, BUT I still spend time every day feeling hungry (not overeat triggering-a healthy hungry). I heard a rumour that is normal before meals. Who knew.

why i agree with your point (helpful advice isn't very helpful!) your advisor is correct that there is evidence that drinking diet soda triggers hunger and therefore is NOT an effective solution to reducing calorie intake while drinking soda. anyway, it is kind of weird that people feel the need to tell you this unsolicited...

I recommend photos. I look at my before pix regularly. I keep a before and after side by side in my office. i needed this to understand and really SEE my changes.

ok, toning is a great topic - just be realistic it doesn't shrink skin! Okay, I am a big advocate of "boot camp" style toning. I mean stuff like pushups, lunges, ab crunches, planks etc. If you are reasonably fit, try Julian michales "ripped in 30 days" DVDs. 30 minutes - hard workout with lots of toning. My only advice is to do more warm up and cool down than she does - maybe just because i am old that i need that. I am just starting "kickboxing" which includes punching, kicking a target PLUS those boot camp style items (pushups, planks, lunges, crunches etc). It really isolates those muscles! If none of this sounds good, give me a hint what you would like to do. I have done different types of exercise over the last 3 years and have a good "portolio of ideas"

I read a couple of the recent replies siince this thread was revised. My 2 cents - the sleeve NEVER felt as restrictive for me as the band did. I had to wrap my head around the idea that I COULD still over eat with sleeve (heck, I could overeat with band obviously!) but it did work very well for me as a tool to manage my food intake. It is dissappointing to wind up with a larger sleeve than some, but, I do not believe that means you cant do this. Even with a "bigger sleeve" if you eat DENSE Protein first, don't graze, stay hydrated and get active you will lose. One of my "learnings" is that I do still feel hunger, but it is okay, I will live. That sounds wacky, but I was so hungry for so long, I didn't realize I have almost a phobia of it. weird. but, normal people do get hungry, they live with it, then they eat a little (not too much) and are no longer hungry for awhile. novel concept, and one I finally experience with the sleeve. Best of luck to all.

Glad to hear this! As you well know, a leak is serious business and recovery can be slow. There are many people I have seen on this forum over the 3 plus years I have been posting that recover well and do great with the sleeve. Every one of them has been just fine at the end of the day. Wishing you a speedy recovery and so sorry you have to go through this!

They tried to convince me of that and I refused as the tires were newer. I bought a new pair. Truck tires...over $300 a tire!!! Well, I guess the benefit of plastics - I wear my clothes very fitted and no gut hang over. Each pair either zips or doesn't. No smoosh to squeeze in! I am trying to decide how important this really is to me as right now, 140 seems impossible and I am feeling remarkably"ok" at158. I still think I need a cushion so maybe trying for 150-155 is more realistic. I just started intensive exercise again and ironically this is so strength oriented I may easily gain fitness without losing weight. Decided I should measure and photo my muscle definition since that is another way to view progress.

I can give you a very rational reasons for my choice of the sleeve but in all honesty I had an irrational fear of bypass. That fear came from knowing ladies who had open bypass and going to my first bariatric info session. ..early 1990s I believe. I also went to a weight loss group that had a very obese member who was several years post bypass so it seemed like it failed. I was so terrified of the prospect that really the sleeve was my only option (i revised from band that I got in 2001). Now 3 years post sleeve. .uber happy, estatic with my choice as I lost 100 % of my excess and maintaining BUT I recognize my fear of bypass was not rational and based on outdated "experiences". I think they are both good procedures just learn the pros and cons of each.

I find that low carbs, more than low calories will tend to make me feel tired with heavy workouts. Like, I can barely move my body once I am "outta juice". Consider the timing of carb consumption to help give you a boost?

I did the same thing. My surgery was December 11 2011 and I gave those farewell letters to my sons for Christmas! In Sept 2013, I wrote farewell letters before plastic surgery which i entrusted with a dear friend. She nervously dumped coffee all over them when I was in a long day of surgery - she told me she knew I was going to be fine since the letters were a gonner..haha It is normal to be scared to death. It is almost all you can think about, but go in with confidence that you will be fine and have a trimmer, healthier YOU to look forward to!

Perspective ladies... yes, it is hard and frustrating but I fought hard to try (and fail) to stay under 300#. Okay, I can't seem to get down below my goal weight of 158 and down to the 140s where I want to be...boohoo. My butt doesn't fit my size 2/4s pants but my 6/8s are fine. I am being very gentle with myself, treating myself like my friends do - which is - I am perfectly fine the way I am. If you can't fast readily, don't torture yourself. I have had a hard time having 500 cal days, but i have plenty of 600-700 cal days and I focus on making them low carb too. I am not losing weight fast... but slowly inching down. That is the reality ... and it seems to get more real the further out from surgery!

I had a lower body lift and while it was a slow recovery I had no real problem or complications. Rest, good nutrition and hydration. ..Netflix is your friend. Good.luck!!

They are both good choices. sleevers don't have experience with bypass so can't compare the experience. My BMI was over 50 and I have done well with the sleeve. I suggest you go to a patent support group and talk to patients of both and ask them aboit their own surgery. To me the main downside of sleeve is that a minority get acid reflux. I am 3 yesrs out and so far fine...

I lost 5.5 pounds of skin post plastics and I had.lost 150#. I have heard several ladies saying about twice that...so 10-12 pounds. Rule of thumb I had heard was you should stay within 10 % of your weight. I had plastics at 150 and I have bounced on both sides of that number with good results

Exercise is excellent,tones the muscles and makes you look great...does not however shrink skin. I have some pretty saggy skin pix when I was in awesome shape....jus sayin

Florinda, I don't know anything but you describe picking at skin,out of control housekeeping etc...could your current weight gain be a symptom rather than cause of your distress? If you had weight loss rather than gain what would you do to feel better in these other areas? I ask this because it becomes a habit to blame everything on being heavier than we want but maybe the underlying issue is something else. I am trying exercise/kickboxing again... after a week of resting my knee. I am doing so good in so many ways but every once in a while I feel that sense of panic...what am I doing with my life??? I wish I could let go of this thinking but it rears its head sometimes. Today it hit me because i made a choice to go out with Steven rather than do fun stuff with a group on Saturday and I have people annoyeded at me over it. I am annoyed at me over it...like what am I doing? It is a very small thing actually but it made me feel like I am blowing in the wind rather than setting my own course. This was just over going out..Haha...on serious matters I feel similarly rudderless at times. I told my friend Shawn that I made one goal, it is fitness related and it made me feel good to have a plan for one thing in my life at least.

I work from home too! curious what kind of biz you have?

What I wish I had known, many years ago is that obesity is a disease process. Yes, our behavior (willpower) strongly influences it, but once you are super morbidly obese very very few can maintain a massive weight loss without surgery. Developing a deeper understanding of the underlying medical condition relieved me of much of my guilt and self doubt. Like, if i can be successful at a million other things in life WHY CAN'T I STAY ON DIET? Well, that was my first misunderstanding, that I needed a diet. It really is a shift in mindest, behaviors and food choices that go along with the weight loss surgery. Understanding that my physical drive to overeat was a metabolic problem helped me accept myself alot more on this topic and tackle it like a medical not character problem. that is what I wish I had known ages ago.

Well, for me, i felt pretty awful for the first i would say 12 weeks. i had no complications, just a weird, vaguely naseaus feeling alot. I can eat anything now (mixed blessing!) at 3 years out. do I still sometimes feel that vague unsettled tummy feeling? yes. a year ago i lost too much weight (which was strange because i had already been at goal for a year) and it happened because I was going through emotional turmoil and my mind turned that vague unsettled feeling into "I can't eat" feeling. My surgeon was right, it was emotional and i had to take specific steps to get out of it. However, It does not interfere with my life and it isn't bad, doesn't cause vomiting, and it feels alot better than being crazy hungry 24/7 Now, I am still at goal, but finding myself wanting to eat more that I should.. isn't it ironic? ha anyway, regrets do you no good because the surgery cannot be undone. food tasting weird etc lasted quite awhile which was all part of that "not feeling good" feeling. I don't think you should be afraid to eat, but i do recall the "effort" of eating often didn't seem worth it at the 4-12 weeks out stage - solid foods were alot more work than shakes. Maybe we use different words for the same meaning... but my advice is to view food like fueling up for a healthy body and try to get away from the pleasure/misery aspect of food if you can. It's hard, but it does get easier and I think you are likely to be pretty happy with the trade offs once you lose alot of weight. Hang in there!

hmm... not sure who this was targeted at but since it was shortly after my post, perhaps it was me. I do not claim to be perfect nor am I all that concerned with choices other people make. I am simply sharing my own experiences. I do agree whole heartedly that you do need to find a way to live your life and deal with day to day stuff like vacations, parties, dates, birthdays, work meetings, business travel the list goes on and on. The basic shift in thoughts are that "food" is not the vacation. it makes it alot easier to enjoy social events when you see that food is still sustanence, which of course you enjoy but it is still just food. I simply mean to say that this does not require perfection but you do yourself a favor if you stay with the basic rules (small portions, Protein first, no grazing) while still living life. I eat real food, and i enjoy higher calorie foods for sure but I still have decent restriction and feeling of satiety as long as i eat properly and take good care of my sleeve.. Some people get to goal in 6 months. if you are higher BMI it will take longer and you may never make it (look at stats if you doubt me). I know that some lurkers read things and I get PMs that say things like "I want to be successful like you" so I do not ever want to give the impression that I lost 150# in 14 months without being quite diligent and frankly strict. I do not care if anyone else choses my path, but it seems unfair to give an impression that is anything other than my truth. Maintaining for 2 years now - and it is still effort. My point is that NONE of us are going to be 100% perfect in our eating all the time. For goodness sake, we have to LIVE. So you go on vacation and overdo it a little? Get back on track the next day. Just because you break one plate unloading the dishwasher, doesn't mean you have to break the rest along with it..... I know I'm a noob and in the "honeymoon" period of my surgery. But I'm also looking at this long term. If, ONCE IN A WHILE, I let my hair down a little and have a good time, I'm going to try to make sure I'm getting right back on track as soon as possible.I KNOW it gets harder as time goes on. But if I'm making good choices 95% of the time, I know I have a chance of keeping the weight off. I don't know. Maybe some of you can bookmark this thread and throw it in my face in a year or two when I'm struggling with maintenance, lol. I only know what I know NOW. UGH. Sometimes the holier than thou attitudes on here are too much.

The bypass has no guarantees. It is also a little naive to think "how can you not be successful" - all weight loss surgerys have people who are not successful, or who are initially successful but regain everything. That happens with the gastric bypass too. Here is what I do know, the sleeve is a good tool and it really really helps. I could not have lost 150-160# without it and I certainly could not have maintained that loss for the last 2 years. It is still work and I remain diligent because it is surprisingly easy ... the further you get down the road to overeat. and it doesn't take much before the pounds start coming back.

Okay, you didn't clarify that you really have tried those things and have done the yo-yo deal already. so, what was the question? I am sorry, but for me i just could not maintain a weight loss of any significance presleeve. It was a major victory when i went froom 332 to 240 following weight watchers. I was an amazing success and kept it off for several years before finding the 300s again... but... I was still freaking obese even at 240 ( I am 5'5" woman) Over time,I couldn't even lose weight and maintain any losses. It was absolute insanity, but I fought harder to stay under 300# than I have to fight to maintain a normal weight and size now. Surgery was the only way for me and if you have done the whole lose a bunch and regain a bunch and a half a few times you know exactly what i mean...

okay, and I have to say this - not targeted to original poster, but just in general. That period, maybe 5-8 months post op it is easy to get a little cocky. The losses are coming easy, you can't imagine how anyone could ever NOT lose weight post sleeve... la dee da... life is good! Warning, it does get harder in some ways and i genuinely believe that this window during the first few months, certainly first 6-12 months, you are laying down basic habits and priorities that will set your course down the road. It is never too late to change, but you might be surprised how many people come back to these forums, 2-3 years post op disappointed that they never quite made goal and have started regaining... lots of reasons that happens, but one of them is that slippery slide back to old ways. So, I do encourage people to think about vacations, trips, family reunions, parties etc in terms of "what do I need to do right now" and "how will this fit in with my life for the long term"? I suggest that my way of handling (stay with basic program "eat small mini meals, Protein first etc, but eat lobster..haha) addressed both reasonably well.