CowgirlJane

The further out you get, the easier it is to stop losing...lol. You can eat more for one, also you really do learn that following the rules is what helps the weight loss. It is pretty easy to not follow the rules.... Any week that I eat high carbs I don't lose - lit is like clockwork. I am 11 months out, I used to lose 10-13 pounds in a month, I now lose about half that rate. I suspect in the coming months i will be losing even slower... until it eventually stops. Alot of us set our goals at a target we feel comfortable maintaining, even if it is still technically overweight. My goal is 158, but at 5'5" I could lose another 15 pounds and still have plenty of weight. So, when you see tickers of people having lost beyond their goal, alot of time that is the reason - it isn't because they got too skinny.

Excellent suggestion - walking is the best exercise for many people, but especially when just starting out! If you live in the north you are faced this time of year with dark, cold and perhaps rain or snow... which can be discouraging. I live in the pacific northwest where we tend to embrace the "there is no bad weather, just wrong clothes" philosophy so that doesn't bother me. I have a headlamp I can wear for hands free lighting ( 2 dogs to walk!). Even so, I still kinda like the comfort of a warm gym. In Feb, about 2 months post op I joined my local ymca. It is actually more expensive than many gyms, but it is very "all size and family friendly" and besides the gym equipment has really good group exercise classes. Even at my heaviest, I felt pretty good there. They have what they call 101 classes which are classes for people just starting out or have some physical limits. That was a confidence builder before jumping into the classes with the skinny people. I started out with twice a week Water aerobics plus easy does it elliptical and weights. There are also treadmills and you can watch TV while doing your walking on the treadmill - just bring your own headsets. Water aerobics doesn't get the credit it deserves. The resistance of the water helps build strength, the bouyoancy helps protects your joints and if you have a good instructor you get a nice combo of aerobic, strength and stretching. I don't do it often anymore, but for many months it was my staple work out and i highly recommend it. Our class had a couple of guys in it, and many fit women too - it was called power water aerobics and you could do it easy or you could do it all out and get a hard workout depending on your fitness level. Anyway, I commend you for checking it out. You may hate it at first, but after a few weeks of working out it will start feeling so good. I don't know if it makes you lose weight much faster, but i assure you it helps you look better and feel better and be healthier as you slim down.

When I get an email telling me that a reply was posted to a thread I am following and gives me a link to the thread... it doesn't take me there. Instead it brings me to the "home" page of the forums. I am thinking to figure out how to cancel notifications as that isn't useful at all.

I was at 11 months on Nov 12th. I lost right around 6 pounds a month during the last two months. I am upping my workout intensity, shortening duration. Just trying to mix things up a little. I think it is pretty normal to drop down to this slower rate of loss.

I am 5'5"., my highest weight was 332 back on 2005. I think I was wearing 28-30X at that point. Presurgery I was 308 and most of my clothes were 26W and a combo of 2x/3x I am now 185 and wear 12s and 14s - talking non stretch jeans. I buy size L tops for the most part. If it is a mens or unisex item I seem to be at about a medium. I find clothing sizes to be kind of bogus though... if I buy stuff at a typical dept store, I need a "Large". If I buy equestrian stuff I am still in the 1x or bigger range. Clothing sizes are vanity sized to their target market and is not a very good comparison. I am shocked to read women who at my weight say they are wearing size 4-6s... wow, it is hard to imagine even though I am sure they are much taller then me.

I think you are asking a pretty complex question. I am still the same person and I think I had alot of assumptions about what type of eater I was. I would always say that I was a stress or emotional eater because this is what I was told. Seems to me that I was more of a "I am so hungry I could eat a cow" kind of eater. I can't say that emotional factors don't come into play - they do - but for me, I was just hungry.all.the.time.

How well my body has "shaped up" after losing over 120# has exceeded my expectations.... I catch a reflection in a storefront window and still do a double take "who is that good looking woman?" I have the dreaded apple shape, but am amazed that I have a defined waist and that I don't have so much extra skin that it is a big problem. However, I am very bothered by how my face looks. I am 48, but don't have a lot of wrinkles or anything - blessed with good skin and all. Even so, I see my face and am just so disappointed. In fact, the other day it kind of weirded me out - like who the hell is that person looking back at me? Here is my theory about why I feel this way. The last time i was this weight I was in my 20s and I was pretty damn cute. I think so many years of morbid obesity sort of made me block out seeing myself. I never consciously thought that I would look like a 23 year old again, actually I never thought about it at all.... but I am guessing that is why I am disappointed. The harsh reality of being pretty seriously middle aged now that i am finally able to shed the fatsuit. Am I the only one?

Last night I decided to do the cycling/spinning class at the gym for the first time. It is done in a small room, with 4 bikes on each wall, facing inward. The class wasn't very full (the eating season has begun, the exercise season starts in January!) but somehow I wound up directly across from the 3 guys in the class. There were 3 other women plus the instructor but I had a couple of bikes between me and the nearest person - just kind of worked out that way. Well, throughout this whole class, I kept having this feeling that one of the guys in particular was looking at me. It is natural since we were more or less across from each other, but everytime I looked up, he looked away which made me very self conscious. I thought one of the others was checking me out too, but it wasn't such a big deal and I started thinking that I was just imagining it all. I had checked myself out in the full length mirror before leaving the ladies locker room, so I was pretty sure that I was put together okay.... I was wearing a new Champion T shirt that I bought on sale at Target. It was a little tighter then I usually wear (grrr... didn't try it on first but for $6 I figured it was fine). Okay, I thought it was odd, but oh well. I got home, went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror ... you guessed it.. major headlights in that too tight shirt. I was mortified. He was probably looking at me like I was some kind of weirdo. That room was small and they had the windows open/kept it cool due to the heavy sweating in this spinning class. I am sure it was quite visible and I felt like I wanted to crawl in a hole, but of course it was too late by then! I WAS planning on going back to that class again.... lol

In a heartbeat. 11 Months out and I have 123 reasons I would do it again!

Okay, time has eased my feelings of embarrasment. Besides, I figure as long as I don't wear the same shirt nobody will even recognize me so I don't need to change gyms or anything.

I eat pretty normally, I just get full fast. I don't wolf down food, but that isn't good for you anyway. also, the slower you eat, the more chance your brain has to register "full" When I eat too fast I don't vomit, but I did once eat too much that way (didn't realize I had eated too much) and had some discomfort.

I just emailed you an example that happened today

Good to hear from you! They modified my siggie too - very irritating. They no longer allow myfitnesspal ticker.

I was sleeved Dec 12 2011, have lost 123# and am still inching toward my ultimate goal to losing 150# total. What works for me is going back to basics and following the sleeve rules. I am also exercising, but the main thing is staying high protein/moderate carb and eating very small quantities. I still use a teaplate and appetizer utinsils to eat with for example.

Haha - my obsession changed about daily when I was researching too. i won't bore you with the weirdness of many of my thoughts, but lets just say that many many of us went through this soul searching. Ask your surgeon about the 40 bougie. I went in convinced I should have a 32 based on what I read here. Well, when I found out the standard at my surgeon was 38 I had a long talk of why they do that. Evidence based medicine - meaning they look at the ever evolving evidence and try to find that right balance between good weight loss and minimizing risks/complications/side effects. Ask your surgeon why he picked 40 and discuss your concerns. What i have learned is that bougie size isn't actually THAT important. Your stomach size is actually determined by how long your stomach is and their sewing technique in addition to the bougie size. I hate acid reflux, and knew that a tiny tummy increased that risk. So far, I am glad i trusted my surgeon's recommendation. And yes, I have lost another pound or so in recent days. My official weigh in is monday morning which I track in Excel. I update myfitness pal pretty frequently so it is more up to date. Even 11 months out, I am still losing about 1-1.5 pounds a week lately.... it does continue to slow though.

I am a "eyes wide open" type person too. I think each of us needs to face the possibility of complications and make the decision based on that knowledge. for me, it was scary reading it but I honestly felt and still feel that it was worth it. I was dying slowly due to weighing 300+ pounds so I had 100% chance of that whole crap situation. My "risk" of serious surgical complications was considerably less then that and I knew that it was worth taking the risk. I was banded in 2001 and bought the story of how safe the lapband was. I had no idea the years of suffering I had ahead of me. Complications were always brushed off as being due to "patient non compliance" or some such BS... like "it could never happen to me". I had a top surgeon at the international level and STILL had many years of complications. If I had known, well, I don't know if it would have changed my decision but at least I would have understood what to do and how to handle it when things went bad. A little fear is maybe a good thing... face it, embrace it and make your decisions. This is a serious committment. Those of us who had a pretty easy time can easily say "come on in, the Water is fine" but reality is that there are plenty of stories like Iggy's out there.

When was your surgery? It is pretty normal to feel abbynormal (Young Frankenstein reference here!) for awhile. I feel pretty normal most of the time these days, but in the early weeks I certainly did not. Don't become obsessed with the scale. In the end, you lose weight week to week or month to month... the day to day has alot of variation that just don't matter!

Of course every surgeon is different - but these look pretty good to me. The only thing I noticed that seemed out of line with typical instructions is the Protein. Early out from surgery, you just do the best you can. As you progress, most programs want you at at LEAST 60G of protein a day - I think I was hitting that just a few weeks out. It was hard keeping it up transitioning to food, but again, i worked back up to the minimum of 60G. i usually get more like 80g+ a day now.

I have had the guidelines for the long haul from the beginning. This isn't a diet, and while it is true that you can and do eat more the further you are out from surgery, the basic guidelines remain the same. Protein, veggies and no junk food. Minimal whole grain/fruit sourced carbs. Don't drink with meals and eat small portions. Same as when you are losing weight...

That is a tough one. Regardless of if you are self pay or not, realize that if you have any complications, it would be good to have a plan of how that might be paid for too. Good luck - how stressful to have all this happen right now!

Don't bring junk food in the house. If I could get my family to follow that one thing... it would be heavenly. Instead, I get to walk by cookies and crackers every single day....

-I read a lot of people saying sleeve doesnt work after having a lapband :/ is this true? I am SO scared of making a wrong choice I guess I already answered this one - some people don't do well, but many of us are walking testimonies that it can be done! -Is it possible to have a band and sleeve? You could not convince me that this is a good idea - never heard of it and I am suspicious of any surgeons offering experiments like that. -Why do more surgeons not offer the "net" around the stomach to help prevent stretching? I am also very suspicious about this idea. There are a number of people who have revised to the sleeve after having some weird mesh procedures from the 1980s and 1990s. Non standard stuff like this make it hard to do revisions etc later. I want to see evidence that something actually makes sense, I am not interested in testing some new ideas... -Weight loss aside; are you able to drink a small amount of alcohol (like a glass or two of wine)? I drink more like half a glass of wine everyonce in awhile. Alcohol hits you harder. -Do you feel like you get enough energy from what you eat? Yes, absolutely -Do you find yourself craving carbs or did the sleeve help kill that “I gotta have some bread and butter!!!”. Because even when I stuff myself with other foods, I still have that mental “but you didn’t have what you really wanted” feeling. You will still fight head hunger, but the surgery helps alot and I mean alot compared to the band. I think over time if you train yourself to eat a certain way that it helps reduce hunger. I gave you a link already to my post that covers this general topic - eat small quantities of high Protein diets and cravings are greatly reduced. -Since this is removing some of the stomach, do you feel like some surgeons are better than others? Like it’s an art? I think so. Ask your surgeon about results from his specific practice. I suspect that a good portion of the success ratio is determined by the follow on support they offer. I am curious why some people fail and some succeed. Could it be the surgeons don’t remove enough stomach or do it wrong? I also ask this because I would consider going out of state (not out of country for a surgeon more experienced with lapband to sleeve. Well, I am more worried about surgeons who make mistakes that may contribute to issues like "twisting stomach" or other defects with the stomach. I am not convinced that the larger stomach (withing standard recommendatios) means poorer results. Mine was a 38 bougie and I have lost just fine. -Do you believe WLS is like breast implants, where you should prepare yourself that you may need to have “maintenance” done on it? That isn't my mindset. Unlike the band, once sleeved you shouldn't need ongoing tweaking. I do however have the mindset that I will do whatever it takes to keep the weight off - so if that means I need to revise I wouldn't rule it out in the future. Whether that be revision or additional surgery to correct complications? Could happen. Most complications occur early on though, so once you are a few months out chances are that you won't have any additional surgeries. I explained to my boyfriend I always knew it was a possibility that I may need my band fixed or removed because I saw many patients with slips and port issues. -Can someone have the sleeve done 2x if they gain weight back? Some people get their stomach resleeved/made smaller but I think it is more common to revise to the rny or DS. -My lapband surgeon is charging 22k for band removal to sleeve. Expensive! I already paid 19k out of pocket for my lapband, and it didn't work out. And I REALLY did try. This would be a 41k investment-- sigh. Not to mention the heartache. This is one of the reasons I am so determined to have long term success. I work pretty hard at it.

Okay, you have lost 37% of your excess weight. You are ahead of where I was at 7 weeks and I think I was and still am doing AWESOME! My point is that you can't compare apples to oranges - you need to look at percentage of excess weight or do like they do on biggest loser which is percentage of your body weight lost. It isn't fair to compare to someone with entirely different circumstances. There are men who have posted losing over 100# in 3 months. Well, no matter what I did, I couldn't do that so it is completely unreleastic comparison.

I think someone younger who is only 30# overweight would be well served to do the slow, lifestyle overhaul. Here is why i say that - i have gained and lost and regained bigger numbers then that many many many times. I did it via weight watchers, I did it on my own, I did it using nutrisystems... etc etc. What I could never do was keep it off. I think the reasons are complex, and hunger played a key role. The fatter I got, the more :"out of control" that hunger got. Metabolic disorder is what they call it now. It is like pre-diabetes even if you don't "test" as that high of blood sugar that is what is really going on. I have a fat pony who is always hungry and can eat until he explodes, there is no off button - I have to physically limit his access to food and then there is my lean riding horse that stops when he is done even if delicious food is sitting in front of him. There is something physically different - it isn't a character flaw that fat pony is always hungry (he isn't really fat, but blink and he gets that way). My vet calls it a predisposition to insulin resistance - the key is to not let him get fat or he will develop a full on metabolic disorder - that is what I had. So, diets are great for short term, but what I needed was a deeper understanding of my illness and how to manage it. If it were my daughter, I would counsel her to work with a nutritionalist that understands all this - and many of them don't. Learn how to eat really small portions of moderate carb. I am talking basically no simple carbs and limited veggie/fruit and whole grain carbs. I would visualize losing those 30 pounds over a year or two - really slow - but the main thing is learning how to manage this "illness" this metabolic monster. I don't know for sure, but I think if i had been able to do that when I was young I would not have needed WLS. I was never a binger like eat 2 hamburgers at a sitting or anything. I was more a persistant over eater. Every meal, just eating a little too much. Too often having seconds. Too often having dessert or some high carb delight. My hubby could never understand how I kept so much weight on as it never seemed like I ate huge portions or ate all the time. He was right, it was more like always eating a bit too much, a bit too rich of food and it really adds up. I still find it shocking that a full grown adult who is fairly active (me) lives on eating meals from a teaplate. The idea is still mind boggling, but it is the reality for some of us "fat ponies"

What I am upset by is that people think that they should lose the same number of pounds as some person on the internet they know nothing about. Look, it varies so much by age, gender, and perhaps most importantly - how much overweight they are! You have lost 27 pounds.... well, how much TOTAL do you need to lose to get to a healthy BMI? Let's just imagine your goal weight by the charts is 140, since you didn't provide that info. That would mean you started out with 63# to lose. You lost 27 already which is 43% of your excess! I would have killed to have lost nearly half my excess weight in 7 weeks and even though I lost "big numbers" - I had lost 41# by 7 weeks out that is only 27% of the amount I want to lose. If I go by the BMI charts, losing 41# was only 25% of my "excess weight". So, I think you are right on target unless your goal weight is like 58 pounds.