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From memory I was on liquids for 2 weeks, then purée for 2 weeks then I could go to solid food. I don't remember having the head hunger although I was looking forward to food by the time the 4 weeks was over and then I could eat about 2 teaspoons!

Craved chocolate - ate Mango instead to get my sugar hit! Really trying to kick the refined sugar habit that I have slipped into!

You are kicking butt too Bec - or should I say fitting butt (into your seat I mean!) - enjoy Bon Jovi and give Jon a wave from me!

Congratulations skudibz we must have been done around the same time, I,ve lost 20 also, it's such a great feeling isn't it. Hey - you are both kicking butt - good for you!

Soak up those compliments as they will be coming thick and fast from here on in! Well done!

Susan - You are looking fantastic - I am so sorry you have so much going on at the moment health wise. Just take one step at a time and deal with each hurdle as it comes up. I am so glad they are monitoring your liver - it sounds like that are right onto it so worry about the operation if you have to have it and like you said enjoy your holiday in a swimsuit this year! If you you ever need a shoulder to cry on or a stiff drink I'm your lady and you know that I am not too far away! As far as your last 5kg - don't worry, just keep looking back at those before photos and see how far you have come! I think you have done amazingly well especially with you thyroid playing up - I know that makes it a lot harder.

Welcome McKelmer - look forward to hearing about your progress - not ever having opted for the band I am not quite sure what a spit jar is but can use my imagination! Sounds horrendous! Anyway, be a bit careful on the sleeve as I have eaten a bit fast on a few occasions or too much and it has come straight back up. Thankfully I have not done that for quite a while so I must have learned something! I think from what I have heard and read, the sleeve is a lot easier to manage and live with.

Ditdee - so glad you are feeling a bit better - I can tell you I had to force myself to drink those Protein shakes post op - picture me holding my nose! You have to tell yourself it is for a short period of time compared to the rest of the fabulous life you are going to have! Thanks for the compliments - I can't quite believe it myself really - still pinch myself when I buy clothes now. Liss - You are so kind! Have a great day at the races - I am sure you will impress - just be your beautiful self and you will bowl the guy over. You do know that you have a very pretty face and the body to match now - believe it girl!

Tme for some updated photos. Off to my husbands Christmas party - theme was Gold and Glamour!

Hi Ditdee - if your pain is excessive please talk to your surgeon - better safe than sorry - I don't want to scare you but think it would be a good idea to get some reassurance from him/her anyway. I was prescribed some pretty heavy duty pain killers when I left hospital but didn't need them but they must have thought it was a possibility I may need them so the pain is probably totally normal. I remember it was really hard to get the protein shakes down and all the water I had to drink - I was basically drinking all day - either a protein shake or water - just sipping sipping all the time. I know it is difficult but you will actually feel sicker if you don't do it - my Grandad used to call it 'sick hungry' - you feel unwell because your body is crying out for fuel. Please try not to get down to it. You notice an improvement everyday as you heel. There are plenty of people to share with - we have all had different experiences so between us all we should have it covered. All the best and keep posting so we know how you are going :-)

Hi Spudsy - Sounds very text book. Your stomach will be very swollen so swallowing small amounts of liquid will feel strange. I remember feeling like there was a lump at the top of stomach - not quite in my throat but in my sternum. I didn't feel hunger at all for the first 5-6 months and in the early days I had to force myself to drink the Protein shakes and Water. The feelings will change as each day goes by and the swelling goes down and you heel. It is a big learning curve learning what your body is trying to tell you as the full feeling that you used to know has now changed - also foods you used to like may taste different - just don't push it. Take a few sips, leave it for 10 minutes and then take a couple more - just baby steps. I think it is 6 weeks until your stomach has heeled. Good luck and keep talking to us on here - we have all been through it.

Hi Liss - I think this is what having the sleeve has done for a lot of us - it has brought clarity to all the issues surrounding our relationship, reactions to food and our reasons for over eating and neglecting ourselves. What I have discovered about myself (and I have already posted this on another thread) is that I am 1/ I am a secret eater 2/ I am a comfort eater 3/ I seek protection through food ( a protection eater?) The secret eater - I don't know how many chip bags and chocolate bars wrappers I buried deep in the garbage In the past - I am learning to let it go and eat it in the open now - no such thing as "bad food" if you are meeting your nutritional needs first - remember this "real men do eat quiche and skinny people do eat desert! The comfort eater - I always reach for food if I am upset or stressed , the difference now is that I can no longer eat enough to get that nice warm cosy full feeling! You get the yucky sick feeling and possibly the actual sick! I have learned to stop, think, feel and take deep breaths, have a nice warm drink of tea and be kind to myself! The protective eater - this is the most worrying for me. Now that I am at goal (131lbs - 59kg) I have this feeling of vulnerability. I am now realising I ate to put a protective coating around myself i.e. a coating of fat! This appears to have been to protect myself but I am just not sure what from specifically. I am aware of this so this is a work in progress. I too slip into old bad habits but the saving grace is that I just can't eat enough of anything to do too much damage. I think it is natural to do this after time passes and like you said, being aware of it is half the battle. I think the good thing now is that once you notice where you have gone wrong it is much easier to reign it in. our bodies are working so much more efficiently now that it reacts and does it's job now. In the past my body didn't know if it was Arthur or Martha and just held onto to every extra calorie I fed it! Now to completely change the subject and I will pre-text this by saying that I am very happily married.... but I got hit on after my husbands Christmas party on Friday night! OK ...it was in the early hours, the guy was drunk, married and about 15 years younger than me... but hey I haven't been propositioned in 22 years! I might add no encouragement on my part..mmmmm...maybe this my 'protection eating' reason!

Hi Kelli - Good to see you online. You look fantastic and must be within the healthy BMI now - I have no doubt that you will lose those last few kilos once this Christmas madness is over. Your job sounds rather glamorous - entertaining and travelling! I can relate to getting off track with the food choices - you know me and this bloody new found sweet tooth I have now developed! I am now making sure I reach for fruit instead of chocolate when I want something sweet. I am trying to see if I can break this habit. It hasn't impacted my weight (yet!) but it is not the best nutritional choice to keep reaching for the caramel pop corn and chocolate bars! Still learning!

Hi and welcome Frogfeet - I had my op on 18 July 2012 so I am 17 months out like Kelli. I remember so looking forward to solid food and the first thing I ate was scrambled egg. I ate about 2 teaspoons and that was it! I cried as I kind of went into this totally irrational panic attack thinking I was never going to be able to eat again and I was going to starve to death! Thankfully my sensible husband reassured me and I never looked back after that moment. You sound like you are doing really well and everyone's experiences are different, but if you do feel despondent about how much you can get down (especially around all the yummy food at Christmas), I can assure you it gets better as time goes on.

hi laffypatty- I think you are going through a perfectly normal discovery about your eating behaviour that all of us have gone through at some point. It is all part of learning and this is why they call this op life changing. Don't feel shame...feel positive and glad that you have come to this realisation and learn each day how to cope with it. It sounds like you do have your good days so start to try and work out what triggers you on your bad days by stopping in the moment and really trying to get in touch with what you are feeling at that moment in time. I have learned this about myself (and I'm still learning) over the last 18 months 1/ I am also a secret eater 2/ I am a comfort eater 3/ I seek protection through food ( a protection eater?) The secret eater - I don't know how many chip bags and chocolate bars wrappers I buried deep in the garbage I the past - I have just learned to let it go and eat it in the open now - no such thing as "bad food" if you are meeting your nutritional needs first - remember this "real men do eat quiche and skinny people do eat desert! The comfort eater - I always reach for food if I am upset or stressed , the difference now is that I can no longer eat enough to get that nice warm cosy full feeling! You get the yucky sick feeling and possibly the actual sick! I have learned to stop, think, feel and take deep breaths, have a nice warm drink of tea (we drink tea in Australia like the English!) wand be kind to myself! The protective eater - this is the most worrying for me. Now that I am at goal (131lbs - 59kg) I have this feeling of vulnerability. I am now realising I ate to put a protective coating around myself i.e. a coating of fat! This appears to have been to protect myself but I am just not sure what from specifically. I am aware of this so this is a work in progress. Just look at your discovery/admission about yourself as your work in progress and keep working at it - you will get there! Please be kind to yourself - shame does nothing but paralyse you and stop you from learning.

It is so quiet on here - everyone must be doing their Christmas shopping!

I am 18 months out and at goal and can only eat about a cup of food at each sitting. I do eat something every 2-3 hours. I don't know if that helps - calories I wouldn't have a clue as I have never counted them.

Interesting comments on this thread. I have a different attitude about this forum - I think different people come here for different reasons and you have to take a lot of what is said on here with a grain of salt - this is the internet after all! There is strong possibility that people are misrepresenting themselves and what they are supposedly eating 1 week post op just to get a response - in Australia we call it "pulling your leg" or "yanking your chain" - I think they call it trolling here! So I just don't become over invested in people's "journey" or worry about "enabling" them. If getting 75-80% of their stomach cut out isn't going to change what they eat then a few words from and unknown person on a forum is not going to make the slightest bit of difference. Talk to the ones that want to hear you and don't even bother about the ones that don't want advice - they just want to vent, confess or troll!

Just take it slowly Ditdee. It will take 6 weeks for your stomach to heal so every stage will be a challenge going forward but every day will get better. I know what you mean about the swallow test - I have described it as like being forced to down a shot of peppermint schnapps when you have the worst hangover on record!

hi there - I just want to say something that my physiologist said to me " skinny people eat desert". Please don't be so hard on yourselves about what type of foods you eat. As long as you are addressing your nutritional requirements most of the time I think you are all doing great. I had my operation in Australia 18 months ago and completely understand everyone's anxiety about eating "bad foods" but over the months (I am at goal now and have maintained for the last 6 months) I have learned that it is all about how much you eat not what you eat. I basically eat what I want now - I probably don't eat enough green veges but hey I never said this operation would make me perfect! I also only just started going to the gym - I have always hated exercise so the operation wasn't going to change that either! I think just taking the step to have the operation is a huge step in the right direction so just be kind to yourself in other aspects of your life and take the baby steps. You will get there in the end and you will be learning all the way! Good luck to everyone on their journeys and throw away the guilt trips - you did the bravest thing by taking the step to have major surgery to improve your life - be proud of that!

Ditdee - welcome to our thread and good luck for your op. I agree with what everyone has said about hunger here - Kelli and I had our ops around the same time so 18 months out I am experiencing the same - you will not feel hungry after the op, in fact you might find it hard to remember to eat and hydrate but over time the hunger will return but not with the same intensity that you would have known before and like Kelli said, very easily satisfied with a little food. The biggest thing I noticed was how food no longer had a hold over me, it was very liberating! The down side of this is that things that you always loved the taste of just don't taste the same so you might think eating is going to be a bit boring - the truth is that you will find other things that you love and will forget about those old favourites. I remember I used to love BBQ chicken and could almost eat a whole one on my own - now I am lucky to get through a drum stick! Misty - agree with you totally! Best support group on here! Maybe there is life in that wonderful red dress if you could get it altered while you are away? Newlife - agree with you too. I feel like I have old friends on here and there is always room for more! And "hammock for a small pigmy" - laughed my you know what off... Kelli and Lissa - I feel like we have been in this together from the start - look how far you have both come! Just hearing the sizes that you are both fitting into, seeing your gorgeous photos and looking at your latest stats Lissa is continuing to inspire me! Susan - you always have something kind, supportive and sensible to say! Aussie girl - I miss you! and everyone else - thanks for making this such a great place to visit and for keeping me coming back! Confession time - haven't been to the gym for a week and yesterday managed to eat my way through a huge amount of Whittikers hazel nut chocolate! Those old habits are lurking very close to the surface but thank goodness I am limited to how much I can fit in!

Really nice dress Misty - and now you don't fit it - someone will love that dress again! Congrats to everyone on their weight loss - Kelli - size 12 and 10! You realise that we are now the girls that people look at and go "look at that skinny b....- she's got nothing to worry about!"

Looking good!

Bec and Misty huge congrats! Bec isn't it amazing how your brain can't see it but you know logically that you must look different! Misty - have a good trip!

hi there - I am not from Ireland but I would love to hear what progress you have made. I had my operation 18 months ago in Sydney, Australia - I am also intrigued by the different eating regimes the surgeons have and they also have different techniques too when they perform the operation. I didn't do as much research as I should have but have since found out that some surgeons get better results depending on how much and how they remove the stomach - luckily my surgeon specialises in the sleeve and has his a own technique and I have had amazing results. Anyway, all the best for your operations. If you want to join a great support group the Aussie one is good - ther is a great thread that has pages of posts and a bunch of great people on it.