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You're looking great, Jane! I can't believe how nicely you're healing! Maybe plastics aren't so bad after all and maybe someday I'll be posting before and after photos. We'll see. That's a heck of a lot of surgery at once, though. I can't wait to see pictures at a month out. I bet you've still got a ton of swelling and things will look even better then. ~Cheri

It is very hard. I would like to sugarcoat that for you but I'd be doing you a disservice. I was two years out and easily maintaining when I chose to get pregnant. I gained pretty normally - between the hormone shots and pregnancy I put on 35 pounds. That was half of the hard part. Gaining weight - even for a good reason - is very difficult if your focus for the past two years has been losing and maintaining. I didn't gain too much at all. I looked great (or so everyone said) and when I was at my due date people insisted I was "too tiny to be due any day soon!" My daughter was born at a healthy weight with no complications. I had no complications myself. No gestational diabetes (I was diabetic prior to sleeve) or high blood pressure, no preeclampsia - just a nice, smooth pregnancy. Well, except the plague of morning sickness, but that varies by baby! By just a few weeks post op I had lost all but 15 of my pregnancy pounds. By less than a month postpartum I was in my pre-pregnancy clothes, though I admit I was in the biggest sizes and even they were a teeny bit snug. Not uncomfortable, just not quite as roomy as they'd been before! So as far as that goes? That part was pretty easy. But losing the final seven pounds has been a challenge for me. I'm doing it but it's slow going. My daughter is seven months old now and I'm still trying to six more pounds to get back to my goal weight. But in all fairness, it took me a long time to lose those final pounds the first time, too. This might just be my incredibly frustrating norm. In the end? It's worth it. It's oh so incredibly worth it. My twins are five, so I'd forgotten sleepless nights and I'd forgotten how hard little babies are to take care of but I'm so grateful I did this, even though I'm frustrated by these last few pesky pounds. There's never an ideal time, really. You're always going to worry about the weight and even if you never chose to have another child, you'd STILL worry about some day regaining the weight. If you want another child, go for it. I do encourage you to stick to a very good diet during pregnancy, though, and keep away from indulging bad habits. I wasn't as careful about my quality of carbs because all meat and dairy gave me morning sickness for several months of my pregnancy. Breaking that carb monster was HARD after she was born, and getting rid of the nighttime snacking habit (because I'd wake up hungry in the middle of the night while preggo) has been a real challenge. But it's definitely possible to lose weight at any point post op - your sleeve is the same from about one year out and will still restrict your quantities if you make solid choices. I do suggest you wait until at least a year post op to give that sleeve time to really reach it's capacity, so that eating while pregnant isn't a chore or challenge. There's a reason for those guidelines - I wasn't able to eat more than one egg in a sitting until more than a year out! Good luck, ~Cheri

Most of the surgeons for self pay are very good about giving you a full price up front. It's insurance that's a hassle, honestly. The hardest part now is picking your surgeon and deciding how to pay! I researched three surgeons for self pay - Dr. Nick Nicholson (Plano, TX), Dr. Trace Curry (Cincinnati, OH) and Dr. Aceves (Mexico). After much deliberation I opted to go with Dr. Aceves. He was cheaper ($8,700 for surgery) but that wasn't my full motivation. I have insurance that does not cover the sleeve at all and flew from Germany to have my procedure. I wanted a longer hospital stay before my return flight home. I felt I got much more bang for my buck with Dr. Aceves, and it was several thousand dollars cheaper, too, even including my travel. I paid $10K for everything including my flights, medications in Mexico (I brought them home with me) and my extra hotel night (I had to pay for one night on my own because my international flight landed the night before). Find a reputable surgeon with believable positive testimonies online. Then find people here and on OH (that aren't working for the surgeon!) to share their experiences. Scour the web for positive AND negative reviews. Read BOTH. Make an informed decision before you go forward. I have paid nothing else for my surgery. My PCM resumed my care - they saw me shortly after one year post op and did my blood panel with no issues. I didn't bother getting a prescription for my omeprazole because my insurance gets charged about three times what I pay for it myself and that's just ridiculous. I also by all of my own supplements and Protein shakes, too, but that's not exactly a hidden cost. The worry comes when you fall into that 1% group with complications. Weigh that carefully. Nobody expects to be that person. A way to minimize that risk is of course to be very careful about selecting your surgeon. But there is risk with any surgery, and should complications arise you could find yourself footing the bill if you pick the wrong surgeon. Best of luck. Start researching and take your time. This is a big choice to make. The good news is that once you do decide, things move quite quickly. ~Cheri

It took me a few MONTHS to get to the point where I could hit my Protein and hydration goals consistently. Focus on hydration first, then protein. At this point it's hard. I doubled my scoops of protein to be sure I was getting at least 40 grams per shake. I never mixed with milk, either - I developed lactose intolerance post op and while I can now have most things dairy, milk is still off the table. I like picking a protein that goes well when mixed with Water. Sounds crazy but it's thinner so I was able to drink more early out that way. I still do a shake a day, mixed with coffee, tea or water. I've changed favorites many times over the last few years but one constant is the Syntrax nectar - especially chocolate. It goes well with anything. ~Cheri Oh - and if you're on soft foods a bodybuilder friend of mine taught me to make sludge early out. Use one Tbs of peanut, almond, soy, or sunbutter mixed with one scoop of protein (chocolate is best, but use what you like) and add in enough water to make sludge. I then toss in a tsp of mini chocolate chips to make it more palatable, no lie, but you can skip that part. Chill it and then eat it up. Weird, I know. But strangely satisfying and it packs a calorie and protein punch. It's good for those early days when it's hard to even hit 500 calories a day and even now I'll do it once in a while if I'm low on calories.

The single biggest tool you should use is MFP so you're on the right track. And you're getting some nice guidelines here but ultimately, the ratio you need to hit is unique to you. It's that sweet spot where you feel satisfied, hit your nutritional goals (60+ grams Protein, for sure) and lose weight with some measure of consistency. Your loss pattern is your own - for me, I only lost about one week of the month, but with the exception of stalls, I had the same pattern throughout the entire loss period. Start with some of the suggestions here. I was on clears for 11 days post op and then on liquids for another ten days, I think. I can't remember anymore, it's been more than three years! After that I moved into soft foods and advanced to a normal diet as I felt comfortable. Your biggest focus right now should be hydration as you're at risk for dehydration in the first month. After that, aim to increase your protein until you're getting those high numbers your body needs so it won't feed off your muscle. After that, as you're able to eat more, worry about counting calories and making a stricter diet for yourself. Good luck, welcome to VST and congrats on your new sleeve! ~Cheri

I drink a shake a day, too, even a few years out. I like my Protein to be around 90 grams a day. I think that dieting - and going all liquid is definitely a diet - is something you should not do. Not only because it will be very challenging and perhaps discouraging. More because I think that part of what we do wrong prior to our sleeves is mess with our bodies. There's kind of a delicate balance, and I think that confusing your body by starving it all of a sudden might help you lose weight, but might also screw things up once you start eating again. I also think that our diets should be something we can maintain for life so that we can stay consistent. It's one thing to shave a couple hundred calories off and another thing entirely to cut your calories and carbs down the to bone. The reality here is that even though that final stretch sucks the real goal isn't hitting your goal weight. It's being able to stay there, long term. Read these threads here in the vet forum. You'll see a lot of us struggling with our old destructive eating habits. You'll see plenty of regain posts. You'll see a number of people still not at goal, too. You might very well hit goal on such a restrictive diet. But what comes next? How will you maintain that loss? If you think that you can do this and your number one priority is actually reaching goal, then do it. But my honest opinion is that you're hung up on just "getting there" and not really seeing what dieting to lose does to us. The real goal for us should be getting to goal and staying there, not getting to goal and bouncing up again only to have to diet back down again. That's a cycle many of us repeated for years (without ever reaching goal!) before surgery. Do what works for you, though. For me, smaller changes can jump start my loss more effectively and are easier to maintain for the long run. For instance, I am still trying to lose seven stupid post baby pounds. I've shaved my daily calories back down to just above my loss phase intake (I did 700-900 to lose before - I'm between 1,000-1,100 a day right now). I don't count carbs. I do a modified version of 5:2 and add in my fast days as well, though I am considering dropping 5:2 altogether until maintenance because it doesn't really do much for me if I'm not eating 1,600+ calories a day. In any case, the loss is slow, slow, slow (as usual for me) but I'm dropping tenths of a pound each day, the scale is FINALLY moving again and I'm doing it eating real food without feeling deprived. If you can do the shakes, good for you. For me, after this much time eating "normally" there is no way I could do it without losing my mind and feeling like I was on Medifast again! ~Cheri

I still try to drink a Protein shake (usually as a protein coffee) every day, to boost my protein intake. So tubs of Syntrax nectar are just a part of my life now. I eat hard boiled eggs almost every day. I also eat cheese sticks and vanilla greek yogurt a few days a week. I go through stints where I eat Jerky like it's going out of style. Oh, and for snacking? I love me some smoked paprika roasted chickpeas or sriracha chickpeas - or even some wasabi peas if I'm splurging. I eat half a portion size but feel like I just binged on a bag of chips after that small snack. I usually make a double batch and they keep nicely in an airtight container with a layer of paper towels to absorb moisture. Yum! ~Cheri

If you're genuinely stalled - three weeks or more at one weight - yes, hitting the basics is a good option, as is resuming tracking if you stopped for some reason. It's SO easy for people with a history of disordered eating to resume bad habits but slip into denial about their actual intake. But quite frankly, stalls are just part of the process for almost everyone. And really - almost everyone - I can count on one hand the people I've seen here over four years that never stalled! So the best thing to do during a stall is...wait it out. Once you know you're eating right and you're not in denial about your intake the very best thing to do is keep pushing forward, putting the scale away for a while if it's defeating you or causing negative feelings. I had two nine week stalls and took a whopping seventeen months to lose 107 pounds. We all lose differently - I saw a post just today where someone lost more than that in nine months! So if you do find yourself in a stall (and you probably will) make sure you're on the right track and keep doing what you're doing. Minimal fiddling with your diet like increasing or decreasing calories for a week to see if it shakes things up is also a simple but not drastic move to make. I see people that absolutely panic at their first stall and cut things way down to 400 calories a day and practically starve themselves just so they can see the scale move. But that just damages our already screwed up metabolisms! We need consistency - we need to let our bodies adjust to the rapid loss and the big changes and to let it know food is still going to come and that this isn't a famine. Good luck! Stalls happen. Find my friend coops on here. I think she stalled for more than a year one time, and without changing anything the scale finally started moving again and she's closing in on goal. There's no prize for finishing faster here, so just focus on good, solid habits that you can maintain for life. ~Cheri

If you're early out it's no surprise. And even vets have issues with this sometimes. There are even threads on it in the vet forum, I believe! I still struggle at times. I just get sick of Water and I avoid most of the drops, too. I only do the ones that have B Vitamins in them, since I'm always low on those. But at times plain water will still make me feel nauseated and other times I just get tired of drinking around the clock. Or visiting the restroom around the clock! Just work at it and don't quit. There's a definite difference in my loss pattern if I go low on water several days in a row. Close counts here, so drink as much as you can and don't start drinking other things instead. You can run into a real issue if you sub that water for juice, sweet coffees or teas or (heaven forbid, *gasp!*) soda just because you're sick of the H2O. ~Cheri

Yes, it definitely depends on the quality of the snack. That isn't to say that an occasional (definitely NOT daily) indulgence is forbidden. But your regular Snacks should be high quality choices that help keep you full and boost your Protein or other nutritional levels in some way. I still snack most days. I just don't eat a lot in one sitting, even a few years out from surgery. I need those snacks to get the right intake, and also, just to feel "normal" enough that I can go grab a little something to eat if I want it before dinner! ~Cheri

Breathe, Laura! Hang in there. Here's hoping the visit passes quickly and that you're still sane (and haven't killed anyone) by the end of it. ~Cheri

Checking in. Feast day. Still not a feast like before as I've pared down the calories but it might feel like a feast after yesterday! Down a touch on the scale - might even say goodbye to one whole pound this week! That would be awesome, actually. Then I'd have two more to the top of my maintenance window and four more after that. Six pounds shouldn't seem so daunting, but again, my sweaters are snug and I'd like them to fit again! Fast day was fine yesterday - no real trouble sticking with it or staying on track. Off to run errands. My son wants to be Pete the Cat for storybook dress up day at school. I guess only folks with young kids would know about Pete, though. Anyway, I need to either find cat ears or make them. I don't really understand the motivation for the school district behind not celebrating "Halloween" at school...but then doing a party day where the kids dress up on Halloween anyway. It's like the "holiday parties" in the military - you know, the ones where you're voluntold to attend and there's a Christmas tree, Santa and everyone sings Christmas carols...but it's totally NOT a Christmas party. Seriously, just call it what it is and move on! And hey, consider letting those of us that don't do Christmas have a choice about not attending, too. Bah, that's another story! Well, hope all you lovelies have a great day. I'm feeling well enough that it's time to start tackling my to do list. I hope I don't pick up any new bugs out there, but I'm ridiculously excited about getting out of the house and being in the sunshine! ~Cheri

Super quick check in then off to bed. Hubs is traveling for work and I'm taking advantage of that. I got the man to agree to stay up to do the dream feeding on Elisheva so that I can go to sleep early and hopefully get some good rest. I'm not above a little negotiation, that's for sure. Perfect fast day - I did great though it was kinda rough in the afternoon there. I felt like eating but drank water instead. I'm a champion. You guys are a hoot and gave me a chuckle with your posts. Oh, and I once got a PM from someone that follows my content asking about something I posted here in this group, so yeah, it's not searchable or viewable from the regular forums but if anyone follows your content they can peek in though the back door, so to speak. ~Cheri

Bad things hit in a flood sometimes. And yes, many of us use food to cope and to drown out feelings of sadness, frustration or stress. I even ate when I was happy! I'm very sorry you're having so many hurdles at once. But you do know what's wrong. I can say that for me, when I can't control my life, it's nice to know that I can control how I react to my life. I feel a sense of empowerment from sticking to my program and seeing results, even when life is hard. And please, don't get me wrong. I get so incredibly frustrated and want to quit sometimes. But you did not have a risky operation to sabotage yourself and wind up where you were. Regain control of what you can work on. You can't change losses or illnesses. But you can change how you react. Take charge of your habits today. You're doing such a great job so far and there is no reason to throw it all out by choosing to avoid the mirror or the scale. I really suggest maybe seeking out people with similar issues or finding a friend you can really talk and vent to, since without a job it's harder to have insurance and access to a counselor or therapist. Sometimes talking really does help and ease some of the burden. Best wishes. The real challenges of this are the hard times, of course. That's when we know how we'll do. It's easy to do the right things when you see results, feel happy and everything is going great. ~Cheri

Never mind. This is why I stick to the vet forums.

Fasting. Kinda mad at the scale - was happy to shed six tenths of a pound last week but it all popped on after one sleepless night. I see now why moms have such a hard time losing weight after birth. I need three things to see consistent losses: lack of stress, plenty of rest and hormones that stay in normal levels. It's nearly impossible with this little one keeping me up, and of course I'm still fighting that cough I've had for more than two weeks so when she sleeps I often lie in bed coughing. But in any case, I had nearly a week of very good, solid eating and I'm feeling positive about that. The more I stick to the program the easier it gets. And luckily, my water intake is much higher now so I feel like I'm finally back to normal there, too. I'm about to have my first meal of the day - some leftover matzo ball soup (low calories!) and some egg salad, sans bread. I made a big pot of turkey chili last night and will probably have a nice bowl of that for dinner. I can have a full cup and it's still only 180 calories, but that's too much for my sleeve so I'll only eat 3/4 cup. I'll do a protein shake between breaking my fast and dinner and that should bring me in at 505 and that's fine by me. I might just sneak in some crunchy celery sticks later on if I feel like I need it but the calories from that aren't enough to sabotage my day. GT, sorry about that. I don't have a tremendous amount of tolerance for a lot of women. I have a handful I can get along with very well and a larger number of acquaintances I can be friendly with whenever we meet, but it's not that often that I want so spend a lot of time (not to mention all day at work and all evening as roommates!) with any one person. It's surprising I'm married - I like my space and my privacy quite a bit! Hopefully those three weeks will fly by! I miss the produce outside of America. No joke - I swear that as crazy as it sounds the fruit and veggies taste so much better in Germany and even in Eastern Europe. Things have flavor. I miss the tomatoes the most, because it's hard to find a tomato that tastes like anything here int the US! FYE, good on you for working so hard. I gain after any hard workout, so yeah, the snacks might be there but you might also have tiny muscle tears that lead to water retention, too. Hope you're not too sore today! Enjoy the weather, Georgia. I'm about to pull our fireplace kit out of storage because we're having crisp enough nights here that we can enjoy a fire once in a while. Hope all is well Laura, and that you're doing okay. In case you were wondering, I'm managing to stay out of the Halloween candy. Luckily, it becomes less of a struggle each day that I stay completely on track. ~Cheri Oh, and side note - I "blew" 200 calories yesterday on rice krispie treats, of all things! I suppose I should have known they were a slider food. What I didn't know was that making them for the twins' Kindergarten Halloween party would trigger fondness for a childhood treat. Or two, darn it all. I still did great yesterday and clocked in at 1019 calories (I'm aiming for the 1000 ballpark) but was kind of mad when I got hungry between our early dinner and bedtime and had no calories to spare because I'd indulged earlier!

I am completely freaked out by plastics. My sleeve? Once I got over the idea that it was too drastic I was fine with it and never worried. Plastics are creepy though. It's me paying massive amounts of money to a surgeon so he can basically play cut and paste to make me into a Frankenbarbie. I'm not sure I'm down with that. Plus, pain. Lots of pain. And eww, drains. Just...all of that grossness that comes with being sliced and sewn back together again. It's true: I haven't had plastics yet because I'm a weenie. ~Cheri

Ha! I was so thrilled for this brief period of time that I could reach everything and groom myself. Hubs and I had agreement where he did the grooming for me when I found it was too hard to do because of my size. Win-win, right? Well now I don't even want to groom! Yeah, I can REACH but with the loose skin (thanks, twin pregnancy!) I don't want to SEE it! Hubs is old school, anyway and doesn't mind but yeah, I keep the grooming to a minimum nowadays. I, too, am looking forward to the lift! ~Cheri

Yes. Sadly, it doesn't go away even when you consider yourself normal! I'm short (5'1") so my current weight of 145 is still overweight. I went in for treatment for endometriosis and couldn't believe my new PCM told me I should really consider shedding some weight. Because, you know, I should weigh between 97 and 127 pounds at my height!! To top it off, I had given birth five months earlier! Yes, I wanted to shout and scream and resort to violence. Nothing like feeling defeated after working hard to lose weight. In my experience, those in the medical profession are the worst about this. Rather than do some simple tests, let's just tell someone to lose weight and exercise. Because surely, we've never tried that option before, right? ~Cheri

Honey, you can still lose weight after a bad, bad year! Your sleeve is still there and still works just fine. I had more than one stumble on my way to goal - I had two nine week stalls that lasted partly because I fell off the wagon. Once I get frustrated with a lack of results, it's easier for me to fall off track. All you do is pick it up, go back to basics to kill those cravings and go back to plodding your way to goal. It's both challenging and simple, and it's one reason I still love my sleeve. I'm three years out and trying to shed my last seven pregnancy pounds. While it's frustrating to be trying to lose at all, it's so reassuring that all it takes to see loss again is eating plenty of Protein and staying away from the junk I shouldn't be eating. The mental work is the harder part - making the choice not to sabotage your own success. Get it together and keep shooting for goal! ~Cheri

And seriously, do some reading here on the site. There is absolutely no tweaking you need/can really do that's going to help you lose faster. We all lose differently. You're hardly eating at this point, so put the scale away and focus on hydration and protein! ~Cheri

I lost zero pounds. I gained eleven pounds post op and didn't lose until my third week post op - all my first month's loss came in the last eleven days of the month. ~Cheri

That's a great share Laura made, so read that article. Plain and simple, dense protein hangs around longer and keeps you feeling full. chips, cookies, popcorn - those things get chewed into small bits and slide right through. You can eat more before feeling full. In some cases, A LOT more. And yes, at three out I pretty much eat what I want. And if I'm careful to do a day or two a week of very strict eating (protein, protein, protein and no snacking) maintenance is pretty easy. At least, easy in that I don't seem to move out of my window. But it's still work to avoid the snacking or the cravings or the plain old desire to sit down and eat while watching television. That's the long haul stuff you need to watch. Daily weighing in maintenance and goes a long way towards keeping you at goal. ~Cheri

You're fired! Just teasing. It's been rough for a bunch of us, yeah. Here's hoping there's sunshine, rainbows and unicorns standing by for next week. I need some damn sparkles in my life! And yes, typing on VST kept my fingers and mind busy long enough that the desire to eat is pretty well gone. Phew. I'm going to do this. I am going to lose these stupid pounds and I am going to get back to goal. ~Cheri

Holy crap, man, you look awesome! Congrats on your surgery - I haven't been around much lately but saw a post somewhere that you'd been sliced and diced and had to hunt down this thread to see it. Can't wait to see how those scars heal up. And I'm so jealous that all of you "newbies" are getting plastics before me! I need to just do it but I think I'll just research for another year first.... ~Cheri