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I used to track sort of sporadically in maintenance. Just a few days in a random week (and no adjusting my diet to make it look good!) to make sure I was still doing alright and not eating far more than my estimate. The scale is my real indicator of what's up when I'm in maintenance. But in loss? I'm another "pre-logger" and I start my day by logging my planned meals on MFP, adjusting as needed. It does two things. One, it keeps me accountable and lets me know up front if I have the flex for a splurge or if I need an extra snack. Two, it takes away the food stress and lets me focus on other things. If I don't log my food, I think about it all day. I find myself in the kitchen between meals or Snacks peeking in the fridge just because I'm bored and I know there's food in there. When I log first thing I don't have to think about it or wing it and risk poor choices. I just grab what I planned on eating when it's time and move along. It's much easier. I should definitely do it each month during my cycle, because that's when I'm most prone to grazing all day long (on junk, naturally!) and "forgetting" to log my food. I couldn't do this (loss thing) without logging. For maintenance I think it's a great tool, too, though I rely more on the scale and my clothes. The easiest way to regain is to slip into denial about what/how much you're eating and to avoid the scale at the same time. ~Cheri

Take it easy, Leann - that IV will get you but it'll all fall off shortly and I'm sure you'll be back to where you were or even lower. Oregondaisy, I weigh daily but I only record my loss once a week. After that last week where I was down ten pounds and then back up nine I decided it's too heartbreaking to record a weight and have to make it bigger again. So I do weigh daily, only once a day, and I try not to let it discourage me if it shows a bounce. In fact, I expect a bounce so when I don't see one I'm extra thrilled. I'm in my third week and I'm down 3.5 pounds (official...I'm actually down nearly 5 but won't count it 'till Sunday) so that average of about a pound a week seems right to me. Also, I find that even on my regular days I'm not eating as much as I was before starting 5:2 - I'm landing right around 1,200 calories and that alone is several hundred calories less than my usual. Dare I hope that I could exceed my past goal of 135 pounds? We'll see. I'm definitely shooting for my old window of 137-141, but I'm reluctant to kill myself or make myself unhappy by intentionally choosing an unattainable goal, or one that's difficult to maintain. I had real problems staying at 135 before - just a few pounds heavier and it was easy. Maybe it's another happy weight or a set point weight thing. Who knows? We'll see how this goes, I guess. I hope everyone that did a fast Tuesday had a good day. I was well within my calorie window and clocked in at less than 1,200 calories and got in both a formal workout (short but sweet) and ran errands for four hours this morning. I'm low enough that I think a glass of wine (or two?) is in order! ~Cheri

Flour tortillas or rice. I'm three years out and tend to avoid these foods. They swell up and cause serious discomfort even when I keep it to just a few bites. ~Cheri

A second vote to check into a PPI. You won't necessarily feel the burning you'd associate with reflux or heartburn. The first sign is that rumbly, unsatisfied tummy. I'd give it a shot. It's also not uncommon for people to feel "hungry" until they're on solid foods. I never felt real hunger but by the end of my month on liquids I was desperate to chew food. ~Cheri

Oh, I hope nobody is offended! I think many of us have at one time or another thrown those ideas and words around. I see where you're coming from - and yes, I have vented frustration any number of times here, too (and I know for a fact that I offend people when I do) so I'm definitely hoping you don't get the idea that you shouldn't have posted this or that it's not okay to vent or be real here on VST. I was just saying how I feel about it now, from the other side. And I admit you have a great point here. I have a friend that did the whole, "I'd never have surgery, I can do this on my own" thing and she's still struggling with her weight, still binges on massive fast food meals and yes, still complains that she's still obese and I'm not. We hardly talk anymore because it's always about how she wants to lose weight and surgery aside, there are times when I just want to smack her on the head and say, "Then STOP what you're doing!" Then I realize that I was the same before surgery, and even after surgery it took me a long while to get to where I am today. I'm not known for being understanding or tolerant. In some ways, when I post things I'm doing it to remind myself of things, too, so that I can keep improving and being forgiving of other people. Even when I think they're being stupid. ~Cheri

You know, I had a hard time yesterday, too! It certainly wasn't helped by my stepkids. See, their mom is very easy to manipulate. If the kids want a late night fast food run or a crazy dessert, they just mention it to their mom a few times and she'll start to think that she can't live without that Taco Bell or cheesecake. Then they all overindulge and eat too much but the kids are happy. My stepson was trying his hardest last night and by the end of the night it was making me crazy. Knowing full well I wasn't hungry but feeling like I'd die if I didn't eat something. I was higher on my fast calories than I prefer, too. I woke up in the wrong mindset yesterday and it wasn't an easy day from the start. But, I'm through it and today is a new day. I'm down again on the scale but I'll wait until tomorrow to see if it's for real. Today is a regular day for me and wouldn't you know - as soon as it's not a fast day I'm okay with not eating? It's a mental game, I swear. Here it is nearly ten am and I've had my cup of coffee and nothing else. I need to drag myself into the kitchen for some food. Hang in there, Laura. We'll see how your Tuesday goes! Good luck! I'd like to know what book you found, oregondaisy - maybe I can rent a copy from my library. ~Cheri

I think that the sleeve will be an immediate help in the early months when eating is a chore, food tastes different and you're focusing on your rapid results (we all lose best in the first four months post op, because that's when we have the most weight to shed) and really motivated. I also think that it's pretty common to see binge behavior transition into grazing post op if you don't deal with your triggers and keep yourself in a good place emotionally. There are several older threads about this that are worth reading if you search them out. So, for sure the sleeve is going to keep you from sitting down at the end of a rough day and consuming a liter of soda, a large pizza and a dozen wings. You'll never do that again. But if food is how you medicate yourself during stress or rough Patches you'll find that the desire to eat during those times does not go away simply because of surgery. We are not talking about a physical desire to eat. Binges and grazing are due to emotional desires to eat, and those aren't treated with the sleeve. You don't have to be hungry to stuff your face, trust me. And you may not eat eat a whole pizza at once, but nothing is ever going to stop you from eating an entire bag of Cookies in an day if you eat them a handful at a time around the clock! Don't laugh...I've seen people post about doing these things! The obesity is caused by things going on in our heads...we use food to deal with it so we blame the food and the portions and the way we eat. And yeah, that stuff is responsible but it's not the heart of the matter, so the surgery can only do so much. My opinion is that you can help yourself immensely by paying attention from day one to when and why you're eating and by not allowing yourself to indulge in emotional, stress or boredom eating. When eating is tough and you don't want to eat is exactly the time you should try to overcome the habits that helped with obesity in the first place. It's not easy, and there's a vet board with plenty of us that still struggle with these things. But it's definitely possible to improve this and the sleeve definitely helped me. ~Cheri

It takes a while. Right now, I'd say your focus should be hydration, Protein, and then calories - in that order. It is absolutely normal to see stops and stalls on the scale right about three to six weeks post op. Rather than fiddling with your diet, I'd say to work instead on making sure what you are eating packs the most punch. Just wait it out. Stops and starts are absolutely normal and more often than not, (especially this early out) your diet is not the culprit. Later (around six months or so) you should take the time to really evaluate what you're eating and work on increasing your calories, carbs and good fats. At that point, the number of calories/carbs you should be eating is entirely dependent on how many you can eat without sabotaging your loss. And a great (if somewhat strange) way to boost calories at the end of the day is to make sludge. A bodybuilder friend taught me and it's odd but works. One scoop of protein (chocolate works great) with a Tbs. of peanut or almond butter, a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips and enough Water to make it all into...well, sludge. Chill and eat with a spoon. Lots of calories and protein, as well as a sweet treat that makes you feel like you're splurging when you aren't. It's roughly 200 calories and depending on your powder, about 30 grams of protein. ~Cheri

Cottage cheese or flavored Greek yogurt (I love Chobani and Liberte brands). Eggface's bites (crustless quiches) which are easy to grab and go. Protein crepes - I make a bunch in advance, fill with almond butter, banana and cinnamon or thin slices of lunchmeat and some cheese, roll them up and wrap them individually in plastic wrap, then put them in a baggie in the freezer. I grab one out in the morning, nuke it for a few seconds and I've got a yummy protein boost breakfast. Protein muffins or Cookies, depending on how far out you are. I make a granola type cookie that's chewy and full of whole grains, dried fruit, nuts and some Protein powder. Same goes for muffins - a great way to get in some Fiber and being homemade they have better ingredients and that protein boost that you won't find in a commercial product. I make several dozen at once and freeze individually the same way I do the crepes. I keep a dozen hard boiled eggs in the fridge at all times. One of those and a cheese stick is an easy way to get 150 calories and 12 grams of protein. And I know you said no shakes but I have one "real" coffee each morning followed by a protein coffee - a scoop or two of my protein powder shaken up with 8 ounces of coffee. I drink it hot or iced, depending on my mood. I'm going to drink the coffee, anyway, so this makes it into breakfast on days I don't feel like eating. Most days I do this, unless I have errands to run and know I'll be busy and need something more substantial. I can also mix with tea and make a chai latte out of it with my some spices and vanilla protein powder. ~Cheri

Oh, I agree that the BMI chart is hugely flawed. That said, every single ailment I had prior to weight loss was dismissed by doctors as being caused by obesity. Everything - from infertility to insomnia to pain in my ankle - was shrugged off with a "if you lose 50 pounds you'll feel better" and "here's another referral to the nutritionist." So for me, the issue isn't that I feel a magical shift from unhealthy to healthy when I go from 140 to 135 pounds. It's that my doctors aren't able to dismiss me as easily. ~Cheri

Amy, believe it or not one thing that really helped me was getting a nutritional panel done. I do not dispute that these feelings are definitely common post WLS and post pregnancy I had to battle this, too. But around one year post op I was feeling like a zombie - dragging, lacking motivation, feeling glum, always tired, unable to concentrate or remember things. It turns out I was (and likely had been for a while) seriously deficient in B12 and Iron. I cannot express how much the supplements I was put on changed things for me. Some anxiety and depression are pretty normal post op. I had to face a lot of things that I was masking with food and losing weight and eating differently brought them to my attention. It was tough. I lost my favorite coping mechanism and was forced to confront the truth that my weight was NOT the biggest problem in my life or the only reason I was unhappy. And like Laura, it's not as if depression and anxiety were new to my life. I had my first panic attacks at ten years old and have been on various meds over the years to help me through particularly rough Patches. But it certainly didn't help that I was also having trouble with my diet. So definitely find an outlet you feel comfortable with for venting (you can always PM me) but also look into the possibility of a deficiency, too. If that's even part of your problem, it will make dealing with the rest that much easier. Best and be well, ~Cheri

Ditto laura-ven's post. Dr. Aceves doesn't sit down and help you choose a goal weight. I went ahead and picked the heaviest I can be but still be considered "normal" on the BMI chart. That's 135 pounds at my height. I never in a million years really expected to get below 160, a previous happy weight and one I hadn't been able to pass in more than a dozen years of dieting. I hit my goal and even got one pound lower, for about ten seconds. My body LOVES 137-141, though. I can hang there effortlessly, pretty much eating whatever I want. I just have to weigh daily and do adjustments to my diet when I hit the top end of that window. My secret goal weight, the one from my dreams that I'd love to hit but have accepted isn't possible was to be well into the 120s - around 125 or so. It might happen post-plastics; it might not. I've come to realize that my goal weight number has been more of a detrimental thing for me. Yes, it's great to achieve goal and be small and look the way I do. I feel good about that. But the difference between what I weigh now (post-baby, 143 today) and my goal weight (135) is mostly in my head. Yeah, my pants are a teeny bit more snug and I don't feel as slender but I still wear the same clothes and I'm still a small/6 in almost everything. And yet it gets built up in our heads (women, especially!) and we use it as this reason to beat ourselves up and in doing so, we completely ignore the huge successes we've had that aren't scale related. I know darn well I am not alone in doing this. In hindsight, I wish my goals had been more measurement or fitness related. I mean, really - my WAIST is smaller than my THIGHS were prior to surgery. If I were measuring my success, literally, I wouldn't have a reason to beat myself up. I'd probably just find a different reason, though. ~Cheri

I'm three years out. I eat bread bread whenever I want it - pretty much daily. I still choose to avoid Pasta and rice. Not because they're 'bad' but because even at three years out my ability to eat these foods is questionable. I can sometimes eat 1/4 cup of pasta and sometimes one bite will make me overfull and incredibly uncomfortable. I'd rather eat something I can count on eating, so I limit my rice or pasta to a bite or two once in a while. Same for flour tortillas. This is not a diet. If you do not learn moderation and how to eat "normally" for the long run, you will struggle in maintenance. We cannot maintain 500 calories, 40 grams of carbs and 100 grams of Protein a day forever. You will burn out and your fall from the wagon could put you in a very bad place if you have a past habit of binges. Around six to nine months is a great time to start incorporating a more balanced approach to eating, upping your carbs to whatever level they can reach without a detrimental effect on your loss. Women in particular tend to report that they feel better mentally and physically, and also feel less deprived with a healthy balance of carbs/protein/good fats. Avoiding that feeling of deprivation is key because that's what helps us fall into the old grazing/binge behavior. A half sandwich made on very thinly sliced homemade bread or a small bowl of oatmeal were early ways I added in more carbs. This does not mean you should eat simple, processed carbs and sugars. You will find that they go down easily, are trigger foods for many people, and lead you right down the path into bad habits. So start with healthy carb choices - good grains, fruits and veggies. Later on experiment and find the foods you can eat in moderation and identify those that are triggers that you will need to avoid in the future. Good luck, ~Cheri

Well, since you're at the sleeve site, you'll find that we chose the sleeve over the band! However, the band to sleeve revision forum is a pretty good place for you to start reading. I, too, was going to get a band. After a great deal of research, I opted to self-pay for a sleeve rather than have the lapband surgery, which would have been covered by insurance. The number of self-pay patients here should be a huge indicator to you. Many insurance programs still do not cover the sleeve, and yet we're opting for it over covered procedures like the bypass or band. The sleeve will relax over time and have a larger capacity but it will never stretch to anything even remotely close to your old stomach. Eighty-five percent of your stomach is removed; what's left can only give so much. We're talking about a capacity of one to one and a half cups at three years post op, in my case. I have seen posts about regrets. In fairness, many later revise this opinion but there are a few that we see now and again that are unhappy despite losing weight, or unhappy because they haven't lost weight. You will need a proton pump inhibitor (like Prilosec) for 6 months to a year, as well as sublingual B12 and Calcium. I also need Iron, but I have needed to take iron supplements for most of my life. A Multivitamin is important until you can eat adequately. You will not have malabsorption, however, and supplements are something many people can cut back on or stop altogether after a year, with the exception of the B12, which you will never again absorb as well with such a small stomach. We have a vets board and yes, there are many of us at or near goal several years out. I'm three years out and within 8 pounds of my goal weight (I just had a baby). It's important to understand that you can eat around the sleeve the same way you can eat around a band or a bypass. The sleeve will do one thing: reduce the size of your stomach. It may remove your hunger permanently. Maybe not. I am three years out and almost never feel actual, physical hunger. Head hunger? The emotional desire to eat? The attachment to food and all the food rituals we use in our society? None of that leaves. The sleeve is a surgery for your stomach, not your brain. So know going in that you will be forced to face disordered eating habits in order to succeed long term. The sleeve is not a diet. It is a restrictive tool that will help you change your lifestyle permanently. But even with 15% of your stomach, whatever made you obese is still going to be there. This applies to any surgery you would consider, however, so I don't think you can avoid this part of the process! Good luck whatever you decide. There is a wealth of information here on VST, and remember that threads and posts several years old are still relevant today. Do some searching and you are sure to find both happy and unhappy patients. ~Cheri

I dunno. Maybe it's because people that didn't know me before assume that I've always been small that I don't find this as funny as I might have once upon a time. It's annoying to hear someone that's as small as we'd like to be complain, sure. But on the other hand, it's unfair to say that just because a woman is smaller that she can't have body image issues or feel like she needs to improve herself. I think you'll understand this more once you're the skinny one. And we never really know what damage is going on in her head and life to make her feel unhappy or insecure in her skin. For instance, I'm now smaller than many people and wouldn't be considered big by anyone but the tiniest framed person. And I still lament that I have to lose another eight pounds to get back my goal weight. To someone that doesn't know me and my background and who is still overweight, I'd be that same skinny beotch complaining about something and being ridiculous. But in reality, I'm just trying to remain vigilant and on track because I never want to be obese again. I don't want be carrying this pregnancy weight around for three years like I did last time. If I'm unhappy about my loose skin, that's a valid way to feel even if I look great in my clothes. I would hate to be mocked by someone for feeling the way I do simply because I'm smaller now. In a way, I view the idea of blanket statements about thin people with the same distaste I'd view blanket statements about obese people (i.e. "Ugh, I hate fat people complaining about their weight; why don't they just eat better and get to the gym?") so I try remember that even when I'm annoyed with complaints from other people. Just my opinion, and I think that you'll understand my perspective more in a year! ~Cheri

We miss you around here! I can't believe it's been two years for you already - congrats on reaching goal but even more so for managing to keep it off with your healthier lifestyle. You're one of the few that actually looks younger now that you've lost weight, by the way. I think that the weight loss can make a lot of us that were heavy for a good while look older. I've heard many a lady lament that she swapped fat for wrinkles! Congrats again, and it's a shame you're not around speaking reason to the newbies but I understand. I take breaks now and again, too! ~Cheri

Lecture over. Swizzly - hang in there. Go to the top of this thread and hit the "Follow this topic" button or go to your settings on your profile and ask to be notified about your threads so you don't lose out on the support we have going here. Good luck on your day! Cause I must say, we're an awesome group. Fast day! I think that mentally this one might be a bit more challenging. We'll see how it goes. I have my food logged and I'm not feeling hungry. I just mentally woke up with a case of the Mondays and seriously thought, "Eh, Monday stinks and I don't want to fast." Oh well, I'm going to do it, anyway! Down 6 tenths of a pound from yesterday, though. And with a fast day today that scale will surely be lower on Tuesday. It'll be a lie, of course, because I'll probably see a bounce the day after. But for a brief, shining moment I think I'm going to see a weight right smack where I used to be. Keep on plugging away and I'll lose these last couple pounds! ~Cheri

While it's true that 5:2 has two fast days, I do not look at this as a diet. First of all - I get to pick my days, and it's only two of them. There's a tremendous amount of flexibility in how I do my fast days and what I choose to eat on them. Second - this is what I was already doing in maintenance. This is what many woman do, to some extent. No, the stricter fast days might not be the norm. But restricting what you eat a few days here and there versus restricting every day? Absolutely. Even my "never been fat" friends do that by taking in much reduced calories the Friday before a holiday weekend or a nice dinner out. I would rather "diet" if you want to use that word, ONE day a week for the rest of my life, than risk regaining the weight and being miserably unhappy again. Time and again we see regain posts here and there is almost always one common thread: a lack of accountability, not tracking food, just eating what you want to eat and eventually regain happens. There are the here and there regains due to hormones or a new medication, true. But many more post that they regain due to a far too relaxed approach to food. If you've ever read anything I've posted over the years, you'll see that the way I eat hardly counts as any type of diet. I've crowed about moderation for a long time, and on my non-fast days things like homemade bread, pastries and Cookies are a part of my life (baking is my zen place) as are large meals with my family and yes, a (mostly) daily glass of wine or maybe a hard cider. This is no diet. Am I accountable to myself? Hell yes. I have to be. I'm a food addict that loves to overeat and has a past history of emotional eating and eating in secret and I have in the past avoided the scale for YEARS at a time. The sleeve doesn't fix that for anyone. We can simply find ways to cope and do the best we can while relying on restriction for that first year or two to help us through. Whether or not it's part of the strict definition, the word diet to many implies that it ends someday. You achieve your goal and then go back to whatever happens to be your normal. Well, that's just it. Many of us here can't go back to our normal. Normal is an ingrained habit of overindulging, eating pure crap and using food as a coping mechanism. We have to make a new normal. And if this is it, so be it. I can attest that this method, while more structured that what I was doing, definitely works for maintenance. ~Cheri

I only gained weight in my time after achieving goal because I chose to get pregnant. Now, it took me 17 months to achieve goal. But the way I ate roughly 18 months out is the way I eat right now. Had I not chosen to have a child I have no doubt that I would still be happily within my maintenance window, adhering to something much like 6:1 or 5:2, though I admit I was less careful tracking calories in actual maintenance. I used my clothes and scale as the real indicators of how I was doing, and only tracked a few days each month to be sure I was on track. I think that if you do that work to find a way to eat and live prior to goal there's no need to shift anything in maintenance, except perhaps adding in a few more calories each day so you don't continue to lose. My opinion, controversial though it may be, is that the real problems occur more for people that "diet" their way to goal. Meaning they restrict everything to ridiculously low levels and work out like maniacs during loss but their lifestyle isn't practical for the long haul. And so they have real problems transitioning to maintenance and a more moderate lifestyle. It's sort of that all-or-nothing approach, and once they hit goal a number of people have issues because they feel like it's over, they're done and now that they completed their diet they can do what they want. Not so. Just my opinion, of course. I'm plugging along at three years out (in just eight more days!) and only have six pounds to lose before I'm back where I was prior to having a baby. Maintenance is about a thousand times easier if you do the head work beforehand. And truly, the only issues with food/hunger that I have at this point are purely emotional and not physiological at all. ~Cheri

Yep, you're in that window after WLS where gallbladder issues are more common. Get checked ASAP, because living with gallbladder attacks is pure misery from what I hear. ~Cheri

I'm three years out. We have a vet board here and have several 2-4 years out that visit regularly. Your sleeve is what you make of it, so yes, success is possible if you are willing to change. The sleeve does one guaranteed thing: it removes 85% of your stomach and gives you restriction. Not even the loss of hunger is guaranteed, and I've seen folks report that it returns the farther out from surgery you get. Everything that made you obese is still there. Obesity is not just about eating large portions and poor genetics. In most cases it's also a sign of disordered eating, and whatever your particular issue happens to be will still be there even with a sleeved stomach. So it's really, really important to take advantage of that early period where eating is tough and you don't enjoy food as much to learn how to break those bad habits and cope differently. If you eat around your sleeve, you will regain or not lose or not achieve goal. If you make permanent changes, not just in how you eat but in how you deal with food, you can have long term success. This is not about making goal, as crazy as that sounds. The trick isn't losing weight - that's actually much easier with a sleeve than it's ever been for me on any diet before. The trick is learning how to balance real life with good food choices once you're at goal, so that you can stay there. ~Cheri

Very few people here get their sleeves revised. There are a large number of band to sleeve revisions. Every case of revision I have seen the surgeon is to blame. Either the sleeve was too big, the surgery wasn't done properly or the patient got the surgery more than 5 years ago when they did sleeves larger as a rule of thumb. ~Cheri

I used it, too, and really feel like it helped slow the loss down more quickly and my regrowth was much faster than it might have been. Find it on sale, or buy the starter kit on Amazon (it used to be competitively priced) and give it a try. ~Cheri

I can answer on skin, at least. The answer is that it's up to your genetics. There isn't really any way to know what will happen, but being younger is supposed to help skin rebound better. If you already have a lot of stretch marks from being overweight, odds are good your skin isn't going to rebound as nicely as it would if you had more elasticity. However, it can and will rebound quite a bit, and there's a huge change in what your skin looks like one year post op and two years post op, so the longer you wait at a stable weight the better things get. Exercise, strength training in particular, is supposed to help improve the appearance after weight loss, too. But mostly, it's genetic, so even if you found a gal the same age, weight and height you couldn't really be sure if you'd have the same results. Good luck! Best decision I ever made. Loose skin is easy to hide with shapewear but everyone could see my obesity the second they looked at me. ~Cheri

Down 2.5 pounds for the week and I now seem to be steadily losing at a pace slightly faster than my previous loss. Thanks for all the input on food choices. I really do agree that it's easier somehow to avoid poor food choices when I make things myself. Not only do I avoid intentionally addictive chemicals/ingredients but I think that things taste so much better that less is more satisfying. For instance, I made Smores Cookies for the 4th and have had one and it's no big deal. I know there's a tray of them in the kitchen but it's not a temptation the way it would have been prior to surgery. And I also had no trouble maintaining with this approach, so it's worked thus far. There are days when even though I can sigh and lament that this is so challenging that I just have to admit that the sleeve has really been liberating in a lot of ways. Food matters and I still love it and I still have to make good choices but it really doesn't control me like it used to. I really don't have to think about it all day long. It's wonderful. I think planning and logging my food for the day first thing helps, too. Today we did the touristy thing with the stepkids and saw a museum, then had a picnic on the National Mall. I probably won't work out today but I did walk (albeit at a slow pace) for four hours, so I'm okay with that. Hope everyone else is enjoying the last bit of weekend! ~Cheri