Globetrotter

Actually, the bit about continued pain after removal is legit - doctors admit that this can and does happen and no, they can't explain it. Everything I mentioned in the post is of great concern to me but I guess if I had to choose, considering that I still have 40 lbs to go, I would say that the idea of slowing my loss or stopping it is of greatest concern.

Man, this might as well have been a post by me 13 months ago, or even just a week ago! I have BEEN there, I think we all have at some point. I have lost 128 lbs but there are days when I feel as fat as I ever did, there are times when I look down and all I see is my big fat gut, straining against my sausage tight pants and feel like it was all a waste, how warped is that!! It is easy to get lost in the weeds, to get fixated on still being fat because, I am still fat! Both Lane Bryant and Avenue carry size 12 pants, which is what I'm currently in, so technically I am still wearing plus sizes, after 18 months and 128 effing pounds lost! I am still the biggest woman in my yoga classes, still get referred to as voluptuous and curvy (nicer words from the nicer people) and it is incredibly disheartening to see my batwings and shriveled-balloon inner thigh skin. But! I just have to remember that this drama is playing out in my head, not reality. That I have a normal healthy body that does not stand out from the crowd for its size. When I was "only" 50 pounds down - and it took me 3+ months to get there!- I was wild with impatience. 50 is a nice round high number so when we achieve it we know that "real" weight loss IS possible, that this isn't going to fail like every other diet, and it is such a high number that we suddenly realize that maybe our dreams just might come true, and it is so thrilling and delicious that we just CAN'T WAIT, and it's torture. Right around 50 lbs is when I started obsessively visiting clothing retail websites and virtually window shopping, filling my cart with size 12's. It would be another 12 months before I would actually see that size, which might have depressed me had I known that, but here I am, actually wearing a size 10 today (Gap pin stripe curvy cut trousers) and just a year and a half ago I remember the thrill of pouring myself into a pair of size 20's, which had looked miniscule to my pre-surgery eye when I was a 26. So my rambling point is this, try to achieve patience, keep your nose to the grindstone with exercise and diet and even though it will feel at times to be like trying to run through molasses, suddenly one day you will be running without breaking a sweat, and you will be wearing clothes that are snug on purpose! Chin up, boobs out - it's showtime!! =)

My team said 30 g's or less per day in the months following surgery but really the rule was "protein first, hydration second, then everything else" and just by following that rule, there simply wasn't enough room or hours in the day to even contemplate carbs. If you are having serious carb cravings but are anxious about reverting to bad habits I recommend going to the blog "the world according to eggface", she is a foodie who refused to give up taste just because she had surgery. She doesn't eat bread or pasta or rice, her own personal choice, but she has discovered some AMAZING workarounds, her recipe for "ricotta bake" has become famous here on the VSG forum, it is a brilliant satisfying lasagna-like dish for the soft foods/mushy phase. Hope this helps! =)

Man I can't wait to be there! I'm a very slow loser and and a year and a half out and am still 40 lbs away from my goal of 128 lbs. You look BEAUTIFUL!!!! Cracks me up though, total proof of vanity sizing - as bad ass as 137 pounds is, there is no WAY it should be a size 2! 130 lbs in high school (mid-late 90's) had me in a size 8! I'm currently 167 lbs and I wriggled into a size 6 pencil skirt, whaaaa?! =P

Since my regular meals are so tiny, it's really like I eat 5-6 snack meals a day. Breakfast might be one egg, 2nd breakfast a thing of greek yogurt, first lunch an apple, Lunch2 a protein shot or shake, pre-workout dinner some cheese and nuts and "big" dinner some tuna salad with A cracker or some bites of steak with a handful of sauteed veggies. I only do one dessert tho, and it is usually a dark chocolate truffle or something smaller. =)

Hi! I love Pilates so much! It is the best workout for creating core stability but if you are looking for toning and strength training then I have to say TRX is the best. I've done Pilates for 6 months and feel great but TRX plus running in the last month have netted me the best results.

Lyra - amazing, you absolutely put it into words, my thoughts exactly! We have a hunger, and being able to pinpoint just exactly what that hunger is is the $64,000 dollar question. Prior to surgery we tried to fill that hunger with food and it didn't work. The food may be gone but the hunger remains.

Coops, my thoughts are with you! Your "attack" sounded exactly like my gallbladder attack, do you still have your gallbladder?

I don't know if this qualifies as an NSV but, I've been frustrated with the scale for 2 months now, it hasn't budged. But in the past week several people, including my TRX trainer, have commented that I look like I'm losing weight, and a pair of pants that are usually snug on me felt loose. The scale still hasn't budged but maybe the TRX is starting to pay off with a change in body structure, as I've been doing it steadily now for about a month and a half, also I started running in the past 3 weeks. They always say that when your scale is giving you problems to look to your measurements instead for possible changes. yay!

Hey Coops, I have been up and down, and very frustrated with this 2 month stall. My brain has reverted to feeling and interacting with the world as though I'm pre-sleeve, like I'm morbidly obese again, psychologically. =( FeedYourEye - I sit at a desk for 8 hours and then: Monday - 20 minute run, trx strength training, tango - 3 hours total Tuesday - 20 min run, yoga - 2 hours total Wednesday - 20 min run, trx strength training -1 hour total Thursday - 20 min run, yoga, tango - 3 hours total Friday - 20 min run This is a relatively new schedule for me, only in my 3/4th week of it. I've lost 127 pounds over 17 months and am 40 pounds away from goal. As iffy as it may be to do the 600 cals, I'm concerned that taking too long to get to goal will actually make getting to goal physically difficult, I want to finish this already so I can move on physically and psychologically to the phase of maintenance.

Hey Coops, none of the computers I have access to will open that simulator, could you plug in my stats and tell me what it says? 5'3" 167 lbs 30 yrs, and I would like to lose 40 pounds in <3 months.

My Mac wouldn't let me download that simulator so I found one on a makeover website and I didn't look any different!

Where can I get some? Please don't say Amazon.

The Bites from Eggface are just mini quiches, but so yum.

Oh please keep the details coming Barb, this is such important info for all of us!!!! I am eager to hear your updates of healing and scars, in particular the batwing scars. Why are they so bad anyway? Will they prevent you from wearing sleeveless?

What does a 1400 calorie low-carb diet look like?

I am 40 pounds from goal 18 months out from surgery. I have been in a stall now for 60 days. I look in the mirror and I see a chunky girl, a chubby girl, a girl who looks like she sits on her ass gorging on junk food rather than spending an hour in the gym 5 days a week. My fat gut still strains against my pants zippers, still gets in the way during yoga. My batwings keep me from wearing sleeveless and makes me look soft and marshmallowy. I am still the fattest person in every yoga or exercise class I participate in. I academically understand that I have lot 127 pounds, I kept some clothes that used to be very snug so I can see the difference, I have seen the difference on the faces of people who hadn't seen me since before surgery but ... I sometimes feel fatter now than I did at my fattest. But I really am still fat, it's not like I'm one of these ladies who is a size 4 and talks about not recognizing it (champagne problems, IMHO), at 168 ppounds I am still a size 12-14 bottoms, I could still shop at Lane f***ing Bryant, I am still big. If I am 125 pounds and a size 6 and still seeing a fat powerless person in the mirror, I will go to therapy.

heheh, I feel like there's a good joke about interval training here ...

The Science of Sleep. (I'm really tired)

I am 18 months out and honestly eggs are still a gamble.. The first few months out I couldn't handle more than a teaspoon of any kind of egg, ugh they made me want to hurl and filled me up like expanding concrete. Now I can handle scrambled eggs TOO well, almost a slider food, but over-easy or omlette can bring on the slimes. And sometimes a few small bites of egg, regardless of preparation, is more than I can handle and I'm off my feed for the rest of the day, and other times I can eat 3 jumbo eggs scrambled with cheese and ham without blinking. Go figure.

I am currently in my longet stall, I have not lost weight in 60 days. I take in between 800-1100 cals a day, exercise an hour + a day, 5 days a week. This is quite frustrating. I am a year and a half out.

So my trainer was horrified to learn yesterday that I only take in between 800-1000 cals. She doesn't know about my VSG (it's group training I didn't feel like group sharing) but she pinpointed the low cals as the reason I am always dragging ass exhausted. Same goes for a friend of mine who is a former body builder, she said I can't expect to have much energy on an "anorexic's caloric intake". So how much should a 168 pound 5'3" moderately active woman take in in order to drop 40 pounds in, say, 3 months?

Today I seem to be a bottomless pit and nothing satisfies, I just want ... I don't know what I want. I even picture various pure evil junk foods, trying to determine what I want, and none of them ring my bell. Then I think, do I want to exercise, am I actually dehydrated and need water, do I want to shop. Then I dig deeper and try to suss out what deeper needs might be going unmet, or anxieties, and I only find my usual worries and frets, nothing new or out of the ordinary. I've eaten chicken garam masala and a snickers bar and it isn't even 10:30 am yet!!!! I could just eat and eat I feel, but what do I want? Salt sounds good, grilled cheese, a massage, kissing, sleeping.

@Kelly - thank you! That such awesome advice! I'm going to give myself a facial tonight. @Thin - since 33?!?!???! That's so young! I made some pepperoni chips in the microwave and that seemed to help some and am now sucking down a lot of tea.

Nope.