Kris

I've created a new blog to chronicle my weight loss journey, so this will be my last blog post here on verticalsleevetalk. My new blog is called curvygirlwellness@blogspot.com. I hope you can visit it and share your thoughts/feedback!

A few of my fave easy Protein meals: Aidell's hawaiian chicken meatballs (you can buy them at costco) -- drizzle a little teriyaki sauce on them or eat them as is; they are very flavorful and moist. There are other different flavors and most of them are yummy and not too fattening. I love them! Lately my fave Breakfast has been hardwood smoked chicken sausage (1 serving, 1/7 of the package, has 90 calories and 8 g protein), which I pan fry with a little maple syrup drizzled on them at the end (adds a nice bit of sweetness to contrast to the savory flavor). It takes about 3 minutes to pan fry the sausage when they are sliced into bite size pieces. I haven't taken it into work yet but I bet it would taste fine reheated in a microwave. I luurrvve me some Tony Roma's shredded pork in BBQ sauce (I buy it in the frozen food section of Wal Mart). One package makes many meals. I thaw the package per the instructions and then divide up the portions into plastic storage containers to grab and go. I have been known to eat this for breakfast (I really don't care what people think about what should be eaten for breakfast! Eat what you like, I say!)

I ordered this DVD because I really like Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home DVDs and was looking for other indoor walking videos. This video is led by Debra Mazda, a very feisty lady with an inspiring story. At her heaviest she weighed over 300 lbs, and she lost 140 lbs. on her own over 3 years and now maintains as a size 12 (and has for many years -- however, the picture of her on the cover of the DVD I think is a bit misleading -- she looks much heavier on the cover picture than she does in the DVD). Her video cast is all plus size women (the smallest is a size 14, ranging up to a size 18 or 20), so to me that was cool (usually in exercise DVDs the cast members are very fit, although one reason I like Leslie Sansone's DVDs is that she often has at least one plus size cast member). Mazda puts you through a decent workout -- very comparable to a Leslie Sansone workout. She reminds me (in the nicest possible way) of a female drill sergeant -- she's from South Philly and you can tell she takes no b.s. from anyone, and she is constantly exhorting you (the viewer) to not quit and keep working. Seeing how hard she and her cast are working is definitely inspirational, too! If you are new to exercising I think this is a great video to get started with; it's low impact, works the major muscle groups, and is not difficult to follow. If you've been exercising a while it may not be as challenging as what you're used to, but you can still work up a good sweat. At the end of the video she has a chat with the cast, who all are in various stages of losing weight, and that is interesting to watch too (though you really only need to see it once). Here is the link to Amazon.com if you are interested in checking more reviews or getting more info on this video: http://www.amazon.com/SHAPELY-GIRL-WALKING-FIT-FABULOUS/dp/B002XZ62DO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318212662&sr=8-1

Gosh, that is a scary story. I hope you heal up well! It does not sound like a very well organized operation. I'm sorry Dr. Almanza did not check up on you! He really ought to have done that, if only for just a few minutes. I do agree that crap like this happens all the time in US hospitals, so it's really unfortunate when it happens in Mexico because it reinforces the mistaken perception that Mexico is not a good or safe place to have surgery.

We ate at the hotel restaurant; it was really good food & good prices. My hubby accompanied me and for his meals out he went to the little train restaurant near the hospital, and a chinese restaurant near the hospital. DH said he liked the train restaurant a lot, and felt like he was cheating because the food was so great and prices so low. He said the chinese restaurant was very average at best, but the train one was really great.

My husband and I eat out a lot. We either share a meal or, if I order my own, I usually only end up eating a small amount. Whenever we go to a new place the waiter/waitress always thinks I don't like my food because I barely make a dent in most dishes -- in those instances I always have to make a point to say how much I like the food. Sometimes when asked I will say that I have a little stomach (in most cases the waiter/waitress looks at me and says, "Oh," and I know inside they are thinking, "Like hell you have a little stomach, you little pudgeball!") LOL. I do find that as I lose more weight, I get less scrutiny. It's worst when you are just post-op and still big but can barely eat anything. Once you get close to goal, people don't pay much attention to how much you eat (except maybe the waiter/waitress). I do agree with the observation that regular size portions look absolutely HUGE to me now, especially once I start eating. Today I went out to eat at Chipotle and got a burrito (brown rice, pinto Beans, carnitas, & a little hot salsa) and was able to eat not even 1/4 of it, and was stuffed. I just had a bit more for dinner. That burrito is going to last me about 4 meals! Glad I like leftovers! My hubby and I talk regularly about how much money we save on food since I have been sleeved. I think my operation will pay for itself within 3 years just on food savings alone ((I was self pay in Mexico) . If you were/are lucky enough to have your insurance cover your surgery, you will save THOUSANDS of dollars in food over the years. It's like getting a nice promotion at work, but not doing a doggone thing extra.

It costs $30 on Amazon, which includes the whole shebang (2 DVDs, a 4 lb. kettlebell, and a little book on eating healthy and a sample yucky diet plan which I totally ignored). Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.amazon.com/Gaiam-Kettlenetics-Slim-Tone-Kit/dp/B001EQW8W2/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1318127780&sr=1-1

So far my theory is proving to be totally wrong! Oy!!!! Keep those votes coming!

Today is my nine month surgiversary. I weigh 154.2 lbs. I am down just over 73 lbs. from my surgery date -- an average of a little over 8 lbs. a month weight loss since surgery. My weight loss has really slowed down but the pounds are still coming off -- in fact, this week I had one of my best weeks of weight loss since having surgery. I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks because I have been upset with myself over my slow weight loss the past 3 months. Last month I only lost 3 lbs. TOTAL. Very disappointing because I am still over 20 lbs. to my goal weight. I had stepped up my exercising (walking-running 4-5 days a week) but my eating was not good. I was a grazer before surgery and gradually I have become a grazer again -- NOT GOOD. I had a couple of big breakthroughs this week. First of all, I realized that my innocent little afternoon snacks had turned into all-afternoon-long grazing, and I knew it wasn't really hunger-based -- I mostly snacked at work, and I have a fairly stressful job, so it was pretty obvious my snacking at work was emotional eating. At the encouragement of a friend, a few months ago I had bought Geneen Roth's book, Women, Food & God. However, I had never read it (for whatever reason, I was not open to whatever message was in the book). So, last weekend, I decided to read it and see if there was any help in there for me. Let me just say, if you have issues with emotional eating that you are still struggling with (no matter where you are in your weight loss journey), this book may be a real help to you. I had several insights into why I was doing what I was doing with food. In a nutshell, to me food has been (for most of my life) the equivalent of a toddler's "blankie" -- it has been my security blanket, the thing that brings me comfort in the midst of chaos, stress, boredom, happiness, sadness, anger -- pretty much ANY emotion. I am by nature an introvert and a sensitive, "feeling" person (if you are familiar with Myers-Briggs, I am an INFP). This combo is, I think, probably one of the worst possible combos when it comes to emotional eating, because 1) as an introvert I don't often say what's on my mind -- I keep it to myself, but therefore don't release emotions through words like extraverts do; 2) I am intuitive, which means I can pick up on other people's energy and emotions; and 3) I am a very feeling person, which means when someone I care about is having a tough time, I really do feel their angst, I absorb that energy. So .... with that combo, I have all these powerful emotions swirling around inside me all the time, and never found a good way to release them, so turned to my security blankie -- food -- to help me deal with them. I learned a couple of very powerful (and some would say obvious -- but to me they weren't obvious) techniques for dealing with my emotional eating. First of all, at work whenever I wanted to eat a snack I would stop and ask myself if I was really hungry. Mostly I wasn't hungry. My snacking dropped dramatically. I still do have one afternoon snack, but that's different from grazing. The second technique I tried that worked well is, when I was really having a mental battle (asking myself, "Kris, are you really hungry," and getting the answer back, "F-YOU, I don't care if I am hungry or not, I just want the FOOD! Hand over the pretzel crisps RIGHT NOW!!!") I got myself up away from my desk and walked somewhere to talk to someone (no shortage of people to talk to at my office) and that works too. It would break the pattern. That is what I really need to do -- break my grazing pattern. The other thing I did this week was to try some new exercise routines. Now that the weather is turning to the rainy season (which here in Seattle lasts oh about 9 months), and the days are getting dramatically shorter (we are far north), it's no longer fun to go outside to exercise. I have a couple of Leslie Sansone Walk at Home DVDs (from pre-surgery) and started doing them again. I like her a lot. I also started going to a zumba class at the fitness center at work (class is held one day a week). The zumba class is a lot of fun, but frankly, I am very uncoordinated so I spend most of the class getting the steps wrong and feeling like a fool (fortunately, it is a small class and I am friends with several gals, and we just laugh at ourselves and don't take it too seriously). I also had heard that kettlebells are an awesome tool to help quickly tone and build muscle, so got on amazon.com and ordered "Kettlenetics" which is an exercise DVD that comes w/a 4 lb. kettlebell. I received the package 2 days ago and did the routines. WOW, that workout made me feel every muscle in my body! I just finished the cardio video and was drenched in sweat. I love that workout because it really made me push beyond what I thought I could do. Frankly, while I was pushing myself on my walk-run exercising, I wasn't exercising nearly as many muscles and I really do need to be toning now (got some bat wings, have a little pouch, have jiggly thighs, etc.). Between the less snacking and new exercising, this week I lost 3.6 lbs -- more than I lost the ENTIRE MONTH of September! SWEET!!!! Even sweeter because Auntie Flo made a surprise visit yesterday (hadn't seen or heard from her in about 3 months, so it caught me off guard), and usually when I get visits from Flo it means slow weight loss. I have set a Halloween goal to be 149 lbs. Until this week I was really despairing that I would even get to 155 before Halloween, so this week has been fantastic for me ... I only have 5 lbs. to lose to hit that goal, and hopefully this new kettlenetics workout will help me continue to have good weight loss, muscle toning, and hitting my progress goals.

Hi Katie,<div><br></div><div>Thank you for your kind words! My surgeon warned me the day of surgery that the sleeve is just a tool, and he only operates on my stomach, not my head; he said I needed to work on my eating issues and not expect surgery to cure everything. I knew what he said was true but at that moment I was so excited to get surgery that I basically didn't take what he said to heart. But now that I am getting further and further out from surgery, I realize how critical it is for me to actually deal with emotional eating issues, because I really hadn't addressed them up until very recently. I am so thankful for my sleeve because it does keep my calorie intake under control, and allowed me to keep losing weight (albeit very slowly) despite drifting off track with healthy eating. </div><div><br></div><div>One thing I also forgot to mention about my personality is I absolutely hate and resent any kind of schedule, plan, regime, etc., so food journaling never sticks with me (I start out with great intentions, keep up with it a few days, and then drift out of it again -- I have a fitday account but haven't used it in about 4 months). But definitely, keeping a food journal is a great practice and I know is also a good way to deal with emotional eating problems. I do track my weight weekly (actually several times a week) and I also think that is a good tool, though not as powerful as a journal.</div><div><br></div><div>I know you are going to have tremendous success and this time next year you will be looking and feeling like a new woman! <img src="http://cdn.verticalsleevetalk.com/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif" alt="" class="bbc_emoticon"></div>

Katie, best wishes to you on your journey! You will love the results you get from your sleeve! I feel like almost a new person ... hard to believe a year ago I weighed about 80 lbs. more than I do now ... my energy level is much higher and I am sure yours will be too! Do you have your surgery date yet?

Great news, so glad to hear it!

Thanks for the encouragement, Coops! I read in another thread that you had a bad muscle injury ... is it any better? I hope so!!!

I am nearly 9 months out from surgery and have lost about 75 lbs. I still have about 25 lbs. to go to get to my final goal weight, but it has been tough sledding the past two months (last month I only lost 3 lbs!). I am eating about 1,200 calories a day and exercising 5 days a week (primarily cardio ... walk/jog intervals or Zumba class or exercise DVDs). I have definitely stepped up the intensity and duration of my workouts the past month. My eating could be better -- I have been working to cut out Snacks. But, I am starting to worry that I will never get to goal. So, for those of you who are are 10+ months out from surgery, there must have been a point in time where your bod just stopped losing weight. Has anyone experienced that where the weight loss has stopped well short of the goal? How did you deal with that?

I don't know if this will be a comfort to you or scare you, but I am nearly 9 months out from surgery and am STILL learning how to cope with emotional eating issues! My first 6 months post-op were a breeze, and I got overly confident that I could eat whatever I wanted and still lose weight, but the last two months have been pretty tough because bad habits have started to get a toehold again. Specifically, I've been grazing again at work ... it is how I dealt with the stress of the job for 10+ years and it is a HARD habit to break. Recently I have been doing something that works pretty well, and that is to just ask myself, when I am getting ready to reach for the pretzel crisps or rice chips or whatever, "Kris, are you really hungry or do you just WANT to eat?" 9 times out of 10 it's not hunger, it's just stress. But asking myself the question really does stop me cold and my snacking has dropped dramatically (hopefully the scale will show me something good at my next weekly weigh-in!). The other thing I've started doing is getting up from my desk and walking down the hall or going to see someone in the office; that seems to break the pattern too. So, that is so far turning out to be a decent coping mechanism for me -- to just do things to interrupt the pattern to reach for the crunchy, salty Snacks mid-morning or mid-afternoon when something is stressing me out (and there is *always* something stressing me out at work!) I have a feeling that I will be dealing with emotional eating issues the rest of my life, and probably having to try new coping mechanisms all the time just to keep the bad habits under control (or banish them completely, which would be very cool). I also exercise most days of the week and I can definitely say that there have been many times when I was reaching for a snack and thought, "Did you REALLY spend an hour this morning busting your butt doing intervals just to undo it with that snack?" So, exercise has been a good coping mechanism for me too. Just realizing how hard I work to burn calories, and the momentary pleasure of a snack would undo some or all of that work ... nope, not going to happen! I hope lots of other people post here because I always love to learn new strategies for coping!

I am definitely below BMI of 30 now, which means I am no longer obese! Today I weighed in at 157.4. I have set a Halloween goal to be 149 and it will be a tough challenge, given how slow my weight loss is now ... but, to be positive, I am still losing weight. When I go to update my weight in my ticker, the chart shows steady downwards progress. I am most definitely not a fast or even an average loser at this stage ... I've been losing about 5 lbs. a month the past couple of months, and that is with fairly vigorous exercise on a regular basis (3-4 days a week). I am just getting all that weight stuff out of the way because what I really want to focus in on today is talking about non-scale goals. When I first started setting weight loss goals just prior to surgery, I had identified weight loss and non-weight loss goals. Some of the things I really wanted to do were to go swimming again (preferably in the ocean), inner tube down a river, go hiking, and inner tube (sled) down a mountain in winter. I have done the swimming and inner tubing, and this weekend bought my first pair of hiking boots and went on an easy (paved trail) hike with my hubby yesterday ... so I am hitting my non-scale goals! DH is very pleased with how interested I am getting in activities. Before surgery I would never do anything active because it was just too hard, physically, to do things. Now that I have lost over 70 lbs., I have far more energy and stamina to do things, and now I want to do them. I did some clothes shopping yesterday ... I am 99% sure I will end up as a size medium (8-10) and right now I am wearing a size 12 (yay!). It was kind of a thrill to try on some Petite Large size tops and see they were loose fitting! So, I bought a bunch of clothes that are size M and they are a little form-fitting now, but I know in the next couple of months they will fit better. For now, I can layer the tighter fitting shirts under other shirts or jackets, and it doesn't look that bad. I definitely need to work on strength training, and I will hit the gym once or twice this week to get started on that. I have a lot of flab on my arms and belly (yuck) and hope to tone those areas up over the coming months. I also did some "maintenance" activities yesterday ... got a slightly new hairstyle, had a pedicure and had my eyebrows waxed .... we are definitely into fall here in the Seattle area (first real rains have come this weekend, and it has been markedly cooler the past few days), so in honor of the change in season I am sprucing myself up some.

I have missed my goals the past 3 challenges but this time I am going to MAKE this goal!!!! Excited to think in a couple of months I can be in the 140s and getting within 20 lbs. of my ultimate goal of 132 lbs! SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Kris..............159.6..................159.6.........149............10.6 Best to everyone -- we CAN DO this!!!!

SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Kris.............170.4....................159.6.........157............2.6 I didn't make my goal, but I am not going to complain too much because at least I got out of the 160's which is HUGE for me! I lost 10.8 lbs. since July 4th. In my life before surgery it would have taken me 4 or 5 months to lose that much weight, so when I think of it that way I feel OK about it. Congrats to everyone who made their Labor Day goal -- you ROCK! And for everyone like me who didn't quite make goal ... we've got a clean slate and the next goal awaits! Now ... onto the Halloween goal!!!!

Hi Ladies! Dari, you are doing AMAZING to already be in the 170s after only 5 months! I am sure you will hit your ultimate goal! At least you know you are not the only one struggling with "pre maintenance syndrome" (the PMS for sleevers, LOL). You must be doing things right to have lost so much, so quickly! Keep up the great work! Foxbins my dear sleever friend, thank you for the encouragement! I haven't had much of a see-saw weight loss effect yet but maybe this month I will! I am going to start going to a Zumba class after work once a week, and maybe by changing up my exercise schedule that will help me shake loose some extra pounds. You are right, I can lose more; I have made some bad choices. I am not eating as strictly as I should and it shows on the scale.

My weight today is 160.8 and my BMI is 30.4. So, I am really close to getting below the BMI of 30. My Labor Day goal of 157 lbs. is not going to happen (obviously -- no way in the world can I lose 3.8 lbs in 8 days) but I have a fair shot of getting into the 150s and hitting that major goal of below 30 BMI. But now -- here is my happy story for the month. I haven't been clothes shopping since the beginning of July and went shopping yesterday at Kohls. I tried on a mix of sizes (mostly 14/Large and some 12/Medium just for kicks, to see how far I am from a size 12). Wow, it was exciting! The size Ls and 14s are now almost all too large. I bought a couple of lightweight jackets (one twill, one denim) for fall and they fit fine and they were size MEDIUM! So excited I must say it again -- MEDIUM, people!!!! I was absolutely giddy in the dressing room when I tried on those jackets and saw that they fit. I am still maybe 7 or 8 lbs. from being able to comfortably fit in a size 12 across the board -- so probably won't comfortably be in a size 12 until sometime in October. I still have big arms and a fatty little apron in my lower belly, so while size 14 is loose, size 12 is either very form fitting or a little tight in the arms and sometimes (depending on the cut of the pants/skirt) in the belly. I wasn't wearing shapewear undies when trying on clothes and am pretty sure that would make a difference, at least not make my lower abdomen look so bulky. It is kind of a problem, though -- I was reluctant to buy anything in size 14 because in a few weeks it will be too big, but a size 12 is a little tight right now. But heck, what a fantastic problem to have! In reality, I don't think I will ever be less than a size Medium. I am hoping that I will eventually be on the small end of Medium (so that all my size Ms are comfortably loose). The way my weight loss has been going lately, I am thinking that by the end of the year, I will probably end up a size 10 and probably end up somewhere in the 140s (maybe I will hit the 130s but that would be highly unlikely). Since the beginning of July I have only lost 10 lbs., so I am losing about 5 lbs. a month on average now -- pretty gradual weight loss. I can only assume my weight loss the rest of my journey will never be higher than what it has been the past 2 months, and is in fact going to be slower as I get closer to my goal weight, so I am 99.9% certain I will not hit my ultimate goal weight this year. I may be able to hit it next year ... not sure where my body will eventually say, "That's it, girlie, you're done losing weight!" But at my very lowest weight/size ever as an adult (when I was in my mid 20s, ate a strict 1,400 calorie a day diet, and ran 15 miles a week plus did lots of toning exercises) I was in the low-mid 130s and wore a size 8/10 in everything. My ultimate goal is to get to 132 and be back in my size 8/10s but part of me is not sure that will ever happen. To be perfectly honest, I am definitely eating and behaving more like someone who is in maintenance than someone who is trying to lose weight, and my slower weight loss is definitely a reflection of that. Every day I make choices about how fast I want to lose weight by choosing what I put in my mouth and what I do with my body. I really need to be thinking a lot about that.

First the bad news (to get it out of the way): I did not hit my Labor Day goal of 157 lbs ... today (Labor Day) I weigh 159.6. But here is the good news: I am no longer in the 160's! YAY!!!! On Saturday my weight was 158.8 and on that day I officially was considered no longer obese ... alas, my weight popped up again over 159 today (not sure why the scale does this to me, but c'est la vie) so I am still considered obese (but just barely ... my BMI is 30.2). But I am still really excited to be in the 150s ... haven't been here in 15 years!! I swore to my journal today that I will do EVERYTHING in my power to NEVER get above the 150s again the rest of my life. And I mean it, too! I just came off a lovely walk this morning ... we are having incredible weather here in the Pacific NW right now ... it is so gorgeous outside I almost want to weep. In a few weeks the rains will come again, but for now it is heaven on earth and there is nowhere in the whole world I would rather be than here. Between me hitting a big scale victory, the beautiful weather, and a long holiday weekend, I have to say my life is just about perfect! I am a gardener and have spent a lot of time this weekend in my backyard garden and my community garden plot. I have grown a lot of veggies and flowers and am harvesting them now ... loads of green beans, cherry tomatoes (and my first batch of roma tomatoes), potatoes (which I have mostly been giving away to potato-loving friends and family), and dahlias (they make me so happy!). The farmer's market is overflowing with beautiful produce too. Consequently, I spent much of my day yesterday in the kitchen. I made a fresh batch of refrigerator dilly green beans (so yummy -- forget about pickles, I like these way better, and you can eat mounds of them for almost zero calories). I also made a batch of "Jumbleberry" freezer jam (a mix of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries) -- OMG homemade freezer jam is incredibly yummy -- on the weekends I splurge and have an English muffin w/a little butter and a spoonful of homemade jam and almost swoon over how good it is. And, I also made an amazing snack dip (Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Eggplant & Pepper dip) which I am bringing over to a friend's house today to snack on with some Stacy's pita chips (tasty, healthy snack! Yum!). Eating all this amazing garden-fresh food makes me feel very in touch with my sleeve, and I am happy that I am giving my body good nutrition with healthy and fresh foods. i was not one of those sleevers who lost their appetite after surgery ... au contraire, I have had a healthy appetite since nearly day one post-op. I still LOVE food and the best thing about the sleeve is that I can still enjoy food, but in reasonable quantities, and it makes me so much more mindful of food than I was before surgery. I did a lot of mindless eating before surgery and I was a really fast eater. I do struggle with myself more than I would care to admit about still eating too fast ... especially when there is a really great meal before me ... I can easily eat 3-5 bites really fast and then say to myself, "Stop! You only have a few bites left now!!!!" and then I have to stop and wait for a while before eating again. This is a big challenge for me. Also, I definitely have validated what Dr. Aceves told me before surgery, which is that you can defeat your sleeve if you want to -- I can eat a lot more by spacing out the food intake over a few hours, and I have to admit I have done this more than I should. I just know this is something I am going to have to battle with myself to not do on a regular basis. This is a habit I do NOT want to get into! But overall -- it is the happiest Labor Day weekend I have had in many years. I hope yours is/was fabulous too!

Hi Rubyspring and Hamilton,<div><br></div><div>Sorry to not respond sooner, I have just gotten back from a road trip and wasn't checking in here for a while! Thank you for your comments!</div><div><br></div><div>Hamilton -- I know how you feel, I remember how excited and a little nervous I was about having my surgery. I am surprised you are already on a liquid diet if you don't have your surgery date yet -- if your surgeon didn't tell you to do that, you don't need to do it. Maybe just do one day a week on a liquid diet ... you do not want to be overly strict on yourself only to end up having a binge eating episode once you can't stand the liquid diet anymore! It is a good idea to find a protein powder/shake you really like before surgery, so if you have found some you are happy with, that is great! The World According to Eggface blog is an outstanding resource for lots of yummy protein shake recipes -- check it out if you haven't seen it before at theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com.</div><div><br></div><div>If you have a real addiction to something bad (mine was diet coke), try to wean yourself off it as far in advance of your surgery as possible. I weaned myself off diet coke about a month before surgery and was really glad I did that. But I would also say, you are going to have some "food funerals" (basically going all-out on eating your fave foods/meals at your fave restaurants) because it is true you will never again be able to eat the volume of food you can eat now (which is actually a very good thing!). If you indulge in a food funeral, don't beat yourself up too much, but just try not to have too many of them! </div><div><br></div><div>I definitely encourage you to exercise regularly if you aren't doing so now -- try to exercise at least 3 days a week, if not every day (a 30 minute walk 3 days a week would be a great start). I didn't exercise before surgery or even for several months after surgery, and I really regret that -- I know I could have lost more weight had I done so. I know that exercising is SO HARD before surgery (carrying around that excess weight is extremely tough) but as you lose weight you will definitely find it easier and more enjoyable. </div><div><br></div><div>Don't worry about the hair loss -- it is only temporary and unless you already have very thin hair nobody will even notice but you and your shower drain (LOL). I'm still having some hair loss but nobody can tell and it's definitely getting less. It's not a big deal (at least for me). You will be SO thrilled with your weight loss that you won't even care about hair loss, I bet! </div><div><br></div><div>The first month after surgery is going to really going to be the hardest, and you probably will have at least a few days during that first month post-op where you are wondering what the heck you just did to yourself ... but trust me, once the first month is over, you will be doing great and life will get better every day. You will be so thrilled with your weight loss -- it will be the easiest weight loss you've ever had. </div><div><br></div><div>I am really excited for you, and wish you the best on your journey! </div><div><br></div><div><br></div>

Today is my 7th month surgiversary and I weigh 162.6 lbs. Officially I am almost down 70 lbs. from my high preop weight (231 lbs.) and 62 lbs. from my surgery date (224.5 lbs.), but that is only because I changed my scale after surgery, and my new scale is more accurate (and shows a heavier weight) than my old scale (by 2-3 lbs.). In reality I have already lost over 70 lbs. from my preop weight and nearly 70 from my surgery date. It's really hard to believe -- 70 lbs. is A LOT of excess weight!!! I am comfortably wearing a size 14 now, and getting close to fitting in size 12s (maybe next month). When I see myself in my birthday suit, it's still a pretty ugly sight ... I have a lot of belly fat still, my girls are like halfway deflated water balloons, I have a lot of cellulite on my butt and thighs, and I have loose skin in my upper arms (AKA batwings). But, in clothes, I look pretty normal, I think. Also, it's exciting, my BMI is 30.7 now -- if I lose 3 lbs. I will officially no longer be obese! It would have been great to hit that milestone on my surgiversary date, but I am close, so it's all good. I have been really good about exercising -- I actually enjoy exercising (walking/jogging) and it's fun to challenge myself to see if I can do a little more/faster each time I exercise. I really regret not exercising sooner ... if you, my dear sleeve friend, are reading this blog and have either not gotten sleeved or are newly sleeved, please take my advice and exercise as soon as you are able and do it at least 3-4 days a week if at all possible ... you will be more successful in losing weight and you will feel SO much better in your weight loss journey! As far as food intake, not really much change this week from previous weeks ... I am definitely not strict about what I eat, and I know I am not losing as much weight as I could ... but I am still taking in fewer calories than I burn, and even on my worst food days I probably am still only taking in as many calories as a non-sleeved dieter would eat. I do heart my sleeve!

One of my best friends has moved from the DC area to here (Seattle area) this past week. She drove herself halfway across the country and I flew to Sioux Falls SD on Tuesday 8/16 to meet her and road trip with her the rest of the way. We drove about 550 miles each day and travelled through five states (South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington). Of course, good food is always an integral part of a fun road trip, and we had our share of good food along the way. We had a couple of truly memorable meals (Silk Road for dinner in Missoula, MT, and Gordy's Sichuan Cafe for lunch in Spokane, WA), as well as a variety of munchies to nibble on during the long drives between stops. With long drives (very little exercise) and more food than I normally eat, needless to say I was not expecting to lose any weight -- particularly since I have again been in a several week long virtual weight loss stall. Yesterday was also a big eating out day -- my friend and I had lunch at a local Mexican restaurant, then met my mom a few hours later for afternoon tea (I had about half a scone and a little shortbread cookie, with some delicious peach-apricot tea), and then a few hours after that DH and I went out to a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant we'd never tried before and I had a variety of delicious bites. So, with all this eating out and road trip munching I've been doing, it was a really pleasant surprise to see I've lost .4 lbs. this week (nothing to brag about for sure, but to be lower than last week, with all the food, that was cool). Of course I have been pondering the paradox of eating more and losing weight. I do think maybe when we are on such a generally low-cal diet, it's probably a good thing once in a while to increase the calorie uptake to shake up the body chemistry a bit. I am wondering if maybe my body is starting to really hoard fat .... I keep thinking to myself that the "easy" weight loss is over, and I really do have to work harder to lose every pound now. I was losing 8 lbs. a month like clockwork w/o exercising, but once I hit the five month mark my weight loss started really slowing down, and I've been exercising regularly (4 days a week) ever since June and still not losing 8 lbs. a month anymore. I do know that at my current height/weight/age/activity level my body needs about 2,000 calories a day to just to maintain, and even on my worst eating days ever I know I have not ever eaten that many calories. Most days I am eating around 1000 calories -- even yesterday, with all that food (and yesterday was a huge eating day for me) I am sure I didn't even get to 1,500 calories -- so it is a mystery why I am not losing more weight (should be losing 2 lbs. a week). It is something to ponder for sure. I am exactly 30 lbs. from my goal weight now (I weigh 162 and my goal is 132). As I mentioned, my weight loss this month has been dismal. I still have 5 lbs. to lose for my Labor Day goal and am not so optimistic I will hit it. I am also 3 lbs. from having a BMI of under 30 and it seems like I will NEVER get there ... but I've been in this spot before, and eventually the weight does come off and then I'm onto the next goal. I had a great walk this morning and am now headed out to the garden to work for an hour or so. I hope that when I check in here next week I will be able to say I am closer to my Labor Day goal!

No weight lost this week. I must be back into my non-weight-losing cycle. For the month I Iost 6.4 lbs. total -- URGH. I was hoping to lose 8 but it was not to be. At least it wasn't as bad as last month! My body definitely loses weight in phases ... a couple of weeks of good weight loss, then a stall or very low weight loss for a couple of weeks. I have a feeling that it's going to be this way for the rest of the time I am losing weight, though I suspect I may have longer stalls and shorter losing phases. I still have 33 lbs. to lose to get to goal. At the rate of 5 lbs. lost a month it will take me another six months (almost 7) to get to goal. Not that I am complaining ... to only have 33 lbs. to lose to get to goal is something I never could have achieved without being sleeved .... last year at this time I was in the mid/high 220s .... so I am down over 60 lbs. I am wearing a size 14/Large now ... normal clothes! I look and feel like a normal person again. And for that I am very thankful! I have been doing well with exercising ... I walked 4 times this week (and would've done more, but was in a class at work and needed to get to work 45 minutes earlier than normal, so that really impacted my morning walks). I did some intervals on a couple of the days and on one day I really overdid the intervals (my thighs were really aching for a couple of days). Yesterday and today I did longer walks (since it's the weekend and I have more downtime). I have not done well with eating this past week and I know that is contributing to the lack of weight loss. In class I would get bored, and eat mindlessly (and there was always food around ... though I tried to stick mostly to good stuff, like fruit or beef jerky, I did have some pretzels and rice chips and a handful of Reese's Pieces (bad me!!!). This week it's back to normal (except Tuesday, when there is a baby shower I will be attending, and most likely will indulge in a little piece of cake). I have been thinking a lot about what I have been eating and I believe that I basically have been eating like someone in maintenance ... being mostly mindful of what I am eating, but still having treats here and there. This week I'm sure I ate least 1,000 calories a day, probably on a couple of days it was more like 1,300. My basal metabolism rate is 1,600 calories a day, so no wonder the weight is not coming off ... even with the exercise several days a week, I probably didn't burn too much extra. It kind of sucks to be such a petite woman! I don't have much room for error on the calorie side! At the rate I am going with the weight loss, I think I may be cutting it super close again to making my Labor Day goal of 157 lbs. But hey, if I get out of the 160s before September, that will be really cool.