Kris

So today is my four month surgiversary. I am down 50 lbs. from my high preop weight and have 49 lbs. left to lose to get to my ultimate goal. I am feeling really good! Yesterday I had my first physical with my primary care doc (actually PA). My weight with clothes on (jeans, tank, lightweight cotton shirt over the tank, and underwear) was 183. My home scale said I weighed 181 so I think my home scale is accurate, maybe even a little on the high side (I assume my clothes weighed 3 or 4 lbs, but maybe not. I wish I had thought to weigh myself immediately before or after seeing the doctor, but alas I didn't). My blood pressure was 118/80, which I believe is very normal. I have to get a blood test to check my vitamin, mineral, and cholesterol levels. The PA had never even heard of VSG and I had to explain it to her. She didn't say a word about me going to Mexico, good or bad. She did look at my incisions as part of the exam and said they looked like they were healing just fine. She did seem pretty happy with my weight loss, although of course I am still considered pretty obese and have a long way to go to get to goal. She did ask me how much weight I could lose with VSG and I said my dr. said I could lose up to 95% of my excess weight, and she seemed really surprised by that. I guess time will tell how far I get. I continue to get great restriction with my sleeve if I eat protein. Today DH and I went to Famous Dave's for a late lunch/early dinner (I did 3 hours of fairly vigorous work in the garden -- building a raised bed from a kit, filling it with 8 large bags of potting soil, weeding a raspberry patch, etc.) so I was pretty hungry. We ordered the half slab ribs platter to share (6 ribs, with a side of fries, baked beans, corn on the cob, and cornbread muffin). I was able to eat 3/4 of one rib, a couple of fries, 3 bites of baked beans, and was totally stuffed. My husband was happy as a clam because he got 5 ribs all to himself (and polished off the remaining part of my rib), all the corn, all the cornbread muffin, and almost all the fries. Pre-VSG, we would share the same dinner, but have plenty of room left in our tummies for dessert (we would share a piece of pecan pie with vanilla ice cream). Now we were both so full from the meal, we didn't have room for dessert. Let's see -- what else. I am wearing size 16s and am able to now shop in Costco and Sam's Club for clothes -- I could never do that before and it is exciting. They have some good swimsuits for sale and I will probably buy a couple next month as I get closer to my trip to Hawaii. I am definitely losing more weight now that I am actively doing garden work, and that is a lot of fun. I hope my increased activity will keep the calories burning and the weight coming off! I have noticed another great thing -- I am sleeping longer every night. I used to wake up at least once in the middle of the night, but now I sleep at least 7 hours, sometimes 8, before waking up, and i definitely feel better rested now than pre-surgery. I think I had sleep apnea before surgery and while I may still have it, I am sleeping more soundly and better than I have in years. That is also helping me have a good level of energy. One final thing -- I started eating fruit again last week. I bought some grapes the other day and they were fantastic -- like candy to me, but good for me. I think all the time I've not had many sweets has made me more sensitive to sweetness so fruits taste sweeter and more delicious than they did before surgery. Yay, another benefit of being sleeved! So all in all, it's been a good week and a great four months. I am really excited to see how I progress now that summer will be here in a few weeks. I think I will make my July 4th goal to be under 170 lbs. and I am really hoping next week when I post a blog entry I will be able to say I am in the 170s.

Thanks Foxbins! You are so sweet!!!

Hi Christina, Dr. Aceves did my surgery and I highly recommend him! He and his team are super! Oh and thanks for reading my blog! I am always surprised to see comments!

This was a good news/bad news week. The good news was last Sunday (or Monday, not sure which) I broke into the 170s with a weight of 179.8. The bad news is I am still 179.8 as of today, and in fact as recently as Friday I was 181. But I'm happy to say I am in the 170s again after 14 LONG years. My hubby weighs in the low 170s so if I hit my July 4th goal of 167 I will finally weigh less than my husband, again something I haven't been able to say since shortly after we were married in 1996. I had a couple of weeks of good weight loss but for the month so far I am only down 3 lbs., so I hope the rest of May is better as far as the scale is concerned, or I am going to have a tough time getting out of the 170s. In other non-sleeve news, we just adopted a sweet, beautiful female bunny named Jewelie. She is 2 years old and had a very rough life; she was rescued a few months ago from a home where the owner was starving her to death. Fortunately, a local rabbit rescue organization (Rabbit Haven) was able to take her in and nurse her back into good health. We wanted to adopt a female rabbit for our neutered male rabbit, Toffee. We took Toffee to Rabbit Haven yesterday to "date" some of the girls and hopefully find one who would be a good bunny wife for him. We had read about Jewelie on Rabbit Haven's website and she was the first girl we wanted to introduce to Toffee. She was a dear girl, totally submissive to Toffee, and the Rabbit Haven folks said they were having a pretty great first date. So, we decided to adopt her and bring her home. Now that they are both home, Toffee is definitely showing dominance, but she is so submissive and sweet that I think they will be fully bonded soon, hopefully within just a few weeks. We currently have them living in separate rooms and have bunny dates periodically, but they both seem a bit stressed when they spend too much time together, so we think it's better to go a little slow right now. OK, so this has absolutely zero to do with me losing weight, except that my pets make my life sooooo much better, and my hubby and I both feel we have a purpose in life to help animals by providing them a loving and safe home (we have multiple cats, many of whom were rescued, so now we are on to bunnies and cats). The only thing in my life that I have felt was really unsatisfactory has been my obesity, and even that is (slowly) changing. Anyway, that's about it for this week. Hard to believe it is mid-May already, and Memorial Day is just a couple short weeks away!

Christal, I am feeling you!!! I have been hating my turkey neck (actually pelican neck really is more accurate!), my batwings, and my horrible half-filled Water balloon ta-tas that are almost hitting my belly button (arggh). But I am also loving fitting into clothes sizes I haven't been able to wear in over a decade, and having way more energy than I did before surgery, and feeling much better than I did a few months ago. I hope you and your hubby find new, better jobs soon! Congrats on your progress so far -- you are doing great! Kris

Hi there lewisfamilytexas, I saw this topic today and said to myself, "Whoa, I remember writing that topic starter a while ago!" That was 3.5 months ago, and while I still remember that day very well (it truly was my lowest point after surgery) I can tell you that in a few months all the misery you are feeling now will be only a memory. The first month after surgery is by far the hardest -- the second month is challenging in that you get to "relearn" how to eat (and you will be completely amazed at the restriction, and probably have at least one or two times where you overdo it, and that sucks too!) -- and by the end of the 3rd month you should be in sync with and loving your sleeve (at least that has been my experience). I do encourage you to try to not go off your post-op plan until your dr. clears it, your new sleeve is still very much in the early healing phase and you don't want to risk a leak. I remember well that while on the liquid diet I was aching to get out of liquids, and into mushies. Mushies were way better than liquids, but after a few days I started wanting to go onto the next stage. Juliarh was right, you think you want something, but then when you can actually have it you'll probably be like, "eh, what was the big deal?" You CAN get through it, it will suck but you will get through it, and in a short amount of time you will be totally rocking your sleeve! Best to you in your journey! Amazing things await!

OMG, I'm on my 12th day of liquids, and I am turning into Medusa, evil snake-haired gorgon who could turn people to stone with a glare. I am POd at the whole world right now! My energy is low, I don't like the limited choices I have to drink, I went back to work about a week too soon and my boss is being SUCH a JERK to me because I am not able to work a full 8 hour day (after 5 hours the batteries are totally dead and I am useless at work). I want to eat, but can't; when I do consume something it's like I don't want it after two sips/slurps. I am on day 3 of my first stall and that sure isn't helping my mood any! It is all I can do not to snap and hiss at everyone -- I just want to be left alone and rest. Arrgggghh! Please tell me people that this is normal for two weeks out. I keep telling myself things will get better when I can start eating food again, but that is still 2 long weeks away. The enormity of what this surgery is all about is hitting with the force of a giant brick wall right now. Unlike any other diet I've been on, when the going gets tough, I can't bail and get on the wagon the next day. There is no way off this freaking wagon!!!! In my heart of hearts I am sure this will pass, but it is really not a fun place to be right now. I envy people who had a smooth recovery. I hope I am not scaring any preops away from surgery because I also know in my heart of hearts this was the right thing for me to do ... but man the first few weeks after surgery are no fun at all. I will be SO happy to get through this first month ... so happy! Sorry to be a whiner, but I am hoping someone will say, "Been there, done that, and it all gets better from here on out." Just so I know I'm not really a gorgon, but just a semi-normal sleever 2 weeks post op.

Oh dear, lately I have been having a raging case of snack fever. I'm one of those folks that never lost their hunger pains after surgery, but because my sleeve was so small the first few months after surgery, a little food would take me a long way. Now I find if I am not eating dense protein numerous times throughout the day, the carb monster starts calling my name in a major way. I don't have too much of a problem avoiding sweets -- my major downfall is salty/crunchy carbs. I no longer eat potato chips but do love me some rice chips. My weakest times are afternoon (3 - 5 pm) and evening (8 pm). And frankly I have caved a lot and had salty/crunchy snacks even though I know I shouldn't. My surgeon said no snacking between meals and only 3 meals a day but honestly that is just not working for me at all! Has anyone else experienced this and if so what do you do about it? Have a protein snack or just suffer through the snack cravings until the next mealtime? When I do cave to snack cravings I will try to have the lowest calorie snacks possible (like pickles) but that seems to be the best coping strategy I can come up with. Any suggestions, my fellow sleevers???

So this is my nearly 4 month surgiversary (next Saturday is the actual surgiversary date). I am almost at my midpoint -- 49 lbs. lost, 50 lbs. to go to get to my ultimate goal weight of 132 lbs. That's exciting news! Exciting too to be nearly out of the 180s -- if all goes well that should be happening in less than 2 weeks. I have been battling with some pretty awful snack cravings, which usually hit between 3-4 pm and (depending on when I eat dinner, and what's in the dinner), between 8-9 pm. I find it easier to disregard the snacking urge in the evening but the afternoon snacking urge is powerful, and most days I succumb to it. And it is almost always a crunchy, salty carb snack (lately chex mix and Riceworks Sweet Chili rice chips have been my go-to snack of choice). I was feeling very guilty about snacking because I remember Dr. Aceves warning not to do that. At the suggestion of a fellow sleever I contacted his patient coordinator to ask if I can eat more than 3 times a day, and as it turns out he will allow 5-6 small meals a day, so I translate that into meals plus a couple of snacks, as long as I'm staying below a total intake of 900 calories a day and getting in a decent amount of protein each day. Happy, happy me! I stocked up on some very low-cal snacks (dill pickles) in case I'm running close to the 900 calories a day limit and still want to eat something. I've been pretty active this weekend with gardening chores (in fact am quite sore right now!) and I know that will help me lose weight. I actually lost more weight in April than in March (8.6 lbs. vs. 8 lbs. in March), due I believe to being more active, now that springtime is here. So I am hoping for another month of 8+ lbs. lost in May. I gave a bunch of my old size 22's/2X/3X clothes to Goodwill today and actually went shopping in the store for the first time ever. I found a couple of pairs of capris for $6 each and a polo shirt for $4 so am happy with that ... some extra weekend clothes to wear, especially while I am gardening. I am sure I will go back as I lose weight, as it seems there are a lot more clothes in the smaller sizes than in the larger sizes. I was tempted to buy a couple of pairs of size 14 jeans, but thought better of it ... I can buy those when the time is right. I am definitely still in the size 16/1X zone and no point of pretending otherwise! I guess that is about all for this week ... I am looking forward to next week and hopefully will be really close to 180 next week. I have a ton of garden chores to do this week and hope Mother Nature gives me some decent weather to work in ... if I can do an hour or two of gardening chores each evening after work, I will have a very good shot at being near 180 next week.

I heard back from Dr. Aceves's office -- they said 3 larger meals a day or 5 -6 very small meals a day. What the heck, I am going to translate that into three smaller meals and two Snacks a day. Gaby also said keep total calories below 900 a day, which I've been really pretty good at doing even with the snacking, so I am going to officially consider it OK to have a snack or two as long as I budget my calories appropriately. Becca -- I do like pork rinds and have those from time to time, but feel bad about the calories ... but they do satisfy the salty crunch cravings I have and I think they are tasty! (A little too tasty, I really have to portion those babies out or it's easy to overdo it!) I did a quick shop tonight and bought some salsa and bean dip (to have with a few baked tortilla chips, so I'm getting either some veg or some Protein in when I do cave to a crunchy carb craving). Luckily, I also love dill pickles and just bought a jar -- 5 calories per pickle, so if I get a powerful snack attack and don't want to take in extra calories that will be my go to snack. Thanks everyone for your comments and support! I'm so glad I have this forum, it helps me SO much!!!!

Crosswinds, I will do that. I haven't emailed them at all for about two months, just have been going by the guidelines and instructions Dr. Aceves gave at time of surgery. Maybe the 3 meals guidance was only for the first few months after surgery ... or maybe Dr. A knew I am a grazer by nature and wanted to scare me into changing my ways (LOL)! Anyway, that is great advice and I will email them right away. Coops & cwalker, thanks for your posts, and support! Now I am hoping the 3 meals a day guidance is meant for the lucky sleevers who lose their hunger pains after surgery and don't feel the need to eat more than 3 times a day (wish I was one, but not to be!).

Hi MeMeMeee (love that screen name btw!) I think I am going to just start planning to have a snack during the afternoon and maybe that will make me feel less bad about cheating! It is weird how different surgeons have different guidelines! I was just in a support group meeting with mostly RNY patients and their surgeons said to eat every 2 hours ... that seems way too much to me, but on the other hand only eating three times a day is obviously not enough for me and my hungry sleeve!

I've been thinking a lot and decided to change my goal weight from 125 to 132. At 132 lbs. I will still be with the "normal" BMI range but to me the 7 lb. difference is major. I have not been in the 120s since I was in jr. high school, like age 14 or something. I did get down into and maintained my weight in the low-mid 130s for several years in my 20s, so I know what it's like to be in the low 130s. In my 20s I would jog 3 miles a day and do exercise videos and followed a strict <1500 calorie/day diet, and never could get much below 130 ... now that I am older and not as active, I figure it will be a great achievement to get back into the 130s and stay there so that is my new goal. As a result of this goal change, I am suddenly a bit closer to goal -- nearly mid-point as a matter of fact. That is a great feeling! The first few months have gone by quickly and for the most part easily (except for bad snack cravings, something I will blog about more this weekend).

Coops, you are a lovely lady and it is totally OK to vent! Honestly, I think low calories (under 1000 a day) is not good for anyone in the long term. Your body needs a certain amount of calories just to survive and maybe your body needs more fuel than you have been giving it? Have you experimented with increasing your calories or doing interval calories (some days normal, some days higher, some days lower) to see how that goes? And you DO look really good ... your hubby isn't lying!!!!

I didn't make the Easter Challenge goal I had set for myself, but I did make good progress and I am nearly 20 lbs. lighter now than I was in February. SN...................Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Kris...................... 202.2 ........... 184.6.........180.......... 4.6 Now, onto the July 4th Challenge, where my goal is to get to 169. I can't wait for the summer! Happy Easter, everyone!

I had my 15th week surgiversary on Friday; my four month surgiversary is coming soon (May 7th ... I think there's an extra week since January and March were long months). Today I weighed in at 184.6. I had set an Easter Challenge goal to get to 180 by today, but missed that by, well, a lot ... I got about 80% to goal, though, so that is still OK with me. My July 4th challenge is to get below 170 ... to 169 to be exact. That's a total loss of 15.6 lbs. in 10 weeks. That is much more in line with what I have been losing. I definitely lose more weight when I am physically active so I know if I could just bump up the exercise I would easily make that goal with room to spare. Now that it is springtime, and the weather isn't quite as dreadful as it has been the first few months of the year, I am going to try to at least get out and walk 30 minutes a day, plus have some heavy duty gardening chores on the weekends (and maybe I can sneak in some gardening after work a few nights). On July 5th I will be going to Maui w/DH to celebrate our 15th anniversary so I am totally excited to get to this goal. I really NEED to get to this goal because right now my bod is in bad, bad shape. I still have horrible thunder thighs, big fat arms, and just overall am still quite obese (though, I am happy to note, I finally have a BMI of under 35 ... woo hoo! ... only 5 more BMI points to lose and I will no longer be considered obese!). Fifteen pounds isn't going to make that dramatic of a difference, I fully realize, but every little bit helps. I'm definitely going to have to buy swim apparel with good coverage! So, the only other thing I think worth mentioning for this week is I am definitely starting to see some hair loss ... not gobs of hair, but definitely more shedding than I used to have. I know it will get worse before it gets better. I've been letting my hair grow out since surgery, and I don't know if that's good or bad for disguising hair loss. I am getting a little peeved at the extra attention I have to use to take care of longer hair, but I figure I will just keep going and in a few months my hair should be long enough to pull into a pony tail, and that should help. I read that some of the saggy neck skin problem may be due to slight dehydration, and lack of moisture in the skin. I had stopped using Bio-Oil for a while but am back onto that because it definitely moisturizes more than the Olay Regenerist products I use on my face. Part of why I haven't chopped my hair short is because the longer hair does distract a little from my turkey neck. I wore my size 16 jeans around town yesterday afternoon .... they are comfortable in the butt and legs, but around the waist still a little too snug for comfort. As soon as I got home I took off those jeans and put on my nice and comfy (loose) size 18 jeans ... that was kind of a reminder, too, that I've still got a long way to go on this weight loss journey. Just because I can pack my gut into a pair of size 16s doesn't mean it's going to feel good! I am really amazed, though, when I pick up those size 16s that I can wear them ... they seem SO SMALL compared to what I am used to! It's hard to get my head around that. Well ... that's about all for today. DH and I are going to my mom's house for Easter ... she has made way too much food, so I will have to be extra cautious about what I try to eat. Mostly I'll be eating ham, with a few bites of other stuff. Dessert is angel food cake with sweetened strawberries and whipped cream .... not too high calorie, though i will have to take it easy with the cake! It's exciting to think that this will be my last Easter as an obese person. Next Easter, if all goes well, I should be back into normal sizes (hopefully size 8P or, dare I even say it, size 6P ... I really can't imagine ever being that small, though!)

I have to support everything that has been said by my fellow sleevers. Dr. Aceves and his team have the process so streamlined and efficient it is amazing. They are pros, and yet they are also very nice and caring. Last year my sister had a mastectomy in a "best in class" hospital in the US and her treatment was nothing near as good as what I experienced with Dr. Aceves and his team (I was with her through it all so saw first hand how US hospitals operate -- even though her surgeon was wonderful, the nurses were lacking, and they booted her out of the hospital the next day even though she was in a lot of pain). With Dr. Aceves you get 3 full days in the hospital and get excellent care the entire time. Plus, he's done more VSG procedures than many US bariatric surgeons, and for him to have the reputation he does with all those surgeries (and very, very rare complaints) I think is very indicative of his expertise. And I saved at least $5K by going to Dr. Aceves than if I had self-paid at my local Bariatric Center of Excellence. I was a bit worried about something going wrong in a foreign country and went with the best surgeon I could find in Mexico. And honestly, I know my husband would never have been on board with me having surgery with the lowest bidder, so to speak. The extra cost for Dr. Aceves was worth the peace of mind to me and my hubby. If I had to have this surgery all over again, I would go with Dr. Aceves again in a heartbeat. The only other doctor I seriously considered for my surgery was Dr. Alvarez. I went with Dr. Aceves because I live closer to CA than TX, and am very glad I went with Dr. Aceves. Best of luck to you in your journey!

OK, I too am going to fail my Easter Goal, so I am going to be a little less ambitious with this next goal: SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Kris...............186......................186...........169............17 I will be going on vacation to Hawaii on July 5th and will be SO thrilled to hit this goal!

Hey there Ms. Hottie! You look FAB! You have given me much inspiration -- I will be going to Maui on my 6th month post VSG anniversary. There is absolutely no way I will be ready to wear a bikini by then, but I'll be pleased to just wear a full piece and not want to die of embarrassment. Keep up the great work and keep sharing progress pics!

Sigh -- I knew it had to happen at some point, and it did. After a nice 3 month hiatus of no periods, Auntie Flo made a return visit this weekend. And she is back with a VENGEANCE. I don't think I've had a cycle this bad in quite a long while. But, OTOH, and I a bit reassured that my body is really recovered from the surgery, and all systems are back on track. So this week I've lost a bit more than 1 lb. (1.2 lb to be precise). Considering Auntie F's visit, I take that as a good sign. Today it was a splendid spring day, and I spent hours at my community garden plot, doing a lot of physical labor (hauling many wheelbarrows full of compost, steer manure, and leaf mold, and filling several raised beds; planting potatoes and strawberries, and shoveling compost from one pile to another. I never realize how much work I've done until I get home, get showered, and get dressed, and then the aches and pains really make themselves known. I am really glad it's spring because most of the exercise I get is relating to gardening, and during the winter I don't do much in the way of physical activity. So I hope the scale is kind to me next week when I weigh in. Next week is Easter and I definitely will not make my Easter challenge goal of 180 lbs. I am hoping to get below 186. 185 would be awesome. I am pretty much in the slow loser camp, but as long as the lbs. keep coming off I am OK with that. Let's see, what else? The size 18 jeans and size 1X tops I've been wearing the past couple of months are slowly but surely getting looser. I think once I get into the 170s I should be comfortably wearing size 16. That should happen sometime in May ... mid to late May. I really can't wait to see a a number in the 170s on the scale! I have a dr. appointment for May 6th and will be getting a checkup and a blood test as part of my follow up from surgery. I never told my primary care physician that I was having surgery (I had asked her about weight loss surgery a couple of years ago and she basically blew me off, so I figured she wouldn't care or might even be actively against me having surgery). I am hoping when she sees the difference in my weight, blood pressure, etc., she will be fine with it, and really if she isn't fine with it I'm going to find another physician (I belong to an *** so it's actually kind of rare to keep a long term relationship with the same doctor). Oh, and I had to have a mammogram on Friday. Very, very embarrassing. My girls are like giant sloshy half filled water balloons. The only good thing was the discomfort in having the actual mammogram was far less than last year. I did tell the dr. I had weight loss surgery and had lost over 40 lbs. since my previous mammogram, and she seemed very pleased about that and noted it in the file, since I am sure there will be changes in how my breasts look from last year. I know it's a long deflation process with my ta-tas, and I am 99.9% sure I will need to be getting a breast reduction/lift once I am done losing weight, because I don't want to look like a cow with huge udders when this is all over! Let's see, what else. I have *horrible* turkey neck, it's getting worse instead of better. I know it's because I am losing weight, but still, it's awful. I slather expensive lotions on my neck but so far no joy. I also am getting nasty loose skin in my upper arms, near my armpits. I am beginning to look like a human shar-pei, as a matter of fact. But -- my energy level is good, and I am still so happy with my sleeve and the fairly effortless weight loss I am experiencing. I am going to have a great year this year!

I went to Orlando this week on a business trip and while I was on my trip I hit my 3 month surgiversary. I actually lost 1 lb. this week, which is awesome, considering I was eating out every meal (but on the other hand, I was doing a lot of walking around in the evenings, which I think helped offset the extra calories). I was really, really happy to be walking around with other people who are not obese and able to keep up with them pretty well -- something I could never do pre-surgery! As of today I am 188.8 lbs. I had set an ambitious Easter goal to be at 180 by Easter and I am sure I won't make it ... I am thinking I will be lucky to be below 185 by that date. But heck, that is still great! DH just went out for breakfast ... he is going to our local, amazing donut shop called Legendary Donuts (and they are incredibly great donuts). I passed on the trip (yay for me, little NSV right there!) -- I am having crackers with sunflower seed butter instead (not exactly the best breakfast, but way way better than a donut!). Fortunately, the idea of a donut is not nearly as tempting to me now as it used to be. My appetite for sweets still is nowhere near what it used to be prior to surgery. I do enjoy a bite or two of dessert on a periodic basis, but usually 2 bites is totally fine and I don't want or need any more. I saw a friend yesterday whom I hadn't seen since before surgery. The first thing she said to me was, "You've lost weight, haven't you? I can really notice! You look great!" That made me feel really great. I told her I had been sleeved and she surprised me and said her mom had the same procedure, and she was very supportive. I have been very open about telling people about getting sleeved and so far I have not had one negative comment. I know my friends and family were truly concerned about my weight before surgery, and they are really happy that I am losing weight. I figured if I ever get a snide comment about having surgery, I'll know that person really doesn't have my best interests at heart and I should be wary of them going forward. Other than that, there's not much to tell this week. Oh, one last thing ... I did splurge and spend $60 at Sephora yesterday and bought replacement Bare Escentuals makeup kit (the last time I bought some was at least 2 years ago and I was thinking it needed to be replaced). I do wear makeup now most days, and I have to admit it does make me feel like I look better. I don't mess with eye shadow but do use foundation, blush, and lipstick, and if I'm feeling very into it I'll put on eyeliner and a little mascara. I've been shopping a few times and am already coveting some of the really pretty spring dresses that are for sale. I think I may end up being a real girly-girl once I get into regular sizes again!

Hi Can'tweight, OK, this is not the VSC-PC answer, but to be honest I *do* have some chips and salsa when I go out to Mexican. But I limit myself to 2-3 chips, max, and I chew the heck out of those chips and salsa, and when they are chewed down they don't take up a lot of space in the sleeve. So, I get to enjoy the chips but still have room for Protein, and feel like I haven't deprived myself. Bread is another matter. I really never eat bread as an appetizer because it does fill me up a lot and interferes with getting enough protein. I admit my weight loss is not as fast as it could be, because I do indulge in little treats like chips and salsa when I go out to eat, but I feel like I am losing fine and am very happy doing so because I don't feel like I am on a super-strict diet. I still definitely do try to eat the majority of my calories in protein and I try to stay around 800 calories total each day, and I rarely eat sweets. And I am not eating out every day. It's really all about how you want your weight loss experience to be. If you want to lose fast and hard, skip the chips and salsa until you get to a progress goal that you're really happy with. If you are willing to have a slower weight loss, but want to "enjoy" the weight loss process more, you can allow yourself strategic indulgences. It's your body, and your life -- do what is best for you!

Eloquentblue, thanks for sharing your success story! It is very inspirational! I bet you look fantastic!

OK, the truth is the entire first month after surgery SUCKS! No doubt about it. You are probably going to have some kind of funky emotional meltdown around the two week mark, you are probably going to hit your first stall by the third or fourth week, and you are going to be cranky and on edge for weeks. You will have vile mood swings and want to bite the heads off small animals. (OK, just kidding about that last one!) But ... the scale will be kind to you this month, very very kind, and that will help some of the misery. If you don't have to work or go back to work soon, don't rush going back to work. I went to work after not quite 2 weeks off and was totally wiped out that first week back. Honestly, the only thing that really helped me the first few weeks was doing as little as possible, watching lots of TV (for distraction), and obsessively reading VST posts to find out whether my post op weirdness was normal (it was). I wish I could tell you a secret to make the first month bearable, but bottom line is it is going to be bad, and you are going to be unhappy for a few weeks. And I hope this brings you a small amount of comfort to know that what you are going through is what almost everyone who has this surgery goes through. It WILL get better ... much, much better ... in just a few weeks. And by summer you will be fitting into much smaller size clothes than your preop size, and you will have great energy and feel good about yourself, and the first icky month will be an unpleasant memory. I promise you. I don't know if this helps but just wanted to let you know you're really having a normal recovery so far!

I have been a bit down in the dumps lately because the past few weeks' weight loss has been really slow. But this week was great -- over 3.5 lbs. lost! I am now down to 192.2, very close to being in the 180s and so excited about that! I had a NSV today, too. About a month ago I went shopping for some new jeans, since my size 22's were getting pretty loose. I was really happy to find out I could fit into size 18WP jeans, even though they were a little snug. I bought two pairs of jeans. I am very short and the jeans were still a couple of inches too long, so I needed to get them hemmed (I can't sew at all!). I had a lot going on the past few weekends, so kept putting off taking the jeans to get hemmed, but today I finally did it, because the size 22s are so loose they are going to fall off any day now, and just *have* to go. So I went to the seamstress to get the jeans hemmed, and put on the size 18s for the seamstress to measure, and I was quite gratified to notice that they were looser than I remembered when I bought them. The seamstress made me stand on a little dias so she could get the length right and I was facing a large full-length mirror. At that point I noticed the new size 18's were actually already pretty darn loose in the legs, and comfortably loose around the torso. I started wondering if maybe I was getting close to fitting into a size 16WP. So, after I finished with the seamstress, I headed on over to Macy's and decided to try on some new jeans. I picked up a pair of Levi's size 16 short, the Macy's house brand of jeans, and a pair of size 16 capris. When I got to the fitting room, I picked up the Levi's first and was aghast because the size 16s looked really, really small. I didn't think I could even get them up over my thighs ... but I did. I even got them buttoned and zipped up, to my amazement. OK, I have to admit, they were tight, and I wouldn't have felt really comfortable wearing them, so off they went. I nearly bought them just to measure my weight loss progress, but decided to hold off for a few weeks and come back and try again in a month or so. The Macy's jeans, however, fit perfectly and so did the capris. I took my new size 16 jeans to the seamstress and had her swap out one of the size 18 jeans (which I will hem using that magic hem stuff I bought from Walgreens). So, I am officially able to wear size 16! Woo hoo! I ended up buying a couple of new bras this weekend too -- the balconette style from Lane Bryant, size 42DDD. I was pleasantly surprised at the nice shaping they provide. My girls are hangin' low, so to speak, so they need a strong support and shaping bra! Now I will be brutally honest -- I look like total crap with clothes off. I have horrendous cottage cheese thighs right now -- not just the normal cellulite area, but everywhere down to my knees, front and back -- ick. And as I mentioned, I pretty much have the breasts of an 80 year old woman. And I still have a big old gut and butt. And, I am sporting a rather nasty wattle on my chin, making me look years older. Every day I put bio-oil on my chin hoping to moisturize and firm the loose skin, but it doesn't seem to be working that great. My body is definitely smaller than it was, but by no means is it a body I would be willing to parade a bathing suit around in! But, all in all, I am totally thrilled with my sleeve and feeling better and more confident every day. I am really looking forward to the summer, when hopefully I will be down in the normal size clothes range, and will look and feel even better. I talked to my husband and we are going to try the couch to 5K program this spring, and sign up for a local 5K race this summer. That will be a HUGE NSV for me, to finish a 5K! I am really excited about the future!