RJ'S/beginning

It is at those times that I am most thankful for my sleeve because that would have been the times I would really indulge... I know now that I will eat again.. And even left overs of the fantastic meal...I no longer fear never eating again..Like this is the last meal I'll ever eat....I was one of those kids that were hungry growing up.We were poor and had very little. That was my hurdle to get over.....I leave food on my plate now on purpose...I feel proud and happy to have it this way....

Nope that is your body telling you to stop eating.....It is a signal for you...Even before you had surgery your body gave you signals that you ate enough but we ignored them because of our relationship with food.... Some people take a deep breath. Others fold their arms. Some say no I'll let this settle before I eat more..... After you start sneezing, or have a runny nose...Put your fork down and listen to your sleeve. i wait a few minutes to see how the food is feeling in there. Sometimes I eat more and sometimes I push the plate away.....I have the same signals...A lot of us do!

First of all.. i am sorry to tell you this but numbers are not the issue here. Getting healthy and looking after yourself is more important then numbers on a scale. Your body is going through so many changes and will continue if you follow the program set out for you from your team. 100 lbs in 4 months. Unrealistic to be sure. Your body will take breaks and recoup from the changes you are doing to it. It is natures way of protecting itself. If you push by not eating properly your metabolism will grind to a halt again and you will be in trouble. There is no time limit on losing weight, just like there was no time limit on gaining it. So what is the hurry. Enjoy each milestone and remember the rabbit does not always win...Sometimes slow and steady wins the race..Like the turtle...

Raj what issue do you now have with the sleeve? I know you have been through hell but hoped you were all ok now. I am one of the very very few people who have had one complication after another....I have been in and out of the hospital continually since my surgery in 2012. From a leak to a coma to 14 surgeries and then a category 5 bed sore...Five months of no food and now I have an abscess due to a pin hole leak. Now I have a drain in my side and they are trying to drain it. 6 weeks I have to keep the drain and I have a nurse that comes in every day to flush it out..Hurts like the dickens. but it is what it is... I am thrilled with my progress and would not change my decision to have this done. I am a live where before I was just existing....I am so grateful for the sleeve. But I was a rare patient that had it all go wrong..... I did not have a clue about any of what what going or could have happened from this choice....If you want more detail...PM me and I'll tell you want you need to know...no problem...I am sure people are tired of hearing my story by now...lolol

Everyone is so different. We all have fears that something is going to happen to ruin our new goals and mind set. You will get stronger and stronger as time goes on. Maybe you might want to try to hire a trainer for a bit to get you going again. If all the Doctors are satisfied that you are okay. Maybe push the next step. It can be so exhilarating to exercise. I always feel very high after I do that..... Me right now am on hold as well. i have a new issue with my sleeve and am just trying to get better myself. So I know the frustration that can happen when you are on this journey!

Oh my, you look fantastic. Love the dress and you have an amazing smile to boot....To wonderful for words....Your a stunner!!!!!!!!!!!!

love, love your comment. Laughed when you said 2 dimensional...I just think pan cake! Thanks for the smile @@Teachamy !

@RNBSN786

There are thousands of people on this forum and majority do not feel this way. I am one of those people...But I also have known Rev's for as long as I have been on this forum and she is a totally different chick then the rest of us....Her writing skills are the bomb. And she too like the rest of us can have a bad day and write about it... Actually I am surprised that she has not responded to her own post because that is not like her either....I think I will cut her a break because I know she is a wonderful supporter and loves to help others as much as I do and others...I can't help but like her. She sees the world in a whole different light..And at times I don't agree with her but it does not change how I feel about her... If you have a bad day or write something that others don't agree with I will give you a break as well. We have no idea what is going on in others minds or lives that make them speak out....I myself have done it and regretted it and hoped people would understand that I am human like themselves....It was yesterday. Today we look at the new thoughts and ideas that will help each other....... I am glad you are here and I like others and even Rev's will be there for you.......She is a great lady and sometimes makes me laugh. Just at how she sees life.....

Sorry but your breasts are made of fat...So they are usually the first to go....I hear you with them not wanting to hold up..But my trainer said to keep exercising and building the muscles under them and it will help....Okay then what to do with them when they are hanging down to my waist..I roll them up now and put them away....I so need a plastics to step in....

I am in the throws of The Change..And after my surgery I had a period. I was sent to the specialist because I was not supposed to have any anymore. I hadn't for almost 8 years...Then bang there it was...They tested me and all was in order so they said it must have had to be due to the Estrogen stored in my fats..Like @@LipstickLady said....Only one period......so i am fortunate I think in that area. So it does happen!

congrats on a job well done....."Your doing it Peter"

For the rest of our lives we will struggle to gain control over this addiction. We have used food as the number one go to for a long time. Since the sleeve is a tool and not a miracle we will struggle to maintain our mind set and keep on the path. That is human! I admire your pluck to admit your on the wrong path and want encouragement to change. Go back to basics. Do a few days of liquids and start to look again at your dietary intake. It is work but in no time the weight will start to come off again. I am sad that we all struggle to not regain...But you certainly have folks here that are willing to encourage your new goals. Forward go....Water, Protein, veggies, fruit and last but not least carbs...Complex carbs....You got this...Just stay close to the forum and don't go when you think you got it together.....You may find that your experience will help others in the same struggle...... Just keep swimming...

Sweetie, you don't have a clue what price I have paid for this adventure. And even though I don't regret it one little bit I am still suffering from the complications one after another because of it from 18 months ago... Need help. I think the people who think this is a walk in the park need help...Me I put one foot in front of the other and go forward...For me personally...If I had killed myself it would not have been this painful and it would have been over in a flash..I meant it more tongue in cheek.... okay!

The easy way out would have been to kill myself instead of doing this.... This may be my Helicopter but I am being transported through a category 5 hurricane for this.... Some fun eh Bambi!!!!!

Maybe what you have to say @@CowgirlJane is very valuable to someone asking the question. And maybe you are the one that personally affects them in the right way. Each of us travel this trek differently and fear of failure and lack of trust in ourselves makes it difficult not to reach out at the time when you are panicking. Even if it has been addressed over and over again.. Even some of the worn out people on here that have traveled the road keep doing what they can to pay it forward.. I owe it to the people who helped me and others that are in my boots now.... So for now, i will try to help where I can and hope it helps someone somewhere.....

I think that you are concentrating on numbers instead of healing and getting stronger so that you can tackle the so called stalls. Your stomach is still raw. it is not healed yet and your body is still flushing out the poisons that they put in your body while during the surgery and afterward to avoid possible complications. Not eating enough calories will slow your progress down. Right now I think you are probably dead on. I have never looked at stalls as stalls. i call it body at rest....That is when my body needs a break and stops losing to catch up with everything you are doing to it. If it feels threatened. It will shut you down. Once it feels safe again...It starts to lose again...We are an amazing machine. Your machine is different then mine. Stop with the numbers game. Take the scale out back and hit it with a sledge hammer until you can feel the difference in your clothes and how you feel. Then step on your doctors scale. You will find it much easier to stay positive when you don't weigh yourself too often... I have never had a gain or a stall yet. And you know why! Because I have only weighed myself 5 or 6 times in 18 months. I never weighed myself when I was fluffy. I don't see the point now. I follow the program spend time learning and changing my thinking and eating habits and have confidence in my tool.... you have the option to make numbers the main concern or your health the main concern.....

Not everyone on this site have the intellect that you do my dear. Nor do they have the ability to put so elegantly your rants. Some people like myself are somewhat computer illiterate and I make exceptions for that.... I am not tired out of answering questions that I feel need to be addressed over and over again. I hope that maybe the way I reply might, just might be the right thing said to ease someones mind. Or answer questions. Most people today can wield a computer like a sword never miss anything and have all the ins and outs covered...I wish I were them, but I am not.... So I try to do what I can with the limits I have until one day I get brave and fit in some boring computer courses....hmmmmm... You slay me Revs. Please don't ever change......Just reading your threads make me smile!

That is a never ending learning issue with people who have some kind of issue. Society teaches us that we have to look a certain way. Society teaches us that it is alright to beat up on those that are fluffier then others. When you come here and people talk about themselves. And they are expressing that self loathing it is part of the journey to change that feeling or thought process for their own well being. Being content with who we are now or becoming is a work in progress for sure...I feel like you @@CowgirlJane that we all need to except the us inside while we work to improve our health. But by nature and how we have been taught at a very young age it is a slow and painful process... I remember when I was a teenager and I was a skinny little thing...I thought I was ugly. I felt like I had no shape and that the boys of my time were still looking for the hour glass figure girls...and to be honest they were..... I did not appreciate myself back then and would love to relive that time being content with who I am and maybe all this would not have happened to me. One of the issues is that we buy into the propaganda of what is acceptable and what is not....It is all a mirage. In reality there is room for all of us. But the issue gets blurred when our health is involved. And that is where we make the necessary changes that we need to make for ourselves. When I am sure about everything and know the answers to life's secrets it will probably be when I take my last breath and I say oh yes now I understand...Life is like that you know....lol

I know exactly what your talking about. But it is true they are thinking about how they felt about themselves. Not thinking of you at all. That is self absorbed and in a sense they are overcome with how far they have come. Not only that but they are thinking about the work and struggles they had to make and still have to do to maintain what they have done. I have approached this subject on here as well. People are not trying to talk about the fluffy ones they are only seeing themselves and how they felt about themselves. But it does sting the ones who are heavier then they were to start off with. Some have the ability to speak elegantly and able to say what they mean without the punch in the stomach. Others well I just assume now that they are not talking about me and go on... It is hard to stop hating yourself after you have been down and out for so long and we tend to insult ourselves before we think others will have the chance....... Your doing great....I have always used the word fluffy instead of obese...I hate that word!!!!!!!!! Some skinny guy or gal must have invented it.....bla!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poor chickens..lol http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Are_chicken_wings_considered_dark_meat?#slide=1

My daughter bought me a leather jacket when she found out I was having my surgery...I still can't wear it but it stares at me as my goal. Then she bought me 2 blouses for the future as well. They were bigger...By the time I got out of the hospital they were already too big and i was not able to wear them......I was secretly happy about that because that meant I was smaller then that size then and that was okay with me..... I still buy the next size down in hopes of it happening. But I think soon the thrill will be over for me....Enjoy the downward slide into smaller and cooler clothes. i know I have....

When you dream at night and you are in it do you see yourself as you are now, in the past or at the end of your weight loss? I have never dreamed in a dream at night that I was heavy. i have always seen myself in my dreams as a 19 year old girl in every situation I encounter in my dreams. I was just wondering if anyone else sees yourself like that while you are sleeping...Interesting thought I think!

Are you kidding me lol...A debate over a chicken wing and not a brownie. Oh we have to start somewhere ladies and if it is a chicken wing then so be it...eating normally is a great accomplishment in this program. Increasing real food intake is imperative to good health. I am sure that she will not eat only chicken wings for the rest of her life...I have been known to put down a wing or two myself once in a while. They are darn tasty! 18 months after surgery I still cannot eat beef, pork or chicken breasts and Tuna makes me gag. If it wasn't for dark chicken meat I would be living on cheese and eggs...Or the like... @@Carlotta1 . It is a learning curve to see what you can and cannot tolerate. At this state in the game a chicken wing is good news...However a brownie would have been something for her to worry about!

congrats..you are on your way to getting better and starting to have the chance to figure out what suits you and what does not....This is the fun part!