desertmom

Renea77,my problem with this is that no one eating 800 calories should only lose 2 pounds per month.It just seems very abnormal!The problem is how to change this to speed up the metabolism again....and food along with exercise is the one way to do this.Food is fuel for the body and for fat burning.800 calories just is so little to basically maintain on! Anyhow,what choice do we have now anyway?

This is what people call your soft stop.You are very lucky to have this as the moment you've had enough you will know that is when you should stop! My friends that's 2 years and longer post sleeve still have it...this might be a great STOP later on when you can eat too much but shouldnt. I dont have it and wish I did!My full feeling often comes when I have already taken a bite or 2 too many!

Hi Me,the person that always thought long stalls must be caused by cheating,have been basically stalled for almost 6 weeks (maybe 2 pounds in 6 weeks). I have been on liquids for 2 days now (torture!) and my weight is still the same! So now I have figured.I can stall while enjoying my food or while starving,what do I choose?No brainer,tomorrow I am eating! Good luck!

When I eat sugar or some other carbs (mostly sugar though) I get super tired for about 20 minutes. I dont even take a bite of dessert anymore in restaurants cause I want to put my head down and rest and my family thinks its rude...lol

Hi,I am doing reformer pilates and have done mat before and it is the best toning one can do.As I do it 2 or 3 times a week others started noticing a change in about 3 to 4 weeks.People started commenting on that I look "a lot skinnier" when in fact I havent lost an ounce in over a month. Enjoy!

Hi DanaInNewOrleans This answer might upset some sleevers but here goes nothing. I still seriously regret the fact that I could never stay on the normal plan with exercise and 1500 to 1700 calories long enough to lose all my weight and keep it down.I would do that for 4 months,have tremendous success and then just lose it,not to find the "normal" again.I lost 70 pounds in 4 months that way. Now,after the sleeve whenever anybody asks me about it as they want to do it as well because I have lost so much weight my answer is this.I wish that I understood before the sleeve what I understand now.There is no easy answer or a quick solution to the weight problem. If I had just been a plodder I would have been thin now.Meaning,If I wasnt 100% successful on Monday,if I had just gone back on plan on Tuesday instead of giving up again,I would have kept on making progress,even if it was slow.If I didnt always expect perfection from myself in this and if I didnt always have this all or nothing thinking pattern,I would have been ok. It was the instant results and the miracle to fix my inability to say no to myself that made me fail all the time.Knowing how hard this is for me now,I wish I could,WITH THIS POST SLEEVE EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE,have another go at eating healthy and exercising. The problem is we dont have the experience before hand and hind sight is always 20/20. I ate 1500-1700 cals for 3 days last week when I stopped smoking and gained 4 pounds.It might be Water weight as I did eat carbs, but on my 1500 plan before I ate bread and rice and Pasta and would never bounce weight up that fast.O,and I did exercise on 2 of those 2 days. What I have to come to terms with now is the following: 1.The sleeve is permanent in more than just losing your stomach.You will also never be able to eat too many calories again without big gains.I dont know why it is like this,it just is.Look at people's maintainance menus and see how litle they eat.IF I AM WRONG,PLEASE LONG TERM SLEEVER VETS,COME AND CORRECT ME! 2. It was very seldom physical hunger that drove me to eat the way I did before.A lot of my issues was headhunger.It is still there.I can out eat the sleeve should I prefer to.I have to find different,external coping skills (big problem for me!) Would I do the sleeve again?of course as I wouldnt know all these things if I didnt.Would I suggest the sleeve to anyone?For sure.BUT,I warned myself 6 months before the sleeve that I would have to do something drastic to save my life if I couldnt figure this out somehow and I gave myself 6 months to lose ANY weight or to make ANY positive changes which I couldnt and I didnt,thus the sleeve. This is not the easy way out.It for me at least,has turned out to be the hard way especially since my weight loss grinded to a screeching halt at 6 months and I now have to work very hard for every pound I want to lose. I am greatful I did this as I am determined not to fail,something I couldnt find in myself before.I like not being able to binge as this has taken a lot of the self condemnation away from me.I do feel more normal in a way now than I have ever felt before. Good luck in your decision.And if you decide to not do it now,dont give yourself 10 years before you reconsider.Give yourself a reasonable short amount of time to make some changes.If you cant,dont waste your life dieting like I did without any real results. Just one ore thing.RNY is also restrictive with dumping and often lactose intolerance and Vitamin issues long term.That seemed to me like a starvation diet with lots of added complications and still no guranatee to stay thin,sleeve seemed like a superior choice as it didnt have the additional issues,all things considered!And I dont really feel like Im on a starvation diet.Well,not always,only when I feel like eating a lot...lol

I have started with the 5 day pouch test today. It is just so frustrating to me that my weight have stopped again where it have always stopped...just above 200 pounds.I am not cheating.I am exercising to the point of exhaustion. But I will get under 200 even if I ahve to not eat for the next 2 weeks!

O,and I have allowed my frustraion as an excuse to smoke today. Will not start again.So,back to no smoking and no eating if that is what it takes...lol

Its been longer than a week now since I quit smoking.I also lost the weight I gained when I quit plus one. Today 204 pounds. The exercise program for the week was as follows: Reformer pilates on Sunday and Tuesday for one hour at a time. Some interval graining with weights on Monday. Tuesday evening 1 hour of squash wednesday evening 6,4km in 40 minutes (its still 98 degrees in the evening here with very high humidity) Thursday 6,4km walk in 55 minutes. friday squash 1,5 hours saturday squash 1,5 hours I didnt have the guts to up my calories.So I lowered it,hehehe! I have been on 700 with 30 carbs and between 65 and 75g protein every day! Lots of hard work and little food for 1 pounds! Ok,now for this week!

I have non of the problems I had with the band.It is the way I thought the band would be.Restriction,but without all the other bad side effects. Good luck with your decision!

cant quite remember how long I've quit now but this is hard.Had to reason with myself a few times today but am ok now. I feel like rubbish with the flu and but muscle still painful but went to reformer class just to do something.Also going to play squash tonight just to get out and not having to sit and resist the temptation to eat the whole night. Crazy thing is my weight is now stuck on what I have gained.I have been low carbing (very low) for 3 days and did not have the usual results when I cut the carbs way back after a few high carb days. Another interesting thing is this.Smoking does affect metabolic rate.This is very clear on my bodybugg at the moment.Now I have to do something other than wheezing and huffing for oxygen..hehehe...to increase my metabolic burn..lol All in all I am way friendlier than I thought I would be and that is a real blessing for my kids (they were trembling with fear when I said I was going to quit..lol) Tomorrow we are starting a week long experiment.I am going to up my calories to 1300 per day.My carbs to less than 100.I am not going to cut out any food groups but will not do refined carbs.It will be 3 meals and 2 snacks and I will only weigh on day one and day 8. (this is the plan...lol)I am not allowed to freak out about whatever happens.added to this I will have to burn at least 600 cals extra per day with exercise and I have to step up the weight training. Next week I am starting hypoxi therapy!

Hi Gi510, Well,our stats are almost the same.At least you are losing. So keep plodding away,is all thats needed to get to goal. My weight loss came to a screeching halt about a month ago and I just couldnt figure out why.But I decided to stop smoking while in a stall (why not,not losing weight anyway) and gained 3 pounds...and now I am feeling kind of relieved..I know why I gained and knowing is better than just not understanding.Bad place to be actually as I feel kind of defiant and rebellious,like I deserve to lose weight for doing the right stuff.This is hard. Anyhoo,will go on liquids for a few days if I have to.I have warned this fat behind of mine today,if I dont lose 2 pounds by Friday it is liquids for a week! Good luck and keep posting as you'all lose.It helps keep the perspective when I see we are all more or less losing at the same rate!

Well,at 6 months out I can eat anything.And I wish I Couldnt. I am almost too healthy to keep remembering to do the right stuff all the time.Lol

Hi everyone I decided to go cold turkey.When the cravings stop I want to be free of all things related to smoking. Today I decided to eat very little.This has had a very positive outcome for the cravings as usually every time I ate something I would want a smoke so eating more often made the cravings worse.I am starting to feel a bit better today but boy I feel like an addict craving just that one hit!lol Anyhow,if I dont learn my lesson suffering like this I am utterly unteachable. Will take it just one day at a time.Sooooo happy I am back on plan with the eating.Will see how the evening goes as this is my weakness!Planning once again on going for a walk this evening (I havent gone once yet,too lazy, but tonight is the night!) xxo

This is just to remind you why smoking ever again would be a stupid thing to do. You constantly want to snack now that you dont have the smoke to run to.Everything but proteins have carbs.So edamame is nice but the carbs .....,even the bullets have 2 carbs an if you eat 5 per day that adds another 10 carbs.The dreaded feeling that you have just self sabotaged like you always do is horrible isn it?Not knowing if you will lose more weight?Not seeing the bright side of life because 1.either your smoking like a thief with something to hide or 2.your withdrawing like a junkie once again.... Having to go through the cravings and being so mad at yourself all the time is quite unhealthy dont you think? The way you feel at the moment sucks.Dont do it again. Ok,day 3 is over and I must admit.Without being able to eat the whole time,this was tough.

My beautiful housemate and best friend of many years,that really knows the extent of my desturbed body image and the body dismorphia (real) I have had since the age of about 13 have taken it upon herself to teach me about size...lol Well,at first she was very subtle and I didnt know what she was doing.She would constantly ask me,when we were in the shops or gym,if I thought I was bigger than this lady or that woman.....she wouldnt comment much but sh wold tell me if I was wrong. Today she said she wanted to show me women that was the same size and women that was much larger.I was not to ague this with her but just had to look at these women and had to think about what this mean in terms of how I see myself. Very interesting I might say until I came home and looked at the newest pics my daughter took of me.I am still big as a house.Pictures dont lie!And maybe I dont need to see myself with my eyes but maybe I can just learn to ignore what I see that isnt true,that might help already! Rome wasnt built in a day and I will keep trying to be more realistic,even if it is with my head! Everytime I have lost weigh in the past I thought I would be able to see it and I never could.This made me extremely paranoid when people commented on my weight loss.This in turn woul make me fall off plan to stop being anxious and the old cycle would repeat. I do no have these expectations anymore.I can trust clothes size and as it stands now,I still wear a size 18 which is huge even though I know it is smaller than a 24. Everbody's got a story dont we?everyone trying to cope with all the crazyness in the world and so many not even realizing how much a part they are in it.And until real disaster strikes we dont realize how insignificant our daily struggles really are.

If you are mentally comfortable with lying,do so!If not dont! I know this is blunt but I am being very serious!You should be happy with telling or not!When asked directly,what will you say? We can colour things any way we want,say what we want...as long as we are comfortable with whatever we say or do.And a lot of people can justify it in all kinds of ways and feel just fine with that. You decide what is important to you.

Hi Welcome and I hope that this sleeve will help you have a wonderful,active,happy ,looooong life. If I could have done it at 26,I would have!That was 2 years after I had doubled my bodyweight.I had already lost and gained 100 pounds of the 140 I had gained initially and would do this another 8 times before I was sleeved this year. Go for it but make very sure you use this to get thin and stay thin.Make the ajustments,learn how to eat right,stay at little portions,dont make excuses and ENJOY YOUR LIFE! Good luck

Today I travelled across the city to find shirataki yam noodles and frozen edamame pods. I am delighted to say that not only did I find these at the only Japanese grocer in town but I also found sugarfree bullets (popcicles) at another shop. The bullets like sf jello gives me a little bit of a feeling in my esophagus (almost heartburn not quite but I do have a feeling) These I now use as I need to snack on something instead of smoking.It would be way to easy to just gain 10 pounds this week but I refuse. I have workd out an eating schedule.My calories are about 1000 as I have added the edamame and the bullets but my goodness this is better than the last 2 days! My kis are sick with a cold and my head has been aching so badly for the past 3 days (thoughht it was because I quit) and my throat is scratchy.I have been taking zinc and vit c to kick this feeling. Tonight I will do my first after dinner loooong walk.It worked so well for me before to exercise in the evening in stead of sitting wishing I could eat or smoke or drink copious amounts of wine,which I dont,I just want to. I just wish I had a squash partner for every day of the week.This would have been such a blessing at this point as hitting the ball releases tention and of course it is excellent interval training. O well,will just have to put on music and walk,walk,walk!!!!!

lately I have being thinking about being such a pleaser.Not only a peoples pleaser but everything and everybody.Not a happy pleaser either for the past few years. When you st unrealistic standards you are doomed to fail.Not only that my fear of failure and success has become a serious stumbling block in my life. My friend ( very successful lady) always says she is a plodder.She just starts somewhere without contemplating the whole big picture and adjusts as things play out.Me on the other hand needs the see the outcome even before I have started and I have become stuck as everything has the potential not to be perfect. And when the scale moves down I can be positive about the long term outcome and when it doesnt I feel dread coming my way. It is also stopping me in other aspects of my life which really needs changing.If something can be accomplished fast in a short time I can see the big picture but most things in life just dont happen that fast. So this is my resolve.In order for me to do a different degree (I have one in nursing,got it 25 years ago,never needed math for that) I have to do IGCSE math and English.That is like year 10 math.I felt very resentful of this for years and would lose the plot completely because I just didnt want to do it as it would waste another year of my life.This year I am going to do it.Like a little 15 year old.But maybe starting somewhere again will teach me the patience I lack to just plod along and finally reach the end of something.And maybe this will help me along this weight loss journey that is a journey forever and not only for now. Weight 205 today!

101 pound in 6 months is fabulous!Your dr should have encouraged you to keep it up.So even with dr's, opinion are like &£@oles and everyone has got one,isnt it? Your menu seems spot on,your Proteins enough,no visible carbs,what more does he want? Maybe you should send him an email and just give him a breakdown of your calories,carbs,proteins per day and ask him to explain why he wants it differently. I personally wouldnt even bother as your diet is working for you,you are happy and satisfied,just keep it up. O,and dr's are not always right.Then mine that says the sleeve will get you thin,no diet restictions but just small portions is also right and everyone that is sleeved for LONGER than a month or 2 knows exactly how well that will work in the long run.I have to also cut carbs just like 90 persent here or I lose very slowly! xxo

Hi Why fix something that isnt broken? If what you are doing is working for you,keep doing it.Especially without a stall!!!!!! Most people say 800 calories only but believe me the way you are losing with a little more is super.Your metabolism will not be affected by long term too low calories either. Keep rocking your sleeve the way you have been! Please keep us informed as you lose.

Hi Also from Dubai! Welcome! Who is your dr? Most of the dr's here say walk until they give you ok to gym.For me gym was only later about 6 weeks I think!Tamou jump in here,I cant remember! Anyhow,no heavy exercise at this point walking a little every day is fine.Mind you,do you get enough fluids in to even go outside without dehydrating?Just drink enough! Ok,keep us updated as to how you are doing! Good luck!

Hi I quit 3 months before the surgery (was a non smoker for many years the 2 years ago started again,stopped and started 10 times in 2 years,only smoke for about a month at a time then quit for 2 or 3 then smoke again,stupid I know) I didnt smoke until about 2,5 months post op.I have had a bout of very severe gastritis about 2 months later.I was sick as a dog with so much pain.Treated with antibiotics and PPI. (on nexium every day anyway) Then I read how acidic smoking really is.well, I want to get off the PPI because of the Calcium issues it causes so YESTERDAY,I quit! I think statistics of gastrectomies shows bad problems with ulcers in smokers long term.

Hi A few issues with that is that with only 40 pounds to lose no dr should revise you. Sencond thing is this,and this is a reality that I just started realizing for myself.There is no weight loss surgery on earth (well the Duodenal switch maybe) that will keep the weight off without our cooperation and input.That is something we have to make peace with and start cooperating. Normal people gain en lose weight very often.We wanted to be normal,now we are.But there is work to do as a normal weight person as well. You still have your sleeve.Work it like you did before.Start somewhere.Begin to eat 4oz of Proteins before you touch anything else,Breakfast,lunch and dinner. See what happens!You might be very very pleasantly surprized. I am rooting for you to sort this out without new surgery and without first needing to gain another 40 to be able to get a revision. Good luck and let us know how you do.