desertmom

Hi March 13 here..lol. I am 3 pounds from my goal (dr's goal) today.in the last 2 months alone I have lost 20 pounds.Were having loads of healthy fat and Proteins.Then I went on holiday and didnt make 40g of Protein a day.My hair started coming out again in week 3.Lesson learnt. At the moment I am in a little panic about eating.I am suppose to go into maintanance soon and adding bits of carbs makes me feel like I will gain weight.Will just have to deal with these feelings though.I might drop an additional 10 pounds just to get rid of all the fat. So weight today:168 down from 297 Goal for 'March 13: 154. If I dont make it,its ok! Will keep at it until I do! I play squash twice a week but no other exercise.Stupid I know but I didnt want to rely on exercise to lose weight.In my limited head it meant I wouldnt gain immediately again should I stop (happened before) Will start exercising soon though.Wish we could buy Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl here as 22g of protein is great for breakfast. Hope more Marchers post!

I read so many posts of long term post ops saying they can eat so much more at 3 to 5 years out? Does the stomach stretch with time or what? Does this happen to everyone? Can all long term sleevers eat more? Help me with this please! I am struggling with this idea a lot as I have started thinking my eating habits havent changed as much as I previously thought.I just cannot eat as much now! i am trying to be brutally honest with myself at this point.There is no way I can live low carb for the rest of my life as I am grumpy as heck while low carb.I eat super small meals but will pick at chicken,veal strips,beef Jerky ect between meals.Just a bite or two but I am doing it.I am missing "something nice" all the time now,just cannot identify what that something nice is. I havent eaten ice cream,chocolates,crisps or any sweets since surgery (well,maybe a teeny tiny choccy that did make me feel sick just a month or so ago) I would however,like to eat things like olives and sweet potato and Beans ect ect again at some point. How do people find their maintance if it changes with time?I have had an obsession with this weight issue for 20 years and had hoped the surgery would help with this.But now I am starting to feel that it will be the centre of my existance for the rest of my life.Just when I thought I had this eating thing down pat,I started feeling like I am just fooling myself.I am still losing weight every week though,6 pounds from goal.I am good at losing weight,have always been but I was better at regaining it...lol How do people find a balance or rather,do they? And then I read my self righteous answers to some of the people that struggled to stay on track and I feel payback is a b&£tch! Its a choice,make your own rules,just do it! UGGG,what was I thinking!

Hi Lynda, After last night's late night panic..lol..I actually dropped nearly 2 pounds.I am still losing quite fast even though I am eating off plan quite often.it just means Im eating some carbs now actually.Not a lot but some.I dont easily eat food thats bad for me.Just eat too often sometimes and grazing is bad for me too even if I just snack beef jerky or chicken.But I have figured if I could lose 6 pounds this month (mid Dec to today) while on a 3 week holiday,I cant be doing too much wrong.From middle November to mid December I actually lost 14 pounds. I will also have to just be vigilant about the eating.Now that I have my perspective back,I realize that skinny people also have to make good choices,I know. As for the skin issue.Did it "settle" some in the past year?I have decided to keep losing until my legs are not as uneven as it is now.It just seems to have a lot of fat still.I am very pain averse myself.Took me 2 years to get the courage to get the sleeve done.But the skin does bug me a lot.However I am 45 myself and if I do the arms,legs boobs and bodylift,I will have to do my face to go with the younger body...lol. Having this forum helps restore my sanity some days when I doubt what I'm doing so I might just stick around for a long time still myself.

Hi Lynda Thanks for answering.We had dinner at friends last night and the guy is a chef.To not offend them (they still dont understand that I really cant eat much and dont eat carbs) I had a little of everything he insisted I try,even the cheesecake. It was duck,which I avoid as it is very fatty,mash potato,cabbage ect ect. When we got home I had a panic attact when I was reading through some posts on long termers eating and regain.The thought that struck me was if my volume increase much I am screwed! My food capacity varies greatly from day to day and of course the carbs go in sliding..lol. I dont overeat but even when I see your 2oz of Protein portions I fear that I can eat 3,5 some days with ease.(fish,ground beef) I cannot think of the future.will have to do this one day at a time.It was also thinking of plastics and how strange people look when they regin after plastics that sends me into a spin. Have decided to wait one year with plastics.Get into maintanance,maybe wait for menopause to pass..lol. Again,thanks for responding.I will plod along.It has served me well in the past 10 months and I will not regain.Even if I have to think about this mindfully every day for the rest of my life.

Ok,so you had the sleeve plication surgery not the vertical sleeve gastrectomy where they remove 80% of your stomach? The two surgeries are very different and the outcome of them often as well.With the VSG our stomachs are very very tiny and our capacity very small.The calorie intake is less than 800 per day. What is yours?Have you cut your carbs? Some meds do make it harder to lose but on 800 calories any one should lose at least some weight.Low carbing also helps the weight loss tremendously. Sorry I cant be of more help.But good luck and I hope you will start losing soon.

Oregondaisy,this is to figure things out for myself.Are you low carbing now trying to lose the 10 pounds? Am trying to figure out if low carb will always have the same results or not.

Hi I am petrified of the future myself at the moment.at 10 months out and only 6 pounds from dr's goal,I have picked up a few bad habits again on holiday. The scary part is i am still losing even though I am eating way more carbs.Snacking more but worse of all eating after dinner.These are all the things that got me fat. I have no desire for food during the day but at night I cannot stop eating little bits of this and that.Not even always healthy.And as people report that their capacity did increase over time I would be in serious trouble of regaining. Ugg,I could never understand people saying the losing phase is the easy part.Now I know.But we have to figure this out for ourselves.What will work long term.Try and try and try!

Hi,this saturday thing seems to work well for me.It really helps me to see thag even though I am not perfect,I am still losing. 171.3 last week and 170 this week after a hard hard week of trying to hit the Protein and cut the carbs way back.I had only 3 good days but obviously they were enough! Now for a week with 90% clean eating!

Hi Make sure it is not a temp. With me,unfortunately the surgery triggered severe hot flushes from about day 7.It stopped 2 months later but it was pure hell.I flushed every half hour or so. About 10 days ago,at 10 months out,the flushes returned with a vengance.I am 45 however and the sudden loss of estrogen with the fast weight loss triggered this.Still dont know how I am going to survive this for much longer,it is horrible. Hope it disappear soon and that it is just nothing!

Hi I lost weight only once a month.Stall for 3 weeks drop 8-10 pounds,stall for 3 weeks.My longest stall was 7 weeks at 5 months out.I WAS FREAKED OUT ALL THE TIME! After the 7 week stall I decided to just back off,make some rules,follow them and believe that I would lose if I do the right things. The rules were 1. track calories,carbs,proteins every single day. 2. No drinking 30 min after eating. 3. 5 small meals per day and some Sf popcicles for snack at night. 4.Staying on plan 90% of the time. 5. To start laughing at the scale.It wanted to ruin my life but I started finding it funny that I was obvioulsy shrinking and the scale would be EXACTLY the same,morning noon and night for weeks on end.After a while it just didnt matter and I looked forward to the day I had the big drop...lol My year was very difficult because of the stupid scale.I wish I listened to people that said do the right things and stop obsessing.My life would have been so much easier. Most of you will lose the weight.There is always some people that cannot be completely truthful with themselves and they dont lose a lot of weight until they change that.But if you are doing the right things you can just as well relax and start enjoying the ride.It will happen.If the self doubt starts,look at your food tracker and relax.It will work.Be patient and exercise to get good muscle tone. This is sooo hard for some of us.Dont compare yourself.I thought I was a slow loser and now at 10 months I know that 127 pounds in 10 months cannot possibly be slow. O,and blog.It really helps.You can see patterns clearly when you read older blog posts you've made...it really makes me smile today.I must have seem like an insane obsessed maniac at times. Good luck to all of you and just keep plodding along....at 10 months you will see what I am talking about when you post your fabulous weight loss.A lot will be at goal then.

Hi,happily not bingeing...for now...lol But since being home from holiday I am having an issue with wanting to eat at night again.I've read some of my replies earlier on to people that struggled and boy is payback a b***h...lol.Just do it,just say no to yourself...bla,bla,bla.... At the moment I just dont want to say no to myself.Am struggling with balance between Protein and carbs.When I eat little bits of carbs and Proteins I seem to lose weight effortless but my protein is too low and the hair falls out like mad.Then I cut my carbs,eat more proteins,am in a foul mood all the time and I WANT TO EAT,but the hair loss slows down quickly...lol Am starting to understand when people say the losing phase of this is the easy part.Its figuring out a balance at the end of losing that is now a nightmare for me. Anyhow,I have decided that now is the time to follow my own patronizing advice.Suck it up,eat proteins,say no to myself,no excuses,make my own rules again and stick to it. Will let you know how that is working for me...hehehe. How are you doing?

Thanks Notime.English is not my first language and often when I think,its in Afrikaans and the English just disappears...lol.And sometimes I can see something is wrong with a word,I can just not figure out what...

well,I took the advice of everyone that said relax and enjoy the holiday.I added carbs and enjoyed the good food,the wine and the company! I lost 3 pounds in the past 3 weeks.HOWEVER,my hair started falling out again like crazy.I mean I flooded the bathroom this morning when I didnt notice my hair blocking the shower drain...lol Obviously my proteins for the past couple of weeks must have been way too low.Having said that,I have been wanting to test my total protein for a while now as I have some signs of not absorbing enough protein.It might be a matter of not spreading it out enough during the day.Will urgently have to look into that because at 10 months out this is now freaking me out a little. At the moment I am 6 pounds from goal.There is still way too much fat on my stomach and my thighs so I will drop my goal with 10 pounds.Will also take my time with losing this as I do not plan on cutting back my calories as drastic as before.I was eating around 1500 on holiday and felt energetic and my skin looks better.Having added the carbs have taken care of my constipation issues and I dont have this constant mild belly ache I've had since surgery. My kids are constantly saying things like "mom,when you came to fetch me at gymnastics I thought you were someone else" or "mommy,you are so skinny now" this feels so great and I have started looking at myself in the mirror for the first time in many many years.I really dislike the fact that I have so much loose skin and a lot of wrinkles but I am starting to see me a little better.I dont always look fat to myself anymore.Sometimes when I walk past shop windows I notice myself skinny and sometimes By the next window pane I see the old me.Being very body dismorphic I suppose this will take time. Lately I have been wondering how I will get the courage to go for plastics.I am blessed with the finances (have set up a plastics fund years ago that is so big now I can do a trip around the world with it..lol) but lack the courage.I am petrified of anasthetic and am actually a real coward.I feel ashamed of this when I read how some people really want to go for plastics but cannot afford it.Plastics in the UAE is a very dicey business as you cannot see before and after pics or dont ever really know how good the surgeons are as it is a very hush hush business.People often rather go abroad to do it but I cannot see myself being brave enough to do this.Anyway,maybe I will wait till summer and drag the whole family off to some strange country to have this done.Or maybe I will somehow become brave and do it here.I see that dr Diamond of the tv program is a regular visiting surgeon now,should maybe go and see him..lol My surgeon really wants his patients to do plastics as he says his experience have taught him that in the long term,people that did the plastics tend not to regain much.The reason Im thinking of this is that in order to body sculpt you still need some fat.A friend that reached goal (her goal not surgeons goal) and exercised like crazy had too little body fat for them to fix her butt without implants.she came out smooth but without any curves or a butt.The weight of the excess skin of arms,legs,full body lift and boobs were less than 2 pounds.The dr did say he really wished she had a little more body fat he could have worked with.I will go for a consult with a reconstructive guy just for the heck of it when I have lost 6 more pounds to see what he says about this. Anyway,I am yet to start exercizing seriously.I still play squash twice a week and do pilates reformer though.When I stop being so lazy I will go and train with the personal trainer that has been paid upfront 4 months ago already..lol Life is good in lalaland and we're having the mildest winter in the 11 years I've been here.Now that I can wear cute winters clothes,it is 00:50 in the morning and I am sitting on my balcony without a jacket...lol God is good all the time and I am blessed beyond measure.I thank Him every day for this surgery that has given me back my life after so many years of failure and self loathing for my lack of self control.

For me,a pear shape,the belly fat along with the thighs started going only recently and I am 6 pounds from goal.In fact,will lower goal with 10 pounds because of this. Apples seems to lose the belly quicker though!

Between month 4 and 8 I lost about half of my hair.Then the hairloss stopped. For the past 3 weeks I was on holiday,added carbs to my diet,didnt track my Protein and the hair is falling out worse than before.This morning I almost flooded the bathroom as I didnt notice the hair completely blocking the shower.The kids have also started commenting on my flying hair again.( when the a/c is on in the car the hair is flying out of my head and it really bugs my kids...lol) This was quite unexpected as I did eat some protein with most meals. Focussing on protein again now and will start taking Biotin again.But other than that there is nothing much we can do but wait for it to grow back.

At 10 months out I slime when I dont chew well,eat too fast or have eaten too much.this happens only when I stuff something in my mouth before I actually sit down to eat (while still preparing the food or dishing up..lol) The dumping is a different thing altogether.I dump on sugar.It does not happen all the time but if my stomach is empty and I have even a bite of a chocolate,I get very sick.Nausea,shakes,runny tummy,really really sick. I had one sip of Baileys about 3 weeks ago and boy I thought I would die.There was also no time lag between drinking the sip and the sick feeling,it happened instantly. So,alcohol,creamy liqeurs actually,and any sugary thing like ice cream,chocolate ect is a definite no no in my life.The Lord surely blessed me with this as I often dont know my limits with these things...lol

Hi,I am South African living in the middle east.A rusk is something we bake with wholegrain flour,wheat Fiber,sugar,butter and nuts seeds and raizens if we want to add something extra to it.We cut it into one inch by 3 inch pieces and after baking it we dry it out in the oven.Some can be very calorific but some,with lower sugar, are not too bad.It can be a great source of fiber though. Problem with them is one usually cannot stop after one.I tend to not keep them in my house anymore as they are like Cookies,you always eat to many of it. On holiday it is an excellent go to for fast breakfast though and most south africans eat them,as a snack too. It did cause me to go low on my Protein for 3 weeks and now my hair is falling out like mad.More than at 5 months (it just stopped falling out at 8 months). Now its back to protein for breakfast,lunch,dinner and Snacks to try and stop myself from becoming a bald rusk lover...lol Great threat!

Hi Binge eater for many many years.I would only start eating around five in the afternoon.Snacking at first,then dinner and then when the family went to bed..I would start the serious binge.I would easily eat a litre of ice cream and a big packet of crisps every night.I would also add other stuff to the mix.Hated myself for many,many years while cycling between starvation diets and binge eating. Now,when life sucks, as it sometimes will.I still stay up late.But the sleeve has an answer to everything that was wrong in my eating before. I get reflux only if I eat after 9 in the evening.So that is a scary thought,waking up at 5 gargling acid.Too scared to do that most nights and will sleep in upright possition when I did eat too late.Have had to do that only when I ate on airoplane late at night a couple of times. I dump on alcohol.It sucks when you want to have a drink at socials but the Lord knew I had potential to become a drinker..lol I can eat 2 rusks as a binge..lol Or 4 crackers with butter and marmite. Now,when I really "need to eat" something,I will have 2 ryevitas with sugarfree jelly or a salty spread with a large cup of tea afterwards.Sometimes I will just skip this and have some beef Jerky. I am 10 months out and not particularly vigilant in what I am eating,as I believe my search for balance from day one post sleeve has paid off.I really mind my sleeve and full means full.I cannot overeat and when I have eaten too rich food today,tomorrow I will just compensate by eating veggies and Protein.a bad day would be a rusk for Breakfast,a protein for lunch,a spoon of Pasta and a protein for dinner and a rusk or 2 after dinner.A good day would be without the rusks..lol My thin friend's lessons worked ( she constantly reminded me about balance and adjusting without self condemnation that causes us to lose self control).I have been practising "skinny" for 10 months now,sometimes more successful and sometimes freaking out,but I keep plodding along.All my plodding skinny friends seems to win the battle,I will too. Interesting thread!

Hi,I finally caught the right day..its Saturday and I am back from holiday,heeeha. After all the airoplane food (yes,the flights are looong and I want to eat too) I was scared to weigh but I am 171.3 after 3 weeks of "beskuit" (South african rusks with nuts and seeds and kind of high fibre) for Breakfast every day and restaurant food and take aways all of our other meals.I did have calamarie every day (little addiction..lol) but other than that I just ate a little of whatever was ordered.I also allowed myself one drink per day. This surgery have surely saved my life!

Ever since my surgery I've not once experienced that trigger of madness that carbs use to cause before.Until yesterday. Everything was fine until about 17:00 when I decided to have a slice of christmas fruitcake.One slice became 2 and I thought I was fine.But I couldnt stop eating after that.I want to list what I ate,so that I can remember how easy it is to just slip right back into old habits if not cautious! We came back to the B&B at about 18:00 and that is when the binge started.Over the next 6 hours I had 3 rusks (about 40 carbs and 200 calories each) one of those round lindt chocolates,5 blocks of fruit and nut chocolate and then I decided I needed protein (not!) and ate about 5 thai pork riblets. Now Im not sure if it the gin and tonic I had before the fruit cake that made me not think things through or if it was just the sugar that triggered me.The thing that bugs me so much is that until yesterday,I couldnt touch chocolate as the taste was just to revoltingly sweet.It would make me feel so aweful.But for some reason in combination with everything else It tasted wonderful and I could munch away at it just fine. Not having access to a scale today is driving me absolutely crazy now and I am wondering how AM I GOING TO PRACTICE WHAT I ALWAYS PREACH.I can eat a breakfast of 1 egg and a sclice of bacon but as for the rest of the day,the whole family's going to spend all of this day on the beach and I have no idea what food there will be.I find myself eating fried foods and not grilled (by choice,bad choice) and I have had quite a couple of french fries already this holiday. Maybe I should first find out where I can weigh.Then I should see if I can find any shop thats open (small town,everything seems to be closed on boxing day) to buy some deli meat (ham or turkey if they have) and then I should just stick to 3 meals and a few beef jerky sticks as snacks. No one seems to understand that being so close to goal,I dont want to gain any weight now.It is not a matter of just losing it again.I have to try to get to a point where I dont gain with every special event in life. Anyhoo,no use obsessing about this as a lot is out of my control at the moment.This is why I prefer hotel stays to Bed and breakfast stays it is just easier food wize. Ok,now to tackle the issue of 1.no umbrella for the beach 2. ME NOT WANTING TO EXPOSE MY FLAPPING ARMS,BOOBS AND LEGS in front of all these people today. Happy holidays everyone!

Hi You would have to see if some thats done that answers. Personally,I could not have done that.First because the recoery time is a little rough sometimes and second, you'll not be getting many calories into your body for a while,it might just take too much of the energy your body needs for the first month at least.We struggle to get any Proteins into ourselves in the beginning. For some the recovery is easy but one cannot predict this.You cannot predict how long it will take to get back on your feet as far as energy's concerned and you cannot predict your recovery time.I would either wait another couple of months with the surgery or wean the baby before surgery. But that is just my opinion.lets see what others say.

Hi 173 for me yesterday and we are still on holiday!

Hi, My sense of smell and taste was greatly enhanced after surgery.It stayed like that for about 7 months.The smell thing is better now.Food smells really nice to me now and I dont smell the bad smells as intensely anymore but the taste issue have ruined anything with sugar in it for me for good I think,thank goodness.Sweet stuff tastes revolting to me. It does get a bit better though.

Hi,yes the dreaded long stall.7 weeks for me at 5 months but the losses after that was great!Pacience and persistance.It will break with a big loss.

Hi,what Jenipher said is spot on.Therapy helps us to love ourselves and only then can we understand why and how others can love us the way they do.And only then can we love others the way they love us. xxo