Babbs

Really? You don't see ANY reason for a veteran to hang out here, hu? You think once the weight is gone, every thing is hunky dory and support is no longer needed? How completely short sighted of you. But my secret's out. I only hang out here just to irritate you. How am I doing??

@@lili2333 Awwww what's the matter? Did I hurt your wittle feewings? I'll try not to lose sleep over the fact that you find me insufferable. Here's a little tip. There's an ignore feature. You don't like my posts? Use it.

I waited 4 months to have my first drink, then it was several months until I had another. Even now at 18 months out, it's very occasionally that I imbibe. Can't do beer at all anymore (booo!) because the bubbles are just too much. I do love wine and a vodka and cranberry when I do drink socially. I count the calories and always make sure I'm well hydrated, but even then I always see a gain when I drink. My body apparently hates it, lol. That's one of the reasons why I don't do it very often. But when you're cleared to drink alcohol, I would try to steer clear as much as you can in the losing phase, as it may slow your loss down.

They are right! Just be patient and consistent. The rest will come. None if us lost it overnight, although that would have been nice

Wow!! Amazing job!!

I didn't start adding veggies until about 4-6 months out. Didn't have room for them after the Protein. Get the needing veggies out of your mind and just eat protein for now. Balance will come later.

What kind of exercise are you doing? There are certain types that help more with weight loss than others. Are you doing straight cardio, or are you mixing things up with cardio and strength training? Google HIIT training. It's specifically done to maximize weight loss while building muscle.

So let me get this right. You've lost 30 pounds in SIX WEEKS and it's not good enough for you? Your expectations are way out of whack. You're doing fine. More than fine, actually. Work on getting more Water in and getting at least 70 grams of Protein. From what you've posted, you're not even close. Work on those things first. Then work on being happy with how far you've come, not how far you need to go. It's not a means to an end, it's for the rest of your life.

Work on eating more calories and Protein to compensate for your excersise. You're not gaining. You're just going through normal wonkey fluctuations that happen to everyone and panicking. You're not going to put weight on working out like you do and eating 900 calories, so ease your mind. I've gone up and down 2 pounds for 18 months. It's not what I'm doing most of the time, it's just my body doing what bodies do. I'm used to the fluctuations, but I remember the panic about it early out, too

@@VSGAnn2014 Do you have dessert or something sweet like after dinner? Even if it's not something too carby? Or were your dark chocolate squares it? I ask because something I've started doing that I wasn't doing before is having something sweet after dinner...basically dessert. It could be berries with a little whipping cream or a like you, a couple squares of chocolate, sugar free pudding or a couple peices of hard candy. Although it's something I'm still tracking in my daily calories, I'm concerned about it becoming too much of a habit. Thoughts about dessert?

If you're following your surgeons program 90-95% of the time and moving more than before, you're doing just fine. Let it go and just enjoy the ride. Nobody is perfect, and you certainly won't be, either. Sometimes this whole experience is just trial and error.

I had my first drink at 4 months out around the holidays. A Bloody Mary. I'm 18 months out now, and drink very occasionally. I do enjoy a nice glass or two of red every once in a while

@@Bufflehead Great stuff. I'm copy and pasting to a word document for reference.

It's so different for everyone. Some people it's trial and error, some it just happens naturally. I continued to lose when I hit goal, and just decided to see how far I could go with it without becoming alarmed (I would have to lose at least 20 more pounds to be considered "too skinny"). I lost an additional 9 pounds past my goal in a matter of several months. Then, without doing anything differently, it just stopped. I've now either been in a stall or maintaining for about 4 or 5 months now, and I'm just going with it. I've now fallen into kind of a routine where I know exactly how many calories (1400) and exercise (3-4 days a week of cardo/running/weights) it takes to maintain within a couple pounds. That's how it's gone for me. As VSGAnn says, others mileage may vary

Stick with us, kid. You've got all of us to support you. Here's the cold, hard truth. Is there a chance you could die having the surgery? Absolutely, albeit small. Is there a chance you could die without the surgery? Absolutely, and a much higher one at that. You do what's in your heart. If you know this surgery is right for you (minus a few fears that each and every one of us has experienced), then go for it. I know sometimes it's hard to move forward with something when your'e not getting the support from family, but the bravest people forge ahead anyway knowing it's what they want or need to do. Look at all of our profile pictures. Do we look tired and sickly? Most of us are happy and thriving, and you will be too. Be brave. I know you got it in you. Find support elsewhere. This is your chance to shine, damn it!

What?! My surgeon told me I was a special snowflake! Was he LYING to me??

How did I miss this thread??? DAMN GIRL. You look absolutely incredible! You are truly and inspiration!

I'm not a serial tracker, either. Only when things go sideways is when I actually start tracking things to see what I need to do to get back on track (no pun intended). So many times we are consuming so much more or even less than we think we are, and don't see it until it's right in front of us.

I used to do it all the time at first. Cooking dinner, mindlessly pop something into my mouth. Old habits are hard to break, but you'll get there.

Yup, up your calories and track every single bite. How do you even know how much Protein you're getting without tracking? You can't adjust anything if you don't truly know where you stand to begin with. Start tracking, try getting at least 1100 (if you truly are getting 1000) calories a day and 70-80 grams of protein and see how that goes for a couple of weeks. I'll bet you'll be surprised

Yup, it's a good thing. I still love the fact that since being sleeved, I've either lost weight or stayed the same on trips/vacations. I ALWAYS gained on vacations before!

Ha! That's awesome.

I had my first mammogram post WLS since I've lost all my excess weight, and let me tell ya, it HURT! Without all that excess breast tissue, I could sure feel that flattner pressing down on them!

Just ask the hundreds of us who have stalled eating 600,700,800 calories if it's as simple as calories in/calories out. On paper, you'd think we'd all be as thin as rails in a short amount of time, but as I learned very quickly, our bodies are much more complex that that. It's really more quality vs quantity, and finding that sweet spot between what we are putting into our mouths and how much we move around to burn it off. We are all one big science experiment if you think about it!

@@erp So how many calories is that a day?