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Hey all. First off, let me say the past few days I haven't been the most faithful to sticking to the plan, food wise. Now that that is out of the way... Well, I'm almost 8 weeks out and going through, or might be finally pulling out of, a two-three week stall. The first week I contribute to my lovely TOM, but the second week left me baffled. I exercised, got my Protein, drank my Water and the scale wouldn't budge! Well, my family celebrated Christmas on Sunday (yeah, three weeks late!) as well as my aunt's birthday. We had it at my mom's and they decided to order pizza instead of cooking. I took a piece and ate the cheese and a few bites of the bread. They also brought a birthday cake, so I had a small bite from my mom's piece. Go to the scale the next day and you know what happens? The scale moves down two pounds below my lowest so far after fluctuating between the same three pounds for what seems like forever! I thought, "well okay... maybe it's just because I finally broke the stall." Well, Monday and Tuesday, I went back to my routine of protein, water, exercise, etc. Get back on the scale Tuesday... I gain the two pounds I had lost. Wednesday, I went up another pound and a half. My roommate decides to make the cheesy garlic breadsticks that have been in our freezer for forever and a day. Now, I have a hard time resisting carbs and always loved carbs more than anything else. My snack as a kid was a piece of bread with butter on it, folded in half like a sandwich. I have home movies of me as a toddler, walking around and eating just a plain piece of bread. I've been adamant to keeping as many carbs out of the house as possible because of this problem. Anyways, the breadsticks are small, so I eat one and then a half of one later, careful to chew thoroughly until it's almost pureed consistency. Get back on the scale today... and the weight I had regained and then some are gone again! Sheesh. I don't know what my body wants sometimes! I try to keep the healthy habits up, and when I slip is when my body decides to lose the weight? This doesn't mean I'm going to revert back to my old ways, because to be honest, my body wouldn't be able to handle it. I just don't understand that I stall for over two weeks eating as much protein, drinking as much water as possible, and when I cheat, that's when the pounds come off? I hope it's just a coincidence because while I do want to lose the weight, I don't want my insides to be unhealthy because of what I put in my mouth, even if it does make me lose the weight. Has anyone else have something similar to this happen to them? P.S. I normally don't weigh myself this obsessively. I usually weigh every third day, but I wanted to see what was happening weight-wise based on what I was eating. Sort of like an experiment.

I'm in. I must say that I was in a while back but forgot to look for the initial post. Shae SW: 212 GW: 197 CW: 206 I was stalled for about three weeks, did LilMissDiva's boot camp and lost almost 7 lbs in 4.5 days.

Hi Jnee, I think it's really really important for each of us to remember this is not a race, nor is it any type of competition where we should ever feel bad that we are not losing as fast as it may SEEM others have. Trust me, I said the word SEEM on purpose because in this case perception is NOT reality. Those little tickers you see at the bottom are for the user only IMO. It's fun to see that XX poster has lost YY Lbs... but that is not an exact representation of the individual story. That person likely could be adding on weight lost PRE surgery. I did, and that's fine because those are all Lbs I worked hard to lose, but it may not be immediately evident to someone viewing it from another computer screen, know what I mean? I'll use myself for example, I do try to explain in my signature that I was 272 Lbs on surgery day. I hit my first goal to be a size 8 about 6.5 months later. I was 203 lbs that day. So... it took me 6.5 months to lose 69 Lbs. That's just about 12 Lbs per month average. Is that super fast? I don't happen to think so, not really. Guess what though, you better believe I'm super happy about that and darned proud! It was so hard to do that, and every single day was a struggle for me. I'm not going to feel bad because someone else could've lost that 69 Lbs in 3 months. They aren't ME, and they're reason for losing so fast could be drastically different than mine. Here's my opinion on why I think you have stalled for three months. Yes, this is a true stall, anything more than 3 weeks long is a real stall. I think your body has become way complacent with your routine. Our bodies will do this, they will only want to burn per day what you are giving it to sustain. It is something our bodies cleverly designed over all the years of starvation prevention. Not much we can do about this except trick it once in awhile. Any weight loss expert will tell you, you're going to have to bounce your calories around once in awhile. Not so much every day, but perhaps even on a weekly basis. I've learned a lot over the last year and a half in regards to keeping our metabolisms running on full steam and now my body is a serious calorie burning machine. I don't even know if I'm sure I know how to turn it off!! Not really wanting to, I just go with it. LOL Also, our bodies do get used to the amount of exercise we do every day, and the intensity. You're going to have to bump this up every so often. Love it or hate it, this is what I've found worked miracles for me. It provides so many benefits, the best being getting fit and gaining good health. Believe me there are so many good reasons to enjoy a good workout and to keep pushing your body to do more. I hope I have helped! I know we ALL can do this! Longer, harder, faster, stronger and a little shake up from time to time will get you to goal. No matter how long it takes.

I think it was right around my 5th week when I got so sick of being exhausted that I actually started looking at eating like a job. I had to have two protein shakes a day, ate 6-7 times a day, I had to have mashed potato to get higher calories and I was able to eat meats. I would always start with my meat and could only eat about 1/2 cup of solid food at a sitting. However, I could drink a whole EAS protein shake over 35 minutes. It was hard and truly felt like a full time job. Now alot more of the swelling in my sleeve has gone down and I can eat about 3/4 cup of solid food at a time. I still eat 5-6 times a day. I have to, otherwise I don't get enough. My doctor is aware and is fine with that because not everyone can function on three meals a day. I have had only one pretty long stall at 3 weeks, which is quite common. Now I lose 1-2lbs/wk and sometimes 3. Like LVikingFan, I wonder what your Vit D is?? Also, I'm an RN and have worked with post op patients on a medical/surgical floor and i know that surgery truly takes alot out of a person. You not only had a procedure you also had a bleed so I would expect that you would be very tired for quite a long time. I would advise you to keep reporting to your doctor about your fatigue. I hope what I have told you helps.

Thanks Sleeve of Steel. I've been mainly walking now, since I don't really live close to a gym, but once school starts up again, I'm going to their gym. I'm probably saying the wrong phrase, lol. I guess I took net gain from profits or sales terms, and put them in a sleeve-situation! Let's say you eat 800 calories in a day and do some exercise that burns 300 calories. I'm calling that 500 (800 in minus 300 out) calories a "net gain." I'm bad with phrases. I'm surprised your doctor says to start 1200 calories immediately. A lot of people I see on here don't reach that until a few, or several, months out. I didn't get the three week stall, so I'm guessing this is my body just being stubborn and going to be doubly frustrating and making me stall longer than I should.

I was within a pound of my original goal at six months, which was to be down about 92lb before I lowered it another 10lb to better match where by body composition was going, but I wasn't focusing on any particular time target. I can't offer any particular tips as this is just how it worked for me and I did all the wrong things (except exercise - that was a constant) according to the no-carb evangelists. The best way to get to goal quickly is to start closer to it and according to popular perception, have a Y chromosome (guys seem to lose quicker than gals, though I suspect that has more to do with higher average "should be" weights driving higher ending metabolic rates.) The exercise is a major part of it, and seems to be common in most who have been successful long term - I suspect that building/maintaining a higher metabolic rate thru the exercise, particularly strength/resistance training to build/maintain muscle mass, is more valuable than a very low caloric intake, and certainly is long term for weight maintenance according to the consensus of studies on the topic. You shouldn't expect to lose weight consistently, as the loss gets harder as time goes on - your caloric deficit shrinks as your metabolic rate drops some with the loss, and most particularly, your exercise burns less as you are moving less weight around. Typically, you would expect to see declining loss numbers as you proceed, and some will be more or less consistent on this depending upon stalls and the like. I lost at a fairly smoothly declining rate - 33 the first month (when we all typically have our largest drop due to the adjustments our bodies are making) followed by a couple months at 14-15 down, then three months at 10 down and the seventh into the goal range was down 9. This past month since then I've only lost a couple of pounds, but more importantly to me is that my body composition has continued to move in the right direction, dropping around another 3% in body fat down into the mid teens (mid-normal range for men). I never had any stalls of note (only one week in the middle where I didn't lose anything) which I suspect may be from not going too far into starvation mode from being ultra low cal/carb. Philosophically, I would rather lose what I need to lose over 18 months rather than 6 months, if there were some way of being assured that I would actually lose it all - rapid weight loss isn't the healthiest condition for our bodies, but it's something that we put up with to make sure we lose it this time. Post-op, I quickly settled into a 900-1000 calorie per day routine as something that was comfortable that satisfied and provided requisite Protein along with enough for some additional essential nutrition - some fruits and veg in there, and some complex carb added later to help fuel some workouts as intensity increased. Seeing that my loss rate was reasonable, I made no effort to drop my intake to the 6-800 cal levels that some docs advise, but did let it rise slowly over time into the 1000-1100 range as I worked to add nutrition. I generally have focused more on proper diet leading toward long term weight maintenance habits, but consistent with continuing the loss to goal, than in speeding toward that goal - for many, if not most, of us VSGers, long term weight maintenance will be a bigger challenge than the loss itself.

Okay guys I'm three weeks out. I've just been doing my elliitcal machine for about 15 to 20 min every morning. I've noticed that I'm extremely tired afterward which lasts all day. I mean I'm just wiped out and I'm back to work. I was wondering if I'm working off too many calories for my body to run. I consume between 600-800 calories, and I burn off about 250 calories with the elliptial which leaves me around 400 calories a day. Unless I drink my calories I cant get any more calories in a day. My carbs are around 30-50 a day. I drink more than 64 ounces a day, I stay thirsty. What could I be doing that's wrong. Also I stall out for about three days, well i did this week and last week. Should I just stop exercising until I can consume more calories, or what else could it be that's leaving me so tired? Do I need to up the carbs with that small amount of time on the elliptical? I havnt noticed a big difference in my weight loss, I worked out every morning and my weight was still stuck for three days, but TOM was here also. But last week I was stalled for three days too with no exercisse, then I lost two pounds in one day. if i'm going to stall anyway regardless of exercices what do I do, is working out making a difference?

I have this very concern as well. I'm averaging between 600-800 calories and work off about 200-300 a day, and that means my body is getting a net calories of 300-400 a day. I was extrememly tired by the third day and i thought either I need to stop exercising or up my calories. I can't fit anything else in my sleeve unless I drink more calories. I'm on my 3rd week, and I've stalled for three days in week two and week 3, so i'm not sure if I need to stop working out until I can get more calories in so my body will have more fuel.

Yesterday was three weeks post-op, and the scale hasn't moved for a few days. I figure that this is (insert dramatic music here) the dreaded 3-week stall. If it weren't for you wonderful people on this forum, I would've been convinced that I was eating too much (600 calories a day?), had already stretched out my sleeve, I was a complete failure already, I would be the only one the sleeve wouldn't work for, and the Earth was falling into the Sun. But no. Because of you all, I knew what to expect. Last week, I took measurements, I've put away the scale until next week, and I'm going to keep plugging away at following the rules. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I have seen anything from none at all to two to three weeks (maybe more) reported - I don't know if anyone has done a study on it or calculated averages, but maybe that would be a good topic for someone's grad school paper. Further, I don't know if anyone can say whether stall frequency or duration can be linked to any particular dietary program or surgical technique - I haven't been as low cal or low carb as many people do and haven't experienced much in the way of stalls on the way down, but can't say whether the two are associated or just coincidental. But, in general, long term weight loss is usually characterized as more stairsteps than a straight ramp. The linked article below gives a good explanation of what is happening, but the short answer is that as frustrating as it can be, you should rejoice because it means that you are now starting to move into actual fat-burning mode. http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html

SN: Forensikchic SW: 179 GW: 164 CW: 176 pounds to lose: 12 I am down three pounds this week! I was stalled at 179 for two weeks straight but finally the scale is moving again. I just hope I dont stall again for weeks. I am working on my running program and its going better than I expected. Yay me! Come on peeps! Lets get to our Valentines goals!

In this article: http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html Diana does a great job of explaining the mechanism of what's going on with you at this point. The short story is that you should be happy, as this marks the time when you start burning fat rather than your short term stores of glycogen/carbs/proteins. Some will experience the stall earlier than others, particularly if they lost weight on a pre-op diet - the clock really starts when you change your diet and start losing weight rather than at the time of surgery. Your weight loss will also slow down some after this initial stall, as you will be burning primarily fat at a rate of around 3500 calories per pound rather than glycogen at a rate of around 2000 calories per pound. I never really stalled at this point (which may be my individual metabolism, or may be that I wasn't running as low cal and carb as many do so the transition wasn't so abrupt,) but the loss did certainly slow down at the three week mark.

Hi I had my sleeve done July 6th 2011 at dews bury west Yorkshire by surgeon mr jemeel I was in theatre for four hours due to having lots of adhesions due to previous abdominal surgeries I woke up in pain with a drain in but after my pain relief was given I was fine I had a xray swallow test the next day no leaks were found just swelling had to stay in hospital for four days I was allowed liquids only fir one week the. Puree foods for two weeks then mushy foods for two weeks then normal foods told not to drink for thirty min before foods and thirty min after foods my starting heaviest weight on my journey was 18 stone 6 lb I was in a size 26 clothes and had a bmi of 47.4 as I am only 5.2 half I am fifty two years old and have disabilities with other medical conditions I wanted to loose weight to keep my diabetes under control and keep me from a wheel chair I am now five stones lighter and in a size 16 Have even managed to loose one pound this Christmas week I am so happy not to have piled weight on at Christmas I love my sleeve in just need some advise how to kick start this stall and slow weight loss I have bought some Protein Bars to see if that will give the weight loss a ooh kick to loose more weight need to loose another three stones yet xxxxxxxx

It is normal to hit stalls. I think just about everyone hits some sort of stall around three weeks. I had a huge stall in November at 11 months post op. The scale didn't go down, but everyone kept asking me if I had lost more weight. I was losing inches. Just keep following the rules and the scale will drop again.

Im 44 pounds from goal. I am a little over half way there at almost 5 months. I started doing circuit training and walking end of October but have slacked the last two weeks because of Christmas. I stalled for a couple of weeks when starting the exercise and only lost 6 pounds in November. I just began training for a 5k and back to circuit training again yesterday, now that I am not so busy with holiday crap. I eat Protein first always, I have very good restriction--can only eat about 2oz of fish or meat at a sitting-- and only snack on high protein things. I dont eat starch like rice or bread. I do eat an occassional cracker with my cheddar cheese but its minimal. I average about 650 to 800 calories a day. I have problems drinking enough fluids but i am working on that. I was told to add a few carbs like a bagel thin with Peanut Butter before exercising so I would have enough calories to burn and that did help get me out of that initial stall. I didnt eat that when I wasnt exercising though. I can only hold a fourth of a bagel thin with a tablespoon of pb which equates to about three small bites anyway, so its not that high in carbs or calories. The bagel thins are those really thin bagels that are 100 calories for a whole one and I eat a 4th of it. Anyways, I try to get at least 50 grams of protein. I dont worry about the rest of it. I track it occassionally so I can know my calories but I was obsessing about it, so I laid off tracking so much. It was pretty much the same every day anyway. I dont want to obsess about dieting! I just want to eat my protein, exercise and watch the magic happen! lol. Now, If I could just get more liquids in!

Congrats on making it back to work! I am on week three also, and I am still pretty puny. I have hit a stall in my weight loss as well. It's frustrating, but I figure our bodies are healing and adjusting. Good Luck with everything!

I am 6 weeks post op today...I have been stuck between 229 & 227 for three weeks. Its so frustrating that I have stopped losing this soon out...and being self pay, it makes me feel horrible that I have spent so much money! I too, am trying to focus on the NSV's and I am loosing inches....although not a lot. I would love to hear if there are any folks out there who hit a long stall soon after surgery....but went on to make your goal weight.

Just finished a three-week stall myself, followed by a 10-pound loss. So don't give up, it WILL happen.

I think that it's more that you are experiencing the classic three week (give or take some) stall, which happens when you have pretty much used up your stock of glycogen and are transitioning to burning primarily fat. Your body needs to start storing replenishing its glycogen stores, which takes some Water to keep in solution, so you are hanging on to some water now, too, until you finish changing gears to fat burning mode. Some people will stall for a few days or even weeks at this point, and others will barely pause, so don't worry about that, either, if it happens. So, relax and enjoy experimenting with new things again.

I was down about 32lb the first month, starting at 292 & BMI around 42. I'm now down about 100 at seven months and just about at goal (we'll see how the body comp settles out - that's the actual goal.) Whether you stall or not at the typical three week mark, your loss will slow markedly at that point. Initially you are burning mostly glycogen (some stored carb and protein) which burns at a rate of around 2000cal per pound. Once those stores are consumed, you actually start burning the fat that we are trying to lose, but it comes off slower, at around 3600cal per pound. I never had the dreaded three week stall, but the loss curve sure flattened out some right at that time.

I began looking into Weight Loss surgery in April of 2011. I did a lot of research including some on this very board before signing up for a Seminar in July of 2011. My Husband was dead-set against me having any kind of surgery and was sure that we could both do it on our own. However, I was tired of dealing with one medical condition after another stemming from my being overweight. Where normally I would have backed off when he didn't support me, this time something was different and instead I forged ahead. I attended the WLS seminar in July and based on the research I had done prior and the information about different WLS Surgeries they performed, I opted for the Sleeve. I had completed my paperwork and turned it in at the beginning of the Session. Once the physician concluded the Seminar he said to turn in your paperwork if you were interested in moving forward. OOPS. Oh well, I thought it is in God's hands now so His will be done. I went home and told my Husband what happened and he said well you won't be approved so don't worry about it. Two week's later I was driving home when I received the call that I was approved! I could not believe it. I was literally in shock. I knew how many people are denied etc and could not believe it had happened so fast for me. I went home and told my Husband and he said it didn't matter if I was approved there was no way we could afford it. I went to my consultation and found out that I had already paid quite a bit toward my out of pocket due to the other medical issues I had been dealing with (Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Rheumatoid Arthritis) and I could afford the surgery. In addition, this year for the first time ever I had participated in my employer's health spending account and would have those monies available as well. I went home and told my Husband the news and did a lot of praying beforehand. He told me then that he was scared for me to have the surgery. I told him that I appreciated his concern but that I had prayed about this entire situation and every step of the way the Lord had removed one obstacle after another. I told him that in faith I was going to move forward and gave him a couple of dates that I could have surgery on. It was like the Lord just changed him at that point. We talked about it (for the first time) the procedure, the pre-diet, the post-diet, the lifestyle changes and he really listened. We picked the surgery date together and he volunteered to take me to the hospital and stay at home with me my first day out of the hospital. My surgery went smoothly in September and he has been my biggest cheerleader ever since. He actually spent the first week with me after I got home from the hospital (taking his vacation time) and took care of our son all on his own while I recovered. He is the first one to encourage me now if I am having a bad day or feeling discouraged when I stall. I could have done this without him but I am so glad I didn't have to. In three short months, I have lost 45 lbs and am over 1/2 way to my goal of 88 lbs lost. I have lost 18 inches in my waist and hips alone. I have more energy than I have in years and a newfound self confidence that had been sorely lacking. I have gone from a size 22 to a size 16 in clothes. My recent labs showed that my triglycerides and blood glucose are NORMAL and my cholesterol is within 3 points of being normal. I was so excited when I saw this and have already been taken off my diabetes and blood pressure medications as well. I can honestly say this is the BEST thing I have ever done for myself. But, the benefits are priceless too. My son has a Mom that can get in the floor with him, take him on amusement park rides, play soccer, throw the football, etc. I was so tired before and my joints were so sore that I had become a sit-down Mom and could only watch as he played and ran around. I know now that I will be here to see my grandkids and grow old with my Husband and a few months ago even, I could not have said that. I know how good I feel already and can't imagine how much better I will feel when I get to goal. The goal is something I can actually see now when before it seemed so unattainable. I will do this. This is my time and I will succeed.

Very good advice ideas.The main thing I do is write it ALL down. (fitday.com) I eat with protein first as the intended rule... I end up eating three cookies once in a while... then I write it down. I try to keep under maybe 1600 calories with an ideal target of 12-1400. Writing it all down forces me to remain conscious of what Im doing. I have had a history of eating what I want.... but WAY too much over time, and when the scales would stall, for a day or a week, I would bolt off the plan I was following. This had to change. With the sleeve, after working it for 11 months so far, I see that I am in it for the long run. If I don't lose weight for weeks or months, I know if I follow a semi healthy plan daily,within the intended calorie range, eventually, the scale reading will go down. And it always has. I think in the past, pre sleeve, I just jumped ship before my body had the chance to really lose the weight my actions would lead to in the long run. Slow weight loss is not bad. For plenty of reasons it is good. Embrace it. Enjoy the ride as much as you can. This is your life too... don't hold out enjoying your life until you lose the weight.

Oh, honey....you and I are SO much alike! We had our surgeries a day apart and we struggle with the same things! Please, please, please don't beat yourself up and just realize this is just a bump. You WON'T do this forever, trust me. I find myself being 'bad' for about a week, topping off, eating when I'm not hungry, etc, especially after a stall, which I have definitely had (!), but then a week or so later, it just seems to taper off and I'm okay for a while, then another week, I'll eat 1/2 a donut and two chocolate chip cookies! As for measuring inches, that can be true for some, but my measuring tape doesn't show many inches lost! Only about 3 inches off the waist, an inch here and there, but overall not much, so that just makes me feel worse. The inches lost doesn't change much, either. But what did help is that I started a weight loss chart, which compares what I have lost to what a pound or two pounds per week would be and it shows that I am really ahead. AND I average my whole weight loss over how many weeks sleeved...so for you, I am calculating about 4 lbs a week on average since you're surgery, right?? That is incredible! There is no way that you would have EVER done that on any other diet. Do you use myfitnesspal.com? If not, try it. You will see that even with your 'extra' eating, you are probably still below what calories you need to lose weight. When I indulge, I find that I am still in the safe zone, so feel much less guilty about it!! I also think that we need to get away from thinking about 'bad' food and feeling bad for just eating. It's just that....eating! We're not killing anyone, we're just eating! And your three Oreo Cookies is what a normal person would eat as a treat. We used to eat half a bag!! And your shaved chicken, your wedge, and egg was a GOOD choice, not bad. So what if you weren't technically hungry? You didn't eat a maple bar! I can guarantee you are still eating less calories than before, and can probably guarantee that you are not eating enough to stop weight loss. You're stall is just because your body is adjusting. You will lose, you will see. It's almost impossible to screw this up. I stall a lot, also, but overall my average has been good! Don't beat yourself up, honey. It's just food. The more you get away from 'bad' and 'good', the more healthy your outlook with food will become. I had this surgery to be normal, to be able to eat some cookies once in a while, God forbid! So what if I sometimes eat when I'm not really hungry? There will be some days when you're not that hungry and you don't eat much at all...some days you want more food for whatever reason. Normal ups and downs, just like anyone else! We love you, and we are all in the same boat, to varying degrees. We are here for you, and if you aren't on myfitnesspal, come and find me...I'm shadowdlady there. Love and hugs, sunshine....you will do this, and you will not fail this time

I am normally full of advice and quite positive about things but right now I am really frustrated with myself. I weighed myself the Monday after Thanksgiving and I was 215. Today is almost two full weeks later and I am still 215. There were a couple of times during the last two weeks that the scale read as high as 222. I weigh in the mornings in my birthday suit (after I potty). I know it is a stall and it will pass but of course, I have been stressing over it. In the past, I would get to a certain point in my weightloss and then subconciously self-sabotage. I realized a few days ago that I was doing this by topping off, snacking, drinking full fruit juice, drinking while eating to make the food pass through faster so I could eat again sooner, etc. I usually am pretty good when I recognize a bad behavior in that I will take steps to stop what I am doing. This time seems to be different. I know I am not doing things right and I still don't stop. A few minutes ago, I made myself a snack of shaved chicken, a laughing cow wedge, and a hard boiled egg. I was not hungry because I ate a meal an hour before. I ate it quick so that I could get it all in before my sleeve protested and then drank some fruit juice to ensure that it digested quickly. I know better. I know that I am going against what I am supposed to be doing but yet I don't stop. What is wrong with me? I know I have an addiction to food and I will battle with that for the rest of my life but geesh! This is sad. I get angry with myself because I am screaming in my head to stop, put the fork down, throw it away, and still I eat it. I have also started eating things that I know I should limit. I had three oreos after dinner last night. THREE! I felt miserable both physically and emotionally but it didn't matter. An hour later I was snacking again. I think that the stall has worked on me in a bad way. I feel like this is it even though I really know better. The kitchen is the thruway in our house so to get to the family room from the front door, you have to go thru the kitchen and to go to the bedrooms, again thru the kitchen. I am having a ton of trouble walking through and not thinking about what I could grab a bite of. I guess my mind thinks "Well, I tried, this didn't work either." and then I try to make the statement true. I need to find a support group in my area and find a counselor that specializes in WLS patients. If anyone has any advice, please share. Am I alone in doing this type of thing? Anyone else fight with themselves and lose? Thanks for reading and I'm sorry for the long post.