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The scale hasn't moved in almost 3 weeks and I don't know if it is vanity sizing or what but I bought shorts in a SIZE 8 today!!!! I have never been smaller than a size 14 in my entire adult life. A feakin size 8!!!!

I think traveling healthy is one of the things we all look forward to being able to do post-sleeve, but usually when we picture it, we're already at or near goal, or, at the very least, mostly adjusted to our new ways of life. I'm still pre-op until next Wednesday, but if it were me, I think I'd wait. I know the idea of just getting it over with is appealing, but from what I've read, you're going to be wanting to spend the first few months after surgery just figuring out things at home, not worrying about your new stomach while you travel. I know some people have to travel for work soon after surgery, but that's a necessity and rarely much fun anyway. I don't think you want to see your vacation ruined by a too recent surgery. I think you should just enjoy your summer, have some food funerals if you need them, but also use the time to start working in some lifestyle changes. Then have surgery in September and plan your next vacation for well in advance when you'll be able to enjoy it. That way you can get excited about all the NSVs that will come along with traveling when you're ready!

omg I haven't had my surgery yet but I'll be in the same shoes! 44C to a 36L. ya'll are hilarious!!! Congrats on a great pair of NSVs!!! ; )

lark60, Yes it was an NSV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anytime you have to change a record showing you lost that much weight--you bet your biffy it's an NSV. My ta-tas are now a 42-Long, (42L) instead of a 42C. I think I"m actually smaller than that--got to get some new bras. Need a "Border Collie Bra" --one that can round them up and point them in the right direction . Kathleen

Well I had my "annual" mammogram today. I say "annual" because my last one was over 18 months ago. When I checked in at the radiology center I had to update my profile. The weight they had on file was from the last mammo (265 lbs) so I felt good to enter 156! Then when I was getting my boobs squished I realized my sistas are VERY FLAT. I also realized I need to buy smaller bras again (was 44 DDD and now 34B) So......I am undecided if today was a NSV or not.

Hello All, Well I've been hoping for some NSV's but they seem to be slow in coming. The good news is that my 5X's are too big now and my size 30 slacks! It has taken four months to get down a size! What a victory!

@@BandedCandace, first off *Hugs* Secondly, you have lost a lot of weight. You should be proud of your progress! Don't let dumbass take that away from you. If your switching your food around remember its still more calories spent than calories consumed. You could be building muscle. Have you measured yourself or noticed a difference in the way your clothes are fitting. Look for ANY NSV! You've got this. I'm so with you on wanting to give a giant middle finger to the people who have said negative things about my WLS. But seriously, you have to get the attitude of F*** em! You did this for yourself and you can do this. Don't give up you're worth this fight, this struggle, it's part of our WANT to WILL ourselves to be successful. You have an entire community here who want to see you reach your goals. The only failure here would be you giving up! Find your mantra and when you feel like giving up, say it over and over. Now, I can be emotional too. I sometimes wear my feelings on my sleeve and all I can say is use it. Cry if you need to but get angry at those assholes that are giving you shit! Find an exercise that let's you release some of your frustrations. Oddly enough, yoga works for me. Now go get em tiger! We've got your back!

Happy Onederland day! I just hit it today, too. I've been losing 1-2 lbs a week pretty steadily since surgery. Now that I'm finally solidly in regular sizes (14/16 US), I'm happy. Since the weight has come off so slowly, I have to remind myself to look at my before pics to see that I've already come a long way. My clinic doesn't give a particular goal and I used to think I should have one and made one up for myself. Now that I'm further along, I get the whole no weight goal attitude. I've got my own personal goals along the way (more comparisons from my weight history like how much I weighed when pregnant, how much I weighed when I moved to Wisconsin, etc.). I've also been really enjoying NSVs. My latest one is being able to get in and out of the hammock in our backyard. Anyway, I'm just trying to enjoy the journey and not worry too much about how long it will take and where I'll end up weight- wise. Molly

Ahh, you brought tears to my eyes. So sweet and what a great NSV!!

Please keep posting. Am enjoying reading of your trip and the many many nsv's too. I can't wait till I am able to go to Europe as well. Not there yet, but soon I hope.

Congrats Jen!!! NSV for me today too...... My underwear is too big lol I had to buy a size smaller yay!!

NSV for me today is wearing cute jeans I haven't been able to wear in three years! And they're a little loose. But they're REAL denim with a zipper AND pockets! I'm so excited. I have been a yoga pant/jeggings only girl for a few years now.

I just thought this would be fun! If you are pre-op what are some NSVs (non scale victory) you want? If you are post-op what were some NSVs you wanted and did you achieve it? This might sound weird but the one nsv I want, probably more than any, is to be able to fit into Victoria Secret bras and clothes!!!

You're definitely right about the "getting into is not the same as fitting in to" that's for sure. Great job on your NSV!

NSV: Zipped up a pair of size 16s today! I started out in a tight 22. Might wait until I lose another 10 lbs or so before I wear them out in public though as the muffin top is really bad (as you can tell!)

@@aNewLife14, I'm dying to try Crossfit! My surgery is on May 28th, so it'll be a while until I'm able to work out hard, let alone hold my own in a Crossfit class, but that's definitely a NSV I'm looking forward to! Also, I'm a lot less concerned about losing pounds than I am about wearing smaller clothes and having a low body fat percentage. Here's hoping the sleeve helps me get there!

I've traded in my "clean plate club" membership for the "leave at least 4 bites -one for each dog" club. It makes it real easy to stop eating when I'm satisfied instead of continuing until I'm full.

my fast went ok friday - went over 500 but under 800 so I am claiming it! on another note, sorted out my summer wardrobe; put woolies away and got out my linen trousers from last year - the size UK14 are way to big - they have to be recycled! As I was doing this I found a skirt I wore for my 21 birthday and for a laugh I tried it on... well bloody hell fire - it fits! Ok, it is tight around the waist and I probably wouldn't be able to wear it for long.. but I can do the button and the zip up to the top! How happy am I? NSV claimed right there!

So, I traveled to Italy with my husband and younger college daughter, meeting my older college daughter there after her semester abroad in Madrid. Today is the second day. I decided to start a thread for this because I'm so unbelievably happy with all the changes in my life so far that are making this trip truly one in a lifetime. I also wanted to not hijack the NSV thread because I have so much to be happy about, and this trip will be for two weeks! Before I departed Chicago, I was 9 weeks postop and 4 weeks after my first band fill. I had dropped 55 pounds from my high weight in February. I was 302 then and 247 now. I was nervous about flying, and my new band being too tight during the flight. My first happy moment was fitting in the seat without a seatbelt extender and actually having to pull it tighter! I dreamed of that and it happened. Second was the in flight meal. I didn't plan to eat because I was afraid of tightness due to swelling during flight, but I was pretty hungry and decided to try very carefully. It was fine. I ate very slowly and chewed very thoroughly. I also drank tomato juice, Water and tea on the plane and kept my liquids up. My younger daughter decided she was going to help me by sharing meals with me over the next two weeks so that I didn't overdo it. So our first airport food was shared between connecting flights and it was enough. A little Chinese beef for me and beef and rice for her. After we landed the next day in Rome and found our luggage, our older daughter met us at Arrivals. She put her arms all the way around me and told me I was "tiny". I haven't seen her in over 5-1/2 months since she took a semester abroad. It was wonderful to see her again. Off to Rome from the Italian terminal. From there a train to florence. Between the Chicago, Dublin and Rome airports, and then walking about two miles over cobblestones with all of our luggage to our Florence hotel, I walked more than I have in years. I was tired and sore but not the least bit out of breath. I was so happy about not being winded that I decided not to strangle our travel agent who told us it was "a few blocks" away and not worth a taxi. Then a lovely dinner in our hotel, which I was able to eat about half of. I've never left delicious food on a plate in a foreign country until now. It was incredible. Today we awoke to realize my phone alarm didn't ring and wake us up like I'd planned, so my family went downstairs to have the continental Breakfast in a hurry while I dressed and had an powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury Protein shake. I'm so glad I brought the to-go packets. Off to the first activity of our trip -- a 3 hour walking tour of Florence. How can I describe what it feels like to be able to walk for three hours (plus the 30 minutes returning to our hotel because they don't return you to the starting spot) and stand and walk without stopping to sit, when six months before this, walking to the church a block from my house made my back ache and my chest heave so much that I always felt I was a heart attack waiting to happen? Not once did I get winded today. My feet are damned sore but that's from the cobblestones. My back does not ache. My arthritic knee started to complain in the final hour, but not all day. We stopped at a little restaurant and I had a delightful lunch of roasted cheese and vegetables and a glass of wine with my teen daughters. That was a new experience for all of us! Needless to say, they love Europe! Then we stopped for gelato at a recommended spot and I did not order the large, or the medium, or the small. I ordered the "tiny", in keeping with my new identity. It was about 1/4 cup of chocolate hazelnut heaven. And it was enough!! Back to the hotel and into the bath. Deep European tubs -- sinfully decadent! Loving every minute of it. Resting now before a walk tonight and dinner somewhere. Tomorrow is an eleven hour tour of Tuscany by bus and a winery in there somewhere. More to come!

Take a deeep breath:-) You're doing fantastic!! 40lbs. in 5 months is amazing! My doctor always told me that an average 6-8lbs monthly loss was amazing! It's been 5 months since your surgery which means you're averaging an 8lb loss every month which is the highest end of the average. This is all just my opinion but when I read your post, I almost feel like you're trying to prepare yourself for failure so that you wouldn't experience disappointment. Trust me, been there done that, but like you said this is a lifestyle change, not a diet where you do anything and everything to dump as much as you can as fast as you can. Everyone loses at a different rate, and your weight loss rate is great. I'm not sure but are you worrying so much about weight and food that you're dealing with head hunger vs. real hunger and are unable to tell the difference? If you're stressing out alot about it, that will also give you a hungry feeling, so try and relax and listen to your band, not your head:-) Just because the scale isn't moving doesn't mean you're not losing weight, if your clothes are fitting better than you're losing inches vs. lbs. Your body goes through these cycles of lbs lost vs inches lost to keep up with itself so what seems to be a stall on the scale is acutally your body catching up and sheading inches, which to me is a hell of alot more important than the # on the scale! Don't get down on yourself, you're not a failure. If you stay the course and communicate properly with your doctor, follow his or her instructions to the T, eat as healthy and as clean as you can, exercise and get your Protein and Water in, YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT. There really isn't another option. Yes, there will be times when the scale stalls but during those times look for as many non-scale victories (NSV) as you can to keep yourself positive and motivated!! You're going to be just fine!!

And I'm so happy for you. This post made me grin from ear to ear. Sending out a big ole hug to you. This is a great NSV!!

Replies to this are going to vary ALOT by what stage you are in. The first 6-8 weeks for many of us weren't alot of fun. It is hard to get Water in... transitioning to solid food is hard... all that, it was like a fulltime job! Then, it is AMAZING.. the honeymoon period when the weight is coming off and you feel on top of the world. I can remember all those NSVs (non scale victories). Honestly, I was so happy that it made up for saying good by to my old friend "over eating" Then, most of us face a cross roads... weight loss slows or stops and you need to decide how you will face that. I decided that while I was so much better off weighing under 200# rather than over 300# - I wanted to strive for a more normal size so I pushed hard to get to my goal. I didn't want to look matronly I guess - not really sure, but I wanted to be a normal size. Once you are past the rapid weight loss phase, it becomes alot more about your personal efforts to get the weight off. Then, there is maintenance which is a whole nother headtrip in many ways. Even so, I needed this surgery to get my health under control. Health improvements are the foundation for my life improvements and that is the track I am on.

I'm a slow loser too. But I know I am doing everything that needs to be done. During stalls I concentrate on NSV's to celebrate. DEE http://deekajungumbo.blogspot.com/2014/05/friday-weigh-in.html

Hey my fellow July sleevers!! It's been awhile since I've posted here, but things are going well. Sleeved July 15, 2013 at 370 lbs. (down from 379, highest weight), and this morning I weighed in at 287 lbs. for a total of 92 lbs. lost in 10 months. I still have 127 more to go for my goal of 160, but I know that I'll get there. So many things have changed: I'm doing more, I'm putting me first, and I am excited to shop for new clothes for the first time in my life! My best NSV of this year was custom ordering a wedding dress that got here and still turned out to be too big because I had shrunk :-) Hope everyone is doing well!

Thank you I look forward v to the NSV