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That's great! I'm in my 7th week out and trying to do all the same things. I know it sounds shallow, but I'm so glad to hear your hair is still healthy. Some have started to lose hair at 6 weeks... makes me nervous - I just don't have enough hair to start with! People are beginning to notice with me as well and I don't like the attention either because I'm thinking it will be followed with "how are you doing it?" Your answer is truthful and appropriate. I'm not sure how I'll answer it - so far no one has asked, and only my boss knows that I had this surgery. Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on being a great role model!

When youve been on a roller coaster weight loss surgery with a low bmi isnt a bad idea it shows youre taking control of your life. Congrats Sent from my PC36100 using VST

Here you go http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/292516-stall-already/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/292342-stall-solutions/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/291447-stall/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/291961-mmm-a-little-help-with-a-stallplease/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/291385-standing-still-almost-2-weeksweight-loss-stall/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/290249-ive-hit-the-dreaded-3-week-stallugh/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/290691-stupid-stall-im-so-frustrated/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/290164-stall-im-so-discouraged-help/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/289704-2nd-week-and-already-in-a-stallwtf/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/289365-going-on-week-3-of-a-stall/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/265903-how-to-break-through-the-dreaded-3-week-stall/?fromsearch=1 http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/260321-hitting-a-stall-one-week-after-sugery/?fromsearch=1

A bit of a personal antidote here.. My whole weight loss journey has been a stall with bits and pieces lost here and there. It was a bit frustrating at times, but at some point I just gave into the process and said I'd look at the big picture after a year. And if by then there wasn't a good loss then I would freak!

It will get better. I felt the same way. Be good to yourself and let yourself grieve the loss of your body part. It's a natural feeling but it will pass.

Hi All, I am being banded in NYC on Dec. 29th by Dr. Kurian. I just finished reading all the posts that occurred after I posted and it made me feel so good and so postive (until I got to Jimmy's unfortunate episode). I was wondering if anyone knows the numbers on surgery problems? Is it common or a fluke if the band slips or a person becomes totally blocked? Does it depend on the experience of the surgeon. I guess you have figured out that I very nervous--not about the surgery, but about being able how to figure out how to eat without PBing. Is PBing just unpleasant or can a person actually choke? I have read twice on these posts that no questions are dumb, and please forgive me if this is not so UP! Really, I am excited about the thought of REAL and lasting weight loss. I have another question: I take lots of Vitamins and three medications. How do you take pills that need to be taken with food if you don't drink while eating? Many thanks for all of your encouragement. It is admirable that those of you have already seen your way to living successfully with the band take the time to guide the rest of us. Sultana

Congratulations on your healthy BMI! I had to chuckle a little when I read that. I still find myself thinking "I should try that" every time I see a weight loss commercial or see a show about how to lose weight, or read some new fabulous weight loss method in a magazine. I get excited for a minute to see there is new research on obesity drugs. Then, after a second, I realize that I don't need to do that anymore. I am still thrilled with that realization, every time it happens, but it kind of surprises me at how it's ingrained! I just shift to knowing that I've found a way to be thin, and I have to keep doing that, and it's working for me. I think over time my mind will adjust as this lifestyle becomes more ingrained than the old.

Hi, I'm 6 days post op and will be turning 60 next month. I try pretty hard to hide the silver on the top of my head but after hearing all the stories about hair lose I may be grateful for any strands, no matter the color, in a few months. Think this group is a great idea. I know one thing I've noticed this week is I don't bounce back surgery like I used to. Had a knee repaired 8 years ago and was back at work in a week. I think I will be putting in a few hours each day, from home, next week. Looking forward to hearing from all in the group

Sex is sooooo much better when I'm thinner. And even with looser skin, I am waaaay hotter than when I was obese. And not just because I am thinner, but because I am more CONFIDENT and sure of myself, and the weight loss was a big part in re-cultivating that. You are really worried about how you will feel/look after weight loss (I notice this is your second post on the topic ♥️). But are you happy with your situation right now? I'm guessing that you aren't since you are moving forward with the surgery. Change is scary. But if you put in the effort, it will totally be worth it. 100%. ♥️

Take care of your heart issue first and foremost. Then you can deal with the weight loss. You want to be in perfect health for this. Good luck & continued prayers... Please keep us posted.

Welcome I totally understand where your coming from my sister is thin and I figured I would get lectured about taking the easy way out and what not. But actually she was behind me 100% it was actually surprising. Telling friends and family was the hardest for me but I have not had one person not be supportive. But at this point in your decision all you need is supportive people. Also, I bought the book weight loss surgery for dummies and it really helped me realize that nothing about having this surgery is taking the easy way out especially because there are so many risks you are taking. I hope this helps and good luck

The pre op diet is the hardest part of the entire process! You Can do it!!!! I have a magic bullet that I use. It awesome! I had my surgery August 14th and I still have another week of pureed foods. Can't wait to actually chew something again!! Lol good luck to you on your weight loss journey!

Haha- this is true. I don't exercise, but I do limit carbs (i.e. "diet"). I do this because I'd rather give up bread than exercise, without a freaking doubt I say this, KNOWING, that before too long I will have taken my weight loss as far as it will easily go on diet alone and will have to start exercising. But man, I'm not doing it until I have to. To the Original Poster, honestly the only secret is that I do not test my band, meaning I carefully watch portion size 95% of the time. I try to eat as little as possible to get me to "not hungry" and then I stop no matter how good it tastes. A lot of the time, I do that with a low-carb mindset that is high on Protein and veggies but honestly I'm not even 100% strict with that-- it's just my general way of approaching meals that I follow a good portion of the time, but that also allows me "treats" when I really want them. My band makes this much much easier to do than before and yes, I expect that I will eat this way for the rest of my life. I honestly don't have a problem with that and it is the reason I got my band-- to help me maintain weight loss long term.

Nobody has been tracking the results of the sleeve as a WLS that long yet. Give it a bit more time. I'm not certain but when I was researching I think someone posted a five year study - you might do some searching and see if you can find anything on VST about it. Regain is possible with any surgery. The big benefit the sleeve has over bypass (what most people are probably thinking of when they talk about regain) is that there isn't a honeymoon phase or window where loss is easiest. Once you're sleeved and healed, your capacity only increases a small amount. Unlike a short window where malabsoption is guaranteed, or a pouch that is likely to stretch (or a band that requires fills and unfills, for that matter), your sleeve is going to restrict you immediately after surgery and for the rest of your life. I am two years out and maintaining beautifully. I'm currently pregnant and while I have hormone bloat and the start of a rounded tummy, I'm not having a problem with weight gain (nothing more than I'd expect at this point) despite the fact that my capacity is increased now that I'm pregnant. All surgeries come with the risk of regain. Using the sleeve like a diet that will someday end is the biggest cause of regain I've seen - people just stop being diligent at goal and fall into denial about bad habits, ones they didn't fix while losing in the first place. That said, I have seen very few regain posts in the three years I've been here. I've seen plenty of "I got out of control over the holidays and gained a few but took it off quickly" posts, though. If you weigh daily in maintenance and actually learn how to eat like a healthy, normal person during the first few months post surgery, there is no reason you can't reach goal and maintain for life. ~Cheri

The surgery can resolve things like type 2 diabetes because type 2 diabetes can be controlled and subdued by an extreme diet change alone. It's just so, so much harder to eat that kind of strict diet without surgery. PCOS is a whole other beast, unfortunately. It's a hormone disorder first and foremost. So if you DO have PCOS, at the core of your issues would be a hormone imbalance. But in the end, if you had "string of pearls" follicles on your ovaries during an ultrasound (also called cysts), you've got PCOS. :/ The birth control is really important because it helps keep the lining of your uterus thinner, which in turn helps prevent cervical cancer, infertility, and a whole host of other scary problems. It also shrinks the cysts on the ovaries, which is important for obvious reasons. If you need peace of mind, or another opinion than your gyno's, feel free to see an endocrinologist. But if you've got the cysts... you've got the disorder. And it's for life. The good news is, losing weight/staying active and eating low carb is EXACTLY the way to best treat the core of PCOS. So with birth control and a strict diet/ your major weight loss, you should barely even be aware of your PCOS, especially since you say you have no other symptoms. You're one of the lucky ones! Congrats on your loss, by the way. You're doing great!

I feel the same way as you all-i was banded may 22, 2008 and filled twice and to date only lost 18lbs. I have gained faith from reading on this site that as the fills approach 4-6cc that the weight loss increases. So I am going to hang in there plus my husband just got a new gym in our basement so my body is going to be moving more and losing more. :thumbup: Thanks for all the info everyone-

I've been lurking for a while but this is my first post. My surgery date is July 11. Today I met with the psychologist for about 1 1/2 hours. We talked generally about my family, my career, hobbies, etc. She asked about weight loss history and why I wanted the surgery. I did a true/false questionnaire to see if I was depressed. Another test looked at my attitudes towards food and my ability to handle a new eating style. Then she had me draw picture of myself now and after the surgery. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable experience. So if you are nervous, don't be!

I had my surgery January 10,2012 and have slowed down a lot, but I am still losing so I cannot be too concerned. The fact last I am not going up or getting too focused on the speed of losing. This is a big change for me. I also know that slow is not a bad thing, it is easier on the body when you lose a lot of weight slowly. I am very sure this was the right decison for me. I also know that the people on this site are very helpfu. If you search for topics about slow weight loss you will find some great ideas to help. I needed the reminder to track exactly what I am eating. I already knew it was not a lot, but I needed to be reminded about protein first and there are many discussions about that. Good luck to you and I hope you find just the encouragement you need to stay happy, healthy and know you are losing exactly what you are suppose to.

Definitely morning, naked after bathroom. During weight loss phase, I was on the scale almost daily. Now, at 18 months and maintaining since 2-2013, I typically weight about 1-2x a month. I can get all the feedback I need in terms of clothes and mirror.

Okay so I am not complaining because I could not be happier about my weight loss journey however, I believe my band may be getting a little to tight during weight loss, I have not had a fill in 6 months. I am hoping to hear from some of you that may have gone/or are going through this. Most of the time I can hardly anything. I try to make my self eat because I know that I have to, I have tried several different food items and nothing really goes down very well other than Soups and malt-o-meal. I am a little paranoid that something might be wrong and I am not reading the signs. I do hiccup a lot during meals and I burp up mucus/saliva. I called my doctors office to speak to the nurse to see if maybe I need a slight unfill but I am afraid of not being in the green zone. I am hoping this is a normal part of being in the green zone and need to get used to it. ? Thanks for the input ahead of time. :-)

We have developed abnormal relationships with food. We eat to cope. We eat when we're bored, happy, sad. Food can be a lover, a friend. The biggest problem with this is that food works really well and really quickly in these situations and we gain weight. If we only ate when we were truly hungry we'd all be thin. We also train ourselves like dogs to be hungry all the time. This is not true hunger. This is phantom hunger. If we eat in the mini-van, in front of the computer or in our chair in front of the TV, what this does is that every time we are in the mini-van, in front of the computer or in our chair in front of the TV, we are HUNGRY. This is not true hunger. This is phantom hunger and we've gotten really good at it. A major help is to only eat at the table so that it is the only thing associated with food. If you go up to a dog and say, "wanna treat?" they will go absolutely bizerk because they associate this with food coming in. There are many terms for phantom hunger - emotional eating, mindless eating, non-hunger eating, etc. This is the hardest thing to solve. The keys are to recognize our triggers and to identify sources of deep-seated psychological pain and address them so the phantom hunger will go away. The best book I've seen on this is called "Shrink Yourself" by Dr. Gould. True hunger is a physiological NEED for food. It is patient. Any food will do. There is no associated guilt or shame. Phantom hunger is a DESIRE for food. It is impatient. There is a specific craving. ("If I don't get chocolate right now I will harm somebody" etc.) It is a reaction to a stimulus. It is associated with guilt or shame. The easy test to see if you suffer from phantom hunger is if you can't stop yourself. Phantom hunger is the most complicated aspect of weight gain and therefore the hardest part of successful weight loss. It comes from many different things in each one of us. We all have this. Skinny people have phantom hunger but they control it. A great example in Dr. Gould's book is an overweight woman whose life's dream was to get paid to sing. Unfortunately, in high school, a boyfriend made fun of her singing and this hurt her deeply emotionally. Every time this psychological pain came up, she ate. She struggled to lose weight. When Dr. Gould identified this and encouraged her to sing again, she finally agreed to sing at a friend's wedding and she received many positive accolades after. This led to a job as a music teacher in an elementary school - she was getting paid to sing. Guess what? She lost weight successfully. She solved the source of deep psychological pain and therefore eliminated the source of phantom hunger. Another example is women who were sexually abused as children. Food treats the pain and obesity is an outer protection against abuse. This is very difficult to deal with alone and typically requires the help of a professional to bring this to the surface, deal with it and treat the source of psychological pain and phantom hunger. You see similar situations in unhappy marriages and basically any source of real stress. The secret in all these things is to deal with the source of pain and also find non-food ways to cope with them. All this is easy to say. This is the most difficult aspect of weight loss. Finding a psychology professional that deals specifically with weight loss can be helpful to tipping the scale in your favor. An interesting test in Dr. Gould's book is to ask yourself who you are jealous of and why. He sees many patients who can't pinpoint their source of psychological pain so he asks them who they are jealous of. This is how he identified the source of pain in his singing patient when she told him she was jealous of a friend who was paid to sing. This is a tiny amount of information on a very complex topic. You can do the nutrition and fitness stuff perfectly and still not lose weight if there are issues in the brain stuff category. Ask yourself if you suffer from phantom hunger and if you have difficulty stopping yourself. Consider working with an expert or reading Dr. Gould's book. Positive self-talk is another important topic in this discipline and I go into detail on this and more on YouTube. Search Watkins Weight Loss Class. I hope this is helpful. Weight loss surgery makes all this stuff much easier but it is still important to be smart in the disciplines of Nutrition, Fitness and Brain Stuff. I wish you all the greatest success in your weight loss journey. Remember the importance of buying yourself a really nice present when you reach your goal. Brad Watkins MD

Making a shopping list for the grocery store can help you make sure you get the healthy foods you need to stick to your weight loss diet. It also keeps you from wandering around the store and being tempted by the unhealthy foods that are there. Do you make a shopping list? Yes. I use an app to keep everything organized. Yes. I keep pen and paper in the kitchen and write items down when I notice I need them. Yes. I look around the kitchen and make a list just before I go to the store. Sometimes. It depends if I’m buying the usual foods or if I need something special. No. I know what I need and don’t forget while I’m in the store. Other (explain in the conversation below). Mark your answer and tell us about it in the conversation below. We’d also love to learn any of your tips for making a shopping list and going grocery shopping!

Hey everyone. I'm still waiting on insurance approval for my sleeve but hoping I'll get it soon and be scheduled for early next year. I was wondering if anyone had the sleeve done at Columbia Presbyterian/New York Presbyterian in NYC? This is where I'm having mine done. So far the surgeons and the nurses seem great. My biggest frustration has been on the administrative side of things with this hospital. Between people messing up appointments, scheduling issues and submitting incorrect information to insurance I want to pull my hair out. I'm wondering if its just me and if other people have had similar experiences?

Hello everyone, I know this is a forum for weight loss, but I already hit my goal and I'm looking for plastic surgeons in Mexico, I need a full body makeover!!! HELP!!

First please accept my condolences for your loss. Suicide is an awful thing, and it leaves much sorrow in its wake. I hope you find the strength to make peace with it in time. Truly that's all we can do when faced with how powerless it reveals us to be. As a fellow science nerd I just have to reply to the low T idea. Very interesting indeed! I hope you'll get some help from the endocrinologist. It may be a subtle change, but do keep us posted. Hugs... Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App