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MASSIVE,NSV AND A SCALE VICTORY ALSO! Stars ⭐shining in the ❤of TEXAS today! So proud of YOU, only another Bari-Pal understands the struggle! 🚩🇺🇸🚩

Had a pretty cool NSV yesterday. Walked up 8 flights of stairs in a Federal Hospital, so like... more than 8 actual flights of stairs. Did it in 1 shot, no issues and my HR was only 121 when I got to the top... LIKE A BOSS

Shopping in regular sizes! My Mom wanted to go shopping at Dressbarn. I wasn’t really looking for anything as I have a mountain of clothes to go through first. While she was in the plus size side of the store, I figured I’d wander over to the “regular” side of the store. Great sales this week so what the heck! I found a really pretty crocheted top with 3/4 sleeves on clearance in an XL. I figured I’d fit in it soon anyway so I bought it. When I got home I decided to try it on and see how far I had to go before It fit. Holy krap, it fit!! I started pulling the XL’s out of my closet and most of them fit. That was two days ago and I’m still smiling.

Hi everyone! I've posted a couple times over the past few weeks, but have been reading posts on this site since july when I first began thinking about pursuing this surgery. I just want to thank you all for sharing your experiences here. I already feel I've learned a great deal from all the helpful posts here. With that being said, I finally have a couple of questions of my own to ask. 1). Does your pouch or your remainder stomach growl anymore after the surgery? The reason I ask is that I have a stomach legendary for it's growls. I teach English at anuniversity near Cleveland and students are amazed at how they can hear my stomach sometimes all the way in the back of the room. What a wonderful NSV that would be if that could go away lol. 2). I'm sure others have asked this before, but how much actual hunger have any of you experienced in the days/weeks/months following surgery? I've heard so many different answers to this, and I'd be interested in hearing yours as well. Thanks again! 😊

Hi everyone! I've posted a couple times over the past few weeks, but have been reading posts on this site since july when I first began thinking about pursuing this surgery. I just want to thank you all for sharing your experiences here. I already feel I've learned a great deal from all the helpful posts here. With that being said, I finally have a couple of questions of my own to ask. 1). Does your pouch or your remainder stomach growl anymore after the surgery? The reason I ask is that I have a stomach legendary for it's growls. I teach English at anuniversity near Cleveland and students are amazed at how they can hear my stomach sometimes all the way in the back of the room. What a wonderful NSV that would be if that could go away lol. 2). I'm sure others have asked this before, but how much actual hunger have any of you experienced in the days/weeks/months following surgery? I've heard so many different answers to this, and I'd be interested in hearing yours as well. Thanks again! 😊

That’s what it’s all about. Let the NSVs get you through the weight stalls! Keep it up! My NSV is returning to spin class this morning after a 3 month break... and I crushed it! Also- my spin shoes aren’t so tight my feet go numb, I can keep up with the class in position 2 and can do jumps! Another NSV? A lot less lady part discomfort cause I’m able to be out of the saddle a lot more! It’s crazy what taking 50lbs off will do! (Note: I’m only down like 32 since surgery in July, but I’m probably down 50 since the last class in May..

NSV, 30 days post surgery hiking Mt Rainer's skyline trail. Other than the 2 hour drive there, 4 hour hike and 2 hour drive back to Seattle, feeling pretty good. Feel like the red eye will be a good time for a solid nap

I have had several NSV recently... my favorite is that as of Wednesday I am off of my quick acting insulin and my other shot has been taken down from 35 units to 20 units. My A1C is now 5.4 and I may actually be off of another medication by the time I have my surgery. I have not had as much knee pain which makes it easier to walk around.

My most recent NSV (if I can be considered one) was that my friend snapped a pic of me without my knowledge and sent it to me and I didn’t completely hate it, lol

My NSVs from today: Went to old navy wearing my now very very loose size 22 jeans. Tried on a bunch of size 18s and the size 16s which were only a SMIDGE too small for right now! And I got an XL sweater! I also bought a pair of “pixie” chinos in a dark pink/maroon color - way out of my black pants and black sweater ‘uniform’ of the last several years/multiple decades! I also might be wearing a new/not my usual thing dress tomorrow if I work up the courage :)

I haven't read the entire thread but here are some of my NSVs: Biggest one for me is that I SMILE when I see myself in the mirror. I actually look, smile, think "Gee that looks cute" or something along those lines. I have NEVER liked the way I look... until now. This makes me so happy that sometimes I cry. I have collarbones! And shoulder bones, hip bones... I really DO have a skeleton! No need for a seatbelt extender on the plane, or hoping that nobody sits next to me so I don't "overlap" on them. Overlap is also gone from movie theater seats, amusement rides, etc. Many thanks to my good friends who tolerated my "flopping" on them through all those many shows of Nutcracker (our daughters are ballerinas). I can wear regular shoes again. Yes, I still love my crocs, but now there are actual options- even heels! I fit through the turnstiles at some of the rides at Disney World this summer... and I wore a bathing suit to the pool!

Not my experience. I can graze with the best of them! I found that long grazing meals make me more hungry, physical hunger. I had a looong omakase sushi dinner not long ago, and then drinks at the bar after. I was drinking my damn water DYING of hunger, grrr! Ha ha, I have to admit I am totally vain, and love those type of NSV's! I had a good looking fit colleague said to me, "Girl, you look amazing! You must have lost 30 lbs!", in a southern drawl! I was like, yeah, uh huh, something like that.

Good morning. I had a great UD yesterday and managed to IF until 3pm when I had my quicky green soup with shrimpies. That held me until 6:30 when our wine pairing even started. I was fairly well-behaved. I had a sip or two of my wine pairing and a only about a bite of the food for most of the mini-courses (think appetizer party). I did have a whole (small) chorizo mushroom and a whole serving (maybe 1/8-1/4c) of cold tomato soup. The other stuff was just bites. But I did try dessert for the first time last night: 1 tiny (emphasis on tiny) bite of apple pie al a mode + 1 dark chocolate hershey's kiss with almonds. So I escaped that situation while partaking but not entering beast mode. We had fun with our friends and each other. Win! Nailed it! Then as usual, we went to have a real dinner at our cheap Italian place--cuz although calorie dense, the pairing event is like going to an appetizer tasting that is 5 offerings long. This is where I wish I had a tiny pouch. Cuz I probably would have been full and fine! But noooooo....and I would have been in great shape had I not caved to their homemade braided garlic bread with amazing dipping sauce. But I contained myself to about 1/2 (overestimate). I ate 1 small caprese stack, a bite of grilled chicken, a grilled shrimp, and 1/2 a small slice of grilled yellow squash. And I was done. And had a glass of cab. I did come home feeling my usual sick/nausea--which I probably wouldn't have felt if I'd skipped the dipping oil and bread. GAH! When will I ever learn? Oh, and an NSV - we are friends with the woman who bartends at our little neighborhood place and she asked me last night if I intended to lose any more weight. I told her yes. But she asked why, cuz I was already skinny and looked amazing. *blush* (Get behind me Satan--I still have work left to do, my race has not been run!) Scale isn't totally a b***h, but it was expected--I'm back up to 161.6lbs this morning from my new low of 160.4lbs. Meh. Today is another day and I'm back on the IF train for as long as I can stand! Black coffee, thy name is woman. Here's the only piccy from yesterday: Green Soup. I drank the broth first, waiting 15 mins, then ate the guts that made about 3/4c of volume totes. Food log for UD 1200 Cals (I am over-estimating quantities and using entries that look very similar to the food actually eaten. I probably was lower than this by 100-200 cals, but this dog will hunt for my purposes. (Click to enlarge.) Oh and today is very clearly a DD 500cal day.

I finally broke my stall today - it wasn't much of a loss .9 lb - But I'll take it. For me personally this week I changed things up - I slowed down on protein drinks and added more natural protein foods into my diet and increased my total daily calories (they fluctuate day to day) and today it finally brought me down. Mind you it probably helped that I had 2 BMs yesterday (I'm almost at 1 a-day)... But I'll take whatever loss. My BF reminded me this morning that he's proud of how strong my resistance has been to not going back to old habits and that slow and steady wins the long-term race every time. He reminds me that I just need to "work the program" and stay true. Add my NSV - while the scale wasn't moving for almost two weeks, my clothes are definitely fitting better. If fit into a size 14 jean capri's (but and legs are baggy) this morning and China size xxl sweater. My mom also commented that although the scale hadn't budged for me, I shouldn't fret because my body is transforming it's becoming more "shapely" - I'll take that.... A lot of our vets on this site say that all the time, I'm a newbie to WLS and 4 weeks in and having experienced most of what each of you have reminds me we can do this! Our will and support for one another is stronger than any stall.

This is awesome! Congrats, what a wonderful NSV. oh, and I like the blond...

When you're struggling and it's hard to be positive, believe me I understand fully, try to lean on the momentum of others wherever you can find it until yours picks up again. Please visit the NSV threads...

I think you should keep in mind that fluctuations happen, I just gained 5lbs from being sick (eating salty broth) if I didn't know what was going on I would go crazy. But its not a true gain of fat, it's water retention. Scales are not always the best measure of progress. That's why we have the NSV threads...

A great NSV, well done!

Hey everyone! I cant believe a year has flown by so fast. I know when I was pre-op I used to seek out these threads to read other's experiences, so I wanted to share mine too. My start weight was 277 the day I scheduled the consult for bariatric surgery, and I was 255 the day of surgery. The first 3 months were a bit of a whirlwind. I dropped 20 pounds in the first month, and I thought it would stay that fast, boy was that some realistic thinking on my part. As real food was reintroduced during my second month I learned what the foamies were...oh my goodness, so not fun. I lost 10 pounds during month two and I remember feeling discouraged and having to reassess my motivation for this surgery. Having to remind myself that this was a change for the rest of my life and that it was okay if the weight didn't just fly off, because if I kept working with my body, then my body would have no choice but to become healthy. The next month I lost 9 pounds and learned that if I didn't chew my food really, really well, that it could get stuck and hurt like hell until it made me vomit. This was not a fun time, but alas I learned, and learned relatively;y quickly. Month 4 came and two things of note happened. I lost 5 pounds and felt confused and a little lost as to what was happening with my body. Also, my hair started falling out like there was no tomorrow! That became my new normal for awhile. 5 pounds a month, hair falling out. Somewhere around 8 months out my hair loss stabilized, but by then I had lost about 2/3rds of the volume I had. Biotin never helped, but I took it from the day I was cleared to begin vitamins post op. Around March I was 6 months post op and I had my first month with no loss, where I actually gained. I was aghast. I had this weird feeling like I wasn't going to get where I needed to be unless I started working harder. So that was the point where I finally changed. I started counting every macro, and working out 3 days a week in April. Initially walking and increasing in length/intensity. That was the beginning of my adventure into exercise. I currently run/walk in intervals a 5k a minimum of 4 times a week. I have never felt stronger or more alive. I was the girl who only ran when chased, I had no idea that underneath all that weight was a body that felt happy when it ran. A brain that felt at peace when it focused on my breathing. I'm still losing at the rate of 5 pounds a month, total weight loss since March of 2016 is 110 pounds. Biggest change has been my brain. I stopped worrying about the scale. It goes down because I'm living the way I am supposed to be. It doesn't have to be big numbers, because this is the way I live my life now. I don't know if that makes sense anywhere except inside my head, but I hope you get it. I only this week made it into the "overweight" bmi category and I have 27 more pounds to go before I am considered to be of a healthy weight. Loose skin? Yep! I'm not even mad about it. To be honest I didn't expect as much on my thighs and thought most of it would be around my midsection, but it's everywhere. I don't think it will ever bother me enough to have it removed, but only the future knows for sure. Dumping. Now to be fair I had my gallbladder removed a few years prior to gastric bypass surgery, so I already had issues with dumping. Bile buildup has a laxative effect on me. If I go more than 12 hours without eating, then just a sip of water can send me running to the bathroom. Fats don't typically bother me and I avoid sugar because I don't like the way it feels when my insulin spikes and then drops. It's scary and not fun. I get fuzzy and light headed, my stomach feels blah and my heart races. I'm human though and I challenge my biology on occasion. Ice cream doesn't love me anymore. It melts in my pouch and foams back up and just feels like it's sitting at the top of my esophagus and making me burp little foamy ice cream burps...I think the only reason I am okay with halo top is because the sugar alcohols scare me enough that I only ever eat a tiny bit because I don't want to live in my bathroom lol. Support systems! These are so important. My spouse is amazing. He's my biggest cheerleader and my companion in all things, including exercise! Make sure the people in your life only want what's best for you. Current diet is low carb (under 20 grams a day) moderate protein (60-80 grams) and moderate fat. This will likely be how I eat the rest of my life and I am okay with that. When I do consume more sugar, my brain starts to crave sweets and I feel like I have to fight with myself. For me personally it's not worth it anymore. That last sentence is a huge nsv for me. It's so weird and amazing/awesome to be nearing 40 and finally feeling like I'm not powerless to food anymore.

How do your clothes feel? How do you feel in your body (not looking at scale)? When I don't see the scale move I judge on my clothes and how I feel personally. I am seeing subtle changes to my body. My legs are thinner, my neck is thinner, facial features are more prominent vs fat round face. Take the NSV into account. I'm not going to say muscle weighs more than fat because 1lb is 1 lb. The difference is a pound of muscle is smaller than a pound of fat. I know you feel discouraged, but try to see all the other positive things happening to your body right now. Take a picture of you today with an outfit from the past and compare it to a picture of you wearing that same outfit. I bet you will see a giant difference! I bought a 1-piece jumper 2 weeks before surgery to do just that. I use that jumper as my motivation to keep on my path because I really don't like how I looked pre-surgery. Find 1 thing to be happy with on yourself every day and focus on something else besides the scale. You're a beautiful young lady, don't be discouraged, you have a lot of supporters right here to help you through those difficult times.

After my sleep study on Tuesday night, I was hoping to announce a NSV of being rid of my CPAP, but...not quite. My OSA is down to “mild” from “severe,” though, and without a CPAP, I’m down to 13 arousals an hour from 117 when I first had a sleep study in 2011 (and was 110 pounds heavier). So here’s another NSV: Yesterday I accidentally threw our garage door opener in a Dumpster, and without thinking about it, I boosted myself onto the lip of the Dumpster and leaned in to retrieve it.

My highest wt was 368, consult wt 350, and 8 weeks post-op have been stalled at 314 for two weeks. Very demoralizing. In some respects I still feel I'm at 368. Stalls create feeling of O boy, here it comes -- another Epic Fail at losing weight, like its something in my DNA I can never overcome. But I don't feel ashamed anymore after learning obesity is a disease -- a chronic disease -- a chronic, deadly disease. And we don't know a singular cause of it. Yet. I am working on this, and realize it is very much a mental game element we must overcome. My best self tells me to look at the NSVs (non-scale victories), to look how far I've come, look for small goals in terms of more exercise, and journal. I do track protein, and get 60-90g per day, but it's not enough to quell cravings and there's not enough variety to provide the satisfactin of a tasty meal. I'll try to make tomorrow a better day. I really need my body to end this stall. I am glad for this site, and glad we can lean on one another and share our journey with others who understand.

I have a tiny,one,on the eve of Wonder Wednesday. I no longer have a double chin or chins-- maybe that is where the 15 pounds I lost in August hung out? perhaps a lower case nsv but I will flaunt,it÷👅

I forgot one of the best NSV comfortably using an airplane restroom on a transatlantic flight!!!

Congratulations on your NSV! Nice to have moments like that