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My one year anniversary was on 2/22. The year has just flown by. I have lost 106 pounds and have decided to change my goal weight to be 140 - only 7 more pounds from where I am now. (My original goal weight was 135). I talked to my surgeon and my primary care doctor this week about my goal weight. I have pretty much been stalled at this weight (+/- 2 pounds) since around December 1st. I am still gradually losing inches, even though my weight hasn't been dropping. I am happy with my size - except for my waist, belly and upper arms. I am hoping that exercise and losing those last few pounds will help me there. If at the end of 2012, when I am at goal and have been stable for quite a while, I will seriously consider a tummy tuck to fininsh off the process. Here's some stats: I started out in size 26W jeans, size 3X tops and size 24W dress clothes. I am now in size 10 petite jeans am wearing medium tops and either size 10 or 12 dress clothes. I have lost 11 inches from my bust, 15 inches from my waist, 13.5 inches from my belly, 12 inches from my hips and 7.5 inches from each thigh. I started out controlling my blood pressure only with the help of two medications. I have been totally off of blood pressure meds for months, and my blood pressure is rock solid steady at 120/65. I had sleep apnea and had one of those damn CPAP machines. I no longer have apnea and got rid of the machine. My cholesterol and tryiglycerides were out of control, even with being on two meds for them pre-surgery. I had dropped them into the normal range with no meds by 6 months. At 9 months post-surgery the cholesterol went back up to 233 - which is high. (It wasn't what I was eating - this is heredity.) And the ratio of HDL/Total cholesterol was also high. I decided to try everything I could to lower my cholesterol without going back on a statin drug. I switched to high Protein oatmeal (from Bariatric Advantage) with flax seeds and flax oil added for Breakfast, and garlique, red rice yeast and cinnamon supplements daily. I have also upped my exercise to 3-4 times a week for Zumba and 3-4 times a week on the elliptical. Well - SOMETHING WORKED! I lowered by "bad" cholesterol by 41 points in 3 months. It is now 192! My HDL level stayed the same, so the HDL ratio lowered from 4.1 to 3.6. And, my triglycerides dropped from 147 to 102. That means all of them are in the normal range! And my Iron levels are finally in the normal range - so all of the iron supplements are working, too. I really haven't had trouble with much of anything since surgery. I was only in the hospital one night, and was off work for about 3 weeks. It took me awhile to get my energy back to normal, but that was probably related to low iron and B12 levels. My estrogen levels went nuts for a couple of months due to the stored estrogen being dumped into my bloodstream from the fat cells, but that went away (Thank goodness). I have had continuing tenderness on my left side where the largest incision was. I had a abdominal sonogram to rule out a hernia or something bad. None of that showed up, so it is just some random nerve effect left over from the surgery. A minor intermittent annoyance at most. The hardest thing for me since surgery is controlling the urge to abuse food when I am nervous or bored. I am working on controlling that every day. One thing I did to help was to take a six week class called "The Success HAbits of Weight-Loss Surgery Patients". It was offered by the head of the WLS Support Group at one of the Baylor Hospitals here in the Dallas area. It was a wonderful class to prepare me for living as a person of normal weight. I have a sub forum started here (not much there yet) to put information from the class there. The class is bassed on a book of the same name by Colleen M. Cook. Here are some photos: The first two are current onex from this week. The one of the two pairs of jeans are my before and current jeans. The headshot of me in the green T shirt is about 10 days after surgery. The headshot of me in the black suit is from 9 years ago - I am back into that suit (in fact it is a little loose!) The next picture is my husband and I Christmas 2010 (shortly before surgery) and the last picture is the two of us Christmas 2011 SKC Headshot.BMP

What a great NSV!! I love going into the dept store and grabbing something I like, and NOT trying it on. But, getting home and having it fit perfectly! Great thread and motivator. Karen

Congratulations Pookeyism!!!! What a great NSV and what a great friend!!! Love the pic. You look awesome!!!! and sooooo happy!!! High five!!!

A very good friend and I were in a local mall and she was asking me what size I wore and I told her I really wasn't sure since I had no time to even try on clothes recently. We were just outside The 'PINK' section of Victoria's Secret and she looks around and pointed to the 'PINK' sweatshirts (if you aren't familiar Victoria Secret has a line of sweatshirts/tshirts/sleeper shorts, etc. Called PINK.) and she said "you can wear that in a large". I was just kinda laughing inside - she is super encouraging, and I just thought she was being pleasant. But then she takes me by the elbow, walks me over, gets a lime green 'think PINK' sweatshirt and says "go put this on". Not try it on or see how far, but a straight command to put it on. AWKWARD. I was just hoping she would not be embarassed when it did not fit...but it did. I just stood there and looked and was like "what???". Then it sunk in, OMG I am wearing a LARGE from Victoria's Seceret...BALLS! lol. I walked out and I wasn't a big girl in a big size, or a big girl in a too tight top. I was LARGE. The pretty little thing helping people out didn't do that Lane Bryant thing of over enthusiastic "that's soooo you". She looks up and goes oh, yes...that is a great color for you. That's it. Later in Macy's she picked out a size 12 and size 14 in jeans (no size 16 in these) and told me "Go try them on. Neither will fit, BUT I really want to to understand how close you are getting to these sizes." I could pull the 12's up totally but no hope of buttoning them. The 14's I might could have buttoned except I really cannot deal with tight clothing! So I guess I am a size 16. We had to leave just after so I would not be late for school, so I still haven't tried on any new jeans - except for some 16's given to me by a co-worker. They fit! Below is a pic of me in the sweatshirt. Yes I am aware the shorts are sagging but they are also about 4" too big in the waist!

That's a great NSV! Congrats! Here's to crossing

Forens(my iPad won't let me type your full screen name)...anyway congrats!!! Today almost the same thing happened to me, and to try to get my hubby and 16 year old son to understand what it means to go from wearing a size 24 pants to today...buying a pair of 15/16 lady wrangler was huge for me. For the first time in 20 years, I did not even try them on until I got home. Fit perfectly. I simply can't wait to be a size 12 so to be in a 10 like you... whoot hoot! So here is to all of our NSV for Saturday!!! Take care all

I'm 25 days post-op and these are my first NSV's: - 7" gone from my waist - 5" gone from my hips - two people at work did a double take when they saw me last week - two people have called me out for wearing clothes that are "too big" - I can see my collar-bone I'm sure there will be more to come... lovin the sleeved life!

What a great NSV!!! So happy for you. And now I am off to Old Navy

AWESOME! Congrats on this fabulous NSV!

That's a HUGE NSV!! I bet you feel a million times better than before. And you're probably looking fantastic as well!!!

That was one of my first NSV... all of a sudden I noticed I was doing it one day. Made me Smile big time!!! Then, I had to show all of my family! Great feeling!

I agree with the others. LOSE the word "only" from your vocabulary. Pre-surgery, if you had lost 17 pounds in 17 days, you'd have been dancing on the ceiling! All of us would have been! There is a 3 week stall that most sleevers experience. You may just be starting yours a few days early. Our bodies are recovering from major surgery and from a major lifestyle change for most of us. It takes a bit for the body to adjust to the new normal. Don't worry, you WILL lose weight, and very quickly, but it won't be overnight. Think about how long it took to gain the weight. It will definitely take awhile to lose the weight. Once you are back on regular food, it will seem a little less intimidating to get in your Protein and Water each day, plus you'll have more energy for exercising, which will help the weight loss. Toss the scale and concentrate on getting your water and protein in each day. Look for the NSVs like your clothes getting looser and the amazing spike in energy that most of us experience. Look to some of the sleevers who have made it to goal and read their stories. NONE of them got to goal without a few glitches along the way. Some lose slowly, very slowly. Others have had long stalls where they didn't lose anything for weeks. What they all have in common is that they perservered through those stalls/slow losses and continued to drink their water and eat their protein. Oh, and that they all made it to their personal goals! This is definitely a journey rather than a sprint. I'm over 80 pounds down and I know there's no way I'd have made it here without Rex, my sleeve, helping me. I have a long way to go, but I WILL make it to goal. I've promised my surgeon and myself that I'm going to be one of the poster children for weight loss! You will be one too!!

I'm 5 months post op and can't eat 8 bone-in chicken wings at a sitting. I can manage 4 or 5, plus a little (very little) veggie on the side. I can eat maybe 3 pieces of broccoli with the wings. If I have smoked chicken I can manage a small leg and a thigh, but nothing else with it. However, I have also heard that different people have different capacities, even with the same bougie size. If you're tall, you probably have more room in your stomach because of the length of your stomach. As long as you are not stuffing yourself, you are doing fine. It's almost impossible to not lose weight when our calorie intake is so low. However, I do agree that a muffin is probably not the best choice you could make. Simple carbs and sweets are basically slider foods that go through very quickly. But, keep in mind that most of us had the sleeve so that we could eat normally. 1 muffin a week is not a major problem, 1 muffin a day probably could become a major problem and cause a stall. It is better to avoid simple carbs and sugars during these early post-op stages so that you get the maximum weight loss during the honeymoon period. As you get farther out and lose more weight, it will become more difficult to lose weight. Having already kicked the bad habits will make it easier to lose weight once it becomes more work than it is now. I just spent a month at one weight and had to reevaluate my eating habits, plus add in more exercise, to restart my weight loss. In fairness, it's a weight where I spent a good bit of time on my way UP the scale, so it stands to reason I'd stay there for a bit on my way DOWN the scale. I still don't believe in good/bad foods. But, I have definitely removed a few things from my diet that I felt were causing me some problems. I also just started adding in more fruit than I had been eating, so that affected the weight loss, although I have had several major NSVs during the last month. I lost 2 pants sizes this month, plus I'm now seeing muscle in areas that were very flabby before. Good luck and keep working your sleeve. This isn't a race to the finish line. It's a journey to a new and healthier you!

Thanks, everyone. It's been a fun year, honestly. I've enjoyed sharing it with all of you and hearing your successes, stresses, wins, NSVs, doubts and fears, victories, etc., as well. Here's to ENJOYING LIFE!!! <3 <3 <3

That. is. AWESOME!!! :wub: So presumably, you also wore your swimsuit in public as well?? How did that go? Congrats, HUGE NSV!!!! <3

There is NO only in weight loss. Every pound lost is another pound you don't have to face tomorrow. Go look at a pound of butter or a pound of fat from meat. You've removed one more of those from your body, and that's a wonderful thing! Look for the NSVs. Are your clothes looser? Are you more energetic? If so, then you ARE making wonderful progress!

Hi Banders! Good to hear some oupdates. 49 lbs, 79 lbs, 23 lbs, all of it is gone and gone for good if we stay on our programs. Do you realize how heavy 25 lbs of anything is to pick up? Get some weights and try and lug around 25 lbs. Bet you can't do it. Just think, most of us have lost that and more. Congratulations! I went to Dr and got a small fill Tues and his scales say I've lost 27.5 lbs and I will take it. My scales are evidently heavy and my hubby confirmed it yesterday after his Dr appointment. I kinda knew they were when they said I had lost 79 lbs overnight. LOL I recently went out to lunch with friends and one of them said, "good grief, you're like the incredible shrinking woman!" I could have kissed her! People are finally noticing my weight loss. Hurray for NSV's. I think one of the reasons she noticed is I had on clothes that actually fit, I am still trying to wear things that really are too large but don't want to purchase much yet. I've still got about 30 lbs to go. I will try and alter some things for spring. We are traveling to FL to meet our youngest son in 3 weeks and find a place for his wedding rehearsal dinner in April 2013. It will be warmer there and I'm not sure I have much that will fit. It's a great problem to have I think. What is everyone else doing about their clothes? I'm still walking 5 or 6 days a week and even our little dog has lost weight and inches from the exercise so I know it helps. She's also a Senior citizen at 13 and needed to loose a little. I had to start gradually because of my back, 5 minutes first, then 10 then 15 and now I do 25 minutes. After 25 my back hurts too much to go longer. I'm old so I know you younger ladies can do it too. If you are not exercising start gradually and ease into it. I sleep much better too. Also, get that water in every day. Hope everybody has a great weekend. We can do this! Blessings, GG

Crossing my legs is my 2nd favorite NSV ever! First one being able to wear a skirt wth no tights and NOT having my thighs chafe. Best thing ever!

How awesome that must feel!!! Great NSV!!!!!! I can't remember the last time I could cross my legs confortably,cannot wait! =)

It is what Deb said - non scale victory - and those will be more important to you than the scale ever will be. Some will be anticipated, others will come out of the blue. Some will make you laugh, and a few will be profound enough to make you cry. Here is to everyones NSV's. Past, present and future!

Congrats on your NSV