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I am just over a month out and already there is a lot that has changed. Mostly I am just experiencing *change*, which I usually find difficult. On Sunday I cleaned out my closets. I have six garbage bags of clothes, most of which is business attire that no longer fits me. I have a small selection of clothes that were either too small for me prior to WLS or are stretchy and can move across sizes. Given that after the initial 15 lb post surgery drop, I am averaging 5 lbs a week, dealing with buying clothes that wont fit me in 3 weeks seems like a hassle. I no longer think about food from the viewpoint of "what am I going to eat". I still think about food, but it's more like the same way I think about going to Paris. I miss some of the things I loved - really good bread with butter, pizza and a great burger. But missing these foods is more like a series of passing thoughts. I barely have an appetite and when I am hungry, I am fully satiated after about 2 oz of a dense protein. I find I have a lot of attention on my wellbeing - managing my liquids, protein intake, what I'm going to wear, looking for openings to walk and move where this was not the case before. I have a very demanding job and work on average 70 hours a week (and was back to work 1 week after surgery) and to some degree I have not yet adjusted to managing my weight loss journey with my career and this will come with practice. Like many others, the NSV are really the best part. I live at the top of the hill and before surgery I needed to stop halfway up. Last night after a 14 hour workday, I hopped out of an uber at midnight and walked 3 blocks up the hill at the same pace I walk down the hill with no shortness of breath. The quality of my sleep has improved (although, I find I am needing more of it and I suspect that is temporary and probably due the fact that I am barely cracking 700 cals/day). I have no more swelling in my ankles and wrists. My seasonal allergies have been reduced by about half (I suspect because I am not eating wheat, processed foods, etc.). Since surgery I have avoided or declined a lot of social things - for no other reason that it supported my management of my diet and having no alcohol in this initial phase. I will need to train my friends to engage in other things - walks, going to the park, etc. I have worries about loose skin - I have no way to predict this. I have phenomenal skin for my age (I am 50), but I am 50 and will be loosing a lot of weight. The only question for me is how bad will it be. But I will deal with that when it is time to deal with that. I have no question that this was the best decision I have ever made - and I won't say that it is always easy. If my goal was to loose a bunch of weight, that would be easy. However, my goal is to reclaim my health and there will be nothing easy about that. Fortunately, I can be tough and patient and take the long view of things. There are things I am considering - I may permanently give up alcohol since I don't miss it. I am considering transitioning to veganism. That is not something I would have considered in the past. I do celebrate the small victories - but I don't spend a lot of time doing that. Mostly I am planning the next step, the next goal and how I am going to achieve that. When the scale moves, I just enter it into my spreadsheet where I am tracking weightloss. That said, I am coming to the conclusion of what everyone has been saying here - the surgery is a tool and if used as a tool - without question life will change for the better.

I will be 6 weeks on Thursday and I've only lost 20lbs... I started at a heavier weight (284.6 the day before I flew to Mexico) and I don't feel I've lost nearly as much as others at my size however I am happy with where I am. I think you guys are right on track and doing great!!! I had a stall at 3 weeks and when I increased my calorie intake for a day or two it broke but they happen so focus on those amazing NSVs and ignore the scale!!!

I have a few NSVs to celebrate: 1. I walked past a mirror and did a double take. For the first time in many many years my first thought was "wow! You are actually really pretty!" Instead of the usual "ugh so fat" or "you look okay today but you are still fat" I'm going to be conceited today and say I am pretty [emoji23] 2. I went to a jewelry stand with my friend who is pretty skinny and we have the same ring size! I now wear a size 8 ring when just a year ago it was a size 14! That made me feel really skinny! 3. This is a scale victory but I'm at the point where I've actually lost more weight than I weigh right now! I am down 279 pounds and I weigh 261! I started at 540! I am just feeling awesome today!

great job! i'm about 8 weeks post opp - sleeved May 3rd. Here is a pic from November (around my highest weight) and one from this past weekend. Lots of little NSVs, including wearing this sleeveless dress and not completely dreading it. My biggest NSV though, is how many people tell me how happy I look. It must really be showing. I'm still not sure about my progress, Dr said I should be losing 5-7 a week. I'm averaging around 3-4, but happy with my progress overall. I agree this forum has been really helpful, especially when I'm not feeling as confident. Best of luck and keep up the great work!

the fact that you acknowledged your feelings and came here and talked about them instead of turning to food is such a huge accomplishment. Count this as a NSV - non-scale victory!!!

I'm so thankful for this site to be able to hear about everyone else's progress and experiences. It has definitely helped me though a lot of times especially in the first couple of weeks after surgery. I'm just over 2 months out from my surgery. I have those moments when I wonder if I've made enough progress or if I'm not doing well enough. There's no real guidebook to having weight loss surgery. I keep reminding myself to look at the positive changes since surgery. Yesterday I had an exciting NSV when I got to buy a plain XL shirt and some skinny jeans. Those moments are so exciting and always seem to catch me by surprise. I find a lot of times I don't really see the changes in my body when I look in the mirror. Looking at pictures makes a big difference. I have my first set of progress pics attached. The picture on the right was just taken in December 2016. I was wearing a size 24 pant and 3XL shirt. The picture on the right was taken yesterday. I had on size 18 jeans and XL shirt.

Hello ladies...so I had a NSV today....guess who bought shorts in a size 12 🤚🏼🙋🏼 I was a 16 just 1 month ago.... wooo hooo I also bought 2 medium size shirts I was an XL looking forward to buying more clothes but not to much right now lol

My NSV's 1. Fitting properly into my too small clothes I had planned to donate pre-Surgery. 2. Donating the clothes I wore in April 2017 prior to surgery, because the are too big. 3. Seeing my clothes get looser and looser 4. My scars are barely noticeable. My face is slimming and dimples are deeper. 5. I walk a lot faster 6. I can cross my legs!!! HW - 339 SW - 327 CW-. 289 Surgery Date 04/19/17 Sent from my Z981 using BariatricPal mobile app

NSV!!!!!! i was just here on my phone replying to another thread. And I moved my hand down my chest to find my fingers hitting my bra cup....a big gap by the way. I didn't realize it. The band is too large, I knew. I'm happy they're going down too!!! Had to take a pic!!! My seven year old in my lap. Lol the only time y'all will see a piece of my booby hahaha

Hello, I hope everyone here is doing well on their weight loss journey! I'm posting this because I've been having some serious mental health difficulties after surgery and I don't know what to do. I just need to reach out to other people here who understand the struggles of bariatric surgery and who would be so kind as to offer any words of advice or support. I had VSG surgery 9 months ago on Sept. 19th, 2016. I started at 285 pounds before Opti and I'm at 180lbs right now, putting me at a total loss of 105 pounds so far. At my ultimate highest weight I was 310lbs. My ultimate goal weight after surgery is 150lbs (I'm 5' 7") and I'm trying SO hard to try and make it there. A little too hard in fact. I was actually diagnosed with an eating disorder by my psychologist at my last follow up and my NUT is concerned with my eating habits. I've been dealing with a lot of bodily dysmorphia, which I know is definitely normal for bariatric patients due to loose skin or just in the process of getting your mind to catch up with recognizing the physical changes in yourself that everyone else sees. But I'm so unhappy with my body still. I know I've lost a lot of weight, but I still feel so huge and ugly and fat, and I'm so distracted with the way my body looks and with the fact that I still don't feel thin enough. Because of that I've been restricting my meals a lot in an effort to try and lose the rest of the weight faster, thinking it'll make me feel better. I've been skipping meals sometimes, going hours without eating, weighing myself multiple times a day on 3 different scales I have at home, and I've been restricting my calorie and carb intake as much as I can. I know it's unhealthy and a sign of disordered behavior, but I just can't seem to stop doing it, no matter how much I recognize that it's a problem. I track everything I eat on myfitnesspal everyday and I weigh my food using 2 different food scales, and sometimes several times. I'll log say, 15 grams of cheese on myfitnesspal, but only weight 11 grams of it to make sure I'm always eating at a deficit and that I don't accidentally eat too many calories. I've set my calorie goal in myfitnesspal for 900 a day but I never hit it. I have a mental barrier in my mind at 800 calories and most days I feel good when I eat around 700-750. I feel really proud of myself on days I eat closer to 500-600 calories, actually. Other things I'll do, is when I use a spoon to scoop and weigh my Greek yogurt from a carton into a bowl, for example, instead of just using the same spoon to eat my bowl of yogurt I feel obliged to aggressively wash it or just get a new spoon because I don't want to eat any extra calories from the yogurt residue on the spoon. If I don't do that sometimes I'll just lick the spoon and then spit it out whatever was on it into the sink. It's messed up... I know I know this behavior is really unhealthy, but I can't seem to get over this huge fear I have of food now. I'm honestly so terrified of food. Especially carbs. I had my original limit on myfitnesspal set at 20 net carbs a day, but I'll adjust my daily macros by eating 5 grams less here and there to round it out to 15-16 net carbs a day, because I'm so scared of 'hidden carbs' I may be eating accidentally. As I type this I have a plate of chicken breast that I weighed and logged in myfitnesspal already just sitting beside me because I'm too scared to eat it and I want to cry. I read all about patients who regained everything after surgery and I'm so scared that'll happen to me. A little voice in my head keeps telling me "if you don't weigh out this lettuce at a slight gram deficit from what you've logged, or if you eat 19 net carbs today when you really should be eating around 15 to make up for any hidden carbs, then you'll just go right back to being 300+ pounds again and miserable with your life If you can't control yourself now, then you won't ever be able to control yourself again and there's nothing stopping you from regained all your weight back". And that's the thing... while in general I'm dissatisfied with the rate at which I'm losing (I can't help but feel extremely jealous of those people who reach their goal weight at 6 or 8 months postop), and while I hate the fact that my stomach hasn't flattened out yet and I still have a belly that prevents me from wearing the clothes I want, and while I hate the fact that my body feels so disproportionate now, and while I hate the fact that I still have 30 pounds to lose and even if do I reach my goal weight it won't feel like enough......I know I'm MUCH happier after having had the surgery. I like the person I've become, how my personality has changed in subtle ways, and how losing weight has allowed me to be the person who I truly want to be. I always felt that with being fat, you don't get to be the person who you want to be or who you feel you truly are on the inside because you're always hiding from the world. Maybe that's a bit too abstract of a feeling to put in words, but that's how it's been for me at least. I know I'm much happier and confident now, and all my family and friends are so proud of my weight loss. I feel like I can't allow myself to let them down. I keep telling myself that once I reach my goal of 150lbs that I'll allow myself to eat more calories/carbs for maintenance, but in reality I know that my disordered behaviors are only getting worse and in the state I'm in right now I'll never want to stop losing weight. I've wrestled with the idea of trying to get down to 135-125lbs if I can. If I gain back any considerable amount of weight I'm worried I might become suicidal. I know that's a really extreme statement, but I absolutely cannot allow myself to gain weight or I know I'll be completely devastated. I don't know what to do now. Every time I go to weigh my food or track my meals it honestly just turned into such a mental battle with myself and I keep wanting to lose as much weight as possible. I want to be able to eat normally and responsibly, and not feel like food is the enemy, but I just can't help feeling the way I am now. Food has prevented me from living the life I wanted for so many years and I feel like I'm just not emotionally ready yet to begin to eat normally. My physical health has suffered a lot as a result sadly, and I'm always incredibly tired, fatigued, and my muscle strength is totally non-existent. Even just walking up the stairs in my house has gotten considerably more challenging than how it was before surgery. Exercising is something I really want to do but I honestly just can't with the energy levels I have right now. My blood pressure and blood sugar are always both pretty low too (around 80/50 range and 3.5, respectively). I really just can't seem to get over these mental struggles unfortunately. It's been quite rough. And that's why I'm desperately seeking your support right now. I'm just looking for some support/encouragement/advice or any kind words in general, because we WLS-ers are all in this together, for both the NSVs and the challenging parts of our respective journeys. If you read this far, thank you so much for listening! I really appreciate it

1. Wore a minidress for the first time in my life 2. It is a size 4!!!!! 3. No spanx 4. No thigh chafing!

So creeping up on the 3 months post - op milestone and whilst I love being this weight instead of my old weight I am not sure I ever got this quick and rapid weight loss that I was warned about that would be all too obvious to people. I just went into my office nearly 70 lbs lighter then when they last saw me over 6 months over .. not a word was mentioned !!! So instead I like to concentrate on some of the NSV's I set myself before surgery which makes my happy. What makes you happy about where you are on your journey ? The #'s My date 4/3/2017 HW - 275 SW - 245 CW - 208 Dress size was 20 or 2/3X now 14 or XL/L Shopping all the fab choices of flattering clothing in the regular sizes (bank account does not love this) right at the front of the shop rather than in a department tucked away out of sight sometimes behind the homewares ! Flying, I FITTED I FITTED !!! into the airline seat, I didn't spill out over or under the armrest, the belt did up with room to spare, the tray table came all the way down and didn't rest of my stomach and I didn't feel nervous sitting down next to the person in the seat next to me. I even had a business class seat for one leg and quite happily lead down in the seat without feeling wedged in. I have cleaned out my entire wardrobe and filling it a new I can fit into a bath towel covering all that should be covered. I swing a golf club without my body getting in the way and can bend down and pick the ball out of the hole, and its so nice to do it in cute regular sized golf outfits Tied my shoe laces just by bending down normally I am not horrified when I see a side profile of myself (still a WIP) I like seeing face photos of me online all the chubbiness has gone I have not seen any full body shots yet I crossed my legs, I didn't even realize I was doing it but I looked down and there I was sat chilled out on the sofa at work with my legs crossed I am now obese level 1 instead of morbidly obese, again still a work in progress but its nice to remove the word morbidly from anything related to yourself. I am sure there are many more but I just went down my list of goals I created in the waiting room for surgary and already ticked off most of them and some I just don't know yet as I have not tried. So when I get frustrated at the scales I look at at this and realize that yep I have come a long way.

Hey y'all, been busy. TRhis is off wls topic but I'm reading a book called The Total Money Makeover. Talk about convicting. Lol. My husband and I are going strictly cash again. So we cut up all our credit cards last night. 😁 Was it scary? Nope. Was it freeing? Absolutely!!! Why we even bothered to bring them back in to our lives, well....this author gets down to the nitty gritty of habits and lies that we were led to believe. Anyway, I'm glad about it. Now on to wls, my fat feels more jelly like. Not as dense anymore. Maybe it's more skin than fat now. ??? Just feels weird, but good. I didn't think I would struggle with this, since being overweight for less than a decade, but sometimes I just don't see the change. I have to snap out of it and remind myself it's happening. So, maybe I should start listing nsv's on a paper and post it somewhere as a constant reminder. I think in a couple of months, it'll be easier for me to accept it.

I use a Fitbit scale. When I weigh it uploads my weight into my profile. I don't always look down when I weigh. I just figure I'm capturing data that I can look at on the graph in my app. I hadn't looked at my graph in a while and it gives me warm fuzzies to see the downward graph line. To my surprise my graph line was jagged. Up one pound, down one pound. Up two pounds down 3 pounds, etc. So I log in to check the data. To my surprise it was logging in two weigh ins a couple times a week. So I ask if anyone else is using my scale. My husband pipes up that he has been using it for a long time. Apparently it can differentiate between two people unless they are within 5 pounds of each other. Lol...he was literally stepping all over my data collection. So maybe a dorky, funny story but a super cool NSV since I now weigh more than 5 pounds less than my husband for the first time in our 20 year marriage!!!

So I'm trying to forget about the numbers on the scale for the moment. Despite losing 94lbs in 8 months I'm still disappointed with the number but oh well. I'm concentrating on NSV Able to comfortably sit in an airplane seat - no seat beat extension Able to comfortably wear a pair of heels [emoji151] YES!! Gone from a size 26 to 16 which I never ever though I'd get here again Exercising loads and my stamina has risen beyond expectation Able to do a 45seconds plank which is a huge achievement for me Last but not least ABLE TO CROSS MY LEGS!!!!! OMG I've never been able to do this but now my legs naturally want to cross So don't beat yourself up about the numbers. Look and be happy with those NSV!!

That's so exciting, congratulations! This is a great NSV! I'm only a couple months out from surgery, but this is something I'm looking forward to. I have a trip to Disney planned in October so I'll be 6 months out. I'm hoping my hips won't need to squish between the arm rests!

I flew for the first time since wls and fit in the seats with no problem! The seatbelt had a lot of extra belt, after I tightened it, whereas before I had to extend it to the end. Way better experience than the last time I flew.

I've always loved a relaxing bath with a good book and can soak for ages... However, I did that less and less over the years as the tub had to hold more of me and less water! As I sat in the bath today, I noticed I don't fill the width of the tub! By the time I reach goal weight, there will be room for two

I just say that I have been working very hard, walking, exercising, and watching what I eat. I have only told a few people that I felt would be supportive. Some feel the need to ask how much weight I have lost at almost every conversation. I am only two months out, and don't feel I should have to defend my progress, stalls and all. I suppose they only think progress = pounds lost. So not true as there are many NSV to celebrate. Oh, and my favorite pre-surgery comment, "you just need to learn how to eat right." Well now I am learning how to eat right and not be ravenously hungry all the time. Now I have an off switch and am learning to have some will power too! Ignore those who feel they have the right to ask personal questions or decide what is best for you. Besides, when did they receive their doctorate? Keep up the good work everyone!

I wanted to share two NSVs; both happened yesterday. First one is about smoking. I used to smoke (keywords used to).. up until about 2 months ago. I knew I had to give up smoking and quitting hasn't been my problem in the past. But instead of setting a date one day after my dental cleaning was nicely done I decided I'd have just about enough of this. Wasn't bad.. wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.. it just happened. Wouldn't have happened if I had set a date and tried to prepare for it... it just did.. anyway, my NSV was that today I took a drag from hubby's smoke and felt nauseous. Now, that might not sound like much but you know how the saying goes.. you don't quit smoking, smoking quits you! I think it just might have left me for the last time. My second NSV was about water. As one of my first steps toward preparing myself I decided to get my water intake regulated. I've always been big on water, grew up drinking delicious tap water and have never had a problem with it like some people do. However... once I started actually measuring how much I drink I realized that 64 ounces was a loooooong ways off from what I was drinking. Listen up people! You may not be drinking as much water as you think you are. I was very much surprised by this especially since I thought I had 64 oz down pat! But today I actually did have it down, all 64 oz of it. God knows I haven't had to pee this often since I was pregnant! [emoji12] H 5'6" HW 253, CW 245, TBS 9/19

I wanted to share two NSVs; both happened today. First one is about smoking. I used to smoke (keywords used to).. up until about 2 months ago. I knew I had to give up smoking and quitting hasn't been my problem in the past. But instead of setting a date one day after my dental cleaning was nicely done I decided I'd have just about enough of this. Wasn't bad.. wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.. it just happened. Wouldn't have happened if I had set a date and tried to prepare for it... it just did.. anyway, my NSV was that today I took a drag from hubby's smoke and felt nauseous. Now, that might not sound like much but you know how the saying goes.. you don't quit smoking, smoking quits you! I think it just might have left me for the last time. My second NSV was about water. As one of my first steps toward preparing myself I decided to get my water intake regulated. I've always been big on water, grew up drinking delicious tap water and have never had a problem with it like some people do. However... once I started actually measuring how much I drink I realized that 64 ounces was a loooooong ways off from what I was drinking. Listen up people! You may not be drinking as much water as you think you are. I was very much surprised by this especially since I thought I had 64 oz down pat! But today I actually did have it down, all 64 oz of it. God knows I haven't had to pee this often since I was pregnant

To all who have already responded.....WOOHOO!! Congrats to everyone of us who took that BIG step towards a healthier version of us! I too have had loads of fun watching the clothing numbers diminish. My newest NSV with clothes has come at the expense of a few haters called coworkers....I just placed my order for new uniforms; getting new tops in a large/new bottoms in a medium; at the start of this journey, I wore a TIGHT 2xl top and 2xl bottom. 1 month post surgery, I began receiving mean spirited comments about my uniforms not fitting-funny thing was hardly anyone said "OMG, your uniforms are too big", I just kept hearing behind my back that my uniforms looked a hot mess. Ordered new ones in a smaller size (xl tops/large bottoms). As long as the new ones were fitting a little snug, I got the "Looking good with the wt. loss" comments. Now, those are too big, and once again, the haters roared. While there were a few nice words said, many comments were negative. When I receive my LARGE tops and MEDIUM bottoms, I'll get the "nice" comments again, lol. I think the reason I have the dummies saying directly to ne is because actually talking to me will allow me to tell them where to go. I'm so happy we can talk about the NSVs instead of what kind of crap we are putting in our bodies. This wls has shown us there is definitely more to life than food, and for that I'M EXTREMELY GRATEFUL!!! Sent from my SM-G935P using BariatricPal mobile app

Do your research. Make sure you are ready to make the necessary lifestyle changes to be successful. If you need help with food addictions start therapy now. i second what was said above about tracking your food and fluid intake. Follow your doctors and or nutritionist eating plan. A positive attitude is helpful because there will be some tough days. Make a list of all the reasons you are having surgery and a list of NSV that you are looking forward too. This will be helpful when you are having a tough day. walk as soon as you can after surgery as it is the best way to get rid of the gas.

So Monday was day 19 post op and (with my surgeons blessing) I went back to Crossfit. I used to work out 5 days a week, but I wanted to ease back in and told myself I would only go Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. Well, after Monday & Wednesday I was so sore that I skipped Friday. Instead I walked briskly around a track with a friend (who is getting sleeved next month!) for 1.5 hours. After doing yard work today I had the urge to get my sweat on, so our family (me, H, & 3 daughters) went on a 1.5 hr walk/hike at a local wildlife reserve that has lots of hills. I was exhausted after but glad I got in 4 days of exercise this week. My alarm is already set for 4:30 am so I can go back to Crossfit tomorrow morning I'm officially in the 3 week stall, btw. The scale hasn't moved since Wednesday. I'm doing great with my protein & fluids. I'm keeping my sugar & carbs down (between 20 & 30) and tracking EVERYTHING in my app, so I'm just gonna have to wait this out. Also had my 1st NSV today - I wore shorts! I had these shorts for 4+ years but always had such a muffin top that I wouldn't wear them. On a whim I tried them today & they are huge on me. I had to constantly pull them up