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great going.. I too have lost 94lbs in 5 mo.. right now I too am at a stall.. been the same for 2 weeks now.. so I figure soon that will change.. Im just gonna hang in there and im sure it will start again.. only thing im dealing with right now is the hair loss.. its been a lot for me. Im gonna be bald before too long... oh well.. new me.. new hair do too I guess LOL its all good.. I will trade the hair for the weight loss anyday.. that hair will grow back Im told.. but im happy.. best of luck to you.

Urgggh, I get terrible pain in my feet, ankles, legs & hips. I've got joint hypermobility, so I'm prone to having pain, but I'm really hoping, like you, that the pain will go when I have surgery & drop weight. Please, please, please!

I am in the same boat. I started somewhere around 154-156 and am holding steady at 144 now at 20 weeks pregnant. My OB "yelled" at me for not gaining. My last monthly check up showed I was down 1 pound from the previous month. I really am not trying to lose and am eating tons - but it is just not affecting me. I also had my band half unfilled and I am hungry and eating when I am hungry. I have recently added in a daily shake to boost my diet per my OB's recommendation. I still haven't gained but I feel like I am eating healthy with a great diet. The baby size is fine according to the ultrasound, so I am not going to worry too much about it. As long as we are eating well . . . perhaps we are just on the lucky side :thumbup:

I started my 2 week Liquid Diet on January 5, 2011 with my Plication Surgery on January 19,2011 with Dr Watkins and I have lost 50 Pounds to date. I started with a BMI of 49 and weight of 383 this morning I weighed 332. I would recommend it to anyone. It is a TOOL and there are ways to CHEAT you can eat more Junk Food than Healthy Food, Once you eat good food your stomach definetly gives you a sign, If you choose to ignore this sign it Hurts and is not worth the Pain which last around 3hrs. I AM VERY PLEASED WITH MY PLICATION and DR Watkins and Staff are GREAT

If you are asked why you were gone from work, just say you had personal business to attend to. If someone asks if you have lost weight, say yes and thank you. Don't let anyone draw you into anything. Just smile and walk away.

my NUT said that on average, people who only drink diet soda GAIN 15 pounds a year. she explained it so much better than i am, but something about the carbonation, mixed with the sweeteners used causes an reaction in your brain that actually makes you FEEL hungrier and you end up eating more. so, yep, as for me, no more soda. ever. and honestly i have drank NOTHING but soda since i was 13 (im 37 now) i had my last soda in april of this year, and thanks to mio sweet tea, i don't miss it. but, there are sleevers that still partake in soda. but, for me, nah. good luck on your journey.

I'm sure there are many struggling with the same thing you are. Talk to your doctor, find some help, get some therapy. Something all of us struggle with is loving ourselves for who we are, and that struggle doesn't go away with the weight loss. You look wonderful, for what it's worth!

Well, my husband thinks I am "throwing money" at my problem by getting the band. I want to be free from my compulsion to over eat. As a type 1 diabetic, my endo is all for the band. It will bring down my A1c, my weight, my lipids, my blood pressure. Of course, hubby thinks I should "just eat less and exercise more". Why is it that thin people think fat people don't know what to do to lose weight! I only need to lose about 70 lbs. I have been successful losing weight in the past, but it always comes back and then some. The thing is, I can afford to self pay. I want to do it. How do I convince my skinny husband?:thumbup:

Well, my husband thinks I am "throwing money" at my problem by getting the band. I want to be free from my compulsion to over eat. As a type 1 diabetic, my endo is all for the band. It will bring down my A1c, my weight, my lipids, my blood pressure. Of course, hubby thinks I should "just eat less and exercise more". Why is it that thin people think fat people don't know what to do to lose weight! I only need to lose about 70 lbs. I have been successful losing weight in the past, but it always comes back and then some. The thing is, I can afford to self pay. I want to do it. How do I convince my skinny husband?:cursing:

I have been just not weighing at all. Because my emotional well being needs the break. I obsess over my weight so much. The sad thing is I have actually canceled my Dr appointments (before WLS) because I knew I had to step on those hated scales. While I was in the weight loss mode I looked forward to weighing, Not so much now!! I will weigh but not everyday!! BTW did you know that you can refuse to weigh a the DR's office. When I go to my Bariatric Dr of course I weigh. But not at my PCP. I don't feel like my PCP needs me to weigh unless I need med's that go by weight. Any how we all GOTTA do WHAT it takes ro be ok with ourselves. Good Luck

YOU are VERY AWESOME!! The one that got me was the losing more weight than you weigh!! My goodness that is freakin AMAZING!! I like 1# to losing 1/2 of my total weight. LOL Gotta Love it

the first week in july is my last dr. appointment before we can schedule my surgery. I'm only 23. This thing happened all because an insurance company turned me down because of my weight. I had the chance to sign up for COBRA through aetna since I worked at Starbucks. This was the best thing to happen. The process has been nothing but easy. This is a true answer to prayer. My goal is to get healthy. I'm only 4' 11'' and weight over 212. I'd love to loose 90. God.. and I just want to be in a healthy relationship too. So here begins my journey... GO!

(Cross posted from the forums.) So, my lovely girlfriend took a number of pictures of me standing around in just my boxers, and, yeah... now I remember why 1) I never go shirtless, and 2) I don't like pictures! I believe that, under all the flab, I'm still a basically good looking man. But I have let the fat pile up, in roll after roll, until I'm almost unrecognizable under it. I think I've never really let myself accept just how very fat I've become. I have this bizarre mental image of myself as much more "normal" weight than is reality, but I also live in constant apprehension of someone seeing just how large I am. It's a bizarre mental double-image, and the photos today (which are in my private profile, and are going to stay private until I have some real progress to show!) were... a shock. My weight looks... ungainly, unhealthy, and just unsupportable, long-term. In some ways I think I haven't been fully committed to the surgery until this moment, just now, when I realized "man, if you stay like this, if you don't change something, you are going to die, painfully, and soon." I really understand now why... My back almost always hurts. If it's not my back, it's my shoulder from lying on my side to read or sleep (all that weight on my shoulder causes problems). I almost never sleep well, and fight constantly with apnea. I'm sick so often. I hate exercise so much -- if I walk long distances (or even stand up straight for too long), something is always chafing or rubbing or constricting. It's not surprising... with that much flab to move around, who would be comfortable? I have such a hard time finding clothes that fit. I buy huge, tent-like clothes to try to fit into and "hide" my flab, but let's be real... I'm not fooling anybody. I feel so awkward in social situations -- I'm very body-shy, and it's very difficult for me to avoid the belief that someone is "judging" me for my body. Some years ago, I had LASIK surgery because I was very nearsighted. I had to wear thick, coke bottle glasses (or contacts, but they were killing my eyes). I was very frightened of the surgery, to be honest -- I was worried I would go blind or something. But I got through it; I did my best to follow the surgeon's instructions TO THE LETTER, and when my eyes had fully healed, I had better than 20/20 vision (20/10 in one eye, 20/15 in the other). It wasn't entirely a positive experience; I had to shell out five thousand dollars of my own money (LASIK was still new). It was a little painful and a lot frightening, but I still consider it one of the best choices I've ever made. I still just stare out on this beautiful world, sometimes, and marvel at how nice it is to be able to really SEE without thick lenses or frames chafing my ears or getting smudged or slipping down (and making everything look small, that's one odd effect of glasses that they never mention -- everything looks so SMALL). It was totally worth the money, and I would do it again in a moment. So that's how I'm thinking of the weight loss surgery. I've done the research; on almost every single metric, this surgery will improve my life. It will add years of life expectancy, and (maybe more important), it will likely be QUALITY life, not years spent in sickness and decline. It will restore my mental image of myself as a "normal looking" guy to reality. It will hopefully ease my constant anxiety that something is Dreadfully Wrong with me, health-wise (I'm fortunate that almost all of my anxiety is, for now, ungrounded -- but how long will THAT last?). YES, there will be some initial pain, but apparently not much. YES, I'll have to likely deal with some nausea or "sliming" or whatever, but that's a small price to pay. YES, I'll have to re-learn how to eat, and make good food choices every single day, but to be honest, I should have been doing that anyhow. I'm hoping that, like the LASIK surgery, I'll look back on this in a few years and say "would I do it again? Absolutely, yes. In a heartbeat." Because after looking at myself in all of my non-glory today, I don't like what I see. That much fat just can't be sustained. This kind of life of pain, embarrassment, discomfort, and always waiting for the "other shoe to fall," health-wise, just can't last. I have to do it. I think, now, I may finally WANT to do it.

You are not going to have a problem living with high protein low carb. I was a huge lover of bread and other carbs...huge. After I went on the diet and got the surgery, the weight falling off literally changed my whole perspective in a couple ways: 1. I physically cannot eat carbs and bread like before because it fills me up too fast and makes me feel ill. I am just not interested in carbs and fatty foods any more. 2. Once you see the weight coming off, you will be motivated to keep it going off. 3. You learn to eat your protein first and veggies next. After that, there is no room for carbs. I really don't miss the carbs at all. 4. You will be satisfied by the food you eat so it is not like before...nothing like before so you have to forget now and realize your body is changed and you are NOT PHYSCIALLY ABLE TO EAT LIKE THAT ANY MORE.

Hello all!! I'm just looking for advice and tips, I am 4 months out and have lost about 53 pounds. I am very happy with everything but myself. I am so disappointed in myself because I often find myself eating the wrong things necessary for weight loss. I have done well to avoid anything that may harm my pouch but not so great with foods to avoid for weight loss. My vices are tea and ice cream. Even though there are many I can't tolerate, there are plenty I can. I just don't want to have done this for no reason and end up right back where I was. What have you guys done to ensure your success. How do you maintain a healthy diet? Thanks!!

I lost 16 pounds over 8 months while waiting for approval. Only 5 of it during the 6 months of supervised weight loss and only 3 during the week of pre-op. I did not exceed 800 calories per day with very low carb. My surgery was uneventful and I have lost 30% of my excess weight (31 lbs) in 12 weeks. No vomiting, no dehydration and so far no hair loss.

I haven't had surgery yet (3/10), but I'm so glad to meet a sleever with RA. I was diagnosed 3 or so years ago, but had symptoms for at least 10 before that. I had my remicade Friday and it remains to be seen how long I will wait to go back after. The rheumatologist said I only have to miss a week or so of methotrexate injections, so that's good. I can't help but think the weight coming off the joints will counteract the delay in getting the infusion on board...I sure hope so!

I am 10 weeks out and have lost 56 pounds total; 39 pounds since 12/26 surgery. It sounds like we are losing at about the same rate. I am trying to just follow the plan, drink my water, eat my protein & exercise. Sooner or later, the weight will come off, just maybe not as quickly as I want it to. Be gentle with yourself; you are doing fine! You have lost the weight of a young child!!! Celebrate the joy of the scale dropping rather than going up!

Hang in there, dear. You are experiencing normal things, and each day will get better than the day before. I know that is not very helpful, especially when you are going through it, but I promise you are not alone. I also promise, like pinky swear promise, that you WILL NOT REGRET this decision in any way. Once those pounds start dropping off, you are walking and doing light exercises, you begin to gain energy, etc., you will know that you have done the exact best thing you could possibly do for yourself. Of course you are tired---you have just had major surgery, and the anesthesia always catches up to you around this point of your journey. You are experiencing absolutely normal things. Once you can begin eating soft foods, you will begin to feel so much better, I promise. Just hang in there, do your best to walk, sip, walk, sip, walk, sip, and take each day as it comes. You can't speed up this process, so each day is a new experience, albeit a slow one. But, once you drop that first 20 pounds, that will motivate you to keep going. I am glad to hear the soreness is easing up a bit. I didn't have the hiccup thing, but walking and moving as much as you can will help move all the gas out of your stomach area. You've got this, Sista!!!! Take care.......

hi plum007, i have been reading your blogs and was interested. i too didn't loose heaps of weight on the opti like most people do, i have lost 6.5kgs since the begining which i thought was quite low compared to others. however i did start on more solid food about two and a half weeks post surgery which to some is quite soon. but anyway i feel good and i will be watching this site to keep me broad minded about the whole experience. i guess its not always text book for everyone. keep up the good work.

When I first got my band in July, my big goal was to be 250 by this coming summer. At the time, it felt like such a reach! Completely doable, but a major reach! I would reach 250, I would go out and buy myself a new bathing suit for the first time in years, and I would swim my butt off all summer! Well, since I floated past that weight goal back during the holidays, my NEW summer goal is to hit 100 pounds lost! That would put me at 218 by summer, another 18 pounds to get there. My weight loss has definitely slowed over the past few months (as I expected it would), BUT I CAN DO THIS! I just can't imagine how it will feel when people ask me how much I've lost, to look at them, flip my hair over my shoulder, stick my chest out and boast "100 pounds, baby!" LOL

A new breakthrough secret is all you now need in order to forever shed countless pounds, stay healthy, and add many years to your life! A lady doctor from Arizona has blown the lid off the best-kept secret in weight loss ever discovered -- and this has the whole diet food and drug industries turned upside down and in nothing less than a torrential uproar. Her name is Dr Suzanne Gudakunst, and she's marching to the beat of a different drum. And no, nothing about her "secret" is difficult -- nor does it require that you do something completely out of the ordinary or anything unnatural. Instead, the Arizonian boasts proudly "...this is something that I caught onto just before 2002 when there was so much research and exploration going around concerning the human colon and digestive system working in harmony with nutritional absorption, and I started doing independent studies just to test things at first ... but which I later expanded on after seeing some fantastic results." This same woman medical practitioner went on to accurately determine a definitive correlation between harmful plague and parasitic infestations of the human bowel tract, and people suffering chronic obesity -- and who despite intense diet and exercise appeared to be unable to lose any weight whatsoever. Over the course of six years the Arizona doctor developed a number of natural treatments for the removal of these same harmful, even life-threatening plaques and rapidly reproducing digestive parasites -- and when applied to even worse-case patients suffering extreme obesity (98% of which were in immediate danger of dying) she saw a 100% effectiveness and success rate. She then borrowed from her research on the severely obese, and applied the same strategies on milder cases of overweight persons -- only to find the same effectiveness and quality results as described above (although the individual weight loss per subject wasn't nearly as much as those obese patients 100 lbs to 200 lbs or more overweight). So powerful is her secret that she's able to reverse diabetes, rid illness altogether in people suffering from cancer (linked directly to poor diet and overweight factors), as well as an elimination of an entire spectrum of serious and otherwise life-threatening diseases. Nearly 100% of all her case subjects were told in the alternative by "conventional doctors" that they either had just months or years to live, or they would never live a life anything resembling remotely a "normal" existence -- yet after applying Dr Suzanne's treatments saw a complete contradiction to others doctors' prognoses. Again, nothing about her secret is unnatural or requires someone to do any major action or modification in their lives. In fact, her entire treatment is based completely on built-into-nature 'protection agents' scattered throughout the world in the form of select herbs, extracts, and organic constituents, and which can be found in a variety of plants -- but when combined in specific combinations and carefully chosen amounts make for a solution to what is perhaps the world's worst ever plague: OBESITY (and the illnesses and diseases resulting from it -- or at least severely aggravated or exacerbated by it). Now to everyone else's great gain, whether suffering from just a few extra pounds and inches, to those extremely fat and overweight, this brave, bold lady doctor is releasing to the general public her secret for forever destroying the tight unrelenting closed-fist of obesity's stronghold over the now more than 40% of Americans labeled obese, and others worldwide. But she's not promising any of us for how long. Some experts and sociologists suggest that in the bigger scheme of things, the world will never tolerate a discovery of such magnitude, any more than it would be realistic to expect a car that runs on water (even if very real) to ever become commercially available to the general public for day-to-day use. One well-respected and famous diet & wellness author wrote years ago that if anyone ever "truly unlocked the keys to permanent fat loss, they may actually suffer the same fate as JFK." It is currently available at: => http://brm2bkm.fatsecret.hop.clickbank.net ...so you may want to head on over there now and get it and before someone or "something" gets it forever yanked out of ever getting in YOUR hand at least. It's in a very easily readable format and is quickly and readily understood and mastered by anyone with even a 4th grade reading level. While you're there, why not scroll down and review for yourself the huge successes others are now having with this incredible breakthrough in rapid, massive weight loss and extremely improved and enhanced health, now made freely available to the rest of us? -Becky

I'm six days post-op and I think I finally turned a corner. While the pain from the "big" incision still hurts pretty bad, it has become tolerable. The gas/bloating seems to be subsiding, and the cramping I had after swallowing seems to be going away (though not completely - it's just not as bad and less frequent, but still super painful when it does happen). I also haven't had a normal BM, but I have been "productive", which I guess is better than what I've read some of you have gone thru. In other words, no constipation! So, I guess my question now is, when does this damn weight start disappearing??? LOL!!! I'm still having a bit of trouble getting all my fluids in (up to about 40oz. water, one 11oz. protein shake and various SF popsicles, pudding, yogurt, soup, etc.), and have zero appetite. That said, while I'm not the least bit hungry, I'm starting to crave the taste of certain things. Now it's like my tastebuds are on extra high alert! Is this normal? Does it go away? I've never had food issues before and I hope this doesn't trigger something. Anyway, now that I'm feeling better, I'm looking forward to LOOKING better! Almost everything I've read, either a post or an article says the weight will literally start "falling off". I really hope that's true. I've come this far, and I can't even imagine this not working. I'm still 1# heavier than I was the day of surgery, so I'm chalking that up to the last bit of air and fluids they pumped into me. 🤞 The weather here is supposed to be super hot & humid all week, so I don't know how much walking I'll get in, but I plan to be up & about around the house...doing housework or whatever else I can to keep active. Thank you all SO MUCH for all the kind and supportive words. It really does mean a lot! 🤗 P.S. Downside of pain meds... Norco makes me HYPER (as opposed to sleepy or loopy). It's now 1:00am CT and I'm wide-the-flip awake... 4 hours past my bedtime! Argh!

I can't wait for that! I'm waiting to take any more trips until I lose weight... my last one I was fat shamed and never want that to happen again. Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

I find that sometimes when I can't get hardly anything down I will chew the food and then discretely spit it into a cup without swollowing. My finace thinks it gross (and a waste of good food) however I feel that it satifies my mental issues of loving the taste of food without gaining the weight. Am I the only weird one who chews and spits? Ginger