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good luck! I know that it is so difficult right now. I think that we have a real need to eat solid foods, that there is some brain thing that happens with chewing and swallowing, the whole eating ritual. You are stressed from not only not having the food ritual, but the young adult stresses are so dramatic. You've had your very first NSV, dealing with your daughter without resorting to eating a huge amount of food. Excellent work on your part, be proud of this NSV, it isn't an easy one.

Hi. I'm new to this site but had my VSG 8/14/14. With the liquids, you are doing the right thing with trying different temperatures. You may want to take smaller sips. At one point my sips were just getting the tip of my tongue wet. What really helped me was walking while I drank my Water. I don't mean a stroll. I was moving my legs! The moving helped the water pass without feeling like someone kicked me in my chest. May I suggest that you put the scale away. You are three days out from surgery. Standing on the scale every day will do nothing but drive you batty. I still don't have a scale in my house because I am compulsive. I would weigh several times a day if it was right there in my home. In the beginning I just waited until my surgeon visits to find my weight. I was never disappointed. I didn't have that dreaded 3 week stall everyone gripes about. I weighed in the doctor's office during the week 1 visit and weighed again during the week 3 visit. Guess what....the weight was down. No stall. After a few weeks, I picked Monday as my official weigh in and just plot my weight once a week on a graph. Some people plot their weight once a month. This way I don't get caught up in the day to day fluctuations your body will make. Before surgery I wrote a list of NSVs I wanted to achieve. This way I could Celebrate something in the event the scale doesn't move from one week to another. Who cares that I didn't lose 1 pound this week because I was able to button a pair of pants that I haven't worn in yearssssss!!!! Just find other ways to celebrate.

NSV stands for non-scale victory. I do weigh myself every day (along with journaling every thing I eat and all my exercise) and i notice that my body goes through stages of losing... i'll hit a new low number, fluctuate around that number bouncing back up a few pounds, back down some, then hit another new low or stall for a week or so before it starts moving again. I'm ok with this. What helps is also measuring yourself every once in a while because usually when the scale isnt moving my body is busy changing shape or working on muscle or something else. one recent NSV I can claim is losing 2 dress sizes. So, my 40 lb weight loss in 3 months may not be as much weight loss as lots of others can claim, but I'm happy with it. I also have picked Friday as my weekly day to evaluate how well i'm losing and it seems my rate of loss is 1-2 lbs per week which I think is pretty healthy and I'm happy with that, too. Anyway good luck to you and I hope the burning when you drink stops soon. It may just be some wounded tissue from the hiatal hernia repair and when it heals that will hopefully stop.

LOL on the NSV. My size 14 petite jeans I boughtr 3 weeks ago are getting big on the legs. So.....hoping by New Year I can get some 12's or 11's. I won't go shopping till I hit 170 then see what fits. Hope to be that by New Years. I am still wearing tops and they are big. So glad that's the style still. I have lots of those baby doll empire tops and now they fit so much better. I can wear them for a few more months. I want to get through the winter before I buy anything more than new jeans. Although there is a sweater at Coldwater Creek I have my eye on....hope it goes on sale after the holidays. It's a bit pricy. LOL

SO I got my fill yesterday, getting to that point where I am taking fills slowly and being careful...and fearful of if I get overfilled. So I decided I'd take it easy and went to do some xmas shopping (I have a fair bit more to do DOH!!) but whilst there I tried on some clothes for myself. It is hard because my mind is still in 'fatter mode' where I think that certain sizes will def NOT fit. but I thought what the hey I'll give it a go. So I tried on two tops and they fit!! I haven't been able to buy a size 16 in years!!! So I had to buy them...I realised I need some tops to get me through the summer :tt1:~ I also have a pair of pants I bought too small for me for $5.00 (that were on sale having been $100) I didn't try them on thinking I had a lot more to go before they'd fit but I tried them on a few weeks ago and they were really loose and now I think they are too big!! ARRGHH!! Then I got a hair cut and colour...Amazing how a day can make you feel better about yourself :tt1:

I'm back from my long weekend with DS2. We had a great time with my family. We left early on Friday and arrived in Columbus for an early lunch (white-knuckled trip with pouring rain until we were almost there). I was supposed to be on mushies the whole day and then start solids Saturday (post-fill), so I chose some cottage cheese for lunch. I brought flowers from my garden and between those and Mom's we made about 8 arrangements and took them over to my Middle Sister's to start prep for the party. We worked until dinnertime and I was able to get down a little thin crust pizza and mixed fruit salad back at Mom's. Saturday found Mom and I (and two of her Herb Society friends) on a two hour trip down to a lavender farm for a festival (sorry, I forgot my camera but found these pics of the farm online-no, I don't know that cute little boy). It smelled like heaven as we pulled into the lavender field to park. She'd signed us up for two classes so we went off to the 'Mediterranean Cooking with Herbs' class. As I've said before, I'm not the chef in our family, but I was excited for this class. I have a nice herb garden (most cooks would kill for…my neighbors do come to take snippings occasionally at my urgings) and I'd like to learn to use more of them. I always dry some herbs each year (mainly for show in my kitchen and basement rack), but the only things I really use fresh are the basil to mainly make pesto or my mozzarella/tomato Italian flag salad, the tarragon for a chicken bake dish DH makes, and occasionally some chives, dill, or oregano for an occasional recipe. The teacher is the regional cooking expert for Macy's department stores (I think she works a lot with brides, etc.) and she was very knowledgeable. I'm inspired to try to incorporate the fresh herbs more now while they're in season. We had a meal of bread, salad, chicken, pancetta, and cookies all incorporating the herbs at the end of the demo. I almost had a stuck moment as I was carefully eating the herb salad (I thought I chewed very carefully). I was trapped at an inside table with people all around or I would have gotten up as I could feel the sliming about to start. I was panicking and I'm sure the folks across from me saw my eyes watering…but then it passed in a few minutes. I quickly gave Mom the rest of my salad saying I'd taken too much…whew…that was a close one! The Lavender Festival was wonderful, but small (about 20 vendors and the classes), so then we found ourselves with about 3 hours to kill before our next class. It was almost 90 degrees out so after the 'cut your own lavender' trip to the field and shopping the vendors (I bought; 5 plants, a pair of beaded earrings for DD's birthday in August, and 20 wooden garden markers for DS2's vegetable garden that he can decorate) we looked for a shady spot and bought some lavender ice cream from the Mennonites who had an ice cream and baked goods booth (they had a small John Deere engine attached to the ice cream maker…cool to watch). I asked for only one scoop…OMG that ice cream was wonderful…fresh cream from the cow…a scoopful of heaven! Our last class was making a framed picture from pressed flowers and Mom is going to be doing this at one of their Festival's at the herb garden she volunteers with weekly, so she was very excited. We were done in record time (the heat made us work fast) and we were back in the car for our trip home. Then off to Middle-Sister's for my nephew's HS graduation party (he's in a college program now to become a police officer). It went perfectly; no rain and lots of fun. We collapsed after pitching or bagging up the extra food around midnight. Sunday we stayed until late morning so I could spend some more time with Dad for Father's Day. I gave him a nice box of smoked salmon, which he loved. Unusual gift, I know. DH and I (and the kids) twice visited DH's sister and her family when they lived in Alaska for 2 years. We took my only brother on the second trip. He loved it so much that he and DH arranged a fishing trip there (in a motor home for a week traveling the area) a few years later and they took my Dad. He loved getting the salmon they caught smoked and so the salmon I bought him was labeled as being from one of the rivers in Alaska that they fished…he noticed right away. We got in the car for our 3 ½ hour ride home and DS2 said 'It was a great weekend!' and high-fived me as he said 'It was a nice trip with just you and I!' I forget that the baby of the family, even at 13 yrs. old can still need some quality one on one time. We played Mad Libs most of the way home and stopped at McDonalds for lunch (I ate ½ a grilled chicken club sandwich…went down fine). Had a nice evening of playing Frisbee in the backyard and grilling out for Father's Day back home with the family (Happy belated Father's Day all you Dad's). Tomorrow is the Jimmy Buffet concert with 2 neighbor couples (can't wait) and Thursday morning we leave for PennState with DS1 for our orientation (staying at the old colonial Nittany Lion Inn on campus overnight-run by the PennState hospitality program, so it should be fun). DH took off the rest of the week for all this, but I'll try to post some updates when we have some down time. I'm off to the Drs. (routine) with the boys and then on to DS2's guitar lesson (he AMAZES me with his talent...no idea where it comes from, but it's great for each kid to find something they're good at). Today is my two-month bandiversary and I'm down 19 pounds since surgery (most of that, just post-op though). I'm just hoping to keep losing or at least not gain during this 6 week wait for the next fill. Sorry I went on and on as usual, just catching up. Have a great week all!!! I'll post some pics I just took of my garden later.

Yes, to echo what Vinesqueen has suggested, if getting through one day seems to big then try one hour. Anything to help keep you focused. And dont forget the NSV (God I love them!!) Best thing you have done is to share your delima here. The support this forum has to offer is worth all of the M&M's ever made!!! I find a little something in every post I read. Just keep on truckin Kel, you'll get there! Cheers!!

Thanks Ann. NSV = Non Scale Victory - a celebration of all those little things that come with losing weight, apart from seeing the numbers move on the scale (eg new clothes, being able to tie your shoe laces and breathe at the same time, etc). Size 10 eh? Whoohoo! Congrats! I'm sure that feels WONDERFUL!

Oh wow! That's a big NSV!! Good for you!! You should feel very proud of yourself.

Cerrin, I know the feeling...I've had dates with two guys in the past month because of my new found confidence. This is so cool! I didn't think of that being an NSV, what was I thinking. My last date prior to this was a blind date 5 years ago.

So as of today I am almost 3 months out from VSG and I have lost 55lbs. Today is Christmas and things are very different this year, for the first time in my life I didn't overeat into misery at Christmas dinner, I have stayed well within my nutritional goals for the day, and (here's a big one for me) I came home and worked out when we got back from the family gathering I have never ever done that before. For me today was a few big NSVs that made the holiday all that much more enjoyable! ???? On the left was at my all time highest weigh, middle was at surgery, and right was a few weeks ago.

B 1 EGG 70 L1/2 CHILLI 110+ 1/2 BAKED POT135 5 PC NUGGETS 220+ CRACKERS = 595 D1/2 CHILLI+1/2 BAKED POT+ 245= 840 NSV REGINE CAME IN...HASN'T SEEN ME SINCE B4 MY SURGERY...SHE LOOKED @ ME & SAID "DID YOU LOOSE WEIGHT?" I SMILED & SAID "YES"

B 1 EGG 70 L1/2 CHILLI 110+ 1/2 BAKED POT135 5 PC NUGGETS 220+ CRACKERS = 595 D1/2 CHILLI+1/2 BAKED POT+ 245= 840 NSV REGINE CAME IN...HASN'T SEEN ME SINCE B4 MY SURGERY...SHE LOOKED @ ME & SAID "DID YOU LOOSE WEIGHT?" I SMILED & SAID "YES"

that is so awesome!!! Excellent NSV!

Great NSV!!!!! I'm opposite also. I'm in 12's in regular size pants, but in tops, I'm a 16-18, or sometimes 14-16. I'm kinda big busted, but just carry weight funny. :girl_hug: Keep up the great work!

I have brought out more of my winter clothes and many are too big! I look like I'm wearing my father's clothes. What a great problem. Only issue, I don't want to waste money on new clothes which will also be too big shortly. Oh, what a lovely dilemma.

Tuesday one year ago I met with my surgeon for the first time. What a wonderful year I have had for health and rediscovering me. For those of you just starting out, you may feel like I did that your surgery is too far in the future and waiting all those months will be unbearable. When I first started to research WLS in September, I thought I might be able to have surgery before Christmas. Ha ha ha. Not only was it not before Christmas, but it didn't actually happen until March. And you know what? I needed every single day of that time period between September and March to prepare myself for this enormous life change. First, I met with my clearing psychologist. And I didn't get cleared! Nope. I needed to change my habit of eating in front of the TV. Until I did that, the psychologist was not going to clear me for surgery. He told me that I needed to make lifestyle changes. When I first heard that, of course I said, sure! Everybody knows you need to make lifestyle changes! But when I went back to him the following month for clearance, and I told him I had not been exactly able to give up TV eating, he told me point blank that he didn't think I was ready for WLS. He told me that unless I actually made the lifestyle changes, I was not likely to succeed with the LapBand. Of course, he was right. I'm glad that my little wake up call was so minor, and not a bigger deal, like if I had been denied surgery at the last minute. His denial made me face facts. How was I going to live in a new way, if I wasn't even willing to change a little bit? After I gave up TV eating, the next hurdle was the holidays. I grieved my way through Thanksgiving. I was very sad that in my mind, it was going to be my last enjoyable holiday. I sat in the kitchen the night before Thanksgiving, after having roasted the turkey, and binged on the crispy turkey skin. It was the weirdest experience I'd had in a long time. I knew what I was doing, and simultaneously I knew it was the last time I was going to do it. I knew that Thanksgiving 2014 was going to be different. I was going to have lap band surgery and I was going to be eating like a normal person. I was working toward that goal with excitement. So why was I so sad? I was getting ready to pay somebody thousands of dollars to help me recover from binge eating. And I was grieving not being able to binge eat anymore. Fast forward to February 2014. My personal life took a terrible plunge. My marriage, which was in bad shape before my WLS process began, took a terrible blow. Constant stress became my normal everyday life. I had one anchor in my life. My upcoming surgery. I was banded mid March 2014. I complied with all of the doctor's orders. My surgery was a breeze, and my weight began to come off right away. You can see by my ticker that I have had a lot of success this year. I am almost 2/3 of the way to my goal weight. I have not been the weight I am right now since my second child was born 19 years ago. Through it all, I have received immeasurable help and support from this website. I do not have a supportive spouse. I do have two very supportive daughters. But when it comes right down to it, we must do this for ourselves. Nobody can do this for us. And more importantly, nobody, nobody, nobody can prevent us from doing this for ourselves once we are ready to reclaim our power. I'll save my long list of NSV's and great experiences for when I write my 100 pounds lost post soon. And it's almost here. This post is just a reflection back to that first week when I walked into a WLS orientation meeting, followed by a meeting with my surgeon. The fearful, beaten-down person that I was one year ago no longer exists. In her place is a strong, confident woman who knows that she is worth it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is about so much more than weight. Nothing changes until everything changes.

How wonderful to have a 1X NSV -- woo hoo! Keep on walkin girl!

WHHooohoooooo! I am down 7 lbs, I only have 4 more to go to be under 300 lbs. Can I get a Whot Whot!!! Hell Yes. I have worked out everyday and I feel great. It gets so much easier when you do it everyday. My dd is doing so good and working out with me. "Small nsv" we went to the store today to get the last few things I needed for surgery. We went past the cookies, and my ds said "mom lets get cookies", Before I could say anything My dd piped up and said "Kaleb, thats not very healthy". All I did was smile. We then went and got yogurt instead.. I went and had my "last supper" today. I went to cici's for cinn rolls. I did good and had a big salad with low fat dressing and 3 cinn rolls. That will be the last time I ever have a cinn roll from cici's. I will never go back... I tried on a pair of shorts today and could not get them buttoned but I did get them over my hips.. LOL they are safe in my dresser and waiting till the day I can put them on, button them, and have lots of room to move... I have 7 days left... Yeahhhhh This waiting is KILLING me. While I wait: 1 1/2 hours on cross trainer 300 crunches 100 leg lifts 3 sets 15 curls 3 sets 15 press DD 20 mins cross trainer 100 crunches 50 jumpin jacks 28 leg lifts

I am down 2lbs this week I have walked 7 miles this week and have done my wii fit every day for 30min. I really need to measure because I feel like I have lost inches. WTG on everyones losses and NSV!

"I'm only frustrated with myself for giving into the frequent weighing. Oh, sure, I'd love to be losing as quickly as some. As helpful as this board is, the down side can be reading about others gushing about how the weight is falling off when it isn't happening to me. And I know I'm not losing because I don't have restriction yet, because I had a low BMI to begin with, and because I'm perimenopausal and having periods that last two weeks and come every two weeks. " Longhorn, you are doing great! If this were someone else, wouldn't you say the same thing to them? I think we all are a lot harder on ourselves than if the same thing were happening to others. If weighing you every day is depressing, then stop! You don't need that aggravation. I like weighing every day. If I don't then I gain for sure. And my weight fluctuates all the time. I tend to lose, then gain it back, then lose it once and for all, then plateau there for a while, and the cycle begins again. But if you're frustrated by it, then how about just at your doc's office like you first started? How about you throw out that scale and just rely on your doc's? Then it's not even there to tempt you, and you can focus on NSV's and the way your clothes fit. ALSO, big important thing here, you always weigh more at the doc's office than at home. Usually at home it's in the morning, no clothes, no food in your belly. At the doc's office you're wearing clothes, retaining Water weight from the day, etc, etc. I also hate the gushers. It makes me want to stab myself in the eye. It's hard not to compare to others though. I feel like I'm losing at a great rate FOR ME - it's probably slow compared to others. It looks like I've lost a lot but most of that was on my liquid phase in the beginning. I've slowed right down, but for ME it's absolutely incredible, and I have to keep reminding myself of that. I'm thankful when I don't GAIN, so to lose is an absolute miracle. I also have a hard time with challenges. It kind of sets me up to fail. But they can be very motivational for the right people. So, end of story, you're doing great! Don't beat yourself up! And do what works FOR YOU!! Love ya! Linda XOXO

I've got a funny story for you about that. I nearly had a punch up with an old bat at weight watchers once, she was doing the weighing and measuring. She told me I was 5ft 9. I'm not, I'm 5ft 10. I didnt like being called 5ft 9 becuase it meant I was even more overweight than I thought I was, lol. So I made her remeasure me. 5ft 9. Six freaking times, same answer, 5ft 9. So I was fatter and shorter than I thought. Great. Anyway, I assumed I'd shrunk an inch. Getting obese had compressed my spine or something. Anyway skip forward to a few years later and there I am in the surgeon's office having my first official weigh and measure. 5ft 9. Six months later, another weight and measure and WTF? I'm 5ft 10 again. I started rabbiting on about NSV's and said what a great health benefit, I've uncompressed my spine. No, love, she says (we call each other Love here). When you're at your heaviest you have a big bum. You cant stand straight against the wall to be measured because of your bum, nearly everyone leans back slightly. You havent grown, your bum's just not in the way of the wall anymore! ROFLMAO! Now if THAT isnt an NSV I dont know what is.

Wow awesome NSV. I know that made you feel on top of the world!

I would count both of the kids' remarks as NSVs (non scale victories)! Agree on the fill I would never be able to eat more than about half of one and that's good for me!

oh my goodness....I hadn't seen this thread until now. Thanks for the laughs, ladies!!! Here's one for the Sad But True category -- I can't call it a NSV, how about a NSA(Non-scales Actuality)?? One way I can tell that I'm losing is my considerable APRON is getting longer and thinner. It's hard to get excited about weight loss when it comes with such uncomely results.