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Congratulations on NSV! and welcome back also!

Hi, I am realively new to this support group and there have been several abreviations used that I'm afraid I don't know their meaning. I'm not as computer savey as a lot of you obviously are. Could someone please tell me what does PB stand for? NSV? Sorry to ask such a dumb question, I have tried to figure them out, but so far I am just drawing blanks. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Brenda, I too have been on a plateau for all summer. 2 entire pounds since June, and now we are looking at September. I got so pissed off I almost quit everything, but came to my senses. My thanks to everyone for their encoragement on that. 7 pounds in 8 weeks is not a plateau, it just bearly is below the 1-2 pounds a week. That is still within the realm of reasonable weight loss. Sure, it isn't the amazing rappid loss many of us got used to, but it is still within the expected rate. I undestand your frustration, espcially when we see how amazing some people are doing. We are so excited for our fast loosers, even when we feel a stab of envy because of our own slow loss. I have stopped tracking my weight. I know it is unreasonable on some level, but I have stopped. I stopped for my sanity. I am now solely focused on my NSVs. It really makes this part of the journey tolerable. Today, I bought a size LARGE skirt. Not a 2X but a large. So, I suppose right now, the fact that I've only lost 2 pounds all summer is irrelevent. What are your NSVs? Are you tracking your inches lost?

I just want you to know, that i'm right there with you. My surgery is in a week, and my emotions change every 5 minutes. Sometimes i'm happy, sometimes i'm nervous, sometimes i'm calm and sure, other times i'm completley ready to chicken out. Usually when i'm feeling down and scared, I will look at the before and after pictures on this board, and read everyones NSV, and i know i'm doing the right thing REALLY deep down.

Talk about some awesome NSVs! WTG Patty!

I work for a website. Once a year, we have a party, for the anniversary of the company and invite members from the website. Last night was this year's party. Most of the people, I hadn't seen since last year. I ended up having about 8 people comment on how much weight I'd lost. My coworkers, don't really notice, as they see me everyday - so it felt pretty darn good! It was the first time since the surgery that people who didn't know about it (the surgery), commented on my weightloss. *dancing a happy dance* hehe

I went out with my Texan last night--and here's a little NSV. Sometimes it's these little things that add up to feeling like it's all been SO worth it. A year ago, there's no way I would have been willingly photographed. Also, a year ago, he couldn't have done this without grunting, straining, getting red in the face and out of breath. Kind of fun to be lifted up like you're dainty. I haven't felt dainty in years.

why is this a bad day? It sounds like an NSV to me! I don't know how much you've lost, your sig doesn't state it. But if you've lost a significant amount of weight really fast, you will probably have dramatic results in your face. This is one of the first things that many people notice in many of the RNY people. and yes, 12 hour day when you first get back to work is a little much.

Hi everyone, I have not posted in awhile, I have had many things going on. I was suppose to have my first fill today however the dr nor his nurse could find my port. So I have toschedule for teh flouroscopy. He wanted me to schedule next week or 2 weeks, however I leave for vacation on 3/22 -4/1 so I will not be able to get until after I return. My Dr's comment to was you don't want this before vacation anyways. I had gone back and forth but the nurse convinced me to have it (it did not take much convincing). I guess a higher power had other plans. I did not loose nor have a gained. I was the same. I have been having some other medical issues since surgery that have been getting worse. I started with right after surgery the outside of my left thigh was/is numb. The Dr had order an EMG/NSV to check nerve responses. While I was waiting for this test, a couple of weeks ago I began not being able to feel when I go to the bathroom (sorry for being graphic). So the Dr order and MRI. it should that I have a central disc protrusion, the Dr. still wanted me to have the MRI to find out how bad the nerves are. The results of the EMG/NSV is that there is no muscle response in the left foot and that there is abnormalities in pertty much up through a portion of my back. The worse in the foot. Since I resently had a few surgeries on teh left foot I need to have another MRI of the left foot and ankle to make sure that a nerve was not servered during the surgeries. Also the protrusion in back is not what's causing the numbness in my leg. My primary care asked that I also see a neurologist for a 2nd opinion. So I have my MRI tomorrow morning, then next Wed I have my appointment with the Neurologist and then when I come back from vacation I will have to have my fill and I also have another appointment with a urogynecologist who preformed surgery 12/26, from which I have not been allowed to do any aerobic excercise, weights excetera. The only thing I can do it walk on the treadmill. On a positive note when I actually am able to get my fill he told me that he make sure that the band tightens so that I do not have to keep going back and will have go restriction with the first fill. He ususlly does 4 cc then 2 then 1 in the 10 cc band which is what I have.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to write a little update. I am so not a blog writing person, but I think writing helps me stay accountable and then I am able to go back and read what I wrote. Ok.. so for the stats. I am three weeks post op, I had my surgery on Jan26th (self pay). My starting weight a week before surgery was 220 and then my weight day of surgery was 211 (I think the first scale was a little heavy because I was not required to do a pre-op). And I weighed myself today (without clothes) and I was around 203. That’s only about a 7/8 pound lost from the day of surgery in 3 weeks. I am little disappointment but I know I have cheated a couple of times and I am not very strict about the protein and liquids. I know I need to get it together!! But I am glad that at least I am following my progress so that I can implement some changes and see results. I dont know if I told you all... but my short term goal is to lose a lot of weight by my 30th bday on June 30th. That leaves around 4 1/2 months to lose weight. I want to lose around 30 pounds. I would absolutely love to be 170 something by my 30th b-day. lol. You wont be able to tell me I am not cute. hahaha. OK so back to the stats. I've been on mushies for around 3 weeks. I was lucky in that my dr did not require 2 weeks of full liquids but instead wanted us to do mushies for week 2-4. I can do that. I went to the 2 week nutrition class last week and it was good. I told the nurse that I was only getting about 40 grams of protein a day and she warned that my hair may fall out if I dont get the 60-70. Ouch,, I dont want that. So while I have beefed it up.. I am not where I need to be. So starting today I am taking a renewed effort in getting my protein. I just cant seem to find any vitamins or calcium that taste good.. eeew, the chewables are soo nasty; they taste like chald. Am I the only one that misses eating. OMG.. I knew I was a emotional and mental eater but I never knew it was this bad. I just miss the social aspect of eating. Like now.. Im like well what’s the point of going to the mall or to eat if I cant eat anything good. I guess I am saving money...but I sure do miss eating. I have my first restaurant outing tonight with a girlfriend...hopefully that works. Because I haven’t told her about my surgery and I want to just act like normal. My mushi stage includes fish... so I think I will just get fish and mash potatoes or a veggie. That seems to work good for me. But eating with people..I notice that people eat so fast and just slurp their food up. My gosh... I never knew how much we as a people dont stop to really enjoy and taste our food. Speaking of not telling people.. I just told my BF about the surgery. Ouch. I was really nervous about it. He lives in a different state so I was able to hide it from him but since he was coming down for Valentines day I knew I had to say something. Surprisingly he reacted alot better than I expected. His main thing was that he wish I would have told him so that he could of been here to help me. I asked him would he have tried to talk me out of it..he said yes cause he doesn’t think I needed hte surgery. And I told him..see thats why I didnt tell him. He was really helpful while he was here.. He is a Chef..so he made me lots of soft food and even ate the same foods as me. It was nice. OK.. so I need to focus on a couple of things. I think I have gotten kinda complacent with the surgery already. I need to make sure I take all my vitamins, calcium citrate and water and protein. AND exercise (well I still can only walk until next week) and make better choices of food. Right now.. I am eating any soft thing that I can and not really paying attention to caloric or sugar or fat contents. And I am sure that is the reason for the lack of weight loss. So starting today I am going to get it together. I have my 4 week appointment next week and I want to record some weight loss. I also need to stop cheating . Right now the biggest cheat for me is candy. It my twisted little reasoning.. I was like hmm if I can have chewable vitamins then I can have something like sweet-tarts or smarties. And they go done just fine. Argh, I need to stop eating them. So.. like I said I go for my 4 week appointment next week and for some reason they are combining my 4 and 6 weeks appointments and will be giving me my fill then. I didn’t think anything of it initially but now that I think if it...it seems a little soon for a fill. The good thing is that I wont have the bandster hell that everyone talks about but then I wont really get to enjoy regular food. Because right before I hit the 4 week mark I will have the fill and have to back on liquids for a bit. Has this happen to anyone? Should I ask the dr for a fill later than 4 weeks. OK thats enough for now... I should write more frequently so I wont have as much to say. I think I am going to take progress pics tonight so see if I notice a difference. That should be fun. I know I have a NSV... I was able to button up a coat and not have has much pull as it used to have. it was great. now I don’t have to use a scarf to cover up the snug button. Have a good day everyone.

Hooray! NSV Non-Scale-Victory:D

Your story is very much the same as mine. I have lost and gained and lost and gained so many times. I used weight loss drugs, I took up running, I did it all. I can get healthy but I can't stay healthy. I have never been able to maintain it. I am a binge eater and it used to hit me out of nowhere. With my third child I got to my highest weight and decided it was enough. I had my sleeve done not to long ago and it has changed my life! It is a tool but it is a tool that stays with you for life and I just know it's going to work for me this time. I know I have to change my relationship with food and I am working on that daily so I am ready. I haven't weighed yet because I am only weighing once a month and the scale is another obsession of mine that I won't be controlled by ever again. I track my food and rely on NSV'S and I have had lots of them! Wishing you much good luck on your journey whatever you decide!

Looking great! I am 31 lbs loss so far and two days away from my 1 month bandiversary and having a lot of NSV as well! I am training for a 5k as well as light weights to increase my muscle tone and hopefully keep as much of the sagging skin away as possible! Lots of water and lotion! Keep up the good work!!

Awesome NSV. We love to hear these so keep posting! Congrats. Reading about you made me cry! Go girl go!

Congrats on your NSV! Karen

I went to go look at sundresses,something I have never felt comfortable doing. My son's wedding is coming up shortly and the girls are getting together for a brunch. I asked an attendent at Penney's where is the plus sizes, upstairs or down and she said "for you?" I said, yes mamm, she said "you are definitely not a plus size". I was like um , yes mamm I am, but she begged to differ with me. I did not try anything on because frankly I did not see anything I really liked, but that experience was so weird. It felt good but strange it was like a dream or something. I am not saying or really even beleive that I am not a plus size but for someone else to question that I am not was something I have never experienced. I have always been big, heavy , fat , oversized, plus, you name it and for someone to say I am not was sooooooooo weird. Good but weird.

Great NSV!

So I'm now a little over three weeks since being sleeved. I actually typed this up once before but somehow lost it and was too tired to type again until now. My time in the hospital started off with a glitch and ended with a glitch. At first (after being at the hospital for over 5 hours- also had a vena cava filter put in) my bloodwork showed I had low potassium. If they couldn't get it raised by taking what I call potassium "shots", which were super nasty tasting, then my surgery would have to be post-poned. Yeah...I freaked, but my levels did raise about 40 minutes after the potassium shot- so yay surgery! Everything with surgery went fine. The surgeon said if I hadn't lost the 63 lbs. ahead of time she would've had to have done an open procedure because my liver was still pretty big but thank goodness that didn't happen! I was so happy to wake up alive and with the laproscopic option! My other glitch was one night I woke up with a nurse sitting by my side. Apparently my oxygen levels went really low and I stopped breathing. The nurse had to stay with me as I slept that night since it kept going low- scary! Anyways that led me to staying in the hospital another night and I was supposed to stay a fourth night but they decided to let me go home if I slept with oxygen at home and scheduled some heart tests and a sleep study. Whew- I was glad I could leave the hospital! I was so ready to be home! Finally after a couple days home I got on the scale- oh I so shouldn't have- I had gained 15 lbs!!!!! What... I thought I was supposed to lose weight! So I know it was due to receiving fluids for 4 days and the air they pump into your stomach during surgery but still it was depressing. I've since lost those lbs- thank goodness. Then came the appointments. Had an echocardiagram and bubble tests done on the heart, potassium checked, additional bloodwork done, follow- up with the surgeon and nutritionist, and more bloodwork done to see if I had infection (had some bad stomach pain). All of that came back good. And then I had the oh so fun sleep study last night. Wow- that was an experience! How weird to be hooked up to so many wires and to have someone watch you sleep. The strangest thing was waking up in a pitch dark room while someone was saying my name. Of course I woke up forgetting where I was and I kept looking around trying to see who was calling my name- well duh it was over the intercom. he he . I haven't received results yet but the technician said I definitely didn't have severe sleep apnea and she wasn't even sure I'd be diagnosed with sleep apnea/need a c-pap. Both she and my surgeon guess it may be because of the pain meds why I had issues in the hospital- but of course I won't know for sure until my follow-up with the doc. Whew- well there is my story. Overall things went well. It is definitely an adjustment but I continue to tell myself it will get better and better. I've really enjoyed reading all your stories and NSV's and can't wait to be there with you soon!

Congratulations, Crystal! Slow weight loss sucks, but when you eat as much ice cream as I do, it's a part of life. I dropped out of the summer challenge because of my female trouble; I'm going even more slowly than you are. A grand total of 0.5 lbs. down since June. By the time I'm dead, I might be able to wear a size 10 in my casket. But I feel great and, like you, things fit better, even if the scale doesn't show much of a change. Keep up the great NSVs!

Micki, you are doing great. What you are able to eat will change. Just try things, take it slow, chew everything well, small bites, etc. If you have a pb, your body is sore - take some time - 24 hours and only have liquids again. Let your body heal. Make sure you are losing at a reasonable rate and still managing to get in your Vitamins, Protein, etc. As far as weighing yourself, that's your call. I weigh daily but I don't think that's a good idea. Once a week works best for most people. Some people only weigh when they go to the dr office. Make sure you track your Non-scale Victories (NSV). These are a great reminder on how far you have come and what is going on with your body when you aren't losing pounds. Measuring is another good way to track. As far as eating, what does your dr/nutritionist say? Mine says 3 small meals and 2 Snacks a day. Just make sure you wait the appropriate amount of time until you drink after a meal. I wait 30 minutes. Go out and read others messages and threads on good and snacking. This site is a great source of info. Celeste

NSV = non scale victory. I had to ask too Welcome to LBT!

Hello All! I had an appointment scheduled last Friday for a third fill. I always go into these appointments with a little fear--Big Needle Phobia hear...(see previous posts!) Anyhow, I have lost 8 more pounds in the 4 weeks since my last appoinment. The nutritionist and I had a great discussion: I'm still losing weight at my current fill level, I am not getting hungry and I have little or no problems with food getting stuck-aside from a few non-chewing/triscuit/McD's fries incident-- So, no additional fill for now. We'll see how the next four weeks go. I am an everyday weigher, On the Advice of LaMadam and others, I had my husband hide the scale. I am only allowing myself to hoist myself onto it on Saturday Mornings!

Bravo Parvathi! Excellent work! I'd be thrilled if everyone has their own NSV thread!

(continuing the thread I started ealier under Suggestions, feedback section) The link started is here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=9537 Today's post: Well we got some good responses so far from you all. How about we do follow up on this thread with each other? Weekly sign-ins would be great although a daily thread would be fine withe me too as I need daily and sometimes hourly encouragement.... At my highest weight I needed to loose 170 pounds and have lost 130 of it so far. I have hit a plateau for a while now. I know I need to increase exercise and decrease snacking between meals. Any more suggestions? I am gonna sit down real soon and make out a list of all the NSV and maybe that will help motivate me and others too. Glad to meet all you other 100 pounds + fellow bandsters, to all you who have lost 100+ Congratulations Way to go..... For all you who still need to lost 100+ - you can do it!! Let us encourage one another. Hope to hear back from all you 100+ club members really soon! __________________

Sound like you had a blast. Great NSV.