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Am not in the best of moods as I write this.It's 12:18am, I've had a busy day and I cant get tucked up nice and warm in my bed.:phanvan Why? :confused: Well, I live on a pretty little square in Athens, it has trees and a fountain and makes me happy. It has a downside though...we live above a store. Doesn't belong to us. It was rented out before Christmas and the guy made a taverna! It didn't bother us too much until he decided, to drum up business, he'd have live music on a Saturday night.:think Drives me nuts.:girl_hug: I'm on the 1st floor and his little stage is right below my bedroom. So I thought I'd come and waffle. (waffle to me being writing about anything, everything and nothing in particular.) I'm having a good time with my mum visiting and she is being really good at motivating me to get out and walk. We went shopping today..the first time I've ever been to the local shops with her. We were going to go into Athens to Monesteraki which is the place below the Acropolis but Athens was closed off today. :faint: There was a big anti war rally and no taxis would go near the place. We will try and go on Tuesday instead. I'm doing OK and the weight loss continues to be steady. I get weighed Sunday mornings (tomorrow) so I'll see what the new total is and if I'm happy with it. I haven't been an angel this week...nibbled a few chips and a piece of chocolate but I haven't been a disaster either. I have walked each day and my back is definitely easier. I wore some jeans today I couldnt wear before. They are still not perfect but wearable! My knee support bandage fits better now too which is the silliest NSV but hey I takes what I can get That's about it for now...maybe later!

I am too! :-) One of my favorite NSV's to date was my shopping splurge at Victoria's Secret! I never realized how ugly my old duds were until now! Back to matching bra and panty sets AND loving that when my husband folds the laundry, he has to ask if the panties are mine or my daughter's (she's 10!!)!!

So, yes.. I know it's after 3am.. but, I just got in from karaoke...any who.. did a little shopping today.. bought some things.. including a pair of cute $60 jeans for $14... in a size 24... I know it still starts w/ a 2.. but... I was a 30 in November, a 28 on the day of surgery and been wearing my 1 pair of 26s.. so, I was like.. let me just try these on to see how far I have to go to be in a 24.. They came all the way up.. and I was like.. nah.. they won't button.. BUT they DID!!!! I'm so happy... The scale isn't moving much... but inches are falling off!!! Hallelujah!!! And, I finally went back to my therapist and she helped me work through some anxiety about not being successful w/ my sleeve and trying to be perfect patty all the time!! I've been so stressed about toeing the line that I've not been enjoying this journey.. WELL, that changed today.. I will not make any apologies for loving myself and my life, neither will I make excuses for the times I WILL fall and be less than perfect.. Each day is another opportunity to utilize everything I've been given to do what I need to do... No fear, just faith and motivation HERE on out!!!!

HI all, My surgery was 12/20. From my post on JAn 2 of being so BLue, things did turn around, as all your words of wisdom told me they would. I am down from Nov about 21 lbs, but better than that is: My wedding rings no longer cut the circulation off my finger. I bought a belt to keep my pants up. I don't miss food as much as I did a few weeks back (especially during the liquid diet phase!) My favorite though, is after an evening of intamacy :mad: ~ the next morning, my husband told me, Baby, you even feel different already.

So, I went to get my second fill today, as I've been feelnig rather hungry. When I saw the barium go through the band pre-adjustment, I was shocked and the doctor said "wow, you are wide open." I asked him why, since I saw last time it was pretty restrictive. He just smiled and said, "Because you are losing weight and there is less fat pushing around the band. The fat pushing around the band also helps restriction, but once you lose fat the band can and will get looser "on it's own." He asked me how restricted I wanted to be and I told him to go for the gusto. He told me I'm "liquid tight" right now, and I'd better chew good in two weeks, when I go back to solids. Very cool. Three NSV's 1. Wearing jeans I haven't worn in 2.5 years 2. Losing enough weight to affect the band 3. Having the radiology tech say, "Hey, you are looking good, you're getting to be a skinny man!!!" If he wasn't a dude, I would have kissed him, so I just slapped him on the a$$. *kidding*

Connie, Are your clothes getting bigger? Is your energy level improving? Are you more able to do things like workouts and walking? If those things are happening, you aren't truly stalled. I've been bouncing on the same few pounds for about a month, but I'm losing pants sizes and I see my body readjusting. Perhaps you should take your measurements and see if those numbers are changing. If you are meeting your daily Fluid and Protein goals and exercising, it's possible that your body is converting fat to muscle, which is AWESOME!!! Don't weigh every day, or even every week. Look for those NSVs and appreciate that your body is working hard with the good things you are giving it. In my opinion, 127 pounds in 9 months is PHENOMENAL!!! You have really rocked that sleeve!! Don't get depressed and don't give up. The best is yet to come!

Feeling good, 25 pounds gone FOREVER already!! I had my first fill 7/30, 2cc's. No restriction yet. NSV = 6 inches from my waist already!!! :ohmy:

Can you have NSVs before surgery?

NSV is "non-scale victory".....that's like when you get on the scale and haven't lost anything in a few days but you put on an item of clothing that hasn't fit. Or somebody compliments you on your weight loss....anything other than pounds lost. You'll come to value the NSVs as much as pounds lost because it asknowledges your hard work.

That's so great, and a definite NSV!! We know we're losing, but it's really nice to have it confirmed by someone, especially someone we find attractive! Thanks for sharing the story, I love hearing them. People are really beginning to notice my loss now, annd since its kinda new, i still feel slightly awkward, but it is surprising how good it feels too.

Every since my Dog Sampson was 12 weeks old I have taken him to the dog park every day, he is almost three years old now. I do not miss a day at the park, I get a lot of walking miles in every day while Sampson plays. Being a park regular obviously you get to know the other park regulars, we all walk laps together while the wonder mutts wrestle, play chase and swim. There is this one lady that used to be a semi regular, she hasn't been around for months, the last time she saw me was before winter, lets call her missy . Yesterday when I got to the park all the dog walkers were standing under a large tree hiding from the sun, so I walked up and said hello. Before I even got to group I noticed that "Missy" was there, I always notice when Missy is there, she is wicked hot, the kind of lady that you can tell works hard to take care of herself. I walked up and said hello to everyone, everyone else said hello, and Missy looked at me kind of puzzled, as I said hello to her, and used her name, I thought, how odd, she seemed confused or something. As the group walked and talked every time I looked in Missy's direction she had that same puzzled look on her face. At one point more people showed up, and my dog ran over to greet them, of course I followed him, and then walked a while with that group. When the two groups met up again, Missy walked right up to me in front of everyone and said " Oh my God Tom I really have to apologize to you!" I was like, what? why? And says out loud with like 20 people there, "I wasn't sure who you were! I thought maybe someone else was Walking Sampson for you!" "I Honestly did not recognize you at all." "You look amazing!" " You're literally half the size you were!" " And so damn Handsome too!" At this point I was blushing and kind of embarrassed. Missy goes on to state that if she hadn't asked one of the other dog walkers, she would have never guessed it was me, She went on to say how I am " A shadow of my former self". Mind you, although Missy is Happily married, and was not hitting on me in any way, it felt so good to hear her say those things. Missy is one of the ladies at the park that if she wasn't married, well it would probably insight riots with all the guys trying to chase her, she really is HOT! and as I said you can tell she works very hard to stay in shape. After the whole OM I cant believe it you, her and I talked about our workouts, and compared gyms and so on. he whole time we were talking I was thinking "wow, did this beautiful lady just really say all that stuff to me?!!" I was really blown away, and felt great all day!

Ok. I say this every time I fall off the exercise wagon - but seriously - why do I fight it? After arguing with myself and spending all of March in a couch-potato stupor, I finally dragged my butt to the gym last night. Aside from a few minutes of lung burn - to be expected after well over 30 days with no body movement - I was just fine. By the time I was done with 20 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the bike, I had a great sense of accomplishment and I felt physically good, too. To top it off, I get to watch TV that I secretly enjoy - like American Idol or Are You As Smart as a Fifth Grader... Stuff I never watch at home. So, why the heck to I fight going? It seems like I have to force myself. I only succeeded in getting myself to go last night because I did yard work on Sunday - and my thighs were STILL SORE from bending over on Wednesday. That's just sad.... so I figured I would try to offset the back-of-thigh sore/tightness with top-of-thigh work. I ran that bike at level 10... until my knee started screaming and then I backed down to level 7. The point is, that 1) I don't mind doing the exercise while I am doing it. 2) I get a great feeling of having done a good thing for myself and my health. 3) I don't feel badly after am done... So WHY, by all that is holy, do I resist this wonderful miraculous activity from which so many good things come? This is a mystery that I am going to have to continue to ponder. Maybe while I am on the elliptical machine tonight... :clap2: I mean, the scale is still creeping downward. Today, my scale said 282 - if you add the 4 pounds to adjust to an approximation of my doc's scale - that puts me at 286. Eating less is wonderful - but exercise makes all the difference. I really want to WOW my doc when I see him again at the beginning of May...Plus, every pound I lose is pretty much a pound gone forever. So every pound I lose is one less I have to lose tomorrow.... May as well get as many of them out of the way as quickly as possible. Exercise is the way. On other life fronts - Sick DH is fully recovered and fully functioning again. He was even planning to foray out of the house to get groceries. Thank goodness! I was getting pretty tired of having to do all the home stuff in addition to working. The fridge parts have arrived and we have scheduled the visit for the repairman to put them in. Now all we have to do is empty & defrost the freezer - or go buy a back-up freezer. We have been talking about that for a while, anyway. I took a dry-run at the skills test for teachers. Reading - 90%. Writing - 95%. Math..... 64.5% *BUZZZZZZZ* Guess it's back to the Algebra books... I guess you just forget some stuff in 22 yrs. NSV de jour: I wore a shirt that my sister gave me yesterday. It was a 4x with no stretch, no a-line, no nothing. Now - size 4x doesn't sound like much of an NSV - but when you consider the size variations and the fact that prior to banding I was wearing the largest possible 5x made with stretchy knit - and they were getting a little clingy... a small 4x made of cotton - that is an accomplishment. I think I am going to have to go home and take my measurements....

I was sleeved back on 3/1/11 and have had better than average results, I could not be happier with this surgery. The results I have had are due to the surgery, plus that fact that I have been working out very hard, going to the gym 4 days a week, and CrossFit 3 days a week, not to mention the daily walking. I am down a little over 100 lbs at this point, and could not be happier, but a few weeks ago I hit a stall, and was stuck there in spite of how hard I worked out, and how perfect I ate. So at the end of last week the scale did finally start to move again, wow was I happy, but that's not the victory I'm taking about, but its the lead in to it. Yesterday after leaving CrossFit, I was driving down a busy four lane rd, I was whooped, my whole body physically shaking from the workout, I was covered in sweat, I mean my shirt was soaked, and I was burnt out I could hardly process information(This is how I feel each time I leave CrossFit). As I am driving down the rd out of the corner of my eye I see a silver car that keep pulling up next to me, then dropping back, and pulling up next to me again. Being so wiped out form my workout I wasn't paying much attention at all. Being that it was a awesome summer evening I had all the windows in the car down for some fresh air. I came up to red light and get in the turn only lane, the silver car pulls up next to me, and of course I'm still not paying attention, after a few seconds I hear soemone scream "HEY!" really loud, so loud it kinda scared me at first. I look over and in the silver car there are two chicks, maybe in there late twenty's, hard for me to really tell how old they were. Anyways as I look over the passenger points to the driver who is hiding her face in her hands, and looking embarrassed, and says, "she thinks you're really cute!". I was shocked, this is like the kind of stuff that goes on in high school, and I am 42 years old, I was at a loss for words, no clue at all as to what to say. I'm such a geek I all I could think to say was "thanks" then the damn green arrow came on, and the cars behind me were beeping so I had to drive away. In hindsight I should have asked for her number, but I was so shocked that It was all I could do to even get the word thanks out of my mouth. I was smiling the rest of the ride home, all the way though dinner, when I went to sleep, and I'm still smiling right now! That was exactly the type of motivation I needed to keep me moving forward on my journey! I cant even explain what a HUGE boost of confidence it was, especaily after just breaking through a two week stall. I honestly think from this day forward I will remember that few seconds at that traffic light as the Hell Yeah moment in post surgery life!

hey guys, I've been on thyroid medication for a few years now for being hypo. I had my bloodwork done a few days ago and the doc called me and said the numbers were thru the roof and to immediately stop taking my meds. He wants me to come in after about 4 weeks for another blood test, but he said he thinks I'm going to be able to stop the medication since I have lost so much weight!!

Love you NSV! I have one ... lately I keep checking to see if I have my seatbelt on. The seatbelt indicator light is not on, but I can't feel the seatbelt so I start to panic thinking I don't have it on. Low and behold, it's on ... it just fits differently now that I have lost weight. YAY for us!! LOL Have you tried cauliflower? I don't particularly care for it but it is similar in texture to broccoli, so if you can stand the taste ... Good luck. ~Fran

Congrats! That's a super NSV!!

Went to the store last night to buy dog food. Picked up a 40 lb bag. Then I thought, wow I was carrying this much extra weight around. Makes you realize how much you you've lost. Made me motivated to dump even more. Can't wait to pick up 50..60..70...etc just to see what it feels like.

Libra -- too funny -- I love the bathroom story. I can so relate. So, I'll tell me most embarassing PB story. I was on a date with a guy -- 2nd date, so I hadn't told him about the band yet. He was supposed to call me when he was leaving his house (about 45 min. away) and I was to meet him -- well, he called when he was 15 minutes away and I was eating at the time. So, I ate fast and got nervous at the same time -- for me, a double recipe for a PB incident. I finished my meal and then drove to the bar where we were meeting. By that time I was in full PB mode, and I had to bolt from the table 2-3 times within the first 15 minutes I was there -- once I was afraid I wouldn't make it to the bathroom in time -- to hell with whether or not there were other women in there!! Anyway, he was really concerned about me and I eventually told him about the band (kind of) b/c I was then interrupted with another need to go throw up. It was soooo awful, but I finally felt ok and we finished the evening. The next day I came down with the worst flu I've had in 10 years, so now I think the incident was not all PB, but may have been flu-related. So, to answer the question about the flu -- yes, I have had it with the band and it sucked big time. I finally called Spivak's office and asked if I could take motrin or advil b/c tylenol was doing NOTHING and I was so miserable and sick I could barely move!! They said I could take liquid or chewables as long as it wasn't on an empty stomache, and after that, things were more tolerable. As for NSV's, my dress size is down from an 18/20 to a 10/12 (they are certainly making sizes bigger now!! (I would never have fit into a 10 at my current weight "back in the day"). I am short, so I LOVE that I can wear high heels comfortably now. I never realized how much the weight mattered on the heel thing. I'm down from a size 7 shoe to a size 6 1/2 (still bigger than the 5 1/2 I was before kids), bra went from 44DD to 38D. I can walk for as long as I want without getting too tired or my feet hurting. My 10-year old can hug me and touch her hands together. I can get down and up from the floor without looking and feeling like an idiot!

Good job Seren! You inspire me!! Here's my latest "tootin' of the horn". I've lost 40lbs -- gone from a size 20 to a 16, bra from a 40C to a 38C. I can wear so many things that had been banished to the closet. For the first time, in a LONG time, I grab the "L" instead of the 2XL when I try clothes on. My panties seem huge, haha! Something I really didn't think about needing to buy more of. Everything is more comfortable, from fastening my seat belt, to walking the dog, to well, "Everything Else". I look forward to even more NSVs!

hi all, went to the beach today and i felt so much more comfortable walking thru the sand! it wasn't as hard as it used to be. and my bath suit still fits but there's plenty of room in there and not that long ago i was busting out of it! it was hot but i wasn't sweating profusely like i used to. all NSV's! oh, we ate at a seafood place and i used to just love fried clams (well yes i still do and i did feel envious a little). but i was also sickened by the HEAPS of fried food that the people around me were eating! i would have liked 1 fried clam at least but i had a small lobster bisque (not low fat i know - but pureed and a small portion and indeed very good!). from this new perspective, i can definately see why obesity is such an epidemic! if i can survive just fine on this small amount of food - it shows we clearly do not need such volume and thus we are overeating oursevles to death. i think this now even tho i thought my portion choices before surgery were usually moderate and appropriate. interesting to hear others saying similar things - about how they feel seeing others eat 'regular' portions of food!

whats nsv?

I am a little old for truck drivers to be flirting with me, but I take my NSV where I find them. The other night I was taking clothes out of the dryer, and I held up a pair of new size 10 pants I had just dried and I had to remark to myself, "Wow, my ass actually fits in these pants!" I was a women's 22 before surgery.

Amy; Great Job and definitely an NSV!!! I find that I've only lost about 17 pounds and I can wear some of my pants that were too tight the week of my surgery. It's not the number on the scale that matters, but the NSV's, like wearing a size smaller..... Keep up the good work!

Definitely a NSV!!! Here's to fitting into a size smaller :tt2:. ~Amy

I had so much fun, just a beginner lesson and some practice, but this is something I could not have done 160# heavier. I am so thankful for my new healthier life!