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I've been in a stall for a few weeks, so I've been feeling kind of bummed. I went out of town to visit an old friend last week. To my absolute joy and amazement, I was able to fit comfortably in the airplane seat AND I didn't have to ask for a belt extender! I was actually able to tighten the belt a little! That hasn't happened in years. Also, this is the first trip I've taken that didn't revolve around food. I was able to spend quality time with my friend without obsessing about what I was going to eat or how soon I could get back to my hotel and order room service. I had a great time! I'm going to start focusing on my NSVs instead of some stupid little digital number from now on. Thanks for reading this post!

I don't own a scale, so about once a week at work when I remember so I have something to put on my ticker . I'm gauging my success with NSV's.

Yay Molly! Keep up the good work honey! All of those NSV's add up!!! And I love the one about the steering wheel. I had to readjust my seat since I lost...woohoo!

pfunkem - that is an awesome NSV! Truly, the weekends are my trouble time too! It is so easy to say well it's the weekend -- something I continue to work on. I ordered a 'wrap' Friday and Saturday for dinner while out - and found myself only able to eat 1/2 of the larger one Saturday nite and was able to say NO to chips, etc. It is so hard and I think you deserve LOTS of cheers!!! Way to go!!! Taking care of YOU!

Every morning when I leave for work, which is lots earlier than my husband and daughter (long commute!), my daughter hugs me good bye. Yesterday, she wrapped her arms around me for a hug and said, "Gosh, Mom! You are geting skinny! I can wrap my arms all the way around you!" That was the best NSV I have ever had! It felt so good! Just wanted to share this great feeling with you! Cindy

Thanks for sharing Cindy!! Great NSV...

Hey everyone ... I am so very excited about my NSV that I had to share with those who understand it best ! I used to wear a size 4xl shirt ... now I'm in an XL ! I'm down 6 pant sizes ... and from a 46 to 40 in my bra ! ( oopsy .. sorry guys! ) Had my 3 month check up yesterday ... doc says all is going along according to plan and they are very proud of the progress I've made in such a short time ... I cannot tell you how over the moon I am ! Anyone else have an amazing NSV to share ?!

That's amazing! Congratulations on all of your victories! For me, NSVs include clothing sizes going down (from 28 in jeans to 24), more energy, and less medication. Had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and he's very happy with my progress. My GP gave me a big hug because she was so happy for me and said I seemed so much more positive. I'm starting to look forward to my walks (HUGE victory there!) and I won't skip Water aerobics for anyone! I've got a great counselor who is helping me work through all of my emotions... Well, that list could go on and on. I really do feel like this was absolutely the right decision for me! CJ

I am a grocery checker at a large store. Yesterday I had a plump women come through my line with a lot of lean cuisine meals. I told her that I loved them and used them as my lunch on work days.(I only can eat half of it!) She gave me a look while sizing me up and said "Why? You don't look like you need to lose any weight!" Me not needing to lose weight I love it! Here she thought she was being nasty to me and she actually made my day!! I still have 12 pounds left to go, but boy do I feel good now, I could not stop smiling the rest of the day!

It's tough and I am still struggling. But I kept reminding myself of why I came to the decision of a lap band in the first place. I try to remember how awful I felt AFTER I ate the food that wasnt good for me - how I'd end my evenings in carb-induced coma and so sluggish that I didn't want to do anything but sit around and sleep. How I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I made a list of all of the NSV's (non-scale victories I want to accomplish). Things I haven't been able to do in a long time - like get on an airplane without an extender belt, wear heels higher than 2 inches and going to six flags without stressing if I am going to fit on the rides or not. I watched video after video on you tube - lap band success stories. I also researched recipes for healthier substitutes of the stuff I want to eat when I am cleared for regular food. I have recipes for a healthier option pizza, Mexican chicken, Chinese stir fry options, burgers - all of my favorite foods. I have been collecting recipes and will begin to make them them and modify them to suit my new lifestyle. I have healthy recipes for the next stage I will be on... Journaling helps a whole lot too. It keeps your thoughts in order and provides a bit of a distraction. Hang in there - this too shall pass. At least for a while lol...

i was scanning and faxing alot of contracts a big ago and came across a NSV that never occurred to me..and i was thinking i have got to post this and hope someone reads it and goes, hey, thats right, so can i and just maybe....encourage (esp a larger bmi person like myself)...even if for a moment.. I have posted NSV on tying shoes, no more seat belt decapitation, putting my own socks on, fitting into regular bathroom stall...and the list is endless.... i have no shame, i just post reality as i experience it... last year i couldnt stand for more than 5 min at a time (100% TRUTH) and here i was standing and faxing for a good 25 minutes.....i recall with great clarity having to fax one or two items and coming back to sit down as my legs, just couldnt handle the girth/weight granted its not much ado bout anything but to me, it was MAJOR thought id share

plenty more NSV's to come, congratulations...

Still in pre-opVILLE - I go to my seminar on Monday. I really hope to learn more about the time frame for everything soon!! I'm a list maker by nature. Since all I can think about lately is my weight loss plan, I've made a list of NSVs I hope to achieve, and made some rewards to go along with them for motivation. I also made a list of scale related victories and rewards for that. Not sure if everyone does this, or just makes one list or the other, or doesn't make a list of rewards - but I'm a lifelong spoiled only-child, and I like rewards. And I need to start thinking about rewards that have absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH FOOD. Anyway, thought I'd share. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to steal any of these. NSV achievement/reward: see my toes - pedicure touch my toes while seated on the floor - new gym shoes lose my double chin - buy a new necklace see my collarbones - buy a new top to show them off run a mile w/o walking - new gym clothes walk up 5 flights of stairs - new shoes (of any kind) *5 flights because I park in a garage 5 flights up. I hate waiting for the dang elevator anyway!! get on an actual bike - go on a bike ride with my Daddy! sit Indian style comfortably - go to a yoga class cross my legs at the knee - buy a dress (for the first time in yearssss) Weight loss achievement/reward: *yes, I have a lot to lose! -50lbs - facial -100lbs - massage -150lbs - Road Trip! (no idea where!) -200lbs - new mattress, new couch and chairs in living room -250lbs - bathing suit and a passport! @ GOAL -------- I'M GOING TO JAMAICA!!! And it will be my first plane ride. I would love to hear any suggestions that anyone has as well! I really can't wait to start checking some of these off!

Just after WLS the wife got me a new belt. She was sick of my old one with the stretched holes and it bent all up to wrap around my rotund belly. I started out in the third hole, just enough left to tuck under the belt buckle and touch the first belt loop on most pants. Yesterday I had to punch two more holes in it and found the LAST hole was comfortable. The belt now wraps half way around me and touches the MIDDLE BELT LOOP in my slacks in the BACK. Yes, my belt wraps 1 1/2 times around me. Wow! I NEVER thought I'd see the day. BTW: Size 36 slacks are getting baggy, maybe time for some 34s?

That, is a great nsv. Well done, you

For me, it's when someday I will go to bed without my left side being cold... Cause my husband falls asleep on top of the covers ALL THE TIME and what's left of the blanket doesn't totally comer me!

Wow...I can't wait to have NSV's!

Sarah, I love your NSV. I can't wait until I have some of my own!

More NSV's (compiled from the rabbits/turtles challenge) I bought a NON STRETCH pair of Jeans from the Jr's department in a size 16 and they fit perfectly. No "w" either! I wear the smallest size shirt that Torrid sells. I bought a really cute shirt from there the other day in a "0" (probably a 16/18?). It 'fits' instead of being baggy, which is also kind of an NSV because I usually don't wear things that 'fit' because some how if your shirt doesn't hug your fat rolls, other people don't know they are there or something, LOL. I went to a bridal expo a few weeks ago and realized that the entire time I was there I wasn't self conscious of my weight. I think that's pretty cool. In the regular economy section of an airplane last weekend, the tray table didn't touch me when I took it down. I used to have to lean my seat back so that I could bring it down all the way and it still hit my belly. I suppose it's kind of an NSV that I am having my teeth fixed. My weight is still my top priority, but I'm to the point where I can focus on other things that need work. Last week on my lunch break I had no idea what I wanted to eat, so I started walking. I ended up walking 2 miles, just because it felt good.

Super NSVs!!!

Those are all fabulous! Thanks for sharing. I haven't been keeping a solid list of NSV's so far, but I think I'm going to start as they seem to be happening more often now hehe.

Addicted here! : ) I weigh every morning but not again the rest of the day. Seems most people go up alittle as the day goes on. Some days it is down a little in the morning, then it might pop back up for a day or two, then down again. So long as it stays 2 steps forward and 1 step back, I am fine with it. Weighing once a week or even longer might be better, but I would be pretty bummed if the one day I weighed was one of those up days instead of a down day! LOL My scale has hardly moved recently but I bought a smaller size of jeans today. If you haven't taken your measurements, I would suggest doing that. I was shocked to find out that I had lost 40 inches the last time I checked! Keep a list of NSV (non scale victories). Those will keep up your spirits when the scale disappoints! Good luck!

I began my weight loss surgery journey with very nebulous goals. Happiness wasn’t one of them. I knew I was miserable and frustrated and unhealthy, and mainly wanted to neutralize all that so that my future would be not-unhappy. As far as I was concerned, the words “happy” and “weight” didn’t even belong in the same sentence. In his book, Ultimate Lap-Band® Success, bariatric surgeon Duc Vuong (who is insightful about obesity despite being naturally as slender as a blade of grass) talks about identifying a "happy weight" versus a "goal weight". He says your happy weight is the weight at which you are no longer struggling with your relationship with food. You feel good, look good, are confident & active. Me? I have a happy weight, but it keeps changing. When I got to within 20 pounds of my goal weight (which I had casually grabbed off the high end of the BMI chart for a woman of my height), I thought that if I never lost another pound, I'd still be happy and consider my surgery a complete success. I did indeed feel better, look better, was more confident and far more active then than I ever would have dreamed, so I suppose you could say that my Happy Weight was 152 pounds. A few months later, I reached my goal weight, which was most certainly a very happy place. So I suppose you could say that my Happy Weight was actually 132 pounds, not 152. The problem is that my Happy Weight keeps changing. When I regained 20 pounds after a complete unfill to treat a band slip, the 152 pounds that had pleased me earlier was not a happy weight any more. My skinny wardrobe was too tight, my fat clothes were long gone, I tired more easily, my cholesterol went up, and I avoided looking at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t as miserable as I was at 221 pounds, but I wasn’t happy either. I knew I’d get back down to the 132 pounds again (and I did), but in the meantime….I was not happy! What about you? Do you know your happy weight? How do you even define it? Choosing a weight goal, whether measured by your BMI (Body Mass Index), a certain clothing size, reduction or elimination of a medication or the need for a CPAP machine, is fairly concrete. But how do you know what will make you happy? How do you measure happiness? I hate to tell you this, but achieving a certain weight goal won’t necessarily flip the Happy Switch in your brain. It’s quite possible that your happy switch will get turned on well before you reach the end goal, and also that achieving that goal may not yield the results you expected. If you believe (or at least hope) that being a certain body weight will make your partner fall in love with you all over again, things will get messy when you both discover that your slim new shape makes your partner insanely jealous every time someone else gives you an admiring glance. If you believe that a certain body weight will get you the job promotion you long for, and you get laid off instead, what becomes of your happiness? So my advice to you is this: keep your mind and heart open to the kind of happiness that takes you by surprise, and remember that many small NSV’s (non-scale victories) can add up to a huge improvement in your quality of life. There’s one aspect of Dr. Vuong’s definition of a happy weight that illustrates something that’s difficult for him (or any other never-obese person) to understand. That’s the part about your happy weight being the weight at which you are no longer struggling with your relationship with food. Bariatric surgery affects our brain and body chemistry to different degrees depending on the procedure, but it doesn’t cure obesity and it doesn’t forever vanquish our eating demons. That’s why weight regain in bariatric surgery patients is so common, and that’s why I highly recommend counseling, both pre- and post-op, to help us gain the insight and tools to conquer or at least tame those eating demons. Your bariatric surgeon should be able to give you a referral to a therapist who’s experienced with bariatric and/or eating disorder patients. Seeking counseling doesn’t mean you’re crazy – it just means that you recognize that you need help and are willing to give therapy a try.

Today is the third day in a row of a nagging headache. I don't usually have headaches. It took me three days to realize what was going on. The pain starts in my shoulders and neck, and comes up and around the back of my head. Oh, yeah, that's right, a stress headache. In a twisted kind of way I take a stress headache as an NSV. I never used to get them. And I bet I wouldn't have one now if I could go to my kitchen and graze. I can simulate grazing, but it's only a nibble. I can't reach that mindless state of carb and fat laden fullness any more. So, I must find a way to cope. I've lost my drug. This headache is a sort of withdrawal. I don't like the headache, but I am amused by it. So, here I am, trying to keep busy, trying to dispel the stress another way. I'll be up late if anyone wants to talk.

Hey Fam!!! I know it's been a while since my last update, but things are a little crazy.. However, I just wanted to share a few things... So... I flew to DC over the weekend and I think my anxiety about flying is almost over.. So, I get on the plane... I didn't get any "no, I hope the fat lady doesn't sit here looks" and neither did I have to say excuse one time as I walked down the aisle w/ my very cute Anne Klein carry on (LOL, hey.. it was my gift to myself!!)... So, I sit in the seat and get ready to ask for an extender and then I remember, I can buckle this thing now!!! So, it was a little snug over my sweater, but hey.. I could breath!!! I dropped something on the floor and bent to pick it up w/o thinking about it.. (That's huge for me, using I mull it over for a few minutes!) At the hotel, I could actually soak in the tub w/o touching the side!!! Also, there was no fear about fitting into the chairs in the conference room or walking a few blocks from the hotel to meet w/ colleagues!!.. i may not have lost a million pounds, but I've gained so much more in terms of who I am and what I am capable of doing physically, emotionally and in every other kind of way!! I can now go into a department store (my favorite this week is Carson Pirie Scott) and grab things off of the rack.. in a few sizes smaller than the largest size they offer.. This is HUGE for me!! Before being sleeved, I couldn't wear the largest women's plus size in ANYTHING!!! Now, I have fixation w/ the Kleins (Anne and Calvin)... LOL.. I have to get a new winter coat or 3.. and boots.. So, I am 2 pounds away from kissing the 300s goodbye FOREVER!!!...Here are a few stats.. Starting wt. 382 Current 301 (and falling) Starting size 28/30 (3x/4x)/48DD Current size 20 (1X/ some XL)/42D Starting Waist 56 Current 43.5 Tina-isms: The sleeve can give you a great start to changing your life overall, but you still have to do the work!! Yes, I have bad days and eat BAD stuff... my body let's me know that it doesn't want it.. I can keep eating or I can allow my sleeve to do what it was meant to do. Don't beat yourself up, just tell yourself the TRUTH!!! I know when I'm not doing enough of the right things and I can't be mad at my surgeon, the scale or DOVE chocolate for making those delicious dark chocolate/raspberry bits of goodness!!! But, I don't have to beat myself up.. I just make a better decision at my next meal! Life, even the sleeved life is meant to be lived to the fullest and enjoyed to the fullest!!!