MY JOURNEY six months out (a bit long)

Hello all,

 

this is a summary of what my journey was like,

i was afraid to death of the surgery .... i paid out of my pocket and took the decesion when i reached the 200 lbs mark.

i went into surgery 231 pounds , i was a major grazer , volume eater, emotional eater...you name it. i could eat a 2 large mc donalds meals easy , half a large pizza plus i have a sweet tooth .. i can be an endless pit of chocolates and cake.

after surgery i never measured food , never counted carbs , never counted calories but i walked everyday for 3 hours "EVERYDAY"   .

I reached my drs goal (145 lbs )  at 5 months post op , it was like a dream , i never had a problem losing weight , just keeping it off.  currently im at 138 pounds but iv noticed my sleeve can take more food , i have a sleeve of steel , i never threw up never got foamies , never had a problem drinking or anything , although my dr says i got a tiny sleeve (32 fr oversewn) . i still have restriction with protein and bread and cheese but junk like  biscuits or chocolates , i can eat all day just like post op , difference is i can get a little queezy after 3 biscuits and stop my self.

i guess i need to watch the way i eat now and start measuring since i can eat more at 6 months out  . i need to reach my personal goal of 120 lbs.

i guess the honey moon stage is over for me and i need to get my act straight . i need to stay away from carbs and sweets and start measuring my food since restriction will not help with junk like it used to in the past 6 months.

but im so thankful for getting sleeved it was the best thing i did for my self , it changed my life .

You are very lucky. Usually its the other way around that works... Weigh and measure from the get go and ease up a bit when you hit goal and are into maintenance. Just curious, where do you walk for three hours a day? Gym? It must be beastly hot to just walk outside if you are in the UAE.....

well im currently in Dubai , and here they have malls and malls and more malls, a couple of minutes away from my home is the dubai mall (the largest mall in the world )  so i put my 3 yr old in the stroller and hit the mall all day trying on clothes and trying not to spend all my money on everything that fits :)

Hi Mai7amad,

wow, amazing that you lost that amount of weight in such a short time. Also amazing that you can eat biscuits and chocolate and maybe the answer is that your sleeve stretched already?

I think most of us had or have the same issues with being a volume eater or an emotional eater, which is what got us to this point in the first place.

I agree with you, def watch and measure what you eat and start counting carbs and or calories. I believe it is normal to eventually gain back a couple pounds like bouncing around +-5 pounds or so, but it shouldn't be an incentive to eat even if you have a "sleeve made of steel". 

Good luck to you and stay positive.

Sincerely,

Rita

My surgeon said the restriction relaxes at six months. I still have restriction but seems I can eat more often and need to avoid the slider foods.

OMG i love your post....haha i needed a splash of cold water on my face :)

dont get me wrong im so grateful for my lose and my sleeve... im just a little afraid that i feel i can eat more now that im six months out i hope i cant eat even more 9 months out...

Well I think it was very smart to walk 3 hours a day if you had the time. I just simply didn't have the ENERGY to do that after surgery for months and months. I didn't have the instant energy some people say they have. I am one of those people who takes months and months to recovery from ANY surgery-it has happened to me before. I did work out 3 hours a day a couple of years ago and only lost about 25 lbs in 4 months. That wasn't bad or anything but I was so tired from doing it that I just completely burned out on working out and couldn't keep up the regimen. I gained it all back plus a little extra. I decided not to do a crazy work out regime this time because 1) I was too tired and 2) I didn't want to burn out on it and not be able to keep it up. I decided to only do 45 minute workouts 4-5 days a week.

I have seen some of your threads lately about the bougie size and being upset that you can suddenly eat quite a bit more and don't have restriction with some foods. It is true--you will not always have restriction with crackers or cookies. I know the first few months I could only eat 2-3 wheat thin crackers along with a very small amount of cheese and be satisfied. NOW--I could probably eat a LOT of wheat thin crackers and cheese. That super tight restriction only lasts the first 3 months. After that, it's true--sliders can be consumed in pretty large quantities. I really can't eat wheat thins anymore because I can't stop after just 2-3, I always want more. The protein first rule is so important for a reason. Eating protein will leave very little room in your tummy for anything else. If you just eat carbs or slider foods for a meal--it will take a lot more of them to make you feel satisfied.
 

Do sleevers probably wish that they had restriction with crackers or cookies too? Probably!! But after about 6-9 months, there is very little restriction with foods like that. This is when measuring and doing protein first really becomes even more important. I hope that you can learn that habit NOW so you don't think that the restriction is going to "save you" when you want to eat some of the slider foods. Because that super tight restriction with any food is gone now. You can do it!

 

yse i can , and i will :)

very motivating thanx for the reply