I was a size 24 when I had my surgery.  I'm an 18 now.  I've lost 7 inches from my waist post-op, about 35 overall.  Having said that, since April 23rd, I've only lost 1/2 inch from my waist.  I am starting to lose on the lower half of my body, however.  I wish I didn't have doubts, but I guess I woudn't be human.  I still love my sleeve. 

There is no such thing as 'secure' in the border towns or the roads around them.  Right now, Juarez has a large military presence which makes it relatively safe, but the key word there is relatively. 

 

Take care of yourself! I'm so sorry you're in the hospital.  Hugs to you!

Thanks, everyone!  I am very greatful for the support! 

 I think we all get anxious.  I was about to get my whine on because I only lost 1.5lbs last week. Shake up your routine a bit -- including your food. I learned a long time ago while low carbing that sometimes you need a one day shot of carbs to goose your metabolism and break a stall. That's what I did over the weekend, and I seem to be getting back on track.  Also, add more days exercising and try some interval training to push your heart-rate up. 

My surgeon's office says they expect patients to lose a minimum  60% of EWL within the first 6 months.  I'm just shy of 40% and I will be 3 months next week (12 weeks tomorrow).  I had a lot to lose -- 130lbs from my surgery weight, so I won't make goal in 6 months.  I'm shooting for 80% EWL at 6 months which should make 100% EWL attainable within the first year. 

Stress causes the body to produce coritisol. Cortisol causes you to gain weight.  The more you stress, the tougher weightloss will be especially if you're stressing over your weightloss. 

I track my weight daily, and after I started my new job back in March, my 30 day moving average daily weight loss (yeah, I know, it sounds insane) dropped 1/10 of a percent from .54 to .44 lbs/day.  It doesn't sound like a lot -- .7lbs a week, but that's almost 3lbs in a month. During the first 6 months honeymoon period, I can't afford to give up any weightloss.

I've settled into the job, but I also made a conscious decision  to a) sleep more, b) drink more, c)   push myself more while exercising, and d)  RELAX.  My weightloss has picked back up to where it was my first month out.

I don't say that, because it has been pretty easy.  I'm not trying to blow sunshine up your skirt, but I have had one or too minor hiccups along the way and that's it.

The surgery was a piece of cake for me -- I had no pain, nausea or vomitting, and I walked, and walked, and walked in the hospital and when I got home. I still get up from my desk and walk 1/4 mile 3 times during the day to keep my blood moving although I'm past the blood-clot risk period. 

The fluids -- not hard but require thought and planning.  I am most apt to forget to drink while I'm at work; so, I have to be conscious of it.  I can now pretty much drink as much as I want.  I'm careful to time my wait after eating to drink every time.  Again it's not hard especially now that it's a habit.

Food -- other than I can't tolerate chicken very well, I'm good with most everything else.  I have no issues with a low-carb lifestyle.  About the only thing I seriously crave (and only occasionally) are asian noodles - i.e., Pad Thai, Pho with noodles, Bun, etc., and indian dishes with rice.  I have adapted recipes for Pho, Thai coconut soup, and some of my asian dishes to take out the rice and noodles.  

Eating out -- chili is my go-to meal.  I also order things like seared tuna sashimi, or yesterday, my husband and I had the fajita trio at Chili's without the tortillas  or rice and beans.  I ate 2 shrimp, two slices of beef with some Guacamole, bell pepper, and cheese.  He ate the rest.

 

Thanks :) 

I'm sorry you were stressed.  I try to keep in mind what someone said here a while back:  Your mileage may vary :)

I don't have any hunger; so, I have to remember to eat.  I eat by my plan -- basically 3 meals a day and as you noted about 4oz total with less than 3oz dense food per meal.  I don't drink the milk on my plan because it started to gross me out, but I take extra calcium (discussed with my surgeon).  I focus on protein, and if I'm full with my protein I stop before I go onto veggies.  I usually can get in at least a couple broccoli florettes, for example, though. 

I occasionally get busy and forget to drink enough. If that happens, I will keep drinking and skip the meal but add protein.  I do supplement my protein still with Muscle Milk Protein H20.  I drink that for the fiber and electrolytes as well as the protein.  I keep my carbs very low but I don't worry about fat.

I haven't posted much in the last couple of weeks because I've been travelling, started a new job, etc., but I wanted to stop in and say I LOVE MY SLEEVE!!!!!!!

As of this morning, I'm down 69.8 pounds since I started my pre-op diet in November, 37.8 since my surgery on January 28th.  My weighloss has been steady  with no stalls.   i'm averaging 3.5lbs a week right now.  I am still exercising an hour or so every day.  I follow the rules to the letter: 2-3 oz of protein followed by 1 -1 1/2oz of complex carb (usually green veggie).  I wait 1 hour after eating to drink.  At restaurants,  my go-to meal is a cup of chili.  I'll eat about half (4oz).

I spent 4 days freezing my butt off in New Jersey last week for a dog show, travelling with a group of friends from Canada and Norway. As a side note, my dog won so much people got mad...  I packed Starkist Albacore Tuna lunch kits to bring with me (2.6oz of tuna, a little mayo, and crackers I didn't eat), and I ate those instead of pizza or burgers my friends got at the convention center.  When we went out for dinner, i shared off someone's plate or in my big splurge of the weekend I got the small Seared Ahi Tuna appetizer at Outback.  I also packed a couple of protein bars which came in handy on the flight up and for breakfast.  Flying back, I was in First Class, and the meal was a cold plate with cheese, meat, and a little fruit -- perfect VSG dinner, lol.

Some NSV's:

-- Now size 16- 18 on top, 20 on bottom.  A lot of 1X's are too big. This is down from a 28 top/30 bottom

-- Did not need a seatbelt extender on the flight, and even in coach with a dog under the seat in front of me, I was comfortable. Armrests went all the way down, and I could put my tray table down.

-- We went to Carlo's Backery (Cake Boss from TLC) in Hoboken, and even after standing online for 2 hours to get in (in the freezing cold)  I wasn't even tempted by the sweets.  I bought a lovely cake we took to the show the next day for other exhibitors. I do have to say, it's pretty cool to visit the shop.

-- While I still occasionally feel like the fattest woman in the world (and some of the pictures taken of me would confirm that I at least have the biggest butt in the world), I was complimented nearly to death on my weightloss by folks who hadn't seen me since the last national in October.

-- I stopped my PPI early last week and I have had no issues without it.  I'm down to 2 meds plus vitamins.

Congrats! You look awesome!

I started running at about 3 weeks post-op.  I started doing 30 second run/1 minute walk intervals at that point.  I'm doing 1 minute run/30 second walk intervals, now, at a faster pace for both the walk and the run. 

I'm 230 or so (was out of town, haven't weighed in a few days, and I run on a treadmill. I won't run on pavement for another 30lbs or so because of my knee. 

Having lived in a box canyon in California that was highly susceptible to both fire and earthquakes and now in the heart of hurricane country, we are quite meticulous about emergency preparedness.  Several friends of ours lost their dogs in fires back in 2004 (when their homes burned), and I never want to be in that position.

We have cases of water and Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's) in our travel trailer along with emergency dog food and our general 'staples' week keep (canned beans, soup, etc) for dog shows. My van is always ready to go with dog crates, bedding, etc, permanently in place.  We can hitch and bug out in about 20 minutes if necessary or hook up the generator and live out of it with the dogs on our property .  We also keep the water tanks full and flush them about once a month. If push comes to shove, I could hook up my generator for the trailer  to run my fridge at home.

One of our next projects is a whole-house generator since our well runs off of an electric pump.