To the former bandsters......

I feel like I lost the weight that I put back on when I had to have my sleeve unfilled due to complications without a big struggle, though I did lose it a little slower than "virgins" who were sleeved the same time I was. However, as I got close to what had been my lowest band weight, my weight loss has really slowed and I only lose at all if I am 100% compliant and exercising a lot, which I do think is a little harder this time around since, in effect, I've been on this journey for a really long time and it can be exhausting, mentally, sometimes. Also, with the sleeve I can eat things that I could never tolerate with the band. On the plus side, that includes raw veggies and dense meat protein, sausage (e.g. Turkey kielbasa), etc., but on the negative side it also includes rice, bread, pasta, making it much easier to slip into that bad eating! Overall though, I feel much better and more capable of achieving "normality" with the sleeve than I ever did with the band.