What if I fail at this too?

I'm 3 weeks postop and wondering how much I should have lost? I know everyone is different, I'm down 22lbs but hear others say they're at 35lbs at one month. This is beginning to feel like a diet to me except that I'm getting sick pretty much once or more a day. Do people fail at WLS? Maybe I'm just missing my food and being negative, for that I apologize, but I haven't lost weight in a week and am wondering, can I really eat 700 calories and NOT lose weight? Any insight from postops a little farther out would be appreciated. Thank you and Merry Merry!!! Katie

My friend and surgery Buddy... I know you don't want to hear this from me... but here I go because I do care about you!!!! I am 4 weeks out and I have lost 22lbs. That is 22lbs!! That is alot!!! Would you have been able to do that on your own? Seriously think about that... ONLY 22lbs? I would have had to pay $500 and do Jenny Craig for weeks and weeks to lose that. We are only a few weeks out... you cannot expect to see results overnight, I think you are putting too much pressure on the surgery and yourself. They said in our classes that the weight will not just fall off... give it time. EVERYONE I have talked to thru this site and listened to in our support groups have said the first 2 months are the roughest. Also... they said in our classes that anxiety can affect the way we eat... make us throw up. I felt the same way last week when I was even questioning whether or not I had stricture... so I did the mindful eating and took the time to chew... but it still came back up, the next day I couldnt handle water... it was a stricture. I was second guessing myself also. You just gotta give it time, Katie. You just went thru major surgery... we both did, our emotions are out of whack, but you gotta make this work. Think about your kids. focus on healthy eating and living. Think about the new you next summer in Daisy Dukes!

Thanks Nicole, you're probably right. I called the office and Melissa suggested I go on liquids for a few days, especially warm ones, she doesn't think I have a stricture. We'll get through our "issues" together!!! And hopefully by next summer it will be a distant memory, but Daisy Dukes, not in my lifetime girlfriend!!! No matter how slim I"ll be it still won't be a Jessica Simpson moment!! Thanks, you're sweet!! Katie

hi Katie! You are going to be so surprised in a year. Right now that sounds like a lifetime away -- but it's going to fly by. This is what happened to me --- At three months out I was only down 50 pounds. I was still wearing my sweat suits so really no one saw any loss of note. Even my doc said I was failing at this. I just stuck with the program -- protein, exercise, water, etc. And I got support from this online site. At one year out -- I was 145 pounds down - happy, healthy, very upbeat and positive. THEN the doc was saying, "Baby, look at you now!" You are going to do it. It's quite a wild ride -- but you can do it. In FACT, YOU ARE DOING IT!!!!!!! Believe it. You had a very good loss for three weeks. Thats more than a third of what I did in three MONTHS! Big congratulations!!! You're already a winner. Sheryl 320/175/160 Oct. 28th, 2006

I want you to do me a favour. Go to your local grocery store and walk up to the meat counter. Please go to the section that have the ground beef "logs"...I think most stores in Arizona carry them. They normally come in 3 or 5 pound casings like large overweight sausages. Please pick up 4 of the 5 pound logs. Or 7 of the 3 pound logs. Then walk around the store for about an hour holding them in your arms. If you could do this for an hour without dropping them I think I would be amazed. At the end of the hour you will be pretty much exhausted. You will have just carried the weight you have lost around for JUST ONE HOUR and it has so tired you out. 22 pounds .... not a lot of weight??? Maybe you need to change your prespective? You have done well. I think you should congratulate yourself instead of wondering if you have failed. It is the holiday season and you are losing instead of gaining???? Has this ever happened in your life before? Well before WLS? Probably not. Cheer yourself on. This is definitely something to be thankful for! Congrats! And drop the raw meat!

Hi Katie, 22 lbs in 3 weeks is amazing. Everyone loses at a different pace, so don't be so hard on yourself. And you will hit times when you may not see the numbers move on the scale, but you will be losing inches. I've been on the slower side of losing, but at 6 months out, I am halfway to goal. I've lost 76 lbs and have gone from a 3x to an XL. I will be 6 months out on Dec 8. I remember that first month to month and a half being REALLY rough. It didn't matter what I ate or how much I chewed or how small of bites I took, EVERYTHING made me sick. I mentioned it in one of the support group meetings (I am also a Scottsdale Bariatric patient) and I found out that was very normal at that stage and it would resolve itself. It did around 5-6 weeks out. I remember wondering what I had done to myself and how I would be insane if I had to live with throwing up every day. But it did get better and I am very rarely ever sick now. If I am, it's because I ate too fast or took a bite that was too big. This surgery does work as long as you adhere to the rules. You will lose weight . And it gets a lot easier the further out you get with the eating problems.