I am really jealous!!!! Throwing a hissy fit.

It's funny you should say this, I always think of you as someone who works really hard at her maintenance.  When I think of you, I think of an athlete doing what needs to be done to increase strength and/or endurance.   I never once thought that this was effortless for you.  Maybe you care a bit less about the number on the scale, but you care plenty about keeping control and staying healthy.  I never would have put you in the effortless category.  You go to support meeting, you have tracked your food and I am sure you do a million other things to keep your head in the game. I have seen you busy typing away as our doctor talks, you are paying attention and are wide awake and determined to get what YOU want from your sleeve.  If you have peace with yourself now, I think that is fantastic.  Most of the time, I too have peace with my weight but not this weekend.  This weekend what I want to do and what I know is best for me are at odds. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen.  It helps me to whine a little bit to kindred souls.  In the end, I will do the right thing, like I do most of the time, but sometimes I just get a little tired of being strong and need to vent.  Vent over, I'm good, at least until next time. 

I do care very much what my scale tells me mostly because of my history with this device.  Every time I have stopped caring about the scale, I have managed to become an ostrich and to hide the truth of my weight regain from myself.  This never ended well. 

My hunger came back around the six to eighth month mark and in all honesty, I would rather it stayed away.  I was just fine eating by the clock and felt quite comfortable with eating this way.  I still enjoyed my food, but I agree with you, not having any hunger is not the "normal" way most people live.  I have learned to deal with my hunger, to make peace with it if you will, by not letting it get out of hand and by eating protein first and drinking plenty of liquids.  It is what it is, and there is nothing that can be done to change it, so I work with it. 

That's interesting because I don't think of going to support meetings, logging my food, etc. as hard.

When I think of people who I think are working hard, I think of people who are always posting on here about having gained 3 pounds and how they are "going back to basics!" or who are constantly changing their routine hoping to find the trick that will allow them to stay the weight they want to be instead of constantly battling to be that weight.

Just got back from a weekend away in beautiful Mendocino celebrating our anniversary...so I haven't been on for a few days..but just wanted to add my understanding AND sympathy. It IS hard and I think it will ALWAYS be hard. But I think the VAST majority of us sleevers DO have to work hard at it, and I bet many of the people who think they have it easy will find it becomes hard later. I myself was a very slow loser, but on the other hand, I actually lost slowly for almost 3 years, so it WAS easy for those years. And the -- BAM-- it got hard, and I had gotten a touch complacent. But we have each other to complain to, right???

XOXO,
Lizanne

P.S. Can't help you on the height thing, but I remember, when I was 5'8" in 7th grade TOWERING over all the boys, how I wished I could be petite...

Lizanne, I just love you. You get me, totally get me. I feel really understood by you and I can't even begin to tell you how much it means to me to read your posts. From the very beginning, I always looked to you for advice and inspiration, I always felt like you were a few steps in front of me holding out a light telling me what to expect. Your words mean a great deal. Thank you for your friendship.

I'm relatively new to maintaining, but something I observed a long time ago is that most people who stay slender work at it.  I hate to say it, but, by golly, you're normal! 

There aren't many people over the age of 35 who can effortlessly stay thin (i.e., in the normal range) even if they were never MO or had WLS.  My mother, who has a 22 BMI at age 77, does exactly what 'successful' VSG maintainers do - she watches what she eats and tracks it, she is active, and if she bounces up a couple of pounds she cuts back on carbs and calories to take it off.  I know lots of 'normies' and they pretty much all do the same, almost unconsciously.   I now eat very much like my mom, sister-in-law, etc., who are all 'naturally' slender.  What's natural to them is not being slender but the behavior required to stay slender.  They don't have super metabolisms, rather they have 'thin people' habits. 

The good news is we have a great tool to be more like the 'normies.' 

Kdoglady is right. Don't know why I never knew it earlier in my life but many so called naturally skinny people do work at it and exercise discipline about eating and such. They still may be able to do more calories than many of us can but they do weight and maintain watchfulness. So we just have to get into those habits.

I once went to weight counseling that said to learn to imitate the habits of naturally thin people and there is something to this. Our "tool" just helps us do this. Ain' t it great to be normal - well sort of. 
diane

feel the same way about getting to goal...