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Fabulous @WishMeSmaller. Congratulations on reaching your goal. And I agree with @ms.sss - your legs ❤️ OMG I so hear you re the saggy butt skin. I remember walking around my house pulling & readjusting my knickers, thinking these uncomfortable knickers are going in the bin, only to realise it was my lose butt skin. 😱 I had to rearrange myself when I sat or lay down too. It’s not as bad now. Combination of some of my remaining fat rearranging itself & just getting used to it I think. (Wish I still didn’t suffer from bony ass pain though. It’s the worst.)

Due to COVID we just don’t get to socialize like normal and it has taken a toll. It is a tough time to give up a best friend, food. I had and continue to have depression and take meds for it. My mood swings were radical the first 4 months or so post-op...just ask my husband 😆 Things are definitely more stable now, but I have to exercise a lot to maintain my mood. If I skip two days in a row, I definitely get into a blue funk. Talk to your doc about how you are feeling and tweak your meds if you need to. Try some gentle exercise like walking. Hang in there! 💕

It's actually pretty common after surgery to go through a period where you feel like "What have I done to myself!?!" The early days of recovery can be really tough. Like you, I had a lot of post-op pain and I struggled to hydrate (have you tried clear protein drinks - not shakes? They helped me a lot early on.) I remember how awful I felt in the early days but fortunately it gets better pretty quickly. By week three I had no pain issues, I could sleep more comfortably, and I felt more myself. It's hard to say what might have given you hives - are you doing anything different? Using a new product? Taking a new kind of vitamin? Or did the ER use something or give you something you may be allergic to? It may take a process of elimination to figure that one out. As for generally feeling yucky, I promise it gets better. Hang in there! Hugs.🤗

This is such an interesting discussion, and we don't talk about this. My first goal was to just be under 200, too. That seemed like enough. Just to be pretty regular sized and not need special accomidation...not have to worry about weight limits, fit in normal auditorium seats.....and maybe get some good health benefits. I reached 200 and thought I could do a little more. I remembered feeling and looking my best at 170 in my youth...back when I could run five miles and work all day and not get too tired. So I thought...ok, I'll try for 170. I'm a muscular person. My feet are size 11 and my shoulders are broader and stouter than many men's. My body style isn't willowy. So I worked hard for 170....got there and felt incredible. Then, I went on a really rugged cross country camping/hiking trip and without realizing it got down to 160 and weirdly....just didn't like how I looked as much. I looked older, my wrinkles were more prominent, I prefer more curve and less prominent muscle on myself. I like eating a few more calories. I like getting 10,000 steps a day...and doing active things that I enjoy....but I don't enjoy constant training schedules and work outs. In the end, it's all a balance. Figuring out your best you...is a balance. Catwoman, I'm glad to hear that your team, like my team....had realistic information available for you and encourage realistic goals for their clients. My team was all about long term results, long term habits, therapy to figure out the bad choices, little changes that add up. Sometimes I feel like the teams that do super restricted calories for super rapid weight loss....are treating their patients more like walking advertisements for their "miracle fix" than patients whose futures they're invested in. I see my bariatric team once a year now. How long will I do this? Forever. They want to see me once a year. If my nutrient levels are stable...this can extend to once every few years...but they want a long term relationship to track my progress for research. I think this is so important.

My abdomen area seems swollen(Could be from trauma).I don't think I have anymore gas right now. I have no pain or desire to eat at this point. If this is as bad as it gets I am amazed! Did anyone else have swelling or bloating in the abdomen area? I haven't weighed yet but feel I am retaining water. Any advice is appreciated. I have follow up with my surgeon on Tuesday. Thanks for any input.

Thank you all so much for the positive feedback! ❤️❤️❤️ I have always had hang ups about my legs and yet you all think they look good...so funny how we see ourselves as opposed to how others see us. Uh hi there, body dysmorphia. Now onward to PS surgery and picking up that saggy booty to get ready for bikinis in Maui for July😊😊🌺

Interesting read. I can't help though but think about how much weight people gain during a time period of 11 years who never were obese in their whole life, maybe not even overweight. I just need to look at colleagues and friends. Weight gain (sometimes really significant) between the age of 35-50 seems to be quite common. So while I definitely don't want to dismiss weight regain over a time span that long, one should maybe also take a look outside the realm of the bariatric world and be careful what to label as "failure" or not (though this usually seems to be more of a patient-problem than a doctor-problem). If "goal" is BMI 24.9 or less you're definitely right. Now I'm going to talk about something that is really rarely talked about in the WLS community (we seem to have exactly one moderately active thread about this): eating disorders or disordered eating. When one takes a look at "failure rates" of treatment of patients suffering from eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia, bariatric patients don't seem to have worse outcomes so we don't seem to be exceptionally "bad patients". Too many patients seem to only change gear and develop overly restrictive eating habits, starve themselves and compulsively exercise, all too often encouraged not only by the scales showing less weight, but also by their environment and even their treatment teams.

Exercise is one of the least prescibed and most effective treatments for depression and anxiety.

Hi all! My sleeve surgery is Monday, the 1st. Eek! I'm so excited and nervous. I had my final pre-op appt this morning and both the pregnancy and COVID test were negative so I'm good to go!

You’re doing great!! Keep up the great work!!