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I can't believe it. I got on the scale this morning and it was 244.5 lbs. I've officially lost half of the weight towards my goal! I'm down 76 lbs since my highest weight and 63 lbs since surgery. And I'm not even 5 months out! I really didn't think it would happen this quickly. And weirdly enough, I feel smaller now than when I was this weight before. Weight distribution is a funny thing. Here's a pic of me pre-op at about 312 lbs, and two pics of me from today! I have so much more energy and mobility now. I'm so grateful to myself for having this surgery despite my fears and concerns. It has been SO worth it! Big thank yous to all of you guys for supporting me as I go through this, I really value this forum and everyone who posts here! ❤️

...further to above, figured i'd add a more current pic. this one was taken just now (4 yrs, 3 months AFTER the arm lift). you can see i'm not as defined as i used to be (i don't do as much strength training as i used to), but i'm still not flappy. in this position, you can see the end of my scar near the elbow, and a sliver of a much darker/redder scar at my armpit. like i mentioned, i historically scar terribly, so my results are worse than normal, scar-wise. alot of folks here have virtually invisible ones at the same point as me.

I've had a lower body lift, breast lift, arm lift, torsoplasty, face lift, and neck lift. It's expensive and some of the recovery was painful (esp the lower body lift), but I'm still glad I did it. It's been several years, but I don't remember the arm lift as being particularly painful (well, at least not compared to the lower body lift!), but I do remember it being pretty inconvenient not being able to reach for things for while I was healing. Also, scarring tends to be worse on arm lifts than on other procedures, I think because the skin is thinner there than in some other areas and there's a lot of tension there because we use our arms so much, and they move in so many directions. I do have visible scars there, whereas I can't even see my scars anymore on my breast lift (you can on my Lower body lift, but it's below my underwear line). However, I'd have to hold my arms up in the air for anyone else to see them, like if I was doing that "YMCA" dance, and how often do I do that? Not often. So it's not a huge issue. anyway, yes, I do understand your feelings. For me it was more the money issue that bothered me. Plastic surgery is really expensive. But I now have a normal-looking body, which I didn't before, so there's that..

I genuinely think that you sometimes just have to be selfish and do what you need to do for yourself. This is still your weight loss journey, and you know what is right for you. Sounds like you do have support around you (even with the reservations), and you are a strong person! As it seems like you already have, just make sure you are informed with your decision, look at the pros and cons - maybe write out a physical list so you can visualise it? Either way, I really wish you the best of luck ❤️

I believe we should get the the bodies we want, and that doesn't necessarily stop at weight loss surgery. It's wonderful your husband thinks you're perfect, but he's not living in your body. And, yeah, you may want more procedures, but why not? If you can get a body you're comfortable in through plastics, why is that a bad thing? I've had two sets of plastic surgery (but not an arm lift). Recovery sucks in the short term. But what's a few week vs. being happy with your arms forever? Additionally, there is a study that shows that those who get plastics after WLS are more apt to keep the weight off. Anecdotally, the group of women I am in touch with on here who have had plastics, and all 5+ years out, and all have had no significant weight gain, outside the normal bounce.

I must be in the minority - I didn't mind the puree stage at all - especially after a few weeks (before and after surgery) of just drinking fluids! It was great to eat real food - even if it was pureed. I remember eating a lot of Greek yogurt, hummus, refried beans - I also pureed spanakopita (which I made without the phyllo) a couple of times, as I recall (I must have added something to get it going in the blender - some milk, maybe? Can't remember). I had surgery at age 55 (that was nine years ago) but fortunately, unlike summerseeker, I didn't deal with any hormone issues. I did have off and on "buyer's remorse" the first two or three weeks, though ("what in the hell did I just do?" "Why could have I tried dieting one last time?"). All that will pass and you'll be so glad you did it. p.s. I used my blender a lot during the puree stage. I already had a standard-sized one, but I ordered one that had both a standard-sized pitcher and a small pitcher, since I figured I'd use the small one a lot more (and I did). I think it's a lot easier nowadays to find small blenders. But like someone else said, you can always order one afterward, too.

Your petulant, fussy, temper throwing tummy is showing its face @NickelChip. Your tummy decides one day it doesn’t like something yet you ate it fine before. Then on a few days or week or two later your tummy is all yum this is delicious. Or something you didn’t enjoy before is suddenly very tasty. Don’t be surprised if this continues for a few more weeks. It’s like your tummy is relearning about foods, textures, flavours, etc. I always found smoked salmon too rich. I’d eat a little but rarely. Then suddenly in soft food was eating it every day - spread it with cream cheese & wrapped it around wedges of cucumber. Then suddenly my tummy said no.No more smoked salmon. I was always able to eat eggs easily, then last year, after 4 years my tummy said nope not eggs. I actually haven’t gone back to them but I will again at some time. What I do remember is when my tummy says no, my restriction kicks in more quickly and I feel very full after just a couple bites. This may be what you @NickelChip & @PandaMom1977 are experiencing: your sensitive & fussy tummy making itself known, your nerves reconnecting & sparking & your restriction starting to work. It will be interesting to hear what the GI X-ray shows @PandaMom1977.

Hello @Bypass2Freedom I used the Spire group too. I had wonderful care and was totally happy with my team. I stayed in hospital 4 days because of a few minor issues I was having and then a 5th day because of a power cut in my town. They said I couldn't go home to a cold house. No extra charges were levied either. I had zero pain. The head nurse and the dietician gave me their personal phone numbers in case I had any problems or questions along the way. My pre op was 3 weeks of milk and veg basically but your surgeon may want different. They asked me to take dressing gown, nightwear and slippers to the hospital. No need for a long telephone charger cable in our hospitals. Take some lip balm. My surgeon was against protein shakes so after my op I had milky coffee, home made shakes and Bovril or broth to drink. Puree was not for me, I had either tinned or home made soups sieved or mashed any lumps. When I came home I bought a bed wedge because I got reflux. I needed a thermos cup because my hot drinks were always going cold. It takes a long time to drink anything in the first few weeks. With Amazon having next day delivery, if you need something its so quick, its pointless stock piling stuff you may not need in advance. The hormonal changes are something that I had. I was very tearful and had full on PMT. I was 60+ so it came as a shock to me. There have been a few people on here who have become pregnant very quick after the surgery. If that's a problem then a chat with your GP might help.

I strongly advise you to stick with the plan your surgeon gave you regarding food. Your stomach and small intestines have been cut and sewn back together, there are a lot of sutures in there that heal best without particles of food irritating them. And believe me, you do NOT want to compromise the healing of those sutures. I know it is hard to do nothing but drink. I was on fluids only for the first two weeks, no pudding, no eggs, nothing but fluids and my stomach couldn't handle protein shakes so I lived on broth, flavored water, and eventually I could do lactose free milk. But I got through it and so will you!! As hard as the changes are to our bodies, it is the head game that will do you in. You are strong. You can do hard things!! You only get the chance to heal once, so heal as well as you possibly can! I ate sugar free popsicles and crunched on ice when I had the urge to chew. This time without food is a very short time in the scheme of things even though it feels like an eternity. Find things to do to distract you from your hunger. Head hunger is miserable but you have to see this through because if you don't get control of the head hunger now it will drive you to eat around your surgery once you add food back in. The surgeon had me taking pills by mouth the day after surgery. It was a struggle but I understood it wasn't harming my stomach to take them, just go slow, one at a time, and give space between each one. But only take what they told you to take. You don't want to add anything extra that could irritate those healing sutures. ❤️

Just follow the recommended diet initially while your stomach heals. Time flies faster than you think. I would take your medications unless your doctor told you not to. Just remember to drink slowly! Sent from my SM-G981U1 using Tapatalk