Matt Z

5"9... but I'm 5"10 in the morning and 5"8 by the time I go to bed... LOL

Track your intake, and track your calorie burn per day and make sure you eat less than you burn. Also, check your current Basal Metabolic Rate, because I'm sure it's lowered since you started 4 years ago, our BMR is the amount of calories we need to just be alive (think in a coma, alive but not moving)... BMR drops as you get older, and as you get thinner. So figure out what you burn in a day without any added exercise and eat under that amount of calories and you'll be losing weight again. Also, keep drinking the water... can't process fat without water! Can you get a sitter for your mother for a little while each day or a few times a week so you CAN get out and get to the gym and have a life?

Congrats! That's awesome! I have to drop only 9 more lbs before I hit Class 1! But I find it funny that if I do hit 200 lbs, i'm still "overweight"... I do think they need to rethink some of these category levels. This chart says I need to be 165 lbs to be "normal" weight... that's crazy.

This is 100% natural and expected. I went out of my way to draft up a document with everything my wife would need to know, plus "goodbyes" just in case. But remember, if something does happen, there is no better place than the OR for that to happen. At this point the odds are super low, but, I fully understand that even low odds doesn't mean no odds. I justified this way. If I do nothing, how long do I really have? How much of that time is going to be useless because I can't move or am sick or some other obesity related reason? What am I to do if I have a heart attack and die? The surgery, even as a risk, lowers the risk of all the other obesity related reasons you could die. So, for the same reasons you are afraid to get the surgery, should be the reasons you are getting the surgery... for your family.

Congrats, that's one massive milestone!

@Omgbeckywtf yes. Totally normal.

@Morales This really depends on so many factors... your current weight, how much you lose, your age, etc etc. You will have excess skin more than likely. Working out helps, building muscle helps by filling in the spaces where fat used to be, compression gear helps to some extent, but really just keeping things in place. The quicker you lose weight the more likely you'll have saggy skin. But even losing 100% naturally without surgery is going to leave some lose skin.

Thanks, on both accounts. Miss her something crazy, she was so smart too, like, too smart. Taught her how to use a door bell to let us know she wanted to go out in less than an hour, then she realized that we came to the door when she rang so she'd use it to tell use she wanted more food or water or anything else in that area. I've given her puzzles and she's completed them with ease, some in as little as 8 seconds. It's been freaking hard.

Here are my pups, first, sadly, Dutchess, whom we lost this past Tuesday. and my 2 crazy Rough Collies, Freya (the older, larger of the 2) and Gaia, they are legit sisters, same parents, just different litters. Gaia after intussusception surgery Prisma Art featuring Freya

Itching is caused by your body telling you it needs to get rid of something. You can wash them to remove any built up dead skin, but if you have some glue caps over the incisions just be careful not to remove them. A cool compress can help So can some anti-itch creams / sprays. If you feel the urge, you can use an old tattoo trick, slap (lightly) the itch, enough to hopefully send the signal back to the brain that you've addressed the issue that it was sending you "scratch" requests for.

@Red Robin I was a band to bypass revision as well. My surgeon refused to do the band to sleeve because of increased risk of staple line issues across the scar tissue caused by the band. I'm glad I decided to go bypass over sleeve, because when my surgeon went to remove my band, it was totally encapsulated in scar tissue, they wouldn't have been able to proceed with the sleeve if I was going that way anyway. Now, my surgeon did refuse, but she said there were others in her group that would do it and she offered to send me to them if I wanted to proceed with the band to sleeve revision. I trusted her judgement and it paid off. Either way, congrats on deciding to continue your journey! Good luck and Stay Strong!

It absolutely does get easier with time. The first month or so for me was rough, not physically, but mentally. My kids would be cooking food or toasting bread and I'd just go full head hunger mode... I took a different approach than most it seems, I confronted the foods. I didn't stop anyone from eating what they wanted, I don't avoid certain isles at the market, I've stared down the candy rack during check out. And when my body was all like "yes, eat that, it's good" I'd correct myself, remind myself what those foods have done to me and how crappy they've made my life. It's hard, practicing some "Mindfulness" and "Mindful eating" as well as being honest with myself about what each food has done, has made it easier to deal with, for me anyway. You'll find what works for you, just gotta stick with it! You got this!

What surgery? Do your best to make the habit changes... it takes several weeks to make a new habit or break one. You've got to try your best though. It does get better. Once you get cleared for solids and then cleared to lift, things will turn around. Just follow that instruction sheet to the letter, get all your water in and you'll be fine.

@MoMoMeister these are all totally normal feelings and emotions. The first month or so just flat out SUCKS for most things. They do get better. Are you home already? I was in recovery for 2 days post surgery. There is a lot of adjusting that's going to happen, those "feelings" in your throat and stomach more than likely aren't hunger at all, but discomfort/pain due to the surgery. Just keep reminding yourself that this isn't permanent, it's temporary and WILL change. Each day you should feel a little better than before. Just be aware of the changes, try to understand them and you'll make it through just fine! Keep doing your best, follow those instructions to the letter, and soon enough you'll be very happy you had the surgery!

Don't worry overall, do the best you can each day and let your body heal up... don't stress about the weight number, it's only 1 number in the whole process, body fat % is equally as important and hardly anyone bothers to track it. So, relax, rest up, get good and healed, follow those instructions to the letter, work on getting that water intake to upwards of 128oz a day and everything will work out just fine! You got this!

@daniellelosing Congrats! You can update your settings by clicking the drop down next to your avatar and selected "My Surgery" there you can change yourself from Pre-Op to Post-OP, then on the left you can select "Progress" to add in some weigh-ins. And then if you go back to the drop down and select "Account Settings" on the left you can select "Signature" and that'll allow you to add things the "signature block" below your posts.

@xx_Momo_xx everyone is different, some never get hunger ever again, some, the hunger thing never changes. There is no guarantee that your hunger will disappear and never return. You didn't state what your current caloric intake is, or how much water you are getting. These 2 things are important to the process as well. Calories, at this point I'm sure you are consuming less than you are burning, but it's important to make sure that your intake is lower than your output each day. Water is SUPER important, not only does it flush out toxins etc, our body uses water to breakdown fat, so, if you aren't getting enough water, we can't breakdown fat as best as we can. Don't try to lose weight super quickly... there are major downsides to losing weight too fast, ranging from gallstone issues to rebounding to have issues with skin shrinkage. If you are following your instructions, getting your water, getting your exercise, don't stress. Just keep doing that and things will all work out just fine.

I assumed they meant to have readers use natural peanut butter (Farm stand style peanut butter / only ingredient is peanuts type peanut butter). But they didn't state either way so, I understand your reservations.

Sounds normal (Remember, everyone is different), once you get approved for solids you'll more than likely notice a change.

WLS is hard. I knew this going into my band back in 2011. I knew this going to my revision to bypass this past March. I expected it to be hard. I'm getting very frustrated with the struggle. Granted this is coming from a place where I'm working 10+ hour days, we just had to put a dog down, and I'm stalling hard every few days. My body fat has been slowly reducing but not the weight. And again, I get that it's a process. Just venting I guess. I'm in the gym almost every day, only missed 2 days total in over a month. One was because a friend needed help with his car, so I spent several hours in the junk yard getting a door off for him, so I might have missed the gym, but I certainly didn't miss the workout that day! And the other day was this past Tuesday, because my pup got put down while I was at work. She was old, and I knew it was coming, but that doesn't change the waves of depression and emotional break downs the loss is causing. Just need a win this week and everything is coming up crap. Our dryer stopped working and 4 parts later, too much money and too much effort and it's still not working. Just feels like this whole week has it out for me.

I remember being denied at first, because I needed a 6 month supervised diet even though I had the lap band installed in 2011. But those 6 months flew by. Hard to believe I'm almost 3 months post revision now! It'll happen, it just seems like it'll be a long time, then it goes quickly. It's weird. But you'll get there soon enough!

Coffee, anything acidic... etc etc. How quickly they form or you experience a flare up is going to be based solely on your personal "make up", some people are more prone to ulcers... so this question really should be posed to your PCP, Original surgeon/surgical team or nutritionist.

Congrats! Soon you'll be posting about your surgical date, etc. Sometimes it seems like a long wait, but then it just flies by!

This one is on seems decent http://insidekarenskitchen.com/thai-chicken-satay-with-spicy-peanut-sauce/ https://www.bariatriceating.com/2011/11/thai-peanut-sauce/ Google "Bariatric friendly *insert food here*" and you'll find TONS of foods.

Did they give you an incentive spirometer? Are you using it? Pain and healing are completely different for everyone... but typically all your incisions should be healed up well enough within 4 weeks or so.