CowgirlJane

A few documentaries..in truth I watch all types of documentaries but these come to mind. Hitler's children -a very moving and educational film about the descendants of the 3rd Reich. Restrepo -must watch...our soldiers in a remote valley in Afganistan Blackfish- the reason people boycott sea world (A flim on orca intelligence was fascinating but I can't recall title) Coywolf- human disruption of an environment contributed to evolution of a new species. Buck- seems like it is about horses but it's really about people. Frontline: Hunting the nightmare bacteria - now I am really scared of drug resistance bacteria. Everyone needs to watch this. Life - about adult lifers in prison for crimes they comiitted as juveniles. Is that ethical? Wait, before you decide...watch the next one Rage Killers - interesting explanation of why some people are prone to going off the deep end and murdering

Yeah Michigan chic you got it. I have filled my life with wonderful more meaningful things and pleasures and yet sometimes I just want to eat...old habits old demons never really gone just sometimes more solidly beaten into submission than other times.

I started 308# and lost down to 140 at my lowest. I am in the 150s right now. I exercised alot. I did not do wraps or any of that. Skin does rebound/tighted somewhat with time, but it gets really stretched out when you are that much overweight. The really sad thing is some of the skin actually becomes poor quality... thin. This was true for me in a few areas. Anyway, exercising makes you look better and be healthier but it does not remove excess skin. Time does help some, but if you have alot of extra skin it won't rebound completely... or even mostly. Spanx or other shapewear helps very much - without it i always had a skin muffin top until I had plastic reconstructive surgery which made a huge difference. However, I didn't have surgery head to toe so I still have excess skin on my back but it isn't bad enough for me to try to address. I just avoid tight bra bands etc. I attached a photo. The two on the left are post reconstructive plastics. The bottom right, I was at goal but not wearing any spanx. So, yes, I had a bit of a melted snowman effect but I for sure looked way way way better than my before picture! Wearing spanx, I could hide all that skin except for the arms.

I was in a live in long term relationship at the time of my sleeve. My partner was supportive in the sense that he drove me to appointments, never tried to talk me out of it and never sabatoged me. However, I had lost 125# and I finally asked him if he had noticed me looking better. Yep, he had paid nary a compliment. What was really going on was we had been "broken up" for awhile but i was so lost in the fog of my illness that I didn't really get it. I could have really benefited from my partner being able to compliment, cheer me on and comfort me but he wasn't able. It was lonely in some ways but i have a lot of friends and great work colleagues who filled the gap. I feel like people who say things like "I wish the person had just tried harder without surgery" actually have no idea what it is like to reach the helpless zone regarding managing obesity. I simply could not do it without surgery and even with, it it has not been totally easy. On the looking in the mirror alot etc - I don't know, he could really be going through a big headspace change and struggling with it. Those things seem like temporary adjustments... annoyances. I weigh daily to keep myself accountable - otherwise I start regaining so I don't see that as obsessive. One thing I know about relationships, they don't work out well if they are somehow competitive or advserial.

I had a hard time following all of the original post, but I can share a very short story that i think is relevant. I have had two significant relationships in my life. i married my high school sweetheart and divorced him in my early 30s. Then I connected with a man who i never married but who lived with me over a decade and was stepdad to my kids. Two very different men but they had one thing in common - I financially supported the whole lot. Don't wait till your 50 to decide you deserve to be with someone who "pulls his own weight" on the finance front. for myself, single again and not really loving all aspects of single life, I still would not go back to being taken advantage of financially - I would rather be alone.

Lillehammer - NJ gangster sets up shop in a small skiing town in Norway

The surgery has been very very worth it -don't get me wrong - saved my life. I am finding it hard to maintain that BMI of 23-25 which is a very ideal range vanity wise.

Thanks beachgurl...I just didn't find anything when I tried looking.

3 years out and you would be amazed - yes you can gain weight eating only a cup of food at a time. It seems incomprehensible in the early stages I don't eat "diet food" but i do generally follow a carb controlled plan because carbs make me ravenously hungry. That means I skip bread, rice, Pasta, pizza, potatoes etc., limit fruits.... so i mostly eat Protein and veggies. I completely ignore the recommendations from my fitness pal etc because I have come to understand how my body responds to a way of eating - and moderate to low carb is what I NEED to do in order to have a chance at controlling hunger. (I am maintaining about 160# weight loss)

Taking the test was hard because some of the answers are different pre versus post sleeve. I came up as a "constant Craver" but not by much. I think pre op i was both a constant craver and a feaster - and they both scored the highest on the quiz.

Veterans forum would be a great place for you, but you need 100 posts to post there. Welcome some new peeps, congrats on successes etc and before you know it you will have 100 posts. I strongly recommend low carbohydrate diet to help manage hunger. It's tough, but for many of us the surgery alone isn't enough....you must be quite diligent. I started at 308, got as low as 140, currently maintaining around my goal weight of 158. My sleeve was 3 Years ago.

Ann I don't track so I don't actually know. What I observe is I seem to need less than I did a year ago. I was injured by that lousy personal trainer and so stopped my uber high intensity workouts since I was in physical therapy and then summer came..and then I got distracted. So I am still active but haven't been working out hard like I used to. I suspect that I have lost muscle so that is part of the issue. I used to have very defined arm, shoulder and leg muscles....now, not so much. I am starting kickboxing next week though!

When I had plastics. .. no drains for the breasts. They healed great and no visible scars. Glad you are feeling good now! I didn't have liposuction but I have heard it is more painful than reconstructive plastic surgery!

I am curious about the research on how alcohol during weight loss causes brain damage. That is a new one for me - never seen or heard of that. I have been at goal for awhile and like i mentioned I chose to not drink during the losing phase, but I am curious.

I didn't drink during weight loss phase - empty calories. i went to a celebration about 4 months post op and that itty bitty glass of wine burned my tummy. Proceed with caution. Now that I am at goal I lean toward either red wine (but recently discovered the one I like the best seems to have had sugar added!!! wtf?) or liquor with Water or soda water and some lime. Yes, soda water has some fizz... but i drink slow and it goes flat fast.

I lost 5.5# from plastics. I had very little fat left so didn't need lipo.

Ann - good point - a man who is trying to maintain 280# is in a whole different "eating situation" than someone like me hoping to maintain in the 140s.... I never had the expectation that I would be able to just eat whatever I want. I was pretty realistic going in, but the reality of this day after day, year after year... well... it's real.

I do like that image of modeling good behavior. Actually, it was funny but we were talking about mixed drinks at a local bar and i told them that I choose a vodka soda with lime - and my colleague said something about how that was pretty dang healthy for a mixed drink..ha This is what success looks like. Well, one version of it anyway. I am not perfect, I fail pretty regularly in fact, but i get back up and keep going. It sometimes gets tiring, something I am not sure I related to even a year ago. I think THAT is an important message for newbies. I am astounded by the number of posts from people who never get to goal, or who get to goal and then have a regain and they are shocked by the experience - like they didn't "get" that the weight slides back on after the honeymoon period if you don't really manage it aggressively. The surgery is absolutely what I needed to get to where I am at, so I do not intend to be discouraging, but rather realistic. Anybody who thinks that maintaining a massive weight loss over the long haul is easy certainly isn't walking in my shoes. I hope it is easier for others, I really do. I thought for quite awhile that i could eat more than i really should (meaning, if i eat that much I regain).... Some posts made by people in the honeymoon period make it sound easier than i think it really is over the long haul. I can think of a few people who don't actually post here anymore that were gung ho perfect exercise and "food planners" and I do wander if they have sustained that over time. I am determined to continue to walk a liveable balance between weight management and enjoying life. Some days are just harder than others.

My surgeon did not give goals. The rationale was to not discourage someone like me (high BMI). They said that sometimes people lose 100# but are bummed because they didn't meet the goal and lose 150# for example. My personal goal was to get under 200# and MAINTAIN it. Then, when I got under 200# i decided to go for a goal weight of 158 which meant I lost a nice round 150#. I lost more after that (and have regained some so back to goal!) but i keep my goal at 158.

Rake (Australian show) Z Nation, Walking Dead, Call the Midwife, Orange is the New Black, Shameless (there is both a British and USA version) and many great documentaries!

I will check that out - thanks Cathy! Well, I dropped the water weight and I am back to where I was a week ago. sheesh. This is hard. I realized yesterday that while I don't feel blue or depressed, I am not my same ole self. One of my friends texted and called for days asking if I was depressed - when we finally talked live I was like "what?" and he said that i had NEVER turned down an invite to go out and have fun and I have been doing that lately (he and his gfriend had asked me to join them for an evening out). It was true - i had multiple invites for both Friday and Saturday night and blew them all off - basically stayed in all weekend except I took my son out to eat. I found myself wanting to be home rather than "out" which is totally opposite of my normal.... That in and of itself is maybe no biggie, but I have felt hermit like for weeks now and that just isn't me. Anyway, last night I made myself do a social event and I had so much fun at it! I am not depressed over Kevin by any stretch - in fact having him GONE makes me realize I wasn't really enjoying much of the being with him. I think I do feel discouraged about relationships topic - but what else is new? Seahawks to the superbowl again - this town is pretty excited about that!

Sounds like a fun concert.. woohoo! I saw the link about the outlet reduction procedure, but aren't you getting long term results from the nasal tube treatment? That was one of their claims - but I don't understand how.

Go back to 4-5 mini meals a day all starting with Protein, small amount of veggies and that is pretty much it. The idea is eat often enough to prevent that getting too hungry/making bad decisons. I am a big advocate of low carbing and 5:2 also helped me. There are a few of us working on these little regains....

I had the works...pain was not an issue, but it kicked my butt. I was off work for 6 weeks.

Low carb. Hate auto correct