CowgirlJane

Beth, the doctor should give you instructions on that. I don't have lumpy results and I just did the basic breast implant massage. Once the incisioins healed I massaged in mederma and vit e oils etc. Frankly, I think the main thing about scarring results is your genetics...

Thanks Sarah, I am almost done with the Betty madness and then i will be okay. Had a nice time kayaking on Lake Washington with Theo yesterday! We had a nice dinner afterwards. I think we are both debating if this continues, we live 45 min or more drive apart and during rush hour... much worse of a drive...but we do enjoy each others company so not stressing on it for now! I am maintaining "ok" at 144 this morning. I celebrated by having an egg topped with cheese and avacodo with a side of bacon. Say what? Some more vets need to weigh in on this thread. I bang my head against the wall... people are morbidly obese quite literally dying of the disease of obesity and their main concern is excess skin. You know I had plastics, but I would have been okay without them too. I am not really sure how to get the message through that being healthy is just so much better... skin and all. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/317654-scared-of-saggy-skin/page-2

Hi Melanie I love PSSC and have had great success with their program. Good luck!

I wore shorts and summer tops before plastics. My arms made me self conscious but I started to realize that I obsessed about them more than others noticed! I did often wear shapewear but the.main trick was to make sure my pants were not snug. ...avoiding the skin muffin top. I wore alot of dresses as that worked well. I still think people obsess way too much on this topic. Going from morbidly obese to "normal" improves your life immensely. I would say it improves looks 80-90% and plastics gets yo the last 10% or so. Think about what a difference 80-90% improvement in looks could mean in your life- so worth it!

Thanks, that makes sense. I went to support groups preop but only one post op. Decided I am not a support group kinda person but I can surely see the value of what you are talking about.

Woohoo coops! Love the confidence! You got it so flaunt it.

Guess who I heard from? My bad boyfriend Steven was all full of sympathy for my losses and lovey dovey toward me. It has been about two months since the last time we broke up...maybe longer, it's very confusing I am not even sure. Anyway, time has given me a great deal of perspective. Is it evil of me that I view this like an episode in a soap opera? Like seriously, I do love him but my stars...this is the man that told me I wasnt allowed to talk about "anything bad"' - I will never ever get over THAT. grow up Peter Pan. I am genuinely a smiley happy girl but..I am a human with real life stuff going on...So fyou if you can't handle a full human life experience... I was sweet about it because I know he just doesn't really get it...but don't tell me you want me back because you don't even know what it means to be in a loving relationship...even if you do feel love. So when I share my"boyfriend" woes it is with humor not angst so I hope it is taken that way. I am not sure I ever want to live with or be with a man permanently. I am starting to love single life...it is a process...but my mindset is really changing. I am so enjoying my friends, my horses, even my work. I am not sure I even have time for a"full-time" boyfriend. I am going Kayaking with Theo today. Love his company but I think we are going to be friends and not in a real relationship. I am picky about compatibility and I realized a very basic pitfall between us and I don't need the grief so just don't want to go there. Keeping it platonic (we had a fiasco happen on the date where I was ready for more..Haha) for now anyway. My counselor really wants me to date casually which is a foreign idea to me, but I am beginning to see the possible merits. I would say that next to my college years, which I loved and being a young mother, which I loved....this might be the happiest time of my life in spite of many obstacles and woes. I was scared of being single and went through a hell of a transition time...but now....liking being "the boss of me" and not giving a rip about compromising my life for someone else. Being single combined with the self confidence my new body gives combined with the"my give a Damn is busted" attitude I am developing has just opened the world up for me. I have so many new friends, acquaintances, people to dance and"party" with etc. I am mIssing a travel partner but I am thinking I don't need one!

So, I have been doing better in better in spite of some difficult things in life, but recently I have had some very sad events. It is not causing me to reach for food, but it makes me hyper aware that for DECADES food would have giving me solace during these times.I am running like hell to find healthy substitutes - my friends, my family, my dogs, my horses, keeping moving. Okay, my little sister passed after a horrible horrible ending of breast cancer that spread to her bones 7 years ago - she was 39. It was traumatic and horrific for so many of us - but she and I had a special bond as we were raised "like twins". anyway, she left behind a devoted partner who returned to her old nemisis - booze - as she could never get over losing her. The partner she left behind alienated many family and friends with her drinking and irresponsible behavior and frankly also just didn't return calls etc too so many of us lost touch. I hadn't seen her in nearly a year when I got the call she has an inoperable brain tumor and was found lost in her own house. It is sad and tragic and intense and she just turned 50 - we are practically the same age. There are alot of dimensions to this - an extended base of family (hers and mine) and friends who feel guilt and just awful for her. She hasn't long to live so many things have to be figured out. Her family is out of state so of course I am in the middle of this sh*tstorm. then, today, I got the message that my niece who would be early 40s passed last night in her sleep from "natural causes". She has been super morbidly obese her whole life. I don't know her weight, but I would guess at least 350-400# and she is maybe 5'4" or so. anyway, I don't know what is so "natural" about dying so young but I of course suspect obesity related heart failure or perhaps even undiagnosed sleep apnea. I feel just awful. I am working hard to not let it bring me down, but so much tragedy so close to home. I know others have lost loved ones too - it is not unique to me - but I feel like I hardly know where to turn since so many turn to me. On top of that, my state of mind basically caused me to not be as sensitive to someone close to me (he is high maintenance and I just could not deal with it) and so right when I need a friend I have chased one away. I am dedicated to remaining clean eating through all this because I think we all know that over eating doesn't solve a damn thing and just makes you more miserable.

I get sick from the anesthesia but warned them. They hit me hard with the anti nausea drugs so I didn't vomit.

You will have some excess skin but not sure you can predict how much or if it will really bother you. Rovo is so right, becoming trim and healthy, even with excess skin, is the big pay off. You'll look really good just by losing weight and more importantly improving your life. Exercise has many benefits but it doesn't shrink skin. It does tone you so you look better. Your skin does tighten some with time too

Unsolicited advice. ..my mother was not allowed friends by a controlling and abusive husband (my dad) and so her daughters became her confidants and friends. WRONG. Don't do it if you can avoid it. I loved my Mother beyond belief but when I look back I was asked to "carry" burdens unfair for my age.

Funeral '#2 was today. The love and support from my imaginary Internet friends means so much to me. THANK YOU!

Since it has been ages since I even looked at one of her books, I can't really say. I have had counseling as I was one of those that believed that surely I must be broken inside to weigh 300#. I had a counselor give me this book called "Ed". yes, the author had named her eating disorder "Ed" I just didn't relate. I can (and have!) talked about my childhood for years and yet I was still hungry. I still had this overwhelming drive to eat. Like, an hour or two after a meal, I was ready for another one. The eating disorder counselor would ask - what do you feel when you are hungry? HUNGRY! I don't think she ever believed me. Anyway, post sleeve - I do see a counselor 1-2 times a month. Guess what we NEVER talk about? How food is love, how food is a substitutue for a decent father or whatever. When I talk about needing to work on the "mental" part of all this what I am referring to is how much my life has changed and how it is good, but also difficult at times. For awhile, it was strange to look like an attractive woman and it made me feel awkward, like I had lost a protective shell. I am talking about accepting on a very deep level that I need to eat just alot less than other people do in order to maintain a trim weight. I am talking about finally being in a position where there is a whole wide world out there... what do I want out of it? So, this is why I don't relate well to the whole eating disorders movement. I surely had "disordered eating" and I surely used food and obesity to numb emotions. But bigger than those things, I was hungry almost all the time and that primal urge drove alot of my behavior and it just doesn't anymore.

I will be 3 years out in December and have been posting on this and another sleeve forum for about 3 years. My perspective comes from my experiences, but also from gleaning much from others. So, now I think I have a better grasp on your question too. I absolutely could not have done this without the sleeve. IT has been an amazing "tool" for me. I went through a fairly long period of time when food lost all appeal. You will often see posts of people lamenting how food tastes bad now, it is such a bother to eat, will I ever love life again sort of thing. THAT is a golden opportunity time to change some habits, break some addictions and really think about the role that food should play in your life. The sleeve gives you a reprieve, a window of time where you physically cannot eat as much and for most of us, don't really even want to eat. I had a few occasions during the first 6 months I was sleeved of vomiting (maybe 2-3 times) due to eating too fast. It happened because a certain "compulsion" to shovel food overtook me and it didn't take much for my tummy to toss it back...ha. Don't rely on that though. For most people - that all changes one day. Your appetite returns. Food starts tasting dang good again. If you aren't careful, you start to learn "how" to overeat again. So, I hope this is a more thorough explanation. for me, the sleeve gave me a reprieve from that 24/7 DRIVE for food I used to have. I lost alot of weight. I liked it, i like how i feel, how I look, how athletic I have become, how my life has changed. Now, coming up on my 3 year anniverary in 4 months - I would say that maintenance is alot more about that motivation than the contrainsts my tummy puts on me. I still have very good restriction and am not going around starving all the time - but - I know how to overeat with the sleeve. If you read posts on the veterans forums, you will realize that MANY people know how to overeat with their sleeve. Once you have been obese, it doesn't take "much" overeating to start regaining. That is our reality - we still have the disease of obesity and the weight would love to come back! For now, I am doing good, very happy with my sleeve and maintaining well - cautiously optimistic about my long run results!

Ignore other people's results and focus on your own. I lost weight I guess sorta fast, but flip side is i had SO MUCH to lose that nobody even noticed it until I lost the first 50#. We all have a different journey and the key is to make the very most of YOURS! good luck!

None of us want to fail. I "failed" with the lapband and was pretty determined to not repeat that cluster. I have lost over 160# since being sleeved and currently maintaining successfully, so I know it is possible! anyway, what I am really responding to is the title of this thread - the comment about "loving that super full feeling" - red alert. I cannot speak for any other surgeries, but for the sleeve and the band, that super full feeling is not the goal. I just want people going into this whole thing with a very clear picture of the situation is all.

I think there are several components Losing weight fast releases a bunch of stored estrogen which creates strong emotional feelings No longer being able to use food to "numb" feelings The rapid change in appearance, while wonderful, is also scary We are complex, the chemical changes that must be happening inside our bodies must be enormous during these times. I have noticed that feeling good makes me feel good; whereas feeling bad makes me feel bad. Viscious cycle you might say. Once you are on a downward spin, momentum can take you further if you don't do something to change the path. Dont be ashamed to seek help - in the end life will be so much better even if it feels rough right now.

I am not being clear. Plastics, once you heal you are pretty much done. Bariatric has so many emotional and longer term implications I love having a strong local team that extends way beyond the surgeon himself.

Agree. Not trying to promote mexico or any other place but I wanted the extra care post plastics I got in mexico and could not afford here. For bariatric surgery. ..I have a strong bias for local but for a different reason...follow up and support! !!

This is a tough one. The surgical skill and comptence is hugely important, but once that is done.... it is the general staff who provides much of the ongoing support. I found it invaluable and loved being associated with a whole practice full of very competent people. This kind of error could happen anywhere, but i would want to feel good about the whole team. Believe it or not, the finance person and the general office coordinator were hugely important to me post op... as they were both awesome cheerleaders!

I am vain. At a certain point, I felt that looking "skinny" makes me look old...ha. You have clearly met all the health benefit goals, so what makes you feel like you look good? You are right, excess skin looks like fat so don't be tricked by it. I weigh about 140 now which is a BMI around 23. i read somewhere that "most" women find a BMI of 23 is where they look the best. I found that to be a comfortable thought since I am not sure I trust my own eyes.

I don't know much about RNY but eating to satisfaction (lack of hunger) and not "full" is is a key long term strategy for sleeve. You will likely lose fine, it is the maintenance thing.. And I can and do eat anything as a sleever. ..no dietary restriction or intolerances except ice cream makes me feel ill. I think i am now mildly lactose intolerant and I was not before.

Pride and spanx!! LOVE IT

I thought I was feeling better but I am not. Damn

I am over 2 years out. I got weaker, then strong and then weaker again. I know exactly WHAT caused it and now it is time to refocus on strengthening exercise.