CowgirlJane

okay, no back fat anymore. You can see the ribs on my back which i think is AWESOME but I now have back skin. The key to managing back skin is to not wear a bra or anything that encourages it to spill over. The skin isn't so bad, if left to its own devices, it is a the snug bra etc that causes it to spill over the top and be kinda gross looking. I believe the solutino to back skin is an upper body lift, which is a degree of plastic surgery I am not willing to do. Plastic surgeons tell me i am not that bad and don't need it. Where it bothers me is under the arms/down my sides, but again the key is to wear a bra that doesn't cause skin spillage.

I love this! I use the words that "we have the choice" but I am saying the same thing. I haven't found the love of my life, but you can be sure that he will be vying for my attention, not the other way around. I say that a little tongue in cheek because i am actually more of a 50-50 kinda gal, but I am NOT the type to think I need to somehow impress a guy or mold myself into what I imagine he will want. I want to get plastic surgery,not to find a man but because i love stylish form fitting clothes...LOL. If I a guy appreciates that too, wonderful, but i am doing it for ME!

Globetrotter - that is about the meanest thing I have ever heard... screw him! I keep feeling like your living circumstances put you around people that suck, the real world just isn't that harsh... So, I have enough skin for two people. I look pretty good in clothes. It is a conundrum, but, so far has been an easy one but i admit to not having lots of experience either (ie being seen with all this skin; without clothes) so maybe I have just been lucky. I am dating a person who I talked to alot before he ever got to "see" any of this. By the time he did see my nakedness, he was sort of puzzled what i had made such a big deal out of. Apparently, I properly set expectations..haha. It took him months to come around to why I feel I want/need plastic surgery as he just didn't think it was that bad. His view was that alot of women in our age range (I am 49 he is early 50s) have had kids etc and have less then perfect figures. The fact that i am fit and not obese was actually much more important to him. For reference, he is tall and atheletic, prone to skinniness and has never been overweight. I think we all desire and DESERVE to be with someone that we find attractive and that he finds us attractive. I do agree that we need to love or at least accept ourselves before that is even possible. As time goes on, i am bothered less and less by my excess skin. I find myself wearing sleeveless tops and above the knee dresses or shorts on summer days. I even had someone who looked like a nice person hit on me at a music festival - he wasn't drunk or anything and I was wearing a sleeveless dress. Maybe that skin isn't as horrifying as it seems when we look in the mirror... We judge ourselves so damn hard... Truth of the matter is that even fit people aren't perfect looking (well, maybe this is even more true as we age!). When you are really "into" someone, well, speaking for myself, I don't even notice the flaws. It is like once they have struck that "attractive. sexy, desireable" string in my heart and mind - they look perfect to me even with their flaws. I don't know, but I suspect men are the same way. Once they are into you - as a person, as a sexual being, as woman, as a lover - they are pretty much "in" and don't really focus on the flaws. The main take away from all of this is that while we need to sorta protect ourselves - like I would NEVER surprise someone with that hanging belly of mine...LOL... would rather have then say "no thank you" before I am naked! I do think that we also judge ourselves too hard. Self confidence, self love, self acceptance is incredibly sexy and never forget it. Never forget that we have a CHOICE. We have lots of choices when it comes to conducting our sex and love lives.

Conventional wisdom is that 60 is the minimum. The recommendations have changed - even my surgical practice which used 60 guideline - my doc told me at my 18 month post op that there is evidence that 80g or more is ideal for maintenance. But, early on, you can't consume much so just do the best you can. What you will find is if you always focus on Protein, you just don't have room for much else and you lose better.

People who know you often have that reaction. I am 5'5" and once I got under 200# I was getting alot of that type of thing. Truth of the matter is that I weigh about 155 now and I am far from thin... I am just normal. It is just that if people are used to you being obese, normal looks thin. don't let them dissuade you from your goals. Listen to thin people more then obese people and listen to feedback from people who didn't know you as obese. When they start saying you are too thin, well, maybe then you are....LOL

This post fits better on one of the main forums, this is the veterans forum and intended for topics for people who are well out from surgery.

I am just glad to hear that my obsessive nature is natural. So, the deal is that I tend to have a single minded focus on a goal. So the risk for me is always... what happens when that goal is obtained? This worked great for getting my educatino and career started, but for maintaining health it is something I need to watch. I am learning to have as a goal to just maintain.. just hang out comfortably in the ballpark of where I am at. Well, once I get plastics done anyway.

Hi, thanks for letting me join. I have been a VST member for quite awhile, I currently post mostly on the vets and band to sleeve revision forums. I had the lapband in 2001, removed in 2011. I was sleeved in Dec 2011 and made it to goal in about 14 months, losing 150+ pounds. That is about half my starting body weight! Maintenance has been going okay, but I had a small regain and used 5:2 to get 5 pounds off. I have been following it for around 4-6 weeks, but noticed that in recent weeks (probably due to work schedule) the fast days are getting hard to follow - I could use the support! I plan on getting plastic surgery Oct 15, so I need to maintain good health and nutrient levels, but would like to drop another 5# if I can!

Well, I think it is an important topic to discuss. One of the reasons I went with the sleeve is that it was int he back of my mind that I could get the DS if I needed it... sort of the next step. It has never been my plan to fail with the sleeve, but rather, I am mightily determined to remain a healthy weight and if I need more surgical help, I will seriously consider it. I am getting plastics and one thing I was told by the plastic surgeons is that their most serious complications are higher risk with DS patients. Take the nutritional issues seriously.

Good news is that I am generally back on track although my fast day yesterday went to hell

We are going through a major software upgrade, global scale. anyway, I was up working most of the night. Talk about stress eating! I was not happy with myself and am so full! I need to get showered and get to the office but feel like I don't need to eat for a week. I am not usually (post sleeve anyway) such an emotional eater but this one got me. Stress combined with sleep deprivation - yuck. I guess it proves what the studies say about that....

I had my 18 month checkup and it went really well. My labs are great, my blood pressure is great, maintaining my weight so surgeon is very pleased that I have been able to effectively work that sleeve and am enjoying very good health. What I think is sorta funny on my labs is that I take way less Vit D then I used to - but instead of being deficient, I am now slightly higher then normal. I don't take Iron, but my iron levels are slightly above the "normal" range. We talked about a couple of things that I thought might have broader interest. I was a band to sleeve revision and some don't do very well. He felt that some of that has to do with the scar tissue and how it limits what the surgeon can do.. ie in some cases they can't make the stomach "just right" but in my case that was possible so it helped me be successful in spite of being a revision. We also talked about the basic idea that I have the disease of obesity and right now I am effectively managing the symptoms but to never forget that my body has been morbidly obese for so much of my life - that is it's more "natural state". Emphasizes how for many (most, all?) of us, that maintenance is an ever vigilent watch to keep the weight from coming back. Another comment he made that i am still thinking about, but I thought was very insightful, that recovering from being morbidly obese is like recovering from a "trauma" in some ways. I was in a bad physical state for so long, it takes awhile for the mind to adjust to being normal. I notice for myself how much different my own thinking about myself has changed in the last 6 months so I think there is truth to this. I told him I get a minimum of 60g of Protein a day and he advised that current thinking is higher then that - even for maintenance, especially if you are active/excercise to shoot for more like 80g. In truth, i probably do get more like 80g a day since I stop counting when i hit 60! ETA: I almost forgot the most important part! We talked about whether the sleeve physically stretches - and absolutely it can. So, from the very beginning and continuing into maintenance, do not eat to "full" or "over full" - protect that feeling of restriction to help with the long term success. It was inspiring to see him. This maintenance thing can feel hard at times, but the visit re-emphasized what i need to keep on doing!

That is pretty good to be down to just one drain so quickly! You inspire me, I go in Oct and am a chicken so it is good to hear how well this is going!!!

Frankie, Surgery has risks, a small risk, but very real. Here is how I looked at it, I was 150# overweight and had 100% chance of weight related disability and early death. i was willing to risk the very small chance of a leak or other serious complication given those odds. Best decision of my life - but I too was terrified.

I didn't experience regret either - but a lot of that was because I knew what to expect and knew I would feel tired and awful and I did. The first 4-6 weeks were really unpleasant for me and i felt sorta blue, very tired, very blah. Each stage, going back to soft foods, then real foods, were a big challenge. I had to view it like the process that it was, but i luckily had support of a nutritionalist and follow up from my surgeon - which I leaned on when needed. Don't be shy about getting IV fluids if you get dehydrated. Try to keep your eye on the prize and remind yourself why you did this. Maybe go through the "before and after" threads to look at inspirational pictures. I promise, it does get better.

I posted this in another thread... http://www.medicaltourism.com.mx/mtad.html http://www.obesityhelp.com/group/Dr_Sauceda_Patients/discussion/ the facebook group is very informative too.

I am planning to go to Mexico to Dr Sauceda. This link has some rough idea of prices, but when you combine procedures it saves more. the best way is to get a quote, but it is roughly half to 1/3of the cost of US typical prices based on my experiences. http://www.medicaltourism.com.mx/mtad.html Here is more info from patients, but there is also a FB page you can search for: http://www.obesityhelp.com/group/Dr_Sauceda_Patients/discussion/

I never felt a moment of regret, but that is only because i read on these very forums how many people go through this. The first 6 weeks was frankly a bit depressing, BUT, look at my before and afters (click on my profile) and you can see why this was the best thing i could have done for myself! Time does make thngs better, but there will be times of sadness, missing food, etc before you get to the joy part.

I will be on an east coast extravaganza that week too... Lets also try to do a local get together for a walk or bike ride on the Burke Gilman (Bothell to Seattle area) or Sammamish River Trail (Woodinville to Redmond)

To each his/her own. I personally was so confident in my decision by the time I finally made it, nothing anybody could say would discourage me. People just "don't get it" and trust me when I say that fat people are often the least supportive. My thin friends have been da bomb - super supportive!

I have been lame about organizing something. I would like to get together for a little walk or bikeride, but about the time I get ready to that, my work schedule got all unpredictable on me! I would still like to do that though! Anyway, I would definately join in a potluck or something too - would love to meet some fellow sleevers!

I like having my taste buds back. Mine went wonky for awhile and while it really did help me with the weight loss, it was also a bit of a sadness. I can remember during that time that the world wasn't as brightly colored. It impacted my emotional state slightly. Now, food tastes good, but, because i eat pretty clean most of the time, I feel like I really enjoy good food the most. Of course, i haven't been to the fair yet this year!

Plastic surgeon told me that formerly obese are more prone to swelling after plastics because we still have larger vessels etc. She said she sees with her own eyes that internally the formerly obese just have more " insides". It is false that a lifetime of carrying a bunch of extra weight makes your bones stronger and denser?

I am so much more active, people think I look way younger, I get alot more attention/social interaction, I feel better, my sleep apnea is gone, my blood pressure is normal, I take NO prescriptions, I can wear fashionable clothes, I can wear high heels, my bra straps are skinny like normal girls (not the big fat plus size girl bra straps!), I fit comfortably in airplane seats, I no longer feel like my gut enters the room before I do, I am a much better horseback rider, I have an amazing amount of energy, I smile a lot more, I just plain feel like a normal person now. That is for starters anyway.... If you click my profile you can see "before and afters"

If you used food to soothe yourself, that may be the source of your anxiety. you no longer can use food that way, but here is the bad news, in a few short months... you can physically overuse food again. Now is the time to start working through this and finding other ways to get the emotional needs met. Many of us have been through this - it isn't always easy but it is worth it. Even now, in maintenance, I notice that if I get really stressed, I tend to want to snack. It gets better, but it is a process... hang in there.