CaliKat

Yay for being topless! Lol! Im an Audi convertible girl and was so happy to take the top down this summer..... I felt s-e-x-y! (for the first summer in a while)

Don't miss anything- Especially the carb comas, sugar crashes and insulin spikes or the "god I ate so much I REALLY have to puke" feeling. Not even a tiny bit! I eat whatever the hell I want- just mini portions. Yesterday I had a fun size kitkat and today it's been all Protein and shakes. You probably won't miss it in the short term and probably (after a few months) will have it in the long term!

Giant Turkey Legs (split with skinny friend)! Saved a BUNCH of $$$ too! Fair food is SPENDY!

Hair loss was horrible 4th & 5th month... Slowed down some now... It's just a bit worse than average. Curly or straight, it can come back as whatever BUT.... If it comes back grey- I'm gonna be PISSED!!!

I used CareCredit a few years ago for Invisalign and the 0% interest is only offered thru certain surgeons EVEN if you pay off within 18 months. I didn't have any issues with them in terms of customer service, but I also was a diligent payer. I was self pay too- I was extremely lucky that I had a slush fund.

The more "core" or belly fat you have, the worse this phenomenon will be (says my derm and my obgyn) because of the estrogen/hormones stored in belly fat. You can get birth control that may help (as its likely cystic acne caused by hormones) and/or try chemical peels if it's more topical. Def talk to a derm because you don't want scars.

I wanted some who had (in theory) additional training and was more of a "specialist" and most FACS have 4+ additional years of training. It was ONE of many considerations for my choice of surgeon.

Tea tree oil and regular chemical peels. Kinda painful but so effective.

Im my experience- things kinda shrink slower than you loose... but it does shirink up. Example- I am down 65lbs and 2 months ago I took a pic making a bicep curl and my skin was hanging so bad.... it looked like 2" of sag. This weekend took the same pic and its less than 1" of hang. My stomach was sagging but now it seems to have shrunk in and firmed up. I think it just takes a bit of time. I KNOW I will have some saggy elephant skin (hopefuly Spanx will do the trick) but it shouldnt be as bad as it seems. Make sure you are doing weight training to firm up and use plenty of moisturizer all over your body to keep skin elasticity. Now my boobs on the other hand..... its game over- calling the sillicone!!

A bit of inspiration and a bit of brag.... 5 months ago I tried to run a mile at the gym... wasnt happening. I quit at 1/4 mile cause I was so out of breath and frankly... just couldnt do it. A month later, I managed to run a mile, but it took me 17 minutes! Fast forward a few months and I am running a 5K three times a week at the gym in under 40 minutes and still have the energy to do a bit of weight training afterwards. WHO KNEW A 5K COULD BE EASY! Ive been running the local 5K charity races and now the hardest part is not the running... its getting up for the 8am start time! The take-away to this is each step you take, each minute you run, each mile you walk you move towards a healthier lifestyle and better quality of life. No matter what your fitness level is today- someday (sooner than you think) you can be crossing that finish line feeling like a Olympic champion!

Whatever it is you decide- do yourself a favor and start living a life without regrets. Life's too short ya know? Best to you

My advice? Hang in there... its gonna be boring for a while! I ate lots of eggs... scrambled with cheese or with salsa. Lots of pureed soups, Protein Jello & SF pudding, I even strained vegetable beef soup and had the broth. I did lots of avocados mushed with some salt too. I love, love, loved curry paste- added it to some cottage cheese and it was delish! I also tried the ricotta bake recepie (search for it on the food forum)... it was awesome. Emlefe is right, stick to his plan- it works. I promise it does go by fast and before you know it, you will be moving right along and onto more solid foods.

Congrats on the weight loss! But dressing in the old stuff has got to stop. Im sure you have seen people wear clothing that is WAY too tight (showed belly overflow, too much boobage, etc) and silently thought they looked rediculus right? You dressing in your old big clothes is just as insane- not to be terrible.... but im sure you look like crap all bagged out! Letting go of your old image is hard- its a huge mental challenge and may take some time- sounds like there are a few underlying self esteem issues (issues- who doesnt have em) that you may need to talk to someone about. Dont let who you USED to be- stop you from becoming who you are. As a fellow professional- you arent doing yourself any favors looking schlumpy and frumpy. Even if it means hitting up Target for those essentials (pencil skirts, dress pants, wide belts, etc) do whatever you can to dress your best... slowly your head will catch up. Hiring a stylist is a great idea- watching TLC's What Not To Wear is also a great idea. Now go on and rock the results of your sleeve and be your best self!

Eating "normally" is a tricky question because most of us have individual "normals". Some people's new normals are super strict and very specific.... some people choose to do a less rigid approach. Its an individual's choice- thats the cool thing about the sleeve.... you get to define your lifestyle. Whatever your definetion of "normal" is DO NOT RUSH TO GET TO YOUR "NORMAL In less than 3 months, you will be able to define your own normal and have a little bit of everything you want (yes, even ham sandwiches and fritos). In the meantime- do not rush the liquid, mushies or food stages- they are put in place by a medical professional for a reason. That being said- I eat a pretty liberal diet.... a bit of anything I want (I still make pretty healthy choices tho). I waited until I was 3+ months out before I started deviating from a strict diet. I am sure if you are strong enough to be proactive and take your health into your own hands.... you are strong enough to stick to the plan until you have the freedom to choose your foods. Reach out to us forum peeps if you need support- you CAN do it!

Girl.... go ahead and have that iced coffee occationally! Dont feel guilty- enjoy each sip and make sure you do some extra cardio to combat the extra cals! Try to swap the sugar for fake sugar, to make it Non-Fat and try to stick with a small. I have 2-3 SF Iced NF Lattes'/week- so from one coffee girl to another- ENJOY!

LOVE my beef jerkey! I eat it 2-4 times/week. I eat about 1 8oz package every 3 meals. Started about week 8. I love, love, love the Trader Joes jerky. Its soft and comes in 3 flavors (peppered, teryaki, original) and has no hard or muscle-y bits. Im sure the Turkey jerky would be healthier- but I cant stand it. You can also get Oberto jerky at costco in the smaller "snack" packs that are good for portion control and on-the-go sizes.

Good for you for taking control of your health. Wish I was in Texas to get some hair TLC and hook you up with a big tip! Sounds like you may be someone who gets an IRS refund- money back- perhaps if you can bank $2500 by February and get a $2500 return early next year.... you can have the sleeve in 6 months!

"Dear Husband- since I am loosing all this weight and am a knockout hottie now.... im going to be getting LOTS of attention from the menfolk out there. Dont you agree that the best defense is a larger diamond.... you know.... to scare them away?" if all of the women on this forum tried it.... I bet AT LEAST one of us would be upsizing a carat!

Ham, cheese & tomato Fritada muffin. YUM!

Ive got 100 to loose- almost at 5 months and 60lbs down. April- 18 May- 18 June- 8 July- 9 August- 7 I am anything but perfect..... about month 3 I stopped low carbing and ate like a normal person... in much smaller quantities and tried to focus on Protein. I did see the weight loss slow dramaticly but thats OK... its still going down. I work out 3x/week for an hour. I carry most of my weight in my abdomen and was worried about lose skin- but I wear a shaper every day to combat the sag and am hopeful I wont need surgery- just a lot of crunches! (FYI- I will most certianly need a breast lift though!)

Focus your energy elsewhere. If your brain is bored.... its going to play games with you. My go-to is either online shopping (ok... more like online browsing) for things that I want when I meet goal, working out or reading a trashy novel. Totally distracts me. Youre going to be able to have your crave foods shortly. Just white knuckle this and power through... you can do this!

Funniest- maybe not. Coolest... yes!!! I got out of a speeding ticket cause my drivers lic pic was insanely different than what I look like now. After I convinced him that yes.... it IS me- he asked what happened. I told him about the surgery and he was pretty curious about the process and in the end let me go with a warning (warning to keep away from carbs and keep up the cardio!) Yay for awesome life changes and the perks that go with them!

Congratulations on your weight loss success already! I was told by my surgeon to step the exercise up too.... so I went from 30 min on elliptical and added 30 minutes fast walk on highest incline on treadmill to take it to 60 minutes total. Do this 3 times a week and you will see some good results. My personal trainer says high incline+moderate speed= calorie burning machine! He is right- I went from a sloooooow loss to 2.5lbs/week consistently. My gym has a special treadmill that goes up to 30% and when its available, I use that one and really work it out! Also- I was getting bored with my workouts so I added a class at my gym once a week. Really has helped working muscles I didnt know I had, made my workouts interesting and has gotten me more involved with my fitness. Go fitness girls!

Yup- this is me at Peets or Starbucks. "Hi, can I get a short iced nonfat sugarfree vanilla latte extra ice" then I have to repeat and repeat again and then appologize with a shameful smile to the barista about being a PITA! All picky customer sins are erased with a nice fat dollar in their tip jar though!

@Globetrotter- from one bay area girl to another.....you look fantastic! I doubt any of us have had perfect adherance to our perscribed post-op diets- all we can do is take it day-by-day and do the best we can. I think its awesome that you can be honest with yourself and this community about your experiences and hope that some of the comments give you the insight/motivation/laughs to keep moving forward. This is a lifelong commitment and I cant imagine living in a world w/o a scoop of Ben & Jerrys once in a while!! So have your sugar, carbs and cocktails (in moderation) and with a side of yoga or cardioblast and live the best damn life you can imagine!