LouiseC

Wow, how far along are you again? I can occasionally manage plain water but only in very small volumes. It is the single most annoying thing I found since surgery. Well, that and heartburn.

Sorry for your distress but this cracked me up. At least you know the discomfort will pass. I haven't had any issues swallowing since surgery. It must be a volume thing though! I won't mention it to my husband, he may feel unmanly for not ejaculating cup fulls!

I weigh daily but definitely don't obsess. I can sort of understand why others may obsess but really I have found the scales provide me with far too much information about my journey and my choices to do without them. I think I would perhaps obsess if I didn't have them and if I didn't have access to that information about my body and the changes it has gone through. I have learnt so much about Water retention/ dehydration issues from weighing daily, the impact of exercise, my bodies fluctuations through my menstrual cycle, the impact of a high processed food day or a boozy night. I expect the fluctuations and expect the scales to move about the place not to constantly drop. Perhaps that is the difference? The scales are just a tool to help me manage, measure, and learn. And that learning eases my anxiety and is perhaps the antithesis of obsession as a consequence. Edit to add, I weigh at the same time every day, first thing in the morning. I don't hop on during the day.

Thank you. I have lost 50 kilos at the one year mark, that's about 110 pounds :-)

One year from surgery..... The before photo is me at my heaviest , just over a year ago, while on holiday in Bali. I am the fat chick, not the small Indonesian man, heh. The after photos are me before heading out the door to hot yoga tonight.

This really resonates. I find myself asking my husband to take photos of me. I then stare at them. My company updated my photo on the website and I have been known to stare at that too! I have even taken 'selfies' in my gym or yoga gear just to see if what I see in the mirror is what is reflected back at me in film. After years of avoiding cameras and deleting any photos of me I found, it is an unusual place to find myself in.

@hourglass an awesome post. Thank you.

I am sorry. I realise now I was referring to the advice given for me and my body and not clicking that it wasn't generic advice for everyone!

What one sees as a lecture, another sees as useful information. I tend to work off the assumption that most posts are made in good faith. I know I can't control how others react to my own posts, I can only be true to myself really and can't spend time in angst over whether or not the emotionally vulnerable may find my plain speech challenging. Seriously, some people just need to take a deep breath before reacting to a strangers views on a free forum.

This post made me so many shades of happy! I love that you love your ass. The world is as it should be women can stand up and say they love their ass. I love my ass too!

What are you drinking? Maybe you have developed an intolerance to lactose? This happened to me soon after surgery but it was temporary.

It gets easier. sleep rhythms, like body temperature control, are thought to be impacted by the change in ghrelin production in the body. We have to remember that there is still so much about ghrelin that isn't known and some of the unusual changes we experience post VSG are ghrelin related rather than weight loss related. It is a waste of energy to regret anything. There is no going back so my advice is to chose not to regret as this will only make you miserable. Instead choose to do the right thing by your body, take the Vitamins, eat well, live well and ride out the unsettled few months as you adjust to the new you. It does get easier but it will always be different to how you were before. As for this 18 years nonsense, it is nonsense. I would like to know the names of the three doctors who supposedly said this.

I was cleared for alcohol after 6 weeks. I regularly drink now with no issues.

Very exciting! Good luck!

That said, tonight we have just sat down to a platter style antipasto dinner of breads, cheeses, salami, duck liver parfait, olives, tapenade, and stuffed peppers all with a nice bottle of wine :-) Now no one can say that is a boring dinner! And it works for us because I can have a little bit of everything and he can polish off the rest :-D

I forget sometimes. My cooking has become rather dull since the sleeve though but my husband never complains. He cooks as frequently as I do. Sometimes I get grossed out watching others eat. Sometimes I just can't be around when people are eating mindlessly. I was never really aware on the focus on food in most social activities until I had the sleeve.

First few months post sleeve I wanted everything super spicy. Now, one year on, I can only handle a slight spice. We certainly do each have a very different experience, I would say it is almost like each sleeve has a mind of its own!

I went private. I would not have qualified for public. I went to a great bariatric specialist here in Auckland but she doesn't do the plastics unfortunately. I know a few who have gone to Thailand for plastics so it may be worth exploring. I always get travel insurance when we travel (your Mum is right ) and I had never thought about how there is probably an option for medical travel insurance so I will look into it!

If you believe you are addicted then the only thing that will 'cure' you of that is right up there in your head. The sleeve can't alter what you think or what you believe. The sleeve can't make choices for you, and though it will let you know when you make some poor ones, there are other poor ones you can make post sleeve that it won't even notice. Like a mars bar milkshake. Only you can cure you of believing you are addicted to food. You have the power here to change this, not the sleeve.

What a great story! So happy it went well for you, I think it was a very courageous thing to do. Do you know if there are any restrictions on receiving follow up care back home? I discovered when preparing for the surgery (I had mine here in Auckland) that if there were any complications that I may have to pay for the additional follow up care as the DHB (or ACC for misadventure if surgery occurs offshore) may not cover complications from privately purchased surgery. It didn't stop me but did surprise me! I have been looking into options for plastics as I am sure some will be required for the mess of skin on my tummy (i am only 10 kilos from goal) and I have wondered about going overseas for this but the complications and follow up stuff has me a bit cautious so I would be very interested to know what your experiences have been.