Scout1234

i will be 3 years out next week and i have been drinking it almost the whole time with no issues at all....i am still down almost 200 since pre-op. if you are doing everything else correctly (diet / exercise) you should be fine.....having said that, everyones reaction to the carbonation is very different. on another note.....we should all give it up seeing how bad it is for us!!!

tebowfan, this is what I used... http://www.oleeva.com/product/oleeva-scar-shapes/ I have no idea how well they worked as I have nothing to compare but I can tell you....they were a pain in the a$$!! taking them on and off, cleaning, shower, put them back on, they would roll a bit....oh....and very expensive!!

15 weeks today. I always forget to take a picture before a shower. The heat and humidity of the shower bring out the redness. In some areas the scar is already just faded flesh color. 2 spots on my side are a little too big for my liking and a little purplish in color so we are going to do a small revision surgery on those spots Happy Spring!!!

Congrats!!! That is soooooo cool…..you have so much to be proud of!!!

meagain3, here is what i will tell you but please know this is my opinion from my experience only…... i waited 18 days after my last sign of swelling before i began walking……i walked for 2 weeks before i started jogging and another week before i started running. i know that you are excited and need the training for the half marathon but if you are not ready don't push it. get rid of that swelling….there are plenty of races out there!!! weight: On friday i weighed in at for the first time at a weight below my pre surgery weight by 2 pounds and i have been working out like a maniac. i am doing my best not to be beholden to the scale. it is a complete mental thing….i went to a facility that has a Bod Pod and had my body composition tested. i am going to try and stay off the scale because as you know with all of this working out putting on a little muscle may throw off the scale results and my fragile psyche can't take it. it sounds like you are exactly like me!! in summary: I will give you want you wanted……IT ABSOLUTELY WILL GET BETTER. In my opinion you just have to take 1 step back to move 2 forward with the working out and swelling. also, it is my interpretation when they say swelling can last 6-8 months or even up to a year they are not referencing the type of swelling that you and i experienced in our lower extremities. that type of swelling is the body dealing with the trauma of the surgery and is different than the above the scar swelling post op. again, that is me and far from a medical opinion stay in touch!! BTW: what half marathon are you considering at the end of march???

1 day shy of 12 weeks.....this is after a shower and a 5 mile run so the scar is always a little more red than flesh colored. Still wearing the Oleeva silicone scar strips, you can see them in the foreground of the picture. He (the surgeon) said to keep wearing them. Also, he said the binder helps the scar heal. I have still been wearing it a good bit. Not ALL the time, in a strange way it's comforting. Can't really explain it. Saw my surgeon on Tuesday and he was very pleased with the progress. He did point out that on both of my hips the scar was a little wider. He said he pulled so tight that as it healed it spread a bit. We are going to look at it at my next visit and he said something about a short revision surgery if it bothered me. We didn't talk about it any further at this meeting. My assumption is that it is more a cosmetic thing than to tighten me up further. Till next time....good luck. Keep moving and losing (or maintaining). Lol

Sweetpee…. First: 8 miles is AWESOME!! Second: If you just did 8 on your own, doing another mile and a third in a race setting will be NO PROBLEM! The adrenaline of the environment will carry you to the finish line! Back in November I was signed up for a 10 mile race and at the time the longest I had run was a little over 6 on the treadmill and the 10 mile was not overly difficult. It wasn't a walk in the park but it wasn't ridiculously tough either. Having said that, up to the time I was running a great deal but it was a difference of 4 miles…you only need to add a little more than a mile. If you are feeling like you are hitting a wall……walk for a few mins an recharge.. YOU CAN DO IT... I wish you nothing but good luck!!!! Make sure you let me know how you make out...

aayers88 i am lucky, i own my own business so i did my surgery at my slowest time of the year (dec thru early jan) it is a desk job as well but i will say that it was 5 weeks before i could do a full day. part of the delay is getting tired around 1:00 - 2:00 and i had a swelling issue that has been pretty well documented in this thread so i spent a fair amount of time on my back with my feet up (that reads pretty funny and even funnier to type, dirty mind i guess) having an employer that would let you be flexible and work a little from home would be a HUGE help if you could set that up GOOD LUCK….those last 30 can be the toughest!!!

much2gain…. that is a great question because i met with a few docs before i actually selected ultimately who i used. it was basic stuff like an estimate of how long he felt the surgery was going to be to did he feel as though my abdominal muscles needed to be worked on while he was in there. i wish i had more time because i know i have a list and it might be at my office because i would be more than happy to email it to you. at the end of the day, it comes down to a feel when you are in that consult. my surgeon offered referrals that i could call of his patients that had the same procedure and that was truly helpful. because, every doc is so different. i can tell you that my guy talked about belly button reconstruction for 5-10 mins and i thought if he was taking that level of detail on just the belly button imagine his passion for everything else. we talked in depth about the amount of surgeries he does and what percentage is body work versus face work. most of my questions were about recovery and i will tell you as prepared as i thought i was…….i wasn't. things happened that we didn't foresee. my swelling, the drains coming lose prematurely, how out of it i was the following week due to the length of time i was under (5 and a half hours) feel free to reach out if you have any questions that you don't want to post here…..i would be more than happy to answer them and give you as much candid feedback as i can I WILL TELL YOU THIS…….AS MUCH OF A PAIN IN THE A$$ AS THE RECOVERY IS…….IT IS ALL WORTH IT

Fiddleman…..thank you very much for the compliment. Great question, but as you know there is no secret. Month to date I have spent 22.8 hours on the treadmill for a total of 119.28 miles. I only have missed one day this month and many days it is twice. My diet certainly slips on the weekends but tends to be just about perfectly clean monday thru friday . I have said it before, i am not a runner, i am a finisher…..i have races planned on my calendar for the whole year so it helps keep me accountable to train for them. i just secured a spot via lottery for the philadelphia broad street run in may which is a 10 miler and the week after i have the st michaels md half marathon. i am not concerned with either of those, i know i got those but i am training for the baltimore marathon in october……i am seriously concerned with that one!!! there are days when i run 7 on the treadmill and then i think if it were race day i would have 19 more to go and it scares the bejesus out of me!! just like all of us….i was very heavy and right now i have food and exercise in complete check. everything is right in the world but i know i have a demon that lives in me and so far i am winning the battle in a life long war. i have read all of the stories where folks have lost thru their goal weight and maintained it for a while then put some back on…..i realize that is a complete reality. i am just trying my best. this board helps

skiddles…... thanks for checking in! On Tuesday I have my 4th post op visit with my surgeon. I suspect that its a routine check in that is mostly for them to take pictures for my file and document my progress. I am anxious to ask him the following: 1. Do i need to continue to wear my binder? I have been wearing it religiously except for when I workout. I really think it helped me progress well with my swelling but I don't have anything to compare that with. I am a little over 11 weeks post op and many others have long since ditched their binders but I kept going because it felt good. I am sure he is going to tell me its not necessary but it have become a habit. 2. Swelling questions? I know the answer is going to be "you can have swelling for as much as 6-8 months post op but I want him to tell me how far along I am after he examines me 3. Can I have my clothes tailored yet? Kind of goes along with above but I have way more than I care to say out loud invested in new clothes that I bought in the fall thinking I couldn't get thinner that no longer fit!!!!! I need to have them taken in but don't want to do so unless he thinks I am just about where I am going to be. Example, I have been buying 34 waist sized items prior to surgery, on Friday I bought a really cool pair of golf shorts at Dicks in 34 and they are way to big. Got to take them back and get the 32's CRAZY!! 4. Silicone strips: hard to tell what my progress would be without them but all i can say is my scar looks amazing ( i think ) so i swear by them and i recommend anyone to use them I will take a picture of the scar and post it again soon. I also had a body comp analysis done in the Bod Pod. It showed that I was at 13.1% body fat. I am no longer going to use the scale to measure my success, I am going to have that done 4 times a year to show the progress I am making with my strength training. Only 22 pounds of fat out of 170 pounds of body weight. I still can't believe it!!

today i went for a body composition test in the bod pod. it cost 50 dollars to get done but it helped with my obsession with the scale. it broke down the difference between fat mass and everything else. i lost a total of close to 210 pounds and i am down to a 13.1% body fat percentage and that is in the "moderately lean" range….only 1% from "lean" here is a link to the manufacturer of the bod pod and you can do a search in your area on where to get the test. http://www.bodpod.com/en/products/body-composition/adult-children-bod-pod-gs/bod-pod i have done nothing but cardio to lose all the weight and i started strength training and wanted to make sure that if i saw the scale needle going up i wasn't actually gaining fat weight so i wanted the body comp test. it helped me draw a baseline. just wanted to share for what its worth….. good luck!!

ms.antiband... i agree with you, however, i got a little upset when i was accused of being racist in a very politically correct way when she claimed my post smacked of "nationality based judgement" this whole site is based on personal experiences and opinions. the only people that lose in this are folks that read these types of exchanges and are then afraid to either participate and offer their experiences or even worse ask questions because they are afraid of being cyber bullied. i gave my opinion, she could have simply said……"i decided based on my research to go to Mexico and had a wonderful experience so don't rule it out. do you own research and make a decision for yourself and what you think fits best for you" I absolutely respect that, I might disagree but that is why this forum is great……. i won't stop giving my updates because i know there are people out there that are anxious and excited to have this procedure done and never get all of the answers they need. being a man, i did not have any other outlet other than this to get the info i needed to fully expect what i was truly going to experience. my surgeon put me in touch with a 2 other men that had the same operation which was hugely helpful in me selecting him but this forum was there for me 24 hours a day and i vowed to pay it forward. good luck to anyone considering this procedure and as always don't hesitate to ask any questions as i would be happy to tell you about my experience…... BTW: I will even answer peoples questions that are going to go to mexico for surgery……lol

Cowgirl Jane, I really don't care how you take it……I was giving my opinion and as a matter of fact in the post (which i copied below) I said I wish anyone very good luck if that is the choice you make just not one I was comfortable. I tried to log my experience as it happened so that I could help someone that might be considering this surgery and give them as much information so that they can make the best choice for their situation. Furthermore, I did not reference your pictures and said nothing of your experience of which I know nothing about…... so for you to take offense is ridiculous and to accuse me of being nationality biased is what is truly offensive. Also, the last time I checked, there are surgeons in the US of all nationalities. You would have a point if I said…..make sure your US surgeon is a true blooded American. My opinion was based on what I was able to see from photos on the internet from various providers based in Mexico. It would be all together different if I said…..wow, my scar looks much better than hers so don't go to Mexico. I am thrilled that you are happy and that you were pleased with your care. What I mentioned in my post was that getting care at home MAY be difficult. I will say it again, if you can do the surgery stateside, that is what I would recommend. As far as being rich…..I am not. I saved for my VSG and then I financed most of my plastic surgery. FOR ANYONE THAT CARES SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEARCH FOR MY COMMENTS….I SAID THE FOLLOWING IN A LONG DETAILED POST TRYING TO EDUCATE BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE: MY PERSONAL OPINION: A few people have mentioned that they were thinking of doing Mexico for plastics to save money. I obviously did not do that, I paid for both my VSG and LBL out of pocket. I saved for my VSG (18k ) and paid 4.5k out of pocket for the hospital portion of my plastics and put the balance on CareCredit (using their 18 month 0 interest plan) which is GE Bank. In hindsight, I see no problem with the VSG in Mexico but with everything I have experienced and pictures I have seen of patients that have had plastics done in Mexico I would NEVER go there for that part. I am not passing judgement and if that is your decision, I wish you nothing but the best. I compare what I look like versus others and there is no comparison, not even by a long shot. In addition, if you do have complications, getting the right care at home may be difficult. At that point you might be wishing you had paid more!!!

I was in the OR for over 6 hours and under for 5 and a half. It was long.....I never had a problem with recovering from anesthesia but this time I was in a fog for quite a long time. Close to a week actually. And by fog I mean, a little forgetful and just kinda out of it.