MichiganChic

I've been at the last 10 pounds for about 10 months. I'm not sure it's ever going to come off. I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking about adjusting my goal. Everyone, including 3 physicians, have told me I am not and do not look overweight. That number on the scale may or may not be the thing to strive for in every case....

FYE, I feel your pain. One that occurs to me when I'm eating so little and bouncing/maintaining is that if I didn't have those fast days, I'd be gaining! I also think that sometimes our bodies do not behave predictably.

Better check the definition of plateau, and adjust your expectations. If you expect to lose a pound a day, you are most certainly going to be disappointed. WLS is not a magic guarantee of steady and rapid weight loss. As time goes on, you'll learn how your body releases weight - but a human body can only lose so fast. Thinking that losing 3 pounds in 5 days is slow, a stall, or a plateau is only going to frustrate you. You're doing great - you'll see!

Going back to work is challenging. I'm an RN, and I remember the days people were off 6 weeks or more for this type of surgery. I was off about 2 weeks post surgery, then worked remotely for a week, and was back in the office at about 4. Each time I felt like I could use a couple more weeks. I think we take this stuff a little lighter than we should, sometimes. I'm a director for information systems for a large health care corporation and just can't be away that long, but it was hard to go back. I know it contributes to the swelling. After I had those seromas removed last week, I went back the next day, but in reality, should have probably worked remotely for a couple of days to stay off my feet and prevent recurrence. If they come back, I'm going to be upset!

The first couple of weeks I actually looked heavier. I wasn't prepared for that at all. But after the first 6-8 weeks, I was looking pretty good. By three months, my belly and arms looked great.

Some people do lose. I agree, it defies common sense. In my case, I know some of it water weight filling the spaces where the fat was. However, my measurements are smaller and my clothes are looser. Still happy I did it.

@@CowgirlJane LOL! I am willing to lie to myself just a little to get to goal...I never thought about adjusting the scale! It would be a little like how I set my clocks ahead to prevent being late! I have a confession - I'm actually 5'3.5" - not 5'4". I rounded up to be able to weigh more, getting me closer to a normal BMI. I might be closer to 5'3', haha. You are right about the scale revelation. I seriously think I'm just coming to grips with that concept in the past couple of weeks. I will never stop weighing every day, but at this point, the relevance is just to make sure I am within a few pounds of this weight.

That's so great that you are happy with your results! I was surprised my muscles were separated - I already had a super flat belly, minus the extra skin on my lower belly. It's been 5 months and I'm still sore. Your comment about nit-picking struck home with me - I always have to remind myself not to! Another thing I'm learning is that even with all that plastic surgery, most of us will never have perfect bodies. It's all about realistic expectations and remembering we were far from perfect before. Not sure why, but I don't think I had an expectation of perfect, but I'm almost more critical of my body than I was before.

Georgia, 4 1/2 pounds is great! I wish I could say the same, but I'm just going up and down the same 3 or 4 pounds all the time. I love nuts too - I buy the cashews at costco. Love those! I had to measure them out into one ounce bags to prevent myself from eating too many. So, yep, it's the weekend. My struggle always goes up a notch or two. I have to try to not undo all the hard work from the week. Have a great weekend!

Mine got a little better with time, but never went away fully. I'm 52, was obese 25 years, so I'm not expecting any further improvement.

They probably have contributed to it some, at least for my lower legs. But my abdomen and back are swollen the most, and that surgery was 5 months ago. I hope you don't have these issues, either. You probably won't. Even with this, so far, I'd still do it again. This stuff is minor in the grand scheme of things. My legs are far less painful today, so I'm just hoping this is the end of it. I'll keep you posted.

Great question and thread. In the beginning months post op, it's hard to imagine what this life will be like. As I've watched and felt my body change and my sleeve change, the realization has really set in for me. It continues to get harder, and there is nothing to make me think that's going to change. The first year was really great, and I lost about 130 pounds. I was focused and dedicated, all day every day. I honestly couldn't believe my wild success. I had never been able to lose weight like that, and for the first time in decades, I wasn't starved and focused on food. I felt free. I was also surprised to learn that I didn't have some sort of psychological reason for my obesity. I never mourned food - just felt free. In my second year, I lost another 10-15 pounds, but never succeeded in getting to goal. I fretted over that a lot. It was new kind of crazy for me. Nothing I did resulted in weight loss. To make matters worse, my blood pressure got pretty low and I was forced to stop taking a diuretic and immediately gained 15 pounds (lost 10 of it, but never did get that last 5 off). I was 5 pounds from goal when that happened. So that added to my fretting, unsure how much was Water and how much fat. I also really struggled with if I look fat or not....I don't trust myself to know. On one hand I think a size small/medium and 8/10 probably isn't fat, but I hate that number on the scale. I want that normal BMI, and so I vacillate between trying to achieve it, and accepting that perhaps I'm at a good weight. I also had two rounds of plastics during year two. Even after cutting 12 pounds off, my weight stayed the same. I expected that to get me to goal, and in theory, it should have. I feel robbed. And while all of that is going on, I've been finding it a little harder to be so restrictive with my food, and I feel that sense of freedom from food leaving me. I'm starting to think about food again, and I find that terrifying. So now I'm a couple of months into year three. I'm still recovering from plastics, so I'm going to finish healing and then start trying to focus on fitness, which is something I have been not very faithful to. I'm just going to keep feeling my way in the dark, hang out here, go to my support group meetings, and give up the fretting. I'm surprised my family hasn't kicked me out and that I've not been banned from posting on BP - I even drive myself nuts with it!

I did. I had a medial thigh lift, with incisions in the groin, extending down to my knees about 6 weeks ago. I'm still swollen, so I am not sure how they will turn out. I had seromas (encapsulated pockets of fluid) in both legs, which I had to have cut out yesterday. Not all that pleasant, and I hope they heal ok! Also, one leg is a little bigger than the other (that might be swelling) and my thighs still have cellulite.....yet, I look SO much better. My thighs were a mess, to say the least. Now they look pretty average for a 52 year old. I had all the other surgeries, and my legs turned out the least perfect, but I'm still thinking they were among the greatest improvement. I might need a little tweaking, but won't know for a while.

Sorry to hear all that. What is a straight takedown?

Depends on your plan. I was lucky that I didn't have to wait because my BMI was over 50.

I voted Other. I had a post op infection that started 5 days after surgery and had to be opened and drained about three times, and took about 7 weeks to heal. It was fairly minor, but still a worry. Other than that, it's a sleeve of steel.

I've always carried my weight in my hips and thighs, and that didn't change. My shape stayed proportionately the same. I don't think there is anything to be done about that, short of plastic surgery.

It could be a combination of both. My plastic surgeon said there is fat attached to the loose skin, and that I wasn't likely to ever lose that. I had puddles of skin and fat that dripped around my knees

So I thought I'd come back here for more "musing", AKA whining, lol! I had a seroma in both legs that wouldn't respond to typical treatment of needle aspiration, and had them excised today. I feel a little like I'm back to ground zero. It was an office procedure, and quite painful. Too bad, too, because those scars on my legs had healed beautifully. I hope the new incisions heal as well! @@BethinPA you are right about the number on the scale. I'm about over it. Almost. Maybe.

As you can see from the responses, the answer to your question is unique to the individual. I'm 52, lost 160 pounds from my all time high, and was super obese about 25 years. I carried most of my weight in my hips and thighs, and arms were pretty big, too. None of that skin ever shrunk, nor would it have. I had all of it removed around 2 years post sleeve- about 12 pounds in skin and fat total. My neck is also pretty wrinkly now. It did improve some at around a year after my sleeve, but it didn't improve all the way. I'm debating what to do about that. I am happy I had it done, but it was most certainly a difficult road for me. I actually don't think I look all that different clothed, and I have a ton of scars, so it comes down to the lesser of the evils. One thing for sure, I love my arms. I agree with CGJ, that is one thing that was hard to hide in clothes, and I needed bigger shirts to accommodate the wings. Short sleeves were out. Incidentally, one surgeon did tell me that people tend to improve up to 2 years post plastics.

Thanks, Georgia. I have to say it was totally not fun. At all. I don't numb very easily, so I could feel the cutting at times, and they had to keep shooting me with lidocaine. Now I'm sore like right after surgery again, and I have to go to work tomorrow. Not sure how that's going to go. Anyway, I also hope this is the end of it. Thanks for the well wishes How's your 5:2 going?

@@VSG AJH yep, I'm good at maintaining, and I've never made it to goal either. It's highly frustrating. I am just having a hard time accepting that I can't get this last 10 pounds off, but I find myself thinking that maybe that maybe this is it for me. Seriously, I had12 pounds cut off, and I weigh the exact same as before plastics. That only adds to the frustration. I am hoping for a miracle - that it's all swelling and I'll magically wake up at goal one day

This is a known and pretty common problem with DS. That procedure prevents fat absorption, so it causes steatorhea, or fatty stools. It's true - fatty stools have a pretty foul and lingering odor. I've even heard that some people smell like that in general through the skin, though I can't say that I know that's actually true. I had the sleeve, and have no such problems, thank goodness!

Nope, not "duh" at all. It is a collection of serous (watery) fluid in the tissues that sometimes happens after surgeries. I read that it can occur as frequently as 35% in surgeries like I had. Usually you can just drain it with a needle, but in my case, that hasn't been effective. I have a fairly large one in my left leg near the knee from a thigh lift, and a smaller one in the right leg. Not a very big deal, but it's another thing to go through, and now more downtime for healing. In general, I've not had the greatest luck with surgeries! I had a post op infection from my sleeve, then I had a few open wounds that took 4 months to heal from my lower body lift, and now this. In the grand scheme of things, things could be so much worse, and these things are minor blips on the radar. Still...not looking forward to tomorrow morning!

I have never slimed or thrown up, and I'm 25 months post op.