leanintoit

Hey Betsyann07! Whatever happened here? I am experiencing severe pain in my left breast when I bend over or move certain ways. Sort of a thickening of the tissue under the breast as well. Have an appt tomorrow at GYN, but wondering what you discovered. Hope you are well!

As we talk about hair loss, has anyone tried hair fibers or keratin treatments?

No amount of biotin or fish oil has kept my hair from falling out. Surgeon says that there is nothing you can take or do to avoid hair loss - if you are gonna lose it, you are gonna lose it. If you are in the lucky % who don't lose it, know how blessed you are! Thank God for sparing you, as it is degrading and discouraging. Albeit a small price to pay for health.

May sleever friends - anyone else dealing with hair loss? A couple of weeks ago I started to losing hair like crazy. I started taking Biotin a month before surgery, but doesn't seem to be helping. Just wondered if anyone else is experiencing this. It is discouraging.

Excited for you and encouraged for me!

Wow! Kathy! Over 100 lbs down! That is terrific! So proud of you! Your surgeon's stat is an interesting one. Based on posts from other May sleevers, most of us are going to blow that stat out of the water! That is if I am calculating correctly. I weighed 251 at surgery time. So I needed to lose 107 lbs to reach my goal. 55% of that is 58 lbs. I have already lost 46 lbs. in just over three months. Did I calculate correctly? I hope so and I find this to be very encouraging!

Like so many of you, I had been in a stall for a couple of weeks, but today I stepped on the scale and had lost 2.2 lbs since Tuesday of this week. What a feeling! What a blessing! I believe my NUT's analogy of the staircase is accurate. Here's to being on a lower step! Hope that you are experiencing blessings too!

Tarareed2010 - My NUT illustrated sleeve weight loss as a staircase. You sit on one step for a while before you drop to the next step and then sit for a while before then dropping to another step. This has been true for me. How about you? Also, my surgeon just told me, on Tuesday, that the further along the more important exercise becomes. We can actually reset our metabolism by exercising now that we have the sleeve. Are you exercising several times a week?

Dear Pink Dragoness, Please don't get discouraged. You aren't finished losing. My NUT illustrated sleeve weight loss as a staircase. You sit on one step for a while before you drop to the next step and then sit for a while and then drop to another step. This has been true for me. How about you? Also, my surgeon just told me, on Tuesday, that the further along the more important exercise becomes. We can actually reset our metabolism by exercising now that we have the sleeve. So, if you aren't exercising much, do "step it up" as you mentioned in your post. Best wishes to you and all May sleevers!

So proud of you! Can't wait to join you in the one-derful weight category! 20 lbs to go for me!

40 lbs total is incredible! Congratulations on a job well done! I had my three month follow-up yesterday. I look forward to seeing how the blood work turns out. I celebrate these milestones: 1. no longer taking blood pressure meds, 2. no longer taking high cholesterol meds, 3. exercising much more frequently 4. some relief from chronic unexplained nausea that I've had for four years and 5. lost a total of 43.8 lbs since I began pre-op diet (35 lbs since 5/2/13 surgery)! Yes, my weight loss has been slower than some, but I'm trying to keep the emphasis on health improvements. I hope that all you dear May sleevers are seeing vast improvements in health, as well. I thank God for his prompting, my surgeon, and this community! This is the day that Lord has made! Rejoice and be glad in it!

Excellent points! So grateful for my sleeve and this community!

Dan! You are absolutely rocking this life change! So encouraged by your story!!! Keep it up and you will not recognize the new you in size and behavior! Yay for you!!!

Very encouraged by you! Thank you for sharing!

Major wow! Excellent news for you! You are well on your way now!

I was able to completely come off of my high blood pressure meds, so I pray the same for you!

So happy for you being under 200 and no more insulin! This is a huge blessing! Way to go!!!

So glad for you being under 200 and, most of all, for being off the blood pressure meds! Me too! We are so blessed! I look forward to dipping down below 200 in the coming weeks!

Wow! Amazing results! So glad for you!

I am ten weeks out and do not look forward to the hair loss. I started taking biotin before surgery, hit my protein about 60 most days so we shall see. You made me giggle with "I don't want to be skinny and bald." I guess we will have to get creative with scarves, headbands, barrettes and the like. But we will be SKINNY! Yay!

Wow! This is wonderful! You look amazing and we are so proud of our 'sister in WLS'!

Calnala2010 - I started at 264

Karyanne77 - You have verbalized what a lot of people feel prior to VSG, including me. But honestly, to say that the way I was is "normal" is false. I don't know about you and other folks, but I was very abnormal eating too much of the wrong things every day and fantasizing about my next meal while still eating the current one. I was consuming crazy amounts of calories because I was sad or happy, depressed or elated, bored or excited...That just isn't normal. Now, (ten weeks out) I am much more "normal". Food is not the preoccupation that it once was. I can eat pretty much anything (still haven't tried steak) off of a restaurant menu, but choose lean protein and grilled or steamed vegetables because that is truly what appeals to me. My cravings have, by and large, gone away and I rarely eat emotionally. I attribute this not only to the good Lord and the surgery but to working on the psychological reasons for my overeating. A book that continues to help me with this is "Love to Eat/Hate to Eat" by Elyse Fitzpatrick. I have struggled with nausea more often than others (it is a chronic condition that I have been living with for more than five years), but still do not regret my decision to sell things so that I could self pay for VSG. From what I can tell on all the forums, after a few weeks, NO ONE regrets the decision to take control through this tool. YOU CAN DO IT!

I also wanted you to know that she said my surgeon has a very reasonable goal for his VGS patients of 50 lbs lost in five months. Most of you (and I) are on track for meeting that goal. Feeling very encouraged even though losing more slowly that some of you! Have a blessed weekend my soon-to-be skinny friends!