livvsmum

Your hubby is a hotty! You guys look great together Lol. Thank you :-)

eh....

Wow!! You are truly inspiring! ! Thank you! I appreciate it!

Thanks so much!! I appreciate it!

I agree exercise does help to an extent; if anything other than surgery will help, it is exercise. With that being said, as others have said, excess skin is a price we pay for allowing our bodies to carry so much excess weight for so long. I did have a tummy tuck/ panni to remove the excess skin from my stomach and that was covered by insurance, but they denied my arm lift. So I am left exercising, saving up to self-pay, and learning to accept my arms and inner thighs for what they are. :-)

Here are a couple of mine as I'm coming up on my 2 year surgiversary this week. My highest weight in these pictures was 278.4 and my "after picture" weight here is 128. It's been an amazing 2 years and I'm happy to say that I have reached maintenance now. :-) I have lots more pictures and info on my journey in my blog (linked in my signature) if you are interested.

Probably you don't see a lot of veterans on this forum because as you get further and further post op, you don't come to the boards quite as much. I am 2 years post op and probably should check in more often. It just kind of becomes a more normal way of life and I don't really think about it or struggle with things the way I used to. Also, they are probably posting more in the veterans forum, and I believe you have to be a certain time post-op to post there (1 year I think). So you are probably not going to find them here. As far as possibility of success though, it's really what you make of it. It is just a tool like everything else. You will see people wildly successful, or you will see people say their sleeve is "broken". Here is a post that I wrote about that and what I've learned about "success rates" in my time post op. "Why Are Some People Successful and Others Fail?". Hope that helps! I know it's not quite what you were looking for, but just my thoughts on it anyway. :-) Good luck on your journey.

I think it's definitely normal to have these "what if" thoughts before surgery, especially as the date nears and it becomes more "real". Early on in the pre-op process I wrote a "surgery bucket list" on my blog. It was basically a list of things I wanted to do (most of them with and for my kids) after surgery and basically reasons I wanted to have it. Whenever I had these "what if" feelings pop up, I would go back to that blog post/list and remind myself of why I wanted to do it. For me, it was ultimately about increasing the possibility of living a long, long life with my husband and kids. So about 2 weeks out from surgery when I had a total freak out and meltdown about the surgery, losing my emotional-eating coping mechanism, etc I went back to the list one last time and reminded myself of all the reasons why I made the decision to have surgery. Since the first couple weeks post op I have never once regretted it. Not one time. The first couple weeks were hard....I"m not gonna lie....but it was more emotional than anything for me. Since I got through that, there have been no regrets. Good luck to you on your journey!

I'm sorry to hear you have had a difficult time. I was in the same situation. I was in the hospital much longer than I anticipated and the recovery was harder emotionally than I ever imagined and I - like you - felt pretty prepared ahead of time. I wasn't prepared for how difficult it would be emotionally basically going through carb and sugar withdraw along with mourning the loss of my coping mechanism (emotional eating), it was a pretty rough couple of weeks. I'm happy to say though that once you get through those first couple of weeks, as long as you stick with the program, it gets way easier. Your body (and mind) adapt and you start to see amazing results which helps too. :-) Good luck on the rest of your journey!

I'm not a huge fan of Protein shakes, but I definitely do other protein foods and they don't bother me at all. My favorites are protein hot chocolate, coffee, pudding, Jello, and oatmeal. All from BariatricChoice.com Hope that helps!

That's great!! Congratulations on your hard work! I'm sure you'll find that working out makes you feel so much better too!

Here is a recent one for me. Starting weight 278.4, after picture weight 128. What an amazing journey it's been. I'm coming up on 2 years post op this week. I have more pics in my blog (linked in my signature) if you're interested.

My weight fell off pretty rapidly the first 7 months or so, then slowed for the next 3 or so months until I reached my goal. Since then I've lost another 10-15 pounds and have been maintaining.

Yep. I'm also in the saggy thigh club.I did have a TT & panni, but the thighs and arms are my self-conscious areas now. In the first year or so post op I felt like you, kind of depressed because I felt like I had lost so much weight and worked so hard and still couldn't wear shorts because of how my legs looked. This year, I reached and maintained my goal weight and by the summer was just kind of like you know what....screw it!!! This body has done amazing things. So I have a little bit of saggy inner thighs. Big deal! I still feel amazing, I'm in the best shape of my life, and 98% of the other people around me have saggy thighs or stretch marks or something. I've also been in therapy for over a year too, so that helped as well. Here's a blog post I wrote after I came to this "epiphany of sorts" if you're interested. :-) http://themeiamnow.blogspot.com/2015/08/this-is-my-body.html

I will be 2 years post op this week. I don't really have an incision marks left that are noticeable at all. In fact I wore bikinis all summer with no problem. :-) it just takes time.

The very first 2 weeks were super hard with head hunger then - like you - nothing seemed to bother me and I could say no to anything with ease. I remember distinctly somewhere right around 7 months post op it's like something clicked in my head and the old struggles were back. It was at that point that I sought out therapy because I knew that I was dealing with emotional food issues more than anything.

I definitely had a rough time during this challenge. I haven't weighed in for a few weeks so I'm not sure that I'm even still on the spreadsheet. If so, my weight this morning was 134.8. (YIKES!!!! 135 is my "oh crap" number). I just kind of let myself slip. When is the next challenge?? I definitely need in the next one to hold me accountable.

That is a tough one. I went to disney several months post op and that is quite a bit further than you will be. I packed a lot of my own food. There were some things where I just bit the bullet and got a meal, like the character meals where you are "paying for the experience" and you can't really "not" eat their food. So I did that a few times, but other times I would pack things that I knew I could eat and take them along in our bag.

So after 22 months, losing 155 pounds, reaching my "dream goal" weight of 125 pounds and healing from my tummy tuck and panniculectomy, I took some before/after pics that I feel really embody the new me. It's been such an amazing journey, and I can honestly say that the change has been from the inside out, thanks to some hard emotional work with my therapist, dealing with the "eating issues" that really were not about food at all. This journey has been absolutely amazing, and while the recovery from the TT was WAY harder than I expected, I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I Think my journey is complete now for the most part. I am waiting on insurance approval for an arm lift, and I was told I would hear by the end of June, so that is the only other thing that could possible make me feel any better physically. And now that my TT is mostly healed (though i'll be sore for several more months) I'm back to running now, which emotionally makes me feel so much more grounded. It is my meditation. Anyway....I just thought I would post this here for anyone coming on the "success stories" board to see if the surgery is right for them or could help them. I can tell you that for me, it has provided me the opportunity to make some changes I wasn't able to make before and I'm way happy with the results! So here are my almost 2-year post op (post TT) before and after pics.

Sorry for cross-posting in the general forum, but I know I posted my recovery and process here, so I wanted to share here too. So my surgeon sent me my "before" pictures yesterday, which of course made me want to take an "after" pic to compare. My surgeon does the "official" after pictures at the 3 month appointment when the scar is more healed. So I snapped a couple of pics today. It amazes me. There's only a difference of about 5 pounds in my weight since before and after surgery, but it seriously looks like a huge difference. I couldn't be more pleased with the results so far. I have scar sheets on the scar, so we will see how that ends up, but so far so good.

So my abdominoplasty and panniculectomy was approved and covered by my Highmark BCBS insurance, but they denied my brachioplasty (arm lift). I've got tons of medical notes documenting PCP doctor's visits, medications tried for the breakdown and irritation of skin, limitation of movement, my PCP wrote a very convincing letter about why this was a medical necessity and I submitted my surgeon's pictures. I was pretty certain the appeal would be approved. But it wasn't. I was pretty upset. So I'm gearing up to do what the denial letter suggested, and that is to take it to a third level appeal, which would be an outside party evaluating the request. Has anyone had ANY luck getting appeals approved? What am I missing? What else could I include? Would a letter from my therapist saying it causes me anxiety and depression help? Paying out of pocket with 4 kiddos and 2 of them headed off to college within the next year is just not an option.

1. Does a tummy tuck help reduce the waist area? Yes. Mine did. 29" waist to 26" waist. In addition to doing muscle repair and pulling it all together and sewing it up tightly he did a little lipo on the sides, giving me a nice hour glass shape that I never imagined I would have. 2. How much weight did you lose due to having the tummy tuck? I was 130 when I had the surgery and after was 123, but mostly because I wasn't eating (felt awful). At my 1 month follow up I asked my surgeon how much the excess skin weighed and he said 4 pounds, but the area of skin that was removed was quite large. 3. Did you go down a pant size? I would say yes for the most part. All of my size 4 jeans are saggy on me now, so yes, I've had to go to size 2's now. 4. How many days was the pain miserable? This is a biggie. He had to do more muscle repair than he anticipated, so I was in quite a bit of pain for a while. It took me 2 days to even take the catheter out to be able to get out of bed to pee myself. I "slept" if you want to call it that on a recliner for the first 4 weeks until the drainage tubes were out. The drainage tubes....oh the drainage tubes.... by FAR the worst part. They were so uncomfortable, towards the end down right painful. And having them removed is no walk in the park either. They just kind of yank them out and there is a LOT of tube in there. I've never really had incision pain because it's still really numb there - same with my newly created belly button, which I adore. I still have ab muscle pain, and he said that can last for up to 6 months. It is very bearable though and I've even started back to half marathon training. No ab work yet. I can't even imagine that. I still need help sitting straight up from bed (I'm 3 months post op). 5. How far after the surgery did the swelling go down and you could see results? How far out until you saw final results? I never really had any swelling because I kept that ab binder on nice and tight all the time (other than showering). I was able to shower right away, so I saw the ressults immediately I guess. I didn't take a full look at myself in the mirror without clothes until the drainage tubes were out and I cried tears of happiness because the results were more than I could ever have asked for. I would recommend once you get the surgical tape off the scar to use Scar Away Sillicone Scar Sheets for at least the first 6 months. They are working wonders for my scars. Let me see if I can find my new belly button and before/after pictures to post. Even though it was more painful than I imagined, the surgery itself was more intense than I expected (it took 7 hours!!), and the recovery took longer than I thought I would do it again in a heartbeat for sure. Here are some pictures

Thank you! I appreciate it! If you're interested, there's lots more pics on my blog. :-)

So my abdominoplasty and panniculectomy was approved and covered by my Highmark BCBS insurance, but they denied my brachioplasty (arm lift). I've got tons of medical notes documenting PCP doctor's visits, medications tried for the breakdown and irritation of skin, limitation of movement, my PCP wrote a very convincing letter about why this was a medical necessity and I submitted my surgeon's pictures. I was pretty certain the appeal would be approved. But it wasn't. I was pretty upset. So I'm gearing up to do what the denial letter suggested, and that is to take it to a third level appeal, which would be an outside party evaluating the request. Has anyone had ANY luck getting appeals approved? What am I missing? What else could I include? Would a letter from my therapist saying it causes me anxiety and depression help? Paying out of pocket with 4 kiddos and 2 of them headed off to college within the next year is just not an option. PS (sorry for cross-posting in the plastic surgery forum....I'm just desperate for something that can help me get this approved.)