back2barb78

@ A. Stoot I actually had the opposite happen! My hair is thicker and longer than before. I did wear a wig to prevent manipulation on a regular basis. I only put heat on it literally only about 5 times in first 9 months if that. I'm not religious about any particular vitamins either. I do take a sublingual hair skin and nail vitamin on occasion, but I truly believe that the low manipulation has been the main reason for not losing a lot of hair. I have seen some shedding but nothing significant like clumps falling out regularly.

Wow congrats girl!! I so need to get in the gym

P.S. Get popsicles from the gift shop. The room service Popsicles I had had no flavor (unless something changed)

Congrats Jamie and Swee_dee!!! Isn't Dr Ortiz great?! Isn't the whole team great? I'm so happy you both are well

Labor Day Challenge Goal- -179lbs July 7th-195lbs July 14th-194lbs July 21st-194lbs July 28th-195lbs Aug 4th-192lbs Aug 11th-188lbs Aug 18th-184lbs Aug 25th-185lbs Sept 1st-185lbs

Good luck tomorrow ladies

Cassie congrats on your decision! I think you're right- the surgery is the easier part and the aftermath is a lot harder mentally to deal with. People do treat you different and you have to mentally maintain a sense of self constantly in those situations. I'm the same person whether I'm my size now or over 300lbs. It seems like people have a harder time adjusting to being around you than you have adjusting to the new you. I admit I'm sure it is a shock when you look totally different than you ever have, but some of the comments are annoying. My mom said to me "don't act a b!&$h now that you look good" the other day when I went to visit my father and all I said was that I didn't want to hear his nurses personal problems that day I just wanted to visit with my dad. I listen to his nurse talk nonstop regularly but I just didn't want to hear it that day but I'm still trying to figure out what that has to do with how I look. I'm going to let it go, but things like that where people treat you different and make reference to your loss or your look will happen all the time. Im no different than I was 10 months ago and I wouldn't have wanted to hear his nurse talk whether I was fat or thin or somewhere in between. I just think it's important to be yourself and remain aware of that through the process.

Yowza, Aroundhky!!! Lookin' good. It's so great to see people so far out still maintaining their success. I love this thread! Congratulations

Neverbehindu and jinxxy you both look great!!! Congrats

You poop in the morning? Lucky you

NOOOOOO!! You need to go to the before and after threads STAT! Look at everyone and how amazing they're doing in such a short time. During the preop diet your brain starts to play tricks on you and you start thinking what the hell am I about to do to myself- you'll think that even after while you can't eat postop and have to do the liquids. I remember all of it- but believe me it's a distant memory and a small price to pay for how wonderful I feel and how great I look. I have my legs crossed right now. I couldn't do that before and I do it all the time. I can cross them twice. It's crazy. DONT CHANGE YOUR MIND!

Count me in please

Jamie it totally stinks. If I can remember at least 3-4 days. The headache will pass and you'll get over the hump. I was so tired I only did the exercise bike after I got home from work because it was either going to be that or nothing.

Labor Day Challenge Goal- -179lbs July 7th-195lbs July 14th-194lbs July 21st-194lbs July 28th-195lbs Aug 4th-192lbs Aug 11th-188lbs Aug 18th-184lbs

SweeDee, I was 300 the day before at home and 299 at the OCC. Like Ressa said just doing what they tell you, you should be good. There's no way doing the preop diet eating salads and calorie free dressing you won't lose weight.

JJ, everything fell back into place after I lost the bulk of my weight. I'm only 10 months out but am almost done losing. I will say that I definitely need my inner thighs done and would like to have a lower body lift at some point, but that's only to look better with clothing off. In my clothes my sags and bags are hidden very nicely in shape wear but I want to look good in a swim suit. What happens with you will definitely depend on how long you've been heavy and how heavy you are to begin with. You're 30 also so you have age on your side

I absolutely have a new addiction- living!!! I have made a pact with myself to do all of the things I've always wanted to do but the only reason I didn't do it was my weight. I'm not burying myself in work anymore as an excuse. Living. It's wonderful

Labor Day Challenge Goal- -179lbs July 7th-195lbs July 14th-194lbs July 21st-194lbs July 28th-195lbs Aug 4th-192lbs Aug 11th-188lbs Side note- I actually lost weight and I went to the fair yesterday! I ate everything you can think of (fair food is crazy), however my strategy was to buy the item, taste it, and pass it off to my friends. It worked!!! Total cheat day and it was so worth it

Sorry had to say your posts made me giggle. I was tickled by the saggy ass jeans but then the poop pop sent it over the edge and made my day!

That's wonderful you've lost 9 already just follow what they say do and the weight will come off. I weighed 325 to start and I was 299 lbs on surgery day.

Absolutely on board with all the other OCCers- no regrets whatsoever and it was the best decision I've made thus far ahead of deciding to become a nurse. I feel great, I move around easier, I can paint my own toenails- seriously the list goes on. I've lost 92% of the excess weight and is know once I get all of this excess skin chopped off later I'll be smaller than I expected to be. It's beyond amazing. I barely had any pain-nothing children's liquid Tylenol didn't handle- and my scars look good. I'm black obviously so they are more pigmented but they're small and they don't bother me. They will shift position though when I get a lower body lift later so that will be interesting

We're all here for support. I hadn't lost in weeks and it's ok. You're not alone. You're almost to onederland!

I definitely was impressed by the surgical center. I had made a pact with my mom and dad that if anyone of us saw anything we didn't like or felt uneasy in any way that they would speak up and we would all get the hell out of there. They picked us up on time in San Diego and were very organized. They called me in my room to tell me when to leave on surgery day and called me a few times throughout the stay when things needed to be changed. They were very organized preop. Everyone sits together in the lobby and goes one by one to get labs drawn, your EKG, and weigh in and nutritionist consult. The private room was very clean and they had good cable (I watch I Love Lucy every day and watched my show the morning after surgery). Nothing looked worn or second hand and I'm super nit picky when it comes to cleanliness because I'm a bit of a germaphobe honestly. The wifi didn't work while I was there so I wasn't able to communicate with people back home until I got to the Marriott which wasn't a big deal anyway since both my parents were with me. The operating room was spotless- I'm not kidding it really was. I looked all around when I walked in. I really can appreciate that because I've been in many ORs that are overfilled with junk for multiple procedures that take place- this one was clean. They even have a hover air mat for transferring you easily from bed to bed and I've only worked at one hospital here that has that. The nurses were fine but their English was not as good as the Doctors but it was ok. I didn't have trouble communicating with anyone. One I think got perturbed with me because she wanted to give me some medicine to calm me down but I was totally calm so I didn't want to take it- I ultimately did because my mom said just take it I was impressed because my nurse looked super young and she got a huge IV in me on her first stick. I was still was a little scared before I went to the OCC but when I got there, I truly felt a calm come over me. I wanted to remain positive because I believe it's important to have a good outcome. I knew everything would be ok. There was a bit of waiting because they put you in order from easiest case to most difficult I believe once they evaluate everyone having surgery that day so there's no set time for your surgery. You hang out in your room watching TV until it's your turn then they take you to use the bathroom and to the OR you go! You won't see the surgeons in the OR- the anesthesiologist and the operative nurse will be there and that's standard in any OR- the surgeon is last person to go in after you're prepped. There were 2 nurses in the beginning after surgery but I think one nurse only throughout night. I was up every couple hours walking but I think most everyone else slept (all the doors to everyone's room are left open). It's weird- we became a little family. I will say some of the people in the group were annoyed that when they got back to OCC for dressing changes they had to wait. It didn't bother me though because seriously what else is there for me to do? All I was going to do is go back to the hotel and sleep anyway. I guess postop could have been more organized, but again I had nothing else to do but walk and eat Popsicles I didn't watch the cable at the hotel but I don't think it was great. I accessed my home TV on my computer. I will say when you first drive in its typical Tijuana- I'm not sure where you're from but Tijuana can be a bit unsettling when you drove around- people are very aggressive there like any other Mexican city you drive in. But when you get to the Marriott it's nice. All in all I was definitely impressed. I don't feel I got sub par care because I went to Mexico. I feel I picked the right surgeon for me- Dr Ortiz is not arrogant in any way shape or form. He's is super personable, energetic, and bubbly. I wasn't expecting him to be that way at all- he was way more serious in his videos. I found him to be genuine in his conversation. I believe he loves what he does. Being someone who's around MDs all day, they don't act like that girl!! It's rare. And BTW- you see my surgery was 10 months ago. People STILL freak out when I say I went to Mexico. It's understandable- people get nervous and I would've thought the same thing if someone I cared about told me they were going to a foreign country for surgery. You're going to get that even later after you've lost you're weight and your sitting right in front of them skinny and talking about it with everything ok Everyone knows someone who something bad happened to and you know what I say to that? Well I know tons of people who are doing amazing and I communicate with them on a regular basis! If you look on here there are almost 200 people who've been to OCC as patients. I didn't see any doctors in the states with that many patients you could communicate with. I stalked everyone on here I could looking for a reason not to go and I couldn't find one. Sorry for the long post I you have any other questions don't hesitate to message me So many people helped me on here with my decision and calming me down while I was freaking out preop so I definitely want to pay it forward. Ok I do have one major complaint about the OCC- those stupid paper underwear! My @$$ was too big for them and I had to go commando! They need bigger undies!