AvaFern

I am not three years out- I just reached the 25 months mark. I hit goal and have maintained it within 2-3 pounds in either direction. Your post says that you worried about hitting goal and gaining 20-30 pounds. To be fair I would be VERY upset if I gained that now, but before surgery if someone told me I could weigh 150 for the rest of my life, I would have been pleased as punch. Most people seem to gain a little bit of weight back, but they are still within a health range and it does not seem to be anywhere near the obesity level- at least from what I have read. That being said...every day for the rest of your life is a battle. The firs year is easy, the second year is a little harder, and after that you really need to rely on the good habits you established right after surgery. Every day I worry that I am going to get fat again and I take steps to make sure I don't. As long as you don't become complacent, you should be fine.

There is a forum on here that has a lot of information about costs, but I can't ever seem to find the link. My costs were roughly: Brachioplasty- 8K Tummy tuck- 12K Breast lift and augment- 8K Posterior body lift with auto augment- 8K Groin incision thigh lift- 7k Lipo- each area $1800 Full recovery time varies. I was working fll days at my desk within 5 days after surgery each time. My arms really took a good 8 months to feel like they were healed, although I was back to working out in 6 weeks. Boobs and tummy full recovery was 6-8 weeks, but I was walking 10 miles by day 8 and was fully functional within the first few days after surgery. My worst surgery was the posterior body lift, my last one. I ended up with two infections, a wound separation, and a gaping hole in my back, which all in all took a full 6 months after surgery to be healed to a point where I no longer needed to bandage anything. That particular surgery was a b*tch, but knowing the results even if I had known how long it would take to heal I would do it all over again. Scars are scars...mine are very minimal and fading quickly. I am only really bothered by the brachioplasty ones since they are the only ones you can see in normal clothing. They are also fading and will be very light within a year or two. Overall satisfaction with outcome- I love it. Sure there are days I wish I hadn't had to go through a small luxury car cost in plastic surgery and almost a full year of combined recovery, but then I put on all of the clothing I could never have worn without having all my extra flab cut off and it makes it worth it. I am a big fan of my new body and I largely have my plastic surgeon to thank for it.

@@Babbs You have told me how you feel, and I don't think you're wrong. I do place a lot of my self-worth in the number on the scale. Much as I can recognize that I am intelligent, successful, driven, and occassionally funny....I feel like if I look like I cannot control something as "simple" as my size, then no one else cares about the rest. I figure if I can find value in at least something about myself, and at the moment I really like that number on the scale, this is at least better than nothing.

I am worried everyday that I will gain again. For the first time in my life I can wear clothing, look at myself in the mirror and think I am almost kind of hot. I recently converted an extra room into a closet where I do not have a single piece of fat clothing (I boxed up the fat clothes and put them in storage). My whole beautiful closet is full of extra smalls, smalls, 0,2, and 4's and it is this big giant reminder that if I gain weight I get to go back to this sad life where I never wanted to leave my house, where I never wore makeup becuase why bother, if you're fat no one cares if you put on makeup, and where I only wore dark clothing. My closet has florals and chevrons, oranges and vibrant colors now, and each time I walk in there I see the life I have now and know that if I am not vigilant every single day, I don't get to live that life any more. I weigh myself on three scales every morning, which is actually helpful because for some reason this morning one of my scales must have been on a tile crack because it showed I had gained 3 pounds. If that was the only scale I used, that would have been a giant meltdown. Fortunately, since the other 2 scales said I weighed the same as yesterday I repositioned the misbehaving scale and weighed myself again and got a normal number. I can't seem to lose any more weight, but at least I don't seem to gain. My weight is my one positive glimmer at the moment. I'm not dating, I don't go out, all I do is work, and I have absolutely nothing to look forward to at the moment other than more work (which is a good thing- more work means more money, so not complaining), but everyday I can get on my scales and I have quantifiable proof that I am not worthless anymore. Then I go in my closet and I try some of my beautiful clothing on, most of which still have tags because I'm too busy to go anywhere, and I say...well damn, at least I look good. So yes, I am terrified of getting fat again because it is the one thing I can look at and feel good about at the moment.

Woohoo! Good for you on your success! Like you I have very little tolerance for being hungry especially if I am active, you're not alone there.

eggs make me barf, pretty much every single way I have tried them. I also used to like them in an omelette with veggies and sometimes over easy with a piece of toast. Nope, puke. I'm at 2 years and still can't tolerate egg.

Are you on birth control? If you use a Depo shot you no longer have periods. I've been on depo for 10 years and I never have a time of the month. I tend to use it more for that purpose than as actual birth control. If your doctor will prescribe it for you, it is one shot every three months, and no more female misery. I also don't get cramps or PMS.

I also had a 360 degree body lift, although my front half and back half were done at different times and my butt had an auto augment. I like stretchy jeans, lol. I have never been a fan of regular jeans- I just don't find them comfortable. Jeggings though, oh I love them. I liked them when I was bigger because there is a lot of flexbility on how they fit. For example, I wear a 0-2 American Eagle jegging now (they look like regular skinny jeans, just stretchy and softer) however I can also still fit into the same design in a size 12 because after you wash them they shrink a little bit and when I put them on, I don't stretch the 12's anymore so they stay shrunk. They are my new fat pants, which is funny since while I was losing weight that same pair of size 12's was a milestone for when I could fit into them. So...don't hate the stretchy jeans before you try them.

I would skip it. Much as I don't think that you are cheating, pre-surgery if I found out I was losing weight against someone who only had 20% of a stomach, I would be super mad. It isn't anything personal, but when people lose they will find any excuse to accuse you of cheating. I was in a Biggest Loser challenge one year at work (pre-surgery) and one week the scale made me lose like 8 pounds. So then the next week which was the final weigh-in, everyone said to make sure that I wasn't cheating. I ended up winning the challenge, but I was not very forgiving of the people who had said I cheated.

Technically your doctor wasn't wrong. You have about a year where you can maximize weight loss, so during that time it is best to eat a diet that is high in Protein and low in junk. I was self-pay, so I never had any nutritionist meetings or any real instruction on how to eat, so while I did reach and have maintained at goal, it took me longer because I ate mostly whatever I wanted to as long as it was healthy. After your stomach is healed, yes, you can eat anything you want to. Should you? No, probably not. At 2 years out, I still generally eat anything I feel like, but it's generally only a few bites and I don't really eat much in the way of junk. As an example, for Breakfast I had 1/3 cup dry granola, I had a Fiber One bar for a snack, I will have a cup of chili from Panera for lunch, 1/4 of a wrap I got from Target for dinner, and probably another Fiber One bar and maybe some Smart Puffs or popcorn. You need to follow a diet that works for you and that you can do for the rest of your life. I was just not someone who was willing to give up bread for eternity.

I have no regrets. I also ended up with a sleeve that likes to make me barf whenever I eat anything with oil, fat, or sugar, which is not the norm. I would still get a sleeve again. Sometimes I eat a few bites of foods that I used to like and now I am perfectly content to just have those few bites. At a little over two years post-op, I don't really crave certain types of food anymore and for the most part I eat what I want to, just in much smaller sizes. For example, last night I had takeout with a friend. I ordered the kids steak with mashed potatoes. I hate about 1/3 the steak and half the mashed potatoes. It was yummy. I had no interest in eating any more of it and I tossed the rest out. Steak and potatoes is more of a pre-sleeve kind of meal, but so are a lot of things I eat every once in awhile. Once you get through the first few months, the rest of the process is much easier. There are days where I eat 1000 calories, but mostly I'm around 1500-1800 a day and I can maintain at my goal weight. Most importantly though, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. If I want a drink with dinner, I have one, although I'm not really a big drinker. If I want some cake, I eat a piece. I had a few Cookies on the 4th of July...it is now October and I haven't had a single cookie since. This isn't because I can't have one, but because I just really haven't felt any interest. Knowing that I can eat whatever I want whenever I want to and that I only need a few bites to be happy is a very freeing feeling. So...at 25 months post-op, I am very happy with my sleeve decision.

@@Elode I was really self-conscious about my brachioplasty scars this summer. I had the surgery in November, so it hasn't even been a full year yet. I had the scars placed right along the place a seam runs in a long sleeve shirt along the back of my arm, so you can't see it at all from the front and you can only see the scars if you look from the back. I also used the Embrace strips so that there would be no spreading of the scar. Overall, if I had to choose, I would go with the surgery all over again because my arms look exponentially better. I can put make-up on the scars and most people don't notice them. I do still feel sometime self-conscious about the scars, but they are continuing to fade and in a few years I really doubt I will notice them much at all. The before version of my arms was so much worse than the scars that I thought it was an acceptable trade off. Also, if you already wear long sleeves all the time anyway, which I tend to do because I'm always cold, this way you would still have more contoured arms and you'd fit in smaller tops, and no one could see the scar anyway.

I also like being able to wear boots because my calves now actually fit in them! Also, this year I get to wear small and extra small jackets which is exciting for me. Before weight loss and a brachioplasty my arms never fit in the tight arms of smaller winter jackets...I was like the incredible hulk busting out the back when I tried to squeeze my arms in. Now, my arms no longer have wings and they fit into all the sleeves that never worked before. Yay.

After sleeve and three plastic surgeries I had MAJOR constipation. I tried Miralax and it did nothing. I took two Exlax and inside of 8 hours I was totally fixed all four times. Ahhhh...the wonderfulness of a good number 2, lol.

You should wear dresses more often- you look fabulous!

You're fine. That tiny little bit of food at 2 weeks is not at all a big deal.

Recently I have turned a small extra bedroom into a closet (because I am a clothes glutton like that) and the renovation process is almost done so I can finally begin to hang up and organize my clothes. For the most part I have boxed up everything that doesn't fit me and put it into storage, instead of just giving it away like I should have, however recently I ordered a few dresses online in a size small and when they came they were too big, so I just ordered the extra small instead with the intent to bring the bigger size bag to the store for a refund. I cannot quite bring myself to do this. I recognize for many it is stupid to be concerned that one day I won't fit into my extra small dresses and god forbid I will have to wear small, but for me it is this little bit of panic as part of my everyday life. I weigh myself on three scales every morning, not because I am entirely a freak but because one scale is wifi, one scale was the one I have had for probably almost a decade and it does cool measurements (Ironman scale) and one scale that has big bright blue numbers that I have taken a picture of every single morning since surgery. I have found that my sanity is slightly better when I can see that if I gained a pound on one scale, but not on the others, I really do not send myself spiraling into a day of starvation and protein shakes because I can see how a fluctuation on one scale is not represented on the others, so there is no need to freak out. Now..on days where all three scales show an increase, well those are bad days. Fortunately, I gain 2-3 pounds and then I lose it and all seems to be ok. But...back to my closet problem, which is not a bad problem to have, I'm not complaining. Now that I fit in sizes that I am proud of, I have this fabulous collection of clothing and everytime I walk into my closet I have this moment of panic about how almost everything in the closet is new (ish) and if I do not spend every single day of the rest of my life being extremely careful with what I eat I will go right back to my old closet where everything was big and dark colored and there were no silk fabrics, or pretty flowers, or bold chevrons...where I never wore heels because outside of the fact that they hurt my feet I saw no reason to put the proverbial lipstick on a pig. As I swap around my old closet, which has primarily stuff I wore before and my new closet, which is mostly new stuff, I have a very hard time getting rid of the fat clothes. What if I end up fat and poor and I have no money to buy new clothing? My new closet design was supposed to be this really awesome thing, and I am finding that it is a glaring reminder of how easy it is to fall right back into my old life, of browns, blacks, flats, and sadness.

I can't take regular Multivitamins. I had this issue even before surgery. One-A-Day and Centrum both make me incredibly sick for hours after I take them. Because of this I have always opted for the gummy version which has never made me feel sick. I have several friends who also can't tolerate the pill version of multi-Vitamins because of the nausea they tend to cause. I gave up trying to take the big girl version of vitamins and now I stick with gummies, lol.

I can appreciate this. I have done a lot of shopping lately and I notice there are really no clothes in the stores I go to (which are standard mall store, Express, NY&Co, etc) that have anything over a size 10 actually in the store. You can buy up to a 16 I think online, but you can't really try anything on in the store. It makes me very appreciative to have had this surgery that now I can walk into a store and I know clothes will fit me. You will get to that point soon too.

So, not to be smart, but why don't you weigh yourself? If you weigh yourself everyday you will always know exactly where you need to be and you won't have to be stressed out over it.

I totally save money now and I am 2 years post-op. To be fair though this is because I was a huge pig before. Excluding the junk food and frozen food I used to eat, I still eat basically the same things now as I do then except it all lasts for a few days instead of a few hours. The other day I was in Whole Foods and I got 2 meatballs for dinner. I ate one for dinner and one for lunch the next day. They were like handball sized meatballs, but before I would have eaten them both in one sitting. Now if every once in a while I feel like having wings, I'll go to the store, go to the wing bar, get two, and go home and eat them. When I order a sub, I order only half now and I eat half the half (1/4) for one meal and the other quarter at another meal. I often go to Panera and get a pick 2, which is usually half a cup of Soup and half a sandwich or salad. I eat the sandwich for lunch and the soup for dinner. Overall, yes, I do spend less money. Now I just make up for it by buying clothing instead, lol.

Why would your antidepressants not work? There are a lot of people who continue to take these medications after having this type of surgery. I would suggest talking to both your primary care doctor and your surgeon and asking for their input. In theory, the drug is absorbed in your small intestine, so a smaller stomach really shouldn't be an issue. A whole lot of people who have had this surgery have had both depression and anxiety and I have really not read any posts about anyone having an issue with their medication after surgery.

Interesting! My implants are under my pectoral muscles and while I can't say I really noticed back pain one way or the other, I do have large fake boobies, so it is good to know that in the future hopefully I won't have to worry about my back!

Haha, I don't disagree that my weighing ritual is weird, but it works for me. When I use one scale I really notice the ups and downs a lot more than when I use all three. I am now at a completely healthy weight and as long as 2 of my 3 scales are within my range and don't show a major difference from day to day, I am far less upset about my size than I would be if I saw one scale go up and down as much as it seems like they tend to do. I am so afraid of getting fat again that if weighing myself on three separate scales in the morning is what it takes to keep me at goal, I'll take it. I think there are worse ways to maintain, lol.

Do your friends know about the surgery? If so, they should understand you can't be drinking so soon before it. Why don't have a celebration this weekend instead? Sure you can't really go out and order drinks, but you could pregame at your house and then go somewhere or you could just get really trashed at your house. Yes, it isn't your real 21st birthday, but it would be a lot safer to celebrate it this weekend than on the actual date. You could then go out on your birthday, order one or two drinks, which will not hurt you, and celebrate without really ceellleeebbraaatttinngggg.