AvaFern

You look fantastic!

I don't remember feeling that, but could it possibly be tension from your incisions? Laparoscopic tools went through all of the layers of your trunk region and there are incisions both inside of your abdominal area and on the outside. The tension that exists until the incisions heal could be what makes you feel like that. Your stomach doesn't have the same type of nerve sensors as do some of the internal layers of your skin and abdominal muscles, so it's more likely you feel something that is in sort of the same place as your stomach, but the sensory feeling is coming from the layers above your stomach, if that makes sense. Also, did you have a hiatal hernia fixed? That may also contribute to the feeling.

When you're first starting out, you're going to feel pretty crummy for a few weeks. I never drank the full 64oz of Water, but I had tea (the diet Lipton citrus is pretty good), the low calorie gatorage, Propel water, and after six weeks diet soda. For the most part liquid is liquid, so drink what makes you happy (skip the soda and caffeine though until you're a bit further out). It is completely normal to have a hard time getting Protein down at the point you are at and Vitamin difficulty is also normal. If using a straw does not give you gas pain (which is why doctors tell you not to use a straw), drink with a straw. That completely solved all of the problems related to my inability to drink enough. To give you some perspective, I am 15 months out and yesterday I puked up the few bites I had of a Subway turkey salad- my stomach did not feel like eating protein in the version of meat yesterday. I also had a part of a cookie the day before which was SO good since I almost never eat sweets and I got massively sick. I am completely ok with all of this because it has forced me to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It's a little like how some alcoholics benefit from a drug that makes them miserably sick if they drink. Eventually you associate the behavior you don't want with being sick and you stop doing it. Our stomach classically conditions us to not be a pig and to try to stick to our diet. My stomach is particularly picky- she doesn't like sweets or anything melty (cheese, chocolate, melty is bad). She does not like milk fat at all, half the time hates meat, refuses to tolerate protein shakes, and is completely happy to let me eat low fat wheat crackers all day, which is the only slider I can get away with so I tend to avoid crackers. My stomach is kind of a B, but she is totally fine with vegetables, some fruit, healthy wheats (like oatmeal with protein and those slider crackers), and some of the time decent meat protein. All of the things I should be eating, I can eat in very small portions, which was the entire point of the surgery. Also, Vitamins make me massively sick, so I take twice the amount in gummy vitamins and all of my blood levels are fine. My post is kind of long, but short version- yes you're totally normal right now and you will eventually come to appreciate and work around all of it.

Go read this article: http://markmanson.net/fuck-yes Ok yes it has the F word, lol, but it is very true. Why do anything in life that is not an F yes? If you aren't passionate about something, why waste your time? You said you're dreading seeing this guy...why would you even consider going out with him again? If you don't like his tongue shoved down your throat the first week, tell him that. If you think they're being needy, tell them that too. If you don't get a good vibe and you are not excited to see them, don't waste either of your time by trying to push through. A good relationship is two people who want to be together even though times can be hard- that doesn't generally start when you're not into the person the very first week. Past that, I hear you on the dating thing. I had a really bad relationship a few years ago and I got fat and hid under that for awhile while I avoided men. Now I'm back to being normal sized again and I also have doubts about dating. I really like being single. On that note though, you don't need to be in a relationship. The whole idea is that being with someone else makes you better, it makes you happier, you would rather be with them than be alone at least most of the time. If you're happier alone than you are with someone else, then be single! Go out, date, and in an ideal world you will find a man who does not annoy you the very first week. I am very content being single, but if I find a guy that I enjoy spending time with I would go for it. I just have no interest in compromising on my happiness simply to say that I'm in a relationship. So...my rule, if it isn't a F yes, then it's a F no.

You have to remove all jewelry. I forgot about my belly button ring, so they removed it for me and then helped me get it back in right after surgery. I'm sure they can do the same for your nose. The no nail polish rule is so that the pulse ox that they put on your finger gets an accurate reading. Toe nail polish is allowed.

You're fine...I do almost all of that and I'm 14 months post-op, no complications, and my sleeve still works perfectly. They tell you not to drink with a straw because it can cause gas pain. Drinking with a straw was the only way I could get enough fluids, and now I always drink with a straw. If it doesn't hurt, go for it. They tell you not to take the gummy Vitamins because they don't absorb as well so youre getting less vitamins than you would be if you took the same amount in pill form. Pill vitamins make my sleeve nauseous, so I take gummy vitamins instead. All of my blood count numbers are right where they're supposed to be and half the time I forget to take vitamins at all. I also eat more of a Weight Watchers style diet which means I don't always prioritize Protein. If you're meeting all of your nutrition goals and staying in your calorie budget, it doesn't matter what kind of diet you're on. In fact, I recently had a week of vacation where I mostly ate out the entire time, which involved all kinds of things you shouldn't eat. I had a few bites of everything, tracked my calories, and actually lost a pound that week. The sleeve is supposed to allow us to lead a normal life and that involves eating things we actually like in proportions that a healthy weight person eats- not forcefeeding ourselves chicken and veggies the rest of our life. Lastly, I drink with every meal because I don't like having a dry mouth. The reason you're not supposed to do this is because it washes your food through your stomach faster, reduces restriction, and then you eat more. The last part "and then you eat more" is the issue, not the drinking while you eat part. If you're cognizant of what you put in your mouth and you do not eat more than you would if you had not been drinking with your meals, this is yet another thing that won't hurt you or your sleeve. The rules put in place are designed to make the sleeve dummy-proof. If they work for you, use them, if they don't and your version allows you to be healthy and meet your goals, do your own thing. Nothing mentioned in your post is going to hurt you or your sleeve. Good luck!

Have you tried wearing compression tights to run? I like the Nike Pro version, but Under Armour has a good pair too.That can help alleviate some of the discomfort in your legs and they tend to make your legs and butt look good too, lol, so double the win. In the warmer months when tights are too hot, or if you don't like the idea of wearing super tight pants to workout, you can wear the compression socks that go up to your knees and that helps your calves feel better.

After 6 weeks I was approved to drink diet soda again. I have been drinking it from that point forward and have had no negative results. Diet soda is not good for you, but once your sleeve has healed at around 6 weeks, it's not going to hurt you either. Keep in mind though that once you kick the diet soda habit to get into surgery, maybe it's best to keep it kicked?

Fluid is fluid, although keep in mind, the tea may also serve as a diuretic, which is kind of working against you since it pulls extra fluid from your body. I have not drank 64oz of water the entire time I have been sleeved. I drink diet pepsi, Propel, diet tea, basically whatever I want with minimal or zero calories and it has never bothered me or from what I can tell decreased my results. My doctor told me I could drink whatever I wanted after the first 6 week unless it irritated my stomach or caused gas pain, which sometimes soda can do. Have you tried drinking water with lemon, the Propel water, water mixed with juice, or the low calorie gatorade? All of that is very low calorie and completely approved on every post-op diet I have seen. Sticking to 64oz of water for the rest of your life sounds awful....drink your tea and supplement it with other low cal options and as long as you're staying hydrated (which 6 months post op should not be a challenge), you're fine.

I slept with a heating pad under my shoulders the entire time I was in the hospital because it makes the pain from the gas that tends to present in your shoulder less severe and in my case I was completely freezing after surgery, so it helped with that too. The nurses knew I was doing it and I never registered a fever. I've actually been using a heating pad for the last few hours because I had a bit of a backache and it was more comfortable to be leaning against the heating pad while I worked. Out of curiousity I just took my temperature and it was 98.3, so not a big deal. I used the heating pad as a suggestion from reading these boards and it did great things for the shoulder pain. I also brought my own gas-x strips with me to the hospital because when I asked for them in the hospital they told me they didn't have any and I couldn't take any of the pill version. Fortunately, I came prepared, lol.

I saw a counselor for the year before surgery and right up until the week afterward and then I stopped going. My issue was more that my inability to stop eating made me feel out of control, which made everything else out of control. Once the control issue of food was removed, I found that even before I had lost the weight, I could see everything else from a better perspective and no longer needed my therapist.

Good for you! You look fantastic! And P.S. You have a beautiful horse too! Your post about him being happy that you're thinner made me laugh because the first time I got back on a horse I rode when I was bigger I remember thinking the same thing. Good luck in the future!

I'm 31 and my sagging was not good. I looked like a stretched out tube sock and while I'm still 6 pounds away from goal I started the plastics process about 15 pounds ago. I think it may also have a bit to do with whether or not you've been larger longer in life. For example, I have gone from thin to fat at least 10 times, so my skin was a little tired of the nonsense and this time and really the last several times in my 20's, I was just not attractive without clothing on- even though I was a normal weight. I had saggy boobs, a stomach that kinda flopped over, really saggy inner, upper thighs, and bat wings that I only realized how bad they were when I just looked at my pre-op pictures a few days ago. I think a lot has to do with genetics as well. I saw a girl on here who had very large arms when she started and gorgeous slim arms almost 150 pounds later. I was super jealous because even 10 years ago in college when I was thin someone once called me "the flying squirrel", which is ok a little funny, but it's something I thought about a lot before deciding on surgery. No amount of lifing or working out was going to fix my bag of sag. A few months ago I started with a breast augment and lift, lipo on my thighs, lower back, and hips, and an abdominoplasty. The recovery was much easier than the sleeve surgery and the differences were like magic. So then I decided I would also have a thigh lift and the bat-wing removal procedure, the brachioplasty. That was a week ago and I'm still a little undecided on how I feel about the leg results, but the arms are night and day. Now all I have left is a saggy butt, lol. @Katcloudshepherd I read your post! My batwing surgery was 7K and I used probably the most expensive doctor in my area of Florida. 12K seems really high, and I imagine in Mexico it is substantially cheaper than what I paid. Most doctors also have some type of finance plan, so if it really bugs you, maybe you could explore some of those options.

You and I are very close in weight and I know how you feel about the difference between the 130's and 140's. I just had plastic surgery this week and from the Fluid, I went from 135 to 142 and had myself a little mini meltdown when I got on the scale the day after surgery. Fortunately, a few days later all of the fluid is gone and I'm back to where I was, but I would love to be down to 130 and I completely understand that even though 142 is small, you feel so much hotter at 130. So..you can get off the weight gaining track! Today is Monday, December 1 which is like the perfect day to start a diet, at least until Christmas. I would really like to know out 5 pounds before Christmas pictures so I eliminated all sweets for the next 3 weeks. Think about all the cute clothes you can wear when you're 10 pounds thinner, and go get on that treadmill.

I always drink with a straw. I couldn't get any Fluid down just sipping until one day about 2 weeks post-op I accidentally drank an entire cup of juice because it came with a straw in it. Since that point I always use a straw and the few times I don't I inevitably end up with air bubbles in my stomach and esophagus.

I had a massive cold before my vertical sleeve surgery and the flu before my most recent plastics surgery and I'll be honest, I lied and told them I was fine. As long as your cold doesn't compromise your airway, it's not a big deal. I had a little bit of a cough during my recent plastics surgery and a runny nose before the sleeve, neither of which prevented me from breathing if I was unconscious and unsupervised. The issue occurs when you have a productive cough or Fluid in your throat that stops you from breathing when you're too doped up to wake yourself up and cough. This would only be an issue immediately after you are extubated and in recovery and even then they should be paying enough attention to both you and your monitors to recognize an airway issue. I am not overly confident in their observation skills, so if I had an illness that did produce junk in my throat and may compromise my airway, I would postpone surgery. Past that, they blast you with antibiotics during and after surgery, so a minor little cold is not a big deal in the long run and something that ideally if you do disclose no one is overly alarmist about it.

I just had mine augmented and lifted and I am very happy with the results. My doctor suggested 400cc implants which should put me around a C-D range, however I was sure I was going to end up with giant boobies. The first two weeks after surgery they were huge, but it's been 3 months now, they have dropped, and they are perfect. I almost like the higher look better, but now they look completely natural, which is I suppose the idea. My final size is a 34DD in Victoria Secret size (it seems like different companies have slightly different sizes). Given I started as a 36DD I am not sure how that worked out, but I'm not complaining. They don't look huge at all- in fact they actually look much better than my natural version when they were all stuffed inside a push-up. I was very glad I went with my doctor's advice, otherwise I would have likely been upset. Past the size though, the fact that you don't really need to wear a bra and they're just suspended on your chest in perfect round bouncy beautifulness is the best part of the surgery. I love my new girls!

As a follow-up to my earlier post in this thread, I seem to have found a compression technique that is working. My surgery was yesterday and they sent me home wrapped in Ace bandages for compression. This morning I took all of my bandages off so I could take a shower. When I was done, I had a hard time getting the bandages wrapped as tightly as they were before, so I got out the little girl tights I didn't think would work and it's been perfect. I also had bought the Marena sleeves, but it's virtually impossible to get into them without unsnapping the back and when you unsnap the back to get them on you can't reach back far enough to resnap. So...from my experinece today, a great way to get decent compression is to wrap your arms in those bandages, which should be how they send you home and then slide your arms into a pair of little girls tights that have been cut in half. Good luck with your surgery!

Good for you! I enjoy reading your stories! P.S. Did you get the guy's number?

Good luck! I'll think good thoughts for you!

I'm having a brachioplasty as part of a plastics procedure tomorrow and I've also had a hard time finding something that would work. My doctor will give me ace bandages which are just wrapped around the arms and which I need to wear for two weeks but I was hoping for something more comfortable. I ended up getting the Marena arm compression from makemeheal.com, which if you order that, order a size or two lower- their size chart is wrong. I also bought some little girl tights which I cut off the feet and slid over my arms on a reccomendation from someone else. Totally didn't work. Last night I got a few packages of that sticky wrap that you see people use on athletes, which will work like an ace bandage but not be as thick. I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone else has better ideas!

I paid cash and it was right at 20K. I think they tend to bill more when it's covered by insurance because they know they can get away with it. I had two nights in the hospital and was dischargd the morning of the third day. Be happy you don't have to pay most of that bill!

At 60 pounds was the first time anyone said anything, although now they recognize it all the time. I think the reason it took so long is people don't want to offend you if they aren't 100% sure that you lost weight. Also one person told me that she was afraid to ask me if I had lost weight because last time she asked someone their reply was "well yeah I have cancer so I lost some weight". She was scarred for life after that, lol, and no longer asks people about their weight loss.

I have days where I am a disaster. Just the other week I had a whole week of being well under my MyFitnessPal goals and then I blew it on Sunday and had like 1700 calories in Cookies and other junk. There are still days where I tend to eat cookies or crackers, but the thing that helps me is recording absolutely everything in MyFitnessPal. For example, today I had a cake pop from Starbucks, a petite four, and a handful of nutterbutters, however with everything else I had for the day I'm still only at 950 calories, so when I slip up, I don't freak out when I can see the calories in my app. If I gain a pound one day, I just pay a lot of attention to what I eat the next day and invariably drop right back down by the next morning. The trick is to weigh yourself everyday because it keeps you accountable and to log everything you eat, also because it keeps you accountable. Life is no fun without cookies and chips, but making the sleeve work for you is about knowing that it's ok to have a few cookies one day or even maybe one or two everyday if you really want to, but making sure that your calories are within where they are supposed to be, that you're working out, and that the majority of days you're eating mostly healthy. I had no interest in living the rest of my life eating chicken and vegetables, so I don't eat that most days. I eat like a normal person, which compared to how I used to eat is about 2000 calories less a day! Good luck...you can get back on track.

Sipping Fluid won't hurt you, but for me it just makes me barf more. You just have to wait it out. I'm 14 months post-op and yesterday I ate part of a grilled chicken sandwich and then spent the next two hours puking chicken and goo and slime. It was awesome, but it always passes. If your mouth is dry, drink a little bit, keep puking as needed, and you'll feel better at the longest in a few hours. My bouts of slime usually last maybe a half hour if that.