AvaFern

No offense, but it sounds like your husband is a very insecure, controlling man. You don't leave someone two days before any surgery, let alone simply because you think your wife might get hotter than you are at some point in the future. I suggest you call his bluff. If he leaves, you are better off, but more likely, he's using this as a way to control you and if you tell him that you will continue with surgery with or without him, he will likely step in line. Men with no self-confidence like women they can control, however they also tend to toe the line as soon as that woman puts him in his place. Good luck to you.

Haha, I literally just had a debate with myself today about buying knee high boots online! I've always had thick muscular calves, so boots never fit me, even when I was thin. A few weeks ago I bought a pair of thigh high boots for my Halloween costume and those suckers didn't even come close to fitting my thighs. I'm sure it is all in how you lose weight, but for me, my legs are very muscular, so short of losing all my fat in other places and then eating away at the muscle, I doubt that I will fit in the cool boots until I am very thin. Fingers-crossed for everyone that has this as one of their future NSV goals- I'm right there with you!

Go for the 5k! I have done road races when I was thin and ran the whole thing and when I was out of shape and walked almost the entire thing. There has never once been a time where anyone was mean to me for being slower. At one point during a half marathon, I seriously considered jumping off the bridge and swimming to the finish line because it would probably have been faster than the limping walking I was doing. I think the last two miles took me 45 minutes to finish and there were SO many positive and encouraging people who cheered for me, even though I was one of the last people to come in. While it's fun to run an entire race and is certainly a boost of confidence, there is no shame in doing run/walk or just walking....what's that phrase, you may not be the fastest, but you're beating everyone else who stayed home and sat on their couch. Good luck with your race!

I have always enjoyed reading your posts and I am so sad for you that you had such a jerk plastic surgeon! I just had plastics last month and I met with my surgeon in June and he never once made me feel like I was gross or anything at all negative. He has very much let me dictate what I was concerned about and offered solutions based on my issues- I cannot imagine him ever acting like your surgeon did! Also, while I am fortunate in that I was able to pay for the entire procedure out of pocket (insurance would not have paid for any of mine), my doctor has actually suggested less expensive procedures than I originally wanted. He even completed a few things during surgery that he didn't bill me for. I still have one more procedure left in November, and while he could have sold me on a few more things, there was never once any pressure or even suggestion that I should have more done than I had asked about. Your surgeon is an unprofessional ass and an office that has a culture that revolves around money is not an office that is likely doing very well financially. I'm pretty sure my doctor does very well financially, but it's because he is SO super nice and laid back and the entire office makes you feel like you matter. You should never have to work with a PS that does not make you feel happy and excited about the procedure, let alone one that makes you feel downright awful! If you live anywhere in the Southeast part of the country, send me a message and I will send you my doctor's info. He's rated as one of the best in the country and people travel from all over for his reconstruction work with cancer patients. He did a beautiful job with my surgeries, but most also importantly, he doesn't make me feel like I am a wrinkly, ugly, extra skin, stretched out tube sock that I sort of was before surgery. My doctor is awesome and you should not even consider settling until you find a PS that makes you feel like the wonderful person you are.

I rewarded myself with plastic surgery when I was within the 15% of goal that they reccomend you be before plastics. When I hit 137, which is 100 pounds, I would like to Celebrate, as well as when I hit 129, my final goal. I went skydiving when I was younger, however now I've thought about taking the class where you don't have to jump tandem. I also want to go kite surfing, which is something I never would have done when I was fat because I figured the instructor would laugh at me! Oh and I reward myself regularly with clothing, haha....it is SO much more fun to shop when you fit into most of the stuff you try on!

I'm a year out and I can take a few good glugs of Water at a time, but that's about it. Not chugging liquids was a painful lesson to learn after surgery because I used to drink bottles and bottles of water when I worked out.

I have weighed almost everyday for my entire adult life and written it down in a calendar that I keep. The last year following my sleeve surgery I wrote down my weight the same way everyday and it has helped me realize that stalls are not as long as they seem, that maybe I should be more careful with what I'm eating, and that my losses tend to happen in patterns. No one says you have to weigh yourself everyday and if you're not comfortable, don't! It's just a lot easier to see in the future the progress you've made, the rate that you've lost at, and to immediately recognize if you put on a few pounds. When I see I gained a pound, I immediately look at what I'm eating and make the changes. For me this works a lot better than not realizing I gained weight until my pants are too tight and then I have to lose the 10 I gained instead of just 1 or 2.

If it makes you feel better, I had to pay a little over 27K in cash for my plastics, so at least your insurance is covering a good portion of it! The fee you're being charged does sound very reasonable- my regular tummy tuck, without the vertical incision was priced at 9K, so since your procedure is more complicated and you only have to pay a little over 2K, it doesn't sound like you're being charged unfairly. The compression garments I used were $100 each and I got them on Amazon (Marena brand) instead of ordering through the doctor. They've been wonderful and totally worth the cost. I also bought an expensive surgical bra which was horribly uncomfortable and I've worn the $8 for 2 pair cotton snap up bras that Wal-Mart sells ever since surgery. Good luck with surgery- you will be so happy to see what you look like when it is all over with!

At this point, you should be able to have more than a few bites of regular food. Are you eating slowly enough and fully chewing everything? Is your food healthy food? I'm a little over a year out and there are still plenty of times where I end up throwing up, but it's not an all the time issue, and it's predominantly when I eat something with sugar, fat, or oil. I'm sure your doctor will have a bit better insights after your tests next week.

I felt miserable after surgery for 1-2 weeks. I felt like the anesthesia and drugs hadn't really worn off enough for me to function correctly. Eventually I just forced myself to go on long walks and much to my surprise, I didn't die, but ended up feeling better. Your body is diverting all of its energy toward fixing what it sees as trauma (cutting out your stomach) so it is less concerned about allowing you to exercise and feel great than it is about making sure your organ is healed.

I use two scales and both are within a pound of the doctor's office scale. A few days a week I use an Ironman scale which was super expensive and it has a lot of fun measurements that it can do (bone density, fat%, Water %, and about 7 other things). The other few days a week when I am somewhere else in the mornings I use the BalanceFrom scale that I bought on Amazon for $25. I actually like the cheap scale better because it doesn't change your weight by a few ounces if you weigh yourself a few times around the same time. I weigh myself once a day, first thing in the morning, and write it down in a calendar so I can see the trends over the months. Ultimately, as long as you're using the same scale, you should be able to tell how much you're losing regardless of what the doctor's office scale says. If you go from 200 to 195 on the doc's scale or 195 to 190 on your scale, you're still down 5 pounds.

Sorry!!! I posted this post into the wrong forum, please ignore me!

I use two scales and both are within a pound of the doctor's office scale. A few days a week I use an Ironman scale which was super expensive and it has a lot of fun measurements that it can do (bone density, fat%, Water %, and about 7 other things). The other few days a week when I am somewhere else in the mornings I use the BalanceFrom scale that I bought on Amazon for $25. I actually like the cheap scale better because it doesn't change your weight by a few ounces if you weigh yourself a few times around the same time. Ultimately, as long as you're using the same scale, you should be able to tell how much you're losing regardless of what the doctor's office scale says. If you go from 200 to 195 on the doc's scale or 195 to 190 on your scale, you're still down 5 pounds.

I have these questions every once in awhile and the best way to not stress out about it is to track all of your calories in an app of some sort. I use MyFitnessPal, so I always know exactly how much I've eaten and if I gain a pound or two, I either stop eating the junk that caused it or I realize I didn't eat anything bad and my calories are on track, so it is just some type of Water weight. Math doesn't lie...calories in, calories out....if you think about it like that, it's easier to not stress out over the plateaus and the little gains.

I would take an Iron supplement, which should get your values to where they need to be. Also, on Atkins, aren't you allowed to eat steak? That will also do wonders for your levels. Maybe the reason you feel crummy is because you cut out carbs? Isn't that also part of Atkins? The first 6-8 months after surgery I craved steak and I think it was probably because I was a little anemic. I always felt better afterwards.

You're fine, don't worry about it. I had a moment of weakness on my pre-op diet. Only one, and it was a few days before surgery, and the doctor told me my liver looked nice and small. The idea is to keep people from loading up on all of the fatty foods that they think they'll never get to eat again right before surgery. This causes your liver to be quite large, and they have to slide under it to perform the surgery. If it is too large, it has the potential to crack which takes your surgery from 45 minutes to like 6 hours. I have a friend who totally went out and had Olive Garden the night before surgery because his doctor had almost no pre-op diet rules. He came out completely fine. So...a little bit of pizza didn't hurt you.

I also would rather sit in the sauna than walk on a treadmill! Another trick is to soak yourself in a really hotbathtub up to your face for 15 minutes, then sit in a really hot room or sauna for 15 minutes, then repeat until you hit the weight. I'm not a fan of cutting weight, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

If you don't mind me offering a bit of advice regarding your weigh in, here are my thoughts. If you really want to make weight, you need to think like a wrestler, not like a dieter. Cutting weight is not healthy of course, but you can easily drop the 1.8 pounds you need to be under your original weight. Drinking Water is a good idea for a diet, but a bad idea for making weight. The more you drink, the more you weigh. Cut out your food and your water the day before you need to "make weight" and weigh yourself the morning before. If you're still not under, go sit in a sauna. You've spent 6 months waiting to get a surgery date, a few hours of being dehydrated isn't going to hurt you, but it will help guarantee you get the surgery you want. I figure all of us here had our stomach cut out so that we could be thin, a day or two of some weight cutting is nothing compared to the extreme action we took with surgery. Good luck!

I love sweets, but my sleeve hates them. We now have a tentative compromise where I can eat 1-3 bites of something sweet, enjoy it very much, and not get terribly sick. I was never really into fried things, but I've accidentally had a few things over the course of the last year and those also tend to create near instant sickness. Oily, fatty, sugary, and basically anything that is bad for me doesn't tend to go very well with my sleeve, which honestly is probably a really good thing. Outside of that, I tend to crave beef now, which I never cared much about before. I suppose I could be a little anemic, which would account for that. I also used to love fish, and now it makes me sick, although chicken was a favorite before surgery and is still well tolerated now. I can have a few bites of anything without getting sick...the trick is sticking to a few bites.

If it helps at all, you should be cleared for all physical activity at 6 weeks, which should have you cleared to go snowboarding. Since the Disney trip largely involves walking and riding rides, you would likely be cleared for that even earlier. Also, at 4 weeks I was able to eat whatever I wanted in tiny, well-chewed portions, so food while you travel shouldn't be a big deal. Cooking Thanksgiving when you can't eat is going to be a hassle, but your other plans shouldn't be completely ruined by the surgery date. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you- good luck!

I always drink with my meals. The primary reason not to is because it washes your food down faster and you get hungrier quicker. I really tried the first few weeks, but I just can't choke down food without a drink. My doctor explained that as long as I'm cognizant of what I'm eating, the drinking with meals issue isn't going to hurt me it just might make losing weight take longer if I don't pay attention to calories. So far it's worked out fine.

If you're sure that you are tracking your calories correctly, you are probably at a stall. 800-1300 calories a day is completely fine. I've had a few stalls, one of which lasted almost 2 months and I was also eating within the calorie limits. I know some people won't agree with this, but you can eat 1200 calories of junk or 1200 calories of good food and it's still only 1200 calories. Sure, it's not a good idea for any extended period of time, but there are days where I'll eat 900 calories in cheezits and nutterbutters, and then maybe a 200 calorie sandwich. It's not often but when I do I don't worry about it because I know that I'm still within the calorie range. As long as you're not gaining, I would go with the idea that you're at a stall, maybe add a little more exercise, and keep working on it. You will lose eventually. Good luck!

Having an abscessed tooth is bad for you in general, which I learned the hard way a few years ago. My tooth totally blew up my face and in less than a few hours I had a lip the size of a softball. Realistically, you don't want to enter into any surgery with any form of infection, however a cavity and an abscess are very different things. You don't need to be in perfect dental health, you just don't want to have anything that will make it even harder for your immune system to recover from the surgery. Outside of that, teeth that are in poor health can cause everything from cardiac problems to a brain abscess...when I found all of that out I was beyond thankful for the magic of modern antibiotics!

I take the Vitafusion calcium gummies and the Flintstones daily Vitamin gummies. Regular Multivitamins don't tend to fare very well on my stomach.

This might sound silly, but maybe invest in something for yourself that you can use on your next birthday. This time next year you will certainly be down quite a lot of weight and your sleeve will probably be tolerant of just about anything you want to eat, even if it's only a few bites. Is there a really nice place you'd like to go for dinner? Buy a gift certificate this year (make sure they don't lose money in a year- most shouldn't) put it somewhere you know where it is, and really look forward to all of the things you will have to Celebrate next year. Chances are, all the food that you're sad about not getting to eat on this birthday, won't matter as much next year. Even better than a dinner gift card, maybe buy a skydiving pass or a gift card to a designer clothes store you can't shop in now or even a trip to a place where you may not have felt comfortable going before. Save that for your birthday next year and you'll get to look forward to it all this year. I only eat chocolate for my birthday and Christmas because otherwise I will eat way too much of it. Every year I would look forward to that time and ravenously inhale chocolate. This year, I'm far more looking forward to wearing my new dress to dinner with friends, than I am about the chocolate cake I was craving last year. I'm also not worried about trying new things anymore because I don't feel like everyone is looking at how fat I am. Now I walk into designer stores and I know that most things will fit me and that the salesgirl isn't wondering what I'm doing in her store. Not getting to celebrate your birthday with food this year just means that you will get to celebrate it with anything else you would like next year!