AvaFern

I'm 5'3 and 144. My current dress size is anywhere from a 4 to an 8 depending on the stretchiness of the material. I didn't really have a goal dress size, but I had a few pair of pants that I wanted to fit in again. They were a size 9 that I've fit into twice over the course of the last 12 years, and they now fit, a size 3 skirt (very stretchy, lol) that now fits, and a pair of leather pants that is an 8, which also fits now. I was really happy that I can shop in the juniors section again, that my shirt size is a small or a medium, and that shopping is once again fun instead of a complete nightmare. My wallet doesn't love that shopping is fun, but I certainly do!

I started running 3 weeks after surgery, which was more of a limping jog, but I was back up to a decent pace at about 2 months post-op. You should not have an issue doing the 5K in december. Good luck!

I am one year and about 10 days post-op from my sleeve and almost exactly a month post-op from plastics, which among other things included an abdominoplasty. Prior to having my plastic surgery, I was very comfortable with my sleeve. She (yes, I gave it a gender, lol) didn’t make me sick or burpy all that often, she very rarely caused surprise puking, and we had worked out a system where I knew that if I ate sugar, most junk food, or too much of certain things I would get sick, but otherwise we had a pretty friendly relationship the last few months. Immediately after surgery this all changed. I went from knowing exactly how much and what type of food I could eat without getting sick, which had finally worked out to a nice balance of Protein, low calories, and occasionally a few bites of junk food, to not being able to eat more than few bites of anything without feeling like I was right back to being a month or two out from sleeve surgery. I have thrown up more this month than I have since the very first few months of having the sleeve and nearly everything I eat creates massive restriction. At first I thought maybe it was just a reaction to the surgery, however it has now been a month and it seems the only variable that is now different is major compression of my stomach. Following an abdominoplasty you need to wear an abdominal binder or a compression garment for anywhere from a month to two months after surgery. While logically it doesn’t seem like you should be able to smush, squish, or otherwise manipulate your stomach pouch that much with a compression garment, the few times I have eaten without wearing it, oh happy days, there was no sickness and the restriction was about what I had gotten used to at around 8-10 months after sleeve surgery. I really don’t mind the fact that my compression garment is making me more cognizant of what I am eating…I actually lost 10 pounds this month after plastic surgery without being able to workout, which I never thought would be possible. It just seems that if the compression garment is legitimately working to make my sleeve more effective, and keep in mind I have no empirical evidence of this, it has just been a personal observation, perhaps those of you who have experienced a drop in the restrictive sensation of the sleeve after a few months might want to give a compression garment a try? It may help you re-establish healthy eating patterns if you wear it for a few weeks, and worse case, if it doesn’t help with the sleeve, it does make you look skinnier, lol.

@VSGAnn2014 Wow, rude much? First, no, I am not wearing a girdle, I am wearing a medically prescribed compression garment which fits exactly like it should. Second, I lost 10 pounds in a month because I was extremely careful with what I ate and because I didn't have the option to eat as much as I usually do. And honestly, if you want to lose weight, you do what needs to be done and for people who no longer feel any restriction, a week or two of wearing a compression garment, which by the way is completely safe, is a cheap way to remind yourself of how to eat. Wearing a compression garment is not even remotely the same thing as any of the other things you suggested, but thanks for being ridiculous.

I LOVE sugar...my sleeve hates it. I can have a few bites, which is just enough to enjoy a dessert, but if I eat any more I get very sick. Some people never experience dumping with the sleeve, but some of us do. Just the other night I was out to dinner and I had a few bites of hummus, a bite of flatbread, and a few pieces of tomato and I felt fine. I then literally had two very small spoonfulls of a pecan pie type dessert and I was throwing up and oozing goo from my throat for the next 45 minutes. I chose the sleeve because it cuts out the hunger hormone and because it requires less rearranging of the digestive system, however I guess I have been "lucky" in the sense that if I eat anything too sugary, greasy, fatty, or otherwise unhealthy, I get sick very quickly which really serves as a great deterrent.

@Ava324 Hey Ava! Thanks for posting that link! I feel validated now!

I have always had thick, muscley legs, and now I still have thick muscley legs, lol. Ultimately though I noticed that I lost weight from all over. I can look at the pictures I took before surgery and those which I took after surgery and I do not see anywhere that has lost more than anywhere else. I just look like I shrunk everywhere.

I'm a year out and I'm very rarely actually hungry, but I do find that I have head hunger at times. Also, fortunately, whenever I do eat anything sugary or with a lot of fat, I'm almost instantly sick, so my sleeve does its job. Before I would do a really good job dieting and then spend a day binging and gain it all back. Now, I physically can't eat too much in one sitting because the puking is so miserable. Also, my experience with dumping has been generally that I get very hot, my heart rate speeds up, my breathing rate gets faster, and my throat starts oozing goo and foam. I found that if I would lay down for 20 minutes and focus on breathing and relaxing, the hot flash feeling would go away and I was fine. If it got to the point where my mouth started the goo and froth stage, the only thing that makes it better is to just throw up and get it over with. The more you try to swallow it, the more that comes back up. I was very nervous before I had the surgery as well, but I can honestly say it has been 100% a good thing. There are minor annoyances, but feeling confident and comfortable in my own skin again made it worth it.

I also lost a ton of hair. I'm a year out now and it's slowly starting to grow and thicken-up again. I tried a few varieties of extensions and nothing really worked out well. Before surgery I had long, medium thickness hair, that was beautiful, and at six months I had really thin, brittle hair, that I wasn't thrilled about every wearing out of a ponytail. At a year, my hair is growing again. It's frustrating, but once your body recovers from the trauma of surgery and the diet, it will start directing resources to your hair again.

I think you should do what you feel is best for you. Let me explain though why I choose to weigh everyday. There are points where you hit a plateau, and it is SO frustrating, but when you realize you're stuck, you then know that you need to make some kind of a modification to keep going forward. For example, my biggest stall was between 165-168. I was stuck there for probably 2 months. I weigh myself once every day in the morning right when I wake up and I write the weight down in a little handheld calendar I keep in my bathroom. I've done this for my entire adult life, which is handy to have because I can look back at certain weights and see that I tend to get stuck around the same places. When I know everyday what I weigh, I can recognize when I'm stuck and make changes, but I can also notice immediately if I start a gaining trend. Last week I sat right around 145 all week, then I went out to dinner a few times and I woke up at 147 on Saturday. I've been very careful the last two days and now I'm back to 145. Weighing helps me have a quantifiable way to know exactly how I am doing and allows me to make immediate changes as opposed to waiting on doctor's visits and realizing that I just blew 6 weeks of time and gained 5 pounds. Ultimately, you should do what you think is in your best interest, but perhaps consider the alternative options as well. Good luck!

I had clothes from a size 18 down to a size 2, so I measured my progress by what I could fit back into as opposed to buying new things. For my plastics surgery though, I totally bought cute things that I knew I would look good in after surgery, before I ever went under the knife. Anticipation shopping is a wonderful thing...enjoy it.

I'm a year out and just this week I had something that didn't agree with me and I was puking the foamies in the parking lot after dinner. Usually it's when I have a very dense Protein such as chicken breast or salmon, but this week I think it was from a bite of very sugary dessert I had. It happened occassionally during my first few months, then not at all for several months, and then the last month or two it's happened about 4-5 times. I tried to resist throwing up, but that just prolongs the misery...puke, get it over with, and you'll feel better almost immediately.

I started at 237 and 6 months post-op I was down about 60 pounds as well. I got stuck quite a few times and I am now a year post-op and "only" down 92 pounds. You just have to keep sticking with it. Also, I lost a ton of hair too and it's only now begining to thicken up a little bit again. Hopefully I'm done mourning my hair everytime I take a shower or brush it, but it's nowhere near as long or as thick as it was before surgery. I don't feel like anyone else can tell though and I wouldn't trade my long, thick hair, when I was fat for my shorter, thinner hair now that I am a bit more thin-ish. Good luck at your appointment!

9/9 was my one year surgiversary! I know it's not the same thing as just getting sleeved last week, but we share the anniversary date in the future! Hope you're doing well so far!

It took me about two weeks to go back to sleeping on my stomach. I was tentatively side sleeping the first week, but it took a bit to get back to being comfortable on my stomach.

@Mad__crow I paid fully out of pocket, but I also paid for my sleeve in cash too. I have zero patience, which proably cost me a lot of money in this process, but with the sleeve I didn't want to spend 6 months dieting and get denied and with plastics, I knew there was no way they would approve me- I didn't really have enough skin to count as being any kind of disability. I personally didn't have any issues with pain. I was prescribed 80 percocet and I used I think 10 of them over the course of the first 2-3 days. After that I took tylenol for a day, and then haven't taken anything since. The annoying part of the surgeries is you get drains for the abdominoplasty. They are inserted into your mons area, so anytime you move, it pulls on your upper lady area....and it is SO irritating, lol. Once the drains are out, the rest of recovery is mostly a breeze. I ended up with a seroma, which is a pretty common complication, but it's more a hassle than anything else. Check out realself.com if you're considering surgery- I have found it very helpful.

I just had a breast lift and implants and before surgery I felt like a bad person for chopping up my perfectly good boobies simply because I wanted them to be higher and fuller. After weight loss they were like udders..hanging tube socks of breasts and I felt very non-sexy. Don't laugh, I actually gave each one of them a little talking to before surgery about how I love them and how I was sorry about what I was going to put them through. A lift involves basically cutting off the nipples temporarily and I think of all of the people who have had to have their breasts removed or significantly altered for health reasons and here I was doing it out of pure vanity. So, I did have to get over feeling like Shallow Sally, but I've largely moved on from that. It's been three weeks since surgery and I am very happy. I have always had large breasts, except they have never been this full, and round, and perky. I can wear all those cute little sports bras with the tiny little straps and yesterday I went out to dinner for the first time since I was 10 not wearing a bra. I felt scandalous! Of course no one noticed because they now look exactly like they did before when I was wearing a bra, but it was still something that was new for me. So, yes, I missed my old girls, but I am very much a fan of the new ones.

@Mad_Crow- Recovery was cake for plastics compared to the sleeve, lol. I thought it would be SO much worse, given that there is a lot more chopping up of the skin involved, but being able to eat afterward and not having to take major IV narcotics made it a much easier process. I had a breast augment and lift, abdominoplasty, and lipo to my thighs, lower back, and hips. My thigh lift is scheduled for November- my doctor nixed the idea of doing everything at once since it was already a 6 hour surgery. I have been walking several miles a day since a week after surgery and I have really felt fine outside of a little soreness. I expected it to be horrible, but it really wasn't. @finediva- My weight chart on here is accurate- so still 145 and not at goal yet. They want you to be within 10-15% of your goal before surgery and I was within that range. I have 16 pounds left to lose (2 of which are now in the form of sillicone boobs, lol) and the doctor did not feel that this was a big enough loss to affect the surgeries at all. Overall, I am very happy with my decision thus far and I can completely understand why people love plastic surgery so much- such a HUGE difference that there would otherwise be no way to achieve.

Nope....unfortunately, depending upon the type of loose skin you have, surgery is the only viable option. You and I started close to the same weight and I had the same question. I totally did not want surgery, but ultimately there are some areas where nothing else I was going to do would fix it. I'm 3 weeks out from plastics now and it was a decision I'm glad I made, although it isn't for everyone. Clothes fit better, I can walk around in a bathing suit, and for the first time in my life my stomach is actually flat, which is endlessly amusing to look at in the mirror (sorry, I'm shallow, lol).

I'm a year out and I still have that problem occassionally. The first few months anytime I had more than a few bites I was puking...now it seems mostly limited to anytime I eat something that the sleeve decides not to like, then the barfing begins. The trick is to eat really slowly because first, you will recognize faster when you are getting sick and you will not have already eaten that much and second, my nausea tends to subside if I just stop eating for awhile and then try again. It was far worse the first few months than the entire rest of the time...at least for me.

I'm a year out from surgery and I still struggle with this occassionally. Most of my friends know I've been on a diet (only my 3 best friends know about the surgery) so they attribute my light eating to that, however it is really fun explaining why every once in awhile I get massively sick for about 20 minutes. Just last night I went out for dinner with a friend, I had a few bites of a cracker with hummus, literally one bite of a piece of flatbread, a few tomatoes out of the salad, a small spoon of a pecan dessert, and a few sips of diet coke. Sure enough, on our way back to our cars, I was the one puking my guts out in the parking lot because the sleeve did not like something I ate (probably the sugar in the bite of dessert). Ten minutes later after sitting in my car, panting, sweating, and burping (yes, very sexy), the puking started again. I made it home and then I felt better a little while later. The other person who suggested eating before you go and keeping a Protein shake in your purse had a good idea. I'm very rarely actually hungry, but if I'm already full when I get to dinner, there's no way I will overeat and have to explain why I seem to have a permanent case of the stomach flu, haha. If anyone questions why you aren't drinking, I tend to use the excuse that I'm on antibiotics and I don't want to risk the reaction of the drugs with the booze. If people question why I'm not eating much I just say I had a bigger lunch and I didn't realize I wouldn't be hungry by the time dinner rolled around. Much as I believe people should mind their own business, most of them don't, so I lie. I'm cool with that. Hopefully everyone will be too busy paying attention to the people getting married to be watching you at all!

Good luck! I am 3 weeks out from a set of procedures that included a tummy tuck. You will be very happy with your results I'm sure. I still look at myself in the mirror and think, wow, plastics are awesome! Wishing you a quick recovery!

I don't see a reason that you couldn't as long as you use an inhaled route as opposed to an oral route. It acts on the tissues of your lungs, so it really doesn't have anything to do with your stomach. Ideally your doctor will know if there would be any contraindication, outside of the standard issues that present from smoking anything, which realistically are sometimes nowhere near as bad as the drugs you may otherwise be forced to take. Perhaps after you have found success with the sleeve, your pain and anxiety issues will clear up a bit and you will be able to move away from any form of drug. I'll admit, I've never actually smoked anything in my life, so perhaps I'm not the greatest reference point, but I think most doctors today are openminded about the use of medical marijuana for some things and I'm sure either your primary care doc or your surgeon would have a far more accurate opinion than I do. Good luck with the sleeve!

I would take the B12 in the morning or you may have a hard time sleeping. Maybe take the multi and the calcium after a meal. Multivitamins that I take on an empty stomach make me kind of sick. I take a handful of the Flinstone Gummy Vitamins now and all of my blood work is good. The pill form of multivitamins made me nauseous before the sleeve, but it was way worse afterward. And..gummies taste good.

I was also super tired after surgery. The first month or so I needed naps almost everyday, but it improves the further out you get. Also, when you can eat and exercise normally again, you'll naturally end up with more energy.