MisforMimi

@@Kindle Exact same happens to me....LOL...

@@Babbs Girl, its true! I work with docs every day all day and they get younger and younger and as a profession it is showing. I've even had some residents and fellows jokingly consult me about how to "look" older. As baby boomers and older docs continue to age up it is creating a stark contrast in relating to patients and even receiving adequate care. Age and as we all know weight effects are how you are seen, viewed, heard and even treated as a patient. The tone was biting but the sentiment is true and well-documented.

Especially ER docs are the most inexperienced in the entire hospital. And they are all generation Y or Z or what ever the heck is after the normal people who are used communications face to face. He would have rather texted or snap chat than actually spoken to you. It's not his fault, blame parents, society and his shotty medical school education which obviously let him skip out on the bedside manner lectures!

Nice!

@@*Lexie* That sounds like some awesome investment in patients' success. Never heard of that level of preparation.

I've also seen my avatar on other peoples posts....At first I was really thrown off. Usually happens on my mobile..

I'll be subscribing to this thread. Thank you for bringing this up. I am pre surgery but I have an interesting prospective. I have been feeling a bit like an imposter my entire process for getting qualified for surgery. This, WLS, is supposed to be the like the last house on the block. We were supposed to have tried and failed miserably at the weight loss thing and never had any long term success at losing weight, but this has not been my exact story. In 2005, I lost 140# without surgery. I discovered that I have a sensitivity to gluten and sugar and I stopped eating junk food. I didn't exercise but the weight literally fell off my body. I was lighter than I had been my entire adult life. I went from 320# to180# in about 8 months probably averaging about the same clip as a bypass patient I'm imagining. I had some feelings of euphoria, but mostly I felt like a live electrical wire. My comfy fat, my safe place to hide from the world was suddenly gone and I felt as if I was practically electrocuted if I would even brush by furniture too hard. I had trouble sleeping with the new sensations of my knees, ankles and toes rubbing together aching for their familiar cushion and I felt horribly uncomfortable if anything including clothes touched my newly discovered clavicles. I cried at random and inconvenient intervals. I stayed at this low weight for a VERY short time and hovered comfortably at 200 for many many years. I was never prepared for and have never heard ppl taking about how to just be and reside in a body, newly formed and considerably smaller. How do we really listen and hear and feel in a body with new sensations and dimensions? How do we become like the normies I call them, those people who never ever gain weight while we constantly were ballooning up and dieting down the scale? What were/are we to do with our one life outside of food? I know I have the tendency to want the newer, sexier, more interesting route to any destination, like success with even WLS can't just be about plain old (following the prescribed) diet and exercise, can it? I'm still wondering if the surgery is just the newest thing for me. I switched my surgical consideration from sleeve to bypass for this very reason. Because if I'm going to do it, I need to go old school. With me it had to be vegan, raw, paleo and Crossfit. Zero to sixty. Never just walking, always training for the half. What happens when the proverbial dust settles and it's not about the food anymore and the weight is lost? When the life I thought weight loss or this surgery would fix is still going forward unchanged? Sitting in this empty space with myself without support and resources or a clue is what made maintenance so elusive and probably so for most people who've lost massive amounts of weight with or without surgery and gained it back. Will having had a glimpse of being thin for a while make me a better bariatric patient, more compliant? Perhaps, or maybe not but at this stage in the game I can't take anything for granted but these are the questions that are clearer in hindsight and that I need to formulate a plan for now on this side of surgery.

I think elasticity will be an individual experience. If you have muscle memory that week help with toning. From everything I've read here, vitamin a,c, and e help rebuild collagen and elastin. You can use e topically. I heard from paleo folks that bone marrow broth helps and well as dry brushing tone skin. The best defense against sagging skin is working out with weights, tho.

I was thinking that modern food products are so marketed and branded and usually are over packaged. Recyclable is good. Less is better....

I think location was one of the factors holding people back in organizing an official meet-up. At least there is movement and folks can hook-up with others wanting face-to-face support and activities....all good things. I'm excited.

I think there is definitely a need for north and south support. No one really likes driving that far. The north meeting group is DEFINITELY into social activities. Or at least I am. After things are rolling maybe we can start a kickball tournament between the northenders and the southenders!! Lol :-)

Hope the packaging can be minimal...saving the planet one small meal at a time. Also, I wouldn't pay regular prices for a bari-sized meal.....just saying but this sounds like an amazing idea...I've daydream about a paleo bariatric friendly tapas style restaurant....

Go girl!

@@LipstickLady, You did all that fat???? Dang! Did you have co-morbid conditions? Or was your surgery more to avoid them down the line? Mobility certainly did not seem to be an issue. I'm way more impressed by your accomplishments than your surgery! But I guess that was the point, huh? LOL Cheers!

Happy Surgi-versary! Thanks for the informative post. Your current goals seem to be sufficient. Do you have fitness aspirations?? 5 or 10K? I can't imagine how light you must feel....WOW...And I also appreciate that you were not super heavy at the start...I'm getting over the feeling that I should be 300+ to have this surgery. I'm happy to know that goal and maintenance can be achieved. On other diets I think I stayed at my goal weight for about 36 hours!! So, 36 months is truly impressive!

@@ladypoohbear Thought I'd try, sometimes ppl work in across the Water...I searched 'Seattle' and this thread came up.... Good luck finding something in your area! Should be easy enough...

Washington State Weight Loss Surgery Support Group Support groups are very important to weight loss surgery success. They can help you flourish on your journey to complete wellness. This group is welcome to pre- and post-surgical patients. This an opportunity to meet others who are on the same path, educate and support each other through sharing ideas and tips, social & fitness activities and educational speakers. Together we have a wealth of information and using support groups as a tool along with your surgery you can increase your success in achieving maintenance and overall wellbeing. Join us and get inspired! WHERE: Lyons Den Café WHEN: Sunday, November 16, 2014 10415 Beardslee Blvd, Bothell, WA 98011 (425) 892-8954 TIME: 3:00 PM Finally, it is happening for the Seattle and the outlying areas! Please pass this information to anyone you think would be interested in attending this initial meeting. For questions, contact hosts Kay Feather at kayfeather304@gmail.com or Michelle L. at lotus_mimi@yahoo.com If you are unable to make this meeting but are interested in staying in touch about future meetings, please contact us.

Below is the details on the local chapter support group: Washington State Weight Loss Surgery Support Group Support groups are very important to weight loss surgery success. They can help you flourish on your journey to complete wellness. This group is welcome to pre- and post-surgical patients. This an opportunity to meet others who are on the same path, educate and support each other through sharing ideas and tips, social & fitness activities and educational speakers. Together we have a wealth of information and using support groups as a tool along with your surgery you can increase your success in achieving maintenance and overall wellbeing. Join us and get inspired! WHERE: Lyons Den Café WHEN: Sunday, November 16, 2014 10415 Beardslee Blvd, Bothell, WA 98011 (425) 892-8954 TIME: 3:00 PM Finally, it is happening for the Seattle and the outlying areas! Please pass this information to anyone you think would be interested in attending this initial meeting. For questions, contact hosts Kay Feather at kayfeather304@gmail.com or Michelle L. at lotus_mimi@yahoo.com If you are unable to make this meeting but are interested in staying in touch about future meetings, please contact us.

Washington State Weight Loss Surgery Support Group Support groups are very important to weight loss surgery success. They can help you flourish on your journey to complete wellness. This group is welcome to pre- and post-surgical patients of all surgery types. This an opportunity to meet others who are on the same path, educate and support each other through sharing ideas and tips, social & fitness activities and educational speakers. Together we have a wealth of information and using support groups as a tool along with your surgery you can increase your success in achieving maintenance and overall wellbeing. Join us and get inspired! WHERE: Lyons Den Café WHEN: Sunday, November 16, 2014 10415 Beardslee Blvd, Bothell, WA 98011 (425) 892-8954 TIME: 3:00 PM Finally, it is happening for the Seattle and the outlying areas! Please pass this information to anyone you think would be interested in attending this initial meeting. For questions, contact hosts Kay Feather at kayfeather304@gmail.com or Michelle L. at lotus_mimi@yahoo.com If you are unable to make this meeting but are interested in staying in touch about future meetings, please contact us.

@@RealME1985 There is a Seattle meet-up happening on November 16th in Bothell. Search local chapters to find details....

Hi, you two.....There is a WA/PNW-area meet-up forming that might be of interest to you.... Washington State Weight Loss Surgery Support Group Support groups are very important to weight loss surgery success. They can help you flourish on your journey to complete wellness. This group is welcome to pre- and post-surgical patients. This an opportunity to meet others who are on the same path, educate and support each other through sharing ideas and tips, social & fitness activities and educational speakers. Together we have a wealth of information and using support groups as a tool along with your surgery you can increase your success in achieving maintenance and overall wellbeing. Join us and get inspired! WHERE: Lyons Den Café WHEN: Sunday, November 16, 2014 10415 Beardslee Blvd, Bothell, WA 98011 (425) 892-8954 TIME: 3:00 PM Finally, it is happening for the Seattle and the outlying areas! Please pass this information to anyone you think would be interested in attending this initial meeting. For questions, contact hosts Kay Feather at kayfeather304@gmail.com or Michelle L. at lotus_mimi@yahoo.com If you are unable to make this meeting but are interested in staying in touch about future meetings, please contact us.

@@Algae, I'm glad some one is speaking out about this. I am the chef for the family. We bring our lunches to work/school and I cook dinners ava breakfasts at home and it's a real treat for us to eat out. I've been on crazy diets before like not eating solids food for 60 days at a time but it's still hard and requires Iron will. I too have thought about ideas and recipes that I could serve for my family and myself without breaking up the program too much. But it sounds like you and me are similar in that it's enjoyable to figure out food quandaries!! We host a lot of parties and I have friends who are gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo, lactose intolerant, no nightshades etc etc etc. Most ppl would scoff but I love a challenge!! Lol :-) I would say that when I've made a separate dish or dessert for myself that is in keeping with whatever the DOM (diet of the month!) is ppl usually really liked it when they taste it! I thinking some sort of bariatric no crust sweet potato souflee might work for dessert in the pureed stage during the holidays..sweet potatoes, Protein powder, sf egg nog syrup, egg, milk...baked and chilled...in a teeny tiny ramekin....yum.

Sounds like it's not the food that is the mitigating factor here. Sounds like you have the ability to let your son make you feel small? ashamed? inadequate? And like the actual food isn't really a problem at all....If you didn't trust him enough to tell him about the surgery, I would say it's pretty clear that having him around while you are focused on healing and recovering is not going to be the best idea, especially with whatever residual baggage/obligation that comes with holidays... Use this as a TEST to take start taking care of YOU first for once!...Everybody else sounds old enough to be OK...do what you would normally do and be OK with it, go for a family walk and then hit the movies or something else fun.....Tell your older son that this is what's going on and nothing more..give him the option to take it or leave it, but let him know ultimately, it's not the best time and you not up for visitors this year. He needs to see you laying it out there. Make it plain. This is a test of the emergency broadcast system....this is only a test! I know you can ACE this! :-)

Good bless the folks at the DMV, they never busted me when really could have for the last 20 years!!

Whoa! Ladies!!! I thought this was a family show! Lol gr8 job!