Babbs

I am so confused......

A year out and 100 posts I believe. You fit both criteria

@@Proud2BMe Nobody made me the ambassador to all obese folks. I have no obligation to tell them anything about my personal business. I'm sure each and every one of them knows someone who have had WLS. They are free to make their own opinions and decisions about it without me shouting from the rooftops that I had WLS. Like I said before, I tell some people and I don't tell some people. If I tell someone I lost weight through portion control and excersise and not mention the surgery I'm not lying, right?

I tell some people, I don't tell some people. I don't feel any less honest when I choose to not tell certain people. I owe nobody an explanation about my personal life.

I love this post so fucking much!

Bookmark this post so you can look back on it a year from now. It will seem like it was a lifetime ago. You're going to be so thankful for this surgery!

Classic "head hunger". It's a bitch, but can be dealt with. Just continue to give your sleeve fluids and Protein, find something else to occupy your mind, and you'll learn to work through it. It's not easy!

Yes, I have an answer. It's the normal stall that happens at 3 weeks out to almost all of us. You're not doing anything wrong, just stay the course and stay off the scale if this stall is going to drive you crazy. You are also probably still losing inches. This stall will pass very soon. I promise.

That's what they used on me in recovery too! Worked like a charm!

@@Ryan TN Let me tell you a story. My husband has almost the EXACT same stats as you. He had RNY (bypass) almost 10 years ago, but he started at 300 pounds. Fast forward to a year or so after surgery, he was down to 170. He started getting the "you're too skinny!" comments, too. When he mentioned this at his year appointment, this is what his surgeon said: "There are so many overweight/obese people these days, nobody even knows what a "normal" weight looks like anymore".

It just all depends on certain things. How much weight is lost, your age, whether you do resistance/strength training to help minimize it. Some skin once stretched to capacity just won't snap back no matter what. That's the chance you take with large weight losses. I'm kinda old (48), and I lost about 96ish pounds and my skin is minimal. I've done resistance training since I was released to do so and I'm almost 20 months out. You can see my arms aren't bad, but my stomach is a different story. I was actually told by a plastic surgeon yesterday that no amount of exercise will help certain areas, and my pannus is one of them. For now, I hide it well with spanx I also have some on my inner thighs, but it doesn't bother me too much. My bikini days are over anyway. PS I never actually wore a bikini

@@Elode So help me understand, because if I do this I want similar results as yours.....which are amazing, by the way. Did you have an abdominoplasty just without the muscle repair or just a panniculectomy? I'm worried if I have just the panniculectomy I'll have some hanging skin in my higher stomach still creating that "dog ear" effect. You know what I mean?

Be careful there, Missy! Take it easy and don't go walking around by yourself yet! Okay, now that I'm done scolding you, I had my first consult today. It was weird. The office and the surgeon were terrible, but kind of a long story to even begin to explain the red flags I got there. I will be seeking several more consults, but here's what I learned today: Apparently, I don't need a tummy tuck, just a Panniculectomy. He poked around my stomach and said "You excersise, don't you?" (Made me feel good) My stomach muscles are fine. But my pannus is another story. But I'm concerned about how the stomach would look with just a panni and not a tuck with it? Then to my boobies. He said that I didn't have enough tissue for just a lift, so I needed a lift with an implant. Then they (him and his nurse) decided that a 500cc implant would be best because I'm "broad across the front" and a smaller one may look funny. 500 cc's seem big to me? They said it would make me a D or DD, which is basically what I am now, but pointing downward Lastly, I'm looking at around $10,000 for both procedures. Better than I thought, actually. Anyway, that was that. Like I said, I'm doing a few more with different surgeons to be as educated as possible. To be continued.....

Yay! I'm so glad you seem to be having an easy time of it! Get well soon and don't over do it!

Regret is normal at your stage. You feel terrible, you can't eat normal food, and you're trying to learn a new way of life. I think if people DIDN'T have some regret during those first few weeks, I would be surprised. Work on portioning your food instead of winging it. Sounds like you are eating too much and it's causing you to throw up. Take it easy and slow. It takes time to re learn how to eat. Not everyone loses hair to where they are bald or have bald Patches. That's not the norm, so don't let it scare you. You will feel differently a few months from now. You will feel differently a year from now. It's not always going to be this way. It gets easier and easier. Always remember that what is now is not the way it will be down the road. Hang in there.

There's a phenomenon I've noticed that happens the closer you get to goal and it becomes more "real" that you're actually going to get there.... You want to see how much lower you can go. Once you get to your doctors goal, you're going to tell yourself you can get to your own personal goal if you really want to, and most will do it and beyond. It starts becoming less about "I just want to be healthy" and more about vanity. Right or wrong, it is what it is.

I was JUST about to post the same article! It's fascinating, isn't it??

@@Bellalover Yes, we are all different. And your journey certainly won't be exactly like mine. But I do know a thing or two about WLS and how the patterns of weight loss work, and if you think you're just going to drop 5 pounds a week until you hit goal, you're in for a rude awakening. My advice to you is stop acting so high and mighty and listen and learn from the people that know at least a little of what they are talking about so you have an easier time of it. You've got some good advice in this thread. Use it. We want to see people be successful, and unrealistic expectations and weight loss comparisons usually ends in tears (literally) and tends to demotivate people. I know, because I've been there.

You know you gain sometimes too, right? And sometimes the scale doesn't move for weeks at a time? I can already tell you're going to let the scale dictate whether you feel successful or not. Be careful. That's a slippery slope..... Weight loss with WLS is funny. It's not as Fluid and consistent as you think it's going to be. Our bodies are constantly adjusting to the abnormal lack of calories, and it causes some really strange stuff to happen. One thing I've learned in the almost 20 months since surgery is that it's DEFINITELY not as simple as calories in/calories out. It's a constant balancing act trying to figure out the proper protein/fluid/movement ratio to lose consistently. And now in my case, to maintain. Just sayin.

Yeah that's smart not to get resized too early. I did that and still haven't taken mine back to be resized again since I hit goal months and months ago. I really need to do that, becuse I haven't been wearing my rings at all for fear of losing them and I feel naked without them

Haha. Just another Tuesday at Wal Mart. I try to avoid that place the best I can for that reason. I'll be thinking about you tomorrow. Please don't die. I kind of like you.

Woo Hoo! Can't wait to see how everything goes for you! Hope you experience minimal pain! I actually have a consult Thursday. JUST a consult for now, not committing to anything. More out of curiosity about what they have to say and cost and so forth. I'm still in that "should I/shouldn't I" phase. Just like with the sleeve, there's a lot of going back and forth! But I'm sure you already know that

#3. In MY opinion, #2 is a cop out and just another way of saying " I know I should be following a certain eating plan, but because I can only eat small amounts I'm not going to and see how long it will work for me". It never ends well because NEWSFLASH, we will be able to eat close to normal portions someday. And if we couldn't eat in moderation before, why could we now? Without the benefit of mega restriction, not doing a complete overhaul of our diets is putting us back at square one. We've seen it over and over again in these forums, haven't we?

Good job Ava! You have always been one of the veterans I looked up to for their great success in losing their weight and then maintaining. You also were one of the first people who helped me understand that it's a daily struggle and we have to be forever vigilant in the fight to maintain. Congrats on your continued success!

Their failures certainly won't determine your success, but it could definitely define it. Like others so eloquently said, use it to your benefit. Learn and try not to make the same mistakes they did. I would also try to not to use them as a support system. I cannot see them being supportive of your surgery without projecting thier negative experiences on to you. I could be wrong, too.