bellabloom

Dr Carmina Cardenas was my plastic surgeon. I am beyond happy with everything she did and the cost was half what I would have paid here in the USA. I also had wonderful after care in Mexico. I feel so blessed she was my doctor. Feel free to pm me about her. She is an artist!! she did a neck lift, breast lift and tummy tuck for me. I'm going back in a few months for a bbl lift and fat transfer to my face as well. I adore her. Trust me she is the one you want. She knows how to work with weight loss patients bodies!!!!

Thank you

They look amazing. I love them.

Wanted to update- i weighed myself today out of curiosity. I haven't in months. I have actually lost a few pounds since I really committed to Intuitive Eating full force and since the last time I weighed myself. I weigh exactly what I wish to weigh. So there ya go! Do what you will but there is a life beyond dieting forever. I am the proof. Me today. Today I ate a breakfast sandwich, a bite of chocolate croissant, some icee of my kids, a goat cheese chicken salad, a glass of wine, a cheeseburger, 2 Mai thais, and an egg sandwich and a cookie.

Probably just a fluctuation. If your diet has increased then the extra food/carbs will store more water. I wouldn't worry about it or obsess. Just practice the guidelines of your surgery if you want to keep loosing weight. Protein first... get yourself some exercise too! It's good for you.

I'll play. I started at a size 20. I'm a size 2-4 now. I'm over 3 years out. I'm on the far left. Me now

Some info and links if you want to know more about this amazing way of eating! These are the sites that helped me get on the road to being free from food worries. http://www.intuitiveeating.org/ http://your-eatopia.squarespace.com/ https://thefuckitdiet.com/ http://isabelfoxenduke.com/ http://www.thebodypositive.org/ http://www.evelyntribole.com/resources/intuitive-eating-articles-studies-support-groups/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating

Hahahaha. Wow. Okay. I didn't think this post would get so many opinions and emotions going!! The Outsidematchinside poster- for some reason she thinks I lie about things on here!? Hahaa okay. Not sure how that would benefit me. She has taken me as some kind of enemy? I don't get it. But whatever. All my old posts are here. Read them if you want. I've told my story multiple times. Sigh. I went through a really really hard time the year after my surgery both physically and mentally. Doesn't make me a liar!! I had bypass. I had complications. I had it reversed to a sleeve. I had a stricture. I relapsed into anorexia. I went to treatment. I learned about Intuitive Eating as a way to both lose and maintain weight. I'm living that way now and it's completely wonderful. The end. Anyway. It's up to you guys what you ultimately want to do with your eating post surgery. I'm not trying to convince you but I am offering a viable alternative to dieting forever. Who wouldn't at least give that a chance? Dieting was actually how I gained most of my 120lbs of excess weight. I would diet, then binge, then feel guilty, diet, repeat. Every time I "fell off the wagon" I gained weight. 3 years After my bariatric surgery I can eat A LOT. I started to repeat that same pattern and I started to panic and gained a little weight. I knew I would diet myself obese again!! I wasn't about to let that happen. That's when I really committed to Intuitive Eating as an alternative. It works for me because: my body isn't deprived, my mind isn't deprived, my metabolism is super fast because it has fuel, and I NEVER binge or even overeat. I don't need to. I'm really well fed all the time. I eat when I am hungry. I stop when I'm full. Of course, I had to change my ideas about what portions looked like to. I don't overeat but my past diet self would have thought so. I eat approx 2000-3000 calories a day. Sometimes more but not usually less. I don't count but once in awhile I tally up out of curiosity. Eating that much is NORMAL. If your going to discount what I'm saying but you don't know anything about Intuitive Eating-- well how do you know I'm not right? I'm not anti bariatric surgery!! Bariatric surgery is an awesome tool to get large amounts of weight off quickly. I do not regret my surgery even with the complications I had. Bariatric surgery changes and saves lives! I'm not here to argue with you all or debate. Intuitive eating works to stabilize ones weight at ones healthiest set point. It doesn't not cause all out gorging. In fact, the opposite is true. I often pass up foods or don't finish things I would have gorged on before. Because I'm allowed to have anything I want, the urge to overeat goes away. But let's take it a step further than what I eat or what I weigh. Let me tell you the best part. I DONT CARE ANYMORE. I'm finally living my life. If my body wants to gain weight- fine!! I stopped believing that my weight equated to my value. I stopped worrying about 5 f**king pounds. Or ten pounds. Who cares?? Being overweight is f**king sexy okay. It's fine. It's not a criminal act. I decided to love myself enough to let go of trying to be more acceptable to other people. My weight has stayed exactly the same for a year now as far as I know. My clothes all still fits. Once in awhile I will take my measurements- they are the same as a year ago. Sometimes I seem to get thinner and sometimes a little bigger but I just know that's normal now. I can't explain to you in words how amazing my life is now. It's changed everything for me. There was no way I could go on with my life continually watching my food intake and making sure I stayed at my goal weight by dieting behavior. I wasn't able to be truly happy. I had to change my behavior and I had to start loving myself regardless of my weight. I had to stop the obsession with food and weight and the guilt!! You're all gonna do what you want to do. I'm offering a hand out to those who might want a different way. I'm just here to help. I don't check every day but I will reply to messages if you want to talk. I've included some more pictures so you can see I'm not a lying POS. bahahaaa. [emoji849] Also I have an Instagram devoted to Intuitive eating. You can go to it and follow if you want to! I'm in a few support groups for Intuitive Eating on Facebook as well and there are many members with past bariatric surgeries there. Instagram: @afeastonyourlife Before surgery At my lowest weight. [emoji20] yuck! Lowest weight vs. after a year of Intuitive Eating A typical meal for me. I love ketchup!!! Me and my adorable kids last Sunday!! I'm raising them to be intuitive eaters as well! A week or so ago on a work trip. That's me! Not a liar. Not a crazy person. Not an anomaly. Just another (formally) fucked up eater trying to figure out how to live healthy and happy.

Yes I have dumping but my surgery was more complicated than most. It's rare to have it with the sleeve. I get it and it sucks so bad. But it's getting better. I've been eating Intuitively for about a year now with some small relapses back into dieting and that mindset but not for more than a day or so. The last 3 months I've REALLY let go and stopped weighing myself EVER, stopped even considering what I eat. I eat so much, always listening to my body and it's cravings. I eat all kinds of foods from fresh to processed and savory to sweet. I eat carbs all the time. I love desserts. I drink alcohol. I enjoy whatever I want. I've not been actively dieting for a year at least but now I've really, really let go of the fear and I'm continuing to make progress. I don't worry about wether I'm eating too much, grazing, eating something fattening. I have really just LET GO. I eat when I'm hungry and when I'm full I stop. Honestly I just don't even think about it. I follow my bodies cravings. I have gained no weight. I'm exactly the same. If anything, I've lost. I don't know. I don't care. I don't weigh myself. BUT my clothes all still fit perfectly. But who cares anyway. My life is finally where I want it to be and I am free. I will never ever go back to dieting. I truly believe Intuitive Eating will keep me healthy for the rest of my life. Picture of me and my daughter a few days ago.

Just google her. No one did, they just helped me know when to book my flight and picked me up.

I have just had plastic surgery in Mexico. My Dr is Dr Carmina Cardenas and she is located in Tijuana. She is the absolute best thing that has happened to me. I had a neck lift, breast lift, and tummy tuck plus five days stay at her recovery house with 24 hour nursing care for $12750. She has been my hero this whole time. She is beautiful and kind and I have been treated like her daughter. Her office and her hospital, hospital CER, is incredible. The hospital CER specializes in bariatric surgery and plastic surgery. It is nicer than any hospital I've ever been inside of in the USA. I cannot express enough how important having post operative care is after plastic surgery. It would be a nightmare to try and do the at home alone. Plastic surgeons in the USA send you home 2 hours after surgery!!!! That is insane. I stayed the night in the beautiful hospital being check on every hour and now I'm staying 5 days at the recovery house here, all my needs taken care of. Also dr carmina does not use narcotics. She used a pain pump system that has controlled my pain much much better than anything I was ever given in the use. I'm feeling strong and recovering more quickly do to this. Please feel free to pm me if you are considering plastic surgery in Mexico. I cannot recommend my doctor enough. She is amazing. She also had bariatric surgery herself and plastic surgery and she has a deep understanding of the weight loss patients needs.

You might have dumping, might not. Likely you won't if you had vsg. Aren't you concerned about getting the munchies? Lol. I'd go ahead and give it a try.

Have you had your blood tested recently to see if you are deficient in anything? Right about 8 months is when my blood work started to look really bad. I also experienced dizziness etc due to very low B1. Oh and then there is the whole not eating thing. That can do it too lol. Basically- blood work aside- you went out on almost no food- probably less than half what your body needs - for the last 8 months basically on a starvation diet- then had a drink. It was loud and hot and your body is trying to just fuel itself but is being givin very little to work with and is having to use your muscles and fat stores as fuel- your glycogen depleted and yeah---- That's what happened. Get some blood tests and realize you are not in a great state for any alcoholic drinks. If your gonna drink- better eat.

If your body is telling you to become a vegetarian, listen!! but I doubt you could limit carbs. That would be very very difficult on a veggie or vegan diet.

I would be very careful with alcohol. I get drunk super fast and black out. Tread slowly.

You haven't done anything wrong. Weight loss surgery is a diet just like any other- most people regain their weight if they don't stop dieting and learn another way to eat. Our bodies don't like to be starved and they fight back tooth and nail to keep weight on when they are starved of calories. There is no amount of willpower and motivation you will ever have that will fight your biology without also ruining your life. It's not your fault you regained weight. It has nothing to do with willpower. Please do yourself a huge favor. Stop dieting. Embrace intuitive eating. It can and will change your life. Your weight will come back down again and you will be a thousand times happier and healthier. INTUITIVE EATING- google it. good luck. Read my story if you like too.

I am three years out. I am at goal weight and have been maintaining just fine- although I didn't know exactly because in I longer weigh myself. All of my clothes fits. Sometimes it's tight and sometimes loose but it fits. I decided I was done with dieting or caring about the number on the scale. I began Intuitive Eating And worked on my body image. Caring about my weight and dieting was ruining my life. I'll never go on another diet and now I am free. I now eat whatever I want whenever I want, but because I am mindful this varies widely but mostly good foods. I don't deny myself anything or count calories or limit any type of food that I crave. I pay attention to my cravings and hunger signals- I stop eating when I'm full and eat when I'm hungry. I don't weigh myself and I no longer care what happens with my weight. I focus on being able to be strong and active in my busy life and having the fuel I need to do so. I'm 5'6 and I would guess I weigh between 125-130 lbs.

Your weight is irrelevant. Attraction is about more then that. Worry about whether you like him, not the other way around.

Do what you do for you. Not other people. Be aware not everyone feels bad about how they look in regards to their weight. Practicing self love is about seeing after your mental and physical health, only you can know what that means to you. All I'm saying is looks are VERY subjective. Forgetting that is indeed risking becoming shallow. Love yourself!! It's okay to love yourself. Be gentle with yourself. Be proud of yourself. It's okay to look and feel beautiful no matter what you weight. It's okay to want to be different than you are or to love the you right now. Just embrace your fragile human imperfect beautiful self. That's what this is all about.

This is a diet like any other. Most people begin to be able to eat more and deal with regain unless they change their relationship with food and by that I mean to STOP dieting.

9 Months. 235-119lbs.

You're walking 5 miles a day and barely eating. Of course you are feeling hungry. Your body is literally starving. It's trying to keep you alive. It's just happening faster with you because of your high energy needs with the walking. Just your walking alone is a 600-700 calorie burn. Up your intake until it eases. That's the only advice I can offer at this point. Or stop the walking. I didn't workout during my weight loss for exactly this reason. You need to eat more. I definitely don't believe in cutting carbs. I never did cut any carbs while I lost. Your brain needs glucose and your cravings are telling you so. I used carbs as a vehicle for protein all along. If you have no restriction this is going to be pretty nightmarish for you.

Hmmm. Well. Here is the thing... You can't know for sure if losing weight and looking better per societal standards are going to help you in the long run. I can 100% say I had surgery to look better. That's the main reason I did it. And for awhile it felt GREAT to look better. I felt like a million bucks. But it wore off. After a while it wasn't enough.. I found I felt the same about myself. There was always something about my appearance to feel unhappy about. So then I wanted plastic surgery. And I got that. And still... nothing really got better. I felt unsatisfied by another thing and then another. I also realized that finally looking better (or what I thought I should look like) left me feeling even more scared and vulnerable about food. What if I gained it back and got ugly again? Was I going to diet forever? I was miserable. I was more miserable than ever as I felt even more at risk for losing what I wanted which was to look good to other people. Then I realized looking good still wasn't enough to make everyone love me. Anyway. In the long run I had to get away from caring about my looks and start working on my life. I had to forget about being good looking and perfect in order to be happy. I said no to any more dieting, made peace with my body. I'm still working on continuing that process every day. I got angry. I got pissed about how I treated myself before I lost weight and how others treated me. I got it through my head that being fat does not equal being ugly. Being fat DOES NOT equal being ugly. Period. I decided my looks were like getting an unexpected bonus from work but they weren't what made me deserve that bonus. Looks are secondary to happiness and they should be. Looks are subjective. Lots of people like overweight body types and visa versa. I wasn't ugly before and that is what I needed to realize. It's okay to want to take care of yourself and to feel good but it's important to make sure that physical appearance is what you need to do that. What will REALLY make you happy/unhappy? Taking care of your appearance isn't vanity and neither is practicing self care. Just don't forget about all the other factors in your relationship with yourself and others that matter. And be careful what you say about yourself to others. Being overweight does not imply anything negative about a person. Just because you feel that being thin is important to you doesn't mean it's okay to be negative about body weight- remember there are many people out there working to love themselves as they are and they don't agree with you about what is attractive. Don't feel badly about what you want for yourself but don't place your aesthetic beliefs on others. When you say "I lost weight to look better" you are making a value statement to others about what is attractive. You are saying that being at a higher weight isn't attractive. That can hurt others a lot. Being at any weight can be attractive, period.

You don't even need them. Maybe the first day or two in hospital. After that Tylenol should be just fine. Take my advice- deal with the pain. Narcotics will make your recovery and constipation SO MUCH WORSE. I just had full body plastic surgery on Tylenol. Trust me it can be done.

Mine fell out from about 6 months to 1 year out. I lost about half my hair. It's now grown back 3 years later