BigTink2LilTink

I love that which you said in bold. The surgery itself is a tool. Your stomach is gonna eventually stretch out a bit from where it was post surgery. Its the choices and habits you form during this time that is going to make you either succeed at this game of weight loss or fail at it. I'll be 3 years in Dec so I know that my "tool" is nearing its expiration period, and at this point any more loss of weight is purely on me and the choices I make, the foods I consume, and the exercising or lack of exercising I am choosing to do.

The drugs to help with the trauma to your body as well as you being swollen will make you be more weight immediately after surgery. In fact I wouldn't start worrying about looking at a scale and tracking weight loss until you are a good 6 to 8 weeks post surgery. That is when you will really start to see it kick into high gear.

Oh god yes, this too. The way people who knew you prior to the weight loss vs after is indeed going to change. I've, also unfortunately, ran across a lot of people (i.e. women) who wouldn't give me the time of day when I was at my heaviest weight, now all of a sudden they wanna be in a "relationship with me". You have to watch out for those types of folks as well, because they are usually the type that will assume that you have low self-esteem and will just accept any sort of treatment. Not everyone that smiles in your face and compliments you on your weight loss journey is meant to be in your inner circle of people. So don't get blinded by the looks of the "hottie at the bar" who didn't give you the time of day a year ago, but now wanna jump your bones cause you can see your pelvic bones now.

I was the same. Although I had a hard time believing it. Even after having a former partner measure it for me to ensure I was "well endowed" I still questioned it because of my stomach being in the way. Now that I have a hell of a lot less stomach, I can see it for myself clearly now. And my partners can indeed feel it to.

Yup I love buttoning up my size 36 jeans as well. Especially when just 30 months ago I was struggling to get into a size 58. Would not trade back the old size for anything.

Good luck to you on your weight loss journey my friend. Though others who haven't walked in the shoes of a person morbidly obese, may say that surgery is the "easy way out", I'm hear to tell you that there isn't anything easy about this procedure at all. So the first tip I will give you is this, prepare to work your ass off, cause thinking that this is the magical cure all for your weight-loss blues is going to sourly disappoint you. You have got to prepare your mind and will power for this life changing procedure. Because its just that, life changing. If you have an unhealthy relationship with food (i.e. using food as a cope mechanism, addict, emotional eater, etc) then I would highly suggest that you need to deal with those issues first before going under the knife. Get a very good support system in place to help you mentally deal with those things prior to the surgery. For me I had friends who had already had the surgery that I could lean on for advice, and I was seeing a therapist to deal with some of my emotional issues related to stress/food/and image issues. Because once you get cut on and have 80% of your stomach removed, you won't be able to use food as a comfort release or coping mechanism as you may have done in the past. I learned that lesson the absolute hard way and I spent a good bit of my first year post surgery fixing and dealing with those mistakes that I made, because I wasn't as mentally ready for the surgery as previously thought. And experiencing dumping once or twice and needing IV fluids to be able to see, and comprehend again will make you follow the damn meal plans. Carbonation beverages I would just avoid, especially the first year or so. Now you will have a lot of people here that say never do it and some say its alright, I leave that up to you for you are an adult and can make your own decisions on that. For me I do rarely consume carbonated beverages (maybe a soda or hard cider ever 2 to 4 months at most), but I mostly find comfort in drinking flavored water, tea, coffee, and juice. I use to be about a 1.5/2liter a day diet Pepsi drinker and now I may have a can every 6 to 8 weeks at most and usually when I am out. I haven't really had a beer in like almost two years but I have consumed hard alcohol like Tequila, Rum, Bourbon, and Whiskey. Alcohol is very different for me now in that I don't need no where near as much as I did pre-surgery to get a buzz. So because of that and the fact that I don't like the "buzzed/drunk" feeling I limit the amount of alcohol I consume too. If I am out socially I usually have one to two drinks at most and I sip them slowly throughout the evening to minimize the affects that the alcohol will have on me. As the farther out from surgery I have gone, my tolerance has slowly increased, but its nowhere near where it was at per-surgery. Again not a bad thing because alcohol, especially beer is empty calories, and gas which you will not need. Trust me on the gas part cause being bloated is an absolute pain in the gut literally. I say all of that in the regards that you don't need the stuff really. Those first 12 to 24 months you should honestly be focused on eating properly and getting into a good workout/exercise routine so that you can continue to post gains(weight loss) while your VGS is still in its magical weight-loss phase. Cause eventually you will hit the stall and the tool will at some point stop being so magical. Get into good habits and work your ass off literally and you will see the difference. Sex Yes it will change. If you had low stamina and energy, it will increase. I mean you will have a lot less weight and body mass to deal with, so there is that bonus too. Also men tend to store testosterone in their fat cells, so the more fat you burn off the more testosterone you will be releasing into your blood stream. This means more hair growth, stronger erections, huge sexual desires, and if you hit the gym a lot some more strength. Guys with erectile issues may see those issues go away when they lose the weight off. Also your confidence will start to grow the more the weight comes off. You will look and feel better in your clothes. If you have a lot of fat padding around your pelvic area that will shrink away, which can help in penis growth a bit. Less fat around the "Ram Rod of Justice" I say the better for both you, your ego, and his/her pleasure (for my bi/gay friends there don't wanna leave you all out). I say all of this because I too was in your shoes almost three years ago. Hell if they would have told me about the sexual benefits, as well as me buying normal size clothes in normal stores I would have done the surgery years ago. Instead all I heard about or feared was the complications from the surgery, and all the foods I could no longer eat. Yeah sometimes I do miss being able to eat anything I wanted to eat, but I wouldn't go back to it at all. Because now I enjoy so so much more out of life than what is on my plate.

Wow......That back tattoo is hot!

Anyone here is by all means free to add me on MFP. I don't mind. I've about 95% consistent on doing the food and exercise logs daily. Weekends are usually when I slack off.

Yup I am on there. BigTink1980 is my id.

Yeah mines hit about the 90 days post surgery and its been on again off again ever since. The longest I've gone so far is about 9 months or so without feeling 100% down. It does get easier as time goes on, and I think this is where the whole exercising and focusing on the physical health pays off. It allows you to focus your mind and thoughts on the body and what you can and should be doing to make it better and to over all be better. It will take your mind off the foods that, you miss, your old habits of eating and coping, and when you start to see the results of the hard work, it will fuel your determination to continue. Even on the days where I feel like pure crap and don't wanna do it, I do it anyway cause that post work out high does make you feel a lot better.

Sorry, but I can't stop sharing this ****. Every time I look at it, I am like WOW, I'm actually doing this ****. I am actually changing who the hell I am.

I remember reading an article about how a female you should be averaging about 96oz per of water based fluids per day, and men should be closer to about 120oz. It took me well over a year to a year and a half to finally start getting in 120oz of water/water based fluids in on a daily consist bases. Give yourself time and you will get there. Just try and stay consistent and get in as much water as you can per day. Because you absolutely don't want to get/suffer from dehydration at all. It sucks and it can cause all sorts of issues.

Another Gym night picture session from tonight. I can actually see my waist getting smaller now, which is kinda cool to see. Went from a 58/60 waist to now in a very comfortable 36 waist now. Tonight was just some arms and back work with weights. Tomorrow will indeed be a legs day.

I tried a papaya enzyme early on and that helped with the water like diarrhea poop. I don't take it anymore but I was on it for about three weeks before it helped make my stool not so freaking runny.

Isopure would be the one I would recommend as well.

Wow you're on deli meat after three weeks of surgery? How are you able to keep it down my friend, seriously? As "aprilsdiamond" has said stay off of the scale for at least the first 30 to 45 days. Your body is still very much healing from the trauma it when through getting all re-routed and what not. So your still dealing with being sore and inflammation. Also I would honestly avoid eating deli meat too for now. The added salt in said meat is indeed going to make you retain water. And guess what you're gonna have a hell of a challenge just getting in the daily amount of water you need per day anyway, with the little room you will have to store water and food in (hint hint 120oz minimum for males). I would think that at this stage you should be on super soft solids proteins like soft scrambled eggs, canned chicken/tuna fish, and yogurt/cottage cheese. Stick with that stuff and avoid pork, beef, and anything that loaded in salt/preservatives at all cost for now. Maybe try some beans and lentils and another good source of non-animal proteins, especially now with you only being 3 weeks post surgery. You gut is gonna take some serious time to heal, so do what you can to take care of yourself.

Looking good there.

I'm now a good ways out from surgery and I can tolerate straws now. I would say like above early one you want to avoid them so that you don't get too much pressure from air in there leaving very little room for actual food/water when you already have very limited spacing in there to begin with. Over time it does get easier. When I go to get my yearly checkup my surgeon has an X-ray machine to check my pouch and make sure its still intact and not leaking. He forces me to drink a dye via a straw to make sure my stomach is okay. So if he's giving me straws to drink from, then he's not all that anal about me using a straw when I feel the need to use one. The only straw I use is the one on my 96oz water bottle that I use to take in water only. I don't use straws for juices and I won't for a soda at all. The pain from the carbonation along with some air you are forcing in via a straw leaves a very uncomfortable feeling.

From my workout yesterday. Yesterday was cardio and back day with the weights. Those last 20lbs are very very stubborn as far as going away. My tracker says that 11lbs away from goal, but its more like 20 to 22lbs actually.

Yup I can also recommend Metimucil as well. It was what I used for the first 7-8 months post surgery to get me going regularly again. I don't do it much if at all now. I may take a glass full once every 3 to 5 weeks. But its the go to for when I'm not going regularly like I need to.

As a male, I experienced a lot of hair growth. Especially body hair growth, but that is more than likely due to the increased levels of testosterone release within my body's fat cells due to the rapid amount of weight loss I was going through. I heard that its quite different for women though than it is men when it comes to the hair question. As for my incisions, they've healed up quite nicely. I had 4 incisions with my surgery and I can really only see too of them. They are way smaller than what they use to look like. But I think a lot of that was due to the increase amount of vitamins I've been taking along with a hair/skin/nail vitamin I was taking from Walmart of all places.

Don't use the scale as your only source of measuring. As you've said you have gone from a 26 to a 14 (12 inches btw) and you have more definition in your legs and soon the rest of your body. As long as you are feeling great and keep doing what you're doing you'll get to that goal, and be fit and healthy along the way.

Why thank you for the compliment madam. I do truly appreciate it

Fantastic job. However I just wanted to say that you are very gorgeous. Both pre and post surgery madam.

On here I set my goal weight. I think for my height and BMI number, the weight I want to reach is a good milestone for me both physically and especially emotionally. By surgeon however has this expectation that I should be about 40lbs lighter than my goal. I think it could be doable, with additional factors into play such as skin removal surgery. The problem is that I honestly don't know if I'll ever want to go through that surgery. This last surgery was very rough for me, and I did have some complications. I was under in that surgery for almost 4 hours. From what I've read and seen online, the skin removal surgery is an almost 8 to 10 hour procedure, and the recovery is long and very painful. Mentally I know right now I am not ready for that. And therefore I kinda have already known in my head that 180lbs might be only realistic to me if another surgery is involved. Do I want the other surgery??????