OutsideMatchInside

I have been seeing decent results lately with Fasciablasting and dry skin brushing. It isn't plastic surgery results, but a definite improvement. Especially on my thighs. I'm not doing weights because my goals are mainly to look good in clothes not naked. My arms are already 2x the size they should be because of the amount of skin hanging on them. Luckily the skin compresses pretty tightly so I can stuff my arms into most things. It is really causing a problem with dresses. So if I added muscle to arms that are already too big from some size 8/10 dresses and tops. I would be stuck wearing 12 or larger which look like tents on me. Same issue with legs. My waist is really small even with the skin. I wear a lot of shapewear and compression clothing when I work out. My skin is pretty empty for the most part, not much fat left in it, so is compresses nicely in clothes and tight clothes are the most comfortable because they don't allow the skin to move. Skin flopping around can be really uncomfortable, so compressing it and holding it tight is really comfortable. Shorts are not in my future any time soon, even with plastics I have never seen a picture of a good thigh surgery, good enough to wear shorts. I'm a grown woman at the end of the say so wearing dresses in the summer is a better option anyway. As far as summer/beach/water. I do active stuff water activities so I wear like surfer stuff with rash gards and it covers everything and holds it tight. I like a lot of meshy stuff, its see through so still cute but it holds you.

Yeah my allergies have been terrible too, I am taking so much medication for them. Maybe it is not really food related at all but just a lot of other things.

Intuitive eating for food addicts is like saying heroin in moderation. In my keto groups people say eat until you are satisfied, and I have to speak up and remind people that some people are never satisfied because they are food addicts and they just need to portion control. If WLS could be successful at eating intuitive, they would not be WLS patients in the first place. Everyone isn't a food addict, I don't really think I was, I am just very carb sensitive and a glutton. I like to indulge and pamper myself. Post-op I switch how I do that pampering and treating myself.

Tinder is better because they can't contact you unless you like them. So you control who can contact you unlike POF. Also you have to have Facebook to use Tinder so there are less fake profiles on Tinder and fewer married men, IMO. I have never got one dirty message or nasty comment on Tinder because I am pre-screening them. I'll never use POF again. If you are pretty and photograph well, Tinder is like shooting fish in a barrel. Eharmony is too slow, not enough men to choose from. Give Tinder a whirl you might be surprised. I wish I had tried it sooner.

Honestly I meet the nicest guys on Tinder

I eat Keto so I might fat fast for a 1-3 days but mainly, if you keep doing the same thing, you will lose eventually. Your body has to take breaks, you can't really make it lose if it doesn't want to unless you have been eating off plan.

I have only seen malnutrition posted about in extreme complication cases and they are usually really far out from surgery. As long as you are hydrated humans can live without food for a long time, weeks.

I was on my own within 36 hours of surgery, my friend had to fly back home. I was at my own home though, with all my own stuff and I didn't have to move a lot. I don't know if I could travel alone, just because you fatigue so easy. I would be afraid as a woman to be alone in a foreign country when I didn't feel 100%. I sick alone once in Paris and it was the loneliest feeling in the world.

Right! This discussion has happened here so often and so many scientific studies and links have been cited. I only responded and posted because I am procrastinating on a work project but I am promising myself today I am never going to post more than one sentence about sleeve stretching again. "Properly formed sleeves don't stretch" If people are comforted by thinking that sleeves stretch so they have an excuse for regaining and failing, hug that blankie tight Linus van Pelt, may it comfort you in hard times, I'm done.

Early on I didn't weigh that often 1-2 times a week. I try to weigh every day now or every other day. I only count my weight once a week.

My intestines are still really noisy, no solutions here.

Sleeves don't stretch though, they aren't really that elastic, I know because I can still eat/drink too fast and feel the pain. So many doctors will tell you that. Sleeves are really not that flexible, I know I live with one. I don't even know how to drill it home more than that. It won't stretch if it is done right, that is basically the cornerstone of the surgery. A stretched sleeve is a complication or a failure. It defeats the purpose. The sleeve has 2 major parts that help with weight loss, removing the stretchy part of the stomach reducing portions and creating restriction and also removing the stretchy part of the stomach removes ghrelin the hunger hormone. The part we are left with is more muscular than pouchy or stretchy. The last link you posted is about a full regular stomach (did you even read it, or look at the picture? It is written by an English major for a BroScience website). A full regular stomach will stretch because the whole stomach is stretchy. The stretch part of the stomach is removed with the sleeve. It is not with RNY or the Band. Most WLS information lumps all these surgeries together. It really does not seem like you understand how the sleeve works or what the surgery involves. It looks like you are still pre-op, if you are going to have the sleeve, you should do more research so you can understand how it works. If you have a sleeve you won't stretch it, you risk other complication like ruining your esophagus creating a pouch at the top of it that food is getting stuck in. This happens because a sleeve doesn't stretch. Like @BigViffer said, you can damage the valve at the bottom of your stomach and make it open fast but a sleeve does not stretch. Many sleevers confuse healing with stretching. The restriction you have at the beginning is not the restriction you will have forever. That is because it is not true restriction it is swelling. It takes a long time for internal swelling to go down and to be fully healed, 6 months at least, and this even applies to other things like a lot of plastic surgery. My restriction at 21 months is the same as 12 months. If I don't eat for a day or two my sleeve can get tight as a drum, or it can just randomly be tight. Most people complaining about stretched sleeves are eating sliders not dense protein. If they ever listen to advice and eat dense protein, of they discover they have restriction again. Finally the sleeve wasn't covered by insurance just a few years ago in the US and a lot of people with complications now went out of the country to have their surgery done. They have complications from bad sleeves and are having revisions in the US now because WLS is covered by insurance more than it used to be and also everyone is currently is required to have insurance in the US. A correctly formed sleeve will not stretch. A RNY pouch will stretch, the pouch created by the band will stretch and bands can slip. A properly made sleeve will not stretch. Healing is not stretching. Eating sliders is not stretching.

I remember having insane cravings post-op for stuff I don't even like. Not chewing or having solid food for weeks will do that to anyone. The biggest issue I have is people insisting they are actually hungry and it isn't head hunger. If you can't recognize the difference between head hunger and real hunger, man you have a rough road ahead.

All the people that helped me be successful don't post here anymore for various reasons. At least I was able to become friends with most of them outside this forum and still have contact with them. There is a huge void here of accurate and experienced advice. Example, that "Disgusted" thread is posted by someone pre-op without a sleeve, preaching what post-op life should be like, but they aren't even there yet. Until you have a sleeve, you don't really know how one works, even RNY people don't because the surgeries are not the same and the way our stomachs work post op aren't the same. My Surgeon doesn't even know what sleeve life is like, luckily some of the support staff were sleevers and able to offer advice. Yeah, I feel like it is really important to stay involved in a weight loss community so I can stay on track. People remind me of how easy it is to make mistakes and get off track and also when I feel like I haven't lost enough, I reminded of how hard it is and how far I have came. Still these newbies make it so hard, they don't care what anyone has to say if it doesn't match what they want to hear. *sigh*

My Dr asked me what I weighed in HS. He said he felt I could get to that weight. Which is around the weight I am now. He never really set a goal though. My goals were health not really weight related. I wanted to end my diabetes and avoid high blood pressure. My goal is to get my BMI to the top of normal or 30% body fat, I was at 34% body fat when last tested. My size goal was a 12, I'm an 8 now, I don't really want to be smaller than an 8 but 6 is in my future *sigh*

Medical Malpractice All surgeons are not created equal. That is why people usually qualify their statements with "properly formed sleeve". If the surgery is done right it doesn't stretch. There are a lot of surgeons not doing it right. At least once a month someone posts here about being offered a modified sleeve where less of the stomach is removed. That is not a properly formed sleeve. Also, by the time people are fully healed and recovered. The size of their stomach shouldn't matter. They should be weighing or at least measuring all their food and eating proper portions. If you are eating proper portions the size of your sleeve doesn't matter. A stretched sleeve is just a cop out. Surgeons are willing to encourage it because most of them are just in it for the $$$$$$$ especially with medical tourism.

Normally I would agree with this but she has chosen to be in the spotlight and the "celebs" that are in the spotlight for WLS set the tone for the rest of us. While I normally wouldn't care, she and her story has affects all of us and how people see WLS.

A stopped clock is also right 2x a day.

A calorie is not a calorie. There is so much science that dispute this. There are different metabolic responses to different foods, that is just pure science that can't be disputed.

Well honestly a properly formed sleeve won't stretch from carbonation from soda. Just even thinking about that in a scientific context sounds ridiculous and like an old wives tale. So telling people that soda will stretch their sleeve is idiotic in my opinion. I gave up soda years before having surgery and I think it is terrible and pox on society but I don't think it will stretch a sleeve, science and logic just don't support it. You would be more likely to stretch your sleeve with steak than with soda. Liquids don't even stay in your stomach long enough to stretch it, they immediately pass through and anyone that has had a live swallow test pop-op can confirm this. Steak and any other dense protein takes a very long time to pass through your sleeve and a long time for your stomach to digest. Just by the sheer amount of time that dense protein is in your stomach, it would stretch your stomach, except with a properly formed sleeve and restriction, you can't eat enough steak to stretch your sleeve. The reasons people shouldn't drink soda is because soda is trash, especially diet soda. It is a gateway to other stuff, and if people are drinking soda they are probably doing worse. Sleeve stretching is a myth perpetuated by WLS failures and medical malpractice. It just doesn't happen with a properly formed sleeve and people need to stop using it a s crutch to support their bad habits and failed food plan.

@Delta_35 I keep telling myself I am going to stop posting here because for me the site is basically useless. I want to stay involved in WLS community I think remembering where you came from and helping others is a good support method to stay on track. Yet, I'm not even 2 years out, I don't really consider myself a Vet. I have questions and issues I could use help with but there are virtually no successful Vets to ask. Even fewer that started with a BMI as high as mine (61). My issues and the problems I have are unique to being that large and losing so much. I have no community here I can talk to. It is basically just like being in the real world, alone with a unique experience. I like answering questions because most responses are from people less than 6 months out that have a really skewed view what post-op life is like so it is the blind leading the blind. Still with no real active community for WLS Vets, might as well just chill with my Keto friends. This isn't just a reflection of this board, this is a major long term issue with WLS patients in general, long term, they just aren't active in the WLS community. Everything is just for newbs and I also think this is why so many people fail long term, there is no long term support, just immediate post-op and that is what all information is geared for. Also, Bella is always trying to take someone to task for what they say but as soon as someone gets on her case, she wants to play victim. She is one of the most passive aggressive internet characters I have encountered in a long time.

@Delta_35 My concern is that with do many people qualifying for surgery now that seem to be obviously bad candidates and failures that it will skew statistics and make WLS seem less effective than it is meaning long term, surgery may not be covered by insurance or harder to maintain. I had an evaluation but it was a joke. I was prepared for surgery but no one prepares you for the end. The losing phase is easy, the end and loose skin is tough.

You still never said what you actually eat. What are your daily macros? Do you weigh all your food? Get a food scale Give up the splenda, switch to Stevia, a stevia from the health food store, not the fake stuff in the grocery store.

Your metabolism might be higher than you think, unless you had it tested you never know.

@Blue Door I had it tested. I see you are in Illinois. You can have it tested in Sports Medicine cheaply at any of the local Universities. I also get DEXA scans so I know my exact lean mass.