Cervidae

http://imgur.com/wxCv8k6 I know what you mean! 2 years ago, I was 223 pounds heavier (at least. I suspect it was more than that but at one point I refused to step on a scale). It gets easier, but I doubt it will completely go away for at least a couple years. We have to completely rebuild a new identity and self-image. Many people don't even solidify their when they have a whole lifetime to do it, and we're trying to do it in the span of a few months/couple years! Crazy and amazing stuff.

Walking up and down the stairs and up the huge hill to get to my classes. Being able to wear clothes that fit me, and feeling comfortable/pretty in them. Amusement parks and roller coasters! Haven't been able to fit into a seat since I was maybe 13... Fitting into the tiny chairs/desks at school, including the classroom ones and the ridiculous auditorium ones. Being able to go for a jog without destroying my knees. Certain sex positions (already met this goal and it's great!) Being able to sit on a chair or wall-mounted toilet without fear that I will break it. Being able to walk out into public without feeling like everyone is staring at me. Being able to sit in a folding chair or lawn chair without breaking it. I had many, many more but I've met pretty much all the others! Great post... it's good to remind yourself how far you've come and how wonderful life has become after this long, difficult, but intensely rewarding journey!

That is a little odd. I had blood work done a week before surgery and 1, 3, 6 months. I'll be having more done next month for my 1 year check-up. I would ask my primary to check things if my bariatric center wasn't doing it.

I don't need to say all of the stuff you already know (carbonation is bad/dangerous to a healing wound, the chips could make you dump, blah blah blah) because you already know that. I will say that you need to cut yourself a little slack here. You obviously are aware that you made a less than good decision while trying to cope with a new and drastically different lifestyle. So you had a few sips of a coke, and three chips. Realistically speaking, though these foods are horrible in general, in this tiny amount, it isn't the end of the world. If a bite would lead to cravings and so on, that's another story. But in this case, you took a bite, you had a sip, and you moved on, yes? You're aware that you are not happy with this action. You're aware that you've coped in an unhealthy way, and want to be better. You're already making up for making a mistake. In the end, we're only human. Yes, we have to do our damnedest after surgery to stay on track and lose weight and be healthy and so on, but slip ups WILL happen, and just knowing that you don't want to do it again and you're going to try your best not to do it again is enough. Forgive yourself for making a mistake and move forward with the intention of being better and doing better, and you'll get there with a healthier attitude than you may have ever dreamed of, with the healthy body to match. Hang in there! This huge change affects every aspect of life, and it's so enormous that most people can't even understand the enormity of it until they experience it, and then it takes years to adjust to your whole new life. You'll get there, and you'll be okay. This is not the end of the world or the end of all of your hard work and achievement. Keep going. <3 My inbox is always open if you ever want someone to talk to!

While this is all happening much sooner than you may have been prepared for, this is completely normal! No one has the same kind of stringent restriction they had in the very beginning forever. Now it's up to you to continue letting your tool work for you. If you're the kind of person who can't have "a bite of this, a bite of that" without having terrible cravings come back, then just don't even have a little. Keep in mind that a bite of something may not have been enough to cause pain/dumping/vomiting, but it's entirely possible, even probably, that 2 bites of that same food will. I was so worried about these things in the beginning, because I had the same problem. Nothing really caused any issues, with a few exceptions like raw carrots and ground beef. Now, I'm almost a year out and I find that a bite here and there of something not great for me is actually the healthiest way to maintain for me. I generally eat perfectly healthy, with a bite of something I'm craving, and that's all. Then the craving is gone, and I move on. The amount of sugar/carbs/etc in whatever one bite of what I'm eating is negligible. If I were to try to be like I was the first six months post op, I would DEFINITELY fall off the wagon. Sometimes you have to satisfy the craving in a healthy way rather than ignore it until it has far more control over you than it should. Hope this helps in some way!

I would recommend checking out some youtube videos of people in various stages. I watched probably a hundred hours worth or videos over the 7 months leading up to surgery, and I learned so, so much that no doctor can really prepare you for. Melly May on youtube if my favorite. Good luck to you!

Great timing, as usual, Alex! Thanks for the post. I'm right at the point where my hunger is coming back and I'm transitioning into maintenance. Tricky time! D:

Sounds like there is a stricture! Could be serious. I would get to the hospital. Hope you figure it out and feel better soon! If it is a stricture, they can usually fix it pretty easily and hopefully you'll be eating/feeling better very soon.

I'm still 50 pounds from my goal, but I also started at almost 400 pounds the day of surgery. Down 168 since surgery August 17th.

At that point I was pureeing chicken and sour cream or chicken and cream of chicken a lot. I also really loved to puree the chicken or turkey chili from Trader Joe's. Sooo yummy and quite a bit of Protein. For something sweeter, I would puree pumpkin and greek yogurt or pumpkin and cottage cheese (personal favorite) with some cinnamon. Delish.

I drank Premier Protein before surgery and I still drink it nearly every day 11 months post surgery. I find the strawberries and cream flavor to be super gross, but the chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and bananas and cream are all really delicious. I sometimes cut them with milk if I want something of a thinner consistency, and it still tastes great. As for the hospital stay, I would recommend comfy clothing, chapstick, and wipies. The first week post op, you may be in a bit of pain/discomfort and might find it easier to sleep in a recliner rather than getting up and down from your bed. I couldn't lay flat for the first several days without a lot of pain, but some other people can deal with it no problem. So just be aware that you may want to do that. Hope this helps! Good luck to you, and see you on the other side.

I found both the caramel and the bananas and cream delish! Would highly recommend them. People who don't like too sweet may want to cut the caramel with a little milk, but the taste is great.

I got a 4 pack each of the caramel and the bananas and cream today! I'll let you guys know what I think of them later. Right now they are room temp and I really can't drink them till they are cold.

@@mmazzo I did a bit in the beginning, so I would dilute it with milk. Helped a lot and increased my liquid/protein intake.

Me, me! Actually, I'm in the TWO HUNDRED pound club now! Congratulations on all your hard work and success! Doesn't it just feel beyond joyous to be "normal"?!

In another life, I used to love strawberry milk. I keep hoping these strawberry and cream protein shakes will be just as yummy (naive, I know!) and they never are. The premier protein brand strawberries and cream is soooo gross. I gave mine away in my support group. I would be super interested to hear if people like the caramel ones, though!

@@LisaMergs Definitely sounds like acid reflux to me. Hope it's not, and if it is, hope it's resolved soon! A simple med will nip it right in the bud, if that's the case. Feel better.

It's totally normal to be confused and on the fence about these things. It's a huge decision that will impact every aspect of your life for the rest of your life. It sounds to me like you already know deep down that this is what you need to do to get to where you want to be, and now you just have to take the plunge, like we all did. The thought that kept me going before surgery was that the chance of complications (especially serious or long lasting ones) is so, so low. Most bariatric surgeons have been doing this for years, there is a ton of data that exists, the technique has been perfected. If you're willing and able to follow your plan to the letter and really commit to the lifestyle change necessary to lose and maintain for the rest of your life, you'll almost certainly be successful. If you do nothing, the chances of getting sick way too young and losing literally decades of life is SO high. Not only that, but the life you will be living will be more painful and less easy/fun/rewarding than if you were healthy and at a healthy weight. Being obese takes its toll on the body. It's just a matter of how long it will take to take that toll. You can do this! You already know you're ready for a change, and that you need help to do it. There's no shame in that, only the power to become the person you want to be and to get healthy. I chose the bypass for various reasons, I have had no complications and zero regrets. I've lost almost 170 since surgery less than 11 months ago. Feel free to message me anytime, my inbox is always open.

Hello! Thanks for the tag @@KristenLe I had knee surgery two months and 6 days ago. Almost ten weeks at this point. My surgery involved the creation of a new ACL from the middle third of my patellar tendon (they just sliced it right out with a Wolverine-looking scalpel, as well as drilled out the bones each end was attached to) and regrafting these pieces into the back of my leg after taking out the destroyed ACL. And boy, was mine destroyed. I vividly remember the ortho surgeon looking at the mri and saying "well see here, this is supposed to be a solid structure... yours is in pieces!" He also fixed a huge meniscus tear (60%+) and trimmed another piece that was not repairable. It was a doozy. I'm still healing and my walking will probably be painful/unsteady for at least another month, but I will be in physical therapy until at least through December, because recovering from surgeries like these require quite a bit of physical therapy, as I'm sure you're aware. Before I got it fixed two months ago, I weight about 245 and was FINALLY a low enough weight that the repair had a decent chance of sticking. I walked around on this horrible injury for about 8 years (still scratching my head about how I functioned with basically no ACL and multiple large tears in the meniscus... while weighing over 400 pounds...) and yes, I was in pain almost every day just from a minimal amount of walking. Increasing walking, like walking around a store for hours or visiting a park or some such was torture, and I would be recovering from that pain for days afterward. In the past two years, I've lost 222 pounds, and I can indeed say, with gusto and certainty, that YES, losing weight makes a huge difference with an injury like this! Not only does your leg automatically become more stable, but it lessens the pressure on the joint and subsequently the torn meniscus (or menisci, depending in if you have multiple tears). He wouldn't operate on me until I got below a certain bmi, and I totally understand now why not just in an abstract "okay, the doctor knows what he's talking about" way but from firsthand experience. When I came out of surgery, I was in an enormous amount of pain. I knew it was going to hurt but WOOOOW, was this truly horrid. I was not prepared for it. I've never experienced anything in my life as painful as this was for the first week. The reason it was so bad? Turns out my body lacks the enzymes to metabolize a certain pain medication, and I had the pleasure of discovering it after a major surgery, and then had to fight to make my doctors understand and convince them I am not a drug seeker. My point is, during this time, I could feel everything. I mean... everything. Forget walking, just sitting with my leg propped up put pressure on it, and I could feel how much even just the weight of my leg made a huge impact on my pain level in the beginning. As I've healed and been able to start walking at least somewhat normally, I can truly understand and appreciate how pointless this repair would have been had I been heavier. I know that I would have already reinjured it or be in far more pain than I am now. And I am definitely still in pain, but it's not like before surgery. Before, it was a "my knee is screwed forever :(" kind of pain, and now it's a "wow, this gets better every day. I can see a light at the end of this hellish tunnel. I'm going to be normal! Or at least my knee will be..." pain. Before surgery, the 200 or so pounds I had lost made an enormous difference as well. I almost wasn't going to bother getting it fixed until I came back from vacation in California and my ortho said I had damaged it further and it was definitely now or never to get the meniscus repair. I didn't have a huge chunk of it taken out, but I'm told recovery feels similar and takes a similar (long) time. The point to all of this rambling is YES, losing weight will help you so, so much, whether you choose to try to work around the injury in physical therapy by strengthening your muscles, or if you need to get it fixed and go through recovery. This experience has been far easier than I could have hoped since losing a bunch of weight. And I am, by all accounts, still fat. But taking all that pressure off my knee made a world of difference. As we speak, I am sitting up with my legs bent comfortably, though my left leg that was repaired it still stiff. Still working on it! I hope this helps you! Feel free to message me if you have questions or anything. My inbox is always open.

Yeah, I hear ya! But "gentleman's sausage"... excuse me while I go giggle in a corner like a 5 year old for a while! XD

Hello! I'm almost 11 months out and my hunger returned maybe 3 months ago. For me, it also only happens when I go too long without eating. It feels more psychological than physical, however. It's not a huge craving to pig out or something, it's more that it makes me feel "man, I need some food right now. I must be hungry. I must have gone too long without eating" and I actually feel a desire to eat which is then sated by eating the usual small amount of healthy food. I haven't had any kind of actual pain from hunger in the three months or so that it's been back. Sounds like some extra issue, perhaps dehydration or even heartburn. Are you getting enough Water? Have you or do you take any kind of med to reduce the possibility of heartburn? I've never needed any but it was prescribed to me early in the healing process and I did have a couple instances of the same sort of burning feeling you're experiencing, and it was definitely heartburn. Or maybe I'm just weird and this feeling happens to others too when they are hungry. Who knows? As always, I would suggest contacting your doctor if you're concerned. Can't be too careful, and they are there to help. Hope you feel better!

Complications are real and entirely possible, but keep in mind that the chance of complications, especially the dangerous or long lasting kind, are minuscule compared to the chance of serious health issues and early death due to obesity. The odds are so good that you will become healthy and happy and prolong your life, should you have surgery. The odds are just as good or more so that you will get sick and lose decades of life if you continue being heavy. I had the bypass last August. In six days, I will be 11 months post op. I've lost 166 pounds since surgery, and my health is perfect. My blood work is perfect. I had no complications. My life has become a dream I once believed was not even possible. Now that dream is my reality! Of the thousands of people I've interacted with here and in my own large support group at my hospital, the incidence of serious complications is seriously tiny. Honestly, barring bad luck and stuff that unfortunately just happens, I rarely see people who have long term complications when they actually follow their plan and seriously change their lifestyles. It's totally possible and a lot less scary than it feels. Whatever you choose, there is a ton of support here! You're not alone. Ask any questions that pop into your head, readreadread past threads, watch videos made by people who are in various stages pre and post op. Feel free to message me or friend me if there is anything I can help you with. Good luck!

I chose the bypass because I had a significant amount to lose, I wanted the extra accountability, and I knew my insurance would only cover one surgery. If I failed with the sleeve, I would never have an option to revise, I would just fail. It's possible to fail with the bypass, as with any gastric surgery, but I felt that the bypass would be giving me the biggest chance for success possible. Yes, the sleeve is (by a very small percentage) safer/faster but honestly, that tiny extra bit of risk was completely worth it to me. I'll be 11 months post op in six days. I've had no complications, not even dumping, and I've lost 166 pounds since surgery and 221 pounds overall. You've gotta be really willing to follow your plan to the letter, as there is less room for error than the sleeve from what I've seen because of the higher risk of dumping and so on, but that habit change and hard work has been so worth it for me and many, many others. Hope this helps! Good luck on whatever you choose. It's entirely possible to be successful with either surgery.

I would highly recommend LifeWater. They have some super delicious flavors. Normally flavored waters taste like Water with sugar in it to me, and generally just gross. Lifewater tastes like juice and the nutrition info is great. My favorite flavor is a tie between yumberry pomegranate and fuji apple pear. They're normally 4 for $5.