christinafin

From the moment I made the decision to have the sleeve, I was open about it and so if the support of my inner circle alone. This included my mother, my sister who had already had the surgery, and my closest friends.

I was afraid, and my body is my own business, and I didn't want other peoples opinions, thoughts and feelings to disturb the process I needed to experience to claim a better life with better health. That is, I kept it close to my chest until I stopped feeling raw about it.

Now I'm a year and a half out of surgery, down 150 pounds, and lower then the goal weight I chose for myself. I speak about having had weight-loss surgery openly infrequently. But only because I'm truly OK with it.

Bodies are very personal. Health is very personal. When it feel safe, and you are inspired to, then speak about it. Until then, consider allowing yourself to feel how you feel and be as private as you want.

Hey! Good luck to you too. Getting so close.
Yes, I started my liver shrinkage diet on Friday. It's not purely liquids, I'm allowed some chicken or fish, fruit and vegetables. The rest is Soup and shakes. I think the liquid diet is more common in the US, I'm in the UK. Not sure why they differ. How are you finding it?

Hey! Good luck to you too. Getting so close.
Yes, I started my liver shrinkage diet on Friday. It's not purely liquids, I'm allowed some chicken or fish, fruit and vegetables. The rest is Soup and shakes. I think the liquid diet is more common in the US, I'm in the UK. Not sure why they differ. How are you finding it?

I'm April 13th
Good luck to you. You start liquid diet today right?

April 14th for me, just booked in today! Although do have a couple of checks still to go. So ready for this change!
@Helencfin on Instagram!

Fantastic! @_Kate_ that's really amazing. Congratulations on it all. I look forward to having similar updates soon.

@Clementine Sky congratulations on all your weight loss! That's so encouraging to hear that you've had such great results, and a positive experience with your skin and hair. Slow and steady sounds more appealing now! I have terrible stretch marks so I don't expect my skin will recover quite so well, but here's hoping!
Thanks for sharing.

I had mentally prepared myself for the probability of loose skin after having a VSG in August of 2015, but I've been below my initial goal weight for quite some time and do not have any at all. If anything my skin seems firmer now, mainly because exercise has helped me to be more toned. I believe losing weight at a much slower pace than many others who've had WLS did gave my skin more time to adjust. It was discouraging at the time because I wanted to step on the scale and see a much lower number than the previous month, but slooooooow and steady worked out for me. I also didn't lose much hair. There are several factors for loose skin, though: your age will affect your skin elasticity; the length of time when you were at your highest weight, how much you lose, and how quickly you lose it. Staying hydrated, exercising (swimming is supposed to be particularly good, though I never did during the weight loss phase), and using body lotions may help. I used some specifically for firmer skin at first, then switched to lotion for dry skin. I use an in-shower moisturizer, and then when I step out I lightly towel off and while my skin is still damp apply lotion.

Good luck to you! Your life is going to change for the better.

Body shaming ain't cool. Period. Ever. Never. And I won't tolerate those who throw shade at someone who isn't up to their "level" of perceived physical perfection. I had a day y'all!
Even the fittest have rolls. Who cares? Focus on rollin' with your homies instead of your homies' rolls.
My stomach area stretched to unbelievable lengths to carry three humans full term, safely. My poor skin hung on for dear life as it was pushed to its elastic limits for 27 collective months and a lifetime eating disorder! I will absolutely never apologize for that nor will I apologize for how it looks when I sit down. And those stretch marks? Yeah. I love each and every one of them. They remind me of when I had super human powers because women are bad asses!
I exercise to be strong. And there's no amount of exercise that will get rid of rolls or extra skin when I sit or bend over and I'm ok with that. I'm not chasing unicorns here and I loooove unicorns!
So if you're grabbing your rolls and body-shaming yourSELF, stop it right now. Get in your own corner, honey, and tell yourself you are a badass! You've spent years putting yourself down and how is that working for ya? Try lifting yourself up the next chapter of your life and see if you feel any differently. I promise you will if you love yourself. And believe me, I assess you based on your innate character, ability to love, and how you treat others over how many rolls and extra skin you have adorning your BEAUTIFUL body.
If you're drawn to head to the gym to live a healthier life, do it because you LOVE your body...not because you hate it.
Love,
Me
PS. 35 more pounds to go!! Yay!

Hello!
I'm getting mine with Mr Gibson at the Nuffield too! 55pounds is fantastic, congratulations! I'll send you a private message.

Hi Christinafin. I had my sleeve surgery at Glasgow Nuffield in August 16 under Mr Simon Gibson. Lovely man! I'm aged 60 and a slow loser but feel so much better and using gym and swimming pool regularly. Lost 55 lbs so far. Feel free to ask me any questions and good luck x

I'm not really very sure. I'm planning to start using it pre-op, and assume it's ok to use away from the scars immediately, arms, lower belly etc. I will need to check with my doctor how soon I can apply it to the scars themselves though.

April 14th for me, just booked in today! Although do have a couple of checks still to go. So ready for this change!
@Helencfin on Instagram!

Thanks everyone appreciate your feedback. Worrying what other people think has always been a huge thing for me - on an intellectual level I know that it is stupid but at a gut evel it is primal if that makes sense! Something that I'm trying to do is just be more private about myself and stop this insatiable need to justify myself to everyone. Perhaps once I've practised that I may be able to move on and just tell people he truth without worrying about their reactions. Thanks again

Hi Rudge,
I'm worried about this too. I'm getting sleeved April 14th and have told close family and friends, but worry about how to react when people that I don't want to tell ask. Maybe focus on the decision to do it rather than the actual method? That you got to a stage that you just were ready to do something about it. Something clicked and you knew you needed to change things. I hope most people won't be so brazen to push for more.
We discussed it here a few days ago too:
Good luck with everything!

Been starting to get questions. My keyfood is right down the block from me and most of the people that work there i have grown up knowing. I've always been big so now being the smallest I've ever been, im starting to get questions from the people that work there lol. I've been going with the healthy diet thing. It's so weird and keeps throwing me off when someone asks because i don't really notice much of a difference. I still feel like I'm over 260lbs so it still surprises me when even wearing a thick winter coat people notice. Im going to have to get used to it because spring and summer are coming and im still 50lbs from goal. This is going to be rough, I'm not big on a lot of attention.

Fantastic! @_Kate_ that's really amazing. Congratulations on it all. I look forward to having similar updates soon.

Good luck everyone
I am nervous as the date draws closer, but I am ready for this. I am happy to have found this online group because I learn a lot from each of you and what to expect.

My goal weight was 165, which is actually 10 pounds "overweight" by the BMI charts. The lowest I got was 153, but that was definitely too thin for me. 165 is my happy space.
To the OP, here are some pics for you. My highest weight was 270, my weight in the "after" photos was around goal of 165. I am 5'6" tall.

I'm only 5'4" so 108 is my cutoff for underweight. At 116 I am above that and all muscle!!!

My starting weight was 294. I am now 116. I NEVER thought I would be a 39 year old mom that can wear a size 0. I didn't seek that out as a goal, it just happened. My doctor gave me the goal of 135-145. I hit the top end of the goal in 9 months. It took about 3 months to lose the other 10 pounds. I started training for my first half marathon in July of last year and got down to 121 then. Even though I stayed the same weight, during that time I went from a size 6 to a size 2. I lost more weight after stopping birth control.
With all that said....how you look after is based on so many different factors. I lost 178 pounds, but have minimal excess skin. I know others that have lost 80 pounds and have LOTS of excess skin. I give credit to my workout regime in part. You cannot just do cardio, you must do weight training.
The hair loss. I experienced that starting the 3rd month through about the 9th month. It was minimal though. I have PCOS and experienced much worse before the surgery. I have been committed to getting my Protein and taking my Vitamins.
I agree with the others. Looking a certain way is still healthier than being obese or morbidly obese in my case.

Nice to meet you Christina, I'm off to bed. I will save you a seat on the losers bench

The profile pic was taken last July, I have lost more weight since then and I'm feeling pretty good. My son and daughter in law made me that huge birthday cake which the family scoffed down on my behalf. I ate about 5 blueberries they had put on the top lol. I did have the glass of champagne (No carbs).
I had upper and lower eye surgery, extended Tummy Tuck (with extensive muscle repair) and extended breast lift with nipple repair. It's been a journey and a half but I am finally able to go back to work next week after 11 weeks off. Only half days though hurrahhh. We have booked a holiday for in 6 weeks to Cape Verde and I have bought 3 bikini's. Last wore one of those about 30 years ago. Bring it on!

Thanks @_Kate_ I love bio oil so was planning to be pretty generous with that. Not sure if that's better than coconut oil, but will see how they go.

In addition, Bio Oil is pretty good for skin. Look around at Boots and Superdrug as they tend to have offers on at the start of the spring.
Kate