abefroman329

This is the upside to having a hairy belly: Hides the surgery scars.

All FMLA says is that they can't fire you while you're out, and companies can find a way around that anyway. Are you sure you're not talking about being eligible for paid time off?

Everything looks fine to me!

I didn’t deliberately take a before picture, but there are plenty of “before” pictures of me. I ran across this one on FB from 2011 and that **** is just depressing. Maybe ol’ Judah will pose with me for an “after” picture.

Let's see...this year my wife and I went on a walking tour, had lunch in Chinatown (I had a spring roll and about 1/4 of an order of shrimp fried rice), and went to the movies at night. Then a couple days later we had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant with my parents. We split an order of shish kabobs and still took half of it home with us (she is almost 7 months pregnant and is also getting full very quickly). If you're looking for an alternative to a bar crawl, there's bowling or a pool hall or one of those table tennis bars that are cropping up everywhere. Or go on a bar crawl and sip one drink while everyone else gets drunk. Or go on a bar crawl and don't drink at all while everyone else gets drunk.

I've been donating everything to the Goodwill, even the expensive stuff I bought when I was my heaviest. I've heard that, if you want to sell it, you're better off just selling a single lot of clothing (5 shirts or 5 pairs of pants or whatever) rather than selling everything individually.

I had GERD pre-surgery and was still able to get it. Post-surgery, I'm not sure if I have it anymore, but I'm not brave enough to stop taking Prilosec just yet. My doctor told me it can inhibit absorption of vitamins and minerals, so I should probably try giving it up.

I was off work for a week and worked from home for another week. I do not recommend anything less.

I don’t know that I was ever forbidden from chewing gum. I certainly don’t swallow it like I used to pre-surgery.

Ugh, I dread seeing what's under this beard if I ever shave it off.

I’m fortunate that, so far, the only loose skin has been in my belly area and on my thighs. My plan is to give it two years after my surgery and, if it hasn’t sprung back into place by then, look into plastic surgery.

Yes, there are a few of us here, I live in Rogers Park and had my surgery at Evanston Hospital. A friend of mine teaches a Zumba class at the Y in Lakeview.

Thank you so much!

Thanks! He is due July 1.

Yes, it looks like your insurance company is no longer requiring six months of nutritionist visits. No, that does not mean your doctor's office won't require you to go to the nutritionist for six months regardless. The only requirements I ever saw were the surgeon's. The surgeon's office told me that BCBS' requirements were "about the same" as theirs. If there was anything the surgeon required that BCBS didn't, I was never made aware of that.

I am looking forward to doing this, hopefully when our six-year-old niece comes to visit this summer. My wife, who is far too pregnant to ride roller coasters, is not as enthused as me.

It might also depend on the results.

Mine was waived because I had one in 2015 and that was recent enough for the surgeon.

My gut has definitely shrunk, although it has to be bigger than it was the last time I was at this weight, since I’m wearing bigger pants than I did back then. Walter, one thing that helps you gauge the shrinking of your gut is to ask your surgeon where your incision scars used to be and where they are now. If they’re closer together, that means your gut has gotten smaller. Mine has pointed that out to me at the last couple of visits and it’s interesting to see and hear. Side note: I was keenly aware that my thighs have gotten much smaller, but I made the mistake of looking at them in the mirror. Holy sagging, crepe-y skin! All I can say is that it’s a good time to be a man, since 1) the hair hides things a little and 2) it’s fashionable to wear knee-length shorts.

Within a week. Try sleeping on your side with a pillow under your gut, that helped me a lot.

I had my 3-month follow up on Friday. The surgeon told me that, if I tried to have the surgery now (at my current height/weight and with my current medical conditions), I wouldn’t qualify.

I get sick sucking in air whe I’m chewing bubble gum, I can’t imagine how sick smoking would make me.

I can already see loose skin and I’m not happy with it. I’ve always felt like clothing needs to give you shape, even when I was at my heaviest, and I don’t like the “shape” I’ll be showing the world when there’s obvious excess skin. Plus I’d like to not have to wear a wetsuit to my son’s swimming lessons! I will definitely look into plastic surgery if the skin hasn’t snapped back into place in a year or two.

The longest English word you can type on a QWERTY keyboard with just your right hand is “stewardesses”

It’s been a regular conversation topic at my talk therapy as well. For me I haven't noticed the people I know treating me any differently since losing weight (with one exception, and she can go to hell), and with people I meet for the first time after losing weight, I don’t know how they would have treated me prior to weight loss.