ms.sss

...and my pulling/stretching sensation is from armpit to mid tricep... 🤔

Wow. And you are at 7 weeks? At this rate your scars will be virtually invisible by springtime. Just in time for t-shirt weather!

And mine did not give me any instructions regarding wet vs. dry! Only to dry my steri-strips after showering and tape over any loosening ones with new ones (at least until I see him again next week). 🤷🏼‍♀️

Good point. I can raise my arms higher if I keep them straight. When they are bent at the elbows, the range of motion is much smaller.

@mousecat88 did you not have steri-stips placed on your incisions either?

I made separate meals for the fam. It was easier. Mind you, my own meals were not very varied as I basically ate salad & grilled chicken for the most part and making separate meals for me was a no-brainer: keep salad greens in the fridge and grill up chicken in batches to help myself to as needed.

If I had to, I would have been able to tie my shoelaces and put on my socks pants, etc by myself (I didn't though cuz I had Mr. and the Kid do it for me). Anything bending down or reaching down was doable, even on the first day back home. It's when I had to do anything that required lifting my arms up that I had/have issue with. In terms of reachability for colouring hair, I was able to comb/brush the ends of my short hair by end of 1st week. I could reach the top of my head about 10 days PO...but I had to duck my head down. I still have to duck it down a bit today at 2 weeks post-op. Right now the highest I can raise my arms is the point where my elbows are maybe an inch just below my shoulders. Anything higher and I can feel a tightness/stretching that is uncomfortable. With that said, everyone is different. @mousecat88 was able to do so much so soon afterwards. She was able to do more at 2 days post op than I can do now at 2 weeks post-op... 🤷🏼‍♀️

Further to the theories that WLS changes metabolic function for the better, I also normally run 5km every day and have a relatively low body fat percentage....which likely contributes to my maintenance calorie levels. Though I also know that @sillykitty doesn't exercise much (except maybe to walk to her dry cleaners, LOLOLOLzzz), so who knows... 🤷🏼‍♀️

Good choice This is my personal favourite of the 3 ...❤️

Honestly, the breast lift aspect of this has been a non-issue this entire time. I've had zero pain or discomfort from it since the beginning. I think perhaps its because I didn't move enough in the beginning. I was probably enjoying being waited on too much...lol

Female, 47 yrs 5’2” Starting weight, 10-Oct-2018 : 235 lbs Sleeved 24-Oct-2018 Goal reached May 2019: 125 lbs (110 lbs lost) Current weight Jan 2020: 115 lbs (120 lbs lost)

Wowzers! What a difference! It's always so nice (and satisfying!) to see how far one has come ❤️ P.S. and seriously, your smile remains adorbs no matter what size you are, LOL.

Yep, its official. You have like Wolverine-level healing abilities.

Bwha-hahhahhaa 😂 No I haven't tried, but now I think I have to 😂😂😂 Though i find that if I touch anywhere on my lower abdomen I feel it behind my belly button?!? #yikes

<! -- Begin Random Brain Dump --> So....there was a post on another thread that brought up the existence of studies that proposed that WLS patients who have plastic surgery to remove excess skin after massive weight loss are more likely to keep the weight off further down the road than those who didn't. I remember reading something to that effect a while back, so I did a little digging, and yep, there are studies that suggest this idea. Here is is just two that were on the first page of my search results: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131001104541.htm https://www.soard.org/article/S1550-7289(15)00850-3/fulltext So as I often do, I went down the research rabbit hole. I wanted see what other theories were out there that isolate certain behaviours or circumstances that increase the likelihood of long term weight control after bariatric surgery. The regular stuff that we already know came up about the positive co-relation of the following with short & long term success in weight loss: daily weighing (of body, not food, LOL) logging/tracking food intake weight training to maintain or increase lean muscle mass the above-mentioned body contouring Then there was one that sort of resonated with me, for some reason. That the likelihood of long term success is related to the amount of (or lack of) sedentary activities a person participates in. Those who spend less time watching TV, sitting at a desk, or spend time on their devices are more likely than their sedentary counterparts to keep the weight off longer term. And that this was the bigger indicator of "success" than the 4 points made above. Since the PS, I have been pretty sedentary. I looked at my steps and I averaged less than 1000 steps a day the first 10 days post op. I felt ick and lazy and tired and really just didn't want to move (mind you, I was in recovery so there's that). Then I purposefully made the effort to walk around every couple of hours and felt better. Then I started going outside for longer and longer walks and started to feel normal. After yesterday's 2+ hours outside and this morning's 1 hour (with more to come throughout the day) I feel aaaalmost awesome. The more I moved, the more I wanted to move; and on the flip side of that I realized that the more I stayed still the more I didn't want to move. Funny cuz this is probably obvious to some/most of you, but it was like a light-bulb moment for me, duh. 🙄 So moral of the story: Keep moving, people. <! -- End Random Brain Dump -->

Beautiful!!!

Yeah, you likely ate too much too fast. Waiting it out is the easiest thing to do, but you can also go for a walk and will go away faster (and you can get some exercise in ) P.S. can you try putting smaller portions of food onto your plate so you don't feel the need to "clean your plate" and risk over eating? You can always put more on if you are still hungry....

The first couple days is tough, but it does get way easier once your body gets used to it . You are doing great. Also, the amount of weight one loses really varies and depends alot on starting weight (among a myriad other things). To put things in a bit more perspective, you *could* look at percentage of weight loss instead. Good Luck!

@AJ Tylo : ^^ Yeah, agree with above poster. I also tried to do a big jump (form 600 to 1000) and the sudden increase in calories made me feel ugh and stuffed. So I went back down again and slowly increased by 100-150 cals every week, which felt better. But then again, you are a dude and a bit bigger than me, so it may not affect you as much... P.S. I'm 6+ months into maintenance now and average maybe 1800-2000 normally. Good Luck, I'm sure you'll navigate maintenance as well and self-assuredly as you did weight-loss.

I like this one.

Funny, I too slept for the first time with a regular pillow under my head (i.e., no incline) last night! I couldn't comfortably lay flat due to the TT though, so I kept my knees bent over the wedge pillow (which I've been doing all this time anyway). What a difference this made this morning when I woke up: my midsection was significantly less stiff and it was almost effortless to get up out of bed #yay. @rs : does your surgeon not require you to wear compression garments/ace bandages anymore?

Yay!

Yesterday, Wednesday, Jan. 1 Maintenance : 5'2" / 1yr PO Sleeve / ??? lbs (last weigh in 115.0 lbs on Dec 18th) ---------------------------------------- Getting back to some regular activity! I completed cumulative 10.6 km outdoor walks yesterday and it felt really good. I even did 10 squats LOL. It still amazes me to this day that I actually like getting some exercise now 😎. Got 3.6 km in earlier this morning, aiming to ger over 10km again by EOD. ---------------------------------------- 9:30am - coffee-cayenne w/ stevia 2:00pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + cucumber + carrots + 1 oz cheddar + 1.5 oz roast beef + 1 oz grilled squid + 1/2 oz grilled chicken + 1 fl oz imitation crab + 4 mini cocktail sausages 5:00pm - the leftovers from my 2:00pm meal + 2 seed crackers w/ peppercorn paté 9:00 pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + cucumber + carrots + 1/2 avocado + 2.5 oz steak + 1 glass red wine 12:30am - 2.5 oz steak ---------------------------------------- Totals: 913 cals - 72g Protein - 24g NET carbs - 48g fat

2 week update blog entry: