blackcatsandbaddecisions

My weight loss surgery story actually started back in early 2019, but I chickened out before my first appointment because I was worried that I would have postop complications and the cost would go beyond the base rate. I gave up on the idea of weight loss surgery at that time, and decided that I would do it on my own. I think everybody here knows how well that went. At the end of the year I found out my husband‘s job would be ending, and we took that as an opportunity to try to find a job where he would have insurance that I could go on that would cover weight loss surgery. He got a job that covered it, and I joined his insurance plan, and within the month I was set up with my first appointment. my first appointment ended up being converted to telemedicine because of Covid, but that actually worked out great for me because my doctors office is two hours away. We had a six month waiting period, and for the first two months I will be honest I was working from home in quarantine, and I made absolutely no effort to lose weight and I did not make any progress. My third appointment was going to an in person appointment and the Bariatric class, and I was terrified that I would be up in weight and be disqualified. So for 2 weeks prior to that I went on a low carb low calorie diet. And I don’t know if it was me telling myself it was temporary or the realization that the surgery was coming helped, but I just kept extending and extending the date on my low carb diet. I ended up losing 48 lbs before the liquid diet which was greatly needed because I started at 339, and my surgery weight was 282. I’m 5’10 and my goal weight is 165. The liquid diet was no big deal, maybe because my diet was already very low calorie. I think I ended up losing about 8 pounds or so on it. It was a full liquid diet, and I did not vary from the diet at all. I want this to be the part of my life where I’m not constantly having a “little extra” or “just this bite” and I figured it would be a good test of willpower. surgery was a bit rough. I was in a fair amount of pain when I woke up, and I felt very nauseous. I could definitely feel my stomach, and it did not feel good. I wasn’t able to keep any water down, and the pain meds made me very sick. I ended up throwing up the small amount of water I’d drank snd the pain meds up all over myself the first night. But the next day was a tiny bit better, and it got better every day until day 4 I felt great. I ended up being able to drink water totally fine, no problem with protein or anything. I think my surgeon is a bit old school because I have a 4 week post op liquid diet too. No mush or purée stage here. I’m currently finishing up week 2 of the post op liquid diet, and like the preop diet I’m not going to cheat or go off plan. It was a long road to get here and I am going to do everything in my power to make this work. So far I am down about 10 lbs post surgery, so I don’t think I’m going to get the dramatic 30 lbs weight loss in the first month or anything but that’s fine. I’m down close to 70 lbs from my high weight, and it feels great. I’ll try to follow up every month or so with progress. HW:339 SW: 282 CW:271 GW: 165

Let’s see if this pic will upload… me waiting to run this last weekend.

Thought I’d check in…a bit over two years out and I’m consistently holding at 155. Part of the additional loss is I had five pounds of skin removed, with a full fleur de lis tummy tuck, arm lift and breast lift in late August. I’m fully recovered and rand a 5k this weekend with my best time yet. So two years later, still the best decision I ever made. Being a thin person was a dream to me that I actually get to live…it’s amazing.

I am looking into this as well as my second plastic surgery, but more of a finish since I had a fleur de lis tummy tuck already. Love the results of that, but where it stops on my hips I have sagging hips and we won’t talk about the backside..😅 I am thinking of combining with a thigh lift as well. Let me know if you end up doing this surgery, because I’m interested!

I recommend strongly looking into Marena brand compression garments when you get drains out…it was a lifesaver for me. And let me know how the thigh lift goes when you get a bit further out, I’m interested in that!

Yeah the tightness keeps on for a while unfortunately. I wasn’t so fortunate, the worst part of my loose skin was right under my boobs for whatever reason. I had huge flaps of skin that drove me nuts. The FDL connects with the breast lift, so basically if I’m standing with my arms out the incisions are like a giant capital I from elbow to elbow and hip to hip, and down the middle. Plus as a side bonus I ended up almost 8 lbs lighter than my pre surgery weight, so look forward to ending up lighter than when you started!

Yes, you look great! I had a FDL tummy tuck along with an extended arm lift and a breast lift on August 24. The first few weeks are brutal, no lie, but you’ll be better so soon. I was questioning my choices at 3 weeks out but you’ll be back to normal in no time. I was able to go back to work after 2 weeks, light exercise after 4 and full running after 6. Now at two months out I’m back to my pre-surgery running speed and distances. They took 5 lbs off me, and man is there a huge difference now that the swelling is over.

Hey this popped up in my feed too, I remember this thread! At the time I was only a few months post op. I’m coming up on two years here, I lost 181 lbs. I weighed in at 153 this morning, so for my height of 5’10 I’m now at a 22 BMI. So at the end of the day I did in fact lose more than 100% of my excess weight, I did not start magically regaining weight at 18 months post op, and all this with a sleeve surgery. Who would have imagined.

I am getting a fleur de lis tummy tuck, arm lift, and breast lift (no augmentation). Paying 24k out of pocket in Portland, Oregon. I’ll update as I get closer to the day of surgery!

I feel like my shape is about the same as before, just the hanging skin on the front is gone.

For me it was realizing that if I could have done it on my own I would have at this point. It’s not a lack of knowing what to do or laziness it was a deeper issue. As to why now? I have young kids I felt too exhausted to do anything with. I love to travel and I didn’t fit in a plane seat, full stop. I was tired of feeling like I didn’t want to meet new people or see old friends because of how ashamed I was of how I looked. I was tired of the very real everyday discrimination and judgement morbidly obese people receive. And I knew I would never be happy at 340 lbs. it would be a source of frustration and unhappiness my whole life. Some people are able to be content at any weight and I admire them but that wasn’t me. I felt wrong and miserable in my own skin, and I couldn’t do the physical activities I wanted to take part in.

I had a moment as the swelling went down where I was annoyed because I still had two bumps on my sides. Upon further examination I realized this wasn’t fat or skin rolls, it was actually my hip bones sticking out. I had never seen that before and wasn’t aware of the possibility 😅. Post bariatric and/or plastic surgery body changes are weird, y’all.

I am sorry with the doctors…incredibly frustrating. Some doctors don’t agree with this kind of surgery and get a complex over it. For trying to keep up with hydration I recommend trying a variety of beverages. I found water on its own difficult but warmer beverages were easier at first. Tea, steamed milk, etc. I also found I had to basically take a sip, burp, take a sip, burp. It gets better, I promise!

My most used item was a small handheld strainer. I strained soups for weeks for every dinner. I think it cost me like $2.

Congrats on the pre surgery weight loss! I had a lot of weight to lose so I am very grateful I lost 50+ lbs before surgery. It might not make as big a difference for those who have less than 100 or so plans to lose, but for those of us who are 150+ lbs to lose it can make a huge difference. Plus it can make surgery safer for us. And the amazing thing is unlike all other diets this pre op weight loss actually stays off!

Honestly i lurked so much on these forums prior to having my first consult I felt like people here had answered most of my questions! Maybe ask how their pre-op process works- any things that would make them not go ahead with surgery, etc. what the pre op diet will look like, and the post-op diet phases. Those can vary from surgeon to surgeon. But read a lot of the forums here, they’ll answer a ton of your questions. I felt so much better prepared because I had spent so much time here. And I’m still here lurking around 2 years later, haha

I’m mostly confused on the lipo portion of this. Speaking as someone who recently had plastic surgery, I had multiple surgeons I consulted with note that I didn’t need lipo because quite frankly there wasn’t fat to suck out. If you lose enough weight you won’t even be a candidate for liposuction. Having just had all the loose skin removed from my hips up, I am not sure how this would have worked even had I asked for it. I can clearly feel bones and muscles under the surface now especially in my arm and chest.

Very encouraging update, after a lot of tingling I am able to feel pressure on my lower arm again. It’s kind of muted but it’s there. The improvement has given me a lot of hope. Still can’t feel like a pen being dragged lightly on the surface but any improvement is so encouraging. I’ll be six weeks next Wednesday. My surgeon said I can be released fully at that time. I tried a light jog for literally one minute yesterday and wow my stomach was not appreciating that. It just mostly felt really stiff. I didn’t have muscle repair so likely the incision up the middle isn’t happy with the jostling. I can now do climbs on the spin bike so that’s nice…released from the drudgery of low impact classes.

Yeah I picked a weight that I had been once-briefly- and was within a healthy weight range for me. I figured a stretch goal was fine. I ended up reaching the goal and am actually hovering about 8 lbs below it right now. All the calculators said there was basically no chance of me seeing a weight below 200 as well, and I am in the 150s. Forget the calculators and pick the weight you want to see.

Just that it may come back, may not. I do feel burning in that area sometimes, nothing like distracting or painful but just a mild sensation. I’m kinda hopeful, but trying to be realistic that it might be my imagination. I read online that magnesium and exercise are possibly good for nerve regrowth so I am taking a magnesium supplement and I’m exercising every day so we will see. I still am not supposed to be running so I raised the incline on my treadmill up to 15% for my walk, and I’m working my way through all the low impact peloton classes they have.

Wow what a weird angle on the first pic. I promise my arms are normally shaped. The scar goes all the way through my armpit and connects to breast lift. I lost all the hair on my right side, I have about a one inch strip left on my left side. 🫤. Not wearing deodorant right now because of scars, but thus far it doesn’t appear I sweat on underarms through my peloton workout. Might come back, but nothing for now.

One month in. The bottom part of my left forearm is still completely numb. I think it is nerve damage since it’s been this way since surgery and hasn’t improved at all. 😞. I haven’t lost any function in the arm, just sensation from wrist to elbow on the bottom half of the arm. It’s really annoying and I wish it would come back but I am starting to think it is permanent. Not much to do about it but it’s a possible rare outcome, and looks like I’m the lucky one who got it. Drain hole closed up, FDL and breast lift scars are doing well. I’ll post pics of the arm lift since that’s something I can do without disrobing, haha. This is one month to the day healing arm lift scars.

So I don’t use these really as meal replacements (more just I really like the taste and the protein helps fill me up) but I am in love with the Think creamy peanut butter bars. Perfect chocolate peanut butter flavor.

I also have family members with alcohol dependence, so I keep a very close eye on my alcohol intake. That being said, I have had to keep an eye on other offshoots like shopping. It will try to sneak up on you, I swear! No great advice other than it’s great that you are aware and being proactive.

I ended up waiting almost two years from when I first reached out to my center, because of concerns about complications if I went a self pay route. I could for sure have written a check but I wanted the additional peace of mind. I was really annoyed at first about the waiting period and hoops I had to jump through to get qualified but in retrospect I’m glad I had them. I ended up losing weight prior to surgery, which helped me get ready for the lifestyle change and be more prepared for recovery, and I had enough time to be certain over and over that I was making the right call. I understand once a decision is made that it is frustrating to wait, but honestly if you have the option to get insurance to pay I’d always go that route. Also glad I didn’t fork out the cash for self pay because 2 years post op I ended up using those funds for skin removal, haha.