Tiffykins

I was 32 when I had my revision, and now I'm 34 with loose, wrinkly, flabby skin. So many factors go into how your skin will rebound post-op. Time is your best friend. I can honestly tell you that I'll take the loose, wrinkly skin over back fat rolls, and my thighs rubbing together constantly. Ethnicity, age, genetics and how long you've been obese all play a larger role in how your skin will rebound than anything else. Skin is stretched and loses elasticity, building muscles help fill in the skin, but there's no guarantee you won't have some trademark of weight loss surgery. If I would work out more, I could tone it up. I can say that at 2 years out, my skin has rebounded nicely, but I have noticeable wrinkly, flabby, loose skin. I'm just not letting it get me down 100%. It's tough, but being fat is way tougher.

Have you taken actual measurements??? I was totally surprised when I took out the tape measure, and really measured my parts. It may not seem like much, and your clothes might not show the results that quickly, but a 1/2 inch here and there will really add up.

Glad to hear recovery is going great Anne ! ! ! The sleeve is the best decision I ever made. Getting the band out was the band damn thing I could have ever done, and I also had the issue of my body growing around the tubing and port from the band. It was insane the amounts of scar tissue that I had after the band. Luckily, it didn't grow into my organs. Best wishes on your continued journey ! ! !

The easiest way to avoid drinking with a meal is to NOT bring a cup/glass with you to the table. If eating out, order water, and as soon as your meal is set in front of you, move your glass to the other end of the table, or hide it behind the drink/appetizer menu that so many restaurants have on the table. I drink right up until I take that first bite per my doctor's instructions, at 2 years out, I can "sip" with my meal, but there is a huge difference between sipping and drinking with a meal. If I drink, I puke, not fun, not pleasant so I still do not drink with my meals. I do typically wait 15-30 minutes after eating to start drinking again. I had this habit beat because of my band experience, but that's what I did to break the habit before my band was placed.

I've been taking NSAIDS since about 6 weeks out. The ability to take NSAIDS is the one criteria for many patients being able to win appeals for VSG with insurance companies. We have a normal, functioning stomach and not a pouch so the risk for ulcers is extremely low. The same rule applies with prolonged use with NSAIDS as it did pre-op which is to make sure you have something on your stomach, be it a little bit of yogurt, or crackers before taking NSAIDS. I should add that in my pregnancy my doctors have diagnosed with a condition called MTHFR. I am required to take an aspirin every day which is an NSAID. My high risk ob was elated to find out that I did not have the band or bypass because this is the only type of therapy that will help with my clotting disorder, and a pouch would have made it impossible. I will actually have to continue the aspirin therapy for the rest of my life because my clotting disorder is related to a genetic/chromosomal mutation and there is no cure. I am not saying any other surgeon is wrong, or given wrong information simply sharing my experience and what my surgeons and other doctors are doing for me with VSG.

Yeah, I love that it's no carbs.

It took a solid 50-60lbs for me to drop a pant size. I dropped top sizes way faster, but my stubborn belly fat prevented me from dropping pants sizes in the waist department. My butt/thigh shrunk, and my pants were baggy in the seat and legs. Once I got out of the Plus sizes, I dropped and skipped over sizes with just a few pounds lost. The inches really melted off the closer to goal I got and that led to me skipping sizes. Also, try different brands/cuts of jeans. I can wear a size 2 skinny jeans from Old Navy, but need a 4 at Charlotte Russe. The sizings are all so different, and cuts of pants really make a huge difference.

I have used Brummel and Brown yogurt butter for years, and have continued to use post-WLS. It tastes the best, melts evenly, and has a good fat content. I've always loved B&B. We use it in everything, and anything. When I was trying to get into maintenance, I switched to regular fat-laden butter for the extra fat grams, and calories. Fat isn't the enemy especially when we low carb it.

32-40fr is the standard, and there are reports from Dr. Cirangle and Dr. Jossart(they are 2 of the 3 pioneers of VSG as a stand alone) that show a higher incidence of regain at the 2-3 year out mark with bougie size bigger than 40fr. I personally would not have allowed a 46fr bougie, and I'm way shorter than you which is indicative of having a shorter stomach which means even less capacity.

I literally have/had zero recollection of any of that time. I didn't recall them removing the tube nor did I hear anyone talking, or moving around me. They kept me sedated until they pulled my tube, and woke up a couple hours later from my hospitalization reports and the accounts of the day from my mother.

The more weight you lose, the easier the reduction will be for your recovery and for your surgeon to perform the surgery to give you the best results. Also, most honest and reliable plastic surgeons wouldn't touch a wls patient until they are about 10-15lbs of their goal weight unless their weight was being largely effected by excess skin. In most of those cases, this is common among patients that weighed 400lbs+ and have 20-40lbs of excess skin from the rapid weight loss.

I can't remember from your previous posts, but are you on a PPI like Nexium, Prilosec, Protonix? Eating really sucks, especially after complications. I always felt like eating was stressful which in turn made my stomach tighter for whatever reason. Have you tried warm fluids like warm decaf tea the Celestial seasonings makes a peppermint tea that and a chamomile tea that totally rocked for me, I felt so wonderful drinking those. And, when my hydration levels were getting compromised, I said "screw the calories/sugar, I need fluid" and I drank regular gatorade. If I was dehydrated, and my body was struggling to function, a few calories/sugar wasn't going to hinder my weight loss, and honestly, after my complications, I didn't give 2 poops about carbs/sugar that first couple of weeks, I needed fluids. Warm fluids seemed to relax my stomach, soothing, but the warmth really helped and still do this at 2 years out. I still order hot tea or coffee before a meal. I hope the next few days are easier.

I only know of one lady who pursued a full DS after VSG and she only gave it 6 weeks all while her nut was telling her to not count carbs or calories, she had metabolic issues, and that stuff was not being addressed so she found a surgeon that agreed to go ahead and perform DS even though she only had the sleeve 6 weeks and was not following a normal post-VSG diet, and she wanted to lose weight faster and didn't want to seek additional nutritional or metabolic assistance from her current surgeon and team. I have now seen 3 DS'ers around 2-3 years out looking to revise (shorten their common channel) because they haven't got to goal, or have gained weight back.

I'm only 2 years out and thriving. The sleeve is pretty straight forward, and life post-op is pretty easy going. I lost easy, and found maintenance to be tricky, but overall I love it. There's lots of long termers on obesityhelp.com and I'll share a link for a VSG maintenance group where you can find some others that are further out. http://www.obesityhelp.com/group/VSGM/

I'm very sorry to hear your news on the mc.

I was on one after my anesthesia complication for about 4.5-5 days, and I remember absolutely nothing. My lungs did not recover after the leak repair, and I was on life support due to complications and lack of recovery from the 2nd surgery. I don't remember them removing it, or me waking up, I do recall my throat being scratchy for several days. I was not allowed to drink anything, or eat anything, no ice chips, nothing for over 20 days because of the complications so I can't comment on that aspect of my recovery. All they allowed me to do is scrub my mouth with these repulsive lemon flavored hint of menthol swab thingies. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers, please keep us posted.

I just used the hospital gowns for the first couple of days, but then had stretchy lounge pants with no drawstring with a baggy button down pajama top. My favorite article of clothing post-op is a front closure cotton sports bra, light support. For me, I really hate bebopping around the cold-ass hospital halls nipples poking through the hospital gown or shirts, and personally don't want to see other women's high beams shining through. I know others think this is so ridiculous, but keeping the girls in that front closure bra kept them up and out of the way, and made walking so much easier. They provided no skid sock things, but I took no-slip slippers to wear as well.

Yep, I did it at about 18 months out, and the results were 4.9oz max capacity in 4 minutes 34 seconds before I felt like I was going to upchuck that One last bite. I've also done it with the Yoplait Thick N Creamy yogurt and could only get in 5oz in 5 minutes without feeling like I wanted to vomit. I burped up some of the cottage cheese because of how fast I ate(at least that's what I figured it was from).

I buy large eggs. I rarely, I mean like 2-3 times a year attempt scrambled eggs because those boogers still do not work well with my sleeve. I have to slather them in cheese to get down 1 whole large egg. I also use a hand mixer on high speed for 2 solid minutes to mix the eggs until they are super frothy/foamy before I scramble them. I'm with Kelly, hard-boiled eggs, egg salad, baked eggs all work amazingly well. Scrambled eggs still to this very day sit like a brick in my stomach.

I am not a fan of breakfast food, but I did eat poached eggs with cheese because I could not handle scrambled eggs. I ate a lot of non-breakfast food for breakfast so whatever we had for dinner the night before became my breakfast. If you are a coffee or tea drinker, I recommend drinking some warm decaf tea to loosen up your sleeve before eating. It works wonders for me, and I drink regular coffee at this point before I consume any food. I avoided cereals, oatmeals, cream of wheat stuff because of the carb counts, and cereals like that are pretty mushy so I could eat way more of that than say chicken salad or egg salad.

My surgery date weight was 263 as well, and at 5'2" a BMI of 49. I low carbed it, and pushed Protein for the first 6 months until I got to goal. You'll have to find what works for you, and your body. Plus, I'm over a decade older than you. Follow your surgeon's directions. The "average" of percentage of weight loss in 12 months with the sleeve is only reported to show about 65% from my recollection, but you can read in the "Success Story" section of the forum that many, many, many of us have lost 100% of our excess weight in the first 6-9 months post-op. Best wishes ! ! !

I can tell you that I low carbed (no more than 30gr a day), and ate between 600-800 calories per day for my entire losing phase which lasted 6 months. Close to 600 for the first 2-3 months, and then was up to 800 by my 4th month because I had already lost 80lbs. In maintenance, I HAD to consume 1300-1500 calories per day to NOT lose weight. So, in my humble opinion, and based on my experience, my nut's advice, my surgeon's experience, and guidance, my metabolism has not been shot by being on a low calorie, low carb diet for 6 months of my life. I had plenty of fat stores, I also do not believe at all in starvation mode, I think the body is a miraculous, well-adapting thing that will adapt to your nutritional and weight needs as time progresses. I think our body holds onto weight in responses to stress, and sodium intake and the inevitable stalls because of rapid weight loss initially which is a lot of Water weight. I never experienced a true stall which means no weight, and no inches lost for a minimum of 14 days. Not once did my scale not move, or drop a couple of inches and I can assure you I was rigid, and strict in my losing phase. But in maintenance, and especially in pregnancy, it's a different story. Your BMR will change as you lose weight, you're body fat % will decrease while your muscle mass increases, and your body will adjust. You won't be eating 500 calories a day forever. I honestly do not know of one single VSG'er that is 2-5 years out that eats below 1200-1500 calories a day in maintenance, and have been able to stabilize their weight. Now, some of them still restrict carbs pretty strictly, but I do not. I still eat Protein first, and then I eat green veggies and starches.

How much do you have to lose???? I had over 100 pounds to lose and around 5 months out I had dropped around 90-95lbs. There is no average since the percentage of weight loss is the primary indicator for weight loss surgery patients and not actual pounds lost. A patient that has 100+ pounds to lose might lose more number of pounds as someone with only 70 pounds to lose, but it's the percentage of weight loss is what is used to figured "average weight loss" for bariatric patients.

The Iron is sufficient as long as it's giving you 100% of the daily recommended value. I've never had to supplement with additional iron on my Vitamin regimen. As for calcium being thrown into Vitamins, this is just my guess, and very negative view of certain "vitamins" on the market. Manufacturers need to market/sell their product, if they put more crap on the label it'll sell better. The iron interferes with the calcium absorption so it's not gonna make a hill of Beans on that portion of the vitamin, and from what I can find on the supplement/ingredient label it appears to be calcium carbonate which isn't readily absorbed anyways.

I had to add 100% juice for added calories, and completely stop cardio, and my body did the same thing. I was adding calories and still dropping weight and inches. It's very frustrating, and others have accused me of "bragging" and being a "b*tch" because I fell below goal, and that losing was "easy". Hell it was easy, too easy to lose weight, but you know what really hurts is when you see bones protruding from your skin without hunching over, or when veins are showing through your skin and people area genuinely concerned because you're still losing weight. There was nothing fun about force feeding myself chunks of avocados, or eating heaping spoonfuls of Peanut Butter to get my losing stop. That is NOT fun, nor is it what I thought it was going to be like in maintenance. I had "friends" calling me names like "bobble head minnie", or "broomstick betty" because I was "too thin". I also got the lovely chronically inflamed tailbone, skin tissues on my tailbone, and being labeled as underweight and being accused of having an eating disorder is very disheartening, and no one knows that battle until they've been there. It is NOT FUN, it is not easy, and it's very draining mentally. There is no way to say it, there is no way to explain it until you go through it, and then it's just overwhelming.