Lisalu

Jordien, Well, crap. I have hypertension, so I know how frustrating that is. One of my friends had VSG and her BP stayed high too. Not fair, is it? Mine has gone down at last reading (120/80) but I see I still need to monitor it. I agree with #50, it may just be the (bad) luck of your gene pool. My mother was hypertensive and not overweight, so mine may not stay down, either. Sigh.

Wow, we all have a lot to say about this topic. I really try not to graze. I eat 4X a day and supplement with Protein shakes. I will let a meal go on past 20 minutes though. I was a grazer before surgery. Grazing, not bingeing got me to over 200lbs. There is research out there suggesting that grazing is a common cause of WLS failure. I don't want that to happen to me. Check out this link http://ezinearticles.com/?Avoid-Weight-Gain-After-WLS:-Learn-the-Difference-Between-Snacking-and-Grazing&id=61380 I think we all need to find our own way after surgery. I'm glad there is no international rulebook out there; I'm sure I'd disagree with some part of it. For me grazing is out but maybe it's ok for you.

I've got 'em. I put some clothes on today and pants are getting saggy in the crotch. I put on a favorite shirt and now my bra shows under the arms. Time for a trip to the goodwill. Hurray! Looks like I may need medium shirts now and size 10 or 8(!) pants. La dee da.

I agree. I talk about my surgery pretty openly because I am trying to spread the word. I especially feel bad for heavy kids. I've been there and I know how tough it can be. I'm now near goal, so people meeting me for the first time think I'm a normal-weight person. It's weird. I know I'm a formerly heavy person who managed to lose weight, but all others see is a thin person. It's like I'm passing or something.

I'm not discounting what you say, but I am trying to give you another perspective. The grass is always greener somewhere else. I have straight hair and always wanted curly. I would get perm after perm trying to get super curly ringlets. I was so surprised to find out that many people with curly hair want it to be straight. Now I'm perfectly OK with my hair and will never get another perm. We are taught to want whatever kind of body is currently in fashion. As a teen, I wanted thin thighs like a swedish model. I'm not built like that; my legs are substanial.. (I'm pretty much built like an ancient greek statue of a woman. When my sister first moved to Greece with the AF and saw the statues, she quipped that they must have used our family as models.) Now I'm grateful for my big legs. Perhaps some day I will be grateful for my lack of hips, but not yet. BTW, low rise is going out of fashion and high waists are coming in. Criminy, that style looks lousy on me as I am short-waisted. I hate fashion.

"Consider yourself lucky to be a hipless wonder, especially as you get slim - that body type is who all the clothes are made for!" Globetrotter, it all just depends on where you are coming from. I AM a hipless wonder and I detest it. If I didn't have boobs, I'd look like a boy. I like girls (I mean I really like girls; I'm bisexual) and I've always fallen for the ones with a waist, hips and substantial butt. I am getting to be thin-ish, but I don't feel sexy because my figure is so boxy. By the time pants fit in the waist, they are getting loose in the butt and legs. I feel like I have to pick clothes strategically to create the illusion of a waist. In my opinion, pears are luscious; we bananas, less so.

My labs were great! Fasting glucose 87, A1c 4.9, BP 120/80 and no deficiences. This is definitely worth it.

Hmm, boxer shorts fitting like a glove? Now that's giving me a vivid image! Congratulations.

Yesterday, one of my co-workers, a sweet man really, told me "don't lose too much weight." I'm kind of flabbergasted. So I know he meant well, but I don't want the weight police on me now any more than I did when I was heavy. I am about 10 lbs from a healthy BMI but was considering lowering my goal weight a bit (10 more lbs?) to give me some wiggle room since some weight gain is common in years 2-5. Now I feel like I'll need to wear bulky clothes to hide me weight loss. Sheesh. I know people mean to be supportive but I don't really like them critiqing my size.

BJean, since I'm only 5'2", I'm more like those cute little specialty bananas than I am like a full sized Chiquita banana from the grocery store. :-)

5'2"

Sharon, I agree. After a certain age, super-thin does look gaunt. Right now my BMI is 26.something which isn't too thin by any means. Plus my face is naturally full, so my face doesn't look gaunt unless I'm emaciated. I'm soon to 48, so I do think about what will look good on me at this age. I have to balance that with what I need health-wise. I'm kind of banana shaped (thicker legs than apple-shaped folks but definitely no pear) so my waist is thick. Actually, think of a banana with big boobs and you'll have my general proportions. It isn't healthy to have a big waist so I may go below BMI 25. We will see.

OK, just want to poll people. Who do you tell about your surgery? Everyone, family, friends, only close confidants? I'm of two minds here. Clearly, it's nobody's business, so I don't need to tell anyone, but I feel like this might be a good opportunity to spread the word about this surgery. I ended up telling several of my adult students. They asked me how I managed to lose the weight. The women were overweight or obese, some morbidly so. One particularly heavy woman asked, "What is your secret?" I couldn't lie to her, couldn't make her think that if she just had more willpower, she could lose weight and keep it off. So I told them, though it made me feel sort of vulnerable. Most of my co-workers don't know so it's weird to have my students know but not my colleagues. I guess for now, I will decide case by case who I should tell.

I was exhausted at week 6 but started feeling myself about week 8. I am about week 13 now and feel great.

I have family in Ohio, so I considered going there for surgery. I wasn't impressed with the offerings there. First, the price quoted to me was high (23K) and the Dr. (Meyer, I think) didn't have a lot of experience. If you have insurance coverage, the price might not be a deterrent, and we all have different requirements as far as how much experience we are comfortable with. I almost went with Dr. Mark Pleatman in the Detroit area. He is very experienced but rubs some people the wrong way. I spoke to him on the phone and really liked him, but I come from a family of plain speaking (read: tactless) scientists, so his manner struck me as honest. His fees are very inexpensive. I ended up not having the surgery with Pleatman because I didn't have anyone to accompany me there. If you search messageboards for Pleatman, you'll see that people have strong feelings about him, both positive and negative. He does have some people suing him for malpractice but I don't find that surprising. First of all, surgeons get sued a lot, and second, if you're blunt, you tend to piss people off. A word about experience: lots of people have good luck with a relatively inexperienced surgeon, but it is true, statistically, that all sorts of complications go down after a surgeon has completed about 300 laparascopic VSGs. I'm a single parent, so I looked for the most experienced surgeon I could find. I almost went to Cirangle/Jossart in San Francisco, but again had trouble finding someone to go with me. Finally I opted for Toby Broussard in OK because he had lots of experience and I had family there. Good luck finding a surgeon.

I think it's unlikely to be a leak this late out. An abcess is possible but they are pretty rare. If it were me, I'd probably get it checked out just to be sure. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing.

I guess this is a P.S. I was hesitant to come out on this board too. Finally I came out on this sub-forum and it turned out that I was coming out to nearly everyone on the board. Lots of non-GBLT folks read this forum. Everyone has been very supportive. If someone has a problem with my sexuality, they've stayed in their homophobe closet. Now that's a happy turnaround.

Yes, the queers are here. I was sleeved in late June and I now have a BMI of 26.something. It's awesome. My gay friends have responded much like my straight friends: afraid at first but now supportive. My best gal pal (but not girlfriend) has been consistently telling me how hot I look. It rocks! Welcome.

Stacey, sorry to hear you are feeling punky. I think it's the thyroid giving you problems and it may be messing with your moods too. Start them meds! quote name='stcyt' timestamp='1286550326' post='84269'] Hi all... its been a while since I've posted... I hope everyone is doing great and rocking their sleeves!!! I have been feeling a little (alot) defeated lately and I figured I'd post since you guys always seem to lift me out of my funk with your wise words. So... about 3 weeks ago I had 18 lbs to go till goal.... today I have 22 lbs to go till goal. I am feeling very much like I did pre surgery.... like I will spend the rest of my life trying to get these 20 lbs off. Its so discouraging. I don't want to go down this road. Heres whats been happeneing. I have lost at an incredibly slow rate. Last month 3 lbs only. I eat only lean meets, veggies, greek yougart, and limited fruit. I work out HARD 2x per day. 3 weeks ago I contracted one of those bacteria resistant bugs in the form of a UTI. Its been very unpleasant and I am currently taking tow different antibiotics and have been through a course of two others. Between the UTI and the high doses of antibiotics... I just haven't felt like working out. I figured that maybe I wouldnt loose weight.... but if I continued to eat correctly I at least wouldnt gain (I plan on returning to my work out regemine when I can) Also..... my Dr says I have hypothyroidism and wants to start meds soon... I"m hoping that will help. Every morning I get up and see the scale has eaked up just a bit once again.... I'm scared.... I'm so happy I had this surgery... I have lost 40lbs and feel great.... but I really want to hit GOAL!!!! thanks for your encouragement stacey

I use artificial sweeteners because I had pre-diabetes before the sleeve and I have to be careful with carbs. Also, I like sugar better than crap (read: artificial sweeteners) so it keeps my sweets-demon in check. It keeps me from consuming lots of empty calories. All that being said, I'm aware that artificial sweeteners are "frankenfood" and potentially harmful. If you can use them responsibly, then go for it. I seem unable to use sugar responsibly :-(.

Great posts. I would like to add something to Maddie's explanation of stalls. The liver makes glycogen (read: stored glucose) in order to keep blood glucose levels steady. The liver doesn't convert fats into gycogen though, it either needs carbs or protein. This is why keeping our protein up is so important. Our muscles and brain run on ketone bodies (which do come from fat metabolism) and glucose. If we don't have enough protein to synthesize the glucose we need, our bodies will break down muscle. Not what we want.

Here I am thinking I'm hot sh*t wearing my size 10s, when I decide to try on one of my mom's suits from the late 60s. My mom was about as tall as me and weighed from 125 to 140 at different times. The jacket fit but I couldn't button the skirt without creating a muffin top (and possibly a stricture of some sort). Ok, I think, about 7-10 pounds more for this suit to be comfortable. Then I look at the label: size 12. That means that in 1960s' sizes, I'd be wearing a size 14 now. Wow. Then I remember that I wore 13s and 14s in high school and I weighed 130 lbs. So when they tell us that Marilyn Monroe wore a 12, really it probably was an 8 by 2010 standards. Along with supersizing our meals, they've supersized our clothes.

Dang, now you've got that dumb John Lennon song going thru my head!

Do not, for any reason, take three laxative pills instead of two in order "to speed things up," even if, in the past, at least 2 doses 12 hours apart were necessary to get things moving. DO NOT DO IT. That is all, thank you. (entire post written in the bathroom)