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This is my first photo post on BP! I read this forum almost every day and find it so helpful but never had the nerve to post a picture. My one year surgiversary was last week and I’ve lost 118 lbs total. Hit my goal in less than 10 months and been maintaining since. Before this summer, I don’t remember the last time I wore white pants, but now I have 3 pairs! 😊

5'2", ♀️10m PO, maintaining 114.8 lbs Had a couple gal pals drop by after lunch yesterday afternoon and I set out a little spread of snacks along with the coffee to serve 'em. Too bad I partook a little too much in the snacks cuz I had another dumping episode and had a painful poop then had to lay down and nap for a few hours. That's THREE dumpings in the past 7 days! Geez. Menu for Yesterday, Wed Aug 28: Totals: 2185 cals - 115g protein - 130g NET carbs - 125g fat 9:00am (4 cals) 2 black coffees + Stevia 11:30pm (291 cals) salad greens + jalapeño + vinaigrette pan fried sirloin steak in butter roasted vegetables 1:30pm (403 cals) cottage cheese + blueberries + pumpkin seeds + black pepper salad greens + vinaigrette pan fried sirloin steak in butter 1 dark chocolate square 4:30pm (740 cals) 10 wheat thins w/ peppercorn pâté 1½ cups Chicago mix popcorn 2 Peek Freans Fruit Creme Biscuits 200g chocolate peanut butter Protein Frozen Dessert (i.e., fake ice cream) 1 dark chocolate square 11:45pm (748 cals) ½ cup clam chowder 100g sweet potato & paneer curry 25g beef jerky cottage cheese + blueberries + pumpkin seeds + black pepper 2 dark chocolate squares Yesterday's Exercise: 3k run 15 min strength training (arms)

Well, that was a horrendous experience. BUT, all is well now. My gastric sleeve was performed on August 12th 2019. All the pre-op stuff was fine and I was excited and looking forward to a quick exit on day 2. I notice that most of you are in the USA, which I am not so there are a few things we do differently. My blood's were all good and the day before my op I just had to ring the private hospital I was going to, to check on what time my admission was on the Monday. I was first on the list for the day so was taken to theatre at 0830am. I hopped onto the operating table myself, which was a bit weird, but I know some places do it this way. I was just trying not to stress and go with the flow! Cannulas were inserted into both hands and then off to the land of fairies I went. I am oblivious to how much later I woke, but I was in absolute agony and the Dr's struggled to get my pain under control. Eventually, after lots of vague voices/mumbling/crying, I must have zonked out again before being taken back to my room. Now the next 8 days are a bit jumbled and blurred. My family have clarified some things for me so I 'kind of' have a correct recollection of events. I was in constant and severe abdominal pain. I could not stop vomiting. I could not keep in 2.5ml of water per 5 mins. By Day 8 post-op, my Surgeon decided to do a Dilation via Endoscope because he had decided that I had a constriction. By this stage, I was on regular morphine, IV potassium (it had dropped due to the vomiting) and constant fluid balance. As you can imagine I was desperate and delirious by this point. I woke from the endoscopy....in the same pain, still unable to hold anything in. I'm not sure how soon after this I was transferred via emergency ambulance to the big local hospital and had a revision done, so have ended up with a '1 anastomosis bypass'. Finally being able to drink and keep it down was amazing and such a huge relief. Lots of other bits went on during all this as I had to have a midline catheter put in rather than the normal cannulae that you would have in your hands/arms etc, lots of medication tweaking, iv fluids, blood tests etc So you can see my abdomen day 1, then a few days later and then starting to fade well today All in the wrong order lol the middle pic is today. I also had a fall in the bathroom on the 20th and landed on the toilet, I only vaguely remember the fall and thought I had broken my ribs (obvs hadn't), then had no recollection of the fall for a few days lol! ANYWAY! Now the horror is over and I am finally home, I am tolerating protein fluids well, got my high protein milk made up and add it to my breakfast smoothie and tomato/chicken soup. Not so keen on the slight texture the protein powder leaves in my mouth but hey ho. I am super weak and wobbly and showering myself and getting my 'drinks' are my limit, but just trying to do a little more each time I stand up AND I must remember I had not 1 but 2 major ops plus all the stress and strain in between I am absolutely dying to taste REAL food and not thick claggy high protein things with so much sweetness. Even tinned soup is too sweet sigh I have my 2 weeks follow up with my surgeon and Dietician next week. Weight is falling off I have lost 15kg/33lbs to date

So, I saw my surgeon and nutritionist today. Here are the highlights: - My surgeon thinks my weight has stabilized (147 today) and that I should now start maintenance. She said I should increase my calories to 1200 per day to start with and see how things go. I can tweak it as I go along to find the sweet spot where I'm no longer losing nor gaining. She did say I can expect a gain of 5-10 pounds once I'm on maintenance. - Both of them told me it's very natural to be able to eat more at this point. They said that eating more is fine as long as you continue good habits and know when to stop. - My surgeon was actually happy that I'm able to drink so much water and said it was not an issue. (I'm getting 90-120 oz per day.) - They both said I should not be counting calories nor grams of protein if I have a good sense of what works for me--and I do. They said the strict calorie counting and measuring was more of a learning tool during the first few months and was not intended to be a life-long habit. - They said I should eat more fruits and vegetables, even if it means getting a bit less protein. That made me very happy! Otherwise, they were very pleased with where I am. The surgeon said my saggy skin was not that bad compared to other patients, which made me feel better!

I'll be sure too. Thanks again [emoji4] 5'4" Starting weight 297 VSG on 7/31/19 Surgery wt: 266 CW 244 GW 135 Sent from my [samsung Galaxy] using BariatricPal mobile app

I had gastric sleeve done on March 2019... and down 63 lbs as of today. I had a TPN and Upper GI procedures done to see why Im still not keeping down solid foods. However, since the surgery no matter what I do and went to dentist and all, my breath smells awful now!! I client face and have to work with the public all day.. this is embarrassing!! Has anyone else experience this? If so.. please help me with a solution! 😔 The weight coming off is a success, however the hair falling out, bad breath and not being able to eat anything hasn’t been a good experience. Does it get better?

I kinda wish I had this problem but I'm currently dealing with everything I eat passes right through me [emoji853]. Nothing seems to help either. I hate eating at work now. The bathroom are not private and are way over crowded.... time is of the essence. 5'4" Starting weight 297 VSG on 7/31/19 Surgery wt: 266 CW 245 GW 135 Sent from my [samsung Galaxy] using BariatricPal mobile app

You look great!! Congratulations!! 5'4" Starting weight 297 VSG on 7/31/19 Surgery wt: 266 CW 245 GW 135 Sent from my [samsung Galaxy] using BariatricPal mobile app

Looking on the bright side, at least she chose a snack with a lot of protein! I once heard that peanut M&Ms were the best choice from a vending machine because of the protein--much better than pretzels. Having said this, my BFF is BONE THIN and adopted a girl with weight issues. She also hides food. She is 19 now and orders from Uber Eats when her mom isn't home. It is very hard on my friend to see her daughter struggle but I know the girl feels as if her mom doesn't know what she is going through because her mom has always been very thin. This is such a tough situation. I wish I had some advice but I don't....just a story that relates to your struggle. Sorry!

I wonder if you helped her divide sweet treats like the candy into tiny portions and have her see if she can have control over portion size. Maybe 10 M and Ms? We all know that the first bite or 2 are the best and after that you just mindlessly eat the rest of a serving or bag.

I'm usually around 1100-1300 per day, but I relax some on the weekends and I maintain pretty well. (19 months post-op)

Well in typical form I’m going to turn this into a forum about myself. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your comments Sheri. My heart hurts for her because of something happened last week which I truly believe has to do with her weight. She’s a varsity cheerleader but she is the only one who is bigger than the size of a pencil (she’s 4’-10”, 150-160 pounds). They pulled girls for a “best of best” competition team to represent the school for Florida and national competition. It was supposed to be based on how well the girls could tumble. My daughter worked for months and months (even with private coaches) to get a standing back tuck (which is commonly called a backflip). She got it. Then when they announced who was on the competition team, they picked girls who did not have the standing back tuck but that were thin and cute. My daughter was totally devastated. I went out to lunch the next day with the parents of the other girls. We were watching high school football on the TVs in the restaurant. They were showing some cheerleaders on the sidelines and the ones they were showing were overweight. One of the other moms started making fun of them. I’m thinking; I’m right here! Anyway, She did a program at the Scottsdale weight loss center a few years ago but it wasn’t the right fit for her. They put her on Optifast and even started her on an appetite suppressant. She lost about 6 pounds but couldn’t tolerate eating all of those shakes and soups. I felt bad for her and I would’ve felt the same way. Ultimately we moved to Florida. We have spoken to several pediatricians as well. I feel like a nutritionalist would be best for her But it’s difficult for her to go to regular appointments because of her cheer conflict. She stays after school four days a week for practice. So I basically bought her a bunch of little goodies to kind of get her started on the same plan I am on. We picked out some snacks and things we would both like to eat and I bought groceries, meal prep containers, two dozen Evian waters, I even bought her some little fun things like body spray and clothes just to kind of make her feel better about herself. Very hard being a parent and also a moderator of her meal plans. In particular it’s hard because her brother and sister are both in the 5% weight range and are actually under weight. So she feels much like you described. I had hoped that my weight loss would be motivational to her and I know she can do it. I hope it hasn’t made things worse. She is so active and she just needs to cut back her calories a little bit. I do believe there’s some psychological stuff going on. Since having the surgery I couldn’t imagine eating a bag of M&Ms like that. It’s like I have totally forgotten the problems I had and why I couldn’t lose the weight before.... ahh how soon we forget...

My first goal for 2019 was to lose 50lbs by 50 years old. I turn 50 on Saturday and this morning i finally met my goal!!! 50lbs lost since 01/4/19 and 25lbs since surgery 7/23/19... woop woop!!! We just got back from New Orleans and I realized that i didn't need to eat or drink alcohol to truly enjoy myself, its who you surround yourself with! My sister came over from London, my daughter and her partner, my nephew plus 3 of my best friends and we had a blast!! The celebrations will continue for the next 2 weeks while other friends and family arrive from abroad to celebrate this milestone withme. #50lbsby50yearsgoalachieved

Awesome news. Yeah, this shift today is basically skipping a meal and a snack. Ugh, woke up this morning with a blinding headache. I live in Oklahoma and this is late August so it’s 98% allergen related. Took an anti-histamine, 2 Tylenols and have had a cup of coffee with a half-tablespoon milk and skipped the trivia packet. I had planned on skipping the morning coffee, but my headache said “no”. So I settled for the compromise of cutting way back on the amount of milk I add to it. Weighed in at 168.0 (up 0.2 pounds from Sunday am, but I’m also at no poop for 6 days and counting now....). Sigh.... gonna prolly need to resort to some MOM therapy today. 10 hours left on this fast. Wow this doesn’t seem daunting at all since I regularly do 16:8 and 18:6 all the time.

To me, the danger of this situation and her weight is the hiding of foods. When I was growing up, my step-father forbade us to have any sweets in the house. This, along with a lot of childhood trauma, set up a pattern of craving and hiding sweets. The high that the sweets would give me was amazing. My sister, who I shared a room with, actually started to hide sweets in a shoe box under her bed. She ended up with the opposite problem to me... very underweight. (She's definitely different genetically to me though... totally different build etc). I am very aware of this with my daughter - who has autism and is 10 - and so I am really trying to not freak out about her eating sweets. I am not forbidding it, I let her choose when she has some (within reason). I am teaching her to stop eating when she is full. So far so good... she is on the bigger side of her weight, but I put that down to puberty, autism and genetics. I don't know the solution for you, but I would caution you about making things off limits. It led to a lot of bingeing for me.

Well how my BD manifests itself for me. Since my still ongoing Weight loss, I have be3n fearful that I look like I'm on the verge of Anorexia or "Failure to Thrive" , scrawny neck, you now can see my collar bones and visualize my top 3 ribs in my chest cavity, hardly any boobs, down from 46DD to a 40/42B, depending on Bra price point. WAIST has diminished , pot belly is now a small warm- up skillet, Baby "no longer has back", now down to 2 small handfuls, if I could get a guy to grab them. Now the flesh on lower abdomen and thighs, especially inner portions, I liken to a balloon that was blown up and then air let out, an empty blobby stretched appearance, but the legs are beaten and trimmed enough I can wear leggings without somebody thinking I was poured into them and didn't know when to stop. And the sizing , ooh I GLORY at that, I'm back into Juniors where I truly belong, Okay still at the Upper End, 17 and 19 , but still a NSV or close to it, my BMI this AM is 29.2. All sounds pretty fine ? Well I am apprehensive that I look sickly and could possibly DIE! No Less than my Ortho, who called me by my Legal First Name, no MaMa did NOT christen ME Frustr8, I picked IT up along the way. Anyway Dr Doolittle, who is Sport Medicine along with Orthopaedics, so should be able to adequately assess body types. He said " Darlin'( from him I accept the endearment , most other guys I would "Jack-Slap" instead) You are merely starting to look NORMAL!" How would I Know That Already? I have never been NORMAL or AVERAGE in my whole existance! So although much of my Veiwing Public feels I look Just Fine, I fear I Am still the obese unbalanced ugly ME I used to Be, and it is difficult for my Rational Mind to overcome my Bruised Battered Emotional Foundation. I was told by Kith and Kin I was Ugly, Disgusting , barely worthy of life and nobody much wanted me Near Them. Case in Point--- I got a BonoFide Wolf Whistle the Other Day, I looked around because I thought it was a compliment given to someone Else. SAD, ISN'T IT?

Reached the 10 month post op mark four days ago. I've been in maintenance for about 3 months now, having decided to stop losing weight back in the end of May. Still trying to find my "sweet spot" in terms of calorie intake and exercise. It's basically been trial and error, but I think I'm getting close 🤞🏼 Regardless, I feel awesome and am almost used to the new bod. I'm still sometimes taken aback when I see my reflection, or when I fit into clothes that look microscopic to me. Anyhoo, here is a pic from a couple weeks ago (I'm wearing a bikini bottom for effs sakes! haven't worn one of those in decades). And for fun, some BEFORE pics (these were taken last summer, about 3 months before surgery)

Wow, you look awesome, and about 10 years younger!

Hi there, Lovin the pics of everyone loosing, isn't it a great feeling. This summer I went to UK with my son for my nieces wedding, my son brought up a pic from July of last year and I could see a "slight" difference lol Id taken photos through out the past 10 months but nothing compares to this one. Its been a long journey and my weight loss is slowing down to a crawl but still loosing! 150lb loss has blown me and my surgeon away, from a 32 to a 14 right now is so cool. I would like to get to a 12 then I can comfortably stop looking at the scale lol Hope you guys are doing ok, would love to see more pics of everyone!

@Lbtnew I ordered Gastric sleeve (pictured something green puree'd in a white bowl on cover) and Gastric sleeve 2019-2020 I just ordered them and have not received them yet but there are quite a few to choose from

I feel great today!!! One step closer to my goal! I am 7 months post op. Had Rny Jan 27, 2019. Made it to onederland today!!!!!! Brings me to 198lbs current weight.

Is it a glue? They put a glue over my stitches to help prevent infection. It’s suppose to start lifting and peeling on its own within 7-10 according to my surgeon and discharge nurse. I was told not to submerge myself in water (showers were okay) and no creams. I too had surgery on 8/19/19 VSG

Hey everybody. Just found and joined this forum tonight (Awesome Group🤩👍). I'm curious to know how you handled your incisions. I had my surgery 8/19/19 and my surgeon used this blue-colored "second skin" bandage on top of the stitches. It's starting to peel off (more like flake off) and I don't want them to come off too soon, because moisture helps tremendously with healing. What have you all done for yours?