Search the Community

Congrats on all your progress. Any plans to do anything to acknowledge your progress and surgerversary? Sorry to hear that you are having difficulty losing those last 12 pounds. I'm not sure I can be helpful with suggestions since it sounds like you have tried many things so far. I would say making a change to exercise or food intake, but I'm guessing that you've done both in different ways so far. I did not have a weight goal when I started my process. My goal was no CPAP and BP pills. A specific number for the scale was NOT on my motivation list. When I got rid of the CPAP, I was thrilled. Exact weight wise, my body kind of chose a slowing point for weight loss. I started to see myself as smaller and felt ok with the size. I actually became concerned about not wanting to get smaller because did not want to look sick or be too little since that's not really me. I then looked at the number on the scale and chose what I thought was a good buffer weight since weight will fluctuate by a few pounds as we are living life. So, I picked the number that way. I was only like 3 pounds away from that selected goal weight at that time. I kept eating by the plan from my surgery program and I lost those 3 pounds to hit the goal weight. I think that took maybe around a month or so. It was slower at that point as my body had found its resting point. I was fine with that. I will say that I've lost 3 more pounds since getting to my goal weight. That's fine with me. Gives me more space for fluctuating. I still eat according to plan. I weigh every morning without any emotional distress. It holds me accountable for anything I did the prior day. I'm saying all this to just say that perhaps you can celebrate success where you are. I read so many people post goal weights here and how some struggle with frustration at times due to difficulty getting to that exact number. Perhaps that's not the best strategy. Just my thought. Like if I weighed 5 pounds more, would I be ok with that. Yep. Just sharing so maybe you can have less frustration about where you are. Sounds like you did great. Congrats! 🤗🙋‍♀️👍

Fab to hear your update @DaisyAndSunshine 13lbs is so inspiring - to you and everyone here! I've lost 10 or 11lbs a month for the last 3 months now. Not expecting things to stay at that rate but it's pretty sweet while it lasts. We've lost a similar amount and have a similar way to go. Bring it on! My main issue remains getting enough fluids would you believe. I get hungry and eat without thinking that I will need an hour (more usually) afterwards to let that settle so I can drink. And then I get hungry again and have to eat RIGHT NOW. I have tried loads of different strategies but I think my work is to blame - it's so busy and immersive that my coffee goes cold and my water bottle just sits there. What I often end up doing is drinking two or three glasses of diet coke after my evening meal and before my supper - I seem to have no problem getting *that* in!

You have been busy @ms.sss. Never heard of this process at all but it’s great you’re so pleased with the result so far: you can really see a difference. Is it a permanent result like tattooing or do you have to have annual or similar touch ups like micro blading? It’s good to hear about treatments that actually work. So many end up being an expensive waste of money. Micro blading my thin & patchy brows 2 yrs ago was the best thing I ever did @XtinaDoesIt. It’s a bit grit your teeth painful too even with the numbing cream but unsure how it would compare to full tattooing. I also did brow laminating to tame my brows but that was a waste of money. It worked but my brows grow quickly & within a fortnight everything was crazy again & I’d trimmed off a lot of the laminated brows. Dying my brows is the same. By week three I’m using brow mascara to cover the grey hairs. I botoxed my chin before Christmas & was happy. Last month I decided to do my forehead as well. But it hasn’t lasted. It kicked in really quickly, like 3 days, & it was great. Between my brows is going strong but my forehead is much like it was. ☹️ Maybe I need the industrial strength stuff 😂. I’m way more conscious of how I look: general ageing & the loose skin on my face since my surgery. But not game enough to do facial plastic surgery yet either. Though last week when the young girl asked if the children’s pjs I was buying were for my grandchildren may be I should. Boy did she get an earful from me. Everything from gender stereotypes (not every woman has children), ageism, making generalisations, being presumptuous, etc. Also pointed out that I’m not that old that the children couldn’t be mine.

I remember this same topic you posted a week ago. I replied on it. But yea its not just your employer. Its all of Florida blue and any medical plan from the healthcare.gov website. Many states they dont have to cover it so they dont. Which really sucks. I have thought about moving to a state that does cover it but that would be more trouble than its worth in my opinion lol But yea either start saving, or you can try getting a loan maybe? My hospital suggested a company called Prosper but getting a loan of over 20 grand sucks without collateral.

Hello all, has anyone had any luck with getting their secondary insurance to pay for their surgery when the primary doesn't cover it? My employer provided healthcare insurance is Florida Blue & it sucks. There's an exclusion for everything related to bariatric surgery - no band, balloon, gastric bypass, sleeve, revision, or repair of previous surgeries. My secondary insurance, BCBS Michigan, covers everything. It's a great plan and I hardly had to pay for anything when I got the lapband 20 years ago. I've had trouble with the band & I want to get it removed. I would like to get a revision to a gastric bypass so I don't regain all the weight I lost. I've made some calls to surgeons & was told by one insurance coordinator that if my primary rejects paying for it then my secondary won't pay for it because that's "coordination of benefit". Arrrghh I'm going to see a surgeon in a couple weeks. I haven't seen a bariatric doctor in 10 years (my bad). [emoji44][emoji38] I had talked myself out of the fear of getting a revision to a bypass & now it seems that I can't get it. I'm so mad at my employer for providing minimal, crappy insurance & that having secondary insurance doesn't help at all. Background: I'm 5'5 & 240 now. I was 5'6 & 315 in 2002 when I got the band. I got down to 195 but had saline removed 10 years ago after having some problems. Now I have GERD & some other issues. Sent from my Pixel 4a using BariatricPal mobile app

Yes, from my experience, I had them quite a bit the first 3 months... Then they began tapering off. By 6 months, they were gone. Sent from my SM-S908U using BariatricPal mobile app

Yes, I'm only 3 days out not even on solids at all yet all liquid

That ( the restriction) truly depends on the person and the surgeon. It is different for everyone. I am 8 months po. Would I do the surgery again, I don't know, would I have lost weight without it probably not. Yes you will be able to eat a whole slice if pizza. I ate 3 slices of a small pizza in 1 sitting.

11weeks post-op, and although I have nausea on and off all day, and am on 2 different nausea meds, I would not do any different. I am not losing as quickly as some, but (one) I have always had a hard time losing, and (two) if I feel like eating, it's better than the nausea. (Eating usually does not cause the nausea-when I do misbehave, I own up to it, lol) I've lost 30 pounds in those 11 weeks, and that's fine with me.. 25 years ago, it took me two YEARS to lose fifty. (Then a family member got sick, and the diet went out the window.) My doc says the nausea has to do with hormonal changes and most people are over it by now, but as long as he tells me it is not a lifetime thing, I can deal with it. Do it again? You betcha!

Ok, I fully admit, I've become an addict of sorts to "appearance-enhancing" procedures since my first foray into plastics 2+ years ago (i got a tummy tuck, arm lift and breast lift back in Dec 2019) I am pretty confident i'm done with plastics (though ask me again in 10 years, as i may be of a different opinion, lol), but have had a whole bunch of non-surgery stuff done in the last little while: lash extensions, micro-needling, teeth whitening, botox (forhead and jaw), fillers (cheeks and laugh lines), and lib blushing (a natural looking-lip colour tattoo basically). Anyhoo...I digress...I actually wanted to share the latest thing I succumbed to: Scalp Micro Pigmentation (SMP). For those that are not familiar, its basically a process whereby a technician tattoos hundreds (thousands?) of tiny little dots all over your scalp to look like hair follicles, and give the appearance of hair density. The majority of SMP clients are men with already bald heads, as the results can be quite dramatic. But more and more women are getting it now, including me! HOWEVER. It EFFING hurts. I have tattoos on my butt and my forearm, and SMP hurts waaaaaaay more than those did. And, the sessions are LONG. 5-6 hours each (though I was told sessions are shorter for bald heads...when you have hair on your head already, esp long hair, it takes more time to manoeuvre around it). I cried for about 4 hours the first time, 12 minutes the second time, and no crying at all the last time. I guess I got used to it. So check out the before after video below. The vid on the left is me in all my scalp-showing glory. The vid on the right is me immediately after my second session (note that there are still large pigment dots and a few scab formations here). I had my third and final one last week and should be fully healed/final results in about a month. I am very pleased. Especially now that its all over! P.S. I also wanted to mention that my thinning hair was already an issue before WLS. Any hair that I lost after WLS came back eventually, and I reverted to my regular state of thin hair from pregnancy/childbirth. It's was all the Kid's fault. P.P.S. Btw, I tried to imbed this video smaller but couldn't figure it out! Sorry! basmp.mp4

Hi there! My pre op diet still allowed vegetables and I found that pickles and olives were my new best friends! Just had my gastric bypass surgery 3/30 and I'm still recovering. Hope this helps you!

Seventeen years ago my wife had GBS and for a while she was doing awesome she was losing the weight following her program eating only what was allowed and exercising this went on for at least 2-3 years then it all hit her between the eyes she was sick all the time throwing up and dumping pretty much everything she was eating she couldn't even drink the protein shakes the food was going right through her, our marriage was on the brink because we could not do anything as a couple because she had to stay close to the bathroom just in case, so one day i said you need to see a doctor and her being so sick this went on for about 6 months so we made the appt and the doctor said it was normal and to get some rest and just go back to eating like you did when you got out of the hospital , so she did and it got a little better and a little better than one night she looked at me and said " i didn't get sick today Hun" i didn't even realize it until she mentioned it so we agreed that maybe we should just stay with the shakes for a little while longer (3 or 4 more days) and try to eat something like ground up chicken she tried that and it stayed down basically a real long story but she started feeling much better and started eating better and the dr didn't know what it was but he said what all drs say when they don't have an answer " i don t know Mrs. Cooper" anyway all i cared about at that point in my life is my wife getting better nothing else to this day she still has bouts of dumping and getting sick nothing like those yrs ago , not even close , when she does get sick i think back to all those years ago i go right back there and lose focus on what's important and that's her and not me and how i feel it's about how she feels i can only imagine she must think not again, well i am going to end here cause i could go on but i would rather not rehash those horrible days seventeen yrs ago.

3.5 years out. ZERO regrets (other than not doing it sooner, like many others) My eating habits have not gone “back to normal”, as in my pre-op days, but has definitely expanded since the early days post surgery. I still eat much less and much slower than everyone else around me, but thats just fine with me. I also eat a wide range of foods (including not-as-healthy options) and am doing just fine. Been maintaining below goal weight almost 3 yrs now. I do still dump as well, but again, this is easily avoided (not too much sugar at a time, and never on an empty stomach). ALL of my obesity-related issues are long gone, and i feel awesome. Confidence, energy and attitude are way up (as is my wardrobe, lol). So yeah, no regrets. Good Luck! ❤️ P.S. @18kDays: are u contemplating surgery or have you already started the process?

I opted for the LapBand 12 yrs ago, had many rough days, and only lost weight the first year. I regret that surgery because I ended up constantly sick and suffered over a year because of the pandemic. They removed it last year and I'm having all types of digestive problems - GI said I have Gastroparesis which they think the Gastric Sleeve is the best course of action. See the surgeon next week. They took me off vegetables and salads. I hope I can eat those again after my healing wait period. now I'm gaining weight like crazy and sugar levels are out of whack. I qualify for the WL surgery just from my BMI and comorbidities. I hope not creating a worse problem.

Hi All! Its been a while since I posted anything or been active. I found out in November that I was pregnant. I was 8 months out of surgery when I got pregnant. My fiance and I had just gotten engaged a few months before and were planning our wedding. So it was definitely a surprise! I was really nervous about proceeding with the pregnancy. I just knew I would be ready in just one more year (I've been saying that for the last 5 years!) BUT I was pregnant now, 33, in a great relationship, with a stable income, healthier then Ive been in a while and all out of excuses not to start my family. So my journey began... I am currently 23 weeks pregnant! This is my first pregnancy so I have nothing to compare it with but this has been my experience in case any of you find yourself in my situation. Its hard to find doctors who understand how VSG affects my pregnancy. They understand that I need to be monitored more but don't really get the nuances. One example; I was given this HUGE jug to collect my urine over 24 hours. When I returned it, I was told that they need AT LEAST 4X more urine than I had collected. They were convinced I didn't collect all my urine. I told them that was everything I had to give! They told me to drink more water. Now this community knows how hard that task is. I still can not eat and drink at the same time. I also cant just drink a gallon of water in one go. It feels like a herculean task. I have tried 3 times and have still not filled this jug! I've learned that drinking tea increases my urine output so I have hope for my next attempt. I was really sick throughout my first and second trimester. I already had bad acid reflux before and after surgery and was taking omeprazole to relieve it. Turns out you can't take anything stronger than Tums while pregnant. So on top of the normal nausea, I felt the need to throw up to relieve my indigestion and heartburn. I started really hating food when everyone else kept trying to feed me more! I've been feeling better now though. I was allowed to take pepcid and it actually helps. Now, I have the desire to eat more but still cant eat more than a few bites of anything in one sitting. My food also takes forever to digest so I have to be really picky about what I eat. Fruits are my best friend! I kept my surgery a secret. My fiance and sister are the only ones I told about my VSG. So no one really gets why Im having a hard time eating more. They also keep wanting to see my belly but Im not sure how to explain my incisions. It feels too late to say anything now... so its awkward and more isolating than it could have been. But my family can be SUPER judgy so I think they would just find a way to make me feel bad about it and I don't need the added stress. I get to do more sonograms than your average mom to be. Because of my VSG and previous hypertension, I'm monitored more and have more doctor visits. I really don't mind! I love getting to see whats going on in there! So far so good... mostly. I keep expecting the docs to say my baby isn't growing or Im malnourished but that doesn't seem to be the case. Everything is progressing normally and baby looks good. They did mention that one of babys kidneys is not eliminating waste as it should. The other kidney is fine but they want to keep an eye on it. Of course we are worried but its actually pretty common and generally resolves itself. If it doesn't, there is a small procedure to fix it after birth (if necessary) so we are trying not to sweat it. I got Covid. I'm a teacher and as soon as the mask mandate was removed, I got COVID. Never mind that Ive been vaccinated, boosted and was still wearing my mask! Im actually recovering now. (SIDE NOTE: We seem to be having a second surge at my school. I wonder if any other teachers (or parents) have noticed that?) I was EXTREMELY sick the first week. I was lightheaded, coughing, full of mucus, achy and just couldn't get out of bed. I also couldn't take any medicines because of the pregnancy. My mom kept sending me home remedies but when I looked them up, there was always a warning for pregnant people. I just had to ride it out. Baby seems ok but I'll know more at my appointment next week. As far as my VSG goals... I was 195-200 lbs when I found out I was pregnant (SW:267) and had been stalled there for almost 2 months. I was getting a bit discouraged because my whole weight loss process had been so slow and felt harder for me than it seemed like it was for some people here. I also had a friend who had her VSG after me and had lost almost twice as much weight as I had so I knew it wasn't in my head. I started drinking again and sneaking in more cheat snacks. When I found out I was pregnant, I cut out all alcohol and was really strict about making sure the little food I ate was good for baby. I dropped 20-25 more pounds. Im currently 175 lbs. I havent really gained any weight. Part of me is happy about that and still trying to get to my goal of 155 while pregnant. But I know I have to put on weight for baby. It's really a mind f**k. Doctors say the baby is growing normally so there isn't much to worry about... yet. Technically I'm still overweight and they don't recommend as much weight gain for overweight moms. Im entering my third trimester now and am supposed to put on 1-2 lbs a week. We'll see how that goes. Im still trending downwards... If you made it to the end, thanks for reading through this entire post. I hope it helps. I hope to update you with only good news in the weeks to come! Last note, I'm having a girl! So exciting!!! My VSG has definitely complicated things but I think we made the right decision and I am really excited about entering this next chapter of my life healthier than I have been in years!

With all do respect, you are very defensive and a touch confrontational in your responses. I experienced this with you a couple weeks ago. People are not going to respond if they feel they are at risk of being attacked for their opinion. You are from the Boston area it seems, as am I originally and I know that people from there can be a little pushy and argumentative so I get it. Chill out a little my friend.

I don't post a lot, but I do read a lot. What I have seen sometimes are new posters who post a lot and share a lot very quickly, then they disappear within a few weeks. In the meantime, people have equally shared their experience and invested a lot of time in reponding to the new poster. Next time round, another new poster who posts a lot and shares a lot very quickly and each time round, existing members are slower to respond. Existing members are then waiting to see if the new poster is going to stick around, see if its worth engaging in a meaningful way. Particularly when the new member is posting a lot of personal info and asking others to exchange the same about them and/or asking questions that may take a lot of time to respond to. Give it time, this may be an anonymous message board but some people still are still cautious and want to take time to get to know others in a basic way, see if they can relate to the person and their personal circumstances and/or their questions and if they do, then they engage in a more meaningful way. A lot of people are short of time too, they like to come and go quickly and may respond to posts that do not require a lot of time.

I'm 1 week before you on the 12th. Best of luck to you!

Hi there I had mines done at MBC in Mexico and had a great experience. I’m 5 weeks post op and so far so good.

I know how you feel @ShoppGirl. I’ve put on a little weight too this year (about 2 kgs) which I can’t lose. I hadn’t updated my weight here either but your post motivated me to do it. I’ve been struggling with the head aspects of the gain & you may think oh it’s only 2kgs but to me it’s 2kg in a giant loud hailer voice in my head & that it may be just the beginning. Logically I know there’s nothing wrong with what I weigh but I’d rather I was 49 again which I’d been stable at for over a year (48.5-49.5 fluctuation). I tell myself it’s just a number but …. Today I bought a new outfit for winter & all the while I’m agonising over the worry that if I continue to gain it may not fit when I want to wear it. Experienced that a lot in the past. Plus I’ve been avoiding the scale. Another old habit to avoid the reality of what I weigh. I know some of the cause has been because I’ve been trying to up my protein a little (I don’t absorb it well) & though I’ve reduced some things it’s obviously not been enough. I’m not very active either (I agree - gyms ugh!) but I have thrown in a couple of extra things to my usual daily running about routines & gentle stretching like standing push ups. May not help with my weight but might tone my arms a little. Gotta find a positive. My surgeon’s colleague was fine with the gain when I saw her 6 weeks ago for my 3 monthly check up. It’s just that I’m not. Sigh!

I’m hoping to be on the 11th as well. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that date. It gives me a week at home to recover during spring break. Nothing motivates me like the numbers in the scale going down, and I am really looking forward to that! Reading different topics helps to normalize this entire experience which takes away much of the stress. Good luck and welcome!

I have chicken tenders regularly with salad for lunch. Cook them in the airfryer & freeze in individual bags for when I want them. I spent two weeks eating out of my freezer recently. Decided I needed to eat some of leftovers I freeze because my freezer was full & there ‘s still heaps of meals left in there. It’s like the Magic Pudding of freezers (classic Aust children’s literature reference). Also been cleaning out my pantry again - a shelf every week. So much stuff to toss again with expired use by dates. A result of the buying in bulk habits from the last couple of years. Did keep the soya bean pasta I bought last year even though it didn’t work. I’ll give it another try one day (before it expires 😉).

So they are really on par with each other, since second one doesn’t include a breast lift. Btw this doesn’t include implants, I’m not interested in that and the surgeon actually said she recommends against it in cases like mine because they tend to shift, etc. Both recommended the same procedures. Both also said recovery would be a bit rough, but could return to a desk job in 2 weeks. Both also said I don’t have really any more fat to lose. Second surgeon showed me how he measured the arm skin and said it was basically just skin on skin at this point. Feels weird to have doctors saying that I’m done with weight loss, but I have to trust they know what they are saying. I’m still 165 and 23 bmi. So might have a reasonable amount of skin at the end of the day…. At this point leaning toward Dr Streu. She has a lot of experience and could do an additional procedure. I was fine not addressing a breast lift until I knew it was a possibility. She’s booking out until fall so would be a ways off but I’m strongly thinking about booking!