sasicas

Bumping this as I was researching what is going on with me. I'm about 18 months out. Lately having increasing issues where I get super jittery. Seems to be when I've had too much caffeine and/or not enough to eat. This morning I had a cup of coffee then a small pancake and then another cup of coffee. Jitters came, dizziness came, headache started. Sat down ate some chicken and I finally going back to normal. At this point I know my labs have been fine other than being anemic, which my doctor thinks describes a lot of the dizziness I get now. No matter how slow I get up I can get a few feet away and everything goes black. I'm ok to just stand there while everything is black, then vision goes back to normal and I'm good to go again. We know that my bp seems to drop quite low if I don't eat enough too, found that out after my last surgery, they wouldn't feed me with my bp being dangerously low. My bp didn't recover until I was allowed to eat again. Just when I think I'm finally getting to some kind of normal my body decides to go all crazy. I suppose it's time to go see the doctor again and see what, if anything, needs to happen next.

From what I have seen the larger sizes lasted a lot longer than the smaller sizes. Initially it took awhile before the clothes started to fall off because my clothes were tight to begin with. Once I got down into a 12 I was changing sizes every 10-15 lbs.

It depends on a lot. Age, sex, genetics, exercise, etc all come into play with loose skin. I am in my 20s as well. My arms do not look bad, most ask me what exercises I do, until I lift my arm and let them see the wiggle My boobs, totally deflated, just skin is left. It's gross. My thighs, loose skin but not nearly as much as you would expect after losing 120 lbs. My stomach, well that is another story Now it did shrink back a whole lot. Way more than I expected. I carried a TON of weight in my stomach plus 3 c-sections and having carried twins meant it was all kinds of gross I did resort to a panniculectomy for that though, there was just no way it was going to shrink on it's own.

YAY! What a great update! You look wonderful

You look great!! Congrats on being so close to goal On pregnancy, well any surgery is hard on your body so that could be a factor in it. Personally, I can't have any more children but if I did I don't feel that at this point (15 months post op) that I could get enough in daily to keep my health going during a pregnancy but I do know people that got pregnant early out and were fine.

I've always gone straight to my bed, even after c-sections and the panniculectomy. What helped me is having a few big pillows under my head and a few under my knees.

You cannot compare yourself to others. We are all different and lose at different rates. Age, sex, height, weight, activity, genetics, size of your sleeve all play into weight loss. About how much do you need to lose?

Thank you everyone! It was an amazing experience I lost half my starting weight, started at 240 lbs and now I am 120 lbs

Thank you all so much for voting for me and helping me to win the Progresso Souper You makeover. I am still in shock that I actually won and was able to have such an awesome experience We flew in Sunday night and stayed in a really nice hotel in Beverly Hills. We found an amazing "swag bag" full of goodies including two Biggest Loser cookbooks, once of which was signed by Dolvett! There were even Snacks and Water in the bags and a duffle bag to get all the goodies home in, they really thought of everything Monday morning we were up bright and early for Breakfast and shopping. The other two winners and their guests were wonderful, and the ladies from General Mills were just amazing! We had a $1,000 shopping spree at a store nearby and let me tell you, I have NEVER paid so much for clothing in all my life, definitely something I won't experience again. ha. We had a camera crew taping and photographing us during the events so that was beyond weird but after awhile we just got used to them being there. We had a personal shopper that had spoken with each of us prior to the trip so she had pulled a bunch of clothes to try on before hand and after we tried all those on we were free to roam the store for more goodies. We were surprised with a rack of Progresso blue dresses in each of our sizes and we got to pick one as an added gift, as well as a pair of shoes! After shopping we took the limo back to the hotel and found a SOUPER yummy lunch planned for us and we did some more interviews, then had the rest of the day free. Hubs and I wandered around Rodeo Drive for awhile just window shopping (we had a cash card given to us too but tried not to spend it all in one place lol) and talked about missing the kids. ha. Life of a parent Tuesday morning was the big day. We headed to a wonderful salon in Beverly Hills for our makeovers. We started off with an amazing breakfast and then it was time for the hair to be done. I LOVE my hair! Quite the experience to be getting a mani and pedi while having my hair done too, guess it's all that fancy stuff I'm not used to hahaha. We had our makeup done as well and had a wonderful lunch brought in. During the hair and makeup, our guests were taken back to the hotel so they could be surprised by our new look. After we were all done up we all put on our Progresso blue dresses and went back to the hotel. Lets just say my husband was shocked. He has never, in 10 years of marriage, seen me so made up. I really felt like a princess getting the royal treatment. After the big reveal, pictures and interviews we headed off to the Biggest Loser finale! It was so neat to see the show live, of course it was SO loud that we hardly heard anything Allison or the contestants were saying There is a half a second shot of me in the first 30 seconds, you can definitely see my husband more clearly though. Quite a few shots of our backsides If you watch it, look for the sea of dark blue on the floor of the audience, that is us and I am the only girl with short hair After the Biggest Loser we grabbed dinner and headed to the after party. We met so many wonderful people there, it was great to just meet the past contestants and just listen to their advice on keeping the weight off. Unfortunately my regular camera sucks. Plain and simple. It takes awful pictures and at that point my cell phone was dead so many of the pictures came out blurry. Thankfully a few people did take pictures so hoping for some good shots from them. We headed home the next day and I still feel like it was a dream. When I hear about contests like this, I always think that real people don't actually win. But they do! I'm proof of that. It actually happened to me It happened thanks to the many wonderful people who voted for me. And it happened because having the sleeve done and losing the weight gave me the confidence to go for this. Even my husband told me to not bother applying because he figured it was such a long shot. And it was. Out of 13,000 entrants 3 of us were chosen and got to enjoy this wonderful, once in a lifetime experience. Moral of the story....GO FOR IT! Don't let your fears hold you back. Don't doubt yourself. You might not always "win" but it never hurts to try. Again, thank you so much to all who voted for me. I did post a short video after the makeover to show off my look, so if you go to my youtube channel in my signature you can watch it. I did post the video twice, the first time the sound cut off half way. You can also view photos from the trip via the Progresso facebook page. They will be posting more pictures and video over time

I do feel like I am now complete. I would like to get a boob job but after the last several surgeries I have had ending in complications, I think that is a sign that I need to stop. Unfortunately my boobs are down to a 34 A which is a huge disappointment but I guess as long as my husband is ok with it, I will adjust over time. I am glad I went through with the panni, it really was needed and I'm ok with the scars from it, which I know would bother many my age. I am definitely not trying to lose weight still. I'm struggling to stop the weight loss, I officially hit half my starting weight this morning, something I thought impossible. Documentation wise, I had to have proof of rashes or other irritation, back pain, and mental distress over it.

Don't set yourself up for failure by stressing over that stupid scale. This surgery is about getting our lives back, getting our health back. A number won't make you happy in the long run. You HAVE to remember, you JUST went through MAJOR surgery, seriously, it's that major. You just had the bulk of an organ cut out of you. Your body will be angry and might hold on to weight until it gets with the program. You will retain Water from the surgery too, it takes time to work that out too. Please, do not let yourself stress over your weight. And do NOT compare yourself to others, we are all different, we all heal different and we all lose at different rates. STress can destroy your health so just give it time and roll with it. THese surgeries are so much more mental than physical and it takes a long time to adjust so hang in there and smile.

I think you need to stop before that, if I feel that, it means I way over did it.