Lissa

Good luck and congrats to both of you!! I can't wait until you're posting mega losses!

The ut-ohs are normal. But, it will be SO worth it once you're on the loser's bench! Good luck!!

Do you want to smoke or do you want to live? That's the question I had to ask myself. I actually found quitting caffeine harder than quitting smoking. I just set the smokes down and walked away. It was that simple...and that hard not to go buy another pack.

It gets better. Just as having food funerals is normal before surgery, most people have a little "OMG, what have I done" moment after surgery. Mine didn't hit until about 7 months post op, but a lot of people have theirs (like you) early post-op. Breathe deep, follow your plan, and celebrate every ounce you've lost. You're doing fine!

Right now is always a good time to exercise. I've found that morning works better for me because then it's done for the day and I don't have to squeeze a workout in after a long day. Doing it early lets me just do my workout and then forget about it for the rest of the day.

You look amazing! You have really rocked that sleeve!!

I love the sleeve because it creates eye candy for us girls! You are rocking that sleeve! Congrats on the Century Club!!

Thanks for the heads up on the sale... and congrats on your loss!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you! Good luck with the appeal!

That's an awesome and amazing NSV... and it's great that the uniform lady went to bat for you as well!!! You should be super proud of yourself! You are rocking that sleeve!!!

Oh, I'll play. I have a couple of weird stories. About 20 years ago I had a horrible dream where I watched myself die after a car wreck in a red car. In the dream, I was hovering over the scene while EMS put my body into an ambulance and I knew I was dead. When I got up the next morning, my pregnant sister came into the kitchen and told me that she'd had a dream I died in a car accident in a red car. No sooner had she finished telling me this than my then 4 year old son woke up screaming about the red car and mommy dying. I haven't driven or been a passenger in a red car since. Since my mother's death in 2004, I swear she comes to talk to me. It's less frequent now, but for the first few years, I'd have vivid conversations with mom in my dreams. She'd tell me about things going on in my siblings' lives in great detail, usually when they were in trouble. Oddly enough, when I'd ask my siblings about things in my dreams, those conversations would always turn out to be true.

You will probably have some loose skin, no matter what you do, but exercise helps some, as do a few other things.. If you do a search for skin tightening, you'll find a couple of really good threads about things you can do to minimize loose skin.

When you are first starting to exercise, walking and very light weights are the best way to go, IMO. I started out literally walking up and down the hallway, then moved on to short walks outside. By 3 weeks post op, I felt like Rocky when I managed to walk all the way around the lake in our apartment complex. I also started with 2 pound weights and did 10 reps each of arm exercises once a day. I moved on to the treadmill (yuck),, then the recumbent bike, and finally to the elliptical. I can do an hour on the bike or elliptical and will sometimes do 20 minutes on one, then 40 minutes on the other. Pre-surgery I couldn't walk from my car to my front door and had major knee issues. Now, I can do anything I want or need to do, from wearing heels and dancing all night to doing physical work all day after a tornado rips through my neighborhood. Exercise does pay big dividends, whether you are an expert at it or not.

Holly, Biotin also makes a gel that you can put in your mouth that helps with the dryness issue. It's fairly expensive, $6 for a small tube, but it's worth it's weight in gold, IMO. I used it for the first 8 or 9 months I had my BiPap, even with a humidifier on it.

Welcome to VST!! I hope that you meet your goal!! Maybe you'll lose enough weight not to need the heart transplant? I hope so!! Good luck on your journey!!!

Whey Protein is a better, more easily absorbed source of protein for human bodies than any other source of protein. To be fair, I should add that I've never heard of pea protein until your post. Many of the protein shots, etc, claim to have whey protein in them, but when you look further they include collagen as a protein source. Collagen based Proteins are NOT available to our bodies like whey or soy proteins are. I think it was OTR Sleever who posted a link to some research about what proteins are most easily absorbed by our bodies and whey came out MILES ahead of any other protein source, including soy. Once you're back on solids, it will be much easier to get protein from other sources, but it's worth your while to stick to "good" protein right now. Good luck on your journey!! You're rocking your sleeve!

Renegade, I'm assuming you're a guy from your profile picture, please forgive me if I'm wrong. I think 200 pounds is eminently doable for you. You lost 105 pounds without surgery, following diet and exercise alone. What WLS will do is give you a tool to help you prevent regain. It's not a magic bullet. You will have to do the diet and exercise portion, but staying at your new lower weight will be so much easier because you will have restriction on how much you can eat. Sadly for us ladies, you'll probably lose your weight much faster than any of us simply because you're male! Most of us here are going to say that you are making the right choice. I know I made the right choice for me. Above my picture to the left it says "Life Saved By VSG" and that is the truth! I've lost 123 pounds from my highest weight and now feel like I have a new lease on life. It's possible and it's doable, as long as you use the tool to your own advantage. Good luck on your journey!!

Hopeful, It sounds to me like you're doing well! I'd say great, in fact. Alljoy, So long as the Protein source is whey or whey isolate in both, either isopure or a shake is a good alternative protein source. The best, of course, is to get your protein from food. Are you back on soft solids yet? If so, try adding in a little cottage cheese, or a mini babybel light, a little tuna mixed with some mayo or ricotta cheese, anything that's soft and a good source of protein. I hope you're getting 40 to 60 OUNCES of Water, which is what I think you meant. You should really work to meet the 64 ounces of water goal daily. Water helps to flush toxins and fat out of our bodies. However, this early post-op, 40-60 ounces of water is really good...just keep working at it. Both of you are doing great and Good Luck!!

I order what sounds good to me, which is usually plain steak, chicken or fish. I will ask for sauce on the side, especially at places like Chili's where everything seems to revolve around spicy peppers these days. Some days my sleeve will allow spicy food and other days it won't. The added benefit of ordering sauces on the side is that when I take home my leftovers, I can put a different flavor on the meat to make it seem like a new meal rather than a leftover meal. For veggies, I usually only order steamed veggies, mostly broccoli. I can only eat 3 or 4 bites of that before I'm stuffed, but I know Rex will tolerate it.

My body temperature has always been slightly lower than normal, 97.6 instead of 98.7 or whatever the norm is. It went a little lower for a while after surgery, running around 97, but it has stabilized now. I think that might account for how cold I felt for the first few months post op. OTOH, my blood pressure has dropped into the low normal range, running 110/60-70 and my heartrate and breathing and EKG reflect my new, much more active lifestyle. Those are great changes, so I'll take being a little colder than normal.

Everyone gets nervous just before surgery, no matter what kind of surgery it is. Just remember that this one surgery is going to save you a ton of hassle and possible additional surgeries to combat the effects of obesity. You've made an informed decision (I hope) and you've decided this is the right path for you. Handle anything that is weighing on your mind, then go have your surgery with a positive attitude. You'll do fine! Good luck!!

I've lost 123 pounds from my highest weight in just over a year. I don't think 120 pounds is unreasonable at all.