Bedhead

I'm still in my child bearing years and plan to have more children. My surgeon AND my OBGYN agree that the sleeve is a perfect WLS for those who plan on having children. Imagine a pregnancy with a foreign object in your body! Pregnancy is hard enough without having that additional issue of worrying about the band shifting and twisting and turning. Also- if they remove the saline from the band during your pregnancy- you will immediately go back to eating like crazy (trust me on this, pregnancy hormones after the first trimester make you hungrier than you have ever been in your entire life!!!). I can't tell YOU what YOU should do- but I am in much the same position as you and have decided with no doubts whatsoever that the sleeve is right for me and my goal of having more children!

Oh man, thank you for reminding me that a database backup is LOOOOOONG overdue on my own forum! This is every forum owners nightmare!

I think genetics play a huge role here- like with stretch marks. I have HORRIBLE stretch marks from pregnancy and weight gain on my belly, so I'm going to guess that because of those I'm most likely going to have a lot of tummy wrinkling once I'm done. I also think it's dependent on how your fat is distributed. I imagine someone who is 300lbs who carries weight mostly in their abdomen is going to have a much worse tummy than those who are 300lbs but the weight is evenly distributed across their body.

"he didnt realize what he had done and said he was sorry.." I call bullshit. He realized EXACTLY what he had done, and he's not sorry because he's going to do it again and again and again. Abusers do not change, they just find new and inventive ways to abuse you. If he can not treat you with dignity and respect as a fat woman, he does not deserve the opportunity to do so as a thin woman.

I'm in Syracuse!

Hi everyone! I'm a 27 year old mom of three (8, 3, and 9 months) and will be getting sleeved probably at the end of Feb or early March. I'd love to have a geographically close buddy/mentor or just someone close in age! Let me know if you wanna be my Sleevie Friend!

I got hungry just reading this thread.

Guys are so "OMG! BOOOOOOOOOOOBS!" that chances are he won't even notice you HAVE a belly, let alone a wrinkly one :D

I think that all the advice you've been given here is great, but here's another thought: Your body, your problem. Her body, her problem. If she is making the conscious choice not to do her Vitamins, that's HER choice. I imagine her surgeon has most likely warned her of the risks of not doing so, and if she is making the choice to not take them anyway, it's HER PROBLEM. She's a grown up, she can do an internet search to find information about it if she wants to. If she doesn't want to.... guess what? That's between her and her physician. Not you.

For me- only my husband and doctors know. They are all very supportive about my decision. Nobody else will know. Not my parents. Not my siblings. Not my friends- nobody. I'm not at all ashamed of getting the surgery, I just have ZERO desire to hear people's opinions on the matter. As a mother of three I've learned that everyone has an opinion about everything (natural birth, csection, breastfeeding, formula, exersaucers, etc, etc, etc) and listening to opinions is just as annoying as constantly telling people 'thank you but my mind is made up'. I'll be very honest with everyone who asks about the weight loss- I am restricting my caloric intake and working out like a mad-woman. Which is indeed true, zumba and cardio kickboxing start on Monday!

I had the same experience as you! My EKG detected a septal defect. I was sent to a cardiologist and did an echocardiogram, and everything was totally normal! The EKG machine was just being overly cautious

This is great! I love WalMarts Cami-Bra (most amazing invention EVER!!!) so I'll definitely check this out once I start having some sag!

My doctor is so pro-sleeve it's almost crazy! He will not do bands anymore, at all, for any reason, and unless he has a patient who has a BMI over 50, he tries hard to talk them into getting the sleeve! I had already decided on the sleeve before meeting with him and when I told him I wanted the sleeve he was actually surprised because a lot of people don't even know what it is. He asked me why I picked it and this is how I explained it to him: To me, being fat is sort of like having a splinter. It's a problem that needs fixed or can lead to future issues. I see gastric bypass as cutting off your arm to remove a splinter- while I compare the sleeve to using a pair of tweezers to remove the splinter. Both will effectively get the splinter gone, but the tweezers just make more sense than an amputation. Plus, if your tweezers don't work and you get a horribly infected splinter that causes gangrene (or your sleeve doesn't work and you stay fat! ) you can always get an amputation later on. So I believe in going small and working up. I started with various diets- they didn't work long term. I tried a nutritionist- didn't work long term. I tried a personal trainer- didn't work long term, then I decided on a minimally invasive surgery. Hopefully it will work (and statistics say that it will!) but if it doesn't, I can opt for the more invasive surgery!

Omg look at those gorgeous hips/ thighs! How much have you lost??

You look so amazing! Such a huge inspiration preop for me!!

Great thread! I'm still preop, so I can't give any advice but I will certainly be subscribing to this thread to get advice!

I'm sorry that so many of us have dealt with this- but I won't lie, I love that I'm not alone in this!

I resolve that 2011 will be the last year 'morbidly obese' is stamped in my medical charts.

I'm so relieved it's not just me!!

Ever since I decided to get surgery (no date set yet, should be getting it soon!) my relationship with food has gone from overindulgence to flat out addicted. Tonight I was driving home from a DR's appointment and I stopped by McDonald's (a place that I used to NEVER EVER EVER GO!) and got a fish sandwich. AND a double cheeseburger!!! Before I decided on surgery I ate more than I should have, but it was during family meal time. Now I find myself sneaking into the kitchen to shovel Snacks down my throat, or sneaking out for fast food and hiding the wrappers. This is SO NOT ME and I don't understand it! I'm skulking around like a desperate meth head. How on earth am I going to lose my preop weight (13lbs) if I can't get this under control?? Could it just be the fear of having the surgery and not feeling as though I'll ever be able to eat these foods again?? If you experienced this, how did you work through it?

Hey I know that this is an older topic, but since I am Vitamin D deficient and have been recommended to take 50,000IU per week for 8 weeks I was wondering how this played out for you. Did it delay your surgery at all??

I had a csection this past march too!! I haven't been sleeved yet but I've had my gallbladder removed and an appendectomy. Both were a breeze compared to the section!

I eat up posts like this! I've not had my surgery yet.... heck, I don't even have insurance approval (although my surgeons office says my insurance is extremely easy to get approval from and I've turned in everything they need) or a date set yet- but the idea that I could someday be in the position you are in.... having to buy a size smaller than a 10 because the 10 is too big makes me giddy!

Here are some of my non scale goals: I want to be able to fit into a size Medium comfortably- something I have not been able to do since I was 13/14 years old (and even then it was only for a few weeks after I was extremely sick). I want to hear 'you are so pretty' instead of 'you have such a pretty face'. I want to look and feel like I'm 20 something (I am!) instead of 40 something (I'm NOT!) I want to go dancing at the dance club instead of just dreaming about it. I want to wear one of the super sexy outfits that I spend so much time pinning on Pinterest Cute boots. High heels I want to be able to wear a bra and panties and feel sexy in them instead of feeling huge and frumpy. I want to have a boudoir photo shoot I want to be confident enough to try out new positions in bed without worrying about my fat rolls crushing my husband. I want to weigh less than my husband for the first time in my life. I want to be able to throw on a pair of my hubby's sweatpants and sweaters. He's a mens size Small/Medium. I want to be brave enough to go to playgroups, story hours, and various other activities I completely avoid because of my weight. I want to meet some of my husbands coworkers. I avoid any situation in which I'd have to meet my husbands coworkers..... because I hate that I feel so embarrassed with him. He deserves a much sexier wife. I always feel like people see us together and think "WTF??" to themselves. I want to be able to shower without having to lift up any part of my body and hunch over to wash. I want to wear clothing that requires me to shave my ENTIRE leg instead of just from the knees down. I want a bathing suit that doesn't have a skirt, a coverup, and a huge beach towel. I want to be a better mom- I have zero energy and feel like I never really want to do anything because I'm ALWAYS thinking about my weight. Even a trip to the playground is exhausting and depressing to me. I want to buy a full length mirror. We have never owned one because I have always refused to look at myself. I want to stop hiding behind my husband and/or children in pictures. I want to take professional family portraits that don't leave me feeling awful about myself. I want to wear something other than sweatpants or yoga pants. Jeans are either too big on me or so tight they cut me in half and give me epic muffin top. I want to be able to go for a walk with my 120lb sister and not huff and puff and sweat buckets. I want people to see me with my sister and not look so shocked when we say we are sisters I want to go to Zumba- and have people think "OMG She's so sexy!" instead of "OMG Look at that fat chick shaking her massive ass!" I want to go to cardio kickboxing I want to go through a pregnancy where I love my maternity clothes and I actually look pregnant instead of just fatter than normal. I want every guy who has ever broken my heart to regret not sticking with me. I want to wear flirty little summer dresses instead of huge T's and maternity (the soft stretchy waist band is very forgiving!) capris when I'm not pregnant! I want people to stop asking me if I'm pregnant. I want to make some friends instead of hide away from people because I feel like they're looking at how fat I am or how much I'm eating.

I have opted to tell nobody but my husband. The way I see it- once you tell one 'close' friend, no matter how close they are to you- you may as well have told everyone. People are so gossipy I have no doubt if I told one person they'd all know in no time whatsoever.