KhadijahRose

I've never heard this urban legend. I've heard of all the expensive potions, exercises, etc to get rid of hanging skin.
Truthfully the only things that help with ur skin elasticity is heredity, age, and luck. Not the rate at which u lose or exercises will help. I highly doubt that drinking anything, especially milk will help.
But milk is healthy so drink up!

Yesterday made me 9 months post - op here's what I've learned about myself, the sleeve and life in general
NEVER go without taking your vitamins!!!!
Drink as much Water as you can
I don't have to diet, I just need to eat good food (good for you) and I'll lose
Stalls are natural, normal and necessary for proper, longterm weight loss
I cannot keep a scale in my house (so I keep it in the trunk of my car and take it out on Fridays ONLY)
Restriction can decrease over time if you eat too much, too often
To increase my restriction I intermitten fast 5 days a week and this has kick started my weight loss agaiin
DON'T GRAZE or snack. It's so easy for VSGers to do this because we eat so little in a sitting.
I won't make it to goal 1 year post op...AND THAT'S OKAY
I will not lose weight EVERYDAY, EVERY WEEK or even EVERY MONTH... and that's NORMAL and OKAY
I'll probably have sagging skin and that's waaaay better than a plumpy, fat body
Not telling people about my surgery doesn't mean I am ashamed it just means I like keeping my business to myself
Those whom I decide to tell and react negatively I will not scold them or respond in defense, or even "unfriend" them I will simply live my life and let my happiness and health be proof of my good decision
I can drink coffee
I can drink pop
I can eat sweets
I just choose not to (95% of the time) because that's counter productive
Lastly, I will enjoy this entire process and learn to love myself inside and out, learn to "eat to live, not live to eat", learn to value those who care for and support me no matter my size, and slowly allow the fears I carried on my 350+ pound frame to fall off with every drop of sweat I burn for the sake of my good health, in shaa Allah ( = By the Grace of God)

When people don't know what to say or when to be quiet that's usually when things are said that they later regret
It sounds to me like another individual who looks at your success and can't see anything but their failure...that's harsh I know but in my life I've noticed that to be true. You said she was essentially going up in sizes while you've gone down dramatically. I've learned to just smile and be quiet because if I didn't I think I'd hurt more feelings than I care to apologize for...

"You're getting too skinny!" That makes me laugh. Where was your heartfelt concern when I was slowly committing suicide with knife and fork!?!?!

Isn't it amazing what people think it's okay to say to each other? You're right, no one told me I was getting too fat. In fact, I sometimes wish someone had sat me down and said, "GG, whatever you think you're doing, it ain't working". But no, they told me I was beautiful no matter what size I was. Liars

I always got...you have a pretty face..And then in my head I would say..to bad about the body eh..But felt I had no right to respond.....

I've tossed most of mine in those handy little "save-the-earth" canisters I see in the parking lot of mosques, churches and walmarts.

When I do intermitten fasting I stop eating foods but I may have a cup of tea, or coffee before my workout in the morning. I was taught that you can drink whatever you want but as always limit your sugar intake to about 60g during an entire fast (16-24 hours) and If you must eat something let it be no more than 100 calories within an entire fasting period. NO ALCOHOL
I generally stick to Water, tea or coffee. It has helped me finally reach my Water intake, because I'm usually still awake 6 hours after I begin a fast.

This has been incredibly helpful, thank you! Like I stated in my original post - I have to get my BMI down to 49 from 54 and I'm basically going to follow the Pre-Op diet of Protein Shakes and salads with olive oil and vinegar. I just want to find an affordable shake that is already made so I don't have to mix it myself. I'm pretty confident I can lose the 30 or so extra pounds between now (well the day after Christmas) and 3.20. Right? I can do that....yep I can! So glad I found this app!

It sounds like you have a few issues to address. Firstly, you seem to have doubts about how well your op was done - NO food restrictions! Wow. I would be getting an independent medical review that ends with confirming your sleeve was done appropriately - or not - in regard to size/volume. Once that is confirmed, get an endocrine system full check - I'm particularly thinking of your thyroid function. Underactive thyroid is very common, and should be excluded. Even "subclinical" results (normal, but only just) can cause many symptoms like full blown thyroid dysfunction, including weight gain. Finally (or perhaps first), are you recording your diet? Many, many people on this forum will tell you they need to eat less than 1000 cal per day, low fat, low carb and zero alcohol in order to lose weight.
With such a limited outcome over a year (unless you didn't have much to lose in the first place) you need to be systematic - and diligent - to get to the bottom of this.
Good luck.

My name is Pamela C. I am from North Carolina. I am a Certified Personal Chef and Certified Person Pastry Chef. My journey with gastric bypass started last year in September. My husband is a photographer and had a client come in to take pictures because they had had the surgery. After speaking with them, I quickly made up my mind that this was something I needed to look into. I had looked into having gastric bypass before but always thought that I could not afford it even with having insurance because of the upfront out of pocket money that I would have to pay. I had already gone to several information sessions. After speaking with my husbands client and getting her story I contacted the same surgeon that she had used. My journey began! At my initial consultation with Dr. Enoch of Bariatric Surgeons of NC I weighed in at 412lbs. OMG I did not realize that I had let myself get that out of hand but I knew I was in the right place. The next 2 months were full of appointments to prepare me for surgery. December rolled round and I started to get nervous thinking that my insurance company was not going to approve my surgery before the end of the year as I had already met my deductible and I needed this surgery to go before the end of the year so I wouldn't have to start all over again with a new deductible. And lo and behold 2 weeks before Christmas 2012 I got the call that my surgery had been approved and I got my surgery date ... Dec. 28, 2012. This was the best decision I had made in my life. I was tired of being fat, tired of always hurting; my back hurt, my knees hurt, my ankles hurt .... seemed like everything hurt all the time and I was tired of it. My only co-morbidities were sleep apnea and high blood pressure thank the Lord! The morning of my surgery date as I was driving to Raleigh for my surgery, I got a call from my surgeons nurse stating that because I had sleep apnea and I did not have my own machine, that I would have to be in intensive care for 1 day after my surgery. I didn't care this was fine with me as long as the surgery was still going to take place. My surgery went without a hitch and my stay in intensive care was short (about 8 hours) before they transferred me to a regular room. My surgery was on Friday at 430p and I was leaving the hospital and heading home on Sunday at 11a.
I will say the following week was pretty easy, I didn't have any problems. Week 2 and Week 3 were a little more challenging with trying to get used to only having Soup broth or yogurt and not getting to really eat (drink) very much of that. Once I got past the 4th week, I felt I was used to my new lifestyle and my weight loss journey had begun. Two weeks after surgery, I was taken off my blood pressure pills and I had no signs of sleep apnea.
I will say getting used to the new eating habits can be somewhat challenging. Knowing when to stop eating or drinking is challenging at times because your brain is saying keep eating but your stomach is saying I'm way more that full. I think that has been my biggest challenge with the whole process of having the Sleeve is knowing really when to stop eating.
It has been 10 months since my surgery, and I am down 144 lbs. I feel AMAZING ...who knew that losing so much weight that everything changes in how you feel, no aches and pains, no more high blood pressure, no more sleep apnea, and a whole new outlook on life. I wish I had done this years ago. I have 83 more pounds to go to reach my goal. I turn 50 in March, it is my goal to be at my goal. I look forward to my future!!

But the real question really is if a tree falls and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
(Sorry attempt at humor to lighten the mood...)

Just because you don't get it, or it's not what you expected, doesn't make it random. Sorry if that was over your head.

I finally made it to onederland! 197.4:-)

I am almost two weeks post-op. I thought I'd done all research possible mind you I've been researching for at least 5 years on bariatric surgery. All i have to say is "ain't nothing like the real thing baby"! I live in louisiana but I travelled all the way to decatur tx to have my surgery. Number one if I had to pay I was going to make my dollars stretch. I ended up finding Good ole Dr. Scott Stowers. He very down to earth and has an excellent staff! They make you feel like you are the only patient the have. I am very pleased with the results. I'm down 36 lbs in a two week time frame. I have my days but its ALL worth it. :tongue2:

Amazing!! congrats!

ROTFL!! Did that really just happen?! Anyway, I understand, sometimes people don't quite understand what you're asking or can't really relate to your venting so they post random responses. You get used to it...i think...happy posting :-)

So I haven't lost any weight in about 2 months but why aren't I freaking out?! Well because I know this is normal, I've read it a thousand and one times on here. But I also know I'm still losing thanks to my clothes fitting better (or no longer fitting because they're too big!) and I'm able to wear things that I haven't worn in years. So the inches are still coming off thanks to my fitnessblender workouts from youtube (Love those workouts). Anyway, I just thought I'd share that bit of info and hope that it helps someone else going through the same thing. It is frustrating when you don't see a huge loss, especially since your still in the first 6 months and see everyone having huge losses, yet I'm keeping my spirit high and keeping up the fight to reach my goals

Glad to hear your not freaking out.. stay strong.. stay focused.. keep that attitude and follow the plan..you'll do fine.. Good Luck!

Thank you, I'm not there yet, but at least when it does happen I will know I'm not alone and HOPEFULLY will keep your attitude about it:)

My favorite post of the week. Keep this attitude. You are so right on.

Awesome! Good job on not freaking out.
So many people do and it solves nothing. I hope that you are taking measurements.
I know I see a lot of changes in week to week photos and measurements as opposed to scale changes.
Also its not a stall unless you are not losing weight or inches in over 30 days. So it sounds like you are chugging right along.
Keep up the good attitude.!

Love your spirit and positive attitude! Glad you're able to see the inches coming off. Keep at it!

So I haven't lost any weight in about 2 months but why aren't I freaking out?! Well because I know this is normal, I've read it a thousand and one times on here. But I also know I'm still losing thanks to my clothes fitting better (or no longer fitting because they're too big!) and I'm able to wear things that I haven't worn in years. So the inches are still coming off thanks to my fitnessblender workouts from youtube (Love those workouts). Anyway, I just thought I'd share that bit of info and hope that it helps someone else going through the same thing. It is frustrating when you don't see a huge loss, especially since your still in the first 6 months and see everyone having huge losses, yet I'm keeping my spirit high and keeping up the fight to reach my goals