minaleigh

My name is Amanda, but since I was in Jr. High my friends have called me Mina as a nickname. Now everyone (aside from my best friend who calls me Manda) calls me Mina, even my mom. Apparently my neighbor's sister, who is also named Amanda, used to babysit a kid who couldn't say her name so he called her Mina. And Leigh is my middle name. Mina Leigh.

So exciting! Congrats to you!

For me it was ketosis as well. I'd brush my teeth vigorously and wash my mouth out with mouthwash and the bad taste and breath would come back within the hour! Went to the dentist during this time for a checkup and apologized for it. It got so bad sometimes I just wanted to retch. As soon as I introduced a more variety of food, it went away. It probably lasted me for two to three weeks.

Not to worry! It's mainly all the fluids' retention in your body. I was about 4 pounds heavier getting home from the hospital. I lost a lot immediately after. And everyone is different. Some people lose consistently, others lose in sporadic spurts (like me). I can stay the same weight for a week or two and then suddenly drop 5-6 pounds the following week. It'll work out.

I still have a hard time throwing away food. I don't gorge myself just to make sure it's eaten, but I was raised on leftovers and finishing your plate. Luckily I have a roommate who eats anything and everything (and never gains an ounce ) that will take whatever I don't finish. Saves us on grocery bill!

For me it's tortilla chips. If they're plain, I feel like I can eat my weight in them. If I use them in nachos (with chicken and cheese on them) though, I have a limit of about three or four before I get full. Popcorn is another slider, but I've only eaten it twice so far.

Oh, I haven't even been considering tummy tucks. I've researched them, sure, but I've also read how painful they are. And if my little incision scars are still visible and it kind of bothers me when I see them, how would I feel seeing one big long scar from my skin being sliced off? My mom had a tummy tuck when she was relatively young (after she had gastric bypass in the late 70s) and she was left without a belly button! I'm actually heading to bed now, but I'm going to do some of those head lifts you suggested beforehand. Also going to buy a body brush from walmart tomorrow. I read about dry brushing before, but I didn't never gave it much thought. Thanks for the info!

What an awesome NSV! And grats on being below goal.

This is a great post! I'm definitely going to check out the body brush, head lifts, and pilates. Even though I'm young at 22, I've been heavy since I was 9, and as I'm losing weight I'm beginning to notice some loose skin already. Thanks for the extensively informatively post.

Not really a question or an answer, but just needed to vent! Passive-aggresive people make me mad. You know the types. They casually or nonchalantly throw mean words about you by saying it to someone else knowing you can hear them. Anyways, here's the story. My dad decided he wanted to take me to dinner before I had to go to work. I order an appetizer while my dad orders an entree. Waiter is pretty nice, if maybe a bit pushy about how little I'm eating. Even though I have lost about 45 pounds since surgery, I'm still obese and considered "big" so seeing someone like me eat only a few bites is probably weird. Anyways, some of the tables are set up against a low wall to where you're basically right next to the table on the other side and are able to see and hear them through the big opening. Well, this couple is sitting right next to us with the woman diagonal from me, sitting right next to my dad. They order an appetizer and begin eating it. After a few minutes, mine and my dad's food come out. The woman looks right at my food and pushes the appetizer towards her husband saying she's getting full or something. A few minutes pass and she's still looking at me and then her food comes out. Before I'm even two bites into my meal, she loudly proclaims that her own meal is "sooo much food" and she "doesn't know how she'll be able to eat it all." I pretty much ignore her the rest of the time until we're almost done. I ate probably 1/4 of what was given to me, gave some to my dad and there's still about half of the appetizer left. All this time, the woman is watching me eat! I felt the full feeling and probably ate too fast because I was trying to hurry for work. I tell my dad that I think I ate too much, all the while this lady is watching me and making little comments about my eating. Waiter comes out and asks if I'm eating slow to save room for dessert. I just tell him that I'm full and would like a box. Cue eye-roll from the woman. She looks at her meal, notices that she ate more than me, and then pushes her plate to the side. Apparently, it bothered her that someone my size could possibly eat less than her. I guess I offended her. I know I'm probably looking too deep into it, or overreacting, but frankly I don't care. Even as heavy as I was, I've never had (or maybe never noticed) someone having such a negative reaction to my eating. I guess because I was so heavy, they just expected me to eat as much I used to. Still being pretty fat and eating so little must just confuse them so. Sorry for the long post. I've never been good at summarizing. Just needed to vent!

Thanks for the comments guys! Keep being awesome yourselves.

I finally cracked and went shopping for some new jeans. I received 3 secondhand pairs from my aunt, one of which is starting to get too big already, a size 20. One of the other pairs she gave me was a size 18W from the brand Faded Glory. Man, when I attempted to fit into those babies, I might as well have been trying on a size 6. Well, imagine my crushed disappoint. Here I thought I was finally seeing some difference in size in my lower half (because believe me, I can definitely tell in my upper body!) but yet, I couldn't even shimmy into the next size down? To make a long story somewhat shorter, I went into Old Navy because they're having an amazing sale on jeans. Well, I pick up a size 20 and a size 18 to try on. I just decided to humor myself with the size 18s, because if I couldn't even get the 18W over my thighs, what makes me think that I could even fit into an 18? I try on the 20s, they fit alright, if a bit loose in the thighs and knee area. So, I dare to try on the 18s. Lo and behold, not only do they pull up, but they button comfortably! Let's just say I might have freaked out the fitting room attendant with my little squeal of joy. I haven't been an 18 since the first half of high school, so about 6 years. I decided to splurge and bought myself a pair of 18s, a pair of 16s and a pair of 14s (as motivation!). Best part? One aspect of their sale is that if you bought a pair of jeans this week, you can lock in the sale price and it lasts until the end of May. That means I get new, comfortable jeans (my favorite brand too!) on sale while I continue to go down in size! I have gone from a size 24 pant and XL shirt to an 18 pant and L shirt. Feeling pretty good! Moral of the story? Faded Glory jeans are evil, demoralizing spawns of the devil, while Old Navy jeans are uplifting, heaven-sent angels from above! I attached a picture of me in the fitting room with the 18s and another of the 14s hanging up to motivate myself. They may seem big to some people, but they look pretty small to me!

It was pretty much right after surgery when it happened. If I remember correctly (I was so drugged, I'm surprised I remember much, lol) it was my second day in the hospital that they found out my stomach twisted. I imagine because it's shaped like a banana that it's easier to twist? I dunno. They found out after I did nothing but throw up and couldn't even keep an ounce of Water down, so they did an endoscope and found the problem. If the stomach does twist, I think it can happen pretty much right after surgery. I'm not sure why, but it's probably because the stomach isn't healed enough to stay still? Not a medical professional, just my thoughts! I'm sorry you still regret the surgery. Soon, the bad experience will just be a long forgotten memory and you can move on with your new life. It gets better, I promise! Just hang in there.

I'm 3 months post-op and I haven't noticed much difference in hair loss. I know I might be shedding a little more than usual, but it's not noticeable. I've always had super thick hair, so I wasn't really too worried about hair loss. In fact, I was almost hoping (key word: almost ) that *some* of my extra hair would fall out. My hair is so unmanageable at times.

You and I had the same issues with stents! They had to put mine in because my stomach end up twisting. After they put it in, I did nothing but throw up for two weeks, even waking up from a dead sleep to do so. Like you, I was also given reglan and zofran and neither had helped in the slightest. Only option I had was to take the superduper pain medicine they gave me and hope it knocked me out so I could get SOME form of sleep. When they finally took the stent out, it was a complete 180 turnaround. I had finally been able to eat something in two weeks! I understand your regret. When I was admitted into the hospital to get my stent taken out, a nurse asked me if I regretted the surgery. I told her that at that moment I did. Now I can honestly say I don't. I hope you feel better emotionally about this surgery. It might not seem like it's worth it, but when you get higher up on the weight loss, I'm sure it will! Heck, you were sleeved a month after me and you've lost a lot more than I have! 55 pounds is amazing, so keep up the good work!

That's what my doctor told me. I take two centrum silver chewable multivitamins every day, plus a prescribed B12 (man, I wish someone would have told me how awful they smelled and tasted!) and a weekly vitamin D supplement (I was told a normal range for vitamin D is 30-100, mine is 12 . Darn my mother's genes!). I'll have to ask the doctor to be sure but I think for right now I just have to take the B12 and vitamin D until I see him again and do another blood work. If those levels are normal, I can stop taking those and only have to take the multivitamin. Hope so!

I didn't have co-morbidities, so I would also choose to do the surgery. I was in the lower range of normal blood pressure, had normal cholesterol, no diabetes or heart problems, etc. I was just fat. I wanted to get my life back BEFORE I got any of those things. I got the surgery first and foremost as a preventive measure, after that it was for vanity reasons. I didn't want to wait until I was older, bigger, and unhealthier. I had a hard time with my insurance because they normally wouldn't do the surgery unless I did have any of those complications. They didn't understand that I needed the surgery so I wouldn't get those. In the long run, I'm saving them money because I won't be going to doctors all the time because of complications.

I'm not 6 months yet, but I started at 273 the day of surgery and I'm about 230 now. Two days ago was my 3 month surgiversary and I've lost 43 pounds. I don't count pre-surgery weight loss into my numbers. I hope I can lose the same the next 3 months! To lose 105 pounds in 6 months after surgery would be a dream, but sadly that won't happen for me. I'm just a slower loser, I guess.

I had to see my therapist twice. The first time was mainly introductory while the second was more in depth and he basically "quizzed" me about the surgery to see if I understood the ramifications of it, the mental, physical, and emotional. It wouldn't have been a good idea to lie about being depressed. It'd be like lying to a mechanic about what's wrong with your car. Therapists and doctors are there to help you, so being truthful about your issues is what will benefit you in the long run. I told my therapist about my depression (heck, I even cried right there in his office) and I was approved for surgery. He didn't recommend I see him after surgery, but he does want me to go to some of the support group meetings specifically for weight loss surgery. It has helped.

Had my three month checkup today. Everything went well, and even the mean PA was nicer than normal! I've lost 40 pounds since surgery, and she said I'm going at a good pace. I see a lot of people on here talking about surgeon goals but mine never gave me one. He just asked what MY goal was. Last checkup I was prescribed a B12 supplement. Wish someone told me how awful it smells and tastes! Taking that plus two Multivitamin a day so we'll see how my levels are at six months. I used to have low Iron but I gave blood two weeks ago and I was confirmed normal so that's cleared up! Just moving along. Hope everyone is doing well. Stay strong banana Babes (and Blokes )!

I didn't have to inject anything after surgery. I've never had blood problems that would require blood thinners, though. I'd ask your surgeon. If you don't get clots or anything like that, I assume you don't need thinners. The only thing they had me do to help prevent clots was keep those hospital compression stockings on.

I didn't have to do the 6 months diet. My surgeon wanted us lose 30 pounds (no matter what your starting weight was) to 1. see if we could do it and 2. to shrink the liver. Now, I only lost 16 pounds (shame, shame, I know) but he operated on me anyways and didn't even lecture me about it. Do I wish I lost the full 30 before surgery? You bet, because that means that would have been less weight to worry about afterwards. I wouldn't have made it if I had to a 6 month diet. Granted, it took me 5-6 months to go through the whole pre-op process, but if they added that in, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it. I commend anyone who can. Good luck to you!

My period never outright stopped, though sometimes I feared it had. I've always been irregular, going from 4-5 weeks in between to even a freak time when I was two weeks in between. To be honest though, this is better than what it was before my surgery. I was almost 6-7 weeks between periods at my heaviest weight right before surgery, but now it's more like five weeks. I'm three months out so I don't have enough months to form a reliable estimate that could tell you if it's for sure gotten better. I'm not a medical professional by any means, but my guess would be that as you lose weight, your periods will probably return and become more regular. Not medical knowledge, just my theory. Perhaps consult your ob-gyn or surgeon?

When it comes to the pain of the surgery, it was more soreness around the incision area and the abdomen muscles than anything. I'm sure there's an explanation (I just don't know what it is) but for a week after the surgery, my abdomen felt like I just did1000 sit-ups or something. Made getting out of bed an experience! Lol. Now what was painful for me was the gas that was stuck. It hurt to lie down, sit up, walk, etc. I admit to being a wuss when it comes to pain. I have broken my knee before, and that hurt a LOT worse than this surgery, though. I've never given birth, C-section or otherwise, so I can't compare the surgery to any other sort of stomach pain.

I know exactly how you're feeling. This past week I've been a bit depressed with what's going on in my life at this current time. I, of course, turned to my old friend and comforter: food. Stepping on the scale to see that it hasn't moved all week has given me some motivation. So, I started exercising more, upped my Fluid intake, etc. I know you will get through this! Going off track every once in a while won't ruin your whole journey. Just take it one step at a time and you'll be back to shedding off those pounds.