CowgirlJane

Thank you for sharing. When I was investigating plastic surgery/skin removal I talked to several people on the phone as well as of course forum messages etc. What I discovered is that the people that basically accepted themselves were the happiest with their skin removal results. It is similar to what you are saying, there has to be a basic self love, quality of life, good health in place before you can genuinely enjoy and fully benefit your new "slim life". So, it is painful to regain but look at where you started! You are still a success story!!!

Good article, thanks Alex. Someone I know is revolted by fat people. I speak up, but not strongly enough, thanks for the reminder.

I found it very helpful that my (former) PCP made such a ridiculous remark about my decision to seek the sleeve. She wanted me to try buying better cookbooks first. After a lifetime of obesity, weight watchers, nutrisystems and every fad diet out there - you don't think I already own a bookshelf full of healthy cookbooks? At that moment, her simplistic view of decades long fight toward better health made me realize I was DONE... and i never looked back!

Oh good grief...I am either in or out?

know thyself. I got a bottle of Baileys for christmas. My christmas eve dinner party ended with us each having a small bit on ice. It has been in my cabinet since... haven't even thought about it until now. A week ago, I bought a container of choc chip mint ice cream. I ate a 1/2 cup a day until it was gone - I measured.. I couldn't forget it, the siren's call was so strong it was all I could do to keep from eating until I felt sick which is why I put it in these tiny 1/2 cup serving dish and forced myself to not heap it. I should have thrown it away. So, for me, clearly ice cream is something I probably can't manage all that well as it is an old trigger (I don't even like it THAT much but it just seems to call my name!) whereas a bottle of spirits has it's time and place and I don't have white knuckle it to ignore it whilst under my roof. They are both empty calories, there are clearly healthier foods and drinks to consume, but one calls my name and the other doesn't. I guess I have a problem with the one size fits all approach and I while I do agree that addictions can be a real problem, and should be considered - it seems like it is an overgeneralization to say that people in maintenance should "never" do ...fill in the blank... We need to know ourselves and how to balance a healthier lifestyle against things we enjoy or find fun. I know several cigarette smokers - talk about something useless and harmful to consume!! Why aren't we ranting about THAT?!?

I am not denying that alcohol can be a problem - it hits you much harder post WLS. At 4 years out though, I consider social drinking as one of my lifestyle balancing acts. I don't need the empty calories, very true, but I am maintaining at goal, have healthy blood work, healthy liver (had scan done due to stones so could see my liver looked good per the doctors) and as mentioned above, much prefer my few times a month happy hour with the girls or wine on a dinner date over dessert etc. It is a balancing act and we all need to take responsibility for how we choose to "balance" and seek help when it becomes a problem... or if health, lifestyle, family, friends etc are impacted. Honestly, I am more likely to binge on ice cream so THAT is something I need to have pretty much abstince on.

I was raised by an angry father and had intense anger at times when i was young. The best therapy was a long walk. I also think regular exercise and physical activities ( hiking, riding) are awesome. I have always felt that the screaming, crying, punching pillows actually contributed to and activated the " fight" response so was not helpful to me. I am not sure how it happened, but my anger is way reduced now. I feel much more peace which is such a blessing.

@@Valentina I shared those beliefs until I met the surgeons at my bariatric practice. Never have I experienced the compassion, taking time to educate and encouraging realistic yet life changing results. They are tuned into the emotional issues - don't try to solve them, but do screen for them. Best of all, they believe in follow up. Lately they have been doing radio spots, which I normally detest from doctors, but the tone of theirs is awesome. It isn't just about recruiting new surgical patients, they speak about helping people get back on track in such a welcoming way. I know my surgeons are a rare breed, but I feel like primary care docs lack training in obesity and really don't know enough about metabolic disorders to fill the role. I do agree there is often a gap, especially over the long haul. I am 4 years out and haven't been seen by my bariatric team in quite awhile. I think I will go in this year because it gives me some peace of mind and because I have had a rough go of it Healthwise over the last 2 months. Bloodwork is good, but I wonder if something Is"up" or if I am just unlucky lately.

My own personal experience was that specific, ongoing and comprehensive education was a key success factor. When I was banded didn't get clear education on how to manage food and I was often hungry but would vomit too easily eating dense Protein...so I gravitated towards sliders. When I revised to sleeve I specifically sought out a program that had what I knew I missed and have been very successful and maintaining too. I was very motivated both times, and had very different outcomes. I understand there are emotional, psychological issues at play too, but it it was a good procedure that initially limited my quantity capacity and hunger...and then the education over the long haul of how to keep"working the sleeve" were much more important in my case. It seems hard to believe but one of the reasons I always failed at weight management was my all consuming drive to eat, my 24/7 hunger. Once that was reduced, it became much more possible to be compliant.

I am very aware of these types of difficulties. I personally know of a woman (work colleague ) who went off the rails post bypass weight loss. She died in her sleep of organ failure in her early 40s. I was scared I would die too so I inquiries further to find she was type 1 diabetic and had become not a problem drinker but an alcoholic....a lethal combination. I almost didn't go ahead with WLS because of this. I am glad I didn't imagine this needed to be everyone's fate. I have a friend going g through separation and divorce. She got even skinnier, smoked way more and started drinking booze instead of eating. It happens to non WLS patients too. She is back on track now. Big life stressor can cause outrageous behavior - but it is the minority and help can be found. I just hope people don't avoid life saving surgery on the chance they might be the one that suffers an addiction transference.

What made this interesting to me, was the specificity. Like, actual examples of the experience. I have issues, but not these, which I find oddly reassuring. Really, i don't feel guilt or even really worry about what I have eaten. I am diligent in the sense that I keep a close eye, but I don't feel the desire to punish myself with excessive exercise, for example, if I eat more than planned. In fact, I view exercise as a tool to keep my body ready to do the stuff I WANT to do like hiking, horseback riding, snowshoing, cross country skiing etc. Exercise in and of itself is not really a big focus for me anymore, it is kind of like basic hygenie I guess. I had about a 10# regain this last summer and in the past I would have faced that with one of two approaches, both essentially panic responses: - what the heck, give up, stop weighing, buy bigger pants -panic, try some program lose 30# and regain 50 Instead, I stayed calm and decided first to focus on stopping gaining. I made small changes and stabilized. Then I thought, hmmm, what do I need to do to lose a few. I made some more small changes - going back to basics of course. I am back under goal again but it took several months. This was a low stress way to address it. what I also noticed was those 10# felt horrible because my snugger jeans wouldn't zip anymore, but nobody around me even noticed. It is not like the Earth stops rotating because Jane put on 10#... there is something to be said for putting these things into perspective.

Did you do a proper flounce?

I have this fantasy of becoming an evangelist, my sermons aimed #1 at doctors #2 everyone else, to educate them on the concept of obesity as a disease process. I am no longer overweight, but I am not cured. My obesity is being managed and is in remission. I don't for a minute believe I will ever be free of the risk of regain because it is what my body wants to do. If I eat alot of sugary, carby junky food -it's like throwing kerosene on a fire and my drive to eat returns. I could have saved decades of heartache and bad health if I had had even the most basic understanding of this process.

I can get behind any kind of self acceptance/ self love movement. I seriously think the world would be a better place if more people had that inner peace and self assurance. I was never involved in FA movement so not well informed but I think they intentionally misrepresent the dangers of morbid obesity. I dated(briefly) a man who was pretty heavy, ate gross cheap ass low quality foods, and then he mentioned in passing that he'd had bypass heart surgery while scarfing down the double bacon cheeseburger... I was astounded ....that is how I think of too much acceptance of a bad health situation. Like people think a magical medication or surgery will"fix em" no matter how much we abuse our bodies. One of my many motivations for getting sleeved was the number of obese people dropping dead (local news story lead me to look up statistics). Sadly, in the years since my sleeve and losing weight I lost 40 year old niece and a 64 year old sister in law- both dropped dead of heart attack and they were very obese (probably 55-60 BMI range) Obesity is a disease process, I have no animosity toward the obese, but people have to keep trying to get weight off, or at least not gain, our very lives depend on it.

I don't recall how long it was before I felt up to it, but it was a few years before I experienced it (i assure you, I felt up to it well before 2 years!)

Finally a sensible article on the subject. When I was 21 I lost 60#, had no excess skin, could wear a bikini. That is a whole different b ballgam affer having a kid, losing and regaining a few tomes, getting middle age and losing say 150#

@ MichiganChic, I remember the day preplastics laying in bed and realizing there was a drape of skin, laying in bed, next to me! Then the day I was doing planks and making the.mistake of looking down and seeing the strangest looking thing ...realizing it was torso skin. I know this isn't for everyone but I genuinely believe it has helped me transition from the forever obese who always regained to someone who BELONGS this size. My scars don't make me feel hideous at all, they are a part of this new me just like you said!

I have had a strange experience with pain, my original plastics I had LBL, arm lift, breast implanr/lift all at once and had less.pain then what I am going through right now (much more minor) I have developed a series of theories as to why that I may write up later. Bottom line, arm lift was not painful and turned out beautifully. Dr Sauceda told me he would.not use.my photos on website as it would give unrealistic expectations because not everyone gets scars that are scarcely noticeable in 2 years. I is worth it especially if you are top heavy (inverted triangle ) shape as it just makes you look so much thinner.

My arm lift was the one I feared the most (visible scars) but actually made a huge difference. I recall my son and his girlfriend meeting me at a "bar" a few weeks post op and her...omg...you are so much smaller ! Comment. I am top heavy by build so reducing that skin bulk was a big impact for me. They turned out great. I actually had no idea it was a problematic procedure.

@@My Bariatric Life I had no idea that complication was a possibility... sorry you have had to deal with it.

When I researched plastics I talked to several people to get an idea of how satisfied they were with results. I noticed an interesting trend.... regardless of what i thought of their results, the ones that were the happiest were the ones who basically accepted themselves okay, pre plastics. You know, who wanted it, but weren't all tied up in knots about their imperfect bodies. I started to think about this obessession... as being a little similar to an eating disorder. What I mean by that is if everytime you look in the mirror, all you see are your flaws, you will likely have that same problem even post plastics with the best surgeon in the universe. It is my opinion that it is a very healthy excercise for some to search for that self love/self acceptance before trying to use surgery to find it. I didn't watch the stories you mentioned, but your comments reminded me of my personal research findings.

@@My Bariatric Life may I ask what ongoing complications you are dealing with? I am 2 years post plastics and doing great, but I had some sort of injury to my right breast, resulting in a seroma that would not go away, resulting in removing the implant, resulting in me needing a replacement. My implants are small, but they give that youthful upper fullness that I have none of without. Anyway, it is not a big deal but I had no idea that implant revisions are so common (for one reason or another). Anybody on the fence about it should be aware that something like 20% of implants are revised in the first few years post op. sometimes it is because the patient wants to "go bigger" but sometimes it is mysterious stuff like my story.... As far as my arm lift, lower body lift - no issues, it is behind me and i don't expect any ongoing problems. My scars don't bother me either.

There are so many misconceptions about all of this. First, most of us do not have "hideous scars" - people don't even notice mine unless I point them out. They are more noticable at first, but within 6 months they were quite faded and now at 2 years - a non issue. My very worst scar is the very back of my lower body lift. The front of it (tummy tuck part) you can't even see - my stretch marks from obesity and pregnancy are more noticable! I go sleeveless all the time and I think I have only had ONCE somebody notice them. I am dating now, so i use the sleeveless shirts as a way to intro the topic - and 100% of the time it has been a non issue with men I have dated - and I always have to tell them, they don't notice even though i am waving those arms in front of their faces (well, I am exagerating, but just saying i am not in hiding) Pain is quite variable, I don't understand why some people report alot of pain, but I had little pain. i have heard this from others too. What I had was exhaustion and general boredom and discontent from being a weakling that had to rest alot for like SIX WEEKS! For an active person like me, that was torture. My pain was very well managed my first 3 days in the clinic and then after that, I really didn't have pain (drain removal hurt, but that is over very fast). I don't know why people say that exercising eliminates excess skin. I was fit fit fit as I exercised alot that while losing weight and moving into maintenance and I still had excess skin. Actually, considering I lost more than half my body weight, my excess skin wasn't too bad! Exercise is awesome for so many reasons, but it doesnt shrink or remove skin. I would say that it was the last 30-40 lost when the skin became more noticable, so if you stay a little fluffier you may not be as bothered by it. However, plastics are expensive. I don't know that they are THAT risky, but any surgery is a risk so maybe isn't worth it. And like i said, recovery is no picnic - disrupts your life, take time off from work, no heavy housework etc for many weeks! It isn't for everyone, and I was one of those that said /i would never do it but am SO GLAD I DID! And as Jamie said, you don't die of loose skin, but morbid obesity can not only shorten your life, but it can cause disability.

Excess skin made me feel like I wasn't completely "there". I looked pretty dang good in spanx, but when I didn't have supportive garments, i had a bit of the melted snowman look... I never thought I looked better fat - not at all. Trim, with excess skin was WAY better than obesity. There were those, including my lover, who tried to talk me out of plastics but I persevered. I likened it to getting rid of the ole 3X sweat pants, just didn't serve me well anymore. Having plastics was tranforming - not just in looks, but confidence and feeling "normal". It is a big deal too, not to be taken lightly, but I am so glad I did it!

Most of the replies are from peeps like me, who did NOT have DS. My understanding this is an issue with DS related to what you are eating. Talk to your NUT, veteran DSers to get ideas. If you don't know any veteran DS patients, message me because I do. Poo pourri really helps mask odor from #2 but doesn't address gas. Still suggest it!