CowgirlJane

I hate the emails... so I am set to not get them, yet there are a few threads that I do and I don't know why. You know, right next to your user name on the upper right corner of the screen, you can click that little "gear wheel" (looks like an arrow on my phone). From there you can select "content I follow" which will reveal everything you are following. Also, to the very far right is rectangle that does NOT look like an envelop that has all your notifications. I think that is still working as I have hundreds of them piling up.

I use it because I really struggle with vitamins. I was having double dose of gummies and it seems to me that the ecodrink has better vitamin coverage than the gummies.

I had the same problem. I would put "normal" or "average" and all the guys marked average were actually overweight.... I eventually switched to "atheletic or "fit" but i couldn't bring myself to do that until I had skin removal. Weird. Anyway - I am currently very pleased to have NO profile out there!

I hope it works. I lost 85# on weight watchers years ago and didn't have much of a skin issue because I was still overweight. My excess skin got worse the closer I got to a normal weight/size post sleeve but I lost alot of weight. I lost 60# and got to a normal weight when I was 20. I had no excess skin and could wear a bikini. There are various factors.a

I generally agree with you because this is serious business. Seems like if a person agrees to have the majority of a key organ removed you'd bother to take the time to ask a few questions up front. However,much of what is posted during the "whiney" phase comes from emotions not clear thinking, it can be a good idea to just ignore it. Example, every body seems to think that the bad stuff never applies to them. When they experience hunger due to acid, they think they have the only "failed" sleeve because they sorta skimmed over some of the potential "issues" and adjustment period. Most get over the temporary insanity.

@@liannatx I believe bioenterics was later puchased by Innamed. I was banded in Germany around the time it was approved in USA in spring 2001. There were two main bands - the other was made by a swedish company I think. http://research.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/srdesign/2006/group2/Research%20Paper/Lab-Band%20Information.htm

I think they have given you excellent advice. I lost way more weight and didn't have those issues..So have it checked. What is a "full gastric"?

I don't live in Snohomish, but am there at least 2-3 times a week! Love to hear from fellow "townies"

Tough one. I had my band surgery in a German hospital. Excellent care, but i felt imprisoned. They kept me for like 5 days (a very German thing to do I might add). I thought I was dying and the surgeon recognized I was having the hospital blues and finally released me. I had my band removal in day surgery, surgical center - went home same day. I had my sleeve in a surgical center, and they kept me overnight because they changed the protocol for people with sleep apnea. That was a great experience. 3 patients, one nurse, and just knowing that I was being watched over, but not in a hospital was perfect. My rather extensive plastics was done in a surgical center attached to a hospital. I stayed for 3 days in the "surgical center" which was more detailed care than any USA hospital I have ever been at. One of the key reasons I went to Mexico for plastics was that I could not visualize it as day surgery - and that is what was offered to me here in Seattle. I needed the care and am grateful for it. Plastics is a much bigger deal in terms of the surgery than the sleeve was. Take the option that gives you the most "help"

I am not gonna diss someone for their goal - we each have our own journey. I think for someone who used to be in the 500-600# range, getting to 300 IS AMAZING. However... The problem is that the newbies actually believe this advice is applicable to them because he is so strong in his statements. I am sorry my fellow middle aged ladies - if you are anything like me... you can't be "eating what I wanted, when I wanted and made just the way I liked it." and still attain anything close to a normal weight/size... and then have a prayer at maintaining it. I LIKE being in single digit sized clothing and would be unhappy if I was still plus sized after the WLS. If you want the best chance at making your goals, follow your surgeons instructions. If you want more mentoring than that, pick a few people on these forums that are similar to you (roughly speaking, amount of weight lost, gender etc etc) who have had wild success and listen to them. That is what I did - and none of those very successful ladies who proceeded me ever said I could eat whatever I wanted.. prepared any damn way I wanted... Too bad because it would be deep fried red potato slices every night with dinner cuz that is exactly what I would enjoy the most. sniff sniff

Sharon I agree on that assessment in the beginning. .but over time it is increasingly possible to ignore the sleeve tool and return to old ways.

I feel very much the same. Just so happy with ME I don't have time to worry about others. Like I said, it does worry me a little that I have gone down the "obese people are invisible" route which I don't like. I was out listening to live music a couple weeks back and a very obese man with a cane was there. He so wanted to dance, and a few of us got him out on the dancefloor - he just sorta bobbed his head dancing in place - but had a good time. However, in general - I don't notice obese people. So. Like me, you are freaking tickled with yourself.

I have never been set up for email notification as that would drive me crazy. Do you all see the little pulldown arrow right affer the "Hello Cowgrrljane" .click on it and chose "content I follow" and it will list the threads you are following. Had a fun s Saturday, my friends 50th. We went to dinner, a country western dancing bar and then salsa..woo hoo! Things are going well with Scott and life is good overall.

Me 3 I am not mean, just a realist. Me too...I can parachute in and be the "Bully" to them....

What is interesting to me about your remark is comparing the "culture" of those two different forums. I too started out on the other but as you know rarely post there anymore. At some point, a few months post op, i realized that there were more people here that were inspiring to me... I chose a strategy to pick a handful of people who were "similiar" to me - revised from band, lots of weight to lose - and were successful. I focused on listening to THEM. i found the other forum friendlier at times but not as inspiring or useful. Now, since I am not known there very well, when I do drop in I have a high probability of ticking someone off or tangling with a certain guy which i find fascinating. It is like the "culture" is just enough different that I manage to rub people wrong pretty predictably. I do understand why vets don't hang around. There are several who are a year or two further out than me who are in somewhat contact, but really don't want to read posts about the 3 week stall anymore. somewhere along the line, the tipping point is reached and they just stop altogether.

There are very few people who are 5+ years out that still post on these forums. I am 3 years and 3 months post sleeve. i had the lapband for over 10 years prior to that. I am not exactly sure how to answer your question though. For me, it was life or death. I had become so obese, i was not living the life i wanted and I had to choose whether to die slowly buried in fat, or choose another path. since being sleeved, I can eat anything but in small portions. I really have to work to avoid regain, but have been maintaining a very significant weight loss since Feb 2013.

I think you received good suggestions. I felt weird - icky - not quite human for at least 12 weeks post op. Besides my stomach being a bit queasy, i had this very odd sensation of "observing' myself rather than feeling fully present in my world. I know that sounds kinda nuts, but it did go away. I suspect it is the after effects of anesthesia or the trauma of surgery or maybe just the not being able to overeat to soothe my soul? i don't really know, but it was odd and unsettling. Herbal tea (which isn't real tea and has no caffiene) also helped as I couldn't tolerate plain Water in those early months.

When was your surgery? What is your morning routine. Example, vitmins didn't set well on my morning tummy...

@@OKCPirate I think you have hit the main points. for me, I chose to make my profile private so nobody could contact me unless i initiated. I was getting to many contacts that were inappropriate - some sexual, but mostly way outside the location/age/fitness/characteristics range of what I was looking for. I felt that they weren't even reading my profile, but just looking at my photos. My experience was I found a much better "quality" of matches when I initiated. I decided that while men do like to pursue, it is also true that "nice guys" are more likely to want permission to pursue versus the aggressive/looking for sexual conquest only guys. I have been seeing someone for a month. I completely deleted my profile because I was becoming jaded and recognized that was not good either. Man I am seeing was my "one last meet and greet" and we hit it off fabulousy. I hope things continue to work out, but so far so good. I am careful to let him know I am very interested while letting him take the lead. He calls and texts me daily still and I just let him know i think he is wonderful.

I used to get Sunday afternoon dread. I learned that it was the emotional weight of knowing I had to face work/people on Monday morning. It also came from my childhood history of Sunday being the very worst day of the week. So, I went to counseling for awhile and one of the things i learned was how to mitigate this. For one, I had to learn to "accept" feeling bad sometimes. I would wind up into anxiety over nothing but the bad feelings. Learning to accept bad feelings without wallowing in them was a huge step forward. It was also me being kinder to myself. A key anxiety trigger for me is that feeling that I "should" be doing more than I am able to. It took alot of work (and ongoing) to not let my mind get spun up into that. I also learned to plan fun or at least social things for Sunday. If I need a chore day, it can't be Sunday because I was prone to lonliness and sadness that day that i wouldn't feel on another day. I remember a couple of years ago being wound up like a top on a Sunday. I did a hard workout and still felt intolerably anxious. I decided, for the first time in my life, to take up my friends who always offered to "support me" and started calling. I finally got ahold of a friend who dropped her plans to spend the day with me horseback riding and we had a great time. Throughout the day, i got back texts and calls from friends who couldn't free up, or got my message too late, expressing care and concern. I called or texted everyone back over the next day or two and that whole experience made me feel very well supported. I will always remember that day - going from feeling so bad to feeling well cared for and pretty okay and all it took was to ask for help. Much counseling has been useless to me - but counseling that focuses on specific behavior practice has been very helpful.

I used exercise to help me get to goal. I had quite a bit to lose, so felt I needed "everything" to attain my health and weight goals. Well, I did better than I dared dream - hitting my goal over 2 years ago. For a variety of reasons, I have backed off on intense exercise over the last 6+ months and Saturdays shopping trip was quite an eye opener. At the same weight, I wear 1-2 pant sizes bigger than I did when I was working our regularly. Worse than that, the gain in inches seems to be mostly in my waist, so I am losing that "younger shape" and getting the middle aged thicker waist look. yikes! Well, I am middle aged, but I am fitting the thick waist as long as I can. My arms no longer get that - wow, you have beautiful swimmers arms... they still have some tone to them, but not that youthful defined look. My calves are still quite defined, but i am guessing they are next if I don't get on this!!! i remain "active" and when I get back from an upcoming vacation, I am returning to my tried and true exercise program. Glad i noticed sooner rather than later. So - my study of one person did prove that all those crunches, planks, pushups and sprint cycling etc etc DOES make a difference!

I have found that photos really help me "get my head straight". I am getting a lot better ... alot better.. but i sometimes see my flaws rather than my beauty. Photos help me... I see things more objectively that way. I also think that anyone who has lost enough weight to require these procedures need to have realistic expectations. Example, i will always have a little bit of back skin. I love slim fitting/body con clothes and i always need to check the back fat (well it is skin but looks like fat) muffin top over the bra. It bothered me alot before but now I think "what a great problem to have" - I mean who would have ever guessed that i would be wearing those kind of clothes!!!

@@Kindle you summarized my meaning exactly, using it as an excuse. I can assure you that potato is my favorite food and I eat very little of it now...since I understand it contributes to my hunger and weight gain. I went on a biz trip this week and did a few dinners with someone who lost about 100# and probably has 75# to go. One thing she brought up was having to learn to like new foods and flavors. She said she was raised on hamburger helper Mac and cheese and cold Cereal and had been raising her kids that way. I admired that she was slowly developing a taste for salad, veggies, seafood etc. She told me it intimidated her to try some of those things but she would sample something of mine and really like it. I think that "try" attitude goes a long way to finding a new path and making lasting change. I hear ya! Like you, I've been chided on here for being too perfect when it comes to following my surgeon's instructions. I think those people make themselves feel better and try to rationalize their choices by saying "no one can do it". Like you, I say f***k em. But I've been dealing with those types my whole life...I graduated from high school and college with straight A's, and some people were sure it's because I must have cheated...teachers pet, suck up, brown noser, goody two shoes...heard em all and proud of it! @@CowgirlJane I know which kind of posts you are talking about. It's not the ones that choose to be selective about how they eat postop in order to be healthier. Its not the ones that do get physically ill from certain foods. It's the ones that try to use the "I don't like it" excuse for making bad choices postop. The ones that are too lazy to look up and try new recipes. The ones that want it to be easy. In essence, the ones that will fail because they won't change....But will continue to whine about it.

@LumpySpacePrincess@LumpySpacePrincess that is an eloquent and empathetic view- thank you. I don't watch tv much and avoid "trainwreck reality" shows like the plague so haven't seen this but your response reasonated. My dad was a mean, volatile alcoholic, but I am quite sure he didn't want that life. I am quite sure"Penny" would love to have a normal full life but she doesn't even know what that looks like. It doesn't excuse or enable the behavior but empathy allows us to care about the human while hating the behavior.

I reached a state of acceptance with my loose skin but I needed it gone for a way different reason. I saw it as keeping around the 3X pair of stretched out sweat pants. Just didn't fit my life. I didn't really feel shame but I did dress to hide my arms etc. I am 18 months post plastics and I make zero effort to hide my scars. I luckily have healed well, but you can see them. They are my badges of courage. I went dancing last night and felt like the bell of the ball in my sleeveless cute top and skinny miss me jeans. My boyfriend at the time said "scars prove someone has actually lived a life". I doubt he knows how profound that was to me. My scars prove I have transformed my life into the one I want to live..I AM living a full life now. You don't need plastics for that, but I used to be MORE than twice my current weight and that was alot of excess skin and emotional baggage to carry around.. The skin removal was highly symbolic for me. So I did not get the long thigh lift and my butt is pretty skinny. I thought about fixing those too but I am not driven to do it, my imperfect ass seems completely acceptable in my universe so I think I will keep it.