CowgirlJane

I didn't watch the video...I am answering the title. #1 to feel normal (ie removal of social stigma,not worry about fitting in seats etc) #2 to be rid of medical issues related to obesity #3 to love how I look in clothes #4 to be able to DO fun stuff - hike, fun, jump and ride!

I don't know what that is...college entry exams? Awesome though!

I went to my sis 40th wedding anniversary party about 4 months post op, had maybe 2 oz red wine and thought I was gonna die. Tummy on fire! Now, nearly 3 years out I drink socially no problem. Just go easy. Really easy.

The sorrel is my 23 year old trusty old man. Still rideable..perfect boyfriend horse!

I did encounter a black bear and her adorbs cubs at much to close range a few years back.these[attacthesehment=47472:002.JPG]

I kind of crashed today. Hiding from the world. Problem with being outgoing is that the world notices when you aren't. Damn phone,email and text has just blown up today while I watched Netflix and slept. My holed up thing hasn't happened in ages...a sign I am not doing great but I think its a one day thing. I got a pm from someone preop today wanting to know if she will need plastics. This by the way is not the first message i have received from preops wanting detailed info on plastics. I think I am overtired because I just want to scream "how do I know and why is that more important than getting your life back??? I think I have had too many encounters with people who are getting sleeved for looks reasons and I don't relate too well. Save your damn life and worry about looks crap later. Grump

My sons are a little older, but were at home. I know they did not want anything to do with this and I really have shared very little info with them. I tried to make it as low impact as possible. What is funny to me is that every once in awhile I show them a "before" picture and they don't recognize me. I think that just goes to show that kids of that age range are pretty centered on themselves ha!

I would suspect either a deficiency (B Vitamins are a good suspect) or sleep issues. I think you are likely eating enough calories, but if you eat super low carb, that will make you tired like a wet noodle. I find "carb management" to be a balancing act. If you haven't had bloodwork in awhile, it is probably worth getting checked.

You are experiencing a very normal reaction. I think it's helpful to focus on your reasons for doing it,look forward to positive outcomes, visualize success and generally give yourself pep talks. I was miserable first few weeks and felt not myself for more like first 3 months but somehow I just gritted teeth and did what I was supposed to do. Then I lost alot of weight and was so glad I took the leap of faith to do the sleeve surgery.

I have switched to eco drink which is a mix you add to Water. I found it at costco and its 30bucks for 30 days. I hate pills. The best Calcium is citrate which I have the mini tabs. I can't always make myself choke those down so I also have the calcium chocolate chews from Costco.

Great job! And years later when you are maintaining those losses it won't matter a bit how long it took to get there.

Spent most of the day yesterday with bettys sister and dad. The rest of her family is migrating in now. Funny about the warning regarding sex..ha...I'd like to be in that kind of relationship but I am not quite there yet. Theo is a highly organized, neatfreak. scientific type....I am trying to decide if my less organized more free spirited ways will be a point of contention over the long haul. Last Friday we had a minor misunderstanding, I was the offended party so to speak but I was over it in like 3 minutes...he was not. I am like that...if I get a little upset and then generally quick to forgive and forget. Flip side he has been very supportive(phone calls) over the Betty stuff - very caring man considering we only met a month or so ago. Summer has been amazing but mornings are cool ...a reminder it will be over soon. Florinda, you are missing "find Tango" from your Pacific northwest list of things to do. Century ballroom is quite the dance spot in Seattle. Well Monday I saw 147 on the scale. 145 today, I would like to get back to 140# but it's not that big of a priority given everything hhappening. Coops you did awesome with your weight during vacation!!!

Well one happy outcome for me is that all foods agree with me a few years out. Well. .it's a mixed blessing.

I am in Woodinville area. VERY Easy for me to get to Duvall, Woodinville, Snohomish Redmond, Bothell, Lynnwood, Monroe. Kirkland, Sammamish, Bellevue, Everett, Shoreline, north seattle etc do-able. Beyond that. .. I don't know. I hate sitting in traffic.

Thinking we need an outdoorsy country girl thread! Bonus points for horses!

What are you having done? I had alot done at once and the number one thing is to take it easy. surgeon told me to walk like a 95 year old lady with arthritis. Sorta hunched over and SLOW. He told me how to get in and out of cars etc. Slow and easy. Wear the compression garments and all the other advice given here. I also built up on the Protein, both a few weeks before surgery and the healing period. when you have BIG procedures like i did, it totally takes it out of you and the body needs healing support so eat healthy healthy. Good luck!

When I got WLS - looks was not really a main consideration. I was becoming disabled from the crushing weight I was carrying around. I was developing health problems related to obesity. I could barely climb in and out of the bed of my pickup truck. Ok, you can laugh, but how embarrasing! So, then I got smaller and started to realize, hey, I do sorta care about looks. For me, I fixated on how old my face looked. People around me told me I was crazy, that I looked younger post weight loss, not older. Then it hit me. I hadn't seen my face without layers of fat since I was 22. When the fat disappeared, turned out I was more like 48...ha... and not too bad for 48, but I wasn't 22. Then the skin. Well, I found that shapewear allowed me to disguise it really well. I have posted photos of myself on here without the shapewear becuase I did have a bit of a melted snowman/frumpy look without it - but with shapewear, my extra belly skin became a bit of a hip etc... I did have plastics on my body (not face!) and it helped. Well, it just means I don't have to wear shapewear anymore. I strongly recommend that anyone facing these body image issues seek help on them because they will derail your success if you become too focused on them. Here is the absolute truth - we see ourselves differently than others do. I was dating a man before I had plastics. He originally tried to tell me I didn't need it, and that extra skin was something that women my age just had etc. After the plastics - he was like - wow - that was worth doing, but, I will always appreciate the perspective he gave me which i was "ok" even without it. Or, as he said, "You looked like a million bucks, now you look like a billion bucks!" (he was prone to exageration in many matters!). Anyway, I assure you that others don't see the excess skin as negatively as you do. Learn to disguise it, even embrace it if you can. Plastics or not - at some level we have to come to peace with this artifact of being obese. It is NOT a good reason to regain weight though - trust me on this as someone who used to weigh what 2 grown men should weigh. That was hell, way beyond looks.

Betty passed last night. I am sad, but glad it is over. There is both so much to say and absolutely nothing to say. Kelly, I think you are right, that woman must be quite a wreck if she sees herself as "gross" and she isn't even obese weight, but overweight. Would you have WLS if you had 50# to lose? According to her, she is doing it for looks, not health issues so I actually question the ethics as well as her mental health but I tactfully avoided saying that. We jump up and down for joy at the transformation the sleeve has allowed us - but who are we kidding? This is serious business! You can develop deficiencies, uncontrolled reflux, aneroexia, there are alot of possible complications from having most of your stomach removed! Very reasonable risks for someone like me was literally dying of obesity, but I have very mixed feelings about this drastic surgery for people who need to lose 30-50# and I have stumbled across a few of them in my forum travels lately. It isn't my business, so I keep my mouth shut, but I don't think it is smart frankly. What shocked me was the private message she sent me was probably the nastiness message I have ever received. She sent it in response to my initial post which frankly wasn't that mean or controversial of a post - I just asked her why she cared. Other kinder people took the time to explain to her that when you weigh 400#, 187 looks pretty damn good - too bad it doesn't fit with YOUR ideals of success lady. I decided she is nuts so just ignored the message to me which drove her crazy and prompted her to challenge me again in the thread. I discussed with Ann (she posts here and there) if it was worth responding to and we decided that for the newbies reading, it was worth the bother. I think we all know that you really shouldn't argue with crazy people...haha Coops, I am so glad you had a marvelous vacation. I loved your descriptions! New relationships - well, for me that isn't the core of the issue. The core of the issue is what do I want out of the next phase of my life? If I wasn't still so interested in sex and physical intimacy I think I would likely opt for the "perma single" route. Theo is a fun person to be with, I love that we go out and DO things and we seem to have some common interests. He is super smart, great sense of humor, friendly and outgoing, loves horses, well traveled, great conversationalist and a great kisser. Coops, he also drives a mini cooper - his is that dark green! What I have noticed however is that he changes when we are alone, back at his house. He becomes a bit darker, more introspective. I have this vague question in my mind if he is suffering from some mild depression. I am proceeding slowly because men are alot more complex then I remember them being - HA! We haven't jumped into a sexual relationship yet, and I think we are both trying to figure out if we will be compatible beyond the great fun we have when we are out and about. Sadly, life isn't all about wine tastings, hikes and horse back riding! I am over eating lately, dammit. Hope everyone is doing okay/better....

Thank you all for your support. Betty, the young 50 year old woman with brain cancer, passed last night. She is free from the pains and cares of this world and re-unitied with the person she loved the most - my sister, her life partner who passed 7 years ago, also from cancer. I am sad, but doing okay. I wish I could take time off from work because I feel unfocused. I have been doing alot of snacking the last week or two and I am sure that feelings of stress and grief are part of it. I shared a post in another forum about my reminder to be grateful for what I have in this life and I am reflecting on that today.

I second the "best thing I ever did" remark. I have lost over 160# and maintaining!

Kindle...makes me want to load up the trailer and pay you a visit!

5:2 has lots written on it. It wasn't originally a weight loss thing at all but rather a technique to extend life I would not do it during weight loss phase. I really think there are other tools more suitable for that first year or two post op. I have done it on and off since last summer and it works great. I have not discussed with a NUT as this falls outside of their area frankly. Google the studies on it for info.

beautiful!!

I didn't read all the replies, but I wanted to share soomething with you. I am 8 months out from plastics and I almost didn't get the arms done because of the "scars". I am lucky that they are hidden when my arms are in a normal position, but still, scars. Well, they have faded, ALOT. They are a thin line, although some sections are still red. Even so, wow, what a difference. Whether sleeveless or not, my whole profile changed and the excess skin removal from the arm completely moved me from looking sorta... frumpy... to looking trim and atheletic. You might be in a bit of post surgery depression. Plastics are TOUGH, no joke, hard to recover from. Wears you out, makes you tired, is emotional, filled with doubts and all that... but it passes. I am so thrilled with my results - I don't even see my scars anymore. Everyonece in awhile somebody notices them and can be a little shocked. And I will have to say... yeah, I do look like I had pretty big surgery.... I just don't even see it anymore. I love my results, scars and all.... and I bet you will too. Hang in there - this whole journey ain't for wimps that is for sure! I added a picture from this weekend. For anyone who every weighed like the size of two grown men... and now is something like a "normal" weight realizes that I had ALOT of extra arm skin. I do have scars, but, look at those arms. Makes me feel so happy to look normal and hardly anybody notices those scars anyway!

On a slightly related topic - I do not understand why so many people (thi s is posted about ALOT on the forums so it is common) suddenly turn judgemental toward heavy people. That hasn't happened to me. I don't feel I need to rescue them- because I know we can only save ourselves, I don't feel disgusted by them or judgemental. It is like anyone else - a person walking with a limp, a person who is vision impaired, a person who seriously needs a better haircut..haha.. I might notice it, but the thought never occurs to me that it is really my business. I completely respect that the original poster is recognizing this is not ideal behavior and trying to change it - I appluad that. What I don't understand is why this is so common? My only theory is that there is a pshcological protection - like if I can declare that it is "someone else" that has this huge issue then feel safer from it? for me, even though I see myself as trim/normal weight, I still know that have the disease of obesity and I could "look" like that again very very easily. No judgement of others since I am too busy slaying my own dragons...haha.