Sassafras

(This was my response to a low bmi soon to be sleever worried that she would be a slow loser. I got to thinking about it and realized its pretty common so I thought I would post as a topic for others who worry about it.) Don't let the idea of being a "slow loser" worry you. I worried about this a lot before surgery and I compared myself to others alot for the first few months after surgery, but it really doesn't matter at all. I'm about to tell you why. I am 5'2 and started with my bmi just barely under 40. I think it was 39.6 or something. I hit 5 months out a few days ago and have lost 55lbs. That may not be as big of a number as some the sleevers that start out at 300 or 400 lbs and drop 55lbs in 2 months, but I am averaging 2.7 lbs lost a week and while its not the fastest I don't think thats too bad. I also have no excess skin yet (fingers crossed). I am now in the overweight bmi category when just 5 short months ago I was a hair away from the morbidly obese category. And I have to admit I have not started to exercise at all yet (bad me I know but I am starting soon). Some people lose slower and some faster but I promise it will all FEEL fast. It feels fast when I've gone from a size 18 jean and an XL shirt to a size 11 jrs jean and honestly (could probably wear a 9 now but haven't been shopping in weeks) and a M shirt. It will feel fast when you are clearing your closet out and everything hangs on you like a sack. It will feel fast when your smallest sizes from yo yo dieting get too big and you realize you have nothing to wear. It will feel fast when you realize you aren't starting fires between your thighs when you walk. It will feel fast when you buy a bunch of Victorias Secret cheekie panties and your tush looks amazing. It will feel fast when you climb a couple flight of stairs and you aren't the slightest bit winded. It will feel fast when you don't mind seeing someone you haven't seen in a while because you aren't ashamed of your weight anymore. I may be technically considered a "slow loser" by some standards but the sleeve has allowed me to lose slowly but surely through a week long cruise, the fair, a 10 wk pregnancy and miscarriage, Thanksgiving, a vacation to Florida, 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years with my house loaded with company and fatty food. Any one of those things would've knocked me off any diet. Before the sleeve and I would've gained back all the weight I lost +10. So being a "slow loser" is pretty awesome if you ask me. And probably if we went by percentage of weight lost I bet most of us sleevers would be in the same loss range. Its just going by lbs that throws everything off. I love this sleeve!

Hi all, I know there are plenty of MFP add threads out there, but most of the people I added in the beginning are no longer active loggers. I figure other people might have that problem too, and I really miss getting meal/snack ideas from there when I feel like I'm in a rut. I don't want to add from those threads because then it would be mostly people in liquid/pureed stages or who are several months out and can still only consume 2-3 ounces of food at a time. I'm hoping to add more friends that are past all that, so I'm starting this so we can all add some new MFP friends in similar stages as ourselves.

Hi all, I am 9 months out and 12 pounds from my first goal...normal bmi. Although my body has faired pretty well so far (pics below), I definitely have a wish list of what I would like fixed. I always thought I would need lifts and tucks but I saw these pics of full body lipo and started thinking since I don't have hanging skin anywhere maybe full body lipo is all I need. Anyone had this done or researched it? Anyone know of good doctors and pricing.I only live a couple of hours from the Cali/Mexico border so Mexico is definitely on the table. Cost is a huge factor since I will be saving my pennies over the next year to save up. Please share any knowledge, experience, or results you have regarding this. I am attaching the pics of the full body lipo result that made me think this is an option. I blurred the nude parts. I am also posting some pics of myself. I have lost about 5 pounds since those pics.

I have not logged in since August and I have let life get in the way of my goals. I'm SO disappointed in myself. I really thought I had my diet mastered. Six months ago I was an expert at keeping my calories under 900, Protein 90-100g ( with no protein drinks/bars), carbs under 50g, logging daily and getting in my Water in. Now I'm year and a half out and I have regained 20 lbs. WHAT HAPPENED? The best I can tell is it all started when we went into escrow on a house. My focus switched from weight loss, diet, and exercise to loan paperwork, credit reports, and problem solving. We ended up losing that first escrow due to an inaccurate tax lien that couldn't be fixed in time to save the escrow. Then I became obsessed with resolving the issue and finding another house. Inventory was low so you had to be ready to pounce right away...hence the obsession. Meanwhile on the weight loss front I had stopped logging and watching what I ate. I told myself I was resetting my metabolism so that I could start back on a more normal calorie intake. We finally had all our ducks in a row to make for an easy breezy loan process and went into escrow on a house we love the end of November. The house was almost finished being built and they said they needed a 45 day escrow. We said they could have as long as they needed we just needed 30 days to give our rental notice. Long story short, it is taking forever and we are now 108 days into a 45 day escrow. This would be no biggie if we hadn't given notice and had to be out of our rental house Jan 28th. For the last 6 weeks, my husband and I (and our 3 dogs...EEK) have been staying with our friends. It was supposed to be for 2 weeks, so our stress levels are in freak out mode and we're still 2-3 weeks from closing. In an effort to impose as little as possible (being that we are the never ending houseguests), I just try to stay invisible. The problem with invisibility is that we have been eating out instead of using their kitchen, keeping lots of unrefrigerated Snacks (aka processed carb filled snacks) in our room, and not exercising at all. Its fine for my husband because he works but I am here in this room all day every day. That has lead to the pounds packing on mostly in the last 6 weeks. I have decided I cannot let the scale keep going up. I need to do damage control now before it gets even worse over the next 3 weeks. I cannot fully get back on track until we are in our house but for the time being I need to stop the gain. I started logging again this morning. I have put a kabash on the mindless snacking. And I am making better choices foodwise even when we have to eat out. I am so scared that since I am 18 months out it will be hard to re-lose the weight. Has anyone been able to lose their regain easily? Does anyone have any other ideas that I can do while staying in this tiny room (without using the kitchen)? I was thinking about the 5:2 fasting. Any ideas, support, words of wisdom, relatable experiences, or words of encouragement is greatly appreciated! (Please excuse any typos...typing long posts on a tablet is not my forte)

Hello! When I started out I tried to research what my body and scars might end up looking like after surgery and there wasn't much out there. I promised myself I would post pics for other people researching these things...no matter how embarrassing lol I took pics from all angles (front, side, back) to give a full account. These pics are in no way flattering but... hey, I look pretty good with clothes on, so I'd take all this over being my former obese self any day lol Heres my stats for reference: 5'2", 34 yrs old,current weight 152, starting weight 217, starting BMI 39, 8 months out from surgery, surgeon Dr Kelly, 5 scars total. I still have about 20-25 lbs to lose. My loose skin is the worst on my tummy and thighs. I had to take my bra off to show my 5th scar (but I tried to cover up the girls the best I could), so there are bra marks under my breasts and around my torso. Those are not scars. I know those familiar with the surgery would know that, but those just starting out might not.

Hi all, My husband is having surgery tomorrow and it was suppossed to be at Mi Doctor. We requested Mi Doctor specicifially because I had such a great experience there last August. They just changed us last minute over to florence because they said that the laproscopic equipment at Mi Doctor is sub-par and not working properly. Since I always sing the praises of Mi Doctor, I thought it was only fair to share this news too, so people can do their homework. I know there were quite a few people trying to decide between the 2 hospitals so I thought this might factor into any decisions. We are sad about switching because I really loved the care I got at Mi Doctor, but happy that my husband will be safe. But on the brightside, Dr. Kelly was really awesome about the switch and did not charge us the $500 extra to be at Florence. Anyone else's docs switch hospitals lately for this reason?

After Dr. Kelly being upset with the staff at Florence too and canceling his future surgeries there while we were there, I don't believe this was about Mi Doctor. I believe that is just what we were told. In my honest opinion, I believe Dr. Kelly is extremely picky about how he wants things and has very high standards (almost too high for MX) and I believe this leads to him being a hard surgeon for the staff to please (which you could see as a good or bad thing). Personally, I love for my surgeon to be a perfectionist but I would NOT want to work for him ha ha. Bottom line: I had surgery at Mi Doc in Aug and liked it. My hubby just had surgery at Florence and we liked it too. I honestly believe you will receive great care in either facility. I did not mean to feed into any rivalry or competition I was going by what the coordinator told us and felt like I owed it to VST to share the information. Glad everything is ok at Mi Doctor!

I don't mean to cause any chaos and I would definitely do more research on it if I were you (you know how easily rumors spread), but I felt like its a piece of info I would want to check into if I was scheduled there.

Hey Crossfitters, I have a question that maybe you can help me with. There is a groupon deal right now for Crossfit classes. Its 10 classes for $29 or 15 classes for $39. I have always thought Crossfit was right up my husband's alley. Even though he is overweight he is very active (loves skiing, road biking, mtn biking, spin class, sports,working out etc...), food is just his weakness. He is having surgery June 1st. I was thinking about buying this deal for him, and he has until Nov 2nd to use it, but is Crossfit too hard that soon after surgery? After the 2 month "don't lift anything over 20lbs" rule, he'd have August, Sept, and Oct, and even Nov (you probably just have to start the classes by Nov 2nd) to complete them. My delimma is that I know how hard it is to comsume enough calories/protein during those 1st few months after surgery, and would Crossfit be too much during that time? It says the classes are beginner level for the Crossfit uninitiated. What do you guys think?

Oh wow! Our stats are so similar! Good luck with your revision and Im sure your results will be fantastic!

I did not use anything on my scars. I rarely put anything on my skin, not even lotion, so these scars are au natural