SerendipityHappens

<--- Not this girl! Woo hoo. Woke up to a 39 BMI this morning! At my highest weight My BMI was 60 and I was considered to be SUPER morbidly obese.. seriously who comes up with these terms??? Next stop, a demure "overweight".

Your upper arms won't spring back, but you should hopefully lose the volume in them and then a shirt will contain them.
My upper arms are glorious bat wings, I have lost a LOT of volume in them and I'm DEFINITELY going to get an arm lift at some point. But they fit easily into shirts and I never have to buy a larger size due to them... My issue is with my CALVES. My calves have hardly lost any weight and many pants will not fit them! Even some BOOT CUT styles will not go over my calves! YIKES! Right now it's fine because I still have a big lower stomach so I'm wearing size 20s... but if my stomach keeps going down and my calves don't, I'll NEVER be able to get them into a size 16... AND they say you lose a size or two when you have a tummy tuck.. but what will be the point if I can't fit anything over my calves??? Yeah, I feel your pain!

Many people who are fortunate enough to keep their hair think it's something that they did.. "oh, I ate a lot of fat in my diet and always hit my Protein goals, THAT'S why I kept my hair".. or "oh I took Biotin and brushed my hair with a boars bristle brush 1000 strokes a day and that's the secret" Unfortunately it's NOT that simple. I ALWAYS take all my supplements including biotin, I eat a diet high in fat, I ALWAYS hit my protein goals, I use Nioxin shampoo... and I still lost hair. I KNEW I would because I lost hair after my gallbladder surgery too.. For many of us, it's just a side effect of any surgery.

I met and married my exhusband at 360 pounds. I met my most recent exboyfriend at 340 pounds and we broke up two months ago. I went back on the dating sites at 240 pounds and 41 years old. It's maybe a little different... now I get men who tell me that I'm too small to be in the BBW category. I also get messages now from men who are not necessarily "chubby chasers" I live in a small city (harrisburg, pa) and I received about 5 contacts a day.. maybe ONE of those is from someone I might be even remotely interested in. After two weeks on the site I met a great man and we've been dating exclusively for over a month.. He's 8 years younger than me, kind, funny, athletic, and extremely handsome.. oh and he's single, straight and employed. SCORE! He thinks it's great that I've had the surgery and that I'm still working toward my goal. He says that I'd be fine if I stayed as I am, but that it's good I'm working to meet my own goals.
In order to have success on a dating site, here is my strategy:
Be VERY clear about my bodytype and size without being self deprecating. Post many pics at realistic angles including a few full body shots.
Put yourself in the correct bodytype category.. If you are more than 30-40 pounds overweight you belong in the BBW category.. if you are 20-40 pounds overweight you can use the "little extra" category and if you're less than 20 pounds above ideal weight you can get away with "average" if you want OR "a little extra"
Meet lots of people! I can't even count the "coffee dates" I've been on over the years. Unless you're totally turned off or creeped out by someone, then meet up for coffee in a SAFE PLACE without giving him any of your information. If you hit it off you can have a longer date later.. or turn it into coffee plus something else. If you don't hit it off then you've only spent a half hour of your time and you can move on.. I'll tell you this new guy I'm dating had horrible pictures online.. His profile was nearly empty and he didn't have great grammar during online messaging (he's not a native english speaker) BUT I didn't have anything to do that night so I decided to meet him at the local pizza place for a quick bite (well he ate, I just had some diet tea)WOW! I'm so glad I did, We hit it off right away personality wise and we have fantastic physical chemistry.
Don't waste your time becoming attached to people you haven't met yet. Seriously, MEET as soon as you can. Otherwise you spend time building him up in your mind and he builds you up too.. It's better to just meet in person right away.
Good luck to you!

I do not have aspergers, BUT once when receiving the results of those corporate personality/workstyle tests.. the test administrator pulled me aside and suggested I get tested for it. I do not believe I have it, but I definitely have many of the characteristics.

WOOT WOOT!!!! I never get tired of ONDERLAND posts! I've been chasing Onderland for a VERY long time so I can imagine how THRILLED you must be right now! Can't wait to join you!

Amen. I totally understand when people who were relatively lightweights without a lot of comorbidities regret surgery and say that life was better before. Or when someone has complications that they're dealing with. Life may have been better before... But for those of us way up in the 300s or who already have serious comorbidities, then the risks of surgery are WORTH it to us. This is not a cosmetic procedure simply because we don't like being fat, this is giving us our lives BACK! I'm six months out and haven't felt this good in 20 years. Having the surgery has helped me stick with my wheat free diet so my body is free of inflammation for the first time in decades. I have minimal knee pain now, the joint pain in my hands is completely gone. Miraculously my thyroid function has returned to normal (this is VERY uncommon so I don't want anyone thinking that their thyroid will normalize due to diet change/surgery) I can ride a bike... I even fell off my bike a couple of days ago and the only thing that got injured was my pride! I couldn't imagine the pain and injury falling off my bike at 360 pounds would have caused. I am experiencing an extremely positive outcome from this surgery. I recognize that not everyone has this same outcome, but I took the risk because the alternative was for me a 100% certainty that I would continue to live in misery.

Amen. I totally understand when people who were relatively lightweights without a lot of comorbidities regret surgery and say that life was better before. Or when someone has complications that they're dealing with. Life may have been better before... But for those of us way up in the 300s or who already have serious comorbidities, then the risks of surgery are WORTH it to us. This is not a cosmetic procedure simply because we don't like being fat, this is giving us our lives BACK! I'm six months out and haven't felt this good in 20 years. Having the surgery has helped me stick with my wheat free diet so my body is free of inflammation for the first time in decades. I have minimal knee pain now, the joint pain in my hands is completely gone. Miraculously my thyroid function has returned to normal (this is VERY uncommon so I don't want anyone thinking that their thyroid will normalize due to diet change/surgery) I can ride a bike... I even fell off my bike a couple of days ago and the only thing that got injured was my pride! I couldn't imagine the pain and injury falling off my bike at 360 pounds would have caused. I am experiencing an extremely positive outcome from this surgery. I recognize that not everyone has this same outcome, but I took the risk because the alternative was for me a 100% certainty that I would continue to live in misery.

Amen. I totally understand when people who were relatively lightweights without a lot of comorbidities regret surgery and say that life was better before. Or when someone has complications that they're dealing with. Life may have been better before... But for those of us way up in the 300s or who already have serious comorbidities, then the risks of surgery are WORTH it to us. This is not a cosmetic procedure simply because we don't like being fat, this is giving us our lives BACK! I'm six months out and haven't felt this good in 20 years. Having the surgery has helped me stick with my wheat free diet so my body is free of inflammation for the first time in decades. I have minimal knee pain now, the joint pain in my hands is completely gone. Miraculously my thyroid function has returned to normal (this is VERY uncommon so I don't want anyone thinking that their thyroid will normalize due to diet change/surgery) I can ride a bike... I even fell off my bike a couple of days ago and the only thing that got injured was my pride! I couldn't imagine the pain and injury falling off my bike at 360 pounds would have caused. I am experiencing an extremely positive outcome from this surgery. I recognize that not everyone has this same outcome, but I took the risk because the alternative was for me a 100% certainty that I would continue to live in misery.

Amen. I totally understand when people who were relatively lightweights without a lot of comorbidities regret surgery and say that life was better before. Or when someone has complications that they're dealing with. Life may have been better before... But for those of us way up in the 300s or who already have serious comorbidities, then the risks of surgery are WORTH it to us. This is not a cosmetic procedure simply because we don't like being fat, this is giving us our lives BACK! I'm six months out and haven't felt this good in 20 years. Having the surgery has helped me stick with my wheat free diet so my body is free of inflammation for the first time in decades. I have minimal knee pain now, the joint pain in my hands is completely gone. Miraculously my thyroid function has returned to normal (this is VERY uncommon so I don't want anyone thinking that their thyroid will normalize due to diet change/surgery) I can ride a bike... I even fell off my bike a couple of days ago and the only thing that got injured was my pride! I couldn't imagine the pain and injury falling off my bike at 360 pounds would have caused. I am experiencing an extremely positive outcome from this surgery. I recognize that not everyone has this same outcome, but I took the risk because the alternative was for me a 100% certainty that I would continue to live in misery.

Amen. I totally understand when people who were relatively lightweights without a lot of comorbidities regret surgery and say that life was better before. Or when someone has complications that they're dealing with. Life may have been better before... But for those of us way up in the 300s or who already have serious comorbidities, then the risks of surgery are WORTH it to us. This is not a cosmetic procedure simply because we don't like being fat, this is giving us our lives BACK! I'm six months out and haven't felt this good in 20 years. Having the surgery has helped me stick with my wheat free diet so my body is free of inflammation for the first time in decades. I have minimal knee pain now, the joint pain in my hands is completely gone. Miraculously my thyroid function has returned to normal (this is VERY uncommon so I don't want anyone thinking that their thyroid will normalize due to diet change/surgery) I can ride a bike... I even fell off my bike a couple of days ago and the only thing that got injured was my pride! I couldn't imagine the pain and injury falling off my bike at 360 pounds would have caused. I am experiencing an extremely positive outcome from this surgery. I recognize that not everyone has this same outcome, but I took the risk because the alternative was for me a 100% certainty that I would continue to live in misery.

There is absolutely nothing that I can never eat again. Grapes, citrus, pineapple, soda, sesame seeds, fibrous veggies, alcohol -- all things that were restricted for me for a time, but once I was fully healed, no issues whatsoever. The only thing I don't eat is any wheat products.. but that's due to an intolerance unrelated to the sleeve.

I just started dating someone new recently. I am still on my weight loss journey. I told him that I had the surgery and that I'm still hoping to lose 50-90 more pounds.
I explained this all on our third date when it became apparent that we were both interested in seeing each other exclusively and cultivating a relationship. If I was not in the process of still losing weight, I would not have felt that need to inform him of this so early on and would have just mentioned it when the subject came up naturally... like when showing him old pictures of if he asked me why I eat so little... but since my body is still changing, I thought it best to clue him in early just in case he was a chubby chaser, because the LAST thing I need is to get involved with someone who WANTS me to stay fat!

Be careful with the new whey shots, despite their name, they're not a high quality Protein and not really recommended for bariatric patients because they're mostly collegen. Yes Whey! is a better choice if you want to do the Protein Shots.< /p>

Thanks ladies. Turns out, I was worried about nothing. I'm still not 100% comfortable with myself like I was before but he didn't burn out his eyes with a red hot fire poker after gazing upon my nekkidness so it's all good.

I'm in my 40s but I'll chime in anyway, Mine improved from diet! Prior to changing my diet my knees were in so much pain I could barely make it through a 7 hour shift. I could no longer close my hands all the way and I had given up crocheting because it was painful. After about a month of a wheat free diet, about 90% of my pain is gone. My hands are 100% pain free and I have complete range of motion in all digits... and my knees still have some aches but it's NOTHING like before.

I'm in my 40s but I'll chime in anyway, Mine improved from diet! Prior to changing my diet my knees were in so much pain I could barely make it through a 7 hour shift. I could no longer close my hands all the way and I had given up crocheting because it was painful. After about a month of a wheat free diet, about 90% of my pain is gone. My hands are 100% pain free and I have complete range of motion in all digits... and my knees still have some aches but it's NOTHING like before.

Since being sleeved (actually since I began my preparation for the sleeve and changed my diet)I only had to take one month of acid reducer and then about two months later I did one 14 day course of omeprezole. I am happily living reflux-free now! I credit dietary changes, loser fitting clothing and weight loss.... Pre-sleeve I had very bad reflux with episodes that would wake me in the night at least four times a week. The biggest changer for me was getting rid of wheat products which were the primary culprit causing my reflux.
Also, if you have gerd/reflux many doctors will use a larger bougie which seems to help. I had a small bougie though since I lost weight and changed my diet PRIOR to being sleeved, my reflux was not an issue at the time of being sleeved.

Awesome! Enjoy the process. I loved the preop phase... It was HARD but during my preop diet, I proved to myself that I could do this!

I'm six months out and yes it's a struggle even this early on, but for the first time in my life it's MANAGEABLE. I had gotten up to 360 pounds and managed to lose 20 and just stayed there even when I was putting in effort. I don't MIND making effort to lose weight as long as I don't feel like it's insurmountable. Having the surgery didn't make things easy for me.. but it did make it less hard!

It's only too tight and too short if you're in Saudi Arabia!.. otherwise, I'd say it's maybe a bit too loose.. you could go down a size and still look fantastic. I wear a spandex camisole from Walmart and it's AWESOME under my t-shirts.. that way I can wear one that shows off my curves without showing off my bumps and rolls!

I actually just bought some today. I just bought the cheap microfiber fruit of the loom.. I got seven pair for ten dollars. I figure they're good for the transition period I'm in. I LIKE maidenform panties but I don't want to pay right now for them.... Personally I buy briefs because my lowerstomach is really wide and floppy and sticks out the legs of the high cut.. gross.. Can't wait to get that thing cut off..... then I'll be able to wear something with a high leg and/or low waist.

Thanks ladies. Turns out, I was worried about nothing. I'm still not 100% comfortable with myself like I was before but he didn't burn out his eyes with a red hot fire poker after gazing upon my nekkidness so it's all good.

I'm six months out and yes it's a struggle even this early on, but for the first time in my life it's MANAGEABLE. I had gotten up to 360 pounds and managed to lose 20 and just stayed there even when I was putting in effort. I don't MIND making effort to lose weight as long as I don't feel like it's insurmountable. Having the surgery didn't make things easy for me.. but it did make it less hard!

I went through MBC. Christy was my coordinator and Dr Valenzuela sleeved me. Fantastic experience. I have not a moment's hesitation to recommend Dr V. I healed great and my PCP is thrilled.