NurseGrace

Maybe I am the exception to the rule, but I 'interviewed' 5 surgeons (yes, it took forever because I booked appointments with all of them) and once I picked out who I wanted I saw them no less than 6-9 times for various things and "just because" to discuss things before I allowed myself to be written into the schedule. That is how I believe it should be done.

It's not about flying out of the country, its about the lack of history. Most people who have this surgery with someone outside of their country of origin have never seen this doctor before, and will likely never see them again. I have no doubt that most people who do it that way could have gone anywhere like yourself, and if its worked out for you that is fantastic, but I hate how people get crucified here for pointing out some obvious issues you may run into if you go that route.

800 is the magic number for me

If you are more comfortable going into a major operation ignorant of what could happen to you realistically you are just the sort of person who should not be having this type of surgery. It's also why I CONTINUE to question the idea of people flying out of country for this type of thing, you have no history with that doctor, he doesn't know what you know and hasn't spent any significant amount of time doing any patient education. Not good. Luckly, the majority of people that fly out for this type of thing do just fine because they have taken initiative to learn and read but then every once in a while you get someone who doesn't have a clue, and they are taking your money and slicing and dicing regardless.

Sometimes it feels like there is no rhyme or reason to why we gain or lose weight. I finally kicked my stall the other day when I weight myself after a day of eating fast food not once but twice. I do not recomend that, nor am I bragging about it, but due to life circumstances that's just what took place with me yesterday. Doesn't matter. I woke up this morning three pounds less than I had been.

I'm at the 6th month mark, and about two weeks ago had my first gain of about three pounds as well and then a long stall. Honestly, it has passed now and I feel like it was just bloating. I mentioned on myfitnesspal it felt like a bad case of PMS that lasted nearly a month. Just keep going.

you might take a lot of crap for asking this, but a lot more people do this than there are people willing to admit it. It's obviously not the best choice, but we are all just trying to live our lives and have some normalcy. I say be very careful. I have fro-yo about twice a month now but the very first time I had it the yogurt sat in my stomach like a brick and then I got pretty dizzy.

None of these things on their own except for the drug thing are so bad, but put all together you have a huge issue on your hands. Being secretly videotaped is a massive personal violation and I think that would actually constitute some kind of sexual assault. Drugs make people paranoid, and I hate to burst your bubble but he might have been recording you to see what you were doing, not to wack off. Rehab/mental health nurse here, and my advice is to be very careful. People don't do drugs "just once" and its almost always much worse than you ever imagined. You gotta ask yourself how he knew what to do, how to make it.... Please be safe.

I agree with you but keep in mind that some doctors will encourage this to push someone out of prolonged stall, especially if that person still as 100+ pounds to lose and the days are ticking away, because as most of us know, the majority of the weight we are likely to lose is going to be what we lose in that first year or so. This is a general statement, and there are people who will steady continue dropping for years, but statistically this is pretty sound.

I have not, but it is certainly an option for some people who have maybe done well with it in the past, for me, it gives me heart palpitations so I would be very hesitant to go on something like that again. I would actually rather take a small dose of Ritalin (has a similar effect) than phentermine.

stress is a weight loss killer for most people. seems like people either gain weight during stressful times or there are those people who can't eat much and lose weight during stressful periods. You're going to have to get more intentional in your actions

I've seen a lot of surgeries, I do NOT recommend people observe a surgery they are about to have if they are even waffling a little bit, its nothing but gore-porn usually (plastics are brutal).

I like it, I especially find it helpful to recenter myself when I stray a little bit or I am struggling emotionally or physically, like for the past... three weeks? Almost a month, I have been stalled (I'm 64 pounds down, 6 months out) and being on here commiserating helps somehow. I stepped on the scale this morning and it finally moved. fantastic. I partially attribute it to being on here helping others get back to basics here and therefor reminding myself of what I need to do, and committing to better follow through.

You gotta calm down. I stalled for nearly an entire month post surgery and NO I WAS NOT LOSING INCHES. I didn't even START to loose weight until month two and even then it was only 2 pounds a week. You have to ask yourself what your expectations are. Did someone lie to you and tell you that you would be losing 60 pounds a month and be having noticeable differences in appearance every single week? I sincerely hope not, because you appear to be mislead on how this works, fundamentally.

That sucks, they didn't have any exact matches for me (apparently I am not as large around the middle as most women my weight because their pants sizes were far too large for me even though we share the same weight) but what we can do is ball park it and upload our own so people can see even more variations!

Someone told me about this site recently and I think its awesome. I also encourage everyone to load their own photos so others can see.

Gotta do what you gotta do.

I am guessing you mean zero surgical complications? I didn't have anything. Everyone has pain and things like that though. I am 6 months out right now, I haven't even thrown up due to my surgery. I did once because of a migraine but that was it.

I'm about exactly 6 months post op and I am starting to have my second serious stall, my first one being right after surgery (I did not immediately lose weight for an entire three weeks after surgery). Nothing much has changed in my diet, I'm not grazing or over eating but I haven't lost an ounce in three weeks. I honestly don't feel like I ever had the so called honeymoon phase, I've always had to be very careful and I have never lost tons of weight each week without even trying and all that jazz. I've been fighting the whole way, but I wonder if this is the start of some kind of change for me where its going to be much harder from here on out, or if I am just experiencing a stall. Input from the vets would be appreciated.

I've lost about 64 pounds at my 6 month mark which will be in a few days.

800 well correction, 800 is what I shoot for, the average day is anywhere from 600-1200

My only regret surrounding surgery time was that the doctor told me I could pull that out whenever I wanted and I was feeling comfortable and I hated that thing so I took it out early. It was only after it was gone that I realized how much it was helping me. I would leave it alone until it was empty/the doctor told me to pull it out if I had it to do all over again.

Yep. This happens a lot, but you have to take to heart the fact that the power is in your hands. Just because people are drinking socially doesn't mean you need to, so do not try to justify the situation to yourself like that. If you have a problem with alcohol you've got no business drinking.

Oh no, I am SO SORRY to hear that this happened to you. I want you to understand something though, as heavy people, our chances of getting a blood clot are so much higher even if we DIDN'T have surgery. Anyone can form a clot, its just that surgery increases the risk. As much as this sucks, this may have happened anyway. Focus on getting better, please don't regret trying to save your own life.