Afrodite82

I have successfully had my single incision (with Dr. Garcia, 4/22/2013) with nary a hitch! Totally worth it, I'd say. We'll see how it heals over time.

Hello all! I'm in San Diego now, driving around waiting for another patient to land before we head over the border to Tijuana. Surgery tomorrow! As soon as I'm able I'll be adding an account of my experience.

See, this is exactly why I am doing the single incision technique. Darker skin just doesn't fare as well as fair skin as far as scarring (if I thought the scars would fade, I would happily skip paying $1000 more). Being that I am a low bmi and my weight is in my hips, butt and legs, I am hoping against hope that I get a belly I can show off without need for plastics. And my goodness, I can only hope I have results HALF as good as yours, Nadoue. You look awesome!

JUMPING JEHOSHAPHAT!!! This thread about singed my eyebrows off while reading. Bad, bad fat people and bad bad not-quite-as-fat-but-still-fat-people!! For shame! Rollar you know you're my boo but whew. But the dude...yeah...he kept it going faaaaaaar too long with the righteous indignation mess. The soapbox had collapsed in on itself. The horse was dead, flies were crawling, it had evacuated its bowels. Still got whooped. And yep, I just kicked it, too I'm glad it's all better now. <3 you guys Now, to catch up: I want a teacup pig too, I love bacon, <3 fried bologna sandwiches with cheese, vienna sausages are the devil but fried spam is a-ok, bunnies rock, cool story bro is def disrespect, and anyone wanna share their drugs? Cause I don't have any yet. Scooch over on the trampoline, please.

Luck! I've read great things about your doc. And I'm headed to Tijuana a few days after you. "All will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." ~Julian of Norwich~

Gmanbat I SO enjoy reading your posts. They are so thoughtful! And here, here Amanda! It needed saying. I must admit as my date draws closer I feel terrified of myself; I hope I don't become one of the aforementioned folks. Can I really do this? I hate exercise, and yet I know in order to reach my greatest success I will have to do it, lots of it, religiously. What will happen when I start to get bored to death of purees and soft foods, and start salivating over some of the stuff that I shouldn't have? What if I'm not strong enough? What if I fail....again? I know that it's all in my head, and I'm spending these last couple of weeks reading all sorts of self-help, trying to reprogram a brain that has gone far too long seeing food as comfort, joy, and a cure for boredom. Logically every point that you present makes perfect sense, but there's nothing logical about that feeling of deprivation, and the subsequent hissy fit my inner-voice pitches "why can SHE eat more than me, yet she's thin? It's not FAIR!" Still, to be sure, since I'm paying thousands out of my pocket to cut most of my damned stomach out, I'm hoping that will serve as the impetus I need to get my butt in gear. And like you say, to be already focused on how much naughtiness we can get away with just a couple of weeks post-op only sets us up for failure. I choose, therefore, to take it one day at a time, focus on how much I'm gaining, not whatever it is that I may feel as though I'm giving up. An attitude of gratitude. (Just might need you guys help every now and again to remind me, lol, but I promise not to whine about not being able to fit a half dozen Krispy Kreme's down my sleeve!)

Would someone please me to the April sleevers fb page? xwyldzephyrx@aol.com

Thank you for your response! Indeed, it seems like a miracle to be able to have a shot at regaining health and life and self-confidence. I absolutely share your sense of gratefulness. Have a great camping trip and see you around again soon.

You two are both amazing!

Oh man, I'm nervous for you! Stage three is the trickiest sounding one to me, I'm still trying to compile a list of the things I should eat when my time comes. But you'll do fine I'm sure, you seem to be possessed of more than your fair share of common sense Please keep us posted on your progress. Did you still feel hungry, or was it only habit that made you want to continue to eat? Is it rough not to drink along with your food? *bites and gnaws at nails with worry*

Oh gosh Laura, now you have struck the heart of my fear! Was it one of the tinier incisions (I hope)? My mother gets keloids from surgical scars (I've never had any surgery, so I have to go off of hers). That, coupled with the fact that the coloring of my surface scars is always so dark is exactly what is driving me to single incision. I will be more than happy to show pics and to give my experience, either to recommend or to warn everyone else away! I tried to post the pics I received, but it says "that file format is not allowed in this forum" or something like that. I see other people add pics to their forum posts, though, is there a trick?

He didn't mention that there was not any validity to the claim that the recovery time is shorter with this technique, but it makes sense to me that it would be; it's still one wound instead of four or five. Guess I'll know in a couple of weeks.

Lol, Laura-Ven, English is not his first language. We're self-paying in Mexico.

Ugh, more pain? Yikes. That's contrary to the all of the info that I have managed to read about the technique thus far, but I'm gonna choose to believe him, he would know. I'm on my phone now, when I make it to my computer I will post the pics of the single incision that were sent to me; really flawless-looking. Since my skin is prone to hyperpigmentation issues from scarring and because I have about 70-65 to lose (and therefore hope to escape the need for plastics)I must say I'm still sold on it.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series, starting with Dark Lover. Sexy, freaky, raw and urban vampires. The steamiest sex scenes I've ever read.

Where are you all getting this sublingual b12 and biotin lozenges? Do you order them online? My goodness I didn't know I needed so many.

Wow! This is such an enlightening convo. I'm reading everyones comments trying to see where I fit in. I know that I am a boredom eater (which I have read, falls under emotional eating), but I don't consider emotional eating the same as food addiction (although I notice that others here do). Many things fall under the umbrella of "addiction" nowadays it seems; sex addiction, food addiction, for example, and until reading many of these responses I felt that calling an unhealthy obsession an addiction is a cop out. Even the "obesity is a disease" school of thought makes me uncomfortable... like, which of us "caught" or "came down with" obesity?? So here's my stats: I don't binge, not ever, but I HAVE once or twice felt embarrassed enough by something that I was eating that I tried to hide it, because I didn't wish to be judged. I tend to eat for the feeling of fullness (full, not miserable), using that to gauge how satisfied I am, versus listening to my body and saying "enough" before I feel that slight pressure. On the other hand, I have never had "clean the plate" syndrome, much to my mother's dismay, and when I'm done I'm just done, no matter how much there is left on my plate. I do, absolutely, feel powerless to resist certain food at times, but that's only when I have been depriving myself in the first place. Is that food addiction or rebellion? Typically though, I feel like my weight issue is more a matter of greed, and I think I knew where it came from. I grew up quite poor, my mother didn't allow us to eat unlimited amounts; portions were small, there were no seconds, and she often groused that I was wasteful and selfish and that she couldn't afford this or that, so as soon as I got out on my own I remember eating as much as I liked, of whatever I wanted, and getting seconds, and wasting some of it...because I could! Because it was a luxury I had never had. Now, when I eat, I take larger portions because I want to make sure I get *enough*, if that makes sense (even though I don't eat it all). I fear that there might not be enough, like when I was a kid, and it makes me want more than my share. So in closing, I do not believe that I have a food addiction. I feel that greed, and later a lack of willpower when I did attempt to diet, and finally just sheer laziness (because God forbid I should exert myself...awful business, that) caused my condition. But now, however, I can say that I honestly see that some people genuinely ARE addicted.

Yes indeed! I can't wait until I don't pump half the bottle of cocoa butter (not to mention being able to reach most all of my body without getting winded)!

*sleep deprived, bags under eyes, still clickin' away!* Nope, you're definitely not alone.

Girl you look frickin' amazeballs! I love it! Congrats and keep up the good work! I can't wait till I look like that in a dress!

Indigestion seems to be a very common side effect of weight loss surgery. I'm not speaking from experience as I have not had my sleeve yet, but I see this topic come up again and again as I comb through all of these posts (sleep deprivation? Me? Pffft! Well...okay maybe Anyway, were you not prescribed some sort of antacid or anti-reflux meds? If no, perhaps you might wanna get yourself to a drugstore for some over-the-counter relief until you can request something from your doc.

Welcome!

My figure is pear-shaped, meaning I carry my weight mostly in my hips, butt, thighs, and legs. I've been voraciously looking through photos on this site trying to find women who were shaped like me so that I can have a better idea of what I might be in for, but most of what I find is apple-shaped women with larger tummies and thin legs. To those of you out there who are (or were) pear shaped, do you find that you lose weight from those areas first? Do you still, essentially retain that general curviness or does it all go away ? And I'm smaller chested (a C), does that mean I'll end up an A cup? I know it's all very general, and what happens for one person may or may not happen for me, but I'm really curious as to what others experiences are in this arena.

Hmm. Well, with all due respect, none of us are here on this site because we aren't (or weren't) "big girls". Was it indelicate of him to use the term to describe you? Sure. But is it truthful? People typically use the first or most distinguishing physical characteristic to describe a person to someone else, ie. I'm often "the black chick" or "the black Rebecca"; other people are "the blonde guy", "that nerdy girl", "the bald guy". Is any of that PC? Nope, but, it happens. The thing I note here is that they both agreed that you are attractive. Even more so now that you are slimming down. Further, like you pointed out yourself, he pursued you. Something to ponder. Now, however, I fully agree with the person who posted above that he ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer if he sent you a video wherein he was insulting you (inadvertently or not). So if you aren't feeling him anyway, then just take it in stride and keep in mind that Marilyn Monroe quote "if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best!" Take care.

Thank goodness your worth as wife and mother does not actually hinge solely upon your cooking skill or lack thereof.