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I'm sorry to hear you have had a difficult time. I was in the same situation. I was in the hospital much longer than I anticipated and the recovery was harder emotionally than I ever imagined and I - like you - felt pretty prepared ahead of time. I wasn't prepared for how difficult it would be emotionally basically going through carb and sugar withdraw along with mourning the loss of my coping mechanism (emotional eating), it was a pretty rough couple of weeks. I'm happy to say though that once you get through those first couple of weeks, as long as you stick with the program, it gets way easier. Your body (and mind) adapt and you start to see amazing results which helps too. :-) Good luck on the rest of your journey!

I'm not a huge fan of Protein shakes, but I definitely do other protein foods and they don't bother me at all. My favorites are protein hot chocolate, coffee, pudding, Jello, and oatmeal. All from BariatricChoice.com Hope that helps!

That's great!! Congratulations on your hard work! I'm sure you'll find that working out makes you feel so much better too!

Here is a recent one for me. Starting weight 278.4, after picture weight 128. What an amazing journey it's been. I'm coming up on 2 years post op this week. I have more pics in my blog (linked in my signature) if you're interested.

My weight fell off pretty rapidly the first 7 months or so, then slowed for the next 3 or so months until I reached my goal. Since then I've lost another 10-15 pounds and have been maintaining.

Yep. I'm also in the saggy thigh club.I did have a TT & panni, but the thighs and arms are my self-conscious areas now. In the first year or so post op I felt like you, kind of depressed because I felt like I had lost so much weight and worked so hard and still couldn't wear shorts because of how my legs looked. This year, I reached and maintained my goal weight and by the summer was just kind of like you know what....screw it!!! This body has done amazing things. So I have a little bit of saggy inner thighs. Big deal! I still feel amazing, I'm in the best shape of my life, and 98% of the other people around me have saggy thighs or stretch marks or something. I've also been in therapy for over a year too, so that helped as well. Here's a blog post I wrote after I came to this "epiphany of sorts" if you're interested. :-) http://themeiamnow.blogspot.com/2015/08/this-is-my-body.html

I will be 2 years post op this week. I don't really have an incision marks left that are noticeable at all. In fact I wore bikinis all summer with no problem. :-) it just takes time.

The very first 2 weeks were super hard with head hunger then - like you - nothing seemed to bother me and I could say no to anything with ease. I remember distinctly somewhere right around 7 months post op it's like something clicked in my head and the old struggles were back. It was at that point that I sought out therapy because I knew that I was dealing with emotional food issues more than anything.

I definitely had a rough time during this challenge. I haven't weighed in for a few weeks so I'm not sure that I'm even still on the spreadsheet. If so, my weight this morning was 134.8. (YIKES!!!! 135 is my "oh crap" number). I just kind of let myself slip. When is the next challenge?? I definitely need in the next one to hold me accountable.

That is a tough one. I went to disney several months post op and that is quite a bit further than you will be. I packed a lot of my own food. There were some things where I just bit the bullet and got a meal, like the character meals where you are "paying for the experience" and you can't really "not" eat their food. So I did that a few times, but other times I would pack things that I knew I could eat and take them along in our bag.

1. Does a tummy tuck help reduce the waist area? Yes. Mine did. 29" waist to 26" waist. In addition to doing muscle repair and pulling it all together and sewing it up tightly he did a little lipo on the sides, giving me a nice hour glass shape that I never imagined I would have. 2. How much weight did you lose due to having the tummy tuck? I was 130 when I had the surgery and after was 123, but mostly because I wasn't eating (felt awful). At my 1 month follow up I asked my surgeon how much the excess skin weighed and he said 4 pounds, but the area of skin that was removed was quite large. 3. Did you go down a pant size? I would say yes for the most part. All of my size 4 jeans are saggy on me now, so yes, I've had to go to size 2's now. 4. How many days was the pain miserable? This is a biggie. He had to do more muscle repair than he anticipated, so I was in quite a bit of pain for a while. It took me 2 days to even take the catheter out to be able to get out of bed to pee myself. I "slept" if you want to call it that on a recliner for the first 4 weeks until the drainage tubes were out. The drainage tubes....oh the drainage tubes.... by FAR the worst part. They were so uncomfortable, towards the end down right painful. And having them removed is no walk in the park either. They just kind of yank them out and there is a LOT of tube in there. I've never really had incision pain because it's still really numb there - same with my newly created belly button, which I adore. I still have ab muscle pain, and he said that can last for up to 6 months. It is very bearable though and I've even started back to half marathon training. No ab work yet. I can't even imagine that. I still need help sitting straight up from bed (I'm 3 months post op). 5. How far after the surgery did the swelling go down and you could see results? How far out until you saw final results? I never really had any swelling because I kept that ab binder on nice and tight all the time (other than showering). I was able to shower right away, so I saw the ressults immediately I guess. I didn't take a full look at myself in the mirror without clothes until the drainage tubes were out and I cried tears of happiness because the results were more than I could ever have asked for. I would recommend once you get the surgical tape off the scar to use Scar Away Sillicone Scar Sheets for at least the first 6 months. They are working wonders for my scars. Let me see if I can find my new belly button and before/after pictures to post. Even though it was more painful than I imagined, the surgery itself was more intense than I expected (it took 7 hours!!), and the recovery took longer than I thought I would do it again in a heartbeat for sure. Here are some pictures

Thank you! I appreciate it! If you're interested, there's lots more pics on my blog. :-)

So my abdominoplasty and panniculectomy was approved and covered by my Highmark BCBS insurance, but they denied my brachioplasty (arm lift). I've got tons of medical notes documenting PCP doctor's visits, medications tried for the breakdown and irritation of skin, limitation of movement, my PCP wrote a very convincing letter about why this was a medical necessity and I submitted my surgeon's pictures. I was pretty certain the appeal would be approved. But it wasn't. I was pretty upset. So I'm gearing up to do what the denial letter suggested, and that is to take it to a third level appeal, which would be an outside party evaluating the request. Has anyone had ANY luck getting appeals approved? What am I missing? What else could I include? Would a letter from my therapist saying it causes me anxiety and depression help? Paying out of pocket with 4 kiddos and 2 of them headed off to college within the next year is just not an option. PS (sorry for cross-posting in the plastic surgery forum....I'm just desperate for something that can help me get this approved.)

So my abdominoplasty and panniculectomy was approved and covered by my Highmark BCBS insurance, but they denied my brachioplasty (arm lift). I've got tons of medical notes documenting PCP doctor's visits, medications tried for the breakdown and irritation of skin, limitation of movement, my PCP wrote a very convincing letter about why this was a medical necessity and I submitted my surgeon's pictures. I was pretty certain the appeal would be approved. But it wasn't. I was pretty upset. So I'm gearing up to do what the denial letter suggested, and that is to take it to a third level appeal, which would be an outside party evaluating the request. Has anyone had ANY luck getting appeals approved? What am I missing? What else could I include? Would a letter from my therapist saying it causes me anxiety and depression help? Paying out of pocket with 4 kiddos and 2 of them headed off to college within the next year is just not an option.

Thank you! I started out at a size 18/20 and I am now a size 2. Never would have thought that possible. I lost quite quickly, reaching my initial goal of 145 in 10 months. Since then (I'm now 22 months post op) I've lost an additional 16 pounds, putting me at a "dream goal". But those last 15 pounds took quite a while to get off, probably because I wasn't really trying to actively lose at that point. This seems to be where my body has settled. Good luck to you!

wow you look great, when was ur surgery? September 2013. I am 20 months post op & 2 months post tummy tuck

how long between the before and after pics? The before pictures are the night before surgery. The after are this week, 20 months post op (2 months post tummy tuck) Thanks!!!

here are my 2 most recent. The first is a face comparison just because I think it's pretty crazy. And the other is from yesterday when I went out in the FRONT yard with my kiddos to soak up some vitimin D in my bikini top and my running skirt. I wasn't brave enough to go full bikini, but hey! It's still progress!!

Here are my most recent. One is a face comparison, because I just think it is so crazy the way weight loss changes your looks. And the other was yesterday when I went to soak in some vitimin d while my kids played outside in my bikini top. I did wear my running skirt just because I didn't want to scar the neighborhood...lol. But it felt pretty awesome!

Here are two of my newest One is face...I just feel like I look completely different. the other is from soaking in some vitimin d in the FRONT yard yesterday while my kids played. I didn't want to scare the neighborhood with the full bikini (lol) so I wore my running skirt with a bikini top, but it was so awesome to feel like I could go layout in my front yard without being mortified. :-)

I lost incredibly quickly, reaching my goal weight at 10 months post op. I've since gone on and with more effort lost an additional 15 or so pounds. I wouldn't even weigh yourself the first week or 2. You are pumped full of IV fluids in the hospital that you need to flush out, your body is still freaking out, and you are just adjusting. I remember weighing myself in the maybe end of the first week and lost very little. But after about a week and a half the weight started falling off. There definitely is an adjustment period. Hang in there!

I just went back through my progress charts and I lost 48.8 pounds in the first 2 months. If I had to think back to that time, I started out in a size 20 and at that point (between thanksgiving and christmas of my first year) I was probably in a size 14.

The answer to this question really depends on where you are in the post op cycle. I'll give you my typical day from the 2 years post op view, but you may be looking for something more immediate. Not sure.... Breakfast - Protein oatmeal most mornings from bariwise, and of course coffee. OR iced caramel latte (small) with skim milk and sugar free syrup (but not both the oatmeal and the latte....that would be way too many carbs) Nothing between breakfast and lunch Lunch - Usually a version of a salad with grilled chicken, maybe a hard boiled egg chopped up with it for extra protein,, and a fat free dressing. I always eat the chicken off first and then have just a little room for salad after that. Something else that I like, depending on whether our cafe at work is open or not, is a scoop of chicken salad, a tiny salad, and 2 saltine crackers to scoop the chicken salad up with. Afternoon - I usually have a snack of some sort - either a snack sized protein shake, a greek yogurt, a fat free cheese stick, peanuts, etc. dinner - Usually whatever I make for my family, just in smaller portion and I eat the protein part of the meal first. If they are having Pasta, I avoid that altogether (or pizza) and saute up some shrimp with lite soy sauce. That's a quick and easy go-to single serving meal for me. I throw in a few pieces of frozen broccoli and it's delicious. Evening Snack - I try to avoid this altogether, but sometimes my family is snacking and I just can't resist. I keep sugar free popsicles, protein pudding from bariwise, peanuts, fat-free cheese stick, or sugar free Jello on hand for these kinds of cravings.

I'll be 2 years post op in September and have met and exceeded my initial goal, losing 15 pounds more than I thought I would, ending at a pretty happy weight. I've done so by still pretty much sticking to the "rules". I see it as a change in the way I eat, not just a change until I get to goal and then back to "normal". I have a new normal. For the most part (now I have my weak moments like everyone else), if it doesn't have a nutritional value, I usually don't eat it. I probably could eat larger portions, but I stop before I get uncomfortable. You KNOW if you've eaten to your capacity, at least I do. And it's not a pleasant feeling. What becomes easier and more of a danger that I have to to watch out for is grazing. It's much easier after you are fully healed to graze or snack all day. Those small things here and there add up. As for calories, I still use MFP daily and I usually do not go over 1,000 calories. I am usually closer to 800. Plus the Water. Water definitely helps curb the appetite too. If you're drinking 100 oz of water a day you don't have room (or the desire) for 2 pieces of pizza and a soda.

129.8 for me