Miss Mac

For me, it is nothing happening for at least a week in spite of a noble effort to stay with your program.

My nails got really flakey about a month out, but responded well to Gelatin. As soon as I started drinking gelatin every day, my nails straightened up within a couple of weeks. I also did not have hair loss. Maybe the gelatin helped. I also still take 20,000mg of Biotin daily. It is very similar to a GNCs Hair Skin and Nails Formula.

I am glad to see that you are on your way to healthy. Not only will your joints feel better, here are some other non-scale-victories that you can expect over time: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/276681-how-about-some-nsvs/page-140?hl=%2Bnsvs#entry3707835

There is a pair of white skinny jeans in my closet waiting for the next size down.

As always with this forum, you are going to experience that opinions and tact will vary, especially when a post is not all sunshine and roses. I am sad that your weight loss has become about someone else and not about your own health, happiness, and longevity. Will this person support you in other attempts? Will they go walking with you and help you pick and cook healthy foods? Or will they sabotague your efforts and bring home Krispy Creme Donuts? I do hope that even if they don't support your decision for surgery, at least they will still have your best interest at heart and support you with encouragement and assistance. You will find all kinds of people on this site. There are folks like me who got sleeved and had no complications and no hair loss. There are others who have had complications or lost a lot of hair. There are those who have been at death's door several times. I don't regret my surgery at all. Others wish they had never heard of it. Since you are putting surgery on the back burner, I would like to make a couple of suggestions. One is that you come visit the forum often. You will still find good advice and support here, no matter what method you use to get healthy. The other is to at least pick up on the basics of what our surgeons present to us for success: Eat lean Protein and plenty of it. Eat some non-starchy veggies daily. Eat fresh fruit (apple, not apple pie), but not a lot. Drink Water until your eyeballs float. Don't become part of the couch. I wish you the best success with your efforts. Let us know how you are doing.

I am 66 pounds down and I am doing this: I bought exfoliating gloves at Walgreens. Every other shower I exfoliate and when I am dried off I rub almond oil or whatever moistuizing lotion I have all over my skin. My understanding is that since skin is a living breathing organ it will renew itself as old skin cells are sloughed off. I don't know yet how much it is helping, but my skin is a soft as a baby's. At this point I am 14 pounds from goal and am using year two to focus on strength training. My insurance will pay for a panni, but not until two years post-op. Strong muscles will help fill out some of the slack, but I will still need that panni I think. I dont know if all this will really help, but it doesn't hurt.

I just turned 63 a few days before my one year last week, and I have the same dilemma. For years I watched What Not to Wear, so I kind of have a little direction. But what else I do is people watch. I have my antennas out for women my age and make internal judgements about whether or not they look ridiculous. Last year at the 2014 SAG Awards, Rita Moreno got an award for career achievements. She had on the most stunning maxi dress and leather jacket that looked very edgey for a women her age....but she looked GOOD. She inspired me to go for the gusto and spread my wings a bit. Now I am 14 pounds from goal and seriously trying to pull together a new way of dressing my new body that I am unfamiliar with. For the first time in years ( after buying everything online from Lane Bryant and Woman Within), I am going to have to actually go in to a store and try things on. I am up for the challenge. So, my suggestion is to observe and copy what speaks to you. Here is the lin for WNTW: http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/what-not-to-wear

I agree, don't give them any power over you. 8 1/2 years ago, I fled an abusive psychotic now ex-husband (who kept six loaded guns in the house) in the middle of the night. My dear sister (who had just lost her husband to cancer four months earlier) took me into her home 300 miles away. I will forever be grateful to her for giving me shelter. I had not had my surgery then, but I was trying really hard to lose weight. I bought special groceries for myself because her house was full to the rafters with junk food. There was nothing nutritious in the house and she and her kids were (and still are) obese like I was at the time. Hard as I tried to get them to eat healthy, she insisted that the kids would not eat fresh fruits and veggies and lean meat that did not come from KFC or Burger King. But guess what? It seemed like no matter what I brought in for myself and shoved to the back of the fridge, the kids would dig that out - eat my stuff, and then eat their stuff too. I love, love, love my sister, but it got to the point where I just had to love her from across town. Obviously you do not have control over the household, but you do have control over yourself and need to stand up for yourself. Do not worry about hurting their feelings since they clearly do not care about yours. You need to just shake hands and come out fighting. There is nothing easy about this walk at all. Stay tough and spend as much time as you can fixing up that house. As soon as you have enough plumbing and electric to get an occupancy permit, move in. It doesn't matter whether you have interior walls and closets and new hardwood floors. The peace of mind will be worth it.

Post-menopausal. Because I feel sexier and because I was able to drop so many meds that were keeping me in a fog and dulling nerve endings....I am more tactically responsive, too. I am sexier and sassier than I was in my twenties......for real!

At six months, I could eat raw foods including greens. I eat tomatoes nearly every day. Sliced apple with Peanut Butter is my favorite snack. What I have to watch out for is raw cauliflower and broccoli - steamed is ok, but Miss Tummy objects to raw and will make me miserable for at least four hours. But go figure.....I can eat cole slaw with no problem. Other raw fruits I can tolerate are pineapple, pears, and apricots.

You have to work your way up. It gets easier as you are able to eat more food. Plan on 20 grams for each of three meals and two ten gram Snacks. That would be 80. But you could also do three fifteen gram meals and two 7-8 gram snacks for 60 grams of Protein. For meat, eggs, cheese, you are looking at around seven grams per ounce. Milk, cottage cheese, ricotta etc., can count as protein, too. A scrambled egg with 1/2 ounce of shredded cheddar would be about ten grams. It is do-able. When you are freshly post-op, your priority has to be fluids. period so that you don't end up back at the hospital for dehydration. Then worry about protein.

This forum is exactly the place to come when you are tired of being strong.

171.......a little holiday bump, but quite temporary.

I got sleeved a year ago on 12/23/2013 and am 14 pounds from goal. For me, the sleeve was a hangnail compared to my knee replacements. I am retired, but my daughter has three kids under six with a fourth on the way (on purpose - she loves being a home mommy). When I was freshly sleeved, I was cautious around them and did not attempt to pick up the smaller ones. Hopefully you can have some family support, at least for the first couple of weeks. I did not need any pain meds after my third day home. There was some nausea for the first month, but I had two meds that kept me from puking. It took about three weeks to get some energy back - around the time I graduated to soft foods. I hope that you have an uncomplicated recovery. I wish you good luck and good health.

You do realize that those unsupportive people in your home are abusing you? Why are you still there? Apparently, they would rather see your sleeve rip a leak so that you can get sepsis and die. Then that would not be so funny. If they were holding you down and shoving the food in your mouth, that is different from you volunteering to give in to the temptation. You have to be careful, too, to stop abusing yourself. I would suggest to go on Youtube and warch one of the longer videos that shows an actual sleeve operation so that you can be reminded of what has happened to your stomach. Believe me....complications are horrible. Please start taking better care of yourself. Hopefully you would not let a toddler eat anything it wants, or let it walk out into the street. Just think of your new tummy as a helpless infant in need of your diligent care. Give your new stomach a name. Mine is Miss Tummy, and she is the boss of me. Make sure you have acceptable foods in the house, even if you have to go to Walmat and get a mini-fridge and put a padlock on it. This is WAR!

The fact that you have approached us here on the forum is an indicator that you are mellowing a bit on what your options are. Two of my sisters had gastric bypass. One is doing well. She went from a size 26 to a size 6 in two years time and is healthy and maintaining. The other one went from almost 400 pounds to 150 and is struggling to stay under 200 now. But she totally went back to ger old habits, including heavy salt. I had the sleeve one year ago this week and am doing well. I am 14 pounds from goal and much more health than I would be without it. One thing you will find here is that opinions and tact will vary, so just be prepared to take away what you need and then disregard the rest. I would encourage you to educate yourself as much as you can, and maybe even check out a local support group. The encouragement and support of others will be of benefit. Welcome to the forum. Happy Holidays.

One thing I appreciate about this forum is that whatever insecurities we are dealing with, we are not alone. There are so many people who have gone before us, who are riding with us, and who are coming after us, and we just have to pay it forward with encouragement. My mean ol' rotten ex-husband once told me that every time I lose weight I get jowls. I have not seen him for 8 1/2 years, but when I look in the mirror now, I don't see myself 14 pounds from goal. I see jowls. That sucks, and I know how you feel. Sometimes people just need to shut up and keep their negative remarks to themselves. Those of us who are post-op are hotter than we have been in years, and we can't let people have power over us like this. We do need to toughen up and focus on the people who love us for who we are. It sounds like you have a great group of friends who support you. Have fun and enjoy their company. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, CowgirlJane.

In response to ERIKAYQ: Did not quite each goal but close....just 14 to go!

I gained 8 pounds in the hospital, but it got peed off in a few days.

I made it to my one year post-op. My surgery was 12/23/2013. I am officially a veteran!

Withholding info is not the same as lying. You don't have to lie. You just don't have to tell everything you know. If your circle of family and friends is judgemental, I would wait until the weight has been off a couple of years.

For me it was temporary, about six weeks. I think that as I drop meds and have more days where I am not in ketosis, my sense of smell and taste is sharper. Also, the less sugar, grease, salt and preservatives that I eat, the more I can capture the natural smells and flavor of real food that is not made in a factory.

I try to get 20 grams with each meal, and two 10 gram Snacks - that gives me 80, with real food. The most I have had on any one day was 110, but never more than about 20 grams at a time.

The first three days were the worst for me, too.......the other eleven - no problem.

I had a colonoscopy in 2010 because of chronic diverticulitis and won't need another one until 2020 unless an issue comes up. Like with most first time procedures, the preparation and the waiting and the worrying is the hardest part. It would be nice if was as simple as a chest x-ray, but it is important for the whole body to function properly, not just the pretty parts. I had the twilight sedation like the others, but I do remember the doctor having to navigate a what felt like a sharp corner. Overall, the whole experience was a distant memory the next day.