AvaFern

You look awesome! I just hit my 100 pounds down mark this week too, so I can appreciate how excited you must be. Love the white dress!

I do..it's part of the dumping process. If I eat the wrong thing I get really hot, my heart starts to beat fast, and my skin gets flushed. It happened a lot right after surgery and occassionally it still happens, however you learn which foods tend to trigger it and it doesn't freak you out as much because you know it will go away in 20-30 minutes.

I didn't lose 22 pounds my first month...just wait until you're really close to goal and you're lucky if you lose 5 pounds a month. That will really drive you crazy!

I took pictures every 10 pounds, wrote my weight down each morning in a calendar, tracked my progress on MyFitnessPal, and have kept a spreadsheet of my measurements. In the past when I lost weight it helped me to have pictures of what I looked like at every size. I'm now down to the lowest I was in any of my other previous pictures, so when I woke up this morning and had somehow gained 3 pounds overnight despite eating perfectly yesterday, I think about how almost 100 pounds ago I would have given anything to look the way I looked in the pictures where I weighed what I do now. Keeping track of everything helps to put it all in perspective later on down the road.

I am sorry that you lost your brother at such a young age, that is terrible. I never had a band, but I am one of the lucky people who not only gets the slimies that band people have but also the dumping that bypass people have. Just the other night I had maybe 3-4 bites of very well chewed steak and I was frothing, sliming, and oozing goo for almost an hour afterward. A few weeks ago I got a little crazy and had 2-3 bites of dessert at dinner and in a few minutes my heart was racing and I was sweating and barfing. It was really very sexy, lol. The sleeve is a constant reminder that I can't eat too much and if I do it's instantly punishing. I am happy that I have my sleeve, but if I had been able to stop eating so much without it, I would have skipped the sleeve and I would now be able to eat like a normal person! I have three friends who know that I had the procedure, but everyone else is a little weirded out by the fact that if we're out to dinner I really cannot eat much at all and the few times I've had one or two bites to many, I get super sick. The sleeve is nice but it very much comes with its own set of trade-offs.

Wow, you are on a roll! I had lost 70 pounds by like 8 months after surgery, lol. You may be eating too quickly. I am 13 months out and the last month I have barfed at least once a day. I think my issue is with the compression garment I have to wear following my plastics procedure, but it definitely reminded me of how important it is to eat slowly because the compression mimics the way I felt the first few months after surgery. I notice that especially with dense Proteins like fish, chicken, or steak, if I eat too quickly, I end up with a throat that feels the need to froth and ooze goo until I throw it up. So..maybe try being really deliberate with how long you chew and how slowly you eat? Good luck!

If it makes you feel better not one person said a thing about my weight loss until I was at amost 65 pounds down. Sometimes people aren't sure if you've lost weight and they don't want to offend you, other times people who see you regularly really don't notice since it is such a gradual change, and sometimes people like me are just completely oblivious to weight loss in others until one day you look at them and you're like, holy wow, they lost weight! Of course they probably lost 50+ pounds before I noticed. Also, a friend of mine commented that when I had lost a lot of weight before she didn't want to say anything because she wasn't sure if I was sick and didn't want to upset me. People have a lot of reasons for not commenting on weight loss and 99% of those reasons are nothing that would be offensive to you. Keep up the good work though- you're doing awesome!

If you think this is horrible advice, totally disregard it! That being said, I have days or even occassionally almost a week at a time where either due to stress or other obligations I just don't feel like eating. I have learned to appreciate those times because there are also plenty of days where I more than meet my calories and nutrition goals. So I lose a few pounds one week because I didn't eat much, in a few days my appetite will be back and I'll be right back on track and likely gain back a pound or two until I lose it a little more naturally later. As long as it isn't a persistent situation, you're not dehydrated, and you are eating a bit of food, a few days of minimal calories won't hurt you. Hope your life gets less stressful soon!

What I can eat has really varied a lot. At 3 months post-op for me, it was Christmas, and my stomach was largely cooperative with small amounts of chocolate, cake, Desserts, and the vast majority of foods as long as they were not fried. In January, I cut out all of the bad foods, so at around March I was eating anything I wanted, but it was always healthy. At six months, which was June-July ish, I could tolerate small amounts of dessert, and the majority of other food, as long as I was careful with how much I ate. Really, a few bites of anything is more than enough to satisfy me now. I am now at 13 months and I've been stuck wearing a compression garment because I had plastics 6 weeks ago, so 75% of everything is making me sick. Overall though, right before my last surgery and before the compression garment issue, I could eat in very small quantities pretty much anything, which is reassuring because you can go back to enjoying the foods you like, you just only have a few bites and you're full.

I have also heard that you should determine how you feel based on clothes. That doesn't work for me because by the time I realize my clothes are a little tighter, I'm up at least 10 pounds, and by the time they start to fit a little looser, I'm also down a lot. I weigh myself once, every morning, as soon as I wake up. This way I know immediately if for some reason I have hit a stall or if I've started gaining again. 120 pounds was always my goal too, even when I was your age. I was pretty close to it my senior year of high school at around 125ish and then in college I was around 130, but even now that I'm pretty close to the 129 that I originally set as my goal as an adult, if I get there, I will probably drop the goal to 120. 120 is just a magic number for me for some reason and I can understand the desire to hit a certain weight on a scale.

Where I live there isn't a jamba juice, but we have Whole Foods which has a smoothie/juice bar. I had a juice at about 2 weeks and it was the first thing I could actually drink the entire cup of. I felt like a million bucks after drinking all of that nutrition without puking! I think I had Subway about 2 months after surgery and even now at 13 months post-op, I can only have maybe 1/3 of a 6inch or 1/4 of a salad.

Just ignore it. I only told my three best friends about my decision and they have all been very supportive. I don't believe that it is anyone else's business and I am the only person who has the right to make my own health decisions. Do what is best for you and ignore anyone who has an opinion opposite of that.

I have had no issues getting back into hard cardio and lifting. I was concerned that not being able to drink a lot of Water would bother me, but it really hasn't. I used to guzzle 3-4 20 oz bottles of water at night at the gym and now I sip my way through maybe 1 or 2 over the course of 2-3 hours. I'm 13 months out from surgery and I'm doing the same amount of exercise I was doing 4 years ago when I was the same size I am now, but did not have the sleeve.

I had a similar experience right before my surgery. I had never had surgery before so I was extra freaked out. I didn't write letters but I had to put all of my business information and account information somewhere so that if something happened, people would be able to access all of my accounts. Pretty sure I had a little cry fest of my own, but everything worked out fine! A few weeks ago when I had plastic surgery, I updated the information that I had written out a year ago, although this time I was moderately more convinced I probably would make it through. Keep your letters and read them sometime in the future if you begin to take life for granted again (which we all do!). You will do just fine in surgery. Good luck!

Have you looked at realself.com? They have a ton of tummy tuck scar pics, and pictures for every other procedure as well. I am very happy with my scar. It runs from hip to hip, but I'm about 6 weeks out from surgery and it has already faded to pink. It isn't raised at all and while I was also concerned about the scar, I feel SO much better having had it done. It's hard to get an idea of how you will scar, since a lot of it has to do with genetics. I am very happy I had my plastic procedures done. I look like a completely different person.

Being straight with you, your goal loss does not sound realistic. I've read a lot of posts on here and I don't think I've ever seen someone lose that much that quickly. That being said, I am a little under twice your age and I can't count the number of birthdays and special occassions that I didn't Celebrate because I felt like I was too fat to look decent in any clothing. I missed out on so much of life because I wasn't thin enough to feel like I deserved to celebrate. My advice to you would be to enjoy the process. If your surgery is in November, follow the post-op diet, enjoy trying new, healthy foods, maybe start going to a gym that you like. Eventually you will hit your goal, but don't miss out on everything else until you get to that point. Life is for the living....we only get so much time- enjoy the life you have now, look forward to the life you will have when you have hit your goal, and don't miss out on anything between now and then!

You didn't tell us when your surgery date is or how much you weight now.

I used MyFitnessPal for the entirety of the last year following sleeve surgery. It lets you manipulate the serving size, so if you're only eating even just 1/8 of a serving you can track your calories. I'm 13 months out from surgery and I rarely eat an entire serving of something, so the app is an easy way to track calories.

I used Mederma on my sleeve scars for maybe a week before I got bored with it. Within a year they had faded to being barely visible. I've been using BioCorneum on my plastic surgery scars and that seems to be working well, although I really think genetics and the skill of the surgeon really matter more than anything else.

While I completely agree with the idea that if you're going to be intimate with someone you should be able to talk to them about your scars, I am also of the idea that my scars are my business and if someone is naked next to me wondering about my scars, I'm doing something wrong. I don't plan on telling anyone that I am with that I had surgery and if they see my tummy tuck or breast lift scars and ask, I will be honest. If they don't, which is very likely at the start of a new relationship, then it isn't something I plan to bring up. We all have scars...some are just more visible than others. A tactful, classy, polite man will mind his own business and let you bring it up...at least at first, lol, then if it comes up later you can explain after you've wowed him with your bedroom technique!

I had acid reflux and it was caused by the hiatal hernia that they fixed during my sleeve surgery. There's no reason you can't talk to him about your concerns, but maybe his issues are like mine, something that can be fixed at the same time as the sleeve, and he has already covered it all with his doctor. I haven't had a single acid reflux incident since surgery.

I was worried about excess skin, however for the most part I sort of shrunk back to normal, lol. Naked I was not hot, but in clothing, even tight clothing, no one could see any extra skin. I had plastics this summer and now I am very pleased with my results. I'm 30, so older than you, but I felt fortunate that my skin seems to have retained some youthfulness in my old age!

I'm not sure if it helps you at all, but I'm a year out and had my blood panel done and everything is right where it is supposed to be. I haven't taken any of the B12 I was supposed to and I take gummy Vitamins instead of regular vitamins. It seems more probable that the supplement you've been taking elevated your levels than that anything else is wrong with you. Fingers crossed the resolution is that simple!

I hear you. I only told my three best friends about the surgery because I had a feeling that the majority of people would say I had taken the easy way out and have a rude opinion on the matter. I just didn't want to deal with the judgements, so I kept it to myself. I also told very few people that I had plastics and no one has noticed anything different from before I had my plastic work done. To be fair, it was a whole lot easier to lose weight having the sleeve than it ever was losing when I did it naturally, but realistically, for the rest of my life I am going to get sick if I eat sugar or fats, start puking if I eat just one bite too much of food, and I can never again have a pity party with a giant bowl of ice cream and brownies. Sure it was easier to lose weight, but the tradeoffs are something that I doubt any person who has never struggled with obesity would voluntarily commit to.

They should be able to put you on a payment plan- no way all of it has to be paid up front. If anything I would have a long chat with your doctor about the fact that they chose to use an out of network lab and that their inability to consider the financial ramifications of that is a problem that you expect them to address.