clairec

Hi, Misst you are looking absolutely great, such a difference. Millergirl, as you say we are all different. Have you got any pictures? I am sure that you look really good and it would be good to see some pictures. Maybe it isn't about the weight so much as how you look and the non scale advantages. I am sure that you look great and have plenty of those wonderful NSAs. Thanks for sharing how you are feeling and how you look. Claire

Hi, I think that "melting downwards" is so common. It leaves us with a bigger abdominal area. I know that Janette has that, and I certainly do. 6 miles a day is so unrealistic for anyone, let alone someone with your responsibilities. It is so unrealistic. I am seeing a personal trainer for sitting down toning exercises but apart from that I can do no exercise. We are all different. Advice like tat just sets you up to fail and makes you feel bad about yourself. Perhaps just concentrate on those inches lost (which is wonderful), how you look now and the non scale advantages, the exercise that you are doing (which is considerable) rather than what the scales say. Take care Tammy and you carry on talking on here. Claire

Hi Tammy, Me again, I thought there were some photos of you and I scrolled back to find them. I found one on 27th July and you were looking fantastic... and very svelte. Maybe you were aiming for 100 pounds by now, but that is the problem with targets, they can start to rule us. Do you think that you could concentrate on some of the non scale advantages to take your mind off what the scales are reading? Just wanted to say how great you are looking... Take care and thinking of you. Claire

Hi Tammy, I am really sorry that you are feeling so down and that life is so difficult for you. 90 pounds is really really good. I have only lost about 4 pounds more than that since my surgery. So you are in line with me really. I have lost more overall but that was in the four years before that when I was doing Slimming World. I honestly think that you are pretty much in line with most of my group in the UK too. When I saw my Consultant he said that he would be concerned if I had lost any quicker than I have done. So please don't feel that you are not doing well. How do you manage 1-2 miles a day that is amazing, with all your caring responsibilities too? You should be so proud of yourself and all that you have achieved. We all feel down sometimes Tammy, it is so good that you feel that you can tell us on here. We are here to support you. You have so much to cope with, I am sure that is really hard. Please don't feel that you are not doing well though, because you are. Take care Tammy, and do stay in touch. Claire

Hi Erin, It is strange isn't it? Glad it isn't just me. Yes the amount varies from day to day, as well how i respond to it. Just something that we need to work around as you say. I am hopeful that the new meds might help the diarrhoea but otherwise it is all manageable. Just need to sort that out. Glad you are managing to work around it. Claire

Hi Erin, There do seem to be quite a few things that you can't manage, which must be a pain at times. Like Kim and Janette I can have difficulties with chicken, pork, beef etc and sometimes fish and seafood. However the rarer the meat (sahimi, carpaccio, rare steak etc) and fish (sushi, sashimi etc) the less it is likely to cause problems. I am ok with sauces though and casseroles are more likely to work than drier meat and fish. I don't seem to dump with sweeter things, but generally I don't eat things that are too high in sugar. I did have some gelato in Italy though and that seemed ok at the time too, which was nice. Alan's homemade wholemeal bread is fine, whether as bread or toast but I don't have too much of it. I enjoy sugar free jelly with a lot of fruit which I cut into slices. As most of you know although there is nothing that works none of the time, there is nothing that is totally safe either. So I don't think I am that typical. I treat each meal as a new event, but I can have difficult meals for a few days on the go, then I can have a few days when things are much better, or even absolutely fine. Take care all of you. Claire

Hi, Wow, what a lot of excellent ideas. I am not good on breakfast, it really is a struggle so often just have grapes or banana, maybe with home made bread or toast if i can cope with it. Lunch if I am home tends to be a low calorie soup with half a slice of home made bread and some fruit. So not really adventurous at all. I think the skin removal thing is a real problem. Someone I know is having is done on the NHS due to huge support from the bariatric surgeon, but it keeps being cancelled. Another has been told by the cardiologist that due to her heart issues she can not have that operation, but she could have a gynae operation. I am sure that there could be some clinical reasons for that, but also that it is seen as more "non essential". Hope you are all doing well, it is so nice to see you all on here. I hope we keep up contact even though there are less urgent things to discuss than there were in the early days. This is such a supportive place to be. Take care all of you. Claire

Hi Janette, Interesting about what the insurance company might pay for in some cases. Over here the NHS is not keen to support anything really, but I can see the logic in terms of differentiating between different surgeries (at least in their minds). I think a potential issue is what is considered to be abdomen and what is considered to be more of the pubic area. There could be different issues there, but maybe both are covered if necessary in the panniculetomy. The definitions I have read are far from clear. Hopefully we will all be able to make a case for the things we need, maybe not for the things we want though. Take care Claire

Hi Kim, Yes it is not a matter of if I have an embarrassing incident, but when, the way things are going. He suggested Infacol, which babies take for colic, for the wind and Questran (?) for the bile rush, preventatively if it is rally important that nothing untoward happens. I will see my GP soon and ask him to prescribe that. Otherwise all is good really. As for the skin removal. He is firmly of the opinion that for those of us who have lost a lot and have excess skin that this is not a cosmetic issue, but a medical one. Infections, practical toilet issues, skin soreness, sexual difficulties etc he identified as things that make the situation medical for us. I know he has supported the case for someone in my group over here to have skin removal on the NHS(under insurance for you I suppose). This man has lost 210 pounds and is due to have his surgery any day now. He says that I won't be happy not to have it done, and I think that he is right. He said that abdomen, pubic area, tops of arms and thighs would probably be necessary and I know that other people have had a fleur de lys type scarring, going round to the back as well. I think it depends what different people need, and how much of a case they can make that this is a medical issue. He feels that it should be a natural continuum from wls for those who have lost a lot of weight. He is a wonderful and highly empathetic bariatric surgeon and is highly supportive throughout whether people have had the surgery on the NHS or privately. I would try to make your case as strong as possible, and if you can get people to refer or back you up that seems to help, at least over here. I hope all is ok with you Kim, take care Claire

Hi Janette, So glad that you are back home safely, it must seem as if you have been away for ages. It was great to see you over my side of the pond, hope to see you again too. I saw my bariatric consultant yesterday. He said that he was really pleased with my weight loss, and any more weight would have been worrying. He said that the diarrhoea issues are a bile rush which do go on for a few days once they start and suggested some things which is great. As Janette knows it is something that is completely unpredictable and hits very fast so it will be so good to have something to help with that. He thinks that I will definitely need skin removed and it sounded as if the weight loss at that stage will also be much more than I thought, and that is good news. Maybe that is something for me for this time next year or a bit later. So all good news. Take care all of you, and I hope that you are all ok C x

Hi Sky, This was really intended as a thread for all of us who had surgery in Feb 2014 but we don't use it anymore because we have a post op thread. The last post from Bear is at a similar stage to you though. I hope more people join you both here, or that you start a new thread yourselves. I have found our Feb 14 group invaluable for support, humour and shared experiences. They have been great. I hope it all goes well for both of you. Take care Claire

Ryn, We love northern California and have spent many wonderful holidays there, and intend to do so again in the future. You look like you are at target in the photo so that is amazing that you still have 25 pounds to go. Take care Claire

Hi, Good to know Erin, you never know we might meet up at some point, that would be good. Tammy... frustrating isn't it! However, as you say something must be going right, if we could all just ignore the scales! Well done to everyone Claire

Hi Tammy, So glad you found your way back. I tried to help by replying to you but I am not sure it helped. Glad to see you hear again and I hope that you are doing well too. Claire

Hi, Ryn, you look amazing in your after picture. So beautiful. Your smile just before surgery is wonderful though, such an infectious smile and you look so happy to be having the operation. You look flippin' wonderful!!! It WAS lovely to see Janette, we had so much to chat about, and not just the surgery etc, that was just a small part. I would love to meet you all. When I was in Georgia I was thinking I am not that far from Erin in Florida, I wonder where she is. I don't know where the rest of you are but as you know we come over to the States quite a bit. Who knows, it would be great. Next Summer we are probably going to the Rockies and Yellowstone and the year after possibly New England and New York State. Of course if any of you want to join us in Hawaii in January... Maui here we come! Janette flies back on Weds and has no internet connection until then. I am seeing my bariatric surgeon on Saturday, it would be good to see if we can improve the diarrhoea and gastrointestinal eruptions to some extent. The unpredictability and speed that these things happen is sure to create a major problem before too long. Otherwise all is fine and I am happy to be much smaller. I am trying to buy more size appropriate clothes in bright colours and if I take a picture I might actually post something on here. Even if I stopped losing at this point I would still have achieved a lot, so I am trying to keep my expectations down and my hopes up. Take care all of you Claire

Hi Bear, I really hope you get your date in January. I had my surgery on the 11th Feb and I am doing very well. The change in how we all look is amazing and our February group is a huge support. I even managed to meet one of them in person when she came to stay for a couple of days last week (all the way from New York State, via her family in Scotland, to me in England). It was great to see her. I hope that you develop a good January group because they are going through all the changes at the same time you are. Our group is amazing so I would try to be active on there and set up a group if it isn't there already. Do you have a January pre surgery group because our started then and then moved into a post surgery thread? Any questions do just ask. I know I was full of them. Take care Claire

Hello everyone, Well my weight when I returned from our big trip was fine after a few days once I had got rid of the flight weight. I should get my Slimming World 10 stone award tonight. I know none of you knows what either of those things are and it is not that much since the surgery but in the last four a bit years. However I have now lost 140 pounds and around 92 pounds since February. Yaaay. I have just had a lovely few days with Janette who came to stay in the South of England while she was over visiting her mum in Scotland. It was so good to meet her in person and we had so much in common and so much to say to each other. Here is a picture of us both. I am on the right and Janette is on the left. I hope that you are all well and doing well. Take care Claire

Hi Tammy, I can't seem to find your message on here but I did receive it by email alert. I hope if you get an alert you can find your way back via this message. I am sorry that you are going forwards and backwards but I suppose at least the trend is forwards so that is excellent. Everyone seems to be doing well, just slower. I am looking forward to seeing Janette next Monday. She is over in Scotland visiting her family and then will come down to England to stay here for a couple of nights. It will be so good to meet her in person. Do take care, and I hope you find your way back into our group, you are important on here! Claire

Hi everyone, I am now back in the UK. The trip was great and we saw so many wonderful places and everyone was so friendly! The food was a challenge and eating was a struggle but I am now 7 pounds less than I was when I went so every cloud etc. I am seeing a personal trainer every week and we do exercises with me sitting down. The aim is to increase core and leg strength because I have lost that quite considerably since the surgery. I saw her today so that is good. Sam, my hair loss has slowed down a lot so I am really pleased about that. Hopefully yours will too. I am really looking forward to seeing Janette this time next week. She flies over here to Scotland for tomorrow and then she is staying with me from Mon to Weds next week. Take care all of you Claire

Hi, We are now back from the South. We had a really good time but I have to say that eating was far from easy! I have been back for almost two days and I have lost 1.5 pounds since we went but I always gain flight weight so I think that it might be better than that in reality. As I ate so little it really should be better than that but now i am home it will probably respond to eating more normally again. Fingers crossed. The weight loss has certainly slowed down as you are all finding. We will all be so upset when it stops or bounces back a bit again. That is inevitable though from what I hear so I think we will just all need to be there for each other, as we have been throughout. This is such a supportive place to be. Like Kim my hair loss is slowing down now yaayy! It didn't last that long really I suppose and it wasn't visible to anyone else I don't think so really it wasn't as bad as I feared. The shine is coming back a bit and hopefully the thickness will too in due course. Take care all of you, it is so good to know that you are all there. Claire

Oops and Sammy too, well done. Claire

Hi, Isn't everyone doing amazingly! Erin, Sully and Kim. Well done all of you. Claire

Hi to you all, Millergirl, I hope that you are doing ok after your gall bladder problems. Hopefully you are starting to feel a bit better by now. Janette, good news about your weight loss revving up again, and also about the cognitive side of things for all of us. It all helps I am sure. I am really enjoying New Orleans but the internet connection is not brilliant and I am trying to do a lot of marking as well as enjoying myself so I have not been on here as much as usual. I hate marking at the best of times, but marking on holiday is the pits! It is great here though and we don't really want to leave tomorrow. However Madison, GA and Savannah and Charleston sound great too. food is a tad difficult and most days I am not eating much at all. I will see what the scales say when I get back home but it would be most unfair if anything terrible happens. I will be back to normal by then though so hopefully even if I do put on a bit I will be able to claw it back again. I hope that you are all doing ok. Take care Claire

Soo great isn't it! These things are more important than what the scales say, so we mustn't get too obsessed about those readings. Says me, and you will need to talk me down from the brink if I actually put on weight on this trip! Actually having seen photos of me, which are much better than before, and think of all those little but important advantages, I think I could cope if I stabilise with not a huge amount more weight lost. Hopefully I will lose another 20 pounds or so,and more if I am lucky, but I am telling you all now that I would not be devastated if that was all. Now you can see if I mean it if it does stop that early! Again you might need to talk me down from the edge at that point. The point for me is to be stable and not regain... ever, whenever I do stop losing. I am aware that usually there is a lowest point which can be 7-15 pounds lower than your final weight though. It is what I end up at that is the important thing for me. So I have put line in the sand now in terms of not panicking if my weight is not brilliant when I get home and also if my weight loss stops sooner than I would like. Let's see how I feel at both those times, I might need all your support if either of those things happen though! Greetings from lovely Mississippi. Take care all of you. Claire

Hi Janette, How wonderful, an exit row! No seat belt extension, what an achievement! I am still using one but there is definitely more space. I was in Premium Economy coming over here without an exit row and miracle of miracles the person in front did not put his seat back, but I sat with my legs crossed some of the time... just because i could!!! yay! Take care and have a good trip Claire