Amyllf2

I am 6 months post op as of 4/15. Down 73 with just 10-15 to go to reach my goal weight. I have been having serious issues with my tailbone. I'm talking OUCH!!!!!! I can't sit for very long which is problematic because my commute is long- anywhere from 2 to 4 hours round trip each day. I drive a nice comfortable car, old but still nice. I've tried the pillows and while those work in my office chair, they aren't so good in the car. Anyone else have pain after dropping their weight? The explanation I was given was that my hips and spine, including my tailbone, shifted to carry the excess weight over the last 20 years. So now the tailbone sticks out due to a lack of fat in the area. While I'm excited there is no fat, the sticking out part totally sucks. I'm told with adjustments and core exercises there is a chance I can relieve the pain. UGH.

Not to sure about posting pictures. The little thumbnail looks really weird but I guess by clicking it you see the normal picture. 4/15 is my 6 month. I'm down 73 since surgery. Not bad considering the plan was to drop 85 total.

Glad to see everyone still hanging in there. I've had a rough few weeks. I spent 3 days in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer. It was the worst thing I have ever experienced. I threw up blood every 15-20 minutes for 15 hours. Nobody knows why it occurred at 5.5 months. If it's going to happen, it usually shows up much earlier. So I'm on a bunch of new medicine. YUK. The timing was also terrible because I had finally started to do some formal exercise. I was going to gym in the morning, and had even done a private yoga session to learn some things before I jumped into a class. Now 2 weeks later I just feel like I am making it through the day. I'm hoping to get back in the gym this week. Anyone having an issue with their tailbone? Mine is unbearable. I can't sit in the same position very long. I was miserable last night at the movies and fidgeted the entire time. The chiro and surgeon said there is not much I can do except try to strengthen my core. My tailbone shifted to balance all the excess weight for so many years and now it's out of place. On a positive note, I'm down 73 pounds at 6 months. I started this process with a 40 BMI so I was considered on the "smaller" end of this whole process. Quite honestly, I wouldn't mind staying where I am. I'm in a M/L shirt and a size 12 pants. My doctor told me I could realistically expect to be at 165, which is only 10 more pounds. I'm not so worried about that anymore. I'd like to give my skin some time to rebound in hopes that some of it will start to look better.

I live in Frederick County MD. I had my surgery at Fair Oaks. Great experience. I had a dozen options within an hours drive including DC and Baltimore.

I too am 6 months out and I eat red meat, poultry, seafood and pork.

My mom is 8 years out. She's very diligent about her vitamins. She does have an iron deficiency and does require treatment about once a year. That started after year 5. Her doctor said it was more age related rather than RNY related.

Hormones are a huge factor and we all react differently to the changes. For example, I had a procedure done 10+ years ago that stopped me from having periods. My uterus seems to have forgotten this. When I inquired, I was told that my weight loss has changed my hormone levels because I have less fat for storage. I was told things would level out when the weight stabilizes.

I was not restricted at that point but as everyone else has already said, what does your plan say?

I came across this blog entry today. In my opinion it's one of the most authentic and awesome things I have seen or read during my weight loss journey. As I start to ramp up my exercise routine, this new focus will help me in a huge way. http://www.imperfectlife.net/ilovemyuglybody/

Yes I do have excess skin after just a 63 lb loss. My arms are the first thing I noticed. I'm hoping to start lifting more and seeing if some muscle will reduce how they look. Initially I had excess skin on my neck but that has gone away. Lot's of good lotion! My stomach skin is about what I expected. Although I probably only have 20-30 more pounds to lose, most of it's in my stomach area. The skin there is already pretty shot after having two 9 pound babies and being overweight for 20 years. While some of it may self correct, the section below my belly button has absolutely no elasticity left.

Sodium, muscle weight, Water retention, time of month. It's probably like any kind of stall.

Congrats!!!! Did you lose weight the whole year or did you level off earlier?

I agree. Not much we can do about it except what we are already suppose to do. I had 2 big kids (one was 9lbs 24 inches) so my stomach skin is shot and has been for 21 years. I had no false hopes of what my stomach would look like. But I also figure I had no intentions of wearing a bikini so it really didn't matter. For me my arms bother me more than anything else. I've been wearing a lot of those short sleeve or 3/4 sleeve "sweaters" over top of my tanks or no sleeve dresses. When covered they look fine. When they are left to flap around, like when I blow dry my hair, not good. I did have a lot of excess neck skin and under my chin that has nicely started to disappear. I put a lot of good lotion on it, and because there was no damage to it, it's looking much better.

Have you asked this question on the Sleeve Board? Our pouches here on the bypass board operate very differently than your new smaller stomach. The eggs for example, I can tolerate eggs just fine but certainly not 2 of them. So your method to fill up and get your brain to realize it's full is very different.

Shirley you might want to hop onto the LapBand boards. The folks who had your procedure may offer you better insight than those who had bypass. Your food list, and reactions may be very different from ours.

As you explore the boards you will find a ton of variation on weight loss and experience. It's really cool to see how different we all are. It's also important to remember we all do this in a very different way. I am 5 months out. I'm 5'6" and weighted 248 on the morning of surgery. (My highest weight of 260 was in February). 248 was exactly 40 BMI. So by many people's standards, I was "small" and people are surprised I had surgery. But I had cardiac issues, high blood pressure and heart disease. In the end, I hope to get to 160-165. I am currently at 185. So that's 63 pounds in 5 months. Because I have less weight to lose than many, my scale did not drop as fast as lots of people. But I learned really early on that the only person I can worry about is me. My body is going to do what my body is going to do. Some weeks the weight dropped quickly, and other weeks it was slow or not at all. Patience is key. This is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

I got a new job and had to buy work clothes. When the it was time to start work, I literally had nothing in my closet that fit. Ziltch, Nada, Nothing. So off to the store I went. It took me several trips to figure it all out. Thankfully lots of stuff was on sale. I ended up buying dresses and skirts, all with elastic. I will probably lose another 20-30 pounds. Pants seemed like a waste of money since I knew I was going to drop more sizes. So those will come when it gets really cold out. I went with size L dresses, because I figure even if I end up a medium, I can probably still wear them. I also bought a ton of half or 3/4 sweaters so I could add a punch of color and change the look of outfits. I got 3 dresses, and 3 skirts (plus 2 more hand me down dresses). Most of which have black in them or are black. Then I got tanks and t-shirts for cheap cheap cheap. I throw the sweater on top and I'm out the door. The new job and the new clothes were all good timing. Nobody here knows I ever looked different. This is the size they think I am so there was no outside influence by peers and colleagues. I'm not necessarily always comfortable in smaller and more stylish clothes, but it's the "new normal" I'm trying to keep up.

C-diff can be a tough one. My healthy 20 year old college football playing son fought with it off and on for over 6 months. No idea how or why he got it. Nobody else on the team did. He was miserable and depressed because he was banned from the team facilities so nobody else ended up with it. He wasn't in the hospital or any kind of medical facility, isn't old, wasn't compromised. So don't look at your surgery as a negative. Maybe you would have gotten the c-diff anyway. You will eventually feel better. You will eventually be so thrilled with your weight loss and your surgery choice. You will look back on this time and say "DAMN THAT SUCKED" but it will just be a bad memory.

I am wearing mine on my middle finger! My set was my grandmothers. I had to have it sized up when I got it, now I'm waiting to get it resized back down. Crazy, it was not something I thought about it pre-surgery.

My hair dresser is the only person who knows my hair thinned out. I wear it short anyway, but I did lose a lot. My brushes are full, which is a first for me. I have fine hair so I never had hair in my brush. It started at about 3.5 months. I took Biotin and my labs show I'm not malnourished at all. It's just part of the process.

I was set on a sleeve until I heard that heart burn issues may become worse for those who even suffer mildly. My surgeon also recommended the RNY. He said it's the "gold standard" and has the lowest risk rate, and has the longest history. 5 months out I have no regrets. I think it was better this way because the sleeve does limit the amount of food you eat, but it does not affect what kind of food. So people like me, who have an issue with sweets, could find themselves in trouble even with the sleeve. I want a pie crust cookie really badly, but the risk of me dumping is just too great so I refrain.

I was weighed the morning of surgery. I was exactly 40 BMI. Scared me! I was 8 pounds heavier when I was approved by my insurance. I have not heard of anyone gaining weight before surgery because of the liquid diet. My doc only did a 3 day one but I still dropped 6 pounds. Lots of people have to do 10-14 days worth. So "living it up" doesn't seem like anything people are able to do.

How is everyone?

I have been invisible for the majority of the last 20 years. Sure, physically there was a lot of me to see, but there were no expectations. I was safe. I knew nobody was going to expect anything from me or ask me to do anything. But that has changed and it's kinda scary. I'm also struggling because I have a new job and nobody there knew me 70 lbs ago as a plus size person. This is great, if only I can get the plus size person out of my head. Our identity has changed. We need to address it. We have new roles, a new identify, new goals, new interests. For me, it's also a change from taking care of everyone else first to taking care of me before others.