JamieLogical

I had breast lift with augmentation after losing 90 pounds "on my own" back in 2011. My breasts were tiny little, sad, empty sacks at that point. My insurance doesn't cover any skin removal or plastic surgery after weight loss.

@@ssflbelle I didn't have an incision above my belly button. I had one right below my sternum, one about 2 inches to the right of my belly button, one about two inches to the left of my belly button and a little lower and then one about three inches to the left of that and a little higher.

Below my belly button and above my pubic area, I can visibly see that my belly looks "swollen" when I am bloated and the skin feels stretched tight over that area. It doesn't *hurt*, but it's a little uncomfortable and it makes me feel a little self-conscious. I don't know how visible it is to other people, but I can definitely tell.

@@evett I would hold off on the exercise until you can get your water intake up. You don't want to end up in the hospital with dehydration! I had a rough time getting my water in early on too. The swelling in my stomach and esophagus made even the tiniest sip an ordeal. The good news is that it improved drastically once the swelling went down a couple of weeks post-op. Try experimenting with different temperatures of water too. I have a lot easier time drinking ICE COLD water or hot beverages (tea and coffee). I can't drink room temperature or luke warm water, even 11 months post-op. Some people are just the opposite and an ONLY drink room temp water. So experiment and see what works best for you!

It sounds like you are in a really good place mentally and emotionally and that is a HUGE part of weight loss success, no matter how you lose the weight. So, once again, awesome job! I do want to point out that, as far as surgeries go, WLS actually has one of the lowest mortality rates. It is lower than knee replacement. But, you are definitely right that there are risks associated with every surgery, so those should definitely be factored into any decision that a person makes pertaining to their weight loss.

@@MissRobin Glad you didn't let this thread deter you. Obviously WLS is not all sunshine and roses and it's good for you to know the good, the bad, and the ugly before undergoing surgery, but the misleading "facts" in the OP should NOT influence your decision. Glad you read through the replies and I hope they helped put things in better perspective for you.

@@sdocforce My gut feeling is that is a lot. I did a similar amount by having breast lift with augmentation, extended tummy tuck with muscle repair, fat grafting to my butt, and all over body sculpting with lipo at one time. So I didn't have the brachioplasty you're looking for, but I had fat grafting. And I didn't have a full lower body lift, but I did have an extended tummy tuck where my incision is almost fully circumferential (maybe like a two inch gap at my butt crack). It was definitely a LOT to handle at once and I was down for the count. I had some complications with swelling in my lower back that caused my recovery to take longer than planned and caused me to be out of work and working half days for MONTHS. Also, my total surgery took well over 8 hours and I ended up needing a blood transfusion afterward (not while in surgery, but just to help me bounce back shortly afterward). I would have a serious talk with your surgeon prior and see how much they are comfortable doing in one op. They know their limits. And remember, not only does your body need to be able to undergo anesthesia for that long and endure that much trauma at once, your surgeon has to have the stamina to be operating for that long!

@@mmyers1962 Well, if you get bored of baby food, this site has some great, easy recipes and ideas for the pureed stage. It made my pureed stage pretty tolerable! http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/pureed-foods.html

Ick! Glad my post-op plan didn't include baby food! But glad you are doing well and moving onto your next phase. Stick to your plan and you will be eating two to three bites of solid food in no time!

I didn't have heartburn, but I had very painful contractions of my esophagus, as well as a lot of burping. It took a couple of weeks to go away, as I think it was related to the swelling. Once the swelling went down, it was much better. Are you on a proton pump inhibitor, like Prilosec or Nexium? My surgeon prescribes one for the first two months for ALL of his patients.

I agree with @Dub. WLS is not a decision to be made lightly. Everyone should make an effort to lose weight through more traditional means before resorting to surgery. And whether we have WLS or not, we all do have to get our minds right about the level of commitment and effort it is going to take to be successful long term. I really hope that the OP can maintain his success long term. I want that for EVERYONE who posts on these forums, no matter which surgery they chose or whether they choose not to pursue surgery at all.

Definitely a question for your nutritionist or surgeon's office. My pre-op plan only allowed for broth or an occasional bowl of minestrone soup. No cream soups and ideally I was JUST supposed to stick to my protein shakes, salad with calorie-free dressing, and sugar-free popsicles/jello.

Some people never even have to start on PPIs post-op. It's definitely different for everyone. I take two Prilosec OTC daily (one in the morning and one before bed) at 11 months post-op. If I miss one, I notice it. It's unfortunate and I still kind of hope I can eventually cut back to one a day, but I think it's a small price to pay in the long run. While PPIs can have long term side effects and health risks, I think they probably pale in comparison to all the health risks I had being 100+ pounds overweight!

Awesome job! I hope it "sticks" for you. I have lost significant amounts of weight through good old diet and exercise many times in the past. I lost 90 pounds in one year back in 2010/2011 by working out and tracking every single bite of food I took. Unfortunately for me, I have an issue with regain. I was never able to maintain any weight loss for more than a year. I am cautiously optimistic that my sleeve will help me avoid regain once I reach my goal weight this time around. To lose weight with the sleeve, I am basically just doing all the same things I did without the sleeve. I am exercising regularly and I am careful about what I eat. What I'm hoping is that once I am at goal, I don't get that "whelp, I'm done" mentality that I've had in the past where I thought once I was at goal, I could just go back to my "normal" life of laziness and eating poorly. With my sleeve, the eating healthy and in smaller portions is no longer optional. I can no longer go back to eating a whole large pizza and a pint of ice cream. It's permanent and it forces to me to continue to make good food choices forever. The exercise is still all on me, but I've found that if I'm eating right, I have the energy and attitude I need to exercise. Maybe if I *could* go back to eating pizza and ice cream, that lethargy would set back in and I'd be less motivated to exercise. I wish you the best of luck and success. I think that if you CAN do it without WLS, then you absolutely should. WLS is a tool of last resort and not to be taken lightly.

You aren't supposed to take NSAIDs post sleeve or RNY because they can cause stomach bleeds and ulcers. You will need to talk to your surgeon and PCP about alternatives if you need to take anti-inflammatories regularly. I think they are probably okay to take rarely for a headache or a strained muscle or whatever, but if you need to be on them daily for a chronic condition, you will definitely need a safe alternative.

Thank you! And you were happy with OCC? No complaints. I was given all the info I asked for pre-op, treated well while there, and the follow up care has been really good.

So happy to hear that! Now you can move forward and focus on taking care of yourself for the next couple of months. Hang in there with the pre and post-op diets and you'll do great!

Wow! I'm 11 months post-op and I *still* can't eat salad. I can't eat any raw vegetables without EXTREME discomfort and gas. Have to stick to just cooked veggies. It's a little disappointing, but really, it just means more room for my protein!

I don't track my food regularly. I haven't since I was maybe 2 months post-op. But I just did a spot-check of the food I've had so far today along with what we have planned for dinner tonight and my evening snack. I'm 11 months post-op. The break down came out to be: Calories: 1179 Carbs: 108 Fat: 47 Protein: 117 Fiber: 54 Now I feel the need to point out that my carbs today are going to be way higher than they usually are because I'm trying some red lentil penne Pasta with dinner tonight. A half a serving has 100 calories and 7 grams of Protein, so I'm going to have that in place of half of my italian poultry sausage (I usually have have a whole sausage, but going to sub in some pasta for half tonight since it's so high in protein). Half a serving of the pasta is 19 grams of carbs, whereas I'd usually have the other half of my sausage, which is only 1 carb. So I'm 18 carbs higher than I would normally be. Also, I eat Quest protein bars, which have 21g of carbs each, but 17 of those grams are "dietary fiber", so they don't count toward Net carbs. If you subtract my Fiber for today from my total carbs, I'm at 54 carbs, 18 of which are coming from my red lentil pasta experiment, so I'd normally be under 40 net carbs.

I was supposed to start "brisk walking" immediately after surgery. I didn't get to more intense cardio or strength training until about 3 months post-op.

I don't *avoid* carbs, but since I am always working to meet my Protein goals first, I rarely have room for carbs. I never have rice or Pasta or potatoes, because they are so filling and if I ate them with a meal, there would be no way for me to get in the meat I need for my protein. I do have chips, candy, bread, muffins, and ice cream as rare treats in between meals and only if I get all my protein in. Certainly not every day. Usually not even once a week. But every once in a while. Most of my daily carbs come from dairy, sauces for whatever meat I'm eating, Protein Bars, and the little bit of Kashi cereal or granola I add to my greek yogurt on the days that I work out.

I don't think you should feel guilty. Expecting yourself to be perfect 100% of the time is just setting yourself up for failure. And I think when it comes to food and dieting, people use one "failure" as an excuse for more failures. I know that on past diets, I have beaten myself up for eating off plan and then felt depressed and ate even more as "punishment" or thought to myself, "well I blew it for today, might as well give up for the whole week!" I have worked VERY hard to avoid that sort of mentality post-sleeve. I have eaten LOTS of bad things in the past 11 months. The key is that I have done that MUCH less frequently and in much smaller quantities than I ever have before. So I am still losing weight and still working toward my goal. Don't let "perfection" be the enemy "good enough".

My nutritionist refused to give me calorie targets but in my pureed phase I was maybe getting 450 calories a day? I made it a personal goal of mine to get up to 800 calories a day as quickly as possible, but I don't think I really managed it until I was on solid foods. I really felt like 800 calories was the minimum I'd need to actually be able to sustain any level of exercise, even though my nutritionist wanted me to get in 60 minutes of "brisk walking" as soon as possible. That didn't really seem attainable when I was only getting 450 calories a day. As for what foods to eat and when, my nutritionist gave me a detailed guide. You should have received something like that from your nutritionist or surgeon's office.

Glad things have been so smooth for you so far. Stick to your nutrition plan and move through the food stages at the correct pace. Get all your water. Get all your protein. And you will be well on your way to a successful outcome! Make sure not to push yourself too hard or too fast and to listen to your body.

My sister is an ER nurse and this is so true! Except they appreciate that the people with foreign objects in their butts at least *need* to come to the ER. What will really get her and the other nurses talking, laughing, and frustrated is the people that come to the ER for a hangnail. She had someone come in Friday night whose stomach had hurt for a whopping total of 8 minutes! She drove straight from the restaurant to the ER! And we're not talking excruciating, stabbing pain here. We're talking a stomach ache because she ate too much!