bellabloom

My experience: at 2.5 years I had lost a tremendous amount of weight and still found myself as depressed and unhappy as before surgery. food obsession, calorie counting, restriction and weight obsession ruled my life. My worth was totally wrapped around my weight. I decided I didn't want to live that way and I decided to stop dieting for good. Instead I embraced mindful eating. My weight is now stable and at a perfect weight for my body. I no longer obsess about food and yes I do eat whatever I crave, even junk foods at times. I decided to base my worth on things other than food and hence food became less important to me and I ate better naturally. I don't binge and I don't diet. I follow my body.

Yes. It's a process. I found I had to go through a period of grief over the larger woman I used to be, the abuse I went though over my weight, and the self hatred I had for myself. I had to forgive myself and move on. I had to learn to love myself unconditionally because simply losing weight wasn't enough for that to happen.

I'm still having trouble being in a committed relationship because I enjoy dating and exploring my options now that I have more of them. I'm taking it day by day and focusing on myself and self care.

I'm still me but a better version on me. The best change happened when I decided to stop dieting all together and allow my weight to settle at the point it wished to. I took myself out of the dieting mindset and a whole world opened up.

I no longer identify as a weight loss patient. I rarely think about food or my weight. I focus more on fitness, activity, body composition, enjoying my life and my family, and I no longer diet at all. I eat when I am hungry and stop when I am full and make sure I get enough food to not be hungry. I follow my cravings and don't fear food any more. I do have to eat slowly and chew but that's habitual to me now.

I still take a chewable pre-natal Vitamin but I really don't need to. I'm 2.5 years out and all of my labs come back perfect as I no longer diet and eat healthy portions and Snacks throughout the day.

I left for a long time because I got tired of the drama and needed to focus on myself. I'm back now with a healthier perspective and happy to give my two cents to anyone needing support.

Um. I actually quite enjoy my occasional
Pepsi. 2.5 years out and weight 128 at 5'6 and holding steady.

I embraced intuitive eating. There is a ton of information about it online as well as a book. I eat whatever I please and am effortlessly maintaining my weight without dieting, which is not a long term solution.

Just to add a different perspective- at 2.5 years out I started to binge eat again and feel very depressed about my body and feel that I would still be trapped in the diet binge restrict cycle forever. I started to see weight gain and I panicked. My hunger came back full force and my quantity came way up.

I decided to forgo dieting and embrace intuitive eating instead. It has been a miracle for me. My weight is stable and I no longer diet or restrict what I eat. I eat when I am hungry and stop when I'm full. I accepted that I may gain some weight and I did but it quickly leveled out. I'm not sure how much I eat in a day because I don't track anymore but I'm guessing it is around 2000-3000 per day. I will personally never diet again and have learned to love my body unconditionally. If you are struggling and want to stop being afraid of food I highly recommend exploring intuitive eating as an option for weight maintenance.

I do not diet or count calories and I'm fine with what my body wants to weigh as long as I am eating for the right reasons and staying mindful.

I would try an avoid it. At first, when I still had some weight to lose, it was okay. Once I got quite thin it affected me hugely. I blacked out a few times even cut my face once. The tolerance continues to go down over time. Also it will lead to weight regain. I would keep it moderate and always with food.

Thank you for sharing and especially your insight. Yes, I agree 128 looks much healthier. Congrats on your self discovery and development on a healthier you. I really value the realization that there eventually comes a point where weight loss is not the final answer, which is a difficult concept for all of us who have only dealt with the other side of the spectrum.

It is a comfort to know there is a person who has successfully navigated the waters to a healthy balance of life and relationship with food. Congrats and please keep posting!

One of the most important relevations I had after this surgery is that while weight loss will change your body it won't change how you feel inside. Being on a diet rollercoaster for life is incredibly draining and takes a lot of joy out of like. I decided to love myself unconditionally and get off that crazy ride and I found a way to do it where I could also maintain a healthy weight for my height in order to be active and pain free. It was a long journey. I'm happy to discuss my experiences with anyone who is interested. Bariatric surgery is a great tool but it is not a magic solution and eventually there has to be a more sustainable approach to a healthy physique.

I have decided to make peace with food. I don't plan on being on a diet the rest of my life. I highly recommend the book intuitive eating on Amazon. There is a ton of information on the web about it as well. It's a way to maintain your weight at a healthy place and not have to spend your life dieting and avoiding the food you love.

I have maintained my weight this way and am very happy.

Amazing story and transformation, very inspirational! Thank you for sharing the struggle with the victory.

Can you please elaborate on your "intuitive eating" philosophy?

The way I eat now to maintain my weight at a reasonable point is based on principles of intuitive eating. There is a lot of information about it online but the core info is in a book called intuitive eating by Evelyn Trimble. It's on Amazon. It is based around the idea that our bodies have a set point that they are comfortable at and that set point is a healthy weight because our bodies are always striving towards health. When I reached my lowest weight of 115 I started to get very depressed and basically anorexic, terrified of gaining weight back and still living my life on a diet. That can only go on so long and after a while your body will be able to eat more foods and more quantity and even sleeve and bypass patients can find themselves white knuckling it again to avoid gaining weight. This is because dieting, i.e. Nutritional deprecation, doesn't work in the long term. Your body knows your starving and starts to fight back by increasing hunger and holding on to extra calories by slowing your metabolism.

Intuitive eating is the natural way of eating we are all born with before we start dieting and messing with out internal cues. The basic philosophy is simple: eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full, allow all foods and honor your cravings. Eat regularly and respond to hunger.

This process has allowed me to stop dieting and to maintain a healthy weight post bariatric surgery while also being free to eat the foods I enjoy and crave. Maintaining was the worst part of this for me and thank goodness intuitive eating allowed me to find a way to make peace. I had gotten down to 115 at 5'6 and looked quite sick. I didn't know what to do so I just kept losing. When I realized how unhappy I was I decided to make peace and allow my body to settle and a healthy weight no matter what that might be. Intuitive eating helped me gain to about 128 and it's perfect for me. My weight stays very close to that range and I eat whatever I want at the the time. I never binge and I don't think much about food any more to be honest.

There is me at 115 vs 128. I feel much better now and I eat all kinds of yummy foods. I also have the energy now to run and lift weights on a regular basis and it's become a wonderful coping mechanisms for me.

  

I am extremely happy and I would never never have plastic surgery in the us. I have have been treated like family here.

My best friend also had bypass and plastic surgery in the USA. She was sent home to her hotel 2 hours post op with no after care. Only her mom to help her. She had a 360 degree Tummy Tuck, breast implants and Bracioplasty. They sent her away with five drains. Absolutely horrific.

This surgery is huge!!! You MUST have post op care. You must have help dressing your wounds and caring for yourself. It is not in my opinion an outpatient surgery.

I have everything done for me. Today and for the next three days I get gentle massages, help with anything I need. All
My dressings changed, help showering, and my doctor checks on me daily. Now that's what I call care!!

Do yourself a favor. Go to dr carmina de and save thousands of dollars and get the best of care.

I am a real person and in no way affiliated with dr cardenas except that I adore her. She has given me the body of my dreams.

Yes. In spite of what I went though it has all been worth it. I have a huge amount of energy. I run about 2-3 miles a day and lift weights. I can carry my kids around and barely ever feel tired. I'm in the best shape of my life. As long as I slow down my eating and chew well I can eat quite a lot without issues. I would recommend this surgery to anyone who is uncomfortable in their body, tired and in pain.

I am staying at her recovery house now. Dr cardinas is the most charming a professional woman you'll ever meet. She is truly invested in her patients and extremely skilled as a surgeon. She preformed a neck lift, Tummy Tuck, and breast lift on me. Also included was 5 days in her awesome recovery house with 24 hour nurses. The hospital she operated out of is beautiful. Have zero doubts. She is the doctor you want to choose. She is also a weight loss patient herself and has much understanding of our bodies and needs. My results are beautiful. I adore her.
I paid 12,750 for neck lift with mastoplexy, extended tummy with. Uncle repair, and breast lift.

  

Tijuana surgeon dr Carmina Cardenas. You can't beat her, she is amazing!!!! Best decision I've made so far.

Dr Carmina Cardenas in Tijuana is an excellent surgeon with a lot of experience in all sorts of surgery on bariatric patients. Look her up in real self.

I went to the AMAZING dr Carmina Cardenas in Mexico for a neck lift, breast lift and extended Tummy Tuck with muscle repair plus five days stay recovery with 25 hour nursing. My cost was $12,750.

Muscle repair is in my opinion essential. It is what will give you a small curvy waist and give you long lasting results. I would not use a surgeon who did not offer that.

Cool There so many options. A fit for everyone!

I cannot recommend Dr Carmina Cardenas in Tijuana Mexico enough. I give her 10000 stars. Ten out of ten. If you want surgery in Mexico, look no further. She is my magic maker!!

I had neck lift, breast and Tummy Tuck plus five days recovery stay for 12750.

Neck lift was about 3500
Tummy 6000
Breast lift 4800

With a discount for combining my procedures.

She does the absolute best tummy tucks I've even seen. She is 109999999 times better than any plastic surgeon in the us that I spoke to.

I have just had plastic surgery in Mexico. My Dr is Dr Carmina Cardenas and she is located in Tijuana. She is the absolute best thing that has happened to me.

I had a neck lift, breast lift, and Tummy Tuck plus five days stay at her recovery house with 24 hour nursing care for $12750.

She has been my hero this whole time. She is beautiful and kind and I have been treated like her daughter. Her office and her hospital, hospital CER, is incredible. The hospital CER specializes in bariatric surgery and plastic surgery. It is nicer than any hospital I've ever been inside of in the USA.

I cannot express enough how important having post operative care is after plastic surgery. It would be a nightmare to try and do the at home alone. Plastic surgeons in the USA send you home 2 hours after surgery!!!! That is insane. I stayed the night in the beautiful hospital being check on every hour and now I'm staying 5 days at the recovery house here, all my needs taken care of.

Also dr carmina does not use narcotics. She used a pain pump system that has controlled my pain much much better than anything I was ever given in the use. I'm feeling strong and recovering more quickly do to this.

Please feel free to pm me if you are considering plastic surgery in Mexico. I cannot recommend my doctor enough. She is amazing. She also had bariatric surgery herself and plastic surgery and she has a deep understanding of the weight loss patients needs.

   

I just learned that you can revert a Gastric Bypass to a Gastric Sleeve? I wasn't aware you could do that. Are you sure you didn't get the sleeve then move to a Gastric Bypass? I thought that the Bypass removes ALL of your stomach and forms a small pocket and then reroutes your digestive system -- hence the complete evasiveness of the surgery.

Regardless, you look terrific.

When I see these pictures I'm more impressed with the changes around the face. You really have transformed into the person you want to be and are... congratulation.

What happened to me is very rare. Usually it goes in the opposite direction- sleeve to bypass. In my car my surgeon made my intestine too short and one of them wasn't working so he reversed my bypass and then made it into a sleeve. This is not common. It yes it happened to me. It also left me with a lot of scar tissue because If the way he put my stomach back together.

Bypass surgery is reversible because your old stomach is left inside, it's just sewn off and not utilized. It can therefore be reversed. Sleeve surgery is non reversible. The stomach portion removed is thrown away.

I'm want to share my story so that any of you who are in the fence about this can have a full picture of what can happen both bad and good.
I had gastric bypass dec 2014. My surgery was very very painful. The first two days I vomited a lot of blood and they had trouble getting my pain under control. They gave me a lot of narcotics. My dr, dr Thoman from Santa Barbara, barely checked on me. I was at cottage hospital in SB.
I went home after five days in the hospital. I was going okay but then. The mental challenge of not eating was no joke. It was something I was so used to. They had given me a ton of narcotics and I kinda used those to cope with the emotions of not being able to eat.
About a week later I started to have major pain in my upper stomach. I went back to cottage and they found stones in my gallbladder so out it came. I went home but the pain remained. My doctor was very absent during this time. I told him about the pain and I kept taking more and more narcotics to deal with it. He blamed my pain on the narcotics but I felt trapped in a catch 22. Take them or not take them.. either way.. pain.
Finally after several exploratory surgeries my dr decided to revert my surgery and make it into a gastric sleeve. After that my pain was gone but I was by now hooked on narcotics. I ended up having to go to a detox facility to get off of them. Worst week of my life.
I could barely eat anything during this time and dropped weight rapidly. After I was free of the narcs and started to try and eat. But I could not get anything solid to pass through my stomach. Months went by and finally I said- okay something is wrong. Every time I ate solids I threw up. I elected to go to a new doctor after my bad experience with dr Thoman. I just felt he didn't care and no loner trusted him and his bedside manner was terrible.
I went with dr Swartz in Fresno and he was great. I diagnosed me with a sever structure and did an endoscopy which opened it up. He said I had a ton of scar tissue from dr Thomans style of revision.
After that I gradually began to eat some solids and after many months is continued to approve. Needless to say I lost a huge amount of weight very fast and was loving that. However I had severe malnutrition. My hair fell out in clumps and my legs went numb. I have dumping syndrome and I also still
Sometimes vomit if I don't chew enough of just having a bad day or mix liquids with solids etc.
I feel the American health care system to be very lacking in post operative care. Also they pass out narcotics like they are candy which had a lot to do with my issues.
It's been over 2 years. I went from 240 to 115. I've since gained back to 129 and am holding there. I no longer diet, I just eat to fullness and try not to think about food very much. I run and lift weights daily and that has been the key for me to feel comfortable without having to stay on a diet forever which is impossible to do.
Reaching maintenance was the hardest part of this process and I had very little advice to help me besides to stay on a diet forever. Ones appetite does return and one is able to eat much larger quantities that early on. For instance, now I can eat almost a whole chipotle burrito. I decided dieting wasn't for me and embraced intuitive eating philosophies instead which help me maintain in a place I am happy with.
I still live with this surgery in a daily basis. food gets stuck at least a couple times a week and I have to throw up do to the pain. I can't eat too much or eat with liquids or I will have dumping syndrome. (Yes you can dump with a sleeve). I am happy but good is always an issue. I feel quite sick after I eat sometimes. It's always a struggle for me. I'm not sure if this is due to my complications or just the surgery itself. My best friend had bypass and she says the same thing.
On a positive note I have an amazing body. I really really enjoy my body and my energy and health and I would do it all again even though it was hard. I can run, chase my kids, work my active job, wear any clothes I desire. I feel very attractive.
If you are considering this surgery because you aren't able to live a healthy and energetic life at your current weight, than do it. It won't change how you feel about yourself on the inside and it could end up being replaced by other dependency issues... but at least you will be physically stronger and healthier. I suggest therapy for anyone that is going to do this. Healing comes from within.
Remember you will never again be able to eat to your hearts content. You won't be able to feel like you do now when you eat. This surgery will not help you maintain your weight loss forever and it's vital that you have realistic expectations. Try and make peace with food. Don't see it as an enemy but as a vital component to health.

I dealt with very little loose skin. Mostly on my neck and tummy. I am now having plastic surgery for it in Mexico which I will post about in the plastic surgery section.

On a side note, I you are considering vsg surgery in Mexico, I would highly recommend it. My care here has been extraordinary.


  

Hahahahahaha. It's possible. Trust me I'm living with it.

First they gave me a bypass.

Then the "undid" it by putting my intestines back and re connecting my old stomach.

Then they cut that into a sleeve.

Why the hell would I want attention on the Internet? Please what would be the point??

I'm not fear mongering. This shit happened to me. Dr David Thoman, Santa Barbara. My new surgeon who has been working with me to fix this and had done multiple dialations is Dr Swartz of Fresno.

It's hurtful and rude for you to accuse me of lying. If your doing that because you're afraid to hear anything bad about this surgery you're fooling yourself.

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Oh and Babbs? Stay off my threads.

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