Dashofpixiedust8

I lost 22.5% 5 months out if I'm only counting weight lost from surgery. If I include the 6 months before it's 31.1% I am now a year out and I am down 44.6% since surgery and 50.7% if I include the 6 months prior. [emoji5]

Hey all! My panniculectomy is scheduled for tomorrow!! I'm super nervous and was wondering if anyone had this done before? What are some tips or must haves you suggest?? My surgeon gave me an over 50% chance of wound complications and I'm a bit nervous even though I'm also excited! Highest: 540 Surgery: 480 Current: 280

I was in the hospital 2 nights. But I had a high risk of complications. He gave me and over 50% chance of wound complications because of the condition of my skin and medications I was on.

Sorry it took me so long to update the spreadsheet guys and respond to some of you. I have been having a hard time recently after my surgery. I am finally starting to feel better. Thanks to everyone who wished me well! Here are my stats: Starting weight: 282.6 (I think I still have a lot of fluid retention and swelling) Goal weight: 250 I am looking forward to another great challenge with all of you! Thank you for joining!

@DanceMomOf2 No problem!

@itstime4me123 Thanks for your interest in the challenge. for the challenge please give me your goal weight you would like to achieve by the date of August 11, 2017. We just do short term goals in the challenge. I've entered your stating weight for the challenge and I will just need your goal weight for the challenge! Thanks!

@sjfink Thank you so much! I've had some ups and down with recovery but I'm okay right now!

@alcn1derlnd I would make a goal you think is attainable but don't make it too extreme because a lot of people retain water after surgery and their weight goes up for a little but. I would make a goal weight you think is appropriate and if you surpass it you can adjust your goal as the challenge goes on! @rubia72Thank you so much! What are you doing for exercise right now?

Here we go again! This challenge will run from April 7, 2017 through June 2, 2017. This will give us a total of 9 weigh ins. I will do my best to post to the spreadsheet within 1 - 2 day of receiving your weight but I am working three jobs and taking 5 classes so if it takes me a few extra days I am sorry but I WILL have it updated as soon as possible!! Please note that I will recalculate the figures as soon as I can following the Friday weigh in - so your weight percentages may be a little off... I have made these Friday weigh ins because that will allow us to start as soon as possible. You may post your weight at anytime during the week if Friday is not your weigh in day! This challenge is for everyone. If you are pre op, post op, in maintenance or looking for some accountability; this challenge is for you! The rules and link to the spreadsheet are below! Procedures: Please Post Your Starting Weight (Weight on or around April 7th) and your Goal Weight (what you would like to weigh at the end of the challenge) at the start of the challenge on April 7, 2017. You can cut/paste this below and fill it in on your post - Goal Weight: Current Weight: Today's Date: Rules: 1. I will be awarding a prize to 2 lucky participants! The winners will be selected at random an the only thing you need to do to be eligible for the drawing is log your weight each week! 2.Post your weight on this thread every Friday. Specifically 4/7, 4/14, 4/21, 4/28, 5/5, 5/12, 5/19, 5/26, and 6/2 3. If you change your screen name please let me know. 4. If you miss 2 or more weigh ins, I will assume you no longer want to participate and your name will be removed from the spreadsheet. 5. If you miss a weigh in on Friday, no problem. Just post it asap. 6. We are all here to support each other, if you post a question anyone can answer. 7. You will know your weight is updated on the spreadsheet once I've liked your post! The link to the spreadsheet is below! Have fun, and good luck with this challenge!!! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sNkBe3U4vgrQ_Pob80A6Mqw3mD6pqGpNSUNN44yeWSQ/edit#gid=217877337

Hey guys! So I love running these challenges and I will be starting a new one for summer BUT I am not sure when that will be! I am having my panniculectomy surgery on MONDAY!! TWO days away! I'm honestly very nervous as they gave me an over 50% chance of wound complication rate in combination with my track record of doing terrible after surgery. So once I feel well enough to host a challenge I will post a new one! Hopefully it is not too long! Thanks all of you for participating all these weeks!! I've really enjoyed doing these challenges with you!

@outsidematchinside thank you so much! I hope so as well!

Thank you! I hope it will continue also! That sounds like a good idea! Also take into account water weight on this trip though! When I am in the car for a long time I start to retain water in my legs I thing. Make sure you take breaks and walk around to avoid this. Another thing that can make you retain water is eating at restaurants. Even if you pick the healthy sounding dish, restaurants usually use a lot of salt that can make you retain water. I'm not telling you to not weigh yourself, just don't let it get you too down if you see a small gain!

I have 4 drains. They have to stay in until they collect less than 30ml of fluid for 2 days. Mine are not anywhere close to that. My surgeon is seeing me once a week. My work wanted me to stay home until I no longer had any drains. At the moment we have me down as out for a month. My surgeon said I could go back to work after 2 weeks though. That is just my boss's preference I be out a month. Good luck to you in your surgery! Keep us updated!

@Torriluv87 I'm hoping this will be helpful in figuring out your new schedule! Thank you! I am doing much better than I thought I was going to be! @klette0147 I did not have my muscles cut into this time and I am doing okay pain wise as long as I stay on top of my pain meds. I take 4 mg of dilaudid every 4 hours. I tried to cut my dose down to 2mg but then regretted it as the pain came back stronger. My surgeon had called later this afternoon and I told him about needing to take the 4mg and trying the 2 mg. He said he is certain I will be able to reduce my dosage in the next couple days but it is still pretty recent right now. I actually feel well enough to hang out with friends as long as I can just sit and talk! Thank you for the well wishes!!

@rubia72 Thanks! I want to get all that done too one day. for that though I will wait until I am at goal! @Torriluv87 Thank you!! @2-Literhaha that's true! I actually was thinking of getting a small tattoo where my belly button was supposed to be! haha @Berry78They are overrated!! I am on antibiotics for 2 weeks. I also have 4 drains to deal with and I put antibiotic cream on my incision twice a day!

I forgot to post the spreadsheet!!! Here it is! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BrtSd267Gk5DFT-jDsuMXpmlexitI-ZlPA3AF0MWVnw

As you know I award a gift card to a members who have participated in the challenge and has posted every week! The winners for the spring challenge are: @rubia72 and @Sabzy!!! Please message me your emails and I will send over your prize!! Thanks everyone for participating!! The new challenge starts June 16th!

Aww thank you!! This next challenge will be very helpful to me!

It was a lot of extra skin! And that's just from my stomata he. I have a lot on my thighs, sides/boobs, and underarms still. I am glad it's over too! I'm excited to see the final result! It is so strange to me when I just look down that my stomach ends at my thighs instead of extended and spreading over an additional 6 inches! Getting up and getting down isn't so bad. For me walking is torture. My skin was/is pretty inflamed so my skin burns and hurts a lot. It can be very painful to walk. I am staying on top of my pain meds though and that is helping me control my pain. The binder helps too! This is much less painful than I thought it would be *knocks on wood* which gives me hope that I will be able to handle other plastic surgeries. The thighs are my next thing to tackle but I will wait until goal for those. My surgeon was amazing and I'm so happy I was able to do this!

I have no belly button! For most people it's a 20% chance of complication like it dying or getting infected. But for me because of my conditions I had an over 90% chance of it being infected and dying. Not worth the risk!

Thank you! It's already weird to look down and not have 2 huge rolls fallen to the side of me! I imagine I will have to get rid of more things since a lot of the time my extra skin was all that was holding it up!

I couldn't wait until goal. I know I will probably need a revision tummy tuck but this was medically necessary for me to get it now unfortunately. I would have loved to wait but it was too much to wait.

Thank you!!!

This is definitely a great step for you. I started this process when I was 28 in October of 2015. At my first consultation I was 540 pounds. I'm sorry to hear of all your health set backs but now is the time to take back your life! I had surgery at the end of May 2016 and am now a year out. I am down 200 since surgery but 263 overall. I now weigh 277 (though probably less now because I just had a panniculectomy where they removed 15 pounds of skin!!) Good luck to you! If you need anything just find us on here!

Thank you! I have Aetna. My insurance approved coverage on the first try. I had a lot of rashes underneath the skin though and it hung more than halfway down my thigh. It was the most significant hang my surgeon had seen. My before and after pics are crazy lol I'm so happy with the results I can see so far. I'm still in the binder so I haven't seen it totally yet. But I can already see there isn't a huge lump of skin hanging off my sides anymore. It's weird honestly to see it go straight!