FluffyChix

The "swelling" is from lymphedema. The PS interrupted your lymphatic drainage system And it takes a while for the body to "reconnect." And what you're experiencing with the compression gear is absolutely true! If you don't have the proper garment in place, it will cause worse swelling below the area due to the inability for that lymph fluid to drain. I wear my sleeve every day. If I don't, then my arm gets huge and if I don't wear my glove with it, then my hand turns into a balloon. I do feel better with it than without it. It gives a comfort/secure/structure feeling. LOL.

So glad you are feeling better girlie!!!

Oh also, you know me...biased low carber, but $10 bet says that if you ditched the high carb crap and went back to low carb, you would notice the end of your belly bloat starting in as little as 3-4 days and maybe a complete resolution of it in 2-3weeks. hehe. Sorry couldn't resist. You know me...always biased. TY for sharing your journey girlie!! You are so brave and have been a true warrior during this time!!

So happy for you!!! Nice looking time line!

Congrats on the fill! You can do it girlie!!! Rah rah! Eat meat, don't cheat! Yay!!!

Ha!!!! Congrats on 299.6lbs girlie! Totally take it. The rule is: 2 weight readings the same=that reading! I sometimes have to go 3-5, but in general try to keep it best 2 out of 3.

Congrats on your super response to changing your diet ahead of your fill!!!! Is your fill today? So happy for you!

*sigh* Yeah, real hunger on top of head hunger is a huge b***h!!!! ((hugs)) and hang in there. It sounds like you're doing everything the doc wants!! Just don't give in or give up. Keep working the plan and take those baby steps. They will add up over the course of time and will equal success.

Success is about small steps taken with great regularity. They don't feel like much at the time, but when you review, you will see how far you've traveled!

Yes, I think these blogs are mainly for our internal use--yet are open to the public.

IMHO about not making changes pre-surg. I think you might look at being in rebellion and ask yourself about that. Because one thing I do know: You said, "I'm still going to WANT to eat the way I do now. But I won't have the luxury of ever doing so again."

I bolded and italicized your logic error. You WILL, absolutely WILL, be able to eat everything you eat pre-op. Many go on to eat nearly as much as they did pre-surg. You can TOTALLY and absolutely fu*k yourself up believing the surgery will make things different. People can and do eat around their surgery every day. And the sad thing is that all the crap, is slider food that can go through your new anatomy very easily and quickly--without restriction. Many don't experience dumping or any ill-consequence of making poor food choices--except the scale will begin reversing directions.

This problem (gaining weight after surgery) intensifies every month out from surgery. So around the 6mo time, things get real. At 1 year, even harder to continue losing, without having true dedication and a cunning plan. At 18mos even harder. By 3 years (the vets call this the witching year), you are pretty much bound to your plan if you want to have a hope of not regaining.

So please, please, do yourself a favor and begin the head work now. Get a therapist. Start working with someone who is well-versed in bariatrics. Your surgeon and nut should be able to put you in touch with someone.

Just my 2 cents from another pre-surg noob who is working my ass off to change my head and actions/emotions BEFORE I forever alter my anatomy, so that I can hopefully take as big of an advantage as possible from the surgery. ((hugs))

Congrats on your attitude and surgery! So glad you're now poised to retake control of your life! I know your family has to be so proud of you! Attaboy!

How are you doing, Chef?

Good for you. Love your attitude and self confidence. Did you already have VSG? Or are you in the pre-surgery stages?

What a great report. I LOVE happy blog posts! It's very reassuring to me to know that fellow "losers" can get through the first month (which I would hope would be the roughest) with very little issue--or no issue! Congrats!!!

Can't wait to read more from your journey!

Congrats on the surgery! Sorry you had that scare with the bloody drain and missed your daughter's surgery. I guess I'm the opposite of you, I will be like, "You sure you don't want to keep me an extra day?" LOL! I want that security of knowing I'm with peeps who actually know what the hell is going on, rather than me who has a huge imagination!

Hope you continue to progress quickly!! So glad you're happy about the surgery.

Yay for the great report!!! Ugh though, sorry about your puke! That is a bummer. (Note to self: Learn from mama3brtn's experience! Don't eat too much or too fast! Always weigh and measure!)

What is this "ThinkTurkey" of which you speak?

Hope you get the last 3 things checked off your list!!!

Wow! So sorry you're going through this and also sad you feel invisible here on the boards. I want to encourage you to fill out your profile. Add a piccy or avatar to your profile! Start participating in threads started by other people. Especially hang out in the General Weight Loss Surgery Forum, because it's most active. Maybe you are posting in a "dead" area? I inserted the link to it for your convenience.

My experience has been very positive at Bariatric Pal: nice people, responsive admins...and trust me, that's not been the case at other WLS forums! But, I realize my experience isn't your experience.

Hope you will stick around and start diving in! ((hugs))

Oh man! Walking inclines are super great exercise, but so hard! For me, they feel harder than the stairs! It's good that you don't walk in the early morning. I'd still prolly want to walk with a friend at any time! Don't you ever watch NCIS? bahahahahaha. It ALL goes down in Rock Creek Park or in a parking garage, girl!

Love the idea of keeping the belt. But I also think you can go to "the Army" or Goodwill and snag a belt for a buck and please all sides of you! I'm glad the doc is happy with you and you are happy with you!!! 264 rocks!!! Congrats!

LOL on being in Nashville, guess there's no reason to do music in Gatlinburg then! The mountains and just chillin' sound like a perfect vaca to me. I'm not much of a doer. Of course, that might change once I lose weight and get healthy/skinny! LOL. You might not be able to hold me back. But now, I just love sittin' by the river, playing some cards or dominoes, and visiting while relaxing. (And in the old days: eating and drinking...le sigh...but life changes and we move on to better lives. Right?!!)

Anyway, getting ready for the hurricane here in Houston. I think we will only get dumped on with water. The south coast will be hit the worst, but we already went to the store (twice, hehe), and now there's more stuff to do to prepare for "whatifs." LOL! Have a good one, sweetie!!! Great update BTW!!!

Congrats on busting your stall and doing so well at 5 weeks post op! Woot!!! Party! Don't you just love moving into a new decade? I always feel like, "Sayonara "old decade," smell ya later! Never!" And sometimes, it feels like forevs before you actually break out and through an existing decade. I thought the 260s were gonna be the death of me! It felt like they took forever. The 250s didn't feel as long, but took exactly the same number of days to break through! Sheesh!

I love your NSV (belt moving thing). That feels better than any scale or measuring tape in the world. Right? And holy crap Batman! You walk 1 mile, 5 times a day? me=not worthy!!!!

Gattlinburg vaca sounds fun. Do historical and music stuff. Do dancing and romance!! Have a blast!!! ((hugs))

Wooohoooo for the new ta-tas!!! That's an awesome report and a great thing to look forward to! De-batwinging would be at the top of my make-a-wish-PS-list!!! Congrats!!!

The amount of info is mind boggling and yes, so much of it seems to often contradict--especially between surgeons! I love this place so far. Such great people here. I'm just a newbie too and am still pre-surg.

My R/D told me in the beginning and maybe for the first six months to a year, that I will need protein drinks in order to reach my daily protein goals. She explained that the protein drink supplements would not be counted as a meal--they are extra to the meal. She made the suggestion of adding Premier Protein to my morning decaff coffee, or adding Syntrax Lemon Tea Protein Powder (which tastes like the old Lipton Powdered Ice Tea from the 60s) to my regular decaff brewed tea in order to get liquids in at the same time, I'm boosting my protein intake. She said it would then allow me to eat that 2oz of protein at a meal and only eat 3 meals without snacking.

But, please don't listen to me about nutrition. LOL. I know low carb and keto and know about cooking, but I'm just barely a newb and am trying to figure out the whole eating pre and post WLS! ((hugs)) and hope we can get to be friends and cheerleaders for each other!

Congrats on your surgery, girl!! Woot! Yeah, so it sounds like from what everyone says, you are in the dreaded 3week stall. Just keep on, keepin' on! The way I handle quantities is I have a cheap digital scale. So if a serving is 1 cup, they usually have the gram weight for that serving. I just put my serving dish on the scale and tare it (zero it out), the put how much I'm gonna eat on it. Then I enter the actual weight in grams in MFP and it's done in about 2 seconds. Best purchase evs! Hope the scale moves soon!!!

Oh mah gosh, I hear ya on the arms and side boob stuff! I was looking at my arms today as I dressed and just shook my head. I've literally ZERO idea what will happen to Lefty, but I'm reasonably sure the right arm will be flappin in the breeze. I'm going to try hard not to let that play head games. Your attitude about it is great! I'm betting your side boob will disappear as you go further down below 200lbs.

It's so EASY to lie to ourselves about weight loss isn't it? I've never gotten more than 30-40lbs of my ideal weight at any time in my adult life. And I so get that voice inside saying, "Wow! You feel great and look terrific! Why lose anymore? Let's go back to our old pattern of eating!" But, losing enough to make sure you are not at "high risk" is so incredibly important. And then there's the whole regain thing. You know? Like should we go low enough that the regain will put us right where we want to be?

Someone said, the drawn look in the face goes away after the body has time to kind of reapportion itself? Maybe your face will fill out a bit, or you will start to prefer the new angles?

Your gyozas sound fabulous! Get thee behind me Satan! LOL. *snort*

Ok, gotta go get ready for tomorrow. Going to get he results of my pelvis and hip MRI. :-/ Uggh. Hoping they don't want to do a biopsy and will instead just want to give me a cortisone injection to the hip.

Hugs and TTFN!

Wowza woman!! What a transformation!! Cudos to you! You have great proportions on your measurements! Lucky! I agree all the way, cept I actively WANT to lose my booty and thunder thighs! *snort* With the recon of the foobs, they took a buttload of fat off my upper chest area, side boob, and back so I'm fairly "thin-ish" up top with very hard, tight foobs (mannequin-style, kinda like Barbie's little sister, Skipper--ick!) But it all goes wrong at my xyphoid process. I do carry a bunch in my tummy, ass, and thighs, but also in my neck and shoulders (and huge arms, especially Lefty the Lymphedema Queen).

Loved hearing about your wedding and congrats on fitting into your corset! Can't wait to read more about your journey and look forward to becoming friends and cheerleaders for each other!! ((hugs))

What a fantastic report girlie! Hope you don't mind if I follow your journey. What an inspiration?! 89% of excess weight loss is amazeballs and being down from 497lbs is just. fantastic!!!!!! I'm so excited to watch as you get your mobility back!!! Cudos on using the cane and walker and ditchin' the wheels, bayyyybeeee!!!