Cynisca

You'll do great! You have amazing insight to some great questions before surgery! Line yourself up with a therapist for post care support! The surgery is only a tool. Every question you have is valid and you'll need some great support systems lined up! Have a successful surgery!

You'll do great! You have amazing insight to some great questions before surgery! Line yourself up with a therapist for post care support! The surgery is only a tool. Every question you have is valid and you'll need some great support systems lined up! Have a successful surgery!

You'll do great! You have amazing insight to some great questions before surgery! Line yourself up with a therapist for post care support! The surgery is only a tool. Every question you have is valid and you'll need some great support systems lined up! Have a successful surgery!

You'll do great! You have amazing insight to some great questions before surgery! Line yourself up with a therapist for post care support! The surgery is only a tool. Every question you have is valid and you'll need some great support systems lined up! Have a successful surgery!

You'll do great! You have amazing insight to some great questions before surgery! Line yourself up with a therapist for post care support! The surgery is only a tool. Every question you have is valid and you'll need some great support systems lined up! Have a successful surgery!

You'll do great! You have amazing insight to some great questions before surgery! Line yourself up with a therapist for post care support! The surgery is only a tool. Every question you have is valid and you'll need some great support systems lined up! Have a successful surgery!

@lori1963
@Screwballski Thanks for sharing your photos. My skin is very similar. Someday, I might get brave and share some like yours. These are my recent photo's. This is what mine looks like with clothing. Amazing what I can hide.

So, so many! But the best one ever: my husband was folding the laundry and he couldn't tell if some clothes were mine or my 13 year old daughter's!

I've always been a very private person and the only person who knew about my surgery, other than my hospital team, was my husband. I haven't told my family and only recently told one of my friends.
It's just the way that I am... my weight was always an embarrassment to me and anytime I tried something new and failed, it just made it more difficult. As time goes on I may open up about it, but basically I look at it as it's not really anyone's business.

I wouldn't worry. There are too many factors to look at and I'm sure your doctor is on them and knows them. I am at the high end of the weight loss scale (meaning losing quicker) and my doctors attribute it to being very athletic previously, my body is reacting well to the changes and as long as my blood tests come back excellent they aren't concerned.

Absolutley not. I did self pay so first, I'm not wasting money on something that I'm not committed to 100%. Second, I've never been shy that I needed a TON of therapy as to why I ate the way I did. When I discovered the reason and worked on it my choices became clear. I eat for fuel. I don't eat for emotions or pleasure. If I start making those choices then I'm going to go back to where I was before. I didn't do this process to endulge, I did it because it was terrible where I was both physically and mentally. I am just over 6.5 months out and I have lost over 110lbs. I workout 6 days a week (various) and I eat clean and amazing and I've never loved life more.

Totally normal

Welcome to Onederland!!!! WHOOHOOOOO!!!!!

I’m 9 month post op I’ve lost 127 lbs started out with 300 day of the sleeve I’m 12 lb below my goal doctor said I would only lose around 80lb so I busted my ass in the gym I’m going 6 times a week I also practice jujutsu 4 times a week and follow my doctors diet to the letter by the time I was 6 month post op I lost 93 lbs your doctor is right by the way sleeve will only help you get on track the rest is up to you, change your life style your eating habits drinking habits sleeve isn’t a magic weight loss tool you need to put in the works go to the gym get a personal trainer bust your ass off and when you feel like quitting step it up a notch when you feel like wanting to stay home watching tv force yourself to exercise is the only way you will be able to get the pounds off and keep em off

I forgot to take full body shots at the event, but here's the initial "should I buy this?" dressing room image. Ignore bra straps visible in photo, wore a strapless bra on the night. And I wore MUCH better shoes, and unbelievably, they didn't hurt even after four hours of mingling - these were spike heels. And did I mention that freakishly, my shoe size went down .5? This entire experience is bizarre.
Some of my colleagues didn't recognize me and apparently asked whose wife I was.

@sideeye That is exciting! Isn't it fun blowing people's minds!?
I'm going to a meeting with my peer group at the end of this month. We only get together a few times a year. So they have will seen me go from size 20 --> 16 -->12 -->8. I'm so excited to show up as a legit normal/skinny person. (I'm also excited for my feet not killing me at the end of cocktail hour in heels!)
I'm also having fun with new styles. My fave new style is pencil skirt + body suit. I never would have thought I could pull that off!

Well, almost exactly 6 months post op (VSG 6/1) I weigh less than 200 pounds for the first time since...since I don’t know! College probably?
Feel great, no longer stressed about getting my Protein. At the gym 2 or 3 days a week, actually enjoy working out! Down 86 pounds, 10 inches in my waist (size 46 to 36), no longer snore, and have so much more confidence. My wife and kids are proud of me, for the hard work I’ve done and continue to do, and for taking care of myself. I’m off all meds, only taking Vitamins (instead of 2 blood pressure meds). My work is scheduling new professional photos for me because I don’t look like the person in my old pics anymore.
I always figured I’d be obese forever because I lacked willpower’s. I kinda figured this would fail too, despite my best efforts. But VSG does work - at least, it sure has for me!

I was cleared at 2 weeks to cycle as long as it was no more than ten miles and on flat roads. I was cycling by 30 days over 25 miles + a day.

Thank you all! My exercise routine is pretty basic! I do 45 minutes 5 days a week. 30 minutes of cardio and 15 minutes of weight training. I am pretty active outside of the gym too. I do a lot of walking and running around the place but honestly, in my experience exercise hasn’t played a massive part in actually losing weight it just helps with maintenance and overall health

I spent a ton of time looking at others progress to see what is normal what isn't and that wasn't a great idea. I've learned to just stick to what your medical team has asked you to do and you will progress how your body determines it best to do so.

I spent a ton of time looking at others progress to see what is normal what isn't and that wasn't a great idea. I've learned to just stick to what your medical team has asked you to do and you will progress how your body determines it best to do so.

I spent a ton of time looking at others progress to see what is normal what isn't and that wasn't a great idea. I've learned to just stick to what your medical team has asked you to do and you will progress how your body determines it best to do so.

Not trying to be condescending but how much weight did you expect to lose in 7 weeks?

I use Kelo-cote (similar to ScarAway). Has worked amazingly for me.

The issues regarding alcohol and WLS are the following:
Healing - alcohol is corrosive to the raw stomach tissues that have been exposed during surgery, so we need to keep away from it while the stomach heals. Surgeons differ in their opinion as to how long that should be, from a few weeks to a few months.
Liver health - starting out obese or worse, our livers are often in pretty poor shape (hence the "liver shrinking" pre-op diets that some surgeons impose). Further, our livers are further stressed by their role in metabolizing all that fat that we are losing, and doesn't need any further stress from ingesting a liver toxin like alcohol (that's not a moral judgement, just basic physiology.) Surgeons vary widely as to how much this bothers them depending upon their backgrounds and WLS philosophies (short term vs. long term.) In my doc's program, we are under contract to not drink as long as we are in a weight loss phase (call it a year, though ideally forever) - with his "sideline" as a liver transplant surgeon, he doesn't want any of his bariatric patients coming back onto his transplant table.
Transfer addiction - to the extent that we are/have been addicted to food (a very individual thing) that we can no longer satisfy, courtesy of our WLS, we can be prone to transferring those addictive tendencies to something else - alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, etc. So, a casual drinking habit pre-op can (and often does) morph into full blown alcoholism.