blackcatsandbaddecisions

Let’s see if this pic will upload… me waiting to run this last weekend.

Thought I’d check in…a bit over two years out and I’m consistently holding at 155. Part of the additional loss is I had five pounds of skin removed, with a full fleur de lis tummy tuck, arm lift and breast lift in late August. I’m fully recovered and rand a 5k this weekend with my best time yet. So two years later, still the best decision I ever made. Being a thin person was a dream to me that I actually get to live…it’s amazing.

I am looking into this as well as my second plastic surgery, but more of a finish since I had a fleur de lis tummy tuck already. Love the results of that, but where it stops on my hips I have sagging hips and we won’t talk about the backside..? I am thinking of combining with a thigh lift as well. Let me know if you end up doing this surgery, because I’m interested!

I recommend strongly looking into Marena brand compression garments when you get drains out…it was a lifesaver for me. And let me know how the thigh lift goes when you get a bit further out, I’m interested in that!

Yeah the tightness keeps on for a while unfortunately. I wasn’t so fortunate, the worst part of my loose skin was right under my boobs for whatever reason. I had huge flaps of skin that drove me nuts. The FDL connects with the breast lift, so basically if I’m standing with my arms out the incisions are like a giant capital I from elbow to elbow and hip to hip, and down the middle. Plus as a side bonus I ended up almost 8 lbs lighter than my pre surgery weight, so look forward to ending up lighter than when you started!

Yes, you look great! I had a FDL tummy tuck along with an extended arm lift and a breast lift on August 24. The first few weeks are brutal, no lie, but you’ll be better so soon. I was questioning my choices at 3 weeks out but you’ll be back to normal in no time. I was able to go back to work after 2 weeks, light exercise after 4 and full running after 6. Now at two months out I’m back to my pre-surgery running speed and distances. They took 5 lbs off me, and man is there a huge difference now that the swelling is over.

Hey this popped up in my feed too, I remember this thread! At the time I was only a few months post op. I’m coming up on two years here, I lost 181 lbs. I weighed in at 153 this morning, so for my height of 5’10 I’m now at a 22 BMI. So at the end of the day I did in fact lose more than 100% of my excess weight, I did not start magically regaining weight at 18 months post op, and all this with a sleeve surgery. Who would have imagined.

I feel like my shape is about the same as before, just the hanging skin on the front is gone.

For me it was realizing that if I could have done it on my own I would have at this point. It’s not a lack of knowing what to do or laziness it was a deeper issue. As to why now? I have young kids I felt too exhausted to do anything with. I love to travel and I didn’t fit in a plane seat, full stop. I was tired of feeling like I didn’t want to meet new people or see old friends because of how ashamed I was of how I looked. I was tired of the very real everyday discrimination and judgement morbidly obese people receive. And I knew I would never be happy at 340 lbs. it would be a source of frustration and unhappiness my whole life. Some people are able to be content at any weight and I admire them but that wasn’t me. I felt wrong and miserable in my own skin, and I couldn’t do the physical activities I wanted to take part in.

I had a moment as the swelling went down where I was annoyed because I still had two bumps on my sides. Upon further examination I realized this wasn’t fat or skin rolls, it was actually my hip bones sticking out. I had never seen that before and wasn’t aware of the possibility ?. Post bariatric and/or plastic surgery body changes are weird, y’all.

I am sorry with the doctors…incredibly frustrating. Some doctors don’t agree with this kind of surgery and get a complex over it. For trying to keep up with hydration I recommend trying a variety of beverages. I found water on its own difficult but warmer beverages were easier at first. Tea, steamed milk, etc. I also found I had to basically take a sip, burp, take a sip, burp. It gets better, I promise!

My most used item was a small handheld strainer. I strained soups for weeks for every dinner. I think it cost me like $2.

Congrats on the pre surgery weight loss! I had a lot of weight to lose so I am very grateful I lost 50+ lbs before surgery. It might not make as big a difference for those who have less than 100 or so plans to lose, but for those of us who are 150+ lbs to lose it can make a huge difference. Plus it can make surgery safer for us. And the amazing thing is unlike all other diets this pre op weight loss actually stays off!

Honestly i lurked so much on these forums prior to having my first consult I felt like people here had answered most of my questions! Maybe ask how their pre-op process works- any things that would make them not go ahead with surgery, etc. what the pre op diet will look like, and the post-op diet phases. Those can vary from surgeon to surgeon. But read a lot of the forums here, they’ll answer a ton of your questions. I felt so much better prepared because I had spent so much time here. And I’m still here lurking around 2 years later, haha

I’m mostly confused on the lipo portion of this. Speaking as someone who recently had plastic surgery, I had multiple surgeons I consulted with note that I didn’t need lipo because quite frankly there wasn’t fat to suck out. If you lose enough weight you won’t even be a candidate for liposuction. Having just had all the loose skin removed from my hips up, I am not sure how this would have worked even had I asked for it. I can clearly feel bones and muscles under the surface now especially in my arm and chest.