ShoppGirl

2 hours ago, starladustangel said:

My surgeon's office gave me a goal weight that they felt was realistic. I did surpass it though.

Good for you. I’m hoping that’s the case for me too.

I would call dr if your still nauseous. They have medication they can give you. It’s real important that you don’t get dehydrated and it’s hard to do if your nauseous. I was one of the super lucky ones that didn’t experience that post op but I’m sorry that you are dealing with it. It does truly get easier one day at a time. Hang in there.

45 minutes ago, Bree68 said:

Your lucky I did 2 weeks

I did 16 days. Some people do three weeks!!

I’m 42 and Idk if my insurance will pay for it but if they do I’m in. If not I’m already trying to save for it (possibly a pipe dream). I do not feel that 38 is old at all, though. I would probably do it if I were much older than I am now. It’s a personal choice whether you want it or not but I wouldn’t let age (especially yours) be a deterring factor.

Wow I never thought of Vitamin deficiencies. Makes sense though. Glad you and your doc figured it out. Good luck on the rest of the weight.

1 minute ago, lizonaplane said:

No, the pre-op diet is after the nutrition classes. I ended up making my weight loss only 5 lbs instead of the 9 I really lost. Now they're saying they only "encourage" weight loss, not require it. I wish I could get a real answer...

Man how frustrating. I was lucky that I didn’t get the million different answers with my clinic. I have been there at other times in my life though and can totally empathize. It’s annoying.

5 hours ago, lizonaplane said:

Well, I just found out my surgery center requires a 5-10% weight loss during the period of the nutrition classes, so it almost doesn't matter. I don't know how I'm going to lose 5-10% unless they count the time since I first called them. I've lost 8% of my body weight in the three months since I called them.

I didn’t have to do nutrition classes so I don’t know this. Will your pre op diet be within that four month period? I ask this because most people lose like 10-20 pounds on the pre op diet if they have the two week one. I wouldn’t count on it since you have already lost weight but I also wouldn’t give up without considering that as a possibility either. If that makes sense.

I haven’t heard of any eye issues being a complication or even anyone with temporary vision changes. I think it’s probably unrelated. The eye Dr should know though.

3 minutes ago, lizonaplane said:

It doesn't seem like there is one universal way of doing anything with WLS! My surgery site didn't give me a goal weight or tell me what I should weigh or anything. The surgeon just said I might lose 70lbs. Which would still put me at a BMI 37!!! Which would not make me happy. I'm hoping I'll lose more, especially since I've already lost 27lbs since I started the pre-op hoop-jumping.

It seems like a lot of people on this site have surpassed their goal weights. Hopefully that will be true for us as well.

2 minutes ago, Jnfinney said:

@ShoppGirl my ideal body weight is ~120 lbs, but my surgeon's office set my goal at 145 lbs (which would be a BMI of 25.7).

Hummm. Seems like their would be ONE universal way of calculating this. I guess Like everything else it varies from dr to dr though. I am just trying to figure out what my goal weight should be.

15 minutes ago, Jnfinney said:

I didn't calculate my own goal weight, my surgeon's office did. And, they actually picked a weight that puts me at a BMI of 25.7 which is just into the 'overweight' category. So, I'm not really sure how they decide that.

So your goal weight is the BMI of 25.7 or your ideal weight is that and goal is higher?

To calculate a goal weight we are supposed to use 60% of ideal body weight but WHICH ideal body weight should we use. I am 5’8” and I’ve used various calculators giving ideal weight of 141 up to 160’s. Which calculator did everyone use and did you use a 60% loss of excess as your goal or some other weight? Why??

3 minutes ago, Bree68 said:

April 1st I’m having dumping issues anyone else

I haven’t had any so far but I haven’t had anything really high in far or sugar yet either. What food is causing it?

1 hour ago, ms.sss said:

Another thing to keep in mind is that it may also depend on how much weight you lose, and what your final weight will be.

I had my surgery when I was 45 yrs old.

I started at 235. When I got to 170-ish, yeah it started to look a little less firm, but I still had some fat under there so it was still filled out. At 135-ish, I think this was probably when I hated it the most. I had less fat, but still enough to make the skin look folded over, like rolls (think: shar-pei). BUT THEN when I got to 120 and below, and the underlying fat was reduced enough that my skin just looked wrinkled/crepey so it didn't look as "flappy" (think: the skin that forms over cooled down warm milk...and it was basically just on my stomach around the belly button and my upper arms) The overall look was much, much better though IMO.

Other details: I didn't put on any special lotions, I didn't take any skin enhancing supplements, but I did exercise pretty regularly (not sure if had any effect on the actual skin, but it probably had an effect on the underlying fat and muscle). I also got plastics (arm lift, breast lift, tummy tuck) over a year ago so that took care of that. LOL. My butt however, is still on the flappy side, but I can live with it (for now!).

I am not really sure how much I have to lose. My HW was 234, SW was 220 and idk what my goal weight is because idk which model to use for my ideal weight to predict it. I honestly can’t even remember what my weight was In like high school or anything because I never had to pay any attention to my weight until I was about 25 and bipolar symptoms started. The depression and the medication are what packed on the pounds for me. Otherwise I don’t think I would have ever struggled with my weight.

Awesome. Keep up the good work in maintenance!!

3 minutes ago, blackcatsandbaddecisions said:

Well, I’m about your age and I’m getting close to finding out. I started off at 340 and I’m currently 217. I have about 50 lbs to go to goal. So far I don’t have any loose skin, so it was encouraging that I could lose over 100 lbs without that. In the end it’s always removable, or more likely I’ll just live with it. At this point in my life I don’t really care about swimsuits and flat stomachs.

Yea I don’t care so much about swim suits or crop tops but I think it will bother me if it slaps while exercising or if it makes clothes fit funny. I don’t THINK I will have that much but I guess only time will tell.

On 4/14/2021 at 8:08 PM, lisalem said:

This has nothing to do with weight loss, I'm one week out tomorrow babysitting my two-year-old granddaughter because her mother is having complications with a pregnancy, I cannot tell you how hard it is to tell a two year old that she cannot put her mr. Potato Head pieces in my incisions, I love my life and everybody in it.

Sent from my SM-G930VL using BariatricPal mobile app

Great post to start out my day. Thank you!!

I hated Water before surgery. It was Coke Zero or crystal light but after surgery I actually prefer it. I drink the occasional crystal light but post surgery it is too sweet to me to drink all day.

I got first Pfizer vaccine two weeks post op and just got second dose with no issues.

My program stresses strength training. While cardio is important for your overall health as well the strength training will contribute most to weight loss.

30 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

I've heard that as well (at least the part about Flintstones), but I don't say anything anymore because I've been blasted by mentioning it on forums. Evidently a lot of surgeons still recommend them. Mine still does as well, but I took Centrum from the beginning since I'd read it's a better choice if you're going with grocery store/drug store Vitamins. My dietitian was fine with Centrum and did say it was a better option (although I see Flintstones Complete is still on their recommended list)

I've also read on forums that bariatric-specific vitamins are better, although so far I've had luck with Centrum (or the generic equivalent)

I will never understand getting blasted on here. I’ve experienced it though. Just wanna say don’t kill the messenger. We are mostly all just taking advice we have read here and other places as well as from our doctors and trying to sift through and make the best choices for ourselves as best as we can in this uncharted territory. Ooh well. Guess you can’t please everyone. Do you have to add in other vitamins with the centrum to get all of your requirements?

10 hours ago, Lorey_a said:

Not sure what you are doing when working out but don't set the bar too high. Try to start walking each day. Start with a 10-15 minute walk then the next day match it and the day after maybe add 5 more minutes to the walk. I started this way and can now walk 20-30+ minutes at a time without being too winded. Let yourself build into it. Try walking listening to music or a good audio book. If you have the room in your home and don't want to walk outside yet, consider the purchase of a treadmill. You can watch TV and walk:0 Just a few thoughts and whatever you do - don't get down on yourself.

If you are considering a treadmill they make under desk versions that fit under the bed. I keep mine next to the bed which is in the way everytime I get up but I deal with it. Then when I am cleaning up the house and want it to look nice I can just roll it under the bed. If I weren’t too lazy I could do this daily but I’d rather step over it. Lol

It’s so weird how clinics vary so much. I mentioned the flintstones complete to the bariatric coordinator and she said they are absolutely not appropriate. She said that their is not research of FDA to back up a lot of Vitamins and that with our absorption issues that we need bariatric vitamins. But clearly there are veterans out here that have had labs and are doing fine so I am going to keep doing my research. I don’t skimp on my health but I don’t like to just throw money away either.

4 minutes ago, lizonaplane said:

When I was about 34-35 I lost about 100lbs and I didn't have any excess skin that I noticed. Of course, I still had more fat to go when I started gaining the weight back, so who knows?

Yea I have heard that we really start to lose skin elasticity at 40. The nurse practitioner said to use cocoa butter before AND after surgery and that will helP some if you are concerned as well.

This happened to me at three weeks. Lasted about ten days. I have heard others who said it lasted a little longer and some it lasted only a week. Fear not. I say over and over. It is impossible for a human being to live on the small amount of calories we are consuming and NOT lose weight. It will pick back up.