Summermoose

Some people who knew me before my weight loss have told me I look younger now, and I routinely get surprised reactions when I share my age with people who didn’t know me before. So I think alls well in my case at least! I do have a skincare routine though 😁

It cured mine! I had keratosis pilaris from the age of 14, arms and legs (down to my wrists) and it was completely gone a year after surgery ❤️

For the first time in my life, I love my legs. I used to have tree trunks and fat ankles and now they look so right. Made me so happy today just looking at them. I have taken so many photos of them.

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This ad that keeps on popping on my social media feed 😂. I wish it was that easy

One week out of gastric bypass surgery, I was a bit down. Tired, sore... so decided to watch something to lift my mood on TV. What normally would make me smile, chuckle or laugh wasn't happening. I thought. Oh no! Have I lost my sense of humor already with all of the hormonal changes happening? Shirley not
Post whatever makes you happy. I'm sure many here would love to smile with you

I have now lost more than my max squat weight and it stuns me that I was able to get out of bed at my heaviest.

I have only 1 back roll instead of 2. I'll take that 1.5 weeks in.

Not exactly an NSV, but it was still a bit of a shock for me... This weekend I went camping with friends, and we bought a 25kg (50~lbs) sack of firewood. At one point, we said we were going to carry it between 2 of us, but when the time came to do so, I decided I could carry it by myself. Slung it onto my shoulder and started walking towards our campsite (less than a block away). About halfway down, I just STOPPED.... I just realized I was carrying the same amount of weight I have lost so far. Knowing we were planning on carrying that between 2 people, or how tough it was to carry it for just a block... it made it so much clearer why it has been so hard for me to go hiking before.
PS> I’m doing a lot better while hiking, and am planning a short solo trip this Saturday!

i'm 4.5 yrs post op now, so NSV's come few and far between, but every now and then a new one will pop up:
yesterday i was sitting on a chair scrolling through my phone when i dropped it in my lap. i shut my thighs to catch it, it landed on one if my thighs, then it slipped right through between them and fell to the floor.
my knees felt a little knocked, and i was thinking damn, i hope my apple-care warranty is still valid, then i realized whoa, my thighs are smaller than i think.
p.s. my phone is ok! 😂

I couldn't bring myself to even walk into a clothing store for years and still can't. Even more so during the covid outbreak. I shopped online trying to find something stylish in the largest sizes I could find. Most of the time the items I ordered didn't even fit. Upside.. I was told to keep the clothes during covid. No returns but was refunded. Free clothes that I kept and plan to wear as sizes go down.
I'm looking forward to one day walking into a store without shame and buying off the rack. Congrats to those of you for reaching such a great and important victory!

The first time I did this; I had NO idea what to do or what to look at or what size I was. I almost walked out feeling too overwhelmed at the choices and having ZERO idea what all the descriptions of jeans were and what size I might wear. I finally asked a sales person. I explained how much weight I had lost and that I was literally LOST in the store. I was in my late 50's and had NO IDEA what to look at. She was so kind and eyed me up and gave me one size 18 jean and a few 16s and told me to try on the 18 first. It was big. I cried. BEST DAY EVER ! I had also worn a 26/28 jean... MORE SUCESS TO FOLLOW !! Best of Everything to you !

It is surreal walking into a regular clothing store and not needing to ask where or if they have plus size clothing. I bought size 14 old navy pants and I LOVE them. They are high waist button up. 10-11 months ago I was 24-26.

Wohoo I can cross my legs! I bought size 12 chino shorts. Even when i was 20lbs lighter than today they were always a size 14.

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These are wonderful wonderful happenings all around !!!

So today, for the first time since my teenage years, I tried a size 18R jeans, they fit....and I look Fu@$&ing hot in them!!!! Sooo excited to wear them tomorrow for a company party tomorrow at a ranch!!!! 8 months ago, I was a size 28-30w!!!!

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Crossing my legs is a top 5 NSV for me. It's awesome. I can cross them now and they stay there on their own. I LOVE to cross my legs. 😍❤️

Not worrying about chairs ! Not being the fattest human in the room . Not feeling like people are watching what I put on my plate at a gathering. Being able to sit in the back seat of a car and not worrying about the seatbelt not fitting !!!
All absolutely true !!!

I am maybe a little more confident than you. I have learned over the years to act confident. My jobs needed a confident person, so like an actress I took over that role.
The attention I get now amuses me as I am soon to be 64 and married 47 years. Only this week, I was stood waiting for a bus, totally wrapped up in my winter coat, leggings and boots. A 30ish cyclist went passed me and he almost fell off , craning his neck to look me up and down. He needed to put glasses on. I am way passed my sell by date

Hello,
My starting weight was 250 and current weight is 124.
I'm new to the forum. I want to remain anonymous at this point and I didn't want to post in Facebook. I had my gastric sleeve done in May of 2022, I've lost a total of 125 pounds. The thing I didn't think about was how my self esteem has not changed. I was thinner in my late teens and 20's, but gained weight after having 5 children. I am now in my late 40's, I don't really regret the choice I made about the surgery. The thing I didn't prepare myself for mentally is the depression factor, I had depression prior to surgery and had been on med's. After my surgery I am still on meds, but I feel like things have started to get worse over the last 4-5 months with more weight loss.
I find it very uncomfortable to get attention that I didn't before from males. It get's very uncomfortable to the point where I try to avoid places that have large groups of people. I'm married to a wonderful man for over 20 years, he is so supportive and loving. Once I lost the weight it has turned into more of a focus on my body and how great he tells me I look. Strangers like males coming up to me and asking me for my number, or flirting with me to excess. I don't like it, it makes me beyond anxious and has lead I think to me becoming more depressed. I just want to blend in and not be noticed like I used to be. I know how crazy this sounds but it's difficult for me because I'm very shy especially and I've never liked attention. Sorry this post may sound stupid or pointless but to me I didn't realize I would become more depressed and anxious after I lost weight.
I thought weight loss was going to be an amazing thing, I paid out of pocket for the surgery myself. There is a downside to the weight loss that also no one talks about and it's the Hair loss. Your hair get's very thin if you are not maintaining your Vitamins. It still becomes thin and falls out due to the stress of the surgery. I'm okay with my hair but the hair loss was unexpected as well. I wanted somewhere I could vent about all this. I feel like the focus is more now on my body and how it looks, especially with my husband. Sometimes it's great but at other times it becomes overwhelming.
I feel like something is wrong with me, I should be happy? I don't crave attention and wanted the surgery to feel healthy and for me. I fear the warm months coming, the summer I hated the most when I was overweight. Now that I've lost the weight I'm also just wanting to go back into that shell and become invisible again, especially around the opposite sex. This is not the part I expected to have to deal with, I forgot how to deal with this type of attention. Maybe this is something that others would love to have, but it can also become overwhelming, very overwhelming. Sorry I'm rambling, just didn't know where else to post this in case my complaining is unjustified and stupid?

So after my surgery to remove the last of the polyps on the 14th, my GI surgeon said he's clearing me foe revision surgery, but said he doesn't really want me to have the surgery. I asked why and he said "At first, I was sure you had the polyps because of the PPI, but now I don't think that's the case" so I said "Ok, so what's causing them?" and he said "I really don't know. I think maybe you might just be someone who makes polyps" and I said "I don't see how that's the case. I've never had any before, and I didn't have any when I had the sleeve surgery. I didn't start getting them until the GERD, gastritis, and esophagitis started and I had to go on the really high PPI for a long amount of time" and he said "I'm clearing you for the surgery, but like I said, I don't think you should have it".
So I called my bariatric surgeon's office today and talked to them about this and now my surgeon said he needs to talk to the GI surgeon and then "think about what to do about the surgery" and will let me know if the revision is going to happen or now. Ok, WHAT??? How is this real life right now? They BOTH agreed the polyps were caused by the 80mg of Nexium I have to take every day just to keep the GERD at bay. They BOTH agreed a revision was necessary to get rid of the GERD and to keep the gastritis and esophagitis from coming back again. They BOTH agreed that the revision would solve my issues and let me get back to my life. All of the polyps and lining that were tested all came back negative for everything. And now that I'm finally able to have the revision, I might not get it???
The insurance approved it 2 months ago!!! Who knew THAT wouldn't be the fight I'd have for the revision?!?! I don't know what to do. Now I'm in yet another holding pattern and I don't even understand why. I can't stay on high amounts of PPI forever. I'm so upset. I thought I was at the end of this nightmare. I just don't understand what the issue is.

I'm 9 months out and am super happy with my arm results so I wanted to share some before/after pics. As you can see, the scar is still pretty visible although it is fading. My surgeon thinks it will likely fade for up to 2 years.

4.5+ years out.
This one made me laugh way back then, and still does:

Welcome to the forums and congratulations on your success.
Many of us used food as a coping mechanism or self medication to deal with issues. If this is true for you then having WLS may have taken a key coping mechanism away. It's likely time to talk with a therapist or behavioralist to learn new, better, healthier coping mechanisms.
Many of us also had unrealistic expectations on how WLS magically change our lives. I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm an introvert and I'd long accepted it, but I still had visions of becoming a social butterfly when I lost my weight. Everything that my weight prevented I would be able to do again better than ever. Predictably, that's not how it turned out. A common meme is "we had surgery on our stomachs not our brains." Just because we lost weight doesn't mean we will automatically change. Losing our weight wasn't easy and took a rather drastic help. Changing other aspects of our lives may likewise take effort.
WLS and rapid weight loss can upset your life. You are changing the status quo. Your relationships may change because your roles in them change. Work can be impacted. Even the way you perceive yourself may change, or not change quick enough, or become totally unrealistic. You may get more wanted or unwanted attention and be unsure of your response. Be sure to keep lines of communication open with your spouse, friends, and associates. Especially your spouse.
You may eventually have your Saturday night whiskey. Two things here: First, be aware and careful of transfer addiction. Now that you don't have food to use as a coping mechanism many of us have turned to other often worse things like alcohol, drugs, or stand up comedy. Second, if not having your Saturday night whiskey makes you this sad then perhaps it's something you need to discuss with a therapist.
To sum up find someone to help you. Heck, find a team. Your spouse can be a huge support. A close, trustworthy friend or family member could help. Forums like this can help. A therapist would be a great choice because they have the experience and resources to help build new tools.
Good luck,
Tek