Smanky

100% the word "pouch". It's up there with "moist" for me.
I won't use it. "Smaller stomach" or just plain old "stomach" work fine for me, since I still actually have one despite it's reduced size.
Everything else I'm completely neutral on.

the first two pics are head shots before surgery. The last three are me now.

I had my sleeve in May 2022 at age 62, so I am 8 mos post-op. Recovery was quick and fairly easy for me! Like others, wish I hadn't waited so long! I've stalled over the holidays and even gained a couple of pounds, but I am back on track now. My weight loss has slowed dramatically and my surgeon says I'll probably only lose another 20 lbs, but I'm good with that. I feel FANTASTIC! I've eliminated one of my BP meds and the other has been cut in half and some days I don't take it if my pressure is low. I do at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days per week, alternating stationary bike and rowing machine. I think my Hair loss has finally slowed/stopped. My surgeon & internist are very pleased with my progress. I'm sure I could have lost more if I had eaten cleaner the past 8 mos, but I really have just been relying on Portion Control and eating pretty much what I want, but focusing on healthier options when available and keeping track of my Protein intake. Definitely consumed far too many sweets over the holidays. My husband and I are spending a week in a cabin in the woods near Fairbanks, Alaska in a couple of weeks and I'm excited to see how much easier the smaller me will fit in the seat for the long flight!

Yep. If the temperature drops below 25 Celsius, I'm looking for a jacket. Walked into a theatre for a show last night (it's mid Summer here) and the air-con temp took my breath away. Foolishly didn't think to bring a jacket. Thankfully a mate gave me a long sleeve shirt he'd brought as an extra layer or I'd have been miserable!

Yep. If the temperature drops below 25 Celsius, I'm looking for a jacket. Walked into a theatre for a show last night (it's mid Summer here) and the air-con temp took my breath away. Foolishly didn't think to bring a jacket. Thankfully a mate gave me a long sleeve shirt he'd brought as an extra layer or I'd have been miserable!

Have you ever been under anesthesia? If not, it's hard to say what your experience will be. Everyone reacts differently.
Typically, you'll be very groggy and sleepy. You'll probably be going in and out of consciousness. You abdomen will be sore, you'll probably be thirsty, and your throat might hurt. You'll have an IV and probably some special pressure devices on your legs. If you're prone to nausea, make sure you tell your team - they'll put a patch behind your ear. Vomiting after abdominal surgery is the last thing you want to do.
Your nurses will be trying to make you drink Water, as soon as you're alert enough. This was no problem for me, but for some people drinking hurts.

There are a lot of variables to consider. IMO, BMI is flawed....the formula is based on an average body composition. It does not take in consideration frame size, bone mass, muscle mass, large breasted vs small breasted (boobs are heavy!), body shape (ectomorph, mesomorph & endomorph). If you were overweight in your youth and/or the majority of your life, your bones had to accommodate more weight so therefore are most likely larger and heavier than someone who has been slim most of their lives.
Thirty years ago, the general rule for women was a baseline of 100 pounds for a 5 foot woman and 5 pounds for each additional inch. That is an average, but for me at 5'5", I am chubby at 125, where as; my daughter at 2 inches shorter, looks amazing at 135. Before the weight gain in 2012, my natural shape was hourglass (metomorph) with broad shoulders, heavy chested, small waist and slim legs on a small/medium frame. My daughter is rectangular (ectomorph) with broad shoulders, heavy chested, thick waisted, narrow hipped and thicker legs on a medium/large frame. My best weight is 112 to 117 but my daughter, even though she is 2 inches shorter, looks best at 132 to 138. "It really doesn't take body shape into account as I've never had an hourglass figure - I joke that I'm shaped like a plank with tits. Straight up and down." YES, YES, YES! The variations in the natural body composition of ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph is not considered when computing BMI. An hourglass shape will carry more fat than a plank shape at the same weight!
Weight is a personal matter. You have to find where you are comfortable and a weight that can be easily maintained. Listen to your body and listen to your doctor but don't let others get into your head.

you're only six months out, so still in the "honeymoon" stage. Try to get back on track ASAP because it's never in your life going to be easier to lose weight than it is right now. I'd call your clinic for help - that's what they're there for! They may have you work with the dietitian or the psychologist (if they have one on staff - our clinic did...)

You need to do as your pcp says and eat. First find things to drink, you sound as if you are dehydrated. Water and milk and thinned Protein Drinks are safe starting options. Have you tried Protein water? Have you tried broth? Find the temperature you can tolerate. I managed Hot Drinks better than icy cold.
You need to eat and the calorie content will not matter for a couple of weeks. Once you get some calories in you will start to feel better. To start you eating again, can I suggest yogurts, high protein tinned or homemade Soups [blitz it if you need to] mashed potato and gravy, Custard, instant porridge. and soft baked crustless quiche or cheese souffle. Aim to eat [ or drink your food ] a good amount of foods every 2 or 3 hours. Eat whatever you can, its critical to you getting and feeling better
Lack of protein will make you weak. Lack of liquid makes your throat slimy. You feel nausea because you may not be drinking enough. Getting hot or in my case shivery cold is because we have overeaten. Getting the foamies [spitting out foam] is because you have put too much in your new stomach in one go. Eat or drink smaller sips until you get a hang of your limits.
Lastly, have you been tested for a stricture? because I had similar problems until about 10 months out because they found my internal stitch line was still swollen. I just had to do the best I could until it settled. You should be getting more help from your team than you are, when did you last speak to them?

Bypassed at 51. Wish I'd done it a decade ago!

Coconut milk/cream is the main enduring one for me. Still way too rich and makes me feel nauseous.

I struggle to call this a "victory", because I consider it a negative (Non-Scale-Negative? Non-Scale-Oops?), but I've lost all buoyancy. Was at my sister's Xmas day, and I haven't been swimming in a year. Blobbing around like a human pool float was always my jam. Nope. Not anymore! Welcome to sink-like-a-stone-town! I was treading Water in the deep end like a wind-up bath toy, mildly horrified at how hard I had to work to stay afloat.
Thus ends my confidence in the water. I may well be the adult with the pool wings next time I go to the beach. And if I do, I intend to make that fashion accessory work.
Bonus Non-Scale-Negative: I was so cold in that water my nephew remarked that my back was covered in gooseflesh. I lasted maybe five minutes before I had to get out and get warm. In Summer. In Queensland Australia. 🤦‍♀️

only about 30% of bypass patients dump - and it can be controlled by limiting the amount of sugar or fat you eat at one sitting (which we should be doing anyway, to be honest...). I had my bypass 7.5 years ago and have never dumped - and I know lots of other bypassers who aren't dumpers, either.
meds might have to be adjusted due to the malabsorption, but they're used to having to do this. Bypass has been around for a long time.
GERD can get worse with sleeve, but it's not inevitable. Some people don't experience this - and some even claim theirs got better. But the percentage of people whose GERD got worse was a little too high for me to take the risk, so I went with bypass. But others are willing to take the risk.
P.S. I've been very happy with my bypass and would make the same decision if I had to make it today.

Lifestyle issues: none. I went vegetarian back in 1989, and have been vegan for about 7 years now. Likewise my partner. I've always been a supplement taker, so I've never been anemic or had any issues (outside of eating too much junk food and carbs, of course, leading me here!). Post-op, my labs have been consistently good, so even with the malabsorbtion factor, I've been able to nourish myself well. The only thing any blood test has found was 8 weeks ago when I landed in hospital after a bike accident and the labs showed I was low in magnesium. So I've been taking a mag supplement since then which is fixing that.
Never a whisper of kidney stones.
It's tough recommending any Protein Drinks since I'm in Australia and we don't have access to the same brands as you guys over there. The best protein water I've found that's both tasty and not absolutely drowning in stevia is MyProtein's Clear Vegan Protein. I know you can get that one internationally. It's not as much protein per serve as a shake (it's 10g per serve), but since I have to drink a couple of litres of water a day anyway, getting 3 of those in means I've got over half my daily minimum protein intake plus water, so I love the double-up. Other vegan protein waters with higher protein counts that I've tried have either been too cloyingly sweet or just straight up revolting. The MyProtein one is like drinking cordial. Minus the sugar. The Apple & Elderflower flavour is the bomb.
Also: vegan protein will absorb as well as non-vegan. I promise it's a myth that you can't get enough protein from plants. Plenty of vegan athletes and body builders can attest! 💪

I was a slow loser, so absolutely not true for me. These things are just guides, they're not absolutes.

Hello everyone, today it has been 7 weeks since I got my surgery (was November 30th.)
Since then I have lost 30 lbs. 54 lbs total from the pre surgery weight that I lost. My bmi was 42 now it is down to 32.
Half way to my goal weight! Started at 241. Am now 187 goal weight 135!

I was a slow loser, so absolutely not true for me. These things are just guides, they're not absolutes.

I don't know your height, but a size 18 is a smaller starting point, so as Catwoman said, you may not lose much.
However, you don't get to choose, unfortunately! Weight comes off where it comes off. I haven't lost much in cup-size; I went from an E cup to a DD. But they are a sad, sad shadow of their former selves in terms of firmness! You might be fine, but you won't know until you hit goal, then it's a question of whether you go the plastics route, or learn to love the looser version of yourself!

If you have WLS without informing your unsupportive spouse all you are doing is adding another item or two to the list of knock down drag out fights in the future. WLS tends to make strong marriages stronger and weak marriages weaker. If you are already arguing about this, it's only going to get much worse if you move on your own.
I wonder if getting into counselling now before adding new grievances to an already long list of grievances wouldn't be the smart move. Perhaps in the safe space of a couples therapists' office you can learn the critical tools you need to learn before your marriage reaches the point of no return, at least if you're not already looking at that point well in the past.
You guys need to get back to being on the same team. You need to learn how to do this in the face of disagreeing on a few of the details. Couples counselling can be a huge help.
Good luck,
Tek

Wow. I think this would be mighty difficult. What if you developed complications (yes I know they're rare)? I am as secretive a person as anyone - only told my partner and children, but I don't think I could have restricted it to any fewer people than that.

If you're lucky and everything goes absolutely to plan post-op then you might just squeak through. Otherwise present it as a fait accompli (I'm doing this with or without your support). As I type that though I'm thinking if I was even considering that I would first work on my family relationships.
Best of luck.

I don't think it matters that much whether you lose the weight slowly or quickly. That skin was stretched out to cover whatever your heaviest weight was, and once it's stretched out, it's not likely to bounce back. If you're young and not very overweight (maybe 20 or 30 lbs), it could snap back, but at the weight most of us start at, you'll probably have at least *some* loose skin. I'd follow my program and not try to eat more just for fear of loose skin. You want to lose all the weight you can, while still remaining healthy. This is your one opportunity in your lifetime when you have a chance to lose a massive amount of weight with a lot less effort than it took before surgery (granted, it does take effort, but the surgery really helps it along!) I lost over 200 lbs, and I had a TON of loose skin (have since had it removed). Honestly, no one knew it was there except for me and my husband . For most of us, it's pretty easy to hide in clothes. I think I'm speaking on behalf of most/all of the "vets" here who've had to deal with loose skin - we'd take the loose skin any day of the week over being morbidly obese again. ANY DAY!

Thank you so much @Smankyand @Arabesque. This really helps a lot, I know I can’t avoid the stretch marks or the loose skin, but it’s comforting to know I can keep my skin healthy with some products. Thanks again lovelies 💕

I kept my skin in the best condition I could with collagen support supplements, Biotin, hydration and body lotions with actives like retinol in it. Oh and a daily and pedantic application of 50+ SPF.
I still have a lot of loose skin (I'm 51, so it's not gonna bounce back much), but the scars are almost gone and my skin is as happy as it can be. There's no escaping at least some loose skin with big weight loss, and unless plastics are an option down the track, leaning to love it is all you can do!

It's life-altering surgery, so I think it's fair to say almost everyone has their "oh my god I'm actually doing this???" phase before surgery day. A massive life change is a big thing to process and nerves are totally natural as it's unknown territory. When my nerves kicked in, I put on music and danced the nerves off to keep myself in a good headspace.
But it's not as scary as the mind makes it out. Anxiety will turn everything into a bigger issue than it is. You won't fail if you stick to your plan, and the surgery is a very powerful tool that helps you. Trust me, I always had rubbish self-control, and it still worked. You can talk through every step of the journey and get good support from folks on this forum. Breathe, and focus on why you're doing this and visualise that better way of living, and the goals you want to hit. Post surgery, every little milestone is worth celebrating. It's incredible how the body bounces back into health when you give it a chance!

It's life-altering surgery, so I think it's fair to say almost everyone has their "oh my god I'm actually doing this???" phase before surgery day. A massive life change is a big thing to process and nerves are totally natural as it's unknown territory. When my nerves kicked in, I put on music and danced the nerves off to keep myself in a good headspace.
But it's not as scary as the mind makes it out. Anxiety will turn everything into a bigger issue than it is. You won't fail if you stick to your plan, and the surgery is a very powerful tool that helps you. Trust me, I always had rubbish self-control, and it still worked. You can talk through every step of the journey and get good support from folks on this forum. Breathe, and focus on why you're doing this and visualise that better way of living, and the goals you want to hit. Post surgery, every little milestone is worth celebrating. It's incredible how the body bounces back into health when you give it a chance!