BlackBerryJuice

These bodyfat measures are BS. I've got cuts everywhere save for my glutes and inner thighs and it's giving me 32%. I'd estimate my bodyfat to be around 20%, and the bulk of it being around my ass. A similar type of calculator once told me I was 32% at 170 lbs, and I've definitely got more muscle mass now than I did back then - AND I'm 30 lbs lighter.

I eat as many carbs as my heart desires, as long as I get in enough protein. I think 95% of people on this board would pop an aneurysm if I posted an actual amount. Let's just say today I had pasta, two bananas, AND chocolate ice cream. Doesn't seem to hinder my weightloss efforts in the slightest.

I got sleeved at 25, also at a relatively low BMI (just under 35). The only upside to getting sleeved at 25 rather than 20 (when I first hit the "obese" range) I can think of is that these extra years gave me an opportunity to grow emotionally and understand where some of my eating urges were coming from and to deal with them to the best of my ability. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't get my issues 100% under control - hence why I had the sleeve - but at 20, I was still occasionally making myself vomit after binges and I had terrible body image. At 25, I still binged, but no more barfing - and while I knew I was fat and wouldn't parade around town in booty shorts, I had no qualms wearing a bathing suit to the beach. It was nice to have the body image issues mostly sorted out and the eating disorder out of the way. Being older and financially independent also allowed me to have the courage to remove the greatest stressor and the biggest emotional eating trigger out of my life (my father, in case you are wondering).

Thanks. My skin is not looking too bad, there's some looseness in the inner thighs and at the bottom of my buttcheeks, but I'm just crossing my fingers that in a few months, it'll snap back. If not - oh well. When my peers and I get into our 40s, no one will be able to tell!

Definitely! Mexico has a huge Medical Tourism industry. Tons of Mexican physicians and surgeons whose aim is to primarily serve North Americans train in the US and return to Mexico to rake in the cash. For every questionable surgeon in Mexico, I've got you an RN or a doc in the US, Canada, or Australia who have killed patients, purposely maimed them, or otherwise caused terrible problems (like that pathologist in Ontario). But because they are "us" and not "them," we don't make sweeping xenophobic generalizations about North American healthcare providers.

Welcome back! Jealous that you are in California, I was just in San Fran 2 weeks ago. It was a nice change from the still-subzero temps here. And I love Target! They are expanding into Canada, except for they are having some issues because there's already a similarly named apparel company here (way worse), so who knows how long it will take to work out the legal issues.

Personally, I found that 1 size = appx. 10 lbs loss for me. I was about size 18 at my highest weight of 208, and now I'm a size 6 at 140. So depending on how much weight you are planning to lose, it means you'll need new clothes every 3-6 weeks. I'd stay away from buying tailored things, like slacks - these stop fitting properly within 2-3 lbs and are a pain to tailor. I've bought many dresses, especially those that are roomy or have belts that allow the waist to be cinched in, and skirts - they are quite easy to take down a few sizes. For pants, I stuck to stretchy jeans, and Ebay or Winners (kinda like Marshalls or TJMaxx) for dressier pants if I needed them.

Couple of weeks from now you'll try a bite of all these goodies and realize they don't taste good to you anymore! There were so many things I couldn't wait to have post-surgery and when I did, none of them were as good as I remembered them being! McDonald's cheeseburgers, ice cream, Nutella - sometimes I'll have a few bites of either, but they never rock my boat like they used to and if I never saw them again, I could care less.

Thanks, girls! Funny thing, I feel that I eat treats much more often now than I did before my surgery - but I'm no longer fat! I always thought "If only I got the binging thing under control, I shouldn't have any problem losing weight and keeping it off." I guess I was right! It's impossible to binge with the VSG. While I have a few pieces of chocolate or half a pastry practically every day, I will NEVER eat an entire bag of candy or pint of ice cream again! If I try to eat more than one pastry or too many chocolates, I just feel grossed out by the sweetness/greasiness. Thanks! When I was pondering the surgery, my mother kept telling me to wait until I finished school and started working, so it wouldn't be as much of a financial burden. But I'm a major stress eater, and I knew that once I got to clinical years, I'd stress-eat constantly. I didn't want to risk getting to 300+ lbs and developing health problems, and having to worry about 30 pounds of loose skin. Plus I'm definitely a lot less tired now, so the prospect of being on my feet for 12+ hours a day is no longer daunting. But it's awkward sometimes....the other day, my boyfriend suggested to his coworker/good friend that he try going out with their young, single receptionist. The guy's reaction? "My friends would make fun of me if I was to be spotted with that cow." Ironically, "that cow" is quite a bit smaller than I was at my heaviest. So you know what he thought about me back in the summer.....I try not to focus on things like that, but it's hard.

I'm in medical school, about halfway through.

Yeah, but if you are not doing a drug deal or roaming around alone in an industrial area at 4 am, you can't really compare. As I was doing neither, I felt quite safe in Mexicali. On the other hand, I got held up at gunpoint in Chicago in broad daylight one time, just going about my business on the street.

And some pictures from March 9, 2011 - 7 months after the surgery

I've surpassed my goal by 5 lbs as of this morning, so I figured it was time for a success story post! I had my VSG done on August 9, 2010 by Dr. Alberto Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. I was 25 years old at the time. I had been overweight or obese since I was about 11, although even as a kid, I was always a tad bigger than other girls. I was raised by my mother, who always had a weight problem and got me to be her diet buddy. In high school, I recall constantly doing the cabbage Soup diet with her and never getting past day 4, when we'd have massive binges. As a teenager, I hit my all-time low weight of 145 lbs (I am 5'5") due to bulimia and excessive working out. Unfortunately, the weight came back, plus more. I hit my all-time high of 216 lbs at the age of 21 after falling from a horse and injuring my back. In 2009, I buckled down and lost 40+ lbs, getting down to 165, but maintaining my weight took up ALL MY TIME and I was constantly denying myself everything. Eventually, school got so busy that it was an issue of either exercising or studying 10 hours a day to pass, so obviously, I opted for passing. The weight came back on rapidly, and once I met my boyfriend who likes to eat out a lot and has a super-fast metabolism, I started packing on almost 10 lbs a month! I decided to have surgery in June 2010, when I was about 195 lbs. I paid for my surgery out of pocket - I used my student line of credit to cover the expenses. The surgery cost me about $9500 with the airfare and related expenses. I weighed 208 lbs the day of my surgery. To my knowledge, I had no comorbidities except lower back pain. My surgery went great and I had a fairly uneventful recovery save for a trip to the emergency room about 2.5 weeks out for nausea and lightheadedness. My 3-month bloodwork and upper GI were all stellar. While my health numbers were good before, they've become even better since - my BP used to be about 120/80 and now it's 105/65, and my resting heart rate's gone down from 80 to 50. My original weightloss goal was 145 lbs, as I'm pretty big-boned and have lots of muscle mass. I'm at 140 now and I wear a size 6, sometimes 8; size small shirts, although as I'm still a DD cup, sometimes I have to wear mediums just because of my chest. I still have knee pain that I developed after a sports injury over a decade ago, but my back pain is gone. I'm not sure what's next for me, I'd like to do a bodybuilding or figure competition, and there's one in my area this June, so depending on how my skin is tightening, I may sign up for that. Some pix from before the surgery:

Oh man, yesterday was just a stupid day. Bfast: coffee, was gonna have a Protein bar but my preceptor brought us gourmet Cookies to the teaching session, so I had a cookie instead Lunch: friend's birthday party at a pizza place, had a diet Coke and a slice of pizza Snack: coconut rice with scallops and shrimp Later, fell prey to clever marketing at the grocery store and had some Easter chocolates (they were shaped like baby chicks - could not resist the cuteness!) Dinner: went out with bf and his friends to this disgusting pub. Had a really gross strawberry daiquiri that made me feel sick and trippy. Then my chicken avocado burger arrived and it was REVOLTING. The meat was like jelly. It made me feel nauseous and gave me terrible gas. I had to study lots last night, so I left early alone. Then upon getting home I realized I didn't have my set of keys - OR my phone to text my boyfriend and ask him to return sooner. Went to kill some time at a coffee shop and had a dark chocolate latte. Finally, 1.5 hrs later he showed up - at least they didn't go to a movie, like I was starting to think! Then I started studying. The material we're covering now is super-hard, and I got stressed out and totally stress-ate 6 seashell pralines. Blah! On the bright side, 1 lb down this morning - shows you how a few pieces of chocolate and a sweet drink won't ruin you, I guess.

Oh man, you should've never paid! If you are really upset about it, I say, go back there and say you are very unhappy. I think they should at least offer you extensions or a dye job or something, if your haircut's totally not what you wanted and makes you look bad. If they disagree, raising your voice so ALL THE CUSTOMERS IN THE WAITING AREA HEAR is always a good idea. Worst case scenario, you get nothing out of it, but get it off your chest.

Vegan diet is pretty hard to stick with, and I think it'd be extra tough to not become malnourished on it after getting your sleeve. There are some high-protein vegan foods like beans, chickpeas, tofu, etc, but you have to eat a lot of them to get enough protein, and you couldn't eat very much after your sleeve. So you'd have to drink lots of soy protein shakes to make sure you are not low on protein. If you've never been vegetarian or vegan, I think a good place to start would be to buy your animal products at the local farmer's market or Whole Foods and gently phase them out of your diet until you become a vegetarian. Some things are quite easy to replace (e.g. milk with soy or almond milk - the difference in taste and texture is not that great), but the toughest thing, IMO, is with processed food - that includes breads, pastas, frozen meals, protein bars, protein powders, etc. SO many processed/prepared foods have animal products in them, whether it's eggs, whey, or gelatin. I would venture into a health food store (Whole Foods, Planet Organic) and see what animal-free prepackaged foods they have. A 100% vegan diet is very tough to follow, but you can always get as close as possible and make that the few animal products you do consume come from ethical sources.

Probably gas pains/IBS. There's not much on the left side of your stomach towards the bottom besides intestines. Your gallbladder is in the right upper quadrant, so gallbladder problems wouldn't cause pain in that area.

Ok, so for the last 2 days my inbox's been barraged with VST e-mails as apparently the forum subscribes me to every single thread I post in. So if I post in 5 threads, I might get 20+ e-mails saying someone else replied! I went to my settings page and unsubscribed myself from everything, but it still keeps automatically subscribing me! How do I stop it from automatically subscribing me to every thread I post in?

1 lb left, can I do it in 6 weeks? LOL. SN.....................................Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal BlackBerryJuice.......................208...............141 ............140..............1

I've lost closer to 70. I have some spider veins on the outside of my right thigh. I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever. From my limited knowledge of what they are, I don't really see why weightloss would make them less or more prominent - although I'd say that being at a normal weight makes you less likely to develop MORE spider veins. They haven't gone away, but no new ones have appeared, either. Try sclerotherapy if they really bother you - spider veins run in my family and my mom's are pretty bad. She had sclero done and is quite pleased.

I agree with others in that I don't really see a reason to stop losing weight at this stage...you are still overweight, might as well get to a healthy BMI. I'm an inch taller than you, weigh 141 with a large bone structure and lots of muscle mass, and I could still lose 10 more lbs and look/feel healthy! That said, maintaining/gaining would be pretty easy, actually. You can totally overeat with the sleeve if you don't make the best choices. I went on a weeklong vacation where we drank high-calorie mixed drinks and vanilla Coke every day and ate Desserts 1-2 times a day (including Haagen Dazs chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream!) and I put on a pound. Granted, I lost that pound within 3 days of coming back, cleaning up my diet, and going to the gym, but nevertheless. Yeah, you won't be able to eat a McDonald's combo ever again, but you could totally suck down some high-calorie drinks and eat desserts to stop losing or even start gaining.

Bfast: Protein bar lunch 1: half a 6" turkey sub from Subway Lunch 2: other half of said sub coffee with flavored creamer Dinner: not sure yet, might be going out with bf and his friends

I'm not a Goodwill fan, either. I have to look the part for school and most of the stuff at Goodwill....well, let's just say it's there for a reason. I like Ebay, because you can buy NWT or NWOT stuff for half the price or less. I'd say that half of my current wardrobe is from Ebay. It's also great for buying stuff you tried on that was too expensive - odds are, you can find the same stuff you saw in the store on Ebay for way less.

I wouldn't spend a lot of $ on clothes immediately post-op, unless they are very easily tailored (e.g. a simple A-line skirt). Like Tiffykins said, you are only gonna stay in a size for 2-3 weeks. My size 8 slacks hung in the closet for 2 months until I got to size 8, and then within 2 weeks, they were sagging on me. Thank god for Ebay - both in terms of selling stuff I don't need and buying stuff for less!