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A side comment about being sick-looking...I found that immediately after my intentional weight loss (I was at a BMI of 23.2), I looked pretty Skeletor-ish and got my fair share of comments from others. My eyes sockets were dark and sunken, my neck looked sinewy and turkey-ish, the skin in various places looked melted-candle-ish, and I generally had a frail look about me (both as a self-assessment and of the opinion of others whom I trust). Now, I am almost 7 months into maintenance, AND weigh 12 lbs LESS than my Skeletor phase (I'm at a BMI of 21 now), and personally I think (as do others I trust) look soooooo much better. My face has filled out (no more sunken eyes, my cheekbones don't look cadaver-y anymore), my neck lost its turkey look and I am looking surprisingly firmer and stronger all over (except my butt...still working on that, lol). Now, the fact I am eating more carbs, and keep up a regular exercise routine is likely a factor in these changes. So I guess I'm saying that I think we need to let our bodies settle in a while before we decide that a certain weight results in a too sickly look. ...just a thought. P.S. full disclosure though, I am getting an arm lift and side boob fix this week. Though in all honesty, if I hadn't already had this booked and paid for, I *could* consider not having the procedures because I don't hate them with the fire of a thousand suns like I used to...just maybe the one sun now. 😎

I'm 16 months post sleeve surgery. Been in maintenance mode for about 4 months. Tomorrow I'm having an extended arm lift. A bit nervous about the drains and the pain and uncomfortableness of recovery, but excited for short sleeve shirts and tank tops next summer! Eventually I hope to have all the other skin removal surgeries, but I need to save for them first.

Good evening everyone. This is my weekly check in. I've been on this weight loss journey now 16 weeks today and down 107lbs. HW 322 CW 215 GW 185-195 Feeling good still mostly on shakes everyday but starting to try little solid things here and there to work out what I can tolerate. I'm 7 weeks post op today but 16 weeks since starting my diet. Feeling positive about the future just got some loose skin mostly under my arms & armpits.. Will need to get into some kind of resistance or weights soon but here in Australia Its summer and heatwave of 100 all week 😭 so not in any mood to workout right now Thanks everyone again for your support MIKE.

SUGAR!!!!!! I cannot stand sweet tea anymore or too much sugar in my coffee. I use only one small spoonful instead of three like I used too. I also can't tolerate the fried skin on chicken. I had purchased some for my family because we had been gone all day and I did not feel like cooking. I got me a leg and after biting into it, I had to take the skin off because it was too greasy. This was from the same place we ate at all the time prior to my surgery. So I boil and grill my chicken now. As much as I love bread, I can't eat it like I used to. Only a small piece every once in a while. I really don't have the taste for it anymore. I love eggs and never had a problem eating them. I eat them almost every day for breakfast. They are my main source of protein in the morning.

Honestly gas can be avoided, especially stinky gas. Excessive and stinky gas is a signal from your body that it has an intolerance to something that you are eating, and/or is not digesting it properly. A. Figure out what foods are the worst offenders and avoid them b. For minor offenders and harder to digest meals in general take digestive enzymes, they are a good addition to everyone’s routine anyway (I’m trying out a new chewable digestive enzyme) c. If all else fails take a gas reliever... for me personally I like Hylands gas, it’s a sublingual homeopathic medication but for some reason it seems to work better. I’ve taken gas x and felt worse (likely an allergy to an ingredient) better to go to the bathroom when you feel gassy than hold it in. But like I said even though we have altered digestive systems and yes poo will stink when it processes through the gut faster, that’s no reason for excessive gas. Or to just let loose and foul up everyone else’s day. you can buy special underwear ... but better to look into the cause and preventing it first. having digestive issues most of my life I know a bit too much on the subject of which I loathe.

My size 10 Jeans have become so loose and it's messing with my head that I should possibly consider 8s[emoji54][emoji54][emoji54][emoji54][emoji54][emoji54][emoji54] Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Thank you so much for this! I needed to hear this success story. You rock! Trying to think positive thoughts like “ slower may be better long term”...” maybe people won’t think I am dying because I am not losing weight so fast😀”...”maybe my body will have time to adjust and help with my saggy skin”... searching for all the positives so I don’t go off track. The good news is that I cannot eat to soothe myself like in the past. It is such a strange transition to have to finally face this issue and not have an easy way out. That I am thankful for, every day. Thanks again and congrats to you on your success! I cannot wait to be 20 months out and look back on this post and laugh at myself.

Hope you don’t mind if I suggest some things that helps me with that. I take Natures way Alive! Hair skin & nails gummies with 300mg collagen. I also take omegas, my favorite is hero nutritionals omega 3 with chia seed (also gummies) and my multivitamin is Garden of Life mykind organics Whole Foods gummy drops (it’s actually a prenatal vitamin which is common in bariatric patients) I was going to switch to a one a day tablet but can’t find any without added iodine and the whole food based nutrition absorbs better. (I get them from vitacost.com) I find certain vitamins help a lot with dry hair and skin. Also any itching or irritated skin I recommend Tamanu oil, even for blemishes.

Ok I have only shed some hair, I'm 2 months post op, and I have notice my hair feels dry and coarse? Also my skin always itches and I think it's because of dry skin ? Anybody else? Sent from my SM-G950U using BariatricPal mobile app

I don't think they called it a lift in anyway, on the procedure listing is was just plain old "breast reduction". It was covered by provincial insurance so I didn't really have a choice. Though looking back I probably should have asked for a different technique. They used the lollipop incision which results in a higher nipple placement yes, but has a bulbous look at the lower part of the boob. Now that I lost a lot of weight, that bulbous look is gone (they just look deflated) but my nipples are still nice and high. So they don't look like regular droopy boobs, but still not the greatest. Next week I am getting my arm lift and what is listed on the procedure listing as a "breast reduction revision", basically its to remove the excess skin on my side boob, but will also address the under nipple boob sag in the process.

Playing devil's advocate here. You are under goal weight and according to your nut, have lost 100% of your excess weight. Why are you depriving yourself of celebrating the holidays with friends? Isn't the goal of WLS is to be able to fully enjoy our lives? You have already established that you can go off plan, have some small gain, and then come back, knuckle down and lose again. For me, this is exactly where I wanted to be in life. To just live and eat like a normal weight person. I just put guardrails up on a high weight and with logging. But otherwise I just want to enjoy my life, including dinner and drinks during the holidays with friends. I think it's easy to get hyperfocused on losing weight, and we can lose sight of what the end game is, to be happy, healthy and relaxed in our own skin. All very good points. For me, it’s about that scary, slippery slope. I let myself lose it for a couple of weeks and WHAM.... here comes 4 pounds. Gaining that much in such a short time scared me a bit, TBH. In the past, those 4 pounds would turn into 2, then 3, then another 4 for the sheer heck of it and I’d find myself in a self-hate cycle where I’d “failed” yet once again to live life like “normal” people. This time I decided that I was gonna own up to every single one of those 4 pounds and drop them before going back into a maintenance mindset. So that being said, I’ve got great news! I got on the scale this morning and they’re gone. Plus an extra 0.2 went away with it. I truly want to defend 145-150 (for now) and it makes me feel sooooo much better knowing I’m just under mid-point. So guess who gets to eat,drink, and be merry tomorrow? This girl! Because I worked my butt off this week ditching the “celebrations”

Playing devil's advocate here. You are under goal weight and according to your nut, have lost 100% of your excess weight. Why are you depriving yourself of celebrating the holidays with friends? Isn't the goal of WLS is to be able to fully enjoy our lives? You have already established that you can go off plan, have some small gain, and then come back, knuckle down and lose again. For me, this is exactly where I wanted to be in life. To just live and eat like a normal weight person. I just put guardrails up on a high weight and with logging. But otherwise I just want to enjoy my life, including dinner and drinks during the holidays with friends. I think it's easy to get hyperfocused on losing weight, and we can lose sight of what the end game is, to be happy, healthy and relaxed in our own skin.

There is a little saying I like - Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Sometimes we get so caught up on an ideal on a number on a scale that it can compromise everything we set out to achieve. The number on a scale is just a number on a scale, it doesn't depict our worth, no number should, however, there are some non scale goals that would serve us better and give our health so much more meaning. Particularly when people are unready in the health weight range for their height or are close to it and have a lot of excess skin. Body fat percentage, doesn't matter what we weigh or what excess skin we have. Some people have more lean body mass (muscle) so could well be overweight by the scale but their body fat percentage is on point. Perhaps you need to give yourself credit for what you have achieved so far, very close to the healthy weight for your height, your goal weight may or may not be achievable but it is at the low end of the BMI. Maybe a refocus on some other non scale goals for a while would take the pressure of yourself.

This is a tough subject and I’ve been here years before surgery, this image of ideal body weight as well as what we think our body should feel or our weight should be. It’s not something easy to pinpoint as in a number but something we want to feel that we can control. i just remember bits and pieces like standing on my aunts scale in her bathroom and seeing the numbers (I don’t remember let’s say 134) and being called fat even by school professionals. at some point when I was dealing with the process of getting major health diagnosis, severe Illnesses, disability and my mom was having major spine surgery and her recovery process all at what should have been my last year of high school and ... I’ll leave out most of it but my weight out of nowhere jumped to 180 and I was lost. Doctors diagnosed me with metabolic disorders late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia, pcos, etc. but no explanation, no help for my weight, medication made me too ill (didn’t find out until much much later as to why) I remember one of the few people in my life accusing me of being obsessive over my weight and having an eating disorder. I broke at some point. Let the sugar and carb addict and the influence of others get the best of me my weight went 210 + and I fought back hard. I did extreme low carb and calorie counting (weight watchers) i did lose weight. Slow but steady ok not so steady. Stall, gain a bit lose. Stall, gain a bit lose. I felt cut off from being around people who ate the foods I needed to avoid. Although my illness cut my off as well. I guess around 2008 (I don’t remember) my lowest might have been 124 lb but it just crept up and stayed around 134lb ... fast forward when I started this journey I felt like I’d landed back to square one where my skyrocketed first to 160 then to 180 and I sought out help for my gallbladder and then for bariatric surgery and my BMI was too low but then my weight just didn’t stop climbing even though I was still trying. all the fight before and I saw the loose saggy ugly skin and never felt truly thin and I am fighting again and I worry can I reach my goal and stay there can I be comfortable in my own skin? I’ve actually lost height since then due to chronic spine problems. My goal weight is lower. My mother is the same height as me and 100 lbs. i think I’m the lowest I’ve been in at least ten years. I still feel a lot of weight in my thighs and stomach and butt even though my butt is flat as heck due to my spine being twisted. People have commented like I might disappear. I think it’s more because the visible parts are bonier than normal. i haven’t had my last follow up with my surgeon yet. I’m wishing for skin removal because I know that some of the lbs are skin. It’s not as much the weight as it is all my life of fighting this and wanting to feel that I have control of something in my life where everything With my health I have not. i guess I will end it with an example. I started to go to bingo with my mom and won twice and people say oh you are lucky. But I’m not at all lucky. Nowhere in my entire life have I ever been lucky. But I won a game of bingo. And for me this would be one small win in a sea of things I can’t change. having a say in what our goal weight is or might be, is just the one small thing we want to be able to say is our win without someone else dictating what it should be ...

ah yes I get you I thought we were talking about just the skin

I had VSG June 15, 2015 HW: 357 pounds/size 24 Goal: 185 Pounds CURRENTLY: 140 Pounds/Size 2 I couldn’t be happier, you’d never know I used to weigh more than double my current weight. I reached my goal in January of 2017, had a tummy tuck April of 2017, and continued to lose weight after for some reason. 13 pounds of skin removed.

Update: Third day back from hedonistic holiday/vacay episode and I’m down 2.6 of the 3.4 that I gained. And........ no BM since the day I got back, so the last 0.8 pounds should come in the next 2-3 days. For the first time ever in my life I was able to regather myself after letting loose for a couple of weeks and it’s so empowering. No more spending the next few days/weeks telling myself “I’ll start Monday on a healthy eating plan. Started it with a 23 hr fast and within 2 days I’m back to pre-holiday/vacay eating. I also got right back into Pilates and treadmill. In the meantime, I’m not allowing myself any holiday beverages or food until the last of the regain is off. Fingers crossed that by Sunday morning I get there, because we’ve got tickets to a Christmas Carol and drink/dinner plans with friends. I’m bound and determined though that this is one bright line in the sand I WILL NOT CROSS. either all of the regain comes off, or I eat a big-ass salad with iced tea for our night out. 😭😭😭

Maybe I just need to dive in and try something hoping i like it. The way you were pre-op towards exercise is the way i am now. I hate sweating and I get out of breathe easily. Its crazy what a ton of extra weight can do. When I was younger I was a very active tomboy who loved sports and was good at most of them. I was the one picked first on teams and i didn't care about getting dirty. That's not me anymore. I'm 26 now (still young although i don't feel like it) and the weight changed me to the point where I too, barely walk. I would love just 1% of that confidence you have! lol it'd be a miracle if I was doing all the activity you do. Ill keep that strength training in mind. I know im going to have a ton of lose skin... its already starting 😕

Yesterday, Thursday, Dec. 12 Maintenance : 5'2" / 1yr PO Sleeve / 114.9 lbs ---------------------------------------- 3.5 hour lunch date with BFF yesterday. We went to a Chinese restaurant and then to a tea and dessert place. We shared a shaved ice dessert that was topped with sweet stuff and condensed milk (see the pic below...it's not the one we actually ate, because I forgot to take a pic, but its from the restaurants website). Anyhoo as you can see it is sugar overload. I had about maybe a 1.5 cups of it total and surprise, surprise, I got me some runs later on. Though it was actually kinda welcome cuz I hadn't pooped in about 3 days. So (TMI ALERT).... ...after I got to pass that "plug" (omg, I thought I was giving birth again) it was all watery nastiness after that. Sorry for the graphics. Then of course, I was hungry afterwards! On another note, I went for a run this AM with Mr. and he got me to do some sprinting intervals, and I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow. ---------------------------------------- 9:30am - Coffee-Tea-Cayenne w/ stevia 11:00am to 3:00pm - 3 oz crispy skin chicken dark meat + 1/2 cup braised eggplant & ground pork + 1 king oyster mushroom and 1 broccoli floret + 1 tbsp Sriracha + 1 tbsp hot chili oil + 1.5 cups mixed fruit tea + 1.5 cups shaved ice dessert (see below) 7:00pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + 1 slice bacon + 1/2 fl oz pumpkin seeds + 1/2 tbsp grated parm cheese + 3 oz meatloaf w/ Keto ketchup glaze + 2 oz grilled chicken + 1.5 oz chicharron 10:00pm - 1/2 cup cottage cheese + 1/2 oz pumpkin seeds + 2 oz blueberries + 2 tbsp dried cranberries ---------------------------------------- Totals: 1608 cals - 117g Protein - 79g NET carbs - 102g fat ---------------------------------------- Yesterdays Dessert (for reference), though ours didn't have the orange chunks nor the ice cream, but it did also have peanuts and crunchy oats. I ate less than 1/4 of it. It was HUGE. Plus we were chatting away so it melted and lost its appeal, lol.

Undigested fats cause loose and frequent bowel movements. These are often hard to control. You may have cramping, foul-smelling diarrhea, and lots of gas. Are you eating too much fat?

Thank you, 2Bsmaller18! I appreciate your thoughtful reply. Im not beating myself up, but will feel like a failure if I don't lose the last 2 pounds to make it to a "healthy " weight. I didn't come this far to still be "overweight "! I would be fine at 130 or 135. I agree that I've got lots of loose skin which will add some pounds, so 120 is probably not achievable! My weight loss has really slowed down to about a pound a week, if that. From the early days of losing 1/2 pound a day!! I tend to plateau for 4 weeks, then lose a few pounds, then stay there another 4 weeks. Thanks for your support![emoji4] Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Just my 2 cents and I know others on here hit that 120 lbs. at your height. However remember you still probably have a few pounds of loose skin that someone who has never been over 125 pounds will not have. I am 5'3" or maybe 5.2 1/2 and I had a goal of 140 but flew past that. I purposely tried to stop or slow weight loss since I felt the loss was out of my control. Now I have been bouncing around 125-128 for 2-3 months but seem to be closer to 126 this month vs 128 a month or 2 ago. Others on here said your body will naturally slow down the closer you get to your own body's ideal. I have found that to be true however even with increasing my calories I have dropped a few pounds so my body must not be settled yet. Are you still loosing at a steady rate or has it naturally slowed down? I still see myself as heavy and pick up bigger clothes when shopping however at the same time I feel too thin at 125 if that makes sense. I thought I looked better in the 130s with less wrinkles but recently saw a picture from this summer at 145 and thought wow I was still heavy back then. It's mentally a challenge and takes awhile for your head to adjust. Do you feel like you are beating yourself up about a certain number on the scale or if you don't hit a certain number you failed? If you played out the scenario in your head that in a few months you settled at 130 or 135 would you be ok with that? IMHO I think it's fine to have a goal and even a lower dream goal as long as realistically you would be happy at a higher number and not start bad habits to reach a number. You have come so far already and succeeded past what most charts say people reach after WLS. Also, don't forget the scale might stall out but things shift and clothes will get looser, stomach smaller etc without a pound lost.

Oh man! I totally forgot about that and so sorry for being insensitive. Lemme esplain, ok? NOT because of your dress! Has zerah to do with it. It has everything to do with how vibrant and happy you look and that your skin has ZERO wrinkles and looks fresh, bright and dewy. Everything that says "Hey this woman is young and has a healthy life/diet and hormones." So sorry to make you fret! ((hugs))

OP is talking about cheating on her plan and taking Xenical to try to mitigate damage. And she's worried that the loose stools will cause a problem during surgery. And I think yeah, it's an issue and she needs to tell the surgeon.

Nice! With your age and starting weight, I'm gonna guess then that you will be one of the lucky few who will not be cursed with loose skin after the weight loss! Take pics!!!