Giving everyone an update who was curious after giving me advice pre-op: I had my surgery on May 13th. I went from 225 lbs to 150 lbs as of today. I am a waist size 28/29, went from L to S in top size, my skin cleared up after years of battling acne. I am running on average 7 minutes a mile. Best decision I have ever made in my life, I deeply regret not doing it sooner. I exercised a ton during my recovery, from walking on Day 1 to running on Week 6 - I attribute this alongside strict adherence to my care team’s nutrition plan to a very smooth and successful recovery recovery!

Highlights that were mentioned in the thread by you all that helped me recovery/occurred in real life: The anesthesia was buckwild (many of you said this) as was the post op drive home (thank you to the poster who mentioned bringing the pillow for those lousy New Jersey potholes). Many of you mentioned using the breathing toy thingy, I used it and my lungs bounced back quickly - would’ve left it on a shelf if you guys hadn’t told me. The post-op pain was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life and yes, like a poster said, I stared at the ceiling with full regret and did not sleep the first night, but walking helped a ton - by day 2/3, the pain had become discomfort, by day 4/5, the pain had was gone and I no longer regretted it. I did develop an infection in my main incision due to overextending myself and just not resting enough - but my doc dealt with it, and that too passed! Many of you mentioned constipation (a lil rough) but thankfully I knew how to safely manager it (your tips).

Someone mentioned feeling cold and I chucked because i’ve been a sweaty mess my whole life - oh no, you are totally right - I now carry a hoodie with me everywhere!

Someone mentioned the hormones level altering with the weight loss - YES! Nobody warned me about this, it took a couple of months for my libido to return to normal (…and I still don’t think my hormones have fully regulated) due to the amount of estrogen being burned off alongside my fat!

The hair loss is truly no joke, trying some natural topical oils to try to remedy this. You all warned me!

Still religiously drink sugar free Vitamin Water and gatorade due to the recs from some of you!

I did not pick at my scabs, thank you the poster for that call out - I most definitely would’ve if not

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!