Introduction of a new member

Welcome!

::waves::

Hey, Viffer! Good to see you here.

If that's your bod in your avatar, wowzah! Great work, man.

I'm doing great. Coming up on three years post-op soon and managing maintenance well so far. The learning never stops.

Hubby and I just got back from a long transatlantic cruise to Portugal, so I've been quiet here lately. How lovely it is to have a life! :)

I spend most of my OH time in the VSG Maintenance Group, which is full of absolutely lovely people. Can't recommend them enough. BTW, you can find that group under Community / Online Support Groups / VSG Maintenance Group. If I'm reading the activity stats right, it's the most active group here.

Again, so nice to see you here. Welcome. :)

lol, yes that is me in my avatar. I think I have some sort of body dysmorphia because I just don't feel as though I where I should be yet. On one hand, it keeps me motivated. On the other, it leaves me frustrated much of the time.

Speaking of frustration, I did not want to quote your entire post. I only wanted to include the relevant portion. However it doesn't seem to allow me to truncate your post.

Viffer,

Re dysmorphia, I've heard some folks say that looking at current photographs of themselves can be even more helpful in getting their heads around the changes in their bodies than looking in the mirror.

And obviously, your body is still changing. I definitely see significant differences between your avatar photo here and the photos I saw about 6 months ago. I can offer that it took about a year of being in maintenance before I got used to seeing the (same) new me in photos and mirrors.

BTW, your new personal lifting records are awesome. Respect.

I agree about the pictures and, for me, pictures of myself WITH other people helped the most. Being able to see my body in relation to the bodies of others really helped me accept my body.

I also tried a therapist that specializes in movement therapy when my dysmorphia as at it's worst. Sadly I had to stop that because of time/health issues with my dad, but I think something like that could be beneficial to a person as well.

Someone send up a bat signal? Welcome BigViffer!

Absolutely!! Why wouldn't they? That said, it's weird how many posts have been deleted, don't you think?

What? All one of them? Very weird lol ...

Social skills took over. I don't want to upset sensitive folks, it wasn't a bad post at all, but you know, I'm like you, trying to play nice

Oh no, not yours. And actually, my error. The posts I thought were deleted were actually ones by a few who have now blocked me. I forgot that you can't see posts from those who block. Love it.

I've made a decision.

I am forming my own clique here. It's open to anyone who can be kind, warm, welcoming, honest, intelligent, and funny. The words "shamed" or "victim" can not be on the regular vocabulary list. Sarcasm is welcome (and wanted!), but cruelty is not. We won't coddle nor will we shame.

If you want to call yourself a vet, have at it. If you want to call yourself a newbie, great. You are what you believe you are and we are ALL worthy of love, humor, and dignity.

Love me, hate me, join me or block me. It's all good.