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Looking forward to not having to buy plus sized clothes. Fitting comfortably in an airplane seat. Just feeling good and proud about myself.

First I want to say thank you to so many of the veteran posters on here. I hope you gals and guys know how much your experiences and feedback have helped me and I suspect many others. There's just such a fantastic mix of people and experiences - It's great knowing you aren't alone in this journey. The first few months after surgery were easy. The weight was simply falling off, there wasn't anything I couldn't eat or drink - And better yet, I couldn't overeat because of the restriction. I felt fantastic most of the time, had all sorts of NSV's and loved my new life. From August until January I lost almost 50lbs - I was so close to Wonderland I could taste it. THEN reality struck - Suddenly I was one of those "slow losers" - It took almost 2 months to lose 13lbs. UGH, I WAS going to be one of those slow losers. OK, fine, I'm 52 and it is what it is, right? From January until May, I "only" lost 33lbs. Again, every week/month I told myself that I would lose the weight, I was just in some sort of a stall and things would magically pick up. Well, they didn't, I would lose 2-3 lbs and then I would gain 2-3 lbs. Again, "it's normal" I told myself. Fast forward to a week ago - I jumped on here for some motivation (reading stories, etc.) and I took a hard look at what I was doing. Basically, I was being lazy - I was eating whatever I wanted and justifying it by saying "I only eat small portions" - Well, yeah, that was true...BUT I was grazing, I was drinking too much alcohol, and I wasn't tracking. I honetly have no idea how many calories I was consuming (especially on weekends with family and friends). I played mind games with myself and said "As long as I'm not gaining, I'm doing things right." - Well, that was a giant load of (@*$. This past Tuesday (after a weekend of Mimosa's, Crown Royal, and some really great BBQ), I woke up to a 5lb gain (BTW, yes I realize some of that was water retention). WAKE UP CALL. 5lbs? Seriously - Time to go back to basics before that's a 10lb gain. For the first time in MONTHS, I tracked every thing I tracked everything that went into my mouth (water, food, etc) - I did 3 days of liquid - In two days, those 5lbs were off. Rather than what I've done in the past, I didn't stop there - I continued tracking, I continued being cognizant of what and when I was eating. I said "no" to many things that I thought I wanted. I lost 6.8lbs from Tuesday to Sunday. What? I'm NOT a slow loser - I'm a LAZY loser. Folks, for many of us, it's EASY in the first few months, it's EASY to convince ourselves that we're doing OK, it's EASY to compare ourselves to others, it's EASY to ignore signs that you're falling into bad habits, and it's EASY to get lazy. In reality, it's HARD to stick to your plan when you're feeling fantastic and patting yourself on the back for losing so much weight. I'm choosing to be thankful that this happened now rather than 2-3 years into it. I'm glad that reality smacked me in the face and forced me to face the fact that i wasn't doing what I needed to do. Right now it was EASY to get back on track before I let it get out of control. For those of you experiencing the same - Buckle up buttercup, start tracking, weigh yourself often if you need to, and take a good look and when and why you're losing weight and when and why you aren't. Again, a very special thank you to you old timers for always keeping things real and giving out such fantastic advice.

Hello everyone. I'll be 4 months post op on the 14th.. lost 71 pounds so far and about 15 pounds from my goal weight. Right now just working on toning my body because im noticing loose skin in certain areas. As well as trying to eat more to maintain my weight. The only issues I notice so far is a lot more painful heartburn that almost sent me to the ER and the occasional constipation but besides that everything is going well. Happy to see how everyone's progress is going.

Down 85 lbs, doing good. I have a protein shake for breakfast and lunch and eat a little of fruit for dinner, sometimes a salad for lunch. Will be four months this month. broke through into the 200's this week. Still have a lot to go!

I would call your dr right away.

Wohooo! I just heard back from the HR department from my company. They will add GSV to insurance covered procedures list effective September 1st. My surgery date is November 12th. Now I got choices.

Because I am having trouble with dieting during this preop I wanted to add a few things: Bending down to tie my shoes and not experiencing horrible side cramps Not worrying about if I can fit into an uber or someone else's car Wearing athletic shoes, in school the kids always said my shoes were leaning over Walking on campus at a regular pace with coworkers and not sweating or being winded Being able to fit on rides, go to concerts and not have to shimmy walk at the theaters Working on a core that's strong enough where I can get up off of the floor without flailing around

Yeah, I'm admittedly a "lazy loser" myself. I've never been ANY good at counting/tracking calories, points, whatever. I eat things I enjoy because I know that one of my mental shortcomings is that if I try to force myself to eat things I don't enjoy just because they're healthy, I know I will cheat. I will *have* to eat something enjoyable, regardless of what other "healthy" things I've eaten... so rather than compound the calorie intake, I'll just cut to the chase and eat what I enjoy, healthy or not, but in moderation and smaller portions. Not everyone's brain works the same way, and I know this perspective is likely anathema for others, but it's working thus far for me. 1 year out from surgery date my weight has plateaued as expected, but knowing my propensity to enjoy food, I'm deliberately keeping a closer eye on the scale. I have my fast food and my occasional sweets, but If I see any long-term trend upwards more than about 2-3 pounds, I immediately tighten things up. So far, so good. Just this morning I hit a new low weight, so the the trend is still downward, and IMO that's what's important, no matter the methods employed. Different strokes, yadda yadda yadda...

I'm cash pay also, surgery scheduled for 8/26. I've also struggled with my decision to spend so much money on myself, but honestly, how much have we spent through the years on Weight Watchers, this diet plan, that diet plan, a nutritionist, gym memberships, diet bet...for me, the list goes on and on... (I even once signed up for 6 months of a service where I got blood glucose monitors for $200 a month, thinking if I could just see what my blood sugar was doing I could lose weight). And if we don't get the surgery, how much will we spend on health issues related to obesity? You're worth it. Don't feel guilty. Sent from my SM-N976V using BariatricPal mobile app

I have these thoughts too (I'm pre-op) so what I have is a list of things I want to experience in various places through my house. Sitting in a chair without having to do mental physics first. Not having to ask for a table instead of a booth. Being able to fly coach and not say a prayer to whoever the patron saint of obesity is that the seatbelt will just close. Being able to run more than 400 m without dying. And honestly? When the "what are you even DOING right now" feeling gets overwhelming, I come here and just lurk. Y'all have no idea how many times you've kept me from canceling things... thank you.