mnbsleeve

Woo Hoo!!!! Congratulations Kristy!!!! LilMissDiva gave me huge dancing banana when I hit wonderland! So, here's one for you :-) Sorry. I cant make it big like she did, so here's a bunch of them instead... :Banane55: :Banane55: :Banane55: :Banane55: :Banane55: :Banane55: :Banane55:

Awesome! Congratulations! Enjoy the new you!

Great responses! I don't get too much of this particular thing yet. But my philosopy has always been and continues to be that what other people think of me is none of my business!!! They will think what they will think. Personally, I have bigger fish to fry... pardon the food reference! :-)

You look amazing!!! You've really rocked that sleeve!!!!!! and it's paid off girl! Looking good!!! By the way, I think your arms look fine! Besides, you're leggs are so hot, I bet no one's looking at your arms! :-)

That is so great! I love it! What an awesome surprise to get!!!!

Welcome Goldenraisin! I lurked for a while too before posting. This board is great. Lots of information and wonderful, informative and supportive people. Feeling nervous and doubtful is super common. You will read lots of posts about that. For me, this has been an incredible journey. I have a ways to go, but I am feeling so well and so happy! Best of luck on your journey! I look foward to reading about your progress!!!!!

I also think age plays a big role in metabolism and loose skin. I think our bodies respond differently in our twenties vs. our fifties (hormone changes don't help!). In my 20's & 30's I could eat whatever I wanted and wasn't overweight at all. But once I hit my forties I started to balloon out and even as I cut my calories and moved more I was unable to keep up. I could never maintain the much lower consumption of food my body now needed because I would feel so hungry and after a while I would start eating more again. Now, I'm at around 800 calories per day, sometimes 900 to 1000 if I am working out hard (i.e., cycling) and I am loosing an average of 1 to 2 lbs. per week. (I actually stall and drop, stall and drop, but that's my average). I could never achieve that before even on 1200 calories and hard excercise. So for me (will be 49 this month) the lower calories is the magic!!!! and my energy is super duper! My exercise seems to pay off more too! I have serious hairloss but that seems to really have slowed down. I figured at least 2 to 3 pounds of my weight loss came from my hair LOL

I don't eat much dairy but when I do I tend to use 1% or 2%, on occasion I will get FF yogurt. But I found that the FF has more sugars/carbs to compensate for the lower fat. So screw that! I'll take the tiny bit of fat and burn it off. Carbs and sugars tend to make me more hungry and sabotage my weight loss. Like others have already said, we eat such small amounts anyway. Like Soon2B above said, if you're not eating all day long a lot of junky food, it should be okay. I generally stick to three meals. I never was a snacker anyway (just one big, gigantic meal from hell!). So it's still hard for me to make myself eat - especially since I'm not hungry. And most of the time a few bites and I'm full. So, I don't think that if I ate full fat it would affect me so much. I just keep the lower fat stuff also because of my husband and family. They need to eat well too! As far as sugar substitutes, I don't use much of those either since I'm not a sweet person per se. On occasion I'll have crystal light but I don't really like the flavor so much. I have a friend who cut out sugar substitutes completely, especially splenda, because of the havic it was reaking on her body. Two weeks after she got back mobility on her joints and was pain free. She swears it's toxic!!!

Thanks Becca for starting this thread and thank you all for the great suggestions!!! I am under 5 & 1/2 months out and this will be my first Thanksgiving. I will be cooking and hosting so I got something out of every post! The topic caught my eye because it was on my mind. Thanks guys!!!!

Wow Flor! So glad you are doing well and that your Dr. discovered that tumor!!!! WIshing you a super speedy recovery on your surgery! Congratulations on all your progress!

I agree with what others have already said. I just want to add my support and say that I know you can do it. I really like Coops comments about not thinking like a "dieter." It seems that you still managed to loose 16 lbs during this time! So something is working for you! But I hear you, you don't want to loose control so you are reflecting on what you're doing. That alone is a recipe for success, in my opinion. Also the fact that you are back on these boards is a good sign. Others here have already given great comments. We are all rooting for you. You can do this!!!

Hang in there Deenah! It gets better each day! Sending good thoughts your way!

Congratulations Ian! Sending lots of good thougths for a speedy recovery!!! Don't forget to walk, sip, walk, sip!!!!! You are on your way!!!!!!!

All I can say is DITTO! I try not to get to ahead of myself since I am still loosing ... and dealing with stalls! ... but I do secretly fear maintenance and that way weight has crept back up in the past. I too find this board most comforting and supportive! I suspect I will be here a long time to come! :-) I think when more of us have achieved long term success we will all start to breathe easier and "believe." Suzannesh just posted yesterday her success after 3 years!!!! I was so encouraging. There was also another post, whose name I don't recall right now, at a year and 8 months out! I'm always trolling around for those posts LOL They raise my confidence and outlook for the future! :-) SO PLEASE everyone, keep posting long after you've reached goal LOL I'll do the same!!!!! Thank you for the helpful tips and suggestions - seriously!

Oh, I have to add one more thing.... you have such gorgeous hair!!!!! I'm so jealous!!!! :-) Do you take any particular suplements? Have you had any hair loss? Your hair is so shiny, healthy and full! Looks beautiful!

Juzmee!!! You are looking GREAT!!!!!! Your face looks beautiful! What the hec are you talking about girl?!?!?! This is what I think: sometimes we scrutinize ourselves so much during this process, we miss the forest for the trees! I hope you can see all the wonderful progress you've made. You look beautiful! You will break this stall (me too, I will break mine :-) ) I think you are doing awesome!!!! Congratulations!!! PS: beautiful family too!!!!

I have a little of both too. Sometimes I feel much thinner than I really am. My husband says I've always had that and that I always said that I was thin person in a fat body! :-) I don't know if it's denial or what?! LOL But when I look at some before pics (don't have many either) holy cow! I look quite a bit different!!! Much thinner! - NOT skinny like some people have now said to me, but thinner and better for sure! I notice it a lot on my face. I love doing my eye make up because it seems like my eyes are more visible now! :-) instead of my fat cheeks LOL

Well darn it! My NUT assured me early on that I could double up on the protein powder no problem. I've been making my shakes between 40 and 50 grams of protein. She said it would be fine and that my body would process it - that there was no limit. Now I am confused. I do this mostly because shakes are very difficult for me to get down, still. And I'm still not able to eat enough food to get all my protein in. Thanks everyone for this post. I will follow up with my NUT again and read Rootman's searches!

Susannesh thank you for this great post! It's so great to hear about all your success including long term! Congratulations on all that you have accomplished! And thank you again for thinking of us on this board, and taking the time to reflect and share with us -- really appreciating the encouragement and peace of mind your posts brings!!!!

I have definitely had change in shoe size! I'm in the same boat! Now that the weather is cooler, I've pulled out some boots and closed toes shoes, so I've taken to putting on a pair of thick socks on that you can't see! LOL But I've resigned myself that this is the last season, if that, that I could wear these. My summer shoes (sandles, a few platforms) forget it! <<sigh>>

We go through so many changes in such a short amout of time, it tough to keep up mentally/emotionally! It sounds like you are doing really well oveall. One advantage of being a guy is that, now that you are starting the gym, you will probably get a really good pay off. Guys seem to be able to tone up those muscles really nicely. It will probably reshape those areas you aren't as happy about. Hang in there. I bet you will look smoking hot here soon!!!!

Cheri, congratulations!!!!! Thank you for your post! I loved it! I saw your pics and you look fantastic!!!! Grandma or not, you look HOT!!!!!! Enjoy the new you!!!!

LOL, these are funny! My neighbor across the street is a bit grumpy and he never looks up nor says hello, even when you say hi to him. A few weeks back he whipped his head around, walked toward the front of his house as if to cross the street and yells out "you've lost a ton of weight, you look great!" I had to crack up right there. I could barely say thank you! He never says a peep nor appears to notice anything but dang, he saw this!!! AND yelled it out. My husband and I laughed and laughed when I told him. Now we joke back and forth pretending to yell accross the house "you look great!" :-)

Awesome!!!! Congratulations!!!!! Enjoy all this great progress!

MSanti! You look amazing!!!! and I agree with others here, I don't think you are a slow looser! Not to mention that what you have lost has obviously been in all the right places because you look GREAT!!!! Enjoy the new you! and I'm so glad you have insurance again. That must have been quite scary!