lsereno

Congrats! Lynda

At three months, I had lost 42 lbs. I lost 48.25% of my excess weight. The percentage of excess weight loss will vary with what the person's goal weight BMI is. For me, I have set my goal at 135 lbs., which will put me at a BMI of 21.8., pretty close to the middle of the normal range for my height of 5'6" My starting weight on the day before surgery was 222, so I I had 87 lbs. to go to my goal weight. Lynda

I walked for the first six weeks then went back to working out with a trainer. I was pooped early out and just tried to walk 4-5 days per week, slowly building up to a walk of 2-3 miles at least twice a week and at least 1/2 mile to a mile a couple of days per week. I've seen a lot of people do a lot more, but I just didn't feel up to it. Lynda

Does your plan allow Protein drinks? In the weeks following my surgery, I had two a day to get my calories up to 400 per day and my protein at the right level. I'm down to one a day now and hoping to be on all food shortly. For the liquids, try the Water at room temp or hot. For me, I could tolerate liquids chilled or hot. Room-temp make me sick. I liked Sleepy Time tea in the evening and watered down Crystal lite earlier in the day. Best wishes in these early weeks--they are the hardest! Lynda

Tiffy-kins: Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. I owe a huge debt to you for the courage to have this operation and the ability to focus on success on my journey. Great idea for the affirmations and I am going to put some up today! Coffeetx: I've found I can eat bad for me foods too. But I'm with Tiffy-kins: just because I can doesn't mean I should. I usually talk myself out of it by eating my protein first. Once I get the required amount of protein down, I don't have room for much else. And I don't want to lose my hair or have protein-related health issues, so I'm usually pretty good. But I fall off the wagon occasionally. I just tell myself, the difference between me and a non-successful person is that I climb back on the wagon and keep going! Lynda

Congrats Diva! The girls look great on you! Lynda

Today, I was getting dressed for a day around town and as I pulled my size Medium tissue T by Mossimo for Target over my size 10, fit 4 Merona for Target jeans, I didn't like the way my shirt looked outside my jeans so I finally thought, how will it look tucked? I tucked it in and it looked -insert drumroll here- GREAT!!! It's the first time I've worn a tucked in shirt with pants without a jacket to hide the bulges since the mid 90s! Yahoo!!!!! And I still have 42 lbs to goal. What next - a belt? And I wore it all day with sandals and at the end of the day my feet were not screaming for mercy! With nearly 50 lbs. less of me than last summer, I can actually wear the cute sandals I have in my closet instead of my uber-support shoes. Do you think my family will notice if I just wear this outfit night and day for the next week or so while I cackle madly with glee while wagging my tushie around and swinging my sandal-clad feet? I love you sleeve- I don't care if I have to eat more Protein than I want, swallow handfuls of supplements twice a day, and force down a Protein Drink every night- you are worth every bit of it! Lynda

Congrats and thanks so much for sharing. Our height and surgery weight are about the same. It's so helpful to see what I might look like at a healthy, normal BMI. I can't wait! Lynda

Second the back of the hand for IVs. I have small veins too and that's where they put mine for this and for another operation I had many moons ago when I broke my ankle. Lynda

Right after the surgery, I tolerated the

Irene, So glad you are feeling well enough after surgery to be posting and hanging out on the boards with us! Haha- the new girls will add a little to your weight. Those IVs are cruel to the scale - I weighed 216 the morning of VSG surgery and 230 the morning after I got home from surgery. It took 8 days to dissipate. Lynda

You're making me feel better! At 178 lbs and 5'6", I have size 16 pants ( baggy), size 10 pants (fit good), size 12 pants ( can't even pull them up!), and two pair workout pants in large. One pair fits great and one is baggy. Same kind of thing with my tops: from 1x down to medium, with varying fits. At least my bra and undie size seems consistent! Lynda

At 14 weeks out, I can't eat that much. So my 2 cents is try to find out how long therapy might take and consider doing them in tandem. You can continue to work on the therapy as you prepare for surgery and during recuperation. One area of concern with that approach is though I can't eat a lot at once, I could eat a little all day long if I chose. I'm working hard to only eat the three meals and one Protein drink my plan recommends and to eat protein first. So for me, there is no room for a binge right now. Lynda

GOAL!!!!!!! I lost 2.7 lbs. this week and hit my Labor Day Goal and a mini goals I'm under 180, so I've lost another 10% of my total body weight. Next up for that goal is 162! My Labor Day Goal is 179. Today I was 178!! Under goal and more than a week to go!! Lynda Labor Day Goal: SW-197...............CW-183.6...............Labor Day goal-179 July 4: 197 July 8: 193.7 July 15: 191.6 July 22: 189.5 July 29: 186.3 August 5: 183.6 August 12: 182.9 August 19: 180.7 August 26: 178.0 Sept 2: Labor Day!:

Lookin' good! And less then 30 lbs to goal to go, you lucky duck! I still have 42 lbs. I can't wait to have less than 30!! Lynda

Haha funny you should ask that today. I pulled my pants out of the washer today and thought - who left these here? Oh wait - they're mine! They look way too small for me (the mental me that is) but they fit perfectly. I'm sure I will catch up eventually, but I'm not there yet. I see every roll and dimple when I look in the mirror. I do notice the difference in my face, but not as much as others do. Lynda

Thanks for sharing your story and your pics. You look great and I can see the joy in your face. I'm so glad you are healthier now while your kids are young and you will be able to do more with them. Lynda

Hi, Your surgery was the day before mine. I miss fruit, oatmeal, bread, and margaritas, roughly in that order. Also miss vegetables and Pasta. And I miss milk-I'm lactose intolerant since the operation and I don't like Lactaid milk. I've switched to Soy Milk. And I would like to order off the entree section too. Sometimes I rebel and I do order something and just eat what I can. For the most part, I am OK with what I can eat now. I keep reminding myself that in a few months to a year, I will have room for a slice of bread or a salad with meals or I will be able to have a peach and get in all my Protein for the day. By the way, great weight loss for what must be a lower BMI! I see your surgery weight was 210 and you have lost 38 lbs. Congrats! Lynda

Hi Rootman, I'm not close to goal yet, so I can't say whether I will stop sooner or not. One thing to consider though is something Blackberryjuice told me on another thread: you might look more unhealthy during the rapid weight loss phase. She said: "My mother saw me last winter at 150-155 and then again this summer at 135-140. This time, she told me I actually looked better and healthier than back in the winter; she said that in the winter, I looked haggard and my face was emaciated - even though I weighed at least 15 lbs more! It's quite possible that maybe we DO look more tired and sick while we are rapidly losing weight." For me, I plan to look at how my body looks instead of my face. I think Blackberryjuice is on to something and during rapid weight loss we may lose more fat from our face and as time goes by our faces will recover. Kinda like the hairloss between 3 and 6 months. And I do know the BMI charts are not the be-all, end-all for determining the correct weight for each of us. Look at Little Miss Diva! We weigh the same thing an I think our height is about the same, but she is in a Size 4 pants and I am in Size 10 on a good day! One more thing to consider: I know Tiffykins has mentioned some of her bones and joints are larger because of the high weight she carried for many years. So that might skew BMI too. Lynda

Hi Meggie, Have to agree with the others - you don't seem like a slow loser to me! Congrats on three months + of success!! Here's to the next three months! Lynda

Hi all, Just checking in for the end of this challenge. I weighed 177 today. I haven't updated my ticker yet because my official weight day isn't till Friday. I've hit two goals during this challenge: Lose an additional 10% of my body weight (From 200 to 180) and meet my Labor Day Goal (179). I didn't do perfectly, but some days I did everything right and most days I did most things right: No Potatoes: Had less than 1/2 cup potatoes over the entire challenge. Potatoes made me sick early out and I'm scared of them. No Rice: Had one bite over the entire challenge. I'm scared of it making me sick. No Breads: Had bread once and a while. Normally just a bite or two of the crust. Had a few bites of the soft part one time and it made me sick. No Cereals: Yep, no Cereal. No Pastas: Had one bite of Pasta. Scared of it too. No Candy: Had candy 2-3 times. No Pastries: My weak spot. Had a few Cookies and bites of cake here and there. Never much. Maximum 5 Servings of Fruit per day: Yep. Unlimited Servings of Veggies per day: Yep. Minimum 60g of Protein per day: Made this most days. Miss about one day per week on average. Minimum 64oz Water per day: Made this most days. Exercise: Minimum 30 Minutes, 5x per week: Yep

Feedyoureye: Congrats! And thanks for letting us know. I'm hoping to dump my cholesterol and high blood pressure meds too! I have an appt. for the Dr. for the blood pressure meds. I'm gonna bring up the cholesterol meds while I'm there. Lynda

I'm three months out. I can take more than one small pill at a time, but bigger ones are one at a time. I don't have to wait between though. I just pop, sip, swallow, and repeat till I'm done. Lynda

Congrats Diva! And best wishes for your surgery this Thursday! You are already one blazin' hottie - can't wait to see the new you after surgery. Lynda

Congrats Rootman! Better go pick yourself a new belt before the wife gets one for you - the wrap around belt end doesn't sound flattering :-) Lynda