Everyone is different, it depends on how much weight you need to lose, how much muscle you have, how active you are, how you eat. I'm sure all the things you already no. So, my story...I had 50+ lbs to lose. I am 5' 5" and weighed 214 lbs. I lost 12 lbs before surgery just by eating the atkins diet. Following surgery, it's been consistent and slow. This morning I weighed 173.5 so 3.5 lbs away from the 66% weight loss lapband considers successful weight loss in first year. my year was on Nov 3 so I am pleased. I personally want to lose more than 50 and will reset when I hit this goal. For me, I want to be 25% or less BMI.
Fitness standpoint, walking is the best way to lose body fat. You don't have to have expensive equipment and you don't have to workout at a high impact rate. My plan... I purchased a treadmill a year ago; Texas has unpredictble weather so I have no excuse. I wrote a blog entry on this call 'let's get moving' www.weightlosssurgeryguru.com.
I now am trying to build muscle as I think this will help with the last lbs I want to lose. I have a basic target muscle book and an old diet plan that is helping me structure a work out using bands for my body shape. There are quite a few websites out there too. Livestrong is one that I like to use.
Please stay in touch, I love to chat if you need to.
Geri