SleeveGirl-TX

I'm 5'6" LOTS of skin. I have had one consult who estimates I have about 10 pounds of skin to be removed. I hope next Summer to get started with abdominal work. I eventually also need boobs, arms, thighs at the very least. I was working out 5 times per week until a year ago. I went through a depression that had me in a bad place and now I'm awaiting a double lumbar fusion late this month. So... absolutely nothing other than an occasional walk for the past year.

Just wanted to share an updated before/after. I reached goal yesterday. 2 years and 23 days, seemed like forever, but so fast at the same time. Life is good Starting weight, May 2011, 375 lbs .... vs .... Goal weight, July 2013, 150 lbs Candy reached goal weight by CandyTX, on Flickr

So, I just thought I'd update my status on this thread. I reached goal yesterday. It took 2 years and 23 days, but I finally hit 225 pounds lost. I started at 375 and now weigh 150. Slow? I guess that depends on how you look at it. I didn't lose it all in a year and I didn't stop when it got hard, but I did it. Candy reached goal weight by CandyTX, on Flickr

My latest updated photo: 215 pounds down by CandyTX, on Flickr Life is very good.

The last bit is really hard to lose. Think about all the people you know that want to lose 10 pounds. It's where the rubber hits the road and it's HARD. I'm working on these last 10 pounds myself. It's slow going, but I keep carbs and calories low and it's slowly moving.

The first few weeks were hard, but you're at that six month point. For me, it took a year and I got pretty depressed with severe apathy. It was pretty weird. Luckily, I was in therapy so we've worked on it. Just in the past few months (after getting on Zoloft too) I'm starting to feel normal. Whatever normal is. LOL HUGS... seek out help if you think you need it. No shame in that game.

Does it help that I'm 19+ months out and STILL losing? I DID lose 100 pounds in my first six months, but that was less than half of my excess weight. Folks, it's not a race. Learn your stuff and get it done. Stalls are normal, frustrations are normal. We keep saying "it's not about the finish line, but about the journey" and it's annoying, but VERY true. At this point, I'm losing 1 pound per week, on average (it comes in big spurts... I'll lose 2 pounds in a week and then nothing for two weeks). BUT it's been that way all along, just the amounts have gone down as I get closer to goal. I've lost over 200 pounds. Heck, I've lost more than some of the STARTING weights I've seen from the really short folks. If I can do this, you can do this. There's no time limit or expiration date on your sleeve. Treat it well and it will be good to you for many years to come.

A lot of people go through this. I had a 2 week pre-op diet that I lost 20 pounds on, but the month before that was a complete free-for-all. I ate out 3 meals per day. I hate HUGE amounts of food (we're talking six Breakfast tacos). It was ugly. I gained 5 pounds. In some ways it was healing though. It got it out of my system. I was totally miserable, but once that 2 week point hit, I put it aside and moved forward. It's odd. I've still binged (well, as much as you can after surgery - which is a lot more than you think if it's chips or something!) a few times, but it's never as satisifying. I like to think it's because of the head work I've done, so while I'm doing it, I totally know WHY I'm doing it and am able to talk myself either out of it or through it. Obviously, I didn't get to 375 pounds because I was hungry. And I didn't get to 164 pounds now without doing a lot of work.

I REALLY like the Power Crunch Peanut Butter Cream. The stats aren't too terrible. Having said that, I've had to ditch them completely over the past month. They stall me out. Sigh. So yeah... I'm saying "see you later" to them until maintenance.

I'm 5'6", weigh 164 and wear 12/14 pants and a medium t-shirt. I started at 375, 34 pants and 6X t-shirt. Goal is 150... I think. It was 175 but I didn't like that weight on me so now I'm trying for 150. A good "real life" link to see what body vs. height and body shape as well as sizes is at http://www.mybodygallery.com/ Of course, we're all individuals, but it helps me to see other women that are my size and get my brain around the fact that I'm NOT 375 pounds anymore.

I'm told you lose it last where you gained it first. I always had thinner arms and legs compared to my stomach. I'm hoping they are right and I lose the stomach. It's starting to get ridiculous. I actually have to wear a size bigger pants because my waist is smaller than the lower part of my hanging tummy so to get that to fit in, the waist is gaping. I'm SO done with this part of my life, I just want to get the rest of this weight off and move on to fixing the damage that 30 years of obesity did to my body. I went back and forth about the pain and yet MORE surgery, but I'm not sure I can live with this much longer. It's becoming a huge problem. I've lost SO much weight and the skin is just really bad. Sigh.

Interesting... I've always focused on face shots just so you can see what people LOOK like because avatars are so darn small. I do put full body shots on my profiles where available though. I never really thought much about it! Having said THAT! I use a real photo of myself now and not one of those "make yourself a cartoon" things!

Learning to take a compliment has been an interesting change. I've always excelled at business and in certain aspects of my life and I've always been able to say "thank you" when someone says 'good job'. But taking a compliment without pooh-poohing myself and my weight loss has been a tough one. Someone said my face and skin was so nice and beautiful (they didn't know me before WLS so they don't even know I was ever different than I am now) and I found myself looking for an "excuse" for it and getting embarassed. I had to make myself smile and say "thank you". I've gone through a lot of emotional and mental health stuff over the past couple of years. Coming to grips with my obesity and the "why" aspects of it has been the absolute hardest part of this journey. It's been pretty brutal. BUT I'm starting to come out the other side, I think. I have way more days where the abusive voice in my head doesn't come around. I have a lot less bad self-talk and a lot more good self-talk. I think, for most of us, it's all part of the process. Therapy probably saved my life more than WLS did, to be honest. But the two together... that's made me whole.

I'm not sure I'd consider myself a 'vet' until I manage to keep the weight off for five years or so, but I could use somewhere that someone isn't bitching about a stall or "only" losing 40 pounds in 2 months or asking about their poop. Sigh. I try to give back and help, but sometimes... yeah. I just get a headache. Hard to believe that I'll be at goal in 14 pounds or so. I have no idea if that's where I'll want to stop. Trying to figure that out, but I'm hoping I'll just know when I'm done. Still have amazingly good restriction and next to no hunger at 19 months out. Starting to think about plastics more seriously, but want to make sure I get as close to an optimal weight as I can before I go in. From everything I've read, skin doesn't weigh all that much and if they truly only take off skin because you've done the fat loss work, the recovery goes smoother. In theory, my "ideal" weight is 125-150, but I have NO idea where I want to go. My arms and legs are getting pretty thin, still lots of residual fat in my abdomen. Not sure how much of that I can actually lose and how much is just going to stay forever. LOL. Surely it will go away eventually! This darn sleeve didn't come with a detailed enough owner's manual