Ree

As you can see from my profile picture, I love roller coasters! When I was a kid I went on them all the time. I didn't start gaining tons of weight until I was around 18 years old, before that I was very thin. Anyways, in the next couple of weeks I have two trips planned to Water parks and six flags. I'm really excited about this as I have lost close to 100 pounds. But I am also nervous because I'm afraid I still wont fit into the seats to ride on the roller coasters. Is there anyway I can know for sure without embarrassing myself by *trying* to get on a ride only to be turned away? this is a huge fear of mine and I feel like I shouldn't fear that anymore because I lost so much weight but I still do fear it. On the website for six flags they had a chart for each ride and on some of them it said to have a waistline of under 40 inches. Ok, my waistline is under 40 inches but my hips certainly aren't, my widest part of my hips are still 49 inches last I checked. Im short, so even though I weigh under 200 pounds, my BMI is still around 35. I just wish there was an easy way to know if I can enjoy the rides without worrying about it. Height 5 feet, weight (by the time I go) around 180.

I'm in! I'll report back on Monday with my current weight and what my challenge goal weight will be.

My weight today is 183. My challenge goal was 180 so I was short of meeting that. I feel like I may have been a bit unrealistic with my goal though. Thanks so much Bea for doing this!

Look at it this way, if you lose more than the 60 to 70% that your surgeon said to expect and you end up losing more, just look at it as a bonus. I already lost what the surgeon expected me to lose in a year. I am 6 months out. I am nowhere near where I want to be for my weight so I will try hard to continue to lose weight.

I know every body is different but can you tell me what is the fewest pounds you had lost after surgery (in a month's time) and how many months out were you from surgery when you lost the fewest pounds in a month?

Thank you for the reassurance that this is common. I actually lost another pound yesterday so I'm hoping the scale continues to move in the downward direction. 2 weeks ago was 6 months since surgery and I have lost 90 pounds, so I'm very happy about that and just looking forward to losing more.

Thank you for responding. It's just that I have been averaging about 9 to 10 pound loss each month and right now I am 2 weeks into this month and I have only lost one pound. I'm just trying to see how common this is and need some encouragement that the weight loss will pick up again. I am still very careful about food choices and have been walking more as well.

CW: 186.... no loss this week. Doesn't look like i'll reach my challenge goal this time. Next challenge i'll be more realistic about my goal.

Last week I didn't lose any weight which had everything to do with woman "issues" but this week I lost 3 pounds. So I am back on track! Today's weight: 186

Thank you! and congrats guys on your progress so far. Keep up the good work, you are so worth it!!

Today is exactly 6 months since surgery. I had my 6 month follow up today too and it went well. My goal going into todays appointment was to be under 190lbs and today (according to their scale) I weighed in at 188. My scale is what I normally go by and I weighed in at 187, which I was thrilled with! The doctor also said I am considered a success because I had lost more than 50% of my excess body weight, which I didn't even realize. And she said that they consider the surgery a success if someone can lose at least 50% of their body weight within a year of having the surgery and I was able to do that in 6 months. Since starting this journey I have lost 88 pounds! and feeling great.

No change this week. Last week was 189 Can I change my challenge goal to 185 for July 4th?

Today's weight: 189 Finally crossed into the 180's.

I am over 5 months out and breads, Pasta, pizza, rice etc... are still a huge no no for me! I did try a bite of bread once and it hurt a lot. I wont be doing that again. Although a half a slice of toast every now and then with an egg does not bother me. Try and stay away from carbs if you can. I keep my carb intake low and I concentrate on Protein.

Two that stood out for me: 1. fear of driving due to being short and having to pull the seat close to the steering wheel so I can reach the gas and brake pedal. What ended up happening is my stomach would get in the way of the steering wheel and I was afraid I would cause a car accident because of it. 2. Not getting a good nights sleep due to mid to low back pain that would become so severe after being in bed for only 5 hours of sleep. I never got more than 5 to 6 hours of sleep at a time because the pain was so bad I had to get up. Now I can drive and my stomach doesn't touch the steering wheel at all and I can get a good nights sleep and wake feeling refreshed, ready to tackle the day. No more waking up due to back pain!!

Current weight: 192 I'm shooting for: 180 for this challenge. (I've been averaging 9 to 10 pounds a month so this is a stretch, but I'm sure gonna try.)

Every day is a struggle but you have to take it one day at a time. I had to reprogram the way I looked at food before I even got the surgery because I knew that if I went into this with the same thinking process as I once had then I would fall back into my old ways. I cant let that happen. I no longer see food as "living to eat" instead I see it as "eating to live". I eat only what my body requires, I don't overeat anymore (I can't anyways!) and I try and make better choices. All I can tell you is take it one day at a time and instead of thinking "oh I need to eat this" think "I can eat this, but I don't want to eat this". You don't need to eat that and you don't want to eat that, its just your mind playing games with you. Don't let it! Good luck, I know this can be a struggle but just remember you got the surgery to help you take control of your life back. The sleeve is only a tool, you still have to do the work.

I started the process in May of last year and I had my surgery in December. It went by fast, but I had to do the 6 month nutrition program that was a requirement. That I hated! But I understood why I had to do it. Since I had met my out of pocket max for insurance that year, the surgery didn't cost me anything. I have BCBS of South Carolina through my husbands employer.

Count me in! I'll be back on Friday to give numbers.

Memorial day challenge goal: 195 Today's weight: 194

challenge goal met on Friday. 195! But I'll still report back for a final weigh in next week.

Current weight: 197 and I'm confusing myself because I am so use to putting a 2 in front of my weight, not a 1.

Today my weight is 199, I can't even begin to express how happy I am to see a '1' in front of my weigh. What a great feeling! and I am only 1 pound away from being officially at the half way point. Awesome!!

I'm late checking in, totally forgot yesterday. CW: 202

I live about 2 hours away from my family. I went to see them last month but no one ever said that they noticed I was losing weight (well except my aunt who notices EVERYTHING!) but this past weekend I went to visit them and finally people are starting to notice. My grandma said "Honey are losing weight? I just noticed your face is pretty" lmao!! and my mom said "whatever you're doing keep it up because its working". No one came out and asked me how I am losing weight though but my aunt did ask me how much I lost and I didn't tell her. Do you guys answers those types of questions? I am no where near my goal but it still feels good to know people are starting to notice the weight coming off. Ok, so it took 70 pounds to lose before people started to notice my weight loss (or if they noticed before they didn't say anything). How much did you lose before people started to notice? Oh and no one knows about the surgery except my husband.