Ree

Yes I had (have) one! A couple of months before I went in for surgery I was listening to a song that really spoke to me. It was Michael Jackson 'Man In The Mirror'. I still listen to it and it keeps me moving!

Just wondering what everyone does for exercise, and how long and how often you exercise for? Currently I walk on the treadmill for a half hour each day (5x a week minimum) at 3.5 mph, then right afterwards I stretch for another half hour.

Todays weight: 163

Today's weight: 164

That website was helpful. In fact it says I have a 20% chance of losing 116 pounds by the 12 month mark. I already lost 109 pounds and I'm on the 9 month mark. Surely 7 more lbs is doable.

Congratulations!! It is indeed a great feeling!

When you reach a mini goal or a major goal on your weight loss journey how do you reward yourself? I decided to reward myself this week. I am excited that I lost over 100 pounds since starting this journey and this week I decided to reward myself with a treadmill. I've been doing fast pace walks around the block all summer long but now that the cold weather is coming I really would like to have a treadmill that I can turn too instead of walks in the cold. I'm excited for it to arrive but even more excited that I lost over 100 pounds!!

Today's weight: 166

Say goodbye to pizza because it's better for you if you don't crave it and bad for your body. Yes my food preferences changed a lot and for the good. I lived off of chicken wings, literally ate them almost every day. Now when I think of how much fat is in them it literally makes my stomach turn. We use to be a huge carbs family and now I haven't touched rice since before my surgery. I also notice that if I skip a day of exercising I start to feel lazy and almost want to turn to comfort foods. So I do my best to get in exercise every single day, usually for me that means walking a mile at minimum. It helps me to keep on track for the rest of the day with my food intake and it makes me feel better during the day and have a clearer mind.

Today's weight: 167

Today's weight: 173 Goal: 160 Unfortunately my unexpected trip to the hospital had caused me to gain 11 pounds. I lost 10 of them this week but it has ultimately stalled my weight loss progress for 2 weeks. I'm ready to start fresh now and lose some more weight.

Unfortunately I will be unable to complete this challenge as I was admitted to the hospital earlier this week with a medical emergency. I was bleeding internally and lost half of my blood supply due to an ectopic pregnancy that I was unaware of that ultimately ruptured my fallopian tube. I'm devastated as this is not the first time this has happened to me and now I am left with no tubes at all and can no longer have anymore children. I am blessed to have my daughter but it looks like she will be my one and only. It hurts because I had wanted to get myself healthy enough to be able to give her a sibling and now those dreams are crushed. I'm out of this challenge as the IV fluids have caused me to gain a bunch of weight. I know it's not weight from fat and its only water retention and it will go away. I'm hoping to be able to participate and complete the next challenge.

I was busy last week and forgot to weigh in. Today's weight 175 Which means I met another goal and that is to lose 100 pounds! So happy about that!

Current weight: 178 I won't be able to weigh in or post tomorrow so I am doing that now.

Todays weight: 179 Yesterday I went to six flags and I was able to ride the roller coasters with no problem. I was concerned at first, especially while in line for my first ride, if I would fit in the seat or not. I guess my brain still thinks Im too big to fit but I was SO happy to be able to ride on the rides without any problems. One of my main reasons for trying to lose weight was so I could go on these rides (see my profile pic, I love roller coasters!). A great feeling indeed!

Today's weight: 180 But on an even better note, I bought a pair of jeans several months ago, it was my mini goal to fit into them eventually. Well yesterday that day has come. I was so happy to be able to pull them on with no effort at all and able to zip them up. It was a great feeling!

I can only speak for myself, I started losing hair around 3 months post op and it lasted until 6 months post op. That is when I was losing TONS of hair and it was frightening! Right now I am between 6 and 7 months post op and the hair loss has seemed to slow down. Hopefully it continues to slow down but that's my experience so far.

I am hypo and I had my blood drawn on the 18th and it showed I was low in Iron. I just started taking an iron supplement so I hope that helps. I've also noticed that on days I eat a Protein bar I have more energy and can easily get through my walk, but on days I have something like eggs and milk for Breakfast my legs are just dragging. Like today I had a protein bar and took mile walk, and when I came home I still had enough energy to stretch for another 35 minutes. So maybe the way I feel depends on a combination of things? I guess I just have to find the right formula to keep myself moving.

I'm just trying to figure out if feeling weak after working out Is normal or if its a sign that I'm working too hard and that I need to take a step back? Should/do you feel weak after your workout or does it give you more energy for the rest of the day? Sometimes when I go to walk a mile I feel great and I come home and I don't feel weak but on other days I feel like my legs are Jello and I struggle to finish walking the mile, then for the rest of the night my whole body just feels very weak. On this same note, how often do you work out per week?

Today's weight: 182 Challenge goal weight to be in the 160's, so lets go with: 168

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

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.

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.

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.