Indigo1991

I was 15 pounds heavier there than I am now. The dress is a good cut. I am just into size 10s and I bought a pair of size 8 Seven Jeans. They are too tight but will fit soon. I have plenty of meat on my bones, trust me. Feck - you were 15lbs heavier then than now??? Well, you looked great then, must be looking amazing now. Love that dress...

LL, nope, you look fabulous... Not sure where the last 15lbs are going to come from....

Gmanbat, that has really touched me - especially talking about going back and becoming that free boy. I am so glad you have got him back. For me, fat was a barrier that kept the world out. But I have come to realise it was also a cell for me without a key - until VSG. I am grateful for that release every day and don't intend to waste any of this freedom.

TJL, you go for it!!!! One of my favourite quotes ever is by Emile Zola who said: "If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud" Me too and it sounds like you are a believer too :-)))

You certainly did - and you too x

Yay, SassyTink, what a result! That's exactly how I feel!!!!

McB, just snorted out loud in a very unattractive way, lol!!!!

Don't know if it was hitting my target weight but, in a blinding flash today, I suddenly realised I don't have to deal with food the way I have done throughout my life. I can wipe clean the slate from the mistakes of the past and keep eating in this new way. I don't want to be defined any more by what I eat or how I eat - and I now know that I don't have to be. The rest of the world will no longer judge me if I eat a couple of fries or have a biscuit. They will see someone normal sized just eating a bit of food not some fat person eating something they shouldn't. It's ridiculous but I feel it is now truly my choice how I eat today, tomorrow, next year - that's a heck of a lightbulb moment for me. This sounds really stupid when I read that back to myself. But I have never thought of myself as someone who would ever be able to control their eating enough to lose weight. I just didn't believe it. But here I am and I don't ever want to go back... What's been your lightbulb moment?

I like your thinking Fluff, might need cosmetics to be able to say that with a straight face but it could work for you

Congratulations Miss Mac! Hope you are well and that you are surviving the first few weeks, which I found the toughest. But with your Scottish blood, you'll handle it fine!

Omg, another dilemma I hadn't thought about - how do I describe myself to new clients I go to meet??? Like LL, I have always said short and round but also ageing ... Time for some new words - can still use short but "short and normal" seems a bit of an odd thing to say. Might just have to stick with "short and ageing" for now until I can think of something better...

We are nothing but honest on here, so on that basis, wasn't just LL who had concerns, I reported your post too. The pre-op tag had been used a few days ago by someone claiming similar weight loss and it turned out he hadn't had wls and was trying to sell to us. We are protective of each other on here and honesty is the currency - if it something doesn't feel right, I will challenge it. But I got it wrong about you and for that I apologise unreservedly. But my question still stands - do you have lots of loose skin after such rapid weight loss???

Misty, know exactly where you are on this. I didn't have surgery to replace one obsession with another so consciously have not tracked. I wanted to be like friends who are naturally slim who don't obsess about calories etc but who have a handle on what they eat. So what I have focused on is knowing exactly what a portion of Protein looks like and how much of it I need to eat in a day, like gmanbat. I wanted to live and like you, I wanted to do other things without constantly worrying about food and weight. It has been so liberating not counting calories - it had never worked for me before. It was hard to start with trusting doing things by sight and in my head. I wasn't confident that I was getting things right. But I hit my goal, my bloodwork is perfect - and more importantly, in the last few months, I have spent time on other stuff not obsessing about food or weight... So hard to give advice other than to say give it a try doing things in your head for a day then review in the evening. Then you can see how close or how far off you are. You might be pleasantly surprised. It will take time to transition but you don't need to stop reviewing until you are comfortable. But you would be loosening the ties to constant tracking. Each to their own, tracking works for many people. Buf you clearly want to move forward towards putting food in its place and get on with life having new priorities....It is possible, just takes confidence and being prepared to give it a try and risk not get it right first time. But it has worked for me.

Am still stunned about the 180lbs in 8 months. I am a lot smaller than you (as in shorter, I think!) and I stuck to the programme and only lost 67lbs. Do you have a lot of loose skin???

Sorry, messages crossed!

Chris, still interested to hear how you lost 180lbs in 8 months while you are online

Quite a result Chris, what surgery did you have to lose 180lbs in 8 months???

Hi Chris, what surgery are you pre-op for?

Nothing prevents hair loss - if there was, we would all be sharing the secret! It's as a result of the immediate aftermath of surgery and the trauma. Eating well helps the re growth but there's nothing you can do about the hair loss. Mine's been going since I was three months out and only now at 8 months am I seeing new growth. I lost about 50% of my volume but use Toppik (hair fibres) that you puff into the roots and it fills in thinness and gaps. Been a lifesaver for me... But, for me, whose best feature was her hair, it has been a small price to pay for my weight loss. And as I got smaller, I haven't needed as much hair to balance out my body ))))

You? Attitude? Never!!!!

You're still ok cos a lot of them are size 43 :-) Think you will be lethal in a pair of red high heel boots, stomping round this site. We would all be afraid, very afraid, especially the guys, lol!!!

Revs 43 is a US 10.5 - just been on eBay and if you type in red knee high boots 43, you will find LOADS! That's where I got mine, lol!!!!! :-))))))

LL, hope you don't mind but I am going to steal your line - fab!

Stunning - what a great transformation, congratulations!

Sorry double post from the technically illiterate!