Bea Amaya

Happy Easter, everyone! Nope...I didn't make goal; missed by over 3 lbs. Yes...I'm still excited; I'm still losing. Yes...I was thrilled to step on the scale this morning; lowest weight ever (30 years anyway)! Yes...I'm definitely "in" for the next challenge, but will modify my expectations a bit as I get closer to goal. Yes...I hope to see you all in the Memorial Day Challenge as well!

Here are a couple of reminders for the regular Challenge participants as well as any new folks that want to join us: Although the weigh-ins are scheduled to occur on Mondays, as the challenge ends on Monday, you are welcome to adjust this to whatever works for you. We're definitely flexible here. You'll know that I've updated the spreadsheet with your data when you see a "Like" from me (BeaAmaya) on your weigh-in post. EVERYONE who is working toward a goal is welcome to join us in this. We've had some very successful pre-surgery participants before, participants that are at goal, in "maintenance" mode, and simply wanting to maintain their weight, and a whole bunch of us that fall somewhere in the middle. All are welcome here! When a question is asked or a comment made that seems to be directed at me, FEEL FREE TO RESPOND. I'm merely the volunteer that keeps the stats for the group...it's really the group itself that keeps the group going, and individual participation in cheering on, consoling, providing input, etc. is really what makes the challenges work for us all. So yes, please, be an active participant when you can! The spreadsheet may look a little funny now, with a lot of people showing a start weight of 200 and goal weight of 199. :-) These figures are merely placeholders until the challenge gets rolling. I'll change the text color from gray to black when "real" data gets entered. I try to post a kind of wrap-up from the previous week just before a new round of weigh-ins are recorded. In this post I try to list everyone who has crossed a "border" of some kind. For example, I was THRILLED to list my own name in crossing over from the 200s to the 190s (ONEDERLAND) during the St. Patrick's Day challenge. I'm currently chasing another move from the 180s into the 170s for this challenge and will proudly list my name along with all the others who make a "border crossing" if/when this happens. Hope this helps! Bea

Okay...we might as well go another round with the Challenges! Especially since they are so darn FUN! The new topic is called "Memorial Day Challenge" (no surprise there!) and can be found at: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/304846-memorial-day-challenge/ If you ever get lost, I tag all of these with the term "challenge" so you should be able to search the forums for it and find the link there as well. Good luck tomorrow as we bring the Easter Challenge to a close! I figured we might as well jump right in to the Memorial Day challenge, so the weigh-ins will be on MONDAYS and will start the day after the Easter Challenge ends (April 21). Bea

Easter Challenge Week 3 Results Here’s a wrap-up of how this week of the Easter Challenge went: Number of people reporting in this week: 76 Total weight lost by the group: 129.4 Average pounds lost per person for week: 1.7 This Week’s Border Crossings 300s to 290s (TWODERLAND!): elfnow 270s to 260s: Gina1010 260s to 250s: Fallenangel2904 250s to 240s: mcginn0425 240s to 230s: Mocha2871, kyleebean 230s to 220s: Scorpion11 220s to 210s: SleeveK, susan6161 210s to 200s: dreamscometrue 200s to 190s (ONEDERLAND!): jujube, Denisepr 190s to 180s: BeaAmaya 180s to 170s: Jhealan, Yoga-lady 170s to 160s: livvsmum May the joy and peace of new beginnings be with you during this challenge! As always, my apologies if I missed anyone!

BIG congrats for your move into ONEDERLAND, Denise! Way to go!

Look at you go! Congrats on a big move!

AWESOME! Welcome to the club!

Some REALLY good numbers coming in already this week. I get to add mine to the list too (YIPPEE!) Not so much because it is a significant loss for the week, but more because after 3 weeks of sitting in the same place on the scale I got to see it move again this morning! I don't really care that I'm not quite going to make goal this time. I'm VERY excited, however, that I am moving again...and in the right direction! Best wishes to all, and good luck during this upcoming final challenge week!

Easter Challenge Week 2 Results Here’s a wrap-up of how this week of the Easter Challenge went: Number of people reporting in this week: 82 Total weight lost by the group: 136.8 Average pounds lost per person for week: 1.7 This Week’s Border Crossings 310s to 300s: elfnow 280s to 270s: Bigbeaz, Sleeveless n Seattle 260s to 250s: StaceyVSG 250s to 240s: Madelyne Bonthron 220s to 210s: back2barb78 210s to 200s: Ree 200s to 190s (ONEDERLAND!): Cathysleever, Mama Spike 190s to 180s: Deezjeanz 180s to 170s: mickally 150s to 140s: cbwalker79 May the joy and peace of new beginnings be with you during this challenge! As always, my apologies if I missed anyone!

Negative progress (yes, that means another gain!) for the second week in a row. This is the first time this has happened in the 8 months since my surgery. Still, there are 2 things that are keeping me from stressing over this. First, by being a part of this site I've seen it happen to plenty of others so I was expecting it. That's really one of the GREAT things about bariatricpal...I am almost NEVER surprised by what happens in my own case as I'm able to take advantage of the experiences of others. That's just SO cool! But the second reason is that I have some indicators that my shape is changing. My pants have been fitting different in the past 2 weeks and I've gotten compliments from people who see me every day. So I really think this little plateau (including just a bit of weight gain) is not hurting me at all and will be over soon. So...I'm just hanging in there and being patient. I probably won't make my goal this time but I'm still feeling incredibly good. Yup, that's right...it's really no big deal (never thought I'd be able to say that!)

Another one moving into ONEDERLAND! That's AWESOME! Welcome to the club!

Congrats! This is so exciting! Welcome to ONEDERLAND!

Easter Challenge Week 1 Results Here’s a wrap-up of how this week of the Easter Challenge went: Number of people reporting in this week: 84 Total weight lost by the group: 173.0 Average pounds lost per person for week: 2.1 This Week’s Border Crossings 300s to 290s (TWODERLAND!): Sleeve Siren 290s to 280s: Sleeveless n Seattle 260s to 250s: Lynnc121, Kiap82, chris1142 250s to 240s: laplebita619 240s to 230s: covatila84, BlondeBanshee 230s to 220s: Danni-doinit4me, Hunter 220s to 210s: nillee 210s to 200s: Stacy_wls 200s to 190s (ONEDERLAND!): VSG AJH 190s to 180s: BellaHugz, snochick2005 180s to 170s: Bombs 170s to 160s: JanetPRN 150s to 140s: Sweet_Mia May the joy and peace of new beginnings be with you during this challenge! As always, my apologies if I missed anyone!

Spent the last half hour checking out the profiles of some of the challenge folks, you know, just for the fun of it. It was VERY encouraging! We've got members with a whole lot to lose, members with not so much to lose, members just getting started, members near the end of this part of the journey, and some VERY beautiful people! Who knew!?! LOL!

Awesome! Welcome to ONEDERLAND!

Not at all, Davalrie. Just post your current weight and your goal weight (April 20th) and I'll add you to the list.

I'm at the hospital with my hubby this weekend (he had 2 surgeries, both went very well, we are VERY relieved) so I won't be weighing in until tomorrow. I did want to report an NSV, however. This morning when taking hubby down to surgery the nurse wheeled him into the elevator which was a bit of a tight squeeze and said, "your wife is skinny...she can fit in here no problem." We both had BIG smiles on our faces for that one! :-)

You look AWESOME! Congrats for your great progress!

BIG HUGS to both @@BellaHugz and @DeezJeanz. Hope you know we are all thinking of you and wishing the best for you and your loved ones in these difficult times. Stay strong!

Just so you know you are not the only one who is a little data crazy, I'm attaching my own personal weight loss spreadsheet here. I weigh myself every day, enter the weight, and remove the yellow highlight to show which days were real weigh-ins and which ones were days I didn't have a scale available. All of the other measures (and there are a lot of them) are calculated from these values EXCEPT the "milestones" section which are manually entered, and somewhat random, markers that I have chosen for my milestones. Anyway, thought you might enjoy seeing my example. My surgery was on July 30 and I have lost just over 100 lbs. Bea Measures.xlsx Note: You'll have to scroll around a bit to find all the measures but most of them are at the top-right of the spreadsheet, starting near cell L4.

Sleeve date: July 30. Start weight: 292 Current weight: 189 Height: 5'8.5" Age: 54 (in less than 2 weeks) Progress: 103 down, 29 to go I think one of my keys is that I continue to log all my meals, every day, into MyFitnessPal. In spite of the fact that 800 calories per day seems really low, it continues to satisfy me so I still don't feel compelled to "up" it. I am NOT exercising regularly as I work really long hours, live away from home (in a corporate apartment), and don't have free time of any kind. I do choose to walk, a lot, between the several buildings at my work site and consider this as good an exercise regimine as I can handle right now. I feel healthy, energized, and still motivated to stick with my plan. I have lost a lot of hair, but have a lot of it so it's really not obvious. I'm too old to consider plastic surgery (cost/benefit ratio not that good) but get tickled that my husband mentions it now and then because I look so good now (his words) that getting rid of some of that extra skin would make an awesome difference. Love my sleeve, love my progress. Still have a ways to go, but still enjoying the journey.

I guess it's time to get ready for the next challenge... St. Patrick's Day Challenge! Here we go with the rules and instructions: 1. Be sure and log in here on Monday, February 17, 2014 to post your start weight and your goal weight for the challenge. 2. When setting your goal, keep in mind that this challenge is only 4 weeks long (5 weigh-ins). 3. Weigh in every Monday and post your updates here. 4. Watch the data at St. Patrick's Day Challenge to see our progress as individuals and as a team. GOOD LUCK! Old challenges - Valentine's - Christmas/New Year's - Thanksgiving - Halloween